And We Are Off Again!!

Sunday, December 11, 2016
At 7:30 am Bob and Harriett Hinton stopped at our place to load our luggage and get us settled in their car for the long drive to Ft Lauderdale.  We were off for a 7 day cruise on the Celebrity Silhouette.  While it spit off and on as we drove down, we did not run into a major rain to interfere with our transfer to the ship.  Once aboard, we went to our rooms to unload our carry on things and just to see our home for the week. We are on the starboard side of the ship in a balcony room.  It is beautiful and quite spacious.

Once we'd checked the room out, we headed up to the Oceanview Cafe - the buffet restaurant on the 14th floor for some lunch.  We had tried to reach the Hintons to arrange to have lunch with them but couldn't seem to connect by phone.  However, once we got up there, we found them already eating. We were able to get the table right next to them and join them after getting our food and chat for a bit.

But then they wanted to do some looking around and so did we but with different focus's so they were off one way and we another. We tried to hit some of the high points on the ship like the library, shopping area, casino, and theater but we tired fairly quickly.  And we discovered it was pouring rain outside so we couldn't really visit outdoor spots anyway.  Instead we returned to our room and took a nap getting up just in time for dinner.

Donna Rumrill had booked the cruise for both the Hinton's and us as well as six other couples so once we got to the Grand Cuvee Restaurant on the third floor we wended our way to the two tables next to each other for the 16 of us.  We were seated with the Hinton's, Brian and Margaret Bandkau (former neighbors of the Rumrills and now residents at Grand Horizons in Zephyrhills and with John and Debbie Henson who are new neighbors of the Rumrills.  We had a delightful dinner getting acquainted with each other in our beautiful surroundings.  The dining room was 2 stories high with a beautiful staircase in the center that took people up to the other level.

Following dinner Ken and I joined the Hinton's in the theater for the evening comedy show arriving early enough that we had time to do a bit more chatting.  The show featured a comedian by the name of Robbie Printz. Unfortunately I was so exhausted that I nodded off for part of the show so right after it finished we headed for our room and a good nights sleep.