Beautiful day at sea.
Tough sleeping night – up several times – decaf/not decaf – who knows. As usual, getting up early gets you a nice picture of the sunrise.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvVC8dMdq5VflfuTB34iLJYF1wpEWNq-a-pxLsh6ol1jhghjqG7GXnDmmRmRqkSfnEvqiZaxwuE_n4IlOf6Iz3l6iRLFnymzqW9a_VYvG_nAJEn5QDuV830PpLUcZ4ytdaOWIJpVVe5O0/s400/IMG_20200211_sunrise+at+Sea.jpg)
Arrived at the Oceanview Café for breakfast at 7:00 AM – put my magazine down to save my table and got some waffles, cottage cheese, sour cream, and strawberry compote. Also a scoop of scrambled eggs (really good), and a biscuit (first time on the buffet but really crumbly and not biscuit-like). When I got back to my table, my EW was gone and there were people sitting there. I checked with one of the waitresses and she found it – she had tossed it into a drawer, not knowing that the drawer was full of water (?). She offered to buy me a new one but, instead, I ripped off the last third of the magazine (the wet part) so I would have something to read. The next time, I will put a cup of coffee next to the magazine so it doesn't get tossed.
The breakfast was good but the "screaming lady" is on this cruise and in good form.
When I left for breakfast, I noticed that Ellen room service order was still on the door so I spoke to Guest Services, who told me that room service folks cannot go into crew areas to pick up orders. I would need to call for service. I left the order on the door.
When I got back from breakfast, the order form was gone and it was not inside. In the meantime, I brought Ellen breakfast (lox, fruit, herring, French toast). At 8:30 AM, Room Service arrived with Ellen’s second breakfast. I can only conclude that my call to Guest Services resulted in a call to Room Service and the pickup. I think Room Service is now aware of us.
The morning was spent in both the Aqua Spa Café and Solarium – checking out the waves and going over the talk for today. Because the specialty coffees are so pricey on this cruise, I am drinking the Lavazza coffee from the dispensers. That's also pretty good coffee. And there is a bonus being in this venue - the screaming lady is not allowed in here.
We had lunch in the Aqua Spa Café – Caprese Salad, Asian noodles, tuna salad, veggie wraps, and spinach salad – like OD’ing on healthy foods. They were all pretty good.
After giving it much too much thought, I decided to go Smart Casual for my lectures – hey, we are in the Caribbean. My lecture partner, Thom Duryea, was in a suit and tie for his talk, so the opposite ends of the spectrum.
Tough sleeping night – up several times – decaf/not decaf – who knows. As usual, getting up early gets you a nice picture of the sunrise.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvVC8dMdq5VflfuTB34iLJYF1wpEWNq-a-pxLsh6ol1jhghjqG7GXnDmmRmRqkSfnEvqiZaxwuE_n4IlOf6Iz3l6iRLFnymzqW9a_VYvG_nAJEn5QDuV830PpLUcZ4ytdaOWIJpVVe5O0/s400/IMG_20200211_sunrise+at+Sea.jpg)
Arrived at the Oceanview Café for breakfast at 7:00 AM – put my magazine down to save my table and got some waffles, cottage cheese, sour cream, and strawberry compote. Also a scoop of scrambled eggs (really good), and a biscuit (first time on the buffet but really crumbly and not biscuit-like). When I got back to my table, my EW was gone and there were people sitting there. I checked with one of the waitresses and she found it – she had tossed it into a drawer, not knowing that the drawer was full of water (?). She offered to buy me a new one but, instead, I ripped off the last third of the magazine (the wet part) so I would have something to read. The next time, I will put a cup of coffee next to the magazine so it doesn't get tossed.
The breakfast was good but the "screaming lady" is on this cruise and in good form.
When I left for breakfast, I noticed that Ellen room service order was still on the door so I spoke to Guest Services, who told me that room service folks cannot go into crew areas to pick up orders. I would need to call for service. I left the order on the door.
When I got back from breakfast, the order form was gone and it was not inside. In the meantime, I brought Ellen breakfast (lox, fruit, herring, French toast). At 8:30 AM, Room Service arrived with Ellen’s second breakfast. I can only conclude that my call to Guest Services resulted in a call to Room Service and the pickup. I think Room Service is now aware of us.
