At Sea

Wednesday was our first day at sea, making the trip from Key West to Grand Cayman.  It was lovely heading south, it just kept getting warmer and sunnier.  I wasn't sure what we would do on a day at sea, but it turns out it was silly of me to worry, Celebrity makes sure you never run out of things to do!

The highlights are things we were interested in doing.  We went for breakfast in the buffet, where amazingly enough I didn't take any pictures.  I did consume something called breakfast pizza which featured scrambled eggs, bacon and cheddar cheese as toppings.  Yum.

We got to Wake up you Brain trivia next, in the swanky martini bar.  The questions were surprisingly difficult, and while we did fare well, we didn't win a pen.

From there we headed off for the Galley Tour entitled "Heartbeat of the Operation".  It was the largest group of people they'd ever had turn up for this, so I must not have been the only foodie on trip. Our sub group was led around by the executive chef himself, Claudio. 

Fun Facts learned on the Galley Tour:  

• There are 120 people who work in the kitchen staff. 
• The pastry station operates 24 hours a day to keep the sweets, bread and ice cream flowing. 
• The kitchen staff all wear different coloured neckerchiefs which indicate their skill and experience.  The colours seemed to match martial arts belts.  Someone with a yellow neckerchief may only be allowed to clean the kicthen.  
• The ship re-stocks every 9 days.  
• The only prepared items brought on the ship are french fries and ketchup.  Everything else is made on board (and let me tell you the salad dressings and ice creams sauces are to die for).  
• The ship is reviewed by US Public Health every 6 months.  
• The galley is actually two mirror galleys that each supply food for one side of the ship.  
• There are elevators in the galley.  
• There are lots of people on staff dedicated to one task - dough man, ice cream man, potato man...

It was a lot of fun to get to see where are the delightful food was coming from and to get to thank the staff in person for all their hard work keeping us so well fed!

 

We went back to the room and got so relaxed on the deck looking out at scenes like this that we didn't get to any of the other trivia events that day.

 

I did tragically drop a knitting needle down here.   Thankfully, I was able to replace it with a cuticle pusher I found in the nail care kit in the room!  I  highly recommend this if you ever need a replacement size 3 US double pointed needle.  I even used the emery board to smooth it out :) 

 

We had committed to getting some exercise every day on the trip, so we went to the fitness centre around 4:30.  It was great!  There was a towel service, and cold towels in a fridge, lots of machines and I think one of the best views on the whole ship.  I will be closing my eyes on the elliptical here in Ottawa having fond memories of the cruise ship gym! 

We had been watching the in ship TV channel and wanted to go meet the port and shopping guide (Lisa), and then maybe hit the comedy show for the evening.  We had so much fun talking to Lisa we never got to the show!  Lisa is from Vancouver, and her job on the ship is to help you shop in the ports (she found the job on craigslist - which is probably the best craiglist story ever).  She gave us guides and maps and coupons for our day in Grand Cayman.

Then we headed off for our first dinner in the main dining room!