Day 4

It is Sunday and our last day before boarding the Celebrity Silhouette tomorrow morning.

Again, we slept in a little and then drove about 15min to St Matthew’s Church for mass.  It was a neat little church and the service was nice.  They had a singer who was outstanding.

Then we drove to the town of Weston which is right on the edge of the Everglades where we met our friends from Wisconsin, Pam and Eric Degelau and Jeff and Pam Beier. 

Eric was our sponsor for Corvette Adventures who also sold us our yellow Corvette.   Jeff and Pam were lead drivers at Corvette Adventures where they met each other and become life-long friends.  They now live close together and travel a lot together.  Pam and Jeff are retired and Eric and Renee have a very successful real estate business rehabbing homes prior to their selling them.  We are very blessed to have them as friends.  Another wonderful story of friends finding each other at our event – one of many!!

We had a great meal together at Bone Fish Grill.

After we left the group we went to the largest discount mall in southern Florida, Sawgrass Milles to look for a new wardrobe for Barb.  There are tons of suitcases on the market; however, we did not find a wardrobe for Barb as they are apparently are just not making them.  Time to look on Amazon!!

We came back to the hotel with first stopping at a grocery store to buy Ed some A & W Root Beer to take on the cruise.

Dinner was at a little spot on Sunny Isle Beach that served Peruvian food and dinner was wonderful.  Sorry, we did not take pictures of the food but it was a grilled salmon served Peruvian style, including a salad and plantains.

We were in our room by 8:30pm so that we could pack for the cruise tomorrow.

Night for now – next post from the ship

                                                                Going out for lunch

                                                  Choclate Warming Cake - it was sooo good!!

                                            From the left, Jeff, Pam, Ed, Barb, Renee, Eric

                                               A little hole-in-the-wall with outsanding food

Day 3

 For our second day we also woke up late again and finally headed to the beach at 10am.

It was really windy; however, the sand on the beach is coarse enough that it doesn’t blow around much at all.

We left the beach at 12:20pm and went to a Columbian restaurant where we have eaten before.

For lunch we had a Columbian Shrimp Ceviche and it was very good and served with fried plantains – which are a type of banana.

Then we hurried back to our room to watch the Miami – Syracuse basketball game.  It was an exciting game as was the first meeting between the two teams.  In the end and the very last seconds, Miami pulled out a victory.

For dinner, we are meeting our contact in the casino, Reny at a Peruvian Restaurant called Divino Ceviche which was about 45 minutes away.

Reny just came back yesterday from the initial cruise of the Royal Caribbean ship, the Wonder of the Seas, which is now the largest cruise ship in the world. 

It has a capacity of 5,519 passengers which is more than twice the size of the largest Celebrity ship!!  Way too big for us.

It was a fun evening with good company and some great food.

Also, this afternoon we both took our COVID tests and we were both negative – yea!!

That’s all for tonight.

                                                                Going to the beach - 80 degrees!!

                                                    The Shrimp Ceviche and Fried Plantains

                                

                                                                          Dinner

                                                                    Going out for dinner

                                  Main course - 3 kinds of  Ceviche plus 3 kinds of  sauces and fish

                                                                                                                 

                                                            Reny - our casino contact

                                                        Desert - Passion fruit cake

                                                 Some kind of donuts in an amazing sauce

Spring 2022 – Celebrity Silhouette - Day 1 & 2

 Spring 2022 – Celebrity Silhouette

Day 1 & 2

Inspire of having to get up at 3:45am for a 6:00am flight, it was a good trip to Ft. Lauderdale.

We had 2 hours in Atlanta so we made a 1 ½ stop in the Delta lounge for their breakfast and drinks.

The Flight to Ft Lauderdale was right on time and we then picked up our bags and took the shuttle bus to the Enterprise Rental Center. 

They upgraded us to the large 4-door Nissan and it has been a great car.

The Residence Inn that we are staying in is right next one of the nicest malls in South Florida, Aventura Mall and the hotel said there were some good places for lunch.

We went there and found an amazing outdoor food court which was unlike anything we had seen in a mall before.

There were no fast-food or buffet style restaurants.  All of them were sit-down with different themes like Susi, Greek, Peruvian, etc.  They were a little expensive but very good food and service.

Dinner was at one of our favorite restaurants which is right in the center of the Russian and Jewish areas – the town of Sunny Isle Beach.

In the past we have talked about all of the exotic cars we have seen in this area at anytime of the day or night.  This year it is different.  We saw a lot of fancy SUV’s but virtually none of the high-priced sport cars.  The only thing we could figure is that, because of the war in Ukraine, they are “laying low”!!

We very seldom turn on the tv when we are gone; however, we did watch the University of Illinois squeak another win.

We slept in and finally made it to the beach at 1:00pm after first having lunch. 

We stayed on the beach until 3:30pm and then drove back to the hotel and left for dinner at a Greek restaurant that we like in Surfside.

Then we watched the Bulls play before going to bed.

Night from Florida.

                                                        Becker wants to go with us!!

