JamieLogical's 1/21 Equinox Notes & Review

[JamieLogical]

 

My husband and I sailed on the Celebrity Equinox 9-Day cruise to the ABC islands from 1/21-1/30. This was my husband's first sailing on Celebrity after several sailings on NCL. I had hyped up Celebrity quite a bit to him, so I was nervous that he wouldn't love it as much as I did. Below are my contemporaneous notes written each morning about the previous day. I will also post some of the photos I took along the way.

 

1/21
We arrived at our hotel after 11:00 on Thursday the 20th. Our flights all ran on time, after much concern over flight delays in the past several weeks. The airport was completely mobbed. Who knew that the FLL airport was the place to be at 11:00 on a Thursday night? We had to wait quite a while for our hotel shuttle, as the traffic was bumper to bumper and unmoving. It was pouring down rain, but luckily, there was cover from the roadway above near where we needed to wait. The shuttle arrived and was servicing three hotels all next door/across the street from each other, so there were about six other passengers in there with us. Luckily all heeded the sign to keep their masks on, but it was still close quarters.

Check-in at the hotel was quick and easy. We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express Air/Cruise Port. We were pretty exhausted after our full day of work and travel, so after a brief attempt to get the TV working and set the clock (neither successful), we went to bed.

We both woke up very early and impatiently tried to kill the time in our room. I managed to get the TV working by rebooting the Direct TV receiver. We finally headed down and ordered a Lyft at about 10:15.

At 10:43 we dropped our luggage off with the porter and headed into the terminal (this was at Terminal 25). Our scheduled arrival time was 11:00. There were no lines outside or inside the terminal at all. Before entering the building, we had to show our negative COVID test and our vaccine cards. Inside, we went to the top of the escalator and, again, no line for security. After security we had to show our negative tests again and our passports. A gentleman went over our health questionnaire answers with us, confirmed our vaccine cards were uploaded and approved, and checked the security photos of ourselves that we had uploaded. He mentioned that there were going to be about 1400 passengers onboard. Then he told us that boarding hadn't started yet so they were seating people in order of arrival on these serpentine benches that ran the length of the room. Everyone was directed to sit three feet away from the next party and we all, obviously, kept our masks on.

The benches completely filled up and then they had some rows of chairs at the very far end of the room that they started filling. It had only taken us less than 10 minutes from checking our bags to being seated, but we ended up not boarding until about 11:45. I was slightly disappointed to see there was no row of officers to cheer for us as we boarded like there has been on my other post-restart Celebrity Sailings, but I imagine they don't want to risk too much exposure for the officers with Omicron.

We took the stairs to our room, as the elevators were mobbed. We dropped our backpacks, took a bunch of photos, and checked out the room before heading to our muster station. We had watched the muster video on our phones while waiting in the terminal. Then we went up to the buffet for some lunch. We had our first drinks of the cruise at the Oceanview bar and upgraded our drinks packages.

We ate our lunch in the outdoor area there by the Oceanview bar. The weather was absolutely perfect after the pouring rain from the night before. I would say mid-70s and sunny. It was 7 degrees back in Rochester!

After lunch we headed to the Spa because I had booked a haircut for my husband online before the cruise and completely bungled it so we wanted to get that sorted out. It ended up that he was able to be taken back for his hair cut right then, so he did that. They did a great job! His hair looked amazing after. While there, I booked a pedicure for myself. I hadn't been able to get a pedicure at home prior to the cruise out of terror of contracting Omicron and testing positive and not being able to sail. I had attempted to paint my own toenails, but that did not go so well.

My appointment was scheduled for 1:45, so I just headed back to the room to relax a bit while my husband got his hair cut. He came back  not too long before I needed to leave. Iva, a friendly young woman from Serbia, did my pedicure. We chatted quite a bit and she was fantastic.

After I got back to the room, I waited a bit for my toenails to dry some more (they had sent me away with some disposable flip flops) and then we went for coffee at Café al Bacio. It was my husband's first experience with the yellow comfy chairs. After that, I took him on a tour of Decks 5, 4, and 3. He is very impressed with the ship overall. He keeps talking about how everything is just a step or two up in quality versus NCL.

After our tour of the lower decks, we went back to the room to see if our luggage had arrived, because I was desperate to change my clothes. They had, so I quickly unpacked and changed before we headed up to the Sunset Bar for sail away. We managed to get some very good seats that were on the edge of the smoking section, but it was okay because we were outside and there was a good breeze, so the smoke smell wasn't bad at all. We had a couple more drinks and watched the sail away for quite a while.

We then headed down to the Ensemble Lounge to hang out until 6:00 for our dinner reservation at Murano. We had been accosted by a gentleman trying to sell dining packages and make dinner reservations outside the Oceanview Café after lunch. My husband had already been eying the Murano menu on the app and we learned that we could book the first night for 50% off, so we decided to pull the trigger and book it.

I will say, I wasn't super impressed with the food. The service was amazing, but the food was definitely not a big enough step up from the MDR food for me to feel it was worth the upcharge. We love the French restaurant on NCL, Le Bistro, and this food was simply not nearly as good. I had the Lobster Bisque and the Goat Cheese Soufflé as my starters. I was happy they let me order two starters, as I couldn't choose. And it worked out well, because the Lobster Bisque was not very good. The Goat Cheese Soufflé WAS very good, but it was so rich and heavy that I couldn't eat too much of it for fear of spoiling my dinner. My husband had the Pork Belly as his starter and really liked it.

For our entrees, I ordered the Seared Duck Breast and my husband ordered the Rack of Lamb. My Duck Breast was a real disappointment. The duck meat was fine, but the skin was chewy instead of crispy. Also, they gave me twice as much food as any human could eat, so I felt bad for wasting so much. My husband liked, but didn't love, his lamb.

The star of the show was definitely the dessert. We ordered a Cocoa Cake with White Coffee Ice Cream and it was delicious. Neither of us could stop eating it! Then they brought us some complimentary chocolates and offered us a cheese course, as if anyone would have room for either of those things at that point!

After dinner, we went by the shops. I wanted to get a free charm that the Effy store was supposed to be giving out, but apparently that didn't start until night two. I did look around and they tried to give me the hard sell on a ring that I really liked. We then went to look for a hat for my husband who thought it might be a good idea to have one for our port stops, but we didn't find anything.

