Cruise Holiday Day One

 

If you are looking for a day by day explanation of our Caribbean Cruise you have come to the right place!  I will attempt to dissect each day as best my memory allows.  I did take over 500 photos and will try to only post the highlights.  In summary we had a great time, enjoyed seeing a new part of the world, relaxed and had lots of downtime....all the essentials of an excellent holiday.  We would say that 10 days is simply perfect.  We were ready to come home and felt we had enough time away from the 'real world'! I want to let my readers know that this was to be a group trip with our good friends Kori & Roger and Keri & Dave.  We had planned it last summer but in the fall their older sister was diagnosed with cancer and they had to make the hard decision to cancel the trip.  We weren't sure if we would go either but after lots of discussion decided to still go.  We missed them on the trip and look forward to planning another group vacation one day.

 Okay...here we go!

March 14th, 2013 - Destination Celebrity Equinox

 

This was a tense day for me.  I had to work and our plan was to leave for the airport the moment I got home.  It was hard to concentrate on my job as my pre-flying jitters were on high alert.  Keith took the day off and did all the last minute items at home.  His mom drove us to the airport which was so nice.  The stress compounded exponentially when we arrived at the border to find a huge line up that was moving at a snail's pace.  I think that we moved up ahead one car every 4-5 minutes.  It was absolute torture and I just laid my face in my knees and prayed.  It seems our particular custom's officer was doing a VERY thorough check of each vehicle.  YIKES!  But we did finally get through and knew that if it was smooth sailing the rest of the way to SEATAC we would get there with just enough time.  Thankfully traffic was smooth and we arrived in two hours.  We hustled to get through security as we knew that staff had been cut and there could be more line ups but it all went okay and we finally made it to our gate!

 

 

 We didn't have time for supper before we left so we had a quick bite in the food court.  Well, Keith ate and I nibbled on a muffin.  Again....flying jitters kill the appetite quite nicely.  Can you see fear all over my face?  I can!

 

Sadly, it was impossible to sleep on the plane even with an Ativan.  I was envious of all those around me sawing logs. After a really smooth flight where I was able to actually pretend we were on a bus, we landed in Atlanta.  In the above photo I am holding an awesome travel blanket and pillow K & K had given me for my birthday. It was a lifesaver on the place as I was chilly.  Thank you ladies!    We had to get a picture of this hot dog stand for our hot dog-hating child of the same name.

The next flight wasn't so great.  It was the shorter of the two flights and that being said they don't fly at the same cruising altitude.  We flew in the 'bumpy zone' I guess you could call it.  I got quite motion sick and had the barf bag over my face.  I came close but was able to hold it together until we landed.  It was a nicer plane though with individual interactive TV screens and more leg room.  We finally landed in Ft Lauderdale and I took a Bonine which had been in my checked luggage.  Dumb girl!  Then I had my very first taxi ride to the port.  The driver was on his cell phone the entire time and didn't even ask us where we were going until we had driven quite a while.  Rudie!  Anyhow, it was only 2 miles to the port and we were glad to have arrived.  We were quite early and so again, it was more waiting.  We checked in which was a very easy process, got our pictures taken (we saw it afterwards on the ship and laughed because we both looked like the grim reaper).  Can you see all those empty seats in the terminal?  They eventually all filled up and then the entire group of 2800+ passengers had to wait some more.  Seriously!  Again, it was a customs issue with getting the passengers off the boat.  But we were too tired to truly care and made lovely conversation with a Scottish lady sitting beside us.  I had just said to Keith, I hope we don't see anyone from Abbotsford here when a family we knew walked by and said hi.  Crazy! 

 

 

 Yeah!  Finally we were allowed on board.  We were greeted with champagne or orange juice and very warmly welcomed.  It was such a relief to find our room and settle in.  The room was so much more spacious than I had imagined it would be.  Truly perfect. 

 The bed was super comfortable.  No trouble sleeping at all.

 The bathroom was spotless and very functional. 

 The sitting area was nice and we felt we had just really lucked out.

 Our room had a veranda with a 'partially obstructed view'.  So basically it meant instead of looking straight down and seeing water we could see the life boat.  Not a bit deal at all!  I would much rather have a veranda with lifeboat in sight than a room without a veranda at all.  I would feel claustrophobic.  We used our veranda all the time...it was so nice to have!

 

 This little sitting area was the perfect place to do my hair and make up as there weren't any regular outlets in the bathroom for my flat iron. 

 It was time to get some food in us.  We opted for a light lunch of pizza and salad from the main buffet area.  It felt good to eat in the warm sunshine.

 

 

 After lunch I found the ice cream bar and settled down to lounge with a pineapple sorbet cone.  Delish!

 Recharging those batteries!  We had the required lifeboat safety drill and then set about to explore this amazing vessel.  The top deck had a lawn for putting or boccie ball.  Very nice!

 

 It was finally time for sail away and we found a great place on deck to watch us leave Ft Lauderdale. 

 

 

 

 Every day you would receive a newsletter with the happenings of the day.  We both also had a 'sea pass' card which essentially was your ID on the ship and what you used to make any purchases you wanted.

 After we were fully at sea we showered up and got ready for our first dinner.  We had an 8:30 pm seating in the main dining room.

 We had some time to kill so we kept on exploring.  We found some interesting pieces and found that there is very cool art all over the ships.

 

 The library where you could borrow any book you liked.

 The indoor pool area...adults only.

 We went to the buffet 'just to look' and ended up snacking on a plate of freshly rolled sushi.  Very good!

 

 The fitness centre.  Just went in for a look-see and never went back.  Ha ha...maybe we should have!

 Dinner was amazing.  We had a great table for two beside the window but it was dark every night by the time we ate so that really didn't do much for us.  The tables are quite close together though so we were pleased to have a nice group of four beside us.  Our waiters Mohan and Gilberth were just so attentive and professional and we felt like absolute royalty in the way they served us.  I've never experienced anything like it.  My first course was a waldorf salad (above) which was fresh and delicious. 

 My main course was cod.....cooked to perfection.

 My dessert was crème brulee.  The menu had two sides.  A 'classic' side with tried and true favorites such as Caesar salad, shrimp cocktail, steak, salmon, French onion soup etc.  This was the same every day.  The right side of the menu changed daily with more trendy dishes.  You could mix and match all you wanted when it came time to order. 

Keith had the most amazing chocolate cake and it was ordered a few times during the 10 days of cruising.  So moist with layers of dulce de leche.  Divine.

We were so tired we could barely keep our eyes open though.  Yawning and slow blinks...we felt like zombies.  After dinner we went straight to bed and slept a solid 10 hours.  The rocking was the ship just put us to sleep like babies!