                                                            Relaxing in the Delta Lounge in Atlanta

                                                            Salmon Tar Tar - it was very good!

                                                                Salmon for dinner

                                                              Day 2 - Going to Haulover beach

                                                    Moroccan Salmon Wrap with Pita Bread

                                         In the parking lot at the beach - appears to be original!!

                                              Branzino at our favorite Greek Restaurant in Surfside

                                                            Moon over Miami Beach

                                                    Tiramisu from a European market

 

Videos from the Celebrity APEX - New Years 2022

The Oceanview Cafe

Our Cabin - Room 8231 with Infinite Balcony

A Motown show in the theater

Jessie Hamilton Jr - one of the best singers ever!

A tour of the kitchen at the Eden Restaurant.

The is the #1 specility restaurant on the APEX and

we were there as guests of the Casino.

An amazing experience in production, preperation and presentation

Our best meal even on probably any ship!!

Preparing our dinner

More of the dinner preparation

The special dessert - a gift from the chef

 

Day 8

We awoke in Nassau, a place we were just at in October.

It was Sunday, so we arranged to meet Barb & Tim at the Catholic Cathedral for their 10am service. A beautiful church and a wonderful service.

After that we walked to the #1 5-star hotel on the island, the Graystone Hotel, a 300-year-old hotel with it seemed like every major star from around the world has stayed there including members of the British Royal Family.

History has it that the mansion was originally built in 1740 by Captain John Howard Graysmith, a famous pirate of the Caribbean who commanded the notorious schooner Graywolf and plundered treasure ships along the Spanish Main. His buccaneering not only made him rich, but it also brought him fame and he was greatly feared for his famous exploits.

We had a guide who walked us through the hotel seeing the areas that made history. After church, we took Barb & Tim there. The also had a cigar factory with Cubans rolling Cuban cigars!! Also, there was a chocolate factory right at the hotel.

Then we walked to the church for their 10am service.

After the service we walked back to the ship and had our last lunch for this trip in the Oceanview Café and we sat, as always outside on the back of the ship.

We finish lunch and when up on the deck for an 1 ½ in the sun.

We cleaned up for dinner which for tonight was at 7:00pm. We were the guests of the casino at the Eden specialty restaurant.

It was, no question the best restaurant on the ship and we had an amazing meal.

As we were there on the casino, they took especially good care of us.

Then we went to the casino and Ed lost at little - $100.00 and Barb broke even.

That was just fine as we protected our winnings which was one of the best casino winnings ever.

This ship was the nicest and the staff was the best of any ship we have been on.

That’s all for tonight as tomorrow we fly home, arriving in Bloomington at 9:55pm.

Our cruise schedule for the next year and 1/2 is:

Jan 22- Carnival Horizon with our 3 children and spouces

March 7 - Celeblrity Sihouette - Aruba, Bonaire, Curasoe

July 29 - Celebrity Millenium - Alaska

October 5 - Israel & the Medditteranean, Venice, Rome

December 30 - Eastern Caribbean - Celebrity APEX

March 5 - Eastern Caribbean - Celbrity Beyond

There is no question that this was by far the best ship and the best crew of any cruise we have ever taken. It started at the top with the Associate Hotel Director, Cameron Robertson and went down to every crew member we came in contact with. Thanks soooo much to Cameron and the entire APEX staff for this remarkable experience.




Thanks for following us.

Good night.

Going out forour final eveing

In the #1 restaurant on the ship - The Eden speciality restaurant

This was Ceviche

The kitchen from our seats - they are amazing!

2nd course - Braised short ribs for Ed

Crab Cakes for Barb

The Executive Chef preparing our food.  Notice the tweezers

Ed's Filet and Beef Wellington combo

Barb's Sea Bass on a bed of bubbles

Dessert - It started as a white choclate egg.  

They then  poured dark choclate on it and it opened up in a blossom to show the surprise dessert inside - amazing preperation and presentation and it tasted wonderful!!

Sade - Our wonderful casino supervisor who we have sailed with several times before.

She did an amazing job under a lot of pressure - thanks so very much for your friendship once again.

Alin - The Casino Manager who under difficult times with Covid, ran a wonderful casino.

Probably the best run on any ship we have been on.

Out Casino Host Cris - For her first time, did a good job

In the Delta Sky Lounge waiting for our plane in 5 1/2 hours

A great place to wait.  Barb's first Kahula's and they will also have lunch here.

A Make a Wish flight

Only 2 12 hours to go!!

 

Day 7

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.

Going out for the day

Lunch at the Rooftop Gardens

Ed's appetizers, pulled pork sliders, loaded fries & chicken wings!!

Ed'a hamburger

Cherry pie for dessert

Now that was quite a lunch!!!

Cameron taking a selfe

Looking at his family pictures

The evening show

by Jessie Hamilton Jr

Dessert for dinner

Day 6

 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

Leaving for the morning

Our ship and a local hotel's  beach

Yes, we are on Cozumel

Going out for New Years Eve

Music in the atrium

Barb watching the music