LIVE - Solstice Transatlantic April 15-29

[rafinmd]

If you go to post #37 at the bottom there's a thumbnail attached, I think this is Roy.

 

Thanks, texmex.ferr, you're right.

 

Could you check what kind of beer menu is at the moment in Michael's Club? Because Solstice was on dry dock on January and Michael's Club was supposed to be changed more pub style with 60 different beers.

 

So have changes be done and what is the beer situation at the moment?

 

I’m not a drinker but I stopped by Michaels tonight and actually didn’t see any beers in the menu (included with today’s menu post at http://solsticeta2012.blogspot.com/. Perhaps someone else can shed some light on what I might be missing.

 

 

Tuesday evening we had a bit of active sea. There wasn't enough to cause a real problem but it was sufficiently noticeable that one of the lecturers commented on it. We also had a rain squall about dinner time Tuesday but it is still pleasant weather in general with a temperature of about 60. With the loss of another hour Tuesday night I was late rising and completed about 2 1/2 miles on deck 14, ending around sunrise of 7:30.

 

Presentations by our usual 3 speakers were intermingled with 2 Cruise Critic events. Fred Bronson's presentation was on the story of Dick Clark and American Bandstand. Marc Kaufman told us about the newest Mars Rover. I had to leave that session a bit early as we had a Cruise Critic Luncheon with about 120 people at noon in the Grand Epernay Restaurant.

 

Steve Javie concluded the "Beyond the Podium" series for the day at 2PM. He had planned to offer "You Make the Call", showing videos of NBA plays and how the officials determine the proper call, but instead presented "The Road to the NBA", outlining the steps in training and advancement to a job as an NBA official, a long process which requires both luck and skill to advance to a field with only 60 openings. He will present "You Make the Call" in a later session.

 

A cabin crawl concluded the afternoon's activities for about 60 Cruise Critic members. In groups of about 8 we toured a series of 10 cabins including inside, ocean view, Veranda, Aqua, and Royal, Corner, and Aft suites and a Handicap Suite. The range of accommodations available was quite stunning.

 

This evening's entertainment was female vocal impressionist Karen Grainger. With a variety of wigs, Grainger gave impressions of a number of singers including Reba McIntyre, Celine Dion, Cher, and a number of surprises such as Lionel Ritchie.

 

Today's parting shot comes from the current Celebrity Today under the heading of "you learn something new every day". There is a discussion of officers' insignia and I saw: "The Chief Engineer's epaulet contains 4 gold stripes with propeller on purple background. The purple background honors the memory of the maritime engineers of the Titanic." How appropriate to be learning that as about 100 years ago the bodies of Titanic victims were likely being brought ashore.

 

The MDR menus I've seen to date seem to be pretty much following those in the 14-day menu thread (I've attached a summary of them). Today is menu D and a substitution is mentioned but we seem to be back to the original selection.

 

Roy

celebmenu.pdf

[happy cruzer]

Hi, Could you confirm that the Classic Dinner Favorites currently onboard match the pdf that you posted?

 

Your pictures are great.

 

Thanks for taking the time to do your blog.

[fishywood]

Oh dear, what a sobering coincedence to have attended a lecture about Dick Clark just hours before he passed away Wednesday morning in Los Angeles. (Hopefully you are not hearing about this for the first time from me, as this news probably will not appear in the satellite newsletters until Friday, but I imagine there will be quite a bit of talk onboard)

 

To possibly address a couple of questions from above:

 

In the newly renovated Michael's Club on Infinity there is a display case built into a pillar with bottles of the available English and European beers on display. One night when a server failed to comprehend which particular blend of Fuller's I requested I started to rise up to point to the display but was quickly ushered back to my seat and presented with one of each bottle to choose from.

 

The Classic Dinner Favorites menu now lacks both the Escargot and Antipasti appetizers. But again I am speaking specifically about the recently Solcistized Infinity; perhaps Roy can report otherwise about the S-class.

