GenerationX

Well, guys, thus ends another another cruise…and thus starts another cruise! We just finished our back to back process which was a little different this time. After clearing customs and getting our new seapass cards, when we scanned back onto the ship, security asked me for my passport and then took a new security photo (neither of which happened last swap). The sunset bar is still setting up, but when Ryan saw me hanging out and taking in the morning breeze, he brought me over an Evian and a cup of ice without me even asking. It’s going to be hard to leave this Celebrity service after this cruise. It’s the last hour or so of calm before a sold out cruise, 3600 passenger, storm hits. While I’m hanging out waiting for sangria service to start, a report on the rest of the day yesterday: After my morning in Al Bacio, I headed up to the sunset bar to have cocktails and hang out with CC friends from my equinox cruise last year who just happen to also be spending the next few cruises on Reflection to celebrate their 42nd wedding anniversary! Then I headed to lunch at the Porch. It was a steamy day and with the restaurant being open air, I almost canceled. I’m so glad I didn’t because I ate some really good food. I started with a refreshing and flavorful red snapper ceviche. I think it’s a little weird that it isn’t served with any chips, but I got plenty of carbs snacking on that cheese garlic bread they serve at the porch anyway. For my main, I decided to try out the chicken wings. I’ve always skipped right over these on the porch menu because there’s so many good seafood dishes there. The wings definitely hold their own though! I got mine with the Asian sesame sauce and it was delicious. The chicken was so juicy and tender and I love that they made the wings into little lollipops you can eat without getting your hands completely messy and sticky. I of course wrapped up with my go to dessert of the vanilla and Oreo cheesecake puree. After lunch I hit the pool very briefly then headed to the air conditioning of my room where I found that Kati and I’s monogrammed pajamas had been delivered. The shoreside concierge emailed in advance to get our sizes and monogramming instructions and everything was as requested. After a few work projects and an afternoon nap, I got myself ready and went for another glass of Freemark at Cellar Masters, followed by a peaches and bourbon date with Sergia in Michael’s club, then it was off to Tuscan Grill dinner #3. I think this was my best one yet in terms of both the food and the service. I started by trying something new and having the minestrone soup and really liked it. Most Italian places in St. Louis put ditalini pasta in their minestrone, but I didn’t miss it at all. For my main course, I went to old favorites the ribeye steak and half order of spaghetti and meatballs side and I was very happy with both. For dessert, I ordered the fig gelato and my server Jason asked if I’d ever tried it combined with a scoop of vanilla gelato. I hadn’t, and it rocked my world. The flavors dance together perfectly. From now on I’m ordering one scoop fig gelato and one scoop vanilla. On my way back to finish the night with one last veranda bubble bath I found a little cruising buddy to take home to GenZ and hide on our Beyond cruise next month. I’ll be hanging up here with some sangria for a bit then will stop my my new more meager accommodations before one last embarkation lunch in Luminae.

This reminds me of the time Jeremy and I were in port in St. Maarten on a cruise and he convinced me to take a “sightseeing” walk down the nude beach area. He was very disappointed in the scenery.

Last night after I finished dressing for a pride party, I decided to hang in the room for my cocktail hour and make something from my bar while I watched the gorgeous sunset. When I got to Murano I had the same excellent server Yessica and sommelier Ronald. I started out drinking the rest of my Brunello from Tuscan the night before. When that ran out just before the main course, Ronald told me since I’d been purchasing so many bottles, if I was interested, he had a special bottle he thought I’d really enjoy that he could offer an additional discount on. He wasn’t lying about it being special. A 2017 Grand cru. It was the best wine I’ve had since Jeremy and I got back from Italy and I think it may be one of the best I’ve ever had period. For dinner I went with old favorites for appetizers, the lobster bisque and goat cheese soufle. For my main I went off my beaten path and tried the duck and it was another successful try something new experiment. The wine pairing put it over the top. For dessert I tried the gelato assortment which was good (especially the pistachio flavor) but was no gran marnier soufflé. After a double shot of espresso to refuel, I headed up to the pool deck pride party. There ain’t no party like a Luigi deck party. It didn’t look like quite as big a crowd as the party on the 3 night before this one (not surprising) but the music was great and the dance floor stayed live until the party moved to the sky lounge, which I also ended up shutting down at 2am (again not surprising). I think it’s time for me to take what’s becoming my habitual pre-dinner nap. Then I’ll shower and dress and do a little bit of packing in anticipation of turnover day tomorrow. Yes friends, I got the email this morning that my moveup bid to stay in this palace was unsuccessful. So tomorrow I will be cast down to spend the next cruise sailing in a lowly celebrity suite. I know I have all of your sympathies over the burden I must bear.

