On the way home

Morning dawned bright and early (as it usually does) and we got up about 7am, took a quick shower and finished shoving things into our carry on bags.   Then headed downstairs to our final breakfast at Luminae about 745am - we finished up about 830am and headed to deck 5, where the Suite waiting lounge was.  About 915am we decided to get off......the line off the ship was nothing, the line waiting for customs!!!!  Lucky we didn't have to claim our bags as they were already headed for the airport via the luggage valet system (best $20 you can spend if you are flying)  so we just stood in line with the rest of the sheep until we cleared customs.

Once outside - OMG, what a disaster.   Since most of the people seem to have purchased the Celebrity transfers to the airport, the lines are crazy and they don't seem to have enough busses.....so we use our new favorite mode of transport - Uber.  About 10 minutes later our driver shows up (with 2 other passengers, we were sharing the cab since we didn't have luggage) and 20 minutes later, we're at the airport for a total cost of $11.58.

We head through security, and then up to the Delta Sky lounge to hang out for a few hours until our plane leaves - and so I can use the wifi to get caught up on the blog (since I did get a bit behind)

Last Day

Breakfast at Luminae was great and after we went back to the room I decided it was nice enough to keep myself in our room today - or out on our balcony - once the sun moved high enough in the sky, we had some nice shade and a great view, so I stayed there most of the day.  We even decided to order room service lunch, which was pretty good.

We finished packing (note to self, don't bring so much crap next time, you don't wear half of it anyway and they have laundry service....!) and went to check out the status of the Martini Bar - where they were pouring fancy multiples like it was going out of style (where has this been the whole cruise?) they poured a 12 when we showed up, and about 30 minutes later (after getting run over by an old lady who decided that SHE should sit in the seat I was just pulling out to sit down) they poured a 36 (2x18) which got mostly in the glasses.    So that's pretty good.

Headed down for our last dinner at Luminae (sad) but ended the evening with a birthday cake for Chris - yes, it's not until Tuesday, but I went to ask for the Black Forest cake recipe from the previous night (since he at it all) they offered to make him a cake (awesome)

WOW.  That was the cake.  We each had a piece and then asked the staff to eat the rest of it, because I'm not taking it home!!!   I have the recipe too, so I'll try and figure out how to make it....

The one odd thing was we weren't switching our clocks back to EST until this last night, which I thought was weird but now think was brilliant - it give you one more hour to sleep before you get off.  We went to bed about 11 (so really, 10) and didn't have to be out of the room until 8am!!!

Almost the last sea day

One thing I will say about this cruise - I've NEVER been on a ship with this much movement as last night and today- I'm sure some of it was related to the fact we were in the open Atlantic and going 20 knots, and our room was so far back (and up!) on the ship, but it was really interesting when we go to the pool deck after breakfast in Luminae, jammy packed with people AND you'd think there was a wave machine in the pool.....!   This reminds me of 2 other previous trips - one on Mariner of the Seas with my sister and family (they closed the pool it was so bad, but not after we had some good fun in the pool!). And my favorite memory, when on our transatlantic cruise on Adventure of the Seas, and some pompous old lady in the pool is informing everyone in the pool "that the ship has a wave generator" and that's why the pool is so splashy.   ?????????  When I asked her why she thought they had a wave generator, she pointed to the drain (!) at the bottom of the pool and informed me that was it.  I asked where she had heard it, and she claimed "she just knew one when she saw it".   Umm, okay crazy lady.......

We left the pool area again when the bad music started (3pm!) and had some snacks in the room - tonight was the 2nd "evening chic" night and we were hitting the show afterwards (ROCK CITY) as it was new.   Dinner was quite good in Luminae (duh) and about 830pm we headed to the show, where our butler Cesar, seated us in the reserved suite section.  The show was....interesting.  Not bad, but I'm not raving about it either.  Not as weird as Topper was earlier in the week, but listening to U2 and Nirvana being sung poorly (the girls were good, the guys weren't) was pretty odd.  And, the music selection was squarely targeting the 40-50 demographic....with most of the ship being 70+ - so I'm not sure how that's going to work out for them.  I liked their previous show "Eclipse" better, but since I'm not running Celebrity Productions, I don't think they care either.  It was definitely not as expensive to produce either, the sets never changed.   I did also find out that the blonde girl singer is the staff captain's girlfriend.....

After the show was over, stopped by the Martini Bar and then headed upstairs to bed.

St Maarten, and the big surprise!

