JamieLogical's March 19 Summit Sailing

[ladylemondrop]

Following! Have a lovely time 😊

[Pushkin]

1 hour ago, RickT said:

May I suggest you try a Bloody Caesar?  It’s similar to a Bloody Mary but much better IMHO.  It’s the traditional brunch beverage in Canada.  

Some of your fellow Canadians introduced us to Bloody Caesars a few years back.  We love them!  Very tasty!

[JamieLogical]

I went to my 12:45 pedicure appointment straight after lunch and was pleasantly surprised to see my bag had already been delivered to my room after that. So I waddled around in my flimsy flip flops and got everything unpacked. I was planning to take a quick nap before sail away, but I am weirdly not super happy at the moment, so I may get dressed and go find myself a drink in a bit, after I am confident my toenails are completely dry.

[FlorenceItaly]

1 minute ago, JamieLogical said:

I went to my 12:45 pedicure appointment straight after lunch and was pleasantly surprised to see my bag had already been delivered to my room after that. So I waddled around in my flimsy flip flops and got everything unpacked. I was planning to take a quick nap before sail away, but I am weirdly not super happy at the moment, so I may get dressed and go find myself a drink in a bit, after I am confident my toenails are completely dry.

Cocktails make everything better.  GO as soon as you can!  I have found that it sometimes takes a few hours before you can put your newly polished toes in a closed toe shoe.  Hopefully, you have some open toe shoes.  If not, may need to go to the gift shop.

[JamieLogical]

44 minutes ago, FlorenceItaly said:

Cocktails make everything better.  GO as soon as you can!  I have found that it sometimes takes a few hours before you can put your newly polished toes in a closed toe shoe.  Hopefully, you have some open toe shoes.  If not, may need to go to the gift shop.

I put on some sandals. They cover my smaller toes, but the big toes that take longer to dry are exposed at least.

[Laurab23]

16 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

I put on some sandals. They cover my smaller toes, but the big toes that take longer to dry are exposed at least.

Relax,take a deep breath,have a few cocktails (do You have your patch on) and enjoy your cruise. Put all the stress of the last few hours behind you.

 

Laura

[zitsky]

@JamieLogical Just another person saying that I am enjoying your pre trip report and looking forward to the rest.  Glad you made it!

[Ken the cruiser]

So Jamie, it looks like the Summit has left the pier. 

 

CELEBRITY SUMMIT Current Location (cruisemapper.com)

 

Did you decide to upgrade to the premium internet package or did you keep the basic package that came with All Included?

[JamieLogical]

3 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

So Jamie, it looks like the Summit has left the pier. 

 

CELEBRITY SUMMIT Current Location (cruisemapper.com)

 

Did you decide to upgrade to the premium internet package or did you keep the basic package that came with All Included?

I decided to upgrade because my husband had to go to urgent care today for some pain he's had in his back/hip/thigh all week. He went to the urgent care today and they think it's a pulled muscle, but I was worried about being out of touch with him for days at a time with only the classic wifi, so I went ahead and upgraded, which has the added bonus of me being able to post while sailing!

[Ken the cruiser]

12 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

I decided to upgrade because my husband had to go to urgent care today for some pain he's had in his back/hip/thigh all week. He went to the urgent care today and they think it's a pulled muscle, but I was worried about being out of touch with him for days at a time with only the classic wifi, so I went ahead and upgraded, which has the added bonus of me being able to post while sailing!

I’m sorry about your husband and I hope he gets well soon. But at the same time we’re all glad to hear you’ll be able to share your experiences while on the cruise!

[graphicguy]

Jamie….hope your husband is feeling better.  Also hope you have a great cruise.  Looking forward to your live review.

[JamieLogical]

Since I have the Premium wifi, I should be able to post my daily recaps in real time, instead of post-cruise. So, here is my recap from yesterday. Some of it may be a bit redundant for those of you who read my individual posts throughout Friday and Saturday.

 

3/19

After having checked into my hotel a little past 3:00 due to a total of 2 hour and 20 minute flight delays, I didn't get a ton of sleep, but I did try to sleep in as late as I could force myself. I ended up getting out of bed around 9:00am.