[JezzaC]

Thanks alot for checking out Michael's Club! A bit disappointing that they don't have the new beer menu as was said by personnel on November.

[rafinmd]

Today started more like my usual routine for a sea day. I was up at 5 and completed my normal 5 miles just after 7. I was wearing the ankle brace but took it off soon after completing the walk and the ankle felt fine. During the walk the skies ahead were clear while those overhead and aft were very cloudy and ominous.

 

I'm beginning to think that this will be my one and only cruise on Celebrity. I did know of course about the very limited walking facilities on this 122,000-ton ship but didn't know how much of an issue that would be. The ankle gave me a reprieve from having to face that but now that it's getting better I found 5 miles on that little jogging track truly B-O-R-I-N-G. I do appreciate having the cable access to the network and think that Choice Air is the best air-sea program in the business. I also enjoy the Beyond the Podium experience which is way ahead of anything HAL offers but not as good as either Cunard or Crystal. I think the other thing that's really turning me off is having the Sky Observation Lounge closed to me 5 hours every day. I would really like to enjoy a sunrise sometime from a comfortable lounge but even if it is open after sunrise I would need to leave immediately afterwards. I am turning that in as an "Attention to Detail" item but doubt if anything can be done about it.

 

Today's Beyond the Podium events got off to a sad start. Fred Bronson was supposed to go behind the scenes on "The Sound of Music" but you could hear a pin drop as the topic changed. The 40-minute tribute to Dick Clark was both ironic and moving. It's fortunate we got one last look at Dick Clark yesterday as a living person, and how sad it would have been if he had been the planned topic today.

 

In his noon update Captain Yannis Berdos reported we are about halfway to our first port of Tenerife. The afternoon Beyond the Podium presentations were "Exoplanets Galore: The Discovery of Billions of Planets Beyond our System" by Marc Kaufman and "You Make the Call" by Steve Javie. He will run a free shooting contest Friday weather permitting.

 

In the Solstice Theater this evening we were treated to the Magical Mayhem of Neal Austin.

 

The MDR menu today was menu G from the menu thread (with a few changes). The sequence so far has been A-B-C-D-G. Since I am dining in Blu, I don't see the full printed menu including the every day selections, but I would think they do not change with the length of the cruise and any changes would be widely discussed.

 

My parting shot today has to come from current events, especially as they coordinate so closely with activities on the ship. Rest in Peace Dick Clark. You truly are a legend.

 

Roy

[rafinmd]

Somehow I slept through the alarm and woke about 7. The sun was just popping up as I stepped on deck. Working without the ankle brace I got in about half of my walk in the morning.

 

There was another change in Fred Bronson's presentations. He had planned to talk about The Sound of Music today but had gotten permission to screen the movie and will do that in conjunction with his presentation Saturday. Today he gave us an inside look "Behind the Scenes at the Eurovision Song Contest". Marc Kaufman concluded his series with "SETI, METI, and the Hunt for Intelligent Life in the Universe". NBA referee Steve Javie had planned to run a free throw shootout but there was rain at the scheduled time of 1:00, but there was a Bean Bag toss between the Officers and guests.

 

Captain Berdos reported a temperature of 70 at noon although with drizzle it felt cooler. We will also advance the clocks again tonight, the first time we have done it 2 consecutive nights. I went out to finish my walk at 2:00 with a jacket on and with the sun coming out it turned out to be very warm.

 

Pianist Jeff Hughes (keyboard and leader of the Solstice Orchestra) performed in the Solstice Theater mid-afternoon, offering a wide variety of music including classical, Broadway, Jazz, Ragtime, a hymn, and even one of his own compositions.

 

I was fighting competing desires for this evening. I wanted to try at least one dinner in the Grand Epernay Restaurant. I had also noticed that this evening's headline act was Davie Howes. I had seen his wonderful show in February on the Zaandam and didn't want to miss it with a dinner running overtime but also didn't want to completely miss a new act I might never have another chance to see, so I did make this the night for Grand Epernay. It turned out to be menu J, and I tried the Chicken Chiquita. The daily selections are also posted to the blog with a few changes from past years. My apologies for letting my camera strap get in the way as I photographed the daily selections. I was with another solo and a couple at dinner, and about 6:45 the solo excused himself to go to the show. When the couple thought they might leave before desert as well it became unanimous.