The weather in Bimini today is much better than it was last cruise, but I’m far too relaxed and still recovering from Luigi’s pride party last night to even consider going ashore. I finally pulled myself out of bed about an hour before I was due for an appointment in the spa. Since I was so late getting myself together, I started the day with a quick bite, latte and a Bellini at the elite captains club breakfast. I just finished having a fantastic facial in the spa and was planning to have some tea at Al Bacio and write while looking at the ocean. Only problem is right now thanks to a crew safety drill, my ocean view is partially obstructed. Like 90% Hey if that’s my biggest problem today, I’m a lucky woman. Anyway, while I’m sipping, taking you back in time to yesterday afternoon. After my morning poolside being fed mimosas by the pool servers, I headed up to Lawn Club for my burger lunch. I’m not sure if it was just because I was a bit mimosa tipsy, but the whole service experience was a little odd. When I arrived there were only 2 other tables in the restaurant occupied, one of which was the captain (Captain George this cruise, not Captain Kirk) and another officer who were wrapping up their meal. A server took my drink order and asked if I was ready to order my burger as well. I ordered the ***** burger medium well with herb Parmesan chips on the side. Normally at that point I’d be invited to go partake of the salad bar, but my server didn’t say anything about it. After a few minutes I made another executive decision and just went ahead and got up and went over and made one. I think I’d had about 10 bites of my salad before my burger appeared at the table, but with plain chips instead of the herb Parmesan. Oh well. I got about halfway through my massive and delicious burger I decided I should probably slow down if I might want a warm chocolate chip cookie dessert. It was then that I looked up and realized that shortly after the captain left, and the staff finished delivering some lunches and fruit to the cabana rentals on the lawn, the restaurant had become a ghost town. As in salad bar struck and cleared. Grills off. No staff anywhere. I waited about another 10 minutes for my server (or any server) to return, then just got up and left (saying goodbye and thank you as I did so to a lone sous chef who had appeared to start setting up things for dinner service). I guess dessert isn’t a thing at lunch at Lawn Club anymore? Again, this was a free lunch and my burger was good, so I went away satisfied. But if I’d paid (I think it’s like $35?), I’d have been disappointed at getting just a burger (even a good one) and a salad at that price. After lunch I went back to the pool to read for a bit and then changed and went to tea time in Michael’s club. Unlike E class and the refurbished M class ships where I’ve been in retreat, it looks like on Reflection instead of a buffet set up, you order your tea snacks off a menu and they’re served to you to order by one of the butlers. Speaking of Michael’s club, I think I’ll pop by there now and see if there’s any good little snacks out to tide me over till my Porch lunch reservation. Then maybe head up to Sunset Bar and try Sergia’s Mai tai. Then I’ll fill you all in on last night.

So about last night: Before dinner I had an elderflower fizz in Ensemble Lounge listening to our solo guitarist Veronica. Not only does she have a beautiful voice, between songs she shared cool facts about the songs and artists she was playing. For example, I had no idea Joni Mitchell had polio as a child and suffered permanent damage to her arm, and it’s part of why her songs were written and played with such a unique sound. For dinner I was back at Tuscan Grille and had another great service team. Jason warned me that the kitchen was running behind and checked in and apologized repeatedly when courses were slow to come out. The sommelier Edgar remembered me (and my super Tuscan order) from cruise 1 as well. I decided to blow some more cruise 2 OBC on another bottle of Italian wine. Since I got more credit with the signature suite I was going to splurge on an Amarone, but Edgar said NONE of the ones on the list were stocked this cruise. I guess short cruise people aren’t big wine enthusiasts because he also mentioned that other than the captains club tasting, there haven’t really been any tasting events on these cruises). I switched gears towards a Brunello and went with the one Edgar recommended and was not disappointed. For dinner I started with Caesar salad, then had a pasta course of lobster rigatoni, both of which are regular picks of mine at Tuscan. The lobster rigatoni has had more lobster than it did in February. For my main, I figured I’d continue the trend from Murano and be adventurous and try something I’ve never had. Unlike Murano, this time the experiment was not successful. I tried the veal Marsala and it was a let down. The veal hadn’t been pounded out evenly so the super thin side was overcooked and dry and the thick end was almost raw in the center. It also wasn’t at all tender like veal should be. The Marsala sauce was also way over salted. Fortunately I’d had plenty to eat with my salad and rigatoni as well as my garlic mashed potato and spinach side dishes (both good) and hey it was a free meal so no loss. After dinner I went to the casino for a bit where the slots weren’t as loose for me as last time but not the worst I’ve seen either. I called it a night down $60 from where I started and headed up for the night. I was on track to get some extra sleep as planned then the weirdest thing happened. I got back to my room about 11:30 I think. I put out my deep sleep sign, changed, did my bedtime facial routine, took my vitamins and turned off the lights. Just as I was falling asleep I heard the phone ringing. By the time I got my wits together and got to the phone it was just in time for the last ring to stop and to see on the caller id it was a call from “private bar attendant”. It was 12:20am. Can any more experienced upper suite cruisers solve this mystery for me? I don’t even know what a private bar attendant is. I thought either my butler or my stateroom attendant handled restocking my bar (it was neither of their extensions)? And why would they be calling to want to do/talk about something after midnight? I’d been gone from the room for over 4 hours (and Darwin saw me leave) if something needed to be restocked that urgently and they didn’t leave a message which also makes me think it wasn’t critical enough for a late night call. After that, it took me about another hour to get myself back to sleep, so I think I’ll need to power nap again this afternoon to make sure I’m fueled up for the late night deck party tonight.

