Christmas in Kansas

We left on Christmas Day to go to the bridge tournament in Overland Park, Kansas. We have been to the tournament before but the location was new this year. I must confess that we greatly preferred the Westin Crowne Center since there was shopping and food in the complex which made things very convenient for the players. At this tournament, if you didn't rent a car, you were pretty much out of luck as far as finding dinner!

Before we went, I went on Restaurant.com to find some local restaurants to try. We bought gift certificates to a few different places, and were pleasantly surprised at some of them.

Dan always enjoys trying different beers when we travel. Here he is with a beer flight at Barley's Brewhaus:



Our favourite restaurant by far was Tatsu's. The food and service were wonderful and if we return to Overland Park it will be number one on my list. I had salmon in champagne sauce in puff pastry and not only was it delicious but it looked like this:



Dan had veal which was also delicious. For dessert, we had their signature Grand Marnier souffle which we both enjoyed.



Prices were reasonable and with our gift certificate the meal was a bargain. I would highly recommend this restaurant if you enjoy French cuisine and you're in the area and looking for a good meal.

For New Year's, we went to J. Gilbert's steakhouse, which was fairly good but nothing special. Then we rang in the New Year playing the Party Pairs bridge game, which was a lot of fun. There was free champagne, silly hats, and noisemakers. Here we are with our teammates, Martin Hunter and Jonathan Steinberg.



Happy 2009!

Red Rock Canyon / Hoover Dam

I travelled to Las Vegas for two weeks in July 2008 because a major bridge tournament was being held at the Las Vegas Hilton. Unfortunately, Susie was otherwise occupied and was unable to join me. My first bridge game was with Robert Lebi, a superstar player from Toronto. Unfortunately, our game was canceled because one of the players on our team couldn't make it at the last minute.

After our bridge game was canceled, Robert and his recent bride, Judith, invited me to join them sightseeing in Nevada. I was happy to join them on what promised to be an eventful day; unfortunately, we picked a real scorcher.

Red Rock Canyon was quite spectacular; each scenic stopping area offered a unique view of the rock and land formations, often different enough from each other that you wouldn't be sure you were in the same canyon!

Red Rock Canyon is just west of Las Vegas, perhaps 30 minutes from the strip. You may have heard of the Red Rock Casino (or seen it on TV as it hosts a primetime poker show) which is reputed to have a splendid buffet.

Here is a picture of some of the rock:



Here is a picture of me and Judith:




Then it was on to Hoover Dam. I must say this place was spectacular, as much for the view as for being a reminder of what the human race can accomplish. Similar to when we were at the Panama Canal, it is easy to be awestruck by the scale of the dam. Enough concrete was used in the construction of the dam to create a freeway across the USA!

Elmira Pancake Festival

Although it's not as far afield as we usually go, today was the Elmira Pancake Festival, the world's largest one day maple syrup festival. We had a great time and the weather was beautiful.



Maybe TOO beautiful... the crowds swelled far past the anticipated count, and the pancakes which were supposed to be served until 3pm sold out not long after noon, with lines over 30 minutes long still waiting just to buy tickets to get in line for pancakes!



There were so many people there that it was difficult to walk. But it was a fun day. There was everything possible there that you could think of to eat at a fair, and some things that you couldn't! Choices ranged from Turkish food to Greek to maple sausages on buns to dill pickles on a stick to cotton candy, funnel cakes, and apple fritters with maple syrup. There were also lots of stalls selling lovely handmade crafts.

I bought some delicious homemade bread and cheese rolls from the Mennonites, and a hand woven door decoration that is supposed to bring us love and happiness. And of course, you can't resist that sweet maple syrup! Now I'll have to make some pancakes at home for dinner instead.

A good time was had by all who attended!

Constellation Cruise, Day Thirteen- Fort Lauderdale

Since we had an evening flight with Air Canada, we had a leisurely disembarkation. We were able to stay in our room until 9am, sleeping in and enjoying a last few minutes on our balcony.

Since we didn't have to go to the Celebrity Theater until 10am, we decided to go to the Cova Cafe for cappuccino. Unfortunately they don't serve pastries on the last morning but their drinks are still delicious.

