Live from Eclipse December 24th Christmas Cruise!

[Huddler]

Well, I typically dont write trip reports but I am going to attempt a semi-live report from the Elcipse this time. I will try to update as often as possible. We board the ship today. As I write this I am sipping coffee and looking at the amazing view of the Miami bay from my room at the Conrad Hotel on Miami Beach. So, here goes the first installment as I anxiously await our cruise today. We have previously sailed on the Solstice so we know what Celebrity and its "S" class are all about! We are bringing the kids on the cruise as they have cruised several times before. So, DD age 10, DS age 7, DW age 48, and your humbler reporter age 48.

 

Day -1

When I decided to book this cruise a little over a month ago, my kids were VERY excited as they already have the "cruising bug". But my son's first question was, "If we are going to be on a cruise for Christmas, how will Santa find us?" Hum, good questions so I made a call up to the fat man himself. Well, luckily, I was able to speak to Santa who graciously agreed to deliver our presents to our house Friday morning. He said, "just this once buddy cause Franklin, TN is a LONG LONG way from my hood". So, we got up early Friday and opened a ton of presents that Santa brought. I know my son. I love my son. I live for my son. But that kid has NOT been THAT good. Any year. Ever! I tease as he really is a good boy. He made out like a bandit as did my daughter who may be the social butterfly and slightly melodramatic (estrogen starts its magic early), but she is a good girl. So, we had our Christmas, loaded the car, and drove the 40 minutes up to my parents house and had christmas with my parents and my aunt and uncle. My aunt isnt speaking to me since I am taking MY KIDS on a cruise for Christmas. My schedule is crazy, not to mention I have a job that has me traveling ten times more than ever all over the country, trying to raise 2 kids, and a live-in azheimers ridden mother in law, and a wife that has a loves me but probably wants to occasionally push me in front of a bus (that estrogen thing). I need a break so I am going on a cruise. We cruised the Baltic this summer already but the kids didnt come on that one! So, bye bye!

 

I was afraid the Nashville airport would be packed, but it was desolate! I guess we timed it right. BNA is the best airport in the country bar none! The SWA terminal had Santa there and they were taking FREE pics with Santa! Bonus! Very nice pics too co-sponsored by Microsoft 7. The kids looked great in them too! Flight was 10 minutes late. Quick up and down in Tampa and got to Ft Lauderdale about 15 minutes late. Might a very nice family on the plane from Connecticut who were going on the first cruise aboard the Allure of the Seas. 6200 pax is a little too large for me but it sounded like fun!

 

The Ft Liquordale airport is a quamire. 4000 luggage carosels but lets put all 10,000,000 passengers luggage on the same one? ***! This airport could seriously take some lessons from BNA. Finally fought through all the snow birds pushing me out of the way to get to their bags. I am not sure human beings were designed to work well in groups of 9 million, so sometimes it makes them well a little pushy. Think I will write a "lettah". LOL! Had my SAS shuttle waiting to take us and our 50 suitcases to Miami to stay at the Conrad. With kids and a bunch of gear I get a shuttle. Or rent a car but shuttle was the right call here. $52 from FLL to Miami for 4 people a ton of gear.

 

The Conrad is SICK! Unbelievable digs and I HIGHLY recommend! Incredibly nice hotel right on the bay. My 22nd floor room has a spectacular view of the ocean. Miami is incredible. One of my favorite cities of all time. Ive been here a million times and it always seems like the first. The city was all lite up with Christmas lights when we drove in last night. It was just gorgeous!

 

Got to the lobby which is on the 25th floor btw, and they didnt have my reservation. Panick mode! Use lobby computer and make a new reservation. Luckily they werent booked up and I got the room I wanted. In the room in 10 minutes. I really do love this hotel! Room has all sorts of crazy amenities, but it is average size. HUGE bathroom. It was 8:30 pm and we were tired and hungry. Went up to their UPSCALE restraunt. Lots of shee shee food. Got the kids a bagel pizza and bowtie pasta respectively. I got the snapper with a side of some puerto rican dish made with plantains and other stuff I couldnt identify. The wife just got appetizer of stuffed crabs. No booze or wine at all as we were just beat from a long day. Bill: $125. You have to pay to play here but I dont mind as we are on vacation! I loved that place. The beautiful people were all in the restraunt too! It was a fashion show! We had a table by the window with another terrific veiw of the ocean. I was up early headed down to gym for 30 minutes on the treadmill. Wife and kids are selpt in. Heading down to breakfast now. We get on the boat today around noon. I will try to update as I can. Peace and happy holidays to all!

