Detailed Photo Review of Celebrity Eclipse 14 Night Southern Caribbean Cruise 3/4/18

There was actually about 10-15 other people taking the bus so there was already a line to board when we arrived. We all piled on quickly and the bus left once we were all seated, even though it was at least 5 minutes before the scheduled time. Considering we were in the Caribbean and everything is usually on “island time,” it was surprising that the bus left early! I was glad we gave ourselves a few extra minutes or we may have missed the bus. The ride up to Palm Beach takes about 20 minutes, and the bus driver was nice enough to announce each of the stops so we knew when to get off. Our instructions said we needed to meet on the beach between Playa Linda and the Holiday Inn, so we got off the bus at the stop for Playa Linda and continued walking until we found this path to cut-through to the beach.

That path led to a parking lot, and just beyond that was another path that led to the beach. We immediately spotted this booth straight ahead of us, with a sign for Octopus Aruba.

I did find it a little strange that our instructions just said to find their beach hut between the two hotels considering they are located right next to the Pelican Pier and that would have been a more specific landmark to find them.

The beach looked beautiful in the early morning sun. Finally, after 2 long weeks of harsh winds, the weather started to cooperate and there was just a light breeze.

Our instructions said to meet at this hut on the beach at 8:30am, but there was no staff from Octopus Aruba anywhere to be found. At around 8:45am, a guy walked up to the booth, took out a binder, and said it was time to check in. I guess he was working on island time? He checked our names off of his list and we paid him the remainder of our fee for the tour. Unlike yesterday when we could board Mi Dushi’s boat directly from the pier, Octopus leaves their boat anchored off the beach and sends a small boat back and forth to ferry us over there. In theory, this shouldn’t be a big deal, but they could only fit 6 passengers on the boat, and there were over 40 people on our tour, so it took over half an hour to ferry everyone back and forth.

We were in the first ferry, so we had a while to just sit on the boat and wait for everyone else to arrive. At least we had time for a nice photo before the boat started moving and my hair got all crazy!

Finally, at 9:30am, all the passengers were on the boat and we could get the tour started. There were 4 guides on the boat with us, and they explained how the morning would go, that we could use the bathroom down on the lower level if needed, and then they started to serve a light breakfast. First they came around with a basket of pound cake and banana bread. It had been 3 hours since DH and I ate breakfast on the ship, so we were ready for a snack and this hit the spot!

After everyone had some food, this guide came around to pour us a mimosa. I was surprised that they served alcohol before we went snorkeling until I took a sip of the mimosa… there definitely was some champagne in there, but it was very diluted and I doubt anyone felt the effects or would be at all impaired if they tried to snorkel after this drink haha

We sailed north along the coast in the same path we went last night on the sunset cruise.

Along the way, we spotted Mi Dushi heading in the same direction!

At 10am, we arrived at our first stop: the Antilla Shipwreck. This is a very popular spot for snorkeling tours and there were already several boats here by the time we arrived. This was one of my complaints with Octopus… they took one whole hour between the time we were told to be at their hut and when we started the tour. We could see many other boats load up and leave while we were still anchored at the beach. It seemed like a poor use of time, and as a result, when we finally got to the snorkeling location, it was very crowded.

The guides handed out snorkels, masks, and fins to anyone who needed it, and instructed us to swim forward of the boat in the direction towards shore to find the sunken ship. The current was very choppy today (not surprising given the strong winds from the last 2 weeks!), so I asked to borrow a life vest to wrap around my waist to help me float. When I jumped in the water, I could barely see anything. It was extremely murky and I had to swim really strong to go against the current towards where the guides told us to go. Unfortunately, the water was so churned up that could just barely make out the shape of ship. I couldn’t see any coral or fish or anything worth seeing, and it was quite a disappointment given how hyped up this snorkeling location was.

DH dove down to see if the conditions were any better when you got deeper into the water, but he came up a few seconds later and said it didn’t make any difference.

