The last few months have been complete and utter shit.
Continue readingWe Are Tired.
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Apex Day 1: Fort Lauderdale
Saturday, January 21st, was an early start. We’d spent the previous week in Long Island at the “almost in-laws” place. They were in Africa whilst we stayed there but came home the same day we were leaving. This provided the perfect handover between them and us for ‘custody of the Coops’, aka looking after Cooper, our dog, whilst we were away.
The alarm went off at 3:45am. We’d packed the night before, so we just needed to put our final toiletries in the bags, let Cooper out for a very early morning commune with nature, and then get in the car. We drove to Flushing, Queens, where we left the car at the family’s parking lot and took an Uber for the final leg to JFK. As we dropped off our bags at Delta, we prayed that we wouldn’t have the same sort of pre-cruise experience that we’d had last time.
Continue readingCelebrity Apex: Cruising at its best?
After spending 14 days mooching around parts of Europe on the Celebrity Constellation last year, it was inevitable that we’d want to book another trip. Our new cruise friends had told us how amazing the Celebrity Edge was – the new Edge-class ship from the company that had launched a few years prior.
So, when we visited the ‘Future Cruises’ area onboard, we knew we wanted to be on the latest and greatest ship on offer.
We booked ourselves an 11-night cruise that included an overnight stop in Aruba and immediately tried to convince our new friends to come with us. They declined as 11 nights was too long for them (American statutory vacation allowances being what they are), but we were looking forward to it. The cruise was on the Celebrity Beyond, another of the new Edge-class ships.
A few months after booking, our friends reached out to us. They had booked a 7-night Caribbean cruise on the Celebrity Apex, sister ship to Edge and Beyond. To sweeten the deal, the cruise would take place over January 25th, the shared birthday of the two ladies of our foursome. We immediately switched plans, securing ourselves a massive discount in the process.
Fast forward to January 2023, and we’re onboard the Celebrity Apex, Celebrity’s newest-of-the-new vessels, “designed to leave the future behind”.
So, how good is it really?
How not to serve your customers
Now, this is a story all about how
My life got flipped-turned upside down
And I’d like to take a minute
Just sit right there
I’ll tell you how Iberia’s the worst airline in the air
Cruising Day 14: Parting is a clusterfuck of epic proportions
The original draft title of this post was ‘Parting is such sweet sorrow’. When I was sat on the sunny deck of the Constellation eating free fries, sipping a free (well, prepaid) gin & tonic, and wistfully gazing forward a few days, I imagined myself writing about the sadness we had leaving the ship, the debarkation procedure and our prompt and timely journey home.
This … this isn’t that.
Continue readingCruising Day 13: Slovenia. Wow.
After the jaw-dropping beauty of Croatia, we were convinced that we’d seen the best that the continent of Europe had to offer. Then came Slovenia.
I’ll be honest; I was ready to scrap this excursion, or at least try to. It was yet another pre-7am start, and I was getting tired. We were now burning the candle at both ends to make up for the first few days where we’d felt like crap, and my stick of wax was starting to run thin (not a dick joke).
However, I’m glad I got on that bus and drove to Lake Bled because it was even more gorgeous than the scenery we’d been chewing on in Croatia.
Continue readingCruising Day 10: The Konavle Valley and Dubrovnik by Galleon
Holy shit, Croatia is beautiful.
I was smitten as soon as we arrived in port. This wasn’t a big ol’ industrial shipping port where we’d often berthed at our previous locations. Our ship nudged up against a modest-sized and modern-looking dock right next to some gorgeous mountains with a modern-looking bridge stretching off to another part of the country. The sun beamed into our cabin, people milled about below, and we were excited about our excursions!
That’s right, today was a day of multiple things, starting with wine.
Continue readingCruising Day 9: Taranto, Italy
I’d never heard of Taranto. Sorry, Taranto. It was a little town on the southern tip of Italy that I think is a new port for cruise ships and is trying to rapidly modernize. It was a bit of a strange experience.
Continue readingCruising Day 8: A well-needed Sea Day
We’d been to Southern France, Monaco, and the Tuscan countryside and seen everything there was to see in a whistle-stop tour of Rome. That was just in the last three days! We were feeling better by now but a bit exhausted from the previous days’ activities.
A Sea Day was needed, and a Sea Day was what we got. This promised to be no ordinary sea day, however, as we would be sailing past an active volcano! By the end of the day, we’d also be art collectors.
Continue readingCruising Day 7: Imperial Rome
Rome. Lots, and lots, and lots of pictures.
I’ve been fortunate to visit Italy on a couple of prior occasions and was excited to take AJ there; it was also on her ‘must-visit’ list. We’d just spent a wonderful, sunny, lazy afternoon in the Tuscan countryside eating and drinking delicious things, but today was all about taking in as much as we could.
My parents have been to Rome, and my dad absolutely loved it. The upshot, he said, was to see as much as possible because there’s nowhere else like it. So, that’s what we tried to do.
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An Englishman in Boston 