Sherry MGM

I was also on this sailing in Aqua class. You get 3 free exercise classes.

I ate much healthier food than I normally do. Absolutely nothing was deep fried except for this jalapeno which I just had to photograph since I was certain that I had been served a deep fried mouse lol. It was so good! I very much enjoyed the menu and service in Blu. Exercise, I took the stairs during the day but elevators in the evening when wearing heels, I walked laps up on what is called the jogging track but the sign ironically says no running, and you have to walk through the smoking section on every lap. Instead of returning for the ship offered yoga classes I made my own private yoga studio on my balcony with self guided videos from YouTube. I was very thoughtful of others and only played my video as loud as necessary to hear it and only after I put my head to the deck and looked both directions for feet on any nearby balconies. As for drinking less alcohol, well I tried lol. Sleep was very deep and restful and I never heard any noise from outside my cabin. I did not set foot on land the entire cruise and found the ship to be very enjoyable on port days. There was a very large group of travel agents on board, I heard that there were 800 of them and if you tried going to the buffet for lunch during their lunch break it was not a pleasant experience. As for Aqua class, I love dining in BLU so for me it is worth it. I don’t go to the specialty restaurants as I don’t want to miss a meal in BLU. Disembarking in Fort Lauderdale was very fast and easy, I had breakfast in BLU and left the restaurant at 8:00 and was in a cab 20 minutes later. All in all I had a wonderfully relaxing time, very therapeutic and I’m already looking at doing it again in the fall. Thanks for reading!

I’m working on one more post to tie this up, thanks for the patience!

So I posted on Feb. 27 and then nobody commented so I assumed that nobody was reading my posts. I gave up since that is a lot of work to not get comments or questions on. The rest of my trip was very nice. No footstool on my balcony, my room was in very good condition except for chair at the desk (peeling and dirty). I would be more than happy to answer any questions any of you might have. Thanks for reading.

I wrote this yesterday and forgot to post it. Slept like a baby gently rocked all night long. I get my best sleep on ships. I set my alarm for 6:30 this morning to attend the no charge 7:00 AM stretch and release which was to last 1 hour. In reality it is 30 minutes of stretching followed by an attempt to sell you shoe inserts that cost $348. The 8:00 slow flow yoga was overbooked so they moved that to the lawn club on deck 15. This was disappointing to me for several reasons. The grass was wet, I was cold and the worst part was the music playing from the public speakers was definitely not conducive yoga. I just couldn’t get into it and I left about half way through. Hopefully Wednesday’s class won’t get moved. I then went to the spa cafe for the build your own Greek yogurt which is advertised to come with blueberry, honey, chia seeds, pineapple, strawberries and flax seeds. They had yogurt, plain, nothing to put into it. I tried taking some chia seeds from the bowls but I was told they were for the smoothies for purchase only. So I took an avocado bruschetta that had no avocado in it. I gave up and returned to my cabin and ordered a pot of coffee and a toasted English muffin from room service. 50 minutes later I got my coffee which was very good, hot and strong, and a cold English muffin. Better luck later. I spent the rest of the morning on my balcony in my bathing suit, at least there nobody can see my hairy legs lol. I’m planning to go to the main dining room for lunch, there is a Cobb salad on the menu that I would like to try. Had lunch in the main dining room, Cobb salad was ok, dark chocolate ice cream for dessert though, yum! Then I spent the afternoon in the Persian garden which is complimentary for Aqua class passengers. This area has heated ceramic tile lounge beds, sauna, steam room, etc., very quiet and relaxing. Then I showered up and got ready for dinner. And yes I shaved my legs better. Here is yesterday’s sundown photo: The wine I am drinking is from a bottle that I brought from home. It’s my favourite cheap Canadian ruby red and I brought it because it’s called Clarity and the name seemed to fit with my trip. I also have a lovely bottle of Caymus Zinfandel that I intend to open tomorrow. Dinner in BLU, had the macadamia nut crusted sea scallop which was tasty: Creamy crab bisque also good. And the miso maple glazed baked salmon which was very very good! Then I closed down the casino at around 1:00 AM. Nothing dry or even damp about last night as I woke up with a wee hangover this morning.