After the shops, we went our separate ways. My husband went back to the room to enter a food coma and I went to test the fates in the casino. That didn't go great, so it wasn't long before I came back to the room as well. After fully recovering from dinner, we decided to check out late night snack in the buffet. As usual, there was not a ton on offer, but I am glad we went up there, because when we went out to the Oceanview Bar area, we got to watch an incredible moonrise.

Then we were off to bed. We filled out our room service card and promptly fell asleep. We must have been tired because we were in bed slightly after 10:00 and didn't wake until room service called this morning at about 7:15! Neither of us ever sleeps that late!

Today we are stopped in Bimini. We don't have any intention of getting off the ship. I need to stop back by the spa to see if they can repair my nail polish situation. When I got back to the room last night, I had to literally peel my socks off my toenails and now my nail polish has white fuzzies all stuck to it. Even though I didn't put socks on until an hour and half after I got back from my pedicure, apparently the polish wasn't completely dry?

 

Day's Drinks: Mojito, Americano with Bailey's, Mojito, Key West Daiquiri, Vodka Sour

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[JamieLogical]

1/22

Yesterday we had light room service breakfast (coffee and pastries) out on our nice, big balcony with the foot rests we requested from our room steward, Bharat. Really happy he came through with those as our balcony is very deep, so there is plenty of room to stretch out and put our feet up.

Our plan was to go to the MDR for breakfast since we would have to do lunch in the buffet (port day, so MDR was closed for lunch). As my husband was taking his shower and I was leisurely thumbing through the daily, I noticed that breakfast was only being served in the MDR until 9:00. It was about 8:12 when I saw this. So I went back into the room and yelled to my husband that we needed to get a move on. Luckily, it was a non hair washing day for me (I only wash my bright purple hair every other day), so I was able to shower quickly and get dressed and we made it down to breakfast at about 8:45. I had a Classic French Omelet with a hash brown and white toast. My husband had the eggs benedict. The star of the show for me was my white toast, because they brought me a tiny jar of blackberry preserves to spread on it. I LOVE blackberry. Everyone knows that getting blackberry is like hitting the jelly/jam jackpot.

After breakfast, we decided to go up to the Oceanview Café for a mimosa, as the bar inside was one of the few that was open on the ship. They were out of clean champagne flutes, so they had to make us double mimosas in wine glasses. It was a tragedy. We first tried to take our mimosas out onto the outdoor seating area at Oceanview, but it was too sunny, so we gave up and went to look for a shady spot. We ended up on the starboard side of the Lawn Club in some very comfy chairs along the edge of the grass, with a beautiful view of Bimini, where we were now docked.

Since the Sunset Bar wasn't due to open until 10:00, my husband had to go back downstairs to fetch us a second (I guess third really?) round of mimosas. Unfortunately they had clean champagne flutes by that point, so we only got singles.

We decided to hang out at the Lawn Club all morning as we had great wifi up there, we had an endless supply of drinks once the Sunset Bar opened, we had a great view, and the weather was absolutely perfect. I only left briefly to go to the spa and make an appointment to get my toenail polish fixed. We realized that the problem was the woman who initially painted my toes hadn't applied the topcoat. So, I set a new appointment for 4:30 and went back to relax at the Lawn Club some more.

At noon we finally went down to explore our lunch options in the buffet. I had my traditional mix of Indian, pizza, and cheese. I don't know why there aren't more Indian/Mexican/Italian fusion restaurants, as I feel like those flavors all mix together great! For dessert they had little Eight O'clock Mouse Shooters, that were the perfect size and completely delicious.

After six mimosas and lunch, it was time to pass out! We came back to our room for a much needed nap after a hard morning of eating and drinking. I slept until just after 3:00 and realized it was time for some afternoon coffee from Café al Bacio. My husband was still nappy, so I left him behind and went down to enjoy my Americano with Bailey's. While I was sitting by the window in a comfy yellow chair, it started to rain. So, once I was done with my coffee, I decided to sit in one of the wooden deck chairs out on the promenade deck and watch the rain. I was sheltered by the overhang of Deck 6. It was quite nice.

I went to my appointment for my nail polish, which went quickly, and then came back to get ready for a bit of ship exploration before dinner. I waited a bit longer for my toenails to dry some more and then we headed down to the World Class Bar, which I had been talking up since July.

Daniel, one of the bartenders from my July sailing, was still there. This is the last sailing of his contract. I was so disappointed to learn that Z, my favorite crew member from my July sailing, had JUST left the ship. The Jan. 9 sailing had been her last, so she left the ship the day we got on. Oh well, Daniel took great care of us. He made us each two delicious drinks before we headed to the MDR for dinner.

At dinner I had the beef ragout for my starter and the lemon pepper chicken for my main. My husband had a Caesar salad for his starter and the milk-fed veal chop for his main. I loved my ragout and he loved his veal chop. The lemon pepper chicken was fairly good, but they gave me about four times the amount of chicken I needed and the pasta on the side was not at all good.

For dessert, my husband had the chocolate lava cake with coffee ice cream and he ate every single tiny morsel of it. He was in heaven. I had the regular chocolate cake with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and it was very good. We had to wait a bit because my husband decided to order a white chocolate mocha with his dessert and that apparently took a while to get. But it was worth the wait, because he loved that as well.

After dinner, we went to the Ensemble Lounge to listen to some live music. I met a new, great bartender there. His name is Komang, which is delightful, because my two favorite bartenders on my last two sailings have also been named Komang. So we joked that he would have to become my new favorite. I showed him a picture of my Komang from my Summit sailing in November and they actually know each other! They worked together on the Silhouette in 2016 and still keep in touch via text!

So, we had a really lovely time chatting with the bartenders and listening to the music for a while and then we headed out to do Pub Trivia at Quasar at 9:00. We were disappointed to learn the trivia had been canceled because of a private event. Next on our list was to spectate the Silent Disco at 9:30. Since we had a half hour to kill, we both tested the fates in the casino. My husband rarely gambles, but he threw $20 in a machine and pretty much broke even, so not bad.

At 9:30, the Martini Bar, where the Silent Disco was to be held, looked completely dead. I have honestly never seen it that empty. We got seats across the way at Al Bacio, but expressed our disappointment to the server who came by to offer us drinks. She informed us that the Silent Disco had been moved to the Sky Lounge so there would be more room for social distancing, so we headed up there. It was very amusing to watch for a bit. Everyone seemed to be having a fantastic time. But, if COVID was going to spread anywhere on the ship, it was definitely there. Despite the larger space, people were still packed onto the dance floor, mere inches from each other. At least half of the participants were not wearing their masks. The closeness, masklessnesss, and the fact that people were physically exerting themselves and singing at the top of their lungs, meant it had to be a COVID hot spot. So we sat a distance away, kept our KN95s on, and still got up fairly quickly to move along. Even if we weren't in too much danger of catching COVID, I imagine there will eventually be some contact tracing going on for that crowd.