Checking in from the crowded pool deck on Reflection. It’s another gorgeous morning at sea today. I settled in here after Luminae breakfast about 9:45 and I didn’t have any trouble finding a lounger but they definitely filled up quickly. There’s also been some chair hogish behavior going on. About an hour and a half ago I saw a lady come up with an armload of towels and place them folded on the entire row of chairs in front of me, presumably to “reserve” them (ope! not how that works!). Since then, 2 older couples have settled themselves into two of the “reserved” chairs. I’m looking forward to sipping my mimosa and watching how things shake out if/when the party of 5 eventually shows up expecting their reserved group seating. There’s been plenty of activities going on including a pool aerobics class and one of my favorite activities of any cruise where he’s the CD, Luigi’s poolside dance class (unfortunately I was still too full of potato waffle to participate today). Drink servers seem to abound and there are also drink push carts going around. It looks like they’re also in the process of setting up an extra bar up by the stage to help take the pressure off the pool bar. I’m also pleased to report that we did NOT have to go line up to request our towels today, so perhaps that really was just a plan to make sure people didn’t take them to port. A quick pro tip for the newbie cruisers following: if you’re going to be walking around the pool deck on a sunny day, ALWAYS wear shoes at all times when not in the pool. The deck gets incredibly hot extremely fast. I’ve watched so many people burning the daylights out of their feet. Around 10 am servers also came around and passed out these nice little cups of espresso ice cream to give a cool off and pick me up. I really hope they didn’t also give them to all these kids running around or I’m gonna have to go hide in my room again when that kicks in. Speaking of kids, it seems like there are definitely still many more than you’d see on a February 7 night Caribbean, but also many less than on the 3 night before this one. For the most part they have been well behaved from what I’ve seen. One downside though that I’ve discovered about my signature suite in particular (4111) is that it’s the first one in the row closest to the elevators and 1 deck above me is the X club for the 13 and up teens. I can’t hear any noise inside the cabin, but when the club closes for the night, the teens often hang out just outside on the deck for a while before dispersing and I can hear it ALLLL on my veranda when trying to enjoy the peace of the late night at sea. I know WAY to much about all the teen drama on this ship and in their home lives. I found myself googling up British all girls boarding school options with a solid equestrian program to ship GenZ off to for 7th through 12th. I’m also thinking she will NEVER be permitted to just disappear for hours with a group of teens to roam the ship in the evening based on what I’ve overheard is going on in some of the staterooms when the teens know their parents are busy in the casino, martini bar, etc. I know, I know, I gotta let go sometime and just trust I’ve raised her to make better choices than that. I’ve got a few more years to work on it. 😂 I’m gonna take one more dip then watch the pool volleyball tournament. I sent Vishal a WhatsApp message last night and he arranged a lunch at lawn club for me today at 1pm. I think someone also asked about the onboard booking offer so sharing that info as well. Still to come: reports on last night and the long overdue report on last night of cruise 1.