[mari10]

I'll be practically following In your footsteps....

We are also staying at the Conrad (using HH points) and flying SWA from Nashville. We have a morning nonstop flight.

Hope ya'll have a wonderful cruise and a Happy Holiday.

We"re thinking of booking a Christmas cruise aboard the Reflection for 2012.

We've done a Thsnksgiving cruise and thought we'd try a Chrustmas getaway.

Will be looking forward to reading your posts.

Hopefully you'll have smooth sailing.

 

Enjoy!

 

Mari:)

[librarylady19]

Love your style. You are a braver ( or crazier) person than me, taking a cruise during the holidays! Look forward to hearing how you enjoyed Eclipse. Now I really must finish my review before you catch up to me!

[shopperwhite]

would you be able to find out for me the prices to eat at the specialty restaurants. sailing jan 28th. thank you

[Azulann]

What a wonderful gift for you and your family. Looking forward to the rest of your cruise blog. I also love your writing style.

 

Interested in how Celebrity celebrates Christmas. I will be on a Holiday cruise on the Century next Christmas doing a panama full transit.

[gelo7]

Thanks for checking in and have a wonderful cruise. We stayed at the Conrad last Spring, it is a nice place, and having a 25th floor lobby is a cool thing.

[Huddler]

would you be able to find out for me the prices to eat at the specialty restaurants. sailing jan 28th. thank you

I just signed up for Murano's $40 and a lunch at Tuscan grille which is either $20 or $25. I havent checked on Qsine but I will!

[Huddler]

I'll be practically following In your footsteps....

We are also staying at the Conrad (using HH points) and flying SWA from Nashville. We have a morning nonstop flight.

Hope ya'll have a wonderful cruise and a Happy Holiday.

We"re thinking of booking a Christmas cruise aboard the Reflection for 2012.

We've done a Thsnksgiving cruise and thought we'd try a Chrustmas getaway.

Will be looking forward to reading your posts.

Hopefully you'll have smooth sailing.

 

Enjoy!

 

Mari:)

Hi neighbor! We live in Franklin but my office is in Maryland Farms! You will love the Conrad! Except the breakfast buffet is pretty expensive!

[Huddler]

Love your style. You are a braver ( or crazier) person than me, taking a cruise during the holidays! Look forward to hearing how you enjoyed Eclipse. Now I really must finish my review before you catch up to me!

LOL! I went to sign my kids up at the Kids program area and they told me that there are 650 kids onboard! So, yeah, brave, dumb, non compis mentis, there are plenty of words that immediately come to mind!

[Huddler]

Day 1

I got the family up and motivated and we went down to eat the breakfast buffet at Conrad. They will allow you to order omelettes as part of the buffet so I ordered one. Ate some delicious bagels and smoked salmon, strawberries, and other fruit. It was just ok. Omelette was not good as it was made with egg beaters I think. Bill for 2 adults and 2 kids at breakfast buffe with tip $92. I can not recommend the buffet at that price but it wasnt horrible. I did love the fresh orange juice you get down here!! We walked around downtown area by the hotel to get some fresh air. I love me some Miami! Its been a couple years since Ive been here but I do miss it. I grew up in Nashville, but every summer of my life growing up, I lived for almost 3 months in Ft Lauderdale. So south Florida has a special place in my heart. And no, it doesnt have anything to do with the dental floss bikini's that are some common down there. (Although I must admit that doesnt hurt)!