After that, we headed up to the buffet for some late night snack and then it was off to bed. When we got back to our room, we were devastated to realize we had left the Deep Sleep sign on our door after our naps, so the room steward hadn't come to make up the room or refill the body wash in our shower as requested. Ugh! So sad to have to crawl into an unmade bed! We vowed to just never use the Deep Sleep magnet again.

 

Day's Drinks: Mimosa x6, Americano with Bailey's, Strawberry Fields, Celebrity No. 10, Elderflower Blush, Vodka Sour, Pieces

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 3, 2022 by JamieLogical

[JamieLogical]

1/23

Yesterday we had a pretty lazy morning, as we intended to go to the Oceanview Café for breakfast, since we would be doing lunch and dinner in the MDR. My husband got to learn the joys and challenges of having crew serve you for breakfast, making it difficult to butter your warm bagel while juggling other plates. Also, we had a fly that would not leave us alone. An entire buffet full of food and this fly only wanted OUR food. We even moved tables and he just followed us.

After breakfast, we decided to head down to Café al Bacio and see if they had cinnamon donuts (they didn't) and play some cards while sipping mimosas. It was a very pleasant time with us being very evenly matched in Rummy right up until my husband completely crushed me in the last hand.

After Al Bacio, we headed up to the Lawn Club to enjoy the perfect weather. Unfortunately, only the smoking side was in the shade. At first, it did not matter as there were no smokers around, but we did eventually get joined by a chain smoking couple that put a tiny damper on the experience. Not enough for us to get up and leave, but enough to make us a little sad. No offense to smokers out there, but I cannot comprehend how anyone smokes in this day and age. In addition to just being gross, it seems so expensive and horribly inconvenient.

We stayed at the lawn club until it was time for lunch at the MDR. I had the mozzarella sticks and the teriyaki duck. The duck was delicious! My husband had the mozzarella sticks as well, but opted for the turkey medallions for his main.

After lunch, it was time for our afternoon nap. We came back to the room, read a bit, and napped a bit. After the nap, my husband thought it would be an excellent time to shoot some 360 video of the Ensemble Lounge while it was well lit and empty. So he did that and offered to pick up my afternoon coffee for me from Al Bacio afterward.

I had my coffee and we lazed about the room a bit longer until it was time to change for dinner. It was our first Evening Chic night, so we both dressed up a little. I wore a maxi dress with a sweater over it and some sandals. My husband put on slacks and some leather shoes and buttoned up his Tommy Bahama shirt.

We needed to get dinner as early as possible so that we could watch the Bills game, which started at 6:30. We went down to Ensemble Lounge for some pre-dinner drinks and then got to Silhouette right at 5:45 when they opened. We warned our waiter, Elbert, that we were in a rush and would be skipping dessert. I had the corn soup and the duck in orange jus. Duck twice in one day! This one was also delicious and I am not sure I could choose between it and the teriyaki to say which was better. My husband had the Beef Tournedos.

We made it over to Craft Social and grabbed some good seats for the game only to find that the satellite signal was not working. Apparently it had crapped out in the fourth quarter of the previous game and had not come back on. We decided to wait around, as we were promised they were "working on it."

I ended up having to follow most of the first quarter on my phone with just the text play-by-play on ESPN's website. Meanwhile, my husband got the hiccups. That may not seem like a big deal for most people. Personally, I long ago learned how to cure my hiccups almost instantaneously, so they aren't a problem at all. However, my husband had tried everything in the past and had never been able to cure his hiccups. The last time he had hiccups, they lasted seven hours and neither of us got any sleep that night.

So, this was pretty miserable. He went back to the room and tried drinking upside down.... tried meditating them away.... and who knows what else. A couple who was seated near us at Craft Social asked if he was coming back and I explained what was going on. The woman said she had a technique that might be able to cure him that always worked for her old roommate. I texted my husband to come back down so she could try it. This technique involved sitting him down in a chair, with the woman towered over him and shouted at him to "show her his hiccups". Like really yelling. And it actually worked! It worked right away. Now I almost hope he gets the hiccups again soon so I can try screaming at him!

The game finally came on the TV right before the hiccup cure, so we were able to enjoy most of it. However, as the night went on, Craft Social started getting more and more crowded, with people standing all around, since the seats were full. Since everyone was drinking, they weren't wearing masks, and we started to get a little COVID-phobic. So we decided to check out Celebrity Central, where the game was supposed to be showing as well.

We had the whole place to ourselves. Literally no one else was there, so we sat right in the middle with three big screens all showing the game. Quasar was open right across the hall, so I grabbed us a couple of drinks. The venue was great. Unfortunately, the game was pure torture. Twice I was certain the Bills had won, but alas, Patrick Mahomes proved too good. I have decided that I am quitting football. It's just too emotionally taxing. Somehow that loss last night was worse than the 16 or 17 seasons as a Bills fan when they didn't even make it to the playoffs.

I very dejectedly went to gamble away a little money in the casino and then went to bed.

 

Day's Drinks: Mimosa x6, Americano with Bailey's, Rum Mule, French 75, Elderflower Blush, Angry Orchard x2, Vodka Sour

 

 

 

 

Edited February 3, 2022 by JamieLogical

[JamieLogical]

1/24

Yesterday we had breakfast in the buffet again, as we didn't make it out of the room until just about 9:00. Definitely nice not being in a rush on the sea days.

At breakfast we acquired some mimosas from Komang, our new favorite bartender, and then we headed up to the Lawn Club. We have definitely decided that the Lawn Club is our favorite place to sit in the shade and read/play video games. It has the added bonus of the Sunset Bar opening at 10:00, so we can get more drinks without moving.

It was especially windy yesterday morning, but we were somewhat sheltered by the overhang and it wasn't too bad. The girl who works at the Sunset Bar started bringing me mimosas in tumblers, though, because we were worried about the champagne flutes blowing away. There was also the spectacular moment when my husband's mask acted as a parasail to carry his sunglasses away. Luckily he was able to retrieve them.

