March 14, 2019 - At Sea (Caribbean Sea) - Partly Cloudy - 80s

Another relaxing day at sea.  

Nice breakfast, some time in the Aqua Spa Café, standard but OK lunch, and plenty of deck time watching the Caribbean go by.

Today, I gave my second lecture - "Forensics and History:  The Search for the Unknown Titanic Child".  The attendance was a little better.  The talks are being advertised on the Celebrity app but not in announcements.  I doubt that makes a difference.

We went to the early show tonight and saw vocalist/guitarist Mario D'Andrea.  Again, we have never seen him before.  His show was very entertaining and perhaps, we will run into him again.

March 13, 2019 - George Town, Grand Cayman Islands - Mostly Sunny - 80s

Today we are at anchor off the Grand Cayman Islands and the city of George Town.  We do not have any plans to tender into port (as we have no excursions) so this will be one of our extra sea days. on the open deck, you can see George Town in the distance.

We are not alone here today.  Also at anchor are the Empress of the Seas, the Liberty of the Seas, and the Carnival Paradise.

After our usual "day at sea", we had dinner again in the Opus Café.  We continue to get good food and service.

The show tonight is another new one for us - "Broken Strings".  A massive cast tells a story through song and dance and through a guitar.  It was super enjoyable and the cast did a wonderful job.  

The cast also ventured out into the audience.  

March 12, 2019 - At Sea (Caribbean Sea) - Mostly Sunny - 80s

I love the first day at sea.

I was up early and in the Oceanview Café when it opened.  I found my waffles, cottage cheese, and sour cream and along with assorted jam and jellies, I was set.  I brought Ellen her breakfast of a hard boiled egg, fruit, and lox and cream cheese.

After breakfast, I went up to the Aqua Spa Café to get some coffee and look over my talk for today.  This venue is perfect for that - relaxing, always warm, sort of quiet, and with a view of the water.

My first lecture, "Forensics and History: The Mystery of the Romanovs" is today in Celebrity Central.  Celebrity Central holds about 200 people and this first lecture drew more than 50 percent attendance.  The Caribbean is a difficult itinerary for lectures so this is a good start.

Our sea days are pretty much a routing now.  Lunch is a combination of the Oceanview Café (for their nice salad bar) and the Aqua Spa Café (for their healthier stuff like the tuna salad).  

The afternoon is spent on the open deck on a lounge chair watching the water go by and reading and/or grabbing a quick nap.

We changed for dinner and ate in the Opus Dining Room.   

Tonight's headliners is a group called "Uptown",  We have never seen them before.  They were vocalists and serious dancers. Their choreography was unique and athletic and their show was entertaining.

March 11, 2019 - Ft. Lauderdale FL - Mostly Sunny - 80s

Embarkation Day

We slept pretty well - I guess being tired will do that to you.  Our neighbors were quiet and that really helped. 

I went down very early (near dawn) for breakfast -  I made myself a waffle and had some of the powdered eggs.  This was actually the second waffle I made; the first one looked so good someone took it before I could retrieve it (there's a first).  I went down later with Ellen for a back up breakfast.  It was a lot more crowded but we did find a seat and were able to eat our meal.

We are on the 11:00 AM shuttle this morning.  Ellen realized she needed some needlepointing thread so she walked to Michael's Crafts to get some while I waiting in the lobby with out suitcases.  Our shuttle was called early so I called Ellen and told her to head back.  She got back in time and we were on our way to Port Everglades.

We were the only people on the shuttle getting on the Celebrity Reflection.  I wonder where the Celebrity folks stay.

We told the people managing the check in process who we were and check in became simpler.  We got our Sea Pass Cards and found our room - behind the door on deck 3 (our usual digs).  We dropped our bags and went up to the Oceanview Café for lunch.  A lunch of salad and tuna salad and assorted tastings did the trick for lunch.

We were give the expected news that there would be no escorts on this cruise. and retired to the Sky Lounge - Deck 14 Forward.   

We took a break to attend the lifeboat drill and see how "Agent Blair" was getting on and then went back up to the Sky Lounge to watch the sail away.

We are set up for Celebrity Select Dining so we can go anytime in the first couple of hours.  Our bags arrived so we changed and went to the Opus Dining Room as soon as it opened.  We managed to get a table for two and had a pretty nice meal of Cesar Salad and Salmon. The service was great tonight.

