Eclipse Transatlantic - Oct Nov 2016

[ighten]

Celebrity Eclipse Transatlantic Voyage

 

29th October 2016 SAT (day1)

 

Nice and easy journey down finds us at Southampton Pier at around 12.30pm - the Eclipse is looming over the port building ready for its journey. This is our first TransAtlantic cruise, it seems a litle odd thinking the next time we get off the ship we will have crossed "the pond"; our first stop is Boston for the where we have organised a private mini bus with some CC folks before then sailing on to New York for 2 days, Bermuda 2 days and another CC private tour, The Bahamas and Miami. Check in goes smoothly ESTAS and Xpress passes all printed off in advance.

 

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We board and climb the stairs to our cabin which is ready for us and is spotless, well laid out and has a very decent sized balcony with more classy looking chairs and teak tables compared to NCLs rather more utilitarian offerings. I will say that NCL wins hands down when it comes to the shower though - this one lacks pressure and neither moves up or down nor is removable. Small niggle and lots more to explore yet.

 

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The first thing that strikes us on the Eclipse (and here I'm comparing with the EPIC) is the shear amount of space, public spaces seem wider, theres a lot more variety to those spaces with lots of quiet areas, bars with individuality, huge outdoor areas and a proper panoramic crows nest lounge/bar top front. Everything feels more classically designed.

 

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Had lunch from Oceanview cafe outside at the back of the ship, taking in a cloudy and grey Southampton. I feel like I should apologise for the lack of sunshine to the folk who have flown in, probably from better climes than this. Cottage pie for J and Roast beef w/yorks pud for D with a cheeky Malbec each. The puds are always a disappointment on any ship. The title of each bearing no resemblance to its ingredients! A quick peruse of the ship and see the famous lawn. The great glass elevators are very scary for J in the internal atrium area, woah!

 

[vid][/vid]

 

Muster at the main theatre. Its only done in English and German however the explanation as to what to do if you dont speak the above seems to be given in every known language on the planet - including a rather comical Spanish/Mexican that seems to have come straight from a Disney cartoon "Hey Amigos". Returning to the cabin after this we find our bags have finally arrived. A quick unpacking then off to the MDR. We have a nice little table for two in the window. Very swish affair: J has the wild mushroom soup, Salmon with sauce vierge and Dan has beef spring roll, pork chop. Both excellent. Villa maria for J and malbec for D followed by apple pie for J and cheese for D. We pass the Isle of Wight during dinner and also watch the pilot's boat match our speed alongside, awaiting his departure. This always seems a very scary business to me. Entertainment is provided by a rather loud but lovely American Lady who describes in great detail in a strong Southern drawl the highlights of her stay in London "Oh yeah we loved the Bloody Tower, though the towers sure were small"

 

See the band in the central atrium, a quick walk outside for some fresh air then bed. Straight to sleep, as we have been up since 4am, setting our alarm for 7.30am.

[TMLAalum]

Looking forward to your impressions of the rest of the cruise as we are anticipating booking the same Eclipse TA itinerary for 2017!

[ighten]

Day 2 is up on the blog I'll transfer it just as quick as I can when i work out how to get the vids and pics to show correctly on here. :confused:

Edited November 16, 2016 by ighten

[sandancer]

Thanks for posting. We are on the same cruise in 2017. It will be great to have your impressions. We just did a TA on the NCL Epic and while we really enjoyed it we have to agree with your comparison. Eclipse wins hands down other than the storage space in the cabin. Hate those over bed lockers!!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[DaisyFire]

Thank you for posting your review! I am reading along on your Blog (I like the format better) and am thoroughly enjoying it. One thing to note for folks trying to access the http://www.notesfromthebarn.blogspot.co.uk for some reason doesn't link well from within CC (at least for me).

 

I had to copy/past the URL into a new browser window and was able to pull it up just fine.

[DaisyFire]

Thank you for posting your review! I am reading along on your Blog (I like the format better) and am thoroughly enjoying it. One thing to note for folks trying to access the http://www.notesfromthebarn.blogspot.co.uk for some reason doesn't link well from within CC (at least for me).

 

I had to copy/past the URL into a new browser window and was able to pull it up just fine.

