Cruising

We met up with our fellow travelers in Ft. Lauderdale, though Mom and Barbara had lots of delays and didn't get in till 10 at night. Thank goodness they did not schedule their flight on the day of the cruise or they might not have made it!  Did some laundry, had fast food for dinner since we didn't have a car and the hotel had no restaurant; there were a few fast food places within walking distance so we had to be satisfied with that.

Bye bye Ft. Lauderdale

Up the next morning, April 9,  and shuttled to Port Everglades to board the Celebrity Constellation.  We'd asked for "pier assistance" for Mom after being told it was quite a long walk from the dock onto the ship so she hopped into a wheelchair and an attendant whisked her away quite quickly, leaving the rest of us in the dust to hurry up and catch them.  Very nice for Mom to have that perk as it allowed all of us to board quickly and easily, hurray!

Our cabins were not ready yet so we spent an hour or so having some lunch on the buffet and ran into our friends Judy and Dennis, who were on our Australian cruise a couple of years ago. We've kept in touch and knew they would be on this cruise--lots of fun to see them again!

Dennis and Judy

It's been busy and enjoyable so far. We've had sunny, warm weather, everyone is super friendly and nice, and there's lots going on!  This is a Transatlantic cruise so it's mostly sea days but we haven't been bored at all.  Here are some of the things one or both of us have done in just a few days:

*worked out at the gym most days (Rich more than I!)
*taken a tai chi class
*spazzed out in a line dancing class
*attended lectures on various subjects related to the cruise
*attended a hilarious version of "The Newlywed/Not so Newlywed Game" with passengers as the contestants.  Let's just say it's probably a good thing Rich and I didn't volunteer because the questions were pretty obscure and I am not sure how well we would have done.  :)
*listened to several musicians
*watched a comedian/juggler (who was pretty darned funny)
*watched singing and dancing performances
*struggled through an origami class
*enjoyed a cake decorating demonstration
*read books
*napped
*sat outside in the sun
*went swimming
*ate too much!
*played team trivia daily
*took photos
*met new people
*chatted with staffers
*and more...

Barbara and Mom soaking up some rays

Cake decorating demonstration

Our fun Cruise Director, Alejandro, from Argentina.  We had to get a photo of him for extra points in trivia but he didn't realize I was behind him and just thought he was posing for Rich.  :)

Part of the ship

Desserts, desserts, and

more desserts...

We've enjoyed getting to know our room attendants Jennifer and Devin, who do a great job and are so pleasant every day.  We also have the same waiters most days, Anthony from India and William from Jamaica. They are super and we love chatting with them at meal time.  I know this has to be a tough job  and I appreciate such wonderful attitudes.  I'm not sure I could handle being away from home for 7 months at a stretch and working EVERY DAY--no days off! And having to be happy and pleasant to all kinds of grumpy people. I am striving never to be grumpy on this ship.  Well, not to the staff anyway! haha

Origami creations  :)

Part of our trivia team: Rich, new friend Donna, Barbara, Mom

Mom and William

Brenda, Anthony and Barbara