November 19, 2008
Celebrity Cruises brings the BEAUTIFUL new Solstice to Florida to begin Caribbean Cruising. They have generously opened the ship to many travel professionals for inspections as well as 2 night pre-inaugural cruises. Penney and I were invited to sail from Nov 19-21, 2008.
What an AMAZING VESSEL! This is no ordinary cruise ship, it is a destination of its own. As we walked around and took everything in, Penney snapped tons of photos, but I must tell you they just do not do justice. You have to see to believe.
This evening we had a cocktail party in the Sky Observation Lounge. Dondra Ritzenthaler welcomed us and introduced her staff, including Cris DeSouza and Bo (silly Penney didn't get her last name). Also at the party were Mary Clegg and Lisa Wilson from NACTA.
Penney had dinner in the main dining room with the above, but she didn't invite me... she said that I needed some rest, but truth be told, she loves Celebrity's cuisine so much she wasn't about to share.
She did invite me to accompany them to the Cellar Masters which is a very unique wine bar, where you can taste several different types of wines.
The show was fantastic and everyone is having terrific time. Tomorrow is another full day so I will sign off for now.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
This morning I woke up early to see the sunrise, hear the waves crashing and feel the warm wind blowing. What a gorgeous day!
There is so much to do and see today... after dragging Penney out of bed, we went for breakfast and to the Building Bridges Session with Dan Hanrahan, President and CEO of Azamara Cruises and Celebrity Cruises, and Dondra Ritzenthaler, Sr Vice Pres of Sales Azamara Cruises and Celebrity Cruises. They shared information on their marketing campaign, the latest company updates and did a Q&A.
Next we were onto visit some staterooms.
The first was a Sky Suite
Then was an oceanview veranda
But the Penthouse is the best...
Then onto the bedroom... with another 52" tv
And look at the walk in closet...
You won't believe the bathroom... it is larger than most inside cabins on other ships!
With another jacuzzi tub... 
And look at this shower, hmmm I wonder how many people could fit in this?
We then walked around the rest of the ship enjoying some gelato along the way. Here are several pictures of this beautiful ship by a friend of Penney's, Jane Vickery.
Then off to a meeting on Celebrity CruiseTours. They have so many different itineraries and destinations. I think I need to talk Penney into one of those for our next adventure. Maybe Australia or South America.
At this meeting they raffled off invitations to the Blu specialty restaurant for tonight... no Penney nor I won but Penney's friend Jan Shaughnessy did and invited us to join her. Yep, even I get to go :)
This afternoon while Penney visited with other agents, I took some time to enjoy sitting on the veranda and write my blog.
Well enough work for the day... we are off to dinner.
Friday, November 21, 2008 1:21am
Yes, i said 1:21am! We met Jan for dinner at Blu, we sat with some new friends, Jim and Nancy. Dinner was really good, although as normal i didn't get much :) Penney seemed to enjoy herself. Below are some pictures of the restaurant and even some of the FOUR courses they tried.
Lucille Carter was at the table next to us... always having a good time.
After dinner we wandered through the spectacular shops onboard, marveled at the Solstice Diamond, which is a diamond only available on this ship. It is cut so there is a perfect 5 point star exactly in the center. Needless to say, Penney did not purchase one of these for me.
The show was quite good, it swas called Pulse and was kind of a throw back to the 70's and 80's with the wild outfits and fun music. At any moment I was expecting to see the Brady Bunch Kids run onto the stage.
There was music playing all over the ship, people dancing and enjoying themselves. Penney, Jan and I headed to the martini bar and found a nice place to sit and talk for awhile, well they talked, and I had myself a yummy chocolate martini. Also, Penney did limit me to just one.
So now you know why I am writing this at 1:20am! Tomorrow we have to disembark and head home, so I guess I need to call it a night.
Well here we are at the Fort Lauderdale airport, our flight is at 10:55am, but the disembarkation process, the bus transportation, and even the airline check in and security went so smoothly that we are 3 hours early for our flight.
I am going to do some people watching, my favorite sport, catch up on emails and publish this blog. I hope you have enjoyed traveling with us on the Solstice and will follow us on our next adventure... which i think is LasVegas... but between now and then we have Thanksgiving with 'the family' which can always be an adventure too... so stay tuned!
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