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

[Ken the cruiser]

13 minutes ago, Barwick Cruiser said:

We have family in NZ and while the flights aren’t too bad the huge time difference really gets to me, so I’m very interested in this cruise and the incremental time changes that hopefully help the body to adjust more easily? Your itinerary also looks really good…do you do any snorkeling on your excursions or are they more land based? Hope you have a great time and thanks for doing this report. 

For us, the 3-night "cruise to nowhere" along with the first two sea days on the transpacific before reaching NZ should hopefully help us get acclimatized to the 15-hour time change we're going to be dealing with.

 

We did some snorkeling in the Galapagos back in 2015 and in the Caribbean a few years later. But for us now that I'm 70, we're more into land-based wildlife and scenic excursions, if some interesting ones become available. I have to admit going to the Glow Worm Caves and Kauri Forest when we get to the Bay of Islands in NZ does sound kind of cool.

 

Overview

This is your chance to explore New Zealand’s great outdoors, as well as its amazing subterranean secrets. At the Puketi State Forest, you’ll stand awe-struck at the size and scope of ancient Kauri Trees that have stood for thousands of years. Go from majestic to mysterious as you enter the Kawiti Caves. Admire breathtaking rock formations as thousands of glow worms illuminate the area. Keep quiet or these sensitive creatures will hit the off switch. 

 

[Beachlover1989]

Really looking forward to hearing all about what you do to fill up your sea days.  We're going on a Transpacific next year and my husband is worried about being bored.

[prmssk]

22 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Here is a list of the Celebrity excursions we will be going on, except for Victoria where we will be on a private excursion with family. On the day prior to each excursion, I will be posting more details to give a better understanding of what we will hopefully encounter.

 

 

 

 

 

We will be joining this cruise in Honolulu and are also booked on the North Shore Adventure Tour in Honolulu so maybe we will see you there!

 

I look forward to following along with your first two legs as we get excited about our own cruise.

[firegoofy]

Looking forward to following along, we are doing the reverse itinerary in the fall on Solstice.

[clochette]

I want to do a version of your cruise as my retirement cruise hopefully soon.  Looking forward to following your journey

[vickykay]

Ken,

 

Is the ship overnight in Sydney?  If so and there is an evening performance at Symphony Hall at the Opera House ( which is actually larger than the opera venue) try and see if you can get tickets.  The acoustics were unbelievable and a once in a lifetime experience. 

[abbydancer2003]

We're doing this next year on the Solstice, so I'll be following along as well.  Safe travels!

 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

2 hours ago, Beachlover1989 said:

Really looking forward to hearing all about what you do to fill up your sea days.  We're going on a Transpacific next year and my husband is worried about being bored.

Finding things to do on sea days is easy. In our case my DW scans over the Daily the previous evening to highlight the things we might want to do the next day, regardless of whether it's a day in port or at sea. On sea days our day usually consists of going to 1-2 lectures, 1-2 trivias, possibly going to an interesting event happening in Celebrity Central, and of course going to the evening show as well as the 20-minute interactive game show held in the Entertainment Court between shows. Then there is the Silent Disco to consider that is sometimes offered later in the evening in the Grand Foyer.

 

Then we also have to include time somewhere in there, usually the afternoon, to go for our 1.5 mile walk to get the heart rate up and burn off some of the extra of calories we've been consuming every day. This effort also includes walking up and down the stairs rather than taking the elevator.

 

But then we also need a little downtime to rest between doing all of that along with eating 3 full meals a day. That is where sitting in the cabin or on the balcony, depending on the weather, playing games on the computer or posting stuff to CC comes into play. By goodness, I'm tired just thinking of all the things we enjoy doing on sea days! 🤣

 

I guess the point is that it's all about planning out your upcoming day's events the previous evening, so you can hit the ground running when you wake up and greet the day!

 

But then you can always hang out around the pool and soak in the rays as some folks do, or go to the casino if that suits your fancy. That's one thing about cruising with Celebrity, they do offer many options.😉

 

[Ken the cruiser]

41 minutes ago, vickykay said:

Ken,

 

Is the ship overnight in Sydney?  If so and there is an evening performance at Symphony Hall at the Opera House ( which is actually larger than the opera venue) try and see if you can get tickets.  The acoustics were unbelievable and a once in a lifetime experience. 

Unfortunately, from the itineraries I posted earlier, it doesn't appear so. However, if we have to resort to a Plan B if we miss our 3-night cruise to nowhere, that will definitely be an option to consider along with going to the Taronga Zoo! 🙂

[Norwaylady]

4 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

For us, the 3-night "cruise to nowhere" along with the first two sea days on the transpacific before reaching NZ should hopefully help us get acclimatized to the 15-hour time change we're going to be dealing with.

 

We did some snorkeling in the Galapagos back in 2015 and in the Caribbean a few years later. But for us now that I'm 70, we're more into land-based wildlife and scenic excursions, if some interesting ones become available. I have to admit going to the Glow Worm Caves and Kauri Forest when we get to the Bay of Islands in NZ does sound kind of cool.

 

Overview

This is your chance to explore New Zealand’s great outdoors, as well as its amazing subterranean secrets. At the Puketi State Forest, you’ll stand awe-struck at the size and scope of ancient Kauri Trees that have stood for thousands of years. Go from majestic to mysterious as you enter the Kawiti Caves. Admire breathtaking rock formations as thousands of glow worms illuminate the area. Keep quiet or these sensitive creatures will hit the off switch. 

 

 You will love this adventure! 
The glow worms caves are spectacular. Mr loves caves. (Remember parts of Norway is like a Swiss cheese 🧀) 

We went to several in NZ and they were all different. 
 

