20260116 Celebrity Constellation Western Caribbean Day 6 - Sea Day #1 back to Tampa

Celebrity Constellation Western Caribbean Day 6 – Sailing north back to Tampa and the chill

Have I mentioned that there is unusual art on this ship? We walked through the Solarium pool area and saw this.

The only thing I can come up with, since this is near the spa, is that it is a warning for those considering taking that third and fourth plate at the buffet and getting the second or third lobster tail at dinner

We knew that a cold snap was headed toward home, so I checked our home weather station.

Yikes - 26.1°F overnight and still under 30°F at 8:00 am

Arlona participated in a couple of art projects today. First was a small macrame plant holder.

The second was another round of dot painting.

Arlona's interpretation of a sunset at sea

We took part in a couple of trivia games today. We won the first, scoring a pair of pop socket phone holders.

We placed second in the second one, missing by only one answer.  Here are our collective misses.

• What animal's tongue is twice the length of its body?
• We guessed frog - it was a chameleon
• What is a group of parrots known as?
• We said a flock - it was pandemonium, although flock is actually also correct
• Where do sea otters store spare food for later?
• We said on their stomachs - they actually tuck in into a skin flap near their armpit
• How many species of sea urchins exist
• We guessed one, thinking it was a trick question - there are 950
• What is the only big cat that doesn't roar?
• We guessed jaguar - it was cheetah
• What is a group of camels called?
• We guessed herd - it was a caravan, although herd is also correct
• How many facial expressions can a horse make?
• We guessed zero, again thinking it was a trick question - they can make 17
• Who was the first celebrity host of Saturday Night Live?
• We guessed Steve Martin - it was George Carlin
• Who wrote The Wonderful Wizard of Oz?
• We had a brain malfunction and couldn't come up with L. Frank Baum
• What was the setting for the movie, Ladybird?
• We had no idea - it was Sacramento

Our friend Donna was with us for the first win, and we were in second by a single point, just the two of us. We made a respectable showing.

We showered and got ready for dinner. Tonight was the second formal night. As I mentioned in an earlier blog, we opted not to participate in formal night, instead wearing a dress shirt and slacks for me and a nice dress for Arlona. We were not alone. While there was the occasional tux, suit, sport coat, or fancy dress, it was more the exception than the norm.

We also opted to skip the special reception by the Captain and senior officers, choosing instead to be social at the Martini Bar. Speaking of social, I met a nice man from New York named Steve earlier today. In talking, he said he was taking a Viking cruise from Bergen to Tilbury, England, in March. Hey - we're taking a Viking cruise from Bergen to Tilbury in March. He didn't know the trip details, and his wife was asleep by the pool. Viking has two ships doing the same itinerary a few days apart, but it could very well be that we will run into cruisers on another ship, as we've done in the past. Most recently, it was a New Zealand couple we met when cruising through Asia on our Viking Vancouver to Sydney cruise, who we met again on our Seabourn Africa circumnavigation cruise. Once again, small world.

We enjoyed pre-dinner cocktails at the Martini Bar before walking up a flight to Blu for dinner.

As is the typical menu for the final formal night, Celebrity pulled out all the stops with all the good stuff on the menu. Blu featured Veal Scallopini, phyllo-crusted chicken paillard, oven-roasted lobster tail with lemon burre blanc, Angus beef stuffed pasta shells, mushroom risotto, pan-seared filet mignon, and more. The main restaurant menu featured herb-crusted haddock filets, broiled lobster tail, duck a l'orange, roasted leg of lamb, and more. They stack all the really good entrees all on one night, so you can't have all of them.

We both opted for Blu's oven-roasted lobster tail with burre blanc and the filet mignon with chimichurri. They were, in a word, fabulous. By far, it was the best meal we've had on the ship. We started with Blu's crab cake, and that was fabulous, as well. Arlona pulled out her cruise experience and asked for chocolate mousse for dessert. It's not on the menu. But...it's on a kid's menu, and that was good enough. We both topped off the meal with nice and light, but tasty chocolate mousse.

Diners near us were looking, as we suspect there were a few more chocolate mousse orders tonight, thanks to us. We also advised neighboring diners on how to get surf & turf, even though they were separate entrees. Tonight was all about helping other guests get a better dining experience. We had fun, along with a terrific meal.

We had thought about doing the pub quiz at 8:45, but we went back to the room. Arlona started reading, and I got to work on this blog, and that's where the night ended.

Tomorrow, we have more sea day activities and the final activity - packing. It seems like we just unpacked, probably because we just did. That's the problem with seven-day trips and why we don't do them often. But this one had a purpose and we succeeeded there.

Until our final sea day tomorrow - that's a wrap.