Nov. 20 – 27, 2021

Once cruising restarted gradually, we were eager to go out and cruise again after we were fully vaccinated. We bet that the pandemic would be all over by the fall after most people would be vaccinated, as all experts predicted. We booked a seven days Bahamas cruise trip on Crystal Serenity for early November, the same ship of our 2020 world cruise trip. We were excited about going back to the vessel again. However, as the Delta variant virus quickly spread worldwide during the summer months, we didn't feel comfortable doing a cruise and getting out of the country. Everyone on the cruise ships were required to be fully vaccinated, and there were multiple COVID-19 tests required during the cruise trip, starting from getting the travel health visa and before embarking. However, there were still a few breakthrough cases on the cruises. Fearing that we might be quarantined outside the states if we were tested positive for COVID or became a close contact of someone who had been tested positive while on the ship, even we had no symptoms, we had canceled our booking at the last minute before the final payment was due. A couple of months after our Bahamas trip cancellation, we had spotted a good deal of seven days cruise from Los Angeles to Mexico by Majestic Princess for the Thanksgiving week. When both kids decided to stay in New York City during the holiday, we jumped on the deal. Los Angeles is only six hours away from home, and we can drive there instead of flying. Another main reason for taking this cruise was that the Princess has a much preferred COVID protection program that gives us peace of mind. In the worst-case scenario, if we were infected with COVID, we would not stuck anywhere outside the states and could still come back and drive home. Princess requires the negative COVID-19 test result taken two days before embarking. We went to CVS to take the Rapid-Antigen test, which our health insurance covers. Less than one hour after the test, we got our test result. It's NEGATIVE! 

On Nov. 20, we left home at 6:30 am and drove directly to the world cruise port of Los Angeles. After 6 hours of driving, we parked our car and walked about 200 feet to the check-in tent. The check-in process went very smoothly. After showing the vaccination certifications, the negative test results of COVID-19, and our passports, we were on our way to the ship. We felt very exciting, in the meantime, kind of nervous as we stepped on the gangway. "Is it safe?" "Do we risk our lives?" 

With precaution, we had set a few rules for ourselves. We decided not to go on organized shore excursions to avoid close contact with others for an extended time. Using elevators was not an option for us, and we used stairs going up and down. Sometimes, we felt exhausted after taking ten flights to the Sun Deck or eight flights to the Marketplace for a buffet. We dined most at the main dining restaurants or specialty restaurants. We didn't share the tables with others and always chose private dining options. We participated in some activities, like lectures and concerts, only when we could find the seats keeping social distance from other passengers. We wore masks all the time in public areas. Fortunately, the ship was not crowded at all, with only about 45% occupancy, and almost all were wearing masks in public. Once we were on the ship, we felt safe and comfortable as on the previous cruises.

Since we explored the ports by ourselves, we spent most of the onboard ship credits on specialty restaurants on the ship. There are three specialty restaurants on Majestic Princess, Harmony, Crown Grill, and Bistro Sir La Mer, each charging $29 per person. Harmony is a Chinese restaurant. We dined there on the first night. We started with Peking duck salad and steamed pork spare rib as appetizers, followed by hot sour and wonton soups. The main courses are Kung Pao Chicken and Stir-fried shrimp with sugar peas and mushrooms. Cantonese chow mein with assorted vegetables and braised crispy tofu with shiitake mushroom and baby bok choy were served as side dishes. In addition, we ordered wok-fried lobster with winter bamboo shoot and dried scallop chili sauce for an additional $12. The evening was wrapped up with two desserts, red bean crème brulée and green tea cheesecake. The dinner was delicious but not as good as we expect to be the creations of the one Michelin star chef.

On the fourth day of the cruise, we went to another specialty restaurant, Crown Grill, a steakhouse. Both appetizers, Mediterranean-style lobster cake and seared jumbo sea scallops with herb beurre blanc were excellent. We ordered 16 oz premium beef chop, and Chilean seabass and brioche-breaded king prawns for the main courses. The beer chop was tasteful, but it was too much meat to finish it up. The seabass and king prawns were perfect. The triple chocolate treasure, a Princess signature desert, was not disappointing.

The last night on the ship, we went to the French restaurant, Bistro Sir La Mer. Each of us ordered Bisque de homard, a lobster bisque. The soup was served in a bowl covered with pastry top hat, and it had a lot of lobster chunks in it, and it was the best lobster bisque we had ever had. The waiter was super friendly. He brought in two appetizers, Pate en croute and Salade de saison, followed by the main courses, seared duck, and roasted jumbo scallops. Every single one of them was delicious. Finally, we had Ile flottante aux agrumes, crème balls covered with netted egg shield, and Barre chocolat for dessert. They looked beautiful as well as tasted delicious. We consider Bistro Sir La Mer the best among the three specialty restaurants.

We couldn't stop comparing the food between the Princess and Crystal. Overall, the foods at Princess' three specialty restaurants are decent, but they are still a couple of notches below Crystal's. Besides the food, there is no comparison for the onboard entertainment and enrichment program. Crystal is way much better. We never got bored on any of the sea days during our world cruise on the Crystal Serenity. There were so many excellent enrichment programs and entertainment we could attend. But we did get a little bored on the sea days during this Princess seven days trip.

P.S. The blogs about the experience at three call ports will be posted later on.