GrazieMommy

5 hours ago, Pier290 said:

Fabulous thorough review!  We are sailing Sept 13 on her for the ABC 10 day!!  Our first time in the ABCs!!

5 hours ago, Pier290 said:

Fabulous thorough review!  We are sailing Sept 13 on her for the ABC 10 day!!  Our first time in the ABCs!!

We were on the Equinox last September for our 1st time in the ABC’s. We loved them and Aruba has become one of my new favorites. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did. 

GrazieMommy AKA Mr. Met’s DW

Thanks for the wonderful thread. As someone in the healthcare profession it actually never dawned on me to check for placement of AEDs onboard but will definitely do so in the future. This story is yet another reason to love Celebrity. 

10 hours ago, BosoxI said:

 

Did she trade places with the al Bacio waitress? 

She helped serve the cappuccinos, espressos, & baked goods for about 30 minutes on sea days from 11-11:30 am. The waitress was still working as well as was the barista. 

On 9/14/2018 at 11:16 AM, charlielinda said:

I’ve seen many posts about how awesome Captain Kate is and others wondering why she gets so much attention.

 

We have sailed 10+ times and disembarked the Equinox this morning and I thought I’d give my thoughts.

 

I know all Captains are very qualified but never have I had a Captain that I could remember their name.

 

I had a few times to observe her. She attended the Cruise Critic party and was very open and brought senior officers — obviously loved her job and crew (and reads Cruise Critic). One night we saw her having a quiet dinner with guests in the Tuscan Grill; and we attended the Captains Corner with her and other officers. Again, she was delightful and has a wonderful story of following her dreams.

 

My final observation, and know most lasting, was this morning when she was thanking every single passenger, with a handshake or smile, thanking them for cruising with her and hoped to see them again soon. I have never had that happen before and I thought it was so gracious and wonderful

 

 

 

 

 

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We were aboard from September 14-24. I was very impressed with the captain and you could tell the crew loved her too. They all made us feel like family. I not only thought of Captain Stubin fro the Love Boat but saw on her instagram account that Jack Jones who sang the Love Boat theme song was aboard when we were!

On 11/2/2018 at 12:44 PM, chicagopaul said:

Cheers Cruise Critic! It is that time again for another LIVE cruise blog! This time we will be taking you back on the Celebrity Reflection for 11 nights on her first sailing after her Transatlantic back to her winter home port in Fort Lauderdale. As always I encourage you all to ask questions and get involved as you sail along with us. There is no question too big or too small so feel free to ask away.

 

For those of you who have not followed us before I will give you a quick synopsis of who we are. As you might be able to tell from my user name here, my name is Paul and my partner is Edward. We are from Chicago. I am 31 and he is 36. We’ve been sailing Celebrity for almost 8 years and this will be our 16th cruise with Celebrity and 8th on the Reflection. We usually try to cruise about 26 to 30+ days per year. We book all types of cabins. The lowest class room we’ve stayed in was an obstructed balcony cabin. The highest class we’ve stayed in was a Royal Suite. We’ve seen a wide spectrum of cabin types but at the end of the day we always feel like it is the crew and fellow passengers which makes each cruise wonderful.

 

The past week has been a bit of whirlwind. You might remember from our last cruise blog that around this time we were suppose to be moving into our new home here in Chicago. Well, there have been construction delays (it is a new construction building) and we now won’t be moving in until Nov 19th right when we get back from Miami. However, in the meantime we had to vacate our old place so the developer has moved all of our stuff into storage for us and put us up in corporate housing right next door to our new building. So for the past week we’ve been living out of a suitcase. This cruise is coming at a pretty good time!

During my live blog on here I will post a minimum of 10 photos each day along with the daily schedule. In addition I will have more photos and short videos on Instagram. I will be using the Instagram “story” feature much more on this cruise than I have in the past. If you’d like to follow me on Instagram my name is PaulKBlackburn. If you see a photo of me in a suit and a bunch of photos of Celebrity or martinis then you know you’ve found the correct profile!

