JamieLogical

I have only seen the small acts throughout the ship. Haven't done the theater yet. I heard last night's guest entertainment in the theater was fantastic. I think they were called the Vagabonds? My favorite small acts so far has been BR4.

Yeah, that was the idea with the cruising 2-3 weeks out of the month. We would have a "home base" to do doctors appointments, laundry, check mail, etc. We plan to retire at 55, so hopefully won't be in too bad of shape at that point. Things might slow down as we age, though.

It was called Dead Certain. It was one of the ones I got free through Amazon First Reads for having an Amazon Prime subscription. I stockpile the free books throughout the year and read them on cruises. I almost never read at home, but I love reading on cruises.

My dream cruise is a world cruise. Viking was doing one as COVID happened that was over 200 days and stopped at 90-something ports, if I remember correctly. Something like that would be amazing. My husband and I have a tentative plan to put all of our stuff in storage when retire, do a world cruise, then get a cheap one-bedroom or studio condo in Miami or Ft. Lauderdale and cruise 2-3 weeks out of every month. Sailing solo... I guess the only thing I like over cruising with my husband is being more social. When I am cruising with my husband we are more "self-contained". In order to not be lonely on a solo cruise, I definitely strike up more conversations with strangers and do sharing tables at dinner. So I put myself out there more and meet some amazing people. My husband I do that when we sail together too, but not to such a great extent.

Maybe, though I did ask Z if Isaiah coming late meant she got to leave early and she said no.

I have definitely seen some teens onboard and more small children than I have ever seen on Celebrity. One of the couples I've befriended has small children who and loving the kids club. I see activities listed all the time for the teen club as well.

Here's my favorite video about it: https://youtu.be/S-zRhjjLOPE

I use a technique called bundle packing (search on YouTube, it will change your life) which minimizes wrinkles and I use Downy Wrinkle Release spray to get our the few wrinkles/creases I do get. The wrinkle release spray seems to work especially well on linen.

St. Germain, lemon juice, and Prosecco.

The weather is cloudy and rainy again today. I had decided I wasn't going to go ashore anyway, so I am not too sad about it. The only thing I am a little worried about is that others will choose to stay onboard as well and everything will be as crowded as it was yesterday. Nothing official about skipping Cozumel yet. I had already canceled my shore excursion on the first day in anticipation of the bad weather though.

