Spring 2023 – Day 3 & 4

We woke to cold rainy skis; however, it cleared by 10:30am when our Uber came to take us to the ship.

Ed’s surprise for Barb was that he was able to upgrade us to a suite.

Our suite is on the back of the ship on the corner.  It is a very large room, with a bit porthole window on one wall and a set of sliding glass doors to a very big wrap-around balcony.

We have the normal stateroom attendant, Dinesh and then our Butler, Lloyd.  Basically Lloyd takes care of anything we need; however, we are not sure we will need him much.

We think that for every Celebrity ship we have ever been on, we have eaten lunch at the main Oceanview Café outside on the back of the ship.  Since it was way too cold to do so, we ate in the suites separate dining room, Luminae and wow are we really going to enjoy eating there. 

There is also a private area on the top deck for suite guests with it own free bar as well as a lounge called Michael’s Club inside the ship   This is going to be special.

After lunch and then looking at the casino, we went back to the cabin and unpacked and rested for just a bit.

Then we went to Michaels Club for a drink and then it was time to go to the show which was a comedian and he was just average funny.

After the show, we went to dinner in our dining room and it was very good.

Then we of course went to the casino where we each played in a free 1 minute slot tournament where neither of us won.  Later in the casino Barb lost a tiny bit and Ed had a nice win.

Several of the supervisors we have know from previous cruises so that is good.

The capacity of this ship is 2800 guests and there are only 1500 on board, so it is a quite ship.

Tomorrow is our first of 3 stops, Catalina Island and we are looking forward to it.

Night from the Pacific Ocean

                                            Leaving for the Celebrity Solstice

                                        Just waiting and relaxing

                                    The porthole window on one wall of our room

                                        Lunch a very good lobster roll

                                                            Chocolates for Ed

                                                    Lloyd our Butler

                                                        Going out for our first evening

                                            Snacks and a drink in the lounge for suite guests

                                                    Dinner in Luminae

                       Barb getting her slot machine ready for the slot tournament - it didn't work!

Spring 2023 – Day 2

When we went to bed the prediction was 100% rain so we slept in.  Ed was up at 7:30am to have breakfast but then came back and we both slept until 10:00am!!

We finally left the room at noon and when to a shopping area- looked around for more warm cloths and then had pizza and a salad at a California Pizza Kitchen.

After that we went to the Aquarium and it was a lot of fun ‘cause it was also inside and the rain was continuing.

We then took an Uber to Walgreens to pick up Ed’s soda and back to the hotel to get ready for dinner.

Dinner was at a restaurant called Parker’s Lighthouse and the meal was outstanding and the service was wonderful.   We had a huge shrimp cocktail and then the catch of the day which was mahi-mahi with roasted vegetables.

After dinner we re-packed for the cruise. 

Rain is predicted to continue for the night and maybe still in the morning.

As best we can remember, in all of our cruises we have never had rain on the first 2 days before the cruise.  It’s a record we don’t want to do again.  We still had a relaxing time in Long Beach and maybe someday we will be back to enjoy a sunny southern California.

Barb is getting a surprise when we get to our room – more tomorrow.

Tomorrow is going to be a wonderful day – we board our cruise ship and the season begins for the Cubs!!

Night from Long Beach.

For those who are Cardinals fans - GO CUBS!!

                                Going out for the day - 52 degrees and raining

                                                Barb making a new friend

                                                    Petting some interesting creatures of the sea

                                                    Now this one was interesting

                                            Dinner - our shrimp cocktail

                                                    These Jelly Fish were amazing to see