I hope jury duty goes well! That is hilarious! In case anyone asks, it’s definitely not me spending the rest of the cruise using those complementary binoculars in the closet to occasionally check out the goings on in the glass shower (and perhaps under influence of my complimentary grey goose shouting into the wind “Abner! Abner! Come look at what the neighbors are doing!”) 😂😂😂

Interesting, are we sure we have the same Vishal? My understanding is that in India, Vishal is sort of like “John” is in the US. Just on the ship right now I have Vishal my butler, Vishal my Luminae waiter and Vishal the bartender in Ensemble who makes a really good elderflower fizz. I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s more than one butler with that name, especially with sailings a couple months apart. I’ve only done 2 celebrity suite sailings but I’d agree with you that the butler service I received in both was more on par with what I get in sky suites. Just me personally but given the big difference in perks, I always presumed the upcharge you pay from sky suite to celebrity suite is pretty much just a surcharge for the extra room and veranda square footage and didn’t really see it as me paying for, and thus didn’t expect, a bump up in service. I’ve also assumed that the butlers assigned to true upper suites are the more experienced ones and get assigned a lower number of suites to serve since upper suites would likely have more service needs (with free specialty dining and laundry being included unlike Celebrity and lower, there’d be more laundry, reservation management, etc.), so they’re more likely to have the skill and, more importantly, the extra time to go above and beyond. I wouldn’t be surprised though if with Celebrity still ramping the butler program back up to full pre-butler team strength, and the cutbacks generally, even time to do extras for upper suites is getting hard to come by. You make a good point though that even in sky suites, butler service level can be all over the board. I’ve had everything from a butler who struggled to return my calls and whom I think I only saw twice during the cruise to a handful of butlers who went so far above and beyond that I still remember them in detail off the top of my head years later (shout out to Glenn, Ricky, Elaine and Anastasiia!). In fact, the only time in all my retreat cruises of all levels that I had a butler offer to help with unpacking was in a sky suite. I declined though because it just felt weird to have someone else doing that for me. It will be interesting to see what butler service is like in comparison in my celebrity suite for cruise 3. And what it’s like in our sky suite on Beyond next month.

It was definitely much more chill and less crowded than the tourist bars. The patio was nice and the food menu looked really good too. Storm season-willing, Kati and I are talking about doing a land trip to Key West this fall with one of our other girlfriends since she had to miss this stop. I’m putting it on our list of places to hit for dinner. If you have any other recommendations for great more local vibe eats around the island, please let me know!

Yes that’s the one. Thanks!

Oopsie! Apparently I napped right through the 7pm show. Oh well, it turns out it’s the same one I saw with the ladies last night of cruise 1 (I know I’m still report delinquent). Sharing tonight’s chic night look! I’m off to ensemble for a cocktail before dinner in Tuscan Grille. Then planning to hit the casino with some of the OBC for this cruise. I’m planning to try and make it an earlier night tonight so that I can save my energy for tomorrow night’s pride party, so I’ll get some catch up writing done before bed. Happy chic night!

I’ve had such a good day in Key West so far! First order of business when I got off the ship was shopping. My mother has a birthday coming up and loves Key West Aloe products so I stopped there to get her a gift set, then got a new Hawaiian shirt for Jeremy to add to his collection and some key lime cookies for Gen Z. I also went by the conch train depot to stock up on the Key West Island Grill spice mix that Jeremy and I love to use for our burger and steak grilling in the summer. I didn’t think it was fair that I got something for everyone but myself. So when an earring and necklace set caught my eye in a shop window, I stopped in and treated myself too. Once the list was out of the way, I bought myself some key lime gelato to cool off and ate it while walking around the Key West sculpture garden where the only other visitors were some of the native wildlife. Fellow history enthusiasts, don’t miss this stop in Key West! The stories under the sculptures were fascinating. Being from St. Louis, in school I was taught all about our famous native Tennessee Williams, but I had no idea that he finished writing A Streetcar Named Desire in Key West, that he considered it the place he wrote best, or that he was a leader in the LGBT movement on the island. And then there was this fascinating gentleman, Sandy Cornish. He was a slave who managed to buy his own freedom, but then lost his emancipation papers in a fire, so he physically maimed himself severely on purpose to ensure that he was too disabled to have any value as a slave. Then went on to be come a very successful farmer and one of the richest men in Key West. 🤯 After the garden, I went and had a rum punch at Willie T.’s the bar that inspired Kenny Chesney’s song “Bar at the End of the World”. Be sure to bring a dollar with you when you go to put your name on and pin on the wall. I got there towards the end of a live music set but I couldn’t stay too long anyway because I had to get back to the ship for my lunch reservation at the Porch. I did though also make time on my way back to the ship to stop by the brewery housed in the birthplace of PanAm. Said lunch was a perfect way to wrap up my port day. The pil-pil shrimp was as creamy and garlicky as ever. The lobster roll was much improved from the last time I had it with lots more big chunks of lobster meat. That vanilla cheesecake and Oreo purée still stands as one of my favorite desserts. I’ve had meals at the Porch that really dragged on, but this time I was in and out in less than an hour and ready to change clothes and hit the pool. When I got to the pool though, I unfortunately found it to be starting to get packed and loud already. The solarium was also looking tough to find a chair. I started to long desperately for the option of the less slammed suites only pool on E-class and in yacht club on MSC. Then I remembered that for this cruise at least I could make my own quiet pool! And with a stocked bar to boot! Obviously I won’t be practicing my back stroke or swan dives, but it’ll do in a sensory downtime pinch. The bartender also seems a bit limp wristed with the grey goose, but at least she’s not expecting a tip. I’m going to hang on my VERY exclusive Retreat pool deck a little longer then take a nap before it’s time to get ready for dinner and a show.

