Review Celebrity Solstice Sept. 13-23. Very Long

[luvtravel88]

This is a review of our California Coastal Vacation on the Celebrity Solstice. We stayed a couple of extra days in Seattle at the beginning of our trip and a couple of days in San Diego at the end. Hope you enjoy!

I’ve saved an overview of comments until the end.

 

 

Day 1 Sept. 11, 2013 Leaving Louisville

We arrived at the airport at 8:15 with two large pieces of luggage, 2 weekender bags, a cpap machine and a purse. Check in and security were faster than I’ve seen them in a long time despite the fact that it was 9/11.

 

We waited about an hour and a half to board and the flight ended up being delayed about 20 minutes. Luckily that time was made up in the air and we arrived in Chicago on time.

 

We had only about an hour layover in Chicago which was just enough time to grab something to eat and make our way to our gate.

Since we flew Southwest, once your were on the plane, you could choose your own seat. Well, I didn’t initially choose very well. Hubby and I took a window and middle seat, having to ask someone already sitting in the aisle to let us in. He looked angry at having to move and I was a bit worried as we sat down. Once the passengers were all seated and we were getting ready to leave, our seat mate called over a flight attendant to complain that he was forced to check his bag when others weren’t. He got angrier and angrier as he talked. The flight attendant went and got a gate agent who came to speak to the guy. She told him she was trying to decide if he was going to be a hardship on the flight. The guy said,” What do you think I’m going to do, take over the plane? “With that, she went and got security and he was escorted off the plane. We had to wait several more minutes while they retrieved the guy’s luggage and then we were off. Because of tail winds, we were supposed to be in Seattle about 40 minutes early and that’s just about how long we were delayed. Oh my goodness!! What a way to begin our travels. On the positive side, Hubby got to move over to the aisle seat and we had the center seat empty. So I didn’t choose so badly after all!!

 

The rest of the flight was uneventful and 4 hours later we landed in Seattle. We had no problem getting our luggage and we were off. We decided to man handle our bags onto a light rail train that took us to within about 5 blocks of our hotel. Once off the train, we decided we could pull our luggage 5 blocks to our hotel. What we didn’t realize was that it was all uphill. Luckily by the time we were panting, we only had a couple of blocks left to go.

 

We stayed at the Doubletree at the Convention Center/Pike’s Place Market. This was a really good choice as it is in the middle of downtown and is a pretty easy walk to wherever you want to go. It’s near Pike Place Market, shopping, the monorail to the Space Needle and the light rail system. All of the roads are pretty hilly there so walking uphill is unavoidable. We exercise regularly but if you don’t, you may find the walk difficult. Some people we met later, mentioned that they would take a taxi from the market to wherever they were going uphill.

 

This hotel is not near the airport but some of the hotels offer a shuttle. The Doubletree doesn’t but they ordered us a car service for a flat rate of $35. After dropping our bags, we walked back down Pike Street, about 10 blocks to the Pike Street Market. What an amazing place! I was most impressed with the open air fish markets, fruit vendors and the gorgeous flower stalls that we passed one after another. There were many touristy kinds of stores inter mixed with many different kinds of restaurants.

 

We walked outside the Marketplace area to the home of the very first Starbucks. Of course we had to go in and get a drink.

 

 

The market started closing up about 5 and by 6:30 it was pretty deserted.

 

 

 

Hubby and I had dinner reservations with a couple that we had never met, but are on our ship with us. Reservations were at 7, but we were pooped and sat on a bench for an hour just resting and watching the people go by.

 

 

Dinner was at a French Bistro in Pike Place Market called Marche. The food was pricey but pretty good.

We enjoyed our conversation with this couple and look forward to seeing them on the cruise.

We walked back to our hotel after dinner, another 10 block uphill walk, although it was quite doable without all the luggage.

[luvtravel88]

Day 2 Sept. 12 Seattle

Awoke this morning at 4:15 because my body thought I was still in Louisville, where it was 7:15. It didn’t phase Hubby, who slept until 7, 10am at home.

 

 

We got cleaned up and had breakfast in the hotel. It was pretty good, with several hot choices. We left the hotel at 9:30 for our Seattle Cycling Tour. This was a 2 1/1 hour tour that took us throughout the Seattle area. It was very informative and interesting. Seattle is very hilly, but our guide was able to keep the hills to a minimum. We only had 3 or 4 uphill rides of about a block each.

 

 

 

There is some very interesting architecture throughout the downtown Seattle area and we got to see some of it up close. The library, was extremely interesting. The building is all glass and circulation is all automated. When a book is returned it is put on a conveyor that sends it to the correct department so it can be reshelved. The conveyors are on the perimeter of the building making them part of the design.

 

 

 

 

After our tour, I got a cup of tea from a street vendor while Hubby went back to the room to change clothes.

 

 

 

Once he returned, we headed to Pike Place Market where we had lunch at Pike Place Chowder. This is a very small restaurant, almost just a store front, and the line to order was out the door, around the corner and down the block a bit. The line did go rather quickly though. We both had a Sampler, with four kinds of Chowder and some really good sourdough bread. It was delicious!

 

 

 

After lunch we walked back up Pine Street to the Westlake Center to catch the Monorail over to the Space Needle. The ride took about 2 minutes.

We bought a combo ticket for the Space Needle and the Chihuly Gardens. The ride up to the top of the Space Needle was very fast and the views were wonderful.

 

 

 

 

The Chihuly Gardens were simply remarkable. The blown glass was beautiful and awe inspiring. Each gallery we went into was more impressive than the one preceding.

 

[luvtravel88]

We returned on the Monorail and headed back toward Pike Place Market to a Target to buy a couple bottles of wine to take on the ship. We then had an 8 block uphill walk back to our hotel.

 

 

We were going to go to the hotel gym this morning, but I’m glad we didn’t. We have had plenty! of exercise today.

 

 

We came back to the hotel for about an hour and a half to rest up before dinner. We walked back down to Pike Place Market where we had reservations at a restaurant called The Pink Door. We met another couple for dinner that we had been talking to on Cruise Critic. Trip Advisor bills this as a night spot and it’s ranked number 1. We found it to be a pretty run of the mill Italian restaurant. There is supposed to be some kind of entertainment each evening, but where we were seated, we couldn’t hear the jazz music that was playing. The restaurant does have outdoor seating that overlooks the wharf and is really nice. The food was just so-so, but the cheese board appetizer was very good.

 

 

 

 

Day 3 Sept. 13 Seattle

I woke up this morning at 6:30, Hubby at 7:30, so we are doing a better job acclimating to the time difference. We got ready at a leisurely pace and went to breakfast about 8:30. Again, there was a very nice hot breakfast.