Disembarkation was very smooth. They called our colour, Light Blue 2, right at 10am when they said they would. We proceeded down the gangway and found our luggage right where it should be. We had no difficulty getting a porter to assist us through Customs and to the rental car area, so we could spend the day exploring Fort Lauderdale.

We decided to go to the Galleria Mall to have lunch and do some shopping. This mall was full of designer stores so it wasn't very appealing to us, but it did have a Macy's. I have to comment that I've never had customer service in a department store that was as good as the service we received at Macy's. Any time we were carrying items, a store associate offered to take our items and hold them at the register so we didn't have to carry them with us. When I was looking at the store directory to see what departments they had, an associate offered to help direct me. Now that's service! Macy's also offers an 11% discount for visitors from out of town, which is nice!

After some shopping, we just drove around for a while until we passed an ice cream parlour. We decided to stop and realized we'd accidentally landed at a Florida landmark!



Jaxson's is Zagat rated and it definitely deserves it! The inside of the restaurant is covered with old license plates and memorabilia. It is famous for the Kitchen Sink, an enormous dessert designed to be shared by four or more people, and served in an actual kitchen sink!

However, their regular desserts are still huge and delicious! Dan and I shared the Monster Chocolate Chip Cookie Sundae, and couldn't finish it.



They had some fun plywood cutouts in front of the restaurant.





After our ice cream, it was unfortunately time to get to the airport and go back to reality. Our flight was delayed 30 minutes, but we had a fairly smooth trip home and all our luggage made it with us.

The biggest irritant about the return flight is the way that Fort Lauderdale airport is set up. The rental car drop off point is in a completely different area of the airport than the shuttle to the Air Canada terminal. Since we had a lot of luggage, we rented a little cart for $3 US to take us to the shuttle. When we arrived, we were not permitted to take the cart on the shuttle, and had to pay another rental fee when we arrived at the terminal. I know it's only three dollars, but it's the principle. Most airports actually let people use the carts for free- very few actually charge and when they do, it's usually only $2.

We came home to piles of snow and freezing cold. Oh well... it was wonderful while it lasted!

If you're interested in seeing the rest of our photos, please visit our photo album.

Constellation Cruise, Day Twelve- At Sea

All good things must come to an end! Today was our last day at sea, and we were determined to make the most of it.

We had one last lunch on our balcony.



One last game of basketball on the Sports Deck.



One last game of bingo. They hadn't been able to give away the jackpot during the cruise, so the final game was worth over $2000! Unfortunately, we didn't win.

We also attending the ice carving demonstration. The staff who create these sculptures are very talented! He turned this 300lb lump of ice:





... into this!



Before dinner, we met Annie and Ian up at the Bar at the Edge of the Earth for drinks and Billy Joel hour. Annie had her first frozen drink on the last day of the trip!



We were looking forward to our dinner at Ocean Liners tonight. The restaurant was not very busy since most people prefer to eat in the dining room on the last evening. Again, the dress code was casual, but we preferred to dress semi formally to suit the ambiance of the dining room.

Our dinner was excellent, and Katharina ordered a special dessert for us to be prepared tableside- Crepes Suzette.





They were absolutely delicious when served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. I am really going to miss the food and service at Ocean Liners!

Constellation Cruise, Day Eleven- Cozumel

Today, we visited Cozumel. We had originally booked a tour through the ship to visit the ruins of Tulum, but when we realized that this involved more than three hours of transportation on a bus and a ferry, we decided we'd just go and explore Cozumel on our own.

We slept in and had lunch onboard (the pizza in the Seaview Cafe is excellent, and so are the hamburgers at the Seaside Grill) before disembarking in Cozumel. Like in Grand Cayman, there were lots of ships in port today.

The casino staff had told us about a mini golf course in Cozumel and they told us it was a lot of fun. We decided to visit it since we enjoy mini golf. We took a short taxi ride from the pier for $6. In Cozumel, taxi rates are preset and not metered.

The course was a lot of fun, with everything from real roughs to water hazards to lizards!





