Somewhat live from the Summit, Redux

[abbydancer2003]

Summit sort of Live Redux

 

I’m currently sitting at the United baggage claim at Fort Lauderdale airport..  I was hoping to write this directly into the thread, but after about 5 minutes the airport wifi decided that I was offline, and nothing I could do brought it back online.  I’ll post my opening comments when I get to the hotel.

 

Those of you who followed my previous Summit thread know how much we enjoyed it, and how much we bonded with the crew.  A few weeks later, after I read the Summit would be doing short cruises from Miami, I called my sister (Beth as some of you know) and said, let’s do one.  There were a couple of reasons for doing this.  First, as I mentioned, we really loved the crew.  I thought it would be great to do another cruise with them before they scattered to the winds (or other ships, whichever you prefer).  Second was her status.  She was, as of the end of the first cruise about 50 points from Elite.  We have Alaska next year (3rd times the charm we hope) which is fine, except more laundry is better. So I figured with a 4 or 5 day in a sky suite, there will probably be enough power ups for her to get there by next August.  We selected the 5 day because doing a b2b on these would be a logistical nightmare, and 5 is better than four.

 

So we went ahead and booked the 11/3 cruise in the same room we had last time.  Hopefully our butler and steward will stay the same.  I read in some earlier threads that one of our beloved retreat concierges had been replaced, but I later read she’s now the suite manager, so hopefully we’ll see her.  The timing became a bit tricky because - 10/2-18 - I’m in New York followed by a 9 day on the Equinox.  After the New York days, when we went to Ft. Lauderdale,  (why does it feel deja vu right now?) Beth went to California to be with my mom.  She went home on the 18th.  She then had some more out of town company, and then on the weekend of the 23-24, went to Rhode Island with my oldest niece to a baby shower for one of my nieces friends.  (Not sure of the grammar on that, sorry).  Followed by that, on Wednesday, she went to Minneapolis to visit her college kids.  So she is flying from Minneapolis. Oh, did I mention that on the 16th we go to San Diego for a charity event, then to my mom’s for Thanksgiving, followed by 5 days in Disneyland.

 

Ever since, in 2018, our day before the cruise flight got cancelled, and we almost didn’t make it, we go two days early.  This was no exception.  Our first step was deciding to stay in North Ft. Lauderdale, because I have some free Marriott nights and nothing in Miami, or near the FLL airport qualifies.  Her plan was to arrive around noon.  

 

This created a problem for me.  Coming from the west coast, I lose 3 hours.  So even a direct flight in the AM, if there even is one on my airline,  would get me in mid afternoon.  So I sucked it up and took a redeye to Houston, and connected to FLL.  

 

There was nothing eventful about my 10/31 11:55 pm flight, other than I can’t sleep on planes.  I did, however, watch two episodes of “Holiday Wars”, the holiday version of Halloween wars on my phone, using the bluetooth air buds I got on the last Summit cruse.  I also watched part of Frozen.  

 

After landing in Houston, I went to the United Club for about an hour. 

 

The connecting flight was on time.  I think I dozed off for the first 30 minutes or so, but woke up into time to order “an everything bagel with Veggie cream cheese.  I sort of assumed a round bagel with a cream cheese like I get at my local yummy bagel soup.  Not so much.  It was more like a sandwich roll, with an orange spread, some veggies and Swiss cheese.  I ate a few bites and gave up.  I did ask if they had any stoop waffles (they have those in coach.sometimes).  They didn’t but they did give a box of tapas.

 

We arrived a few minutes early, and I had about 2 hours until Beth’s flight came in.  I was in terminal 1 and she in 2.  I grabbed my bag and decided to inspect terminal two to see if they had any coffee options.  They didn’t so I went back to terminal 1.  The only thing there before security was a Starbucks with no seating.  So I gave up on that, and found some fairly empty benches.  I worked on this, and the set up my “free” peacock premium streaming so I can watch Skate Canada.  I started watching that, and soon Beth texted that they’d landed.  I packed up my stuff and back to terminal 2 I went. 

