Evening of the 6th day

We always start here....

As I'm sure you can tell by now we start our evenings at the Martini Bar. We chatted with friends we met on the second day and then went to the show. Tonight the show was a magician / comedian named Chris Funk. He was pretty good! The magic was entertaining, he got the crowd involved, and he was funny. It was enjoyable and definitely a great option from the standard shows. If you see him on a Celebrity cruise he's definitely worth a visit. Though sit up close if you can. The magic will be more entertaining!

Chris Funk

As mentioned before he is a magician with some comedic relief throughout the show. He was on American's Got Talent, though I cannot remember which season. He definitely has a familiar look to him. We ran into him on the last night at the Martini Bar. I made sure to say hi to him and he was pretty gracious.

Well maybe I ordered a second martini...

I needed a drink to bring to the show!

After the show...

Dinner tonight was in Murano. We started with the cheese plate which I'm sorry but I forgot to photograph. I had the goat cheese soufflé and edward had the lobster bisque. Then I had the venison and edward had the veal (which looked much better than the veal I had last night in Tuscan. But I'll explain that later). We finished with a chocolate desert (Vohlrana chocolate cake) and espresso.

After dinner we went to World Class bar for a drink. I had a Zacapa Above the Clouds and Edward had an Oban 14. The World Class bar on this cruise seems to be getting a decent crowd, at least from what I've seen the past couple of nights.

After that we headed up to Sunset Bar to have drinks with some friends. What a beautiful night. A nice breeze. Very little humidity. Good drinks. And a beautiful sky. Plus some ever so slight rocking of the boat. It was a perfect perfect night.

Please check out all the delicious photos below!

Almost time to leave - Meet our bartenders!

Milton aka "Santa Clause"

We met Milton several cruises ago and he is beyond fantastic. He loves to yell "let is snow man" which is hysterical when you're in the Caribbean but he is more than that. His good hearted nature and his ability to remember every single person on the ship is what makes him an amazing crew member. Once you meet him you better keep visiting him because if he finds you at another bar when he is working he won't let you forget it!!!

Meet Rhory!

This is Rhory. Sometimes you need to force him to smile but that is not a bad thing. He is always working, but more importantly, he is always observing. He remembers your drink after day 1, but he will remember your name too and where you are from. He may be quiet, but he has an amazing sense of humor so if you see him on board be sure to mess with him a little bit. He is at Sunset Bar, Pool Bar, and Martini Bar...he never stops working! He is awesome!

Meet Suana

Shana was one of those guys who we only ran into at the Martini Bar. At the start of the cruise we didn't see him much but every time we saw him he some how knew our drink order, even our Pellegrino on the side. He ALWAYS smiled, more than anyone at the bar and really seemed to love his job. He knew us both by name on the first day and always made a point to make sure we were taken care of. Be sure to say hi to him, you won't be disappointed.

Last sea day! :(

Pool Time!

Officer and guest pool volleyball is always on the last sea day and as much as we love it, it always reminds us we are nearing the end of the cruise. We cruise multiple times a year, so as depressing as it may be we just need to remind ourselves we will be back on board in a couple of months.

Lots of people by the pool!

You really couldn't ask for a better "last" sea day. The weather was warm and everyone on the ship was trying to soak up as much sun and liquor, as possible.

Evening Chic Night!

This was our last evening chic night of the cruise. I always like evening chic and personally I like the fact they've gone this route versus formal as it allows me to have a little more flair with what I wear.

Evening Chic Night, Night 7

Starting at the Martini Bar

Before our dinner we were at the Martini Bar. Passing by the bar was bar manager Irena. We first met her 4 years ago when she was a bartender at the Molecular Bar on the Reflection. We got to know her well then. She was awesome. A couple years later we ran into her and found out she was a bar manager. She remembered us. Then on this cruise we finally had some time to chat. Tonight while sitting at the Martini Bar she came over with two drinks. The drink pictured below is "The Lucky Cat." This drink used to be on the menu at Molecular and was the drink Edward and I ordered everyday 4 years ago when Irena was bartending. I was amazed she remembered. She was so excited to give us the drinks. Furthermore I found out that the other night she also made these drinks for us but we had already left the bar.

1) This is exactly the reason why we cruise Celebrity. While some may complain about cuts here and there it is actions like this which continue to amaze me and will always keep me coming back.

2) Some day you'll see Irena as head of F&B on a ship and probably for all of Celebrity. Her professionalism, customer service, and extreme attention to detail is outstanding.

Silk Harvest

Tonight we ate dinner at Silk Harvest. We very much enjoyed it. Excellent food and service. If you love Asian food you'll love Silk Harvest. Well executed and you can adjust the spice on many of the dishes. Fantastic. Here is what we had below in photos. We really enjoyed Silk Harvest. This was our first time. I highly recommend it if you enjoy Asian food / Thai food.

Recap of the night

Then after dinner....

Last night the bars were pretty busy. Everyone was in a great mood. The Martini Bartenders were doing their thing! A total of a 44 Martini flight. And yes I have it on video! But of course ship wifi may prevent the loading of it so you can expect it hopefully tomorrow while we are waiting for our flight or Tuesday morning. (Please note this was uploaded LIVE. Please see end of the blog for a complete list of videos and additional photos).

