Found our In-Transit instructions for Miami in our mailbox when I went to get coffee this morning. Hard to believe the first leg of our back-to-back was coming to a close.
St. Thomas is considered by a number of cruisers as a shopping mecca if the people returning to the ships with numerous large shopping bags in hand were any indication. Others spent quality time at Magen’s Bay. We’ve had fun in St. Thomas with both snorkeling excursions and island tours.
Today, we had another great day by the pool in the Summer Landing. It was interesting to watch the Carnival Sunshine dock right behind us. The Celebration towered over it.
Once we had enough of the sun and wind, we came back to the room to find that our Platinum reward “chocolate surprise” had been delivered.
Before dinner, we tried to get a seat at the Alchemy Bar but all the seats were taken. Seems like the secret was out. We went to the Latitudes Bar which was one deck down. We had their signature drink – The Sakura. Many guests just referred to it as “the bubble drink.” Loved sprinkling the petals to make a wish while bursting the fog bubble.
Next to the Latitude Bar, there was a spot for a musician(s). We always enjoyed the soloist. The trios were usually so loud you couldn’t carry on a conversation with the person sitting next to you.
We ate again in the main dining room. We both had the potato soup and steak. Afterwards, we were able to find seats in the Casino so that rounded out our evening.
We were in port today from 10:00 until 6:30. It was very cloudy and windy. We were docked beside the Norwegian Epic, the Holland America Nieuw Amsterdam, and a Royal Caribbean ship that I couldn’t see the name. There were a lot of people walking down the piers toward Old Town. We were not among them.
In the past we enjoyed touring Old Town on a Segway and hiking through the rainforest. I recommend both if you find yourself in San Juan.
Today, we had a leisurely breakfast in the main dining room. Then, we went to the gym, and we actually worked out! I was proud of us.
After the gym, we went back to the pool on the Summer Landing. We were only out there for about an hour before a heavy shower started. Passed the time under the awning chatting with a nice couple who lived just outside of Atlanta. The rain did not let up, so it was a good time to start getting ready for the evening.
We ate dinner tonight at Chibang. It is another restaurant that you can go free for the first time, but the next time is $8.00 per person. The restaurant features both Mexican and Chinese dishes. We both opted for Chinese food. I had a salad and Chuck had the chicken spring rolls. We both had the beef and broccoli for our main course. It came with Jasmine rice, but it just tasted like plain white rice to me. But we really did enjoy the food.
We were seated in front of a large window, but it was too dark to see anything outside except for the nude couple in their cabin in the ship docked next to us. I don’t know if they really didn’t know that you can see into a lighted cabin at night, or they didn’t care. But they never pulled their shades. Quite the show.
After dinner (and the show), we saw a new comedian at the Punchliner. He was okay. I liked the previous one better. Once the comedy show was over, we tried to go to the Casino.
However, the Casino was packed so we went to listen to two sets of the Backyard Band at the Pig and Anchor. They were a very good band. The first set was songs by Elvis, Little Richard, etc. The next set was Rock – Springsteen, Aerosmith, etc. We had a lot of fun.
Once the band was finished, Chuck went to play some cards. I called it a night.
We got up at 7:00 and soon the Cruise Director (CD) was making the announcement that guests were allowed to leave the ship for Amber Cove. Since we had no plans to disembark the ship here or at any of the ports, I went to get us coffee at Bar 820 and watched the people streaming off the ship.
We liked Amber Cove when we were here before, and I heard several people say they enjoyed just staying at the port area swimming and partying.
We decided to have breakfast at Shaq’s Big Chicken located on the aft of Deck 16. I had heard great things about the venue. I ordered the egg and bacon biscuit and Chuck ordered the chicken biscuit. I have to say they were not good. The biscuits were hard as a rock. My egg didn’t seem to be a real egg but more like some sort of weird egg white mixture. I could not eat any of it. Chuck liked the chicken on the biscuit and gave me some of it.
We decided to go up to Deck 18 and play some mini golf. It was a surprisingly challenging 9-hole course. During the morning, the ship conducted a crew drill. The sirens are always ear-splitting.
After we finished the round of golf (I won – as usual), we went to the Summer Landing area to get some sun. It was easy to get a lounge chair near the pool. Chuck actually got into the pool and said it was cold. I only stuck my feet in it. He was right.