The morning was spent in both the Aqua Spa Café and Solarium – checking out the waves and going over the talk for today. Because the specialty coffees are so pricey on this cruise, I am drinking the Lavazza coffee from the dispensers. That's also pretty good coffee. And there is a bonus being in this venue - the screaming lady is not allowed in here.
We had lunch in the Aqua Spa Café – Caprese Salad, Asian noodles, tuna salad, veggie wraps, and spinach salad – like OD’ing on healthy foods. They were all pretty good.
After giving it much too much thought, I decided to go Smart Casual for my lectures – hey, we are in the Caribbean. My lecture partner, Thom Duryea, was in a suit and tie for his talk, so the opposite ends of the spectrum.
I got to the Theater a little
early for the 2:15 PM start time for “Forensics
and History: The Mystery of the Romanovs”.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ1kePjhLOynluzIjjJJ1GUZlGRtzxHUblfGWpu9SuBLol1U4J3Bdli8mS4mWYHs4KhmkNks3c85K4ZzpdX3fzRKnmy1EwJcdPof4M_eFlOSmipyG-qF1_GB74NhQEsHyVaJjeGL4upPk/s400/IMG_20200211_Talk+1+Cruise+2.jpg)
I am using my own laptop for this presentation, the first time my new HP laptop has been used on a ship. Reflection uses a VGA cable so I used my adapter and the picture looked great, color and clarity. The only issue was that the screen is so big that I have to look up to see the top of the slides. The headset mic was a bit uncomfortable with my glasses so next time, I will probably go with contacts. That will also make it easier to see the screen.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ1kePjhLOynluzIjjJJ1GUZlGRtzxHUblfGWpu9SuBLol1U4J3Bdli8mS4mWYHs4KhmkNks3c85K4ZzpdX3fzRKnmy1EwJcdPof4M_eFlOSmipyG-qF1_GB74NhQEsHyVaJjeGL4upPk/s400/IMG_20200211_Talk+1+Cruise+2.jpg)
I am using my own laptop for this presentation, the first time my new HP laptop has been used on a ship. Reflection uses a VGA cable so I used my adapter and the picture looked great, color and clarity. The only issue was that the screen is so big that I have to look up to see the top of the slides. The headset mic was a bit uncomfortable with my glasses so next time, I will probably go with contacts. That will also make it easier to see the screen.
I spent a little time talking
to a few passengers and then Rich introduced me. The talk went well with the one exception
being a little tickle in my throat that need some iced tea to vanquish. That doesn't happen often and the audience was
patient. The talk ran about 52 minutes,
a little long but OK – it covers a lot of stuff. The Reflection Theater has a capacity of 1232 people (according to the Celebrity
website) so I would estimate that the theater was about 40 percent full – so
the crowd was somewhere between 400 and 500 attendees. The turnout was good - and would have overwhelmed Celebrity Central - considering there was a
very popular shopping event going on and the weather outside was perfect. From my perspective on stage, the theater
just doesn’t seem as big as I remember it.
We went to the Solarium for
the afternoon. I tried to read but I
kept nodding off (really tired) so I made little progress of “The Fix”.
