Made it to Europe!!!

The crossing was intense - but we had a lot of fun. This cruise began with a solid seven days at sea crossing the Atlantic Ocean. The cruise is completely sold out and full of expert cruisers (half of our passengers are Captain’s Club members at Celebrity). Because the buffet is so busy, the Hotel Department decided that no crew should visit the buffet for breakfast or lunch. It’s just very busy up there, and we shouldn’t get in the way of our guests. That was just for the seven days at sea, though. Once we reached the Azores we were allowed back upstairs again. Woo-hoo!! And boy was it good to get out of the staff mess!! First of all, the food just isn’t as good (or varied) there. Secondly - and most obnoxiously - the hours of the mess are so sparse. It’s open 6:30-8:30am for breakfast, 11:30am-1:30pm for lunch, and 6:00-8:30pm for dinner. That means that when the mess is closed and we’re not allowed upstairs, there is literally NO food available to us (unless we go buy chips or something from Staff Bar). It stinks. Somehow, we made it through! Mostly thanks to my supply of granola bars - ha.

We also found out our second day at sea, unfortunately, that the ship was low on espresso beans!! Apparently, they received an extremely large shipment of supplies in Miami for the crossing. In the craziness of preparing to leave, we did not receive ample amounts of two things: espresso beans and cream cheese. The cream cheese didn’t really affect us.. But because they were running lower on espresso beans than usual, they insisted that all crew not attend the Cova Caffe (our onboard coffeehouse) so as to leave plenty of espresso for the guests. This reeeeeally stunk. A of all) because I love their coffee. B of all) because the coffee everywhere else STINKS. There - I said it. Ha.. Even in the buffet areas and crew mess.. it’s just bad coffee. Sorry Mom and Dad.. get ready to visit Cova for your trip because it’s the only good coffee on board. They did ship the supplies they were supposed to receive in Miami to Ponta Delgada (our first port), though, so once we hit the Azores we were allowed to return to the Cova Caffe.

The seven days at sea got pretty boring pretty fast...... I watched a lot of TV. And that’s pretty much it. Our first day at sea we performed Dance Around The World. That was fun! And the show went VERY well, so that was exciting. We had Day #2 off. Day #3 we performed Groove (interactive 60‘s theme party for guests) at 10:15pm. That takes about 15 minutes. Day #4 and Day #5 we had a Captain’s Club Celebration at 12:15pm (a simple swing medley we took that takes about 10 minutes). Day #6 we had off. Day #7 we finally had a show again! So we had a tech run and then two performances of Liverpool Knights that evening.. And FINALLY on Day #8 we hit land!! Phewwww. So as you can see, we didn’t really have much going on for those 7 days. They did, however, work to keep us crew entertained. They threw us a Wine & Cheese Night on our third night and Crew Bingo took place later on during the crossing. So they did try and keep us entertained.

We also took some initiative to spice things up a bit. We had two outstanding dining experiences during those seven days. On our third sea day we made a reservation for Murano - the specialty dining restaurant on board. The meal is $35 for two appetizers, a soup or salad, an entree, and dessert. Sounds straight-forward, right? The meal was AMAZING!! Some of the richest and most amazing food I’ve had yet. I started with some fancy scallop dish.. The Wellington Scallop maybe? I forget. But it was amazing. Second, the infamous Goat Cheese Souffle. This thing was SO rich. So good. For my soup: lobster bisque. Entree: for anyone who knows me, I went for the surf and turf. A perfectly cooked filet mignon with a lobster tail. Served with mashed potatoes and veggies. Then I finished off with the Dark Chocolate Souffle for dessert and a cafe americano. The dinner was amazing! I really can’t believe I ate it all.. It was so much food. But soooo worth it!! We went to celebrate two birthdays in our cast that happened when we were too busy to go out. I can’t wait for an excuse to go again!! We also made a reservation for the Grand Restaurant (the main dining room for all guests every evening) a few nights later. I again paired seafood with steak and was so insanely happy. The Apple Pie a la mode for dessert definitely made me miss home though.. It was good! But not as good as the homemade kind. Here, we just had to pay $5 for tip. Both meals were outstanding!! And helped break up the monotony of staff mess and lido dinner.

