At Sea on Xcel with Captain Kirk

We’ve spent all day today on our way to Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic, so we treated ourselves to a relaxing day at sea, beginning with a late-ish breakfast and some quiet time on our balcony enjoying the view.

Red-footed Booby
Magnificent Frigatebird

We joined our friends to explore the Xcel; one of the new features of this ship is a large area called “the Bazaar”, which is decorated and stocked according to the region the ship is traversing. They say they’ll be changing the decor (and the featured food and drink) every day for a new theme; today’s theme was Carnival.

There was an “Officer’s Soirée” in the Retreat lounge this afternoon, and we had a chance to chat with a few of the officers, including the ship’s captain, Captain Kirk (well, that’s his first name). We sent the photo at the top of the page to our son and told him to zoom in on the captain’s nametag – his reply: “No red shirts, so you’re safe.”

Tonight was the “Elegant Chic” night for this voyage; Diane dressed accordingly.

After dinner, we saw the first of the ship’s big shows, “Between Takes”. It was an hour full of sound and fury, with lots of acrobatics and light shows. Diane said that the cast transcended the material, and I agree. I wish I’d saved the earplugs I got for our airboat ride, too.

Onward to the Xcel

This morning, Diane and I took a quick walk around Bayfront Park in Miami and the nearby Bayside shopping center.

Julia Tuttle
Freedom Tower from Bayside
Claude D. Pepper
Diane at Bayfront Park

Then we checked out of the JW Marriott Marquis Miami, caught a Lyft to Port Everglades, and embarked on the Celebrity Xcel for a short Caribbean sailing with about a dozen old friends. There are also more than 2500 passengers we haven’t met yet, as well as more than a thousand crew members, most of whom we’ll never see – but we’ve already enjoyed meeting a few, such as Sebastian, the Bar Steward in the Retreat Lounge.

It’s a brand new ship (I think this is its third official sailing); they’ve made changes from the earlier ships in the Edge class, and I’m looking forward to seeing what they’ve done.