Tonight is Evening Chic Night
1 – we checked the menu and there was nothing good enough for us to get dressed
up. Instead we went directly to the Oceanview Café,
where I had a salad and pesto pasta with garlic (made fresh for me) along with
garlic rolls (absolutely yummy). The desserts
featured “Crumbles” so I tried spoonsful of the various fruits with some cherry vanilla ice cream. The food was probably better
than downstairs plus quieter and with a view to boot. One of those views was a magnificent sunset.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidstDKfz_jc0F_3o1TNIxlKJTUeNQ8f0vbd4tECWX8qtLyRP7aLO-msyfjRCbrIkOFhFyd2vvfICuwrpTQaAz5Lu4MyjJo7s-S80fis2a2pj-y4vIrnrIU4dZz_i4jSNfWvtiICHwCJhg/s400/IMG_20200211_sunset+at+Sea.jpg)
We changed into casual clothes and went to the theater to see “Lance Lipinsky and the Lovers” do their 50s and 60s cover tribute.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJD8WuLCbi9ektMz8fvtdfVNyKcIyRZE-DUWLqBcbRNbkB9w8D4oDI37w5Rs7uK77cbHGrs_JFziTXqG_CCZX0JpzrOfOWhKaTa5PTCT-lqtCPrFkSM0hjXQm8ZHbuN6NHzQHMBHNWZh0/s400/IMG_20200211_Lance+Lipinski+to+and+the+Lovers+1.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6sYfSEb-tYvnd7snZ_R7089b4KpwbyFDd6L0h3oT5JcUTghyN77__WQfX9c_JAFn4lwNm77JfbAcYZtnSSk_0P1BVLyIJglLfMM_pmE6pUfW8suq_zzo3Xdr78wW2cud80IuAlJ6KU6A/s400/IMG_20200211_Lance+Lipinski+to+and+the+Lovers.jpg)
We’ve never see them before and they were good but a tad loud. It’s ironic but no one in this group was even around as a child in that era. Lance was interesting with his Ace Ventura hair and Jerry Lee Lewis piano style. I left a little early to see Mario in App IT to figure out why the Celebrity App won’t load on my phone. He could not solve the problem but not from a lack of trying.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidstDKfz_jc0F_3o1TNIxlKJTUeNQ8f0vbd4tECWX8qtLyRP7aLO-msyfjRCbrIkOFhFyd2vvfICuwrpTQaAz5Lu4MyjJo7s-S80fis2a2pj-y4vIrnrIU4dZz_i4jSNfWvtiICHwCJhg/s400/IMG_20200211_sunset+at+Sea.jpg)
We changed into casual clothes and went to the theater to see “Lance Lipinsky and the Lovers” do their 50s and 60s cover tribute.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg61izOpF3HXATVbI6rdAtfYvY4RKDJFAaoXoI71Sdka1s_ETL1xgkWWoMxMvCPXT9pO1Q0tx1k-r2h8QW1viKS1t0xX1uAukjFJQUK9ZTBxOpaeniF73drzMW8XwmuhnTVwh4KhTvotCQ/s400/IMG_20200211_Shake+Baby+Shake.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJD8WuLCbi9ektMz8fvtdfVNyKcIyRZE-DUWLqBcbRNbkB9w8D4oDI37w5Rs7uK77cbHGrs_JFziTXqG_CCZX0JpzrOfOWhKaTa5PTCT-lqtCPrFkSM0hjXQm8ZHbuN6NHzQHMBHNWZh0/s400/IMG_20200211_Lance+Lipinski+to+and+the+Lovers+1.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6sYfSEb-tYvnd7snZ_R7089b4KpwbyFDd6L0h3oT5JcUTghyN77__WQfX9c_JAFn4lwNm77JfbAcYZtnSSk_0P1BVLyIJglLfMM_pmE6pUfW8suq_zzo3Xdr78wW2cud80IuAlJ6KU6A/s400/IMG_20200211_Lance+Lipinski+to+and+the+Lovers.jpg)
We’ve never see them before and they were good but a tad loud. It’s ironic but no one in this group was even around as a child in that era. Lance was interesting with his Ace Ventura hair and Jerry Lee Lewis piano style. I left a little early to see Mario in App IT to figure out why the Celebrity App won’t load on my phone. He could not solve the problem but not from a lack of trying.
I met up with Ellen in the
Embassy Lounge where we listened once again to the Velvet Duo. The set focused on popular ballads tonight
and the volume was a bit lower. It was a
good set.
The Grand Foyer of the ship
is still a very loud venue – tonight, “Long Play” was the featured band. I took their picture but could not take the
decibel level.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNCuhs_Ss88vMFu43CBCz8APCGUAb-2fur9JpUP_5eXImMYOcjD8sxwmJwJecMqOkz38ByqDXAC5HBWE2cWpvuB05VKWuFgNXfuBl1z66MjEABrtGWWu6Iy12mLMAQnuSG4v7qR8GQ1RE/s400/IMG_20200211_Long+Play+1.jpg)
We were in our room around 9:00 PM.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNCuhs_Ss88vMFu43CBCz8APCGUAb-2fur9JpUP_5eXImMYOcjD8sxwmJwJecMqOkz38ByqDXAC5HBWE2cWpvuB05VKWuFgNXfuBl1z66MjEABrtGWWu6Iy12mLMAQnuSG4v7qR8GQ1RE/s400/IMG_20200211_Long+Play+1.jpg)
We were in our room around 9:00 PM.
Seas are smooth.
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