GenerationX

I’m used to turning up fashionably late to a party but this time I find myself not arriving till it’s already over! Ms. Georgia Peaches thank you so much for this wonderful review!!! I think I sprained my thumb anxious reading through the first few pages of your travel strife! I loved the story of your first night onboard. You’ll get no judgment from me on your memory of the events of the night being blurry. If I’d gone through what you did to barely make it, there’d probably be not a bottle of veuve left on the ship by sunrise. I hope your trip home was much smoother! Your review has me even more excited to board Solstice with my mini me in a few days! I think we’ll try to check out the restaurant in Cabo that you mentioned. Thank you again and I hope you have some great future cruise plans that we can look forward to reading along on!

Final Thoughts on our Apex Cruise: Overall, Jeremy and I had a wonderful trip and made some amazing new memories together. While there were a few misses here and there, for the most part the food, drinks and service all week were very good. In spite of the wifi difficulties that I’ve now had when docked in the area on two different ships and wifi platforms, I think the Virgin Islands are fast becoming my favorite Caribbean ports. Incredible scenery, friendly, welcoming locals and stiff rum cocktails seem to abound. As we were coming down the gangway at the end of the cruise, I asked Jeremy what he thought of his first E-class cruise and he said he thinks he likes it best of all of the Celebrity ships. For me, having sailed on all 3 E-class ships now, I still feel like S-class and E-class are apples and oranges. Each have pros and cons and features the other doesn’t that make me excited to sail on them. I still think Beyond is my favorite of the E- class ships from a ship design and features perspective. However service on Apex was definitely a bit better. To be fair though, I was in Aqua class on Beyond, so it’s not exactly comparing apples to apples (sorry lots of fruit references in this post). I WILL have a chance to check out the service in suite class on Beyond very soon though, which brings me to future cruise plans. Disclaimer: In the next few months, you guys may get tired of the sound of my voice. It’s a good thing that I finally finished the last of my unpacking and post-cruise laundry over the weekend, because in just 4 days, Gen Z and I will be flying to LA to spend her spring break on a 7 night Cabo cruise on Solstice! After that, I was supposed to be staying on land till mid-summer, but as mentioned earlier, I grabbed a too good to pass up deal on a solo sky suite sailing on Beyond at the beginning of April. Next up, in early July, I’ll be switching lines (and CC boards for review posting) as Gen Z and I sail for 7 nights in the Yacht Club on MSC Seascape. Once we return, the rest of summer and early fall will be spent saving up spending money and practicing my Italian in preparation for Jeremy and I’s big bucket list trip to spend 10 nights exploring the Mediterranean on Beyond. As always thank you to everyone who followed along and who shared their own tips and info. I have a couple of busy days left at the office but then for anyone interested keep an eye out for the start of a live review of Pacific coast sailing on Solstice!

Oh you can definitely order as many desserts as you like! We were just getting full by the time we got to dessert and had agreed to just split one dessert so as not to waste food. Since it was his first time at Eden, I gave Jeremy the honor of choosing.

Hmmm, I know we were docked right next to the US district court building (sorry these are the types of landmarks I notice). I’m pretty sure the bar was still within the port area. It was only about a 5 minute walk from where the catamaran dropped us back off next to the ship. Maybe it’s fairly new?

Unfortunately he won’t be joining in April. He decided he wanted to save the vacation time in case we want to spend some extra time before/after October cruise in Rome. As much as I’ll miss him in April, I can’t fault that judgement call one bit!

Yes! Even when sailing in a suite I do try to get a cabana for one sea day on E class if I’ve got the OBC to spend. The main pool deck and retreat deck tend to be really packed on sea days and it can be hard to find a seat, especially in shade if you get there later in the morning, so the cabana gives me a guaranteed shady spot with quick drink service from the cabana butlers. I also know I won’t lose my seat if I head off to a wine tasting or the spa for an hour and want to come back to poolside lounging afterwards. Also, the cabana comes with a complimentary bottle of Veuve, which I usually end up buying at some point in the cruise anyway (and pay not much less for than the cost of the split cabana). This past cruise we just drank the beers included with the cabana and had the butlers bring us cocktails (we had the beverage package so no charge) then we took our champagne bottle back to the room unopened and had it as our bottle with dinner that night.

