GenerationX

I should be going down to do some packing and dress for dinner. But instead I’m sitting in the rough off Hole 4 listening to live acoustic guitar and sulking while Adrian and Ricky take turns refilling my Chandon. On our sail out of Nassau, as I was looking down at the wake I saw a fever of huge stingrays in the water at starboard. I’m really not ready to end this one, guys. I guess I’m really never ready for them to end. It’s so unfair.

Enjoy your cruise! So in Tuscan I think the ribeye is also an excellent steak and with no additional upcharge. For other starters that are good I also like the meatballs and am not ashamed to admit that I once consumed the charcuterie plate meant for 2-4 guests all by myself as a starter course. On the pasta side I like the short rib pappardelle and the gnocchi as well as the spaghetti and meatballs. If you want to do both steak and pasta, they can do all the pastas as a side order portion size. In Murano it doesn’t get much better than that Murano lobster for me and the tableside preparation is a show itself. For the starter, the risotto, lobster bisque and pork belly are my favorites!

Sigh, so far it’s been a nice, if bittersweet, last day of cruise. It looks like it was a pretty busy day in Nassau with 3 ships in port. After my buffet breakfast (the most crowded one I’ve seen this cruise) I went for my aromatherapy hot stone massage with Evangeline. She once again did a great job and worked out my soreness from dancing into the wee hours last night. Before I left, she gave me the names of a couple of her friends working in the spa on Summit who she could recommend for my spa services in Bermuda next month. I got to the spa a little early so I’d have time to use the sauna and showers and have a cup of tea in the relaxation lounge watching us come into Nassau. It really is a cool view from there overlooking the helipad. While I was sipping my tea and watching sail in, a crew member was going around the room on her hands and knees cleaning and polishing every speck of chrome in the pillars, doors, etc. They are SERIOUS about keeping this ship up. I didn’t have a reservation but thought I’d take a chance with the quiet port day ship to get in lunch at sushi on 5. I was successful! The restaurant really must have a following on this ship as Captain Matt and his lovely wife were enjoying lunch there as well with a couple of other passengers. After lunch I hit the pool deck for some rum punch, swimming live music from Radio Duo and yacht watching. After all aboard I’ll head up to sunset bar for one last sail away with Adrian and Ricky then dress for dinner and a show. I know I still owe a catch up post on the rest of formal night and I promise I’ll get to it soon!

Im so sorry to hear that! I hope your case was mild and that you’re feeling better soon. Last night Captain Matt announced that we’ve had 3 passenger positive cases and I heard we’re at about 2480 passengers, so that’s still a pretty low percentage. I assume that doesn’t include the numbers for people testing for B2B or crew testing though, both of which just happened today. This morning I did see some security officers looking hard around the pool deck with a paper in their hand and there was a whole ship page this morning for a specific passenger asking them to go to a phone and dial 0 immediately. I’m wondering if another case was identified somehow. I plan to test tomorrow morning before I go to the airport and again late next week just to be sure. Thus far I’m feeling great (other than bloated from my food and alcohol intake this week) not even a sniffle, so I’m hoping it stays that way!

I won’t lie, last night I DID price out a basic veranda on the next sailing, but with so many cruises already in my line up this year I think my financial and marital stability would be put at high risk! On the bright side though, I actually got the email yesterday with the guest documents for my Bermuda cruise which is only 28 days away! And we have some really good other live reviews starting up to hold us till then!

