Live from the Eclipse, Apr 19 - May 21, Sydney to Honolulu to Vancouver B3B in an Aqua Cabin

[Ken the cruiser]

1 hour ago, buzz031 said:

Sorry, if you mentioned this earlier, but what side of the ship is your balcony? We are taking the same cruise in the spring of 2025 on the Edge and hope that we have booked the "perfect" side of the ship! 🙂 

We were on the starboard side in cabin 1642 and have no regrets as that is definitely the more shady and less windy side, at least in our cruise, based on the route we took from Sydney all the way to Vancouver.

Edited May 22, 2023 by Ken the cruiser

[buzz031]

5 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

starboard side in cabin 1642 and have no regrets as that is definitely the more shady and less windy side

Awesome! We are also booked on starboard. Thank you for all your posts on your journey! It was very informative to read through them.

[Ken the cruiser]

2 minutes ago, buzz031 said:

Awesome! We are also booked on starboard. Thank you for all your posts on your journey! It was very informative to read through them.

If I might ask, I see you did the Northern Lights cruise on the Sapphire Princess in Oct 2019. If so, did you see them, if so how were they, and did you see them on multiple nights? We had it booked for Oct 2021 until it was cancelled by the pandemic and were thinking about booking it again.

[phabric]

38 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

If I might ask, I see you did the Northern Lights cruise on the Sapphire Princess in Oct 2019. If so, did you see them, if so how were they, and did you see them on multiple nights? We had it booked for Oct 2021 until it was cancelled by the pandemic and were thinking about booking it again.

Wait to hear about your Northern Lights, I have it booked for Sept 24, 2024 on the Ruby.

[Ken the cruiser]

2 hours ago, phabric said:

Wait to hear about your Northern Lights, I have it booked for Sept 24, 2024 on the Ruby.

Unfortunately, we probably won't be booking a Princess Northern Lights cruise until around the Fall of 2026 at the earliest, as we have other cruise itineraries in mind for the Fall of 2023-25. But then we usually plan our cruise schedule about 5 years in advance so we're ready to book when a desirable itinerary becomes available to hopefully get it at the cheapest price.

[DaKahuna]

On 5/21/2023 at 3:51 PM, jjduck said:

.  (just like local food from here, I guess).

 

 

Looking forward to multiple plate lunches in November when we are going to be back on Oahu for the first time since our son's wedding in 2014.   Does McDonald's still serve Portuguese Sausage, Eggs, & Rice for breakfast?  

 

[jjduck]

2 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

 

Looking forward to multiple plate lunches in November when we are going to be back on Oahu for the first time since our son's wedding in 2014.   Does McDonald's still serve Portuguese Sausage, Eggs, & Rice for breakfast?  

 

They sure do.  And for a total sodium rush, the deluxe plate has Spam!  

[JintyGirl]

Thanks again for your report! Will you post a link here to your Japan live please?? I find it hard enough to keep up with the Celebrity boards without lurking on Princess too 😄 We’re headed to Japan in Oct 24 so would love to hear how you get on 😊

[Ken the cruiser]

1 hour ago, JintyGirl said:

Thanks again for your report! Will you post a link here to your Japan live please?? I find it hard enough to keep up with the Celebrity boards without lurking on Princess too 😄 We’re headed to Japan in Oct 24 so would love to hear how you get on 😊

Yes. That’s my plan, probably sometime around the first week in July I’ll post the link to the Princess Live From thread here. 

[buzz031]

On 5/22/2023 at 3:01 PM, Ken the cruiser said:

I see you did the Northern Lights cruise on the Sapphire Princess in Oct 2019. If so, did you see them, if so how were they, and did you see them on multiple nights?

We did see the Northern Lights in Oct 2019. Took an excursion to "chase the Northern Lights" which didn't work out as well as just being on the ship that night in Alta. The captain cut the lighrts on the ship, which turned out ok. Unfortunately, the lights were pretty dim, but we did see the green swirls. However, if you took a picture, the green did show up a little better in the photo! Did see them on multiple nights, just the one. Hope that helps. 

[mahdnc]

9 minutes ago, buzz031 said:

We did see the Northern Lights in Oct 2019. Took an excursion to "chase the Northern Lights" which didn't work out as well as just being on the ship that night in Alta. The captain cut the lighrts on the ship, which turned out ok. Unfortunately, the lights were pretty dim, but we did see the green swirls. However, if you took a picture, the green did show up a little better in the photo! Did see them on multiple nights, just the one. Hope that helps. 

 

It is difficult for the naked eye to see colors in dim light.  The digital camera has better light sensitivity capability and you will see more aurora and more color from its photos.

[Ken the cruiser]

21 minutes ago, buzz031 said:

We did see the Northern Lights in Oct 2019. Took an excursion to "chase the Northern Lights" which didn't work out as well as just being on the ship that night in Alta. The captain cut the lighrts on the ship, which turned out ok. Unfortunately, the lights were pretty dim, but we did see the green swirls. However, if you took a picture, the green did show up a little better in the photo! Did see them on multiple nights, just the one. Hope that helps. 

