JamieLogical

I don't think environmentalism has to be all or nothing. Every little bit helps. Just because I haven't bought an electric car doesn't mean I can't recycle or compost or do other things that incrementally help the environment. Just because I sail on diesel-powered cruise ship doesn't mean I have to just throw all my trash into the ocean. Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

I really can't comment, because every dinner I had at a sharing table, we took our sweet sweet time. I never felt like I was waiting too long for food (sometimes waited a while for drinks), because I was having such pleasant conversations that I didn't pay attention. None of my tablemates complained about slow service either.

Right? Captain Matt made daily announcements over the ship's intercom. This info should have been included in those announcements and not at theater shows that only a small percentage of the passengers attend. In any event, I feel pretty lucky I was never contact traced and all of the people I did sharing tables with throughout the cruise were still free to walk about the ship on Day 6, as I saw them all at some point the last day.

How many would you say there were? I was off pretty early and first walked down to where the cabs/shuttles were and didn't see them and then back to where the Uber/Lyft drivers do pick-ups and didn't see them over there either.

It depends on the drink. The ones that are supposed to be sweet are sweet and the ones that aren't aren't.

I didn't hear a word about COVID all week. No announcements about cases onboard, no mysteriously missing guests or staff, no line of black SUVs to pick up quarantined people at the dock. Just wanted to let everyone know I got home on schedule yesterday evening. First non-delayed flights for me in a long time. I didn't even know what to do with myself. I had assumed I wouldn't be home before midnight. It was lovely to get to have dinner with my husband!

Definitely will need to diet. I had a rule for a while that any weight I gained on a cruise I would have to lose before the next cruise, but I have been cruising do much in the past 10 months, that hasn't been realistic. My next cruise now isn't until September, so hopefully I can get back down to where I was before the restart.

Oh, also, for those of you who followed my last live blog, I have my jewelry, passport, and cash! I checked the safe three times before leaving my room. 😋

Well, made it to the airport only mildly soaked. Through security and a TSA agent had to pat me down and actually asked me "why are you wet?" My flight is allegedly still on time, but the previous flight for my plane is 17 minutes late arriving. Celebrity was actually great. They were handing out umbrellas to people to get to the cab/shuttle area and the Uber/Lyft area and then collecting them back. I still couldn't help but getting pretty wet though with the sideways rain and being fully exposed while getting my bags into my Lyft.

6/3 Well, it was a sad day yesterday, since it was the last day. I got my room service breakfast then headed to the MDR where I was seated alone to enjoy my eggs and "corned beef hash". I don't know what it actually is, but I don't think there is any corned beef in there. It tastes mostly like ketchup somehow? Oh well, still goes with eggs! I we determined to spend my morning at the Lawn Club, despite the weather. When I got up there, all of the chairs had been stacked against the wall with their cushions removed. Undeterred, I scavenged some cushions and a bunch of pool towels, and made myself a place to sit with my Grand Mimosa. I toughed it out for a couple of hours, but then it got to the point that even right up against the wall, the wind was driving the rain into me and I had to give up. I decided to stop by the future cruise desk to put down a deposit and book a cruise on the Summit for next May. Unfortunately, the internet was down, so I had to settle for just the deposit and I will have to call my Celebrity Vacation Planner when I am back home. I did later receive confirmation of the deposit at least. At 11:30, I went to the main theater to hear the Captain give us an update on the weather situation. He said we were trying to outrun the storm and get into Port Everglades around 12:30am. He said he was going to try to get us approval to dock at Pier 18, because Pier 25 blocks the cargo ships. I didn't stay for his full talk, because I am pretty sure it was the exact same presentation I saw him give in January. Instead I went to lunch in the MDR. I had the beef & chicken skewers and the Brik. I discovered Brik on my cruise back in March and it is delicious, so I was excited to see it on the menu again. After lunch I tried to take my nap, but I was a little too antsy. I headed down to Cafe al Bacio around 3:00 and, once again, there was not a single seat to be had. This time I wasn't even lucky enough to grab a seat as someone else got up. So I got my coffee to go and I took it over to the Ensemble Lounge. At 4:00 the Ensemble Lounge actually opened and I visited with Ilma and Abdul. I am definitely going to miss my little family. Ilma wanted a picture with me and she gave me her email address. I really hope we can stay in touch. She is on her current contract until September. She had had a rough day yesterday. When I saw her in the OceanView cafe at lunch time (I stopped by for a donut), she had been seasick and said she had been to Medical several times. She did seem to be doing better in the evening at least. I made a quick stop at WCB before dinner. I had promised to meet May & Dan for dinner in the MDR. They had waited for me the previous night (when I did dinner in the buffet) and I felt so bad! It was just the three of us for dinner. We got seated at a sharing table, but never got any tablemates. Oh well, we had such a nice time chatting. I gave May me email address. I had written it down very neatly (I have terrible handwriting) up in my room before dinner so we wouldn't have to scrounge for a piece of paper or a pen. Alas dinner ended and it was time to say goodbye. Then it was off to the casino to say goodbye to Komang. I love him so much. Somehow we ended up talking about cats? Of course I ended the night at WCB with Z. I got a great goodbye hug and then it was off to bed. By the time I went to bed, we were already pulling into Port Everglades. I am hopeful about my flight to Atlanta, but I do have a three hour layover there, so even if my first flights is a little delayed, I should be able to make my second flight. *Fingers Crossed* Day's Drinks: Grand Mimosa, Ginger Mojito, Mojito, Americano w/ Bailey's, French 77 x2, Birthday Cake Mojito, Strawberry Fields, Gris Blanc x2, Rum Mule, Celebrity No. 10, Vodka Sour, Pimm's Cucumber Concoction

