iamaqt2

Puerto Vallarta Pro tip, when walking out of the port to the transport area, skip these guys. I was quoted 30 bucks for 2 people for "private" transport. I kept on walking. I know they're all trying to make a living, but that's highway robbery. I walked on out of the port to the gas station across the street and still overpaid at 15 bucks. I could have ridden the bus for 2 bucks, but time is short on port stops. Pay the gringo tax and move on. We vacation here frequently, so hopped a cab to Zona Romantica for some breakfast birria tacos at the best birria stand in Vallarta, Tacos de Birria Chanfey. Unlike other types of tacos, birria tacos are very much a breakfast taco. Afterwards walked on down to Los Muertos Beach to park on a couple of chairs at Si Señor Beach. I absolutely love the Vallarta beach scene, even though I know it aggravates a lot of people. It's anything but relaxing with a non-stop parade of vendors, but the food is amazing, it comes to you, and you can get a massage right on the beach. Which is exactly what we did. I was actually joking with my hubby that after getting my Shrimp on a stick and donuts, that if the empanadas came by I'd hit my Vallarta beach bingo blackout. I've been here weeks before without hitting all 3 in a day, and it magically happened in a few hours! After landing back on the ship, we cleaned up for dinner and went to Bistro Sur la Mer for 7 pm dinner. Had the bisque for app and the filet and fish for mains. Food was very good, but no room for dessert. Didn't make it to any shows as we were exhausted from a long day of eating and drinking 🙃 Called it a night.

January 1, Sea Day Recovery Day Basically this was a do nothing, lay by the pool, and take a nap kind of day Drink service from the app by the Retreat Pool stunk. Waited an hour then went to hunt down my missing drink. Bartender gave me attitude and said I must have sent it to my room, and one of the Sanctuary servers pointed out my missing drinks sitting in the queue on the tablet next to the bar. Thank you Honeymade for not letting him gaslight me. Marginally cleaned up for dinner in MDR, and called it a night after that. Had the beef satay, Caesar salad, fruit salad, and lamb shanks which were delicious. Dessert we asked to try the new Love Boat Dream. It's really awful. Bring back the old version please Princess. Beautiful to look at, nasty to eat.

Yikes. I must be camped on a router lol.

Today the ships wifi has been absolute trash. And running a speedtest at midnight while people are sleeping, it hasn't improved. Will post updates tomorrow while in port on my mobile data.