Unfortunately, I did wake up on the third day with a sore throat - swollen tonsils. Fortunately, I was on it. I went directly to the Medical.. They gave me some prescription-strength Ibuprofen for the swelling and an antibiotic for the infection. While my throat still felt a bit sore for the majority of the cruise so far (being stuck on the ship I’m sure didn’t help at all), I never did get sick-sick. And all performances went perfectly fine without any issues. Phew!! A sickness bug has been going around the crew, though, so I’m glad I caught myself early and fended off anything potentially worse.

May 28th was an AMAZING day for so many reasons. 1) We landed in Ponta Delgada on the island of Sao Miguel in the Azores. Finally!! Land. 2) We were able to get off this darn ship. 3) The espresso beans were delivered so Cova Caffe was reopened for the crew (yes - it’s that good.) 4) We were again allowed upstairs to the buffet Lido at all hours. Glorious!!!

For our day in the Azores, they offered a Crew Tour Excursion for the low-low price of $10 to see several highlights of the island. A large group from my cast (and a bunch of other crew members as well) signed up for the tour. So, upon arrival, we were ushered off the ship and onto a very nice charter bus that would be taking us around for the day. First we visited the Terra Nostra Botanical Gardens of Ponta Delgada. The gardens were beautiful!! Originally, the garden was private - owned and built by a private family. Now, the area is public and property of the town to enjoy. You just walk around like it’s the neighborhood park. Stunning. The entire development was definitely man-made, but it was all so old that it looked extremely weathered and almost wild. Paths, caves and structures were all built by hand out of lava rock from the nearby volcanos. Walls stood with benches carved into them. And the fauna was stunning! I couldn’t get over the flowers all over the island. Flowers you only see in flower shops in Atlanta and New York grew wild on the side of the road - literally in the gutter! Gorgeous lilies, hydrangeas, roses, etc. It was beautiful. Here’s a few (hindsight, ok.. a lot of) pictures from our time in the gardens.

After that, we loaded back up in the bus and visited the Pineapple Plantation “A. Arruda” where they grow pineapples in glass greenhouses - a method unique to the island of Sao Miguel. Because of the growing method and the rich soils, the pineapples of the Azores are said to be the sweetest and tartest in the world. They were amazing. We got to wander around the greenhouses and then sample the liquor they make from the pineapples. It was amazingly sweet - and super strong. It was amazing to me how non-touristy the Azores is. I especially noticed it here. Nobody every tried to push anything on you. You just live your life and wander, and everyone does the same. It was a really relaxing day in its entirety. I never felt like I was turning down pushy salesmen all day. It was really nice. The plantation (of course) had a shop with some really cool pineapple kitchen crafts and the like. They had some really cool stuff. Unfortunately (and fortunately....) I didn’t have any Euros (forgot about that whole “not in America anymore” thing), so I wasn’t able to buy any souvenirs. Here’s some of the baby pineapples and stuff.

Next, we took a scenic ride out of the village of Ponta Delgada and up to the top of the mountain. From “King’s View” we were supposed to be able to look down into the giant Crater Lakes of Sao Miguel - formed from volcano craters. Unfortunately, the mountain was covered in clouds that day (and so were we), so we couldn’t see down into anything except more clouds. There was this craftswoman up there that had these AMAZING doll things she had handmade from corn husks. They were beautiful and so delicate (and so cheep). This was where I had my second “we’re not in American anymore” moment. I tried starting a conversation with her about how she makes them. She just stared at me.. Then pulled some corn out of her bag and showed it to me. Didn’t speak a lick of English. I felt so stupid for just assuming.. ha! But she was really nice and tried to talk to me - yet didn’t try to sell me a thing! I really liked the attitude of the people here. It was kinda cool up there though!! And we still got some good pictures and a great time.

Afterwards we took the bus back down the mountain and headed to the ship. We sailed away at 2pm, so we didn’t have time to walk around the heart of town, unfortunately. But we had a great time. And the architecture was beautiful - especially all the churches.

Overall, the city was amazing. It was so nice to get off the ship. It was also nice to get off and just do a tour. We didn’t have to worry about what we wanted to do and how to get it done. We just followed the (very informative) tour guide! It was a blast.

Today’s another sea day (because Lord knows we missed them!) on our way to Lisbon, Portugal. Tomorrow morning, I’ll wake up in continental Europe - my home until October 28th when we leave for Miami. I can’t wait to get there!! I’m already having such a great time, and the fun is just beginning. This is definitely going to be a life-changing experience. I’m so lucky to have this opportunity and wouldn’t change it for a thing.

Thanks for reading!! You’re quite dedicated for sure.