"Live" Majestic Princess, 33-Days, Apr 10th to May 12th, Sydney to Seattle (+6 Nights Sydney Pre-Cruise)

jeromep · May 9

17 minutes ago, EDVM96 said:

What a superb weather.

I'd say most of the Pacific Northwest has had a great day today. It is the warmest day we have had all spring. Full sun and 80 degrees east of the Cascades. The coast appears similar, although cooler.

memoak · May 10

33 minutes ago, jeromep said:

I'd say most of the Pacific Northwest has had a great day today. It is the warmest day we have had all spring. Full sun and 80 degrees east of the Cascades. The coast appears similar, although cooler.

Gorgeous day in Portland today. Blue sky and puffy clouds

Auntiejo · May 10

I can’t even believe the weather you scored in Vancouver! Hoping to be that lucky in a few weeks during our 3 day pre cruise stay!

LACruiser88 · May 10

Tonight when we went down to Vines for our pre-dinner vino, we found this sign.

Apparently, Canadian rules only allow one open bar per deck while in Canadian waters. We had never heard of this ridiculous rule! We walked to the Crown Grill Bar and found it 5 people deep with a line down the hallway!

We walked to The Catch hoping to get a "good" glass of wine. Mario, the Restaurant Manager, was pulling his hair out because all of their wines had been locked up and they were having to run to the Concerto MDR service bar to pick up wine for his diners. Same situation at Alfredo's Pizzeria. Crazy!!! We will have the same situation tomorrow in Victoria.

There are also a bunch kids running around now. There are close to 500 under 18 yr olds onboard. The majority of the new passengers will be disembarking in 3 days in Seattle.

There has definitely been a shift in "energy" onboard now.

LACruiser88 · May 10

LACruiser88 · May 10

Edited May 10 by LACruiser88

dreaminofcruisin · May 10

6 hours ago, LACruiser88 said:

Apparently, Canadian rules only allow one open bar per deck while in Canadian waters. We had never heard of this ridiculous rule! We walked to the Crown Grill Bar and found it 5 people deep with a line down the hallway!

This has been true for many years. We first heard of it on an East coast Canada New England cruise in 2017. At least you will only be briefly in Canadian ports. On our cruise it was several days.

PescadoAmarillo · May 10

9 hours ago, LACruiser88 said:

Tonight when we went down to Vines for our pre-dinner vino, we found this sign.

There has definitely been a shift in "energy" onboard now.

Those shifts in energy are always so interesting to witness. No two cruises are alike, even on the same ship.

I’m still following with much interest. I hadn’t yet mentioned that I caught a wild hair (or is it hare?) just prior to your arrival in Auckland and nearly flew down to join the ship. I think Auckland was on a Friday, and I would have had to leave on Wednesday and actually applied for (and got) the NZETA overnight Monday, and made sure I had enough meds, and DH brought up my suitcase from the basement (I would have gone alone as we had already bought our annuals which needed to be tended to until planted) and I waited until Tuesday to pull the plug and book…and then I was up all Monday night worried about my suitcase not making it and trying to figure out how to pack for that long in a carry on since I’d have gone directly from the airport to the ship and…well, I obviously didn’t join you. But I’ve added a glass of wine to most of my days, and read your Live From and nearly felt like I had. And look at the money I saved (and SWA points. I just cancelled the flight I booked home from Seattle on Sunday).

And that NZETA? It’s good for a year. Must get down there. Can’t let that $13.50 go to waste!

WisCruiser2 · May 10

41 minutes ago, PescadoAmarillo said:

@PescadoAmarillo I miss reading your blogs, hope you do hop back on a ship in the near future!

LACruiser88 · May 10

@PescadoAmarillo It would have been fun! Maybe on our next one? 🤷‍♂️

LACruiser88 · May 10

3 hours ago, dreaminofcruisin said:

This has been true for many years. We first heard of it on an East coast Canada New England cruise in 2017. At least you will only be briefly in Canadian ports. On our cruise it was several days.

It has been a few years since we have sailed in Canada, either we don't remember this or we did not stay in port until so late? 🤷‍♂️

Luckily, we still had a bottle of Shiraz (from Sydney) in our room. We took it to Vines and our favorite stools! And had a good 'ol time! 🍷

We have secured a bottle of Silverado Cab for tonights repeat performance!

HotRoot · May 10

Do we know anything about Saturday? Will all bars be open or are we still in Canadian waters?

LACruiser88 · May 10

On our way to Victoria, 11 am arrival. All onboard at 10:30 pm. It is going to be another warm day!

LACruiser88 · May 10

4 minutes ago, HotRoot said:

Do we know anything about Saturday? Will all bars be open or are we still in Canadian waters?

We will be in Canadian waters until we leave Victoria tonight. Bar situation will be the same tonight. And, I might add that the new passengers are a drinking crowd!

Edited May 10 by LACruiser88

HotRoot · May 10

So, we are back to normal on Saturday.

LACruiser88 · May 10

LACruiser88 · May 10

1 minute ago, HotRoot said:

So, we are back to normal on Saturday.

Yes

memoak · May 10

10 hours ago, LACruiser88 said:

Tonight when we went down to Vines for our pre-dinner vino, we found this sign.

Apparently, Canadian rules only allow one open bar per deck while in Canadian waters. We had never heard of this ridiculous rule! We walked to the Crown Grill Bar and found it 5 people deep with a line down the hallway!

We walked to The Catch hoping to get a "good" glass of wine. Mario, the Restaurant Manager, was pulling his hair out because all of their wines had been locked up and they were having to run to the Concerto MDR service bar to pick up wine for his diners. Same situation at Alfredo's Pizzeria. Crazy!!! We will have the same situation tomorrow in Victoria.

There are also a bunch kids running around now. There are close to 500 under 18 yr olds onboard. The majority of the new passengers will be disembarking in 3 days in Seattle.

There has definitely been a shift in "energy" onboard now.

That Canadian regulation has been around for several years. Wish they would warn people in advance. Caught us by surprise right after the restart. All booze had to be locked up before Canadian authorities come on board or they face a huge fine

LACruiser88 · May 10

The quiet, calm environment of breakfast in the Harmony Restaurant was quite different this morning. There is now a family group of 12 and another family group of 8 in the dining room. There are 8 young kids within the two groups.

The scene this morning was quite the "Ship Show!" We felt sorry for the poor servers. I think we probably should have disembarked in Vancouver. No more short legs in our future cruises!

Off now to explore Victoria and the gardens...

Edited May 10 by LACruiser88

Kari and David · May 10

At an ER over an hour away from port awaiting X-rays. Need a number to call to contact with ship. Left ship in Vancouver so have no local contacts for Victoria. Please text me details at 702 204 6310. Thanks in advance. All fingers crossed we make it back for all aboard

LACruiser88 · May 10

We had a fabulous day in Victoria today! The weather was perfect. We walked from the ship to downtown, about a 30 minute stroll.

Once we arrived downtown, I checked Uber for the fare to Butchart Gardens. It was $48 USD one way! Having been there years ago, we decided to stay in town. We walked all over town, including their small Chinatown.

We had a great lunch at Nautical Nellie's Steak & Seafood House on Wharf St. We had raw oysters and Lobster quesadillas. Delicious!!! We highly recommend this restaurant.

Then we strolled back to the ship after a full day in town. On our way back, we walked past momma & daddy Honkers and their gaggle of babies!