Our final port stop had arrived - then 2 days at sea to home.  This was going to be a big day in port - with 6 ships total (and 5 at 8am)   We were scheduled to meet the taxi driver at 1030am, figuring that would give us enough time to have the crowds die down a bit - and boy, were we wrong!  The whole taxi process was a complete cluster......there were way too many people for such a small space, and it wasn't set up particularly clearly on where to get a taxi to a specific location - lots of shouting, people waving their hands and whistles from directing traffic.  We weren't able to find our scheduled driver, so we finally just hopped in a cab with 2 open seats to downtown for $6.   Made our way over to Shoppers Haven and look who we found........!

Such a wonderful surprise - Pam and Michael had flown to St Maarten for a few days (it was her birthday after all) and were meeting us there for the day.  We had some cake and got serious about our shopping expedition.  After picking out a few pieces and wanting to take a quick lunch break, we headed over to the Blue Bitch Bar to grab some sandwiches and a few drinks.  It was a beautiful day, we had a nice view and the company was outstanding!

After lunch, we headed back to make our final decisions and get everything squared away payment wise - I did come home with a pretty new bracelet, so ask to see it!  Pam and Michael had a rental car, so they drove us back to the port where we said our goodbyes and promised to get together again soon.  We got back onboard with about 20 minutes to spare - we were the first ship to leave at 5pm - which was interesting since 2 of the ships would be back in Florida with us on Sunday......

Dinner was very good - we ate in Tuscan Grille for the 2nd time this trip - it was very good and I'd recommend it. The Martini bar was fun as always and then off to bed!

St Kitts

St Lucia is a nice island - there's a really well preserved British fort (Fort Brimstone)  and the batik factory (at Romney Manor) and some really nice beaches.  But I've been here more times than I can count and we weren't feeling beachy so we decided to get off and walk around before settling in at the pool.  We walked out to the port area and it was pretty slow at 915am - unless you wanted a tour, then it was hopping!  After a bit of a walkabout in the sun, we wanted to get back on the ship - you'd think this would be easy, but the Carnival Breeze was docking, and with only 1 small narrow dock, they were keeping everyone off until the ship was tied down.  So we watched - interesting perspective, since everyone usually docks around the same time in the morning so you are usually on your own ship waiting.

It was really freaking hot - but after about 45 minutes they were tied up enough to let us walk down the pier to our ship and get on.  We then went upstairs and headed for the pool - it was a pretty nice day, with a few showers but nothing to get excited about.  Everyone started coming back to the ship in the early afternoon, and the place filled up pretty quickly.  Once the bad live music started, I headed back for the room...I'd learned that lesson already - when the music starts, run!

Dinner was as usual in Luminae, excellent. We seem to have a large number of liquids every night....

Where am I again?

Antigua.....so funny story, our first stop in Antigua,  was in 2004 and not planned,   We had scheduled a 7 day cruise (our second!) and we were on Navigator of the Seas out of Miami.  Eastern Caribbean, St Thomas, San Juan and some other place that escapes me right now.  Nassau maybe?  We left on Saturday August 24and were scheduled to return the Saturday of Labor Day weekend, September 4. The weather was Ok in Miami, but not looking good, and this is why.......Hurricane Francis!

So, our whole trip was basically scrapped.....we had no idea where we were going or when we'd get home, but we had a whole cruise ship at our disposal.  Our 7 day cruise became 9 days, and because of the holiday weekend, we didn't miss any work.   Biggest benefit was that Royal Caribbean had booked our plane tickets so we didn't have to worry how to get home.   We first ported in Antigua on Tuesday, August 31, and St Thomas on Wed, sept 1.

Back to Antigua, this was 11-12 years ago and things have really changed.....they used to get maybe one or 2 ships a week, and now they have 2 docks and there were 4 ships in the day we were there.  So we decided not to get off this time, the town isn't really big enough for 12,000 extra people.

Unfortunately, it was also somewhat of a washout at the pool, we got multiple torrential downpours and it was cloudy....so I headed for the future cruise booking desk and booked some future cruises for my friend Pam, who wasn't even on the ship!  She and her friends got some extra on board credit to spend because I was checking with her on my iMessage on the iPad.  Too funny.

Dinner at Luminae was great and we did some people watching later at the Martini Bar.  You can tell people are starting to get tired, the bar is less crowded the later it gets every night.....

We also walked by the pool deck, and they had pulled all the chairs off and stacked them, which makes the pool deck look huge.  I will try to get a daytime shot to show the difference.

And St Lucia....

This was another stellar pool day, quiet and generally not many people until mid afternoon.  A little rain, but nothing to get excited about.  I was reading a book, and every time I pulled it out of my bag, it started to rain again.  Chris called me the rain whisperer.  So I finally gave up and read a magazine.

