Detailed Photo Review of Celebrity Eclipse 14 Night Southern Caribbean Cruise 3/4/18

[deladane]

 

 

 

 

 

 

[deladane]

 

 

We stayed for about 15 minutes, then climbed back up the stairs to the jeeps. I am still quite disappointed that we missed out on the opportunity to swim here, but maybe someday I’ll be lucky enough to return here in the future. We left Arikok the same way we entered, then drove over to our next stop. On the way, we passed some pretty sites.

 

 

 

 

Our next stop was the natural bridge. Or should I say, the site formerly home to the natural bridge, since the bridge itself fell down over a decade ago. There is now a smaller bridge that formed next to where the original stood, and they have a huge mural showing what the bridge originally looked like.

 

[pghsteelerfan]

I'm still following along and really enjoying your review and beautiful pictures. I just feel so bad that the wind changed your plans and more than once. So I'm hoping that the wind doesn't spoil any more of your plans, but I'll stay tuned to find out. That reminds me so much of our cruise to the Western Caribbean in April 2014. In Cozumel, we spent the day at Nachi Cocum, which normally has calm and very clear/pretty water. Not that day...due to winds, it was a bluish/brown, just like Hilton Head, SC (color isn't is pretty since it's in their low country where a lot of rivers and back water get into the ocean). And the seaweed, it was everywhere (my hair, inside my swimsuit, inside DH's swim trunks). We missed out on snorkeling in Roatan at West Bay beach...water too rough because of wind. I was really looking forward to that because I've always heard there is great snorkeling there. For the 2nd half of our cruise, the upper outside decks were closed because of the winds. I know it's a safety issue, but I blame the wind. ;) Final *casualty* of that cruise...missing Grand Cayman. Reason? Strong winds and high swells, and the wind created those high swells. When you mention the wind causing cancellations of things you were looking forward to, I know the feeling. Always love your reviews and I'm really enjoying this one and looking forward to the rest.

[LisaLeone]

Dana, you sound like a very good sport with all the changes. While we know we can't control the weather, it certainly doesn't prevent some from complaining!

 

One of my worst was when my husband and I planned to renew our vows in Antigua on our 10th Anniversary. A hurricane had other plans and the port was skipped. I was so disappointed but lovely people bought champagne and the day was still a celebration. It comes down to choice and you seem to make the right ones!

Edited May 15, 2018 by LisaLeone

[Carried_Away]

Dana, thanks for sharing your review. I have been following along since you started and enjoying your trip vicariously. Your photos are beautiful, your writing is entertaining, and your formatting with the purple type makes your review so easy to read. I feel like I’ve learned a lot your destinations and activities, which is very helpful in planning my own cruises.

[deladane]

I'm still following along and really enjoying your review and beautiful pictures. I just feel so bad that the wind changed your plans and more than once. So I'm hoping that the wind doesn't spoil any more of your plans, but I'll stay tuned to find out. That reminds me so much of our cruise to the Western Caribbean in April 2014. In Cozumel, we spent the day at Nachi Cocum, which normally has calm and very clear/pretty water. Not that day...due to winds, it was a bluish/brown, just like Hilton Head, SC (color isn't is pretty since it's in their low country where a lot of rivers and back water get into the ocean). And the seaweed, it was everywhere (my hair, inside my swimsuit, inside DH's swim trunks). We missed out on snorkeling in Roatan at West Bay beach...water too rough because of wind. I was really looking forward to that because I've always heard there is great snorkeling there. For the 2nd half of our cruise, the upper outside decks were closed because of the winds. I know it's a safety issue, but I blame the wind. ;) Final *casualty* of that cruise...missing Grand Cayman. Reason? Strong winds and high swells, and the wind created those high swells. When you mention the wind causing cancellations of things you were looking forward to, I know the feeling. Always love your reviews and I'm really enjoying this one and looking forward to the rest.

 

Hi Holly! Glad to see you're still reading along :) It's crazy the impact that the wind can have on a Caribbean vacation... it was just as bad as if we had days of rain! Guess that just means we need a re-do cruise ;)

[deladane]

Dana, you sound like a very good sport with all the changes. While we know we can't control the weather, it certainly doesn't prevent some from complaining!

