GenerationX

Remind me, was it John and Yoko who did that thing where they let the whole world see them in bed in their robes to spread a message of peace? Well, welcome to my bed-in to spread the message of the joys of being a woman sailing solo on Celebrity. As I was leaving my sushi dinner I had an epiphany. My original plan was to have pillow chocolates for my in-room dessert tonight. Then I looked across the foyer and remembered that my captains club status comes with that free scoop of gelato. Pinot noir and hazelnut gelato with almonds? Yes please! Oh and halfway through my gelato I REALLY hit expert cruise hack and thought of crumbling a couple of the pillow chocolates on top of the gelato!!! While I’m enjoying my best life solo girls night in, a report on my Sushi on 5 dinner. When I got to the restaurant it was not completely full but very busy and you could tell the servers were really hustling to try and keep up with good service. How hectic was it? As I was digging into my second course, 3 of the senior officers arrived at the restaurant to have their dinner. The maitre d was tied up at another table so someone else seated them at the table right behind me…which had not been bussed AT ALL and was still covered in dirty dishes and placemats from the guests who left a few minutes before. When the maitre d saw what had happened it seemed like he was humiliated and hustling to make it right. The officers seemed like they were understanding and took it in stride. At least publicly anyway. Hopefully no one is gonna be sent packing when we get back to FLL! The funny part is that when I saw those 3 super official gentlemen come walking directly back at me (and again, I’m not thinking they’re coming to sit for dinner, because they aren’t being led by the maitre d and the only 4 top table available anywhere around me just left and it’s still dirty and not ready for new guests), I’m pretty sure my blood pressure spiked. I had my mouth prepped to blurt out “whatever it is, I didn’t do it!” lol Ok so back to the food. I ordered a couple of my go to’s, the shrimp and lobster wontons and the shrimp tempura roll. Then I decided to try something new and forego my favorite pork ramen and try the shrimp tempura udon. The wontons were good as always. Don’t forget to try the seaweed salad on the side, I like it so much sometimes I order just a little side dish of it when I’m not getting the wontons. The shrimp tempura roll was actually improved from my last Equinox cruise. I’ve always been of the opinion that the Maki rolls were ironically the weakest dishes at Sushi on 5. It seems like the game has been stepped up. The rice was way better and it was rolled perfectly (I’ve had maki from sushi on 5 fall apart completely in my chopsticks sooo many times because it wasn’t rolled right). If you’re used to having sushi in a really competitive authentic sushi restaurant market (like NYC, Seattle, LA or of course, Japan), I’m guessing this probably still isn’t going to hold a candle to what you get at home (and probably pay at least double the price for). But I think it was on par with what we get at midwest suburban sushi places. The shrimp tempura udon…once again here’s a dish that I’m mad I didn’t give a chance sooner. The broth had rich seafood flavor and the udon noodles were cooked just right. The shrimp tempura on its own was a little bland and could have been a little crispier, but I can totally forgive that because it’s meant to to be dunked in that yummy broth. I don’t think this replaces the pork ramen as my favorite, but going forward I’ll probably alternate back and forth during the cruise between ordering the shrimp tempura udon and pork ramen. Pics of the goodness below. Sweet dreams from the Equinox!

Hello from sea day! FYI since last night, wifi has been extremely slow (calling it “stream” at this point is just flagrant false advertising, I couldn’t even get a music/video streaming app to load, much less play anything from it). And Ive been having a tough time getting the CC site to even load fully. Forget uploading pics or lengthy posts. I’ve still been writing posts in Notes on my phone and taking pics so there may be rapid streams of posts back to back in fits and starts when wifi is cooperating. Speaking of back to back, for anyone wondering, I spoke to a few people who are doing this cruise as a b2b with the 6 night after and they were informed last night that they WILL have to Covid test onboard tomorrow in Nassau for the second leg of their b2b. I haven’t heard any announcements or gossip about any positive cases onboard and as of this morning we haven’t had any changes to our masks-optional policy.