 

 

We were back at the room about 9:00, watched some TV, packed everything up, and were down in the lobby about 10:10. Our private car was waiting for us so we loaded up and were on our way to Pier 91. The private car was a flat $35 rate for up to 4 people and was a very easy, carefree way to get to the pier. Our hotel even mad the arrangements for us.

 

 

The drive was easy, and there wasn’t a lot of traffic. We arrived at the pier about 10:30 and gave our luggage to the porter.

 

 

Embarkation was the fastest we have ever seen. From the time we walked into the terminal, to the time we were on board the ship was 15 minutes. There was no line anywhere. We went through security first, then took care of our xpress pass and credit card info. As we walked to a seating area, where we were told we would have to wait to board the ship, they were releasing the people in the chairs to board, so we just followed the line and went on board.

 

 

Our cruise documents said to report to the ship between 11:30 and 2:30. We always get to the pier around 10:30. We figure if they make us wait an hour, so be it, but we have never had to wait for our posted boarding time. The up side of getting on early is you don’t have to look hard for a place to sit and you’re on board in time for lunch.

 

 

There were several people greeting us as we came on board, and you had a choice of a glass of champagne or orange juice.

 

 

Although we weren’t hungry, as it was only 10:45, we decided to go on up to the Oceanview Café, so we would have a place to sit.

People began to trickle in, until around 11:30, it became quite crowded.

 

 

 

We had lunch with the couple we had had dinner with the night before and waited until an announcement was made at about 1:15, that our room was ready.

 

 

 

There has been a lot of criticism about the buffet on the ship. We found that there are many choices. So many, that even if the menu doesn’t change for 10 days, it would be difficult to go through all of the choices in 10 days. We found the food to be tasty, hot and plentiful.

 

 

We are in room 7346 this cruise, a starboard side veranda , very far aft of the ship. There is no elevator this far aft and we have to walk quite a way to even reach a stairway. I knew this when I booked the room and we were OK with this. It gives us a little more exercise and I thought it might be a bit quieter, as only those in the rooms by ours would come this far out of the way. As it would turn out, the room was a very good choice as it was very quiet along our hallway. It was a pretty far walk to anything we wanted to do, but we figured it was a bit of additional exercise.

 

 

We went to the room and dropped off our carry ons and this is what we found waiting for us on our bed.

 

 

 

We left our room and went to take a look around the ship. We decided to start at the top and work our way down. The ship is very pretty and the public areas are well thought out in terms of both space and furniture arrangement.

 

 

We made it back to the 7th floor and decided to see if our luggage had arrived. It had, so we spent the next 30 minutes, unpacking and organizing our room.

 

 

The Muster Drill began at 4:00 and off we went to the 5th floor, to Silk Harvest Restaurant, which is where we muster. The drill included a video to show the procedure for muster and 30 minutes later we were finished.

 

 

We went back to the room to finish our unpacking and then went to the CruiseCritic Sail away gathering at the Oceanview Bar. We met several of the people I had been emailing back and forth with for several months. About 40 people showed up and it was a lot of fun. We were there until about 5:30, when we went to dinner.

 

 

 

We were on the 4th floor for dinner, which is the upstairs level of the Epernay Dining room. We have Select Dining this cruise and we sat with another couple and single man tonight. Dinner company was very nice and the first night food was very good.

I had a beef thai spring roll, an endive salad, prime rib and cheesecake. It was all very good.

Hubby had mushroom soup, Caesar salad and salmon. He also thought it was very good.

 

 

We finished dinner at 8:00 and decided to skip the show for the evening. I was so tired, I was asleep by 8:30.

 

 

 

[luvtravel88]

Here is the daily program for today and tomorrow as well as a Captain’s Club letter

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[luvtravel88]

Day 4, Sept. 14 At Sea

 

 

We got up this morning with our alarm at 7:30. It seems we are both now acclimated to the time change.

 

 

Hubby was up and out of the room quickly to pick up an 8:00 yoga class. The cost for the class was $12. He thought it was a good class.

 

 

 

I got up leisurely and got ready for the day and met him for breakfast in the buffet at 9:00. The café was crowded and we sat with some others which is always interesting. This morning we sat with a couple from Germany. The husband spoke almost no English and his wife was working on hers. Conversation was very interesting, finding out about them and they were very interested when they learned Hubby is of German heritage.

 

 

 

After breakfast, we decided to finish looking around the ship, since we got no lower than the 7th floor yesterday, except to go to dinner. We started on the 6th floor and slowly made our way down to the 3rd floor. That took us almost 3 hours. I had on a Louisville T shirt today and several people stopped us to talk about Uof L and the fact that they were playing UK today. Luke Hancock’s(for those that don’t know, he’s a Uof L basketball player) Uncle came up and introduced himself. That was pretty cool.

 

 

 

We had lunch in the buffet about 12:30. Again, the Oceanview Café was crowded and we shared a table with 2 couples from Arizona.

 

 

 

After lunch we decided to find a deck chair and lounge for a while. We walked to the Solarium as it is very tranquil there and it was enclosed, so it was warm. We laid there and read or slept until about 3:45.

 

 

Hubby went back to the room and I went to the card room to play Mah Jongg. There were 5 of us and it was quite fun. I Maj’d once so all the better!

 

 

Tonight was the first formal night so we spent some time getting ready and went to dinner at 6:00. Hubby looks very nice in his tux and although he doesn’t really like having to get so dressed up, he does it with grace. We did only see one other male passenger in a tuxedo this evening. The men all had on suit and ties which has become the norm. The women continue to be very dressed up. Many still where long dresses or dressy cocktail dresses or pantsuits.

 

 

After dinner, we went to the Theatre to wait for the first main stage show. It was called Ghost light and was a review of music from stage productions. The cast is quite talented and we enjoyed the show. We had intended to go to a comedy show at 10:15, but were tired and decided to call it a night. Lights were out by 11:00.

 

Here is the daily program:

 

 

 

 

[TLCOhio]

Appreciate your great review, all of the pictures, details, etc., on the Solstice, this wonderful area of the world. Keep it coming.

 

Look forward to your "secrets", tips and special suggestions from your cruising on the Solstice.

