Our very first stop for November was to visit one of Greg’s friends, an old carnival shipmate, a comedian named Dave Miller. He lives in Dania Beach and he’s going to let us keep our van there for our five day cruise out of Fort Lauderdale. Greg and Dave had a great time catching up and sharing memories of their cruise ship days together and we talked about the book that he recently wrote, Santa’s Epic Tokyo Escapade. If you’re into books and you enjoy reading, I would recommend it if you can find it on Amazon if you wanna pick up a copy we had a nice dinner with Dave and and then the next morning we headed out to Port Everglades to get onto our cruise ship.
it’s amazing how much faster the embarkation is on celebrity cruises compared to Princess.Princess needs to work on the boarding process. Celebrity has it down to a science it’s very well organized and we were on the ship within 15 minutes.
We have never been on the Celebrity reflection, but we’ve been on ships that are similar to this one. Our stop is to put our bags in to find our dragons and just the straps so be ready for us in case emergency.
t’s amazing how much faster the embarkation is on celebrity cruises compared to Princess.Princess needs to work on the boarding process. Celebrity has it down to a science it’s very well organized and we were on the ship within 15 minutes.
We have never been on the Celebrity reflection, but we’ve been on ships that are similar to this one. Our stop is to put our bags in to find our dragons and just the straps so be ready for us in case emergency.
Our first stop was the buffet lunch. Then we went exploring. I would say this is a medium sized ship We walked each deck at a time from front to back. Got our steps in for the day.
That night we went to the show which was a magician and illusionist. Apparently none of his illusions made it onto the ship. They got lost by the airline so this guy sort of had to just make up a new show and it just wasn’t very good. Then we went to the casino and lost. So kind of a bust for day 1.
Next day we arrived in Key West. We just love walking around that town especially in the morning before anyone wakes up. The Harbor Walk is really nice by where all the fishing boats and yachts dock.
We walked around for a few hours then went back for some lunch and to hang out by the pool. It was a beautiful 80° day and we are both as white as we have ever been these past 7 years so we definitely needed to do some sun therapy. Me more than Greg, he gets bored sitting in the sun and for me, It’s one of my favorite things to do.
That night we headed to the Captains Welcome Party. Free drinks and hors d’oeuvres.
Then some dinner. We like to eat outdoors in the back of the ship. You never know what the sky will do. And usually we are the only ones out there.
This morning we woke up at Coco Cay. That is Celebrity’s Private Island. I’ve been wanting to go on a cruise that stops here for years but our itinerary’s never included it so that’s why I made sure to book this ship.
We had the perfect day at Coco Cay. The island is bigger than we thought and we explored every inch of it. We went in the water a bunch of times because it was a super hot day. They also have a giant pool that we were in and out of most of the time. I definitely prefer a pool to the beach. I don’t mind the sand if I’m staying out but having the sand in your feet and wearing sandals while walking isn’t very comfortable. Plus the pool
Was a little warmer than the lagoon water.
They had several snack shacks all around the island. Plenty of beverage centers too and lots of bars. They had two buffet areas set up for lunch which was nice. There was never a line for anything and there was atleast ten times more lounge chairs than they needed so finding a lounge chair was not an issue.You can see from the selfie that Greg took all the empty lounge chairs behind us. It was like being at an all inclusive resort minus the hotel. I would have to say this is my second favorite port. I LOVED IT!!
When we got back on the ship, we visited the casino and once again lost our daily allotment for the day. That’s day three for me without a win. That has never happened before. I don’t like it.
The show tonight was called Midadlantic men. Three guys singing songs from America vs Britain. It was entertaining. It was a long day in the sun and it wiped me out. I was in bed by 8 pm and had a great nights sleep.
Woke up to a beautiful sunrise while the ship pulled into Nassau, Bahamas. There are no sea days on this cruise itinerary so every day we wake up in a new location which is nice but I do enjoy the sea days and the sunrise over the vast open ocean.
Greg and I spent a week in Paradise Island once in Nassau Bahamas at a time share by the yacht club near Atlantis. I decided to spend the day at the pool and Greg went off the ship to do some exploring. It was an absolutely beautiful day today.