So glad you’re enjoying! The bus ride to the beach I’d say was about 20-30 minutes. It wasn’t too bad. The tour guide got on a mic on the way out and back and gave lots of info about the island and sights we were passing too, so the time passed easily.

In a cute but comfortable dress and ready for dinner. I had to run to guest services before cocktails and stumbled on a great selfie opportunity. The Godmother and the Funmother!

Good afternoon from the pool deck of the Carnival Sunshine-oops I mean Celebrity Equinox! I’m totally joking, it hasn’t gone THAT far. I will say though that this is my first Celebrity cruise where I’ve seen/heard groups of passengers mobbed around the pool bar chanting “SHOTS! SHOTS! SHOTS!” at the top of their lungs. Poor Kadek and I Ketut and Team. I’m gonna need to up my pool bartender/server budget for this trip. The football brahs were also back in full effect this afternoon, but this time the pool officer did make them put a stop to their catch game, after it got out of hand and they were hitting railings and knocking over drinks with the errant throws. Speaking of the pool crew though, the pool servers and bartenders this cruise really have been great and I’m surprised at how well they’re managing to keep up with so many more passengers. I’ve yet to go more than 10 minutes on the deck without a server coming by and asking if I need something. Unfortunately a work emergency came up this morning that I had to deal with while I knew the wifi was good, so I wasn’t able to make my tour in Tortola today. 😭 I did get to do most of said work on a nearly empty pool deck (was nice while it lasted) in the sunshine. I consoled myself after I finished work with a rum punch from Ricky at the Sunset Bar and a beef rendang (delicious) and pork Milanese (meh) buffet lunch with steak nachos for dessert…don’t judge me. Tonight will be my second chill night of the cruise. I didn’t have any specialties booked but I’m feeling a crave for Sushi. The app dining reservations system is being glitchy so I put in a call to specialty reservations to see if I could get lucky. My good friend Michael from Murano answered the phone and greeted me by name and let me know he could get me in Sushi on 5 at 8pm. I was excited to hear the news as I’ve heard reports that Murano and Tuscan are now almost completely booked up for the rest of the cruise (so for those following who are sailing soon, it may be worth doing your specialty reservations in advance or first thing when you get on the ship so you don’t miss out). I’m headed down to my veranda to get a couple more chapters of reading in then I’ll shower and hit Sunset and Ensemble for my pre-Dinner cocktails. Tonight’s exciting after dinner plan is to drink wine and eat pillow chocolates in bed and watch House of Gucci, which is free on demand on my stateroom TV!

Yasss! Come!!! We will celebrate your b-day at the Gatsby party! Let’s turn that sailing into the solo ladies of CC cruise!

Thank you! I won’t lie to you. The passenger count jump after sailing half full ships was a big adjustment. The first day or 2 I found myself thinking “who the dickens are all these PEOPLE on MY ship??? This is OUTRAGEOUS!” 😂

Ok this is SUPER COOL!!! Now we have to start planning our Gatsby outfits for the party. Oh and do you already have a map dress for embarkation day? 😂 Can’t wait to sail with you!