Once we had enough of the pool, we had lunch at the Blue Iguana Cantina. I love their shrimp burritos. Afterwards, we played some corn hole and some indoor shuffleboard. My winning streak ended with the mini-golf. I got some soft-serve ice cream as a consolation.
Once we got back to the room, we found that the laundry had been delivered. Everything was clean and folded but it all needed pressing. The Celebration has some designated ironing rooms, but I just used some wrinkle-reducer on them.
Once we were cleaned up for the evening, we spent some time at our favorite bar - the Alchemy. It is always busy, and we always felt lucky whenever we could get a seat at the bar.
We made dinner reservations for the Italian restaurant – Cucina del Capitano. It is very popular, and the wait was over an hour. It is free the first time that you go for dinner and any time after that the meal is $8.00 per person. I had the veal marsala and Chuck had the chicken parmesan. The meals were very good, but the tables again were very close together, so we ended up talking with both people on each side of us.
I was too stuffed to enjoy the rest of the evening, but Chuck was ready to play cards. I never heard him come in.
We could hear a lot of distant cheering and yelling from the Pig and Anchor restaurant from two floors below. Many football fans on this cruise and they were all there watching play-off games in this sports bar area. Heard later that the good times almost got completely out of hand by a combination of overly-exuberant fans and much alcohol. Glad I just put in my earplugs and had a good night’s sleep. I did find the mattress much firmer than I am used to normally.
Was glad to see that we had left the drizzle back in Miami and we now had blue skies. The temperature was definitely getting warmer too. I went to Deck 6 to get some coffee at the JavaBlue Cafe. The line was very long. I saw a sign that said coffee was also available on the same Deck 6 at the Havana Bar and on Deck 8 at Bar 820. I went to Bar 820 and the line was very short. It would be my go-to coffee place for the rest of the cruise. By the third day, the Baristas knew what I was going to order and got it started before I made it to the front of the short line.
We signed up in the app for the Sea Day brunch in the main dining room. Even though the menu has been reduced, we enjoyed our selections. The wait at 8:30 was about 20 minutes. I noticed on the app about 10:00 it was an hour wait for a table. The tables are close together, so your conversations are definitely not private unless you talk low. I guess some people don’t realize that or just don’t care because low talkers they weren’t.
We spent some time in the packed Casino and then went to the Pig and Anchor Smokehouse for the ultimate Bloody Mary. Chuck went back to the Casino to play cards and I spent time on the lounger on our balcony enjoying my book, the breeze, and watching the wake. I may or may not have fallen asleep.
Finally pulled myself out of the lounger and got ready for the first dressy night. We decided to eat in the main dining room. The app said the wait was less than 20 minutes. It was more like 40 minutes before we were notified that our table was ready.
Chuck had the steak and short rib dinner and I had the shrimp and fishcake dinner. We split our meals so we both had surf and turf.
After dinner, we made our way to the Comedy Club. This ship is so large that they have one lounge for just family-friendly comedy and one lounge for adult comedy – nobody under 18 admitted. We went to at least one show of all the comedians. I preferred the comedians who actually had a comedy routine rather than the ones whose entire show was just interacting with the people on the front row.
Once the show was over, we called it a night. We could hear the distant cheering from the bar as the fans of Monday night football were in attendance and having another rowdy night. I felt bad for the staff who had to clean up after them.
My sleep app said I slept for 9 1/2 hours. Guess all those five hour nights finally caught up with me. We skipped the hotel breakfast, but we had to make two trips to the nearby Publix (a 3 minute walk) for some forgotten items. It was already humid and very cloudy. However, at home, 2 inches of snow was predicted. I’ll take humid.
We used Uber to get to the Port of Miami. It was a 10 – 15 minute drive and we arrived at exactly our check-in time. The on-board process was very quick. We never stopped walking and we were on the ship by 11:15. There were a number of Carnival staff members directing people to their muster stations. Ours was in the main dining room on Deck 7. They checked us in, and we watched the life vest demonstration. We would watch the safety video once we got to the room.
They were dissuading all passengers, even Diamond and Platinum passengers, from going to their rooms to drop off their luggage so I was glad all we had were our backpacks. We went to Deck 8 and got some Bar-B-Que at the outside kiosk of Pig & Anchor. We stayed on Deck 8 and sat in the shade in the Summer Landing zone.