 

I met Beth and once we had her bags, we headed out one of the doors that said “ground transportation”.  No idea where rental car was.  A worker said go to terminal 1.  As we walked over, we saw a sign that said rental car shuttle.  Eventually a shuttle came, and we drove around and back to terminal 1.  We should have just walked.  

 

The Budget line had about 8 people in front of us, and renting cars is not the most efficient process, so it took about 45 minutes.  Eventually we did get our car and checked into our hotel.  At this point it was close to 2 and we were thinking about lunch.  We decided to head to where our covid tests, at around 4:30 were, and get lunch near there.  We stopped at an Arby’s and then headed to the CVS.  

 

We parked in the testing area around 3:40, about 45 minutes before our first test.  I had a text to call if we wanted an early test, so we called and said we were there.  About 5 minutes later an pharmacy representative came out, and did our tests.

 

We went back to the hotel and about an hour later, got our negative results.  We then asked the hotel how to print, and they told us to go to the business center.  I tried several times, but it didn’t work.  Beth went to the front desk, and she gave her an email to send the forms to.  We did that, and now we have our results in hand.  About an hour later, we walked to a local steak house for dinner, and are now back in the room getting ready for bed.

 

Tomorrow, we’ll work on some stuff for other upcoming trips,.

[Roxxy]

Hey Abbydancer 🙂

Just wondering about your tests at the CVS?  When did you book them and what was the cost?  I heard that antigen tests were n/c?  Is that true?

 

Thanks !

[abbydancer2003]

6 hours ago, Roxxy said:

Hey Abbydancer 🙂

Just wondering about your tests at the CVS?  When did you book them and what was the cost?  I heard that antigen tests were n/c?  Is that true?

 

Thanks !

I went to the CVS website about a week or so ago, and found appointments for rapid tests.  I kind of arbitrarily picked the CVS I did, ie not too far from where we were staying.

 

They did take my insurance card,  I later got an email from my insurance company that they processed my claim.  I looked at it and no charge.  

[abbydancer2003]

Not much of interest happened today.  We did a bit of pre cruise shopping, and then had Cuban food for dinner with some friends.  Beth has been watching election returns, and I’ve been watching a zoom class.  It’s ending, and I’ll head to bed early, since we want to head out before 10am to get down to Miami.

[steveweese]

It’s an easy trip to Miami. Have a good time!

[abbydancer2003]

2 minutes ago, steveweese said:

It’s an easy trip to Miami. Have a good time!

Thank you!

[DCPIV]

I look forward to hearing how things go!  I miss Summit!

 

Yes, Sylvia is Retreat Manager, or at least she was when I was on board about a month ago.  I only saw her momentarily during that brief sailing (also 5 nights).  Her replacement, Noemi, was equally as delightful.  Of course, Connie was still there and just as wonderful as always.

 

Coming back on board was like a homecoming.  I even got a hug.  I hope y'all have the same, wonderful experience!

[abbydancer2003]

Yes, it was wonderful!

 

Here's the first half of today:

 

It’s time!  We got up between 8:30 and 9, and after a quick breakfast, we left the hotel around 10:20.  Waze said it was about 40 minutes, which would get us there around 11.  We did however, have to stop for gas.  Which we did.

 

We arrived at the Budget lot at around 11:30.  We were told to wait outside for the shuttle.  After a few minutes, we asked the gentleman working there how long it would be before the shuttle came.  He said maybe 15 - 20 minutes.  Since it was hot out there, we checked the price of an Uber, and there was a driver 2 minutes away, so we opted for that.  Juan arrived quickly and whisked us to the ship.

 

We dropped our bags and headed to the entrance.  We saw a podium with a sign for retreat, but no one there, so we headed into the building.  There was a line of people getting their paperwork checked, but I was surprised to see no retreat line.  I asked, and they said to go back outside to the podium.  

