CruisingGatorGirl

Loving this!! My aunt and uncle are on this cruise with you also in a suite/retreat so I keep hoping I'll spy the in the background haha. We sail in November. Cant wait! 

On 12/11/2022 at 6:16 PM, cruisequeen4ever said:

It’s nice to see you back; you were one of the best bloggers on here! Congrats on the baby and hope you blog your next cruise!

Thank you!! I appreciate the kind remark. I hope to journal our next cruise, and finish it! Happy Holidays! 

Thank you for the review. I love the Disney comparisons. Our last X cruises were on Solstice and Equinox (ten years ago), we then had a baby and covid happened and we switched to Ritz Carltons then Disney cruise. We just booked the Apex for next year (just us- no toddler!!!!) so I loved your review! 

1 thing that really stood out to me about Disney was the customer service, truly amazing, how would you compare the customer service level? Also, the cleanliness. Not sure if it is because of Covid, but we could not get over how clean the Fantasy was. 

I am glad you mentioned the rough seas. How much could you feel in your cabin? We booked deck 7, mid ship, hoping it will help. I always get sea sick but I love to cruise so I just deal with it. 

On 12/1/2022 at 5:00 PM, lovestx said:

Ashley, I am excited that you booked a cruise to celebrate your 10th anniversary!  And I am so happy that we've stayed connected a bit over the years so that I could watch your lovely life unfold.  Your daughter (I know her name but won't share in case you don't want that...) is gorgeous!

 I am so happy we connected and have stayed in touch!! XOXO. Thank you for the sweet comment about her ❤️

22 hours ago, miched said:

Thanks for the follow up.   Great to know that your marriage and life has been filled with happiness.

 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

19 hours ago, RenoNanaOz said:

I just stumbled onto your reviews today. They are both awesome! Congrats on your Daughter, she's adorable.

Thank you both!! We are excited to welcome her to the cruise life 🙂 

20 hours ago, Jeremiah1212 said:

 

🤢

 

As one of the younger ones on a Celebrity ship, there are many of us that won't step foot on South Beach!

 Agree!! We are in our mid 30's and for land vacations choose Ritz Carlton instead of all inclusives and pick Celebrity over party ships. Took our first Celebrity cruise at 25. 

Here is an updated picture from our Disney family cruise! Yes, I am blonde now HAHAHAH 🙃

Smiles,

Ashley 

On 9/6/2016 at 9:32 PM, Iamthesea said:

Ashley's has been on CC lately, so she must be fine. 😉 Doesn't sound like she will finish this review, though.

On 9/7/2016 at 1:17 AM, pacificoclan said:

Bummer! I just read it and it's not finished[emoji51]

 

 

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Hello!!! I am back!!!! I hope I can dig out my journal to finish this. I still have it all written down. I can say that Mexico was amazing and sunny and beautiful!!!!

So much has happened since this post. We are still happily married, finally graduated with my doctorate, welcomed a daughter, moved across the country (twice). Sailed on Disney cruise with our daughter. Most of all, FINALLY going back to celebrity on the Apex next year for our TEN year anniversary.

I wanted to thank everyone for the sweet messages and I am SO sorry it has been 7 years. I am not sure if those will even see this, but in the event they do, I am so sorry and thank you for your kindness ❤️

We are healthy and happy!!! Thank you all!!!! 

Here is a picture from our last family cruise on the Disney Fantasy. (p.s. I am blonde now😂)

Smiles,

Ashley

Such an interesting topic! Our first X cruise was age 25 on the Solstice, then 26 on the Equinox. About to do the Apex at age 36. I am so curious about the difference. Even though we are part of the "younger" crowd we enjoy classical musical and listening to the violin, we also enjoy trendy restaurants and downtempo/EDM music. This is what appeals us to Celebrity and very curious to try the Edge class after sailing on Solstice class.

On 4/1/2016 at 11:30 PM, winncruiser said:

Dear Sweet Ashley. My words cannot begin to describe the joy I have felt from reading your love story. I pray that you and Tyler continue to enjoy your lives together and that your marriage is blessed beyond all recognition. Thank you for your time and talent. And God Bless your parents for loving their children so much. May they be an inspiration to all who read your story.