[Lastdance]

We are also doing a few from Sydney, but not until 4/24.  It will be so interesting to read about all of your endeavors on this wonderful trip that you have planned.  Thank you so much for sharing this with us on Cruise Critic.  I am truly excited for both of you!😀

[Northern Aurora]

April 17, 2023 the Eclipse will be at sea.  That date is the first of two sea days as we make our way back to Sydney.  In the interest of accuracy you may want to consider modifying your thread title.  
 

As someone who has been on this ship since March 10th I will following your experiences.  We are in a Suite and have been pleased with our time onboard.

[Ken the cruiser]

30 minutes ago, Northern Aurora said:

April 17, 2023 the Eclipse will be at sea.  That date is the first of two sea days as we make our way back to Sydney.  In the interest of accuracy you may want to consider modifying your thread title.  
 

As someone who has been on this ship since March 10th I will following your experiences.  We are in a Suite and have been pleased with our time onboard.

Good catch! I guess my mind was focused on the day we get on a plane in Alabama and start heading towards Sydney to board the Eclipse on April 19. I tell ya, it’s tough getting old! 😂

 

Unfortunately, once the 15-minute editing window has passed, I’m not aware of any way to edit either the thread title or the text. Luckily, all of the other date references within the thread seem to reference April 19 as our initial embarkation day. But thanks for letting me know, and hopefully as others read your post they’ll be aware of the error as well. 👍
 

Edited April 12, 2023 by Ken the cruiser

[Northern Aurora]

Ken:  While I have never done so I think that if you contact a moderator they can alter the typo in your title.   Gerry

[Ken the cruiser]

1 minute ago, Northern Aurora said:

Ken:  While I have never done so I think that if you contact a moderator they can alter the typo in your title.   Gerry

I just did. Hopefully they’ll be able to correct it. Thanks again for letting me know. 😁

[Cruising Is Bliss]

Happily following along, thank you for doing this!

[Esprit]

Hi Ken

Needless to say I will enjoy reading your posts and seeing your excellent photos (thankfully with no plates of food!)

Have a great time

Peter

 

[Ken the cruiser]

49 minutes ago, Esprit said:

Hi Ken

Needless to say I will enjoy reading your posts and seeing your excellent photos (thankfully with no plates of food!)

Have a great time

Peter

 

Thanks for coming along Peter! This cruise will definitely be different than the Med cruise we were on back in July on the Regal. There's definitely no shortage of sea days on this one. 😂

[Ken the cruiser]

11 hours ago, Northern Aurora said:

Ken:  While I have never done so I think that if you contact a moderator they can alter the typo in your title.   Gerry

It appears the Moderator has just made the date correction in the title. Yay!! A good lesson learned for future reference. Thanks @LauraS!

[Ken the cruiser]

6 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

It appears the Moderator has just made the date correction in the title. Yay!! A good lesson learned for future reference. Thanks @LauraS!

I apologize as I just noticed which moderator actually made the change. Thanks @Host Carolyn!! 😃

[yogini06]

On 4/11/2023 at 7:46 AM, Jim_Iain said:

Looking forward to following your cruise, we will be taking the same cruise next year.

 

Hope your flights all are on time.

We have booked the same itinerary on the Edge in April 2024.  So I’m following as well 😊

[Ken the cruiser]

On 4/10/2023 at 12:01 PM, Ken the cruiser said:

Here is a list of the Celebrity excursions we will be going on, except for Victoria where we will be on a private excursion with family. On the day prior to each excursion, I will be posting more details to give a better understanding of what we will hopefully encounter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today, I was checking to see if we needed to rebook any of our Celebrity excursions to take advantage of the current 15% pre-cruise booking discount. The answer was no. When I did the math, we actually averaged around 37% savings when compared to the current onboard price by booking them 6-7 months out. I know, who knew Celebrity would increase their excursion prices the closer it gets to cruise time! 😱

[Kalynan]

Following Ken and Mrs Ken on this epic adventure.  Looks totally brilliant itinerary, have a great time !!

[Ken the cruiser]

31 minutes ago, Kalynan said:

Following Ken and Mrs Ken on this epic adventure.  Looks totally brilliant itinerary, have a great time !!

Thanks! One thing that has really gotten us extra excited about this cruise is Eddy Jenkins is going to be the cruise director for the entire 33 days we’ll be onboard! He was our CD on our very first Celebrity transatlantic cruise back in 2017 and is one of the funniest we’ve ever had the pleasure of cruising with!
 

In fact, in his below Instagram post, he’s already planning the entertainment for our TP cruise! 😁
 

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cp5EQYvBgky/

 

[Ken the cruiser]

@Definitas I just saw your post on the April 22 Eclipse Roll Call regarding your experiences with the Starlink internet service on the 11-night South Pacific cruise you're currently on.

 

I’ve also been very frustrated with the poor performance/availability of the internet and don’t think I’ll bother doing the premium upgrade going forward as it’s even more frustrating to have paid for the upgrade and still have quite a lot of periods when it’s down. 

 

I take it based on your comments you upgraded to their Premium internet package. If I may ask, what specific performance issues have you been experiencing and how often has it been down? Are your issues mostly with sending/receiving email and/or accessing web sites like logging onto Cruise Critic, or is it more related to effectively using streaming-type services?

 

Since we'll be boarding the ship on April 19 for a 33-day B3B, it would be nice to know what type of internet service we might be expect, especially if we are using their Premium service?

 

Also, at your convenience if it's not too much to ask, would you mind sharing the results of this Ookla Speed Test so we can see what upload/download speeds you're currently experiencing? 

 

Speedtest by Ookla - The Global Broadband Speed Test

 

Of course, this is all predicated on your ability to log onto CC to even see this post. 🙂

 

Edited April 13, 2023 by Ken the cruiser