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


deladane
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Dana,

 

Looking forward to your review as I have read your Paul Gauguin review more than once as we get ready to board PG in a couple of months on their Cook Island cruise. You provided some very useful info that helped me plan that trip,. And, like you we are following up French Polynesia with a Caribbean cruise next year, although on the new Edge on back to back cruises.

 

Unfortunately, only one common port, but I look forward to reading your review anyway as we do want to hit the ABC islands eventually and we love Celebrity although PG may spoil us.

 

Thanks for your review,

 

Doug

 

Hi Doug,

Great to see you over here. Looks like we have similar taste in vacations! The Edge looks beautiful... how amazing that you'll be on for a B2B!! I hope this review can keep you entertained until it's time for your PG cruise, and you should come back and write a review of your own! hehe

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We were on this cruise and on the roll call. We met more nice people on this trip than on any cruise so far it was a great time!

 

Hi Steve,

I agree, we had a great roll call and it was very active which makes for a fun cruise :)

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Day 1: Thursday, March 1 ~ Flying to Florida

 

Nearly 2 years after originally booking this cruise, it was finally time to get this vacation started! After a full day of work, we loaded up our suitcases into the car and drove the 40 miles up towards SFO. We much prefer flying out of San Jose where the airport is smaller and much closer to home, but JetBlue only flies direct from San Francisco to Ft. Lauderdale so it made more sense to drive up to SFO for the convenience of a direct flight. Rush hour traffic in the Bay Area is out of control, but what made it even worse was that after a very dry and rain-free winter, it was raining today so the roads were a mess. Just our luck! On the bright side, at least we could take advantage of the HOV lanes to get us up there a little faster.

 

Before going to the airport, we stopped for dinner at The Counter. For those who don’t know, The Counter is a chain restaurant with many locations in California, plus a few scattered across the country. They give you a piece of paper with tons of options for burgers and toppings and you can create your own burger or salad. It’s a fun concept and we wanted something fairly healthy before indulging on the cruise ship. I opted for a bison burger on a salad.

 

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Bellies full, we made our way up to SFO. Amazingly, there was no line to check our shared big suitcase, and it weighed in at exactly 49.8 pounds! I definitely know how to maximize my packing hehe There was also no line at security, so we breezed through and even got to leave our shoes on! We still had 2 hours to go before boarding our flight, but the time passed quickly. We thought it was ironic that our gate number was A11A and we were going to Miami and would be on A1A.

 

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Warning: Rant Ahead. Did you know that JetBlue changed how they board the plane? I always sit in row 15 or 21 (depending on if my plane has 25 or 30 rows) so I can be one of the first sets of rows called to board the plane. They used to call rows 21-25 to board first, but that’s too close to the bathrooms for me. The next group they called was rows 15-20 so by sitting in row 15, I was further forward and could deplane faster but still board early enough to ensure overhead storage space was available. Anyway, at some point since I last flew on JetBlue 9 months ago, they changed their policy. They now assign everyone a boarding group- A for people who upgrade to even more space seats, and B through E for everyone else. The group is assigned to you randomly at check in and there is no explainable or predictable logic to it. In theory, they don’t want 5 rows of people boarding at the same time because you have to wait for the person sitting next to you or behind you to put their luggage up in the bin before you can do it, which slows down the process. Fair enough. They now group people together from different rows throughout the plane, so in theory, someone in row 7, 15, and 23 can all put their suitcase in the overhead bin at the same time. The problem is, the aisles are too narrow for people to pass to the back of the plane so if the person in row 7 boards first, the people in rows 15 and 23 need to wait to proceed down the aisle. On top of that, not everyone in the same row gets the same boarding zone. DH and I booked our flights separately using rewards points from our credit cards, so our reservations were not linked. At the time we bought our tickets, this was not an issue since we picked our seats next to each other as we always do. Well after we checked in, I was assigned group B but DH was assigned group C. Ummm, ok?? So now I can’t board the plane with my husband? JetBlue’s answer to this dilemma is that we can board together in the latter of the 2 groups. Who would ever agree to that?! Why would I want to board later and risk having to gate check my bag?? I purposely picked a row towards the back of the plane to guarantee overhead space and now there is no reward for those less desirable seats. On top of that, DH and I were literally the FIRST people to book seats on this plane. We booked this cruise 2 years in advance, long before flights opened up, and we have limited options to fly direct from the Bay Area to South Florida, so we booked the flights as soon as they were released. You would think they could at least reward people who booked first with a B boarding group, but nope! I have happily flown with JetBlue for nearly 20 years, but this new boarding structure may change that. Ok, sorry for the rant, but that was a disappointing way to start the trip.

