GenerationX

Sigh…all good things must come to an end. Well, at least they have to end when according to future cruises the cruises leaving today on Reflection and Ascent are sold out. Otherwise MY good thing might have lasted another week. But my marriage may not have lasted that much longer especially considering I would be standing my husband up on Valentine’s Day for the Cayman Islands. Happy embarkation day to all the lucky people boarding today! I’m currently sat in the MIA D30 admirals club with the first mimosa I’ve had to pay for in 9 days. I’m super paranoid about making it to airports on time, so I decided to do walk off with my luggage at 7:30. For people who always ask about how early of a flight you can make morning of the cruise, just my personal preference but I won’t fly on anything that leaves before noon. Yes, you can definitely make something much earlier than that, especially if docked in port Everglades and flying from FLL, if all goes right. But emphasis is on “if all goes right”. I’ve been on a cruise where facial recognition in the terminal crashed and getting luggage and through immigration took an hour and a half. This morning, it took almost a half hour just to get an elevator from my stateroom on deck 9 on the ship that had enough space for me and my luggage to go down to deck 5 to disembark. I wasn’t in a super rush so I didn’t mind standing back and waiting a bit. Others waiting in the hallway were trying to make early flights and getting quickly frustrated and aggressive about getting on an elevator. One man went up to a packed elevator when the doors opened and shoved himself and his carryon in saying “no I’ve been waiting forever and you guys are gonna make room for 2 more” and then made a lady near the front pick up her rolling carryon and hold it at her chest and barked at his wife to squeeze herself in too! Cruising isn’t a cheap vacation and it seems a bit of a waste to me if I spend all that money to relax and then immediately have to start stressing about something before I’m even off the ship. When I did make it to the gangway, our cruise director Dave was there saying goodbye to everyone and I got to get one last hug and thank him for a great cruise. MIA is also particularly slammed today. My Uber driver told me that both Port Miami and Port Everglades are completely full for cruise ships today and rides have been nonstop. Lots of people heading home. BTSA precheck security line took 45 minutes to get through. Well, Reflection, it’s bye for now! Soon to come: -a report on the rest of yesterday (including my VIP cooking demonstration) -a back in time post about first evening chic night dinner -final thoughts and future cruise plans

Ugh, the real world has already begun to rear its ugly head…I just got notice from AA of a change in my flight tomorrow so instead of flying out of MIA at 3pm, I’ll be on a flight that leaves at 12:15. I should still be fine to make it with room to spare if I do walk off with my luggage. Fortunately I got notice before I’d already put my suitcases out! In the meantime, sharing some happier pics from the just adjourned last meeting of my sunset bar crew before we return to Boston, St. Louis and the UK. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, one of my favorite things about cruising is getting to make new friends from all walks of life and all over the world. Imma do my best not to cry into my lobster bisque at Murano tonight.

Today’s Edition of Celebrity Cruises First World Problems: Literally all I’ve done today is eat, drink, and spend money. Speaking of which good news! I finally found a machine in the casino that pays out consistently. Pretty sure they put the defibrillator next to it for when you see your remaining account balance on the receipt. More to come later today when I will be eating at Murano, drinking Caymus and spending more money (thanking all the crew members who have gone above and beyond for me this week). I know “come back new” was a Princess cruises slogan, but for me, Celebrity gets it for this cruise. I feel about 1000% times better than when my flight took off from STL last Friday.

About last night: At dinner at Tuscan Grill I ordered my favorites: Caesar salad, calamari, ribeye and a half portion of the lobster rigatoni pasta. I think the Caesars I had in the MDR were actually better than this one, but the calamari and ribeye were perfect. The presentation on the lobster rigatoni was a bit sad, but the flavor was good and I found some good size chunks of lobster hiding underneath the pasta. I decided that since I was on final countdown to a forced return to my provincial life, I’d spoil myself with one more nice bottle of wine with dinner and had the rest sent over to Murano for tonight. For dessert I had the limoncello cheesecake washed down with an espresso and a 20 year port. The service at the restaurant was excellent for the most part. I let my server know at the beginning that I planned to fine Italian style at the Italian restaurant and really take my time and enjoy my courses and wine at European pace, which he and the kitchen were happy to accommodate. I think it may have lead to a slight miscommunication at the end of the meal though. I pre booked the reservation before the cruise, so I didn’t have a check I needed to sign for my cover charge. But I knew I’d need to sign for the charge for my wine. I sat patiently watching the wake, waiting for my somm to show back up with the bill. Then I realized I’d been waiting over a half hour…and had missed most of the theater show as a result. It was then I realized that hey, I’m on a ship in the middle of the ocean. I’m not going anywhere and if Celebrity wants its money for this bottle of Caymus they have plenty of ways to find me and get it from me before I disembark, so I just got up and left. This morning the charge did show up on my account, so turns out I was right. After dinner I had a martini and met my cruise friends (including the FABULOUS @CruiseCrew123 for silent disco then followed the after party to the sky lounge, which I once again helped shut down. I’ve been really impressed with my own late night staying power this cruise. I guess I was really ready for a party.