 Thank you for this sweet comment and I truly apologize it took me years to see this. You are so kind, thank you! We are happily married and have 1 little girl now 🙂 

On 8/27/2016 at 11:39 AM, relic2 said:

I'm just popping in (very late) to comment. Great review! Love your style and hope your marriage lasts as long as ours (48 and counting).

 

 

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Hi!! Wow I just looked up this old thread of mine. We are FINALLY going back on Celebrity after TEN YEARS. *we have cruised since, Disney cruises now that we have a little girl* We just booked the Apex for our 10 year anniversary! I can't believe how much has changed in the last 10 years and the cruising friends we have made that extend beyond the keyboard. Looking forward to seeing what the Apex and Edge class has to offer!! Hope everyone is doing well 🙂 

On 7/16/2021 at 8:21 AM, ArthurUSCG said:

There are 2 sides to the kids clubs. The Oceaneers Club and the Oceaneers Lab. The Club has areas and activities that are geared towards the younger 3-6 kids, while the Lab is geared for the 6-12 kids. I would suggest going to the open house on the embarkation day and seeing what she thinks. The room designs and the activities with the staff naturally split the kids into age groups.

On our first DCL cruise, my oldest was just over 3 and his younger cousin was still 2. While we did check him in to the nursery with his younger cousin 1 time, it was mainly for her, she wanted him around and he wanted to help. But the other times he wanted to go play in Andy's toy room or asked what characters were going to be there so he could pick when to go.

 

When we went on the cruise, my son and the cousin had only been watched by family members, but after his initial separation anxiety, he loved going in there. I remember 1 night he didn't want to leave, so we let him stay up later there, and about an hour later the cast member called on the wave phone to let us know he was asleep on the bean bag chairs but he could stay there until closing.

 

The DisneyCruiseLineBlog has a lot of past Navigators and it will list a lot of the bigger planned activities that usually involve characters, but it doesn't have the smaller impromptu stuff like arts and crafts or games.
https://disneycruiselineblog.com/cruise-planning/itineraries/?ship=4

This was SO helpful, thank you! I did not know the split up the the ages. That makes me feel better- I was picturing her running around with 11 year olds and thought no way! I hope my daughter will take to it like your son did 🙂

Just wanted to chime in that I am also wondering about the nursery. We are taking my daughter who will turn 3 days before our cruise (Fantasy May 2022). From my research, I think the nursery will be better for her than the kids club. I've read the nursey has more "pre school" type toys which she will enjoy more than the kids club play items. She is an only child and never been dropped off anywhere, I do not think her being with kids up to age 12 would be appropriate for her (our personal opinion) so I am leaning towards the nursery. 

Loving your review! My husband and I started sailing on X in our mid 20's. We too don't like to party and get loud crazy shenanigans. So I am excited to see another "young" perspective as I would LOVE to do a TA one day, if work would allow that much time off. For now, we have gone back to land vacations :( we only like to cruise on long itineraries.

p.s.

On my first X cruise to the Med., I think I packed 20+ shoes so I feel ya on the shoe game haha!

p.s.s

We went to London in October for a short trip and did the Stonehenge, Bath, and Windsor Castle all day tour. You are going to LOVE it!

We did the Ultimate Caribbean on the Equinox leaving Dec 9th back in 2013 and it rained most of the cruise :( It rained in Grand Cayman, Colon Panama, Belize City, and Costa Rica. It did not rain in Cartagena or Cozumel. The locals said it had been raining non-stop. Many, many excursions were canceled due to river flooding causing streets to flood and the trees were "heavy" from the rain so no zip lining anywhere. We had to re-book several excursions while on board.

With that being said, this was our honeymoon and we still had a fantastic time! Just be prepared with rain jackets and possibility of excursions getting canceled. One more note- we usually book outside tour companies, however we were happy we used Celebrity for Belize City because of the street flooding we had to reroute our tour and we were an hour late arriving back to port and the ship waited for us. We are looking at another December cruise because work-wise that is a good time for us to cruise.

Just went down and took a look. Unfortunately no Black and White cookies. I'll take a look tomorrow and see.

 

 

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Ok, thank you for checking. I appreciate it!

Hi :) 3 questions, please

1.) Did you go to the Hot Glass Show?