A belated report on my day on St. Maarten: The excursion I booked was the Orient Beach Escape with Lunch. The excursion price included round trip transportation to the beach in an air conditioned motorcoach, a beach lounger (umbrellas for shade were an additional $5 US charge paid at the beach, cash only), a glass of rum or fruit punch at the beach and a sit down lunch at the beach restaurant with one drink (beer, soda, juice or water) included. There were a lot of people on the excursion but they split us between two buses. This was my first time back on St. Maarten since the hurricane and it looked like the island has recovered well, but you could still see the remnants of lots of destroyed homes and businesses spotted throughout that hadn’t been rebuilt. Orient Beach itself, while still beautiful and with that super soft white sand, wasn’t quite as nice. I remenber the water being so clear you could be chest deep and still see your toes. The water still seemed clean but wasn’t that clear. There was also a little sargassum which wasn’t a thing last time I was there. Nowhere near as much as I’ve seen in Cancun or the DR, but it was enough that it was giving the beach that signature funky smell and you had to dodge patches of it when swimming. The water was a perfect temp for the hot day though and I didn’t let it stop me from floating around. The beach vendors were also more persistent than I remember. It took 4 or 5 “no thank you’s” to get each one to move on. I totally understand why though. The tourism industry on the island has really been through it between the hurricane and Covid lockdowns and the cruising suspension and our bus driver told us things still aren’t anywhere near back to where they used to be. Equinox was one of only two ships scheduled to be in port the whole week. I did buy a cute new pool coverup for me and a bracelet for GenZ from one lady. I negotiated aggressively (occupational habit) and ended up getting them both for $15 total. If you decide to do a massage or hair braiding from these ladies be sure to be clear and agree on a set price for the full service you expect before you start. I saw the ladies offer hair braiding for $4 “per braid” (negotiate down to $2 or $3) but not saying how many braids they would put in. Same with massages. They’d say $2 “per minute”. Be clear on how long you want the massage to go and the total amount you’ll be giving them. You don’t want them to just keep going and run up a big bill for you. The lunch in the restaurant was platted and full service. There was a choice of ribs, bbq chicken or mahi-mahi with salad and either rice or French fries on the side. My ribs were nice and tender and you could tell the sauce was something they simmered low and slow for a good while. I ate with a couple I met at World Class bar and they both got the mahi-mahi and said it was very good too. We had about an hour and a half of beach time before lunch and then another half hour afterwards. It was a gorgeous day on a gorgeous beach with pretty good food and I’d 100% book it again. We were asked to be back at the front of the restaurant to meet the bus back to the ship by 1:15. At 1:25, our tour guide came on the bus, did a head count of us, and then disappeared with a concerned look on her face. We all sat there on the bus (fortunately with the air running) for another 15 minutes then we saw our guide coming up from the beach with a man behind her carrying his heavily intoxicated, barely conscious and sunburned to a crisp wife in his arms. The guide helped the man put her under the beach shower to try and cool her down and wake her up some then got them a bottled water from the restaurant and a bag for her to use on the bus in case she got sick. The guide also helped reseat the passengers sitting directly in front of and behind the couple, so they would be out of the line of fire in case the worst should happen. It was a good reminder for me of why I’m careful to stay hydrated and keep an eye on my alcohol and sun intake on vacation. There’s not a chance on earth that my 140lbs soaking wet husband would’ve been able to carry me all the way up that beach and onto that bus. He would have had to leave me to bake and find himself a new seasoned cruiser wife onboard to keep his Elite benefits.

This is a BRILLIANT idea. We are DEFINITELY throwing a Gatsby party on Beyond! I’ll let Red know too. I need to join the roll call for that one as well. I’ll be in a solo cabin so I probably won’t have room to host but perhaps we can make a friend in an Edge Villa or Iconic or maybe commandeer a corner of the new and improved Sunset Bar for the event. I’ll even spring for the first bottle of Veuve. You heard it here first, folks! Gatsby party on Beyond hosted by hcat and GenX! November 8th sailing! Anyone who wants in on this book your staterooms! 😁

Good Morning from Tortola BVI! It probably won’t come as a surprise to anyone that I ended up in the sky lounge till midnight last night. My excursion today doesn’t assemble till late morning so I was planning to sleep in some, but around 7am I was awakened by the sound of blasting reggae music. Turned out we had just docked in Tortola a stone’s throw from the Breakaway and I guess they start the pool party early on NCL. Once again I briefly felt like an old lady and wanted to go out on my balcony with shades over my red eyes and shake my fist and shout at the neighbors “You kids keep it down over there! Aren’t YOU still sleeping off last night’s martinis and Malbec too??? I haven’t even had my Tylenol yet!” Speaking of last night, after dinner I had a pick me up espresso martini with the Ensemble Lounge A-team (I’m gonna miss this crew so much when I go home) before heading to the Motown party. The Motown party definitely wasn’t as heavily attended as some of the Grand Foyer parties earlier in the cruise, but it was scheduled in competition with both live band karaoke and the late night adult game show which I think split crowds (not the worst thing in the time of Covid I guess). There was still a decent crowd though and not shy about getting on the dance floor. Our dance band BR4 performed along side the brass section of the orchestra for the production shows. The lead singer of the band has a voice to match her stage presence! After the party wrapped up I headed up to the sky lounge which was also much less crowded than previous nights (guess all the newbies are starting to figure out that nightlife on an 8-night celebrity cruise is a marathon not a sprint). It looked like they may have lifted the 18+ age requirement for late night sky lounge last night because the biggest groups on the dance floor looked to be in the 13-16 age group. I felt a little like I was crashing someone’s Bar Mitzvah, but the teens were well behaved and weren’t bothering anyone and looked to be having a great time and enjoying their cruise. Some of the young men had some killer dance moves! My hope for the future of rhythm in America is restored! Next up: a back in time report on St. Maarten!

