LIVE!!!: Eclipse — 9/1 to 9/8 — Alaska

[Lindagop]

Hello and greetings. A BIG Thankyou for a well written and wonderfully entertaining live report.  What a beautiful daughter and family. Wishing her a future of health and happiness and to you all A Wonderful Cruise. Thank you

[What A Market]

We’ve dined now in both Murano and Tuscan.  Here’s a brief comparison.

 

Everything about Murano was excellent — service, setting, and food.  I rate it as one of the best dining experiences I’ve ever had at sea.  From a service perspective, I rate it as one of the best experiences I’ve had at sea AND on land.  I will say though that I’m a sucker for old school continental style dining.  I still have fond memories of dining in Celebrity’s long since retired SS United States restaurant. 

 

Tuscan was good. Sitting at the back of the boat watching the sun set was a real highlight.  I don’t really care for the design scheme of the restaurant, but the barrel/arched entry is striking.  Both DW and Shannon are coeliac and must eat gluten free.  Two thumbs up to Tuscan for having a gluten free pasta available for them.  Tuscan also prepared a grilled calamari as a gluten free choice.  This was better than the “normal” preparation that comes deep fried. The beef carpaccio was very good. Blaine and I also tried the crab cake and the bruschetta as well.  Neither were very good.  The crab cake seemed to be mostly filler.  No discernible crab or crab flavor.  The minestrone soup rates as very good. An interesting smokey flavor.  

 

For a restaurant that bills itself as an Italian steakhouse, they have a weird approach to dealing with pasta. If you are otherwise ordering a main meat course, they think your pasta course you’ve ordered comes as a side to your meat order.  It took a bit of explaining that I wanted the pasta course to come out as a separate course.  DW and Shannon really enjoyed their gluten free pasta dishes. Blaine and I had a half order each of the lobster alfredo.  I think they say the pasta is freshly made each day.  If true, they ruined it by way over cooking it.  Everyone enjoyed their final course — a veal marsala, the ribeye steak, and the branzino.  Too stuffed after all that, we passed on dessert.

 

I wouldn’t choose to return to Tuscan Grille, but can’t wait to return to Murano on Saturday. I’ll post more details on the food at Murano after our second night.  I leave you with a photo from Tuscan.

[scottygirl]

I've got Murano booked twice and Tuscan once.  Looks like I made a good decision.

[What A Market]

Some quick random notes for this morning.

 

My pattern every morning is to start the day in Cafe al Bacio.  I consume several espressos while listening to the ongoing hysterical banter of the team working the Cafe.  The leader of this happy group is Kumar.  He is a riot.  This is such a great way to start the day.

 

Dinner last night in Luminae.  Followed by dessert with the kids in the Ocean View Cafe.  DW and I both had the lamb chops.  We eat a lot of lamb, and I take great pride in a grilled rack of lamb I make at home.  The lamb served last night in Luminae was excellent. And I mean really excellent.  Perfectly cooked and seasoned. Clearly freshly crust from the rack right before it was brought to the table.

 

Running up to Ocean View for dessert makes sense for us.  They always have a great selection of gluten free desserts for DW and Shannon. I rate the dessert selection far superior to what we’ve seen on Oceania.

 

Final note:  The Maitre ‘D in Luminae is Hugo.  He is fantastic. Really takes full control of the room and his guests. An interesting note on his attention to detail:  On the evening we dined in Tuscan Grille, he was waiting at the check in station for us. He wanted to make sure that Tuscan’s Maitre ‘D knew about DW’s gluten allergy.  He also looked at the table we were allocated and had the Maitre ‘D move our reservation to a preferred table by the windows.  Pretty damn impressive.

 

[What A Market]

Scenes from yesterday in Juneau. Sea planes landing and taking off next to us while docked. And DW’s attempt to use my  iPhone to capture the gorgeous sunset as we depart Juneau. This from our window seat in Luminae. 

[What A Market]

Here’s some shots of last night’s dance party in the atrium. Started off as a 50s tribute show with some of the entertainers. Ended as a full blown mosh pit. People were definitely enjoying themselves. 

 

[What A Market]

Last night’s entertainment featured a Paul McCartney / Beatles Tribute Band. They were fantastic. By far the best show we’ve seen onboard. 

Edited September 7, 2019 by What A Market

[gerelmx]

3 minutes ago, What A Market said:

Last night’s entertainment featured a Paul McCartney / Beatles Band. They were fantastic. By far the best show we’ve seen onboard. 

 

 

Great they was onboard the Silhouette past march,  they repeated one afternoon before dinner time in the Grad Foyer

 

[gerelmx]

@What A Market   

Who is the Captains Club host in your sailing?

[What A Market]

Gerelmx

I will try to find out who the Captains Club host is for you. In the meantime, here are the Ship’s Master and the rest of the Senior Staff onboard. 

 

[willma]

Captain’s Club hostess is Rose Dalisay. She has been excellent.

[gerelmx]

8 minutes ago, willma said:

Captain’s Club hostess is Rose Dalisay. She has been excellent.

 

Excellent, she was onboard with us during our Silhouette cruise past March, thank you

[willma]

Surprised to see that there were fewer than 100 elites and elite pluses on this trip . 

It was a wonderful cruise. 

[Pamster]

On 9/4/2019 at 2:16 PM, What A Market said:

Just got back from the up close glacier tour. Breathtaking!  They told us on the tour that a camera can’t capture the blues. Unfortunately that proves to be true. 

