CHICAGOPAUL LIVE!!!! Our First ALASKA CRUISE on the ECLIPSE!!! May 19th Sailing

[Huskydo]

4 hours ago, Newbury newbie said:

Huskydo, if you want to PM me I can give you some more info. Shouldn’t really be hijacking this thread. 

 

 

Hi Newbury newbie

apparently, pm is not available on CC:( would really like to find out more about BA. 

[hcat]

2 hours ago, chicagopaul said:

Well we are onboard......

 

we are are now sitting in Michaels with a glass of wine. Once we met our escort I’d say the entire process took about 10 minutes. 

 

 

BON VOYAGE!

Have a wonderful cruise.

[Newbury newbie]

22 minutes ago, Huskydo said:

 

Hi Newbury newbie

apparently, pm is not available on CC:( would really like to find out more about BA. 

 

 

Huskydo, mail me at philmrobins@aol.com and we’ll hook up.

 

Phil

[DavietheScot]

Following along. 

[pd7277]

25 minutes ago, Huskydo said:

 

Hi Newbury newbie

apparently, pm is not available on CC:( would really like to find out more about BA. 

Why don't you both email me using the link in my signature and I'll facilitate the email address exchange for you.

 

Carry on Paul, always a treat to follow along!

[maggieq]

May I ask how one goes about getting Hyatt status via Celebrity?

 

thanks!  

[verizon]

22 minutes ago, maggieq said:

May I ask how one goes about getting Hyatt status via Celebrity?

 

thanks!  

Please refer to post #39 on this thread.

[chicagopaul]

Well we are now at the muster drill in MDR. Comfy here. Not crowded. Everyone has a seat and plenty of open seats. We’ve already run into someone we know, our butler Hilario! He was our butler on a TA a couple years ago. This is an amazing surprise and has set a great tone to start the cruise. After our drink in Michaels club we had a drink at Sunset. Then headed to Luminae for lunch. Much to our surprise was one of our favorite waiters Dev from Mauritius. He is such a friendly guy and saw us before we could say anything. 

 

We then went to the cabin and dropped off our hand luggage. No main bags but met Cruz our room attendant and Hilario the butler. 

 

When the shoreside concierge called we had a handful of requests. All were fulfilled. When I’m at my laptop later I’ll detail my requests but I was very happy with the outcome since on a liquor level a couple we had were above the standard options. 

 

After checking out the room room we went to the martini bar. We met Ade and Imade. They seem pretty energetic and friendly so I think this should be a fun martini bar this cruise. We also met two other couples who were very talkative and a delight to chat with. So far this is off to a truly awesome start. Let’s hope this continues. 

 

Here are some photos. FYI Luminae at 1pm was not crowded at all and service was very prompt. Can you guess what we had from the photos below? 

 

 

 

 

 

[chicagopaul]

A couple quick photos from the room. Room tour video coming soon. 

 

 

 

 

 

[wendyam76]

Love the whisky you got - one of my family’s favourites! Loved your room tour on Instastories - looks amazing! 

[chicagopaul]

Good Morning! As I’m sitting in our living room drinking coffee from al Bacio and nursing only a slight hangover, I’ll start with the Daily for today before I dive into drinks and dinner from last night. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ceilidh1]

I am considering this ship for a coastal in March next year. I have never sailed Celebrity so will be following along on your travels to get a little more insight. Would you say there is enough on this ship to interest a 12 and 8 year old? I realise it won't have the slides/go karts/climbing wall aspect (which is just fine) but I do like us to spend some time enjoying activities as a family, rather than the kids disappearing to kids club the entire time!

 

Thanks in advance, and enjoying everything you have written so far!

[spammie]

Loving this!  Been watching your Instastories too!  I want to do an Alaska cruise so bad but having a hard time dragging John out of the Caribbean.  I always read him your posts so maybe this will be the nudge he needs!  LOL!  Can't wait to cruise along with you.  You suite looks amazing!!!  Wanda

[hsk1977]

I love reading the daily itinerary in anticipation of our trip in August. Thanks for sharing everything with us!

[Beachlover1989]

Once again, I really appreciate the time you take on your reviews!  I always learn something new, and get to "enjoy" a cruise without being there!

[Texasopa]

Is there at Nature speaker on board. We were on the Solstice 4 years ago and Brett Nixon gave talks every day about Alaska.

[chicagopaul]

So our usual routine as many of you know is to be at the sunset bar or pool bar. We tried! It’s a bit chilly / windy today so we’re at Passport bar which opens at 10. 

 

Last night we headed to martini bar before dinner. I’ve never seen it so empty! If you saw my Instagram story you probably thought the same thing. I was shocked. We arrived at 6:40 and left around 8. Finally around 7:45 some people started coming by. There are lots of first time celebrity cruisers on this ship. I believe they’re the majority by a lot so people need to discover the ship. The martini bartenders have been very nice. 