Back to happy news! About my evening thus far… I’m beginning to think maybe I should rename this thread “Murano LIVE Review” lol But I promise that while I won’t be reposting pics of/reviewing the Murano dishes I’ve already talked about, I do have new info to share! Tonight I was a couple of minutes late for my reservation but it was wasn’t my fault I swear! As I was finishing my usual Ensemble Lounge pre-dinner live music and cocktail party with my fellow regulars/Komang and Abdul fan club members (btw I don’t know their CC handles and want to protect real names for privacy but please join me in wishing a very happy FORTIETH wedding anniversary to a lovely and hilarious couple following this review who have become my new friends!), a headphone wearing conga line went dancing past the entrance to Murano and I had to wait till it got past to go in. Turns out that this cruise the Retreat had their own private silent disco party for suite guests in the lounge and it spilled out beautifully and briefly into Ensemble. Ugh, everything cool happens when I’m not sailing in a suite! This better still be a thing when I’m on Silhouette in a suite in December! Anyway, when I got in the restaurant, I was escorted to what has become my usual table and had my usual wonderful serving team of Michael as my waiter and Pavle my sommelier. As I was perusing the menu Pavle came over and asked if it was too early to have a conversation about my wine order. I told him it is NEVER to early to talk to me about wine. I told him that I was thinking about trying the lamb for my main course and he recommended pairing it with an Argentinian (of course) Malbec. I also ordered the heavenly lobster bisque and risotto again to start. This was my first time having the lamb in Murano. This is another one I have always passed on in a restaurant I paid a premium for since there’s other places on the ship you can get lamb chops (including the MDR). I don’t think I’d order these over the Murano lobster, but if you’re in Murano and not a lobster/seafood person, these lamb chops are good. I wasn’t impressed with the sauce served on the side but the chops were tender and well crusted with a perfect balance of salt and earthy flavors and cooked to practically still going “baaa” in the center just as I ordered. Oh also if you get them, don’t forget to dig under the lamb rack where they’ve hidden a little Easter egg of a walnut sized spiced meatball. That meatball is so good that, if I’m ever blessed to have the means to book the penthouse suite on S-class and thus feel like I can make a high maintenance request (and not be completely out of line), I will ask if it’s possible to have a plate of them delivered to my (shock and awe caliber) stateroom each night for canapés. BTW random funny side story: My long time fantasy for if I ever could afford that penthouse suite has been to throw a big, extra, black tie only Gatsby party in that room and hire an onboard pianist to attend. Then lay across that grand piano in a blinged out evening gown, tiara and elbow length gloves drinking Veuve and singing “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend” and Josephine Baker’s version of “Begin the Beguine” while the pianist plays along. But I heard that they’re 86ing the pianos in penthouse suites as part of the refurbs, so I’m working hard on letting that dream fade into the “modern luxury” sunset. Anyway, back to the matter at hand. For dessert I knew the Gran Marnier soufflé would put me well past being in any fit state for a Motown party so I tried something else new and did the gelato assortment, of course with my espresso and a glass of 10 year port. I really enjoyed the Pistachio and Chocolate gelato flavors and they happened to be the ones at the bottom of the dish for me, so don’t be afraid to dig deep! More to come!