At 1:30, the Cruise Director announced that the rooms were ready for occupancy. Our extended aft balcony, 10508, was just two floors up from the Summer Landing area. The room consisted of a king bed, one pull-out couch, a stool that had storage and fit under the desk. the balcony was large enough for a lounger, two chairs, and a small table. Nice view of the Summer Landing pool and the ocean.
Selfie from the room balcony
The outdoor sailaway was cancelled because of rain. The inside areas became very crowded very quickly. We found a seat in the Celebration Central Zone area and listened to the percussionist perform some Caribbean tunes on the steel drum.
Once we were in international waters, the Casino opened, and we played some slots until it got so crowded you couldn’t move around. We got a sandwich from the Deco Deli and called it an early night.
The alarm woke me up at 5:00. I was surprised. Typically, I don’t sleep that well prior to travel and I’m already up before the alarm goes off. Not today.
Pumpkin was ready for his breakfast. However, it wasn’t long before he realized that something was amiss in his kitty world. Mom wasn’t sitting in her recliner drinking coffee, and there was too much activity too early. When we wouldn’t let him outside, he scooted up under the chair and wedged himself against the wall to sulk.
We arrived at the airport shuttle office early. Unfortunately, the office restrooms were out-of-order, and I drank too much coffee this morning. Dang. It was going to be a long ride to the airport. However, before we got on the interstate, the driver stopped at a mini-mart for a quick bathroom and snack break. Disaster averted. We made two more stops to pick up passengers before we reached the airport. We arrived at the airport a little after 11:00.
This was our first time with TSA pre-check having received our Known Traveler Number a few weeks ago. We went to the TSA section and got in the CLEAR lane. The CLEAR lane is supposed to go faster than the regular lane by using biometrics, but they were updating their system. We had to review our information and take new photos. A few glitches with the CLEAR program and we were finally through Security. The TSA lane exits directly into Concourse T. We took the skytrain to Concourse A.
I also found out that we were eligible for Delta’s new Digital ID so we could have used that lane instead of CLEAR. Once it rolls out nationwide, we may drop the CLEAR membership. Right now, the Digital ID is only available in a few airports.
We had time to eat lunch at Chick-Fil-A at the terminal atrium. When we got to the gate, we found out that the flight was delayed 20 minutes and then it changed to 40 minutes delay. Sigh.
While we were waiting, the emergency lights started flashing and an announcement came over the speaker about a potential emergency and to stay alert for more messages. I started scanning for possible exits. About 20 minutes later, the “all clear” announcement was made. We never heard what triggered the alarm.
We took off about 2:20. I watched the Barbie movie and was pleasantly surprised at how good it was.
Once we had retrieved our luggage, we found the Uber pick-up point. The traffic wasn’t too bad getting to the Downtown Miami Hilton. The hotel lobby was very busy. Seems the hotel was a MSC cruise preferred hotel as MSC had a representative that was helping a number of people. I had picked out a room on the 7th floor, but we ended up on the 11th floor. It was OK. The elevators were quick. They only worked with your room key.
We were not hungry for a big dinner, so we just had a couple of beers and some chicken wings at BAR 1601 in the lobby lounge. Four 16 oz beers and the wings – $52 before taxes and tips. Welcome to Miami.
Once we were back in the room, we got the bags tagged with the ship information and we were ready to call it a night.
Christmas is over and the decorations are stored away again. What now? My thoughts have turned to days of warmer climates. The Caribbean is calling. We must answer. Carnival take us away! (in a few weeks)
We haven’t sailed with Carnival since December 2022, and it was on one of their oldest and smallest ships – the Paradise (appr. 2100 passengers). This time we are sailing on one of their newest and largest ships – the Celebration (6600 passengers).
As a matter of fact, the Celebration will be the largest ship we have ever cruised on with any line. I have to admit I am a little apprehensive about being on a ship with so many people. But when you are offered a free cruise with an aft extended-balcony room – you don’t get to be too picky.
Carnival Celebration – Google Image
We are also sailing out of Miami this time and we have never sailed from there before. I hope the Carnival embarkation/disembarkation here is as smooth as we have experienced at Tampa and Port Canaveral.
Our first 7-day segment will be the Eastern Caribbean – Amber Cove, San Juan, and St. Thomas. Our second 7-day segment will be the Western Caribbean – Cozumel, Mahogany Bay, and Costa Maya. We have been to these ports several times. It remains to be seen if we actually get off the ship at any of these ports.
So, the countdown to embarkation has begun. Hoping for calm seas and sunny warm days.