I won by eleven strokes after scoring a hole in one! It was a fun course and it was nice to be able to order drinks on the course. Their sangria was very good and drinks were cheap at $2 each.

After mini golf, we decided just to walk around Cozumel a little. We found a churro stand where the vendors were selling them freshly made- the aroma was irresistible and they were delicious!

The city was packed with all the ships in port and most prices were sky high. Dan bought a bottle of tequila from a shop that had over 200 varieties in stock, and he bought me a beautiful set of silver and fire opal jewelry.

Of course, we had to stop at a McDonalds when we saw one!



Tonight's dress code was casual, so we were able to get back to the ship a little later before going to dinner. We had a reservation for Ocean Liners tomorrow for the last night of the cruise, so tonight was our last night in the dining room. The maitre d' brought me a special pasta dish with four cheese sauce for dinner, and it was delicious.

Gratuities are normally given on the final night, but even though ours were prepaid on this cruise, we gave thank you cards to our dining room staff this evening to let them know we'd appreciated their service. Here is our waiter, Marshall.



After dinner, we went to the casino. It was very disappointing that we were never able to get a cash game going at any point in this cruise. We aren't sure if this is attributable to the guests on this cruise or if they simply didn't like the electronic table. We think it was probably the table, since a friendly dealer can always get players to their table. We did have some fun with blackjack and craps, but it would have been more enjoyable to have a live poker game like we did on Galaxy.

Constellation Cruise, Day Ten- At Sea

Today we relaxed and enjoyed another day at sea. Or tried to- the ship was rocking all night and when we woke up, they announced a storm warning.



It didn't really look all that bad, and the waves settled down within a few hours.

This afternoon, Dan and I were invited to a food and wine pairing seminar by Emilia, our sommelier. We decided to attend and found it an enjoyable experience. It was really interesting to see how the flavours of the food changed when we tried different wines with each bite.



Tonight was the final formal night, where we met all the kitchen staff, and the dining room staff performed the Baked Alaska parade. I always regret this night a little because it signals that the end of the cruise is approaching. Thankfully, due to our itinerary, we still had two more nights onboard!



It was also lobster night, my favourite meal in the main dining room.



After the Baked Alaska parade, the dining room musicians played the traditional Auld Lang Syne while dessert was being served.



Tonight was also Le Grande Buffet, where the chefs spend days preparing food and ice sculptures for our culinary delight.





For more photos, visit our photo albums.

Constellation Cruise, Day Nine- Panama

Today we got our first look at the Panama Canal. It was very exciting!

Again, we booked our tour through Celebrity- CO 11- "Eco Cruises on the Gatun Lake". The tour guide was very knowledgeable and taught us a great deal about the history of Panama and the local ecology.

Our first stop was the Gatun Locks, where we were able to see a ship moving through the locks. It was pretty cool to see them filling the locks to raise the level of the water. Our tour guide explained that they had to raise the ships over 80 feet to pass through the canal.





Since the canal is very narrow considering the sides of the ship (there are only two feet of space on each side!), the ship is towed through the lock by canal staff.



When it reached the front of the lock, they started to raise the water level so that the ship could proceed to the next lock.



After that interesting experience, we proceeded to Gatun Lake, a manmade freshwater lake. Unfortunately, due to the upcoming expansion of the Panama Canal, the new drainage will eventually turn Gatun Lake into saltwater.





We saw several species of birds, monkeys, and a sloth while on the cruise. This was our favourite excursion of the trip and we definitely recommend it.

Tonight was another casual night back on the ship, and we decided to have another series of Lifestyles photos taken. The photographers are very talented!



After dinner, we went to the Cova Cafe to listen to the a capella group Oceans Four. They were very good and easy to listen to.

Constellation Cruise, Day Eight- Colombia

We woke up this morning in Cartagena, Colombia.



We were both a little sleepy because the tour began so early, but it looked like a great excursion so we booked it anyway.

We were glad that we did! It was excellent. We booked excursion CA-08: "Deluxe Cartagena and Fortress" through the cruiseline. Our tourguide's name was Tous, and he was very knowledgeable about the area and answered all our questions.

