Celebrity APEX Will Set Sail
I miss being on the water. I love cruising and as I get a little older the more I find it the best way for me to travel. As a young man I traveled the world with a backpack. By train and even some hitchhiking. My first trip to Europe was with a Eurail pass the summer of 1968 actually taking out a college loan to pay for the trip. The total cost was $800 including plane tickets for two months in Europe. If you saw the 1969 movie, “If it’s Tuesday, it must be Belgium” that was the kind of trip it was. A few days in many, many cities. It was the perfect way to see Europe for the first time if you planned on coming back and I did. It was exciting to see all the works of art and architecture I had only read about in my art classes. The Rembrandt museum in Amsterdam, Versailles in France, and the Schonbrunn Palace in Vienna. The Coliseum in Rome, Michelangelo's David statue in Florence and the canals in Venice. The snowcapped mountains in Switzerland.
Today I love getting on a ship, unpacking my suitcase and storing my clothes in the closet for two weeks. Knowing there is a beautiful bathroom to use and lots to do, or nothing to do, as I please. My usual is to wake up each morning to a knock on my stateroom door with a cabin attendant delivering coffee and juice. Then opening the balcony door and sitting down to write for a couple of hours. After that it’s off to the gym. A really tough life, lol. Any excursions I want in the ports-of-call are planned for me. The easy life I feel I have earned.
I have traveled with many cruise lines and different size ships and am always impressed with Celebrity. There is a certain class and level of service one has come to expect from them and they never disappoint which is why I am so excited and looking forward to seeing and being on Celebrity’s newest ship, APEX. Another reason for my excitement is the people I travel with. There is a wonderful group always put together by my friend and travel agent Scott Moster and his husband Dustin, who I usually only see when we are on a cruise.
We are all booked on Celebrity APEX for a transatlantic cruise the end of October 2021. As of now it’s scheduled to leave Barcelona on October 21st and arrive two weeks later in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. The big question is will it sail and if it does will the ports of embarkation and debarkation change. It is too early to tell. But I have high hopes I will be on the APEX with friends this year. In any event planning ahead I have also booked another transatlantic cruise on the APEX for October 2022 from Rome. You should join me on that cruise while cabins are still available. They will go fast as there is this pent up desire to travel again once it is safe.
It was exciting when Celebrity announced sailings on the APEX from Athens to the Greek Islands and Israel for this summer. For those who are still wary of being on a large ship with many people Celebrity is doing everything it can to put its passengers at ease. Every member of the crew will have been vaccinated and only passengers over 18 who have been vaccinated will be allowed to travel. Those under 18 will have to have had a Covid test seventy-two hours or less from the time they intend to board the ship. Those restrictions and so many other safety precautions planned have put me at ease.
It will take time for life to get back to normal, or as close to what we once considered normal, after this horrific year. For me one of the things to make it feel it has will be being back on a ship. So my fingers are crossed for October.