 

One of my worst was when my husband and I planned to renew our vows in Antigua on our 10th Anniversary. A hurricane had other plans and the port was skipped. I was so disappointed but lovely people bought champagne and the day was still a celebration. It comes down to choice and you seem to make the right ones!

 

Trust me, in the moment I was not a happy camper! But there's really nothing we can do about it and our vacation time is precious so there's no time to waste crying over something we can't change. That's horrible about your vow renewal! Did you get a re-do on a different port day? Or did you just do something that day on the ship? Either way, I hope it was a memorable and enjoyable day for you :)

[deladane]

Dana, thanks for sharing your review. I have been following along since you started and enjoying your trip vicariously. Your photos are beautiful, your writing is entertaining, and your formatting with the purple type makes your review so easy to read. I feel like I’ve learned a lot your destinations and activities, which is very helpful in planning my own cruises.

 

Thanks for following along! :)

[deladane]

Rocky told us the story of the natural bridge and how it fell down early in the morning when no tourists were around, so luckily no one was injured. A new natural bridge is starting to form, as you can see over Rocky’s right shoulder.

 

 

 

 

I know I look ridiculous, but just in case you didn’t believe me about the wind…

 

 

It took me a loooong time and a lot of ripped out hair to untangle my rats nest when we got back to the ship after the tour haha

 

Here is where the original natural bridge stood.

 

 

We walked around a little and explored the grounds. These rocks stacked on top of each other are said to bring good luck or something like that.

 

[deladane]

 

Too bad I wasn’t aiming my camera just a little more to the right! There were some serious waves crashing against the shore here!!

 

 

 

 

 

[dolllover]

We had so much wind in Aruba I lost my hat!! Could not find it anywhere. Had to buy a new one in the gift shop there since it was really hot too. I make the best of things as well when stuff gets cancelled. You are right vacation time is too precious to waste time moping about it.

[deladane]

There was a little gift shop with some food and restrooms, but I didn’t go inside.

 

 

Time to get back in the jeeps

 

 

Riding over to our next stop

 

 

 

Our next stop was the Bushiribana Gold Mill Ruins. Right now, it is the stone shell of a building, but originally, it was home to a gold mill that was designed to look like a fort so pirates would think this was protected land and not come ashore here and no one would know about the gold. Andrew explained that the original name of this island was Orouba which means “there was gold” but it later shortened to Aruba. We spent a few minutes climbing around inside the mill, but the guides said we needed to return quickly so we would have time to go to the beach.

 

 

[deladane]

 

 

 

 

 

[deladane]

 

 

 

 

 

[deladane]

By now, it was 12 noon, so we jumped back in the jeeps and sped off for the 20 minute ride to our last stop at the beach. Since this was added on as a replacement for our stop at the natural pool, I didn’t know where we were going. When we arrived, Rocky explained that this was Tres Trapi, a section of Malmok beach with a scenic view of the very clear water. He said we could stay here for 20 minutes, and then we would have lunch. I decided to just enjoy the views and take photos along the beach since 20 minutes was not really enough time to bother getting in the water, but DH did go swimming for a few minutes and said the water felt refreshing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[deladane]

 

 

 

When it was time to leave, we piled back in the jeeps for the short ride back to the ABC Tours office. The way Rocky had described it, I thought we were eating lunch at the beach, but instead, we were actually eating at their office. They have a restaurant set up along the side of the office with several long tables such that each jeep is set up at its own table to eat the lunch we selected earlier this morning. We were so dirty and sweaty at this point, and we didn’t really want to eat lunch at the office with a view of the parking lot, so we asked Andrew to drive us back to the cruise ship. Also, I thought lunch was included in the time of the tour, but it was now 1pm, when the tour was supposed to end, and we had not eaten yet and still had to get back to the ship. We needed time to shower and get ready for our afternoon tour so I really just wanted to get back to the ship at this point. Had we been eating on the beach as we thought, then we would have been fine with it, but at this point it just made more sense to skip the ‘free’ (pre-paid for with our tour price) lunch and go eat something even better back on the ship. No one else on our tour was from the ship, so it was no big deal for Andrew to drive us back now instead of after lunch.

