mac_tlc

Yesterday featured a trip to the Retreat Lounge around 3:30 for the afternoon tea and a few snacks. A little later we reappeared there for a pre-dinner drink. At least when we have gone there, it has never been crowded and Emily and Anna Maria, the bar servers, have been prompt and gracious in taking our order and frequently checking back to see if we wanted a refill. Dinner was at Luminae: News Flash! I skipped the French Onion soup for the Creamy Tuscan Kale soup: A House salad finished off the starters and then, for the entree, the lamb: My wife had the lobster. She enjoyed it ! After dinner we went up to the Retreat sun deck which is quite nice at night. We then headed to the Club for the nightly game show, a Jeopardy like team event. Participation was good and it was a lot of fun. We enjoy the variety of game shows and activities in the Club. mac_tlc

Good morning from Sea….. our last day 😞 It’s shaping up to be a busy day.. First at 9: Followed by : And then : Thankfully they are all in the Theatre so no running around. After that we decided to try lunch at the Rooftop Garden Grill since we had some OBC to burn. mac_tlc

When in Rome….or Jamaica…. This was the sole goal for today and it was completed by noon !!! And it was $16 for two! I know @A&L_Ont appreciates the quest! The rest of the day was a lazy relaxing one, with an afternoon stop at Cafe alBacio for a Ceylon iced tea and awaiting our 3pm daily cheese and crackers, which have been delivered every day since we met our head butler. Maybe a little time was spent discussing future cruise options with the wife… Hmmmm… I wonder…. mac_tlc

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Here is the menu from the app for the current Beyond sailing:

Currently on Beyond and it’s offered on sea days . $25pp mac_tlc

The Celebrity Today for Day 10:

It looks like Margaritaville at the port is no longer:

Welcome to Jamaica! Hard to believe we have reached double digits and it is Day 10. We are really enjoying the longer voyage and, like many others. Wish X had more longer options. We have a visitor next to us, as you can see in the picture. Here is another one: Interesting that it is the Fantasy as I had been looking at doing our annual family cruise on Disney in 2025. What does that tell you about Royal’s pricing when they bring DCL into the competitive mix? I do currently have a 4-bdr suite ( we have 8 of us) on the Symphony of the Seas held for July 2025. I don’t know, though, the price is nuts for a week. Anyway back to the cruise at hand! Yesterday was a lazy sea day with a lot to do! It started at 9am with another talk from Rusty Farst, the underwater cave explorer. He has one left tomorrow and they have all been great and very well attended. At 10:30, thankfully in the same locale, CD Shawna talked for about 75 minutes on cruise ship life and the crew. Some funny anecdotes and stores and lots of factoids. The afternoon consisted of the Deal or No Deal games how at 1:30. I had bought some cards during a cruise planner sale a while back, we won $10! Woo Hoo!—— which we give back through the casino tomorrow I bet. Then at 2:30, Matt Johnson did a matinee magic show. Theater was just about full. Great tricks and a great showman too! Dinner was again at Luminae for one of my favorite menus: Dinner with a great view: I had the Burrata and French Onion Soup as starters and the Short Ribs for the entree. With some veggies on the side: After dinner we decided to skip the show and head to the Solarium, where there were plenty of chairs available !!!! mac_tlc

No worries @CruiseDoc79. Always good to have other opinions and experiences. As was the case on our Ascent sailing last month, the variability in service is what drives people batty. On that cruise, we had a non-existent head butler and fabulous room steward. One of the couples sailing with us has just the opposite— same ship, same cruise, same cabin category. It really is something X needs to figure out. Our room steward has been great, done everything we asked, ice, laundry, clearing room service trays, etc. I would say the most frustrating thing has been the unavailability of loungers in the Solarium. We prefer that to the Retreat sun deck because there is zero shade in the Retreat pool. My wife has been up there for about 5 minutes. Your spa experience is unacceptable. mac_tlc

The show is Arte. Stage Door was earlier in the cruise and Elements in on day 11. All fabulous. Even on a 7 day cruise they do all three. mac_tlc

The Celebrity Today for Day 9:

Seems like I timed out on making edits so here is the Last paragraph on Fine Cut: While good, it can’t hold a spoon to the one we had on the Edge in 2022. That one has real hot fudge, lots of whipped cream and even a cherry on top. No hot fudge was to be found here, even though the menu description says so. A small dab of whipped cream and no cherry. But, hey, it is ice cream so all cannot be lost! While an OK meal, we will not be back for a while. Next time, we will try the filet at the Rooftop Garden Grill, which is cheaper anyway— and has a great watermelon and feta salad. While Fine Cut was a swing and and a foul ball, the show last night was a grand slam ! Arte — wow. We have seen it before and it was still fabulous! Some pictures highlighting that fabulous LED screen: It is shows like this that give us pause in going on a smaller ship with less entertainment offering or smaller productions. mac_tlc