Just realized that I forgot to get back to you on this, so sorry! I did show this picture to a bartender in Eden and he said that they “sometimes” have this bottle stocked in Eden, Craft Social and/or the Retreat lounge, but I got the impression that it’s not stocked generously or consistently. When I was in a royal suite on Silhouette I remember when the shoreside concierge reached out about the spirits bottles for our room she was quick to warn that supply issues were making spirits availability onboard somewhat random.

Hello CC! After a busy first few days back in reality, coming back to finish my review of our Apex sailing. If my notes are correct, what I had left to share was A Tale of Two Dinners: Eden and Raw on 5. I made our Eden reservation online pre-cruise and again was glad that I did because I heard that for our sailing, by the second day of the cruise Eden was completely booked up. This makes sense to me as on every E-class ship, Eden has consistently been one of my favorite dining experiences of the trip. We started with 2 of my favorite dishes from Eden on Beyond: the Bazaar Bowl and the Risotto. For dinner Jeremy had the lamb and I had the lobster casserole (made with fresh Canadian lobster and a sweet creamy corn puree) that I will never leave an E-class ship without eating at least once. Jeremy wasn’t feeling chocolate for dessert so we split the strawberry delight. It was good, but I really like the chocolate tart with cardamom ice cream so much better. Oh well, to be consumed on my next solo cruise (See? This is why we should also book solo trips, ladies.) Service and timing of courses was perfect. I noticed that while the restaurant was fully booked up, only about half the tables in the room were full. It seems like Eden is a venue where Celebrity is being very mindful of not allowing more guests to be seated than the current kitchen and front of house staffing can accommodate without lowering standards. Now, the latest chapter in my saga to try and get into Raw on 5… I was drinking wine that evening but Jeremy tried two of the cocktails on the menu and only drank a few sips of each. He said they were both way too heavy on the sake. Service was very good and after being seated we were given complimentary edamame which I didn’t receive on Edge or Beyond. I booked this dinner primarily because my husband is a sashimi addict and I really wanted him to try the imperial seafood tower that Red and I loved on Beyond. When it came time for dinner, my teammate completely bailed on me and said he was still a little full from tea time and didn’t think he could manage to help me eat enough of the seafood tower to justify the $90 cost, and asserted that we should get a few smaller things. (And they say marriage is for better or worse. Likely story. Almost a week later and I’m still salty about this. No amount of Effy jewelry buys forgiveness for coming between me and a seafood tower.) We ended up having the chicken gyoza which was pretty good and the calamari which was massively over cooked. Jeremy then got a plate of sashimi which he said was better than he’s had on Sushi on 5 on S and M class and I tried the curry udon soup. Just my personal opinion, a cruise line who makes soups as amazing as the pork ramen and shrimp tempura udon in Sushi on 5 should be embarrassed to be putting out that curry udon thing. I’m not sure how, but it managed to be both spicy and bland at the same time and the pieces of chicken at the ends of each side were like chewing rubber. I quickly decided that I wouldn’t be spending much more time with that soup and ordered a shrimp tempura roll which was really good and kept me from going away hungry. We may have just caught the chef on a bad night, but I don’t know that going forward Raw on 5 will be at the top of my specialty dining must do’s list, unless I want to just grab a quick sushi roll (or that awesome kakiage that they have in Raw on Beyond) for lunch. Now having said that, I have already made my husband sign a contract that I drafted up on the flight back to STL agreeing that when we are on Beyond in October, he will commit to full partnership on the endeavor of tackling the imperial seafood tower. I’ll accept no further regressions. We’re in this together for heaven’s sake. Soon to come, a quick post on final impressions of Apex and future cruise plans.

It was a bottle of Veuve yellow label that we got complimentary with our cabana rental. I too found the by the glass bubbly offerings a bit disappointing on this cruise. I miss the days when at least a decent Chandon was readily available.

I’m glad to hear I’m not the only one! I used to fly southwest direct to FLL to avoid all this, but since the pandemic they’ve drastically reduced the number of STL to FLL direct flights and jacked the prices so much that flying first class on AA sometimes is not that much more.

It’s crazy to think that a mere 24-hours before we found ourselves on an extended stay in Miami, we were enjoying our last night on Apex. That night before dinner we went to the Rockumentary production show. Jeremy who is a big classic rock fan said it was his favorite entertainment of the week. Whether you’re so young that the only place you’ve heard the artists was Spotify playlists or lucky enough that you actually got to attend some of the concerts honored in the show, the music and dancing are probably going to be entertaining. I bet some of you can even tell from my photos what artists were being performed. For the last performance of the show, passengers could vote in advance in the app (scroll to the very bottom, swipe left till you see the guitar in a circle with “vote” underneath it and click) for which song the cast would close with. For our cruise, We Are The Champions won. After the show we went to one last dinner in Luminae. We started with the tomato soup (one of my Luminae favorites), smoked salmon and pork belly. The pork belly was sadly overdone and a bit dry. Jeremy’s expression while eating the salmon spoke for itself. For dinner I went with another Luminae favorite of mine and got the bucatini and Jeremy and I split a very nice duck breast. Inspired by his stellar filet mignon experience at Fine Cut, Jeremy ordered the filet. He said it was good but the fine cut one was much better. We thought about skipping dessert but we still had a couple of glasses of champagne left in our bottle and Kumar reminded us that tomorrow there would be no dessert service (oh now right he turned out to be). So Jeremy had the poached pear and I had almond cake. We’re about to board our rebooked flight home and hopefully all will go smoothly this time! I know I still have a couple of catch up posts to do and then will go back through to answer any questions I missed and do a final post on our overall thoughts on Apex and future cruise plans.

I think you’re correct that it may vary. We didn’t have the same waiter every time we ate in Luminae but it was the same two who seemed to alternate. We usually had Marlon at breakfast and Kumar at dinner but a couple of times it was switched (Kumar at breakfast and Marlon at dinner). Both gave us great service and took the time to get to know us and our preferences so we didn’t mind.

Guys, I have no words for how our travel evening has gone. Actually I take that back, I have 2 words: travel insurance. Highly recommend. Our flight boarded on time and started to back away from the gate when there was a loud bang and the whole plane jerked hard then came to a complete stop. Turns out there was a mechanical issue with the front landing gear during pushback. After 2 hours of sitting at the gate on the plane during repairs, at 11:15pm, the captain came on and said the flight crew timed out and we were canceled. Everyone is automatically rebooked on a new flight tomorrow at noon. But of course this meant that at close to midnight, a plane full of people needed a place to stay tonight. AA’s compensation offer was, get this, a whopping $100 hotel voucher. I’m not even sure there’s such a thing as a $100 a night hotel in Miami (and if there is, I can only imagine what condition it’s in). Because of all our travel plans this year, in January I bought an annual travel insurance policy for a little over $500 total that covers me, Jeremy and Gen Z, not only for international medical but also for covered reason trip cancelation and expenses of trip interruptions just like this one . Thanks to insurance, I should be fully reimbursed for our very last minute stay at the Hilton Blue Lagoon at the airport. We’re going to try and make the best of the situation and get some sleep and tomorrow morning while I’m starting one more day laying by the pool drinking my coffee (turns out I had a swimsuit packed in my carryon, yay!) I’ll do some catch up posting. Good night from still in Miami!