 

Andrew drove us back to the port in our jeep, but he could only go as far as the security gate, so we had to walk another 10 minutes to get back to the ship. We were back on the ship by 1:30pm and went straight up to the Oceanview Café for lunch (after a brief stop at the rest rooms to wash up!). I apologize to anyone who had to look at me at this moment because I looked ridiculous. The extreme winds from the jeep tour really did crazy things to my hair and I desperately needed a shower, but that would take too much time and lunch would be over if I took care of that first, so I had no choice but to brave the buffet looking like a crazy person. At least it was worth it for a very tasty meal.

 

The ‘pizza of the day’ was kind of random today, with spinach, olives, feta cheese, and baby shrimp. I’ve never had shrimp on pizza, but it was surprisingly good! I also really liked the tortellini salad, shrimp salad, and mushrooms.

 

 

After lunch, a painful experience of removing all the knots from my hair, and an extremely long shower, we got ready for the second tour of the day. We were staying in Aruba overnight tonight, so we wanted to take advantage of it and book a sunset catamaran tour. Mi Dushi has a big 60-person catamaran docked in Palm Beach and they offer several options for daytime snorkeling tours plus this 2-hour evening tour. We did not plan to go into the water on this tour as we have a snorkeling tour scheduled for tomorrow morning, so we just dressed nicely in plain clothes. There was also the option to wear a bathing suit because the boat would anchor off the coast of one of the beaches and they have a rope swing if you want to jump in the water. The tour also includes “light snacks” (whatever that means!) and an open bar with cocktails, soda, juice, and rum punch. We had to meet the tour at 4:40pm at their dock in Palm Beach near the Marriott Hotel, and they do not include transportation from the cruise ship. We could have taken a taxi from the ship to the Marriott for $14 each way, but we wanted to save a little money and be adventurous, so we took the local bus. After exiting the cruise terminal area through the security gate, we continued walking up to the main street. Directly across the street is a little alley that opens up to a big parking lot and this is where you can catch the local bus. The bus system is called Arubus, and they have a very helpful website where I was able to find the maps and schedules for each route, so I knew we needed the L10 bus and it runs approximately every 15-20 minutes. We left the ship at 3pm and arrived at the bus stop just as they were loading the 3:15pm bus. The bus driver let us pay for our tickets on the bus, and he did take US dollars but he did not have any change in US currency. The bus costs $2.60 per person, each way, so we each paid $3 USD ended up with the equivalent of 40 cents in Aruban currency. We did not know this at the time, but there is also a place to buy a round trip bus card for $5 USD so that will save you a few cents and eliminate the currency issues, so we did that the next morning when we took the bus to our other tour. The bus is very clean, and it was interesting to see the mix of locals and tourists on the bus. I told the driver where we were going when I boarded the bus, so he was helpful about announcing each stop so we knew when to get off the bus. It was actually an interesting ride as the bus took us along Eagle Beach and then up towards Palm Beach so we got a good introduction to the hotels and touristy beaches in Aruba. In the high-rise section, the hotels were HUGE and reminded us of Las Vegas. It took about 15 minutes to reach the high-rise area and we got off the bus at the stop in front of the Marriott.

 

We weren’t exactly sure where to go to meet our tour since the directions just said to find their pier between the Marriott and Holiday Inn hotels. The first hurdle was figuring out how to get from the main road to the beach. After walking for a little while, we couldn’t find any cut-throughs to the beach so we eventually gave up and just walked through the main entrance of the Holiday Inn. Luckily no one seemed to mind. We got out to the beach and started walking in the direction of the Marriott, but wow, this hotel is huge! Just when we thought we got to the end of their property, there was another building that was still part of the Holiday Inn. When we finally did reach the end, it wasn’t hard to find the pier because the Mi Dushi boat was docked and very easy to spot. It has bright colors painted all over it and is clearly labeled so it’s always nice to know we found the spot we are looking for. I made sure to give us lots of time to get down here, not knowing how fast or reliable the bus would be and not knowing exactly where we needed to find the boat, but now we were 45 minutes early for the tour. We spent a few minutes walking around the beach near the Marriott, and oh my, was this place ever hopping! Maybe it’s because it is spring break time, but it was very crowded at this beach with hundreds of lounge chairs filled with people. It seemed like a vibrant, fun atmosphere but this beach was definitely not relaxing at all.