For lunch we decided to just eat at the buffet again and I am glad we did, because they were doing a Mexican theme. I got some delicious pulled beef thing and my husband had some el pastor tacos and then for dessert I had a dulce de leche roll and my husband had some tres leches cake.

After lunch, we wanted to go to a presentation the Future Cruise people were doing about Alaska cruises. We are booked on a Princess sailing to Alaska in September, but now that my husband is hooked on Celebrity, we are thinking about trying to switch it. Unfortunately, after all of our morning drinking, both of us were incredibly sleepy and we finally bailed out of the lecture a bit early to crash for our afternoon nap. We must have been VERY nappy, as I didn't wake up until almost 4:00.

I went down to Café al Bacio for my afternoon coffee and told my husband to just join me down there once he was up from his nap. I read for a bit and then he joined me, had some afternoon coffee of his own (which he almost never does anymore, since trying to cut out more caffeine) and we played some cards for a bit until it was time for our pre-dinner drinks.

We headed over to World Class Bar when they opened at 5:00 and had some drinks with Daniel before going to our 6:00 reservation at Le Petit Chef. I was very excited about this experience and it definitely did NOT disappoint. I did find it somewhat amusing that they left a card in our room the night before reminding us of the Smart Casual dress code for our reservation and yet we were in line behind a guy in shorts and flip flops. I personally think dress codes are stupid. But, I am also a rule abider. So we made a special point of making sure my husband changed into long pants and buttoned up his Tommy Bahama shirt over his t-shirt before dinner only to find that someone else had no trouble getting seated in shorts and flip flops. Either have a dress code or don't. Preferably don't. Because if they have one and don't enforce it, then rule abiders like us are always going to feel obliged to comply while others just do whatever they want.

Anyway, shockingly, a man in shorts and flip flops did not ruin my dinner experience. The show was delightful and the food was delicious. Both my husband and I opted for the French Onion soup in place of the Bouillabaisse for the first course, but stuck to the menu for the rest of the meal. My husband, who is usually pretty unimpressed with lobster, loved the lobster course. I am usually pretty unimpressed with steak, but I loved the filet course. So we were both pleasantly surprised. Genuinely this meal was worth the upcharge for Specialty Dining. We are considering trying their other menu/show later in the cruise.

After dinner we went to the Ensemble Lounge where there was a new act playing. A solo, acoustic guitarist, who I liked because he played very mellow music. We chatted quite a bit with Komang again and had a few more drinks before heading to the casino to test the fates a little before the 9:00 main theater performance of Our Lady Valentine. I actually did pretty well in the casino, so I cashed out quickly.

Our Lady Valentine was really good. I enjoyed it a lot, but my husband gets frustrated when bands do medleys and don't play whole songs. It was really starting to make him crazy during the big Queen medley/tribute. We both love Queen and I definitely get that it is disappointing to have them only do a small portion of each song.

After the show, we went to late night snack briefly, then it was off to bed, as we have our first shore excursion bright and early this morning.

We had a VERY frustrating experience with room service breakfast this morning. We knew we would be in a rush with our excursion scheduled for 8:30, so my husband decided to order a hot breakfast from room service instead of us heading up to the buffet. He ordered eggs, ham, and an english muffin. I ordered a chocolate croissant and toast with jam. We placed the order to arrive between 7:00 and 7:30. For the first time this cruise, they did not call ahead before delivery. No big deal. What was a big deal was that the first breakfast they brought us was not ours. The  second breakfast they brought us was not ours. The third breakfast they brought us was the closest. It at least had eggs and ham. It did not have an english muffin, chocolate croissant, or toast and jam. It just had two plain croissants. Whatever, we were in a hurry. But the critical blow was when we finally sat down on our balcony to drink our coffee and discovered the container for the creamer was empty! I was in a full on rage at that point and huffed and puffed my way up to the buffet to fill a coffee cup with some creamer and bring it back down. NOT a way to start the day when I was already feeling rushed with the early excursion.

 

Day's Drinks: Mimosa x5, Americano with Bailey's, Birthday Cake Mojito, Strawberry Fields, Moscow Mule, French 77, Kir Royale x2

 

 

 

 

 

 

[JamieLogical]

1/25

Yesterday was our first port stop in Bonaire. I already told you the story of the room service debacle. Fortunately, we still made it off the ship in plenty of time to meet up with our tour group. Ship excursions were required in order to get off in Bonaire. Our excursion was called Mangroves & Flamingos. It was an open-air bus tour. I think you may have a different image in your mind of what that means than the reality. This was an old, full length school bus, painted light blue, with no glass in the windows. It didn't even have window frames. And the seats were still the stiff, child-sized, "double" seats. Though two adults sharing one seat, as they seemed to expect us to do, meant you had to be very comfortable with whomever you were sharing your seat. Also, I hope you have no love of your knees.

Despite the discomfort of the bus itself, I was grateful it was open air, as that definitely felt more safe than sharing an over-full, closed bus with a bunch of strangers during Omicron. Also, the tour itself was great. We briefly drove through town, passing a few things of interest along the way, until we reached the wildlife preserve. The roads through the preserve were unpaved, so that was a lot of fun in our converted school bus. It was not a smooth ride! Again, hope you weren't overly attached to your knees!

The landscape through the preserve was so interesting. It was mostly desert-like. Dry, dusty, cacti and succulents and low scrub brush. We encountered wild donkeys, which are protected on the island. But then we would go through areas with pink salt pools... one large pond/bay where the wind blowing across the shallow, salty water produced foam and the foam looked like snowballs rolling across the road. Then there was the marsh, full of three kinds of mangroves and populated with wild flamingos. It was so bizarre. Desert and wild donkeys on one side of the road and marsh and wild flamingos on the other. We all agreed that flamingos are super weird and really have no business existing evolutionarily. They are so awkward looking and the bright color really should have gotten them killed off by predators millennia ago. But, apparently, flamingos have no natural predators on Bonaire.

Our trip out ended at a beach/bay area where we were allowed to get in the water if we chose. There were huge mounds of conch shells. Apparently, the natives used to eat the conch and it was a traditional meal of the island until 2000, when they were declared an endangered species. Now there are signs everywhere not to catch the conch. But the signs of them are still everywhere. Also, the "rocky" beach was actually all fossilized coral. Tons and tons of it. It was so fascinating. We saw a bit of wildlife... some fish, some crabs, and some small water birds. The water was absolutely gorgeous in that way that makes you sad there is no chance your phone camera is ever going to do it justice.

