Celebrity Eclipse Christmas Cruise – Live

[ken4556]

We board today for our family Christmas cruise with my parents, brother and sister-in-law. Since 2008, we have cruised mostly on HAL over Christmas. We decided to try Celebrity this year for a nine day cruise to the Labadee and the ABC islands. Our rooms are Concierge Class verandas on deck 10.

 

We arrived around 12:30 pm today. Check-in took less than 15 minutes and was very efficient and painless. Our room was ready, so after dropping off our bags in the room, we headed to the Oceanview Café for lunch. I was very impressed with the quality and variety. After lunch, we walked around the ship before returning to our rooms to unpack.

 

We are regular dinner at 6 pm and have a nice table by the window. Service and food were excellent. I could not believe the size of the prime rib they served (guess I have cruised HAL too much). We booked some excursions after dinner, walked through the shops, and then went to the show. The opening show was a ventriloquist, Ron Lucas, and a comedian, Ed Regine. Both were excellent and we laughed the whole show.

 

The ship is beautifully decorated for Christmas. Looking forward to a nice relaxing day at sea tomorrow (Saturday).

[TeaBag]

Thank you for taking time to post. Glad you are enjoying the Eclipse. I am looking forward to more posts and the differences you see when comparing to HAL.

[chemmo]

Thanks for taking the time to post on your holiday cruise. We will be on her for the first time later this year!

 

Can you let us know how you find the speciality restaurants if you visit. They have been a real highlight on our last few X cruises.

[Keith1010]

Have a wonderful cruise.

 

Look forward to fallowing your live reports.

 

Keith

[upwarduk]

Just wondering about the Christmas Day menu- turkey, or is that reserved for Thanksgiving?

[BartonX]

Happy Holidays and enjoy your cruise! Thank you for your precious time to post from the ship! If you might have any chance please post some pictures --> Christmas decoration :-)

[ken4556]

Some pictures from around the ship today.

 

 

Christmas decorations

 

My sister-in-law and brother's door decortations

 

Jim Kennedy's presentation this morning.

 

Pool area hopping today

[Ships R Great]

Looking forward to reading your posts. Can I ask One favor? Please note the martini prices if you run across them and post them? Thanks so much.

[ken4556]

Today was a relaxing day at sea.

 

I am not a breakfast person, so all I can tell you is second hand that breakfast was reported to be very good in the Oceanview Café. I spent about an hour walking and exploring the ship before heading to the 10:15 am presentation by Jim Kennedy on 50 Years of Space Exploration. This was the first of four presentation, one of each sea day. The presentation was very good and included some amazing pictures and stories.

 

We had a nice lunch, again in the Oceanview Café. The selection and quality is outstanding. After lunch, dad and I headed to a Captain’s Club event at 1:30 pm. Even though this is my first Celebrity Cruise, my Diamond status on Royal Caribbean translate into Elite status on-board. In addition to the daily Captain’s Club events, we each received coupons for free dry cleaning, 90 minutes free internet, specialty restaurant discounts, and three drink coupons for each evening. Pretty nice benefits that carry over from our cruises on Royal Caribbean. We all have a beverage package (came free when we booked the cruise) and have had no problem getting beverages, including cans of soda and specialty coffee at dinner.

 

I also walked through the shops this afternoon, they had watches on-sale. The consensus from the shoppers in our family (i.e. the ladies) is that the shops are very nice with a great selection. None of us gamble, so I am unable to report on how the donations are going at the casino.

 

I went to the Martini Bar before dinner. The bar tenders are a blast, great interaction with us passengers, and having fun mixing the drinks. The ice bar tops are really cool. The photographers were out in the atrium, taking pictures by the Christmas trees. Dinner was excellent, great selection and it was hard to decide (the shrimp scampi was very, very tasty).