We decided it wasn’t worth wasting our energy and that the water was just too choppy and murky to see anything down there, so less than 10 minutes after jumping in the water, we swam back to the boat and gave up.

When we first arrived here, the guides said we would spend 40 minutes snorkeling at the shipwreck. I told the lead guide about the poor conditions and hoped that we could wrap things up a little sooner here to give us more time at our second snorkel location. Unfortunately, they were a bit disorganized in helping people get into the water, so even though no one stayed out there for much time, we ended up staying for the full 40 minutes because it just took that long to get everyone off the boat and then back on and settled after snorkeling.

At 10:40, we left the shipwreck site and motored about 5 minutes up the shore to Boca Catalina. Once again, there were already a lot of boats here when we arrived. In fact, many of them were the same boats that we saw at the shipwreck because they left first and arrived here before us. It really would have made more sense if we could have come here first, before all of the other boats arrived, and then gone to the shipwreck second, after they all left. But what do I know??

I count 8 big tour boats already here before we arrived

 

 

 

At 10am, we arrived at our first stop: the Antilla Shipwreck. This is a very popular spot for snorkeling tours and there were already several boats here by the time we arrived. This was one of my complaints with Octopus… they took one whole hour between the time we were told to be at their hut and when we started the tour. We could see many other boats load up and leave while we were still anchored at the beach. It seemed like a poor use of time, and as a result, when we finally got to the snorkeling location, it was very crowded.

 

Did they tell you how the ship got there? It's an interesting story.

Did they tell you how the ship got there? It's an interesting story.

Hmm, I don't remember but I don't think they explained it.

These boats looked very crowded! The Carnival Vista was also in port with us, and I think they may have chartered some of these boats for ship excursions. We could see the towels from a distance and all I saw were bright blue Carnival towels… none of the yellow Celebrity towels.

The guides spent a full 10 minutes trying to pull our boat into the middle of the other boats, but for whatever reason, they couldn’t get the right position and had to take us out to the far right side on the end. Not only did that waste time, but it meant we had a lot further to swim to get back to where the coral was. I’m not sure if it was their first day on the job or what the problem was, but this tour just didn’t seem very organized at all. When they finally dropped the anchor, they said we could have 30 minutes to snorkel here. This spot was much calmer than out by the shipwreck, so I wasted no time and jumped in the water to explore. As disappointing as the snorkeling was at our first stop, I was very impressed with the snorkeling here! Although the coral wasn’t very colorful and was likely just dead and rocks, there were tons of different fish hiding in the rocks and it went on for quite a distance so there was a lot to see.

One last snorkeling selfie for the trip

Christmas Tree Worms on the Brain Coral

Sharptail Eel!! Part of me was freaking out when I saw this because I thought it was a snake, then I realized it may be an eel, but either way I was freaking out but kept telling myself to stay calm so I could take a few photos and then swim away lol

Don’t miss the giant Stoplight Parrotfish camouflaged on the ocean floor

I stayed out there for 25 minutes, then swam back to the boat and was one of the last people back on board. Since our snorkeling tour was cancelled in Bonaire, I think this was the best snorkeling spot of our cruise (second runner up was Sugar Beach in St. Lucia, which may have topped the ranks had it not been so choppy, murky, and windy that day). After all that swimming, I was ready for a snack! The guides walked around with a basket of pre-made sandwiches for lunch. It wasn’t the most generous portion considering it had one slice of turkey, one piece of cheese, and one slice of tomato, but it was good enough to curb my hunger for the time being.

They also took orders for drinks. They had a few fruit juices, sodas, and a variety of liquors including rum, vodka, tequila, and whiskey. I ordered a rum punch and it was quite tasty.

Thanks for a great review [emoji106]

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hi Dana, I've just spent the morning reading all 54 pages of your excellent review! Sad 'we're' reaching the end of your trip ( review). We're doing this itinerary in January & this has gotten me even more excited for the trip. Thank you. Jo-Ann

Hmm, I don't remember but I don't think they explained it.