Day 4. Loreto, Mexico New Year's Eve. Got Breakfast in the buffet then headed down to the Vista Lounge to pick up tender tickets. Waited about 10 minutes til our number was called. Very smooth tendering process, it looked like 4 lifeboats were running. Weather was beautiful and water was smooth as glass. Took about 15 minutes to shuttle over. Loreto is a very small walkable town. Decorated with tinsel and holiday decorations for New Year's. Checked out the tree lined pedestrian walkway near the mission and settled on having the local specialty of Chocolate Clams for lunch. Did a little booth shopping then headed back to ship around 2:30. Line to queue for tenders was long, but moved fairly quickly. Relaxed on the Lido for a bit and took a dip. The pool was almost as warm as the hot tubs and not refreshing at all. It was time to get cleaned up for the evening festivities, and then headed down to Good Spirits for pre-dinner drinks and to show off how fantastic we looked. 😉 The New Year's Eve dinner Gala menu looked fantastic. We ordered the Warm Cheese, beef carpaccio, shrimp and saffron bisque and the oxtail consomme for starters. Both of us ordered the surf and turf medium rare and I also asked for appetizer size of the truffle risotto. Our server brought everyone in our section 2 lobsters unasked and told us not to tell the other diners. The risotto came out full sized but that's ok, because it was the best thing that landed on the table and my husband and I ate all of it. We skipped dessert as service had been painfully slow and we wanted to catch Jeffrey Allen doing his Elton John tribute. We've seen him before and he's just bloody fantastic. Now we were told that people celebrate New Year's two ways on the ship. The traditional way in the Piazza, or one heck of a party up on the pool deck! I want to party! It's New Year's Eve!! Princess had provided party hats and headbands, placed festive banners all over the ship, and really got everyone in a great celebration mood to ring in the New Year! There was an ice sculpture of 20 22 & 23 on the pool deck and at the stroke of midnight they pushed 22 in the pool and slid 23 up to 20. Everyone was singing and dancing and I stayed up til the music ended and they moved it inside, then called it a night because while the spirit was still willing, the old bones said ¡No Mas! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Day 3: Lazy sea day Today we had almost nothing planned and had rented loungers in the Sanctuary for half the day in the afternoon. Breakfast was room service on the balcony. Fruit plate and muffin breakfast sandwich with a latte. Other than a couple of small hitches the app has worked extremely well for ordering drinks and occasionally food. After cleaning up, headed down to the Theater for day 2 of Leo Rossi's Enrichment series. Another fantastic presentation on his time with Fleetwood Mac. Afterward came back to our room to get ready for our afternoon in the Sanctuary and to do lunch up there . Having never done the Sanctuary before, I wasn't sure what to expect other than a higher level of dedicated service and a nice quiet relaxation space. It's definitely a beautiful space, but it was quite funny to hear the Lido pool music heavy bass spilling in over the new age zen they were playing. The servers were quick to offer a menu and service, but like everywhere else on the ship, the actual delivery left a lot to be desired. We ordered 2 salted watermelon margaritas and our lunch. The server informed us it would be about 20 minutes for lunch but they'd get started on our drinks right away. After 30 minutes of waiting we asked about our drinks and they apologized and said the bar was very busy. We got our drinks after 40 minutes and our lunch after an hour. So even if you pay a premium for service, don't expect it to be any better. Lunch was very tasty though. Got chicken salad, citrus plate, salmon and avocado, honey almonds and chili edamame. Around 3 pm saw some whales and dolphins from the bow and then the servers came around with afternoon tea. Finger sandwiches and small desserts. Nothing on the main dining room menu appealed to us, so we decided to have dinner at Gigi's. Understaffing here was heavily apparent. Uncleared tables, slow service, and one passenger started clearing tables and the maitre d about lost it when she told him he was understaffed. He ran her off, while I silently agreed with her and stared at the vacant dirty table next to me my whole meal. It was like that when we were seated til we finished our dinner After dinner we attended the Living Room Battle Game show which was a lot of fun and audience interactive. Arrrrrmondo MC'd and was very funny. Afterwards went to listen to AJ Clarke the piano entertainer in Crooners. Very hard to get a seat anywhere once entertaiment has begun. He was very good, but we left early to get good seats in the Vista Lounge to see the late night Enrichment Presentation Fleetwood Mac the Lost Concert. Called it a night.

He's a character, that's for sure.

🤣🤣🤣

Continuing Day 2: At 11 we went to the enrichment presentation Knights of Rock by Leo Rossi. He's a fantastic speaker. It was a really great presentation on being a roadie and stage hand for the rock bands of the seventies and particularly for Fleetwood Mac. He also gave a very moving tribute to his son that didn't leave a dry eye in the house. We plan to attend all of his presentations. After the presentation we headed to the MDR for lunch. The menu looked really good. The Thai hot and sour soup was particularly delicious. We also had the tomato mozzarella salad, the soy-glazed prawns, the carbonara rigatoni which was excellent, and the mixed grill plate. Hubs missed the fact there was a veal kidney on there and the look on his face when he ate it was priceless. Dessert was an unremarkable apple turnover which was dry, stale and mostly tasteless. Service was very slow and lunch took about 90 minutes. It was super busy, so not surprising. Tonight was Officers Gala night, so we got gussied up and headed down to Good Spirits and the Piazza to listen to music and watch the Officer introduction by our CD Armando. Headed to dinner in MDR and ended up at a new table, still nice location with much better serving team. They were actively working together to take care of their section. I forgot to take a picture of the menu thanks to those pre-dinner drinks. But we ordered the walnut-crusted goat cheese salad, the mango mimosa soup which was absolutely fantastic, the bacon potato soup, and we both had the beef tenderloin medium rare. The meat was cooked perfectly and was tender and delicious. We skipped dessert to head to the Vista Lounge to see the comedian Miguel Washington. He was hilarious.. my 24K Margaritas told me so. Headed over to Take 5 to listen to the jazz ensemble for a bit, then called it a night as my drink package had gotten quite a workout.