 

This evening's show was "The Music and Mayhem of Davie Howes". Howes sings and plays many instruments, primarily piano and trumpet but also improvised instruments like a garden hose. He performed a wide variety of music, including a spectacular set of variations on Bach's Toccata in D in the style of Oscar Peterson. I'm not familiar with Peterson but greatly enjoyed that piece and the rest of the show.He challenged the audience to nominate some objects around the ship he could adapt as musical instruments in the final variety show.

 

Howes again played the Peterson/Bach Toccata and it was even better the second time around. (I did catch it when he said tonight that Peterson is a Canadian piano virtuoso). He is leaving the ship in Tenerife but will appear in a variety show Sunday evening with Rondell Sheridon, and his challenge to us to find "instruments" is on. In one of his songs tonight he brought a walker up from the audience and did a duet with the band drummer, playing the walker as the drummer played the drums; a few seconds both donned hard hats and drummed on each other's heads. I am so fortunate I got to dine with others also willing to forgo desert to see Howes' show; afterwards I went up to the Ocean View Cafe for ice cream, cookies, and decaf as darkness fell upon the ship.

 

Today's parting shot will be Captain Berdos's life lesson from his noon announcement: We never grow up; we just learn how to act in public.

 

Roy

[kazu]

Thanks Roy for your reports. I love your parting shot. How true it seems on many days:)

[AerynSun_JohnCrighton]

I am enjoying the review- as I will be on her in less than 2 months.

 

Have there been any cooking classes offered? Scrap booking? You mentioned the CC party- how long was it, how was it conducted? (This is my first Celebrity cruise too)

 

Thanks,

Meg

[rafinmd]

Thanks Jacqui and Meg. Meg, there are cooking classes although we have extra on the transatlantic. If you go to the blog at http://solsticeta2012.blogspot.com I have posted the activities page of the Celebrity Today and hope to post the entire Celebrity Today in a better form once I get to land based internet.

 

I was up this morning at 5 and completed my walk just before 7. There was not much sun to be seen when it should have come up around 7:40, just a few bright spots in the heavy clouds. The temperature is still near 70, but feels cooler.

 

It was a very relaxing day with a break from the intense Beyond the Podium program. Lisi gave a talk on Tenerife and Lisbon in the morning. There was a reprise of the Galley tour for those who missed the popular event the first time.

 

At noon Captain Berdos reported we are now less than 1,000 miles from Tenerife. Seas are still slight.

 

In the afternoon there was a talk on "How Ships Move". Celebrity Central was so packed for that I did not stay. The Neptunes and Neal Austin performed in the Solstice Theater at 3.

 

This is the second of 3 formal nights on this voyage. I enjoyed a Pork entree in Blu while the Chef's recommendation for the Grand Epernay Restaurant was Sirloin Oscar. While Blu does not follow the traditional dress code, I'd say at least 80% of the diners there were wearing at least suits or gowns.

 

We advance the clocks another hour tonight which I think puts us on Lisbon time and only 1 hour from Barcelona time. The evening show tonight is Pulse by the Stars of Celebrity. The high energy show was mostly dancing with rock music and included an areal number.

 

As a parting shot tonight, we are losing an hour for the 3rd consecutive night tonight. This is a disadvantage of an Eastbound crossing, but I really detest flying eastbound overnight. I prefer sailing both ways, and love starting in North America where the best of the crossings comes last. I will do that in the fall but there is no matching Westbound sailing. Until then I have to live with losing an hour so many days but will have a relatively painless flight home and a vacation that fits into my schedule.