 

I called to check on my husband, who has been having pain in his lower back, hip, and upper thigh. He decided to go to urgent care and was diagnosed with a pulled muscle, prescribed a muscle relaxant, and told to rest as much as possible. We both agreed that it was a very good thing he wasn't scheduled to go on this cruise with me or he would have been incredibly miserable on the flights and traversing the airport and wouldn't have been able to enjoy himself much on the ship.

 

I checked out of the hotel just before 11:00 and headed down to the front entrance to summon an Uber or Lyft. Lyft had the better going rate at the moment, and I was quickly on my way to the port. My driver dropped me off at the porters at exactly 11:30, which was my scheduled arrival time. I left my roller bag with the porter and headed into the terminal. Right outside the door to the terminal, they were checking COVID test results. I got to cut in front of some people who were searching for their results on their phones, since I had my printed copy in hand.

 

Once inside it was straight up the escalator to security. They did not check passports there, just sent my stuff through the x-ray while we passed through the metal detectors. Then it was up another escalator to the check-in area. There they asked for my stateroom number, confirmed my answers to the Health Questionnaire I had filled out on the app the day before, checked my vaccine card, checked my COVID test results again, and scanned my passport. From there it was off to the gangway, where they scanned my Xpress pass and that was it. No lines anywhere. I stepped off the gangway and onto the ship at 11:39.

 

I went straight to my room, after being pestered by the elevators to go to my muster station first. I got my SeaPass card off my door, took a bunch of photos of the room, dropped off my backpack, watched the safety briefing on my TV and THEN went down to my muster station, which is in the photo gallery/studio area this time.

 

When I got off the elevator to head to my muster station, the same crew member who had pestered me about it earlier was there and I told him I was on my way to my station now and he was quite pleased.

 

After muster, I headed up to the Oceanview Cafe for some lunch before my 12:45 pedicure appointment at the Spa. For lunch I just had a slice of pizza and a couple of pieces of cheese. But I did acquire my first drink of the cruise, a mimosa. I still had a little time after eating, so I scoped out the desserts and ended up getting something called a "chocolate pot", which seemed to be chocolate mousse in a ramekin. It was nice and light and I only ate about half of it. Didn't want to be uncomfortably full for my spa appointment.

 

At the spa, a lovely Jamaican woman named Tash did my pedicure. She was quite the perfectionist, which I appreciated. This is her first full contract on a cruise. She had been scheduled to start her first contract on March 14, 2020! Boy, did she dodge a bullet there. She said how disappointed she was at the time, but she had a friend who got stuck on a ship without pay for three months, so she wasn't quite so upset about not getting to do her contract at that point! She is only two months into a nine month contract, so she is struggling with missing home, be she said the time has gone pretty quickly so far.

 

After my pedicure, I came back to my room with the intention of taking a nap while my toenails dried, but my luggage had already arrived, so I ended up packing instead. It was fun doing that while waddling around in the flimsy flip-flops they give you after a pedicure. With everything unpacked, I tried to lie down for a nap, but I was surprisingly not tired. I thought I would be exhausted having gotten so little sleep on Saturday morning.

 

Since I couldn't sleep, I decided to head down to the internet desk and upgrade my wifi. My husband and I had talked about how worried he was about not being able to reach me if his leg took a turn for the worse, so I decided to bite the bullet and pay the $75 to upgrade. Now I just have to avoid the temptation to do any actual work while I am onboard!

 

I then stopped by Cafe al Bacio to get some coffee to go, which I planned to take with me up to the Sunset Bar for the sail away party. But as soon as I went to take a sip of it as I got on the elevator, the lid came off and I spilled it all over myself! So, I rushed back to my room to rinse my shirts as well as I could and to change into some clean clothing. I didn't bother to go back for more coffee, which turned out to be a mistake.