I’ll update this blog at least a couple times a day.

 

I’ll walk you through our every move so you can see how we spend our days. One interesting fact about this cruise is this is the itinerary I wrote about for the Celebrity Cruises blog contest that Celebrity was hosting this summer. I ended up winning! So with that being said I will be doing my best to take as much photos as possible and go into even more detail than I normally do. I will also be fully honest with pricing on everything. I know talking about money can sometimes be “taboo” but at the end of the day we all have to pay for these cruises so why not discuss all the costs involved.

 

Below I’ll go over all the basic details of the booking to discuss pricing, airline choice, etc. Feel free to skip it if it bores you!

 

Lets start with the cruise itinerary.

 

November 5th, Celebrity Reflection

 

Cabin: Sky Suite (S1) corner, deck 6

Perks: GO BEST which includes Premium Beverage Package, Unlimited Internet, $150 per person on board credit, Prepaid Gratuities

Cost: $7,815 Including all taxes & port fees. We have $300 OBC from the GO BEST offer, plus $300 OBC from Celebrity for booking on board. Our travel agent also gave us $450 OBC but we are having her send that to us in the form of a rebate check.

 

11 Nights

Day 1 - Fort Lauderdale
Day 2 - Sea Day
Day 3 - Grand Cayman
Day 4 - Sea Day
Day 5 - Cartagena Colombia
Day 6 - Colon Panama
Day 7 - Puerto Limon Costa Rica
Day 8 - Sea Day
Day 9 - Costa Maya Mexico
Day 10 - Cozumel
Day 11 - Sea Day
Day 12 - Back in Fort Lauderdale

 

Flights

 

American Airlines has had some really cheap deals recently, at least out of Chicago.

We’re flying out tomorrow, Saturday November 3rd in the wee hours of the morning. After the cruise we spend one day in Miami and then fly back on Saturday the 17th.

 

First Class - Non stop - ORD to MIA and MIA to ORD: $558 per person, round trip. Not bad for first class. This was booked through Choice Air, though it was only about $10 cheaper booking through Choice Air as opposed to directly with American. Yes, we were able to choose our seats and because we put in our AA # when booking the flights loaded up ti our American Airlines app instantly.

 

Hotels

 

Even though the Reflection is out of FLL, we decided to stay in Miami since we’re flying into and out of MIA. Also because we decided to use points for our hotel and specifically decided to stay at Hyatt with points. This might get a long winded so feel free to skip but I believe it is important info as it does relate directly to Celebrity.

 

As you may know, and I’ve mentioned this before, Celebrity has reciprocity with MLife, MGM Resorts & Casino loyalty program. Our Elite Plus gets us Platinum with MLife which has some nice perks. Now, here is where it get interesting. In searching we found out that if you’re Platinum with MLife you also qualify for Explorist (2nd highest tier level) for Hyatt Hotels. Typically if you get status through reciprocity, you usually cannot use that reciprocal status to get another reciprocal status. But we figured we’d put our MLife numbers into the Hyatt system and see what happens. Turns out they gave us Explorist What does that get us? Well it gets us some small stuff like free water, early & late checkout, club floor passes (if there is a club floor) upgraded free internet, etc. However, the nicest feature is that when you book with points and are Explorist or higher you do not have to pay any resort fees. Depending on the hotel this can save you between $20 to $40 per night.

 

Two days in Miami before the cruise:

The Confidante Miami Beach (Managed / Operated by Hyatt): 15,000 Chase Points per night. Chase ultimate reward points are valued at 1.6cents per point which means we essentially are paying $240 per night. At the time of booking the hotel was selling for roughly $300 a night. Plus saving on the $30 per night resort fee. Overall we found this a good value of points.

 

After the cruise we will be staying one night at the Hyatt Centric South Beach. The same goes for this hotel as we used 15,000 points for this one night stay.

Trip Insurance

 

We buy trip medical insurance to cover us for any kind of medical emergency. This is only for medical issues and medical evacuation. The cost total for two of us was $74.00. The policy is through AIG Travel Guard.

