My LONG Celebration Story - 11/26/23 to 12/03/23

[d-train]

Thank you for sharing your vaca with us!

We will be on board Celebration in just a short 30 weeks from now...

Love seeing the pictures!

[mlshum]

2 hours ago, jimbo5544 said:

I have found that doing reviews help keep the great memories of the cruise fresh and assists in enjoying the experience further.  

Yes!!  I always enjoy reading yours!  And I have them to look back over the years to remember certain details.  I enjoy writing…not enough to dabble in a book or anything…just occasionally in small bursts.  I sometimes have a short little span of attention!

[jimbo5544]

46 minutes ago, mlshum said:

Yes!!  I always enjoy reading yours!  And I have them to look back over the years to remember certain details.  I enjoy writing…not enough to dabble in a book or anything…just occasionally in small bursts.  I sometimes have a short little span of attention!

Well, for you it works.  Thanks

[tradewinds traveler]

I always enjoy your reviews. We were on the Celebration in May. The ship is beautiful however we didn't enjoy Celebration Central. The bingo was so crowd that people were sitting on the floor on deck 7.

[mlshum]

Just now, tradewinds traveler said:

I always enjoy your reviews. We were on the Celebration in May. The ship is beautiful however we didn't enjoy Celebration Central. The bingo was so crowd that people were sitting on the floor on deck 7.

Thank you so much!  Yes, I agree completely.  I think it’s a very pretty space but definitely not conducive to the larger production shows.

[pajazz28]

Good morning you post November 29 story on a different thread.Celebration Center on Carnival Celebration, lol.

 

[mlshum]

2 hours ago, pajazz28 said:

Good morning you post November 29 story on a different thread.Celebration Center on Carnival Celebration, lol.

 

Oh goodness, thank you so much for letting me know!

[mlshum]

Sorry for the delay, my friends!  Yesterday evening I got back from my Mom's and quickly posted the next installment only to learn that I had posted it in the wrong place!  Thank you, pjazz28, for letting me know!  Also, I realized that I totally left out your description of the rain in Cozumel.  I typically type these in a Word document and then cut and paste into Cruise Critic.  It appears I have had a cluttered mind recently!  If anyone is interested in what got left off of the Cozumel day, here it is:

 

You know….God has a sense of humor.  I said “bring it on” and he certainly did!  We went downstairs to get off the ship and realized that it was raining.  It wasn’t just raining, it was RAINING.  It was raining sideways.  It was pouring.  People were coming back on the ship after trying to debark.  Many were simply turning around and not trying it.  Ron and I had one of those silent conversations.  “Do you want to get off the ship and try it?”  “Of course I do!”  “Me, too, let’s GO!” And so we did!

 

That aside.....as Paul Harvey would say, "And now here's the rest of the story".  At least part of it!

 

_____________________________________________________________________________

 

 

Wednesday, November 29th – Sea Day

 

I really like this itinerary.  Celebration has two versions of this itinerary that goes to the same ports.  One has two sea days at the end with the ports back to back to back.  Our itinerary had one port, followed by a sea day, following by two days in two ports, and finally another sea day.  I prefer the sea days to be broken up by the port days.

 

 

I slept somewhat late again.  This can’t be a habit going forward!  Only on vacation should I sleep late!  That's one of the hazards of self-employment.  If you don't make it happen, it simply doesn't happen, and clients take a dim view of paying me for things I didn't do.  Go figure!

 

 

I had been wanting to get some beignets from Emerils so we decided to do that for breakfast.  In my opinion, this was the best thing I ate on the ship all week.  They are sugary, pillowy, fluffy clouds of perfection.  The dipping sauces were nice but I prefer them plain.  I will have those again!  I can feel my waistline expanding at the very thought!

 

Yummy!!!!!

 

 

We went up to the sports deck for a game of mini-golf.  I started off very badly.  As with most things, Ron is usually very consistent.  Mini-golf is no exception.  After my rough start, I began to do better and finished just one stroke behind him.  Much better than I expected!  We had our Kindles with us so we commandeered two deck chairs and spent some time reading.  This is one of my favorite sea day activities.  It was a cloudy day, but the temperature was perfect.  I’ll take it!

 

I address the ball.....it doesn't go anywhere remotely close to where I told it to go.

 

Ron addresses the ball......

 

...and smiles because he makes it, OF COURSE!  (I wish I had the eye roll emoji available)

 

 

We hung around on deck for a few hours and finally decided that it was time for lunch, and we were feeling Guy’s Burgers.  You can't go wrong with a Guy's Burger!   It was good, as always. 

 

Guy's is kind of hidden behind the upper level of the  Red Frog Tiki hut on Excel class.

 

 

We looked at the schedule and realized that trivia would be starting shortly so we headed that way right after lunch.  Jareel was hosting the game in the Limelight again.  The first game was General Knowledge.  Ron won that one.  The second was 80’s trivia.  I won that one.  I mean, I lived it so why not?!? 