Our first stop was at the Fort of San Felipe de Barajas, which was built in the 17th century.



It was very interesting to explore the different areas of the fort- and to try and escape from all the vendors trying to sell us things! They sold everything from hats to seashells to drawings.

Our next stop was the Inquisition Palace, which was really cool but a little scary when you saw all the torture devices that were still preserved there.





After about forty minutes of visiting the Inquisition Palace, we walked through the streets of Cartagena on our way to San Pedro Claver church.

We met some interesting natives along the way! These were men, not statues!



The church was very ornate and beautiful.



I was finally getting over the shock of the torture implements when I ran into a skeleton! The bones of their saint were preserved in the church! It was a little creepy to see them exhibited like that.



We returned to the ship after the tour and decided to make another reservation at Ocean Liners for the evening. Tonight was the Super Bowl so we wanted to schedule dinner early to be able to watch the end of the game. Dinner was fabulous, as usual.

Celebrity really did a great job with their Super Bowl coverage. It was available to watch in-cabin, in the casino, or you could join the huge party in the theatre where they served football-type food and sold team memorabilia. And the game was so exciting- what an upset!

Tonight was informal night, and instead of taking the usual posed photos, we decided to try the Lifestyles photography that was being offered. You have to be willing to take off your shoes and have fun, but the photos are wonderful. I would definitely recommend that everyone do a Lifestyles photo shoot.

Constellation Cruise, Day Seven- At Sea

Today we had another relaxing day at sea. We slept in and then went to the dining room for lunch. The meal was very good, I had ravioli and Dan had a chicken salad.



After lunch, I decided to try my luck in the blackjack tournament. Unfortunately I didn't find out the rules before I signed up, which made the event a total crapshoot. They run it in heats, with each group of players playing exactly seven hands. Then they write down all the scores, and at the end of the heats, the top six players become the final table for another seven hand round.

We thought it was more like a sit n go tournament, where at the end of each round, one player would be eliminated, so there would be more of a strategy. The way it was run, it was much more random. Dan and I figured the optimal strategy was to put in half my stack on the first hand and half on the second, to try and double up and become a big stack. Even in only seven hands, with several heats, someone was bound to go on a big tear and triple or quadruple up. Unfortunately, although I was dealt made hands on both my first two (an 18 and a 19), dealer drew out to make 20 and 21, so I was eliminated. Oh well, it was fun to try!

Tonight was the second formal night, so I decided to get my hair done with Letitia again since she did such a nice job the first night.



At dinner, I didn't care for anything on the menu, so I asked the maitre d' if it would be possible to get something simple like fettuccine alfredo. They have a pasta station with lots of sauces upstairs on the 10th deck so I thought it would be an easy request. That turned out to be one of the best meals I had in the main dining room. There were little chunks of smoked salmon and the sauce was rich, creamy, and delicious.

The Captain's Club cocktail party was held at 7:45pm, between the two dinner seatings. They had a menu of complimentary drinks and served yummy little canapes. Unfortunately since we had just come from dinner, we couldn't eat very much!



Captain Manetas gave a short speech and then honoured the people onboard who had cruised the most with Celebrity- 33 cruises! Maybe one day...

After the cocktail party, we stayed in the Celebrity Theater to see tonight's show, a comedian named Don Sherman. He was hilarious- we nearly split our sides laughing when he mentioned that he'd heard someone ask about whale watching, and his first reaction was "On or off the ship?"

It's too bad that he only performed once, we would have loved to see him again!

Constellation Cruise, Day Six- Aruba

When we woke up this morning, we were in sunny Aruba! We visited Aruba last year on the Galaxy and did an island tour, and saw that Aruba is basically a desert with some beautiful beaches. We didn't have much time last year to take advantage of them, so we knew exactly how to spend our time this cruise!

We went to Palm Beach, the same beach we'd seen last year on our way out for the glass bottomed boat ride. It was just as beautiful as we remembered.