I cannot believe it’s the last full day of the cruise already! Why is it that the last 4-5 days on countdown to a cruise feel like they take a month to pass, but for the week onboard, it feels like I just got on the ship, sat down and had a martini then went to my room and found disembarkation instructions. As I’m enjoying my last beautiful morning at sea: a back in time report on Curaçao. I was scheduled to do a Celebrity excursion to Hato Caves and the beach. But I woke up having a really rough mental health day. A good reminder for me that while cruising is a wonderful balm for the soul, it’s not always a cure all. The weather, which was gray and raining (in other words, not at all beach weather) didn’t add to my motivation to get it together either. After staying in bed late I took myself to a light pistachio latte and almond croissant breakfast at Al Bacio. I got one of the prime tables by the window and as I was sipping my coffee I saw a sea turtle surface and float around for a minute out in the ocean! Once I had some caffeine in my system I figured even in the rain some fresh air would do me good, so I found a deck chair on a covered section of the pool deck and curled up with my book and a virgin mudslide with extra whipped and chocolate sauce on top (alcohol may not solve life problems but I’m pretty sure extra whipped cream does). At lunch time I decided to try and get into the porch last minute. The app was showing no availability for the day, but I figured it couldn’t hurt to ask. Florence welcomed me back and said they’d be happy to have me (and another $30 of onboard spending) if I didn’t mind that service would be a bit slower (no problem, not like I had anywhere to be). By the time I was talking myself out of licking the dish my cheesecake puree dessert came in, I was feeling like myself again. Just in time to enjoy the sail away party and sunset. For dinner I went to Sushi on 5 for one of my favorite dishes in all of Celebrity Cruises: the pork ramen. It’s never let me down. After dinner I stopped by the martini bar for an espresso martini pick me up then met some of my new cruise friends for the full moon deck party. I gotta say, I was very impressed. I think somebody at Celebrity watched some YouTube videos of MSC’s deck parties and realized they needed to step it up. There were performances from the ship’s entertainment cast, then our headliner band for the cruise, Rebel (don’t miss their show if they’re performing on your cruise btw) did a set on the pool stage and then the DJ took over. I think most of the ship was there and very much getting into the groove with our cruise director Dave right out in the middle of it all playing ring master to our middle aged circus. In fact the party got so wild people ended up jumping in and dancing, fully clothed, in the pools with full blessing from the security staff. If I hadn’t been wearing dry clean only Michael Kors, I may have kicked off my Fendi’s, yelled YOLO, held my nose and cannon balled in too because how many times in life is that kind of party opportunity going to present itself? The deck party wrapped up about midnight at which point most of the crowd made their way to the sky lounge which didn’t cut the music and turn the lights up until 2am. As sad as I am to be wrapping up my vacation, there’s still miles to go before I pack. After my captains club breakfast, I’m going to a cooking demo at the lawn club, followed by a second late lunch of more pork ramen (spoiler alert for my wrap up post: it doesn’t look like future cruise plans include another S or M class ship for a while, so I want to get my ramen in while I can). Then I’ll do a little shopping and play out my last casino slip. After that the plan is to spend the afternoon by the pool, grab a big glass of a big bold Cabernet at cellar masters to cranky drink while I pack, then dress and head to one last dinner at Murano. Also due up: a report on last night’s fun and games.