 

 

During our trivia games we sat and chatted with a guy who was a diver.  Ron and I both had on dive t-shirts that day.  This guy had asked us if we dove because of our shirts and we told him only during Discover Scuba.  The conversation started from there and he showed us lots of photos of unusual fish and things that he had taken on his various dives.  He was diving the next day in Roatan and we told him we were planning to dive, too, in the Discover Scuba class.  It was a nice conversation.  After trivia was over we went to get some gelato.  I don’t remember the available flavors for that day, it must have been good.  Otherwise, I would have probably remembered that.

 

 

I was tired again and wanted to go lay down in the cabin for a while.  Ron said he would be happy to rest, too.  On our way into our room we ran into Arya, our cabin steward.  Arya was wonderful!   We saw him so many times through the week and he always was wearing a big smile.  Those people are amazing.   He was so nice and did a great job, as they always do.  I had noticed a couple of ducks on the cleaning cart during the week and asked him if he collected the ducks.  He said he always took a few to his five-year-old daughter when he got to go home, and she loved them.  I had been putting out ballerina ducks through the week.   He seemed surprised and pleased.

 

 

After resting for a while we got up and got ready for dinner.  We decided to try Cucina again.  That time we had a 15 – 20 minute wait if I remember.  Not bad at all!  I really enjoyed Cucina.  I had the chicken parm and Ron had the spaghetti carbonara.  Both were really good.  We both had the lemon torte for dinner.  Usually I love lemon desserts and this one was good, but not my favorite.  It was Ron’s favorite dessert of the cruise....up until the next day, of course. 

 

 

Arancini, I think!  It was delicious!

 

Meatballs

 

Spaghetti Carbonara

 

Chicken Parm

 

Lemon Torte

 

It was funny to me how many people recognized Ron throughout the cruise after his first night of going up on stage.  At one point I was waiting in line in a restroom when a woman walked in and said, “Hi, Michelle!”  I smiled and said “Hi” but I must have had a funny look on my face because she then said, “Oh, I just saw Ron outside” and cracked up.  I think I’m married to a rock star now.  LOL

 

 

We had hoped to see Most Magnificent Circus but there were no seats….not even bad ones… and it was still 45 minutes until show time.  If you want to see these shows in Celebration Central, you have to get there early!  Instead, we went to Grand Spectrum Theatre to watch “What’s Age Got to Do With It?”  This was the first time I had seen this show.  It was cute.  It had a similar premise to the Love and Marriage Show but were parents or grandparents and kids instead of couples.  Lee is such a good cruise director and such an engaging person.  He hosted this show and did a great job.  We enjoyed the show.  After that was finished we thought we’d go see about getting seats for the second Circus show.  Again, 45 minutes before the show started and all seats were taken.  We opted instead to head to Punchliner to watch Jadelyn Bishop. 

 

What's Age Got to Do With It? was a cute show.

 

Waiting in Punchliner

 

Jadelyn Bishop was so funny!  She talked a lot about her husband and son.  She could tell a story that really came to life.  You could picture exactly what she was describing!  We really enjoyed her show.  The room was full but not overcrowded.  I was glad we had come to see her instead of the Circus show!  It would turn out that we wouldn’t catch another of the comedy shows the rest of the week BUT the circus would be performed again.

 

 

After comedy finished, we went back to Grand Spectrum to watch “Guess That Groove”.  Again, it was new to me.  It was a game based on guessing songs or finishing lyrics.  Several very brave audience members were brought on stage to sing, dance and guess song lyrics.  It was a lot of fun.  I always admire those brave souls who volunteer for these things and then pull it off like champs.   Both Lee and the deejay (can't remember his name) were funny and did a great job.  It was a fun way to pass the hour.  Afterwards, as had become our routine, we went to the piano bar.  That was when things started to fall apart for me.  Usually, I will have several days or at least hours of feeling rough before it actually hits.  Not this time.   I didn’t have any meds with me.  I had absolutely nothing.  I managed to make it to the ships pharmacy section to see if they had anything that might help.  Nothing.     

 

 

I messaged one of my best friends, Cami, who is a nurse practitioner (and also one of our cruise friends), to ask if there was anything I could do to stop it.  I was pretty sure I already knew the answer but thought I’d check.  Sadly, it was as I suspected….there was absolutely nothing I could do except go to the doctor...and as quickly as possible.  I checked the medical center schedule and found that they wouldn’t be open again until 8am.  In just that short amount of time I had went from "fine" to "really ready and wanting to go to the doctor".   It was going to be a long night.

 

 

I tried to be tough and not let it affect our cruise but after just a little while I couldn’t stand it any longer.  I had to go back to the cabin and would stay there until morning.  It was a miserable night.  I dozed a few times but not much.  There was no way to get comfortable.  I ached all over.  I was too hot, then too cold.  I was up.  I was down.  I walked around the cabin.  I tried sitting.  I tried lying down in different positions.  I tried reading and ignoring it.  Nothing stopped the pain.  I felt really, really sick.