Day 2 woke up very early having gone to bed so early. The planners looked like some promising entertainment for the day. Decided to have an early breakfast in the MDR. Got there just before opening and about 20 other people were already lined up. Service was super friendly and fast. Which was a nice surprise. But there were very few people to attend to at 7 am. Had the fruit plate which was very good and the Salmon lox bagel with cream cheese which is my MDR breakfast go to. Always have to order extra cream cheese. Hubs had a ham and cheese omelet and 2 hash brown triangles. The hash browns were hard as a rock and inedible. I always forget they're only good from the buffet.

My experience mirrors yours exactly. Service has been terribly slow everywhere on the ship. The worst part is seeing how hard they're working just trying to keep up. This ship is the most crowded I've ever been on and the lack of staffing shows. I'm not in a hurry to be anywhere so it hasn't really impacted us. Sometimes I'll order 2 drinks at once sometimes just to not have to bother anyone again.

I started off at Good Spirits with a couple of Sandia en Fuegos.. my absolute favorite beverage on the ship. Then I ordered a double pour of the Chalk Hills Suavignon Blanc with dinner. I'll gladly pay the extra few dollars for a better wine. Then had a couple of 24K Margaritas in the Vista Lounge. Grabbed a glass of prosecco while walking past the Crown Grill bar. Headed to Take 5 and asked the server what they'd recommend. She said the Ella Fitzgerald martini was popular. I was feeling no pain so said sure, I'll try it. Absolutely hated it.. it was like drinking perfume in a glass. Next round got a dirty martini with extra olives. Now after this, I get a little fuzzy.. I think I got one last drink, but for the life of me can't remember what it was. If I was smart it was a glass of water.

ANNNNNDDD.. now for HUGE PROPS to Princess on service recovery. Because if I'm going to complain, I'm also going to compliment. I'm sitting in Good Spirits enjoying some 🍸 and 🎶 and waiting for the Captains Gala introduction of all the officers by Armondo the cruise director. And who should pop by my table but Rahul from guest services in his formal uniform for the evening. To tell me that he emailed everyone higher up and made sure that my dinner was going to happen and to not worry about a thing. What time did I want it? And he'd try and make sure I could still have my cabana reservations. You're all getting this in real time, so my emotions are all over the board here. And who the hell is cutting onions in here?

I'm out enjoying the ship and drinking the bars dry. I'm exacting my revenge lol. It happens. I wasn't even mad til the phone calls. I don't expect anything except my refund and not to get any crap about canceling my Sanctuary reservation. The guy running it made sure to tell me they'd charge me if I was late or a no show. Guest Services was great about making sure to kick any issues back to them. I don't doubt it. I even felt bad for hanging up on the guy after I calmed down. But at least I didn't say anything I'd regret later.

I'm gonna digress from my daily post to do a critic part of Cruise Critic. I had no plans to get off in Cabo, so I had decided to make a day of being on the ship. I hustled to get on board to book a cabana for the day in the Sanctuary. I had prebooked and prepaid for the Ultimate Balcony Dinner for two. Room service had called and left a message yesterday about my reservation but the line was busy when I tried calling back. Upon calling back and trying to set up my dinner plans today, room service informed me that they couldn't do my dinner on the day I had booked for because they were fully booked that evening. Other times and dates offered didn't work for me so I asked them just to refund it. They informed me that they couldn't and Guest Services would have to deal with it. They told me to contact the desk. So I called Guest Services who told me they couldn't see it on my booking, even though it was clearly on my travel summary. So I decided to go down to the desk and deal with it in person. At the desk they found my reservation and all I asked for was a refund as room service couldnt accommodate my requested date. But Rahul, the agent tried to be so helpful and called to see if there was any way they could do it. They said no as the Sky Suites had booked it for that evening. I then asked if they could arrange to cancel my cabana reservation as well because I had planned the whole day around that and dinner. No problem, all canceled, head back to room to revise and revisit that day. I was frustrated as things happen, but here is where things broke down. Shortly after arriving back to the room I get a phone call from room service asking if I was able to get my refund. I assumed this was just a follow up call, so told the gentleman yes, I had called to ask for a refund and they couldn't locate my booking, so I went down to the desk and it was all handled. End of conversation, or so I thought. Phone rings less than a minute later and now the same gentleman says if I want they can now somehow magically do my dinner. I lost it. I said, I literally just went downstairs and canceled my whole day, and now you're calling to ask me if I want it? This is unacceptable. And I hung up. I was ugly crying at this point I was so upset. He literally called back less than 15 seconds later and my husband had to deal with him. He asked my husband if we still wanted to do it and I'm like absolutely not. And my husband tells him you made my wife cry and she's not dealing with you right now and if we want it we'll let you know. And hung up. Now I don't get upset easily, and I want to be clear, I was angry crying, not upset crying. I'm still sitting here fuming over this encounter 30 minutes later and venting to all of you. I'm now getting ready for dinner and plotting how to maximize my beverage package tonight.