Good morning from the Florida Keys! Vishal has just set me up with a nice veranda room service breakfast in PROPER Retreat fashion. Such a massive improvement from my last Retreat room service breakfast (on Beyond in October during the removal of dedicated butlers from sky suites) where we got essentially a hospital tray in a drop and run delivery with half our order missing. Now THIS is worth paying Retreat prices for. Of course, this is upper suite butler service though. It will be interesting to see where we land on the quality spectrum when Gen Z and I sail on Beyond in a sky suite next month. When Vishal made his delivery I was so hungry and fixated on the beautiful spread he was setting out, I didn’t even realize that I had greeted him at the door looking like a Target mom version of “The Dude” Lebowski. 🤦🏾‍♀️😂 It’s a wonder I managed to wake up hungry after my Murano dinner last night. I had 2 of the hit dishes from our first cruise again: the diver scallop and risotto. Then for my main I decided to be adventurous and try a dish I’ve never done before: the turbot. I have been SLEEPING on that fish. It was nice and light, juicy and flavorful with a perfect crispy skin and the presentation made it almost too pretty to eat. I ate it all though as soon as I finished taking pics of it for my Insta post. For dessert I went back to an old favorite the gran marnier soufflé and it was as good as always. I washed it all down with the rest of a bottle of super Tuscan Kati and I got in Tuscan Grille the night before (I know, I still owe a report). After dinner, I spent a little time watching braver and more talented souls than me rock out live band karaoke in the busy (but well behaved) sky lounge then retired to my veranda tub with a glass of wine to star gaze before bed. I’m going to put out a work fire real quick then head into key west to do some shopping and hopping. Then I’ll head back to the ship for a late lunch at the porch. If this gorgeous weather holds up I may spend the rest of the afternoon at the (hopefully quieter) pool before it’s time to get ready for chic night. Have a great Tuesday everyone!

Yes, as much as I love the martini bar, for me it’s been a rare occurrence that they make a really good cosmo or even just a dry gin martini with a twist. I think they train really hard on the martinis that are on the bar’s menu and while they’re certainly competent at others, it’s not where they shine. Ensemble on the other hand, I usually find can deliver very well on most of the good staple lounge cocktails (cosmo, manhattan, old fashioned, gimlets, etc.). It seems like the strongest bartenders from the sunset and pool bar staff get assigned there for their evening shifts.

A very good evening from the Ensemble Lounge! Since this is now a solo cruise, I’m on my solo cruise routines. Starting with a nice tart cosmo and live music before dinner. After a nice Sushi on 5 embarkation lunch this afternoon I celebrated sailaway with some time lounging on my mega veranda with a glass of veuve then unpacked my suitcases and took a little nap. When I dozed off I was feeling a little sad about not having my BFF with me. Then when I woke up I looked out the window and saw a beautiful double rainbow! It was a great reminder to me to find the bright side and beautiful even when it’s not exactly smooth sailing like I planned. The ship atmosphere for this 4 night cruise already seems more chill than the last one. The music on the ship is closer to normal Celebrity volume level and there’s more chill playlists vs. the floating night club I boarded last cruise. At lunch there was a live piano and vocalist in the grand foyer doing Carole King, and Elton John instead of the DJ blasting a Pitbull and Daddy Yankee mega mix. If this does turn out to be more of a typical Celebrity vibe, it’s going to be tough to go back to that 3 night atmosphere for my last leg. I’m thinking it’s also going to be tough to take the step down to a celebrity suite. I have an aggressive move up bid in to move up to signature again for cruise 3, but I think the cruise is sold out so I’m not expecting it to go through. Shortly after I came back to my stateroom after lunch, my butler Vishal arrived to introduce himself and ask about any initial requests I may have. This room comes with complimentary laundry so I let him know I’ll be setting a bag out this evening. He said he’d make sure they get it back to me by end of day tomorrow. He also took down my specialty lunch reservation request for the porch tomorrow after I finish shopping and sightseeing in Key West. Just after Vishal left, my stateroom attendant arrived and I was so happy to see that it was Darwin, Gen Z and I’s wonderful stateroom attendant from our Solstice spring break pacific coast cruise last year! I think he was a little disappointed when he found out Mini Me isn’t with me this cruise…I’m constantly upstaged. 😂 After I finish listening to Sam and Meg’s acoustic duo set (they’re great btw, if you’ll be onboard soon check them out), I’ll head to my traditional first night of S class cruise dinner at Murano (yes I’m aware this is night 4 at sea for me but I have a new seapass card so still counts).