 

How we booked

 

Our cruise and flights were booked with Chase Sapphire Reserve which has excellent trip cancellation, delay, and lost baggage coverage. While it does have some medical coverage and medical evacuation coverage, we believe the addition of the AIG Travel Guard policy is still necessary as the medical coverage provided by the card is quite limited.

 

In total we’re spending $8,931 on this trip including the flights. All were booked with the Chase Reserve card which gives us 3x points on travel meaning we earned 26,793 points on this cruise which essentially means the 2 nights we’re spending before the cruise in Miami are free. Then using our Explorist status with Hyatt (which was indirectly earned through Captain’s Club Elite Plus) we’re able to avoid resort fees and get a few extra perks as well.

 

As usual I've included a quick intro video just in case you'd like to put a voice and face with the blog! Thank you all for following along!

 

 

I’m so excited to follow along on your thread again. We first followed your previous thread on the Equinox before our trip in September and it was very helpful. We were in a sky suite S2 on deck 11 so I’d love to get your opinion of the S1 you’re in for this cruise. 

In your last thread you dined exclusively at Murano and I’m curious if you will do the same for this cruise. 

Cant wait to see more!

21 hours ago, Hatteras51 said:

Just wanted to let you know that we got an inquiry about the ring found at the Natural Pool, but it wasn't a match. I hope that the owner looks around the social media Aruba sites. It is listed in several places. 

Thank you for the update. Too bad it wasn’t a match. That would have been such a happy ending. Hope the ring and it’s owner are reunited eventually. 

16 minutes ago, Hatteras51 said:

The videos are awesome! Thanks so much for this report. I have really enjoyed reliving this cruise. We sailed the same week as you, one year earlier. We didn't know if we were going to make it because Irma had just hit Florida a few days before. The airport was only taking limited flights, so we were very fortunate to have made it. It was one of our favorite cruises. 

Thank you so much. DH did a great job with videos. Ironically we were on a British Isles cruise during hurricane Irma and barely had time to fly out of Miami before hand. Glad you were able to enjoy the cruise as well. 

Disembarkation: Miami, FL-

We arrived in Miami at 6:45 am. We arrived just in time for the sunrise. We got some pretty pics of the Miami skyline at dawn from our balcony. As suite guests we could depart anytime we wished after clearance from shore. We just needed to go to Michael's club, and our suite concierge, Aveline would lead us off the ship. She also escorted us on board on embarkation day. We dropped off our carry on luggage with Aveline so we could go for breakfast unencumbered. 

We decided that for the first and only time during this cruise, we would have breakfast in the Luminae dining room. We had a very nice and relaxed breakfast. We realized that we could have had breakfast here each day instead of on our balcony, if we had felt like doing that. It was definitely be so much more enjoyable without the crowd in the Ocean View Cafe. This was the other choice for breakfast as you can't have breakfast on your balcony on disembarkation day.

After breakfast we headed to Michael's club to disembark the ship. We simply walked into Michael's club and informed Aveline that we were ready to disembark, and she immediately showed us out of the club and through the door to the disembarkation deck. There were two lines, one for most passengers and the other for suites guests. This may be for Elite and Zenith guests as well, but I'm not certain. We were very pleasantly surprised to be greeted by Captain Kate herself. She personally shook the hands of each guest and thanked them for sailing with the Celebrity Equinox crew. When I say each guest I mean all passengers, not just suite guests. I have never seen this except on the show The Love Boat!  I have now been completely seduced by Celebrity Cruises. This was one of the best cruises yet. We can't wait to sail the Equinox again next July. 

We went right out to our luggage, picked it up, and went right out of the terminal to the parking garage. It was so nice to not need to wait to go through customs. This is usually the biggest wait of an entire cruise. So cool to have done this in Key West.

