Sailing to Europe with Celebrity Cruises
A few weeks back we went on our fifth (!) cruise with Celebrity Cruises, only this time we went to a part of the world we’d never been to with them before: Europe.
When they invited us to their 3rd annual Pride Party at Sea cruise, we couldn’t say no. An entire week at sea celebrating the LGBTQ+ community, getting to hang with Adam Rippon and his boyfriend JP again, and sailing to countries we’ve never been to? Yes, yes, and yes, pleaseandthankyou.
Because this was our fifth time sailing with them, and third time being on their groundbreaking ship, The Edge, we knew what we wanted to eat (hello Normandie, Tuscan, Eden, and Raw on 5), where we wanted to relax (by the pool with drink in hand), and what we wanted to do (walk around the track, watch movies on the rooftop garden, have a drink in the Martini Lounge). We’re by no means pros at cruising (yet ;), but we know our way around this ship and every time is more fun than the last.
As mentioned, there was plenty of time to relax onboard:
Besides the ship, the best part of cruising is getting the chance to visit a new city. In this case, we woke up in a new city each day, which was equal parts wild and exciting. We started in Barcelona, then visited two other cities in Spain: Valencia and Ibiza. After that, we sailed to France to explore Marseille and Nice, and then ended the trip in Italy with Florence and Rome.
Some snapshots from Valencia below:
We have been looking forward to this cruise for a while because of the ports we were stopping at. We love old cities with old buildings and beautiful architecture and cobblestone streets that you can get lost exploring on for hours. Which is exactly what we did :). Valencia was stunning- the churches, the statues, the plants & trees, the colors, the gelato! Did we mention the colors? ;) That was one of the biggest things that stood out to us in every city we visited: the bright, vibrant colors of the homes and buildings and the plants/flowers. Everywhere you looked you could feel the life within the walls and streets of the cities. It was magical.
(walking with our new friends Kelsey & Heather in Valencia)
(in Museo de Bellas Artes de Valencia- a free art museum in Valencia)
On Monday we woke up in Ibiza and the old-town part of it was exactly what we pictured- and more. It was filled with white stucco buildings and narrow streets that led to anywhere and everywhere. We would come to a split in the road and ask each other which way we wanted to go, one of us would shrug and say, “That way?” and we would follow it until all of the sudden we were standing on top of a cliff overlooking the ocean. It was wild.
We’re going to be sharing more about our time in Ibiza in a separate blog, along with all of the other places we visited during the cruise. We were going to put it all in this one but after going through the pictures, we realized it was too much to try and squeeze in one big post, so stay tuned for that!
After we got back from exploring Ibiza, we showered and got ready for the main reason for this cruise: The Pride Party at Sea! We had so much fun last year and knew Celebrity would go all out again. Only this time, it was bigger and better than ever before. There were dancers all over the place and everyone had on rainbow bandanas and bracelets and glow rings and you could just feel the energy. It was a blast!
(Adam Rippon introducing the Pride Party in the theater before we all moved to the pool deck to celebrate)
Like last year, the Pride Party was on the pool deck outside, but this year we had the city of Ibiza lit up around us. The dress code was all white, but we ended up wearing brightly colored shorts and matching white t-shirts with a rainbow stripe going across the middle of them.
It was so good to catch up with Adam and JP again. JP is a house flipper in his home city of Helsinki, so he and PJ talked forever about what that’s like there vs here in the states.
We feel so fortunate to get to partner with such an inclusive and accepting company like Celebrity Cruises. From the staff of people from so many different countries to the people they choose to collaborate with, they send a message that anyone and everyone is accepted on their ships. And not just during Pride month, either. They partner with LGBTQ+ influencers and support our community year-round. Even the ship we were on was partly designed by Nate Berkus!
All together it was a night celebrating what it means to be part of the LGBTQ+ community and the ally’s who support us. We had such a blast and hope to be back next year to celebrate with Celebrity again!
The rest of the time on board was spent enjoying the beautiful views of the cities we visited from the top of the ship…
And eating at their many restaurants…
…like the groundbreaking Eden:
This restaurant/bar/club/performance theater completely changes at night into an otherworldly experience. It’s quite hard to explain just what this is but trust us when we say we’ve never been to anything like it before or since. It’s truly something that has to be experienced to fully understand it.
(in the Solarium- the indoor pool that plays the most relaxing music and where we found ourselves dozing off quite a few times onboard)
The last day onboard we relaxed and laid by the outdoor pool. We were worn out from the heat (Europe was having a freak heat wave while we were there and some days it was 114 degrees!) and exploring the different cities all week, so we decided to have a relaxing day with a few Aperol Spritz’ and some chill time.
A couple of shots of the views from the last night onboard, when everyone was at dinner and we got the top pool deck to ourselves for a bit:
As always, we had a blast and enjoyed our time onboard the Celebrity Edge. Sailing with Celebrity Cruises is an escape from reality, from the every day, from real life. It’s fun to step outside of your normal world and into one where everything is simple and exciting and easy for a week. Isn’t that what cruises are all about?
We want to extend a huge thank you to Celebrity Cruises for bringing us onboard. We feel endlessly grateful for the opportunity to partner with such an amazing company and we can’t wait to see what they come up with next!!!
(This post was sponsored by Celebrity Cruises but as always, the views and opinions are our own. Thank you for supporting the brands that support us.)
