Majestic May Begins!
With a 10pm departure, boarding was not starting until 1pm. Residential Liberty Hotel required a 10am checkout so we walked our luggage across the street to drop our bags and go explore freely. Many others were doing the same. As they dropped off their luggage, they were sent through a line that led them back to shore. For some reason, after we handed off ours, the port worker asked my tier level. I told her I was Elite and she gave us two options: !. We could comfortably wait in the lounge with snacks and drinks, or we could proceed to check in and board the ship. No brainer! We boarded right away!
As you can see, we had checked in, set up all of our dinner reservations and ordered our first Bailey’s and Cappuccino by 10:30am. The ship was empty everywhere we went. Warm weather had us finding a comfy spot to enjoy our caffeine!
No line for coffee… no line for dinner reservations. This time, we got every time slot we wanted. Ironically, the last time I was on this ship, Barry and I were on a sailing from Sydney, Australia to Singapore. Halfway through our trip, Singapore shut down its port due to Covid. We were given an option to disembark at any of our port stops OR we could stay on until Perth (Fremantle). Princess offered two free days onboard with free Wifi to make plans for getting home. Only two hundred passengers remained for the last couple of days. We had free run of the ship. Once again, we had the ship to ourselves, just as I left it in February 2020.
So hard to make a decision when everything is free… way too many choices haha. Roxanne strolled along the SkyWalk. Of course, I just took photos because being 16 stories above the water is not my cup of tea. We decided upon this group of wicker chairs. Usually full, we decided to take advantage of their availability!
Not only were we allowed to board early, we also had the earliest access to our cabins. Roxanne and I each had a free cruise… hers a balcony, mine an interior. We had to book both in order to get free play. We had upgrade offers so I put in to move from a balcony to a mini-suite. The bid was accepted! Not really needing the interior, we decided to make it our closet. Clothes, etc went in that cabin. Princess stocked the room with these small bottles… by 11:48, we were all settled in our cabins! Best boarding experience ever!
Door decorated… complete with Mediterranean magnets! Initially, our itinerary included Santorini but that was changed to Crete. However, the Colosseum, Tower of Pisa, Parthenon were appropriate for our voyage!
Our view of Trieste from the balcony. After days of exploring by land, it was a relief to be settled in our safe nest! Relaxation and rejuvenation lie ahead!
First dinner onboard… Catch by Rudy. Wow! What an amazing dining experience. We had a nice table. Peak dinner time, passengers still hadn’t boarded. We had the restaurant to ourselves, so the service was impeccable!
Our waiter, Nathaniel, was so much fun! We had a great time together because he wasn’t rushed. He was playful and our meal was well paced. We had a fun evening for our first night. We goofed around for several more hours before Sailaway. Then retired for the evening…
