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2013 Christmas Cruise on Royal Princess - A Photo Review!

LittleMissMagic

By LittleMissMagic,
in Princess Cruises

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whynotsooner

whynotsooner

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This review is amazing and so are your photographs! My winter break is over in two day and reading this is really bringing back from the memories from three weeks ago when we were on Royal. The week before you! I'm telling myself that its just my vacation home and that I'll me back soon...yeah right!

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Bimmer09 "Live from...." Rare

Bimmer09

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Thank you, thank you! I love my loyal readers! :)

 

Count me among them Victoria. I always enjoy your reviews.

New camera-what fun!

 

Norris

in frigid Chicago

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dlynn0366

dlynn0366

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I am trying to find your review of the epic, does anyone have a link? I usually sail Princess but we are trying the Epic in March. Thanks

 

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Tapatalk

 

If you look at the bottom of her posts u will see all her cruises listed & there are 2 for the Epic, click on Picture Review & this will take you to review.

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clean1owner

clean1owner

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I've never really photographed food before, but I gave it an ambitious start on this sailing. I forgot a lot of courses and brought heavy doses of embarrassment to Rachel (Who was she trying to impress - ratty ballcap boy?). Also, note that I am very inexperienced with the exterior flash. This was a learning experience!

 

11655074663_327d6b387b_b.jpg

12.22.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

Egg rolls as an appetizer

 

And I guess I was too hungry and devoured my entree before photographing it... or maybe I was just frazzled by the lady at the table next to me (not related to the large party of obnoxious people) who looked at me photographing my appetizer and said, "Oh, that's a girl thing. Girls always photograph their food." No, it's not! It's a nerdy travel blogger thing! Am I really more normal than I think??

 

So here's dessert!

 

11655076583_8214579651_b.jpg

12.22.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

If you can't win, fight back! Rachel found it hilarious to take a bite of the food I was photographing - whether it was hers or mine.

 

11655179924_31d92a9b5c_b.jpg

12.22.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

 

I very seldom photograph my food, but I do take pictures of all the menus. Do you suppose that still qualifies me to be a nerdy travel blogger?

 

 

P.S. Happy belated Birthday! (We share the date)

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LittleMissMagic "Live from...." Rare

LittleMissMagic

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Camera nerd question. Which Tamron 17-50mm lens do you have? Apparently, there are two

 

Tamron SP AF 17-50mm f/2.8 XR Di-II VC LD Aspherical (IF) Lens

 

and

 

Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 XR Di-II LD Aspherical [iF] Autofocus Lens

 

I'm asking, because I really like the dessert picture above, and noticed that the aperture on the pic was f/2.8. None of the three lenses I own open that wide, and I'm starting to feel like I really "need" one to get those blurred out backgrounds :o

 

I now have the lens that I got two cameras ago which is a basic Canon 18-55mm; plus a Tamron 18-200mm, good all around but I wanted something higher quality; which is why I got my Canon 18-135mm when I got the new camera. I found I wasn't zooming out to 200mm anyway, ever. So I figured less zoom, higher quality would work for me for everything. However, now, I want more lenses. More more more. :eek: :D

 

My new setup feels so much heavier than my old combo (Canon T1i plus the Tamron lens) even though the difference is only 10oz (I weighed them on my postal scale). I was looking at the two Tamron 17-50 lenses and one of them weighs even MORE than the lens I'm using. I'm going to need a cart to haul this stuff around :(

 

The lens I have is listed on Amazon as the Tamron SP AF 17-50mm F/2.8 XR Di-II LD SP Aspherical (IF) Zoom Lens. I knew that I wanted a lens with a really wide aperture because I often shoot handheld in low-lighting situations, and I also love some buttery bokeh. I chose this lens as an upgrade to the kit lens (and ultimately didn't even purchase the kit, but went body only) after reading this review by Tom Bricker on the Disney Tourist Blog. As of October 2013, it's no longer his number one choice as an upgrade for a kit lens, but I wanted the longer focal length of 50mm (his new number one recommendation is the Sigma 18-35 f/1.8).

 

I completely understand what you mean by wanting more, more, more! If lenses weren't so expensive (and heavy), I'd have a big problem!

