Kim and I booked this cruise over a year ago, with great anticipation, because Celebrity Edge would be the newest, cutting edge cruise ship in the world. Shortly afterward, we got my brother Andy and his wife Karen excited about it, and they booked. Last summer we visited our friends Mark and Carrie in their northern Maine wilderness haven, plied them with alcohol, and convinced them to book the cruise on the spot.

My brother Tom and his wife Diane, who had joined us for a cruise in 2017, would not be sailing this time. Tom can be a little stubborn and insisted he didn’t like cruises, even though he did. Oh well, his loss.

Mark and Carrie and Kim and I booked two nice rooms at a Hilton near the cruise terminal in Fort Lauderdale for the night before the cruise departure. Andy, to both save money and get closer to the ocean, booked a “local” hotel. After unpacking Saturday afternoon, the six of us met at our hotel for dinner. As luck would have it, Tom was in southern Florida on business all that week, and Diane had accompanied him. They had flights home Sunday morning but would meet us for dinner Saturday night.

As the eight of us enjoyed dining on the waterfront in Fort Lauderdale, I asked Karen about her accommodations in the local hotel. Let’s just say that she was not proud of her husband’s choice. The room was downright scary, so we teased Andy all night about that. It’s what we do.

At one point I challenged Diane. “I’m just waiting for you to announce that you’re really going on the cruise with us tomorrow instead of flying back to Maine.”

Tom cut in and said, “No, I’ve taken my last cruise.”

“Too bad. You know what you’re missing,” I said.

Late Saturday night we said our goodbyes to Tom and Diane, and on Sunday morning the rest of us taxied the short distance to Celebrity Edge. What a beautiful ship. She outshone all the others in the port, and there were many others. Celebrity has a new, streamlined boarding process, such that we pretty much walked from the curb onto the ship without standing in any lines.

Once on board, we enjoyed the food, drink, and lounging opportunities. We identified an area on the top of the ship called the “Rooftop Garden” where we would spend lots of time for the remainder of the cruise. After having been on board for a couple of hours, the six of us prepared for an outstanding week. Too bad Tom and Diane would be stuck back in cold, dreary Maine.

Just then, the scoundrels came around the corner and yelled “surprise!” They had booked the cruise many months earlier and kept it a secret from everyone except Andy, who helped arrange this reveal at the Rooftop Garden. We indeed would be a party of eight.

“Well played, Tom,” I said. “Well played.”

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