I have really enjoyed doing this review. It's been a great way to relive the trip. DH made some phenomenal Go Pro videos he made of the cruise. Click on the links below to view them. 

https://gopro.com/v/1PmMnkklo8bn

https://gopro.com/v/edQJk4o3lM97

https://gopro.com/v/rb1Pb3X953GO

https://gopro.com/v/0X8vz9oV92vJ

https://gopro.com/v/zR8QRMd3LG2R

https://gopro.com/v/3vW5QPVRZqyL

Bon Voyage!

Day 10: Key West

Key West was our final port of call. We did something very different at this port. As this was our last port of call until disembarkation in Miami the following day, we were required to go through customs on board before we could leave the ship for our stop in Key West. They said that it was because we were entering the U.S.  before we returned to Miami the following day. We arrived in port at around 7:30am. US citizens were to head up to the Sky Lounge, deck 14 with our passports. All other passengers were to report to the dining room. We were each given a time slot to report and I think our time was 8:30am. We arrived a bit early, but they sent us right in to the lounge. We literally went in one door, handed our passports to a customs agent sitting at a fold out table, spoke with him, and headed out the opposite door where a crew member punched our cruise cards. This was to identify us as having already passed customs and would therefore be allowed to disembark the ship and head directly out of the terminal in Miami upon arrival. The customs agent asked where we were from, to which DH replied, " Naples, Florida ". The customs agent said, " Really? ". DH said, " Yes we're closer to home in Key West than when we get to Miami.". The agent laughed and waved us right through.

We had decided that since we'd been to Key West so many times, that we would get off the ship, shop, and have some lunch, and get back on board to enjoy the ship with fewer passengers on board. We were docked right in front of the Margaritaville Resort & Marina. Parrothead hubby loved taking pics here, then we headed down to Duval Street. DH made me stand on the corner of Caroline Street and act crazy for a video, as he loves the Jimmy Buffet song:" There's a woman going crazy on Caroline Street, stopping every man she does meet". I begrudgingly obliged him, fearing someone would believe I was crazy. I should have realized that as we were in Key West, no one would notice! LOL. 

We passed by the Southern Most Point marker that delineates the Southern Most point of the USA. I got a nice pic of DH in front of it to add to our collection of pics of this famous spot. We headed back up Duval Street towards the ship to get souvenirs and money from an ATM. At this point my friend Cindi texted us to meet up with her. Her mother and she had taken the Conch train tour of the city, and her Mom wasn't feeling well and went back to the ship. Cindi showed us some pics of iguanas running around the city. They are not native to Florida, but they have become an invasive species. Now I wonder if they have befriended the chickens that wander the streets of Key West? LOL. Key West never disappoints with its various wonders and excentricities.  We went to Captain Tony's Saloon, which is the original Sloppy Joe's Bar for some drinks and t-shirts. We couldn't find anything that appealed to us for lunch so we decided to eat back on board. We dined one last time in the Ocean View Cafe, took our dip in the Solarium pool, and headed up to pack and change for dinner.

The show this evening was Elysium, a production done by the cruise production team. We decided to forego this show and head straight for dinner. This would be our last night to enjoy Michael's Club and our outstanding crew members in the Luminae dining room. It was fabulous as always. This was every bit as good as the specialty dining restaurant, Murano. We didn't try any of the other restaurants, but we hope to when we sail next July. 

Following dinner we headed to the casino one last time, and we each dropped another $20 and left. We were definitely not high rollers this cruise. We then went back to Cafe al' Bacio for one last cappucinno and espresso followed by more gelato. DH headed up to the buffet before bed, but having eaten myself into oblivion, I informed him that I knew how to get to the stateroom and headed up to bed. 

First a correction for Day 8: I said DH didn't buy a watch on the ship. DH aka MisterMet reminded me that he did buy a red banded Bulova on board. He will tell you that my observation skills are quite lacking! LOL.

