Lima had been an eye-opener in just how bad traffic can affect plans with both our daytime trip to the Miraflores district running into delays and our evening excursion to the fountains light show involving a trial of patience and a shelving of a nighttime trip back into the capital as a result of it. Star Princess had been docked overnight in the Peruvian capital’s port of Callao but we’d not been able to take full advantage of the opportunities that presented as a result. The following morning saw us get ready to depart Peru but this too suffered a delay – though, thankfully, a relatively short one – as other ships were coming into and out of the port and had been granted priority over us. Eventually, though, we received the all clear and made for the open water of the Pacific Ocean.
The scale of the commercial docks of Lima was evident in the hazy morning sunshine and it was further evidence that as a cruise destination this city may not be quite ready just yet; sharing the industrial docks and battling the traffic in and out of the port area presently adds a painful overhead to any visit. However, we were told that a dedicated cruise terminal was planned or was already being constructed so we’d love to come back in a few years to see what a difference that makes as it’s a country with a lot of appeal.
Clearing the harbour entrance, we met a flotilla of fishing vessels. Living in a naval port we see a lot of naval vessels but not very many fishing boats so the behaviour of them is something that is a bit of an unknown to us. I suppose I’ve always assumed that the activities of a trawler are solitary so seeing so many vessels together in what most closely resembled some gathering as if for war came as a bit of a surprise.
Fishing business was clearly booming in the waters off Peru, and not just for the humans aboard their boats. In addition to dolphins (a little too far away to get decent photos) we found our ship accompanied for a long period by pelicans skimming over the ocean’s surface, looping around Star Princess, switching from port to starboard every few minutes. I can only guess that the ship ploughing through the water either disturbed the fish and brought them closer to the surface or it provided some form of cover for the pelicans in search of a snack or pelicans have terrible eyesight and mistook the ship for the Pelican Queen. We occasionally saw one dive out of the air and into the Pacific but whether any were successful at what we assume was fishing and not just extreme showering I can’t say, nor did I manage to have my camera on me and pointed in the right direction when it happened.
Star Princess Sea Day Events
With Peru behind us we gave some thought to some extended time aboard Star Princess. This would be the first of three sea days now with us due to cross the equator late the following day. Having spent the best part of five hours in traffic the day before it’s no exaggeration to say that three days at sea sounded like absolute heaven.
The Princess Patter didn’t give us any must attend events but that was fine with us. We know what to expect at sea these days on a Princess ship and we’re happy so long as the pool is open, we’ve got our books, and some unnatural disaster hasn’t struck the ship and turned all the bars into rubble.
Heading past the piazza early on I stopped for a while to watch the paper plane competition. Passengers taking part in this activity needed to fly their creation through a hoop and achieve the greatest distance. I didn’t stay around long enough to see what the prize was but the entrants’ crafts included the expected array of darts that dove straight into the ground and those that almost took the eyes out of people seated around the ground floor level of the area so provided for a decent amount of entertainment.
Later in the day the piazza hosted Afternoon Grooves with the band Static. Hailing from Guyana, I have to say that they are by a country mile the best band we’ve seen perform on a cruise ship. You can see their Facebook page here – Static Band – which will tell you what ships they are due to be performing on, and if you get a chance to see their great singing, excellent musical ability, and infectious (and sweaty) energy of Marlon for yourself then you won’t be disappointed.
Food And Drink
Of course we had a drink or two. Possibly even more than two. In fact, this was one of those very rare occasions where we drank more than we’d need to in order to make a drinks package worth the cost. Of course, for this to really work we’d need to drink this much every day, port or at sea, and while I’m always up for a challenge I am going to have to insist that you foot the bill for it if you want me to take part.
Early afternoon, following a swim and something to eat from the poolside grill, our first drink was taken on our balcony so that we could read to the sound of the sea rolling past and keep an eye out for more marine life. I know there are people who like inside cabins and who say they can always head to an outside deck if they want sea air but there’s nothing like having your own balcony, the shelter, the peace, the nobody stealing your chair when you stand up. A little later we hit Vines for some wine as we enjoyed the venue a lot on this cruise and Zander, who was managing it, had cemented himself as the perfect host from the very first day aboard. We’d often chat to him if it wasn’t busy in there and he constantly tried to get us to take his tapas – free if you’re drinking wine – for which we mostly made excuses to skip but on occasion, like this day, gave in to make him happy.
Early evening found us in our regular haunt, Crooners, and the Wheelhouse Bar, just for a change, for cocktails. The Wheelhouse Bar was always quiet and we remarked what a difference two cruises a few years apart had made. When we’d sailed on Star Princess for our 2016 cruise in South America the BOGO promotion had still been in place (buy one drink, get another one the same for $1 extra, for one hour only in certain venues around the ship at certain times of the day). That had been a great way to get people to move around the ship more and we’d had loads of enjoyable times meeting up with groups in the Wheelhouse or Skywalkers or Explorers. When Princess stopped that promotion they promised they would replace it with something else but they never did. I guess they looked at the bottom line and figured they didn’t need to and assumed everyone would gradually forget it had ever been a thing. The result a few years on is a club now typically devoid of any atmosphere at night and a sorely underused bar in an otherwise decent location. I’m sure the company knows what it’s doing and I refuse to comment on any sarcasm you may read into that statement.
Dinner was lovely, as usual, and made even more so by the appearance of key lime pie for dessert. That’s almost an obligatory dessert choice when we see it on the menu. After dinner we made sure we were up in Skywalkers for 22:00 when the 70s Disco Hour was due to start. Is there anything nicer than enjoying the sounds of Sylvester and Chic and KC & The Sunshine Band while slurping cocktails at sea? Maybe, but this was still a very fine end to a very relaxing day and all with the promise of another one to come.