 

In the end, we boarded separately with our assigned groups and both found overhead space for our bags. Those boarding in groups D and E were not so lucky and did have to gate check their bags. The plane was late arriving to SFO, so it took off 45 minutes late, just a few minutes before midnight, during a heavy downpour. Luckily, we were in no rush to get anywhere on Friday morning anyway so the delay did not affect us. I will end this post here and pick up after midnight with Day 2 of our journey.

 

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Enjoying your post and photos! Can't wait to see your review and comments about Woodwind in Bonaire. We are on a So. Caribbean cruise on the Silhouette in November, and already have our day booked with them. :cool:

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Dana,

 

I've been looking forward to this one since you mentioned it in your PG review! I think you know that the southern Caribbean is my favorite itinerary and while we've been to some of the ports, many of the others we haven't visited but they are ones we'd love to get to in the future (especially the ABC's). I love reading about ports we've been too and always enjoy getting a preview of ports we have yet to visit. Sorry to hear that JB has changed their boarding. We're flying Southwest to New Orleans in a couple months to celebrate a friend's birthday. I think their boarding is first come, first serve. We did pay the $15.00 extra, per ticket, to get priority boarding. We've never flown SW, so we'll see how it goes. I did have to tell you that I got the Olympus Tough TG5 and also got the fisheye lens for it...now I need a cruise so I can try it out for underwater pictures. Thank you for taking the time to do another review...I remember reading your Victory review from 2010 and have enjoyed all of your reviews since, and am really looking forward to following along on this one.

 

Holly

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Dana,

 

I'm looking forward to follow this review of your Eclipse trip after a detour to read your PG review. Your PG review with all of the pictures was great, but just one question. In many of your snorkeling pictures, it looked like your mask was fogged. Do you use any kind of anti-fog liquid on your lenses? If not, I think it would make your snorkeling even more enjoyable.

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Day 1: Thursday, March 1 ~ Flying to Florida

 

Nearly 2 years after originally booking this cruise, it was finally time to get this vacation started! After a full day of work, we loaded up our suitcases into the car and drove the 40 miles up towards SFO. We much prefer flying out of San Jose where the airport is smaller and much closer to home, but JetBlue only flies direct from San Francisco to Ft. Lauderdale so it made more sense to drive up to SFO for the convenience of a direct flight. Rush hour traffic in the Bay Area is out of control, but what made it even worse was that after a very dry and rain-free winter, it was raining today so the roads were a mess. Just our luck! On the bright side, at least we could take advantage of the HOV lanes to get us up there a little faster.

 

 

Hi Neighbor - We live in Sunnyvale so often try to fly out of SJC also. A couple of years ago I found that it was cheaper and faster for us to use Lyft or Uber for either SJC or SFO if we are gone for more than 3 days. Last trip it was $44 to SFO and $20 to SJC.

 

They have a relatively new feature where you can book your ride in advance which is especially helpful for an early morning flight. So far the drivers have always been here 5 minutes before scheduled time.

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Enjoying your post and photos! Can't wait to see your review and comments about Woodwind in Bonaire. We are on a So. Caribbean cruise on the Silhouette in November, and already have our day booked with them. :cool:

 

Thanks for reading along. It may take me a while to get to our day in Bonaire since it was day 12 of the trip, but I'll get there soon enough :cool:

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Dana, just found this today and am settling in for another of your great reviews!

Keep the stellar photos coming!