I decided to do some watersports, and since I'd gone tubing as a child at my parents' cottage, I thought it looked like fun. If I'd remembered that lakes are very calm and that the ocean is wavy, I think I might have thought twice! I had a death grip on that tube because I thought that the vendor was intentionally trying to dump me!



Enough was enough! We decided to spend the rest of the day relaxing on the beach with some good books.

The ship was staying in port until 8pm tonight, so we decided to make a reservation at Ocean Liners, the specialty restaurant, so that we wouldn't have to rush back to make our dinner seating at 6pm. The dress code tonight was casual, but I personally don't think I would feel comfortable eating in this restaurant in casual attire. The service and food are at least that of a four star restaurant, so we chose to dress formally and feel that this better suited the ambiance of the restaurant.

Since it was our second time there, Katharina, the head chef de rang, offered Dan a special entree- chateaubriand. He of course accepted, and we began our second evening of gastronomic delights. After a delicious amuse bouche, I enjoyed a bowl of lobster bisque while Dan had the tomato, red pepper, and mozzarella soup. For our appetizers, I had the goat cheese souffle again while he had a delicious Caesar salad which was prepared tableside. The entrees were fabulous- the chateaubriand for Dan, and scallop and lobster pasta with white wine sauce for me. We topped off our meal with a bottle of Perrier Jouet Fleur de Champagne '96, our favourite vintage.





After our cheese course, it was time for dessert! I ordered the Lemon and Lime Mascarpone Cheese Cake, and Dan chose the Marsala Zabaglione.





It was a wonderful meal- they had to roll us out of the restaurant and back to our cabin!

Constellation Cruise, Day Five- At Sea

Today we were at sea, so Dan and I just decided to relax and enjoy being on vacation. We slept in and then went up to the Seaview Cafe to get an early lunch and bring it back to eat on our balcony. We stopped at the library to get some books so we could lounge in the sun and read.

Later in the afternoon, I went to play bingo with Annie. It was a lot of fun, especially when she won!



Tonight was our second informal night, and it was nice to see everyone dressed up. After dinner, Dan and I decided to try our luck in the casino. They were offering $3 blackjack! Twice I got lucky and was able to split four deuces, and even got some double downs. How often does that happen?

Constellation Cruise, Day Four- Grand Cayman

Today was out first port stop, Grand Cayman. We'd never been there before and were looking forward to it from the great reviews we'd heard on Cruise Critic. The only worry was that there were seven other ships in port with us, so we were concerned that the island would be packed.

We could see several other ships from our balcony.



Since ships aren't allowed to dock in Grand Cayman, you have to take a little boat called a tender to get to shore. We had booked a private tour with Captain Marvin, so we got on the first tender to ensure we wouldn't be late.

Unfortunately it seemed that the staff was still working the kinks out of attaching the tender to Constellation, because even though the seas were calm, the tender kept slamming into the side of the ship. It was very uncomfortable and we remained docked there for nearly ten minutes before finally pulling away for Grand Cayman.

When we arrived, we walked around for a little while before joining our tour group for the first segment of the tour- snorkeling and swimming with the stingrays. We joined Captain Jimmy and boarded the boat to head out to the coral reef.



It was fun to feed the stingrays pieces of squid. They don't have any teeth and their suction grip to get the food is very powerful- at first I thought I had been bitten! I wasn't too scared to pass up my chance to hold one, though. Unfortunately we didn't bring a water safe camera so Dan had to take the photograph from the boat.



After our snorkeling excursion, we joined a different tour guide for our trip to Hell. Well, the excursion wasn't that bad :)



The islanders named this area Hell because of an interesting rock formation that certainly looks like it belongs in the netherworld.



After Hell and back, it was time to finish off with a visit to the local turtle farm, where they breed endangered turtles to try and repopulate the species. The tanks were very crowded and at times it seemed like the turtles had no room to swim.



By the time we were finished at the turtle farm, it was nearly 3pm and we hadn't eaten since breakfast. Since it is not allowed to bring food off the ship, it would have been nice if the tour included sandwiches or some kind of snack- we were all starving! I saw a sign advertising the local specialty, conch fritters, so Dan and I decided to share an order. Note to self: always ask about the price when you order something exotic! I couldn't imagine that a little order of fritters could possibly be $10 USD! They were very tasty, however, especially with the tartar sauce.

