binro01

And for desert the chocolate soufflé and an Irish Coffee at Cage Al Bacio.

Not planning on doing Land and Sea lunch at Tuscan. Tomorrow is Le Petit Chef dinner for us.

The main today was the surf and turf for me!

My first and second course for Murano lunch. Seared Shrimp and Crab salad. j

Puerto Vallarta is our favorite port on this Itinerary. we did once again a side by side RZR excursion up into the rain forest early in the AM. Did this with Unique ATV and they have reasonable prices and keep you very safe as you wind through the city to the rain forest. It’s so much fun and I highly recommend it. Lunch in Oceanview Cafe was British Themed and I had the fish and chips. Best fish in chips I had at sea anywhere! The Oceanview cafe has been very good and varied this cruise. Pre dinner we went to the Passport bar. We find the table service there to be the quickest on the ship outside of El Bachio. dinner in the MDR was good to very good tonight. I had a chicken dish that was good but the French onion soup redeemed itself. Well made. Flavorful and deep. Desert was very good. I had the banana foster with a side of the pineapple sorbet. The amazing thing they did was gave our table a chefs selection that was off menu with a wonderful short rib on top of a polenta. the evening we went to the Broadway Cabaret and the production staff did a great job. 2 more sea days left! IMG_3490.mov

Ohh. And ohhh my! They are having their first Lunch at Murano on this ship since the restart!!! Here is the lunch menu! Doing it as a sea day lunch on a he second Gala night. IMG_3511.mov

So, yesterday was a lazy day. Wife and I worked on both our small business stuff, YouTube videography and volunteer commitments till about 4PM. We are not huge fans of Mazatlan so took advantage of a semi quiet ship. I guess many people feel the same about Mazatlan. Once we finished up we headed back to the room to get ready for a 545 dinner at Murano. Murano lived up to my expectations for a speciality restaurant. I started with the lobster bisque and had the lobster Murano. My wife had the loup de Mar. Both mains were delicious. I have heard some speak of not being offed a cheese plate but we were. The Matre’d at Murano treated us like royalty and we had a wonderful conversation for about 20 minutes. Drink service was great, bread service great. Our waiter was wonderful. We had an early excursion in Puerto Vallarta so decided to make it a quiet evening and head to head a little early because the ships clocks rolled toward to match port time. we had the 6 shot glass sampler for our desert at Murano (for two) sorry forgot to take a pic of that. It was so appealing we dug right in. We ate at the OceanView Cafe for lunch and I had a great Indian food lunch.

And for those who asked about the slots. Here is a hyper lapse short of all the slots in the casino in under 1 minute. I know I was able to spot my machines. But you can slow down the video if needed. Cruise Ship Casino Slots. Celebrity Eclipse. #cruise #cruiseship #slots #travel https://youtube.com/shorts/-AVZ4cb2n14?feature=share

Rock City production show’s first song. The show was entertaining.

The tender ride back to the ship. Some people hate them. I love them. No better way to see your ship.

Our water Taxi Driver in Cabo Francisco.

Ok time to catch up a bit. Day one in Cabi was more of a hunt for our final touches for our Halloween costume for the following day. We did a quick walk around the Marina Market where my wife got a nice beaded neck liner and I got a poncho for our day of the dead costumes. We also set up a water taxi ride to el Arco and lands end + lovers beach for some snorkeling for the following day. Did some work in the observation lounge for our small business and that was pretty much the day before we got back to the ship to get ready for dinner at Tuscan Grill. I know a lot of people rave about Tuscan. This was my first time to try it and I was like it’s OK. Steak was good. Not memorable. What’s with the weird steak sauce that’s more like cocktail sauce. The crab cake was mostly breading and the calamari was frozen and didn’t have any body pieces which I love. Just the ringed head portion. My wife calls them the squiggles and saves them for me. My wife had the Bronzino and she reported it as good. The lobster rigatoni was a little undercooked. Alfredo was mild and lacking a memorable flavor. The lobster was sparse but yummy. The sides were ok only. Do not get the eggplant parmigiana if you know what a good one is. the Spumoni Donuts lacked a pistachio flavor and were basically lead balloons. We make better Italian donuts at home (zeppole). Wife said the Tiramisu was very good. My Creamy Burrata salad was good too and the thing I enjoyed the most. We had an early night because we were just kinda tired and rather than forcing to stay awake we just retired early. The following day in Cabo we did our water taxi. Pro Tip Haggle that price. You can and should get them down to 10.00 per person. we had a great young man as our water taxi driver around lands end. we then went back to the ship and had some lunch, relaxed for a couple of hours and then get our makeup on for Halloween. We hosted a costume contest for the FB roll call of this sailing and handed out 3 medals after dinner in the MDR. Our MDR experience was better this time around. More flavor. Larger portions, quick service. We were out in 75 minutes. Also saw the production show Rock City before I took off my makeup and headed to the Craps table. I caught a cold table and play the dark side and made a good session for myself. When I play the dark side I keep quiet and collect my chips as people point seven out in rapid fire succession. I watch the table and play accordingly. When I first head to a table I play a hedge system till I choose a side. That should cover me now. Here is some picks from Tuscan on the 30th and MDR from the 31st plus a short video from Rock City.