Good morning from our sail into Nassau and a very happy International Day of the Seafarer to the crew of the Equinox and the entire Celebrity fleet! As Captain Matt proudly announced this morning, today Celebrity Infinity will set sail on her first post-shutdown cruise, meaning that the ENTIRE CELEBRITY FLEET IS OFFICIALLY BACK IN SERVICE!!! 👏🏾🙌🏾👏🏾🙌🏾🎉 We got to celebrate this incredibly happy occasion with Captain Matt and some of the crew on the pool deck this morning. I want to say a huge thank you to the crew of the Equinox and the crew of all the Celebrity ships that I’ve had the privilege of sailing on over the 9 past years. When I think about it, Celebrity cruises have been a part of so many special moments in my life: The time my husband told me he was falling in love with me under a starry sky on Reflection, when he asked me to be his wife during a surprise photo shoot on Silhouette, when we eloped in Mexico on a Christmas cruise on Infinity and the first time our daughter told me, on a mommy-daughter skip back to our room after picking her up from Camp @ Sea on Millennium, that when she grows up, she hopes she can be just like me. And a million more incredible travel experiences and memories made that I will never forget. It’s all only possible thanks to these awesome crew members who work long hours for months and years on end just to give us all a vacation. In much less happy news, when I got back to my room last night, I found disembarkation instructions for tomorrow waiting for me. I’m planning to stay onboard today to get a massage and take advantage of one more day on the quiet ship before packing time, the ship’s Elysium production show, dinner at Tuscan Grille and lots of sad good byes and thank you envelope deliveries. Coming soon: a back in time report on yesterday afternoon/evening.

Hi Susan! That sounds fabulous, enjoy your cruises! I’m actually a little jealous of you. As much as I’m looking forward to trying a Bermuda sailing and experiencing Beyond, I’m kind of sad that I don’t have any more Equinox cruises in my lineup for the next year.

Scenes from Evening Chic Night on Equinox! I love that even with the different demographic on this cruise, I was not even close to being in the minority of people dressed to the nines tonight. Also just a shout out to Susan from Canada who is following this review. Please convince your super fun friend who is onboard with me to sail on the November 8th Beyond trip (and while we’re on the subject you come too 😁). It’s still like 48 hours too early for goodbyes, but I’m really going to miss this ship and all the friendly, beautiful people who work here and the new friends that I’ve made. If you’re following, haven’t started thinking about your return to cruising, and you are in a position in terms of finances/government restrictions/work obligations/risk tolerance to do so, I hope this review inspires you to really start thinking about it. Even with the relatively minor hiccups I’ve had so far, it really is a beautiful, wonderful, fun world out here at sea!

So in the area where we live the sushi restaurant actually serves 2 rolls where they’re dipped in batter and tempura fried and I’m not ashamed to admit I eat them both with great pleasure and pride in my lack of sophistication. 😂

A report on my sea day spa morning and Sushi on 5 lunch: After my treatments I was hoping to go chill in cafe al Bacio at a window table with some tea till lunch time, but at 11:15am every single table was taken, even the ones in the foyer. I couldn’t help but think with longing of my Summit cruise a mere 8 months ago where I was the only customer at all in al bacio at 10am on a sea day. I guess at the end of the day, full cafe’s and full ships are how cruise lines make money and if I want Celebrity to still be around for me 10 years from now, I know I couldn’t expect to keep cruising at 40% capacity. I got my green tea to go instead and sipped it on an open foyer seat by craft social watching the best attended dance class I’ve seen since the restart. There were people dancing in the passport bar because their wasn’t room for any more couples on the dance floor. I bet the activities and entertainment teams are glad to be able to really do their jobs now with passengers to entertain! About the spa this morning, this was my first time trying the spa on Equinox. I’d actually stopped using the spa on celebrity after some really disappointing and overpriced experiences in the Canyon Ranch days. Then I read that Celebrity had changed spa vendors with the E class roll out and gave it a try on Edge and had some good services. I was interested to see if the same would be true on S class. Today I had the same sea salt body scrub and massage I had on the Edge. I actually think the overall experience of my treatments was a little better on Equinox. Unlike edge, this time I was actually invited to come early and use the sauna, relaxation lounge, showers etc. before my treatment. The robe I was given for my treatment was better quality and much kinder to my curves. Evangeline from the Philippines who did my scrub and massage was fantastic. I use the exact same salt scrub product that Celebrity uses for its treatments to exfoliate weekly at home, but there’s only so well I can scrub my own back and it’s hard to be vigorous and thorough enough applying standing up in my shower, so I try to have a scrub from a pro at a spa once a month. Evangline left my skin baby smooth and with a high glow. After I showered off the scrub she gave me a warm eucalyptus scented bath towel to dry off with (was just a plain room temp non scented towel on Edge) and gave me a glass of ice cold lemon water to sip before she started my massage to get ahead of any soreness (also not a thing on Edge). The massage part was so good, I decided to take advantage of the port day discount and book myself an aromatherapy hot stone massage with her for tomorrow while we’re in the Bahamas. I’m just wrapping up my Chandon and sushi sea day lunch at Sushi on 5. The restaurant is full again. The first few people who came up without a reservation were given the option to wait 20-30 minutes for a table. Everyone who came up without one after that has been turned away. Cements my thinking that now that cruising is back to new normal, I’ll always make my sushi lunch reservations first thing when I get onboard (for some reason lunch at Sushi on 5 cannot be reserved in the cruise planner pre-cruise). I did notice that they were also letting people place to go orders again. I may need to try that next cruise. Sushi on my veranda in my swimsuit sounds pretty good. My Kobe slider was a little overcooked but I really enjoyed my spicy tuna & tempura roll. I saw lots of other tables with empty sushi platters so looks like the consensus on this ship at least is that the sushi quality has finally improved. I think I’ll go see how generous the slot machines are feeling before the world wine tasting this afternoon. Wish me luck!

A quick report on the Celebrity App experience onboard. I discovered this morning that if you swipe left at the bottom of the main app screen the app gives you the option now to use a digital key on your phone to open your stateroom door just like Hyatt and Hilton. This seems like a handy feature for when my seapass card has fallen down into the depths of my pool tote somewhere and I don’t want to fish for it. Or when sailing with my husband and we’ve parted ways for activities and he forgets that I’ve got both our seapass cards in my purse. I wouldn’t rely on it too heavily though because app has been pretty glitchy. I’ve had specialty reservations and wine events that I know I have booked not show up or show up in the app as a different reservation time than what the maitre d has in the system (luckily I caught this early in the cruise and double checked all my reservation days/times with the maitre d in Murano, to make sure everything was right in Celebrity’s computer and I wouldn’t show up at the wrong time). Not sure if it’s a glitch or just a design miss, but none of my spa appointments even the ones I made well in advance show up in the app at all. I’d started to wonder if, with the expanded app showing my bookings, it was still necessary for me to go through my pre-cruise exercise of printing off hard copies of all my confirmations before I leave, but for now I’ve decided that given the glitches those trees will have to continue to be sacrificed. Speaking of wrong times, this morning for a little while, the app was also displaying ship time as 3 hours earlier than it actually was (I was definitely not up at 4:43am). I wonder if that might be contributing to the lighter than usual crowd at oceanview breakfast at almost 9am. Once I finish eating I’m off to the spa for a sea day body scrub and a massage!