 

When we got there, there was a worker checking in a couple.  Once they were done, he checked all our paperwork, and walked the 4 of us into the building.  He took us to a retreat area, where we met up with Sylvia, the retreat manager.  Big hugs, and she handed us off to the workers, who scanned our Xpress passes and passports.  We were then taken to the gangway by one of the EFFY (jewelry) guys.  There were several people on the gangway scanning paperwork, but we were told we were done.

 

We walked onto the ship, and the first place we went to was to check out Al Baccio.  To our delight, our favorite barista Tayla was there, and more hugs.  She’s married to the Retreat bartender, and we became good friends on our last cruise.  We caught up and then headed to the retreat lounge.

 

Connie, the concierge, was surprised and delighted to see us.  Apparently Noemi was only there for a few weeks, and a new concierge didn’t arrive today, so she’s on her own.  As a result, she didn’t have a chance to look at the manifest.  We chatted and had her make a dinner reservation for us at Tuscan, requesting our favorite waiter Paul.

 

Next stop was finally our room.  As we arrived, our first bag arrived.  We settled in, and soon a knock on the door revealed Daisy, our retreat host.  She said she was excited when she saw our names.  We’d looked at the information in the room, and realized we have a new room steward, Dony.  Apparently Roman left this morning.   He seems good.

 

Following that was lunch.  We headed to Lumenae, and found a new maitre’d.  We asked for Raj to be our server.  It was crowded, but we were seated promptly.  Raj did take our order for pea soup, followed by  the “small” Lumenae burger, and then dessert.  We were recognized by much of the staff and it was great.  

 

[tompeter]

Sounds like it will be a great cruise!

 

[DCPIV]

I'm very glad to hear you had a great time coming back on board!

 

I'm sorry to hear that Danilo is gone.  While I would have confidence in any Maitre d', I greatly enjoyed Danilo.  I hope he's happy and well.

[Jim_Iain]

Abby -

Hope you have a wonderful cruise.   Looking forward to reading your Live post.

 

Jim

[abbydancer2003]

13 hours ago, DCPIV said:

I'm very glad to hear you had a great time coming back on board!

 

I'm sorry to hear that Danilo is gone.  While I would have confidence in any Maitre d', I greatly enjoyed Danilo.  I hope he's happy and well.

He is.  He's over in the main restaurant right now, but he stops by to say hi to us now and then.

[abbydancer2003]

And now the second half of yesterday.  

 

After lunch we headed back up to the room and unpacked.  Next up was the Cruise Critic group gathering at 3:30 at the sunset bar.  Of course that was also the time for the helipad sail away. We’d asked Connie if we could be a bit late to the helipad and she said it was fine.

 

We met the cruise critic group and spent about 20 minutes chatting.  We all agreed to meet on Friday at 2:30.  I suggested cafe al Bacio, but no one seemed to know where that was.  (Our favorite public spot so not sure why), so I gave them an idea, and we all agreed.  At that point, at about 3:50, we took our leave.

 

We arrived at the entrance to the theater about when everyone was being let in.  We went to the helipad and grabbed our foo-foo drinks.  While up there we met Rich, the new cruise director (I guess Sue was one of the people who left this morning).  

 

We also talked to Ivana, one of the ship’s safety officers.  We learned that any new crew person, regardless of vaccination status (which should be full for all) has to spend 2 weeks in the quarantine rooms.  

 

We stayed on the helipad while it turned around, and headed out the channel.  We noticed we were falling a ship down the channel.  Once we left the channel, we headed to our room, and sat out on the balcony.  

 

We were gaining on the ship that we’d followed out, so we started with the binoculars.  Eventually when we pulled along side of it, we could see it was an NCL ship and eventually we made out that it was the Norwegian Gem.

 

After that, we dressed for dinner and headed to the retreat lounge.  We were delighted see Daniel again.  We spent a couple hours there chatting with both him and Connie and then at 8 headed to our dinner at Tuscan.

