A Sunrise,

or

A Declaration of Love.

From the series: "Japan, or an American Retiree's Extreme Vacation"

The sun has been rising and continues to rise every day...

No matter where you are, one morning, get up early and go meet His Majesty, the Sun.

Once you've met it, you won't be able to stop.

(Oh, I'm starting to sound a little too lofty, that's not like me.

Am I beginning to worship the sun?

Am I returning to the religion of my distant ancestors?

...

It's just that with a sunrise like this, you either have to write poetry or keep your mouth shut.)

Let's lower the tone a little (sorry), look at some photos, and just chat, just a light, rambling conversation about nothing in particular. (About something, of course, but nothing important...)

We'll walk around the top deck of the Celebrity Millennium cruise ship and watch the sunrise.

For those who have just joined the blog, I'll let you know: my work colleague, her cousin, and I are sailing on a cruise ship around Japan.

For those of you who have been following the series "Japan, or an American Retiree's Extreme Vacation," a question: do you remember our names? Don't worry, it's completely unimportant (I'll remind you in the next story). At my age, if you forget something, you take it in stride, although what you were trying to remember sometimes comes back to you, floating up from the depths of your memory at the most unexpected moment.

We're sailing on the Celebrity Millennium; you can probably tell when it was built just from the name—the year 2000. (I know, you already guessed...) And I can still remember when everyone was getting ready to celebrate the new year 2000: a new millennium is coming! What will happen to all the computers?! Will their programs crash?! Is the end of the world near?!

The proximity of this "end of the world" depended on the doomsayer's bloodlust: tomorrow, with the approach of a new comet, with the arrival of a new century—a millennium, and again, with the collapse of computer programs... So, judging by what I remember, my age is positively prehistoric.

And the sun has been rising and continues to rise ever since.

The ship we're on isn't young, either. Have you ever wondered how long cruise ships live, what their fate is? The average "service life" (to put it in formal terms) is about 30 years. However, large companies like Celebrity can sell their vessels to smaller companies, which extends the ship's life by another 10 to 15 years, and then it's sent to be scrapped in India or Turkey. Everything has its time.

And the sun has been rising and continues to rise.

Conversations with the crew confirmed that the ship is, to put it mildly, elderly. This is its second year sailing various routes around Japan without making long ocean crossings, and, as they suggested, it will likely be sold or decommissioned in the near future.

I decided to check. It turns out, no! To my unexpected delight—we had somehow grown attached to it during the cruise—the ship has a long life ahead of it (for a cruise ship).

It turned out that the Celebrity Millennium underwent a full-scale modernization in 2019 as part of the "Celebrity Revolution" program. (They have "revolutions," too...)

Oh, I read about the renovation and modernization of ships at Celebrity, which began in 2018, so I'll share. (Well, how can you not "gossip" about how much money someone spent?!)

A new flagship liner, the Celebrity Edge, was built for the company, surpassing all previous ones in both technical specifications and design and luxury.

So, the company's management developed a large-scale and ambitious program to modernize its fleet to bring all its liners up to modern standards so they would all match the flagship's luxury. (Are you already asking, "How much did it cost?" Or are you just waiting for me to name the figure?)

Here, a drum roll would be nice...

$500,000,000.

Did you read that?

Five hundred million dollars.

And the sun has been rising and continues to rise.

For that money, though, (just to remind you) they updated several ships, not just one.

For example, on "our" ship, they updated the public spaces (bars, restaurants, lounges), replaced or renovated the restaurants, added more cabins (there are now 1,079 cabins of different categories), and updated the design of all the cabins: new furniture, bedding, new technology...

Want to smile? Celebrity cruise ships even have their own custom-designed mattresses! (And why not? A good night's sleep on a cruise is half a successful vacation.)

It's no surprise that now, in the fall of 2025, the ship's schedule is booked for years in advance, and people are buying cruises for 2026-2027. It will sail for another 10 to 20 years. (That's enough for my lifetime, as they say. If I'm lucky, we'll sail together again!)

And the sun has been rising and continues to rise.

Did you also notice that there's no one else on the deck early in the morning?

It's morning.

An amazing sunrise.

There are about two and a half thousand of us passengers on the ship. (Just think about that number of people: two and a half thousand!) ...

I'm the only one on deck!

I've heard many times that cruising isn't easy: there are a lot of people, you're constantly surrounded by people, and you're in the same "closed" space, albeit a huge one, for the entire cruise...

But here I am, lying on the top deck.

Alone.

And there's so much space around you if you walk the full circle of the deck... A whole ocean!

(And even during the day, you can always find a place to be alone if you want to.)

Without a book... without the internet (without the internet! sic)... in silence... to meet the sunrise...

(Oh, I liked this idea: showing my presence without taking a selfie. It's an age thing, my own face in a photo doesn't please me as much as it used to, so I'm adding a shadow here, or my feet there... Please bear with me, I'm doing this for myself, for the memories.)

This shot, I think, is the best of the series; my dad, the photographer, would definitely have liked it. A couple of other vacationers have joined me here.

People started arriving; the "walkers" appeared first. (That's what I call them. On every cruise, there's a group of people who need to get in a certain number of steps a day. There's a designated track for them on the upper deck.)

The cafe on the deck below is starting to fill up with people. The first breakfast... The emphasis is on the "first"! (I'm being ironic, of course. But at my own expense! I had many breakfasts there: first, second, and third! Just like everyone else...)

It's time for me to go.

Before I leave...

Did you notice how the color of the water changed with the sunrise?

We're sailing into Osaka...

So we've been walking and walking, and you still haven't asked me why the story's subtitle is "A Declaration of Love"—who am I (at my age) confessing my love to?! To life.

And also to the ocean... and to the ship... and to the people with whom fate has connected me.

My friends know my motto: "Life is beautiful!" And that's what I wanted to share with you.

Well, now it's really over; it's time for breakfast!

P.S.

The Global Grandma

Friday, November 14, 2025

A Sunrise, or A Declaration of Love. Celebrity Millennium cruise.

A Sunrise,

or

A Declaration of Love.

From the series: "Japan, or an American Retiree's Extreme Vacation"

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