Now for Day 9: 4th Day at Sea -

Yippee! Another day for rest and relaxation. Similar to the previous day's routine we started with our  balcony breakfast and then headed down to Cafe al' Bacio for capuccinos and espressos. Following this we headed to the Captain's Clearance event in the shops for the end of cruise sale. Captain Kate was there autographing Captain's hats for purchase in the shops. She was gracious as always and posed for pictures with the ship's guests and spoke with all of us. 

Immediately following the sales event we headed to the Equinox theater for the Oceans Ahead: Captain's Corner for some Q&A with the officers. Cruise Director Dan France came out on stage and announced Captain Kate McCue, Chief Engineer Grigorios Mexis, and Hotel Director Julian Brackenbury. This is where they take questions from the audience including one from our friend Mary. There were several interesting questions, and their answers were excellent. I can't remember what the question was, but the Chief Engineer Grigorios mentioned that his wife was onboard for a visit. They put the spot light on her in the balcony section, much to her chagrin I'm sure, but she took it with style. My favorite question that someone asked was: "What is the strangest thing you've ever seen on a cruise ship?". Grigorios answered: " He once noticed bare legs and feet on the floor of the glass elevators in the promenade, and he ran up the stairs in time for the elevator to open. There in the elevator, late at night, was a bare naked man passed out on the floor! " Captain Kate said: " If I only had a dime for everytime I've seen that! ".

Now time for lunch. We headed to the Luminae dining room for lunch in lieu of the buffet. We have had the burgers in the Mast Grill, and they were very good, but we had the best gourmet burgers in Luminae. I believe they were wagyu beef. OMG, these were outstanding! Following this culinary delight, we did our usual trip to the Solarium pool for a quick dip and back to the stateroom to relax. 

Once we were dressed for the evening, we met up with our friends at the Martini bar. I'm not sure if I mentioned this before, but this bar is an ice bar. We each drew something in the ice. I drew Let's Go Mets, as you may have guessed DH, aka MisterMet is a huge NY Mets fan.

The show this evening was the singer Ashlie Amber. She was an American Idol contestant. She performed a Whitney Houston tribute. The cruise director informed us that she is a favorite of Capt. Kate, and she was in the front row for the show. After her performance, I have to agree with the captain. She has a beautiful and powerful voice.

After dinner we met our friends up in the Sky Lounge on deck 14 for the silent disco again. We had missed the first one earlier in the cruise, but went to the Michael's club silent disco earlier in this thread. For our friends on board, this was their first. We each donned our head phones and rocked out with the DJ and the many revelers in the club. Each of us were dancing and singing to the 3 different types of music, and with the big crowd, it was even more fun than before in Michael's club.

We left this a little early to get to the Equinox theater for Steve Bruner, the comedian from the previous night's show. He put on a litte bit more adult type performance, and as before, he was hilarious. DH and I decided to try our luck in the casino after the show. We hadn't been there yet, which is not our norm. We each dropped $20 and headed out to the buffet for more food as usual. Usually DH likes to play roulette, but he wasn't in the mood this time. Saved us a lot of money, I'm sure, to make it a quick stop. Off to the buffet for our usual midnight snacks and then to bed.

Day 8: Sea Day #3:

After 3 straight days of ports and excursions, this sea day was a welcome respite. Yahoo we could sleep in instead of getting up early to make it to our excursion on time. We had our usual balcony breakfast at a nice leisurely pace. We started the day heading down to Cafe al' Bacio for capuccinos/espressos. Unfortunately we never seem to resist the pastries, cookies, and even donuts. The captain arrived at 11am to serve as usual. She chats with the passengers like we're old friends. I really give her and Celebrity kudos for the accessibility and friendliness of the officers and crew. They make every passenger feel like a V.I.P.

DH went back to the stateroom for a nap, and I decided to attend the presentation on the Galapagos & Machu Picchu in the Celebrity Central theater. It was very interesting as they discussed their new smaller ship just for these cruises. The Future Cruise Director Fernando gave the talk. The trip includes a night in a luxury hotel in the departure city and excursions are included in the cruise fare as well. Fernando recommended booking the airfare through Celebrity as you're guaranteed the ship will wait for you if there are any flight delays. This sounds like a trip of a lifetime, and when I checked the prices, I confirmed it would be, as it's very expensive in comparison to other destinations. Perhaps when we're retired someday.