“Don’t Let The Old Man In” is the title of a song by the late Toby Keith. There is a line in that song that says “Toast each sundown with wine.” I’m going to do just that all week and here is my first: Off to BLU for dinner about 6:20 and I got seated immediately. Service was great as usual. I ordered 4 appetizers instead of a meal. When the last one came I realized I needed a little more protein so I asked for a small plain piece of salmon to go with the salad and that was delivered within 3 minutes. Here are some pics: Roasted beet salad - delicious Grilled Calamari - 4 rings of cold calamari, it wasn’t very good Baby spinach salad - Roquefort cheese, craisins, toasted prosciutto, black pepper emulsion, this was hands down the star of the evening for me. I don’t like craisins but the sweetness of them against the blue cheese and pepper emulsion was delightful. With the small piece of plain salmon it was excellent! I also had the vichyssoise soup which is served cold and with no garnish of any sort but was very good too. No dessert for me so I was out of there by 7:30. On previous cruises my husband and I would have 2 to 2 1/2 hour dinners but when you are by yourself it gets a little lonely. Off to the casino to kill some time before the 9:00 comedian. I got 2 beers in the casino while I was playing that cost me over $200 - better luck tomorrow. The comedy show was not the best I’ve seen, many people walked out. Off to bed for an 8:00 AM yoga class, I don’t even know who I am anymore, I’m never awake before 10 and certainly not to exercise but look at me. Good night.

DAY 2 About last night - the cab ride from Miami airport to the hotel cost $123. I know I got “ taken for a ride “ but I will be submitting the receipt to WestJet as part of my claim for getting bumped. My original flight was to FLL not MIA. Uber was not an option for me last night because my phone was dead. Great sleep at the Four Points, had a shower in the morning using the hotel shampoo and conditioner because I didn’t want to dig through my bag looking for mine. Big mistake and a great reminder of why I don’t use hotel toiletries. I took their shuttle to pier 29. Easy peasy. Check in was fast and in no time at all I was walking the plank. There’s nothing like that subtle vibration that I feel when I board a ship, it’s very calming to me. Let the fun begin! First stop, drop my bag in the cabin and up to the gym to select my 3 free gym classes which are part of Aqua class. I chose 3 slow flow yoga sessions, 1 every second day. All classes are $20 and besides yoga they offer HIIT, RYDE which is a spin class, and WOD (workout of the day). Just a few years ago I would have done the WOD or HIIT but I am far too out of shape for those, maybe next cruise. Then off to the ocean view cafe for lunch. Spinach and spring mix lettuce with some chickpeas, onions and grilled chicken breast topped with balsamic vinaigrette. Then a tiny scoop of paella and some anchovies on the side. Eating sensibly. I took my time, chewing everything thoroughly and putting my fork down between bites. It was a lovely lunch. Then I checked in to my muster station which took all of 1 minute, way better than the old days. Something good did come of COVID! Sitting in the sun now soaking up some rays. The bright sunshine is showing how poorly I shaved my legs, I’ll have to fix that problem later. Last week they were hairier than my husband’s lol. Winter coat, what can I say. So far I have only taken the stairs and I plan to keep it that way. I do have a pair of fancy high heeled sandals though and they might force me into the elevators, but you gotta look good! I’ve been drinking water and unsweetened iced tea so far, I plan on a glass of wine later. Drink less, not go dry! I took this photo of the wall in the library and it has inspired me to work on my resting ***** face lol The world is a looking glass so be certain you are smiling More for you later tonight.

