LIVE!!!!! From the ECLIPSE 14night Southern Carib!! - CHICAGOPAUL -

[stinsowm]

I always enjoy following along your posts. Look forward to hearing all the details and photos/videos of your trip.

 

Walter

[Riverside500]

Thanks for doing this...we’re on the Jan 7 departure so very interested in your experiences

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[upwarduk]

Hope you enjoy your cruise, I will be following both here and on Instagram .

[chicagopaul]

We arrived at our hotel, the Four Seasons Miami at roughly 10:20/30. We had an early check in set up for guarantee by Noon. We had our room keys right away.

 

As mentioned we booked this through Amex. Not only do we have a $100 food and beverage credit but we also have breakfast tomorrow up to $64. We’re definitely happy with that and Amex platinum continues to justify their annual fee.

 

Again because we booked through Amex we received an upgraded room. It is basically the same sized room but with a much nicer view. See photos below.

 

 

 

 

 

The room as you can see is a little dated but it is very clean. The carpet seems new and the bedding is the excellent bedding you’d expect at a Four Seasons.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[chicagopaul]

Since we had our credit we decided to eat lunch at the hotel. Personally, I always have a drink at the hotel bar as soon as I arrive. I prefer hotel bars. Here there are multiple restaurants. We ate lunch at Bahia which overlooks the pool and has a nice water feature in the background. It’s a nice relaxing setting for a hotel that is in downtown Miami.

 

We really enjoyed the food and our drink. We both had a house Margarita on the rocks. We then had ceviche with Florida snapper (they were very generous with the fish), chips and salsa with guacamole, and then fish tacos. Overall it was very tasty and an excellent value for the quality of the food and an especially awesome value for it being a hotel restaurant.

 

 

 

Now, it is time for a little nap. We’re running on very little sleep. After our nap I think a pre-dinner drink will be in order.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[MauiGirl55]

Love reading your reviews! We are anxiously awaiting our return to Celebrity on the Eclipse 12/10. (I was on Celebrity's inaugural season to Bermuda many years ago).

 

We love to celebrate birthdays with a shot of Louis XIII-could you find out if they have this on board, and what the going rate is, please?

 

Enjoy your next 14 days!

[Josie2]

You haven’t even boarded and I can tell this is going to be a great review. Following.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[C 2 C]

See you onboard. We've already enjoyed the two weeks on Eclipse.

[woldridge]

Following, love your reviews. Have a great vacation.

[Lastdance]

I will be following too, even though the Caribbean is an old friend of mine. I will make contact on the Edge inaugural, but mostly for the new ship. However, I totally enjoy your reviews, so will be following and loving the story of your first time RS. May the sea greet you with calmness and the suite with refined elegance!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[chicagopaul]

I am looking forward to your next blog contribution. May I ask how you note price changes? I have never noticed significant drops in cruise prices for my sailings and always wondered if there was some sort of site that alerts you to price drops. Perhaps I should just be more diligent in checking Celebrity's site for this information. Thanks, Julie

 

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

 

Thank you for following along. A couple people asked me this question. We don't use any specific website for price alerts. There are a couple out there. They can't be mentioned here, but if you do some searching you might come across a "fishy" one. Most of the credit goes to my partner Edward. He would search the pricing daily. He'd text me from work about the changes. It would be the first thing he'd check on the weekend. For him, and partly for me, it almost became a game. Just trying to beat the system. We'd sometime get excited for a price drop but then by the time we finished with the booking on their site we'd realize it was more expensive then our current fair!

 

In addition to the "fishy" website I believe their are some TAs that offer price alerts. However, I think the problem could be that while the base price changes once you add in GO BEST (or GO BETTER) then you might not be saving. It also could be the reverse; the base price might not change but when you add the GO BEST you might notice the price for the Go Best dropped significantly.

 

At the end of the day, we do it the only fashioned way and just check it a lot. Sorry for the long winded response!

[chicagopaul]

Well I finally woke up from my nap! That was much needed. I'm currently sitting on a cushioned window ledge in our hotel room looking at the water and watching the planes come into the MIA (helping satisfy my inner avgeek).

 

Thank you to everyone who has commented and is following along! Wow, I am surprised with how many people have commented already. I love it!

 

I've made note of ALL the questions that have been asked and will do my best to find the answers for you and to give my opinion as well. I'm chuckling at the Louis XIII question because it is something talked about with some friends back home so it will most definitely be my pleasure to find out for you.