Remind me, was it John and Yoko who did that thing where they let the whole world see them in bed in their robes to spread a message of peace? Well, welcome to my bed-in to spread the message of the joys of being a woman sailing solo on Celebrity. As I was leaving my sushi dinner I had an epiphany. My original plan was to have pillow chocolates for my in-room dessert tonight. Then I looked across the foyer and remembered that my captains club status comes with that free scoop of gelato. Pinot noir and hazelnut gelato with almonds? Yes please! Oh and halfway through my gelato I REALLY hit expert cruise hack and thought of crumbling a couple of the pillow chocolates on top of the gelato!!! While I’m enjoying my best life solo girls night in, a report on my Sushi on 5 dinner. When I got to the restaurant it was not completely full but very busy and you could tell the servers were really hustling to try and keep up with good service. How hectic was it? As I was digging into my second course, 3 of the senior officers arrived at the restaurant to have their dinner. The maitre d was tied up at another table so someone else seated them at the table right behind me…which had not been bussed AT ALL and was still covered in dirty dishes and placemats from the guests who left a few minutes before. When the maitre d saw what had happened it seemed like he was humiliated and hustling to make it right. The officers seemed like they were understanding and took it in stride. At least publicly anyway. Hopefully no one is gonna be sent packing when we get back to FLL! The funny part is that when I saw those 3 super official gentlemen come walking directly back at me (and again, I’m not thinking they’re coming to sit for dinner, because they aren’t being led by the maitre d and the only 4 top table available anywhere around me just left and it’s still dirty and not ready for new guests), I’m pretty sure my blood pressure spiked. I had my mouth prepped to blurt out “whatever it is, I didn’t do it!” lol Ok so back to the food. I ordered a couple of my go to’s, the shrimp and lobster wontons and the shrimp tempura roll. Then I decided to try something new and forego my favorite pork ramen and try the shrimp tempura udon. The wontons were good as always. Don’t forget to try the seaweed salad on the side, I like it so much sometimes I order just a little side dish of it when I’m not getting the wontons. The shrimp tempura roll was actually improved from my last Equinox cruise. I’ve always been of the opinion that the Maki rolls were ironically the weakest dishes at Sushi on 5. It seems like the game has been stepped up. The rice was way better and it was rolled perfectly (I’ve had maki from sushi on 5 fall apart completely in my chopsticks sooo many times because it wasn’t rolled right). If you’re used to having sushi in a really competitive authentic sushi restaurant market (like NYC, Seattle, LA or of course, Japan), I’m guessing this probably still isn’t going to hold a candle to what you get at home (and probably pay at least double the price for). But I think it was on par with what we get at midwest suburban sushi places. The shrimp tempura udon…once again here’s a dish that I’m mad I didn’t give a chance sooner. The broth had rich seafood flavor and the udon noodles were cooked just right. The shrimp tempura on its own was a little bland and could have been a little crispier, but I can totally forgive that because it’s meant to to be dunked in that yummy broth. I don’t think this replaces the pork ramen as my favorite, but going forward I’ll probably alternate back and forth during the cruise between ordering the shrimp tempura udon and pork ramen. Pics of the goodness below. Sweet dreams from the Equinox!

Hello from sea day! FYI since last night, wifi has been extremely slow (calling it “stream” at this point is just flagrant false advertising, I couldn’t even get a music/video streaming app to load, much less play anything from it). And Ive been having a tough time getting the CC site to even load fully. Forget uploading pics or lengthy posts. I’ve still been writing posts in Notes on my phone and taking pics so there may be rapid streams of posts back to back in fits and starts when wifi is cooperating. Speaking of back to back, for anyone wondering, I spoke to a few people who are doing this cruise as a b2b with the 6 night after and they were informed last night that they WILL have to Covid test onboard tomorrow in Nassau for the second leg of their b2b. I haven’t heard any announcements or gossip about any positive cases onboard and as of this morning we haven’t had any changes to our masks-optional policy.

So glad you’re enjoying! The bus ride to the beach I’d say was about 20-30 minutes. It wasn’t too bad. The tour guide got on a mic on the way out and back and gave lots of info about the island and sights we were passing too, so the time passed easily.

In a cute but comfortable dress and ready for dinner. I had to run to guest services before cocktails and stumbled on a great selfie opportunity. The Godmother and the Funmother!

