Round The World and other travels
A frequent flyer's collection of trip diaries
This is: Mediterranean Magic (2016)
Cruising the Ionian Sea
With this being a day at sea, there was absolutely no imperative to be up and about at the crack of dawn. We enjoyed a lie-in and then, again in line with previous cruise ship routine, took a break from the International Café and sampled the breakfast buffet at Horizon Court. Royal Princess would spend most of the day on a NNW heading, as she traversed the Ionian Sea en route to the Adriatic. It has always intrigued me that the Mediterranean has numerous sections - such as the Aegean, Tyrrhenian and Balearic seas, in addition to the two already mentioned and many others - which are named as seas in their own right, yet remain parts of the Med.
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Meanwhile, we were free to do as we pleased, and got started by making a photographic tour of the ship. Most of these pictures appear on the Cruise Ship page (see black menu bar above) but a few extra 'bonus shots' are shown here as well.
Time passed quickly, and we soon had to make our
way to Club 6 for the 'Brunchtime Trivia Challenge' quiz,
which turned out to be rather more difficult than anticipated.
Rather
than licking our wounds over the quiz, we then made for the
Ocean Terrace seafood bar, one of the venues overlooking the
ship's central atrium. This was a new Princess Cruises dining brand
as far as both of us were concerned, and we ended up having a truly
wonderful lunch. Sitting at the bar and watching the chef prepare
our dishes, we enjoyed some salted soya beans, a selection of sushi,
some seaweed salad and a portion of Hawaiian poke. (If
you're not familiar with the latter item, it's a salad of raw,
marinated fish - usually tuna - and it's pronounced poh-keh.)
With all of this being washed down with a very nice Chablis, it made
for a hugely enjoyable and (mostly) healthy lunch!
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Later in the afternoon, an attempt to sit by the pool for a while was foiled when it turned out that all the seats had already been taken. We found a relatively quiet spot on one side of the ship, but it wasn't very warm due to a strong breeze. I felt as though I was visiting Venice Beach in California, as members of the strongman act that we had already encountered (Trio Aeroflot) were working out and practising their routines in public.
It was the first of two formal nights on the
cruise. We dressed appropriately and each put our best foot forward
to call once more at Crooners for cocktails. Again
following the previous evening's routine, we moved on to the
Allegro dining room for the second time. We soon decided that
it would be the last time as once again, the complete lack of
ambience led to dissatisfaction and disappointment.