 

We were seated at a table, and were soon reunited with Paul our waiter extraordinaire.  Because it was 2 of us, we skipped the antipasto plate, and split a goat cheese salad and each had an appetizer.  Beth then had a side of eggplant parmigiana (which she said was extraordinary) and a main of chicken parmigiana.  I had a ribeye and spinach.  We split the spumoni donuts for dessert.

 

By this time it was 10:30 so we head back to the room for the night.

 

[hcat]

Just curious..what was the Marriot you stayed at in N Ft Lauderdale?

Hope cruise is fun!  

[abbydancer2003]

On 11/5/2021 at 3:53 AM, hcat said:

Just curious..what was the Marriot you stayed at in N Ft Lauderdale?

Hope cruise is fun!  

The Fort Lauderdale North Marriott on Andrews.  And we're having a blast.

[abbydancer2003]

I'm back.  I'm actually writing this in an editor, and pasting, so I'm not as far behind as it looks.

 

The time change has kind of messed with my schedule so I was getting up very early, and yesterday was busier than I thought it would be.  

 

Anyway, here's my day in Nassau on 11/4:

 

Today was Nassau, our first stop, replacing Key West.  Having just been in Nassau, I would have preferred Key West, but it was not to be. When Glen and were in Nassau last month, we saw the Pirate museum, but it was closed that day.  When planning this trip, I went to their website and Facebook page.  I sent Beth the link and and we agreed that it could be fun.  So through Facebook messenger, I set up an appointment for 11 am.

 

We got up early enough to have our first breakfast in Luminae.  We had Daisy bring us coffee at 8 and we enjoyed that while getting ready.

 

Before going to breakfast we asked Daisy to bring ice.

 

Breakfast was nice, and our Maitre’d from our previous cruise was there so it was nice to see him.

 

After breakfast we grabbed our stuff, filled our water bottles, and headed out.  As we checked out, the crew member reminded us that we needed id and proof of vaccine.  I realized I didn’t have my id, so I went back to the room. Beth followed because her phone hasn’t been charging and she wanted her physical vaccine card.  

 

On take 2 we made it out.  We were never asked for the vaccine cards, but we also didn’t completely follow the walking path.  It was about 10:15 by then.  Our appointment was at 11,so we wandered around for a bit.  We stopped at the cosmetic store first, and then decided to head to the museum.  I walked a couple of extra blocks trying to find it, but we did by about 10:45.  

 

At the museum, we were greeted by a young man who asked if we had an appointment.  We said we did, so he took us into the lobby, and asked to wait a few minutes.  He came back out and said that his coworker (the very nice lady who ran it) was walking guests out, and would be along soon.

 

Soon she came out, took out a couple of pervious visitors, and then had us pay for it (13.50 per person).  She explained that we’d be starting Quayside, ie night in town next to a pirate ship.  The idea is that it’s 1716 and a pirate ship is in.  From there, you enter the ship …

 

The museum is a serious of exhibits detailing piracy in the Caribbean (they don’t however, since “Yo Ho Yo Ho A pirates life for me”.  The exhibits are complimented with wall cards explaining everything, and True of False questions with the answers covered.  For example, I learned that pirates did have parrots, but there is only one recorded incident of a plank walk.  We also learned that the split of the their booty was close to equitable, with the captain and some specialized members getting 1.5 or 1.25 share.

 

We thought about lunch but it was hot, so we headed back to the ship, stopping on the way to buy some earrings from a stand.  The earrings come from a workshop where the people have development or physical disabilities.  We believe the designer who the company is named for, has Downs Syndrome.  He also represented Bahamas as swimmer in the Special Olympics.  On the way, we saw an ice cream parlor sign, so we went into the gift shop below.  The gentleman there said he wasn’t opening the parlor until mid November, but we had a nice chat with him, and then headed pack.