Here are the Lights we saw around midnight on our Celebrity Summit cruise between Iceland and Greenland this past August. I used my iPhone SE to take the photo which doesn’t have any extended shutter speed options like the late models do. So what you see is what we saw.

 

[buzz031]

Yep. That looks about the same as what we saw up in Alta.

 

Oh, Iceland and Greenland on my list for a future cruise! 🙂 

[mahdnc]

19 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

I used my iPhone SE to take the photo which doesn’t have any extended shutter speed options like the late models do. So what you see is what we saw.

 

 

The iPhone can collect more light by increasing the sensitivity of its sensor which is what it did here.  The drawback is that the image will be noisier. BTW there are 3rd party camera apps for the iPhone (including yours) that allow you to manually control the camera settings including the shutter speed. Halide is a good one.

[Ken the cruiser]

16 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

 

The iPhone can collect more light by increasing the sensitivity of its sensor which is what it did here.  The drawback is that the image will be noisier. BTW there are 3rd party camera apps for the iPhone (including yours) that allow you to manually control the camera settings including the shutter speed. Halide is a good one.

Later on I downloaded the Nightcap app for the next time we are lucky enough to see them. 😁

[DaKahuna]

On 5/23/2023 at 12:16 AM, jjduck said:

They sure do.  And for a total sodium rush, the deluxe plate has Spam!  

 Music to my ears. 
 

[KLM3164]

@Ken the cruiser Thought of you and your live report today when we saw these pigeons in Athens. Thanks for all the great information you shared. We are going on our first X cruise in February. 
 

[Ken the cruiser]

5 hours ago, KLM3164 said:

@Ken the cruiser Thought of you and your live report today when we saw these pigeons in Athens. Thanks for all the great information you shared. We are going on our first X cruise in February.

 

Ah yes, the long sought after elusive Athens pigeon! You're going to have a great time!! 😃

[CGinMTL]

8 hours ago, KLM3164 said:

@Ken the cruiser Thought of you and your live report today when we saw these pigeons in Athens. Thanks for all the great information you shared. We are going on our first X cruise in February. 
 

Maybe we need to start a thread " pigeons of  the world" as a tribute to Ken. :))

[Ken the cruiser]

2 hours ago, CGinMTL said:

Maybe we need to start a thread " pigeons of  the world" as a tribute to Ken. :))

I have to say as I get older and we go on various excursions, I’ve become more easily distracted by the wildlife we see, especially knowing I probably won’t remember what the tour guide said (or care) 10 minutes later. 😂
 

But taking pictures of wildlife, regardless of what species they are, has definitely made visiting ports a lot more fun, AND posting them in a Live From thread allows me to look at them from time to time and remember how awesome most of the places we cruise to have been. 😁

[KLM3164]

@Ken the cruiser Lots of variety in the colors of pigeons in Syros Greece today, I love taking photos of the wildlife too.

 

[bnurick]

Morning @Ken the cruiser enjoying your review. We are booked on the Eclipse this Fall and Spring 2024 and wanted your thoughts on the overall ship.  I’ve read on another thread some that had balcony paint issues, etc.  Thank you and enjoy!

[Ken the cruiser]

2 hours ago, bnurick said:

Morning @Ken the cruiser enjoying your review. We are booked on the Eclipse this Fall and Spring 2024 and wanted your thoughts on the overall ship.  I’ve read on another thread some that had balcony paint issues, etc.  Thank you and enjoy!

We were in an aqua cabin, 1642, and really had no complaints to speak of. True, the ship hasn't gone through the Revolutionize process yet, as there is still a Michaels Lounge, and its hull really needs a paint job! But our balcony and cabin were just fine as well as the various public areas we visited. The crew thought the Eclipse might be Revolutionized after the 2023 Alaska season once it gets to the Caribbean. That's what they were hypothesizing anyway. Hope this helps.

[lovecruzin]

1 hour ago, Ken the cruiser said:

. The crew thought the Eclipse might be Revolutionized after the 2023 Alaska season once it gets to the Caribbean. That's what they were hypothesizing anyway. Hope this helps.

That would put the Revolution October 2024, seems Ive read late 2024.

 

On 5/22/2023 at 12:59 PM, buzz031 said:

Sorry, if you mentioned this earlier, but what side of the ship is your balcony? We are taking the same cruise in the spring of 2025 on the Edge and hope that we have booked the "perfect" side of the ship! 🙂 

We were Port side and loved watching the sunset from our balcony.

[abbydancer2003]

Thanks again for this.  I got way behind dealing with my own travel and family stuff, but finally caught up.  

 

I enjoyed it a lot and am looking forward to my transpacific next year.