 

We are looking forward to our first “down under” visit, Jan. 20-Feb. 3, 2014, Celebrity Solstice sailing, departing Sydney, going from Australia to Auckland/NZ doing 14 days on this ship we loved in the Med in June 2011.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

 

Did a June 7-19, 2011, Celebrity Solstice cruise from Barcelona that had stops in Villefranche, ports near Pisa and Rome, Naples, Kotor, Venice and Dubrovnik. Enjoyed great weather and a wonderful trip. Dozens of wonderful visuals with key highlights, tips, comments, etc., on these postings. We are now at 142,881 views for this live/blog re-cap on our first sailing with Celebrity and much on wonderful Barcelona. Check these postings and added info at:

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1426474

[luvtravel88]

Day 5, Sept. 15 San Francisco

We woke up this morning at 7:30 and got cleaned up and went up to the 12th deck to watch the ship go under the Golden Gate Bridge at 9:40. It was a pretty amazing sight, as the top most mast only cleared the bridge by about 20 feet. It looked like it was going to hit the bridge until the very last minute.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was only the second time our ship, the Solstice had ever docked in San Francisco and it was apparent how excited the staff and crew were.

 

 

The America’s Cup Race was going to have two races today and many of the passengers were very excited about this. Many had taken this cruise to see a couple of the races. They were very lucky as the finish line was right by the stern of the ship.

 

 

Hubby and I went to the buffet for breakfast after the ship had gone under the bridge. At 10:00, they were cleaning many of the stations up to get ready for lunch, but there were still many choices and we had a heavy breakfast this morning as we knew we wouldn’t eat again until dinner.

 

 

We met a couple of women at Guest Services that we had written back and forth with from Cruise Critic. We walked over to Pier 33 with them to get the ferry to Alcatraz. The ferry took about 12 minutes to get over to the island.

 

 

Upon debarking, we were asked to listen to information given by a park ranger and then off we went. We decided to see an 18 minute video about the island and its history first, and I’m glad we did. It gave us some good background information of what we would be seeing.

After that we walked up to the cell block building. It was a pretty steep walk but easily doable. Upon entering the cell block, you wait in line to get an audio tour. This was a very informative tour and takes you throughout the cell block. It does a good job of traffic control and keeps everyone from piling up on each other.

 

 

 

 

 

While we were taking the cell block tour, we happened to go outside and saw a bunch of people lined up along a wall. We walked over to see what was going on and got to watch the second America’s Cup Race. The ships are very elegant in the water. We were glad we got to see one of the races. We found out later that the ferry back and forth from Alcatraz was forced to stop its shuttle service during the race. We were very lucky that our tickets were for 12:30, which was well before racing began and we weren’t ready to return until the races were over for the day. The American ship, Oracle, won the first race, but lost the second.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once we left the cell block, we walked over to the industrial building which is where the inmates had jobs. The building is a shell right now, but it looked like work was being done on it. We noticed many areas that were being refurbished.

[luvtravel88]

We got back to the ship about 4:15 and came up to the room to rest before dinner. We decided to eat on the ship, but we think a lot of people will eat in San Francisco. I wish I had planned it a bit better, but with the ship in port and America’s Cup tourists in the city, it will be difficult to get a reservation anywhere at a reasonable hour.

 

 

We went to dinner at 6:00 in the Epernay. I had veal and Hubby had trout. The meal was very nice. We have found some of the portions to be on the large side, while other things are very small. It makes ordering difficult, as you don’t really know how much food you’ll be getting.

 

 

 

We didn’t really care for our waiter last night and were happy to have a different one tonight. His name is Charlie and we thought he did a really good job.

 

 

After dinner, we walked to the theatre and waited for the show to begin at 8:30. Tonight’s show was a magician named Martin Lewis. He was very entertaining and his magic was pretty good.

 

 

After the show, we went back to the room, where I needed to start working on pictures I’ve taken.

 

Today's Daily Program:

 

 

 

[pattyj 1204]

Thanks for the nice posting. I'm looking forward to my first Solstice ship cruise and it was nice to be able to see some of the activities on the ship. This is my 6 th cruise, all on Celebrity Millennium class ships.

[BellKat]

You were so lucky to be in Seattle when you were. It was absolutely one of the warmest summers we have ever had. It is now pouring rain. Looks like you had a great day in San Francisco too. Being from there originally I know it can be iffy in September. Last time I went in September I froze a good part of the time.

 

Isn't going under the Golden Gate Bridge amazing?

[luvtravel88]

The weather was fantastic and going under the bridge was amazing!!

[luvtravel88]

Day 6, Sept. 16 San Francisco

We got up this morning at 7:30, got cleaned up and were up at the buffet before 8:30. We had a pretty quick breakfast and were off the ship by 9:00 to meet our tour group down by pier 33.

 

 

 

We took Dylan’s Tour today which was an all day tour of San Francisco, Muir Woods and Sausalito. This was a private tour that had been discussed quite a bit on the Roll Call for our cruise. The entire 14 passenger van was full of people from our ship which was very nice and a lot of fun. Also, since it was all people from the ship, they picked us up right off the pier which was nice because this tour usually began somewhere downtown.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Coit Tower was built as a monument to honor San Francisco Firefighters.

We left San Francisco, went over the Golden Gate Bridge and headed toward Muir Woods. Once we got close to the park, the road began very twisty with switchbacks and went uphill. Muir Woods is part of the National Park Service and was very well maintained. The redwoods are absolutely amazing and the forest was beautiful. We spent about 45 minutes walking the main trail, looking at one stunning tree after another.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After leaving Muir Woods, we headed to Sausilito, which is just across the Golden Gate Bridge. It is a cute little tourist town lined with little shops and restaurants. The views looking back over to San Francisco were amazing.

 

 

 

 

[luvtravel88]

We were dropped off at pier 33 and decided to reboard the ship. We got back on about 4:00. I had some journaling to catch up on, some phone calls to make and some internet work to do before we left and weren’t able to use 3G any longer.

 

 

 

We went to dinner at 6:00 in the Epernay Dining room. We enjoy sitting with other couples and requested Charlie’s table again. There was a couple we had dinner with the previous night and the other dinner companions were quite nice and it made for a nice evening. I had caprese for an appetizer, salad and rib eye for dinner and tiramisu for dessert. Hubby had caprese as an appetizer, pasta soup, rib eye and chocolate ice cream. Nothing was spectacular nor was anything bad. The meal was good.

 

 

After dinner we headed to the theatre where we saw David Klinkenberg, an instrumentalist, who played a violin to different styles of music. He was wonderful! The 50 minute set went by too quickly. This is one artist that I wish had played for longer.

 

 

Off to bed as we have a very early day tomorrow.

 

Here is today’s daily program:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[luvtravel88]

Day 7, Sept. 17 Monterey

We were up this morning at 6:00 and had room service delivered at 6:30. It was a bit too cold to sit out on our balcony so we had coffee at our little table in the stateroom while we watched CNN News. It was really nice to be able to watch the news live and this was our first cruise where this was the case. I don’t know if we were able to get TV live because we were in US ports or if that would be the case by satellite anywhere we would be.

