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

Day 5

 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

Going out to Belize

Riding the tender to shore

Belize

Getting direction from a man carrying these on his back

Arriving back at the ship

Going out for the afternoon on the ship

Going out for dinner, etc.

The Cosmopolitan menu

We could also order from these dishes

Day 4

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.

Leaving for the island

On the beach

One of the nicer homes!!

The cruise port

The Tuscan Restaurant 

A snack for Ed during the afternoon on the deck

Going out on a golf cart

Tuna Capaccio for a starter

Day 3

 

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.

The theater

 

A seafood station

The Casino Supervisor - Sada

Barb on the deck at 9:00am

A gift from Cameron

Going out for the evening

A very special entertainer - from the island of Tanga in the South Pacific 

Long story - it is not on the map!!

The Cyprus Restaurant - their special choices

Celebrity Apex – January 2022 - Day 1 & 2 – Sunday and Monday

Day 1 – Sunday.  Up at 4:00am and to the airport by 5am for our 6am flight.  Our flight down went almost perfect.  While Delta cancelled over 400 flights, the only problem we had was our flight from Atlanta into Ft Lauderdale was delayed about 45 minutes.

Interesting, for this trip, we have 4 flights and our seats are the same on all four flights, 2C & 2D!

We arrived at the airport about 1:30pm, collected our bags and after a ½ hour delay, the shuttle picked us up and took us to the hotel where they let us check in early.

Dinner was about a mile away so we took an Uber to the Rustic Inn Crab House – a very large place on the canal where we had an entrée of 20 very large cold peal ‘n eat shrimp with boiled potatoes and cold slaw.

After dinner we went to bed early.

 

Day 2 – Ed had breakfast while Barb got ready and we took an Uber to the port and started boarding at 10:30am.  Since we were early, we waiting in a waiting area until 11:00am when they let us onboard.  It actually took us about 5 minutes to go through all the paperwork checking and another 5 minutes to get on the ship and up to our cabin.   Everything you have to board a Celebrity ship is done via their app and they simply check your papers as you enter the boarding area – checking your passport, your rapid Covid test and your vaccine card.  That’s it and you are on your way to the ship and your key is at your door with the room ready.

We started out with 4 other couples going with us and only Barb and Tim Freeman made it.  Since they were concerned about flights, they flew their own plane down and got here yesterday.  Jeff & Vere cancelled on Saturday when Vera tested positive for Covid.  Barb and David didn’t want to take the chance and John and LuJean are just starting a new job and moving so they also cancelled.

This ship is the newest in the Celebrity fleet and it is amazing.  It is a sister ship to the Celebrity Edge which we sailed on in January 2020.  The bones of the ship are the same as the Edge; however, almost everything in the interior decorations is different.  The most amazing difference is the number of green things in the common areas.  Every plant is living.  In one area called Eden, there are over 500 living plants.  This ship is the most beautiful ship we have every been on – no question about it.

Once we got to the cabin, we unpacked our carry-on and went to the back of the ship to meet Barb and & Tim and have lunch.   The food on Celebrity is always good and we sat for a couple of hours just enjoying each other’s company.

Then we walked around the ship and for an area in the theater where we would meet for the first show and then go to dinner and then the casino.

On ships, the staff starts with the Captain.  Below him are the Head Engineer and the Hotel Manager.  While we were looking in the theater, we ran into the ships Hotel Manager Camron who we had met on a couple of ships before and have had several dinners with he and his wife and two boys.  Camron used to be a Casino Manager, they Guest Services Managers before he was promoted to this top position.

His family can’t be with him because his 7-year-old son has not been vaccinated.  They are from
England.

We found out from Cameron in the afternoon that there are going be a 2000 people on board, roughly 70% of capacity.  At 4:30pm when we were to sail, they held the ship for a couple of hours and their final count was 1600 guests.  Apparently, a lot of guests didn’t show up and didn’t cancel.

Dinner was great and the first show was a comedian who was pretty funny, but not great. 

Then we went to the casino and it is amazing all of the casino staff that we knew, including the Manager, the Host and the lead supervisor plus a lot of the dealers.

The casino was very crowed when we arrived at 10:30pm and there was not a table for the 4 of us to play together so we asked the supervisor to open up a table for us and she did.

After 2 hours, Ed was down $25, Barb did not play so we called it a night at 12:30am.

Tomorrow is a sea day so it will be a fun, relaxing day.

Night from the Apex, somewhere on the ocean.

Diner on the waterway

Waiting for our Uber to take us to the ship

Barb and Tim - our first lunch on the back of the ship

The amazing theater

All the greenery is real - simple amazng.  In this one area are over 500 live plants

The Roof Top Garden

Going out for our first night