Light overcast, calm seas, overall nice day. 60 degrees.

We were told upon checking in for our dinner reservation that if we liked our table to let them know when we were leaving and we could reserve it for the whole cruise. Well, even though the service was so-so, we liked the table, so we stopped to do just that on our way out, and whoever left just before us gave our table number so they told us it was already taken. I'm guessing it was the couple next to us who left just ahead of us who accidentally gave the wrong table number. Or maybe not so accidentally. It was an end table and not between anyone. Either way I wasn't that committed to our server so better luck on my next roll of the dice.

I second that sentiment. Salty Dog Gastropub just isn't all that.

Woke up to sunny skies after a rainy night. Headed over to the Happy Diner for breakfast for a real locals experience. Had the ILWU (Longshoreman Warehouse Union workers) breakfast special. Way too much food but I just had to go for it. Shuttled over to port at 9:30. Checked in at 10. Waited in Platinum seating area and onboard just around 11. Very smooth. Popped up to the Sanctuary to make chair and cabana reservations. Dropped smaller bags in room then off to muster. Had lunch at Gigi's which was absolutely fantastic. The Agnolotti (lamb ravioli) is out of this world good. After lunch headed back to room as it was ready, and founs this great photo album waiting for us, as well as the daily planner. Chilled out on our huge balcony for a bit, and bags arrived at 2:45. Unpacked and bags stowed by 3:15. Headed out to Lido for sailaway as it just gets me in a great mood for the cruise no matter how many times I've seen it. And love the Love Boat theme playing on the ships horn. Decided to check out the Platinum, Elite, Suite lounge this sailing, as I hit Platinum 2 cruises ago and have yet to attend. Having heard that not many go I was shocked that close to 100 people must have shown up. It is from 4:30 - 6:30 in the Vista Lounge. The snacks were good and there was a pianist. We had a 6:00 dinner reservation in Skagway so didn't eat much and headed off to Good Spirits to grab a drink before heading to dinner. The starboard side of Skagway was for Club Class and port side had 2 lines, one for those with reservations and one for those without. Neither line was very long just before 6, but was insanely long when we left at 7:45. I had checked the menu on the app ahead of time to figure out what I wanted, and this is where Princess let me down. 2 items I had preselected to eat were described differently in the app vs. the actual menu. I was really looking forward to the app version of the Marinated Goat Cheese Antipasto as the app describes it as coming with spinach and beets. And the Salmon was described in the app as having a red wine reduction with Mashed potatoes and collard greens and leeks. I just asked for no rice and sub Mashed potatoes, but they were just bland. We also had the Garlic Prawns, and while mine were cooked perfectly, there wasn't even a hint of garlic, and my husband said his prawns were shrimp cocktail cold. It wasn't a terrible dish, just not what was advertised. My salmon and the pork tenderloin that my husband ordered were cooked perfectly though. The best thing that landed on the table was the Pina Colada soup. We joked about ordering it again for dessert, but got the souffle and Creme Brulee instead. Service was disjointed at times, with new dishes being delivered before replacement silver, and then the new silver was just plunked on the edge of the table. Definitely not something I've experienced before and our server didn't seem new, just very disorganized. And we only saw our assistant waiter twice. Once to order wine and once to ask for coffee. We had planned to try and make it to the 9:30 comedy show but decided to call it an early night. If this post loads, the internet is working great.