Not to pressure you but I would LOVE!!! to see you write a trip review once you’ve fully recovered and have settled back into real life. I’ve done some digging and there is a really void of first person feedback from solo cruising women on Silversea (especially from women who seem like they share my travel vibe). I don’t endorse bribery but if I need to sweeten the deal to you encourage you, FYI I’m gonna got to future cruises tomorrow to browse Ascent suite booking options and I’m pretty sure there’s no law that says my husband has to be the second passenger in that cabin…especially if the lady taking his spot recently did me a travel advice solid. 😉😂

I agree! It may be a selfish but in addition to the safety concerns I also just would hate to see this kind of behavior become a norm on Celebrity. I pay the price I pay for Celebrity cruises for the UPSCALE fun. Keeping it real, if I want to spend a week on a cruise ship filled with hardcore party boy/girl types and underparented children, I could do so for much less than what Celebrity charges even during fare deals. But that atmosphere is not what sold us on this line. If Neptune forbid, Celebrity lets this kind of behavior creep into becoming the norm, it would break my heart and I feel like I’d depressingly have to start looking a lot harder at the premium cruise lines.

Another report (and ok maybe slight rant) from the Equinox: For the first couple of days of the cruise I noticed that there was a big demographic shift on this sailing. If you’ve read my other reviews, you know that I’m 100% pro more younger people and families with kids giving Celebrity a try (and per my last review LOVED sailing Celebrity with my own child). That being said there are things I’ve seen and heard the past couple of days that made me briefly wonder if I was on the same cruise line. For example, this afternoon at the packed pool there was a group of about 5 or 6 kids in what looked to be the 6-10 years old age range, running all around the pools in that ankle depth shallow rim water, doing completely unsafe things like trying to drag/push each other in and jumping off ledges into the deep pool. I kept holding my breath fearing that one of them would slip and fall and hit their head or break an arm. They were also splashing people around them without a care in the world. Not to judge anyone else’s parenting, but I’m the type of mom where my eyes do not come off GenZ when she’s in or near the water, no matter how good a swimmer she is. Despite what we see in movies, drownings, especially for kids, are usually quiet and regularly happen quickly even with lots of people around while it happens. My rule for GenZ is: young lady you get one warning when I see you do something unsafe or disrespectful and if I have to talk to you again, you’re done in the water for the day. I saw a parent amble by once or twice and tell one or 2 of these kids to stay in the shallow pool (seemed like they were playing together but from a few different family groups), but then 1 or 2 would quickly get back at it and the rest would follow suit. Finally another passenger braver than me, who it didn’t look like she even knew any of the kids, came up and told them firmly that they needed to stay in the shallow pool (where there behavior was still unsafe/concerning, but maybe less of a drowning risk and/or disruptive). Which they did, but again only for a few minutes. I just couldn’t believe that no one was watching those children closer and reigning in their behavior. Or worse, that they WERE being watched and multiple parents thought what was going on was OK! The even crazier part was that I was standing behind the rail seating at the pool bar waiting for a drink at the time and overheard the young woman of a couple sitting at the rail (whose man I’m pretty sure was the same charming gent I heard on the elevator the first day groaning about “who the [expletive] puts a library on a cruise ship?!” 🙄) was talking about how ridiculous it was for someone to have told the kids to calm it down! Before that, while I was floating around the deep pool, there was a group of guys tossing a full regulation leather football to each other around the edges of the pool. Needless to say they weren’t 100% precise in their tosses/catches so the ball often hit the water rather than the hands of the eligible receiver, splashing people around them, including me, in the face. They didn’t seem to notice or care enough to apologize. Or think that maybe a beach ball would be better for that activity so no ones nose got broken in the event of a wild throw. I wish I could say this group was young kids who didn’t know better but the ring leader appeared to be a guy at least in his 30’s who at one point was talking about his alma mater university in the US South. I won’t call out said university by name out of respect for the institution and several fine people I know who attended it. But let’s just say from his passing game I really hope he wasn’t the QB for the football team during his time there and doesn’t seem like he picked up any lessons on southern gentleman’s manners. I did see a pool officer walking around both of these scenes several times and at one point tell one of the kids to stop jumping in the pool (which the kid quickly resumed after he left) and tell one of the football guys the same after he jumped in too and water logged the poor man treading water next to where he landed (which he did comply with, but only after complaining “dude this is ridiculous I saw someone get away with doing a belly flop yesterday!” 🙄) Then there was the group at Sunset Bar just now while I was trying to finish my write up of my St. Maarten review playing rap music on speakerphone on their phones and recording twerking videos of themselves for social media. Don’t get me wrong I’m no wet blanket and I’m all for a rowdy party. You should see how I throw down at a Mexican all-inclusive resort pool DJ/foam party (well back when I had the body for that kind of thing) and as regular readers know I’m not above doing some twerking…in the sky lounge…after midnight. It just seems like these folks missed the memo on time and place for everything. I also understand that not all kids are as chill as GenZ and may need a more active water play environment to enjoy themselves (and for those families there are plenty of cruise lines that offer kids pools, water parks, etc. to provide that level of stimulation in a SAFE way that doesn’t disturb others). I hope I don’t sound like a curmudgeon and don’t cause anyone too much anxiety about their upcoming cruise. I’m sharing these incidents only because I believe in reporting my onboard observations accurately and candidly. Most of my fellow passengers, even the kids and young adults have been polite, well-behaved, respectful and fun. My hope/expectation is that for the most part the folks who are engaging in this type of conduct are probably finding this cruise not exactly to their taste and will quickly move on to other lines and these types of incidents will remain isolated (and that Celebrity will start putting systems in place to better manage them). As I hope is coming through in my write ups I’m still overall having a great cruise and really enjoying myself. Ok that’s more than enough negativity for today. Here, have a beautiful photo of my glass of Decoy, the wake and St. Maarten. Time to go dress for Murano!