Good morning from the Sea! Today is a sea day as we head towards Falmouth, Jamaica tomorrow. It must be a sea day😏😏. In fact this little seating area I am in has four couches and 8 chairs and the only unreserved one is the one I am sitting in. And I am alone. It about 6:45am ship time and we got our hour back last night so everyone is out reserving extra early. Curaçao was a great day yesterday, colorful, maneuverable and lots to see. We did Fine Cut last night and it was …….. OK. It was a roller coaster in fact. We had a 6:30 seating and arrived at 6:25 and were seated immediately. It then it was 7:15 before our order was taken . We had a good 50 minutes to stare at the menu. Our waiter mentioned that he had a larger table with some specific allergies that took him some time, he apologized. Here is the menu: For starters, I got the Wedge salad and the arugula salad (I can’t say no to goat cheese). Love this goat cheese fritters!! My wife was disappointed that they did not have the jumbo shrimp cocktail, so she went with the Lobster cocktail. An interesting choice for her since she typically never goes out of her way for lobster. She also had the arugula salad. She loved it!!! The starters were all exceptional and an A+. That arugula salad is one of the best salads we have had this trip. For our entrees we both got the filet, 9 oz. For the sides we got bacon mac&cheese, tots and asparagus. This is where the roller coaster went down the hill. While the filet was cooked as ordered and was flavorful, it was not hot enough to last the entire meal. Started out OK but halfway through, it was cold. Picture that sizzling plate at Ruth’s Chris that’s too hot to touch…. It was not that. In fact the plate wasn’t hot at all, even when it just came out. Even the sides, served in cast iron mini skillets which hold the heat better, were not hot at the end. My wife was less concerned about this than I was. She finished hers, I ate about 1/2. I mentioned it to the waiter when he picked up the plates. Later he said he mentioned it to the chef and the manager who both suggested they give us another one —too late for that. We had prepaid at a really good price. Dessert made the roller coaster go back up a bit. We both had the Ultimate Sundae.

We did not, although I’m sure we were pretty close to it. The streets on the old town can be pretty narrow — you never know what’s around the next corner! mac_tlc

About 2:00, we headed back. A few pictures along the way: Fine Cut tonight at 6:30!!! mac_tlc

Once on the “old town” side, we wandered around the narrow streets and of course stopped for a beer and took a picture here: A few other picture of the area: We stopped for lunch at Iguana Carfe, right on the water near the floating bridge: I had the steak quesadilla and the DW had a cheeseburger:

What a great time wandering around Willemstad, Curaçao. All of the sidewalks and walkways from the ship to the floating bridge and then again on the “old town” side of the bridge are very wheelchair friendly. Very few curbs, wide sidewalks. One of the easiest islands to maneuver around. And it’s a pretty island: While we were waiting at the floating bridge for it to open, the Explora 1 sailed into the harbor: Nice view while resting a bit:

And finally, the Celebrity Today for Day 8:

We went to Luminae for dinner last night. I forgot to grab a picture of the actual menu but these screen shots are from the app and it was accurate. I had the Apple and Hearty Green salad and French onion soup: For our entree, I had the Lamb loin and my wife had the Rigatoni Arribiata: After dinner we went to the Headliner Show, Uptown: A very talented and energetic trio they were! Audience seemed engaged and was singing along . I will say, the shows and entertainment have been very very good. It is one of the things we look forward to. After the show we wandered over to the Club for the nightly 8:30 game show. There is one every night at 8:30. mac_tlc

We have a couple of visitors with us today: The Britannia from P&O, And arriving at noon is the Explora 1 from MSC Explora Journeys, their new upscale line. Lots of chatter about MSC YC vs Retreat vs Explora vs others. Not going to get into that now, but later I will chat about our views, investigations, and thoughts on such matters. mac_tlc

Good morning Curaçao!! Plan for today is to get off and wander around. The ship was just cleared at 7:13am and all aboard is 6:30. Port day so no chair hogs: Not even our friends:

It’s similar to a thin crepe but a little more substance at the ends. mac_tlc

Not this time due to a reservation snafu, but we have in the past five or six times. It is one of our favorites. Great crab cake, wonderful presentation. It is getting a bit pricy, though at $85 +20% if booked onboard. Be on the lookout for a sale. mac_tlc

They will let you share, but then you both have to agree on what to get 😜😜. mac_tlc