The show for the last night onboard was a cabaret Broadway show. We didn’t realize they this show had no dancers so we were a little disappointed and probably wouldn’t have gone if we had known. The dancers are the best part of cruise shows.
So the next day we arrived back to Fort Lauderdale before the sun came up. We were off the ship pretty quickly. Celebrity is very organized with getting on and off the ship. Greg’s friend Dave picked us up and we were on our way to our next adventure. Our next stop was Bealls Florida. This is our favorite store in Florida. There’s a regular Bealls which is like a Marshall’s and then there’s Bealls Florida which is so much better. The cloths are super bright and cheery and lightweight and definitely our style. Greg bought a new shirt and a new vest and I bought a cute black dress. From there we went to visit my friend Lisa in Fort Pierce. And then off to a campground in Orlando called Moss Lake. We got the last spot available, thanks to Barbara and Frank who booked it for us while we were in the cruise. We settled in and these two giant birds came over to greet us.
We have been wanting to go to Boston Lobster Fest for a few years now and have finally been able to go. This is probably the greatest buffet I have ever been to and you all know how much Greg and I LOVE BUFFETS!! All you can eat Lobster!! That says it all!! But not just that, they also had crab legs, oysters, clams, steamers, mussels, prime rib, crawfish and lots of other foods. It was so good. I highly recommend it if you are in the Orlando area.
Next day we explored the campground on our bikes. This park is huge and reasonably priced which is nice for a spot in Florida so close to Disney. We have continued to write and send postcards to Rain and received this photo today from Kaitlin telling us how much Rain is enjoying the postcards. He is just the cutest.
We stayed at that campground for a couple of nights and then headed over to Disney Fort Wilderness for the week!! Barbara and Frank got site 2006 and we are site 2004. Greg and I always stay in this loop but this is their first time in the loop. We had a nice lunch and then headed to the pool to relax and enjoy the beautiful day. I volunteered to help with the rubber duck race. Rubber Duck #30 was the lucky winner.
We came back for some dinner. We grilled up some steaks and vegetables and the Venison that I brought from Raquette Lake. For those that don’t know, I drive the ambulance for my town and one morning a call came in for someone that hit a deer in Route 28. I hopped in the ambulance and drove to the accident. Turns out it was our friend who hit the deer. She had some damage to her truck. She was Ok but the deer laid dead on the side of the road. I had no idea that the troopers were allowed to give out “tags” to people that want to process the deer meat. So that’s exactly what happened. The trooper gave the tag to one of the members of our fire department, Carl, and he took it and processed it and was kind enough to give me a couple
of steaks. I can tell you that those Venison Steaks were better than the beef steaks that we grilled with them. So thank you Penny and Carl for a delicious dinner last night. After dinner we took the Disney Bus to the Trailhead Restaurant and had some dessert.
The weather has been wonderful. We spend every second outdoors, either by the pool or hiking or walking around. We took the boat to the Disney Boardwalk and had lunch at the swan resort by the pool.
And for our grand finale her, we went to Mickeys Christmas Spectacular!! Such an amazing time. Barbara really knows Disney and knows where everything is located so that made the evening so much better. We never had to wonder where anything was, very rarely looked at a map. Barbara and Frank love the rides and Greg and I love the shows and love getting the free cookies for the event. So it worked out perfectly. While Barbara and Frank went on the rides, we were able to gather cookies for all of us. Plus we got to see Daisy and Mickey which was an added bonus. We got there at 4 and left at 11. A great night!!
From Disney we headed to Anna Maria Island to visit with Barbara and Franks Niece and nephew and to park the van and camper for our next cruise on Celebrity. We stayed in a beautiful house with a pool and a golf cart. Theresa weather, however was not pool weather. Low 60’s for the two days we were here. Even with the chilly weather, this island is amazing. We went out to diner both nights and had the grilled grouper. It was great!! I did not take any photos for some reason except for this one beautiful sunset.
This morning we are heading to Tampa to get on a 7 day cruise. I just realized it is November 15th. I have to publish the blog before we head out. Time is really flying!! I didnt do a final read of the blog so there may be a bunch of tyupos and misspelled words. Hopefully you will be able to figure it out.