Tendering back to the ship was very smooth, so they must have solved the earlier difficulty. We spent the remainder of the afternoon on the veranda before getting ready for dinner.

Tonight's dress code was informal, which really means semi formal- sports jacket and slacks for the men (tie optional), and nice dress or pantsuit for the women.



Tonight, our sommelier was waiting at our table to take our order first. It was nice to be treated with respect and given the opportunity to order wine before dinner was over! We had a nice meal although we both feel that the food is not quite as good this year as it was last year on Galaxy.

After dinner, we went to the Rendez-Vous for drinks and to listen to the jazz group who were very good. It was a nice, relaxing evening.

Constellation Cruise, Day Three- At Sea

Today was our first sea day, but there was no sleeping in! The Cruise Critic party was at 10:30am, so we ordered room service so that we could enjoy breakfast on our veranda.

After breakfast, we went over to Michaels' Club to meet the other members of Cruise Critic. We had chatted online prior to the cruise, so it was nice to be able to put faces to internet handles! Then we were addressed by John Howell, the current cruise director of Constellation. In an interesting coincidence, John has been the cruise director on every one of our Celebrity cruises!

John told us that some major changes are in progress onboard Celebrity ships and that many of them were being tested out on Constellation. Coffee onboard, for example, has always been terrible; John said they had found a new supplier and were trying to improve the flavour. They are also trying out new stations and items at the breakfast buffet and at the poolside grill which we are looking forward to trying.

After chatting a bit with the other Cruise Critics, it was time to go upstairs to the party for those guests celebrating an anniversary or honeymoon. They gave prizes out for the couples who had been married the shortest time (four days) and the longest time (sixty one years). It was really inspirational to see how many people had been married for such a long time without killing each other!



After a yummy lunch in the dining room, it was time for our Rasul spa treatment. We had one on Galaxy and loved it. It's a couples' skin treatment in a private sauna area, and it's very relaxing and refreshing.

We went back to our room to relax on the balcony with a good book for the rest of the afternoon, before I went back to the spa to get my hair done for the Captain's Welcome Party, the first formal night. The dress code is black tie- tuxedo or dark suit for men, evening gown or cocktail dress for women.



We didn't see anything on tonight's dinner menu in the main dining room that appealed to us, so we decided to dine at Ocean Liners. The meal and service were fantastic. We chose to do the chef's tasting menu and wine pairings and enjoyed every bite. There is a $30 surcharge per person in addition to whatever alcohol you order, but the cost is a real bargain for the meal and service you receive.

We began with an amuse bouche; melon and prosciutto on an endive leaf, followed by tomato and basil soup for Dan and lobster bisque for me, followed by the goat cheese souffle for both of us, which was surprisingly delicious and not goat cheesy at all. It was so tasty that Dan couldn't resist taking a bite before he photographed it!



We had an intermezzo of passionfruit sorbet to cleanse our palates, followed by the main course. For our entrees, I chose the lobster and scallop pasta and Dan had the rack of lamb.





Before dessert, they wheeled out the cheese cart so we could enjoy some cheese, crackers, and fruit before dessert.



Dessert was delicious, and disappeared before we could take photographs of it! I had the chocolate souffle, and Dan had the chef's choice of four tasting desserts.

After the wonderful meal, we headed over to the casino in hopes of a poker game. To our disappointment, the poker table was electronic and no one seemed interested in playing. We had such a great time (and good fortune!) on the Galaxy so we decided to play a little blackjack tonight and hope that there would be more interest later in the cruise.

Constellation Cruise, Day Two- Fort Lauderdale

If in the future you ever stay at the Rodeway Inn in Fort Lauderdale, go somewhere else for breakfast! It was a total comedy of errors. We went to the dining room at 9am, where the employees told us to seat ourselves and they'd be along shortly with menus. After a reasonable wait, a waitress came with menus and told us to help ourselves to the free juice, coffee, and tea machines in the corner.