SOMEWHAT MUSHY AND PHILOSOPHICAL POST WARNING… I was just looking at my Facebook memories and realized that today is a very special anniversary. On this day 7 years ago, Jeremy and I had a cruising experience on Silhouette that made us Celebrity customers for life. A couple of nights before, my then boyfriend Jeremy had asked me to be his wife on a starry evening chic night. It was our first cruise sailing in a suite and our suite concierge Niko said that to celebrate our engagement she’d arranged “a little surprise dinner for us” for the next chic night. When the night came we were escorted up to LCG where all the ship’s senior officers were waiting to greet us and applauded and an alcove on the lawn was set up with a full romantic dining table and bar. I’d mentioned to our butler that one of our dreams was to save up and do a Mediterranean cruise one day (dream finally fulfilled October 2023 btw, definitely worth the wait), and it turned out that the ship food and beverage team had put together a SIX COURSE dinner tour around the Mediterranean for us with drink pairings! At the time, we were lowly classic status captains club members, in the cheapest sky suite, I’d never once posted on cruise critic and I don’t think Instagram even existed. We were absolutely no one this cruise line should have cared enough about (not that we even are now) to have put so much time and effort into giving such a special, amazing experience. But it still lives in our memories as one of the best nights we’ve ever spent together and as a result we never even considered sailing another cruise line until last year. Seeing the memory tonight got me thinking, I’m sure it wasn’t at all cheap and took a TON of manpower for Celebrity to pull off that night for us. But I’m pretty sure that investment paid out in spades in terms of the amount we’ve invested booking and spending onboard during Celebrity cruises since then (and I always have and still do consider it money well spent) and from our friends and family who have sailed with Celebrity at our suggestion. It also got me thinking about the current state of Celebrity, and wondering whether today, the cruise line that (until recently) wanted to charge suite guests $5 a glass for Target wine and $12 a bottle for Evian in the stateroom would do anything like what was done for us back then for a young, budget conscious, newbie cruising couple (and see the long term financial benefit of the investment that came of it with us). I will say this though, what wowed us most about that evening was how far above and beyond crew members clearly went with their time and energy to give us a vacation experience we’d never forget. Dollars and cents aside, I still 100% see that same attitude of above and beyond customer service attitude in Celebrity crew members today, even though they’ve been given a more limited resource toolbox by the corporate office to make that magic with. I know there’s been a lot of talk by many, myself included, of making moves to other lines. I won’t lie, with current state I am price comparing other lines when making my booking decisions (whereas 3 years ago I would always go Celebrity no question or shopping). But I think there’s still something very special about the Celebrity experience for me that I’ve still felt on this cruise (on an older ship in a stateroom class far below the Retreat and Aqua) that will keep Celebrity in consideration for my future cruise plans and it’s definitely still my preferred choice when price/value is a wash. Ok, sorry, I’ll get off my soapbox now. Just for fun, some pics below of 2 young, crazy, student loan debt ridden kids feeling like the luckiest people in the world to have Celebrity Cruises and to have each other.

I think some of the best vacation days are the ones when you do end up doing almost nothing, but do it with really great people. Our late morning under 50 meet up at sunset bar today ended up carrying on all the way to mid afternoon with only a short break while everyone went to their lunch plans. My lunch plans were a visit back to the porch with some of the folks from my chef’s table dinner group. We all had early big dinner plans for this chic night so we ordered light and split a couple of orders of pil pil shrimp (amazing again), fish tacos (not great, the fish was overcooked and under seasoned) and the always delicious (but $15 additional charge, and definitely smaller portions than last time I had it) seafood tower. While we were eating, the Murano manager who was with us at chef’s table came by our table (he runs lawn club and the porch during the day) to say hello and ask how our specialty dinning experience has been over the cruise. He said the team at Murano had missed us and I mentioned that I would’ve loved to go to Murano one more time, but my understanding was that the restaurant is booked up for the rest of the cruise. He said he actually had a couple of cancellations for the last night of the cruise and if we didn’t mind eating late (8:45/9) he could get the 4 of us in for a table tomorrow night! So I’ll get to end the cruise eating in one of my favorite restaurants saying goodbye to some wonderful new friends! During our afternoon reconvene at sunset bar, the whippersnappers of the seas (as we’ve decided to call ourselves) had Nishal doing our drink service and he made a few rounds of “bartender specials” cocktails of off menu recipes he wanted to get guest feedback on. We were more than happy to be his guinea pigs. Over the course of conversation 5 of us realized that with our diverse nationalities, interests and professions, we’d probably make a pretty powerhouse trivia team, so at 4pm we all headed up to the sky lounge for the afternoon general knowledge session. We unfortunately didn’t win (and there were a couple of questions where lawyer Charla took issue with the official answer, but I was 4 bartenders specials deep and in no condition to debate. After a post trivia nap, I got dressed and have just settled in for dinner at Tuscan Grill. I noticed that our wake trails were very weak and we seemed to be turning off course. Then the captain came on the public address system and said that we have a serious medical emergency onboard and a Jamaican coast guard helicopter will be coming to the ship to evacuate a guest in need of immediate medical attention. For the folks out there following who are spiritual, I think the more prayers and positive thoughts for the passenger and his family the better. Next up: a back in time post about the rest of our day/crazy night in Curacao yesterday.

Yikes, it’s a bumpy morning here on Reflection. This is our first day of white caps and she’s really a rockin. As I was coming in to the MDR for breakfast (yes, I had eggs AND pancakes AND apple danish…I danced up an appetite last night, ok?) a security officer was escorting a couple out to the medical office to be treated for sea sickness. I really owe my friends who are sailing on other ships in the Caribbean right now (I surround myself with like addicted people what can I say), their social posts about the weather clued me in that we might have a rough ride as we came back north so I preemptively took some motion meds before bed. My friends I met on Edge a couple of years ago are currently on a Regent Antarctica cruise and are going through the Drake Passage today have no sympathy at all for our pathetic rough seas. I think many are also recovering this morning from the full moon deck party last night, a party so lit that it rivaled the white party on Divina that I barely survived last year. But I’ll tell you all about that shortly. Despite the wind, it’s a beautiful sunny warm day. I’m doing some work on the pool deck instead of Al Bacio this morning because I learned from the first 2 sea days that if you aren’t in your deck chair by like 9am, your chances of getting one are slim. After I finish this contract review I’m heading to a VERY unofficial meet up of cruisers under 50 (organized via Instagram DM’s) at the sunset bar for mimosas. Then later I’ll have lunch at The Porch again with some new friends from the east coast. I’ll probably give the casino one last donation after lunch. Tonight is the magic show and dinner in Tuscan Grill. Happy Friday!

