The Grand Hawaiian Adventure. A trip report with Patters, Menus, Elvis, and ...

Friday, Cinco de mayo

 

 

This is our fourth sea day after leaving Hilo

 

 

 

The sky is cloudy this morning, and the temperature will only get to 64 today. The seas will get progressively rougher through the day.

 

 

 

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You can say that again. I had told my wife earlier, that the Pacific was as calm as being on a lake. That all changed these last few days of the cruise.

Thanks for a such a detailed review and filling in the gaps of my photo album:-)

49er

The Patters for Cinco de Mayo have activities to prep us for our stop in Ensenada tomorrow.

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It is another lazy sea day. One of the activities is decorating skull masks. I made an attempt at the first session, and it was tipped over and smeared by the cabin steward as it was drying, so I tried again at the afternoon session. By then, the markers were dried out and some of the masks were cracked with the coating peeling off. It was probably my first art project since kindergarten, so that's why it looks like a 5 year old did it.

So if you want to attempt this project, go to the first session when the materials are new.

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It is another lazy sea day. One of the activities is decorating skull masks. I made an attempt at the first session, and it was tipped over and smeared by the cabin steward as it was drying, so I tried again at the afternoon session. By then, the markers were dried out and some of the masks were cracked with the coating peeling off. It was probably my first art project since kindergarten, so that's why it looks like a 5 year old did it.

 

 

So if you want to attempt this project, go to the first session when the materials are new.

 

 

 

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Hey, these look much nicer than a five-year-old's project - and waaaay better than I could ever do (even when I WAS five...)!

The Day of the Dead celebration took place in the Piazza, with a version of musical chairs using hats as part of the audience participation.

Tonight is the last formal night, so we will be able to pack away the tux and long dresses after tonight. We returned to anytime dining tonight for the lobster and king prawn meal on the menu.

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The captain is giving his farewell speech and cocktail party tonight in the Piazza.

There were a wide variety of drinks being handed out, including beer, rum punch, screwdrivers, etc., so you had a choice of drinks. Not sure why the farewell speech is three days before we disembark, but maybe the captain will be too busy driving the ship.

The Piazza will have a ballon drop later in the evening, so the crew ties up the net in preparation.

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Our night includes the comedy show in the Vista Lounge, and comedian Scott Wyler had a new set of jokes for this show.

I would post a picture, but the exposure made him look too much like Casper the friendly ghost.

It was cool enough that DW had to borrow my jacket tonight. And, we were still wearing our disguises

Still sailing toward Ensenada, and the ship is rocking.

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Saturday, May 6

This is our fifth sea day after leaving Hilo and setting course to Ensenada, although it is technically not a sea day, since we will stop at Ensenada for three hours. When I saw the seas this morning, I thought if it says they are 4.9 feet again, they better get a better form of measurement, but it says waves are 8.2 feet today. The spray, at times, reaches the Promenade Deck. The waves were much higher overnight, since the log will say we had force 7 winds, which mean near gale force with seas 13 to 19 feet. The crew is hard at work trying to dry the deck, and for a minute, I think maybe we are on the Alaska route, as the crew is wearing winter parkas. The temperature today will only reach 59 degrees.

At 8:40 a.m. the ship tracker on the tv says we are at latitude 31°05.15'N and longitude 118°36.49'W. We are traveling at 19.0 kts., are now 2,083.8 miles from Hilo, and we have 115.4 miles to go to Ensenada. We have 632.9 miles to travel yet to San Francisco.

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Here are the Patters for our day at Ensenada.

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There are no shopping guides for here. Maybe they think there is no need, since we are here for such a short time, and all anyone is interested in buying is cheap drugs. Anyway, they do have a port guide.

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Mark, I'm sorry to see your review slowly coming to an end. I learned a lot of insight on what to expect from a 15 day cruise to Hawaii and back. It will be a cruise I will book down the road with Princess. Looking at your pictures and checking out the Patters was great! Thanks for taking the time to share your adventure with everyone, it was fun following along. Stan, hope to see you on the Grand one of these days, but our cruise schedule is full for the next year.

Cheers - Ken & Darlene

Mark, I'm sorry to see your review slowly coming to an end. I learned a lot of insight on what to expect from a 15 day cruise to Hawaii and back. It will be a cruise I will book down the road with Princess. Looking at your pictures and checking out the Patters was great! Thanks for taking the time to share your adventure with everyone, it was fun following along. Stan, hope to see you on the Grand one of these days, but our cruise schedule is full for the next year.

 

Cheers - Ken & Darlene

Thanks for following. I will be finishing it it San Francisco. We just got here this morning, and are about to cross the Golden Gate. It is overcast and 57 here this morning. Reminds me of the end of the cruise days.

I actually got more written on the flight, and will post more once I get wifi.

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Boy do feel like I need to take this cruise again (for the 5th time) We were on this same cruise and I never saw the Day of the Dead stuff hanging in the Piazza. Come to mention, I also never saw the Hawaiian ambassadors either. I was always out of my cabin too. Must have gotten lost somewhere!

Side note, the one always good thing I missed from the other Hawaiian cruises was the themed buffets outside of Horizon Court on deck 14. Must depend on the Head Chef?

Loving your thread and the time you are investing in it. It's certainly showing me what I missed while I was filming my own video of the cruise.

