First Ever cruise - celebrity eclipse

[JONESGL]

Hi All

 

My boyfriend and I are going on a celebrity cruise this Sunday to the southern Caribbean (our first ever cruise)!

 

- does anyone have any tips?

- any certain things to do in Barbados, Aruba, st Kitts, st marten, St Lucia, Bonaire, curacao?

- is the gym free?

 

Thanks

 

Gemma

[sanger727]

The gym is free, some fitness as classes r offered for free (yoga I think) and some for a fee (cycling, boot camp, etc).

 

It's a little late to be looking at things to do. Get on the ports of call board on cruisecritic ASAP. Your choices in port are a. Get off the ship and walk/taxi to do your own thing, b. Take a cruise ship excursion, or c. Take an independently run local excursion. I usually prefer to do a mix of a and c. In my experience independent excursions are cheaper and better than the ship excursions.

 

Can use the ports of call board and TripAdvisor to research things to do in port.

 

Main tip is to be aware of time changes. If you change time zone on the cruise, usually the ship will change time to local time but not always. Always have at least one watch set to ship time to be sure you don't miss the boat. Other than that, just have fun!

 

 

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[eleang]

Hi! We just came back from a cruise that included Aruba, St Kitts and Bonaire: Aruba - the beaches are beautiful, I would do a beach or catamaran tour, Bonaire is a very small island with not that good sand but excellent snorkeling and diving, we did a bus tour that included a few minutes at the end on a local beach, nothing special bit gave us a pretty good feeling of the island, the shops and town are close to the terminal and the island feels very safe I would venture walking on my own, St Kitts- we took a train that went around the island, interesting but too long, I wish I would have picked differently. We have been to St Marten several times in the past- the dock is walking or small boat ride from a very nice beach and town.

 

Gym is free but there are classes that do have a fee.

 

Have a great cruise !

 

 

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[jaydublax]

In St. Maartin take a taxi to Maho Beach. It's about 20 min and $8 each and that's where the airplanes land right over the beach. There's a bar and the schedule. It's pretty cool! Have fun, relax and keep an open mind.

 

 

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[Duanerice1]

You need to give us an idea of what you like to do. Even though this last cruise was repeat to all the islands I had already been to, I still looked at the Ports of Call board.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=5

 

This time in Barbados we rented a car and toured the island, it was a blast. We did the same on St marten a couple of cruises before. Otherwise I'd say hook up for a swim with the turtles in Barbados. The water is magnificent. St Kitts we booked a tour/snorkel tour and did 2 snorkeling spots and a beach for a couple of hours with Theneford Gray tours. Snorkeling was OK but we were spoiled by St John. But go to the ports of call board and read through. Many options that can still be booked.

 

As for the ship, we just got off a few weeks ago and loved it. The coffee place has free pastries all day, no need to buy coffee. But if you have a drink package all the coffee drinks are included.

 

Don't forget room service (most items free), not just for breakfast but lunch on sea days too. Sometimes you just want to sit on the balcony and enjoy a quiet lunch. Decent food too. Also room service for a port day breakfast is great too. Just make sure you use the door hanger menu and pick a delivery time that is early enough to give you time to eat (from past experience)

 

As for the gym, it is a nice set up but can be crowded. None of the classes are included for free. The only ones are really "sales" classes like "flatter stomach", etc. where they try and sell stuff. I think a stretching class was free early morning but that's about it. I did 2 spinning classes and they were good.

 

Hot tubs are really small and crowded. We'd wait until after dinner or show then hit the hot tubs. No one around and it was great. Back to the room to get dressed and head out for the night.

 

Have a blast.

[4774Papa]

Hi All

 

My boyfriend and I are going on a celebrity cruise this Sunday to the southern Caribbean (our first ever cruise)!

 

- does anyone have any tips?

- any certain things to do in Barbados, Aruba, st Kitts, st marten, St Lucia, Bonaire, curacao?

- is the gym free?

 

Thanks

 

Gemma

 

Gemma,

Join the roll call for the cruise and try to find private tours. Still, do some research on what there is to do for each port.

 

I sometimes use the private tour seller Viator as a way to check on what tours are available. The tours are usually cheaper than the ship's excursions. If you can't join a roll call tour, Viator has never let me down.

 

Go to Viator and find the cruise excursions for each port.

 

Some of these ports you can DIY, but you need to research first.

 

Like Barbados, we loved our island tour that included an orchard garden. We live on an island in Georgia and never do beach things, but you might want to do some beach things.

[davekathy]

Hi All

 

My boyfriend and I are going on a celebrity cruise this Sunday to the southern Caribbean (our first ever cruise)!

 

- does anyone have any tips?

- any certain things to do in Barbados, Aruba, st Kitts, st marten, St Lucia, Bonaire, curacao?

- is the gym free?

 

Thanks

 

Gemma

 

Welcome to CC. We did a fourteen night Caribbean Cruise on the Eclipse April 2016. We really like the Eclipse. The gym is free and opens at 6:00 AM every morning. For your itinerary as others have mentioned go to CCs Ports Of Call. A lot of good recommendations and suggestions. The only tip I have is enjoy your Cruise. Bon Voyage.

Edited January 4, 2017 by davekathy

[rogfam]

Gemma I am also on this cruise. There has been an active Roll Call the last year or so on CC that might be helpful to look at for tours and other info. Make sure to sign up for the Connections Party.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2140503&page=64

 

See you on board!

Glenn

Edited January 4, 2017 by rogfam

[OREO5]

Aruba - Trike Tours Aruba

Curacao - just walk around / take a taxi

Bonaire - just walk around / shopped market

Barbados - Calabeza Catamaran Tour

St. Lucia - Spencer's Island Tour

St. Kitts - tour with the cruise ship was called St.Kitts Catamaron Sail and Nevis Beach Getaway

St.Marteen - taxi to Orient Beach and then another taxi to Maho Beach

 

That is what we did back in Feb 2015 and we are sailing again on Feb 5th. Good luck and have an amazing trip!