Last year, Suzi and I took a Halloween Cruise on the Majestic Princess. We decided to grab a table in the Buffet and ended up sitting next to a few members of the entertainment staff. Suzi and I brought a big bag of Halloween candy to pass out to crew (and any kids on the cruise). We ended up having breakfast and/or lunch with them every day. One of the staff was the trombone player, Tony Tromboney. Since I played trombone in High School, we made a connection.
We have kept in touch with Tony ever since. He had a couple of free days in Los Angeles between ships, so we met Tony at his hotel and took him for a drive around town.
Tony is currently the Music Manager on the Royal Princess, whose homeport is San Francisco. They are doing a California Coastal itinerary and were in San Pedro (Port of Los Angeles) on Friday. Tony was able to get us both Day Passes, so we could actually board the ship, have lunch and visit.
We met Tony outside the cruise terminal and got to go in through the Crew entrance. We “traded” in our Passports for our visitor badges, went through security and onto the ship.
Having had the opportunity on the Ruby Princess to do “The Ultimate Ship Tour”, so knew what to expect. A very utilitarian environment but very clean and well maintained.
Since we were “visitors” and not fare-paying “guests”, Tony was able to show us some of the crew areas, like the Crew Mess.
Officers Mess
And the crew pool at the bow, including the “spare” anchor.
We were able to meet some more of the crew and will, hopefully, see them in the near future.
We were able to go into the Horizon Court Buffet and sat with Tony at one of the high top tables, similar to when we first met on the Majestic one year ago, almost to the day.
4:00 PM… (OK, 16:00 Ships time), it was time to disembark after relaxing in the Piazza and enjoying a hot chocolate from the International Café.
As we traded our passes for out passports, we realized how lucky we were to have met Tony and to have kept in touch.
The Veranda Life 