Saturday, February 24, 2007

A FULL DAY AT SEA

TAHITIAN PRINCESS - SEPTEMBER 2004

A full day at sea (two or three for cruises lasting from seven to fourteen days) is an interesting experience, as it allows you to fully enjoy the ship: your cabin, in particular if you have a balcony (we had one in Deck Seven), the spas, and the pools, jacuzzis, golf practices, jogging tracks, shops, lounges, theatres, bars or, if you like it, the casinos... This time, further to all this, we could also enjoy the Library and Card Room as well as the Internet satellite connection provided for by the Tahitian Princess!


"TAHITIAN PRINCESS is described at the Princess website as «our pearl of the Pacific. Smaller in size yet rich in amenities this beautiful vessel features an array of onboard activities. Relax on deck by the pool or get a massage at the Lotus Spa. At night, fine fare abounds in refined dining rooms and specialty restaurants, with live entertainment rivalling anything on shore. And this ship offers more than 200 balcony staterooms so you won't have to miss a single sunset». This time the publicity was not that far from reality..."


"CORRIDOR - The Tahitian is not that huge if compared with the new floating islands for four thousand and more passengers. Anyhow, the cabin corridor was large enough!"


"THE SWIMMING POOL is one of the spots some of the 670 passengers head to during a full day at sea. If you're lucky enough you may get a place at one of the ship's two open air bubbling hot tubs..."



"UPPER HALL at Deck Five"



"LADIES IN THE STAIRS linking the Upper Hall to the Reception Hall"


"RECEPTION HALL at Deck Four"


"CLUB BAR"



"CHEFS - Further to enjoying the ship, a full day at sea also allows you to make some discovery tours. This one was made to the kitchens, where we could meet the Chefs. The food onboard was perfectly ok, and the publicity at Princess Website states that «chefs are true culinary artists who insist on serving the very finest cuisine - and it shows. Our entire fleet has been inducted into the prestigious Chaîne des Rôtisseurs gastronomic society. Each chef's menu is creative and the selections change every day». That's true, but reading some recipes from Cris (just see the Jambalaya) and Carla, I feel the Princess' Chefs could do even better at the Tahitian..."



"COCKTAILS - Captain's Night is a tradition in every cruise, though not necessarily during a full day at sea..."


"FORMAL DINNER at the Club restaurant"


"CASUAL DINNER at the Club restaurant. There are several other casual spots to have some food during the day: the Panorama buffet, the Wine and caviar bar, the Patisserie, the Pizzeria and the Deck barbeque"


"TURBULENT DINNER - On September 9th, during a full day at sea from Rarotonga towards Raiatea, I had my birthday. We had dinner at one of the ship's specialty restaurants, the Sabatini's! While we tasted the Dom Perignon from the bottle that Guida had surprisingly ordered to be put on ice some time before, a huge wave hit the Tahitian on the side. The back of the ship, where the Sabatini’s is located somehow jumped, and the result was that the champagne, as well as the Barolo red wine was thrown all over the table. The result can be seen..."



"HAPPY BIRTHDAY - We moved to another table, the waiters opened new bottles, on the House, and we finished the superb dinner quite well, with happy birthday chocolate cakes and singing, though the sea continued to be a bit rough..."

11 comments:

Cris said...

Gil, mesmo com medo do mar eu pretendo fazer um cruzeiro um dia. Que surpresa agradável ver meu blog citado além-mar! Espero que prove a jambalaya.

GMG said...

Olá Cris,

afinal experimentei hoje, porque hoje é nsábado, e já provei... Ficou óptima, apesar de ter trocado uma colher de chá de pimenta de caiena por uma colher de sobremesa. Mas, corrigindo com a água e o arroz, ficou super...
Obrigado
Gil

Carla Ventura said...

Olá, gil! Que bem ver meu modesto blog citado por aqui. Aliás, que fotos hein! Té mais

Anonymous said...

Olá Carla,
a citação é mais que justa e o blog tem ideias magníficas...

Ming the Merciless said...

I'm the only person in my immediate family who hasn't been on a cruise. My parents loved it. My brother and his family took the kids on the Disney cruise a couple of times already.

NYTimes.com just had an article on free-style cruising -- cheap, food and beverage not included, etc.

Anonymous said...

Don't worry; there are cruises for all ages, and it's never too late to start!
No-frills cruises started two years ago, but I'm not sure I would appreciate... See the article in Smarter travel:
http://www.smartertravel.com/travel-advice/frills-cruise-line-debuts.html?id=12687
Take care

Dsole said...

Wow, i have never been into a cruise but you just makes me so jelaous! What a lovely holidays! and what an amazing places you have visited!
Thanks for stopping by my blog!
Greetings from madrid :)

Anonymous said...

Thanks dsole!
I'm always thinking of going back to Madrid, but always delaying the re-visit. Maybe this time with the good reason of the Tintoretto exhibition, I’ll find some time to go there. Anyhow, last October/November, I connected flights for five times at Barajas Terminal 4; that’s why I was so impressed by your photo, though I must confess that I’m not very fond of the train link…
All the best
Trotter

Ash said...

One word -- WOW!!!!

GMG said...

Thks Ash!

Anonymous said...

Well written article.