6/1 The time change threw me for a bit of a loop in the morning. I woke up before my room service warning call. Thankfully my 7:00 room service came ay 6:42, so I didn't have to wait too long. With it being a sea day, I thought I would get a late start and just try the buffet for Breakfast, but it was a mob scene up there and I gauged my wait time for cooked-to-order eggs to be a good 10-15 minutes, so I decided to just go down to the MDR, because it was still before 9:00. The MDR was no less mobbed. There was a light out the door. Can't say I've ever seen that at an MDR for breakfast on any cruise ship. They said they were out of tables for 1-2 people and they could only seat people willing to do a sharing table. I said I was willing, so I got to join that line, while others stood off to the side, waiting for tables to clear up. There was some serious confusion about where to seat our little rag tag group. Initially there were 7 of us and they tried to seat us at a table for 6. Then we moved over to an 8-top and the the two people in the back of our group had disappeared, so we were down to 5. So then we were escorted back to our initial table. But we did eventually get seated and had a pleasant breakfast with a nice chat. There was a couple from West Palm to my left and a couple from Austin to my right. One of the guys to my right was on his first cruise ever! So that was fun to get his take on how he liked it. After breakfast, I headed up to OceanView to get my mimosa to take up to the Lawn Club. Is it very bad that Komang already had a wine glass with Grand Marnier in it, chilling in the fridge, so it would be ready to go for my Grand Mimosa when I showed up? I decided it was good! It was a very dreary and rainy morning (actually full day), so I pulled my chair in under the overhang and then proceeded with my lazy morning as usual. I don't know if I mentioned it before, but the non-smoking side of the Lawn Club by the Sunset Bar now has a putting green with several holes cut in it. Several people braved the rain and putted balls around. It was fun listening in on them as I read. I took it a little slower with my drinks in the morning. For lunch I took advantage of the fact the MDR is open on sea days. I had the Mozzarella Sticks and the Teriyaki Duck Breast. Also, because it was a sea day, the casino was open throughout the day, so I decided to pay my tithes early and get that out of the way, but the fates smiled upon me and I won almost $400! That seemed like an excellent time to call it quits, so I went up to my room to try to nap. However, my husband texted me with some amazing news! The reason I have been sailing solo frequently since the restart is that I get more vacation time than my husband does. I get 5 weeks plus the week between Christmas & New Year's off. My husband only got two weeks, plus some personal time and floating Holiday that he could stretch into three weeks. He was due to earn a third week in the next fiscal year, since he would have been at his job 5 years at that point. But he got a notice that they are doing away with vacation banks for his job rank altogether! They want everyone to just maintain a good work/life balance. So no more PTO banks at all. He can just take time off as needed and as his boss approves. The manager band at his company already had this policy in place and they just decided to extend that down a level to the rank where my husband is. This means no more trying to plan vacations around Holidays to save him a vacation day and such. And it means we can now travel a day or two earlier for cruises and not be so rushed. So, after my casino win and my husband's news, I wasn't very nappy. I just read my book some more and relaxed until it was time for my afternoon coffee. I headed down to Cafe al Bacio around 3:15 and there was literally not a single seat. Not even on the side across the Grand Foyer. I had to wait a bit for someone to get up and quickly snag their seat! I finished my book as I was drinking my coffee, which left me embarrassingly crying in public. So I went back to my room to change for dinner, since it was Evening Chic night. Then headed down to Ensemble Lounge to chat with Abdul and enjoy some French 77's. I ended up adopting the girl that works there and Abdul is her dad no (he also adopted her), so now Abdul is my husband? My baby daddy? I'm really not sure. At 5:00, I of course headed over to World Class Bar to see Z. I got to talking about our Bartesian to some of the other passengers there and I think now they owe me a commission, because one guy totally ordered one off of Amazon while we were sitting right there. I didn't dilly dally too long at WCB, because it was lobster night in the MDR! For me lobster night is a big deal, not because of the lobster, but because it's the night they have Blue Cheese Soufflé!!! There was a decent line at the door again. I said I would start a sharing table. I was soon joined by three of the people I had sat with on night 1, the older couple I told you about and the woman from California. She had made a couple of friends and they sat with us as well. It was an incredibly pleasant meal. The older couple.. the wife, May.... she it just such an awesome human to talk to. She gave me a hug when she saw me! I hope I get to eat with her again at least one more time on this cruise. After dinner, I was going to stop by WCB again, but it was mobbed, so I went and sat at Ensemble for a bit. It was also mobbed and I could tell my baby daddy and daughter had had a long night. They both looked tired. I then tried the Martini Bar, but again, no seats to be found. I finally got a seat at the WCB once the 9:00 show had started and a lot of people cleared out to head to the Theater. I got to actually chat with Z a bit more and she seems so happy. She has met the love of her life, who also works here on the Equinox in engineering and they have moved to Athens together (he's Greek) and she is trying to learn Greek. It was good to finally get to catch up with her a bit. I really wanted to stay up late enough to see Liar's Club, but I was so sleepy without my nap and with the time change, so I decided to call it an early night. Day's Drinks: Grand Mimosa, Ginger Mojito, Mojito, French 77 x2, Birthday Cake Mojito, Strawberry Fields, Raspberry Fizz w/ Vodka, Rum Mule, Celebrity No. 10

Last night I asked Z and she said ~2500! That's a lot more than the 1019 that we onboard in January!

Strawberry Fields is on the menu at the World Class Bar only. It uses egg white, which is only carried there.

D'Coolers are still onboard, but I haven't heard them play. So far I have listened to BR4 a couple of times and last night the classical duo.

Yes, it is Isaiah in the WCB with Z this week. Honestly, not a fan. I get to WCB right at 5:00 most evenings and poor Z is there all by herself and making 4-5 drinks at a time for the initial rush. Isaiah strolls in 20-ish minutes late. This has happened all three nights of the cruise so far. I keep asking Z where her partner in crime is and she gives an exasperated "I have no idea".

The patterns I bought them in give no 70s vibes. Not sure if they might be available from a different seller. This is my favorite pair... Very cruisey: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07GDZ8TDF?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title&th=1

I like the fit. They are long in the back and the slits go far enough up the sides to accommodate my hugely wide hips. I like that the sleeves have straps/buttons so you can roll them up to make them 3/4 length. I would say they run true to size. I could button mine all the way up if I wanted, but I keep the top two buttons undone to show my camisole underneath.