Norris

 

Hi Norris! So glad you found my review. It's taking a while to get everything sorted out but I promise to post lots more photos ASAP ;p

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Dana,

 

I've been looking forward to this one since you mentioned it in your PG review! I think you know that the southern Caribbean is my favorite itinerary and while we've been to some of the ports, many of the others we haven't visited but they are ones we'd love to get to in the future (especially the ABC's). I love reading about ports we've been too and always enjoy getting a preview of ports we have yet to visit. Sorry to hear that JB has changed their boarding. We're flying Southwest to New Orleans in a couple months to celebrate a friend's birthday. I think their boarding is first come, first serve. We did pay the $15.00 extra, per ticket, to get priority boarding. We've never flown SW, so we'll see how it goes. I did have to tell you that I got the Olympus Tough TG5 and also got the fisheye lens for it...now I need a cruise so I can try it out for underwater pictures. Thank you for taking the time to do another review...I remember reading your Victory review from 2010 and have enjoyed all of your reviews since, and am really looking forward to following along on this one.

 

Holly

 

Hi Holly,

So glad you found my review :) The ABC's were definitely a highlight for us, but of course you'll have to wait a little longer to get the details since that was week 2 of the trip hehe We actually fly Southwest a lot since we live in CA and they have direct flights from San Jose to many of the places we visit (DH's brother in LA, DH's parents in Phoenix, and we have been to San Diego, Seattle, Las Vegas, and will fly them to Chicago for Memorial Day Weekend). The stress of checking in for those flights exactly 24 hours in advance isn't ideal, but you can't beat their prices, especially for short distances flights on the West Coast, and it's convenient that you can check up to 2 bags per person for free. Just a word of advice- when you pick your seats on the plane, try not to sit in the first 3 rows because if someone with mobility issues boards after you, you can be asked to move and then you'll end up at the back of the plane. DH had that happen to him once and we learned a valuable lesson haha

 

And that's great that you got the fisheye lens! You will love using it, so I guess that's a good excuse to book your next cruise!! I think Olympus owes me a commission ;)

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Dana,

 

I'm looking forward to follow this review of your Eclipse trip after a detour to read your PG review. Your PG review with all of the pictures was great, but just one question. In many of your snorkeling pictures, it looked like your mask was fogged. Do you use any kind of anti-fog liquid on your lenses? If not, I think it would make your snorkeling even more enjoyable.

 

It's funny, I never knew how fogged my goggles were until I looked at my photos afterwards haha I always heard that if you spit on the lenses, that will prevent fogging, so that's what I usually do but somehow I don't think it works that well. I noticed it on this cruise too. I have seen the antifog drops at sporting goods stores but never thought to buy it- guess I should for the next cruise :confused:

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Hi Neighbor - We live in Sunnyvale so often try to fly out of SJC also. A couple of years ago I found that it was cheaper and faster for us to use Lyft or Uber for either SJC or SFO if we are gone for more than 3 days. Last trip it was $44 to SFO and $20 to SJC.

 

They have a relatively new feature where you can book your ride in advance which is especially helpful for an early morning flight. So far the drivers have always been here 5 minutes before scheduled time.

 

Wow, $44 for an Uber to SFO is great! My parents took an Uber from our house in South San Jose to SFO in August and it cost nearly $100. We usually pay about $20 to get to SJC. Maybe we'll check out the pre-booking feature for our next trip since we have a very early flight to Chicago over Memorial Day weekend.

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On our November Eclipse cruise she was a guest entertainer.

Great voice.

 

Oooh, ok, nope I don't think she was on our cruise. The two female solo guest entertainers were Jeri Sager and Savannah something (I can't remember her last name off hand but I'll mention it when I get to that day of the cruise). Both were great (as were all of the live musicians we saw on board!!)

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It's funny, I never knew how fogged my goggles were until I looked at my photos afterwards haha I always heard that if you spit on the lenses, that will prevent fogging, so that's what I usually do but somehow I don't think it works that well. I noticed it on this cruise too. I have seen the antifog drops at sporting goods stores but never thought to buy it- guess I should for the next cruise :confused:

 

 

Any scuba or dive shop will have the ant-fog drops. I think you also mentioned wearing contacts in one of your PG posts. Since you are doing a lot of snorkeling on vacation, you may want to purchase your own mask with prescription lens in the mask. You can find them for about $60 and you won't have to worry about your contacts. If you're in Fort Lauderdale before your next cruise there's a large dive shop next to Bass Pro Shops where they can assemble your mask with the correct lenses (bring your prescription) or you can order them online.

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Jane Curry is phenomenal!