Quick Real Time Update: I got back from my excursion a little bit a ago and decided to go to oceanview for just a slice of pizza for a light afternoon snack. Mission failed. I’m punishing myself for my lack of restraint with a Miami Vice by the pool. There’s a helipad sailaway today for concierge class (info posted below for anyone interested), but I think I may skip it in favor of a shower, catching up on work and a short nap. I have night 3 of Murano dinner and a Motown party tonight that I need my energy for. Report on St. Maarten coming soon!

Enjoy your cruise! Yes the catamaran had the stairs right to the water and the crew had skeleton shirts on. They were great! Entertaining without getting to the point of corny and annoying. They did play music on the way back but I didn’t think it was too loud. I was having conversations with everyone during the sail and it wasn’t loud enough that you had to shout or strain to hear each other. It was more like background volume. I’m working on writing up St. Maarten while I sip my Miami Vice so I promise it’ll be posted soon!

I am ashamed to admit that I am extremely tardy in joining the roll call for our cruise. I think we need to plan a little cocktail party meet up!

Wow that sounds amazing! Congrats on such a big solo adventure! I’m so glad I asked. I’ve always been interested in trying Silversea. Their ships and food look so nice on Dream Cruises episodes and they sometimes have a solo fare pop up that’s not much more than suite class on celebrity. I’ve been hesitant though because I met a woman years ago who told me that she sailed Silversea solo and most of her fellow passengers weren’t very friendly and in a couple of cases were even outright hostile to her as a woman traveling alone. Sounds like you had a very different experience! If there’s a review of your cruise posted somewhere that I can lurk, please let me know!