 

We went to the production show Topper after dinner. The show is very unique and the singer, dancers, and acrobatic couple were excellent. The story is a little hard to follow at first, but it explained as the show progresses. The singers had great voices and could hold the notes, something you do not always get in the production show singers. The show was an hour long, a nice length compared to some 35-40 minute shows seen on NCL and HAL.

 

Tomorrow is Labadee.

[ken4556]

Sunday – Labadee

 

The weather was cloudy when we arrived, but the sun came out and the rain stayed away for most of day. We signed-up for the 10 am Dragan Zip Line. We suited-up and went to the little zip line before heading-up the mountain. You can bring your camera as long as you have a strap that will not let the camera fall. The ride is pretty awesome and we were by the Nellie’s Beach by 10:45 am. The crew for the zip line were great and always felt very safe.

 

We enjoyed Nellie’s Beach until it was time to meet mom and dad for lunch. With the three café’s, there was no line for lunch. The chicken and ribs were very taste. After lunch, we headed back to the beach and then rented a kayak for $15.00 for 30 minutes. You are limited in where you can kayak, but it is cheaper and shorter than the full tour they offer. (I did the kayak tour last April and it was very nice.)

 

We then walked through the shops by the local vendors. They have some nice wood pieces, but can be a very pushy for you to stop. The vendors can only sell in their little area, so no worries about them being on the beach bothering you.

 

With us being the only ship in, Labadee, it felt very uncrowded and we enjoyed a very nice day.

 

 

 

 

View of Labadee from our balcony

[chicagopaul]

Thank you for the nice live review! We were on the Eclipse last year for Christmas and New Years and wish we were there with you. Have a wonderful cruise! I look forward to following along.

[ken4556]

Sunday evening

 

Dinner was excellent, great service and food. We went to the main show, a vocalist named Colleen Williamson. While she a good singer, her show was a train wreck. She spend more time telling us about her than singing and her song selection made no sense, rhyme, or reason. After the show, we stayed for The Wedding Games. It was very funny and entertaining. Time for bed, clocks went ahead an hour tonight.

 

Someone asked about the Martini Bar pricing. Most Martini’s are $12.00 with the super specialty Martini’s are $14.00 and $18.00.

[texasgirl29]

So nice to see the Eclipse decked out for Christmas! Enjoying your review, we were on her this summer in the Baltics.

 

JoAnn

[chamima]

Thanks for taking all of us along on your cruise with you!

 

If you get a chance could you ask the cruise director, Richard Spacey, how long he'll be on the ship?

 

 

I heard he's really good and we'll be on in February so I'm hoping he'll still be there.

 

 

Thanks!

[Muushka]

We were on this cruise last year. Wish we were this year.:o

 

Have a wonderful cruise. Enjoy for all of us!:)

[ken4556]

Monday – At Sea

 

I enjoyed a lazy day at sea. The seas and winds limited the outside activities today. The waves are 10-12 feet, but ship is handling it beautifully with only gentle rocking. The cabin is quiet as a mouse, with no creeks or rattles.

 

I went to the second Jim Kennedy presentation this morning, the topic was on the space shuttle and the space station. The presentation was excellent. We then headed to the Oceanview Café for lunch. Again, excellent variety and very tasty. We took a nice nap this afternoon. I know that does not sound exciting, but felt very good especially with our clocks going ahead last night.

 

Dinner was very good, but we have not been too impressed with the dessert selection. They have some desserts they offer each night that are very tasty and that we have been ordering from each night. I mentioned this to the head waiter tonight when he stopped by asking how everything was. He asked what we would like for dessert. I said a triple chocolate or something like that. He told us he would arrange it for us tomorrow night for dessert! I was very impressed that he offered as I was not really complaining or asking for something special. The show tonight was excellent, featuring ventriloquist Ron Lucas. Great show with lots of laughs.

 

Tomorrow (Tuesday) we are in Aruba. No tours planned, going to do some Christmas shopping and walk around town.

[chrisaus]

Thanks for a great report:)

[YORKI1]

I am enjoying your posts and pictures, keep them coming. We are on the 10 January 2016 cruise, also deck 10, Concierge cabin 18. I am So excited.