The Martini Bartenders on this ship are plentiful! Here is the list.

Rhory, Suana, Jonie, Agus Andi, Novi

So that is a total of 5. And you know what. They are all awesome. Usually there are a couple very good. All are amazing on this cruise and they work so well together.

Yesterday we met some great people at the Martini Bar who started their own bar crawl at 11am. Not a bad idea for a sea day. Check out their list in the photo set below. You can see they numbered them as they went along.

The Last Day... :(

Ah the last day. How depressing! We had a quick lunch at the Mast Grill and then some coffee at Bacio. Then a farewell drink at Sunset but we very possibly might be back there tonight after dinner.

Sunset Bar: This bar became our go to in the morning since we had so many port days. The views from Sunset are gorgeous, especially when in port.

The Bartenders and servers there are great. First there is Milton, who goes by Santa. He will wear a Santa hat in the evenings and sometimes mornings too. He loves to say "Let it snow! Joy to the world! Come let us adore him!" The looks on people's faces who don't know him are priceless. This is our third cruise with him. If you don't know him, make a point to get there early when the bar is empty and chat with him. He's great to talk to.

Then there is Rhory. Rhory also works in the Martini bar. He can seem a bit shy but he's one of those guys that observes every single thing around him. He will know your drink and card number from day 1. He's always working, extremely attentive, and enjoys talking once he gets to know you.

Bailey. Bailey is such a nice guy. He is also very quiet until you start talking to him. He's been working on ships for years and for Celebrity I believe for 11 years? Guess what...this is his last contract! He's done after this. He is opening up a bed and breakfast and is taking over a restaurant his aunt is leaving him. We talked to him today about his plans and he is so excited to get going. If you're looking for a B&B in Jamaica for next year talk to him. He had some pretty cool plans regarding private tours and partnering with other small hotels around Jamaica.

Nestor. Nestor is another very quiet guy but such a nice guy. He knows his cigars well and is one of those people that is such a genuinely nice guy. The other Bartenders give him a hard time but it is all out of fun. Nestor typically works in the afternoon or later at night. He works hard. Makes a point to always check on you at the bar no matter how busy he is.

Lastly there is Jorge (from Jamaica). We didn't get to know him too well since we didn't see him much. But this didn't stop him from knowing our drinks after one visit. When we were smoking cigars sitting on the side he'd check on people. If you even flinched he'd come over to see if you needed anything and he was quick.

So when you get on board remember all these characteristics of these guys. Get to know them.

Zanu- Zanu is from Jamaica and works at the bar in Ocean View outside. It's mostly a service bar but it has s handful of stools. We've known Zanu from 2 TA cruises and our Reflection cruise in February. He's a great bartender, has an awesome memory, and is very service oriented. We'd see him working bar service in the theater and around the ship and no matter where we'd see him, even if he was in the middle of something else, he'd ask us if there was anything we needed or that he could do for us. So his bar might be a bit lonely but stop by and say hi from Paul and Edward. He also makes awesome frozen drinks (really takes his time) and puts them in nicer glasses than pool bar, etc.

OK. That is my update there. I will have plenty more.

QUESTION for all of you! So we have a late flight tomorrow, 6:45pm. Apparently when we booked it we were being cheap and wanted to save $100 each. So we booked the hop on and hop off bus so they can store our luggage (our flight is too late for luggage valet on Southwest).

So our plan is to find a place for brunch / lunch. It's Labor Day so there should be plenty of options.

Let us know if you have any recommendations that might be near the hop on / hop off route. I'm looking for a nice place where I can park myself for a while. Get drinks, eat and ideally plug in my phone so I can upload photos and video for you all. I'm open to hotels, etc. even if it's overpriced at this point I'm picking convenience over anything else, I learned my lesson!

Tonight we hit Martini Bar after packing, which was around 6pm. At 6pm the faces around the bar seemed depressed! But by 7:30 they were picking up as the liquor kicked in haha.

We had dinner at Murano tonight. Two nights ago we were asked if anything special off menu could be prepared for us. We chose the Steak Dianne and it was incredible. Truly amazing and such a wonderful way to end the cruise. Marko from Serbia prepared it for us and it was a joy to watch. Here are some pictures below.

Embarkation

Cheers everyone. Debarkation was today. We booked the hop on hop off tour which includes transfer to FLL. We had to meet in Celebrity Central at 7:45am. It was very organized. By 8am we were walking off the ship.

The port made some mistakes with the luggage numbers as to which carousel they should be on. Some guy mixed up so we had one elusive piece of luggage to track down. But once we had our luggage the customs line was a breeze.

The hop on and hop off tour has been very well organized so far. We're enjoying clear skies in Miami. We toured around Miami city and Miami Beach. We then went back to Miami beach. We hit the Ritz Carlton for lunch and are now at the Loews for a drink. Soon we will either hop back on the bus or just take an Uber to our meeting place for the transfer.