Live from Eclipse to the Canaries

What a great phone. We see them every crossing and I tell everyone about them

 

 

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There were hundreds this summer, however, I never managed to take a good photo :D.

.........Lovely evening in the Tuscan grill, hosted by Jamie Petts

We received an invitation, to dine in Tuscan at the Hotel Directors table, from Maila the captains club host when we returned to our room on Saturday night. What the criteria are I have no idea but we were very glad to be included and thoroughly enjoyed the evening.

We went as instructed to Michael's for 815 and were joined by three other couples. One couple from Missouri (USA), one couple from Birmingham (UK) and another like us in an a suite and from Hampshire (UK). Maila ably assisted by John brought us all to a table with drinks as we all introduced ourselves. Shortly Jamie arrived and escorted us to the senior officers table in Tuscan with a brief pause for a group photo at entrance.

The food was good as was the company and conversation. At one point in evening Jamie did mention the photo of the flying fish I posted a few days ago, so he definatley is reading these boards. After a lovely meal which was finished with coffee and lemoncello we were given a photo and the ladies a rose. Lovely evening thankyou Maila and Jamie.

The photo and rose are lovely mementos of a special evening. So glad you enjoyed.

Like you we had a very special time on the Eclipse this year (both cruises)! Jamie, if you are reading, you know who we are....our sincere thanks again to yourself, Captains Leo and Michael, John and Maila...Our big worry now is if our next cruise (Reflection in March) will be a comedown!

If someone asked us how Celebrity could make the suite life even sweeter we would be pushed to come up with any suggestions....It is important that officers like Jamie follow CC. They can clearly read the events that make a cruise 'very special' and learn from the odd hiccup that occurs and sort for the future.

Groryjm....thanks for your posts, we have thoroughly enjoyed following! Glad it isn't just us that enjoys all aspects of the very sweet, suite life!

Entertaining Vigo this morning there was what I thought was merely low cloud. It was in fact forest fires being fanned by the winds left over from Ophelia. In his announcement this morning the captain said all X tours were going ahead but warned that if you are exploring independently then you should not venture out beyond the city limit.

We headed for the "Rua da Ostras" and had some excellent tapas, but no oysters, for lunch. The old city is only ten minutes walk from the dock,but up hill . Some sangria aided are return to the ship.

After another excellent dinner at Luminae we headed up to watch the last glass show of the cruise. The finish for our dinner was Kevin, our brilliant waiter, pouring burning rum over my chocolate bomb (a desert not to be missed). These Hot Glass Shows are well worth watching and I would recommend them to anyone cruising on Equinox, Solstice or Eclipse. Our next cruise and probably the one after that will be on Silhouette so this will be our last chance to see the show for a while.

They Auction off seven of the best pieces made during the cruise on the last sea day but unfortunately we will miss that due to something that John has arranged for the same time. More of which later. This last show was a little chilly due to our return to the colder north and a little rocky in the wake of Ophelia. The dedicated few watched wrapped in blankets and towards the end of the show the Artists announced a raffle of a couple of pieces made during the cruise. Lucy my dw had admired a fish sculpted early on in the cruise and was saddened not to be in with a chance of bidding for it at the auction. This was one of the works they chose to raffle......... and Lucy won it :):D:champagne-toast:

Lovely day in Tenerife today where we took a 4X4 tour to the mountains. Today was a national holiday on the island which made it rather crowded with locals . It would be nice if X anticipate these things when sorting their itineraries, not that it was to bad as we were the only cruise ship in dock it just meant all the tourist attractions were busy.

 

No big show tonight just a singer so we opted for the hot glass show at 8 O'Clock.

 

We are on the Eclipse early January. Have they improved the seating for the corning glass show? Last time we were on the Eclipse it was hard wooden backless benches. Very uncomfortable, we had to leave as our backs were killing us.

We are on the Eclipse early January. Have they improved the seating for the corning glass show? Last time we were on the Eclipse it was hard wooden backless benches. Very uncomfortable, we had to leave as our backs were killing us.

I agree the seating is not the best for a two hour show, and I believe the same on all three ships. But the show is spectacular. Perhaps celebrity might think about providing cushions like they do blankets when its cold?

I agree the seating is not the best for a two hour show, and I believe the same on all three ships. But the show is spectacular. Perhaps celebrity might think about providing cushions like they do blankets when its cold?

Will not see the show. My back more important then the show.

Last sea day and nearly home. Seas have had a little wobble but nothing too bad. I think having been on board for nearly 8 days before any heavy weather has given us a chance to acclimatise.