Well ladies and gentlemen, we’re at the airport waiting for our 9:30pm flight home. On the plus side, after getting off the ship we had a fun day in Miami thanks to our day hotel booking. Our $120 prepaid booking got us a room from 10am till 6pm. When we arrived at the hotel, they also charged a $40 resort fee and a $100 hold for any incidental charges. The resort fee included wifi, beach chairs and umbrella rental on Miami Beach a few blocks away as well as beach towel rental and free bike rentals for up to 4 hours. We originally planned to spend most of our day at the hotel’s pool, but when we checked in the front desk let us know they’d be having their weekend DJ pool party all day and that the party gets “pretty wild”. We weren’t really in a wild party mood so decided to just shower up and walk around south beach and have lunch. The hotel and our room were spotless and the decor was very cool with a retro Miami style. When we arrived a door man greeted us with cold towels and offered us a complimentary glass of welcome champagne while we checked in. The room was kind of small but I wasn’t expecting much for a day reservation and it served our purposes of a place to keep luggage, shower and nap (which we did quite well after our south beach lunch). I’d definitely stay there again before a late post-cruise flight. I’d be interested in seeing what they charge for an overnight rate in one of the larger room categories, but I think I really do prefer the Brickell neighborhood to South Beach pre-cruise. The vibe is a bit more relaxed and meals and entertainment are better priced. Walking around Miami Beach, we stopped into a couple of small art galleries and shops then had a couple of very touristy cocktails while people watching and listening to a salsa band, then went to lunch at Havana 1957 on Ocean Drive. My food was good other than the tostones which were really bland. Jeremy loved his Cuban sandwich and papas fritas. While we were listening to the salsa band, Jeremy and the bartender got chatting about the wide selection of tequilas behind the bar and he poured Jeremy a few half shots of things to try, all of which kicked in for him on the walk back to our hotel and inspired him to try and do some Latin dancing in front of a couple of the bars playing music as we passed. Oh Jeremy, bless his tequila-fueled, two left feet heart. While we were on Apex a couple of nights we saw an adorable couple really showing off their cha cha and swing moves on the dance floor and it FINALLY convinced him to agree to do some ballroom and Latin dance classes with me. Our poor instructor is going to have his/her hands full. Once we got back we napped for a couple of hours in the comfortable bed then packed up our things and headed to the airport. While we’re in flight, I’ll start working on back in time posts about last night and dinners in Eden and Raw on 5.

Thank you! Yes, tour recommendations would be very much appreciated! If you don’t feel comfortable sharing in the full review audience, just let me know the best way to reach out.

