20240505 Sapphire Princess South Pacific Cruise Day 32 - Sea day 7 of 8 back to San Pedro - Today, we're all Mexican

Sapphire Princess South Pacific Cruise Day 32 - Sea Day #7 back to L.A. - Cinco de Mayo

Brr...this morning, we awoke to 54F. Brr...did I say that already? We will be in this cooler weather for the duration of this journey. The predicted weather for L.A. on Tuesday includes a low in the low 50s for our arrival. Good thing it will be in the 90s back home!

We made our final cruise time change last night so we're on Pacific time, three hours behind the U.S. East Coast. Easy sailing from here on, as far as time changes go.

The Captain was almost giddy in his midday announcement. We have no isolated patients and no new cases of gastrointestinal distress. It looks like we've beaten this outbreak (don't call it norovirus, even though that's what it was) so we should be good for the rest of the cruise - that's tomorrow.

We passed 30 days at sea so Princess required every passenger to report to their respective muster station today and check in. We're not sure why. They claim that it is a SOLAS (Safety Of Life As Sea) code requirement. Unless there has been a recent change, we don't agree.  We've been on longer cruises and only reported to muster stations upon embarkation. This is the first time we've had to report twice. Weird.  Regardless, we did it and it didn't work. We both scanned our medallions and the crew reported that we were checked in. But, this is what I see in the Princess app.

Somehow, it missed me. I reported it to Guest Services and they said they would take care of updating it, but that was eight hours ago, so I expect it won't get resolved. No matter, we leave the ship on Tuesday and it's not like they can kick me off tomorrow. Still, it was a minor annoyance trying to get it resolved without resolution.

It was a rough trivia this morning and noon progressive trivia has challenges as well. The afternoon was goofy by design with several off-the-wall questions. The misses:

• Where were the 2000 Summer Olympics held?
• We could remember every other recent one other than the 2000 Sydney Olympics
• Where is the world's largest Starbucks?
• Why is it in Chicago?
• The search company, Yahoo - what does Yahoo stand for?
• Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle
• Who was the highest-paid athlete in 2023?
• Cristiano Ronaldo
• Apart from the Bible and Qur'an, what is the bestselling book of all time?
• Guinness Book of World Records - there are lists on the internet that dispute this claim, so don't quote me on this
• The song, "If I Fell" is featured in what 1964 Beatles film?
• A Hard Day's Night
• Walt Disney was afraid of? (Mice, snakes, ducks, all three)
• We guessed all three, but he was afraid of mice
• The passenger in the first hot air balloon ride was? (Rooster, duck, sheep, all three)
• All three!
• Actor James Franco once sold a sculpture made entirely of? (Dryer lint, cigarette butts, air)
• Air! Someone paid $10,000, seriously - back in 2011 - Google it
• What animal holds its breath the longest (Otters, sloths, dolphins, hippos)?
• We guessed hippos, but it is sloths - they are excellent swimmers and can hold their breath for 40 minutes!
• We got this right, but wow! What is the largest number of children born to one woman (19, 29, 49, 69)?
• Unbelievably, it is 69 - read about it in Guinness World Records

Today is Cinco De Mayo. This celebrates the date of the Mexican army’s May 5, 1862 victory over France at the Battle of Puebla during the Franco-Mexican War. Interestingly enough, Mexicans could not care less. But in the US, much like St. Patrick's Day where we're all Irish, on May 5th, we all become Mexican.

We opted to celebrate with street tacos and margaritas for lunch. Seemed appropriate, right?

A little after lunch, we headed to the Explorers Bar and grabbed a table for a margarita and to play cribbage. We didn't have a board so we went old school with Arlona tallying scores on paper. She won convincingly. Did I mention she was keeping the score? (seriously, it was no contest - I had a zero hand and multiple two-point cribs - can't win like that - she skunked me for a double win). We wrapped up the afternoon trivia and went to get dressed for the final formal night.

Just a quick selfie tonight

We dined on surf and turf in the form of braised short ribs and lobster tail. It was, in a word, fabulous. The ribs were tender and flavorful and the lobster was firm and sweet.  Yum!

We opted for the signature dessert tonight, a praline, hazelnut mousse.

The taste was good, but the texture was off - way off. The dark coating had almost a gelatin-like consistency. We've found several Princess desserts like this. It throws the whole experience off.  The mousse inside was a little spongy when it should have been creamy and melted in the mouth. The macarons were good, so that was a win.

We returned to the Explorers Bar for a Top Five game. We were given a list of top five items in a variety of categories with one of them missing. We had to identify the missing one. I would give you an example, but every single one I looked up to validate showed something completely different from what the hosts presented. Wow. So while it was fun, we really didn't learn anything as it looks like all their answers were wrong. Oh well.

Next up was a game called Read My Lips. One by one, each member of the entertainment team, Fortuna Luck, DJ Denzel, Bernardo, Adrianna, Javier, Victoria, and Mayte took turns acting out and lip-syncing to different songs. A team of three singers and musicians judged and selected the top three. The audience selected the winner. It was not what we were expecting, and it was uproariously fun. There were surprises, silliness, and a good time for everyone there.

For us, it was time to retire to C-115 for the second to last time. Tomorrow will include more trivia and packing and checking in to Tuesday's Southwest flight right at noon to potentially score an A boarding group number, B at the worst. Send positive vibes for fast fingers and a good internet connection at noon Pacific time!