Anniversary at Sea

Our last day at sea and the last day of our cruise coincided with out anniversary, but we were disappointed Celebrity did not recognize it except for sending us a photo gallery offer. Typically you get a card and sometimes a cheap bottle of sparkling wine. We learned later in the day that another couple did get their anniversary recognized so we contacted Guest Services who parroted their normal "we sincerely apologize" message. We assumed the issue was with our stateroom attendant, who we had not seen all week and who had trouble providing us excursion towels as well.

The cruise was running a special offer on ship excursions so Janie booked the galley to table tour. This was a major disappointment. The lead did not seem to know what she was doing and when we arrived in the storage areas, the staff there did not seem to know they were supposed to be speaking to us. The main person was unable to answer basic questions. When we got back upstairs, we were told there was a spill in the kitchen and our tour would be delayed, causing half the people to leave in search of a refund. We hung around since we had nowhere else to be and were treated to a great tour of the kitchen as well as a seated lunch.

Mixology

We had a wonderful Mixology class in the World Class Bar with Illya from Macedonia. Instead of the usual cocktails, we were given the opportunity to craft three holiday concoctions, which were very good. Illya was a fantastic bartender. We had come to the bar a few nights ago as he was working on his cocktails he was planning to submit to the World Class competition and he shared them with us to ask us for our opinion.

Eden

Our anniversary dinner was in Eden, which was a letdown. We were seated near the show kitchen, which was great, but our waiter was very perfunctory. He didn't explain the menu or offer any suggestions and was slow to provide drink refills. He also gave J. R. a kids menu instead of a dessert menu, and seemed put out when J. R. complained and we were served dessert by another waiter. Janie ordered dessert and then they brought out a cake for our anniversary. While it was nice that they recognized it, we didn't really want it after ordering our own desssert.

Martinis

We capped off our cruise back at the martini bar for another show. We learned Putu had finished second in a Bacardi competition and J. R. found the article with his photo and showed it to him and he went around showing it to hsi fellow bartenders. As we were ready to turn in, Putu made some special drinks for us including a raspberry chocolate martini for Janie and an espresso chocolate for J. R.

Heading Home

We had sparkling wine and strawberries in our room when we returned so we guessed guest services realized they had messed up. We packed the cheap bubbly in our luggage and turned in. The next morning we gathered in Eden for a disorganized walkoff. Port Everglades has improved leaving the parking deck by having an elevator attendant but we still had one guest try to skip the line and two others trying to not let anyone else onto "their" elevator. We made our normal stop at Cracker Barrel on the way back to Kissimmeee.