 

Last night we had dinner in Murano. We had a great table for 2. Star, the head sommelier on the ship who we know stopped by to say hello and brought us some Perrier Jouet champagne. I had my favorite salmon and grab parfait to start and Edward had the risotto. We split the chateaubriand and the lobster. The chateau was cooked perfectly. The lobster was excellent. After that we had some cheese. For wine we had some more champagne and the Hartford zin. It’s a fantastic wine. If you’re a fan of bold Zinfandels such as the prisoner or 8 years in the desert you’ll love this one. It’s above the premium at $23, so $8 extra but it’s well worth it. The sommelier in Murano was fantastic. He was so enthusiastic and loved talking about wine. I forget his name but will get it tonight. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[chicagopaul]

After dinner last night we ended up at World Class bar. The bartenders are Jorge (I believe that was his name) from Mexico and Nicholas from Italy. Though I swear given the way Nicholas looks and speaks he’s from Sweden. I had the Zacappa above the clouds and Edward had the celebrity 10. Then for some reason Nicholas thought it was a good idea to serve us Don Julio repasado shots. I mean, it was a great idea at the time. Then I had another drink. All this on top of the martinis before dinner and champagne and wine at dinner. Oh well, today is a sea day anyway right? 

 

Anyway, both bartenders were very friendly and engaging. I think this will be our after dinner bar on this cruise. 

[chicagopaul]

12 minutes ago, Texasopa said:

Is there at Nature speaker on board. We were on the Solstice 4 years ago and Brett Nixon gave talks every day about Alaska.

 

I believe there is. On the Daily I see a beyond the podium talk about Alaska at 12:30 with Milos Radakovich. I think we will check it out. Thanks for mentioning this. I didn’t even think to look for it! 

[Beachlover1989]

2 minutes ago, chicagopaul said:

After dinner last night we ended up at World Class bar. The bartenders are Jorge (I believe that was his name) from Mexico and Nicholas from Italy. Though I swear given the way Nicholas looks and speaks he’s from Sweden. I had the Zacappa above the clouds and Edward had the celebrity 10. Then for some reason Nicholas thought it was a good idea to serve us Don Julio repasado shots. I mean, it was a great idea at the time. Then I had another drink. All this on top of the martinis before dinner and champagne and wine at dinner. Oh well, today is a sea day anyway right? 

 

Anyway, both bartenders were very friendly and engaging. I think this will be our after dinner bar on this cruise. 

We LOVE the World Class Bar and it is always our after dinner bar as well!  The El Don Julio is my favorite and my DH likes the bourbon selection.

[chicagopaul]

Decoy is back! I spoke to Star, the head sommelier and mentioned the complaints we heard about the decoy. Around the time the complaints came in I was told it was removed from the menu (I believe via corporate) but quickly brought back. However since it was removed it disrupted their ordering of it and hence why there was an issue on multiple cruises. It is back and freely available so no need to worry! 

[Chrissi3010]

Enjoying your blog as usual… 🙂

 

Here a picture of the Hubbard Glacier to tease you a little bit. 😉 It was taken nearly exactly 3 years ago on our very first cruise.

[DavietheScot]

18 hours ago, chicagopaul said:

Well we are now at the muster drill in MDR. Comfy here. Not crowded. Everyone has a seat and plenty of open seats. We’ve already run into someone we know, our butler Hilario! He was our butler on a TA a couple years ago. This is an amazing surprise and has set a great tone to start the cruise. After our drink in Michaels club we had a drink at Sunset. Then headed to Luminae for lunch. Much to our surprise was one of our favorite waiters Dev from Mauritius. He is such a friendly guy and saw us before we could say anything. 

 

We then went to the cabin and dropped off our hand luggage. No main bags but met Cruz our room attendant and Hilario the butler. 

 

When the shoreside concierge called we had a handful of requests. All were fulfilled. When I’m at my laptop later I’ll detail my requests but I was very happy with the outcome since on a liquor level a couple we had were above the standard options. 

 

After checking out the room room we went to the martini bar. We met Ade and Imade. They seem pretty energetic and friendly so I think this should be a fun martini bar this cruise. We also met two other couples who were very talkative and a delight to chat with. So far this is off to a truly awesome start. Let’s hope this continues. 

 

Here are some photos. FYI Luminae at 1pm was not crowded at all and service was very prompt. Can you guess what we had from the photos below? 

 

 

 

 

 

Hi Paul, we were on the Eclipse doing the transatlantic in November and Ade and Imade were in the Martini Bar on that crossing along with Donny and Putu, they were all great Martini barmen who made our cruise very enjoyable, we are big fans of that bar but like you we did notice that it could be on some nights very quiet which was a first for us, however say hallo to them all from us Davie and Christine from Scotland. 

[TeaBag]

Following along with others.  We enjoyed Milos on the Honolulu to Vancouver segment. 

[dflawyer]

Are you taking the Hubbard Glacier and Wilderness Excursion? Trying to decide whether it will be worthwhile for our upcoming June 30 Celebrity Eclipse cruise.