New Year's Cruise, 2024

Three ladies I met at last new year's cruise and I decided to go on another new year's cruise to celebrate 2024. The cruise was on the Celebrity Apex, the same ship I took for the British Isles cruise in September. I drove down from Maryland on December 16, and stayed with my friend Debi (my old running buddy in Italy) who now lives in Hollywood, FL, before the cruise. The cruise departed from Ft Lauderdale on December 30, with port calls at San Juan, Puerto Rico, Tortola, British Virgin Islands, and Basseterre, St. Kitts and Nevis. Here are some highlights.

There were lots of cakes decorated to commemorate the new year, in the Oceanview Cafe onboard the Celebrity Apex

The Apex Theatre: the shows were very good. I also enjoyed the series of talks by award winning author Cathy Ace on mystery/crime fiction, covering the history of the genre and the different characters/plots in books, films and tv series. She was a very good presenter, knowledgeable and entertaining and funny, always reminding the audience that she's Welsh although she now lives in Canada. I just downloaded the first book in her series, the WISE Enquiries Agency Mysteries, to read on my next cruise. The other speaker was a marine biology professor, compared to Cathy, his talks were rather dry but informative. I particularly liked his presentation about the marine life we were likely to encounter while snorkeling in the Caribbean. The theatre when empty, looks like a salt water aquarium, very impressive. Below that, the Tree of Life show by the onboard entertainers (great singers and dancers).

Food onboard the ship was good, not great. Of course we ate too much, the grilled shrimp for at the lunch buffet were memorable as were the escargot as appetizers for dinner. We ate at all four dining rooms, each with different specialities. The best meal we had was the specialty dinner Le Petit Chef, a most unusual dining experience. The dinner was a fixed menu, along with an animated show on our dinner plates and table (from small overhead projectors) which featured a little chef with a French accent, telling stories and singing at the table just before each course. Very interesting, and the food was beautifully presented.

Here are the dishes, 2 starters, an entree and a dessert; and the grand finale, fireworks exploding on our plates!

Shore excursions, New Year's cruise, 2024

San Juan, Puerto Rico, Jan 1, 2024. Our ship arrived late due to a detour because of an emergency that required a medical evacuation of a passenger. We did not have pre-paid excursions. Instead two of us disembarked and just walked around the town.

Tortola, British Virgin Islands, Jan 2, 2024, Bus tour plus a few hours on the beach

Basseterre, St. Kitts and Nevis, Jan 3, 2024. Kayaking and snorkeling, awesome experience. Wish I had an underwater camera to take photos of the fish and coral I saw -- will have to get one before my next snorkeling excursion. The outfitter passed around rum punch for us to imbibe before the minivan took us back to the port.

After the minivan dropped us at the port, there was time to walk around town and window shop. I bought some chicken wings from a street vendor and ate them on a bench next to the street. Also bought a johnny cake, filled with salted fish and salad, at one of the local dives. Have heard about johnny cakes but had never tried it. It was good, especially with a glass of rum punch. I was already full from the chicken wings, regretfully could not finish it.

Then, it was back onboard for the rest of the cruise.