 

 

We were on B2B in February and she performs every other cruise.

We had her on the second (Feb. 18 - March 4) so she probably wasn't on this cruise.

She's really talented. She's a singer with a great sense of humor. We've heard a lot of her jokes before but her delivery is so great that we laughed anyways. And her energy is UNBELIEVABLE!!!

Eddy had her participating in lots of extra stuff (Liars Club, Married Game show (not the real name ) and an extra performance with another comedian) and ALL were packed!!!!

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We were on B2B in February and she performs every other cruise.

We had her on the second (Feb. 18 - March 4) so she probably wasn't on this cruise.

She's really talented. She's a singer with a great sense of humor. We've heard a lot of her jokes before but her delivery is so great that we laughed anyways. And her energy is UNBELIEVABLE!!!

Eddy had her participating in lots of extra stuff (Liars Club, Married Game show (not the real name ) and an extra performance with another comedian) and ALL were packed!!!!

 

Thanks for the info everyone.

Well, if she was on Feb. 18 - Mar. 4 and does every second cruise, I would assume she will NOT be on the April 1st sailing. Too bad.

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Day 2: Friday, March 2 ~ Going MIA

 

Despite threats of bad weather across the country, our flight was uneventful and relatively turbulence free. As usual, neither of us got much sleep, but we passed the time watching recorded TV shows on our tablets. I love that Netflix added a feature to download movies/shows for offline viewing. It is so convenient for long flights like that, and then I can delete the episodes as I watch them to free up space to upload my photos as the trip goes on! Time flew by (see what I did there? Wink, wink!), and before we knew it the sun was rising and we were making our initial descent into Ft. Lauderdale.

 

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The plane landed at 7:30am, and we eventually made our way through the terminal and down to baggage claim. The good news was that our one checked bag came off the carousel within minutes of us getting downstairs. The bad news was that the entire suitcase was wet and coated with condensation. We have a hard plastic outside on our suitcase, but I was still worried about our bag sitting outside in the rain, waiting to be loaded on the plane back at SFO. When I saw the weather forecast on Wednesday, I unpacked the whole bag and put everything into plastic garbage bags to keep it protected. Yes, the hard plastic case is waterproof, but I was worried rain would seep in through the zipper lining. I am so glad I did this extra step because we opened the bag right there in the airport and everything was dry inside the bags. I am not even sure if it was wet from the rain at SFO because that was so many hours ago, but whatever got it wet did not penetrate the bag so our clothes were still fresh and clean.

 

The next step was to get an Uber to take us from Ft. Lauderdale to Miami. The ride share pick up location is very easy to find and well labeled at the same spot where the hotel shuttles pickup. We frequently use Uber to get to/from the airport, so we developed a system to find our driver amongst all the other Uber drivers- we memorize the last 3 digits of the license plate number and just look for that. That works wonderfully in California where cars have both front and back plates, but not so well in Florida where the license plates are only on the back of the car haha We resorted to looking for the model and color of the car and eventually found our driver within 10 minutes, and we were on our way. For those who are curious, it took about an hour in moderate rush hour traffic to get from FLL to our hotel in South Beach in Miami, and it cost $47.

 

About a year ago, we reserved a room in South Beach on VRBO. I thought it was a condo but it turns out that it is inside the Royal Hotel South Beach, so that gave us the added convenience of a 24x7 front desk with the affordable VRBO pricing as compared to the other pricier and fancier Miami hotels. We picked this place for its great location in the heart of South Beach, knowing we rarely spend much time in the hotel room anyway. It was only 9:15am at this point, so our room was not ready yet. The front desk was happy to hold or bags so we could go out and explore the city, and they said they would call us when the room was ready in a few hours.

 

After not sleeping all night, we were both very hungry and ready for breakfast. A few blocks from our hotel, we found a little shop called Le Chic French Bakery.

 

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The pastries looked delicious, so we shared an apple turnover and a big almond croissant. The apple turnover was good but fairly typical of any other turnover we’ve had before, but OMG, the almond croissant was fantastic!! At only $4, this thing was massive! It was nearly as big as the full-size paper plate it was served on, and I can’t even tell you how good it tasted! I highly recommend trying this if you are ever in the neighborhood.

 

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