We were down in the Celebrity Theatre by 7:30 and were on our way by 7:40. We were taken to a tender, as the ship had to stop at the entrance to the harbor. The tender ride was about 10 minutes and then we were in Monterey.

 

 

We took the 17 mile drive with a stop in Carmel shore excursion today. This was the only ship sponsored excursion we took on this cruise. I knew that we would be tendered today and if we wanted to get off the ship relatively early, we would be able to do it if we were with a cruise sponsored excursion. We happened to be in the first tender off the ship and coincidently were in the first bus on the excursion.

 

 

 

The drive took us through Monterey, and in to Pebble Beach, where we spent some time at the Pebble Beach Golf Course. It was very beautiful, very private and very expensive! I was most impressed with the golf course and the seeing the US Open Tournament Trophy. The Galway Trophy was also there. The golf course and lodge are surrounded by many upscale shops along pristine lawns.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Upon leaving Pebble Beach, we entered Carmel by the Sea. This very private area along the coast has no addresses or sidewalks. To retrieve mail, you have to go to the Post Office where you have a PO Box. Many of the homes are newer, because new owners have purchased properties, razed the homes and built large mansions. Most are only summer homes and only 40% of the properties are used year round.

 

 

We stopped in Carmel for about an hour and walked around the shops of the little town. You know you’re in Carmel, because the streets had sidewalks. The area is lush and lovely. The town is very dog friendly and we saw dogs everywhere. Many shops had water bowls outside their doors and there was a dog pool at the center of one of the shopping centers for the dogs to drink from. We stopped for a couple of scones and some coffee and tea and enjoyed these outside in the sunshine. The weather was really nice and we enjoyed being outside.

 

 

 

We returned to the dock about noon and decided to get back on the ship. The tender was rocking a bit more on the way back to the ship and took a bit longer as well. It looked like the waves had gotten stronger. We had lunch about 12:30 and went back to the room for the afternoon. Both of us were really tired and want to go to the shows this evening so naps were on the agenda.

 

 

As we were getting ready for the Captain’s Club Cocktail Party and dinner, we looked outside and saw a tender on its way to the ship. It was bobbing and weaving and the wake was breaking on the front of the tender. We stood and watched as the tender was trying to get closer to the ship and was unable to do it. We then saw a second and then a third tender trying to get on to the ship. We felt really bad for those on the tenders. There were other people all along their balconies watching the tenders and taking

pictures.

 

 

We went to the Captain's Club cocktail party, which was really crowded and why not because it was all you could drink. There were also some hot appetizers being passed.

 

 

At 6:00 we went to dinner and noticed that the ship had not left the harbor. We were supposed to have left at 5:00. At 6:20 the Captain made an announcement that they had finally gotten everyone off the tenders and safely on to the ship and we would be on our way. The people we had seen on those three tenders had been on them for an hour and a half!! I can’t imagine bobbing around in the little tender for that long. We were glad everyone was OK and onboard.

 

 

That was the beginning of a very rocky ship. The ship began to move and sway after dinner and by bedtime we were unable to walk down the hallway to our room. The ship rocked and swayed all night long. When the ship is moving so much there are lot of noises that you don’t normally hear. Our balcony door creaked and knocked and banged off and on all night. The walls also creak. We slept but continued to be awakened by loud noises.

[luvtravel88]

Today’s Daily Program:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 8, Sept. 18 At Sea

We awoke this morning to the ship’s continued movement and the banging from our balcony door. Hubby got up and went to yoga and I got cleaned up and ordered the coffee and tea we would need to keep us awake today.

 

 

Out Steward saw us on the way out of the room this morning and asked us if we had gotten sick. We told him no and he said that several people he was taking care of had.

 

 

We went to the ship’s brunch this morning. It was very pretty, with ice carvings on many tables. There were breakfast as well as lunch foods. There was sushi and shrimp, lox and smoked fish. There were many desserts as well as a dark chocolate and white chocolate fountain with fruits and marshmallows to dip.

 

 

After brunch we went up to the Sky Lounge on the 14th floor to read. We lasted only a few minutes because there was still quite a bit of movement on the ship and you could really feel it so high up and forward on the ship.

 

 

We left the Sky Lounge and headed to the library on deck 10 midship. This was much more comfortable and we stayed there until time to meet for our Cruise Critic Slot Pull.

 

 

 

We met at the Wheel of Fortune machine where everyone that was participating put in $15. We each had 5, $3 pulls. There were 14 of us participating and we each lost $6. It was a lot of fun though. I did hit a payout and won a prize from the ship which was coupons for 2 free drinks, a key chain and a t shirt.

 

 

After the slot pull, we went with our new friends to their room to sample some ice wine that they brought for the cabin crawl. We stood on the deck and watched the ships so by. The waves were beginning to ebb and the sea was becoming calm again.

 

 

At 2:00 we joined our friends for a wine tasting called World Wine Tour. We had one hour and could drink as much as we wanted. There were 6 varieties of white wines and 6 varieties of red. They were from France, Italy, America, Argentina/Chili, New Zealand, and Spain. They had cheeses, fruits, nuts and breadsticks to cleanse the palate between tastings. There were pitchers of water to rinse out your glass between tastes and a large bucket in the middle to pour your liquid into. At 3:00, your glasses were picked up and everything was put away.

 

 

We spent the next hour just visiting and at 4:00 we headed to Quasar Bar for our Cruise Critic Anniversary Party. There were about 40 couples that came. We took an anniversary card and gave it to the woman who organized the function. We found out at the end that all of the cards were given to the couple that had been married the longest- 60 years.

 

 

We came back to the cabin to change for dinner and went down about 5:50. We had Charlie’s section this evening and unfortunately, service was very slow. Dinner took 2 hours 20 minutes. Everyone thought this was a bit excessive.

 

 

I had the French onion soup, a chop salad and turkey with dressing, sweet potatoes and cranberry sauce. The soup, salad and turkey were good, but the sides with the entrée were not good. Hubby had a spinach turnover, Louisiana gumbo and veal cordon bleu for dinner. He thought everything was really good. He had cherries jubilee for dessert and I had a scoop of peanut butter ice cream.

 

 

We learned at dinner that a weather front had come through which was the cause of the high winds and ship movement last night. Luckily, from that point on, the seas were pretty much like glass and very smooth.