I am sitting on an airplane cruising at 30 something thousand feet. Next stop Miami, Florida. I am trying to decide whether or not I can commit to a live cruise review. I will do my best but I can’t guarantee regular commentary because you know, I will be on a cruise. Life gets busy on a ship. Last November my husband stated that he wasn’t interested in travelling between Christmas and Easter because that is snowmobile season and he wasn’t willing to give up any time on his machine. I thought that my machine won’t miss me for a week and I would like to travel. Little did we know at that time that we would have so little snow in central Canada that we have only been able to ride twice this year. Not that I needed permission but I asked him if he would be OK with me going somewhere and he gave his blessing…what a sweet man. So the next day I booked myself into an Aqua class cabin on the Reflection cruising February 25. A 6 night duration with stops in Grand Cayman, Cozumel and Bimini. I decided that this vacay would be all about ME! Recently the magical mixture of poor diet, no exercise, too much alcohol and every woman’s favourite - menopause, have really caught up with me and I’m not feeling great about myself. I plan to eat sensibly, drink alcohol in moderation, drink lots of water, get lots of sleep, do yoga and stretch, walk laps, learn how to meditate, think positive thoughts only, and basically try to be a better person. I figured that if I put it in writing on the internet I would be much more likely to actually accomplish some of these things. Feel free to hold me accountable. I also plan to have fun, I would like to see a comedy act, visit all the bars (even if I only have the occasional cocktail), silent disco, meet great people from all over the world, visit the casino, and whatever else that floats my boat, pun intended. I have been thinking about doing a live review for a while now. Seems like every woman that I tell about this trip looks at me wistfully, fully envious of what I’m about to do. “Sounds like heaven” is a phrase I heard more than once. I know that I am very fortunate to be able to embark on this journey and I welcome all to live vicariously through me. I was supposed to catch a connecting flight in Toronto to Fort Lauderdale but upon reaching the gate in Toronto the gate agent told us that anyone connecting to FLL needed to go to the customer service counter. That is NEVER a good thing. At the counter they told me that they changed the FLL flight to a slightly smaller aircraft and I would now be departing Sunday morning for FLL. I said no, that won’t work as I will miss my cruise, you have to get me there tonight. I pointed out that I booked this flight back on November 8 and that I have silver status in Westjet’s loyalty program so why am I getting bumped? The agent couldn’t answer that but then spent the next 10 minutes on the phone trying to find a flight for me. She offered me a flight to Miami arriving approximately 10:00 PM. Sometimes ya gotta roll with the punches. After what felt like several miles of walking (hello exercise) I arrived at my American Airlines gate. And on that flight is where I write this, complete with turbulence delayed inflight service, 2 loudly crying toddlers to my right turning the overhead light on and off in the mostly dark cabin and somebody playing a video game with the sound on despite several flight attendant announcements to the contrary. Positive thoughts are not currently what’s on my mind lol, I may have to indulge in some alcohol tonight. Oh look, the drink cart! I notice she isn’t charging anyone for the adult beverages and there’s nothing better than a free drink so don’t mind if I do thank you very much. I said drink less, not go dry and dammit I deserve it. So after landing in Miami I collect my bag and get into a cab to take me to Fort Lauderdale where I am spending the night at the Four Points by Sheraton Dania Beach. The elderly driver asks me where that is so I tell him the street address. He tells me to find it on my GPS, I can’t do that because my phone is dead and there was no way to charge it on the airplane…in 2024. He has a phone but refuses to look it up and starts driving, on the freeway doing 40 mph! It was terrifying. We were constantly honked at and I was sure we were going to be rear ended. When he finally gets off the freeway he turns right even though I said turn left. He drives a couple blocks and I very firmly said that he had to turn around and go the opposite direction and he just stopped dead in the middle of the road. Yes, more honking. Finally the hotel is in sight, I point it out to him and… he goes past it. I get him turned back and into the driveway of the hotel when the hotel shuttle bus pulls up behind him and honks at him to move. I could not wait to get out of that vehicle. He opens the back and puts my suitcase on the ground and steps beside a pillar to relieve himself right there in the front drive of the Sheraton. Just wow! Check in was quick and easy and in minutes I was in my room which is clean and inviting. I was going to say that I can’t wait for my adventure to start tomorrow but I think that it already started today. More tomorrow good night for now.

How much does it cost to dine in the specialty dining rooms on Celebrity?