After the beach, we turned around and headed out the way we came, bumpy ride and all. I felt like the timing of the tour was really good. We got back to the ship just in time to change our clothes and make it to the buffet for the start of lunch.

Lunch in the buffet was Mediterranean themed, so my husband was very happy. That's his favorite kind of food. I had the girl at the Mexican bar construct a beautiful pile of nachos for me. Even she said it looked "yummy" once we were done.

After lunch, we decided to see how the weather was up at the lawn club. We were worried it would be too warm, but the wind kept it quite pleasant. We hung out up there for a while and then I decided to come back to the room for an afternoon nap, despite not having had six mimosas in the morning.

I had afternoon coffee at al Bacio, where my husband joined me for some rummy, and then we decided to hit up the Martini Bar, which we had not done this cruise. I had a Peartini and a Cosmopolitan. My husband had two Peartinis and apparently that was the limit of what he could handle, because he was very drunk at that point. To be fair, he had had a Bella Cera at the Sunset Bar while I was napping.

We headed to the shore excursion desk at 5:00, because we had decided to cancel our ship excursion in Aruba, now that they were no longer required to get off the ship. Then we headed to the Future Cruise desk to get some pricing for switching our Alaska cruise in September from Princess to Celebrity.

We had dinner in the MDR. I decided to go with all starters and had the escargot, the duck ranelles, and the ricotta & spinach ravioli. My husband went with the broccoli cheddar soup and the braised short ribs. He didn't love the soup, but he really enjoyed the short ribs. I liked all three of my dishes, but the duck was obviously my favorite.

We opted to skip dessert and decided to go up to the Sunset Bar to watch sail away. It was beautiful sailing away from Bonaire at night. The weather was perfect.

After sail away, we went down to the buffet for some dessert, which we had skipped at dinner. We brought it back outside to the Oceanview Bar area and watched more sail away and enjoyed more beautiful weather. I can't believe there weren't more people out there.

We then headed down to the World Class Bar to see Daniel. I had a Strawberry Fields and my husband had the Celebrity No. 10. Then we headed to the casino for a bit, but my husband wasn't really enjoying himself there, so we went over to where they hold the gameshows outside of Quasar and chilled out for a bit until 9:00, when Pub Trivia was held in Quasar. We did terribly at trivia and I think my husband was ready to fight a woman over which planet in the solar system is the hottest. Then it was already time for late night snack and bed!

 

Day's Drinks: Screwdriver, Americano with Bailey's, Peartini, Cosmopolitan, Raspberry Fizz w/ Vodka, Strawberry Fields, Vodka Sour

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[graphicguy]

Love reading this review.  What a great pic of you and your husband.

 

BTW…..those of us who are Bengals fans would welcome you to join us on our bandwagon! 😉

[JamieLogical]

1/26

Yesterday we woke up for our room service breakfast, which we enjoyed out on our balcony, while watching the sunrise and the ship docking. We decided to hurry a bit in order to make it to the MDR for breakfast, where we were given a lovely window seat. Not many people in there. I think most people ate at the buffet, in a hurry to get off the ship.

After breakfast we went up to the Sunset Bar to relax and read in the shade. We got the magic seats on the little landing between the Sunset Bar and the Oceanview Bar. It was perfect, because that space was actually in the shade for once and, since we were early and the bars hadn't opened yet, we didn't have any competition.

Once the bars did open, we just got some water, having agreed not to drink in the morning and get too nappy before our afternoon excursion. Finally we decided to head down to the room and get ready to get off the ship to explore on our own before lunch.

We walked from the ship, across the floating bridge, and into the commercial district. We didn't go into too many shops, preferring to just people watch and explore. It really is a beautiful little town, with what looked to be many good spots to enjoy outdoor dining. It was very very hot, though. I can't imagine what it is like in August or September if this is their winter weather!

My husband was determined to find a duty free so he could buy some rum. He likes to buy locally made rum on the islands we visit. But there was a shocking dearth of duty free shops. We are used to them being everywhere in Caribbean ports. He did finally find one while we were on our way back to the ship. He picked out two bottles of rum, one from Curacao and one from El Salvador that the girl working at the store highly recommended and we had never seen before. As we were about to check out, it occurred to me that we had no plan for getting this rum home, since we had flown to Ft. Lauderdale and did not have any checked bags. We decided that my husband will check his carry-on with the rum inside and he will just use the free tote from our stateroom as his carry-on. So the rum actually cost him $30 more than he paid at the shop.

We finally made it back on the ship, but we were too hot to go straight to lunch, so we cooled down in the room for a bit first. We only had the buffet as an option for lunch, which was fine. I had my Indian food, as usual, with some garlic knots from the pasta station as a substitute for garlic naan.

After lunch, I decided I still wanted a brief nap after all, so my husband agreed that he would let me nap and then he would go to Cafe al Bacio and pick me up some iced coffee at 2:00 and wake me up. That way I could have my afternoon coffee and change before the 2:30 meeting time for our excursion. That all went according to plan.

What didn't go according to plan was that I drank my coffee too quickly and it immediately caused me intense intestinal distress. This sensation began right as we were boarding the cab that was going to take us to the trolley four our two hour tour. I spent the next two hours VERY uncomfortably trying to fight off an very embarrassing ordeal. I seriously contemplated jumping off of the moving trolley on several occasions.

The tour itself was sometimes interesting. We did get to see a fair amount of the commercial side of the island. Our tour guide came across as pretty antisemitic as we traversed a neighborhood that had been settled by Jewish families back in the day. She kept calling them "The Jews" and she kept going on and on about how big the homes were for only having small families of 2-4 people. Later in the tour she made a joke about how close the Synagogue was to a Casino. It was all very off-putting. I felt like maybe she didn't know her audience very well? I am sure there were more than a couple Jewish people on the tour and nearly ALL of us are Americans who are rich enough to be cruising, so I am confident most of the people on our cruise live in large homes with small families. My husband and I probably have the most modest home of anyone on this cruise.

Once the tour finally ended, I decided to forgo the taxi ride back to the ship, opting to try to find the closest bathroom. Unfortunately, the closest bathroom was at the Ferry Station and there was a sign on the door saying $1 to use the bathroom, but there seemed to be no way to actually pay and the door was locked. The next closest bathroom I knew about was at the fort on the other side of the canal, but the floating bridge was open to let a boat pass through. So we were stuck waiting for the bridge to be moved back and then I basically sprinted across it, nearly getting run over by about 100 bicycles, and made it to the bathroom at the fort.