DH and I decided that perhaps we should go up to the sports deck to walk off at least a few of the many calories we had consumed so far. As you may expect, it was a bit crowded with sunbathers, so running on the running track is next to impossible. DH wasn't feeling up to a run, and I prefer to do my excercizing outdoors. Therefore a nice brisk walk was the extent of our workout. We made several laps, though I always lose count. 

Following the deck walking, we headed down to the shops to check out the watch sale. Ironically DH who collects timepieces didn't find anything that struck his fancy. I found several Anne Klein watches that appealed to me, but I decided against buying one as I use an Apple iWatch. This was monumental for us as we tend to always spend too much in the shops on board.

After all of this browsing, we had naturally worked up an appetite. Time for lunch at the OceanView buffet. We had our usual salads to alleve our guilt, and then ate lots of delicious but less healthy foods like pizza and ice cream. We headed out to the main pool area to watch the Officers vs. the Passengers volleyball tournament. We saw this before on the Summit, and we really enjoyed it. This tournament was just as enjoyable. Then we headed to the Solarium pool to lounge in the quieter atmosphere. The main pools are definitely where the action is, but we prefer the serenity of the Solarium pool. Even this pool was a little crowded, but we managed to find a couple of chaisse lounges together. I had intended to do some reading, but I wound up going into a food coma. Time for a quick dip in the pool before heading up to our stateroom to change and head down to the theater for a matinee show.

The matinee show was at 3pm. This was Broadway with your Production Cast Singers. They performed a medley of hit songs from a number of Broadway hits. This included both song and dance numbers from the various shows. It was quite enjoyable. Now we were off to shower and dress for dinner. This evening was the 2nd Evening Chic night. 

While DH took his turn to shower and get ready for dinner, I went to the martini bar to meet up with our friends to sample a few martinis before the pre-dinner show. I love to watch the bartenders entertain us with their artistic flair for mixology. They can make and stack several different martinis at once, and they even teach the passengers how to do some of these tricks. Once DH arrived, we were off to the evening show.

Tonight's show was the comedian Steve Bruner. He was hilarious and didn't miss a chance to include the brave souls in the front row in his routine. Steve has performed on tv, cruise ships, comedy clubs, and with several famous comedians such as Bill Engvall and Ellen Degeneres. 

Following the show, we headed to dinner in Luminae. Dinner was wonderful as always, but we were treated to a special dessert. First we had macaroons followed by their chocolate sphere. This is a large chocolate sphere that is hollow inside and filled with vanilla gelato and chocolate sauce. Our server Jesus poured a blue flame onto the sphere to melt the outer shell. It's a spectacular show and the dessert is sumptous. 

After stuffing ourselves to the gills as always, we went to the Grand Foyer for the Party Like Gatsby with the cruise director Dan. This was a dance party from the Roaring Twenties. Some of the passengers were dressed like flappers and they did the Charleston. We didn't stay until the end as we were tired and needed to rest up for another sea day of fun.

3 minutes ago, AroundTheWorld1 said:

Just back from our cruise and we did have Dominic! Just as you said he was absolutely wonderful. I told him about posts made here on CC mentioning him and he blushed, he was so humble he couldn’t believe it. We had a marvelous time and he added to the experience. 

I’m so glad you had a great time and that Dominic is still on board. I gave him a great review to Celebrity so I hope he gets a raise. 

I wanted to add this pic of an addition DH bought for our lanai in Florida. This was purchased from an artist at a little kiosk in Kralendijk, Bonaire.

8 hours ago, PTC DAWG said:

Good review, thanks..

 

Sailing in the Equinox next Sept...11 day southern Caribbean...question, is there much nightlife on the ship past 10 PM or so?  

 

Anyone know now any details about the dry dock scheduled for ths spring?  