That was at Ensemble Lounge last night and for whoever was worried about hygiene, everyone gets their own container.

It's one that Z invented on my Equinox sailing in July. I was hanging out with a couple and the husband was allergic to pineapple and I just hate pineapple, so Z made us a Sailor's Crush, which is on the World Class Bar menu, but substituted Orange Ciroc for the Pineapple Ciroc and it turns out that vanilla and orange Ciroc mixed together taste like buttercream frosting, so we started calling it the Birthday Cake Mojito.

I will try to check tonight.

5/30 As is customary, I woke up to the phone ringing with a call to let me know my room service was on its way. I find it interesting that Celebrity does this. On NCL, I never received such calls. Maybe Celebrity got tired of people answering a knock on the door in the nude or other states of undress, so calling ahead gives the passengers time to throw on a robe? Unfortunately, my room service breakfast was missing the breakfast part. They had only brought me coffee and no croissant. Note to those of you who prefer chocolate croissant to plain, you can just write in "chocolate" after the word "croissant" on your room service card and they will bring you chocolate croissant. Anyway, this time I was missing croissants of any variety, but the server ran at lightning speed and fetched me some very quickly once he realized they were missing. I then sat out on my balcony as we docked in Key West and typed up my notes from embarkation to start this thread. This is one of my favorite cruise rituals. After finally getting this thread started, I showered and dressed to make it down to the MDR in time for breakfast. I love to do MDR breakfast, but getting down there before 9:00am can sometimes be a struggle if I have a particularly lazy morning. When I got to the MDR they seated me about a mile from anyone else. I guess they thought it would be silly to seat me at a six-top by myself, so they took me to the next closest two-top. Being way over on my own made for some pretty slow service. Usually I don't get coffee in the MDR because I have already had some in my room and I have to keep fighting off the offers of coffee the whole time. This time I actually wanted coffee, but had to wait forever, and then when I finally got some coffee, I realized I didn't have any cream on the table just as the coffee server walked out of earshot. So I then had to wait until I could flag someone else down to get some creamer. Oh well. At least if I come down with COVID I will know I didn't get it from this breakfast! After I had already put in my food order, May and Dan, the older couple I had sat with the previous night at dinner came in and said that I could join them if I wanted, but since I had already placed my order, I didn't want to muck things up. I enjoyed my omelet, super crispy bacon, toast, and first mimosa of the day. The bacon really was good. I always ask for it extra crispy and this definitely fit the bill. I probably ate more of it than I should have, but I'm on a cruise! After Breakfast, I decided more mimosas were in my future, so I headed up to the Oceanview Cafe to get another one from the bar to bring up to the lawn club with me (Sunset Bar doesn't open until 10:00). As I approached, I saw a familiar silhouette. It was Komang, my favorite bartender from my last cruise on the Equinox in January! On that cruise he had worked in the Ensemble Lounge and I had looked for him on Sunday night, but he wasn't there, so I assumed he was no longer onboard. Turns out he now works evenings in the Casino bar. So, as I approached, I saw him, but he didn't see me. The bar was mobbed with people getting their "morning juice" and specialty coffees. A different bartender took my mimosa order and as I was waiting for it, Komang saw my reflection in the mirror behind the bar while he was making some coffee and he turned around and shouted "Jamie!!!" He was so excited to see me. He couldn't stop smiling and laughing. Unfortunately, with the bar so busy, I just asked him where he was working evenings and promised to track him down later so we could catch up. I headed up to the Lawn Club to read and enjoy my mimosa in peace and quiet. It was pretty hot, but with the breeze blowing, it wasn't too bad. While I was up there, just thoroughly relaxing, I decided I didn't want to bother going ashore in Key West. I was so content to just have a really slow, lazy day. So I went back down to the Oceanview bar for another mimosa and this time Komang waited on me and he made me his special Grand Mimosa, which is just a normal mimosa in a wine glass with some Grand Marnier. I took that back up to the Lawn Club and sat there the rest of the morning, eventually getting my drinks from he Sunset Bar when it opened. Then it was time for lunch and I went back down to Oceanview for some Indian Nachos. Turns out Beef Bhuna Gosht is the perfect toping for nachos with salsa verde. I decided to skip dessert and head back to my room for one of my other favorite cruises traditions, my afternoon nap! After such an exhausting morning of sitting, reading, and drinking, I really needed that nap! I slept until 3:00 and then it was time for my afternoon coffee. So I headed down to Cafe al Bacio for even more reading and relaxation. Sometime after 4:00, I went over to Ensemble Lounge to see my new bartender