It’s another perfect morning at sea. I hope I don’t jinx it by saying so but I could not have asked for better weather this cruise. We arrive in St. Maarten at 8am and I have to be assembled for my tour at 8:30 so I ordered a light room service breakfast to be delivered 7-7:30. This is my second room service breakfast order this cruise and it’s one of the few places where I’m really feeling the downgrade from the suite life. And not just because there’s no Retreat host (butler) setting it up on my veranda for me. A couple of thoughts: 1) Bread for toast has been a little dry and stale. If you want to start your day with baked goods, the room service croissants, English muffin and bagels have been much better (I write in a request to have my bagel/muffin toasted on the order hang tag). 2) Both times now the dairy product with my order (last time a carton of milk and this time yogurt), it is room temp or warmer by the time it gets to me. Not sure if they’re being put on trays next to hot food much too soon or they’re being stored in a fridge like the one in my room (which also doesn’t get especially cool). Either way I passed on partaking. No sense in taking all the steps to avoid Noro then end up giving myself food poisoning from my yogurt. After I get dressed for the day I’ll go grab some properly chilled from oceanview instead. Also maybe a mimosa while I’m there. Cuz vacation. I’ve noticed that yesterday and today, my premium wifi is extremely slow (if it works at all) early in the morning. This is somewhat frustrating because I’d much rather get up early and knock out any work projects I need to take care of before I start my day of fun than have to deal with it in the afternoon, but oh well. Such is the price I pay for still having a day job but also scheduling 6 cruises this year. Still to come later today, a report on yesterday evening. For now it’s time to start my St. Maarten day!

Good evening from a starry night on my veranda as we sail towards St. Maarten. While I’m sitting here in my comfy cotton yoga pants polishing off the last glass of my Super Tuscan from last night, a report on my St. Thomas excursion: I booked the St. John half day champagne catamaran sail and snorkel. The tour started with about a 20 minute ride to the marina in an open air bus. We were split between two busses and catamarans and I don’t think I saw anyone on mine wearing masks. We’d been told by Celebrity to bring our vaccination cards with us, but no one ever asked for or checked them. Fair warning, that bus ride to the marina is pretty hilly and over some steep and curvy roads. If you get car sick easily, maybe take some Dramamine or something in advance. Also, when your driver tells you to secure your hat and other loose articles well, take him seriously! One girl seated at the end nearly lost her sunglasses around a fast turn. Once we boarded the catamaran we had about an hour sail out to St. John island and the catamaran moored right off honeymoon beach where we could snorkel the reef or they had a small zodiac to take passengers who wanted to over to the beach to relax and swim. I snorkeled for about a half hour but quickly realized it was nowhere near as good as the snorkeling in the ABC islands. Not a lot of colorful reef and not nearly as many fish. But I did end up having one of the coolest ocean experiences of my life . At one point I looked down in the water there he was…a HUGE and GORGEOUS sea turtle! His shell must’ve been at least 3 feet (about a meter for the non-Americans following) across! When we got back on the catamaran, the crew had rum punch and some bubbly free flowing. Low end sparkling wine and direct Caribbean sun sounded like a recipe for a killer headache, so I stuck with the rum punch which was actually pretty good for a mass mixed all inclusive concoction. Once we were underway, the crew put out a small cold buffet of crackers and basic meats, cheeses and fruit for us to snack on. By no means a proper lunch, but enough to keep the rum punches from knocking me on my aft. The crew of the boat were all American expats (do we still use the term expat when the island is technically a US territory?) and very friendly and fun to sail with. The trip out to and back from St. John really is a beautiful sail and I was very happy with what I got for the price I paid. Any questions please feel free to ask!

Welcome to the party!!! Where/what ship were you sailing? How was it? I’m not sure the Emily Post on this but I feel like it’s not thread hijacking if the OP asks you for the dish. 🤷🏽‍♀️😂

Me: Currently sitting on my veranda on Equinox on a solo sailing sipping my wine and feeling a little bad about how many of my planned cruises for the next year don’t involve my husband. Also Me: Reads this post. Chokes on sip of wine. Pulls Celebrity credit card out of safe. Transfers some assets back to my individual accounts in case the solo booking spree I’m about to go on causes my husband to file for divorce. 😂

