Christmas - 2012 - A Family Celebration

 

This is my family . . . and I am soo proud of them!!

 

 

Arriving at the Celebrity Constellation





Barb & Ed



2000 - Carnival Paradise




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Just relaxing





Arriving at Grand Cayman

2012 Celebrity Constellation




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All of us on Formal Night






 



Arriving in Jamacia

 

 




Day 7, Saturday, December 29, 2012

This day came much too early and we were out of our cabin by 8:30 am and we waited in the Elite Lounge with other members.  When they released us at 9:00, we walked right off the ship, found our luggage and then had to wait in line for about ½ hour to get through customs. 

We took the Celebrity shuttle to the airport and checked in for our flight.

Then we went to a secured baggage place where we left our carry-ons for the rest of the day as our flight did not leave until 7:00 pm.

We bought Miami transportation day passes for everyone and headed via a people mover to the transportation center.  From there Jeff’s family took the train to the Art Museum and the rest of us headed to the beach.

The express bus to the beach took us about ½ hour and we made our first stop the El San Juan hotel where we had stayed in 2000.  When Ed booked the hotel in 2000, the internet was just in its infancy so the only pictures that we had to go on were of the outside.  There was also no TripAdvisior and while the location was perfect, the hotel was not.  But we made the best of it then as it was only one night and then went on a wonderful cruise as a much smaller family.

 We walked down to the ocean and Alex and Barb went into the water.  Alex to swim and Barb to just wade until a big wave hit her and she was soaked.  Cooper gave Barb his shirt to wear and fortunately, her blouse dried fairly quickly in the hot Miami sun.

We took another bus to the Bayside Market in Miami with is a huge shopping and entertainment area, bight on the bay.

 By 4:00 pm, we met everyone at the Market and took the overhead people mover to the train station, took the train to the airport, retrieved our stored bags and were boarding the plane at 7:30 pm as the plane was late getting in.

The pilot made up the time and we transferred at Charlotte to Chicago and arrived in Chicago to a cold shock at 11:30 am.  The Marriott O’Hare van picked us up and took us to the hotel where our cars were parked.  We were on the road quickly and made it to Bloomington by 2:30 am.

 What a fun day and what a wonderful Christmas we all experienced.  We are truly blessed as a family to be able to have this time together on this cruise.

This is my family . . .  and I am soo proud of them!!!

 

Arriving in Miami



The El San Juan



On the beach


Please see the next blog for our family pictures

 

Day 6, Friday, December 28, 2012

 The best way to wake up early on a sea day is to schedule an appointment which we did.  Ed had won a spa treatment and Barb went at 8am and received a back massage that she though was outstanding. 

Then it was up to the deck on 11 and into the sun for an hour and ½ before we had to change for a bridge tour.

After the bridge tour, we went back on the deck to get some sun and of course the weather was perfect, just as the cruise company advertised.

We ate a healthy lunch in the Aqua Spa which is perfect because we certainly ate ourselves silly the rest of the time!

We were starting to get too much sun so we came in and showered and went down to look at pictures.  After having some reprinted, we finally got all of the pictures picked out.

Then it was time to pack and get ready for tonight and tomorrow.

At 7:45 we went to the Café and watched the quartet perform and then it was on to the restaurant.

The “last meal” was sad as we have had so much fun.  It is also happy as we have had so much fun.  What a great time we have had in the restaurant eating together and enjoying one of the best wait staffs that we have ever had.  One of the fun things that they did was do a "special" trick for our two tables every night. 

Most of us then watched final stage production and it was fun and the rest went see a movie.

Then it was off to the casino in hopes of improving our winnings and hopefully not losing them.

What a great finish we had.  Ed had been up a little most of the evening and at about 1:15 when Jason showed up, the string began and it was one of those really, really good blackjack sessions.  So we ended up for the cruise and all headed for the cabins to get some rest before leaving in the morning.

Day 6 ended at about 2:30 am with a 7:00 am wake-up call - plenty of time to sleep!!




The main pool deck




The Quartet - Top Shelf



Barb with three entrees






Our Casion Host Slavena and Casino Manager Jason