Apex Live — December 4, 2021

[Straughn]

13 hours ago, What A Market said:

BTW, good morning from Cafe al Bacio. It’s the first of our two back to back sea days to end the cruise. DW gets to sleep in and I get a couple of hours to enjoy my espressos. Partly cloudy out. The sea looks really calm.

 

Other than my obligatory skinny latte photo, I’m posting a photo of a cruising first for me — eating raw oysters on a cruise. This is night two of the cruise. DW and I wandering around the ship before dinner in Luminae. Stopping occasionally for a libation. As we walk by Sushi on Five, I notice fresh oysters on ice at the display case in front of the restaurant. I love oysters, so I stopped to admire. The Maitre D approaches and asks if I would like to try adding “no charge.” 

 

Well, I couldn’t pass that up. But mostly I was tickled that he was so enthusiastic to welcome us. (Side note: approximately 7:00PM and there is only one other couple in Sushi on Five at this time.) I said that was thoughtful of him and I would love to try an oyster. I noted wife didn’t like oysters. He noted he would do something special for her. 

 

We order a glass of French Rose, and out comes FOUR oysters for me and some flash fried shrimp using rice flour for my gluten free spouse. I asked the Maitre D what type of oysters he was serving. Answer “Virginia” oysters.  Ha! Love that answer. He did note the oysters “boarded” when we boarded. (Thank God or I wouldn’t have tried.) Oysters served very simply with just lemon wedges. I really enjoyed the oysters. They were actually decent, but the for me the uniqueness of the moment was the best.

OMG. So Jealous!!!  I grew up in southern Delaware, oh, so close to the Chesapeake Bay. My father ate oysters in any form, and once I was older than 10, joined him. 

My first thought., when I read your post, was “raw oysters on a cruise ship? That’s scary.” Good to know they are serving them on the first day or two. I so love, love, love raw oysters, especially with lemon and a little cocktail sauce. Please let them be available on my Apex cruise in April. 

Edited December 10, 2021 by Straughn

[What A Market]

Good morning

 

A little worse for wear this morning. Finally hit the casino late last night.  Game of choice — Three Card Poker.  At home (or while visiting Vegas), I play Pai Gow Poker. I enjoy the pace (slower) of the game over Blackjack, and I definitely enjoy the conviviality of the Pai Gow/Three Card Poker table over a Blackjack table. I rarely gamble, so mostly losing money at a slower pace is my favorite part.  Lol

 

It’s another beautiful day today as you can see from the photo.

 

I think last night was “lobster” night all over the ship. We ate in Luminae at what has been our usual time of 7:30 no matter what venue we end up at. The staff at Luminae told us it was a crush early on for dinner. Quieter at 7:30. (Side note: So far on this cruise we’ve dined three times in Luminae and once each in Fine Cut, Normandie, and Cosmopolitan.) Dinner was very good, but of all dinners, I would rank this one last so far.  Now this is like choosing which of your children you love most/least (and come on, you know you do it — Ha!), so someone has to be last. I’ll try to post more later on meals/venues.

 

Shout out time for a staff member: Every morning, I am taken care of by Tiara in Cafe al Bacio. She is everything you can love about the staff you meet on a cruise: warm, sweet, considerate, professional.
 

Ciao for now.

Edited December 10, 2021 by What A Market

[What A Market]

So how quiet is a ship sailing at just over half capacity?  Here’s a photo from the “back end” of Oceanview Cafe at 9:00am.  We have it basically to ourselves.

[florisdekort]

Boarding tomorrow. Can’t wait!  
 

Floris 

 

[What A Market]

Ok, so we have jumped to the last evening. Ugh!  Complete with DW yelling at me to pack or “I’m putting out the bags at 10:00pm without your clothes.”  The only reasonable response is a hasty exit to Martinis for fortification.  In this case, a Negroni. (Being a creature of habit, this is almost always my drink of choice.”)

 

Quiet/relaxed day. Laps on the track. Reading on the veranda. A beer and a hard cider at the bar on the Retreat Sun Deck. (Side note coming later on regarding beverages.) And a first time thing for me:  booked a future cruise at the future cruise desk (or whatever it’s called).  Booked again on the Apex out in 2023. This time a Norwegian fjords cruise.  I doubt I’ll be able to wait until 2023 to be “welcomed home” on the Apex.

 

Here’s the side note.

How has Celebrity not jumped on the Hard Seltzer bandwagon???  I was truly (pun intended) shocked there wasn’t a single offering anywhere on the ship. Hard Seltzers are crazy popular (yes, yes I acknowledge they may have peaked in popularity), and yes, I admit to having scoffed at the idea of drinking things like this when they first came out. (Anyone remember Zima’s?) But thanks to my kids, they’ve grown on me as I’ve mostly stopped drinking beers. (Except dark beers like porters and stouts. Ok yeah, and the odd Belgian Chimay here and there. But these are not “lounge in the sun” beers.). Poolside parties in the Arizona summer all but scream for these hard seltzers.  I’ve got to believe it’s mostly a demographic thing with Celebrity.  But come on Celebrity, even Budweiser has a hard seltzer out now. (Still hard not cringing when I say that. LOL)

Edited December 10, 2021 by What A Market

[kwokpot]

7 minutes ago, florisdekort said:

Boarding tomorrow. Can’t wait!  
 

Floris 

 

Same here. At HyattHouse FLL Airport Hotel  right now.