I was sooooo happy I avoided a truly tragic and embarrassing situation. I have vowed to never drink coffee right before something like this ever again.

We were very hot and sweaty again since we had to walk all the way back to the ship for a second time. Thankfully, we had moved our dinner reservation from 6:00 to 7:00, so we had time to cool down and shower before heading out for the evening. I felt a million times better after my shower and we were ready for our pre-dinner drinks. First we thought we might stop by the Martini Bar, but it was packed, so we opted to hang out with Komang at the Ensemble Lounge. I had a couple of Rum Mules and my husband had a couple of Tiki Old Fashions.

We decided to head out onto the promenade deck to watch the sunset, which was beautiful. Then we headed in for our reservation at Tuscan Grill. We got seated by the windows, right at the aft of the ship, so we got to watch the remnants of the sunset and then our sail away from Curacao at night. It was absolutely lovely.

We had FAR too much food, having decided to get half servings of a bunch of the pasta dishes instead of any of the mains or sides. The short rib ragout and the lasagna were our favorites. The lobster alfredo was also good, but there was way too much pasta and not enough lobster. The ricotta gnocchi were just okay.

We had already placed our dessert orders when the staff brought us over an anniversary cake with a birthday candle in it. We were celebrating our anniversary on this cruise, even though it's technically a couple of weeks away still. They told me to make a wish and I wished for a lot more cruises!

Thankfully, they were willing to wrap up our cake for us so we could enjoy the desserts we had already ordered. I had the limoncello cheesecake and my husband had the tiramisu. Both were delicious!

After dinner, we dropped our leftover cake in our room and headed down to the theater for the show, which was an Icelandic woman playing violin and singing. It was a pretty high energy show and I really enjoyed it. Apparently she had competed in Eurovision twice and has done music for movies and TV shows. Unfortunately, all the pre-dinner drinking caught up with my husband and he decided to head back to the room to sleep before the end of the show. I stayed for the last couple of songs and then headed to the casino. I didn't do too badly. Still lost money, but not as much as I could have.

Then it was up to late night snack and bed. My husband was already sound asleep by the time I got back to the room just before 11:00.

 

Day's Drinks: Rum Mule x2, French 77, Kir Royale

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[PTC DAWG]

Nice review Jamie...my Wife and I are on the ABC Cruise this fall on Equinox (our 3rd sailing on her)...ironically, also over our Anniversary...glad your Husband got to check out Celebrity.  

[Gaynors]

4 weeks from tomorrow I'll be boarding the Equinox on this same 9 night itinerary..  Thank you so much for your review...

 

Just wondering...I hope you didn't cancel your princes cruise without comparing itineraries.. Celebrity doesn't do glacier bay...  Princess does.. that was a deal breaker for us..  We loved Princess to Alaska!!

[JamieLogical]

1/27

Yesterday we decided we wanted to try to go ashore in Aruba in the morning, before it got its hottest, so we changed directly into our going ashore clothes after our showers and headed to the buffet for a quick breakfast. We had hoped to get seats on the port side so we could scope out what was within walking distance of the ship, but the buffet was packed. I am pretty sure all 1018 of the passengers on board were there right then. So we ate quickly and then went out on deck to see what we could see of the near-pier activities.

The first thing we noticed was a small ship docked next to us called the Freewinds. My husband and I were commenting about it when an officer walked by and told us that it's the Scientology ship. I have watched a few documentaries and learned all about the Sea Org, so it was weird to see the ship in real life. I have now come up with an elaborate plan to convince them I am L. Ron Hubbard returned so I can go live on that ship.

While we were out there, a very fast moving rain shower came through and we ended up postponing out plans. Instead we went to Café al Bacio and played some cards for a bit while having more coffee. Don't worry, I took it very slow with the coffee and waited a while before we headed back to the room to put on sunscreen and head ashore. So, it was a little later and warmer by the time we left the ship than we had planned.

There was plenty of shopping near the pier, so we started wandering and exploring. We actually ended up walking quite a long way. One of the malls near the pier was pretty neat. It had a little canal running under it that was fed directly from the ocean. We saw the trolley a couple of times, but weren't really sure if it was a hop on/hop off thing or if there were designated stops. We didn't see anything labeled as a trolley stop and all the Aruba information desks appeared to be closed. It didn't really matter though, as we just took our time walking. Definitely got our steps in for the day. But we got back to the ship right as I was about to reach the limits of my heat tolerance. I cannot imagine what these islands are like in the summer, if this is their January weather.

Once we were back on the ship, we cooled down with our A/C set to "tundra", showered, and changed for lunch in the buffet. Lunch was another round of fancy nachos for me. Then we headed up to the Lawn Club to sit in the shade, enjoy the breeze, read/play video games, and enjoy a refreshing drink from the Sunset Bar. It was a lovely afternoon.

Then, of course, it was nap time, so I headed back down to the room to nap until afternoon coffee. My husband was still nappy when I went for my coffee, so I headed down by myself and my husband joined me a bit later. We attempted to play a hand of cards, but it was a brutal and long hand, so we gave up on that and went to drink martinis instead.

After a couple of martinis, we were feeling great and headed over to the Ensemble Lounge to visit Komang and hang out some more until our 6:00 dinner reservation at Le Petit Chef. We had decided to book it again, as they were offering a discounted price and a completely different menu/show than we had done earlier. I have no regrets, because this was definitely the best meal we have had on the ship so far. The truffle ravioli in the second course was insanely good. Everyone there must have agreed with me, because when we voted for the best chef in the end (this show was set up as a cooking competition between four chefs for the four courses), the Italian chef who had prepared the ravioli was our winner.

After dinner we went up to the Sunset Bar to watch our last night-time sail away from a Caribbean island for this cruise. It was sad, but I am looking forward to these last two sea days. My new ship, the Freewinds, looked quite pretty, lit up for the evening. Aruba also looked quite pretty.

After sail away we went down to watch a bit of the Minute to Win It game show, which is always a lot of fun. It did not disappoint. The tasks they had the passengers doing were very entertaining and the member of the Cruise Director Staff that had to demonstrate them was hilarious.

After the game show, we tested the fates at the casino for a bit. My husband did well. I did not.

So, it was back to Ensemble Lounge to hang out with Komang again. We spent quite a while there with him as the bar wasn't very busy. We tried a few experimental drinks and just chatted. It was a really lovely time. Then it was a quick stop by late night snack and off to bed!
 