 

Walked downstairs hopped in a cab and drove the 10 minutes to the Port of Miami. The beautiful Eclipse was there along with 2 Carnival Ships that I didnt see the name of and the NCL Epic. My kids already know about the Epic thanks to NCL's relationship with Nickolodean. So, that monster may be in our future. The Miami skyline is fabulous but even moreso down here at the pier. The views are awesome. "Welcome to Miami, Bienvenido a Miami"!!

 

Cab fare from Conrad to POM was $13. Hopped out and the porter immediately took our bags. Of course, I lost/forgot/dog ate/fill in some other lame excuse, the luggage tags. Showed the porter my eticket with the room number and he took care of the rest. Walked into the terminal and looked at my watch and it was 11:15. The embarkation was so fast and smooth that I couldnt believe it. There was no line at all anywhere. And mind you that this cruise is totally sold out! We couldnt have been more than 15 minutes from being dropped off to being at the pool. It was just that smooth and in all my dozens of cruises I honestly cant recall a faster, smoother process.

 

Got onboard and was immediately met with choice of champagne, mimosa's, or orange juice. A rep from the Fun Factory reached out to us immediatley since we have 2 young kids. Very welcoming and got our kids excited about the kids programs! We went immediately up to the Spa area so my wife could sign up for some girlie girl things. Not sure what yall do in there, and not sure I want to know, but if it makes Mama happy, then everybody is going to be happy. Trust me, I am all about Mama being happy!

 

I walked into the Fitness room to sign up for the spin class and look around. The trainer was giving me his pitch about why I should sign up to determine my body composition and ostensibly to change what I have spent 48 years doing. I told him that I already know that my body is composed of lots of beer. And fat. And there is some correlation there but not sure exactly what. Anyway we met a very nice couple who happened to have a southern accent sort of like mine. My wife started talking to them because they had some "Merry Cruisemas" shirts on that they had made. My wife just had to have one. Anyway, they turned out to be Pat, from the roll call for our cruise!! They are from Nashville too and you could tell by their immediate warmth. I am so glad to finally get to meet them!

 

We spent a couple hours in the pool. Got prime real estate right by the pool that might be a lot harder to come by the rest of the cruise. Boardwalk and Parkplace baby! Very few brave souls willing to bare their bloated bodies with skin so white it looks like they have been dipped in mayonaise! Well, some of us buluga whales dont fear scorn nor ridicule nor humilation! So we got right in much to the chagrin of those who had to witness the horrific site! We like to get that additional pool day in to start a cruise.

 

Then went to our room, 6186, obstructed balcony. Ok, remember what I said about Mama being happy? The lifeboat in front of our balcony went over like a fart in church. Plus, she has given me grief for years about getting an obsttucted balcony(barely obstructed at all if you asked me) on Oceania one time and wont let me live it down. And now this REAL obstruction had her sending pics to the whole family for more stories of my faux pas in booking rooms. But hey it was all that was left by the time we booked last month. Ok, time for muster. More later.

[fishycomics]

Enjoy your trip, seas were 15 foot swells. a rockin and rolling.

 

Holiday spirits are sweet

 

 

All I can say is put the electronics away and enjoy real life . :D

 

other resturaunts range in prices. Enjoyed APPLE on the ship

[Huddler]

Emergency drill was the same get crammed into a small space and see the film. I will say there are a lot of English folks working on this ship. When we went up to the Spa so my wife could sign up for the abolutely must-have Mother/Daughter super duper beautification treatment all for the low low low price of a 2nd mortgage and the appendage of your choice, I first noticed the thick English brogues of many of the staff. My son and I were standing listening to the pitch to my wife and daughter when one of the other spa ladies, who had a very thick Limey accent, said, "You know we can also do a Father/Son day". I said, "well, my son is only 7, but if yall are willing to wax his back too, then sign us up".

 

That got her WAY off her serious British stiff upper lip thing! and we had a nice chat. I asked where she was from and she replied "Birmingham". I said Miss, I dont mean to cast aspersions on the veracity of your statement, but I live 3 hours from Birmingham, and I have never heard anybody from Alabama talk like you'! That sent all the other folks there, bout half who are Limeys who have obviously bastardized "our" beautiful language, into complete hysterics! I love the Celebrity crew because you can always joke around with them and they are great sports. More later!