 

 

[deladane]

At around 4:15pm, we were tired of walking around the beach and wanted to get out of the sun. It was still 25 minutes before we were due to check in for our tour, but the boat was docked right there so we decided to walk down the pier and ask if we could sit on board a little early.

 

 

Like I said, the Mi Dushi boat is hard to miss!

 

Our notes said that the boat would be docked at the Hadicurari Pier. Unfortunately, this giant sign is located at the end of the pier, so you can’t easily see it from the beach.

 

Looking back towards the beach from the end of the pier

 

 

When we got there, one of the employees was starting to setup. He said it was too early to check in because the girls who did that process aren’t there yet, but he was nice enough to let us sit on the boat to get out of the sun. The boat is really big with 4 different levels of seating. Since we were not going swimming, I wanted to sit as far from the water as possible to avoid getting splashed or bumped into by people in wet bathing suits, so we went straight up to the top level. There were 2 long benches that could easily seat 4 people each, and the roof above it was lined with palm fronds for a little extra Caribbean flare.

 

At around 4:45pm ,the girls arrived from the office to start checking everyone in. They checked our names off their list, then asked us to sign a safety waiver and gave us each a wristband with a silver charm dangling from it. They told us they would collect the bracelets later (as if we would have wanted to keep it??), and that we should go sit and relax until everyone else was checked in. The boat was big enough to hold 60 passengers but there were only about 30 people on our tour, so we had plenty of room to spread out. DH and I spent most of the tour up on the top level, and another family of 4 sat up there with us. There was a group of around 10 college-aged kids who were likely on spring break. They were the only ones wearing bathing suits and they took over the front section of the boat. The rest of the passengers spread out in the middle section and the back section of the boat and everyone seemed very comfortable.

 

Promptly at 5pm, the check in girls came around and collected all of the plastic bracelets. I don’t exactly understand what the purpose was since we only had it for 15 minutes and they collected it before we left the dock. It was a bit weird, if you ask me! The girls left the boat and we were left with 3 guides for the remainder of the tour. They explained that we would sail out along the coast towards the north for about half an hour, then we would anchor off the shore of one of the beaches so we could go swimming and use the trapeze swing if we wanted to, and finally we would sail back south as the sun was setting. The tour was 2 hours long and we would be back at the pier by 7pm. There was a bathroom on the boat, and an open bar for the whole length of the tour. He pointed out a few safety things and then we were on our way!

 

Despite the strong winds, we had clear skies and it was a lovely evening for a sunset cruise.

 

[deladane]

Looking back towards the high rise hotels on Palm Beach

 

The best part of having such strong winds was that there were lots of wind surfers. It was amazing to watch them fly across the water… they were moving faster than us on the boat!

 

We climbed downstairs to the bar area to check out the situation. This guy stayed down there the whole tour, acting as the bartender. They had lots of different fruit juices and sodas and he mixed it with either rum or vodka. They also had a pre-made cocktail called Boom Boom. We tried that first, but neither of us liked it. I stuck with rum and pineapple juice for the rest of the tour. I was a little surprised to see that they did not serve beer, only rum and vodka, but I was okay with that. They also had a bowl of pretzels and tortilla chips and some salsa for us to snack on.

 

He served the drinks in small cups that were probably 8 ounces, so we had to make several trips down to the bar to get refills. At least the drinks were very strong!

 

At 5:30, we arrived at our destination and they dropped the anchor just off the shore of one of the beaches. They invited us to swing on the rope swing or go swimming if we wanted to, but only about half the people on the tour actually went in the water.

 

 

 

[deladane]

 

One of the guides helped people climb up onto the ledge and then he told them how to use the rope swing. Even though I didn’t go in the water, I had a lot of fun watching these crazy people try to use the swing, some more successfully than others!