Day's Drinks: Americano with Bailey's, Ginger Mojito, Americano with Bailey's, Peartini, 25th Anniversary Martini, Rum Mule x2, Moscow Mule, French 77, Blind Russian, Black Mexican, Blind Russian x2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[NBliving]

Really enjoying your review! We are doing this itinerary and ship in May. Glad your husband liked Celebrity!!

[JamieLogical]

1/28

Yesterday we made sure to be up and showered in time for MDR breakfast. I had been grumpy that they overcooked my eggs at the buffet the day before, so I was determined to get some properly cooked eggs. Breakfast was delicious and afterward we headed up to the buffet bar to visit Komang and have him make us our promised "Grand Mimosas", which are traditional mimosas with the addition of some Grand Marnier. They are made in a wine glass to accommodate the extra liquor.

We took our Grand Mimosas up to the lawn club and parked for a while to read/play video games and enjoy our drinks. It was a beautiful morning, with the temperature being just right in the shade and the breeze. We hung out there until 10:10, my husband having acquired us a second round of Grand Mimosas at some point, then we headed down to the theater to see Shawna, the Cruise Director doing her presentation on 9 Things You Don't Know About Living on a Cruise Ship. It was pretty interesting. She covered the normal stuff like crew cabins and crew areas. But she also talked a bit about what happened when COVID first shut everything down and  how the crew got home. Our favorite part was when she talked about Somali Pirates and how the crew are trained to throw deck furniture at them.

After the presentation, we went back to the Lawn Club for more drinks and more relaxation time. We stayed there until lunch, by which point I had had four Grand Mimosas, which it turns out is too many. We had lunch in the MDR and I don't remember too much of it. I know I had the fried mushroom appetizer, but I can't remember what I had for my main. I know that after lunch, I went up to the room and passed out until after 4:00!!! Never again, Grand Mimosa!

Once I finally dragged myself out of bed, I went ahead and put on my Evening Chic attire, since it was already getting close to that time. We headed down to Al Baccio for my afternoon coffee and played some cards. Once I was finally feeling more alive, we went to visit Daniel at the World Glass bar, where I had a Strawberry Fields. Then we went to visit Komang at the Ensemble Lounge for some French 77s before dinner. My husband has decided this is his favorite drink.

We decided to have dinner a little on the later side so we could watch the sunset beforehand. It was a perfect sunset on the ocean and I was happy we exercised patience. Then we headed for the MDR for lobster night. Now, this is where it turned out to be one of my favorite days of the cruise. Tempted by several of the starters on the menu, I opted to try the Blue Cheese Soufflé. Oh my God, I am so happy I did! It was my favorite food on the cruise so far. Possibly some of my favorite food ever. My husband had to take it away from me so I wouldn't eat the whole thing and spoil the rest of my dinner. I had ordered the lobster tail and the duck as my mains.

When my mains came out, I ate my lobster tail and a few bites of my duck, but decided not to eat anymore so I could order another Blue Cheese Soufflé for dessert! Which is exactly what I did. We also had a really great chat with a solo passenger who was seated next to us. I guess we hadn't seen him before because we usually eat dinner a bit earlier? Anyway, he was really friendly and we talked a lot about great food and cruising during COVID. We also told him all about Le Petit Chef, because he wasn't familiar with the concept of the experience.

After dinner, we went back to Ensemble Lounge to spend more time with Komang. He decided to attempt to make a Mr. Worldwide for me and he perfected it on the first try! I love him so much. It's going to be hard to say goodbye tonight.

We then headed to the casino for a bit before The Liars' Club in the main theater at 10:00. My husband has now tripled his money in the casino. He started with $40 for the week and now he is up to $120. I, on the other hand, have lost MUCH more than that.

The Liars' Club was very funny and a great time. Definitely at least a PG13 experience, so I was upset to see someone brought a child who was maybe 7 or 8? It said "over 18" right in the daily. Oh well, not my problem. The captain did take a pretty serious moment at the end to talk about how difficult things are for the cruise industry right now. He also warned us that it is only going to be 35 degrees in Ft. Lauderdale tomorrow morning!

My husband skipped out a little early, as he was very tired. I stayed until the end, but headed up for late night snack as soon as the show was over. A lot of people had attended the show and so, as it let out, there were obviously a lot of people who wanted to use the elevators. I went to the aft elevator banks to try to avoid some of the crowd, but there was still a steady stream of people approaching the aft elevators when I got there. A couple ahead of me got onto one of the elevators, which already had another couple in it. I was about to get on (for a total of 5 people) and the woman turned to me and right in my face just said "No!" Not "would you mind waiting for the next one?" Just "No!" I was so taken aback, I just meekly stepped back and waited for the next elevator, which about 9 people promptly climbed into. I get that some people don't understand how COVID spreads, especially with Omicron being more contagious. But I PROMISE all of you, you will not contract COVID by riding in an elevator with someone for 15 seconds who is wearing a KN95 mask.

If you are terrified of catching COVID in a 15 second elevator ride with someone wearing a KN95 mask, then maybe don't try to take the elevators right after a theater show lets out, when hundreds of other people are also trying to ride the elevators. And, lastly, being afraid of COVID is no excuse for being so shockingly rude. At least ask politely!

 

Day's Drinks: Grand Mimosa x4, Americano with Bailey's, Strawberry Fields, French 77 x2, Mr. Worldwide x2

 

 

 

 

[JamieLogical]

1/29

 

I don't actually have contemporaneous notes for the last day of the cruise, as I didn't have time to type them all out before disembarkation, so I will do my best to remember some of it.

 

In the morning, we did breakfast in the MDR. Since it was actually pretty cold and rainy on deck by this time, we opted to hang out in al Bacio, drink mimosas, and play cards after breakfast. I was sad to not get to spend time in our favorite spot on the Lawn Club on the last day, but we still had a pleasant morning.

 

At 10:15 we went to the Captain's presentation about captaining a ship. He talked a lot about all the planning they do for itineraries, how the ship operates, how he came to be a captain, etc. It was all interesting, but went on far longer than scheduled. It was only supposed to be 45 minutes total and was well over that before we got to the question and answer part. During the Q&A, the captain said we had only had two positive cases onboard, the first we knew about from early in the cruise and the second was that same person's spouse. But he also said they would be testing all crew and anyone who needed a test to return home that day and he would get us final numbers in his 6:00 announcement.