[WaterholeWally]

Good stuff Huddler. We were on the Eclipse, December 3-10, and realized later that all we did was talk, eat, and relax. Nothing to report...excellent time though.

 

We are going back to Miami after the Daytona 500 (yes, first time since 2001 when Dale died). Our purpose is to re-locate from this cold-a$$ northeast. We didn't go to Miami beach, but I know this time to head straight there. We stayed in Fort Lauderdale last year, and I sorta like the place alot.

 

Lookin' forward to your posts.

 

W

[Zoey1]

Already totally enjoying your report/review! Thanks for taking the time to take all of us along

;-)

[fishycomics]

Emergency drill was the same get crammed into a small space and see the film. I will say there are a lot of English folks working on this ship. When we went up to the Spa so my wife could sign up for the abolutely must-have Mother/Daughter super duper beautification treatment all for the low low low price of a 2nd mortgage and the appendage of your choice, I first noticed the thick English brogues of many of the staff. My son and I were standing listening to the pitch to my wife and daughter when one of the other spa ladies, who had a very thick Limey accent, said, "You know we can also do a Father/Son day". I said, "well, my son is only 7, but if yall are willing to wax his back too, then sign us up".

 

That got her WAY off her serious British stiff upper lip thing! and we had a nice chat. I asked where she was from and she replied "Birmingham". I said Miss, I dont mean to cast aspersions on the veracity of your statement, but I live 3 hours from Birmingham, and I have never heard anybody from Alabama talk like you'! That sent all the other folks there, bout half who are Limeys who have obviously bastardized "our" beautiful language, into complete hysterics! I love the Celebrity crew because you can always joke around with them and they are great sports. More later!

 

 

the drill was a peice of cake, they used to make you wear Life vests outside, depends on theships and tight quarters, the killer was, the actual ringing, that could have been LOWERED. As for criticisizing the staff. your guess

[Muushka]

Then went to our room, 6186, obstructed balcony. Ok, remember what I said about Mama being happy? The lifeboat in front of our balcony went over like a fart in church.

 

Oh my! Your wife sounds a lot like me. I hated the obstruction we had on Equinox!

[Huddler]

Day 1 continued….

So, all of our bags were delivered to our rooms before we went to the mandatory emergency drill. Except one. And it was my hanging bag with all my nice shirts, sport coats, and suit in it. Oh yeah, and my nice dress rooms, loafers, and tennis shoes. I quietly started to panic when it was 5:30 pm and it still hadn’t arrived and we opted for early dinning at 6:00 pm. I considered quickly growing a mullet, shaving the “3” into the hair on my back, wearing a wife beater, cut off jeans, and flip flops to the MDR and say I thought I was going to Walmart. (No elitest). Luckily, I had a pair nice pair of Lucky Jeans and 1 nice collared button down shirt and some topsiders. My bag finally came about 5:45 but I just went with what I was wearing. On the way we picked up some lanyards at the ship store because “WE” constantly lose our cards, (Oh estrogen, why doth thy sting so?) if we don’t have them around our necks.

 

The MDR is beautiful just like on the Solstice. We had a table for 4 but we were VERY close to the table of 4 on one side and a table for 2 who had window table on the other. The 2 table was an extremely interesting, well travelled, older couple from New York. They had retired down to south Florida several years ago. New Yorkers retiring to Florida??…Now there’s something you don’t see every day! We chatted with them the entire meal and it was great conversation. The food I thought was very good. I had the gaspaucho soup and then the Shrimp Scampi. I am not much of a shrimp scampi kind of guy but the waiter recommended it. Plus, I wasn’t hungry since I snuck the kids down for a dip the delicious gelato a couple hours earlier. For desert, I opted for the marbled cheesecake that was just ok and certainly not “worth the calories”. You know the saying, “2 seconds across the lips leads to a lifetime on the hips”. So, although I will be grazing like a Holstein hefer in a field of clover, I am going to try to make my calories count. Like say that double scoop of chocolate gelato with chocolate chips and nuts on top. WINNING!!!