friend, Abdul. There was a band setting up to play at 5:15 and I found out they were a new band and this was only their second performance. I asked Abdul what he thought of them and I could tell he didn't really like them, but he said another act that was supposed to play at 7:30 was his favorite, so I told him I would be back for that. Then it was 5:00 and I had to go visit Z. I sat between two other younger couples and had great chats with all of them. The couple to my left was on their first cruise! So I told them about all the things they had to try. The couple to my right had been on a few cruises, but it sounded like they had had some real issues on this one so far. The first problem was that they had sleep apnea and so getting extension cords run across their room for that was a challenge and then once those were plugged in, they had nowhere to plug in their phones. They were pretty miffed that there are only two US outlets and they are so far from the bed. Then, apparently, they also had mold in their shower. They are in an OceanView room and I wonder if it one that had been empty for all of these lower capacity sailings, so it hadn't been kept up? Still not really acceptable for there to be mold in there. I had decided to just do the buffet for dinner, because nothing on the MDR menu for the evening really appealed to me and I was trying to have a very low key, relaxing day. So I just had a couple slices of pizza. I then tried to go down to the Casino, but I guess we weren't far enough at sea yet, because it still wasn't opened. So I suffered with drinking a 25th Anniversary Martini at the Martini Bar instead. One of the bartenders there had been on my Summit sailing back in November. When I saw him back then, he was supposed to be going to the Beyond for its start-up, but apparently literally as he was supposed to be flying to Europe, they sent him to the Equinox instead. After my Martini, the casino was open and I quickly lost all of my daily tithes. So I headed back to Ensemble to hang out with Abdul and hear this band he had hyped. They were soooooo good. The singer is amazing. The group is called BR4 and they are from Brazil. They did some phenomenal just loungy music. I was having a great time listening when I spotted another solo sailor at the other end of the bar from me. When the couple sitting between us left, I waived her to come sit next to me and we became fast friends. She does something in HR for the cruise industry now. It's a new job and this is her first cruise. She apparently gets to go on free cruises now as part of the job. I need this job. Anyway, it is her very first cruise, so obviously her first cruise on Celebrity and the Equinox. We decided to try to go out and see the sunset, but we had missed it. Then I asked if she had been to the Sunset Bar yet and she hadn't, so we went up there and sat in those little seats that are down the half flight of stairs and overlook the wake. There was a couple sitting there as well and we chatted with them for a while. Then my new friend decided she wanted to see the Theater show, so I walked her down as far as the Casino and showed here where to go from there. Meanwhile, I had a date with Komang at the Casino Bar now that he was on shift there. The bar was actually also pretty slammed and I ended up not getting to chat with him too much. He was SUPER sweet thought and went over to the Martini Bar to fetch strawberries and basil so he could make me a Mr. Worldwide. I got to chatting with the lady next to me and we had a great time. Then it was time for late night snack and bed! The time change threw me for a loop this morning and I ended up waking up before my room service breakfast call. Day's Drinks: Mimosa x2, Grand Mimosa, Ginger Mojito, Americano w/ Bailey's, Rum Mule, Celebrity No. 10, Birthday Cake Mojito, 25th Anniversary Martini, French 77, Ginger Mojito, Mr. Worldwide x2

Not likely to post a picture of myself, as I have a pretty strict policy against selfies, but here are some links to give you an idea: I have these pants in 5 different patterns, though looks like most of the patterns I have are no longer available: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B08DD2BWM9/ref=twister_B074P12MQ7?_encoding=UTF8&th=1&psc=1 I have something like 10-12 of these camisoles in various colors so I can wear a clean one every day: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B08P76HQK6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1&psc=1 I have 4 of these shirts, two white, one navy, and one black for wearing over my camisoles: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B08P76HQK6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1&psc=1 I have bought a few pairs of these shoes now... they don't hold up very well, but they are cheap enough to be practically disposable. I have learned that the insoles do not stay in the shoes and make a big, sticky mess with the glue they use for them, so I now immediately take the insoles out and replace them: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B097XX7956/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1&psc=1 For evening chic, I just sub in these sandals for the shoes above: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B074JKNYDD/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The no smoking in the casinos in is one of the main reasons I love Celebrity!