 

Our Hotel

 

We were just talking about where to go for dinner and we noticed that the steakhouse in our hotel, called EDGE, has a happy hour from 4 to 7 overnight. We might stop down there for drinks before dinner and a small bite. I'm mentioning that because it seems like a decent deal so if you're looking for a place in this area it might be worth checking out. I'll let you know my thoughts. From 4 to 7 they have 50% off specialty cocktails and 2 for 1 small plate specials. It turns out they also had a 3 course lunch special for $24. Maybe when we cruise on the EDGE we should eat at THE EDGE before? Ok, that was a bad joke. My apologies.

 

The Weather

 

The weather was beautiful earlier today and still is. It was in the upper 70s with a nice breeze. It felt wonderful. Right now there are very few clouds in the sky. Tomorrow the weather should be 79 degrees and perfectly sunny. A great day for sail away.

 

OK - Keep those questions coming! I'll get back to you as soon as I can and thank you all again for following along.

[krb1000]

Following.

Looking forward to your photos!

[burrma]

 

Excellent blog so far; really enjoy reading it. Thanks for doing this.

I also check “fishy” site often when deciding what last min. Cruise to take but have an awesome TA that monitors it and let’s me know when there’s even a $25. Reduction. On my Feb. 18 Eclipse one: just came down nearly $400. Which I was shocked at, just prior to final payment but you are right.... be careful you don’t lose any perks or SBC

Keep up the good work

[MauiGirl55]

"I'm chuckling at the Louis XIII question because it is something talked about with some friends back home so it will most definitely be my pleasure to find out for you."

 

 

Thanks, ChicagoPaul!!:D;):D

[Champagne Cruiser]

Following along!

[san diego spartan]

Hi Paul

 

Looking forward to following you on your sailing!!! We are actually boarding the Eclipse on the 10th, when you disembark. Love reading these reviews leading up to a cruise. Bon Voyage!!!

 

Devin 😊

 

Hi Paul - we too will be boarding when you disembark - will be watching for your live updates. I do have a question on how the dinner menus in the MDR work on a 11 night cruise (ours) - I know yours will be 14 nights - but if you can find out or know I'd be interested.

 

Also - any photos of the wine lists from the various bars and the specialty dining or MDR would be greatly appreciated!

 

Thanks!

 

Kristine

[vincesm]

Enjoying the review we will be at Four Seasons next week before our Celebrity Equinox cruise so following closely enjoy

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[az4ship]

I always enjoy your reviews. Following along. Have a blast

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[doug52]

"I'm chuckling at the Louis XIII question because it is something talked about with some friends back home so it will most definitely be my pleasure to find out for you."

 

 

Thanks, ChicagoPaul!!:D;):D

 

Following along, and I noticed this post. On our TA cruise last May on the Reflection, the Louis was kept at Cellar Masters and unfortunately I don't remember exactly what I paid, but it was around $200. But if your ship has a Cellar Masters you may want to check there first with the Sommelier as she stored it in her back room. It was fabulous btw, and a great way to use up some OBC. :D

 

Doug

[miched]

Love reading your reviews! We are anxiously awaiting our return to Celebrity on the Eclipse 12/10. (I was on Celebrity's inaugural season to Bermuda many years ago).

 

We love to celebrate birthdays with a shot of Louis XIII-could you find out if they have this on board, and what the going rate is, please?

 

Enjoy your next 14 days!

 

It is about $2900 for the bottle in the duty free shop.

 

Drink up 🍷🍹🍸🍺🍾🥃🥂🍻

[riclop]

Thanks for sharing.

[chamima]

Following along, and I noticed this post. On our TA cruise last May on the Reflection, the Louis was kept at Cellar Masters and unfortunately I don't remember exactly what I paid, but it was around $200. But if your ship has a Cellar Masters you may want to check there first with the Sommelier as she stored it in her back room. It was fabulous btw, and a great way to use up some OBC. :D

 

Doug

 

It was $200 two weeks ago on the Emerald Princess.

Celebrity is usually more expensive than Princess for liquor and wine so I would expect it to be slightly more.

[cruisewmn]

Thrilled to follow another live report from CHICAGOPAUL!

 

Enjoy the RS. We're hooked. We've sailed many different cruise lines from luxury to mass market. The RS on Celebrity combines upscale comfort/service with larger ship amenities. It's a fantastic suite with great perks.

 

Wishing you both a wonderful cruise!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[chicagopaul]

We had a wonderful dinner tonight at Edge within the Four Seasons. Here are the details in photos. We started with Happy Hour. Then moved to the 5 course outside on on the patio.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk