Great trip. Last of the 14 night itineraries.
Celebrity Eclipse Cruise Review to Caribbean - Southern
Contributor Level:
Second Mate
Cruises: 7+ cruises
Reviews: 6
Helpful Votes: 132
14 Night Exotic Southern Caribbean (Miami Roundtrip)
Sail date: January 08, 2017
Ship: Celebrity Eclipse
Cabin type: Balcony
Cabin number: 8226
Traveled as: Couple
Reviewed: 6 years ago
Review summary
We picked this itinerary as it included islands we had not visited. We were not disappointed. We arrived at the port around noon and after passing other cruise ship LONG lines we were pleased to have a quick check in. Our room was available at 1pm and we got our luggage by 4ish. We live in Florida so we did not do any tours in MIami. First sea day we did Galley tour which was informative. Highly recommend as it is also free. I recommend researching all ports and keep a list of sites you want to see. I noticed that when the common tourist sites were visited the balance of the tours were about buildings, schools and island industry and not all that interesting. Disembarkation was a little disorganized. First - listen to the crew and read the brochures provided. Ask if you don't know. We waited in the Tuscan grill as we are Elite members, it was comfortable. Luggage pick was a little chaotic as to which carousel is yours...again once we asked it went easy. Customs was easy and quick and there were plenty of taxis available for ride to airport and car rentalEmbarkation
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
We ate in the main dining room most nights. We had select dining and i highly recommend the 7pm time frame. ALSO as soon as on line booking opens, usually 6 months out, make your dinner reservations. The 7pm slot allows you to see the 9pm show and miss the crowds. One night we were with a large CC group in Qsine and this remains one of our favorite restaurants. The large group meant we could try more veriety of foods. Service was excellent and food superb. One night we ate in Tuscan grill. Again food excellent and serves excellent. We felt we wasted a lot of food because we couldn't eat all they served and we ONLY had a few dishes. It was our anniversary and they provided a nice chocolate cake. All rates in the specialty restaurants are negotiable.
Onboard Activities
Entertainment
Service and Staff
Ship Quality
Cabin / Stateroom
Ship tip
If you can get a cabin on the "hump" the balcony is extra long. Only drawback was there were only 2 US outlets, but the stewart was able to bring an extension cord.
Thumbs up
0
Ports of call
Trike tour was awesome, easy to handle driving as its on the right, HIGHLY SUGGEST an automatic as the shifting seemed to be difficult for some. I have never driven a bike so I was thankful they had an automatic for me Have your partner/copilot take pics, there is a need to concentration on road as there is traffic and pot holes. I missed a few sites, but after I reviewed the 200+ pics my wife took wife took it was great. There were 4 – 5 stops where POI were explained with lots of time to explore. They also took the time to use our camera to take pictures. I Suggested to them to add bluetooth head phones for more interaction with the guide during the ride. We waited only a short time for the pickup, BUT the van had no A/C so it was a little uncomfortable. Day 12 ..18.Aruba ship tour "by land and sea" Pelican tours and Robinson was our ship guide. Open air bus had a bad microphone so it was very hard to understand. It rained so those by the windows got a little wet. The driver played Cheesy music and there could have been more history commentary. The Boat portion was great, Robinson, the guide, was informative, interactive and funny. He made the tour. Word of advice - top of boat ONLY holds 20 people by law so be there first. We were over capacity, but no one wanted to leave.
We did a ship tour in the afternoon - Best of Bonaire – southern end of the island including salt flats, slave huts (replicas), lots of beach art/sculptures , Sorobon beach stop - was short but we got to stand in the water! Lots of information and our guide was great. In the morning we took a $25 tour of the northern part of island, caught right out of terminal. 2 hours and the price is regulated...had to wait for 20 minutes for full bus saw Rincon, gotomeer lake , 1000 step beach, lots of flamingos/goats/donkeys, NO restrooms so be aware.
Again we did a ship tour - CAVES and city tour saw the Kueba Di Hato caves, lots of bats, dry cave, walk up 100 steps to entrance Walking tour of the town at second half was great. The caves are interesting but not as good as
We did a private tour and Any taxi driver can do a tour. I recommend you research port and choose what you want to see. We went to Harrison caves which were excellent. Next we did Hunte's Gardens which isn't advertised an the ships brochures. It was beautiful with lots of little sitting spaces. Mr Hunt welcomes you into his home. We visited St johns Parrish and Gun Hill. Both places are great for pictures. Missed the orchid farm, which we heard was great. Bad port position for the ship in port. We had a 10 minutes walk on the edge of the dock to get to the terminal.....Celebrity did offer shuttles, BUT there were VERY few shuttles and very crowded. The ONLY area of the cruise that was a disappointment. I wouldn't have minded the walk except after touring all day I was tired.
Private Real st lucia tours. Jamal was our driver and did a great job. I recommend you research and decide what you want to see. Jamal showed us everything on our list and even made suggestions as to which order, so we could avoid the other tours. The total time spent on the tour was about 6 hours. There is a fair amount of silence during the drive, cause you can only talk about the scenery so much, just be aware. We did make several stops for pictures and were hustled for jewelry and trinkets. It is a Long drive from the cruise port to the pitons and volcano, 2 hours, lots of traffic in town and very windy roads. People tend to drive fast so be aware. The Volcano was interesting and Sulfur Springs are smelly! We did not do mud baths as that takes a lot of time, but we could have. Our next stop was the Tet Paul Nature Trail – lots of stairs and rugged, but worth it for the view. The balance of the tour was the drive back to the ship.
Private Antiqua VIP tours was excellent. Our singing driver Alvin very informative and fun to have as our guide. We visited, Betty's hope sugar mill and was told slave history. As a side note I noticed a lot of other tour participants following us around attractions as Alvin was knowledgeable and obviously they had booked the cheap tour! Devils bridge – where caribbian sea meets the atlantic ocean and the seas spray through/under small coral bridge We visited Nelsons dock yard – the bakery offered some interesting items, rest isn't that interesting, but the guide Alvin recommended was excellent. Fig tree drive was a windy road not that interesting, Islanders call bananas - figs