Day 4- February - Spring - Miami-Cuba - 2019

Day 4 - February 24

Key West is an island that is only 2 miles by 4 miles and we had taken a sightseeing trolley a month ago when we were here so we looking to explore places we had not seen.

This time Ed surprised Barb in that he had rented a large gas-powered cart (a little bigger than a golf cart) to go around the island in places we had not seen the last time.

After picking up the street legal cart we went to the Catholic Basillica on the island just in time for the 9am Mass and it was jammed packed.  The sides of the church were open with tall doors at every other pew so we stood just outside the church in one of the doorways.

After mass, we drove around enjoying the town.  Then we headed out of town on Hwy 1 to Stock Island to a restaurant we had read about and even the person who rented the cart to us suggested that we go there for lunch.  It was called Hogfish Bar & Grill and it was amazing.  It took us about ½ hour to drive there and it truly was the best seafood restaurant that we have ever been to.

It is right on the fishing docks and we arrived at a little after 11:00am and they were just writing up the menu on chalk boards.   The do not make up the menu until they see what the fishermen bring them each day.

We first had an order of conch fritters, that an order of Key West pink shrimp and finally the main dish was swordfish with a fantastic sauce.  The fish was just caught!!  There is no question that we ate more that we normally eat for dinner – but everything just looked soooo good and it was!!

Then we drove back to town, walked around an art fair, turned the cart back in and then had a banana mango icy.  Then we took the tram back to the ship. 

One of the features on some of the larger Celebrity ships is an outdoor glass studio and at 5:20 we were able to make some glass for ourselves.

The show in the theater tonight was a musical production number that was ok except the music was very loud.

Dinner was fine and the couple that we were missing showed up tonight and he is from Chile, where we will be going next March so we will learn things from him.  That gives us a table of 8.

After dinner of course we went to the casino where Barb lost a $1 and Ed had another nice win.

Tomorrow is the Blackjack tournament with 7 tables of 7 in the first round.  The will take the two highest scores from each table and they will go into the semi-finals tomorrow night at 8 with the finals later on in the evening.  It is for a total prize fund to the 7 in the final table of $15,000.  Barb has also been given a place at one of the preliminary tables and plays at 2:20pm and Ed plays at 2:40pm.  With only 7 hands played at each table it is going to be exciting.  Wish us luck.

Tomorrow is a sea day and it will be fun.

Night

Church for the 9am Mass

The Hog Fish Bar & Grill 

A great start!!

The main course - shrimp and swordfish - WOW

Leaving Hogfish Bar & Grill

Working the bowl

A cool down before leaving Key West!!

The Hog Fish Bar & Grill, Key West, FL

Day 1 – 2 - 3, February 21-22-23, Spring – Miami – Cuba – 2019

We dropped off Pippen at the dog sitters as Jason and Sharon’s dog Wriggly was sick.  We got a text that our plane was going to be an hour late, but we still went to the airport so that we could be protected on later flights from Atlanta to FT. Lauderdale.

As we are writing this, Wriggly is ok and Sharon is picking up Pippen from the sitters – thanks to Jason and Sharon for watching Pippen for us.

Anyway, we arrived at the airport at about 10:30am and there was a mess there as the 6am flight had been delayed due to a fuel leak.  Our plane was also delaye

We had a 4pm flight from Atlanta to Ft. Lauderdale and they waitlisted us on a 5pm flight and were able to confirm seats on a 7pm flight.

Finally at about 1:30pm, both planes arrived with ½ hours of each other and the Delta staff sorted everyone out and we took off. 

We arrived in time to just make it to the gate for the 5pm flight and were 5^th and 6^th on the wait list.  We were going to be able to get on except they had no room for our carry-ons.  We did not want to do that due to what we had in our bags. 

We then went to eat, got on our 7pm flight and had an uneventful flight to Miami.

The Marriott shuttle took us to the hotel, only 5 minutes away and we were in our room by 11:00pm.

They had upgraded us to a suite and it was very nice.  It is too bad we are only staying here for two nights.