Well here we are back in Port Everglades. This morning at breakfast when Jeremy’s smoked salmon eggs Benedict arrived, he just sat there looking at it for a moment, admiring its beauty one last time before we regress again to breakfasts consisting of toaster pastries consumed in the car on the drive to work. T25 was using facial recognition for customs this morning so disembarkation was very quick and easy. Less quick and easy was getting an Uber. The first car we were assigned stopped moving at the entrance to port Everglades and sat there for 15 minutes then our ride was canceled and we were reassigned. By the time our new driver was making his way in, a car had broke down in the middle of one of the Uber pick up lanes, causing a traffic nightmare. While we’re on our way to Miami, let’s go back to better days and talk about our day St. Thomas. In some ways the excursion was a lot like the one we did in Tortola. We were picked up by a motor (NOT sailing) catamaran right in the port area and sailed about a half hour out to a protected marine reserve off St. John to snorkel. Unlike Tortola, for this excursion the boat was jam packed and we were all sitting hip to hip. Also unlike Tortola, the music on this boat on the sail out was definitely not conversation friendly level. They were ready to start a party. If you want less of a party boat atmosphere for your St. Thomas snorkeling, I’d recommend the “luxury catamaran sail and snorkel” excursion that I did on my last cruise to St. Thomas. The snorkeling was decent. We saw lots of colorful fish and a few rays. Unfortunately Jeremy’s dream of seeing a sea turtle in the wild remains unfulfilled, but he still had a good time. After snorkeling the crew opened up a complimentary rum punch bar and we sailed to a nice clean small beach where we could swim and lay out in the sand for about an hour. While we were on the beach we met a very cool couple from Virginia and when we got back to port, fueled by the rum punch, the four of us decided to walk around and see if we could find another local cocktail or two. We ended up inside an air conditioned bar inside a windmill in the port area where we were the only customers at 1pm. The bartender was very sweet and friendly and since we were her only task for the afternoon, she joined us at our table and we had a great conversation about her life on the island and its food, culture and, of course drinks! Speaking of drinks, we did get to try a few local specialties, including a drink called the Cruzan confusion (made with 7 different types of flavored rum) and the Virgin Islands spin on Mamajuana. I drink quite a bit of mamajuana when at our favorite land resort in the Dominican Republic. In the VI’s in addition to adding rum to the spices and special bark steeped to make the drink, apparently they also add Hennessy! Prices at the bar were also surprisingly reasonable for a tourist spot. There were four of us and we each had a cocktail, a local beer and a couple of shots, and our total tab came to a little under $25 per person before tip. We got back to the ship in that weird time window between lunch and tea when food options were scarce, so we just grabbed a couple of pieces of pizza in oceanview to ride us out till dinner at Raw on 5. Which reminds me I still need to report on that too. Much more to come from this recently evicted resident of Apex!

Packing and envelope stuffing have begun…we drowned our sorrows enjoying a last veranda sunset with a bottle of wine we brought onboard from the winemaker who lives up the road from us (yes, that is as dangerous and expensive of a neighbor to have as it sounds). After our morning in the cabana Jeremy and I had lunch at the rooftop grill. We started with the oh so good train wreck fries again and ordered the dry rub wings but they came out with the Buffalo sauce instead. It ended up being a good mistake because we REALLY liked the buffalo wings. Sweet and tangy with just the right touch of heat. They’re messy as all get out so probably not an evening chic night order, but our server gave us wet wipes to clean up our fingers afterwards. For mains Jeremy had the most massive Reuben burger I’ve ever seen in my life and I had the sausage flatbread I’d been anxious to eat again ever since edge. Jeremy loved his burger. I was sad to find that my flatbread was nowhere near as good as it had been on Edge. Some of the sausage wasn’t cooked through all the way and the broccoli chunks were cut way too big to cook properly on a pizza. I’d had plenty to eat with the huge apps and splitting a ceasar salad, so I didn’t go hungry. After lunch we spent a bit more time in our cabana and then went to do some shopping before our future cruises meeting. The cabana attendants brought us any cocktails we wanted for free since we had the beverage package and we weren’t feeling up to drinking a whole bottle of veuve yet (included in the cabana rental), so we took the champagne bottle with us when we left and dropped it in our stateroom fridge and will have it with dinner tonight in Luminae instead. On Edge and Beyond the shops were sold out of the ship Christmas ornaments that we’ve gotten for every ship we sail on. This time I got the last ornament on the rack! Then it was time to have tea and meet with future cruises to book Jeremy’s 40th birthday bucket list cruise. In October we’ll be spending 10 nights on Beyond in Aqua class sailing to Italy, Greece and Montenegro out of Rome! The future cruises consultant matched the price online under the current promo. We also got the onboard booking perks of an additional $200 onboard credit and reduced $200 non refundable deposit. She also gave us our captains club complimentary stateroom category upgrade. I’m off to finish pre-departure tasks then shower and dress for the rockstar production show and one last dinner in Luminae. We’ll be turning in early tonight, so before bed I’ll do a catch up post to remind me of happier times back on the beautiful island of St. Thomas.