Checking in from Reflection in Curacao where the weather has been yuck all day. But the good news is that hasn’t stopped the jammin pool deck sail away party… There are intense games of corn hole going on. The pool temp is warm enough to still be pleasant in the cool drizzle. The house band is KILLIN Aretha Franklin and Joan Jett and the guys at the pool bar are pouring these T&T’s so strong that we could probably use them to run the azipods for the sail back to FLL. Oh and no, fitness app, I would not care to log the calories that were in my lunch today. How did you even get this number??? 😂

A quick report and question for others following who have found themselves in a second passenger no show situation: I’ve had more than the normal amount of issues with my onboard account this cruise. First, the app wasn’t allowing me to view my account balance or make any specially bookings. It would just give me a message saying my account is frozen and to please visit guest services. On visiting guest services, they told me they didn’t see any issues or freezes and it was probably just a first day of cruise glitch in the system and give it time. This did resolve itself by day 3, but on night 2, I was unable to add cash to my slot machine in the casino from my room account. This took 2 conversations with the casino host, 3 visits to guest services and finally a phone call between the two to sort out. It had something to do with Jeremy being a no show locking up the account (even though I’m always the primary guest on the booking and the credit card on the account is in my name only). Today’s newest glitch is with OBC. We were supposed to have $50 OBC from Celebrity and $150 OBC from my TA. The $50 was showing in the cruise planner pre cruise but disappeared onboard and the $150 from the agent never appeared. I know OBC from agents has usually taken a day or 2 to show up but we’re more than halfway through the cruise (boo) so I decided to look into it. I emailed my TA who quickly responded and confirmed the credit was sent to celebrity and emailed me a copy of the confirmation that she got from Celebrity to show to guest services. When I stopped by guest services this afternoon, the lady at the desk said she could “see” the credits in the system but wasn’t sure why it isn’t going onto my account. She said someone will check into it and call me later (I’ve had about a 50% success rate with such assurances to follow up, I suspect I’ll be back at guest services inquiring again tomorrow). Has anyone else had these kinds of issues? I’m not sure if it’s just a run of bad technology luck, something the agent did (it’s my first time using this particular person) or maybe there’s something I should have done differently as far as Jeremy’s no show that’s causing all the issues. Luckily there’s never been a line at guest services this cruise so all the chats haven’t taken too much of my time. Any thoughts appreciated!

