Happy New Year from the sea on the Celebrity APEX.
It was a very late last night and we slept in – until 11:00am!!
The sky was clear and the weather was a little cooler, but
not much from yesterday.
Ed almost ran to the Oceanview Café for breakfast before
they shut it down to set up for lunch.
Lunch was a treat due to the kindness of the Maitre d’ in
the Tucson Restaurant. He treated us to
lunch at the Roof Top Grill, as extra charge specialty restaurant. It is located in the gardens on the top deck
of the ship, a beautiful setting.
After a nice lunch, at 3:00am we went to the casino to play
a session where Ed lost a little and Barb loss a little also.
Then we came back to the room to change for the evening.
We had a little extra time so we went to the casino and Ed
had a good and Barb broke even.
While we were waiting for the elevator, we ran into Cameron,
the Associate Hotel Manager and we spent about ½ hour just standing there
talking to us.
We then went to the theater late to watch a singer who was
really, really was good. By the name of Jesse Hamilton Jr. He was probably the best singer we have ever
seen on a cruise ship.
Dinner was in the Normandie Restaurant, which was one of the
two main restaurants that we liked.
Then it was back to the casino where Ed a very nice amount
again and Barb had a wonderful win.
It’s after midnight and it is time to bed.
Tomorrow we dock at Nassau, our last day of the cruise.
Night from the APEX and see you all in couple of days.
We woke up in Cozumel, our last port in Mexico and to a beautiful day. Again, somewhere in the 80’s.
We left the ship about 9am and walked into the port
area.
For this stop, we had nothing planned so we just had fun
walking around.
Then it was back to the ship for lunch with Tim and Barb on
the outside deck on the back of the ship, which had become our tradition on all
sailing.
After lunch we went up to the top deck to lay out in the
sun.
As the ship didn’t leave port until 6:30pm we had just enough
time for a short session in the casino where Ed won and Barb didn’t play.
Then we went to the show in the theater and it was called
Uptown, billed as a show straight out of New York City with a lot of soul and R
& B music. It was good.
For dinner, we went back to the Normandie Restaurant where
we at the first night and it was the best of the 4 main dining rooms. We also requested the same table and had a wonderful
meal.
Then it was back to the casino for our last couple of session of 2021
and Ed won again and Barb lost a little.
They had a great party on the pool deck to celebrate New
Years and while it was very windy on deck, we went up their party for a brief
time at the stroke of midnight.
Then we made the mistake of going back to the casino with Tim
and Barb where Ed lost and so did Barb and we actually broke event for the
evening.
That’s all for us for 2021 and we want to wish all of our
family and friends a Happy New Year and we are looking for spending the year
with all of rather on land or the sea, or both!!
Hugs – Gram and Ed
Day 5 of our 9-day trip finds us anchored 1o miles away from the island of Belize.
To reach the city, we were tendered in which took about 25 minutes. We left the ship at a bout 9:30am and it was
a fine ride in.
The area where we docked was just like a lot of these ports,
a made for the cruise industry and they make it hard to walk out, like almost
hiding the exit. We knew where we were
going and started to walk into town but decided to take a $10 car down to the far
end of the city to see the Cathedral. It
was very little and then we had the cab driver take us back to the main street
where we walked around for a little, didn’t find a place we wanted to eat and
walked about 15 minutes back to the docks.
There was not a wait for the tender and we made it back to
the ship at 12:30pm where we met Barb and Tim, who had stayed on the ship, for
lunch.
Of course, lunch was great in the huge Oceanview Café.
After that, we stayed out on the top floor until 3:30pm when
we came in and got ready to go play in the Casino at 4:30pm.
We met Barb & Tim in the casino where Ed had his best win
of the trip and Barb was a great cheerleader.
After that we came back to the cabin to get ready for the
evening.
The entertainment for the night in the show lounge was a
production number called Rockumentary and it was very good.
After the show we went to eat in the fourth restaurant that
is included in our cruise, the Cosmopolitan
Dinner was excellent and then of course, we went to the
casino where Ed won and Barb lost a
little
All in all, a nice day.
Tomorrow is Cozumel, Mexico.
Night from somewhere along the coast of Mexico
It is clear and very HOT today as we docked at 7am, right on time in Costa Maya, Mexico at the made for the cruise industry cruise port and in the middle of nowhere.
The cruise port is very extensive with a range of your
typical tourist shops, a beach, a nice beach, but it is still all artificial.
As we did the last time we were here, we rented a 4-pasenger
golf cart to go into the little village Mahahual, Qintana Roo, Mexico which is
2 ¼ miles away.
Its population is about 1,000 people.
We left the ship with Tim and Barb going with us at 9:30am
and walked to the golf cart and drive into the town. There is a waterfront area that is built up
to cater to the tourists. After a couple
of hours, we decided to come back to the ship for lunch.
After lunch, we went off the ship back out to the cruise
port and walked around for a little bit.
Finding nothing we came back on the ship and what up to the
top deck to be in the sun. The sun was
so hot that we only stayed out for an hour.
We went to the casino before dinner and Ed won and Barb did
not play.
Then it was onto the show which was a good show call Diva3 –
3 female singers singing music of famous females starting with the 50’s. It was a good show.
Dinner was at the restaurant call Tucson and for the first
time on any Celebrity we had terrible service.
After dinner we all went to the casino, of course where Ed
had another nice wind and Barb played slots and lost.
That’s it for today and tomorrow we are at Belize.
This is our first sea day and we woke up at 9:00am and while
Ed went to save deck chairs and eat breakfast, Barb got ready.
It was amazing up on the deck – there was basically nobody
there! In looking at the main pool deck,
there were only 18 people there when usually at that time there were no deck
chairs left.
We met Barb and Tim in the Oceanview Café for a lunch at
Noon. They we went to the casino to play
in the Black Jack tournament. None of us
won but of course we had fun!!
Then we played a session at Blackjack where Ed won a nice
amount and Barb was the chief cheerleader.
We left the room for our second night at see and our first
stop was a small club on the ship and the had a Cirque du Soleil type show and
it was very entertaining.
Then we went to the main showroom to see the show and it was
a world-class piano player who was fantastic and played a lot of the style of
Liberace. – fast and furious.
Of course, next we went to the Cyprus Restaurant which is
basically a Greek Restaurant and had a wonderful meal.
Then it was time to go to the casino where Ed won nicely
again and Barb didn’t play
Tomorrow is our first Port which is Puerto Costa Maya,
Mexico and it should be fun.