The ship was a commercial ship from Germany. It happened to be in the harbor when Germany invaded Holland in 1940. Remember, Aruba is part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands etc. So, rather than the locals seizing the ship, the captain elected to scuttle it.

The crew was taken prisoners and taken to Bonaire. The rumor was that they liked the prison so much they bought it and turned it into a hotel. While the camp was turned into a hotel in the 50s (I think), the crew was actually moved to Jamaica and spent the war there.

Thanks for a great review [emoji106]

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks for reading!

Hi Dana, I've just spent the morning reading all 54 pages of your excellent review! Sad 'we're' reaching the end of your trip ( review). We're doing this itinerary in January & this has gotten me even more excited for the trip. Thank you. Jo-Ann

Hi Jo-Ann, thanks for reading along! I still have the rest of our day in Aruba, then 2 sea days, and finally our last day in Ft. Lauderdale, but yes, I too am sad this review is coming to an end. I can't believe we have been home for more than 2 months and I'm still writing this review, but I guess we did a lot in our 17 days away haha Hope you found some helpful info for planning your cruise!

The ship was a commercial ship from Germany. It happened to be in the harbor when Germany invaded Holland in 1940. Remember, Aruba is part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands etc. So, rather than the locals seizing the ship, the captain elected to scuttle it.

 

The crew was taken prisoners and taken to Bonaire. The rumor was that they liked the prison so much they bought it and turned it into a hotel. While the camp was turned into a hotel in the 50s (I think), the crew was actually moved to Jamaica and spent the war there.

Oh wow, that's an interesting story! Thanks for sharing :)

The guides pulled up the anchor, raised the sails, and we spent the last half hour of the tour sailing back down the coast towards Palm Beach. While I don’t love that catamarans offer no shade, I do love that they can let wind catch the sail instead of using the motor. It is so relaxing to coast along the water, listening to the waves gently hit the side of the boat, and not having to block out the noise of a loud motor.

I think this was the beach where we stopped for 20 minutes on our tour yesterday… those yellow trucks look familiar!

A little blurry, but check out all of those windsurfers!

These guys were really flying! It was so fun to watch them and I was quite impressed with their skills

It didn’t take long before we were passing the big hotels in Palm Beach

We got back to our spot next to Pelican Pier at about 12:15pm, and they started the slow process of taking us back to shore on the little boat, 6 people at a time. Honestly, I thought this tour was just okay. I thought they needed some help being more organized and there were just a few things they could change which would have made the tour much better. Another thing I just realized now was that when I was emailing back and forth to get the details for our tour, they told me we would have a maximum of 24 people on the boat. There were DEFINITELY more than 24 people on this tour with us because there was one big party of 15 people, plus several other smaller groups of 2 to 4 people, and I did a headcount at some point and counted close to 40 people (and that was just from who I could see sitting at my spot, so I may have missed a few). I always prefer to book tours with fewer people involved, so I don’t really appreciate that they crammed that many people on our boat. Seating was a bit limited and lots of people had to sit on the flat part at the front of the boat when they would have preferred to sit on a bench. I should have taken a better photo to show how it looked with everyone on board but I didn’t think of it at the time.

On the bright side, the boat was in good condition, the snacks were tasty, and any day sailing in the Caribbean sun is a good day in my book! Once we got back to the beach, we walked back to the bus stop to catch a bus back to the cruise port. The bus shelters all show this map with the various bus routes.

Look for this yellow sign to designate the bus stop.

We had very good timing with the buses in Aruba and a bus picked us up just a few minutes after we got to the bus stop. We had originally considered spending some time at the beach after our tour, but DH wanted to do some shopping to buy souvenirs and we thought we would find more options if we did that back near the cruise ship. Taking the bus in this direction is really easy because the last stop is the one we needed to get off at for the cruise port.

The main street is lined with lots of jewelry and souvenir stores selling anything you might want or expect to see. We poked around in a few of the stores but DH didn’t see anything worth buying.