 

I headed up to the Sunset Bar where I was just a few minutes late. I ordered a Mojito, but they were out of limes, so they asked if they could make it with lemons. I said "why not?" and it was actually pretty good. Very "fresh" tasting. While I was getting my drink, I was recognized by fellow Cruise Critic, Jean. We got to chatting at the bar for a bit, then she took me over and introduced me to her husband, Michael. We had a lovely time chatting and watching the sail away. I think meeting and getting to know new people is one of my absolute favorite things about cruising. You always have at least one thing in common to strike up a conversation around!

 

Once we were well away and it was getting too hot and sunny for us to bear, I headed back inside. I decided to hit up the Martini Bar, which was remarkably uncrowded. I had a 25th Anniversary Martini there, as well as a bottle of water. Then I headed up to dinner in Blu at exactly 6:00. Since I had gotten there so early, I got a table by the window, which was nice.

 

I sat next to a couple who was on the second leg of a back to back. They were such happy people who really appreciated the food and the service. It was evident that all of the servers knew and loved them from the previous sailing.

 

I had the corn soup and the short ribs for dinner, along with a drink called The Spice Market, which was not my thing, as it turns out. By the time I finished dinner, my exhaustion had caught up with me and I decided I needed to just  go back to my room for some sleep. I wasn't sure if I would just take a nap or go to bed for the night.

 

I ended up sleeping until about 9:00pm and decided to get up and go to the casino for a bit and then do late night snack. I didn't do *too* badly in the casino. Not great either, though. For late night snack I had another slice of pizza and a chocolate cupcake. Then it really was off to bed for the night.

 

During the night, I woke up with a terrible headache. It persisted through until the morning and I realized it was because I never did have my afternoon coffee. I hung in there until my room service arrived at 7:00 when I quickly downed a cup of coffee, ate my chocolate croissant, and took some Excedrin (which has caffeine in it).

 

Day's Drinks: Mimosa, Mojito x2, Vodka Sour, 25th Anniversary Martini, Spice Market, Moscow Mule

 

Edited March 20, 2022 by JamieLogical

[JamieLogical]

3/19

 

Stateroom, Aqua Class on Deck 9 Midship:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

First Drink: Mimosa

 

Sailaway, Jorge on guitar:

 

 

 

 

 

Dinner in Blue:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Three other ships near us in the night:

Edited March 20, 2022 by JamieLogical

[vms]

Glad the cruise is off to a good start, after your rocky flight situation!

 

Interesting that they were trying to get you to go straight to muster; on the Summit cruise in November that we were both on, I tried going to the muster station first and I was told I needed to present my room card so they wouldn't allow me to do it first.  It seemed a bit short sighted as so many of the muster stations are on the way to the rooms and they have you as a captive audience, rather than having you come back later where they might need to track you down. Seems like a good change, even if not everyone wants to do it right away.

 

Have a wonderful time- looking forward to more!

 

Valerie

[zitsky]

The very nice gray motif in the Jamie’s Summit cabin.  Is that standard for that category of ship?

[JamieLogical]

10 minutes ago, zitsky said:

The very nice gray motif in the Jamie’s Summit cabin.  Is that standard for that category of ship?

That is what the revolutionized M class ships look like. So the Millie is the same. The other M class ships haven't been revolutionized yet.

[zitsky]

8 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

That is what the revolutionized M class ships look like. So the Millie is the same. The other M class ships haven't been revolutionized yet.

Ah ok.  Thanks for replying when you are busy.

[JamieLogical]

3/20

As I mentioned a bit in yesterday's recap, I developed a terrible caffeine headache overnight, so I was quite miserable in the morning. After my room service coffee and some Excedrin, I went back to bed for a couple of hours and felt human again when I woke up at 9:00, so I showered and headed for a very late breakfast in the Oceanview Cafe.