 

Interesting to note - the link from within my own post works fine for me... it seems to be just the one in your signature section that takes me to a 404 error. Odd. :confused:

[ighten]

Thanks Daisy.. I think I have fixed it. though it jumps to the last page I noticed - you can use the day menu on the right.

 

Anyway heres Day 2 - still working on moving the photos etc sometimes it works others dont.. I'll get there.

 

Sunday 30th Oct (day 2)

 

 

Alarm awakes us at 7.30 but it's actually 6.30 (clocks went back last night as British Summer Time ends) so we doze. Up and showered for a lovely and soft eggs benedict in the MDR then we head to a meet up for Cruise Critics at 9.30. Seems like we'll never find anyone, then Sue from Exeter appears for our Boston trip, and then we meet up with Pam from Nova Scotia to talk about the Bermuda tour shes arranged.

 

 

 

 

 

 







 

 

After a stroll around the decks and a peak at one of the shows (why do some cruise ship productions sing to backing tape - no power or drive leaving the music flat and lifeless - cut some of the dancers and put a real band on with them) so we leave after 5 minutes & we settle into the Ensemble Lounge for a couple of Campari & Sodas and listen to Peter (a Canadian pianist/singer) play standards and classics in the corner of the bar - he's very good. Later we watch a The Big Band: house band with sax, trumpet & trombone section playing ballroom numbers, many sequins on show on the dance floor. ( we later discover that this band will accompany most major shows in the main theatre). They are a fantastic 7 piece who can turn their hand to any style.

 

 

 

As we head to bed its pretty obvious now that the swell and wind has picked up a few notches. We are basically rocked to sleep from head to toe and side to side. The Atlantic is starting to misbehave...

 

 

[ighten]

Monday 31st Nov (halloween) (day 3)

 

Morning mile walk

The spirits must be unhappy as they prepare for tonights party as the sea did not calm down at all during the night. We both managed to sleep through it though so its still smoother than the overnight service on Amtrak (think of a wild mouse rollercoaster on a top bunk whilst someone blasts an air horn in you ear all night if you want to recreate the City of New Orleans Service).

 

 

At 10am Captain Michael gives us his update that we should clear the storm by tonight - all the top decks are still open but the Captain does announce that hes closing off the lower promenade deck for safety reason (this deck is technically the lifeboat deck but we'll let it pass - I'm sure they have a plan).

 

 

Dan heads out for emergency cabin supplies of hot muffins, butter and marmalade then we head out to the upper decks; It has to be pointed out that as we type this up we are sat outside on deck 14 lying in a giant hammock which swings around with the motion of the ship like a fairground ride so all typos are not my fault.

 

 

Lunch time we decide to dine in the MDR.. Its lower and in a more "stable" position and the thought of serving yourself at the buffets then playing dodge the guests with hot food as the floor drops from under your feet doesn't seem that relaxing. Jack orders all the starters on the menu instead of a main which confuses the waiters sense of order. By coincidence her last starter (a sml garden salad) happens to be served at the same time as my main course causing the busboy to ask why Madam has started her diet so early on the cruise.

 

 

 

One of the chefs from Sushi on 5 is spending the afternoon in the main Atrium doing a pumpkin carving demo. Its good to see they have found something for the Sushi staff to do as the restaurant doesnt seem to have had a soul in it since we set off. Either Celebrity found themselves with an excess of tuna and wasabi to get rid of or someone seriously got the figures wrong when they introduced this as an a la carte priced restaurant - I'm thinking a big sale later on in this cruise; either that or the entire ships service staff have to eat Sushi every night.

 

 

 

We have now moved into the Solarium indoor pool area and relax on a sunbed in the warm greenhouse. The pool is still full of water - though the net has just been installed. If you take a sunbed close to the waters edge you can play a soak or dry version of Russian roulette, as the pool has become a giant tidal wave of motion throwing water about with the motion of the ship. The clocks have gone back twice now since we left Southampton but as we travel further into the west our sunsets are getting later from around 5pm when we left to 7pm tonight (something to do with latitiude and all that "stuff" ).

 

 

 

The swell does seem to be lessening a little so we decide to pay a visit to the Tuscan Grill restaurant with its superb outlook (when it's daylight) through the picture windows at the rear. We did an earlier stability check to make sure the rear end of the ship wasnt bouncing around like a big dipper so hopefully it should be fine when we eat there.