 

 

 

Don’t mind my crazy hair and my dress blowing everywhere in this photo… the strong winds plagued us yet again!

 

 

This photo shows a good perspective of the seating on the boat. I was standing at the very front on the lowest level, then there are 2 middle levels, and you can see the top level at the back where we were sitting under the shade of the little roof. They also had cup holders near the seating around the whole boat. That must come in handy for the daytime tours so you have a place to put your cup if you want to go snorkeling.

 

[deladane]

At some point, the Jolly Pirates boat anchored next to us. I did consider their tour when I was looking at our options, but they required payment in full at the time of booking and I usually avoid that kind of tour in case the cruise ship doesn’t arrive in port or something. I was glad we booked with Mi Dushi when I saw how crowded the Jolly Pirates boat looked!

 

When we signed up for the tour, the description said it included light snacks. When I saw the pretzels and chips and salsa, I assumed that was our snacks, so imagine my surprise when the guides handed out warm chicken and veggie skewers, followed by cheese empanadas! Both were delicious, and while not quite filling enough to substitute for dinner, it was enough of a snack to hold us over.

 

It was hard to capture this as a photo, but this woman was swimming out past the buoys with her dog. They came up alongside our boat from the shore, and then kept swimming further out into the ocean. I assume she turned around eventually!

 

As the sun sank lower in the sky, the guides called everyone out of the water, pulled up the anchor, and we continued on our way.

 

 

They sailed further north along the coast, all the way to the tip near the lighthouse, then made a big U-turn to go back south.

 

 

The lighthouse in the distance

 

This boat looked like a lot of fun with the twisty slide off the back

[deladane]

We spent the rest of the tour slowly cruising south, watching the sun set and sipping fruity cocktails. Not a bad way to spend an evening in paradise!

 

 

 

 

 

I kept watching for the Green Flash as the sun dipped below the horizon, but no such luck. The boat docked back at the pier promptly at 7pm, marking the end of the tour. Overall, we were pleased with the tour. This was more of a booze cruise than a romantic sunset sail, but we knew that going in and we knew what to expect, so that was okay with us. It was nice that the boat was only half filled so we had lots of space to spread out, and the little snacks provided were unexpected and tasty. We would definitely book with Mi Dushi again, but maybe for a daytime tour instead next time.

 

Our original plan was to go out for dinner at one of the restaurants along the beach, but after eating a few chicken skewers and empanadas on the tour, neither of us was hungry. We wondered back towards the Marriott and went into their lobby to use their restrooms. While there, we noticed that they have free wifi for one hour! We were both getting tired and still feeling the effects of those fruity cocktails on the boat, so we lounged around in the hotel lobby and checked our emails and social media feeds for a while. As it got closer to our 60-minute time limit, neither of us was hungry yet for dinner so we decided to just head back to the ship instead of going out for dinner at the beach.

 

We asked one of the employees at the hotel front desk where we could catch the bus and she directed us to walk across the parking lot out to the main road, and we would find a bus shelter nearby. As we exited the hotel, we spotted a taxi looking for passengers so we asked what it would cost for a ride back to the cruise port. He said it was $14, so we decided to save a few dollars and just stuck with our plan to take the bus for $2.60 per person. When we got out to the main road, we stayed on the same side of the road as the hotel and turned left in search of a bus shelter. It was quite easy to spot at night because the shelter is well lit, and about 3 minutes after we arrived, a bus pulled up that was clearly labeled as going towards Oranjestad. I must say that the bus system in Aruba is very convenient, efficient, and surprisingly clean! The bus was at the end of its route and at the end of the day, yet it was still spotless!

 

 

I’m not sure if you can see it from the photo, but after you pay your fare to the bus driver, you pass through a turn style. When you need to get off the bus, you must exit at the back door because you can’t go back through the turn style in the wrong direction.

[deladane]

This is a photo of the bus schedule. Either of these bus routes will take you up towards Eagle Beach and Palm Beach.