Taking a step back in time to report on my day in Bonaire yesterday. I booked a half day snorkeling excursion independently on the Lady Bellais. I’d seen the company in a few social media ads and though they didn’t have a ton of reviews on Google or trip advisor, the ones that were there were glowing so I figured it was a safe bet to try. It turns out the limited number of reviews is because they’ve only been in business for about 7 months. I’m going to be giving them very well deserved plugs everywhere because they do a fantastic job! It’s a family owned and run business. Mom was checking us in at a tent less than a 5 minute walk outside the cruise port before a short bus ride to the marina. The dad is the seaman who bought the historic wooden schooner, sailed it 21 days from Brazil to Bonaire and restored it. Their son was on the crew helping out with sailing and snorkeling and making sure everyone used the rope swing safely (more on that in a minute). During this high season I paid about $85 per person which included the snorkeling with all equipment provided (I used my own mask and snorkel but the provided flippers to save packing space) and open bar and lunch. We were greeted on boarding the boat with small welcome mimosas. I partook figuring it was such a small portion and worst case it probably wouldn’t hit my system until I was almost done in the water anyway…a decision that may have played into my fate later on. We had about a 20 minute sail out to the mooring for snorkeling then had 45 minutes in the water to snorkel. If you’re only going to snorkel/dive one place on an ABC islands cruise, Bonaire is the place to do it. The reefs are in incredible shape and the water is so clear you can see to the bottom even from the boat. I saw tons of fish and corals of all sizes and colors. At one point I found myself in the middle of a school of fast swimming small fish. I didn’t have the presence of mind at the time to consider that when a big group of small fish is around swimming quickly, there’s probably a much larger fish chasing them. When I saw the silhouette of said larger fish coming towards me, this daft woman thought “oh! That big fish is about to swim right under me! How cool!” Seconds later I realized my sub par depth perception had struck again and the fish (either a marlin or swordfish, not sure which) wasn’t going to swim under me, he was going to crash right into me pointy nose first! I turned myself sideways and dove down more to swim away just in time, but Jaws grazed my leg hard. I won’t be that girl who posts pics of her battle scars, but I’ve now got a brag worthy bruise coming up on the right side of my knee. That’s what I get for coming between a marine carnivore and his buffet. After snorkeling it was time for the open bar which was stocked with name brand spirits (so often these open bar cruises have well alcohol) and a big cooler of iced down coronas for the beer folks. The crew then opened the boat’s rope swing for those who wanted to try. It looked like fun but when it comes to my body, I have zero confidence in my bow’s strength and ability to hold on to the dead weight of my much heavier stern while in pendulum motion, so I stayed in my lane and stuck to enjoying Corona and rum punch in the sunshine. Lunch was another high point of the day. It’s another place where all inclusive snorkeling cruises tend to cut corners so I wasn’t expecting anything impressive, but I was pleasantly surprised. The crew served up the captain’s own recipe Caribbean chicken stew served over beans and rice with sautéed veggies on the side. As my 11 year old would say, that chicken was bussin. It was so tender and juicy it fell apart with a press of the fork. We were offered seconds if we wanted and pretty much everyone onboard took them up on it. For an after lunch aperitif, the crew passed out shots of a local liqueur made from fermented Caribbean cactus. While we ate and drank we had a sailing tour around the island with some party music playing but not at an obnoxious volume. I think Lady Bellais will be my go to plan for Bonaire going forward. After the excursion I headed back to the ship to do some work and take a much needed nap before dinner then headed to lawn club grill. I had the same server Franklin that I had for my lunch there. If you’re sailing soon and going to LCG ask for him. He’ll take very good care of you! For dinner I started with a smaller size of the sausage and pepper pizza (so much better than it was on Silhouette) then had my usual LCG turf & turf of the ribeye and a half portion of the lamb chops with a side of the lobster Mac n cheese. Where’s my girl @lola2013 at? The warm chocolate chip cookie dessert was everything we love! When I finished it, Franklin offered to bring me another one and I actually considered it for a few seconds. After dinner I decided to stay outside enjoying the beautiful evening and met my Irish MDR table mates for a couple of drinks at sunset bar then headed to bed.

Good evening friends! I had such an incredible day in Bonaire and I’m just settling in for dinner at Lawn Club Grill. I love having this specialty (or its E class sister Rooftop Grill) booked for dinner after a day on the beach or in the ocean. It’s great for showering off the salt and sand and just throwing on a flowy casual tropical dress to dine. When I got here the rest of my wine from Murano last night was already waiting for me. Speaking of, let’s start going back in time and catching up on my day anboard yesterday. After enjoying the sun on a quiet pool deck I went to lunch at The Porch. This small seafood restaurant is only on 2 ships (Silhouette and Reflection) and it’s right below Eden as far as my list of favorite specialties. The sauce on the pil pil shrimp is heavenly! My mussels pasta was good but I stopped short on finishing to save room for the mini dessert sampler. The cheesecake puree is the best one hands down and when I’m back at the restaurant later in the week (I was invited to lunch there with some new cruising friends) I’m just going to get a full size of that one. I washed everything down with a glass of the white sangria that’s a special menu cocktail for this restaurant (they also do a red which I’ll be trying next time). I was one of only 3 tables occupied and service was excellent. After lunch I went back to the room to nap and do some work before dinner at Murano. Before I headed to dinner I got to FaceTime with my little mini me GenZ. She gave me the news that she’s finally decided between the two options for our summer mommy daughter cruise and is going to pass on MSC Seascape and wants to sail on E class for her first time on Beyond! We’ll be sailing the week of my birthday and I’m pretty excited to celebrate it on my favorite ship. I guess I’ll have to make some time to visit future cruises. When I last checked the Beyond cruise in sky suite was just under $1K more expensive than the YC on Seascape when accounting for perks MSC was offering that Celebrity wasn’t, but we’ll see how the math shakes out with current promos and onboard offer. When I got to Murano I had the same server and fabulous sommilier from chef’s table the night before and they both welcomed me warmly. I ordered all of my Murano favorites: the lobster bisque, mushroom risotto, Murano lobster and Gran Marnier soufflé. All were everything I’d been waiting 4 E class cruises to eat again. I decided to get a bottle of wine with dinner and Ivana made a great recommendation for my desired price point, preference for dry reds and something that would go well with the lobster. As I was finishing my 20 year tawny port, two awesome couples I’ve made friends with from the UK were just sitting to dinner and invited me to sit and sip and chat with them. It turns out one of the couples is on their honeymoon cruise and we ordered a bottle of veuve to share and toast the happy couple. After much dinner dinner conversation and champagne we all went up and shut down the sunset bar talking and laughing together in the sea air until the wee hours. Well, if you’ll excuse me, I just got buzzed by a 747 on approach to land at Flamingo airport as we sail away from Bonaire (literally so close over the ship that my eardrums vibrated and the engine wash blew my hair in my face…I almost spilled my super Tuscan…I want some butts!) and Franklin (my very friendly server from Kenya) just put a personal sausage and pepper pizza in front of me. I’ll check in again later tonight and tell you all about my day in Bonaire.