 

 

 

 

Oscar is a bouncy exhuberant waiter regardless of what the sea is doing though and after hes done a little gardening with some freshly grown micro herbs and a dish of olive oil we order. Calamari to start for Dan and Crab Cake for Jack. The Calamari was excellent , the crab cake had a rather odd texture and lacked any deep flavour (probably not enough brown meat in the mix). We then shared a super thin flat bread - gorgeous.. For the main course Dan had the beef skirt which was tender, full of flavour but could have fed an entire table of four. Jackie had the sea bass - nicely cooked, though the papillote method of cooking didn't seem to have infused the flavours in the way you would have expected. Desserts were pistachio creme brulee and zabaglione washed down with a glass of Limoncello.

 

Spot the Witches Hat in the pic

 

As we left we passed Qsine where we will dine in a cpl of days. The lovely pocket sized Maitre d' invited us inside to check out how it worked which was a good introduction. Sounds and looks very interesting. With unplanned but great timing as we sit down in the Ensemble lounge for an aperitif Jessica and Luke, the ships acoustic Duo, were just setting up. Jessica has a lovely soft voice and their acoustic interpretations of songs are perfect for the lounge's atmosphere. There are some fantastic Halloween outfits being flaunted around tonight - some are so professional looking we wonder how on earth they found the space to pack.

 

 

 

We climb up to the crows nest club (which is called Sky Lounge on the Eclipse) for the Halloween party where ghosts and ghouls from every tomb are closing in to p'aartey. After we all attempt a rather ramshackle "Thriller" dance routine "The Trends" step in to do an excellent live set.

 

The Trends

As they go for a break the DJ promptly empties the dancefloor with Dexys Midnight Runners.

Edited November 17, 2016 by ighten

[Clarea]

Enjoying the review.:)

[ighten]

Enjoying the review.:)

 

TY... I have managed to squeeze in a little Halloween Video

[Barwick Cruiser]

I'm very much enjoying this review, and the pics that I can see, however I'm not seeing any of the videos and some of the pics aren't showing up either. I tried to go to your blog via the link in your signature but I'm getting an error message. What am I doing wrong?

[ighten]

I'm very much enjoying this review, and the pics that I can see, however I'm not seeing any of the videos and some of the pics aren't showing up either. I tried to go to your blog via the link in your signature but I'm getting an error message. What am I doing wrong?

 

Not sure..I thought I had fixed it :confused:.. A kind soul earlier on in the thread found a fix I think.. Try now

 

I was going to spend the evening fixing the first posts to show the pics to match the blog - but now I have realized I cant edit as to long has passed.. DOH

Edited November 17, 2016 by ighten

[ighten]

Tues 1st Nov (day 4)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lovely morning though we seem to be heading towards a bank of cloud. Had cereal and toast delivered to our cabin by the lovely Gemma. All very efficient but alas, no milk. Forgot to tick the box we assume, just thought it would come with the cereal. Doh. The sea is mill pond calm this morning and sunny! The captain tells us we will be at our half way point ( 1500 miles) at 8pm and the sea is 12000 ft deep, wow!

 

 

 

 

 

A stroll around the top decks, see the lawn and birdies, always a pleasure. Coffee and a read in the library before lunch in the Oceanview Cafe. We both partake in the excellent curry, with dahl & a cheeky roast spud on the side...well i did get broccoli too! Then some beautiful roast pork loin, it being Spanish theme today. Another jaunt for fresh air, we spot one older lady with blankets muffled up on her sun bed. D tracks down the pool butler and we are suitably snuggled up under our blankets. The captain and 3 officers pass by and greet us. Some brave soul is in the pool while another, less brave is in the hot tub. Maybe have a look at the singer in the theatre at 3pm. It's now turned rather low cloud/ misty mountains; hope they're checking for ice.

 

 

 

 

 

Turns out not to be a singer but a rather good virtuoso violin player from Poland who plays a lively mixture of Rock, Theatre & Classical numbers. We take a seat at the back to make a "just in case" quick exit but shes actually very good and with the help of the Eclipse big band sounds bloody superb.