Good afternoon from the pool deck of the Carnival Sunshine-oops I mean Celebrity Equinox! I’m totally joking, it hasn’t gone THAT far. I will say though that this is my first Celebrity cruise where I’ve seen/heard groups of passengers mobbed around the pool bar chanting “SHOTS! SHOTS! SHOTS!” at the top of their lungs. Poor Kadek and I Ketut and Team. I’m gonna need to up my pool bartender/server budget for this trip. The football brahs were also back in full effect this afternoon, but this time the pool officer did make them put a stop to their catch game, after it got out of hand and they were hitting railings and knocking over drinks with the errant throws. Speaking of the pool crew though, the pool servers and bartenders this cruise really have been great and I’m surprised at how well they’re managing to keep up with so many more passengers. I’ve yet to go more than 10 minutes on the deck without a server coming by and asking if I need something. Unfortunately a work emergency came up this morning that I had to deal with while I knew the wifi was good, so I wasn’t able to make my tour in Tortola today. 😭 I did get to do most of said work on a nearly empty pool deck (was nice while it lasted) in the sunshine. I consoled myself after I finished work with a rum punch from Ricky at the Sunset Bar and a beef rendang (delicious) and pork Milanese (meh) buffet lunch with steak nachos for dessert…don’t judge me. Tonight will be my second chill night of the cruise. I didn’t have any specialties booked but I’m feeling a crave for Sushi. The app dining reservations system is being glitchy so I put in a call to specialty reservations to see if I could get lucky. My good friend Michael from Murano answered the phone and greeted me by name and let me know he could get me in Sushi on 5 at 8pm. I was excited to hear the news as I’ve heard reports that Murano and Tuscan are now almost completely booked up for the rest of the cruise (so for those following who are sailing soon, it may be worth doing your specialty reservations in advance or first thing when you get on the ship so you don’t miss out). I’m headed down to my veranda to get a couple more chapters of reading in then I’ll shower and hit Sunset and Ensemble for my pre-Dinner cocktails. Tonight’s exciting after dinner plan is to drink wine and eat pillow chocolates in bed and watch House of Gucci, which is free on demand on my stateroom TV!

Yasss! Come!!! We will celebrate your b-day at the Gatsby party! Let’s turn that sailing into the solo ladies of CC cruise!

Thank you! I won’t lie to you. The passenger count jump after sailing half full ships was a big adjustment. The first day or 2 I found myself thinking “who the dickens are all these PEOPLE on MY ship??? This is OUTRAGEOUS!” 😂

Ok this is SUPER COOL!!! Now we have to start planning our Gatsby outfits for the party. Oh and do you already have a map dress for embarkation day? 😂 Can’t wait to sail with you!

A belated report on my day on St. Maarten: The excursion I booked was the Orient Beach Escape with Lunch. The excursion price included round trip transportation to the beach in an air conditioned motorcoach, a beach lounger (umbrellas for shade were an additional $5 US charge paid at the beach, cash only), a glass of rum or fruit punch at the beach and a sit down lunch at the beach restaurant with one drink (beer, soda, juice or water) included. There were a lot of people on the excursion but they split us between two buses. This was my first time back on St. Maarten since the hurricane and it looked like the island has recovered well, but you could still see the remnants of lots of destroyed homes and businesses spotted throughout that hadn’t been rebuilt. Orient Beach itself, while still beautiful and with that super soft white sand, wasn’t quite as nice. I remenber the water being so clear you could be chest deep and still see your toes. The water still seemed clean but wasn’t that clear. There was also a little sargassum which wasn’t a thing last time I was there. Nowhere near as much as I’ve seen in Cancun or the DR, but it was enough that it was giving the beach that signature funky smell and you had to dodge patches of it when swimming. The water was a perfect temp for the hot day though and I didn’t let it stop me from floating around. The beach vendors were also more persistent than I remember. It took 4 or 5 “no thank you’s” to get each one to move on. I totally understand why though. The tourism industry on the island has really been through it between the hurricane and Covid lockdowns and the cruising suspension and our bus driver told us things still aren’t anywhere near back to where they used to be. Equinox was one of only two ships scheduled to be in port the whole week. I did buy a cute new pool coverup for me and a bracelet for GenZ from one lady. I negotiated aggressively (occupational habit) and ended up getting them both for $15 total. If you decide to do a massage or hair braiding from these ladies be sure to be clear and agree on a set price for the full service you expect before you start. I saw the ladies offer hair braiding for $4 “per braid” (negotiate down to $2 or $3) but not saying how many braids they would put in. Same with massages. They’d say $2 “per minute”. Be clear on how long you want the massage to go and the total amount you’ll be giving them. You don’t want them to just keep going and run up a big bill for you. The lunch in the restaurant was platted and full service. There was a choice of ribs, bbq chicken or mahi-mahi with salad and either rice or French fries on the side. My ribs were nice and tender and you could tell the sauce was something they simmered low and slow for a good while. I ate with a couple I met at World Class bar and they both got the mahi-mahi and said it was very good too. We had about an hour and a half of beach time before lunch and then another half hour afterwards. It was a gorgeous day on a gorgeous beach with pretty good food and I’d 100% book it again. We were asked to be back at the front of the restaurant to meet the bus back to the ship by 1:15. At 1:25, our tour guide came on the bus, did a head count of us, and then disappeared with a concerned look on her face. We all sat there on the bus (fortunately with the air running) for another 15 minutes then we saw our guide coming up from the beach with a man behind her carrying his heavily intoxicated, barely conscious and sunburned to a crisp wife in his arms. The guide helped the man put her under the beach shower to try and cool her down and wake her up some then got them a bottled water from the restaurant and a bag for her to use on the bus in case she got sick. The guide also helped reseat the passengers sitting directly in front of and behind the couple, so they would be out of the line of fire in case the worst should happen. It was a good reminder for me of why I’m careful to stay hydrated and keep an eye on my alcohol and sun intake on vacation. There’s not a chance on earth that my 140lbs soaking wet husband would’ve been able to carry me all the way up that beach and onto that bus. He would have had to leave me to bake and find himself a new seasoned cruiser wife onboard to keep his Elite benefits.