Day 2 – Feburary 22

What a beautiful day it was in Miami when we woke up 80 degrees and clear.

We went to the Executive Lounge and had breakfast and then since it was partly cloudy, we walked about 1/2 hour to a market where we bought Pepsi, then Barb found a store and bought a pair of slacks and finally we found a liquor store and bought a bottle of Kahula to take on the ship.

We found a great Cuban restaurant for lunch and then walked took a Uber back to the hotel.

By then it was 1:30pm and we went out by the pool and stayed in the sun until 4:30pm, just relaxing and enjoying.

I think this is the first time ever that we did not have something major to do during the day or evening so we just relaxed and it was great.

For dinner we went to a wonderful, very local Latin restaurant and really enjoyed the food.  

There is no question, that in this area, English is a second language and in some shops, not spoken at all!

Then it was back to the hotel to just relax and be ready to board the ship tomorrow.

Day 3 – Feburary 23

Again, what a wonderful day it was in Miami.  After breakfast, we got ready and left the hotel via an Uber ride and arrived at the ship at a little past ten.

 

Check in was a breeze and after leaving our luggage in our room, we went to the back of the ship for lunch, sitting outside and enjoying the weather. 

There was a fire drill at 2:45pm and after that we went up to the top deck and made our reservation at the hot glass workshop.  Tomorrow in the late afternoon we will actually get to participate in making a glass piece – it should be fun.

The casino had a welcome get together and so we went and talked with our Host, Demi, who we have sailed with before and also the Casino Manager Daniela, again who we had been with before. 

We went to the show which was supposed to be a comedian, but someone forgot to tell him that he was supposed to by funny – he wasn’t so we left and went to the casino and said hi to so many of the dealers and pit bosses that we had met on previous cruises.

Then it was time for dinner and we met 2 new couples, one from Maryland and the other from Northern Illinois.  It will be an interesting week eating with them.  We’ll have to wait to see how it works out.

Then it was on to the casino where Ed had a nice win to start with and Barb lost just a little on the exact same machine that she won two $1,600 jackpots last fall.

Tomorrow we arrive in Key West – it will be fun.

Night

Waiting at Bloomington Airport - thanks Delta for the rocking chair!!

Having an omlette made for breakfast

A wonderful Rum - better than Kahula!!

Grilled Salmon, green plantains, yucca and it was great!!

Port, red plantains, beans and rice - another wonderful meal!!

The view from our room at the Marriott

From here down the pictures are a little out of order

Lunch

On the way to the ship

Barb did't like Ed's desert last night!!!

Going out for the evening

Videos from our New Years Cruise on the Celebrity Edge

    On the ship - Celebrity Edge New Years Cruise

The Pool Deck

                Leaving Fr. Lauderdale

Leaving Ft. Lauderdale

                 The Ocean View Cafe

               One of the shows in the Theater

              A show in Eden during dinner

          The main lobby just before midnight

          Our room with the Infinite balcony

New Years - 2019 - Day 11

WOW!! what a wonderful cruise we had.

It was so good to travel with our old friends, Jeff and Vera and Barb and Tim and what a great time we had.

The casino led by Annette was wonderful - great team and we enjoy them very much.

As we had lots of time before our flight to Atlanta and then home, we, along with Barb Freeman went to a Marriott hotel and stayed there.

We walked to a little local restraurant for lunch and then left the Marriott at 2:00pm on their free shuttle to the airport.

Our flights were all on time and we made it home to Bloomington at around 10:30pm.

Annette - The Casino Manager - we were last with her in Europe in 2013
Great staff in the Casino

Barb and Barb leaving the Edge

The menu

Barb and Barb at lunch

New Years – 2019 – Day 10

January 5, 2019 – Barb’s Birthday

Our last day and it is another sea day.  The weather was beautiful when we went out on the deck.

As we did yesterday, we stayed on the deck in the sun until 12:30pm and then joined our friends for lunch.

Barb Freeman did not join us the entire day as she was not feeling well.