Ugh, we’ve come to the last full day of our cruise. To give some idea of what kind of shape I’m in after silent disco and partying in the club till 3am, we’re sitting in our poolside cabana and my husband just informed me that I managed to snoring sleep through an entire loud, bumping music aqua Zumba class. The main pool deck is packed and so is the pool, which is slightly cooler than bath water thanks to the sun and number of people. I’m glad I made our cabana reservations in the cruise planner in advance because they’ve been completely booked for every sea day. Yesterday, after having sea day lunch at Luminae, Jeremy and I went to the premium wine tasting event. I believe the cost was $90 per person and all the wines tasted were sold on the ship for $150 or more. Cheese lovers that we are, we were really there for the cheese as much as the wine and there were some very good ones offered. The best part was as the event ended, there was still half a bottle of the Caymus left and one of the somms came by and poured Jeremy and I a glass for the the road. After the tasting we hit the casino where the card table was friendly to Jeremy and the dancing drums penny slots were very friendly to me. After cocktails in Eden we went up to dress (and I put on my new favorite accessory) for chic night dinner in Luminae. We got there about 8pm and it was completely full. We had about a 15 minute wait for a table. Once we got seated the wait was totally worth it. I think this may have been our best overall meal of the cruise so far. The kale soup and ceasar salad were on point. Jeremy and I were both torn between having the scallops and the lobster so we each ordered a plate of both. The lobster tail was just the right size for me considering we were eating two other courses and I found myself swirling everything on the plate in the champagne sauce. The scallops were a little on the small side but cooked perfectly and delicious. Even Jeremy who had proclaimed himself too full for dessert couldn’t resist several bites of the baked Alaska. We wanted to celebrate finally coming to agreement on a cruise to celebrate Jeremy’s 40th birthday this fall, so Arnold brought us a bottle of the champagne we had during the premium tasting. We got a 20% discount on the bottle as part of the premium beverage package. I’m gasping myself as I say this but I think I like it even better than veuve. After dinner we changed into more party friendly attire and hit a packed grand foyer dance floor for silent disco then headed to the club till the DJ shut us down. When we got back to the room, my tequila soaked husband looked at the coffee table, groaned and said “call Albert and tell him to come take this [bleep] out of our room!” I guess he’s enjoyed his cruise. It was one of those nights of cruising where everything was just perfect and you fall asleep feeling happy and blessed just to have each other and have the life you do. Our agenda for the rest of the day: -More rehydrating before lunch at Rooftop Grille -Come back to the cabana to spend the afternoon enjoying our included bottle of champagne -Head to the room to start making up tip envelopes and thank you notes for the folks who’ve gone above and beyond for us this week. -Tea Time meeting in the lounge with future cruises (See? I told you guys MSC hasn’t convinced me to completely break up with Celebrity…yet.) -Happy Hour on our veranda before packing and one last dinner in Luminae

Thank you! I think they did still have the queues set up for arrival times, but there was a separate area to the far left with a sign for the Retreat check in. We booked this cruise late so our express pass had a 1:30 boarding time on it but we went up to the man at the Retreat sign and all he did was check that we were suite guests and we were escorted right inside even arriving before 11am.

Quick real time update from Apex: My husband and I both had good afternoons in the casino and are celebrating our luck with sunset cocktails in Eden with live music from the fantastic Radio Duo out of Brazil. It was surprisingly easy to tempt Jeremy to try a sip of my cocktail…🍎🐍😉

Thank you! Happy to help. I want to say I’ve seen this bottle on the shelf in a couple of bars. I’ll take a more focused look and report back on availability and whether it’s still included in premium.

Same! It has a special place in my heart but not a regular place in my budget!

