Celebrity Cruising!

Cruise day sub 1

We were startled awake by someone coming into our room unannounced.  We’re pretty sure that it was housekeeping, since they opened the door, didn’t say anything, and then closed the door again.  To be fair to housekeeping or whomever, it was later than we might normally have slept.  But, I’m pretty sure that we’re now on board with local time.  So anyway, the unanticipated and slightly creepy wakeup call got us going.  To make the best use of our 24-hour public transportation passes (and our hotel’s 11:00 AM checkout policy) we got organized and headed to the ship for check-in.

Wait for it.  In the pouring rain.  Because of course.  By the time we navigated the tram and did the 15-minute walk from Central Station to the Passenger Terminal for cruise ships, we looked (and felt) like drowned rats.  Let me tell you, the “first picture after having just checked in” is a less than flattering presentation (at least of me – Troy looks very nice, as usual).  Because we were checking in a few hours before the deadline, we made it through all the opening stuff in less than a half an hour, and were greeted on board with champagne and mimosas.  Nothing not to like there.

We didn’t have our luggage, and our stateroom was still being prepped, so we went to explore the ship and find some lunch.  Thankfully, their buffet was open and we were able to grab a solid amount of food.  The downside was that everyone else on the ship had the same idea at the same time, so we took it outside where we were covered, but still damp.  We’re embracing the damp at this point.  Plus, the ship has an entire ice cream bar that is open basically all the time. We bummed around in the solarium until we were able to get into our stateroom, and then we took the opportunity to try out the solarium’s hot tub/thalassotherapy pool.

We opted for the “classy casual” dining option, and based on the quality of the French onion soup and the salmon, that will be my preference moving forward.  It was AWESOME.  We chatted some with the couple sitting next to us, who were from Worchester, Massachusetts.  It was a very pleasant experience.  After dinner, we went to one of the lounges to read for a while, and listen to Emily and the Nightcaps, who played an interesting variety of covers.

The only thing that really annoyed me was that I had used pretty much all of my Bank of America credit card points to purchase a $500 Celebrity gift card, which I assumed (based on zero information to the contrary being provided by BoA when I purchased) that the giftcard could be used to pay for excursions and on-board expenses.  Lies.  It actually says pretty specifically on the back of the card that it can only be used in booking new travel, so I won’t be able to use it on this trip.  Guess we’ll have to book another.

Tomorrow is our first day at sea.  My plan (we’ll see if it happens) is to get up and do Morning Stretch, and maybe yoga.  Then, there are two trivia periods, a “buy another cruise” talk (that I already have an incentive to go to), BINGO!, dinner where lamb is the suggested entrée, and all sorts of other things to explore.

Yay for cruises!