This is a BRILLIANT idea. We are DEFINITELY throwing a Gatsby party on Beyond! I’ll let Red know too. I need to join the roll call for that one as well. I’ll be in a solo cabin so I probably won’t have room to host but perhaps we can make a friend in an Edge Villa or Iconic or maybe commandeer a corner of the new and improved Sunset Bar for the event. I’ll even spring for the first bottle of Veuve. You heard it here first, folks! Gatsby party on Beyond hosted by hcat and GenX! November 8th sailing! Anyone who wants in on this book your staterooms! 😁

Good Morning from Tortola BVI! It probably won’t come as a surprise to anyone that I ended up in the sky lounge till midnight last night. My excursion today doesn’t assemble till late morning so I was planning to sleep in some, but around 7am I was awakened by the sound of blasting reggae music. Turned out we had just docked in Tortola a stone’s throw from the Breakaway and I guess they start the pool party early on NCL. Once again I briefly felt like an old lady and wanted to go out on my balcony with shades over my red eyes and shake my fist and shout at the neighbors “You kids keep it down over there! Aren’t YOU still sleeping off last night’s martinis and Malbec too??? I haven’t even had my Tylenol yet!” Speaking of last night, after dinner I had a pick me up espresso martini with the Ensemble Lounge A-team (I’m gonna miss this crew so much when I go home) before heading to the Motown party. The Motown party definitely wasn’t as heavily attended as some of the Grand Foyer parties earlier in the cruise, but it was scheduled in competition with both live band karaoke and the late night adult game show which I think split crowds (not the worst thing in the time of Covid I guess). There was still a decent crowd though and not shy about getting on the dance floor. Our dance band BR4 performed along side the brass section of the orchestra for the production shows. The lead singer of the band has a voice to match her stage presence! After the party wrapped up I headed up to the sky lounge which was also much less crowded than previous nights (guess all the newbies are starting to figure out that nightlife on an 8-night celebrity cruise is a marathon not a sprint). It looked like they may have lifted the 18+ age requirement for late night sky lounge last night because the biggest groups on the dance floor looked to be in the 13-16 age group. I felt a little like I was crashing someone’s Bar Mitzvah, but the teens were well behaved and weren’t bothering anyone and looked to be having a great time and enjoying their cruise. Some of the young men had some killer dance moves! My hope for the future of rhythm in America is restored! Next up: a back in time report on St. Maarten!