One last one as we head to harbor!

I finished my breakfast so it was around 8:45AM. Temps were warm. We were about 3 hours away from Cabo.

Getting close to Cabo and Lands End.

No. I just added it to have a background track for YouTube. Very quiet and peaceful.

And here is a video of the beautiful pool deck in the morning.

So yesterday I had to recover from that first day over indulgence. So it was a quiet day. Took some video for my channel. But the big event for us was Chefs table. the dinner was fabulous and my very bland palette wife ate everything. I was very pleased. The wine stewed (I will not butcher the spelling of the French word for his job) did a great job with our premium package in parings. the standout was the duo of beef. The short rib was probably the best I have ever had in my life. The filet was cooked to perfection. I also really enjoyed the sea bass. but overall it was a work and recovery day for me. So not much in the way of entertainment or pool side antics. Maybe next sea day. here are some pics and a quick video of the pool deck. DJI_20231030_084847_525_video.mov

Neither does a sea day lunch. I’m using my Trio lunch with Sushi on Five.

Yesterday was a fun and hectic day. Got on the ship a little after 11:00 am. Pro tip. This was the order of embarkation at LA. Retreat, AquaClass, Blue Chip, Elite, Concierge Class and then everyone else. I was pleasantly surprised that they gave Concierge Ckass some benefit with boarding. I thought that was not a thing anymore. Even Aqua was surprising to me. Good job Celebrity if this is a new thing. after getting on board I head straight to Morano to get our dining arranged. Tonight we will be doing the Chef’s table. Tuscan tomorrow followed by Moranos on Nov 1st and then Le Petite Chef the last night of the cruise. We will also do a lunch at Sushi on 5 Indid over indulge a bit on my drink package. Not to the point of hung over but slower this morning than I would personally like to be. I’m usually up and at em by 630am. Today was around 7am the comedian last night was AJ Jamal and he was quite good. Very funny Concierge class lunch was good. Butternut squash soon was fantastic, wife said salmon was good and my short rib was good too. She loved the chocolate cake. Very moist but my hot apple pie needed to be well more hot. Friends of us said don’t get the chicken. A little dried out. Room looks great for the age of the ship and the balcony seems larger than normal. I just think older ships in general have larger balconies. weather has been in the low 70s and we will probably hit 80 once in Cabo Dinner at the MDR was ok. The Escargot was the winner for the evening. As well as the deserts. I had the strawberry jubilee and my wife had the molten chocolate cake. I had the Orzo, muscles were nice, shrimp good too. Flavorful. But they need to use real scallop not the mini baby ones. Wife’s Salmon was not as good as her concierge class salmon. Smaller. drinks were made well and overall we had a great first day. Met some great people. I love the cruise community. I think you can count the kids on this ship on one hand if anyone wanted to know Tomorrow I will take casino pics until tomorrow. Here are some pics from day 1 DJI_20231028_140017_083_video.mp4

Well that was a horrible trip into LA from Vacaville we were in pretty much continual traffic so this is just a short post. We went to an Italian dinner at a restaurant called La Bocca Felice. Food was OK. Little pricy for what it was but it is LA. Wife had Chicken Picatta and I had the carbonara. Wife thought the picatta was very good. I thought the carbonara was not typical I like meals true to the name. shrimp? Really? Had a great time with new friends at dinner and after we hung out for a bit in our room at the Crown Plaza. That’s a whole other discussion to come. Anyways. Heading to bed and boarding at 11 AM. Let the fun begin.

Ok. Here I lie in bed as I watch my wife do her last minute whirlwind scramble. Picture the Tasmanian devil. That’s what I have going on here while my bags are packed and by the door. She is now going through the shoes and jewelry she wants to bring along. My guess is she will plan on staying up the night and sleep the drive to Los Angeles from Utah. Getting on late night vacation schedule I hope! I like to hit the road early and get a good jump on the drive so I can get into Vacation mode at the hotel by 3pm and relax a few hours before dinner. We are planning a nice dinner with some people who will be cruising with us plus a coiple who won’t be on this one but on the Ascent with us in January. I will start posting a bunch of pics in earnest once we are on the road to get this party started. See you all tomorrow morning for our pre cruise stay in Los Angeles tomorrow evening!

Thanks. Getting a good night sleep soon.

Yea.. I'm kind of disappointed that they are not offering it next year, but my cruise plans are full right now. Maybe 2025 lets see what they announce next month.

Do you mind sharing what Cabin number you are in? I’m in a concierge cabin on Saturday on Eclipse as well.