From the Cruise Fever website: June 2019. We sail her July 27, 2019. Not sure how accurate Cruise Fever is with this. As for the nightlife, lots of disco and dancing in the Sky Lounge late at night.

Day 7 - Kralendijk, Bonaire:

We arrived in Bonaire at 6:30 am. We had our usual morning breakfast on the balcony. There was a beautiful sunrise this morning. I had heard that Bonaire is one of the best places for diving. I've always wanted to try diving, but DH wasn't too sure about it. I figured that with the crystal clear aquamarine waters in this port, it would be a great place for more snorkeling at the very least. We had signed up for another Celebrity excursion. This was the Double - Dip Snorkel aboard the Sea Cow. We checked them out on TripAdvisor before hand, and they had good reviews.

As usual, they were calling our group for disembarkation to the excursion as soon as we arrived in the theater. One thing I may not have mentioned before, we tend to always stop and pose with the crew/photographers. Most people don't stop for them, but they seem so disappointed that we figure it couldn't hurt. If we don't want the photos we don't have to buy them, but they're fun to view in the photo shop on board. After posing we found our guide, a young Dutch woman named Gea. She explained that due to dock construction we would have to walk a short distance to the boat. Normally the Sea Cow docks right next to the ship. We probably only walked a block to the boat, so no major inconvenience there. Gea introduced us to the rest of the crew of the Sea Cow.  Gea and her husband Henk own and operate the Sea Cow, a catamaran that they extended to 40 feet after they purchased her. We were introduced to an underwater photographer onboard named Jacques who would be photographing our underwater adventure. 

DH and I brought our own snorkel gear so we didn't need to select theirs. We had a pleasant boat ride to the first snorkel site. This was off the uninhabited island of Klein. You can take a boat to the island to swim and sunbathe, but it is protected and no building is allowed on Klein. Our guide told us that Harry Belafonte once owned the Island, and when he sang about the Island in the Sun, he was referring to this island. It boasts some gorgeous sugar sand beaches. We started our first snorkel just a few meters off the beach. We saw a sea turtle swim past the boat right before we dropped anchor. 

We were broken up into groups of about 10. Gea was our guide for the snorkel as well. She explained the different types of coral that we would see on the reef. One type that looked like a fan is called fire coral. The moniker is due to the fire-like rash you will get if you touch it. We had seen this on our previous snorkel trips, but luckily never touched it as we know touching coral can kill it. I didn't know they could fight back! Yikes. Gea was an excellent reef guide. Her knowledge was vast, and she knew where to take us to see the best variety of sea life. She tried to find a nurse shark known to frequent the bottom in this area. Sadly we didn't find it, but I did see a barracuda. DH didn't believe me, but when we got home and I put the flash drive in the laptop, there he was right in the pics. 

We moved a bit further along the coast of Klein on the boat to a second snorkel site. Here we saw a vast reef and lots of tropical fish. I also saw a large grouper come out from behind a portion of the reef. DH and I used his Go-Pro camera for pics as well, but we realized when we got home that the pics weren't as clear as our photographer's pics. They required us to snorkel with a life jacket so we couldn't dive down for a better view. I'm sure this is for liability reasons, but I wish I could have signed a waiver. Now DH was beginning to think about possibly trying scuba diving in the future. 

Our photographer scared me nearly to death when he suddenly appeared from beneath me in the water for a pic. Once I recovered, I gave him a wave. Then he motioned for me to move next to another man that wasn't my husband for a pic. I tried to indicate that fact to him, but he kept motioning for me to move next to him. I figured, oh well, whatever and posed with the gentleman for the pic. Then my DH shows up and he realized his mistake and after a good laugh, we had the correct pic. Thanks DH for claiming me. LOL

After two fantastic snorkel dips, we boarded the boat for a rum punch and peaceful ride back to port. We thanked our crew, gave them a tip of appreciation, and purchased our pics on the flash drive. Now we were off to explore Kralendijk. We mainly stayed in a three block area that was obviously for tourists with shops and restaurants. After we bought some souvenirs, we happened upon a gelato shop. You may have noticed by now that we're gelato addicts.  I'm unapologetic about it, I admit. We weren't disappointed. 