 

After breakfast, I decided to take a walk around the upper decks then came back to the room and typed up my notes from Saturday. Then I decided to check out the Solarium. On my way to the Solarium, I passed by the pool bar and decided to grab a water, but I was surprised to see a familiar face. One of the bartenders who had frequently worked in the Rendezvous Lounge (my favorite hangout) on my last Summit sailing was there. I was surprised, because I thought all of those guys would be off contract by now. Without thinking, I asked him when he got to go home and then I remembered he is from Ukraine! His contract was supposed to be up at the end of this sailing, but he has extended it for nine weeks. He has nowhere to go. All of his family is still in Ukraine, in the north eastern part, and there is no way for him to get to that area. I felt so terribly for him. I didn't know what to say. I just wanted to give him a hug. He told me he is also working in the Mast Bar on this sailing, and I promised to come visit him often, even though the outdoor bars aren't really my thing.

 

I didn't know what to expect in terms of crowding in the Solarium, since it was a port day, but that port day was Nassau and I know a LOT of people are like me and don't bother getting off the ship there. I need not have worried, as there weren't many people at all. I was able to relax on a bench in the T-pool for a bit and then relax in one of the two completely empty hot tubs.

 

While I was there, they had put out the lunch items for the Spa Cafe. I had never tried anything from the Spa Cafe before on any of my past Celebrity sailings, so I decided to try it out. I ended up getting some tuna salad an some sort of oolong noodle salad. Both were very good.

 

I headed back to my room to change out of my wet swimsuit and decided to go get some ice cream in the OceanView Cafe. I walked past the cake station on my way to the ice cream station and saw they had pumpkin pie! I had never seen pumpkin pie on a Celebrity sailing before, so I decided to get some and a scoop of vanilla ice cream. The pie was just okay, but with the ice cream, it was very good.

 

I then headed to the Sunset Bar for a my first couple drinks of the day. I chatted with one of the bartenders for a while and just watched the hubbub of the ships around us. As usually, there were many other ships docked in Nassau, including the Millie.

 

After a couple of drinks, I was ready for my afternoon nap, so I headed back to my room and napped for an hour or two. I ended up waking up around 3:30 and went down to Cafe al Bacio for my afternoon coffee. This time, I did not make the mistake of getting it to go! I sat at a table and listened to the musical stylings of Jorge, who had played at the sail away on Saturday. Right away, I knew I would enjoy it, because he played "Creep" by Radiohead followed by "Wonderwall" by Oasis. I stayed for the rest of his set, through his break, and into his next set.

 

I went back to my room to drop off my Kindle and then headed up to the Mast Bar to visit Andril some more. We got to talk a bit more about his family and what he might do once he is off the ship. He wants to go back and fight, but all of his friends and family are discouraging him, because he would get stuck there and be unable to leave again. At least right now, they do not have to worry about him, knowing that he is safe. Poor kid. He is just a baby. He should not have to deal with things like this and it's just so frustrating that this whole stupid war is for nothing. I truly hope that things calm down before his contract extension runs out.

 

After my chat with Andril, I headed back to the Sunset Bar to listen to another solo act, Anna. She was great, playing some more recent pop music mostly, but she did play a couple of classics like The Beatles. I had a few more drinks and enjoyed the music.

 

Then it was off to Cellar Masters to check out another musical act. This one was called Diamond Duo and they played guitar and violin. I had seen/heard another act by the same name my last time on the Summit, but these were not the same people. They were still very good and enjoyable. A great act to listen to before my dinner in Blu.

 

I had been looking forward to my dinner in Blu for quite some time, because they had Blue Cheese Soufflé on the menu, which I had discovered on my Equinix sailing in January. It is one of my absolute favorite foods I have ever eaten. One of the main appeals of getting upgraded to Blu was being able to have Blue Cheese Soufflé twice in one sailing, because they had it in Blu and the MDR on different nights! I had actually run into my waiter from Blu at the Sunset Bar earlier in the day yesterday and warned him about my passion for it.

 

So, right at 6:00, I headed into Blu. I was seated by the window again and I ordered my Blue Cheese Soufflé, as well as the Spinach and Ricotta Ravioli off of the MDR menu, as none of the Blu entrees really appealed to me. I did my very best to take small bites of my soufflé and savor it, rather than just downing it all in two bites. It was so delicious and my enthusiasm for it encouraged two other couples nearby to order it as well. I heard John, my waiter, mentioning it as a highlight to everyone else he served.

