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| Celebrity Summit in St. Thomas, with our little sailboat near the stern | |
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You've probably heard Karen
comment about "never getting to go on vacation anymore"!! Well, she finally got to take her vacation…and I went with her to make sure she stayed
out of trouble.
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| Our room, with a view. Can't you just hear her let out a big, peaceful sigh... |
She
seems to have a knack for finding good deals. She had been watching the fares,
even after we had booked the cruise, and noticed the prices had dropped
significantly from what we paid. One call to the cruise line and we were
upgraded to Aqua Class and a balcony room on the 9th floor.
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| Jenely (Jen-e-lee) and Karen in the Christmas mood |
Some
folks on the “Cruise Critic” website had been unhappy with the type of room we
got, but we found it to be perfect. Our balcony room sat just
under an upper floor extension that projects out about 15’ from where we sat.
We saw this as a huge benefit when sitting out on the balcony: early shade from
the sun, protection from any rainfall, the wind is cut down quite a bit when
the ship is moving, etc. No need for us to see the stars from our balcony…that
can be done on an upper deck when walking around, if you can handle the wind. I
suspect the wind averages around 15kts to 25kts when the ship is headed to the
next port-of-call.
One
of the first adventures we signed up for on-ship was a drawing for the
spa/salon area. I wasn’t interested (in the slightest) to have a free manicure
and pedicure, but Karen filled out two of the entries…one for each of us. Well,
as it turned out, I won the drawing. We pre-arranged that if I won, she could
step into the limelight as “Sandy”. She was soooo happy to “win” the free
manicure/pedicure, valued on-ship at about $200.
Karen
also invested some time with one of the hairstylists for a trim and attended a
class on styling tips. I decided to have a straight razor shave in the salon.
Don’t need one of those again. The blade wasn’t as sharp as it should’ve been, so
it felt a little abrasive. Besides…I’m not so keen on having someone so close
in my “space” that I don’t know. Don’t even get me started about massages.
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| Mario gave Karen a lot of styling tips, along with a really nice haircut |
The
ship left San Juan on Saturday, and headed to St. Croix…arriving at 8am. We’ve
been there/done that, so that’s the time we spent in the ship salon. Our next
port-of-call was St. Kitts. Karen had made arrangements with a tour guide (Annie)
to meet us, and quite a few others heard of the great price we were offered and
joined us. (Karen spent most of the two weeks before the cruise signing folks up for this tour, as well as one on Grenada). There were enough folks that Annie needed 3 tour vans to hold everyone.
St. Kitts was so much more beautiful and scenic than we imagined. Annie was
superb at taking the time to show us the island and explaining its colorful
history. Of course, it still has the poverty that all of the islands have, but
it seems the economy there is stable, if not improving. Unemployment is the
largest issue that most of the islands have to deal with. Hopefully, all of the
islands can have a little rest from some devastating hurricanes so they can get
things going again.
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| Annie was certainly happy for all of Karen's help. We highly recommend you choose her if you visit St. Kitts, Ladies and Gentlemen! |
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| Part of the Caribelle Batik Store and floral gardens at the Historic Romney Center |
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| The original slave bell tower, at the Romney Manor |
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| Our new little friend...a greenback monkey. I wonder if it would make a good boat pet? |
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| Looking northwest along the windward shore |
A blog about the cruise wouldn't be complete without some mention of the food on board. The Summit has numerous restaurants, as well as a main buffet and several of the snack bar variety. Our favorite was Blu...for members of the "elite" Aqua Class (remember, we were card-carrying members).
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| Our room came with these tasty, little snack trays everyday...complimentary! |
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| Blu's menu featured smaller portions, made healthier with less of the fats and carbs. This allows you to eat twice as much as normal when on a cruise, and not gain more than the usual 15#. |
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| Jenely made our suite up each night, and made a towel lobster on one of them. |
I forgot to mention...these flowery clothes and fancy hats we are wearing...are the same we wore on our honeymoon in Antigua, Christmas 1999
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| We hope your Christmas was wonderful and 2015 will be peaceful, happy and full of the Lord's Blessings |