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LittleMissMagic "Live from...." Rare

LittleMissMagic

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I very seldom photograph my food, but I do take pictures of all the menus. Do you suppose that still qualifies me to be a nerdy travel blogger?

 

 

P.S. Happy belated Birthday! (We share the date)

 

I think you could definitely give yourself the title of nerdy travel blogger! :) And thank you for the birthday wishes - my grandfather and a few other awesome people were also born on that day!

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LittleMissMagic "Live from...." Rare

LittleMissMagic

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Now back to your (not so) regularly scheduled TR.....

 

Before moving onto the next day, I'd like to mention our evening activities. Princess had an 18-20 meet and greet scheduled. Though no longer 20, we decided to swing by to maybe meet some other college students. It was held in the Princess Live Lounge outside of the theater, so we figured that we could just scope out the crowd while walking by and decide if we should go back or not. Well, before we reached the group, we spotted a cast member with a clipboard (usually these activities are just suggestions and not really organized) and decided that this was not something we wanted to do. "Walk, walk!" We quickly walked and were passing the group when a hand reached out. "Oh my GOSH! You probably don't remember us, but we were on the cruise with you last year!" We did remember them, and they were on the Island Princess with us last year. This isn't the first time that we've randomly run into someone who was on our Christmas Cruise before (last time it was the girl who paraded herself around the ship as "Miss Florida," wearing a crown and sash everywhere she went on the Grandeur of the Seas in 2009 and then the Carnival Dream in 2010). These cruises are many family's traditions, and there are only so many each year, so it make sense that you would run into people again. These girls were from a family of four sisters ranging in age from 14 to 23, and we always referred to them as the South Carolina girls because one of them went to the University of South Carolina last year, but she since transferred. They actually live in Georgia.

 

Club 6 might be the lamest club I've ever visited on a ship... and this includes the Grandma of the Seas. The lights were on which is a big club no - no one wants to actually see the person they're dancing with. And the dance floor was in an awkward location between a wall and a bar facing the dance floor. They need to redesign.

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LittleMissMagic "Live from...." Rare

LittleMissMagic

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December 23, 2013 - Princess Cays

 

Rachel and I ordered room service for the morning. Princess's breakfast room service menu is really limited, and the breakfast sandwiches aren't very good, but it was fun to eat breakfast on the balcony.

 

11667759333_41fcedb6ae_b.jpg

12.23.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

11667863564_abc7231fe3_b.jpg

12.23.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

We got ready for a day at the beach and went to tender. You have to get a tender ticket in the dining room before you can tender, but they don't actually collect the tickets.

 

11668270816_87309ba6b7_b.jpg

12.23.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

11667758813_7d172b8fbc_b.jpg

12.23.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

He's cool.

 

11667505085_18c7df083b_b.jpg

12.23.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

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LittleMissMagic "Live from...." Rare

LittleMissMagic

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While I was taking photos, Dad and Rachel found a shark...

 

11667861274_df61b78439_b.jpg

12.23.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

11755488315_06dee8c9e2_b.jpg

Princess Cays by vshingl, on Flickr

 

11667503115_333a040a2a_b.jpg

12.23.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

We found chairs on the last beach heading towards the cabanas, and I went exploring. There's a fun little lookout structure which lets you see possibly more of the island than you should be able to.

 

11667858224_2112ee643e_b.jpg

12.23.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

11667502805_5f56a66d06_b.jpg

12.23.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

11667756023_96336bbdcd_b.jpg

12.23.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

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LittleMissMagic "Live from...." Rare

LittleMissMagic

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This guy must've spotted me and wanted to make sure that I didn't have an advantage for "our competition."

 

11668270776_dd62674205_b.jpg

12.23.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

11667500895_171358526c_b.jpg

12.23.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

11667858084_7698e6db8a_b.jpg

12.23.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

I ventured to the cabanas...

 

11667753373_c09ce2f4f7_b.jpg

12.23.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

11667480185_9042bdf542_b.jpg

12.23.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

 

11668289936_b0dca8843d_b.jpg

12.23.13 by vshingl, on Flickr

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