 

Roy

[AerynSun_JohnCrighton]

thanks Roy,

It was too small for me to read, can I do something to make it larger? I sure wish I was already out to sea... the last 6 weeks of the school year is hectic for those of us that work in it. :)

[Ray in NH]

How about an escargot update for Solstice? Do they have them now? Do they expect to have them for the Med season?

 

Have a wonderful time, we've done a few TAs and love 'em.

 

Pardon the interuption ... Unless Celebrity has toally revamped their menues, escargot are available on the "everyday" section of the evening menu. You should have no difficulty sating your escargot cravings. :)

Ray in NH

[rafinmd]

thanks Roy,

It was too small for me to read, can I do something to make it larger? I sure wish I was already out to sea... the last 6 weeks of the school year is hectic for those of us that work in it. :)

 

Meg, in part at least I gave you bad information. There are cooking classes, a lot here perhaps because we have so many sea days. There was one today not in the activities but under dining I saw "Murano: 11:30 Hands on Cooking Class". I hope to publish the entire Celebrity Today in PDF format once I'm back on land. I would expect the experience from here on out with lots of port calls will be more like what you can expect than what we've had so far on the Transatlantic. If I notice cooking classes or scrapbooking in the program I'll try to mention it.

 

Roy

[AerynSun_JohnCrighton]

Meg, in part at least I gave you bad information. There are cooking classes, a lot here perhaps because we have so many sea days. There was one today not in the activities but under dining I saw "Murano: 11:30 Hands on Cooking Class". I hope to publish the entire Celebrity Today in PDF format once I'm back on land. I would expect the experience from here on out with lots of port calls will be more like what you can expect than what we've had so far on the Transatlantic. If I notice cooking classes or scrapbooking in the program I'll try to mention it.

 

Roy

 

Thanks,

Our first two days are at sea- and we have one more- so I am hoping for one at least. :)

Meg

[happy cruzer]

Thank you for posting the classics menu. I now know not to look forward to escargot on it. I do plan to try some kind of shellfish/seafood each night so I will not be suffering very much, :).

 

Enjoy every minute of the rest of your cruise.

[rafinmd]

I seem to be developing a knack for sleeping through my alarm. I slept until about 7:20 and started my walk at 7:40. Early in the walk I caught a touch of drizzle but things cleared and about a quarter way through my walk I noticed a bright round reflection in the glass as while walking aft on the ship and caught a timely view of an almost perfect sunrise. I normally complete my walk before the smokers start camping out at the Mast Bar. I missed that time frame today but there was a strong blustery wind and the smokers huddled briefly in the lee of the ship superstructure and left quickly. I completed my walk about 9:15 and just made it to Blu before their 9:30 closure.

 

This is something of a transition day. Our itinerary is essentially in 2 parts, an 8-day sea crossing and a 6-day cruise with 4 ports. The theme for the last day of the crossing seemed to be "get acquainted with the ship. It started in the Solstice Theater at 10 as Staff Captain Panos kicked things off with "Secrets to Ship's Navigation", covering the many factors required to move from port to port and hemisphere to hemisphere. A lot of people are required to handle all the issues from port times to resupply to finding alternate ports when storms arise.

 

At 11 a large panel of Senior Officers appeared in the Sky Lounge for a Q&A session. The panel included Captain Berdos, Staff-Captain Panos, Hotel Director, F&B Manager, Human Relations Manager, Environmental officer, Chief Engineer, and perhaps 1 or 2 others. A lively discussion continued for about 45 minutes. In his noon update Captain Berdos reported we had 402 nautical miles to Tenerife, still not quite our nearest point of land.

 

I opted for Sunday lunch in the Grand Epernay restaurant, a large table with a diverse group of cruisers.

 

In the afternoon several Stars of Celebrity appeared in Celebrity Central for a Q&A. They have typically 7-months contracts and generally love both performing and being at sea. One made the surprising admission (especially considering today's parting shot) that when he auditioned he was "afraid of the water".

 

Karen Granger performed a 3PM matinee show.

