Eclipse Photo Review - Feb. 15, 2015 Exotic Southern Carribean Cruise in Aqua Class

Hi everyone! I did a photo review this past summer for our Bermuda cruise and since it was so well received I thought I would do it once again for our most recent sailing on Eclipse. I've been anxious to start since we got back but I told myself I had to finish the laundry and put away the suit cases first. :)

We have sailed with X previously five times. We have now been on all of the S-class ships except for Reflection and one M-class ship, Summit. Four of the cruises have been in the Caribbean over the winter out of Ft. Lauderdale or Miami and our M-class sailing was out of Bayonne to Bermuda. All of those cruises were either 7 or 10 nights, so this was also our longest cruise at 14 nights.

We choose this particular Eclipse sailing because of the amazing itinerary which included the ABC's. They are running the same itinerary in 2016 and again, more frequently, in 2017. I can't recommend it highly enough. We booked this cruise as soon as became available because at the time it was very unique. We received a group rate and pre-paid gratuities from our TA and were able to pick one from the 123Go! promo. Remember those archaic days when you could only pick one? :eek: We chose the beverage package.

It was my DH and me on this cruise along with a group of friends that we have sailed with previously on Equinox. I am 32 and my DH is 28.

As an FYI - yes, I do have all the dailies along with everything they put in them. I'll also be happy to answer questions along the way however keep in mind I'm just one person and these are only my opinions/experiences. I'll also invite so many of the great people from our roll call to also join in along the way.

Finally, due to the length of the cruise its probably going to take me some time to finish. If nothing else, I have over 4,500 photos to edit along the way!

Tom

As stated previously, this was the longest cruise we have done. It was 14 nights with 8 ports and 5 sea days. A few people on our roll call had done this cruise before as a B2B. Prior to going on the cruise I couldn't imagine doing that, however now I get it. I easily could have stayed on.

Below is a map of our itinerary.

Having sailed on other S-class ships we had a pretty good idea of which Aqua class cabins to avoid. We were in cabin 1643 which is an A2. We could have been closer to the hump, however I wanted to avoid the cabins with the vent over the balconies. Noise was not an issue since there are cabins above this cabin. All and all we liked the location. It was our first time being so far back.

The planning that went into this cruise was rather extensive. I did a lot of research on CC and TripAdvisor since we were visiting several of the islands for the first time. There were also several people on our roll call who had done this cruise previously and shared some great advice. I organized a few excursions for our group of friends and two for the roll call. We did an excursion in every port which I would not recommend. This was one time where I will admit my DH was right, but lets keep that as our secret. That said, it was an amazing trip and I wouldn't change anything.

Since we both work full time we were not able to take off much time before the cruise due to its length. We flew down to Miami on American Airlines Friday night with the cruise leaving on Sunday. We are lucky enough to have made so many wonderful friends on CC that we stayed with our adoptive cruise parents prior to this cruise. They also came with us.

This will probably be it for tonight, but I promise to try and cover at least one aspect or day of the cruise each day. Since this is supposed to be a photo review I should probably also leave you with a photo. I would tell you where it was taken, but I don't want to give anything way. ;)

Hi Tom!

Your cruise sounds wonderful - glad you had a great time :) I was actually just looking at this same cruise for 2016 (I'm getting on Reflection in a few weeks and am doing my research for onboard booking :D) so am really very excited that you're doing this review. Can't wait for the next installment!!!

Karen

I can't wait to read and see more! It already sounds great.

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I can't wait to read and see more! It already sounds great

By the photo that you have already posted, I have an inkling there will be beach/ diving activities to see. Interesting how a cruise with the same itinerary will be different from ours in March 2013.

Tom

So excited to read your review and re-live that wonderful cruise.

Hi and love to your adoptive cruise parents!!! So glad we got to meet all of you!

(I do agree with Pete that you have to make a sea day out of one of the port days near the end)

We are on this same cruise on the Eclipse on March 29, 2015. However we will be going to Grenada instead of Bonaire.

Tom, Thank You for recreating all the wonderful memories from our two weeks in paradise. I look forward to seeing all your beautiful photos of the warm, sunny and sandy Caribbean as I still battle the cruise crud we all seemed to come down with. Your hard work is much appreciated by many here.

Toni

PS Love the photo of Pete!

Hi everyone! I did a photo review this past summer for our Bermuda cruise and since it was so well received I thought I would do it once again for our most recent sailing on Eclipse. I've been anxious to start since we got back but I told myself I had to finish the laundry and put away the suit cases first. :)

 

We have sailed with X previously five times. We have now been on all of the S-class ships except for Reflection and one M-class ship, Summit. Four of the cruises have been in the Caribbean over the winter out of Ft. Lauderdale or Miami and our M-class sailing was out of Bayonne to Bermuda. All of those cruises were either 7 or 10 nights, so this was also our longest cruise at 14 nights.

