And away we go...

This is a post with combined info for the past couple of days.  We are sailing again, this time on the Celebrity Equinox.  We are back-to-backing a 12-day Southern Caribbean cruise with a 9-day Southern Caribbean cruise for a 21-day adventure!

This was - key word "was" - our itinerary for the first 12 days.

Unfortunately, they scrapped Barbados, Grenada, and St. Kitts before we sailed.  They added a sea day and added stops in Aruba and Curacao instead.  We weren't too excited as here are the next nine days.

This was also to have a stop in Grand Cayman, but that got replaced with a first-day stop in Nassau.  One thing you have to be when cruising these days is flexible!

We left the house on Saturday to drive to Ft. Lauderdale.  We opted to spend the night and park at the hotel.  Less stress.

On the way down, we drove through the Lake Apopka Wildlife Drive.  It's worth a stop if you have the time.  It is an 11-mile drive through the Lake Apopka area with great views of the local wildlife.  It takes an hour or two but is well-worth the time.

Part of the cruise ship process is being able to present a negative COVID test, either rapid antigen or PCR, within 72 hours of sailing.  We were PCR-tested at CVS on Friday morning for our Sunday afternoon sailing.  No problem, right?  Well, as of Sunday morning, we had not received results.  So much for no stress! Without that, we would not be able to board.

Sunday morning found us scrambling to find a rapid antigen test in Ft. Lauderdale.  We were lucky to find a place, and we got our negative result in about 90 minutes.  *Whew*.  Of course, my CVS results arrived shortly after than, but Arlona's did arrive until the middle of the night Monday morning.  Glad we were able to get a test Sunday morning!

We took the shuttle to the ship and borded with no issues.

Like always, we have a balcony cabin.  We were lucky to be able to book the same cabin for both cruises so cabin 7283 will be our home for the next three weeks.

The seas are blue, and storms Fred & Grace look to be no impact to our travels.

Sunday night, of course featured the requisite lemon drops.

The martini bar makes a great one and that will be a frequently visited spot for us!  We are lucky to also have neighbors sailing on the ship - all just a coincidence, so that will make for good fun.

Monday & Tuesday are sea days, so there will be trivia, shopping, sun, reading, eating, and drinking to be done.  I'll be back with updates from St. Croix on Wednesday, 8/18.