 

After a dinner of Pinot Noir Risotto in Blu it was time for a variety show which was also a farewell appearance by some of the guest artists leaving us in Tenerife. Flamenco Guitarist (not leaving) Gary Meyers started things off, followed by more humor by Comedian Rondell Sheridan. As promised, Davie Howes adapted some shipboard items (shower head and hose, one of the band member's folding chairs, and finally a vacuum cleaner. As he played "When the Saints Go Marching In" on the vacuum cleaner he was first joined in on the piece by the band's brass section and finished the piece with them using his own trumpet. Howes closed out the show playing his arrangements of Rhapsody in Blue and one of my sentimental favorites, What a Wonderful World.

 

I was back in my room in time to watch the sun set from my verandah.

 

As I implied earlier, today's parting shot has it's origins in the cast Q&A session. I asked my question basically knowing the answer but wanted to see how this cast would respond. When I was on the Crystal Serenity 18 months ago at the opening show I recognized one of the singer-dancers as the person at my muster station who was our link to the crew and organized us for potential evacuation. Four months later I was assigned to the same muster station the same singer-dancer took on the same role, and today I asked the cast what duties they have in an emergency. They have varying duties from stairway monitors to lead personnel in the muster stations. We often think of these people strictly as entertainers but they regularly practice and work on "roles" I doubt that many had in mind when they auditioned, and they do it consistently well and professionally. THANK YOU!

 

Roy

[AerynSun_JohnCrighton]

I tend to wake up early for the first few days, as I am still in 'teacher mode' maybe this time as I will be a few weeks into summer, I will get to sleep in... :)

 

Roy,

what day was your brunch? I have heard tell of a great brunch w/ ice sculptures and lots of goodies held in dinning room on a sea day. Was it on Sunday?

[rafinmd]

Pardon the interuption ... Unless Celebrity has toally revamped their menues, escargot are available on the "everyday" section of the evening menu. You should have no difficulty sating your escargot cravings. :)

Ray in NH

 

No escargot. The classics menu is on the blog under "Menus (daily and April 20) and activities April 21". I believe it's an issue of supply rather than a specific decision not to have them.

 

I tend to wake up early for the first few days, as I am still in 'teacher mode' maybe this time as I will be a few weeks into summer, I will get to sleep in... :)

 

Roy,

what day was your brunch? I have heard tell of a great brunch w/ ice sculptures and lots of goodies held in dinning room on a sea day. Was it on Sunday?

 

I don't think we've had a brunch yet.

 

Roy

[rafinmd]

Meg, wish you were here. 11AM Tuesday you'd want to go to Cook this, not that in Celebrity Central.

 

I rose early but found the outer decks were closed due to wind. Around 6 I went out on deck 12, and finding the stairs to 14 open, figured it couldn't be that bad. A little windier then yesterday but ok for my brief 2-mile walk. From the deck the lights of Tenerife were shining as we passed the north side of the Island and backtracked perhaps 10 miles along the south shore to Santa Cruz.

 

We docked behind the Liberty of the Seas about 9AM. Tenerife is one of the Canary Islands, a possession of Spain 700 miles Southwest of Lisbon and 200 miles off the coast of Morocco. It is the largest of the Canary Islands at 790 square miles and a population of 700,000. It is becoming a tourist destination but agriculture on the terraced hillsides is probably still the chief source of income. There is a wide variety of plant life but no large native animals on the island.

 

My tour today was called "Pyramids of Guimar". We left the ship about 11 and spent the first couple of hours in scenic touring, climbing to a height of 1900 meters in Las Canadas National Park. There was a pretty solid cloud cover but at this point we were looking down on the clouds and stopped at a vantage point where we could see a massive volcano rising up from the nearby island of La Palma (I think) and a sea of clouds below us. We stopped at one other overlook which was scenic but not as spectacular as the first and continued our more or less circular tour of the Island to the village of Guimar, where we visited a group of 6 small step pyramids. They averaged probably 25 feet tall and the sides ranged from perhaps 30 feet to 350 feet. The smallest is above a small cave (there are many natural caves on the volcanic island, many providing shelter to local farm animals.