 

 

We were late getting seating for the 8:30 show and didn’t get to sit in our preferred place. It worked out though because there was a pianist playing this evening and the keyboard faced the other side of the stage from where we had been sitting. We got seats that faced the keyboard which was very nice to watch.

 

 

We met our new friends at the show tonight as well and had a lot of fun. The show this evening was a piano comic named Glenn Smith. He was very talented, played very well but his playing lacked finesse. He did a lot of banging instead of just playing. He was entertaining.

 

 

After this show, we went to watch Celebrity’s version of Family Feud. Audience members could place their names with a crew member and then names were drawn to be chosen to play. It was very funny. The last group played against a group of crew members.

 

 

After the show, we went off to bed.

[luvtravel88]

Here was today’s daily program:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 9, Sept. 19 Santa Barbara

We got up this morning when we woke up, about 7:45. We were already in Santa Barbara harbor and there were already announcements being made for people to leave the ship.

 

 

We went to breakfast about 8:30 up in the Oceanview Café and were at Guest Services by 10:00 to meet some other couple and walk over to the Hop On Hop Off Trolley. I left my jacket up at breakfast and had to run back and hope it was still there. It was! Someone had just placed it over the back of the chair and it was there waiting for me.

 

 

 

We and one other couple had already purchased tickets to get on the trolley. What we found out was that Celebrity was also using the trolleys for a shore excursion so there would be very few of them available to us. We were told that if we got lucky enough to get on board one of them, that we would not be able to get off and on, but would have to stay on for the whole hour and a half tour and then come back.

 

 

 

We were very upset with this and decided we weren’t going to do it. We were going to find the manager’s office for Santa Barbara Trolley’s but we ended up selling our tickets to a couple that were willing to just stay on the trolley.

 

 

 

One of the women in our group called a taxi company and negotiated a 2 hour price for us. We had a driver for 2 hours which was very nice. He took us to the Santa Barbara Mission, the Botanical Garden, drove us through the downtown area and took us up on the hillside along some gorgeous homes that overlooked the harbor. Each couple paid $45 for the 2 hours. We thought it was a bargain and we all had a very nice time.

 

 

 

The driver dropped us off at a restaurant called Enterprise Fish Co. The food was pretty good but the service was lousy.

 

 

After lunch, Hubby and I broke off from the group and found a Starbucks where he could download the NY Times and I was able to write some emails for work and check our email. We also made some calls home.

 

 

 

We walked back to the pier and had to wait in line about 30 minutes before catching the tender back to the ship.

 

 

We got back on board about 4:00 and came back to the room. I caught up on journaling and pictures while Hubby read the NY Times. We were both happy campers.

 

 

At 6:00 we went to dinner and had our favorite server, Charlie. I had the goat cheese appetizer. It looked like a small egg roll and was fried. It was very good. Then came a Caesar salad followed by veal medallions served with risotto. Dessert was crème brulee. Hubby had the fruit medley appetizer, squash soup and spaghetti in a cream sauce.

 

 

 

This evening service was very good and we were on our way to the show about 7:50.

 

 

 

It was a good thing that we got there early because this evening the show was Solstice- The Show. This was a Cirque like show and the theatre was filling up very rapidly. We saved our friends a seat until about 5 minutes before the show was to begin and had to give them up because the theatre was full. The show was wonderful! The performers are very talented and the costumes were beautiful.

 

 

After this show was over, we went to the small theatre next door to watch an interactive show called Liar’s Club. Three of the ship’s staff were given words they were to define but only one of them was telling the truth. The audience had to decide which one was telling the truth. The words were hawsehole, arachbutyrphobia, tittup, and pismire. The definitions were a riot and it was a lot of fun to watch.

 

 

Off to bed after the show.

 

 

 

Today's Daily Program:

 

 

 

 

[luvtravel88]

 

 

Day 10, Sept. 20 Los Angeles

 

 

This morning we got up at 6:30 and got ourselves ready quickly. We wanted to get off the ship at 7:15 to meet a friend that lives in LA at 7:30.We hadn’t seen her in 10 years!

 

 

 

We were down at the gangway on time but were told the ship had not yet been cleared so we had to wait. I called our friend and told her what was going on and we finally got off at 7:45. She was waiting in her car at the front of the terminal and off we went.

 

 

We went to breakfast at a little restaurant a few blocks away. Breakfast was fine but it was wonderful to see our friend and the hour we got to spend with her went by way too quickly. She dropped us at the Enterprise Rent a Car that was a block over and we met up with another couple from the ship, who were there waiting for us.

 

 

 

The four of us rented a car and headed to The Getty Museum. We had brought directions from MapQuest and thankfully they were all right on track. It took about an hour to get to the museum as traffic was pretty heavy.

 

 

The Getty is a free museum and parking is $15. The museum is in several buildings on a large campus at the top of a hill that overlooks areas of Los Angeles.

 

 

The grounds are beautiful and well manicured and there are lovely gardens with a waterfall that runs down the middle of the property.

 

 

 

 

 

The art is varied with paintings, sculptures and period furniture. The most famous painting was Van Gogh’s Iris’s. There were some other major artists but not any other really famous works. It is a lovely

collection though.

 

 

 

 

 

Since we had gotten a bit later start, we decided to stay at The Getty until 2:00 so we stopped for about 45 minutes for lunch in the café. It was pretty typical cafeteria food.

 

 

We met up with our friends at 2:00 and left to drive to the Petersen Car Museum. The drive was about 45 minutes and we were in the Petersen about 2:45. The car museum was very interesting with many very old, reburbished cars. The cars were very beautiful and the colors were of the time. Many were ice cream colors: pale blues, greens and yellows. There was a section of Hollywood cars which was interesting. Some of the cars were owned by celebrities while others were used in movies. There was the original batcycle there from the 1966 TV show and a batmobile from the 1988 Movie.

[luvtravel88]

 

 

We left the car museum a little after 4 for the drive back to the ship. Traffic was really heavy so we came to understand about Los Angeles traffic. It took us a little over an hour to make our way back to the Enterprise store and we had about a 10 mile shorter drive back.

 

 

Enterprise had a shuttle and dropped us off at the entrance to the terminal which was very nice. We were back on the ship about 5:30.

We had a really nice time with our new friends and hope to keep in touch with them.

 

 

We went back to the room to get ready for dinner and headed down about 6:15. Unfortunately we were too late to get Charlie’s table and service again was really slow. It took over two hours for four courses. We decided this really is excessive. We don’t know if it is the kitchen’s issue or our waiter’s.

 

 

After dinner we headed to the show for the evening. It was a comedian named Jeff Brughart. It started out pretty funny, but the jokes and impressions became old pretty quickly. Thankfully, the show only lasted about 45 minutes.