 

 

My goodness the blues in this second picture are gorgeous though.  Have never seen the glaciers that blue in our trips to Alaska.  Beautiful!!!

[K12Guy]

On 9/2/2019 at 7:31 AM, What A Market said:

Quick answer to TeaBag’s earlier question on the SeaPass card.

 

You get your SeaPass card as part of the check in process before you board the ship.  This step takes place even prior to clearing US Customs.  You have to have this card on you to actually board the ship.  The rooms on my floor were closed off by fire doors that sealed off the hallways. No way to drop off your hand luggage at your room door. We are traveling in a suite so the concierge in Michael’s offered to hold our bags for us if we wanted to explore the ship.  Rooms were announced as ready just after 1:00pm.  That’s when you can access your room.

 

I will assume you didn't know, or the concierge Kristina, forgot to mention that you can go to Luminae starting at 11:30 on Embarkation day. Or maybe you just forgot to mention it, as I would.

[K12Guy]

On 9/3/2019 at 11:30 AM, Schmoe38 said:

We board Eclipse on Sep 22/19. Do you recall the name of the wine server? 

Randy,

 

Milan was the Luminae sommelier for our cruise the week before this one. If this was Milan I would be shocked. We received nothing but the best service from him. Anyone who orders Caymus probably knows a bit about how to enjoy wine and that should be a 'tip' to the sommelier.

 

You're now two weeks out!

[Schmoe38]

3 minutes ago, K12Guy said:

Randy,

 

Milan was the Luminae sommelier for our cruise the week before this one. If this was Milan I would be shocked. We received nothing but the best service from him. Anyone who orders Caymus probably knows a bit about how to enjoy wine and that should be a 'tip' to the sommelier.

 

You're now two weeks out!

Thank you so much for this..I too would be surprised.

It was very thoughtful of you to provide the sommelier information together with the info on the other Luminae personnel when you were on board.

 

Randy

[K12Guy]

12 minutes ago, Schmoe38 said:

Thank you so much for this..I too would be surprised.

It was very thoughtful of you to provide the sommelier information together with the info on the other Luminae personnel when you were on board.

 

Randy

I am hoping to hear back from What A Market, aka WHAM, about his experience for the rest of the cruise, and if the sommelier was indeed, Milan. If it was Milan I will guess that he was working both the MDR and Luminae, since that can happen on first night due to an inexperienced wine steward or sommelier who has just come aboard and isn't up to speed. Milan and I had extended conversations about a number of wine choices and it turns out he will be touring Wagner in October, and get to see the Caymus operation. I also shared the 1858 wine information with him. It all started on our first day, Sunday, with lunch in Luminae when I requested Mer Soleil chardonnay.

[Iamthesea]

Enjoying the review and so happy that you are able to celebrate your daughter's recovery.

 

Curious about something.  You mentioned being in a Suite, and the kids were in an AQ.  Did they eat with you every night in Luminae?

[TBird861]

On 9/2/2019 at 7:59 AM, What A Market said:

Monday morning.  Day at Sea.

Weather Report: (Here’s a shot from my balcony.)  A bit think out there.  Ha!

Ship’s Fog horn sounding every several minutes.

 

Thank you so much for your wonderful review!  We are leaving for this same cruise on September 15th with my parents.  It's our third Alaskan cruise but it's a place my dad can travel.  Appreciating every moment we have with our elderly parents.  Best wishes for continued health.

[What A Market]

Greeting everyone 

Definitely not posting “Live” now.  Ha!  Sorry it has taken so long to post some final thoughts on this cruise. (A whole week!) I have to say that reading the Live thread by CHICAGOPAUL is inspiring, humbling, and humiliating for those of us who have taken a shot at a Live thread.  That guy has some crazy commitment to posting Live.

 

So on with some final thoughts, but first I’ll respond to some questions that were posted to my thread.  

 

To Iamthesea:  The kids did not eat with us in Luminae every night.  This was a function of several circumstances.  The four of us only ate in Luminae together on the first night.  We also ate together for three nights in the specialty restaurants — Murano, Tuscan, and Murano again for a second time.  We all ate together one night in Blu.  (Kids were Aqua. More on that experience later.)  The other two nights in this seven night cruise we ate apart.  DW and I in Luminae and the kids dined one night in Blu and one night in the MDR.

 

To K12Guy:  Yes, Kristina told me about Luminae being open for lunch on embarkation day.  DW and the kids jumped off the ship after boarding to have brunch back in Vancouver.  I stayed in Michael’s to get some work done. (Ugh!) Side note about trying to disembark after the day one embarkation:  Do it at your own risk.  It was crazy the conflicting info we got from different people as we embarked as to whether we could get back off.  Ultimately, I put my trust in Kristina in Michael’s. She called to check with a Security Officer.  The answer is Yes you can get back off.  If you do it though, you have to go thru the entire border control process again to get back on ship.  

 

I leave you with a photo of the brunch spot in Vancouver that DW and the kids got off the ship for after embarkation.  Called De Dutch.  These are gluten free pancakes.  Crazy good.  The three that got off the ship said it was worth it!

 

[LeeLee29]

Reading your journal about the cruise makes me even more excited for mine in May 2020.  I also wanted to say I hope your daughter is doing well and that she will continue to do well.  What a wonderful way to celebrate her survivorship.  F###Cancer is so true.  Here's to many more trips to you, your wife, beautiful daughter and soon to be son-in-law.