 

 

After failing miserably (though in my heart I feel a master of rhythm) at perfecting the cha cha cha this afternoon (watching the lessons from the balcony one storey above the pros) we change for dinner. The Trends have now taken up the space in the Grand Foyer so we have a dance (this time behind a settee) so the only people to witness this are the Guests Relations staff - who seem to be enjoying a little dance themselves; they pull off a superb rendition of "Hotel California" tonight (the band - not the guest relations team...)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dinner tonight we choose the main dining room. Our waitress from a couple of nights ago recognises Mr Daniel and Madame Jacqueline - it takes a couple of courses for the waiter to realise. The starter is a lovely lobster ravioli followed by Hake for Jacqueline and Duck for Dan. Slightly humorous moment when the English couple next to us ask the Sommelier to recommend a wine. It takes a while for him to realise that they want him to make a recommendation to which his in all seriousness response is "perhaps a red one or a white one " Celebrity's Sommelier training is either not very deep or needs a little more work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

For aperitifs, we are back in our new favourite spot in the Ensemble bar where the Camparis are mixed perfectly. I say favourite but the truth is we haven't actually tried any others yet - I just like the darkwood, dim lighting vibe here. We decide to book in at Qsine for tomorrow & the speciality restaurants are easily reached from the Ensemble bar! The Turkish Maitre D who showed us around a couple of nights ago sets us up with a 6.30pm reservation and advises us to start thinking about booking all our specialty restaurants sooner rather than later (you can always cancel and swap) because as the cruise progresses more and more people start to think about advancing beyond the MDR. Jessica and Luke are here again singing - I'm guessing its their first cruise (at least on this ship) as Jessica tells the room she is supposed to announce an event later on in the "Quasar Room" but admits she has no idea how to pronounce it 😄

[4774Papa]

Thanks, I am enjoying your review. Love the review and photos. We are doing the same cruise in 2017 after a four week driving tour of England and Wales.

[ighten]

Thanks, I am enjoying your review. Love the review and photos. We are doing the same cruise in 2017 after a four week driving tour of England and Wales.

 

That sounds great - We seem to quite consistantly get a nice spell of warm autumn weather around that time now so you should have a blast. Do you have a route planned out yet?

[FlorenceItaly]

Really enjoying the review. Thank you so much.

 

 

 

 

Marie

[4774Papa]

That sounds great - We seem to quite consistantly get a nice spell of warm autumn weather around that time now so you should have a blast. Do you have a route planned out yet?

 

Yes, here is the route

30 Sep-2 October Bath 3 days

3-4 October Cardiff 2 days

5-6 October Tenby, Wales 2 days

7 October Llanddewi Brefi 1 day

 

8-13 October Cotswolds 6 days (Chipping Campden)

Stratford on Avon 1 or 2 days

Warwick 1 day

Oxford 1 day

Blenheim Palace 1 day

Cotswolds 1 or 2 days

14 October Nottingham 1 day

15-18 October York and Whitby 4 days

19-20 October Durham 2 days

21 October Hadrian’s Wall 1 day

22-24 October Lake district 3 day

 

25-26 Winchester, two days tour the city on 25th.

 

27 October Depart Winchester, visit Arundel Castle, turn in rental car, check in Southhampton Hotel

 

 

We are visiting places that we want to see, but also some places where our ancestors came from.

 

My paternal ancestors left Llanddewi Brefi in Cardiganshire, Wales in 1716. My ancestor and two of his brothers came to America.

[ighten]

Wow sounds great .. Tenbys one of our favourite places.

 

Looks like you 'll have plenty of Cathedrals to visit.

 

Day 5 coming soon - I have had to redo the you tube videos as the quality was all messed up so I'll re do those. Think I have now worked out how to get the pics on here :)

Edited November 18, 2016 by ighten

[ighten]

Celebrity Eclipse - Transatlantic Broadway and Boardwalks - Day 5

sorry I had to remove some pics to fit the forum.

 

Wed 2nd Nov (day 5)

 

 

 

Awake to the phone ringing gently next to my head. Is it that time aready. The display says "Pantry Midship Staircase" - Gemma is as bright and breezy as ever "Good Morning Sir - your breakfast is on its way". (Note to self - we need a Gemma when we get home). This morning we also have milk to go with the cereal.