God morning from beautiful Bonaire! I’m so excited for my morning of snorkeling. No mimosas for me this morning as last time I dived in Bonaire I remember there being a bit of a current and I want to have my wits about me. Another bit of self help luxury: I packed my nice Retreat tote bag that they give you on Beyond to use in port. The buffet is busy at 8:30 but I had no trouble finding a good seat and getting tea service. It’s overcast today but warm and humid and seas are pretty mild. I’ll check back in when I get back from the Lady Bellais!

I second the comments saying it depends on the child. My pet peeve is when people hear “child” and automatically suggest without any information on the particular kid and/or parents’ personalities that they’re going to have a “better” vacation on one of the cruise lines with water parks, skating rinks, etc. We’re a family that doesn’t stay at Disney or Universal Studios for more than 2-3 days at a time because it’s just too much stimulus and too little luxury, especially for the price paid. My daughter is 11 and has done 2 Celebrity cruises and loved them both. We tried an MSC cruise last summer on one of their new ships with more passengers and more “kids bells and whistles”. She had fun but by day 5 we were both approaching exhaustion and were overstimulated and she had a sensory meltdown. For our mother daughter cruise this summer she told me she wants to come back to Celebrity and sail on Beyond. Other lines are great for some families, but for me I don’t think you could get me on a theme park of the seas if you paid me to do it.

Let us know when you decide to go. I think this is my new favorite Caribbean itinerary and I’d love to sail with you again. Next time you can meet Jeremy. Maybe we can do Gatsby party 2.0!

We’re docked in Aruba late today (all aboard isn’t until 10pm) so I haven’t really felt the seas yet. The sail in this morning was very smooth though. I heard the forecast for further north in the Caribbean is looking a bit dicey. I have a friend who is on Silhouette headed towards FLL and she said that they’re really rocking and that the captain came on and said it’s going to be rough and rainy for most of the ride back.

I will ask her! I’m just starting dinner in Murano and decided to buy a nice bottle. She gave me an excellent recommendation for a Super Tuscan that would accommodate my preference for dry reds but also dance well on my palate with the lobster. Each sip is taking me back to being in the Med on Beyond!

Couldn’t agree more! These gentlemen were so much fun! And I definitely had nothing to offer that they would be remotely interested in…except perhaps a glimpse at my vintage Balenciaga collection.

I am so sorry for the loss of your husband. I hope it’s not too creepy of an offer coming from a stranger on the internet and all…but if you ever do decide to try cruising solo, please feel free to reach out and if price and schedules align I would be happy to book myself solo on the same cruise and be on call to be your company for meals, shows, cocktails, etc. whenever you’re feeling you need a little emotional support and/or company.