After about fifteen minutes, she came back and took our order. Then we waited, and waited, and waited. Other customers had come in, been seated, and received their food while we were waiting. One couple had actually finished and paid the bill and we still hadn't received our meal!

Finally, forty five minutes later, the server came out with food. She tried to put them on our table, but they were nothing like what we'd ordered! We explained again what we'd asked for, and she apologized. Twenty minutes after that, we were wishing we had just taken those meals!

Eventually the manager came out, apologized, and told us breakfast was on the house. That would have been nice if there had been breakfast! When it finally came, the orders were still wrong but we were starving and tired of waiting so we just ate them. It was comical, but I still wouldn't recommend eating there!

We got to the pier around 11:30am, and left our luggage with the porters. Although in Fort Lauderdale there are signs up not to tip the porters, we wanted to see our luggage again!

After a short period of waiting, we got in line to get our Seapasses and soon were boarding the beautiful Constellation! We went to look at our stateroom and were so excited to see it! We were lucky enough to have a Family Veranda stateroom on the aft of the ship, and it was huge! It had a main bedroom area, a sitting area separated by a sliding door, and an enormous balcony!







We love to have a veranda because it's so nice to have your own little private deck area. No fighting for a chair by the pool on sea days- there's always one reserved for you. It's a nice quiet place to relax, have lunch, read, or just watch the waves go by.

We dropped our things in the room and headed upstairs to the buffet for lunch. After lunch, it was time to explore the ship. Constellation has an identical layout to Summit, the ship we sailed in 2005 for our honeymoon, so it didn't take us long to get reacquainted with her.

At 3:45, we attended the mandatory muster drill which told us all what to do in case of emergency. The drill was fairly brief and finished with about a half hour before sailaway. We went back to our room to put away the life jackets, and were delighted to see that our luggage was already waiting for us. We decided to unpack right away. The Family Veranda staterooms are intended for a whole family, so there was plenty of storage space. Dan and I each had our own closet and there were drawers and cabinets everywhere.

When we finished unpacking, it was time to head out on the balcony and wave goodbye to Fort Lauderdale!



Dinner was a little disappointing. Dan and I enjoy our wine, but it seems that if you are young and have a table for two, the wine sommelier won't bother with you because she thinks that you aren't worth her while. After repeated requests, we finally were able to order wine with our entree, halfway through dinner!

The food on Celebrity, while still good, didn't have the same WOW effect that we remembered from the Galaxy and the Summit. We enjoyed our meal but looked forward to the opportunity to visit Ocean Liners later in the cruise, the specialty restaurant with a small surcharge.

In the evening, we had to turn around and go back to Fort Lauderdale to evacuate an injured passenger. A boat pulled up to Constellation and the passenger was transferred while we were still at sea.



Fortunately we were told the next day that the passenger was in stable condition and receiving good care, and also that turning around would not affect our schedule to reach our first port.

After dinner, we decided to check out the Thallassotherapy pool area. It was open until 11pm and it was deserted by 9pm. It was so nice to relax in the pool area without all the crowds!

We were tired from all the travelling, so we turned in a little early for the day.

Constellation Cruise, Day One- Fort Lauderdale

It's always nice to escape the snow in the winter, and Dan and I were really looking forward to our anniversary cruise this year. Because of the timing of the Detroit Nationals being over our actual anniversary (March 8th), we decided to take the cruise a little early.

We flew out at 2:30pm and we landed in Fort Lauderdale a few hours later. All our baggage arrived, fortunately, so by 6pm we were ready to go. I called our hotel and they sent a van to pick us up.

We were staying at the Rodeway Inn, a Choice Hotels chain. Hotels in Fort Lauderdale are very expensive in the winter and this location was reasonably priced and offered free transportation from the airport and to the cruise ship the following morning. It is by no means a luxurious hotel but the accommodation was acceptable for a one night stay.

For dinner, we decided to visit the Cheesecake Factory. We don't have this chain in Canada and enjoy visiting it when we have the opportunity. The meal was excellent and the dessert, of course, was fabulous!