We had been invited to the sail away on the helipad for the suite guests, it's a little warmer than our last trip in Alaska.

We also had the opportunity to meet Simona, the guest relations manager, and friend of our other friend Tom.

The sailaway was awesome, and then we headed for dinner, which was excellent as usual, and had a few laughs in the Martini Bar.  Tomorrow, Antigua!

Sunday, or Barbados

So, as many of you already know, Chris and I have been to every single island on this trip at least once,
Which means, we don't do many tours, or anything else for that matter.
This tour on Barbados was the only one we were planning to do for the whole trip, so it had better be good! We booked online with a company well recommended from our Cruise Critic group, Calabaza. Wondering how it worked out? Hands down, one of the best trips we've ever taken. The snorkeling was marvelous, and the afternoon sail and snacks were outstanding. They picked us up at the dock right at 215, and we were back about 630pm. Other than it being a bit chilly (so I put on a long sleeve shirt) I can't think of anything I would change. The crew was fabulous, Andrew the captain, and Chris and Keelie the crew were super friendly, funny and generally had a good time.
Our first stop was Caryle bay, where we looks for some turtles....must have been a busy day earlier, as they were not hungry for any sort of snacks Keelie had for them. But a few came by to check it out.

Next, off to the other side of the bay for the shipwreck marine park. There were 3 shipwrecks we snorkeled about, and the variety of fish was amazing. That's my flipper, btw.

Then back on the boat for a late afternoon sail up the coast in our rented catamaran.

This is Chris and Chris....once Chris figured out there was another Chris onboard, it became the joke it was "Chris" fault whenever something went wrong.

Back to the ship, got cleaned up and had a late dinner. Outstanding, but a bit slow since we were in the prime eating time.

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Day at Sea

Well, this whole day was really quiet, we skipped the pool since that's where everyone was, and had another nice lazy day on the ship. I read a book, watched some bad TV and generally was a lazy bum. Here's the only photo for today's entry.

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Curaçao Day 2

Alright, don't blame me, but I didn't get up until 10am. Please remember 4 hours ahead of pacific time, so I'm sure there is an excuse somewhere....
Spent the ENTIRE day the the pool....nothing to report except my feet.

We left Curaçao, and are currently headed to Barbados with arrival being Sunday. We had dinner at Luminae, the suite restaurant, and headed to the martini bar to hang out after. Apparently they let everyone bartend.

Soon, time for bed and the sea day tomorrow.

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Curaçao, day 1

Well, the ship docked about 7am....we decided to get out of bed about 10am since the chair scraping above our heads had become rampant.
Got dressed and headed to the pool deck to stake out our claim for the day. I found some seats facing the correct direction (so we'd have sun all day) and not to near the front (so you didn't have to hear the bad music) and on an aisle, for easy egress. Plus near the bar...... :)

Those are my feet on the left.....
Grabbed some food, and then sat by the pool for multiple hours watching the world go by while reading a book. It's really amazing how much time you can spend doing nothing. About 3pm, we headed back to our room(since we are on the pool deck) and got our stuff to head out to shore for a bit. We took a few pictures, and no, I still don't own a selfie stick!

Right off the pier is the Rif fort

The Queen Emma floating bridge (a bit windy)

Random street in Curaçao.

The motorcycles belonging to our onboard biker gang.

Chris found out, by evesdropping at the bar, that the motorcycle costs $700 to load and includes fuel, sine they have to empty the fuel from the tanks at each port.  They are filled with nitrogen and secured like any other cargo.  Today they are spending the night on the pier, because they are going riding tomorrow.  So now you know! 

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Aruba

Our first stop was Aruba. And I have nothing to say, we sat by the pool, it was windy and we went to dinner. I read a book by the pool and did very little else.

There are no photos, and we set sail at 8pm for Curaçao. Seriously, the chillest day ever.

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Second sea day....

Well, we got up bright and early at 11am! Grabbed some breakfast and then headed back to our balcony for some quiet reading and music. Man, while the hike back to our room is substantial, it means it super quiet except for the engines, all you hear is prop wash. So I read for several hours, and about 330pm Cesar, our butler, showed up with snacks, and had to basically tap us on the shoulder on the balcony, because we were sitting outside, it was about 80 and gorgeous.

After some snacks, we got cleaned up for dinner -tonight was Qsine without cruise critic friends. Total of 10 people. Had to quickly hang out I the Martini bar for a bit, not a whole lot of action other than from the biker gang. My quote for the trip "there's no fish that can drink like an old fish" because they can drink, those old biker people.