 

 

We decided to come back to the room about 9:30 as both of us were tired from a really busy day.

 

 

I seem to have lost Los Angeles Daily Program. Sorry!!!

[luvtravel88]

Day 11, Sept. 21 Catalina Island

We awoke about 7:15 and were out of bed in time for coffee and tea to be delivered about 7:30. We had our coffee at a leisurely pace and Hubby went to get some breakfast while I stayed in the room to catch up on my journal.

 

 

At 10:00 I went to the spa for a manicure. This was the first time I had used the spa on any cruise we have ever been on. The manicure was fine but as soon as I let it be known that I wasn’t interested in purchasing any products, the friendliness of my manicurist went away and there wasn’t a lot of further conversation. The cost of a simple natural nail manicure with tip was $52. A friend on the ship had a set of gel nails redone and the cost with tip was $147.

 

 

After the manicure, I met Hubby back in the room and we sat on the balcony for a bit and enjoyed the morning air.

 

 

 

We met some friends for lunch at 11:30 and found a table in the Oceanview Café. Lunch didn’t begin until noon, so we sat and looked out the window and to our delight there were several pods of porpoises playing in the harbor. They were there all throughout lunch and were still there when we got up to leave. There was also a sea lion swimming around in the area.

 

 

 

 

 

We boarded our tender about 12:30 and made our way to Catalina Island. The tender was smooth and we were there in about 10 minutes.

 

 

As we walked along the wharf, we came upon an art fair with many booths that ran all along the front street. We made our way about 4 blocks down and found the place that we were picking up our motorized bikes.

 

 

 

After a brief explanation of the use of the bikes and safety, and a map that would help us find our way, we started our Urban Adventure Quest. I logged on to the website as I had previously purchased the online game, and we began our first clue. We rode and searched for about 2 ½ hours until we came to the last 3 clues which couldn’t be done on bikes. We decided to turn our bikes back in and do the last three clues on foot. We completed our quest and headed back to the tender to go back to the ship.

 

 

Tonight is formal night, so after we washed up and dressed, we were on our way to the dining room.

 

 

We went down to dinner a bit early tonight to we could get seats for the Hot Glass Show at 8:00.

 

 

Dinner was good this evening. I started with a goat cheese soufflé which was very tasty, followed by some tomato bisque soup. We had beef wellington and Maine lobster tails. The beef wellington was very good but the lobster tail was mushy and I gave mine to John. John had Baked Alaska for dessert and I had their yummy chocolate cake.

 

 

We left the dining room at 7:30 and made our way to the Lawn to watch the Corning Museum of Glass, Hot Glass Show. It was very interesting to watch the artists blow and fashion the glass into different things. They made a car with a face for a child in the audience, then a gorgeous bowl and finally a goblet with a very intricate stem.

 

 

They raffled off 4 pieces and sorry to say, we didn’t win one. The show was over at 10:00 and then we headed to Celebrity Central for the Sin City Show.

 

 

It was a comedy show with a comedian/juggler as a warm up, a woman that did a couple of burlesque numbers and a comedian that was very risqué and I would bet was performing with some sort of enhancement drug.

 

 

The funniest part of the show was the four of us who went. We sat down in the second row center and as we sat down something happened to our small row of seats and we ended up with the seat about 6 inches from the floor. Our knees were pushed up toward our chests and the seat tilted down toward the floor, making it very difficult to stay in the seat. Since we sat down as the show began and the theatre was full, we had nowhere to go and had to stay put. About half way through the show, my legs were so tired I thought I would try to alleviate the pressure and put my feet down in front of and under the seat in front of me. Once I did that I began to slip down the seat until I realized I had gone too far. I reached out for my friend and she looked over at me and just started laughing. My head was down lower than the seat back and my feet and legs were under the seat in front of me. With a great deal of struggle, I finally worked my way back in to the seat and kept my feet up under me for the remainder of the show. We continued to laugh about it for the rest of the show without anyone being the wiser as they were all laughing at the show.

 

 

After the show, off to the room where we did some packing and then to bed. I have basically been packing us back up since we got off the ship. We emptied our suitcases once we got onboard and as clothes were used they were thrown into one of the cases. Every few days I would organize the dirties so by the time it was about time to pack up, we were almost finished.

 

Since we are staying a couple of extra days in San Diego once we get off the ship, I have a carryon that we will use, that has been packed with the clothes for those days. I have found this to be a good way to pack as I don’t have to spend the last afternoon stuck in the cabin.

 

 

Today’s Daily Program:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[luvtravel88]

Day 12 Sept. 22 San Diego

 

 

We got up this morning about 7:15 and were ready when coffee and tea came at 7:30. We had coffee on our balcony and were lucky enough to be facing the USS Midway. It was nice to be able to watch all the people coming and going on the flight deck.

 

 

We took a leisurely amount of time getting ready and headed to breakfast about 9:00. We came back to the room to wait for our friends to stop by the room so we could walk over to the USS Midway together.

 

 

We got to the USS Midway about 10:30 and immediately took the Island Tour which took us up into the bridge which was very interesting. We then went and got our audio tour and spent the next three hours touring the ship. There are 66 different audio explanations and we got through number 33. We were really tired at that point and most of the other audio descriptions were about planes on the flight deck. There are many steep stairs throughout the tour and you go up and down and up and down.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We got back to the ship about 3:30, got something to drink and sat on our balcony for a while. A nap seemed like a really good idea, so we both slept about 30 minutes.

 

 

We changed to get ready for our last dinner in the dining room.Hubby had salmon appetizer, turnip soup and osso bucco. I had the lobster ravioli appetizer, a salad and the osso bucco. We each had the lava cake and shared a strawberry cake with marzipan.

 

 

We came back to the room for a few minutes then off we went to our final show. The final show was a summary of the shows that were seen over the past 14 days. The last two solo acts performed. In my opinion we saw the best solo acts at the beginning of the cruise. The comedian was just as bad as he was the first time we saw him. The trumpeter/singer performed last night while we were at the Hot Glass Show. We didn’t miss anything. His voice wasn’t too bad, and his trumpet performance wouldn’t have been too bad except he kept trying to play really high notes and kept falling flat and was very screechy.

 

 

We came back to the room to finish the little bit of packing we had left, set the bags outside of our door, then got ready for bed.

Today’s Daily Program:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[luvtravel88]

The way that the disembarkation process worked was that we filled out a card mid week of our flight arrangements as well as a preferred departure time. You could choose anytime between 6am and 8:30am. Since we are staying in San Diego a couple of extra days, we chose 8:00. I didn’t want to be one of the last ones out in case there was a problem with our bus. I knew other buses would be coming our way. A few days later, we received a letter and luggage tags explaining what was going to happen. The luggage tags were also your bus number and your luggage went on your bus with you. We were tag 50. The highest luggage tag I saw was 67.