Back to happy news! About my evening thus far… I’m beginning to think maybe I should rename this thread “Murano LIVE Review” lol But I promise that while I won’t be reposting pics of/reviewing the Murano dishes I’ve already talked about, I do have new info to share! Tonight I was a couple of minutes late for my reservation but it was wasn’t my fault I swear! As I was finishing my usual Ensemble Lounge pre-dinner live music and cocktail party with my fellow regulars/Komang and Abdul fan club members (btw I don’t know their CC handles and want to protect real names for privacy but please join me in wishing a very happy FORTIETH wedding anniversary to a lovely and hilarious couple following this review who have become my new friends!), a headphone wearing conga line went dancing past the entrance to Murano and I had to wait till it got past to go in. Turns out that this cruise the Retreat had their own private silent disco party for suite guests in the lounge and it spilled out beautifully and briefly into Ensemble. Ugh, everything cool happens when I’m not sailing in a suite! This better still be a thing when I’m on Silhouette in a suite in December! Anyway, when I got in the restaurant, I was escorted to what has become my usual table and had my usual wonderful serving team of Michael as my waiter and Pavle my sommelier. As I was perusing the menu Pavle came over and asked if it was too early to have a conversation about my wine order. I told him it is NEVER to early to talk to me about wine. I told him that I was thinking about trying the lamb for my main course and he recommended pairing it with an Argentinian (of course) Malbec. I also ordered the heavenly lobster bisque and risotto again to start. This was my first time having the lamb in Murano. This is another one I have always passed on in a restaurant I paid a premium for since there’s other places on the ship you can get lamb chops (including the MDR). I don’t think I’d order these over the Murano lobster, but if you’re in Murano and not a lobster/seafood person, these lamb chops are good. I wasn’t impressed with the sauce served on the side but the chops were tender and well crusted with a perfect balance of salt and earthy flavors and cooked to practically still going “baaa” in the center just as I ordered. Oh also if you get them, don’t forget to dig under the lamb rack where they’ve hidden a little Easter egg of a walnut sized spiced meatball. That meatball is so good that, if I’m ever blessed to have the means to book the penthouse suite on S-class and thus feel like I can make a high maintenance request (and not be completely out of line), I will ask if it’s possible to have a plate of them delivered to my (shock and awe caliber) stateroom each night for canapés. BTW random funny side story: My long time fantasy for if I ever could afford that penthouse suite has been to throw a big, extra, black tie only Gatsby party in that room and hire an onboard pianist to attend. Then lay across that grand piano in a blinged out evening gown, tiara and elbow length gloves drinking Veuve and singing “Diamonds Are a Girl’s Best Friend” and Josephine Baker’s version of “Begin the Beguine” while the pianist plays along. But I heard that they’re 86ing the pianos in penthouse suites as part of the refurbs, so I’m working hard on letting that dream fade into the “modern luxury” sunset. Anyway, back to the matter at hand. For dessert I knew the Gran Marnier soufflé would put me well past being in any fit state for a Motown party so I tried something else new and did the gelato assortment, of course with my espresso and a glass of 10 year port. I really enjoyed the Pistachio and Chocolate gelato flavors and they happened to be the ones at the bottom of the dish for me, so don’t be afraid to dig deep! More to come!

Not to pressure you but I would LOVE!!! to see you write a trip review once you’ve fully recovered and have settled back into real life. I’ve done some digging and there is a really void of first person feedback from solo cruising women on Silversea (especially from women who seem like they share my travel vibe). I don’t endorse bribery but if I need to sweeten the deal to you encourage you, FYI I’m gonna got to future cruises tomorrow to browse Ascent suite booking options and I’m pretty sure there’s no law that says my husband has to be the second passenger in that cabin…especially if the lady taking his spot recently did me a travel advice solid. 😉😂

I agree! It may be a selfish but in addition to the safety concerns I also just would hate to see this kind of behavior become a norm on Celebrity. I pay the price I pay for Celebrity cruises for the UPSCALE fun. Keeping it real, if I want to spend a week on a cruise ship filled with hardcore party boy/girl types and underparented children, I could do so for much less than what Celebrity charges even during fare deals. But that atmosphere is not what sold us on this line. If Neptune forbid, Celebrity lets this kind of behavior creep into becoming the norm, it would break my heart and I feel like I’d depressingly have to start looking a lot harder at the premium cruise lines.