Okay we're on board, now where's the food?

Once we used our cabin TV to watch the muster video twice (don't lean out onto your balcony while wearing your medallion or the TV stops thinking you're present to watch the video), we found our muster station to have our medallions scanned. Much easier version of a necessary process. No tripping over life jacket straps or standing in long lines under the hot sun on deck while sweat drips into unmentionable places. Our muster station was right by where we wanted to get lunch so we didn't even have to log extra steps!

One of Princess Cruises best kept secrets used to be Alfredo's pizza (now known as Gigi's on Enchanted Princess). It was rarely busy because most cruisers didn't realize that it's a completely free (included)  sit down pizza restaurant. You can also get salads, pasta, calzones, and desserts. They do have gluten free crust if you have dietary restrictions. While they have specific topping combinations for pizzas listed on the menu, you can easily order any version of available toppings to fit any allergies, dietary needs, or personal taste preferences. Unfortunately, the secret is now out as a great alternative to the buffet on embarkation day. We stopped by to have our first day lunch here but it was packed! 

To the buffet we headed and I honestly wasn't loving the options. I'm not normally a picky eater and love to try new foods but it was not the buffet I used to partake routinely finding plenty to fill my plate. I did try a little of everything I took but didn't feel a desire to finish any of it. 

Unfortunately, the one thing that has plagued us on every Royal class ship is the buffet drink service. And not just on embarkation day. Crew members routinely walked by offering drinks to everyone else nearby but then would skip over us. It makes me wonder whether we unknowingly put on Harry Potter's Invisibility Cloak each time we headed for a table to eat. We've had cruises where buffet service crew appears at your table to offer drinks before you can even put that second cheek on the chair, including other Princess ships. Not sure what changes when you try to dine on a Royal Class ship because it certainly wasn't a shortage of available crew in the area. 

After lunch, we headed down to the spa to check out the Enclave. We were looking forward to getting to partake of the Enclave access benefit included with our Sky Suite. We chatted with a lovely employee who set us up with a blue sticker to place on the back side of our medallions. This served as a way to identify who had "paid" for a pass without having to wait at the desk and formally check in each time. The spa crew member explained that we simply needed to show her the blue sticker as we walked by and she'd wave us through. She handed us a bag full of body scrub and scrubbing mitts for each of us to use as it was advised to do so before using the Enclave. We learned that using the product first is supposed to open up our pores and have the steam work better. Can you tell I'm not a big spa person?

We then chose to walk through and view the Enclave facilities for ourselves while we were there. It was nice to not have a forced tour or sales pitch push to sign up for services just to get our Enclave passes set up. There was already a handful of passengers using the loungers and the Enclave pool so I didn't take any pictures inside. There's some great walkthrough tours on YouTube if you're interested in seeing before you book. Unfortunately, Dad soon realized that he'd neglected to pack his bathing suit and never got to actually try out the Enclave like he'd been looking forward to the most. He did check out the shops on board but they only had one men's bathing suit option and the size options were too small. He would have had much better luck had we been going to a warmer location as there were plenty windbreakers and hoodies to buy.

Afterwards we returned to the cabin and found that the living room TV only worked for a couple steps into exploring the interactive system before hanging up. My attempts to troubleshoot the issue on my own resulted in a blank white screen. When our steward came by to introduce himself, Dad asked about the TV and it turns out the old "unplug and plug it back in" response was the answer. 

Here's Dad trying to figure out the telescope when he couldn't watch TV. Yes, that's the white screen of nothingness in the picture, not glare from the sun. He did carry the telescope out onto the balcony but couldn't get it to work outside or in the cabin. I never got the chance to try it myself because the weather kept us and the telescope inside nearly every day.

When our steward stopped by, he left us each a Canadian customs form to fill out. The accompanying letter told us that we had to return the completed form to our steward by the next day at 6PM. We filled ours out and left them sitting on the desk expecting to hand them in when we saw our steward next. By the time we returned to our cabin that evening, the forms had been collected during evening turn down service saving us the trouble.

I braved the cold wind outside to check out our view of the sailaway party:

Cruise Director Marcus manned the DJ booth while his cruise staff Rafael, Niki, Corey, and Jayson (with a Y!) led the crowd in dances.

Then it was time for the professional singers and dancers to join the fun and perform Princess' official Sail Away song and dance routine. This also was a great vantage point when the cast changed near the end of the cruise and had to rehearse this dance on deck with the new members. 

It's a good thing I didn't need a lot of time to get ready for dinner as I stayed out on the balcony as long as I could to catch some of the best views sailing out of New York offers.

As we finished getting ready for dinner, the first of several of the same canape plate was delivered to our cabin. This particular one had toast circles with either salmon mousse, tuna mousse, shrimp, or caviar. I'm always hesitant when we discover one of these plates delivered to our cabin in our absence because of how long the seafood had been sitting out. We've had some on various cruises where we pop the lid to discover what we got and the smell hits our noses before we can even consider eating any of it. I wish all cruise lines would either leave off the seafood when delivering these plates or only deliver it when you know the passenger is going to be there to consume it right away. It would save on food waste and I'd much rather come back to something I don't have to worry about food safety to enjoy after a long day out of the cabin. 

Plus the single strawberry tucked into lettuce/cabbage leaves may have become my new favorite garnish. It always reminded me for some reason of Seymour from Little Shop of Horrors. At one point, we saw the same setup but with the strawberry sliced before being reassembled and placed inside the leaves. Must have been the strawberry's version of formal night.