 

 

[vid][/vid]

Whilst not so much a worry one of the things in the back of my mind when we booked this was would we cope with so many sea days (and sea days for that matter where you see nothing but endless ocean; no land, not even another ship to break the horizon). I have to say that so far we haven't even given it a second thought - you quickly settle into the routine of the ship and just relax into its days with ease no matter what the weather. Theres no clock watching hoping the hours go by till the next "event" - just pure bliss, not a care in the world; a full DVD set of "Breaking Bad" has yet to be broken into.

 

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Its warm enough by lunch time to enjoy an ice cold beer and a big juicy burger by the pool - Jack sticks with red wine and spme succulent turkey breast and we spend the rest of the afternoon outside by the pool. Later, just as the Captain had described, the wind begins to pick up, the sky starts to become grey and the sea turns from an icy blue colour to an inky black. The rain never appears though and even though the swell has definitely increased it is nothing like that which we saw on the 2nd night.

 

 

 

Tonight we are dining in Qsine, a trendy little restaurant where the food is ordered tapas style on ipads and brought to you in several courses that are presented to the table in a variety of ways. Each dish is supposed to represent a different areas cuisine We order lollipop sushi (Japan), a goats cheese salad (New Zealand - bit of a stretch), Lobster escargot (France), Lava Crab (Alaska) and a mix of curries (have a guess); dessert was tombstone chocolate and something tiny cheescake with coffees and strawberry fields for ever with creme brulee eggs. Have a lovely chat with our waitress Amy who speaks English, Spanish, Japanese, a little Cantonese and the 3 dialects of her home country Indonesia, quite why she isn't working as a translator for the United Nations is a mystery.

 

Sushi Lollipops

 

Goats Cheese Salad

 

Lava Crab (served from the volcano) and Lobster escargot

 

We do thoroughly enjoy our visit to Qsine however i'll leave my final comments until after our second visit.

I do need to start taking an afternoon nap (comment obviously refers to D - J could dance till morning) from now on as I'm exhausted after dinner so after a little air on the decks (weirdly the starboard promenade deck has a slight drizzle whilst the port side seems to have a micro climate all of its own and is engulfed in a downpour and closed - it's probably the spray from the sea hitting that side)

 

 

Later that night (or earlier the following morning - time becomes rather blurred on a TA) the sky totally clears and the stars shine so bright they seem to illuminate the sea - we fall asleep counting stars which sounds lovely and romantic if it wasn't for my snoring.

[ping1]

Thank you for your interesting posts.

 

Do you know the price for Unlimited Internet on your transatlantic?

[DaisyFire]

Dan - thanks again for your review!

 

I am now caught up through day 5 - and am thoroughly enjoying the read. Very entertaining and encouraging, as I will be on the Eclipse in just about 135 days!

 

Cheers!

Marguerite

[ighten]

Dan - thanks again for your review!

 

I am now caught up through day 5 - and am thoroughly enjoying the read. Very entertaining and encouraging, as I will be on the Eclipse in just about 135 days!

 

Cheers!

Marguerite

 

Thanks Marguerite.. 6 coming later today I hope - I need to dig snow at the moment though!!

@Ping I didnt use the onboard package so sorry I dont know. I'll check some dailies and see if it says

Edited November 19, 2016 by ighten

[ighten]

Celebrity Eclipse - Transatlantic Broadway and Boardwalks - Day 6

 

 

Thu Nov 3rd (day 6)

 

 

Once again the petit and adorable Gemma wakes us with a light breakfast in bed. A couple of rainbows hang on the horizon in front of the ship as the sun slowly climbs up. The clocks went back again last night (for the fourth time) and I wonder if that little old lady with friends waiting in Boston has finally worked it all out.. I shouldn't laugh I don't even know what day it is - but then again who cares..

 

 

The navigation display in the room now shows we have land to the west (Boston/New England) and the north (St Johns/Nova Scotia) but the vast scale of things is very misleading; "Where have we moved to today darling... I think during the night we finally crossed the top of the letter T on atlantic".We still have two more full days to go before we will see any land, we haven't even seen another ship so far and our route must be away from the main TA air routes as we have only seen one plane pass over.

