Final Words About Our Cruise

I've been putting off writing this post for who knows how long.

I'm not really sure why... I think mostly time restraints due to the fact that in the past week and half we packed and cleaned our whole apartment, started our cross country trek to Denver, then to Des Moines, then to Michigan (where we are right now, before we head to Rochester in a week). So now here we are, on a short vacation in a beach house on Lake Michigan with Chin's fam, and we just figured out the wireless password. 

I sat down to do my daily social media rounds, and figured that now, while I have a rare second alone, I might as well finish this blog post that's been sitting as a draft for two weeks.

I also think I've been putting it off simply because facing the fact that we've been home from Europe for almost a month is killing me, and every part of me doesn't want to admit that we won't be going back there for a long time. 

But here we go... A few last words about our trip and our cruise itself.

I'm all for adventure. I mean honestly, I've never been a huge daredevil, but I don't mind getting my hands dirty and I'd like to think that I have a fun bucket list (mostly filled with food and traveling). 

I want to take one small suitcase to Europe someday and take the train to all sorts of places. 

But let me also say another thing: Traveling through the Mediterranean via a cruise ship is the way to go. No offense, but screw looking like a tourist. I felt like we got to see so many things, and never really felt rushed for time. Spending three days in Rome before the cruise was perfect, because we got to see all the major things that we wanted to.

Then, we got to get on the nicest cruise ship I had EVER been on (and I've been on 9 cruises now so I feel like that is a big feat), and sailed around the most beautiful place on earth. We got to sleep in our same bed every night, with all our things unpacked for 10 days. We got to eat amazing food every night with our same waiters, and we spent every evening before dinner at the pool or spa, relaxing on heated tile beds or taking naps in the relaxation room.

I mean if that's not the way to travel through Europe then I don't know what is.

So a few details from our cruise:

This was my first time cruising on the Celebrity cruise line, a luxury line owned by Royal Caribbean. If you're planning on cruising any time soon, and aren't cruising with children, I highly recommend Celebrity. It's a much more adult-centered line that caters to people who honestly want to be pampered and feel like they're cruising in style (because who doesn't want that?). 

I think the best part about the cruise itself was our free upgrade that Celebrity gave us for booking so early.

We were upgraded to the AquaClass, a type of package designed for people who wanted to spend time in the spa and lead a healthier cruise "lifestyle."

What this really means is that we were upgraded to a room with a king size bed, balcony, bigger TV, couch, fresh fruit in our room everyday, fluffy robes, and an upgraded complimentary room service menu.

What this also meant was that we had exclusive access to the relaxation room (a room filled with cushy beds overlooking the ocean), and the Persian Garden (a tile room filled with heated, ergonomic tile beds facing the ocean, with a sauna and steam room on both sides... plus a shower engineered to feel like a tropical rain forest shower!)

We also got upgraded to eat at the restaurant Blu, a "clean eating" specialty restaurant with an upgraded, more gourmet and healthy menu than the main dining room on the ship.

So besides the quality of the ship -- which was the best I had ever experienced -- our free upgrade made the experience incredible, and I felt like I was being incredibly spoiled the whole time (because let's face it, I was).

I don't mean to brag, although I'm sure that's not what it seems like. The point I'm trying to get across is that our trip was the vacation of a lifetime, and we highly recommend cruising with Celebrity next time you cruise.

A few highlights from onboard:

 

Chin and me at the first formal night on the ship

 

The Relaxation Room, where we read books and drank a lot of orange-infused water

Our harbor in Rome that our ship left out of

One of the coolest features of our ship was that it had a real-life lawn at the top (not sod or synthetic turf, but actual grass!). We played a lot of boccie!

 

A couple shots of Blu, the specialty restaurant where we ate every night. I'm not sure if I've ever had such great food! 

Butts up boccie.

Some formal night shots of the fam

Thanks for letting me share so many pictures and memories on this blog of our trip. I still can't believe how fast it came and went, and I'm so grateful we had the opportunity to go!