You can also get a nice view of the cruise ship from across the water

We had spotted another market further up the street that we rode past on the bus so we decided to walk back that way and see if DH could find what he was looking for. On the way, we found the I Heart Aruba sign and took the obligatory photo. To be fair, we had a great 2 days in Aruba, so we could truly say we loved this island!

We crossed a little side street and reached this flea market. It was far enough away from the other shops that the prices were a bit cheaper, but unfortunately DH still didn’t find anything he liked (he is very picky!).

We walked back towards the cruise ship and found a large souvenir store that had tons of souvenirs and DH finally found something he liked. By now, it was 1:45pm and I was starving so we walked back to the ship to grab food before the lunch buffet ended. Today’s theme was pubs and pies, and they had lots of mini pot pie options. Sadly, these were like 80 percent crust, 20 percent filling, and they looked better than they tasted.

I was always a fan of the cold salads station as there was usually a pasta salad and a seafood salad that looked good.

Lots of options for breads

Deli meats and cheeses

When in doubt, I grabbed a small slice of pizza to finish off my lunch

On the way out of the buffet, I couldn’t help but notice the beautiful views of Aruba from so high up on the ship so I walked around on the outside decks to take a few photos.

The island looks so completely flat except for that one hill in the distance

Looking out into the distance to the north, we could see some of the high rise hotels on Palm Beach

At 3pm, we went up to the Sky Lounge for another round of music trivia. Today’s theme was The Beatles and DH and I gave it a go with just the 2 of us. Since we obviously knew the artist for every song was The Beatles, we only had to guess the song titles for 15 songs, with a maximum score of 15 points. In the end, we scored a 13, but of course another team scored a perfect 15 and we did not win.

After trivia, we headed back to the Sunset Bar for one last sail away. Both the Eclipse and the Vista were due to sail away to head north to Miami at around 4pm. We grabbed 2 seats at the bar and ordered around of fruity cocktails: a Bahama Mama for me and a Miami Vice for DH.

We had a great view of the front of the Vista from back here.

I noticed they had put out brand new menus for the Sunset Bar. I don’t know if they had these for the whole cruise or not, but I only just noticed it today.

I was just in the mood for something familiar, so I ordered a Blue Hawaiian. One of the ladies sitting next to me saw my drink and asked what it was, and then ordered one for herself haha These always look so fun!

Dana, thanks to your great crisp photos I have been transported from a wet and gloomy Chicago back to Aruba, a sunny island I have enjoyed 3 times now and it is still fresh in my mind from a visit there in January.

I hope I will be back there again at some point in my travels.

I know your review doesn't end with your last port of call and there are still a couple sea days and arrival back in the USA to look forward to.

So keep it coming!

Norris

Dana, thanks to your great crisp photos I have been transported from a wet and gloomy Chicago back to Aruba, a sunny island I have enjoyed 3 times now and it is still fresh in my mind from a visit there in January.

I hope I will be back there again at some point in my travels.

I know your review doesn't end with your last port of call and there are still a couple sea days and arrival back in the USA to look forward to.

So keep it coming!

Norris

Thanks Norris! Agreed that Aruba is a beautiful island. We have also talked about wanting to go back there again... some day! Stay tuned for the next installment, coming soon!

At about 4:45pm, I noticed the ship was moving. We had officially pulled away from our last port and were making our final journey home for the end of the cruise. It was such a bittersweet moment because I didn’t want this wonderful vacation to come to an end but I was still looking forward to our final 2 sea days.

Bye bye Aruba

Lots of people were out on deck to watch the sail away

That water park at the end of the airport runway must be pretty exciting if there is a plane taking off or landing! It reminded me of like Maho Beach in St. Maarten

That hotel looks really nice… I think it’s the Renaissance Island Beach

One last glimpse of Aruba

The pilot boat headed back to shore for the Carnival Vista’s turn to sail away

We stayed out at the Sunset Bar until Aruba was just a spot on the horizon, then went back to the cabin to get ready for dinner. Tonight’s menu was new to us and had a few interesting options that I was looking forward to trying.