 

 

Let me pause here to tell you a little about Ron.  (He will probably blush and not want me to write this but I’m writing it anyway!)  He is wonderful and always has been.  We have been married for more than 38 years.  We got married when I was barely 18 and he was not quite 21.  We had no idea how young we were.  Normally I wouldn’t recommend being married so young but in my case I have lived the fairy tale.  I love him with everything I have.  He is the same.  He’s my best friend and my biggest supporter.  He tries so hard to take care of me and let’s face it, I can be pretty challenging sometimes!  On this night, he was suffering with me.  He wanted so badly to make me feel better and fix it for me but there was nothing that either of us could do except wait for the morning.  He stayed with me the entire time and all through the day the next day.  There were several times I tried to get him to do something else that he might enjoy but he wouldn’t hear of it.  He refused to leave me.

 

Finally, morning arrived.

[Bollycats]

Vertigo? Flu? Something else?

[ninjacat123]

1 minute ago, Bollycats said:

Vertigo? Flu? Something else?

Migrane?  I'm curious too!

[Roscoe13]

10 minutes ago, ninjacat123 said:

Migrane?  I'm curious too!

Extreme hunger?

[SenatorsFan]

I hope it's nothing too serious.

[jimbo5544]

LOVE the beignets from Emerils.  In fact, not tried anything from Emerils I do not like. 

[mlshum]

2 hours ago, Bollycats said:

Vertigo? Flu? Something else?

For some reason parts of my paragraphs are disappearing!  Grr….i’ll fix when I get back.  Sorry!

[mlshum]

2 hours ago, ninjacat123 said:

Migrane?  I'm curious too!

For reasons unknown to me parts of some of my paragraphs are disappearing!  Ugh!  I’ll fix it as soon as I get home.  At the moment Ron and I are at church cooking pasta for 200.  Lol

[mlshum]

2 hours ago, Roscoe13 said:

Extreme hunger?

Definitely not!  Not on a cruise!  I’ll get it fixed asap!

[mlshum]

1 hour ago, SenatorsFan said:

I hope it's nothing too serious.

Thanks!  Nothing too bad but I’ll tell fix it when I’m able to go back home.

[mlshum]

1 hour ago, jimbo5544 said:

LOVE the beignets from Emerils.  In fact, not tried anything from Emerils I do not like. 

They are the best!!

[TravelBluebird]

On 12/12/2023 at 9:19 PM, mlshum said:

After Trop Rock finished up, Ron had the opportunity to snag a couple of chairs right in front of the stage.  He waved to me.  As I came over to him, Lee was getting started with his “Welcome Aboard/Activate the Fun” show.  I asked Ron if he was sure he wanted to sit there.  It seemed like we would be prime targets if audience participation was required.  No sooner than I’d expressed that opinion, Lee brought him and another gentleman on stage to be the sacrificial lambs in getting the fun started. He took it like a champ and went along with the program.  At the end they gave him a solid gold plastic ship on a stick.  At least we wouldn’t have to worry about winning one this cruise!   

 

That was your hubby!  We were on this cruise as well, and at the Welcome Aboard Show.   I did a (mostly) LIVE Blog from the cruise. Having some down time today so I’m curling up with your report!

[TravelBluebird]

Ugh and sorry to hear you were unwell on the trip; hoping it wasn’t anything too serious (awaiting your report).

[mlshum]

On 12/15/2023 at 10:04 AM, d-train said:

Thank you for sharing your vaca with us!

We will be on board Celebration in just a short 30 weeks from now...

Love seeing the pictures!

Thank you so much and thanks for reading along!  I hope you have a great vacation, too!

 

[mlshum]

18 hours ago, tradewinds traveler said:

I always enjoy your reviews. We were on the Celebration in May. The ship is beautiful however we didn't enjoy Celebration Central. The bingo was so crowd that people were sitting on the floor on deck 7.

Thank you so much and thanks for taking time to read along!  Sitting on the floor?  They need to move that into the theatre!!  Bingo is always so popular it just seems like Celebration Central is a terrible venue for that!  Not only for the lack of seating and poor sight lines but it's often really hard to hear.

[mlshum]

I am so so sorry that part of this story disappeared again!  Cruise Critic won't let me edit so here is the part that "fell out this time.  Hopefully, I won't have this problem going forward.  Thanks so much for your patience with me!

 

We sat down and Misso started.  Suddenly, I did not feel well at all.  I excused myself for a minute. I   thought my problems would pass quickly but they instead started getting worse very quickly.  I knew pretty immediately what was wrong.  I had a UTI.  I have them pretty often, but I’d never had one come on this fast and this hard before. 

[mlshum]

1 hour ago, TravelBluebird said:

 

That was your hubby!  We were on this cruise as well, and at the Welcome Aboard Show.   I did a (mostly) LIVE Blog from the cruise. Having some down time today so I’m curling up with your report!

Aww...thank you and yes, that was Ron!  He wasn't exactly WANTING to be part of the Welcome Aboard Show but he decided to "own it" and I think he did a great job!

 

I'd love to read your blog!  Is it posted here on Cruise Critic?

 

[mlshum]

48 minutes ago, TravelBluebird said:

Ugh and sorry to hear you were unwell on the trip; hoping it wasn’t anything too serious (awaiting your report).

I just finished writing about that!  Part of my last post....the most important part....somehow disappeared so I just got the details posted.  I appreciate that.  It's never fun to be sick on vacation!