 

 

The Program for Disembarkation

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next picture is what we saw outside our balcony the morning of debarkation. I counted 55 buses and about 10 had already left!

 

 

[luvtravel88]

Day 13 Sept. 23 Disembarkation from Ensenada to San Diego

 

 

We got up this morning at 6:15 and quickly got ready for breakfast. We had breakfast in the buffet as usual and it was very crowded as everyone was getting ready to leave. I noticed that people were not happy this morning and many were quite sharp in their tone to each other as well as other passengers.

 

 

 

We took our carryon bags and were down in the dining room at 7:45 to wait our turn to leave. We were supposed to leave at 8:00 but didn’t actually go until 8:30. We went down to the pier, and got in line for bus 50. We were loaded and took off at 9:00.

 

 

 

The ride was uneventful and the scenery along the coast was very pretty. It took 1 hour 45 minutes to reach the border where we got in a line behind other Celebrity buses that had arrived before us.

 

 

 

Someone from Customs came on board at 11:00 and told us that we would have to get off the bus when it was our turn and walk through customs with our passports and custom forms. We asked how close we were and she said very close and very far. She said our wait would probably be about 2 hours. After that the bus moved slowly up in line.

 

 

 

We were finally asked to get off the bus at 1:00. We slowly made our way through the customs building and once we were out on the other side, we got back in line and waited for our bus. The reason you have to get off the bus, is because they take a drug dog on board and they also open the luggage containers underneath so the dog can smell through the luggage.

 

 

Once we were back on board, it was only about another 30 minutes to the San Diego airport. We got off the bus, collected our luggage and found the taxi stand.

 

 

We took a taxi to our hotel, The Cosmopolitan, which was the only hotel in the historic section of Old Town.

 

 

 

The hotel is a restaurant and bar on the first floor with a lovely patio area where they serve alfresco. The upstairs is a hotel that has 11 rooms. The building is from the early 1800’s and it has been a hotel for over 100 years. The rooms all are decorated from the 1860’s, with antique furniture and fixtures. The hotel doesn’t have televisions or telephones although it does have wifi. Neither of these missing items were deal breakers and we knew this when we reserved the room. What almost became a problem however was when I went to wash my hair the next morning and there wasn’t a blow dryer in the room. I finished my shower and went to the hotel desk and they gave me one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After checking in to our room, we went out to the patio and ordered lunch. It was after 3 and we knew this was going to be a problem for dinner but we were starving since we had just come off a cruise ship and now hadn’t eaten since 7 that morning. We had Mexican food and it was very good.

 

 

We were very tired but decided to take a walk around the historic Old Town area. It is a one block square with a small park in the middle. May of the adobes have been there since the early 1800’s and have been refurbished. They have stores in them that would have existed at that time such as a haberdashery and milliner, a general store, a tinsmith, etc… The workers were all dressed in period clothes.

 

 

 

 

Around 5:30 we came back to the hotel, got some ice tea and went up on to the veranda that overlooks the patio. It was beautiful weather with a little breeze and there was light piano music playing in the background. We sat there until 7:00 when we decided to go back down to the patio and get something to eat. Hubby had a Caesar salad with shrimp and I had a small salad and an appetizer portion on calamari in a spicy thai sauce.

 

 

After dinner we came upstairs, showered and to bed.

 

 

 

 

Day 14 Sept. 24 San Diego

 

 

We got up this morning at 7:15 and showered which was when I discovered there was no blow dryer. After taking care of that, we went out on to the veranda where we were served a continental breakfast of fresh made scones with marmalade, coffee, tea and apple juice.

 

 

 

It was a beautiful morning and the sun was coming up. Sitting on the veranda, we could look out into Old Town Park. It was still cool and the walkers and joggers were out. It was very quiet and serene. Such a lovely morning to sit back and relax before a busy day.

 

 

We got on the Southwest website 24 hours ahead and got our seats arranged for tomorrow.

 

 

We left the hotel about 9:30 and walked up to the Old Town Trolley. We paid $72 to be able to ride on the trolley around the city. If you stayed on for all 11 stops, the round trip was 2 hours. We rode for about an hour and got off at Coronado Beach.

 

 

 

We stopped in Bruegger’s Bagels to get a coffee and then walked over to the Hotel Del Coronado. As we were walking toward the hotel, the fog was rolling in. By the time we reached the beginning of the beach at the edge of the hotel, we couldn’t see it. We could hear the surf, but all we saw was white in front of us.

 

 

 

We walked around the outside of the hotel and then walked back to the trolley stop.

 

 

 

We then rode the trolley to Balboa Park and got off there. This park is enormous with about 15 different museums. We had lunch in the Prado building and then we split up, Hubby going to the Air and Space Museum while I went to the Museum of Art. We met back up a couple of hours later to get in line for the trolley.

 

 

We got to the trolley stop about 3:05 knowing the last pick up at Balboa Park was 4:25. The first trolley that came along was at 3:25 and only had room for 2 people, so the couple waiting before us got on. We were told another bus would be by in about 5 minutes and were told if that one was full, there was an empty one around the corner that would come pick all of us up. When the second trolley came, they had room for two and a couple jumped line and got on, leaving the rest of us pretty irritated. The trolley driver was not very pleasant and told us there was no bus waiting around. We waited until the next trolley came about 15 minutes later and there were about 18 seats available. It was able to pick most of us up but the last ones to get in line were still standing. We got to the next stop which was Little Italy and as no one got off the bus, there were no seats available for those waiting at the stop. We could hear one woman say they had already been waiting for an hour. Someone in line told us that this had happened to them the day before and they had complained and had gotten their second day free, being told that there wouldn’t be as many people about today. He said the same thing had happened again. There are evidently 200 seats available at any given time and there are about 500 tickets sold a day leaving those wanting to get home at the end of the day, stranded.

 

 

We made it back to our hotel about 4:30 and went to the bar for a drink. We sat for awhile and then went up to the balcony where it was a bit quieter.

 

 

We went to dinner in the patio area again this evening. We had a pre fixe meal and each got a salad, a calamari appetizer, salmon entrée and a dessert.

 

 

The general manager has only been there 3 weeks and is working hard to make the patrons happy. He goes from table to table talking to everyone. He spoke to us for a bit last night but tonight he sat down at our table with a cup of coffee and sat for a while. It was very nice and interesting to hear about his life.