Good morning from One Happy Island! The danish in the MDR this morning is pineapple coconut. I think my favorite the pistachio danish has competition now. For my fellow morning tea drinkers, I remember the last cruise I went to MDR breakfast there were coffee servers everywhere but getting a cup of English breakfast in a timely manner was a real struggle. This time it looks like there are just as many tea servers going around as coffee. Maybe we have more UK passengers onboard. Last night the grand foyer and marini bar were JAMMIN thanks to the ABBA sing along and 60’s dance party. But I called it a night early and after listening to Time Machine duo in the much more chill ensemble lounge for a bit, I spent some sensory down time on my super sized veranda in my pajamas star gazing with a glass of wine. It’s only day 4 and bars and restaurants are already starting to “run out” of the better premium package wines including Decoy. Celebrity does passive aggressive even better than my first husband did. “Fine, since you’re having such a fit, we’ll put these wines back in the premium package, but we’re only gonna bring like 10 cases of them onboard…” I found a shiraz by the glass (Grant Burge $15 a glass) in ensemble lounge that is pretty decent. Nothing medal winning but I find it much more drinkable than the $10 cab and Pinot noirs. Last night though it was a tough step down from what I was drinking about an hour before at dinner. Last night for dinner I did the Daniel Boulud chef table event. I’ve done this once before about a year ago on silhouette I think. I remember being kind of meh about it, but my mom is in love with the cookbook I got that they give you at the end of dinner. I figured I’d give it another chance and worst case, I’ve got one of my mom’s birthday gifts taken care of. The dinner is only being offered one night of the cruise and was limited to a max of 10 people. Apparently I got the last spot available so it’s definitely worth booking in advance if you’re interested. We started the night in Cellar Masters with Prosecco. I will still die on the hill that any event with Chef Boulud’s name on it, and a $170 per person price point, should be pouring Veuve, or at a minimum actual champagne for the “champagne” welcome reception, and yet Celebrity persists in cheaping out on this…I guess at least this time it wasn’t the Celebrity brand sparkling wine you get for free in your stateroom in concierge class and above, so a small, but sad, improvement. We were also given canapés of a poached lobster bite topped with caviar and a goat cheese and raspberry puff pastry. While we snacked and sipped, the ship’s food and beverage director and the executive sous chef for specialty restaurants introduced themselves and explained how our night would go down. Then we were given a walking tour of the main dining room galley (not a thing last time I did this dinner, maybe a COVID prevention thing back then?) and got to watch the culinary team prepared for the late seating dinner service. After our tour were escorted to the private dining room in Murano for dinner. Last time I did this dinner I was disappointed in the wine pairings (an additional $70 charge even if you have the premium package) and I was thinking I wouldn’t do it this time. Last time it was a total bait and switch. Many of the advertised pairings were disclosed to be unavailable after we’d already signed up for doing the pairings and there were even a couple of wines that were comparable to basic classic beverage package wines that got substituted. When I saw the pairing plan tonight and asked a few questions about vintages and confirmed the wines listed were actually available and would be the ones served, I decided to give it a second chance. I was so glad I did. It turned out everyone in our group decided to do the pairings and it really added to the experience with our sommelier, Ivana, who was able to focus on leading us through the pairings and Chef Boulud’s reasoning for them (apparently he picks the pairing wines personally). History nerd me also really enjoyed the background info she gave about each winery and its history. I think the menu was fairly similar to, if not identical, to the last time I did this. Last time a couple of the courses were a bit disappointing (the first course and the sea bass I seem to recall in particular falling short). This time my plate was clean at the end of every course but the beef (and that was only because I was saving room for dessert). The sea bass that was room temp and dry last time was served piping hot and tender with a sauce I wanted to sop up with my baguette. The short rib and filet mignon duo had multiple people at the table doing the head leaned back moan. There were two in the group who had gluten allergies and the chef was able to make adjustments to accommodate them with advance notice. We had a really fun, talkative group and I think I was actually the only one at the event who wasn’t on their first Celebrity cruise. Everyone looked to be about my age or a little older. There was a super cute group of 3 women from Kentucky who have been best friends since middle school and are sailing to jointly celebrate their 50th birthdays…I gotta get my girlfriends on renewing their passports! One of the managers helping to run the event looked shocked when he came to our table in Murano and then said “oh it’s all young people this time, wow!” I’m just really exited that anyone still thinks I look young. 😂 At the end of dinner the food and beverage director came back and presented us with our 10 pound cookbooks (if you’re doing the event, plan your checked bag weight accordingly) and a professional photo of our group with the chefs and gave each lady at the table a rose. You can imagine why after that 3 hour marathon of 6 courses of wine and food, I just was not up for a dance party! When I got to the room there was info on the bed about luggage valet service being back, but unfortunately it’s only for flights from FLL so I won’t be able to partake of making my overpacking someone else’s problem for the trip home. I’ve had a few work emergencies pop up and since we didn’t have anything prebooked for during the day here other than dinner reservations, I’m going to take a bonus sea day and stay onboard in Aruba and do some work at Al Bacio then enjoy a quiet pool deck with more of Madame Clicquot’s life story. I wasn’t going to have anything from the pastry case at cofffee having just ate breakfast, then my server Enna told me the Nutella and almond croissants are particularly good today. Hello carb overload, my old friend…my dresses will not fit again…still remains, the sound of Spanx. My breakfast server Dewa got me a good discount for a last minute lunch reservation for today at the Porch and for an early dinner at Murano (as well as bringing me a second mimosa, so far pampering from my servers at sit down breakfast has been just as good in the MDR as I’ve had in Luminae). I promise I’ll also catch up on formal night report. Have a great day everyone!

Celebrity Cruise Math: 1 decent morning in the Casino + 1 Burger the Size of my Face (swimming in English cheddar cheese and topped with more thick, juicy, smoky bacon than maritime law should allow) + Herb Parmesan Chips + 2 Glasses of Malbec = Check, please. It’s nap time.