 

 

This doing nothing is actually rather tiring. Must be all the clean fresh air, ozone and reading. We have a nice lunch outdoors finding a nice sunny spot at the back of the ship and a couple of cheeky malbecs. Then we huddle under blankets on sunbeds reading for a cpl of hours whilst sipping earl grey tea. Very English and civilised.

 

 

Dinner is in the MDR though we are a little later than usual and we find ourselves in a new spot with the quietest, most shy waiter on the ship teamed with a jolly and exuberant sommelier from Latvia who goes from table to table repeating the same one line jokes so that it becomes a comedy sketch in its own right if for the wrong reasons. Not sure where the lambs were sourced for the main course but D ends up with what looks like half a cows leg perched on some mash pretending to be a lamb shank, its delicious if a little overwhelming.

 

 

After a dance in the Atrium to the brilliant Trends - who amaze night after night, we wander around before settling back in the Ensemble Lounge for drinks. Now as much as I do enjoy Jessica and Lukes interpretations and music I do wish they would have a little meeting before they start a session and actually plan a set list: rather like our Latvian sommelier they can end up becoming a bit of an unintentional if harmless comic car crash as they discuss what to play next ;)

 

J."Sorry could you play some elevator music Luke to fill in whilst I find a song"

Edited November 20, 2016 by ighten

[ighten]

Fri Nov 4th (day 7)

 

 

Breakfast in the room again (you never would have guessed!). The swell has died down but the wind is still a bit wild and a little nippy - pretty much what I expected the whole journey across the Atlantic to be so I guess we can count ourselves quite lucky that we did get some great weather to start. Quickly up and dressed for the usual morning joggy/walk.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We are now about 200 miles from Boston, the pilot will be coming aboard at 5am tomorrow morning and we should be at the pier for 7am. All the benefits of ESTAS and chipped passports dont seem to have trickled down to the sea ports yet as we have to fill in those old green visa waiver cards and take our ESTAS and passports to the martini bar at 10.10am. A rather curt letter from Border Patrol tells us we should not appear in our dressing gown! You do have to sometimes raise a smile at the language of officialdom that the US often employs - it reads a lot of the time like instructions to either a kindergarten class or perhaps a brain dead zombie. Then again looking at the two presidential choices in a few days maybe thats not to far off the mark.

 

 

 

2pm. There is much excitement on the top deck as we have spotted the first signs of life (other than the greenfinches, starlings and thrushes that have hitched a ride and set up camp on the lawn) since we left Southampton. Just on the port horizon the silhouette of another ship can just be made out.

 

 

 

 

 

After lunch we brave the lawn garden for a quick game of Boules in an icy gale. The glass blowing team up here have the best job as they have a white hot furness to keep them warm. I have to admit we never watched the glass blowers. Being just old enough to remember the potters wheel on the BBC before the days of moronic 24hr TV - I can't really see the fascination.

 

 

 

 

Later that evening we return to the stateroom and watch as the sun slowly sets in the West and the pale orange light gently fades away- there's still no sign of land.

 

 

 

 

 

Tonights plan is basically to stay awake after eating in the MDR and perhaps even make it past 10pm. Dinner is a lovely little duck confit, chowder and cod for Dan, the vichyssoise and coq au vin for Jack.

 

 

 

 

 

Coffee, more dancing, more promenading and more climbing stairs in high heels for the exercise (that's J not myself in case you are wondering).

 

The rest of the ship seems to have taken an early night as the captains lounge is pretty much deserted other than a group of three Italian couples who (as usual) show us how classy ballroom dancing can be. Eventually tiredness takes over and on this cool evening we slip slowly into the Gulf of Maine to complete the transatlantic section of the cruise. It's finally Boston tomorrow, the first land since Southampton (which probably explains why everyone has taken an early night)

 

 

Edited November 20, 2016 by ighten

[4774Papa]

A rather curt letter from Border Patrol tells us we should not appear in our dressing gown! You do have to sometimes raise a smile at the language of officialdom that the US often employs - it reads a lot of the time like instructions to either a kindergarten class or perhaps a brain dead zombie.

 

 

Having served in the US Army, this brings me back.