 

 

This is not the greatest photo because I took it at night, but I just wanted to show you where to catch the bus. This photo was taken at the edge of the sidewalk, coming from the cruise ship. After you exit the gates to the cruise port, keep walking straight until you reach the main road. If you turn right, you will see this cross walk just a few feet ahead. Cross the street here, and you can buy a ticket from that white booth and then continue to the parking lot behind the booth to board the bus. It is very easy and a short walk from the cruise ships, plus it’s very affordable!

 

 

When we reached the cruise port, it was 8:30pm and there was a security guard sitting at the gate, ready to check our seapass cards. I think they had someone stationed here all night so we could come and go as we pleased. From there, it was another 5-10 minute walk to reach the gangway and reboard the Eclipse.

 

 

I still wasn’t very hungry, but it was getting late and I knew I should try to eat something for dinner. We could have gone to the MDR but I didn’t really want to deal with a long meal. Instead, we went up to the buffet and DH picked a few options from the Mexican food station while I got a made-to-order pasta dish.

 

 

I was so exhausted that I nearly fell asleep mid-meal, so when we finished eating, we just went back to the cabin and called it a night. When we arrived, we saw that Albertina had left us our disembarkation information.

 

 

 

I was way too tired to deal with reading that right now so I stuffed it in a drawer to worry about later in the week. I quickly filled out the breakfast room service door tag, then crawled into bed and fell asleep.

 

Step Tracker Daily Total: 12,436 steps; 4.703 miles

[Kiwis Afloat]

Thank you for this great review. I have been enjoying all of your photos and commentary. You two are a lovely couple! :)

[deladane]

Thank you for this great review. I have been enjoying all of your photos and commentary. You two are a lovely couple! :)

 

Thank you!

[deladane]

Day 15: Thursday, March 15 ~ Aruba Day 2

 

Our wonderful cruise was coming to an end, and today was our last port day. Since we docked in Aruba overnight, we didn’t have to wait to dock and for the ship to be cleared before getting off this morning. That was a good thing because we had our earliest start time of the entire cruise today! We booked a 3-hour champagne brunch snorkeling tour with Octopus Aruba, and we had to meet them by 8:30am at their beach hut up on Palm Beach. We wanted to take the bus again, but the bus only runs at certain times, plus time to walk there and to walk from the bus stop out to the beach, so we wanted to leave the ship by 7:30am. That wouldn’t be possible on any other day of the cruise because we always docked at 8am, so today was the perfect day to take this tour. The tour cost $60 USD per person, and they required a $10 per person deposit paid via PayPal with the balance paid in cash on the day of the tour. Here is a tour description from the Octopus Aruba website:

 

During our morning half day cruises we stop to explore two snorkeling destinations. The first is “The German Freighter” and the second is “Catalina Bay”.We sail to the famous Antilla shipwreck, home to millions of tropical sea dwellers. The Antilla, which sank more than 60 years ago, remains completely intact and is widely regarded as one of the best sunken shipwrecks in the Caribbean.The next stop is in shallow waters of Catalina Bay you will brush up on your snorkeling skills as you spot angel fish, damsel fish and more swimming around sea fans and coral. New to snorkeling? Not a problem! Your experienced captain and first mate will patiently work with you to make sure you have a safe and enjoyable experience. We provide a homemade breakfast of baked goods and open cocktail bar. And our delicious lunch features a fresh crusty French bread, topped with salad, cheese or meat.

 

 

 

 

We requested room service deliver our breakfast between 6:30 and 7am… the earliest time we needed for the whole cruise. It wasn’t even light outside when they knocked on the door to deliver our food! We ate inside the cabin while we finished getting ready, so no photos today of our breakfast with a pretty view in the background. We left the ship so early that the main terminal area wasn’t opened yet and we had to detour through the shops to get out. A short 10 minute walk later and we arrived at the bus station. Today we noticed there was a lady sitting in the ticket booth, so we were able to buy a roundtrip Arubus card which was valid for 2 trips and cost $5 USD. That was much more convenient than needing the exact change to pay for 2 one-way bus rides! I’m not sure if the ticket booth was opened yesterday and we just didn’t see it, or if it was closed when we arrived, but keep your eye out for it on the side of that white booth.