 

Once back on the ship, the first stop was Al Baccio.  After that, we dropped our stuff and headed to lunch at the Ocean View.  It’s a  bit more civilized now that they staff is serving, but I don’t expect that to continue.  We spent a bit of time talking to our Maitre’d and the Maitre’d of Q’sine.  Apparently, they will soon be dropping the original Le Petite Chef show, so if you like that one, see it soon.

 

Beth did pizza and salad and I did salad, roast beef and corn on the cob.  The dessert bar was Mexican themed, so I had a dolce de leech Napoleon and Beth had a spiced chocolate cup cake.

 

Following lunch, we decided to swim in the solarium pool.  We finished in the hot tub where we were joined by a very talkative gentleman from Ottawa.  At some point I went back to the room, but Beth continued to chat.  She came back around 15 minutes later, saying he wouldn’t stop talking.

 

By this point, it was getting close to time to leave, so I sat on the balcony, and watched the sail away  I was sort of hoping maybe there was an elite helipad event, but apparently not.  

 

Tonight was formal night, or evening chic, as Celebrity calls it, confusing everyone, and there was a reception in the retreat lounge.  I realized that I’d forgotten my jewelry, and neither of the earrings I got matched so I went down to the store and got a pair of gold Swarovski ones.  I have a similar pair in silver, but they were not much money and I had the OBC, so why not?

 

We attended the event and met a nice couple from Canada there.  Following that, we headed to the show and went to deck 5 for our reserved seating.  On the way in, the staff was giving all the women roses.  The show was Life, which of course is the plotless one where they just sing songs and dance.  

 

What I’ve never liked about the balcony is the glass barrier, so we went down stairs and changed seats about 4 times to be not near anyone.  Of course we were near the performers but we lived with that.  Performers were good, show was pointless.

 

At the end, Rich (CD) reminded us that the clocks are going back tonight.  It’s convenient, because the US is going back on Saturday night, but Cozumel is on Central time.  So we’ll be on their time on Saturday, but also on Eastern Standard time.

 

Following the show, we went to the Rendezvous lounge to watch the end of a game show, and then the captain’s welcome.  Turns out that was in the Grand Foyer, so we listened to the welcome and headed to dinner.

 

Dinner was nice, and we ended up being the last out, since we were the last in.  After dinner we walked for a while, and then headed to bed.

[Bo1953]

Quick question... can you post which prosecco's are available on each package, if any is listed?

 

This is for a friend who will be sailing The Summit in May, we realize that this could and possibly change by the sail date.

 

Cheers and bon voyage

[Turtles06]

Glad you’re having such a good time!  Thanks for sharing your cruise with us! 

[abbydancer2003]

I'm home, and have most of this written.  So now, not live from the Summit.

 

Here's the first sea day.

 

We decided we wanted to get to breakfast, so Beth set her phone for 8:3o.  What we didn’t think about was the fact that phone wouldn’t automatically update the time.  So, we were up at 7:30.  We had Daisy bring coffee and tea, and after that got ready for breakfast.

 

We enjoyed our breakfast, and then headed up to the room for a bit.  We had our cruise critic  meeting after lunch.  We then went to Al Baccio for a while.  We also checked the Celebrity Today for Friday night services.  We didn’t see them, so we thought we’d ask guest services.  We went down there and there was a “community board” that them listed for 5:30 in the Sky Lounge. That was perfect.  We did some walking around and enjoying the ocean, and then at about 1:15 we went to lunch, which was pretty much the same as others.  Nothing on the Luminae menu appeals (and this is the third time I’ve seen it in the last 5 months) so I opted for a salad from it’s menu, and a shared Mozzarella sticks from the main, and then a hotdog with the bay spiced potato chips.  It was after 2 pm when we finished, but we wanted dessert, as they had a white chocolate mouse that I wished I’d taken a picture of.  I’m sure somebody has.  

 

Our cruise critic meeting was at 2:30 in Cafe Al Baccio.  We arrived a couple of minutes late, but no matter.  There ended up bing a group of about 12 or 14 of us, and we decided to kill the slot pull because we’d have had to do it right then, and we didn’t really have enough people.  So the group did the gift exchange.  I don’t really like them, so I didn’t participate, but it was fun to watch.

 

Following that, we decided to play sequence with Linda and Richard.  We went up to the buffet, scouted out a table, and played and chatted for a while.  

 

After that, we dressed for dinner, and headed to the lounge, and then to dinner, closing the restaurant as usual.

 

Because we had woken up early due to the clocks falling back, I was completely wiped out.  I left a voicemail for Glen, and went to bed.

 

[Jim_Iain]

Sounds like you are having a wonderful time.    It sounds like the weather is also cooperating.

 

[abbydancer2003]

On to Cozumel.  I should finish posting this tomorrow.

 

Once again, we woke up before the alarm, thanks to the time change.  At about 7 I gave up going back to sleep, and we called Daisy for coffee.  She asked if we wanted it at the same time tomorrow, and we said no.  Hopefully we’ll sleep a bit later.

 

Today we’d privately booked a walking tour of historic Cozumel.  Apparently the meeting place was not walking distance from the ship.   In the instructions, it said to take a cab.  So we left the ship at about 9:30 and walked to and through the terminal.  We found the taxi stand, and they quoted us 10.00 to get to our meeting point, the Mexican Air Force entrance, across from the Presidential Home.

 

It took about 15 minutes or so to get there.  We’d been warned there was some kind of a race going on, so streets might might be closed.    Fortunately, we saw something for the race, but no real delays other than traffic.

 

We were about a half hour early, so we found a beach labeled Federal Property.  It seemed Ok to go there, so we waited there because it was shady and had a nice breeze.  At about 10:20 we walked back to the entrance, but didn’t see anyone.  We went over to the guard shack for the Air Force base, showed them our instructions, and they said that we were in the wrong place.  We panicked for a moment, and then found a cab driver who spoke English.  He assured us we were in the right place.  We crossed the street, and determined that the walled building was probably the Presidential Home, and the meeting directions clearly indicated that it could be in front of that (was that an oxymoron?).  We then noticed a man standing there with a backpack wearing a shirt with the TripAdvisor logo on the side.

 

We approached him, and determined he was indeed our guide, Julio.  (Later we did sort of wonder why he didn’t seem to notice two women wandering around).  We then took off for a walk along the water, with him pointing out various things such as reproductions of things in Cozumel’s past, a monument in honor of divers, and a pretty little church.  We did learn that Cozumel was never taken over by the Spanish, because a previously shipwrecked Spaniard told them there was no gold and silver and that Cozumel would supply them with whatever they needed.  We also learned that there is one town, and 80% of the island is completely undeveloped.  There is one road that goes about haffway around the island.

 

Our next stop was a tequila tasting.  Daniel was our guide, and he gave us some background on tequilas, it’s history, and how to buy.  We then tasted some basic tequila (aged, not the white stuff you put in a tequila sunrise), and some flavored ones.  Beth decided to get some passion fruit flavored tequila that can be used for mimosa, and I got some very high quality agave necter.  

 

We then continued through town, walking through a main square and market.  Apparently the oldest building there houses 711.  He then took us to a local restaurant where we started with some extraordinary  picudeo de Gallo and chips.  We then had some chicken fajitas which were quite good.  Soon after, Julio came back to get us and take us to a cab back to the port.

 

We felt the tour was a good use of our time.  It wasn’t very expensive, especially when you consider it included a tequila tasting and lunch.  We think it included lunch because there isn’t that much to Cozumel and they added lunch.  Julio was a good guide, although the masking requirement sometimes made him hard to understand.

 

We dropped our stuff off, and went up to the buffet for a drink.  I decided to have a salad as well.  Our waiter Raj, came by to say hello, and at that time my lanyard decided to break, spilling beads everywhere.  Raj and Beth picked them up, and Beth restrung them rather randomly.  She tied it back to the other side, and I had a working lanyard.  I don’t know how long it will last, but it only has to last 2 days, as I’ll replace it when I get home.

 

After lunch, we wandered around and then took a break in the room, until it was time to go to the retreat sundeck for the sail away.  Sadly, our disembarkation letter was there.  We decided not to open it yet.    We sat with a couple we’d met on the first day and had a very nice time.

 

Following that we got ready for dinner, and headed to the lounge for a while.  During dinner we heard the chimes of an announcement from the bridge.  On my last cruise, there were a few, and they were mostly about covid cases or non covid medical emergencies.  Fortunately this was Rich, the cruise director saying that because of expected rain, the Full Moon party (or whichever it is) was moving to the sky lounge.  Big sigh of relief all around.  For dinner, I misread the menu and ordered butternut squash.  I thought I read pasta, but it wasn’t so I changed it to the rack of lamb.  So in addition to our order, Raj brought us a sample of the butternut squash, and while it was good, I’m glad I switched to the lamb.

 

After dinner, we decided to see if we could get outside to the upper decks.  They were open, and while it was windy.  I didn’t see any evidence of storms.  After a while we went back down and regretfully opened the disembarkation instructions.  Apparently, if we were self disembarking, we could put the bags out in the AM, but since we decided to take an X transfer to Ft Lauderdale, we had a tag number.  At first I read the meet time as 8:00 am, so we talked about canceling and Ubering directly to the hotel, but then realized it was 8:50 and decided to keep it.  Thus ended our penultimate full day.

[abbydancer2003]

To the last sea day ...

 

Woke up in time for breakfast.  We tried a new thing - splitting the apple crepes as a starter.  There are two crepes in the order, so the pre-split it for us.  Last one for a while I think.

 

After breakfast we were meeting some cruise critic friends Linda and Richard  to teach them to play Splendor, a fun game.  (Similar game play in many ways to Ticket to Ride).  We went up to the buffet entrance at 11, but they weren’t there.  We did wait a few minutes and they arrived.  We found a table in the corner, and set up the game. 

 

It’s a little complicated to explain, but once you understand it, fairly easy to play.  Our friends picked it up quickly, though, and we played a very close game.  We chatted for a bit afterwards, until it was time to catch lunch before it closed.

 

Initially, we’d hoped to teach them to play Mah Jong, but the cruise staff kept the games locked up and wouldn’t release them.

 

After lunch, we went to guest services to get the extra tip form.  We took the form up to the martini bar to fill out, and then brought it back.  We then thought about packing, but decided not to.

 

After that, Beth went to the pool for a bit.  I had a couple of phone calls to make, but one was international, so there would be a charge for wifi calling, so I texted my friend and we agreed to talk tomorrow.

 

After Beth came back, we headed to the lounge, and chatted with one of the couples we’d met on the cruise.  At about 3 minutes before 7, we realized that we wanted to see the show, so we left.  The theme was soundtrack - ie, music and dance to movie music.  As usual with this sort of thing, Celebrity didn’t disappoint with older music, and some songs that we couldn’t figure out what the movie was.  IMHO, if they can’t get rights to current and very popular movies, don’t bother to do these.  

 

After the show, we dressed and went to our final dinner.  As usual, Luminae was pretty busy, but we ended up at a two top next to a couple we’d been chatting with, so we essentially had dinner with them.  

 

After dinner, we stopped by the retreat lounge to say goodbye to Daniel.  I know we’ll all stay in touch via Facebook.  And then it was time to pack.  We packed, put the bags out, and set the alarm early enough to go to Luminae.

 

[abbydancer2003]

Last two posts.  First disembarkation day.

 

All too soon, it was disembarkation day.  We woke up at 7, and were relieved to see the bags had in fact disappeared, even though we set them out at around 11pm.  We dressed, packed up our remaining items, and headed to Luminae.  I’d say it was moderately busy.  We had our last meal, and said a sad farewell to the staff.  

