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Welcome to day 4 of our Princess Cruises California Coast Cruise aboard the Crown Princes. This review is being shared in partnership with Princess Cruises who hosted us on this adventure. All photos and opinions are our own.
This was our second and final full day at sea.
The next few days we have port days until we disembark on Saturday… so we lived it up and did as much as we could on the ship! We all feel like we squished two days into one with all the things we did.
The morning started with room service delivery of coffee, fruit, and baked goods. I am getting used to having my morning start this way, and I’m afraid it’s going to be a rude awakening when we get back home, and I have to make my own coffee, or Pete has to start making it for us again!
After everyone was ready for the day, we headed to the Horizon Court Buffet for breakfast. It was just as good as the first time we had it, and the service was great too!
Emmy wanted to get back to her friends in the kids club, so did Ash. So they both headed to the clubs right after breakfast.
That left Maddie, Pete and me to do what we wanted.
We’ve learned that although the teen room opens early with the other age group rooms, the teens don’t start coming in until much later because they stay up late and sleep in. My teen wishes she could do that too… but with a five-year-old around that’s not going to happen.
We all love to read and with the day ahead of us to relax we decided to head to the lending library. It was gorgeous. They have a large selection of fiction, non-fiction and research books. The research books are for use in the library only and feature a ton of travel and locations to visit. After this beautiful week, I already wanted to plan another cruise, and these books have pushed me that much closer to doing it sooner rather than later!
Today it felt like every time I venture out of our room; I discover another place on the ship that I didn’t see before. Crooners Bar is now one of my favorite spots. The view from the room is stunning, and I love the little bistro tables. We walked around in the ship some more and then it was time to collect the kids from kids club and have lunch. We ate at the buffet again. There were sandwiches, fruit, a carving station, salads, plus much more. After lunch, we checked the two younger ones back into kids club.
Maddie ended up leaving us somewhere along the way when she stopped to do some reading with a soy milk latte (so thankful that Princess was able to have soy milk for her)… so Pete and I headed up to the pool area to relax and then go for a walk.
We saw The Sanctuary, which we are planning on going to later this week… and some sports and recreation areas.
This is a view of the adult only pool.
This is the only view of this pool that I plan to see because I think it’s more fun with the kids… but if you are traveling sans kids or maybe while the kids are at kids clubs, then this is a much quieter pool option. We laid back and watched a movie on the big screen above the big pool (Skyfall) and rested a bit. It was warm without being too hot out, and the sun felt great! There were people enjoying the ocean air, some swimming and kids snacking on pizza and milkshakes. It was a wonderful early afternoon.
At 3:30 The teen and I went for Afternoon Tea.
It’s served daily, and we’ve been waiting to try it. It did not disappoint! Tea information is shared each day in the Princess Patter, the daily on board newsletter. We use the Patter to plan our days, and I kept them with me each day to know when and where to go for the fun!
Evening came way too quickly.
We picked up the kids again from kids club just in time to have dinner at Sabatini’s Restaurant. It’s a specialty dining choice with an extra cover charge, and it was well worth it. Although it’s more luxurious, kids are totally welcome, and our waiter went above and beyond to make sure our daughters enjoyed the meal. We called ahead that morning to make our reservation, and we had them note that we were vegetarian with a vegan in our party. When we arrived the head waiter already had some ideas, but welcomed suggestions for what we would like. He even offered to bring food over from the other specialty restaurants if we wanted.
Our dishes were all presented in a beautiful manner…
This was our favorite starter…
The teen and little one both had this pasta dish… the little one even ordered a second plate! It was specially made for my daughter’s vegan diet.
This was the vegetarian offering, manicotti!
And polenta for the table, it was so flavorful!
And then it was time for dessert… the older two left us to meet up with their friends in the kids clubs, so Pete, Emmy and I split all the desserts!
If you get only one dessert this whole cruise it HAS to be the chocolate tiramisu.
It was smooth and creamy with just the right mix of cocoa and espresso! This one thing was worth the extra charge to dine here. I would highly recommend eating at one of the specialty restaurants at least once on your cruise.
After dinner, we strolled the ship and took in a bit of the show Motor City and enjoyed a little show from a circus performer.
I had a hot chocolate, and it was dreamy! I met back up with the teen, and we headed to the top of the ship for Stargazing@Sea! We had a guide that shared a practical seminar of the constellations. It was a bit cool up there, so we cuddled up with towels and blankets. They turn the lights off in that part of the ship and the stars “pop” out in the night sky. They do this only once per cruise so make sure to go to this when it is offered. It was at 10:45 at night so maybe a bit on the late side for the younger kids, although kids of all ages seem to get a second wind in the evening so I would imagine quite a few could make it and enjoy the stars!
Tomorrow we dock in Santa Barbara! We will be anchoring offshore and taking a tender in… a new experience for Pete and the girls. We don’t have any solid plans other than to walk around and enjoy the city. Maybe some shopping? The Little One collects magnets from everywhere we visit, and we display them in our kitchen, so we will need to find a magnet for her. It’s been years since I’ve been to Santa Barbara so I’m excited to relax and explore.