 

We choose this particular Eclipse sailing because of the amazing itinerary which included the ABC's. They are running the same itinerary in 2016 and again, more frequently, in 2017. I can't recommend it highly enough. We booked this cruise as soon as became available because at the time it was very unique. We received a group rate and pre-paid gratuities from our TA and were able to pick one from the 123Go! promo. Remember those archaic days when you could only pick one? :eek: We chose the beverage package.

 

It was my DH and me on this cruise along with a group of friends that we have sailed with previously on Equinox. I am 32 and my DH is 28.

 

As an FYI - yes, I do have all the dailies along with everything they put in them. I'll also be happy to answer questions along the way however keep in mind I'm just one person and these are only my opinions/experiences. I'll also invite so many of the great people from our roll call to also join in along the way.

 

Finally, due to the length of the cruise its probably going to take me some time to finish. If nothing else, I have over 4,500 photos to edit along the way!

 

Tom

I think you are missing a ship. There are 5 S class ships and 4 M class. If you sailed 5 times and this makes it 6 total. Or you may have taken more cruises than you thought.

happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌞

Awesome itinerary!!!

I think you are missing a ship. There are 5 S class ships and 4 M class. If you sailed 5 times and this makes it 6 total. Or you may have taken more cruises than you thought.

 

happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌞

LOL! I wish I had taken more cruises than I thought. I just meant we have been on almost all the S-class ships. Come November we are doing Reflection and then I'll complete my S-class ships magnet and mug set. Those are good reasons to cruise right? :p Its doubtful we will get to all the M-class since we have been sticking to the Caribbean. We have two more M-class cruises booked, but both are on Summit.

Hi Prim8keeper.

Bob and Christine from Australia. Looking in anticipation of your review and photos of the Eclipse We have decided to do this cruise some time in 2016 and cant wait.

Cheers Bob

My wife and I were lucky enough to do this same cruise from 1/4/15 - 1/18/15. We had a glorious time and I am looking forward to re-living it through your pictures and experiences. I would really recommend this cruise to anyone who can afford to be gone for that period of time. You will not regret it! Happy Cruising!

As stated previously, this was the longest cruise we have done. It was 14 nights with 8 ports and 5 sea days. A few people on our roll call had done this cruise before as a B2B. Prior to going on the cruise I couldn't imagine doing that, however now I get it. I easily could have stayed on.

 

Below is a map of our itinerary...

 

 

Having sailed on other S-class ships we had a pretty good idea of which Aqua class cabins to avoid. We were in cabin 1643 which is an A2. We could have been closer to the hump, however I wanted to avoid the cabins with the vent over the balconies. Noise was not an issue since there are cabins above this cabin. All and all we liked the location. It was our first time being so far back.

 

The planning that went into this cruise was rather extensive. I did a lot of research on CC and TripAdvisor since we were visiting several of the islands for the first time. There were also several people on our roll call who had done this cruise previously and shared some great advice. I organized a few excursions for our group of friends and two for the roll call. We did an excursion in every port which I would not recommend. This was one time where I will admit my DH was right, but lets keep that as our secret. That said, it was an amazing trip and I wouldn't change anything.

 

Since we both work full time we were not able to take off much time before the cruise due to its length. We flew down to Miami on American Airlines Friday night with the cruise leaving on Sunday. We are lucky enough to have made so many wonderful friends on CC that we stayed with our adoptive cruise parents prior to this cruise. They also came with us.

 

This will probably be it for tonight, but I promise to try and cover at least one aspect or day of the cruise each day. Since this is supposed to be a photo review I should probably also leave you with a photo. I would tell you where it was taken, but I don't want to give anything way. ;)

 

Just wondering why you wouldn't do an excursion everyday.

We're about to do the same cruise in a few weeks, but we haven't book all of our excursions yet.

And thanks for the upcoming photo review!

Just wondering why you wouldn't do an excursion everyday.!

Exhaustion.

Need for R&R

Just wondering why you wouldn't do an excursion everyday.

 

We're about to do the same cruise in a few weeks, but we haven't book all of our excursions yet.

 

And thanks for the upcoming photo review!

We were on the cruise with Tom and Pete and although I agree that it is exhausting to do an excursion every day (we actually did 9 as we did 2 in Bonaire - morning and afternoon), I wouldn't be able to decide which island to skip unless I had already done all the islands. We had done 3 previously (Aruba, Barbados and St. Maarten) and still chose to do an excursion on each stop, which we thoroughly enjoyed. The one saving grace was that we chose to do an afternoon beach break in St. Maarten and an afternoon snorkelling tour in Barbados which gave us 2 opportunities to sleep in a bit.