[Tak8]

Enjoying your review. I'll be on The Eclipse next December for 10 days.

[Phxazzcruisers]

Thanks for your reports. We are boarding Eclipse on Sunday right after you return for the New Year sailing. I am very happy you are enjoying your cruise. Have a very happy holiday

[ken4556]

Here are some pictures for the show on Saturday called Toppers

 

 

 

Here are some more pictures of the Christmas decorations from the library.

 

 

 

Also, Richard Spacey and his side-kick Maartin leave on Jan 24th.

[ken4556]

Tuesday – Aruba

 

We just stayed in town today as we had to do some Christmas shopping. We found what we were looking for and then came back to the ship for lunch. I walked back into town to take some pictures of the ship and walked through the Renaissance hotel on the beach before heading back on-board.

 

The Carnival Sunshine finally docked about 3 pm. It had to abort its approach about before 2 pm and tried again with a couple of tugs. The beach snorkel trips are just leaving now at 4:15 pm.

 

Dinner was excellent, I highly recommend the BBQ Chicken and Mac and Cheese.

 

 

[ken4556]

The production show tonight was called Chandeller. The show was different, but thoroughly enjoyable. The music was mostly original with great costumes and acrobatics. After the show, they had the game show, Ultimate Liars Club, but I was too tired to stay. More Christmas displays of gingerbread houses went up today around the ship. I love the vibe on the ship, the best way to describe it is its alive. There is always something going on and always has a modern and up-beat feel to it.

 

Tomorrow (Wednesday), we are in Willemstad, Curacao.

 

 

 

[ken4556]

Wednesday – Curacao

 

Today I went and did one of the most amazing thing I have ever done. I went swimming with Dolphins. After orientation at the Dolphin Academy, they divided us in groups of six and assigned us to a trainer and two dolphins. After the trainers got the dolphins all set, we entering the water. We had to wear fins, but life jackets were optional. We were all able to shack hands with the fins of the dolphins, get a kiss on the check, and play some games with the dolphins. They also let the dolphins’ free swim with us, which meant the dolphins would just swim to us and would stay next to us as we rubbed them and they trusted us. After the swim and change of clothes, we checked out our pictures. No cameras are allowed during the dolphin swim, but they have a camera person taking photos with you and the dolphins. They have different packages, we chose the $80 package with included all our pictures on a USB drive. Also, the package was per family-group, not per person (unless, of course, you are by yourself).

 

When you book your tour, there is the tour where you swim with the dolphins or the tour called dolphin encounter. The dolphin encounter is where you stand on a platform and get a chance to pet the dolphins. This is great for younger children and for people who have limited mobility (as only climbing up and down stairs is required). This compares to the swim I did where you do need to tread water and swim while moving with the dolphins.

 

After arriving back to the ship, we went and had lunch. After lunch, we walked into town, stopping in the shops. The floating bridge was in operation as I used it to cross into town. The weather today was very nice, mostly sunny and again windy. The Carnival Breeze showed-up around 4:30 pm and waiting for us to leave at 6:00 pm and docked by 6:30 pm. The Aruba port website showed the Carnival Breeze arriving at 2 pm, not sure why it waiting for us to leave. I am not sure what tours were available or how many shops remained opened. It just seemed weird for them to dock so late.

 

Dinner was good, but the main entrees selection was not the best. My brother and dad had the fish, which they said had very little flavor. They then split a steak and the head waiter let us know that he advised the chief of the feedback on the fish. Desserts were excellent. The show tonight was a group singing the music of the Supremes. We decided to pass and wrap our Christmas presents after dinner.

 

Tomorrow we are in Bonaire. The Kayak and snorkeling tour I wanted to take was sold out, so I am going to play tomorrow by ear and see what I can find on shore in the morning.

 

 

 

 

[Grandmaanne7]

Thoroughly enjoying this. Thanks for sharing.

 

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