Well, long story short, in the end I didn’t, and they made it to my room hanging just fine. I asked the retreat concierge about whether I needed to pack hanging clothes and he said “your butler will let you know how to handle everything”. I hope it doesn’t make me elitist, but I made the executive decision that since I’d spent a not small amount purchasing 3 suite cruises in a row and was moving to an upper suite, it would be absurd for me to be expected to fold all those clothes and then hang them again myself. The least Celebrity could do would be take 10 seconds to put them on a rack that’s already on the cart moving my suitcases. So I just left a note on my suitcases in the stateroom (right behind the table with our thank you notes and extra cash tips for our butler and stateroom attendants) noting that there were hanging items in the closet to be moved as well. Fortunately no one came on the ship PA and told me I needed to go back to my suite and finish packing. 😂

I know the only thing consistent with Celebrity is inconsistency, but for what it’s worth, I’ve just checked into my upper level suite for cruise #2 and can report that my veranda has 2 loungers (albeit the newer kind from E class where the chair and footstool portion are separate). Please come back to the board and share what you think of Regent as a regular top suite celebrity cruiser. Some Retreat regular friends of ours are currently on day 1 or 2 I think of their first Regent cruise. I’m very interested to see if I’ll ever see them on Celebrity again afterwards.

Well friends, the back to back process is complete! Start to finish it took about 40 minutes. It probably would have been 20 minutes shorter, but two guests realized after we already got back into the terminal that they’d left their passports in their safe and we had to wait for security to go retrieve them and bring them to the terminal. On the way off the ship, I saw a guy in full scuba gear getting in the water to go do some inspections of Reflection’s hull. What a way to make a living! You could not pay me enough. As we went through facial recognition, there was a line of crew members in street clothes with their luggage and passports waiting to be processed after us. They all had big exhausted smiles on their faces. The looks of finishing 9 long months of nonstop hard work and finally getting to go home and see family. When I got back onboard, Luigi was on the PA system talking to the crew and thanking them for all their hard work and positive attitudes for the “absolutely wild” guests the past 3 nights. It sounds like this next cruise starting is sold out, so it’ll be another crowded ship. When I got back on it was only about 9:30, but I figured I’d go check and see if maybe my new suite would at least be in a state where I could go put my passport and valuables in the safe. When I got there I was pleasantly surprised to find it completely ready with a bottle of welcome veuve chilling and all of my things from our previous suite already delivered. My complimentary liquor bottle and mini fridge stocking requests submitted with the shoreside concierge a couple of weeks ago were also ready and waiting. When poor Kati sees this suite she missed staying in, she is going to cry. This place makes our sky suite look like staying in the cupboard under the stairs. The signatures are on a private hallway with the reflection suite that is only accessible via key card. I think there’s enough closet and drawer space for like 6 people. I can’t wait to soak in my first bubble bath on my veranda with a glass of wine. I’m hanging out with Ryan as his only customer at the sunset bar at 10:50 (wild!) enjoying a summer thyme sangria. I think once I finish I’ll figure out what I’ll be doing for lunch. The Luminae lunch menu is the same as first day of last cruise and since I have free specialty dining, I may see if the porch or sushi on 5 are open instead. Later today I’ll report back on the last night of cruise #1. Looking forward to taking everyone on cruise #2!