Sooooo looking forward to reliving the cruise through your eyes, Tom. I watched you take some very interesting shots and can't wait to see some of them!

Just wondering why you wouldn't do an excursion everyday.

 

We're about to do the same cruise in a few weeks, but we haven't book all of our excursions yet.

 

And thanks for the upcoming photo review!

As others have stated it can get a little tiring. I think a lot of it comes down to how much you can handle and how active you like to be. For this cruise we really didn't have much down time and we had several early mornings/long days. As I said though I don't regret doing anything. In total we had 10 excursions over the 8 ports.

Before I get too far into the review I'll just take a minute to share what equipment I used. I took four cameras on this trip with me.

The main camera I used was a Canon EOS 6D which is a full frame DSLR camera. With that camera I used two lenses. The first was a Canon 24-70mm f/2.8L lens and the second was a Canon 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS lens.

The second camera my DH used was a Canon SX510HS. While this is a smaller camera it does have a 30x zoom lens and takes very good pictures. I think the newer models now have a better zoom lens.

The third camera was a Sony Cyber-shot DSC-TX5 camera. This is the first camera we bought when we started in cruising in 2011. It is waterproof, shockproof, etc. While its a great camera we will probably replace it before our next cruise since it is beginning to show its age.

The fourth, and final camera, was a GoPro Hero 3.

I edit all of my photos in Lightroom 5.6 and I almost always apply VSCO FILM filters which is why many of my photos look they were taken on actual film.

Due to the large volume of photos for each section I will probably only post 15-20 photos and then post a link to a gallery with additional photos for those who are interested.

We woke up Saturday morning to the sounds of more of our cruising family showing up. Some of our friends had flown in on the red eye from San Francisco and arrived in Ft. Lauderdale shortly after 7 am. Since they couldn't check into their hotel until later in the day, our adoptive cruise parents being the wonderful host they are, invited them to spend the day with us.

We had a relaxing breakfast, served with the finest mimosa's that the Celebrity Vintage sparking wine can make. We had saved this from our cruise the previously month on Silhouette as a gag gift. Little did I know they would make us drink it! After breakfast we sat around catching up, napping and then finished getting ready for the day. Since we would be cruising soon we decided we should probably practice eating so we went to lunch at Coconut's. This has become a tradition each time we are in Ft. Lauderdale. Since there was a lot going on in Miami and Ft. Lauderdale that weekend we made sure to get there at 11 am when they opened. They are often very busy on weekends and the waits can be as long as two hours.

After lunch we ran a few last minute errands, finished packing and just hung out around the house. I also took the opportunity to take a few photos. As you can see, the gardens around their house are just as beautiful as any resort.

Since we had a big lunch we decided to have a light dinner. We then spent the rest of the evening doing what we do best, sitting in the hot tub drinking. I can't wait to retire! After spending a few hours in the hot tub we decided to call it an early night.

Great start to the review and awesome photography! We are from Australia and considering doing this cruise in 16/17. Or a B2B Eastern/Western Caribbean. Gotta make it worthwhile!! Heard ALOT of great things about this itinerary and particularly keen to hear your thoughts and what you got up to on Bonaire. As you say it's a port intensive trip whereas we really like our sea days...but it will be great to see so much of the Caribbean on our first cruise in the region!! Waiting for the next instalment.....[emoji38]

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As others have stated it can get a little tiring. I think a lot of it comes down to how much you can handle and how active you like to be. For this cruise we really didn't have much down time and we had several early mornings/long days. As I said though I don't regret doing anything. In total we had 10 excursions over the 8 ports.

Thanks to you and everyone else for your answers. Good thing I'm an early riser in regards to early mornings. I'll have to pace my self as far as excursions go.

It looks like some picture have disappeared. Maybe they'll pop back up later.

Can I ask, how many memory cards did you bring (and what size) to capture the entire trip?

Thanks to you and everyone else for your answers. Good thing I'm an early riser in regards to early mornings. I'll have to pace my self as far as excursions go.

 

It looks like some picture have disappeared. Maybe they'll pop back up later.

 

Can I ask, how many memory cards did you bring (and what size) to capture the entire trip?

I think what did it for us was the first few ports. Since we were in port for so long and it was our first time to those ports we felt like we needed to be out doing something. In both Aruba and Bonaire we did two excursions. In Aruba between the excursions we went out to explore the city. In Curacao, while we only had one excursion, we did go out to explore afterwards twice. So three days of that with only one sea day before five ports just wasn't enough to recover.

You are correct about the pictures, I'll try moving them back. It was only after I started the review that I thought it would be a good to move the pictures into sub-folders. I should have known better. I can see the pictures when viewing on my computer, its only on my iPad that they are missing.

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I'm so excited to read/ see more!! We booked this cruise for March 2016 and we can't wait!!!

I can see the pictures on my iPad!:)