We went to the "Welcome Aboard" show tonight - it was a new one called "Maxx", which clearly catered to a younger crowd.  It was about a boy caught in a video game and trying to save a girl and get away from the video bad guys.  Not exactly West End or Broadway.  The show was introduced by Cruise Director, Eddy Jenkins (we have sailed with Eddy before and had a pretty nice time).

The show was OK but I couldn't get over the fact that the star of the show was a little out of shape and had trouble fitting into his costume properly.  The songs and dances were good and made up for the strange story.  It had a lot of interesting visual effects and the volume was just right. And no show would be complete without acrobats and contortionists.  

After the show, we went to the Ensemble Lounge on Deck 5 for some quiet music - it has comfortable couches and the music volume is soft and mellow.

Then back to the room to get ready for a sea day and work.

Seas are smooth.

Celebrity Reflection - Western Caribbean - Round Trip Fort Lauderdale FL - March 11-22, 2019

NOTE:  The log for this cruise was inadvertently deleted so I am going to share the highlights gleaned from memory.

March 10, 2019 - Travel Day

Fortunately, we do not have to get up at dawn to go to the airport as our flight today, AA156, departs ORD at 10:10 PM.  I always like to give us buffer time so the cab was called for 8:30 AM.  American Taxi did arrive, as they almost always do, on time.  The ride to the airport took the usual 20 minutes or so and we checked our bags at the kiosk.  This was just slightly more complicated since we are flying on two itineraries (Celebrity travel agents set up my flights).  Our trip through security was quick and painless (as long as you remember to put your cell phone in your carryon bag).  The TSA Pre-Check lines were very efficient today.

The next best news to a quick check in is seeing your plane at the gate when you arrive.  Our plane - B737-800 - was indeed there and loading bags and gassing up.    


The plane boarded on time - we are in 9C/9D (across the aisle in Cabin Extra Seats (the only way I can fly these days).  We took off on time and the flight was generally smooth. We brought along our breakfast of bagels, lox, and cream cheese and along with the pretty good coffee on American, breakfast was complete.

The plane landed on time in FLL and our bags made the trip with us.  Once we had them, we initiated the drill - walk right out of the baggage claim area to the "Hotel Shuttle" sign, where our van will pick us up for the hotel,  We are staying at our usual place - Quality Inn and Suites, Ft Lauderdale Airport/Cruise Port - on Sterling Avenue.  It was about 80F in Ft. Lauderdale today and a sweaty wait for our van.  It usually takes a number of calls (one from baggage claim, and two from the waiting area) to make the pickup happen.  The wait for the van was about 30 minutes but, in all fairness, getting around the airport and dealing with the thousand other vans, that was not bad.  We loaded up our bags and headed to the hotel.

When we got to the hotel, we noticed something wrong - the lobby was full of customers and the desk folks were running around like crazy.  Turns out that the computer system had gone down and people arriving to check in couldn't.  We sat in the lobby and then in a long line until I could get to an agent.  She apologized and said we could get to our room shortly. She also offered coupons for free drinks at their poolside bar.  We eventually got our room - second floor in the back away from the pool.  We dragged our bags to the room and then collected our free drinks - on the recommendation of a bar customer, I got an artisan ale and Ellen got an artisan Diet Coke.  The ale was OK but I took it to the room for later.

We found out that Danny's folks were in town so we called them and arranged to meet for dinner at The Hummus Factory just down the street.  They volunteered to pick us up and soon we were at the restaurant.  I decided to have the seitan hummus - veggie meat in the middle of a bowl of hummus.  I also tried the veggie soup.  The soup was good but the seitan was a little strange.  Still the food was good and we did have a chance to spend a rare dinner with Danny's parents.  They took us back to the hotel.

I grabbed my ale and we went down to the pool.  It was cooling off now and the pool area at sunset and dark is quite nice.  We did some reading but mostly, I just chilled out on the comfortable lounge chairs.

We arranged for a shuttle ride to the pier tomorrow. 

The room, which may or not have been spruced up, started off noisy but when bedtime rolled along, all of the chatters were in their rooms and quiet.

Postscript on the room:  I could never find a charge for the room on my credit card even though the deck clerk told me if was paid and gave me a receipt.