 

After dinner, we dropped the kids off at the Fun Factory. A ton of kids there and they had a blast. As I said, this cruise has 650 to 700 kids but I never notice that until we go to the Fun Factory and it is wall to wall ankle biters and curtain climbers. The downside is there are a ton of parents too and they all want to work out, more on that later. But suffice it to say, that this cruise is composed of a lot more teens, 20’s, 30’s, 40’s, and 50’s and A LOT less of the 80 year old’s rockin the jazzies! The demographics are flipped on its head on this cruise that’s for sure. So, the wife and I went to the casino to see how much we could collectively push up the RCCL stock price. Surprisingly, I won $500 playing 6/5 DDB video poker. LOL. Wife lost $100 playing that game you put quarters in that and try to shove money into the tray. I had a few drinks at the casino bar and watched football. I had watched a little of the Jets/Giants game earlier in the day there, and the Giants contingent onboard was loud and proud. Hit a couple more bars. I love that ice covered martini bar. Slurped down a couple different kinds of martini’s although I am typically NOT a martini drinker. Went and got the kids and called it a night.

Day 2

 

I never can tell what time it is on these ships. Woke up several times but finally got up for good around 6:30. Went and got coffee and walked around but it is windy out here in the gulfstream until we get around the Bahama’s. Ate a couple of the delicious chocolate croissants! I got hooked on those bad boys on my first Oceania cruise and now it’s a cruise ship tradition for me. Coffee was very good! Typically on cruise ships, I find the coffee to taste somewhere battery acid and monkey arse. But Celebrity seems to do a great job with their coffee. Then I went to the gym for my bike class and here is where things get interesting. The gym was jam packed at 8:00 or so when I got there. I mean you would need axle grease and a shoe horn to get one more person in there. And the fitness area is HUGE for a cruise ship. It is very nice with great gear! Plenty of machines for working out and cardio of all makes and models. And lots of dumbells there too, both human and steel! But the parents of all these rug rats have a built in baby sitter at the Fun Factory so they can go workout for the first time since they got married and decided to say “Screw it! I got me a man, I can just let myself go now and let my weight balloon up like Marlon Brando, and wear sweat pants, and pull my hair back in a pony”!

 

I talked to the head trainer and he said all the bike classes are full for the rest of the week and they’ve added more and they all filled up immediately. He said on MOST cruises the classes are never full and they have to practically beg folks to sign up. However, because the demographics of the Christmas break crowd skew so much lower in age, again with tons of teens, 20’s, 30’s, 40’s, 50’s, as well as a lot of intergenerational families, the classes are all booked and they have doubled and tripled the number that they typically have for a cruise. The nursing home at sea crowd do NOT sail over Christmas because they obviously want to avoid kids, can sail any time of year since they are retired, need some of the own kind for the Jazzy races, and all the other weeks are typically much, much cheaper. Luckily, I was the 2nd name on the list for todays class. So, I worked out with free weights for 45 minutes. I made friends with a couple of limeys from London who were on their first cruise. Great guys and interesting to talk too! They had such a thick cockney accent I asked them, “What was your first language?” LOL! Oh yeah, they told me that aren’t pissed anymore about that whole Tea mix up in Boston a while back, so we were all good! I love the Brits and have to admit I am a bit of an anglophile.