Late up so late breakfast in the Oceanview. A little busy but too much so.... No one on the back deck though. We stopped at Michael's for a coffee on the way back to the cabin and Jamie popped in to say hello. He keeps surprising me by mentioning bits of my posts so I will have to be careful what I say........ or not ;)

We spoke about the demographics of this cruise and I have to say that one thing I have been surprised about is the behaviour of some our fellow guests. It has been quite an education to see my fellow Brits in a new light o)

The average age on this cruise is 70 where as last cruise was 52 and the next one is likely to be younger still due to the British half-term. To give you an example when you see the occasional wheel chair bound person struggling for the lift then everyone seems to try and help. On this cruise however a very large number of people have wheelchairs, mobility scooters or wheeled walkers. I would say hundreds and many of those folk with out seem to barge in and out of the lifts with no care. I spoke to one lady who had been up and down three times without being able to get out at her floor.

Another example is the way people snag the best seats at Cafe al Bacio and around the balconies over looking through grand foyer in the morning and plant themselves for the day. The same thing being true in the Ensemble Lounge and other venues around the ship. This does not worry us as we have Michael's but I'm sure it would if we didn't.

I have also noticed that the library and games rooms are full most of the time but in contrast that team earth and ilounge are empty more often than not.

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After our last lunch in Luminae, which yet again was lovely, particularly the seafood brochette. We headed back to our room to get our passports and headed for the deck ten forward elevators.

The wonderful John had sorted a bridge tour for some of his guests.

The best viewing point of the ship

No big show tonight just a singer so we opted for the hot glass show at 8 O'Clock.

Do you know who the artists were from the Corning Museum of Glass? Four weeks ago, it was Eli Applebaum, Logan Brooks and Lauren Hunt, but they change very quickly.

Like you, we won a beautiful piece in the raffle. One the other pieces went for USD 1000 in the auction!

The bridge tour was great and with only 11 of us it was not crowded or rushed. During our time on the bridge Captain Michael joined us...

It was interesting to see the broken bottle from her launch, something I have not seen before. I wonder how they managed to preserve all the bits. Did they fish them out of the sea?

Do you know who the artists were from the Corning Museum of Glass? Four weeks ago, it was Eli Applebaum, Logan Brooks and Lauren Hunt, but they change very quickly.

 

Like you, we won a beautiful piece in the raffle. One the other pieces went for USD 1000 in the auction!

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The same three but one of the boys leaves at the end of this cruise

We'd been toid that Helen Tegeler was replacing Lauren Hunt as of the end of September. Maybe she didn't like it.

We spoke about the demographics of this cruise and I have to say that one thing I have been surprised about is the behaviour of some our fellow guests. It has been quite an education to see my fellow Brits in a new light o)

 

...... To give you an example when you see the occasional wheel chair bound person struggling for the lift then everyone seems to try and help. On this cruise however a very large number of people have wheelchairs, mobility scooters or wheeled walkers. I would say hundreds and many of those folk with out seem to barge in and out of the lifts with no care. I spoke to one lady who had been up and down three times without being able to get out at her floor.

I have enjoyed reading your observations so thank you. I found the above quite depressing however. Shortly we take our first cruise out of Southampton (with Royal Caribbean) and I will be interested to see if we witness the same amount of thoughtless behaviour. I hope not.

It was interesting to see the broken bottle from her launch, something I have not seen before.

Agreed. I have also enjoyed reading your observations, and seeing the photographs especially.

In sharp contrast, I'm subscribed to another Eclipse thread where over seven hundred posts (none of them interesting!) were made before the cruise in question began, but we only met two people from the thread on the entire cruise. I get the impression that a lot of these "cruisers" never actually set foot aboard a ship.

We'd been toid that Helen Tegeler was replacing Lauren Hunt as of the end of September. Maybe she didn't like it.

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Sincere thanks for allowing us to enjoy your cruise with you! Having recently disembarked it was so nice to see that others were also enjoying the high level quality of service that made our experiences so valued. Suite cruising is about so much more than the room...

Re the earlier comments re lifts, accessibility....we did find most guests to be supportive when I did need to use my wheelchair. We also tried to do 'our bit' by going down early for Muster and avoiding the 'hot spots' of the start of first seating for dinner and theatre start times....

Thanks again....

Thanks for passing my message to Kay in Michaels Club. She messaged me today and was so pleased. We will be sailing on the Silhouette from Southampton September 2018 and will be interested to see the differences as we have always sailed from Miami or Fort Lauderdale in the past, enjoy the rest of your cruise.

Thanks for passing my message to Kay in Michaels Club. She messaged me today and was so pleased. We will be sailing on the Silhouette from Southampton September 2018 and will be interested to see the differences as we have always sailed from Miami or Fort Lauderdale in the past, enjoy the rest of your cruise.

Which one on Silly? We're doing the Fjords on 1st Sept 2018.

Last Night so after packing the cases :( we went for a last drink in Michael's then last dinner in Luminae then the final show.

The show was Euphoria and to be honest I don't like cirque du soleil but this show though billed as like was its own unique piece an I loved it. so out of 4 shows I loved them all

I will finish this tomorrow but not until we are back in good old Blighty

Home..........

When the packing is done I will put a few last thoughts about our cruise here but give me a day to settle.....

Which one on Silly? We're doing the Fjords on 1st Sept 2018.

We are doing the Canaries, September 23rd