 

My ravioli was nothing to write home about, so I didn't eat much of it, instead, opting to take my time to digest and process and drink another drink. When the time to order dessert came, I ended up ordering another soufflé! I wasn't able to order the whole thing, but I did a pretty good job on it.

 

After dinner, I headed to the Rendezvous Lounge for their Minute to Win It gameshow. This one is always fun, because it's the crew against the passengers. I always feel like the crew have the hugely unfair advantage of being sober. It was a ton of fun. But as I was sitting down at the bar, I saw yet another familiar face. Another one of the bartenders from my November sailing who is from Ukraine! His family has made it out of Ukraine at least and is now in Romania. When his contract is up in a few days, he plans to join them there. But he is worried about his parents who are in Odessa and refuse to leave.

 

After the gameshow, I headed to the casino to burn through some money before the main theater show. The show was a comedian named Jasmine Ellis and she was fantastic. By far the best comedian I have seen on Celebrity. She was a hundred times better than that terrible guy I saw on the first leg of my last Summit B2B that I had to just walk out on. Apparently she has a special streaming on Amazon, which I plan to check out when I get home.

 

After the show, it was back to the casino to burn through the rest of my cash for the day, then up to late night snack, where I had my traditional slice of peperoni pizza and a bit of cheese.

 

As I was getting ready for bed I heard from my husband and he is not doing well. A friend of ours is taking him back to the urgent care this morning. I may end up needing to cancel the second leg of my B2B. I will keep everyone posted on that.

[JamieLogical]

3/20

 

A hearty, late breakfast from Oceanview Cafe:

 

Solarium:

 

 

Lunch in Spa Cafe:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pumpkin Pie from Oceanview Cafe:

Cafe al Baccio:

 

Jorge:

 

The view from my balcony once the Independence of the Seas sailed away:

 

The Celebrity Millennium docked near us:

 

Anna:

 

Diamond Duo:

 

Dinner in Blu:

 

 

 

 

Minute to Win It gameshow in Rendezvous Lounge:

 

Cruise Director

 

Housekeeping Manager

 

The Captain of the Ship catching ping pong balls in a cup tied to his waste!

 

Jasmine Ellis:

 

Late Night Snack:

 

Edited March 21, 2022 by JamieLogical

[Arzeena]

Jamie,

Sending prayers and get well wishes for yor husband. Hopefully all will be resolved soon.

Thanks for your pictures and review. Always enjoy reading it.

[terrydtx]

22 hours ago, JamieLogical said:

I headed up to the Sunset Bar where I was just a few minutes late. I ordered a Mojito, but they were out of limes, so they asked if they could make it with lemons. I said "why not?" and it was actually pretty good. Very "fresh" tasting

Did Celebrity fail to load limes for the cruise? 

[JamieLogical]

14 minutes ago, terrydtx said:

Did Celebrity fail to load limes for the cruise? 

I am not sure. When I went to the Sunset Bar yesterday, they were still out of limes. Which reminds me, I forgot to post yesterday's drink log!

[JamieLogical]

3/20

 

Day's Drinks: Vodka Sour, French Caribbean, Americano with Bailey's, Rum Mule x2, French 77 x3, Vodka Sour

[JamieLogical]

So, my husband went back to urgent care today with a rash that began appearing yesterday. He has shingles. The "pulled muscle" pain he was experiencing was actually nerve pain from the shingles. Apparently the rash shows up 2-4 days after the pain. He is only 42 years old! We aren't even eligible for the vaccine!

 

They are prescribing an anti-viral and and a steroid and say he should start feeling some relief in about two days. Since the earliest I can be home is Thursday evening, we have decided I should just stay for my B2B, since he should be feeling somewhat better by then.

[DCPIV]

2 hours ago, JamieLogical said:

I always feel like the crew have the hugely unfair advantage of being sober.

 

Your statement is an instant classic!

 

Thank you for the tip about Jasmine Ellis.  We'll have to check out her special.

 

Here's hoping that your husband recovers quickly and smoothly.  I very recently became eligible for the shingles vaccine and will look into getting it soon!