We headed back toward the ship to have some lunch onshore before hand. We chose a bar and grill right on the water next to the ship. We dined at Karels Beach Bar and Watersports. DH informed me as soon as we sat down that he knew what he wanted. It was the soup of the day, Iguana soup!! I had ceviche and a salad with seafood. I did try his soup broth. It was quite spicy, a telltale sign that they were trying to hide the flavor of something that is not on most folks' diet. He then ate the Iguana leg in the soup. Trying not to lose my entire appetite, I asked what it tasted like. He said, "Chewy chicken"!! Yuck! I have to give him credit for being so adventurous though. 

Following this culinary thrill, we headed back on board the ship. We had to get ready for something very special. DH  had heard on these boards that if you're in a suite sometimes you're invited to enjoy the sailaway from the helipad. We received the invitation the evening before. We were very excited. Once we met up with our escort at the prearranged location, we were led into a crew area where they have there own bar and lounge up to the helipad. Aveline, our suite concierge was there as well as several officers and other invited passengers. We were served champagne. DH and I thoroughly enjoyed chatting with the officers and the view from the helipad for departure. I happened to turn and look up to the bridge and spotted Captain Kate as she blew the ship's horn. We waved and she waved back. DH made the hand gesture for a trucker to blow the horn, and she blew it again. FUN. Then a small motor boat cut the ship off and she layed on the horn a bit longer! Now it was time to go shower and dress for the evening.

The show for the evening was Daniel Bouchet, a Michael Buble' type crooner. I happen to love Michael Buble' so I loved the show. We had another fabulous meal at Luminae then headed to the Martini bar to have a nightcap with our friends. They had a Full Moon party poolside on deck 12 at 10:30. They then had the after party in the sky lounge deck 14 that goes into the night, but we headed up to bed. Getting old.

10 hours ago, uktog said:

I can see GrazieMommy's videos but not Staffy's - any idea why not???

 

I'm not sure as see them but it's my thread. It looks like Staffy's are from Facebook. Not sure if that makes a difference.

10 hours ago, NBliving said:

 

You won't be disappointed. You may even be hipper than he!

A couple of videos:

Day 6 continued:

Once we were rested, showered, and ready, we headed down to Luminae for dinner first for a change. As suite guests we had an invitation to Michael's Club for a private "Silent Disco" party at 9:30, so we decided to forgo the show and dine early. There was a silent disco on either the 2nd or 3rd night of the cruise for everyone on board, but we missed that, so we were very happy that we had the chance to experience this unique form of entertainment. We were each given head phones that lit up in color to indicate which channel you were enjoying. One channel was Latin music, another was hip/hop/pop, and the 3rd was oldies. We all kept switching channels, but what made this the most fun was the fact that we were all dancing and singing to different music. Every so often we would take the head phones off to listen to everyone else, and it was hilarious. Another oddity was the fact that everyone was dancing the same moves to different music. DH was so impressed with this delightful form of entertainment that he plans to implement something similar at the private country club where he is employed. This is sure to be a hit. 

We met up briefly with our friends after our disco party for a drink then headed for Cafe al Bacio for some gelato. DH tried a combination of lemon and chocolate gelato at the server's suggestion. He loved it, but I can't say that I agree. I stuck with mint chocolate chip. As if we hadn't had enough to eat, we headed up to the buffet again for coffee and a cookie. The trouble with this is, that I can't resist a slice of pizza and more dessert!! Having completely made a pig of myself, it was time to retire to rest up for Bonaire the next day.

11 minutes ago, mlmbar said:

We  definitely want to go back again. Our next booking is Equinox, same cabin Nov 16,2019 Key West, Cozumel,  Costa Maya, Grand cayman

Marsha and Barb  

We're booked for July 27, 2019 on the Equinox with your same itinerary. 

Dushi=Sweatheart