February 19, 2019 - Valparaiso, Chile - Cloudy - 70s

We have successfully, gone around the horn from Buenos Aires to Valparaiso.  Symphony docked early in Valparaiso.  The port certainly looked dreary from the ship.

Breakfast was a little more crowded on disembarkation day but we still got seats and the breakfast was its usual high quality.

The disembarkation process went smoothly and we spent little time in immigration.  

We have a transfer that will take us from Valparaiso to Santiago.  The ship has set up a space for passengers in the Santiago Hotel, where we will wait until it is time to go to SCL to catch our plane.  That is the plan.

The bus was comfortable and the ride was scenic - we have done it a few times.  The weather improved dramatically from the gloominess of Valparaiso.  Our only rest stop was at a small restaurant adjacent to a llama farm.  We not only got to stretch our legs, get a drink, but also spend some time taking shots of these interesting animals (don't get too close - they spit).

It was a short ride with surprisingly little traffic to the Hotel Santiago.  The Hotel is beautiful with a huge lobby and wonderful views - the pool had a pretty impressive waterfall.

The passengers were assigned to a large ball room with pretty comfortable seats and table.  There was food available but when we asked about vegetarian items, we found out there were none.  The hotel staff worked something out so we could have cheese sandwiches and other non-meat items.  The drinks were fine.

Our flight home is scheduled for 9:53 PM and we will probably not leave for the airport until 6 PM.  We got a little tired of sitting around at the hotel so we decided to walk to the nearby shopping mall only a few blocks away.  The neighborhood we were in was pretty upscale but, even so, we did walk past a McDonalds that could have been in any place in the US.  

The mall itself was massive but again looked just like the malls back home.  I couldn't resist taking pictures of the Dunkin Donuts Shop.  It was a small store like the kind you might find in the airport but it had all the items.

After checking out most of the mall, we went back to the hotel.  Eventually, our flight time window was called and we boarded our bus for SCL.  

After spending some time in line for an agent, we were pleased to know that our reservations were fine.  We checked our bags through to Chicago and headed for security.  You don't have to take off your shoes here and I didn't get the impression that the security was as tight as it could be but, in a few minutes, we were at our gate.

We are on AA912 - an 8 and half hour flight to MIA.  The seating area at our gate is comfortable enough but there was still a wait until boarding.  At least, our plane, a 777-ER aircraft, is already at the gate - a good sign.  At about 8:00 PM, it is still light outside - summer here in Chile.

We boarded the plane on time and the process was orderly enough.  We are in special seats, 17A and 17C - Cabin Extra Seats with only two seats - 2/4/2 configuration.  This will help make the long flight more comfortable.

It took a while to board everyone but the plane took off on time.  We are going to be eating our Kosher dinners at about 11:00 PM so getting any sleep after that is a non-starter.  The meals - prepared I guess in Chile - were pretty good (some of kind ground beef in a tomato sauce over rice).  

The flight was pretty smooth and arrived in the wee hours the next morning.  We were hungry (the nominal breakfast on the plane was kind of meh) so we did something we rarely do:  We ordered breakfast (I saved up) at one of the airport restaurants.  The pancakes and eggs and cheese omelet were pretty good - especially when you're really hungry.  We had enough time between flights and didn't have to rush our breakfast.

AA1495 was schedule to depart MIA at 6:50 AM so we had a bit of waiting at the gate.  On this flight, an A321, we are sitting aisle across in 9C and 9D (Cabin Extra).  The flight took about three hours and was smooth.

Our bags arrived with us and after a short ride home in a cab, we were home.

We are tired.

February 18, 2019 - At Sea - Pacific Ocean - Off the Coast of Chile - Partly Cloudy - 60s

A very nice sea day, our last, as we head toward our final destination of Valparaiso, Chile.

I had a very nice breakfast - all the usual items and the usual nice service.

I gave my last lecture - "Forensic Detectives: The Search for Jack the Ripper" - in the Starlite Lounge.  The turnout was pretty good and consistent for this voyage.  There were a few glitches along the way on this lecture effort but overall, it was successful.

After another wonderful buffet lunch, I spent the rest of the day reading up in the seating area near the Grill.  My other companion was a mojito. 

Thanks for Ellen, we are all packed and ready to disembark tomorrow.