Live: Experienced cruisers try Celebrity 14 day cruise to Antartica on the Eclipse

[vanislandcruisers]

Thanks again for taking us along on your Cruise...enjoyed your Pics and Comments!!!

[BlerkOne]

Some light reading now that you survived!

 

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/drake-passage-rough-sea-scn/index.html

 

 

[wirdswas]

I'll go in the middle of february and really enjoyed reading the articles. Thanks for posting!

 

Kind regards

Fanny

[cruiseerf]

Does anyone know who the Hotel Director currently is on the Eclipse????  Cheers!  

[jimbo5544]

5 hours ago, vanislandcruisers said:

Thanks again for taking us along on your Cruise...enjoyed your Pics and Comments!!!

Thanks for coming along

 

[jimbo5544]

4 hours ago, BlerkOne said:

Some light reading now that you survived!

 

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/drake-passage-rough-sea-scn/index.html

 

 

LOL, thanks for waiting to share it

 

[jimbo5544]

4 hours ago, BlerkOne said:

Some light reading now that you survived!

 

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/drake-passage-rough-sea-scn/index.html

 

 

Thanks for waiting before sending the link.  The captain did talk about the potential for the severity for risky weather, wind and seas.   For us, it was more wind than seas.  Normally we have no issues and have gone thru some hurricanes earlier this year on our attempt to get to and from Greenland.  Neither was a piece of cake, but no praying to any ceramic goddess was involved😁

[BlerkOne]

33 minutes ago, jimbo5544 said:

LOL, thanks for waiting to share it

 

I had more but didn't want to jinx you before the Falklands. Too many people miss them as it is.

 

 

[jimbo5544]

1 hour ago, BlerkOne said:

I had more but didn't want to jinx you before the Falklands. Too many people miss them as it is.

 

 

Was talking to the Cruise Director and he said ours was the only sailing to make it there for them this year and only 3 over the last 2 years.  Thanks for not jinxing…..we were on a fairly big negative roll.

[BlerkOne]

41 minutes ago, jimbo5544 said:

Was talking to the Cruise Director and he said ours was the only sailing to make it there for them this year and only 3 over the last 2 years.  Thanks for not jinxing…..we were on a fairly big negative roll.

Interesting. I know 2 Celebrity cruises made it last year and I was on one of them. I heard it was a 50-50 shot.

[jimbo5544]

10 hours ago, BlerkOne said:

Interesting. I know 2 Celebrity cruises made it last year and I was on one of them. I heard it was a 50-50 shot.

LOL, maybe he meant “his” or a little dramatic flair to impress us…

[BuckeyeMark]

I would be interested to know if you feel like you got "enough" Antartica on this trip. There has been talk of other lines that sail longer in Antartica etc.  Not trying to diss your cruise - it looked amazing and your photos were great. This is just a really different cruise - the sea days are the highlight! So, how do you feel about it? Did you see enough Antartica? You got what you wanted?

[KforKitty]

I did the same Eclipse cruise on the one prior to this and for me I saw enough of Antarctica to satisfy me.  The various destination enhancements talks were excellent and put what we were about to see in context.  We had good weather in Antarctic waters and were lucky to see many whales.  Less lucky in not being able to tender in the Falklands.

 

Catherine

 

 

[Oceangoer2]

I watched an episode on 60 minutes re 'whale watching in Antarctica'....so interesting!  They were onboard the Endeavor with many scientific Zodiac trips through the ocean.  Comprehensive examination of whale behaviour including how they do 'pregnancy tests' with crossbow.  Your pics are just what we saw in this show.  Those who can be there in person are some of the lucky few.  BTW...LOVE your pics...closest I'll be to the real thing.

[Oceangoer2]

56 minutes ago, Oceangoer2 said:

I watched an episode on 60 minutes re 'whale watching in Antarctica'....so interesting!  They were onboard the Endeavor with many scientific Zodiac trips through the ocean.  Comprehensive examination of whale behaviour including how they do 'pregnancy tests' with crossbow.  Your pics are just what we saw in this show.  Those who can be there in person are some of the lucky few.  BTW...LOVE your pics...closest I'll be to the real thing.

I erred.....this wasn't a 60 Minutes Program last night, but a follow up hour to it.

[jimbo5544]

6 hours ago, BuckeyeMark said:

I would be interested to know if you feel like you got "enough" Antartica on this trip. There has been talk of other lines that sail longer in Antartica etc.  Not trying to diss your cruise - it looked amazing and your photos were great. This is just a really different cruise - the sea days are the highlight! So, how do you feel about it? Did you see enough Antartica? You got what you wanted?

You ask tough questions.  For us, we got enough.  We understood going in that there were other options, much smaller ships that gave a much more (immersive shall we say) experience.  For several reasons, for us, this was the perfect fit.  If you (or anyone) really want to have that experience, and all that it entails (for us, some positive and some negative), than that is a different option.  