 

For lunch we decided on the buffet, because the MDR menu seemed unappealing. Turns out, all 1017 other  passengers on the ship agreed and the buffet was PACKED. Definitely the most crowded buffet I have seen on Celebrity since the restart. Could have also been the chocolate fountain that was attracting people?

 

I don't remember much about the afternoon. I am confident a nap and some afternoon coffee were involved.

 

We did dinner in the MDR and the captain made his announcement just as we were seated. One additional passenger had tested positive and "a few" crew, which brought us above the 1% threshold. With only 1019 passengers and something like 1050 crew onboard, that tells me that more than a few crew needed to test positive to reach 1% with only 3 passengers testing positive on the sailing. Oh well. Still very low numbers. In fact, the captain said they were the lowest numbers since the start of Omicron.

 

Sometime in the evening, we found out that our first flight had been canceled. We had originally booked our flights through Celebrity Air. But, sometime around Thanksgiving, our flight times were changed to ridiculously inconvenient ones. We were able to get our flights to FLL changed to something more reasonable, but didn't have any luck changing our return flights. Rather than pay $200/person in change fees to Celebrity, we decided to book our own return flights and keep the Celebrity ones as a back up. So we booked earlier flights on Delta that should have had us home around 4:45 in the afternoon. Well, those Delta flights were canceled, so we had no choice but to hope the AA flights through Celebrity still happened. We decided there was nothing we could do about it until the morning when we had cell service, so we did some packing and then spent the rest of the evening hanging out with Komang one last time.

 

I also hit up the casino briefly, but hit a pretty big win and cashed out for the cruise.

 

For disembarkation day, we had breakfast in the MDR and stayed on the ship as long as they would let us, since our flight out wasn't until 1:00.

 

The day of travel was completely miserable. Flight delays meant we didn't get back to Rochester until after midnight, where we then had to pay $70!!!!! for an Uber because four other delayed flights all landed at the same time as ours. Glad to put that all behind us now.

 

Day's Drinks: Mimosa X3, Americano with Bailey's, Vodka Sour, Rum Mule x2, Mr. Worldwide x2

 

 

 

 

[mocruzer]

Really enjoying your great review😊  Too bad about Murano's - it's usually our favorite restaurant.  

[JamieLogical]

Just a few final thoughts. I keep describing this as a "prefect" cruise to everyone who asks. It genuinely was one of my favorite cruises I have been on. After all the stress and worry about flight cancelations, port closures, Omicron outbreaks, having to wear masks, etc., it could not have gone better! We had no issues with out flights down (the important part!), we made every port stop, the weather was perfect up until the last sea day, no major outbreaks on the ship, the crew to passenger ratio was insane, the ship was in great shape, the live music was wonderful.... I could just go on and on.

 

I was so relived my husband loved Celebrity as much as I did. I had hyped it so much, I was worried I had set his expectations too high. He really really loved the ship. And he "got" that intangible feeling that everything is just a notch or two better than what we have come to expect on NCL.

 

We did end up switching our Alaska sailing to Celebrity. I know we will miss out on Glacier Bay, but we will still get to experience some glaciers and all of the other port stops are the same. We can't wait to experience Alaska!

[emmas gran]

So pleased your husband enjoyed the Celebrity experience 

[JamieLogical]

1 hour ago, graphicguy said:

Love reading this review.  What a great pic of you and your husband.

 

BTW…..those of us who are Bengals fans would welcome you to join us on our bandwagon! 😉

 

Don't worry. As an Ohio native, I am definitely pulling for the Bengals now. I got to watch the second half of their game against the Chiefs while sitting in the Boston airport on Sunday, as well as the full Rams/49ers game....

 

Really happy to see a team in the Super Bowl who hasn't made it in decades.... maybe the Bills will be next!

[JamieLogical]

4 hours ago, mocruzer said:

Really enjoying your great review😊  Too bad about Murano's - it's usually our favorite restaurant.  

 

What do you usually order there? It seems the lobster is very popular and we did not order that, so maybe we should have.

[cbfb]

How was your cabin? Our cabin for our May sailing is just a few doors down. Quiet, comfortable? Great idea to ask for foot stools. We had aqua class in January so I’m spoiled!! 

[JamieLogical]

Just now, cbfb said:

How was your cabin? Our cabin for our May sailing is just a few doors down. Quiet, comfortable? Great idea to ask for foot stools. We had aqua class in January so I’m spoiled!! 

 

The cabin was great. Some of the drawers didn't open so smoothly, but that was a really minor issue. We loved the location, right off the elevators. And we loved the size of the balcony. We wanted to try to get the exact same room location for our Alaska sailing on the Solstice, but it was already booked, so for that one we have the cabin two rooms forward of the one we were in for this sailing. Hopefully it won't be too much of an adjustment! 😋

[Ember56]

1 hour ago, JamieLogical said:

 

What do you usually order there? It seems the lobster is very popular and we did not order that, so maybe we should have.

We ate at Murano twice, my wife loves the tableside Lobster, I order the Chateaubriand.

BTW, we are in Alaska in May, on Millennium

[miched]

You were on the Summit in Nov 2021 in a SS.   The Summit is nice and a M class ship.   I like them but like the S and E class better.

 

Do  you miss anything by not being in a Suite?  

We have sailed a few times in a veranda with the large balcony and enjoyed it.   If you want a step up experience between a suite and veranda try AQ.    It has it own smaller intimate dining room like Luminae and serves breakfast and dinner.   Sometimes the price isn’t much different and it includes a few extra amenities like access to the Persian Gardens.

 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

 

 

 

 

[JaneAustenCruiser]

We'll be on the Equinox in April and we're really really REALLY hoping that Omicron drops off precipitously and the need for indoor masks goes away. I know that's a long shot, but there you.

 

So glad you had a great time. I've only ever cruised on Celebrity (we're only on our 3rd one coming up) and I don't see any reason to change. 😍

[JaneAustenCruiser]

@JamieLogical, also OMG. We are LITERALLY going to be in the cabin right next door to the one you were in!! I double checked our reservation - we're 7263! 🤣

 

Now I need to go back and review your post again so I can get all the deets on the room!

[Turtles06]

3 hours ago, JamieLogical said:

 

What do you usually order there? It seems the lobster is very popular and we did not order that, so maybe we should have.

 

We've eaten at Murano's many times, and it's always been good, but in December on the Silhouette we had the lobster, and the entire meal, from start to finish, was not only THE best meal we've ever had on a cruise ship, it would also have rivaled many good meals on land.