Anchors Away

The Celebrity Century (our home for the next two weeks)







We checked the Celebrity website first thing today, and it indicated that the cruise was definitely a “go” for us, but that we’d have a couple of hours delay because of those rudder problems they had on the previous leg of their trip. So, with sailing in mind, we taxied out to the port where we waited for our ship, the “Celebrity Century“, with the rest of the passengers. After about 3 hrs. in the terminal, we finally boarded the newly-repaired ship by 6:00 p.m. All the crew seemed in good spirits, and everyone has been quick to assure us that the ship was fully repaired.

The ship finally left the port of Barcelona at midnight. We hit some choppy water overnight -- the ship was rockin’ and a rollin’, but it really didn’t bother us. Today we have a sea day, so we are taking it easy seeing a movie in the theater, and hitting the fitness center. For those of you who have cruised before, you know that food can be a major problem. Food is so plentiful and deliciously presented aboard these ships, that one can easily and forgivably overdo the eating. The perpetual dieters (like us) are continually “sandwiched” between a medley of great tasting foods and maintaining enough activity to keep the calories from sticking. We are thankful for that fitness center, and the long promenades where we can walk the perimeter of this ship, and keep the body weight somewhat in check.



Frank in the onboard fitness center


When we were waiting to depart from Barcelona, we watched the crew loading pallet after pallet of supplies (mostly beer and other booze) on to the ship. What an operation that is! The port forklifts carry the pallets to the edge of the gangway, and then the onboard ship’s smaller forklifts pick them up and pull them into the ship‘s hull. Obviously, one guy’s territory ends where another’s begins.

We have an ocean view stateroom on level 5 this time which we are really enjoying. The views of the Spanish coast under a full moon were spectacular. However, although we will reserve judgment until the end of the cruise, we are thinking that we much preferred Holland American, the cruise line we had taken last year.