Today is our last day at sea. We disembark at 0830 tomorrow morning.
Last night the show was good but though the dancers and acrobats are excellent, their shows tend to be repetitive and they have not performed any of the well known musicals, which I believe the sister ships do.
At dinner each night we sat beside a family who had come to the USA via Israel and Canada. She is Jewish but she didn’t want to settle in Israel because of the tense atmosphere. She and her husband were students at Art school when we visited Russia in 1988, shortly after Gorbachov came to power. She told us that the students could then sell their paintings and sketches on the street - something that was not allowed prior to Gorbachov’s era. Two of their three daughters accompanied them. We have had some interesting conversations at dinner each evening.
The staff on board are very attentive. They must represent practically every nation of the world (100 I’m informed). Our waiter is from Indonesia and his assistant from Peru and our sommelier from Columbia. They work on a 9 month contract renewable at the discretion of Celebrity!
After breakfast, as I took my last tour of the ship, I found the gym - I should have found it earlier! It was well equipped. It was full - everyone trying to burn off the calories.!
Prior to lunch, I was directed to a theatre I didn’t know existed until now, to hear a talk on the History of Cruises. What other little gems have I missed? It was very interesting detailing how the liners struggled with the advent of air travel but have successfully reinvented themselves as pleasure ships in the last twenty years. This year Celebrity is launching a new 3D ship called the The Edge. Our lecturer advised that much of what to expect is under wraps but it will be the last word in cruising with an option to view the ship from outside aboard a ship climbing Magic Carpet platform!! It will accommodate 2,918 passengers with its largest suite measures 2,500 square feet.
With 2,886 passengers and 1,500 crew, our ship the Celebrity Silhouette has a gross tonnage of 122,400 and by the time we dock st Fort Lauderdale, it will have travelled 2,259.5 nautical miles at a cruising speed of 24 knots. Its overall length is 1,047 feet.
Our three ports of call were very interesting and we got a great flavour of the Caribbean. The autumn hurricanes did alter our itinerary - St Maarten was so badly affected and its recovery so slow that a visit there was replaced by a visit to St Thomas.
I’ve just heard on BBC News that temperatures are set to fall to -30C on the north east coast. Florida has had snow for the first time in 30 years! Turtles have been taken from the surrounding seas as their muscles are freezing.
What are we facing?
As the sun sets on the final evening
Tonight’s show was a three male vocalists named Uptown. They were excellent. Their origins in Haarlem., NYC, where the careers such as Stevie Wonder, the Supremes and Michael Jackson and more had been launched. They sung many of he latter singers’ hits and they got a standing ovation.
Til the next trip - good- bye dear reader
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