 

You actually sum up what our cruise was.  A trip to Antartica, with a cruise built around it.  I may be wrong, but I believe that is exactly what Celebrity was doing in building this type of trip.  No diss taken.  We had long conversations about what we really wanted and the plusses and minuses of both (actually 3) options.  

 

Would I do it again....not sure.  We are travel agents (retired from our other real jobs, but been doing this semi real time for good while) and we would def lead a group here.  That is a different question and answer though.  For me personally, I would do an exploration, but the better half has checked this box.  Hope this answer helps.

 

 

[jimbo5544]

6 hours ago, KforKitty said:

I did the same Eclipse cruise on the one prior to this and for me I saw enough of Antarctica to satisfy me.  The various destination enhancements talks were excellent and put what we were about to see in context.  We had good weather in Antarctic waters and were lucky to see many whales.  Less lucky in not being able to tender in the Falklands.

 

Catherine

 

 

Your weather this day was better than ours, but there was much discussion on the ship about you missing the Falklands.  

 

[jimbo5544]

5 hours ago, Oceangoer2 said:

I watched an episode on 60 minutes re 'whale watching in Antarctica'....so interesting!  They were onboard the Endeavor with many scientific Zodiac trips through the ocean.  Comprehensive examination of whale behaviour including how they do 'pregnancy tests' with crossbow.  Your pics are just what we saw in this show.  Those who can be there in person are some of the lucky few.  BTW...LOVE your pics...closest I'll be to the real thing.

The afternoon with the whales was a highlight that we will ALWAYS remember.  It was simply outstanding.  Some were so close, I could have thrown a snowball (well maybe a baseball) and be able to hit them they were so close.  They seemed to even be playing with us.  It gave you a feeling of being one with nature.  A little over the top, but it captures the essence.

[jimbo5544]

6 hours ago, KforKitty said:

I did the same Eclipse cruise on the one prior to this and for me I saw enough of Antarctica to satisfy me.  The various destination enhancements talks were excellent and put what we were about to see in context.  We had good weather in Antarctic waters and were lucky to see many whales.  Less lucky in not being able to tender in the Falklands.

 

Catherine

 

 

I totally agree about the talks.  A friend who did some commenting (a cruise critic friend, never actually met the person) on this review gave me the insight to go to these talks.  They were great.  

[jimbo5544]

Time to wrap this up.  As I normally do, I like to summarize our experience, not as breath taking as the live report or by any means the pictures, but for me, it puts a bow around the whole thing.

[jimbo5544]

The cruise itself.  This was a step out of our comfort zone, for many reasons.  We have never sailed Celebrity before (came close a couple times, but for reason that are not meaningful to you) so this was something different.  

 

In the past, we have sailed other lines, we are Diamond on Carnival (our kids get up on their ships) and have sailed Royal, MSC, NCL, Princess and Azamara.  I will talk on my feeling on this new part of our journey a little later.  

 

We chose this cruise and this line.  There were several options that fit for us, but we kept coming back to this cruise.  We were NOT disappointed.  It was exactly as billed.  It hit all the buttons and dotted all the I's and crossed all he T's.

 

[jimbo5544]

This is a not the longest air we have traveled to do a journey, but as we get older, the toll from the air travel gets heavier.  It was the downside going in and both ways having redeye's met that expectation.

 

While I did a little homework on Buenos Aires before the trip, we made a mistake.  We should have come in earlier and done two days to go over to the falls.  Our biggest mistake.  That said, the city is HUGE.  Blown away by its size, especially in regards to the emptiness that surrounds it.  Thirteen million people....WOW.  The time we spent there was great.  Never felt at risk, wish we had more time.  

[jimbo5544]

Are we sorry did the trip?  No way.  It met our expectation totally.  I would highly recommend all that are considering it to do it.  There are risks (mostly weather), but these risk are small compared to the awe we got to see.  If you are considering it.....do it.

[jimbo5544]

Next up, the ship itself.

[BuckeyeMark]

30 minutes ago, jimbo5544 said:

You ask tough questions.  For us, we got enough.  We understood going in that there were other options, much smaller ships that gave a much more (immersive shall we say) experience.  For several reasons, for us, this was the perfect fit.  If you (or anyone) really want to have that experience, and all that it entails (for us, some positive and some negative), than that is a different option.  

 

You actually sum up what our cruise was.  A trip to Antartica, with a cruise built around it.  I may be wrong, but I believe that is exactly what Celebrity was doing in building this type of trip.  No diss taken.  We had long conversations about what we really wanted and the plusses and minuses of both (actually 3) options.  

 

Would I do it again....not sure.  We are travel agents (retired from our other real jobs, but been doing this semi real time for good while) and we would def lead a group here.  That is a different question and answer though.  For me personally, I would do an exploration, but the better half has checked this box.  Hope this answer helps.

 

 

You've done a tremendous job here ... really good stuff and I appreciate your answer so much.  If you decide being a TA is not for you consider being a travel writer - you have what it takes!