 

 

We went to the room, finished packing and got ready for bed. Up early in the morning.

 

 

Day 15 Sept. 25 Going Home

 

 

We got up this morning at 5:45 and got ready to go.

 

The hotel brought hot tea and coffee up to our room in go cups which was very nice.

The taxi was waiting for us before 7:00 so we began our sojourn early. Cars aren’t allowed in the Old Town area and the hotel is within this space, so we had to pick up our ride about a half block down the lane, where a main road was, that was outside Old Town proper.

 

 

We got to the airport quickly, went right through the check in process and security and were at our gate by 7:45. We boarded about 8:45 and were in the air on time at 9:05. There is only one runway at the San Diego airport and a plane takes off or lands every 90 seconds. The pilot kept prodding people to get in their seats so we could leave on time.

 

 

 

We got off the plane in Phoenix and had just enough time to go to the bathroom, grab a sandwich and make it to our next gate, before we boarded our next plane. This plane also left on time and we arrived happy and tired in Louisville at 5:15. It was really nice to be home but our vacation was wonderful.

 

 

 

 

A few parting comments.

 

 

 

I have read a lot of criticism of Celebrity lately. The decrease in service, the lower quality of food, etc….

I know food is a very subjective subject but we thought the food in the dining room was very good each night. The menu of the day is posted in front of the dining room as well as outside the Oceanview Café so you could look to see what was going to be served that evening and choose if you wanted to eat there or not. There was always something on the menu each night that we found we wanted to have so we decided not to eat in the specialty restaurants. I do agree with others that the food is not what it was 5+ years ago, but it is still very nice. There wasn’t really anything I would call outstanding but there wasn’t really anything that I would have called bad either.

 

 

Service is another thing that I think has changed from 5+ years ago.

Again, the service was fine. It just wasn’t outstanding in the way cruising used to be. Everything was great, but it just didn’t feel like anyone was really going out of their way. Service in years past was really over the top.

 

 

I will say that since we had Select Dining and had to pay our tips before our cruise, I do think this may affect the service that is provided. The waiters and your room steward know that your tips have already been paid, so there isn’t really an incentive to do anything extra.

 

 

One thing I didn’t realize is that when you have early or late seating and your tips are charged to your account daily, you have a choice of changing your tips, either to give more or less, depending on the experience you had. As select choice cruisers, you cannot change your tip amount. It is set. Again, the incentive for better service is gone.

 

 

 

We do not choose to be Select Dining cruisers but when we booked this trip, we had no other choice.

 

 

The ship is very clean. They are taking the Noro problem very seriously. You constantly see someone cleaning somewhere on the ship. There are people stationed at the entrance of every restaurant, the theatre and many public areas with hand sanitizer. You are not allowed in the Oceanview Café until they have put sanitizer in your hands.

 

 

There has been some criticism about the Oceanview Café. We found the food station idea to be great as you rarely had to wait to put food on your plate. The stations really spread people out. Since there is not really a line, people do pop in and out of the station and it may feel like they’re cutting in front of you but everyone did it.

 

 

It did seem that the menu items in the buffet were the mostly the same everyday. That being said, there were so many choices, it was very easy to eat something different everyday.

 

 

There are no trays to put your food on, but it was not difficult to get your plate of food and then your drink before you found a table. You could always go back for more if you wanted. Waiters came through the tables constantly and would get you a drink if you asked. We never had trouble finding a table to eat at no matter the time we went into the café. The only time that it was hard to get a table was embarkation day and that was because everyone was there waiting for rooms to become available.

 

 

The entertainment overall was very good. The three main stage shows were really good with the talent apparent. The Cirque like show was wonderful and the theatre was standing room only. The comedian was so-so, the instrumentalist was fantastic, the pianist was pretty good and guitarist was OK.

 

 

 

Later night entertainment in the Celebrity Central theatre was all very entertaining. It was all for an older audience as much of it was quite risqué, but it was all a riot.

 

 

Music throughout the ship was nice and not overbearingly loud.

 

 

Announcements are made sparingly and generally you can't really hear them in your room. You have to open your cabin door to hear the announcements from the hallway.

 

 

None of the pools was very crowded and even the Solarium always had chairs available when we walked through. The weather was on the cool side and the itinerary was pretty port intensive so maybe fewer people went to the pool.

 

 

The beds are made up in the European style. They do have a top sheet and then a duvet. We requested an extra blanket in case the duvet was too hot at night and found we used it every day for naps or to wrap up in to sit on the balcony.

 

 

We brought 2 bottles of wine on board at embarkation with no problem and asked our steward for wine glasses for our room. They were replaced daily. We would often pour a glass of wine in the room and then carry it to the dining room to drink at dinner. This was also no problem.

 

 

We bring our own travel coffee mugs, fill them in the morning and afternoon and carry them around with us. They hold more than a typical coffee cup and have a lid so you don’t have to worry about spilling.

 

 

 

 

 

We ordered room service for breakfast 4 of our mornings. We used a menu that hooked to the outside of the door and was picked up after we went to bed. Whatever range of time you request your breakfast it will come at the early end of the range.

 

 

We requested a couple of things that weren't on the menu and they did send them.

 

 

Bring extra hangars as there are never enough.

 

 

We found the rooms to be well thought out and we had plenty of storage for everything. We actually had some empty shelves and drawers. We took some collapsable fabric storage boxes and put them in the cabinets above the bed. They were very handy and since I bought them at the dollar store and spent so little on them, we just left them there.

 

 

The bathroom is really big by cruise ship standards and had about twice the usual storage space. There was a shower door instead of a stick to you shower curtain. It was fantastic!

 

 

I saw only 4 children on the entire cruise and I would say the median age was about 70. School had just started back and it was a 10 day cruise, so it makes sense that there would be an older demographic.

 

 

I guess that’s it. I t will soon be time to start planning shore excursions for our cruise next August. Hope you enjoyed reading it.

[kysupt]

I enjoyed your review and agreed with most of your conclusions. We found the cruise to be enjoyable but would never again travel thru Ensenada.

Hope to see you on board again.

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

Glad you had a good cruise.

 

Here's a tip for your next cruise--you can have your cabin attendant bring you more hangers. No need to bring your own.

[c-legs]

Here is the daily program for today and tomorrow as well as a Captain’s Club letter

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Am I reading this right ? Your Hotel director Sue Richardson,is now MR Sue Richardson ?

A bit of a '' oooops'' moment,I suspect.

Many sincere thanks for your excellent and wide coverage of the sailing.

Took you a lot of time and internet $$$$ : it is not lost on our community,trust me.

Cheers