After lunch, we went to the casino to play in the blackjack tournament; however, Ed did not qualify.

Then we went to the room and packed for the trip and got ready for the evening.

We met everyone except Barb F for blackjack and Ed won and Barb did not play.

The show was a production number based on A Mid Summers Nights Dream and it was pretty good.

At dinner, we were joined for the second time by Cameron, the Guest Relations Manager and it was fun talking to him.  We found out that the top suite, called the Iconic Suite is priced at $87,000 and it is sold out for the next several months!!

After dinner we went to the casino where both Ed and Barb won nicely.  The great news is that we had a wonderful run at the casino that almost covered the entire cost of the cruise.

This is the last of the blog until we get home and post a couple of videos.

After saying good bye to our new and old friends, it is now 1:30am and time to go to sleep as tomorrow we will be up at 7 and on our way home.  We arrive in Bloomington at 10:14pm and can’t wait to see all of the family and also of course Pippen.

Night and thanks for following our trip.

Hugs from Mon and Ed

Going out for the evening

\It is called the Magic Carpet and it goes up and down for evenings, lunch and getting on and off the ship.

With Annette - our casino host

New Years – 2019 – Day 9

This is the first of two sea days before we arrive back in the United States and today the weather was beautiful, clear, not windy and 91 degrees!!

We were out on the deck in the morning, lunch was with our friends on the back of the ship and then outside in the afternoon.

We did come in at 2pm for a drawing for a free cruise in the casino, but none of our group won so it was back outside for the rest of the day.

We played a session in the casino at 6pm before the show and Ed won nicely and Barb just watched.

The show tonight was a female singer and it was very good; however, the sound was way too loud.

Then of course on to dinner, this time in the Greek Restaurant called Cyprus and the meal was wonderful and no question that we ate way too much Greek food.

Next stop was the casino at 10:30pm where Ed won and Barb played slots for only the second time and lost.

Tomorrow is another sea day and our last day on the cruise.

See everyone soon.

The pool deck - see the 2 story hot tub in the back left

One of two hot tubs at the main  pool

The Roof Top Garden at the back of the ship

Our spot on the sun deck

Grilled Sea Bass - Greek style

New Years – 2019 - Day 8

Saint Maartens/St. Martins –

This island is a 37 square-mile island and is the smallest landmass in the world governed by 2 nations with the side we dock at being Dutch and the side with the best beach being French.  The Dutch side is also where the best shopping is.  They actually have 2 different currencies and use 2 different languages on the island along with English and dollars.

This is one of our favorite islands because of the great beach, Orient Beach.  It was literally wiped off the island during the hurricane a year ago.  Everything was destroyed and swept out to sea or tossed inland.

We were here in March and they had started to rebuild but it was still 80% destroyed.

Today, they have rebuilt a lot of the island.  People on the island told us that most of the Dutch side was already rebuilt; however, the French side was taking longer as the country of France is actually involved in a lot of their decision making.

We left the ship at 9:30am and took a taxi to the beach and rented beach chairs for the day and the weather was perfect. 

Lunch was a grilled Mai-Mai with a salad and fries and at Pina Colota

We left the beach at 2:00pm and took a taxi back towards the ship and were dropped off in the port town where we shopped for a little bit before walking back to the ship.

We got some snacks from the café and relaxed on our balcony before cleaning up and going to the casino for a session with Tim and Barb before the show.  Ed lost a little and Barb didn’t play

The show tonight was a comedian and he was really funny.

Then we all went to dinner in another new restaurant and it was outstanding.  We were pleased that Cameron the Guest Services Manager was able to join us for dinner so that was fun.  He reports directly to the Hotel Manager and we have known him through Jeff and Vera first for a number of year.

Next of course was the casino where Ed lost and Barb tried to cheer everyone on.

The good news is that we are still ahead – not a lot but ahead!!

Tonight we head for home and will be spending two days at sea before arriving in Fort Lauderdale.

Going to the beach

Our ship is the middle one with the blue hull

Going out for the evening