 

Went into the class and got a bike. It was broken so the trainer got me another. It was ok but another bike or 2 needed repair. He was pissed and told the other trainer to go get the repairmen forthwith or they would be fired. So, the class was full and had several names on the standby list. To make a long story short, this one guy who was on the standby list had to give up his bike because another guy on the list was ahead of him. This guy got very angry and began to argue that they had made a mistake. He said the only reason he came on this cruise was for the fitness classes, that he wanted free classes the rest of the trip or he would never cruise with Celebrity again. Blah blah blah. This was one of those rude, pushy “lettah” dudes from New York. He was not nice and went way overboard as the 2 trainers apologized profusely. After about 5 minutes of that, I am getting angry myself and was about to say something in defense of the trainer, when finally he starts walking out. The trainer comes over to ask me something, I said very loudly where everyone in the class including the offending guy could hear me, “tell that dude to get the f out of here. Its not your fault, theres nothing you can do, and he was just wanting something for nothing. There was no call for his obnoxious behavior”. He kept walking and didn’t say anything at all. Little did I know but his wife was on the bike next to me! Doh! She said, “well he does like to bike and he even brought his biking shoes’. I said, “that’s all well and good, but that doesn’t give him the right to treat these people like crap. Don’t abuse the folks that are doing their best to give us a great vacation. He should have signed up earlier if it was that important. I simply cannot abide that sort of behavior but I should have just kept my big trap shut. Not my business but I was offended as an American and human being. Oh well, live and learn. I am going to the connections party now. More later..

[librarylady19]

Your review is cracking me up. I think many of us coukd use our great sense of humor when dealing with some of the obnoxious fellow guests. Keep it coming....

[black forest]

Wonderful review - thank you! Have a great time!

[islandgirlejfan]

Your review is cracking me up. I think many of us coukd use our great sense of humor when dealing with some of the obnoxious fellow guests. Keep it coming....

 

I totally agree....I love the sense of humor!!

 

Huddler, I thought all those *Lettah* folks left with us when we disembarked 10 December....guess not. :( Watch out for those Chocolate Croissants!:p

[fishycomics]

SHhrip scampi got me thinking itwas or not on the meu Lol.

 

As for the Cheese Marble cake hmm, wondering as well.

 

Do you think the menu changes .

 

There will be a few that will go on theFormal dining day Two and go as Pigs, hate to say it, it is the truth.

 

Dresscode is a Pants, shirt, Jacket. while others just go as they are.and to the cap't he is not there to see but the staff.

 

Guess we'll talk about the ppeople that we see onboard. how they show no respect to rules. they areto be broken, ocean buffet in bathing suits. LMAO!

go getem. never insulting.

 

You must be in SAn Juan enjoying the wait to go off shore, soon, soon.

 

Land ho at 2pm:D

[Huddler]

I totally agree....I love the sense of humor!!

 

Huddler, I thought all those *Lettah* folks left with us when we disembarked 10 December....guess not. :( Watch out for those Chocolate Croissants!:p

LOL! You know, other than the rude guy who was mad that he didnt get to have a bike, I have seen zero complaining. I mean none! Unless you include folks at the casino bar complaining about bad officiating calls in the football/basketball games they are televising in there! Again, the crowd is a much younger demographic and in a festive/holiday spirit. The crew is incredibly friendly, off the charts actually. And my fellow pax are some of the nicest people you would ever want to meet. Ive seen no bad behavior at all. I am loving this cruise!

[Huddler]

Your review is cracking me up. I think many of us coukd use our great sense of humor when dealing with some of the obnoxious fellow guests. Keep it coming....

Thanks for the support! My TR may be a little "different" than the typical one you read on here, so I am happy to learn some find it a fun readl. I will finish reading your wonderful TR upon my return.

 

And thanks to the rest of you guys who have posted your encouragement on here! I will update as often as possible. We get to San Juan today at 3:00. We are going shopping because Lord knows we certainly dont have enough junk in our cabin now!!

[librarylady19]

Thanks for the support! My TR may be a little "different" than the typical one you read on here, so I am happy to learn some find it a fun readl. I will finish reading your wonderful TR upon my return.

 

And thanks to the rest of you guys who have posted your encouragement on here! I will update as often as possible. We get to San Juan today at 3:00. We are going shopping because Lord knows we certainly dont have enough junk in our cabin now!!

 

Just keep your wife and DD away from the Coach outlet!

[travellink]

Loving your review and your writing style as well. The best review I have read on CC. Always wondered what a Christmas cruise was like and now I will find out from you,thanks! We were on the Dec 10th cruise and loved every minute of it. Keep it coming!