 

Next stop was the lounge.  Our meet time in the theater was 8:50, we got to the lounge at about 8:20, so we had some time.  We sat down waited. At one point I went to the restroom, and noticed the theater was completely empty.  At about 8:40 Connie told us our bags were on the shuttle and we could leave any time.  About 5 minutes later, we decided to leave.  Connie walked us to the gangplank through the lounge.  We gave her a big goodbye hug, and we do hope to see her again.  

 

We quickly disembarked, and headed to baggage.  We asked a worker, who said we should get our bags.  I said I thought they were on the shuttle, but she said no, they were on the carousel.  Turns out she was right, so it was good she asked, otherwise our bags would be in Miami and we’d be in Fort Lauderdale.  So we grabbed them and headed out.  At the entrance we saw a MIA shuttle at bay 5, and we were told Fort Lauderdale was at bay 4 or 3.

 

When we got there, we ran into Margaret and Andrew, a couple we’d taken to several times in the lounge and Luminae.  They had the earlier tags, and were still sitting there.  Fortunately, their flight wasn’t until 1 (ours wasn’t until Tuesday).  The Miami shuttle left and then another bus came up but that was also Miami.

 

It sat there, and then the people coordinating came up and said that it was now the Ft. Lauderdale shuttle. They asked us what airline and we said it didn’t matter, since we’re calling a hotel shuttle when we get there.  They put us on for the first stop.

 

Then we sat on the bus for while.  The coordinator came in and said they gave her no information about Ft. Lauderdale shuttles, so she got all our names, and then said we had to wait in case someone else came.  We pointed out that there were only two times and the second was about a half hour previous.  No matter, we had to wait until about 9:35.    At around then we said goodbye to Miami and headed to Ft. Lauderdale.  Seemed like we’d just got here in an Uber - oh wait, we did, only 5 days earlier.

 

We arrived at the Fort Lauderdale airport a little after 10.  Nobody seemed to be in a great rush, which was good, but really?  The FLL transfer was a bit of a hot mess.

 

From the airport we waited no more than 10-15 minutes before a shuttle showed up.  We had to call and then the driver called me to find out where we were, but it worked out.  We did notice a sign in the van which said pickups were 15.00 per person, but the Marriott website didn’t say that.   I figured I could argue it if needed.  When we got to the hotel though, Beth asked and they did say it was no charge.  

 

After that, we did some hotel bookings for our Disneyland trip, had lunch, hung out, had dinner and called it a night.

 

We both went home on Tuesday.  I don’t think Beth had any issues, but my second flight - from DC to San Francisco, did get diverted to Chicago.  Fortunately, it did make us less than 2 hours hate.

[abbydancer2003]

And some final thoughts .....

 

First, I have to say that the cruise was great and the crew wonderful.  Our reception on the 3rd was everything we hoped it would be, and I certainly hope to see some staff members again.  And we made a right decision by going in November, instead of waiting until next year.

 

On the whole Celebrity is doing a good job navigating the times.  That said, I did give them a 3 on the Covid safety.  In the retreat, there were two moms with their under 12 year old kids.  The kids rarely wore masks.  They were talked to several times, and the behavior didn’t change.  (I thought they should have been put off the ship in Cozumel after the second talk, but maybe I’m too harsh).  The single worst example was that there was a game of officers vs passengers.  One of the kids was called up to play and no mask.  I felt the staff should have told him to put the mask on.  If staff is unwilling to enforce mask rules, then maybe they should sail fully vaccinated (as are some other lines).  

 

Some other Covid things didn’t make sense.  They locked up their library books and games, because they can’t sanitize them, but they’re not running behind people sanitizing things, so I don’t quite get it.  Also, they’ve cancelled all the cruise critic meetings, yet they had silent disco indoors.  Which do you think has more crowds?

 

On the other hand, they’re pretty careful about served goods in the buffet.  I hope they keep it, but I doubt it.  

 

On the whole, other than entitled children, it was a great cruise.