Two months today Kelly and I will be in Miami on the Celebrity Silhouette sitting up at the Sunset Bar (aka ‘The Grassy Knoll’) waiting to set sail. Excited? You bet … we were on the Silhouette for the first time almost a year ago and we are looking forward to going back. We had a great time and met great people. The weather throughout was pretty good … two minutes of rain on our second sea day … and the meals, as usual, were excellent. Apart from three mornings in the buffet dining room we ordered room service most days and had our breakfast out on our balcony. No extra charge and it’s very relaxing. The dinner service in the main dining room (Sonata) was pretty good – but on the first day on board we signed up for 5 specialty restaurant meals – four dinners (2 Murano, 1 Tuscan, 1 Petit Chef) and one lunch (Murano). Murano’s as always was outstanding, Tuscan fairly good, and the Petit Chef – well, that was a new specialty dinner that Celebrity was trying out, and it was brilliant. There was a fair mix of nationalities on board so I got to practice my Norwegian, Danish, Swedish, and French with some of the other guests and Indonesian and Spanish with some of the crew. Bar service is usually pretty good on Celebrity, but I find I get even better service when I order my blue martinis in Indonesian 
St. Croix was our first stop – Kelly had never been there, although I had 30 years before while I was still in the navy. There was still some damage from Hurricane Maria in 2017, but the locals had done a fairly good job of fixing it up – about two thirds of the stores in Frederiksted were open. We walked around for about an hour and then spent the rest of the day at a nice little beach about 10 minutes walk from the pier. We took a bag of beer with us, rented a chair and umbrella for $10 U.S. and relaxed. Our next stop was at St. Maarten – one of our favorite islands in the Caribbean. There was still a lot of damage from Maria, but a lot of reconstruction had happened since we had last been there in December 2017. We strolled down the boardwalk from the cruise terminal into Phillipsburg, stopped at ‘The Blue Bitch’ bar for a couple of drinks, saw our friends at our favorite jewelry store (DK Gems International – we get Christmas cards every year, and free drinks when we stop in) and just wandered around. We used to go to Orient Beach but it was pretty devastated after the hurricane and only 1 bar had reopened. Our next two stops were St. Lucia and Barbados – we have been there so often Kelly and I usually treat them as sea days – we stay on board, relax, and have the ship, the bars, and the pools to ourselves. Our next two stops were Grenada and Domenica – two of our favorite islands, the people are so friendly and welcoming, the scenery so beautiful. We went river tubing on both islands – lots of laughs, white water, and near spills … went with new Danish and Swedish friends – a 4 hour excursion on Grenada (an hour and a half drive each way, one hour on the water); about five hours on Domenica (an hour and a half each way, two hours on the water).
St. Kitts was our last stop – went with our Norwegian friends to Cockleshell Beach – thirty-minute drive by taxi (about $4 per person each way), $10 for an umbrella, chair and beer at Loxs-een’s Beach Hut – or about $25 at the other bars, you pick. Had a great time … took the same taxi back (he waited for us after dropping us off) and found out that I had lost my camera … it could have been at the lookoff, it might still have been in the taxi … And I had just taken a bunch of great pictures at the beach of Kelly and myself with our Norwegian friends 
So we went back to the taxi dispatcher, but he told us that our driver was on the other end of the island … crap … and the ship was sailing in an hours’ time … more crap And then the power went out all over the shopping area …. Even more crap … But as we walked back to the ship, Mr. Kelly (the dispatcher) came running up the street towards us … with the camera !!! He had radioed the taxi driver, who went back to the look off … found the camera … and brought it back in time !! I mean you can’t beat that for service!! (And yes, I gave them both a big tip) So, when we go back in December, and St. Kitt’s is our last port on that trip … and we are with our friends from the U.S. (met them 7 years ago … this will be our fifth time cruising with them) … we’ll be going back to Cockleshell … with the same taxi service … and hopefully the same driver !! So, if you go to St. Kitt’s … be sure to go to Cockleshell Beach … it’s beautiful, the water is warm … and you can see Nevis across the channel.
It truly was an amazing trip … all our cruises on Celebrity have been fantastic … so, 60 more sleeps until the next one!!