What is your favorite way to relax and explore a new city?
PS. See our complete Crown Princess, Princess Cruises Review and Detailed Daily Posts Here.
Oh my and this is what I call luxury cruising – so beautiful and elegant!
I love that you can special order for a vegan diet. Your cruise is certainly looking and sounding amazing.
I’ve never been on a cruise before and this makes me want to go even more!! The food, the view and that ship look fantastic! I bet it was an awesome experience!
I love seeing all of your pictures! It looks like you all had a wonderful time–and that food! WOW!
This is such a fun-filled family activity that’s perfect for bonding. I can imagine how you guys are having a blast with the cruise. It seems like you won’t run out of things to do while on the cruise 🙂
That is what I was thinking. No bored kids = no frustrated parents!
I would to take my family on a cruise. Looks like you had fun.
I fell in love with the first time I went on a cruise and I can not wait to go back on another one. Just have to convince my husband to go!
The more I see about cruises from all the fabulous blogs I come across, the more I want to go on one. This looked like such a luxury vacation!
Beautiful images! Love your little one – and that library and the food arrangements, yummy – well, loving the whole scenario! Thank you for the inspiration for this
So jealous right now! looks like so much fun! Thanks for sharing!
Wow I could get use to that view everyday! The food looks fabulous as well. Yum!
What an amazing time! I haven’t been on a cruise in 12 years and they’ve really changed!
I am going to tell hubs about this cruise line. We’ve been considering taking a family vacation and going on a cruise. I love that there are things for kids to do and since shes an only child (his only and I dont have kids) then she would have loads of fun playing with other kids while we sipped a drink.
I am dying to go on a cruise with my husband! I can’t wait to pay down student loans so we can get away on one of these gorgeous ships 🙂
Look at that food! I loved the bright watermelon and the desserts, yummy!! That little heart shaped sandwich was super cute too!! Glad you had a fun time!!
It looks like your family had a blast on your cruise. I would love to try going on a cruise someday but I always have a sea sick so I do not know if it works.
Looks like you all are having an amazing time! Those desserts look soo yummy!
Oh my goodness! I’ve never been on a cruise before but you are sure making me want to go right now!
Your beautiful photos make it look like you are up and about in a local town instead of a huge ship. It’s so easy to forget that you are on a vessel with everything imaginable.
Wow how amazing. A cruise is something that I have always wanted to do. It looks like everyone is having a fun time.
I would to take my family on a cruise. I have heard great things about Princess Cruise Line.
Gorgeous pics!! I have never been on a cruise, now I want to go tomorrow!!
I wanna go!!! I am glad your are having fun 🙂
I haven’t taken a cruise yet, but I am single, and that tiny little thing you said was the ‘adult only’ pool was a bit sad. That is why I am not so hyped yet on the idea of cruising, somehow they all seemed geared to families and not singles, and I feel like I am going to be surrounded by other people’s kids and no where to turn to get away from them! That small pool was not quite the oasis I had in mind. I am going to have to search for singles only cruises and check out if the offerings are different. So far I am looking for a bigger pool for adults and a Casino, I need something to keep me busy until the boat gets to each port! 🙂
It looks like you had a blast. The pictures are just gorgeous and your family is so beautiful
I have no doubt you all are having a blast on that cruise. And those food are making me hungrier. I gotta grab breakfast now. 🙂
I am so jealous! It looks like you had a fabulous time!! That food looks so good!
Talk about luxury cruising oh wow, I have never been cruising before and always wanted to maybe one day I will. I need to check out crown princess and see if I could book something too
What beautiful pictures, I’m totally jealous! I would love to plan a cruise for my family!
I’ve only been on one real cruise, and it wasn’t on the Princess line. The food you show here looks much better than what we had. Yum!
Lucky you! I’ve never been in a cruise before, but I would love to visit it this year, the cruise was stunning beautiful
This sounds like an amazing time. I have been on one cruise but without the kids. Wish I could afford to take my whole family.
Wow, your posts really make me want to go cruising! What a beautiful cruise liner.
I love the food on a cruise. I think it is my favorite part about cruising. I just want to eat.
I want to do a cruise, badly. My brother in law does one or two a year and raves about it. Might be what we do for a honeymoon on our tenth anniversary.
Gabriel… you should! It would make a perfect anniversary or honeymoon!
It looks like an absolutely fabulous trip! So glad you are having a great time.
how fun…food is one of my favorites when going on a cruise! can’t wait till summer.,,:)
The foods look amazing and this looks like a great trip. I have never been on a cruise, but your trip is enticing!
Wow, that ship looks spectacular. A library!? The nerd in me just got really excited!
I have never been on a cruise before, but I would want my first one to be a family cruise. I can just imagine all the fun it would be.
Wow! That looks like a lot of fun. I’m going to show this to the hubs. I’ve been wanting to take a cruise but I’ll be honest some of the stuff in the news scares me a little but there’s a risk with everything right?
Thanks for sharing your pics with us!
I have never been on a cruise. This looks like so much fun and the food looks delicious!