Interest has been down most of the morning due to the heavy rain and cloud cover. The Captain says we are going to continue at full speed to try to make Port Everglades by 12:30am, since the storm is supposed to hit Ft. Lauderdale around 2:00am. If we are unable to dock before the storm hits, the port will likely close and we will have to dock late tomorrow morning.

It is a mimosa with a shot of Grand Marnier in it.

It's not on the menu. It is a traditional mojito, except you substitute Kraken (or other dark rum) for Bacardi or whatever light rum you would usually use and you substitute ginger beer for the club soda.

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6/2 With the late night I had before, I decided to set my room service delivery time to 8:00am instead of 7:00. That sort of set me up to be about an hour behind the whole day. I had to do the buffet for breakfast, since I missed the 9:00 closing time of the MDR. I was reminded of why I HATE the buffet for breakfast on cruises. It actually hasn't been to bad through the cruise restart, but with this ship near capacity combined with the fact that staff are still serving everything in the buffet, it is just too much. I ended up with three times the bacon a human can eat and I was too tired to argue with the poor girl who served it to me and then I had to wait as long for a fresh omelet as I would have down in the MDR. Not to mention it's basically a cage match just to navigate around with all of the people. It was a port day (Cozumel), so that didn't help. I just ate as quickly as I could once I managed to wrangle a reasonable amount of food, and escaped to the tranquility of the Lawn Club. I did at least grab my Grand Mimosa from Komang, who was working like a madman in the OceanView bar. Up at the Lawn Club, all the seats were soaked from the pouring rain, but that didn't deter me. I grabbed some of the pool towels that were there and just laid them all out on my wet cushion. Since I was running so late, I didn't even have to wait long for the Sunset Bar to open. There were more people up there than the past few days and I got to talking with a couple who was sailing Celebrity for the first time and then an older gentleman who was cruising alone. They were both great chats. I introduced the couple to ginger mojitos and they were thrilled. Jaya, the morning bartender up there said they became a huge hit and now everyone wants them. Since it was a port day, I had lunch in the buffet again. I was still running just about an hour late when I went down for my nap. And I woke up and hour late for my coffee at Cafe al Bacio. One of the advantages of being behind schedule was that there was live music in the Ensemble Lounge that started at 5:15. Since I usually go to the WCB at 5:00, I had been missing it the other nights. I was able to make up some time by having dinner in the buffet, instead of the MDR. I spent a lot of time at WCB and got to know Isiah better. He has definitely grown on me and I feel bad for my negative first impressions. The casino didn't open until pretty late, since we didn't leave Cozumel until about 7:30. While I was paying my daily tithes, I heard an "excuse me" and looked up and there was Komang with a Mr. Worldwide in his hand. Remember, he has to go steal ingredients from the Martini Bar to make these for me in the Casino, so that was a very pleasant and welcome surprise! He told me that he had been called over to Quasar to cover, because it was crowded in there for the pub trivia, so I went to hang out with him there. I played the trivia and only got 6 out of the 15 questions right. The group of four next to me also only got 6 right though, so I didn't feel too bad about it. After staying in Quasar a bit to chat with Komang after the trivia rush died down, I headed back to WCB just to say goodnight, but everyone talked me into staying for one more drink. Z made me something she called the "Jamie Special", which was delicious. With me running an hour late all evening and the time change jumping us an hour forward overnight, I decided to push my room service breakfast to 7:30 and just try to get a move on this morning to still make it to the MDR before they close. Day's Drinks: Grand Mimosa, Ginger Mojito x3, Americano w/ Bailey's, French 77 x2, Strawberry Fields, Birthday Cake Mojito, Celebrity No. 10, Mr. Worldwide, Vodka Sour, Jamie Special