 

I'm not sure if he really discovered them but Thor Hyerdal brought them to popular attention in one of his voyages. He believed they are ancient and were part of temple to the sun gods. An exhibit in the museum details a wide variety of pyramids worldwide which Hyerdal believed was a universal form of human expression. The pyramids all have steps to the top along the West wall which align with the setting sun on the winter solstice. Another vantage point aligns with the sun setting on the summer solstice and a mountain creates a double sunset where the sun setting on an angle goes behind a mountain and briefly reappears in a "notch" at the base before it finally sets. The local university thinks they date from the 19th century as agricultural structures. Nobody knows, but it seems at least reasonable to me that they are ancient but were adapted later to an agricultural use. We toured the museum with a guide and then had about a half hour to walk among the pyramids.

 

We returned to the ship about 3:45 with all aboard at 5:45. We were at the far end of a dock nearly a mile long and I walked into town hoping to find wifi but came up unsuccessful, and did not spend a lot of time looking.

 

We actually sailed away at about 5:55, and I enjoyed the "always available" New York steak in Blu.

 

The evenings entertainment was singer Nik Page.

 

As today's parting shot, modern archeology is wonderful and we have solved most of the mysteries of ancient civilization. Just when we think we have all the answers we come up with a Stonehenge or a Pyramid of Guimar.

 

Roy

[AerynSun_JohnCrighton]

Meg, wish you were here. 11AM Tuesday you'd want to go to Cook this, not that in Celebrity Central.

 

 

 

 

 

Roy

 

I wish I was too!!!! :)

[rafinmd]

Meg, I almost didn't see it but they did have a session on scrapbooking today at 2PM.

 

When I woke the TV display showed winds of 13 mph but there were warnings of high winds. A look at the smokestacks indicated we were facing directly into the wind adding 20kt to the apparent wind speed. I finished my walk a little after 7 and there was moderate cloud cover for sunrise at 7:20.

 

Beyond the Podium continued today with a 9:30 presentation by Marc Kaufman on "Space Entrepeneurs", and the continuing efforts to explore the universe after the retirement of the space shuttle. This was followed by a presentation on the last 3 ports and in the afternoon by a talk by Fred Bronson on "The Sound of Music", followed by a screening of the movie.

 

By my GPS we were nearly equidistant between Tenerife and Lisbon at noon although Captain Berdos had us closer to Lisbon. I am using straight line distances between docks while the Captain took into account having to go around the island and probably ended his calculations at the pilot station. There is still a gusty wind on deck and it feels cooler than the actual 66 degrees. The seas are rather smooth.

 

Celebrity Today listed a passenger talent show at 2 and Stars of Solstice in concert at 3. The 2 have been combined into a single 3PM show. The passenger show included several singers, a pianist, and a song and dance team. The Stars of Solstice show included singers Jessica, Hannah, and Philip. Thomas, officially a dancer, performed extremely well as a singer.

 

There was another lovely dinner in Blu with corn fritters, cornish game hen, and mango upside down cake. After breakfast I realized I was missing the camera I usually carry around. I checked at dinner and they had not found it, but it was in lost and found when I checked after dinner.

 

This evening's feature show was pianist Brooks Aehron, playing a mix of classical, rag, and rock. By the end of the show the seas were getting a bit busy and after leaving the show I never stepped on a stairway without a hand on the hand rail. The sun set just as I returned to my room.

 

Today's parting shot comes from Fred Bronson's talk on "The Sound of Music". In art we try to be careful and true to life but often the little things come back to haunt us. Fred's case in point was a crate of oranges shown in the movie labeled "Product of Israel". Of course, at the time of the story action Israel did not yet exist. I also experienced a taste of fallibility today. A great thank you to the person who found and returned my camera.

 

Roy

[AerynSun_JohnCrighton]

Sounds like fun!

 

Roy, do you happen to remember if they had specialty restaurant deals upon embark for that night?

Meg

[rafinmd]

Sounds like fun!