After dinner, we went back to the hotel and watched some TV before turning in for the night, since we'd be up early the next day for breakfast before taking the shuttle to the pier.

Kansas City, Day Seven

There hasn't been much to report on this week other than bridge. We've dined at a few different restaurants but nothing really special. If you're interested in the bridge side of things, visit our bridge blog, Korbel Bridge Adventures, which will be updated over the next few days.

For New Year's Eve, we went to Pierpont's for dinner. It is a lovely restaurant at Union Station, connected to the Westin by an enclosed walkway. They had a set menu for the evening; for $70, you chose an appetizer, salad, entree, and dessert. The food was delicious. They also had an extensive wine list.



After dinner, we went back to the Westin and kibitzed the rest of the Champagne pairs game, the last event of the bridge tournament. Following the game, there was a party upstairs in the Presidential Suite.

We rang in the New Year with a kiss. Welcome to 2008!

Kansas City, Day Two

Unfortunately flight delays strike again; the fourth member of our team was stranded in Detroit for 12 hours and didn't make it to Kansas City until the evening. Instead of a team event, Dan and Jonathan played pairs in the bridge game and I relaxed and explored the Westin Crown Center.

The hotel is connected to a complex of restaurants and stores through a little walkway, as well as Union Station and other hotels through other walkways. I did a little shopping at some stores that we don't have in Canada and got some neat stuff.

We decided to go to the Peppercorn Duck Club at the Hyatt for dinner. It is a fabulous restaurant. We ate there in 2005 on our last visit to Kansas City and had been looking forward to it.



As it was last time, the food was excellent. Jonathan ordered the house specialty, the duck, Dan had a pepper encrusted filet, and I had lobster tail. Then of course, we all partook of the restaurant's famous chocolate buffet, included with every entree.



I would definitely recommend dining at this restaurant if you're in the area. It's a little on the pricey side (appetizers are about $10, entrees in the $35 range, wines at the regular restaurant markup), but if your wallet can handle it, enjoy!

Kansas City, Day One

We left for Kansas City early this afternoon, connecting through Minneapolis. We were a little concerned because of the weather forecast, and justifiably so. Both legs of our flight were delayed, although for different reasons.

Leaving Toronto, we flew on a very small plane. After we got onboard, the pilot announced that we were overweight and needed passengers to volunteer to take a later flight. The pilot said we were not leaving until enough passengers volunteered to leave. They had to increase the compensation to free first class tickets anywhere in Canada or the USA before they finally took off the FOUR passengers they needed. Considering the plane could only hold maybe 50 people, it was surprising that the flight was that much overweight! I wonder if this is a common occurrence with smaller planes?

Our second leg was a weather delay. Only one runway was open in Minneapolis and the plane had to be de-iced. We spent over two hours sitting on the tarmac waiting to take off before we finally made it out. When we arrived, we found that both pieces of our luggage had stayed in Minneapolis, although our traveling companion's suitcase had made it. We were assured that it would be on the next flight to Kansas City later that night.

So a note to all of you, especially those who take cruises: NEVER fly the same day as your trip, especially in the winter. You never know when weather or something else will delay you, especially on a connecting flight. And even if you make it, your luggage may not. While this is a minor inconvenience at a hotel (most give you free toiletries), it can be a nightmare if you're taking a cruise and they can't reach you with your suitcases even if they find them!

Fortunately, we didn't need to find out about Northwest's lost luggage compensation policy as our bags arrived early the next morning, with a note of apology and a $25 discount certificate for a future flight. I thought that was very classy.

After all the hassle, we finally grabbed a quick Christmas dinner in the Brasserie, one of the restaurants at the Westin Crown Center, and checked into our room to see this beautiful view.



The rooms are spacious and Westin's Heavenly Bath linens and bath products are very nice. They have a catalog in each room should you desire to purchase some for yourself. I loved the bathrobes (you have to request them) and seriously considered it!

There wasn't much time for sightseeing on this trip since we were playing bridge every day, but we ate at a few spectacular restaurants that I'll review here.

Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from the Korbel family!



All the best in the New Year!