2.) By any chance, did you notice if Cafe al Bacio has black and white cookies?

3.) How were the seas?

Thank you! I hope you had a great cruise!

We were so sad to see Bistro on 5 go :( That was always our go-to for lunch on day 1 and we often went back on a sea day. We loved the crepes, sandwiches, and salads. We love everything about it! Neither one of us eat sushi :rolleyes:

My husband and I eat in the MDR every night but request a table for 2. We do this because my husband has a hectic and intense job, he was gone 296 days for work in 2016. We value the one on one quality time we have with each other on vacations. My husband does not like small talk because often questions about your profession arise and he does not like to talk about his job. This does not mean we are "millennials with no social skills" :cool:;p

Thank you for doing this live report! Cruises outside of the typical Caribbean/Alaska/Med have always intrigued me. I am loving this!

Silly question, do they still have the black and white cookies at Cafe Al Bacio? That was my first ever black and white cookie, I am a sentimental person ;p

Loving everything so far! Thank you for taking the time to share with us, LIVE!! WOOHOO! I have never done a transatlantic but I have always been interested. Your trip is helping to fill my currently not-having-a-cruise-booked void :eek::loudcry:

the Equinox has the Hot Glass Blowing area on the lawn club deck. The staff that run it are young interns and there are several sessions( not just one show repeated) so your teens and young adult might find it interesting and also might engage these young people in conversation and might be able to socialize later, as these folks are not equinox staff. .

I can say this is true from experience. My husband and I were 26 on our last X cruise and made friends with the hot glass gaffers and hung out with them almost every day starting on day 3 or 4 of our 10 night cruise. We still stay in touch with them to this day :cool: We don't mind the cruise passengers being "older." We just like the quality one on one time- we are a "table for 2" type of diners.

In addition to shirts, we have also done cute custom sunglasses and bags.

Here is an example, we used etsy for both:

Note- I have not bought from these sellers, just did a quick search as an example

https://www.etsy.com/listing/242194112/personalized-sunglasses-wedding-favors?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=girls%20trip%20sunglasses&ref=sr_gallery_5

https://www.etsy.com/listing/523534173/personalized-womens-canvas-tote-monogram?ga_order=most_relevant&ga_search_type=all&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_search_query=girls%20trip%20tote&ref=sr_gallery_14

Oh of course, I definitely understand it depends on the work place :) I was just agreeing that yes, I can see how it would not be appropriate for work (depending on your job). I work from home, so I can wear all the white soled shoes I want LOL! I can wear my fuzzy robe and slippers ;)

At my husbands job, he cannot get away with white soles. He is required to wear a suit and dress shoes he can run in. So the Cole Haans, for him, our perfect.

Thank you all again! The information and opinions does help, a lot. Unfortunately we cannot book for at least another month due to my husbands job and if he can get the time off from work. I like to have my trips planned a year in advance, my husbands job does not allow for planning that far ahead :rolleyes: All I can do is make a list of the cruises to keep an eye on and the excursions for each so when I get the "green light" to book, I will be all set!

I will be sure to come back and update on what we went with :)

Thank you!

Ashley

Hi all!

Me and 2 of my friends (all 18) along with my parents are booked on Celebrity reflection best of western mediterranian july 10th and are wondering what the nightlife is like, we have researched the drinking policy and me and my friends will be able to drink as long as we have permission from our parents which we do have but are unsure about the nightlife and age groups, we would like to know if as 18 year olds we will fit into the nightlife and have a good time with other people around the same age as us if there is any???

 

We have sailed on crystal cruises before so we know not to expect much from nightlife as on crystal its mostly dead since the age groups range from 50+ on there

 

Thanks!

On a summer Med cruise you will find other people your age also cruising with their parents :) We did a Celebrity family Med cruise when my brother was 21 and I was 26, and there were many families on board with adult children. We found most adult children (late teens/20's) kind of stuck with their parents since Med cruises are so port intensive, but as a previous poster said since you already have a little group formed others will probably join you. On port days it will be pretty quiet at night since there are a lot of early morning in the Med. Sea days people will be out more having fun and staying up later ;)

Have a great cruise! Cruising the Med. with your family will be awesome :cool: And I agree that the martini bar had the most activity.