Love Joe Jacks.. especially the open roof seating. We travel to Vallarta at least once a year and usually eat there at least once. Sat up there once during an amazing thunderstorm and they cranked the roof closed. That was so cool.

Travel today was unpleasant to say the least. I won't bore you with the small details, but will say that SeaTac airport was a mess at 2:30 am. I can't imagine how much worse it got throughout the day. Southwest really messed up peoples plans for travel. First leg of flight SEA to SFO hit the weather band NorCal was getting and caused quite a bit of turbulence. No FA cart service. And a bumpy descent and landing. SFO to LAX was a short hop but pretty bumpy as well. Captain came on and said we found a pocket of calm air you have 3-5 minutes to use the restroom. All luggage arrived quickly, even our carryons we had to gate check in Seattle. But the bags were really damp. Makes me glad we use packing cubes. The taxi/rideshare situation at LAX was a new one to me. They shuttle you to a different location where you get your transportation. UBER from LAX to Crowne Plaza was around 80 with tip. Our driver was very pleasant and handled a scary situation on the freeway flawlessly. He had over 18000 rides.. this guy was a pro. I had done pre check-in for Crowne Plaza the day before and received an email at 7 am that I was all checked in and keys would be waiting for me at the desk. We booked a King Harborview room. But upon arrival at 11 am I asked if there was a possibility to upgrade to a King Jr. Suite Harborview. They upgraded my room to a corner suite! As an added bonus I'm Platinum Elite through my credit card so they gave me 2 free drink vouchers. Those will come in handy after today. We were pretty hungry by this time so decided to wander out and grab a bite to eat. We've eaten at the San Pedro Brewing Co. before and they were opening at 11:30 so the stars aligned and that's where we landed. They're a very short 2 block walk from the hotel. Ordered up a round of celebratory brews for surviving SWArmageddon and then grabbed some hot wings and split a Smoked Brisket Sandwich. Now I'm ashamed to say I was really hungry and forgot to snap a pic, but that sandwich was GOOD. Super tender brisket with caramelized onions and melted jack cheese on a toasty roll with au jus for dipping. And the au jus was really good, not overly salty. We got our fries Gaffey style which has melted cheese, bacon bits and green onions with ranch dipping sauce. I have to say, I had both the blue cheese with the wings and the ranch with the fries and this is where they failed me. I never thought of myself as a sauce connoisseur, but these just had no flavor and were pretty runny. After lunch we found a small mini mart around the corner selling bottles of wine and hard liquors called the 7 Days Food Store. The wine selection actually surprised me, and the pricing wasn't too bad. After this we headed back to the room because a carb coma was kicking in. Took a 3 hour nap and felt much better. I'm a sucker for a good happy hour, so in searching restaurants nearby for dinner I came across Kalaveras. I had sworn I wasn't going to eat Mexican food pre-cruise because of all the good food I planned to get off the ship. But this place was sending out all the vibes I was looking for. And it was only 3 blocks away. It had rained earlier, but was not raining when we walked over. The cocktails were really good and the happy hour tacos were amazing. And a steal at 3.50 each. Chamoynada and Tamarind margarita. Mezcal margarita with jalapeño and pineapple. Paloma Negro Esquites was so good. It was fresh shaved off the cob not frozen corn. Shrimp Taco, Mushroom Taco, and Pork Belly Taco. 2 Barbacoa Tacos and Mushroom Taco. Dolly Parton never promised you a rose garden, but this place does...... In the bathroom. Walked back to the hotel in light rain and used our free drink vouchers in the bar. There were a few fellow cruisers chatting away. Headed back to the room for an early night. Getting up early to go eat at a cute little place we walked by called Happy Diner. I like the name, so decided to have breakfast there.

Yes.. that's great for people who live within driving distance. It sounds like they'll make it with a long drive. But very few people have the option of driving to the port and parking. If they did, they wouldn't be flying.

At this point it feels like the Hunger Games of cruises. Who can find the transport to win the cruise?!?

This trip could try even the most seasoned travelers nerves. Ask your hotel if they offer a cruise and park package you can switch to. Many of the San Pedro hotels offer it.

So glad you found out early enough to start driving. But no fun with the added stress of parking etc.