[TheTruth79]

I've enjoyed your live posts! Thanks the doing it. I'm on the in the Apex in March. Can you tell me if in Puerto Rico, do they have the vendors at the port selling all the goods? Handbags etc? This is my mother's favorite port and we always buy stuff there.  Thanks! @What A Market

[Ipeeinthepools]

1 minute ago, TheTruth79 said:

I've enjoyed your live posts! Thanks the doing it. I'm on the in the Apex in March. Can you tell me if in Puerto Rico, do they have the vendors at the port selling all the goods? Handbags etc? This is my mother's favorite port and we always buy stuff there.  Thanks! @What A Market

 

Are looking to purchase one of those Gucci bags at unbelievable prices?

[TheTruth79]

1 minute ago, Ipeeinthepools said:

 

Are looking to purchase one of those Gucci bags at unbelievable prices?

Absolutely!! 😃

[ETHTrader]

1 hour ago, What A Market said:

Ok yeah, and the odd Belgian Chimay here and there. 

 

Chimay Cinq Cents White Triple is my favorite. I was a little disappointed that the Craft Social Bar on Apex only carried the blue and red labels.

[florisdekort]

Curious minds want to know… Looks like Apex is coming into port tonight around 10 pm as opposed to tomorrow morning? It’s 8 pm now and she is only 20 miles off the coast doing 22 knots… Did anything happen? Medical emergency? 
 

[danceswithphones]

1 hour ago, florisdekort said:

Looks like Apex is coming into port tonight around 10 pm

Sure looks like she's headed in. Port schedule still shows 06:15 tomorrow. Now I'm curious.

[florisdekort]

Apex arriving in port now, 9:15 pm. Odd?

 

 

[Crism]

Back early!

[Jim_Iain]

She's just coming in now

 

[DaKahuna]

3 hours ago, What A Market said:

Ok, so we have jumped to the last evening. Ugh!  Complete with DW yelling at me to pack or “I’m putting out the bags at 10:00pm without your clothes.”  The only reasonable response is a hasty exit to Martinis for fortification.  In this case, a Negroni. (Being a creature of habit, this is almost always my drink of choice.”)

 

I avoided this issue this week on Reflection by doing a back to back!  

my hat is off to you if you enjoy Nigrini’s.  I have tried them a couple of tomes but always come back to my go to - Ron Zacapa 23 with just one or two cubes of ice. 

[florisdekort]

Thank you both for those beautiful photos!!  👌🏻👍🏻

[Jim_Iain]

I read on a site we can't quote that last night the Captain announced need of blood donors with A or O to donate blood.   They needed it for a transfusion.   They had so many responses they had to turn people away.    Makes me proud of our fellow cruisers.   May or may not be related.

[hawaiisloth1]

17 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

I read on a site we can't quote that last night the Captain announced need of blood donors with A or O to donate blood.   They needed it for a transfusion.   They had so many responses they had to turn people away.    Makes me proud of our fellow cruisers.   May or may not be related.

It is related.

 

Hope the ill or injured passenger will be ok.

 

Captain said earlier we’d be pulling out again and re-docking in the morning.

 

Not sure if that’s still the plan.

[danceswithphones]

8 minutes ago, hawaiisloth1 said:

Not sure if that’s still the plan.

 

Looks like the Apex is moving out. 

[Want2Cruise 701]

4 hours ago, florisdekort said:

Boarding tomorrow. Can’t wait!  
 

Floris 

 

 

3 hours ago, kwokpot said:

Same here. At HyattHouse FLL Airport Hotel  right now.

Have a fantastic cruise and enjoy. I’ll be on the Apex after you. Will either of you be posting?    Will definitely be interested in hearing your experience too, and also if you could find out the pax count for the 20th. TIA!

[BennyBrun]

Thank you for taking me along on your virtual cruise.  Great information and very entertaining.  I hope you enjoyed your cruise.  Can’t wait to get onboard in January.

[What A Market]

I haven’t heard much more than what everyone reported here.

 

It was definitely an odd moment last night when at dinner all of a sudden the dock showed. I hadn’t heard anything prior to then about there being a medical emergency. The Assistant Waiter in Normandie told us about the call for blood donors.

 

[mac_tlc]

And here you are coming back in this morning. 
 

Thanks for the review. I am now ready for my 1/29/22 sailing!!

 

mac_tlc

 

 

[PTC DAWG]

15 hours ago, What A Market said:

Ok, so we have jumped to the last evening. Ugh!  Complete with DW yelling at me to pack or “I’m putting out the bags at 10:00pm without your clothes.”  The only reasonable response is a hasty exit to Martinis for fortification.  In this case, a Negroni. (Being a creature of habit, this is almost always my drink of choice.”)

 

Quiet/relaxed day. Laps on the track. Reading on the veranda. A beer and a hard cider at the bar on the Retreat Sun Deck. (Side note coming later on regarding beverages.) And a first time thing for me:  booked a future cruise at the future cruise desk (or whatever it’s called).  Booked again on the Apex out in 2023. This time a Norwegian fjords cruise.  I doubt I’ll be able to wait until 2023 to be “welcomed home” on the Apex.

 

Here’s the side note.

How has Celebrity not jumped on the Hard Seltzer bandwagon???  I was truly (pun intended) shocked there wasn’t a single offering anywhere on the ship. Hard Seltzers are crazy popular (yes, yes I acknowledge they may have peaked in popularity), and yes, I admit to having scoffed at the idea of drinking things like this when they first came out. (Anyone remember Zima’s?) But thanks to my kids, they’ve grown on me as I’ve mostly stopped drinking beers. (Except dark beers like porters and stouts. Ok yeah, and the odd Belgian Chimay here and there. But these are not “lounge in the sun” beers.). Poolside parties in the Arizona summer all but scream for these hard seltzers.  I’ve got to believe it’s mostly a demographic thing with Celebrity.  But come on Celebrity, even Budweiser has a hard seltzer out now. (Still hard not cringing when I say that. LOL)

Flavored vodka and club soda is your friend…if no hard seltzer around…