Checking in from Michael’s Club sipping my tea while luggage tag numbers are being called. Unfortunately, it turns out I’m sitting here solo. Kati found out yesterday afternoon that she had a work emergency come up, so she had to change her flight and will be heading back home to Missouri tonight with Tesla and Liz. 😭 I just finished giving them all hugs and waving goodbye as our concierge Sini escorted them all out past the general disembarkation line. The retreat disembark instructions in our stateroom (pic for anyone interested) said that consecutive cruises should meet here at 9:30 to go through the b2b customs process. So while I’ve got about an hour to kill, let me continue with catching up on posts. Let’s go back to our post-Coco Cay exploits on Saturday. After everyone got cleaned up for dinner, we all met at Cellar Masters for happy hour. Kati and Tesla were running behind getting ready, so Liz and I took the liberty of going ahead and ordering a bottle for us all to share. Our sommelier then introduced us to a very nice Cellar Masters wine hack: The bottle that we wanted was listed on the menu as $125 a bottle (which would have been a $100 price after premium beverage package bottle discount). However, it was also sold by the glass for $25 a glass. With the premium beverage package, it would be $8 a glass (the upcharge above the $17 a glass included in the package). Since all 4 of us had the premium package, the somm said he could just charge us for 5 glasses of the wine and give us the bottle. This made the price we paid for the bottle only $40 (5 glasses x $8 each)! Liz and I did our first toast to the $60 savings. My friends all loved the ambiance and were a little sad when I told them that I think Reflection is the last ship in the Celebrity fleet that still has this venue. For dinner, Tesla and Liz decided to go to the buffet and I introduced Kati to my favorite post-beach day cruise dining: Lawn Club Grill. We brought along the rest of our bottle from Cellar Masters to go along with our steaks, sausage and pepper pizza, shrimp and scallop skewer and lamb chops. We both agreed that the only disappointments in the meal were the sides. My lobster mac n cheese was pretty light on the lobster meat and the sauce was runny. Kati said her creamed corn was ok but nothing special. For dessert we split the warm chocolate chip cookie and the cheesecake with raspberry sauce. Both plates were completely emptied! After dinner, we reconvened with Tesla and Liz and headed to the casino. Zoe the casino bartender remembered us from our brief stop there on night one and made us some fun cocktails. I was going simple so she turned my vodka tonic into a palm tree. My luck continued from lunch and I hit another minor bonus for $200 on a 75 cent double link rainforest game and another machine, that was also kind to me on this ship in February, kept making it rain free spins and bonus awards. By midnight, I was up another $800! Tesla also had luck and made about $700 on a Buffalo machine. About midnight, I cashed out my voucher and took the money down to guest services and put it on our room account to take care of gratuities and the bottles of wine and champagne we’d been indulging in at Murano the night before. Our concierges just came through and said we’ll be ready to start the b2b process in just a few minutes. So more to come soon from what turns out to be a solo cruise #2 of 3.

Yes! I’ll start taking pics this next cruise but the Michael’s club snacks even outside of tea time have been on point. Every time I go in, different tasty looking towers of sandwiches and pastries. The notable exception is this morning. Today there’s only one little tray of basic croissants and one of danish. But maybe they don’t want to encourage people to linger and stuff themselves on turnover day? I seem to remember having the full yummy spread on disembark day on Summit though too.

Quick early morning update from the sail into Port Everglades. For the folks joining me to sail on Reflection today, your ship is comin in! Can’t wait to meet you!

Quick question for those following who have ever done back to back cruises, especially in suites, where you changed cabins between cruises. Did you have to pack your clothes that were hanging in the closet? From what I’d read pre-cruise, I thought that I’d only need to pack my things that were in the drawers and bathroom, but the butler would handle moving hanging clothes in the closet. Our butler has asked that we re-pack hanging clothes to move. I guess if we have to not the biggest thing in the world, but I have a few nice dresses that I had pressed that are hanging and if I don’t have to, I’d rather not risk them getting all wrinkled again. Just figured it was worth checking in case maybe our butler is mistaken (or, if this is a new change in process for b2b, I can report accurately).

I agree! I just realized it’s also visible in my message history in the screenshot I posted 🤦🏾‍♀️ but our favorite land resort chain has been using WhatsApp for years for butler suite level guests so that we could communicate request with the butler without having to find a phone or go in search of him/her.

