Day 06 - At Sea
Ship: Princess Cruises Sun Princess
Itinerary: 16-Night Transatlantic - Southampton to Fort Lauderdale
This is our sixth day aboard Sun Princess and it is another day at sea as we are on our way to Funchal, Madiera, Portugal. As I work on my blog and videos this morning at Coffee Currents, the Piazza plays host to morning Zumba classes. The Piazza is a lively place for a variety of activities throughout the day, such as line dancing (below).
Line Dancing in Piazza
One thing I cannot get past is how poor the Internet/WiFi has been on this ship. I had high expectations knowing that Princess had partnered with StarLink™for Internet. We have sailed on other ships with StarLink and always found Internet speeds to be average to very good (based on cruise ship standards). However, on Sun Princess, my Internet speeds have been far below average. This has made uploading photos and videos cumbersome and slow. In fact, I have had to reduce the size of photos used in my daily blogs just to compensate for the slow Internet.
Speed Test Conducted at 7:15am in Coffee Currents
This morning, we attended the end of a lecture history”The History of Medicine” in a packed Princess Live! We actually were just wanting to get a seat for the next event, a trivia game held here, but found the lecture very interesting.
Lecture in Princess Live!
After the lecture, we sat in on “Where in The World” trivia with Fortuna Luck. We thought we would do much better than we did, having traveled all over the world. We were humbled by only getting 14 out of 20 questions correct while the winning team (of ten people!) got 20 out of 20.
Trivia with Fortuna Luck
After trivia humiliation, we drowned our sorrows at Bellini’s Bar on Deck 7 midship. A wonderful glass of Prosecco, coupled with amazing views of the ocean through the sphere windows, helped to soften our defeat.
The View From Bellini's
This evening, we had reservations at Spellbound. Spellbound combines an elegant multi-course set menu meal with an evening of magic. Spellbound is a partnership between Princess Cruises and Magic Castle. The cost for Spellbound is $149 per person and I was skeptical that it would be worth that hefty price. The Spellbound experience is not included in the Premier Package, so this will be at an additional cost. The $149 price includes the meal, the magic show and all cocktails and beverages.
The meal is restricted to 30 guests per seating and there are three seatings each evening. We were in the first seating at 6:15. When we arrived at Horizon’s Dining Room on Deck 8 aft, we found ourselves standing in a line of guests waiting for a table in the dining room. Soon, someone from the Spellbound staff found us and escorted us to a private dining area all the way aft in Horizon’s.
Spellbound Dining Room
The menu offers a set selection of starters and desserts with your choice of a meat, seafood or vegetarian main course. The shrimp cocktail (below) is reminiscent of the one we enjoyed at The Catch by Rudi, and it was just as delicious.
Shrimp Cocktail at Spellbound
Rickee and I both chose the beef filet with lobster dumplings as our main course. The beef was perfectly cooked medium and mine came with a large piece of lobster claw meat, but no drawn butter. Nevertheless, the meal was very good. The dessert was also very creative and delicious.
Beef Filet and Lobster Dumplings
After the meal, we were all greeted by one of the Spellbound cast members who asked us to follow him to the Spellbound lounge and theater.
Once inside the dark and mystical Victorian-style lounge, we are able to order from a list of very creative cocktails, which can only be found in Spellbound. The lounge is decorated will all sorts of magical artifacts and objects which are intriguing and fun to explore.
Sparkling Wine Cocktail at Spellbound
Below, Rickee takes a phone call from a ghostly figure in one of the lounge areas. Afterwards, we are treated to some close-up magic by Inez, one of the Magic Castle magicians. I was even part of the act as the “tiny plunger”, enough said.
After enjoying our cocktails, we are escorted to a small theater where we enjoy a more elaborate magic show by another Magic Castle magician. He was excellent and it was a very well-produced and performed act.
So, was Spellbound worth $149? Definitely, YES. This was one of the most fun activities we have ever enjoyed on a cruise ship and we highly recommend it.
Tomorrow, Sun Princess will be in Funchal, Madeira, a beautiful island we have visited before.