Thank you for this suggestion! This cocktail sounds like it’s right up my alley! 🥂

Good morning from sea day #2! I made a cruising rookie mistake this morning. When I set my alarm last night, I forgot to also change the time on my phone forward to ship time (in spite of the big message on my TV with music playing behind it telling me to do so). As a result, I slept in today well past MDR breakfast closing time. No worries though, for a few cruises now I’ve been meaning to check out the captains club loyalty breakfast for Elite Plus and above level. It’s offered in Tuscan Grille every morning until a much more lazy Gen X friendly 10am closing time. I was treated at the door by our Captain’s Club concierge who asked how the cruise is going and if there’s anything onboard that I need assistance with. It’s really nice starting the day with a view of the wake, and the lighter fare is much more conducive to my big dinning plans for the rest of the day. Speaking of, here’s today’s agenda: -Hit the casino to visit a lose slot machine I found last night (full report to come) -Go by the vintage handbag shop to see if a bag I fell for last night is still there (part of the reason I flaked on changing my clock is that I was busy before bed doing my research on the model and what it’s going for through other authenticators and the price is about right!) -Lunch at Lawn Club Grill -Poolside reading and a nap -Start the evening with a wine flight at Cellar Masters -Daniel Boulud Chef’s Table dinner Sharing CC breakfast menu pics below. I think someone also asked about our captain for the cruise so sharing the senior officer sheet, info on captains club events and laundry special offers as well. More to come after I make my donation to the Blue Chip Club and see a woman about a Gucci bag.

The mind reels that with all my luggage I could’ve forgotten anything I could possibly need on this cruise, but boom, here it is. My white evening gloves are still sitting on top of my chest of drawers at home. Oh well. 🤷🏽‍♀️ Sharing some pics from MDR lunch. The Andalusian salad was nothing special but I got my veggies in. The pear raspberry cobbler dessert would have been really good if it had been warm (as advertised) instead of room temp. The duck teriyaki was more well done than I like my duck but was really good. I cleaned my plate. There’s a duck dish on the menu tonight too, but is it too extra to have duck twice in one day??? The bars around the ship are completely slammed and apparently there’s an issue with the dishwasher by the specialty restaurants and the poor Ensemble lounge guys were running low of glassware, so I’m drinking my Pinot noir from a daiquiri glass…first world problems… More to come later from evening chic night. For now it’s showtime!

So about last night… I started the night in Ensemble lounge having a pre-dinner cocktail listening to our acoustic duo Time Machine. The vocalist has a beautiful voice. I think it’s time for an AV upgrade on Reflection though, the sound system wasn’t doing her justice. I tried a new drink from the sparkling cocktail menu, the Elderflower Fizz and really liked it. Very light and floral but not sweet. After the set I headed to the MDR for dinner. It’s been so long since I sailed outside of Blu/Luminae that I completely forgot that one of the first thing onboard to do’s is to go check out our table assigned in the main dining room and inquire about changes if needed. When it’s Jeremy and I we much prefer to have a table to ourselves, but since I was solo I was hoping to be seated at a larger table with some company. It ended up working out (sort of) when I got to dinner as I was seated at a big 8 top table, but for about 15 minutes I was the only inhabitant. Fortunately a wonderful couple from Ireland joined me just as I was ordering my appetizers. Sorry, we ended up having such great dinner conversation that I forgot to get pics of most of my food! For dinner I had my favorite escargot and the cream of mushroom soup to start then a medium rare prime rib and finished up with a double espresso and dulce de leche for dessert. I thought everything I ate was good and portions were generous. Our serving team was great with the exception of drink service. A sommelier hadn’t showed up by the time our appetizers arrived so our server Peter offered to take our wine order if we knew what we wanted so that we wouldn’t have to wait any longer (we did, Decoys all around). A smiling face in a burgundy vest did eventually show up to refill our glasses half way through entrees, but he seemed very rushed and didn’t introduce himself. On the flip side, said unnamed somm clearly has a better memory than I do though, because he walked by as I was reading on the pool deck this morning and smiled at me said “keep enjoying your mimosa, I’ll have your Decoy ready later tonight”. I get the sense that there just aren’t enough drink servers and somms assigned for the MDR and the folks who are there are doing their best while stretched thin. After dinner I headed to the martini bar for a cosmo and to watch the 80’s dance party in the grand foyer. It wasn’t long before I bumped into @CruiseCrew123 and her friends and JOINED said dance party until it wrapped up at 11:30pm. Just when I was about to call it a night, I started chatting with a super fun group of guys from Miami (Jeremy needn’t be jealous…how shall I put this…these men were wearing pastel Versace, were talking about how they scored tickets for the Eros Tour and had better hip moves on the dance floor than I do…I was at zero risk of any improper advances) and joined them to hit the late night party at the sky lounge. It was a small (maybe a dozen people) but mighty party and the DJ was spinning some great tunes. Most of the last men and women standing were my age or older. It was pretty funny to see like 3 or 4 ship security officers standing around arms crossed with serious expressions watching carefully lest the wild and crazy silver haired ladies in capri pants doing the sprinkler get out of hand. 😂 Good news guys: the sun is finally out!!! I think I’ll go join the aqua fit class then hit MDR lunch and promptly put back on every calorie I burn. For the afternoon I think I’ll change reading locations to the sunset bar. This Widow Clicquot book is dangerous. I only had the one poolside mimosa after breakfast then have been sticking to my water, but reading this is making me crave champagne bad!