December 2021 - Cruising in the Times of Covid

  Another quiet day.  Spent most of it in the cabin, especially since we saw on the CDC website that the Majestic, along with most of the ship's now sailing, have Covid. It could be just one crew member or 0.10% of passengers.  Either way, seemed prudent to avoid crowds again. The weather has gotten much colder, so hanging out on the deck wasn't pleasant. Dinner again at Allegro, although apparently, I hadn't made the 6 pm booking so there was a bit of confusion. Michael ordered a martini and as with prior drinks, there was no toothpick for the olives or a napkin. The only way to get a napkin with a drink or coffee is to request it. After dinner, we used the other at-home Covid test we bought in Irvine.  Negative, so on to Redmond tomorrow.   All in all, it was a pleasant enough cruise.  However, we did decide after a few days that we really like the smaller ships and the service we get on Regent.  So this may have been our last Princess cruise un...

  Another quiet day. Breakfast in the dining room, lunch at the buffet. We're trying to stay away from crowded places so we spent some time at the pool until it got noisy, then to the Hollywood pool, but it is so cold there, we ended back in our cabin on the balcony. Dinner was at the other main dining room, Allegro, which we liked better for the decor. Concerto is the traditional Princess browns and beiges. Allegro is darker wood and black. It seems a bit more elegant. It was the second formal night so escargot and lobster were on the menu. It was good, not great. We had to ask for the melted butter. Michael liked his Beef Wellington better.  He also asked for a Grand Marnier with dessert which never came, although it was on our account this morning. We skipped the show again, mostly because I'd rather avoid crowds.  I asked a member of the medical staff if the passengers would be told if there was Covid on board.  She said we would not. At first, that surprised me,...

  Another quiet day. Local time is one hour later again, but the ship is not changing time for just one day. So all day, my phone says local time and I have to stop and think.  We didn't get off the ship again but just lazed around. Was able to have a Duo call with Jan. We noticed yesterday on our account that we were charged $150 each for the pier side Covid tests when they were supposed to be $100. We asked Guest Services about correcting it and he tried but said he "didn't like what it was telling him", so he just removed the $300. Nice. The  Viking Orion is in port with us along with a Mexican luxury cruise ship from the Verdanta line. Had dinner at Harmony, the Asian specialty restaurant, which was good.  Then watched a forgettable movie in the cabin. A nice touch on this ship is that the cabin decks have red carpets on the starboard side and blue on the port side. That used to be the case on ships in the past, but then they seemed to get away from it. Glad they...

  It was a pretty subdued Christmas. The ship had a group caroling session before dinner and the show was a holiday-themed music show which we skipped. We had dinner again with Zach, Kirsten, Joe (her dad), and Vicky and Phil.  This was by chance since we took a sharing table. It was another fun evening. We've been distancing a bit more now that passengers are getting off the ship. We are wondering if we should say that we've traveled to a foreign country if we never step foot off the ship?

  Last night was better without the lights going on with every movement.  Breakfast in the dining room was nice and we chatted with a mother and daughter at the next table. They were on the  Coral Princess in South America when Covid hit and they ended up being on for 2 extra weeks until they were allowed back into the US.  The first week was OK, but they were confined to their cabins for the second week. There was illness and even one death on board. They gave everyone balconies and free WiFi and arranged flights and private cars to get everyone back to their homes. We had pretty much decided not to get off the ship at the ports since we've seen them many times and figure there is no need to risk a land-based Covid exposure.  So we spent the day just lounging around the pool area. Even though we were both in the shade, we got red on our faces.  Lunch was at the burger/lobster spot. They charge $15 for a lobster roll.  Seems a bit cheeky, but I tried o...

  It was a long night with that darn hall light going on every time we went to the bathroom.  Engineering came and put up some electric tape over the motion sensor this morning.  The light next to my bed went off if I just moved the blankets too aggressively, but we'll put a small pillow in front of them tonight. Had breakfast in the main dining room.  Then hung out up in the adult pool area until I went to a lecture by a man who knew Lucille Ball. It was rather sad actually that this was the most significant thing in his life. Had lunch in the main dining room. It seems that the menu choices are fewer and the portions are smaller, but the food is generally good. Stayed around the Hollywood pool for the afternoon. It is air-conditioned and is a bit chilly.  The ship seems to have music everywhere and, of course, now it's Christmas music which has gotten very old. Dinner at our own table was good, but the tables are very close, so you might as well be sharing. It...

We decided to try cruising again to see what it's like in the Covid Times.  We selected the Majestic Princess 7 day cruise to Mexico out of San Pedro, since we were going to visit with Andrew, Lindsay, and Henry (his 1st birthday is December 20) anyway.  So a fter a lovely visit with Andrew, Lindsay, and Henry, we spent the night before the cruise at the Westin Long Beach.  Nice enough hotel.  Dinner was a bunch of their appetizers and breakfast was a lovely Chia Pudding with coconut and craisins.  Have to try that at home. We had taken an at-home Covid test at Andrew's so that there wouldn't be any surprises when we had to test again at the pier.  We needed a negative witnessed test within 2 days of sailing. Caught an Uber to the pier and got there about 10:30 for our 11:00 am covid test appointment.   We did the preliminary security check-in and were then directed to the testing area. They didn't seem terribly organized and seemed surprised when...