Oh sit right back and you’ll hear a tale of how the Retreat lounge saved my life this morning. Explanation below, Jeremy and I were out partying till 1am last night and as a result slept in till 10am and woke up in the predicament of desperately craving sustenance when almost all the breakfast options were closing. I had to go to the retreat lounge to make an appointment for future cruises and when I finished I saw there were still a few pieces of fruit out from the lounge breakfast spread left out (sharing the full retreat areas hours sheet from our cruise below in case anyone is interested). A server who was putting things away helped me get the fruit and when I thanked her and mentioned it was much needed because I slept through breakfast she said “oh ma’am please wait let me go to the back and get a few more things for you!” Before I could object she disappeared and returned with a plate of charcuterie and pastries. Jeremy joined me for the late morning snack then we headed up to the pool deck where Tiago and Atish promptly delivered more cold water, chilled fruit skewers and mimosas. Bada bing, bada boom, GenX has been resurrected! We’ve reached the point in the cruise where I start to get a little sad. Granted we have two full days left, but we’ve left our last port and now it’s a slow roll (last night literally) back to reality. Speaking of last night, due to said ship rolling and technical issues, the production show was cancelled last minute. There was a singing group performing instead but Jeremy wasn’t very interested, so we went and had a martini in the grand plaza then went to dinner a little early. We got to Luminae about 7:45 and it was busy, I’d say about 75% full, but no wait for a table. We arrived the same time as a fun couple from Virginia that we hung out with in St. Thomas and the 4 of us decided to dine together. Our waiter came over quickly and reminded us of the items from the MDR “classics” menu that could be ordered in addition to the Luminae menu for the night. He also gave good recommendations on which items on the menu for that night were the best. (He told us that each night before dinner service the chefs have the waiters taste each of the appetizers and entrees and walk them through how the dishes are made, allergens, etc.) The drink servers seemed to be running behind so our waiter took our drink order after they hadn’t made it to our table after a few minutes. Poor guy did his best on the wine front, but had no clue. Next time I’ll just use my patience skills and wait till Arnold is free to come over to assist with my wine selection. Once Arnold did free up and come by he made a great recommendation for a cote du Rhône to go with my entree. We for the most part followed our server’s recommendations and I started with the ginger crab cake and Jeremy started with the tuna carpaccio and seafood velute then we both had the lamb loin for entree. We also split an order of the black bass. We were very happy with everything. The sweet spicy thai peanut sauce on the crab cake gave it a unique twist. I had a bite of Jeremy’s soup and the broth was excellent. You could tell someone put some love into making the seafood stock for that soup. My lamb was a bit past the medium rare that I’d ordered it, but seasoned well, and the sausage on the side was really good. The sea bass didn’t have much flavor on its own, but was much better when dunked in a once again really flavorful broth poured in the bowl. I could’ve eaten just a plate of the mushroom dumplings served on the side of the bass dunked in that broth. For dessert we split the strawberry cheesecake on the MDR classics dessert menu and as soon as it arrived at the table, there was Arnold’s arm placing a tiny glass and pouring me my favorite after dinner 20 year port. Our dinner company couple was more adventurous and split this cool looking Vacherin. After dinner the 4 of us went up to the pool party on the top deck, but it was a little too windy for us and turned into a lot too windy for us when the magic carpet, which had been acting as a wind break, moved up a deck. Instead we went back down to the grand foyer where there was an equally popular Motown party with live band going on. While we listened to the music I got to check out Craft Social for the first time this cruise. I think someone had asked about the beer currently on tap. Pics are below. I think the one turned to the side was Guinness. One of my favorite little activities on the E class ships is over the course of the cruise to make a point of ordering a Manhattan and a rye old fashioned at Eden and Craft Social (and on Beyond, also World Class Bar) and see which bar makes the one I like best. I’ll be trying an Eden old fashioned tonight and will go on Manhattan quest tomorrow and will report back on my winners. More back in time catch up posts coming soon!

Oops! Yes, that was a typo. I can neither confirm nor deny the blood alcohol level of the server or its role in his weird behavior. 😂

This is the champagne Jeremy and I drank at our wedding reception. It holds a special place in my heart.