Taking a step back in time to report on our day yesterday… As Kati and I were having our breakfast in Luminae, I did a quick scan of my work inbox and saw that there was an urgent project that I would have to attend to before I could go to Coco Cay. (Stinks, but I always try to remember, the job is funding my cruises.) The project ended up taking so long, I unfortunately didn’t get a chance to join the ladies at Hideaway Beach. The good part about being with 3 other people was that I can still report on their experience! Hideaway beach is an adults only area of the island that had a $59 charge when prepurchased through the cruise planner. We were a little worried because we didn’t get excursion tickets in our stateroom like we usually do for booked excursions, but when the ladies got to the entrance, the attendant just scanned their seapass cards and it showed that they had already paid for passes. Apparently, the pool and swim up bar area was packed madness, with people standing almost shoulder to shoulder in the water and the music was extremely loud and base heavy. They compared it to an episode of MTV spring break circa 1996. The swimming beach area, on the other hand, they said was not crowded at all and much more peaceful, other than the occasional shrill sound of a lifeguard’s whistle blowing at people trying to climb on the sea wall. Speaking of which, if you’re a true ocean swimming person, fyi, the beach swimming area at hideaway beach is more of a cove/inlet, blocked off from the rest of the Caribbean by said rock wall in order to keep sargassum flows, sharks, etc. out. Kati still enjoyed the calm water, but Tesla was a little disappointed that it was more like lake than real ocean swimming. They said it wasn’t hard to get drinks (premium beverage package works on coco cay as well btw) and the included food options weren’t bad, but it was an adjustment going back to lunching on basic pizza, burgers and carnivalesque snacks from what they’d been eating on the ship. (Oh how quickly they’ve become accustomed to the culinary good life.) While the ladies were coco caying, after I finished work, I decided to spend a little time in the casino (which stayed open in port) with a cocktail then take myself to lunch at sushi on 5. Finding said cocktail proved harder than I thought. The only bar on the whole ship that was open was the pool bar. I guess they REALLY wanted us off the ship drinking on coco cay. Luckily I had the 24 hour grab and go beer cases in Michael’s Club and stopped by and got myself a corona to sip while I played. I found myself a hot machine and managed to get myself up about $300 in an hour playing thanks to hitting a minor jackpot. I took the money and ran to some sake, seeweed salad, shrimp tempura roll and my favorite dish in all of Celebrity Cruises: the pork tonkatsu ramen. Kati and I are currently chilling on an extremely crowded pool deck sipping on delicious Frose’ frozen cocktails (rose wine, Tito’s and peach purée). Another new to me thing I’ve never seen on Celebrity: instead of towels being well stocked in the bins around the pool, you have to go to a little stand and ask for one. They don’t scan your seapass card or anything, just hand it to you. I REALLY hope this is just a short summer cruise thing and not a way to start socially acclimating us to move to having to check out pool towels like I hear is a thing on some other lines. I don’t know why but something about that just strikes me as nickel and dime and kinda tacky. More to come later after our next round of Frose’ all day!

Good morning from a cool, windy, grey day in Bimini. It honestly feels more like I’m in Seattle. I know, I know I have ghosted you guys for an entire day. The good news is with the temperature barely at 77 degrees, rain and no sun to be found, this is a perfect day to skip the beach resort and stay onboard. So I’ll have plenty of time for catch up writing. Despite the weather, Liz and Tesla’s stingray swim excursion is still going forward (just pushed back 2 hours). The storm and rain sounds, plus a late night in the casino made it very easy for Kati and I to stay in bed till 9:30 this morning, so we had a very light late breakfast at Al Bacio. Because of the weather, cruise director Luigi came on the PA and told everyone to refresh the app schedule as several additional activities are being added for the large number of guests staying onboard (btw, when I realized that’s who our CD was, it made total sense why the full moon party was so lit. He and cruise director Dave consistently manage to throw the BEST parties). When we went to Michael’s Club to talk to the concierge, he told us they’ve also decided to open Luminae for lunch even though it’s a port day. Kati and I are adding our own sunshine to the grey day with Kadek’s excellent mango daiquiris at the sunset bar then we’re going to head down there to have our first real meal of the day. From what I can see up here, we aren’t missing a ton by not going onto the island. I’m not exaggerating when I say that in the landscape pic below I’ve captured pretty much the entire island of Bimini. It looks like it’s literally just the mega resort, a desalinization plant and several mansions. With maybe a couple of small shopping and restaurant strips. Agenda for the rest of the day: -Lunch in Luminae -Swimming and catch up post writing in the solarium -A wine and snacks sailaway party with Tesla and Liz (BTW I was able to arrange with our butler Gene via WhatsApp message, nice new perk, there was a QR code on his card to scan that took me right to his account! If you’re sailing in retreat soon be sure to download WhatsApp and set up an account for yourself.) -7pm Broadway production show in the theater -Dinner in Tuscan Grill -Packing to prep to change rooms for cruise 2 -Late night adults only comedian show