The seas remain calm and the skies blue. This is our last stop before LA, and the only tender port of the cruise. The ship passes the point of the peninsula with an excellent view of the arch, still intact, unlike the arch in Aruba which collapsed several years ago.
The plan is to go ashore, but with temperatures in the 90's, clear views of the coastline from the ship, and the ship nearly devoid of passengers we decide the Solarium pool is a wiser choice.
The salt water is crystal clear, and comfortably cool, and swimmer count never exceeds three. Seating is plentiful.
All of the visible coastline is covered with large resort hotels and condiminiums. Definitely a lot of developement here in the past 30 years.
Chicken kiev for dinner is one of the better meals so far.
When I return to the Diamond lounge, the Executive Chef is paying a vist. What an ear full he was getting from passengers about poor quality food. I felt he had heard it so often, that his responses were well rehearsed. "The food is always hot when it leaves the galley, if not delivered hot it is the serving staff. Otherwise everything is dictated by Miami with ship's staff having little input." The passengers agree to a point, the wait staff tries to make the best of what they are serving.
I expressed my feelings about the factory pastry in place of chef made apple pie. I was surprised to have him tell me they also cost more per serving than fresh pies made on the ship. I had assumed the change was made to cut cost. I was wrong. Why did they change? I now have no idea. Maybe a Royal employee in Miami also owns a pastry factory.
I thought this was going to be one of those rare cruises where I didn't run into anyone I knew other than some of the staff and Steve Davis our cruise director. I'm relieved as I run into Nancy and Ron Cook. Yes her memory was much quicker than mine.
Royal is definitely working hard to modify the cocktail hour benefit for Diamond and Diamond Plus passengers. Over they past few months they have instituted various schemes to collect data such as scanning cards for all drinks, banning delivering soft drinks and water unopened, banning leaving the lounge with a beverage. Not only checking but logging the arrival and departure of every passenger into and out of the lounge. I'm afraid another cutback is in the works.
No show tonight, just the orchestra playing music.
The seas remain calm and flat, the skies clear as we continue our trip north along the coast to the port of San Pedro on October 30. Essentially Los Angeles.