 

Roy, do you happen to remember if they had specialty restaurant deals upon embark for that night?

Meg

 

I don't remember exactly but the deal I recall was $70 pp for one night at each of the 3 restaurants. They also have has specials on lunch at the restaurants.

 

Note: When I stopped for lunch today, I uploaded several days of Celebrity Today to Google Documents. It looked to me like they should have been visible to anyone but I couldn't find them when I logged out of google, and the messages I got appeared to be in Portuguese so I'm not sure what's going on. I'd appreciate it if someone would look at https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B00EXNWekqhIZ1JMRXZucGhRYS1ETUNsTVRfdFZCdw and let me know what they see.

 

When I woke today I could see the lights of Lisbon in the distance and by 6AM Cascais was on our port side. We passed under the Pont 25 Avril about 7 and docked about 8, under cloudy skies (the sun did appear very briefly). There are several cruise terminals in Lisbon and we docked just upstream from the center of town. It is my 4th visit to Lisbon but the previous times I have spent the majority of my time in Cascais and Sintra.

 

I had booked an audio walking tour of Lisbon. We were fitted with maps and ipods and went out pretty much on our own, exploring some of the sights and pedestrian streets. A guide led us to the official starting point, Commerce Square. This large square next to the waterfront is surrounded on 3 sides by massive yellow buildings, but the square itself is under construction and we couldn't really go there. We walked up Rua Augusta through the Triumphal Arch to Rossio Square. Lisbon is built on a steep hill with an upper town, we passed Elevator de Santa Justa, one of several ways for pedestrians to get to the upper level.

 

From Square Figueira we looked out at St. George Castle in the distance and passed by the Church of Sao Domingos, where a fire years ago has left behind a dark feel to the interior. We continued through Praca dos Restauradores to a funicular which led to the upper level of town. I walked the hill, arriving at the top just before the funicular started moving. The view from the Miradora at the top was beautiful. By this time a drizzle was starting and I stopped for lunch and internet at Rossio Square on the way back to my 1PM return to the ship. I went out a second time around the port area but the drizzle was now becoming more like a steady windblown rain and didn't stay long.

 

The weather was pretty nasty when we left at 5PM. I had hoped to get a picture of Commerce Square from the water as we sailed away but didn't realize the ship was moving until late. We did get a view of the monument to mariners through the fog as we made our way down the Tagus. In his departure message Captain Berdos prepared us for rough 8-foot seas this evening.

 

This evening's headline entertainment was Goronwy Thom, a juggler, unicyclist, and comedian. As today's parting shot, this was not a good day to visit Lisbon. While I'd have liked better weather, I'm lucky that I've had better opportunities to visit this vibrant city. I was also fortunate that I don't live here. Most readers here are probably North American and would likely be no happier than I would to have a chilly drizzle on July 1 or July 4. I wish the people of Lisbon would have had a better day to enjoy their celebration.

 

Roy

[Wonders10]

Roy,

what day was your brunch? I have heard tell of a great brunch w/ ice sculptures and lots of goodies held in dinning room on a sea day. Was it on Sunday?

 

The brunch is usually on a sea day or in my past experience, a day when you arrive in port later in the day (as opposed to 7, 8am).

 

I think it will be hard to compare the daily activities on this cruise to our June cruise simply because there are so many sea days compared to our 3.

 

As far as scrap booking and cooking shows, on my first Solstice cruise (7 day Caribbean), they had both offered.

 

OP, love reading your review (and blog)...my family and I will be boarding her in June and cannot wait!

[AerynSun_JohnCrighton]

Wonders- I do know that, but as I haven't done Celebrity before, I might see an activity (like scrapbooking) I haven't seen on other lines, that I might wanna try and I will know to 'look out' for it... in case it does appear.

 

Roy- Sounds wonderful!!! Lunch sounds good, I hope they offer that to us as well.

[Oriana1]

Hi Roy,

 

I tried looking at the Celebrity Today's that you had in your link, but it states that there are no items in this folder.

 

Kim