Dinner was excellent, and there aren't any pictures so you'll just have to take my word for it.

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Night 2, aka "evening chic"

Okay, so they've done away with formal night, which is nice because Chris is tired of lugging his tux along, and I'm tired of wearing spanx to dinner. Celebrity has introduced this "evening chic" thing, and no one is quite sure what that means, especially for women! So there were a wide variety of clothing choices this evening, some better than others.
We headed back to Luminae for dinner, and it was excellent. I had French onion soup (duh) with a mushroom and truffle risotto, followed by Cornish game hen. Umm, yummers! Chris had a small Caesar salad, the risotto and a brown butter,sage and spinach gnocchi, which was meh. Here's a fancy picture of formal night in the restaurant.

The Martini Bar is still a good hangout, but seems to suffer from a lack of lead flare bartenders...so it's not as exciting as last time. But they must have heard we were coming, and stocked up on the Grey Goose.....

We went and saw the new show "Topper" about a guy who collects interesting people and keeps them in his hat......okay.....that's a bit of an odd premise, but we can go with it. It was all very contemporary pop/rock music, so that was interesting.

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Day 1 at sea!

Well, last night we lost an hour as we flipped the clocks ahead to Atlantic Standard Time. Plus we needed to get up by 830am to have some breakfast before attending a Cruise Critic party at 930am. We had some delicious breakfast at Luminae, pancakes, bacon and some crispy hash browns for me. We had just enough time to run upstairs to the Sky Lounge for the get together, where we met some of the people we have been chatting with for the last few months and who we will be taking a tour or having dinner with.

After that, back to the cabin for some rest and relax, I got my iPod and reading materials and satoutside on the deck for a few hours until it was time to eat again, up to the ocean view cafe for lunch and some of my favorite ice cream, the After Eight mint.

It's a favorite! Then back to the room for a shower and get cleaned up for dinner and a show!

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First Night out

I don't have any photos from our first evening on the ship, dinner or anything else, so you'll just have to read my words instead.

Anyway, we had our sailaway out the channel, and then hauled out into the Atlantic Ocean. I'm not sure if it's the fact our cabin is all the way aft, or if we were just crossing the current but MAN there was some rocking and rolling going on! Really, we were turning and the whole ship was listing while we made the turn - not enough so that anything moved, but you had to stand a bit crooked!

We unpacked, and then decided to check out Luminae, the suites dining room. This is a new addition to the ships and I am a BIG FAN. They carved off a portion of the main dining room, and redid the interior. It's quite nice looking, and much quieter than any dining room I've been in. Almost like a specialty restaurant. I'll get some photos maybe tonight, since it's "Evening Chic" night.....this is the replacement night of formal night - so I'm sure it will be interesting. Back to Luminae - we had a great meal, they have a separate menu but will bring you anything from the main dining room as well. So I had my favorite, French onion soup, a tomato and burrata salad and beef filet. And a chocolate ganache/mandarin orange tart with a hazelnut crust. Now that was GOOD!!!

The show for the evening was a comedian and we missed it, but the people watching was spectacular from the Martini bar.....I've never seen so many loud, drunk people this early in the cruise!! There's a group of motorcycle riders onboard (they bring the bikes with them on the cruise to ride in the islands) and I think this was some of them (based upon the motorcycle tee shirts they were wearing). They were having a really good time, and as the night went on, more and more ship crew in fancy jackets kept showing up (security, looked like some head bartenders etc) to keep an eye on things. Nothing happened before we left to go back up to our room - so I am sorry I don't know the ending of that one.

And with the magic of Photoshop, I am still in the picture I post....!

 

 

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Sail away

Here's another shot of us leaving Miami! Chris has informed me he's tired of having to take all the photos and is threatening to buy me a selfie stick.

And inside the library

And the very civilized muster drill, in the Tuscan Grille no less.

 

 

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Miami, the next day

Well, no pictures of the marathon, we chose to sleep in. About 730 am we could hear the "whoop whoop" of people cheering the runners on, so I turned on the AC fan and went back to sleep. We had gotten late check out, so we had the room until 1pm. So we repacked the bags and here's a funny picture from last night. That's my kind of mini bar!

When we went out to go downstairs, the elevator was broken. :( So we hoofed it down 4 flights of stairs and had the maid call the bellman to help. Checked out and ordered our next Uber for the ride to the port. Between leaving the hotel room and getting in our room on the ship it was about 45 minutes! Easiest process ever. Here's some room shots.

 

 

 

 

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