Good afternoon friends! Is there anything more amazing than coming back from a hot sunny day at port to a cool, clean stateroom with a beautiful view? Full report on my day in St. Thomas to come, but I had a wonderful time. I was famished though by the time I got back onboard and today’s concierge canapés were not gonna cut it for snack. The melon and prosciutto were good but the potato salad stuff not so much. So I’m sitting at OVC again hearing the steel drum band in port and munching some pizza and rehydrating. BTW please forgive me for making a quick plug: If you’ll be cruising to St. Thomas and this Rising Stars steel drum group is playing in the port shopping area right as you get off the ship, be sure to stop for a listen and consider making a donation in their donation box in front of the stage. When I got off the ship, I realized that all the talented musicians I’d heard at breakfast are local children and teens and they’ve had kids rotating out playing in the port all day in the heat. I looked up the Rising Stars group online and it’s actually a program started by a judge in the criminal court here on the island with the purpose of giving local youth a constructive outlet through music education and thus preventing school dropouts and juvenile delinquency. The money the band raises goes to cover expenses for music teachers, uniforms, instruments, etc. but also to fund SAT/ACT prep courses and college scholarships for the kids who participate. Giving a little something seems like a great easy way to give back to the local community in a small way and support an important mission while in port. I think I’ll hang out here to watch sail away then head back down to take a shower and throw something on for an early buffet dinner. More to come tonight!

Good morning from the US Virgin Islands! While I’m eating my al fresco breakfast at OVC and listening to the welcome steel drum band in port, sharing a little about last night: Pre-dinner I had my nightly visit to Komang and Abdul in Ensemble and listened to a set by our party band BR4. For dinner #2 in Murano I was thinking of doing the 5 senses pairing meal where each course comes with a different glass of ultra premium wine for a $90 upcharge. But then Pavle the Murano sommelier, having gotten a sense of my tastes during the food and wine pairing workshop yesterday, told me that he had a better idea. He had a few old world red blends in the cellar by the bottle that he thought I would love and would go well with all the courses that I ordered and would save me $20-30 vs the 5 senses fee (even before my by the bottle discount with the premium wine package). I decided on a blend from a woman owned/run Italian winery. 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot, 10% Cabernet Franc and I was very happy with my choice. Pro tip: if the ship is going to be in port late evening while you’re dining, especially in Puerto Rico or USVI (which are subject to US alcohol tax rates), ask the sommelier if they can hold off on charging your account for your dinner wine bottle purchase till the ship sets sail so you can avoid the extra tax. For my meal courses, I went with the lobster bisque, mushroom risotto, baked pear, venison loin and chocolate cake. I desperately wanted to finish the lobster bisque, but knew that would be a poor decision with 4 more courses coming. You know you’re living your best life when you’re sipping a 5 year old Super Tuscan and telling yourself not to fill up on lobster bisque. This was my first time trying the risotto at Murano and I’m kinda mad now that I’ve been sleeping on this dish. Did you guys know that garlic foam was a thing? First project when I get home is to get on YouTube and learn how to make this stuff. Totally gonna host a garlic foam (dinner) party! The pear in phyllo I wasn’t a huge fan of. The flavor profile just seemed weird. I’m glad I tried something new, but won’t be ordering that one again. After a few bites I called it quits on it to save prime real estate for venison and chocolate cake. As for the venison, this is another one I haven’t ever ordered because my husband hunts (no judgement please, deer are horribly overpopulated in the area where we live and as a result they spread disease and destroy food crops so managed hunts are an important part of ecosystem maintenance) so we usually have a freezer full of venison. This one though is going into my Murano rotation going forward. It’s super tender and not at all gamey. I recommend ordering it chef’s recommended temp (medium rare) and swirling each bite in the lingonberry sauce and the celery root purée. The chocolate cake: does not beat my favorite the Gran Marnier soufflé, but I liked it better than the crepe ballon rouge which had been my go to back up dessert choice. That white coffee ice cream that comes with it is just as good as the gelato in the gelateria. After dinner I headed to the pride party at sea which was moved from the pool deck to the grand foyer due to weather. The party was well attended, including a stop by from Captain Matt and a surprise dance performance by the production dancers. After the party wrapped up I hit the sky lounge for a bit with some new friends from Detroit and then put myself to bed around midnight. When I got to my room I saw that Pavle had already arranged to have the rest of my bottle of wine sent up along with an appropriate Reidel glass. I can’t wait to spend my evening tonight finishing that baby off on my veranda in my PJ’s. After breakfast I’m going to go hang by the pool for a bit till it’s time to head out on today’s excursion: a half day champagne catamaran sail and snorkel.