Day 01 - Saturday - 3/15/25 - Fort Lauderdale Embarkation
We had a good sleep and we were awakened by our multiple alarms at 8AM. We prepared for the day including packing our bags before heading to the breakfast area where we enjoyed conversation with a couple from Canada and ate our breakfast. I hadn't received confirmation of being on the shuttle so I went to the front desk and made the appropriate reservation for the 10 AM shuttle. We then gathered up our belongings and checked out of the hotel and waited for the shuttle. For the shuttle if you show up at the appointed time you're late. It's important to show up about 15 minutes early and in fact, we were loaded onto the shuttle about 20 minutes before our 10 o'clock departure.
The about 13 of us on the shuttle all of whom were going to the Sun Princess. However, we did not follow the direct route to the port and headed south and ended up picking up guests from another hotel. With those guests, the shuttle was pretty full and we headed directly to the port. Once at the port, we had our luggage removed from the trailer and claimed it. We then passed it to the Porter at the terminal and made our way into the terminal building via the green line. The green line means that one has pre-checked in and has a medallion. The security check was quick and efficient and we were through that in about 15 minutes. We then checked in which took another 10 minutes or so, and we were on board the ship by 10:45.
While our stateroom was not ready, we were able to drop our backpacks and then head off to explore the ship. We're taking this cruise specifically to explore this brand new princess ship which is in its inaugural year. We headed to the Soleil dining room and watched the muster drill video before checking in at our muster station. This completed two of the three steps of the muster process. We then explored the ship starting with deck seven and eight, which are largely shops, the Piazza, the main stage called the Arena, and the buffet areas. It was pleasant to note that the buffet on this ship is served by crew rather than everyone touching the serving utensils. It was also impressive to have a second buffet called the Americana, which was much more relaxed and less busy than the main buffet.
We ended up eating lunch in the SOLEIL dining room, where we shared some Thai spring rolls and a Montecristo sandwich. As part of our fare, we have a drink package for 15 sodas a day per person which we will never reach on a daily basis. After the captain's departure announcement (muster step #3), we went up to deck 19 (top deck) where we watched the sail away. With a 3 PM departure, we were the first ship to leave among the six who were in port. As we sailed out the channel with the condominiums on our port or left side the bridge team played the love boat theme on the ship's horns. It was also impressive. I would note that this ship, which is powered by liquid natural gas, did not emit any discernible smoke from the smoke stacks.
We explored more of the ship and noted that there is an adult only area in the forward part of the ship on deck 18 which is all glass and has a great forward facing view. We spent the remainder of our afternoon time in the Piazza listening to music and people watching.
For the first time in a long time, we decided to eat dinner in the SOLEIL dining room instead of the buffet, which is part of the group arrangement. The 5 o'clock dining time was perfect for us and we enjoyed the company of another married couple and two sisters from Connecticut. The food was terrific and the service was quite fast. Angela left a little early to go participate in karaoke and I went to the arena to save seats for us for the evening entertainment at 7:30. I was surprised that when I arrive 45 minutes before the start time that there was lots of space available as this room only holds 1000 people and there are over 5000 people on board. The entertainer tonight was a country western singer Tae Lewis, who was a participant on the TV program The Voice where he was the ninth place finisher in 2024. He was quite good and sang a number of cover songs. Even though the venue is quite small, the sight lines are good and I look forward to more performances there. We spent some time in the Piazza area where there was a game show called Port or Starboard. We finished up the evening attending a comedy show featuring Ken Boyd in Princess Live. It was OK, but the venue was really crowded and the sightlines were challenging. In fact, we sat behind a pole that could not yield any decent view of him performing. Based upon my early observations, it appears that most venues really don't have enough space for all the people. And when I went to check out specialty dining options, there were virtually no reservations available. So it looks like that we will eat dinner either in the SOLEIL dining room or in one of the buffets on deck nine. There are some good choices in the buffet area.
All things being equal, we are liking the ship, although it's quite a bit larger than what we typically have been sailing on. Tomorrow is a sea and we'll continue to explore the ship and enjoy the journey. I should note that this is the final cruise for this Caribbean season for the ship as it will head for Europe to sail the Mediterranean until next November. A number of people are on board who will do the crossing and we met one of those people earlier in the day today.
Tonight we gain an hour as we sail eastward to Honduras.
South? to Honduras?
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