Barring something catastrophic, grand children are not a possibility for us. And, every time I am tempted by a new pet, my husband reminds me how long that type of animal can live. 😋 We do have two cats who are somewhere in the 3-5 year-old range with only 12 years to go until I am 55. When people tell me stories of their cats living until 21 or 22, I worry a bit. But I love our cats. If we retire a couple of years later than planned because they are living long lives, worse things have happened.

The Captain just announced we will be traveling at full speed through the night to stay ahead of the storm and he expects us to be back to Port Everglades on time.

They haven't announced anything. I hope we aren't late getting back. I have a 10:30am flight!

6/1 It was another dreary day in the Caribbean. I opted for the MDR for breakfast, since I figured the buffet would be a madhouse. It was a port day with the port stop being Grand Cayman. All through the morning they were calling tender ticket numbers. Reminded me of disembarkation day, which was sad. In the MDR, I actually got a table by myself next to the window, so I had a view of the tender coming and going. One of the couples from my sharing table the previous morning was eventually seated behind me. I decided to go with a "lighter" breakfast of just cheese and bacon, but it was pretty disappointing. The "cheese tray" was a few sad grapes, a couple of slices of swiss cheese, and I chunk of brie. I have been very disappointed generally with the lack of cheese on the ship. I usually like to have a few slices of cheese with my meals in the buffet, but they haven't even had cheese out most days and the ones when they have, it's only been swiss. After breakfast, I headed up to OceanView for my Grand Mimosa again. I decided to brave the Lawn Club, despite the rain. At one point it was really coming down and I had to pull my chair almost back to the wall to keep it from getting soaked. I pretty much had the place to myself all morning. There weren't even many brave putters. For lunch in the buffet, I had Indian Nachos again. This time the spice level of the chicken dish I had them put on top was a little much for my caucasian spice tolerance. But don't worry, I did not starve. I did have a beef pattie in honor of my husband who loves them and will be sorry he missed out. I took a serious nap in the afternoon. I slept hard! It was a little challenging for me to drag myself out of bed and get dressed for my afternoon coffee. But once I was up and about, I had renewed energy for a night of drinking. After my pre-dinner drinks at Ensemble and WCB, I decided to try to catch May & Dan on their way into dinner so I could be sure we sat together. I waited longer than I expected to. Meanwhile the other couple I had sat at for dinner the night before was looking for Julie, the woman from California, so they could snatch her up and take her to one of the specialty restaurants. May & Dan did finally show up and we were seated at a table for 8 (only had 7) with two couples. It was a brother and sister traveling together with their respective spouses. We chatted for a VERY long time and didn't leave dinner until almost 8:30. I had the Duck Rillettes and the Braised Short Ribs. I felt a little bad, because I had recommended the short ribs and while the meat was as tender as it always is, they definitely lacked a little flavor. After dinner I spent some time at the casino, paying my tithes. The Sun God giveth and the Sun God taketh away. This time, he was in a taking mood. I then headed over to the casino bar and hung out with Komang for a bit. The woman I had sat next to during my pedicure was there with her husband and we chatted for a long time about football. Then I went back to the WCB and stayed there later than I should have. By the time I got to bed, it was almost midnight, so I made my room service breakfast order for 8:00, instead of 7:00. I figured I would just do buffet breakfast and not try to make it to the MDR before 9:00. This morning, the thick clouds and bad weather seem to be blocking the satellite signal, so I have no internet. I am just typing up these notes in WordPad so I can post them later, once the internet is available again. I apologize for getting them posted so late. Day's Drinks: Grand Mimosa, Mimosa, Ginger Mojito x2, Screwdriver, Rum Mule, Strawberry Fields, Elderflower Blush, Vodka Sour, French 75, Birthday Cake Mojito, Celebrity No. 10

I actually got to chat with Isiah last night and he made me a drink. It seems silly to only have one of them on at 5:00, since the bar is always completely slammed with people waiting for it to open, but I will take your word for it. He seems like a decent enough guy.

Just wanted to let you all know the internet was down on the ship this morning because of the heavy cloud cover. It's back up now and I did type up all of my notes for yesterday this morning. So when I get back to my room after lunch, I will post them.

The Captain just announced the weather is improving and we might even have sun in Cozumel tomorrow!