California Coastal Cruise Day 1

On a beautiful but chilly Saturday morning, we boarded the Sapphire Princess for a 7-night California Coastal Cruise!

I was more than happy with our stateroom, which was definitely larger expected. I slept incredibly well for my entire trip, probably thanks to the gentle rocking motion of the ship.

Cute display at the buffet line.

After checking out our room, we headed straight for lunch at the Traditional Dining Room. I ate copious amount of bread on this trip. Every time I see a bread basket placed on the table, I just cannot resist! 

Avocado and bay shrimp with lemon aioli. Too much mayo!

Mixed green salad with vinaigrette

 Chicken cacciatore braised in tomato-wine sauce, with mushrooms and taglianni ribbons.

Grilled herb-spiced beef tenderloin with natural juices, horseradish, vegetables and forked red bliss potatoes.The meat was a little tough, and the horseradish was too overwhelming.

 

Apple tart tatin. This was pretty awful, to say the least. Tasted completely like a canned dessert. Our first lunch was not impressive at all. 

There wasn't much to do on the first day so we just walked around the boat and explored.

This indoor swimming pool transforms into a wave pool that kids will love. Too bad I didn't get a chance to try it out!

Afterwards, we tried more desserts from the buffet. I really liked the cookies that they had!

 

After exploring the boat for a bit, we headed to dinner. We had opted for Anytime Dining, which meant that we can eat anytime of our convenience at one of the four Dining Rooms available. This gave us a lot more flexibility than the Traditional Dining Option, but it also meant that we had to wait for a seat on occasions.

As my appetizer, I had trio of cantaloupe, honeydew, and watermelon, doused with vintage port wine and lime zest. A nice, light start to the meal!

My mom had the Red Snapper Mojito- ceviche with mint, mango, avocado, and a splash of Bacardi Superior rum. I wasn't a huge fan because it was too fishy.

The menu always have these "cold soups" which turns out to be smoothies. That night, I had a frozen rum-infused pina colada soup. It was so good I wanted to order a second one.

My mom's cream of porcini mushroom soup was rich and velvety.

It appears that the theme of the night was Hawaii! As her main, my mom had seared basa filet with pineapple papaya salsa. The fish was a little overcooked.

I had Hawaiian luau pork with apricot drippings and it was delicious! The thinly sliced pork was flavourful, and I couldn't get enough of the apricots!

The best part was dessert- passion fruit souffle with creme anglaise! I was a little sad that my server attacked the beautiful souffle with the creme before I had a chance to snap a pic. Anyhow, the souffle was so extremely fluffy and light! It was arguably the best dessert I had on the entire cruise! What a great start to the cruise!