Boy do feel like I need to take this cruise again (for the 5th time) We were on this same cruise and I never saw the Day of the Dead stuff hanging in the Piazza. Come to mention, I also never saw the Hawaiian ambassadors either. I was always out of my cabin too. Must have gotten lost somewhere!

 

 

 

Side note, the one always good thing I missed from the other Hawaiian cruises was the themed buffets outside of Horizon Court on deck 14. Must depend on the Head Chef?

 

 

 

Loving your thread and the time you are investing in it. It's certainly showing me what I missed while I was filming my own video of the cruise.

That is the one thing about cruising, there is always more going on than you have time to do.

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Last night, we received our disembarkation information, and noticed they had given us a green, group 7 tag for passengers with independent arrangements.

The problem is, we had signed up for the Princess transfers to SFO. After a trip to guest services this morning, we were told that more passengers had signed up for transfers than Princess could provide, so you are on your own. It was almost like being kicked off an airplane.

This was a day for return trips to guest services. My DW was charged for three drinks at the Vista Lounge last night, for the one she ordered. The waiter had realized his mistake and had given her a slip to make sure it was corrected, but it was still on the bill this morning. While waiting for them to correct it, a couple we met from Scotland was also at guest services to inquire about their Princess transfers to the airport, and they were told the same story; More people wanted them than we can provide, so you are on your own.

So after a second cup of coffee, I pass by guest services on my way back to the cabin. There are three people working now, and each of them are dealing with passengers who just found out they would not be getting the transfers they signed up for. Sorry, but just like airlines that overbook, Princess should know how many transfers will be needed and accommodate their passengers. I thought that was why they wanted to know your departure plans over a week in advance. That should be more than enough time to make sure they have enough busses for transfers.

Someone told me that Princess was having trouble with their transfer partner, so that may have been part of the problem.

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We spent a little time in the jacuzzis at the Calypso Pool this morning, then I wandered around the ship to take a few more photos. Since it was getting colder, and wasn't supposed to get warmer the rest of the trip, they drained the pool by the Sanctuary to work on it.

The seas were getting a little calmer as we got closer to Ensenada, but it still looked overcast and dreary. Temperatures in the 50's were a lot different than the 80's that had been in the long range forecast.

Finally, we see Ensenada on the horizon and there is light rain over the city.

As we make the turn into port, there are several platforms anchored that provide a place for the California Sea Lions to gather.

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A Carnival ship has already made it to port before us. The dock workers have to chase a few sea lions away so they can tie up the ship.

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We decided to get off the ship and take the shuttle into town to look for one last souvenir, even though it was raining. By the time the bus made it to town, the rain had stopped, and there was a serious party going on at Papas & Beer. It looked like a favorite spot for the Carnival crowd.

Pharmacies were everywhere, and everyone wanted to find their cheap drugs.

Coming up empty on our souvenir hunt, we went back to catch a shuttle back to the ship. The same shuttle service was running for both the Carnival ship and ours, so we climbed aboard one. As it turned out, this shuttle had just six of us from our ship, and the rest were "young adults?" from the Carnival ship.

I asked DW what she would write about our trip back to the ship with the Carnival crowd, and she just kept shaking her head, shaking her head. We made our way to the back of the bus, and had just pulled out when one of the kids at that back says "I just found out I can't take these drugs I bought back on the ship. Who wants some pills?" Pills were being passed out like candy at Halloween, and cups of booze were being passed around to wash them down.

It looks like Carnival was living up to their billing as the fun ships.

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One thing I forgot to mention was the Aloha Oe show that was held just before we made port in Ensenada. I guess that is the problem with going back and forth with notes and photos, and doing this a month after the cruise has ended. The show is performed by the passengers who worked so hard all week at ukulele and Hula lessons. What a great, and entertaining show they put on for the rest of us.

I think they said there were more than 60 in each group, and a few people did both the ukulele and the Hula portion.

The photos I took were all using the iPhone live mode, so the color would not translate well for a single photo upload. So here is one with a retro black and white mode. I think I see Stan's wife in there.

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Thank you so much for posting this great review.. I hope some of the passengers on the 11/13/17 Grand Princess Roll Call will have an opportunity to see this..

Just started reading it today. I am so glad you directed me to this thread.

Just started reading it today. I am so glad you directed me to this thread.

I hope you find something useful in my ramblings.[emoji3]

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After that brief detour in the report, we are back to the ship in Ensenada for the evening. Tonight we were at anytime dining, and it is the orange roughy for me and scallops for DW. Here is the menu.

We had an all aboard time of 7:30, but it was after 9:00 when we finally sailed. The late stay gave us some night views of the city. Not sure why we had the delay, but the ship was rock steady.

We went to the Showtime with Ric Steele, then got ready for another rocking night. (And I do mean the ship and not the music)

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Loving this review, Mark! I am reliving our trip as I read it! I took the hula classes with my SIL and we had so much fun! The Hawaiian Ambassadors were great. Very friendly and genuine!

I hope you find something useful in my ramblings.[emoji3]

 

 

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You are amazing. You need to look into writing a book. You are great.

Loving this review, Mark! I am reliving our trip as I read it! I took the hula classes with my SIL and we had so much fun! The Hawaiian Ambassadors were great. Very friendly and genuine!

Glad you enjoyed the Hula classes. DW says I am both dance and musically challenged, so I stayed away from the classes. I would have looked like the male version of Lisa doing Hula Hana in the Dirty Dancing movie.

The Hawaiian Ambassadors were a great couple.

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