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

[Ken the cruiser]

23 minutes ago, Norwaylady said:

So happy to have breakfast and reading that you have arrived safe and uneventful🕺🏻❤️

 

It’s the same captain, hotel manager as our Alaska+Hawaii sailing. 
Really jealous on your Sydney harbour walk🤩 That view is always spectacular….

 

(I will “drown” my jealousy on a ship visit today😌⚓️ Fred Olsen is arriving in Oslo, Bolette) We are considering a British cruise, so I called and asked if I could visit for a view and feel the vibe of the ship…..  They called me back and said yes🥰 

Thanks! Have fun checking out the Fred Olsen ship as going on a British cruise is always fun! We’ve done British Isles cruises twice before, once on Princess and the other time on Oceania and had a great time on both.

[Sarah1974]

3 hours ago, Norwaylady said:

So happy to have breakfast and reading that you have arrived safe and uneventful🕺🏻❤️

 

It’s the same captain, hotel manager as our Alaska+Hawaii sailing. 
Really jealous on your Sydney harbour walk🤩 That view is always spectacular….

 

(I will “drown” my jealousy on a ship visit today😌⚓️ Fred Olsen is arriving in Oslo, Bolette) We are considering a British cruise, so I called and asked if I could visit for a view and feel the vibe of the ship…..  They called me back and said yes🥰 

Norway Lady - I think you would be the youngest passengers on a Fred Olsen cruise.  My parents (late 70s) have cruised with them several times

[vickykay]

So looking forward to your review.  Can’t wait to board and join in Hawaii.

[Ken the cruiser]

What a first evening! After having a tasty dinner in Blu at a perfect window 2-top looking out over the harbor, we headed outside, as we finally set sail around 7 pm, to take in the evening sights on both sides of Deck 5. This is the first time we’ve actually been here in the evening on any of our cruises from Sydney!

  

 

 

 
Then we headed over to the theater to watch an awesome Rock n Roll show called Rock City, which we’ve seen on other Celebrity ships and have always enjoyed going to it! 😁

  

 

 
Eddy Jenkins, our CD, made his appearance at the end of the show, and as usual he did not disappoint!

 

 
Then after the early show we headed to the Entertainment Court to watch the True or False Game Show hosted by Rock Star, which is always fun!

 

 
After all that jet lag was really starting to set in, so we called it an evening and headed back to the cabin. What a fun first day!! 😁

 

[Ken the cruiser]

Day 2 - Sea Day

  

 

 

 

[emdmistycc]

Thanks for doing this live review.  Following along as we will be doing this cruise next April on the Edge.  We will also for the first time have an Aqua cabin and be able to dine in Blu.

 

Elaine

[vickykay]

Amazing photos!

[Norwaylady]

3 hours ago, Sarah1974 said:

Norway Lady - I think you would be the youngest passengers on a Fred Olsen cruise.  My parents (late 70s) have cruised with them several times

Sorry in advance Ken😅 

 

We will be on the younger side of the guest range, but again.... so are we in celebrity and on all river cruises.... So we are not scared off!

 

Ship was very promising. 

I was able to visit some cabins that were not occupied. Inside, window, terrace deck, balcony, js. For similar cabin as on X, we need to book JS. 

I had lunch in the buffet (everyone knows it not the best selling point for me🥴) but it was serving by crew and they had lots of fish. So I was very satisfied. 

All-in-all, I can see us booking a British isle cruise to try them out more. 

[Stem to Stern]

Belated Bon Voyage.

A phenomenal journey.

Looking forward to another awesome photo report.

[Ken the cruiser]

We woke up this morning at 7:45 am after going to bed a little after 10 pm! Wow! Could it be? Could we actually avoid any significant jet lag after being up for 48 hours, minus a few naps on the flight, and jumping ahead 15 hours? 🤔 Wouldn't that be nice. I guess only time will tell. 🤞

 

On top of that I went down to Cafe Al Bacio to get a cup of coffee to take back to the cabin at around 8 am and I was 2nd in line, and the internet out at sea is working great, even though there are 2,795 passengers on board! Cool!! 😁
 

  

 
https://www.cruisemapper.com/?imo=9404314

 

Edited April 19, 2023 by Ken the cruiser

[Mrs.Dukes]

Sounds like an amazing trip! Looking forward to following along.

[Jim_Iain]

On 4/16/2023 at 4:59 PM, Ken the cruiser said:

It will be interesting to see how the Eclipse Starlink Premium service will be at various locations along our cruise, especially when crossing the Pacific, of which I’ll periodically be posting Ookla speed tests. I gave up a long time ago “hoping” Celebrity’s Basic service would be good enough, especially after cruising started back up, to post to a Live From thread.

I'll be interested to see myself.   On Apex it has been pretty good until today after we left Cozumel.  This afternoon it has really been chopping.   I have been posting daily reports on a dedicated thread.

 

 

[Jim_Iain]

On 4/15/2023 at 5:43 PM, Ken the cruiser said:

We actually only use it when flying international back to the US so we can get in the Global Entry “fast pass” lane. 😀

Same for us.    We bring our cards with us also.    In SFO facial recognition recognizes us and clears us in seconds

 

[Jim_Iain]

@Ken the cruiser glad you made it without any problems.   I was playing catch up this afternoon.

 

Loving the photo and of course your dialogue.

[boxkite]

Ken, thanks for the live cruise reports, will follow along for the rest of your cruise.

 

Have a great time!

[Ken the cruiser]

We had a fun morning after a very tasty breakfast in Blu and later for lunch in the MDR. First, we went to a 10 am lecture about whales in the theater

 

 
Followed by a fun presentation called “10 Things You Didn’t Know About Pop Music”given by our CD Eddy Jenkins 

 

 

 
Then after lunch it was back to the cabin to play on our computers until 3 pm when we head up to the Sky Lounge on Deck 14 Forward to watch a funny game show, Yes or No, followed by general trivia.
 

We were going to go for a walk, but the weather is a little breezy outside with 2-3 meter ocean swells. Oh, did I mention we are pretty much just puttering along out here just east of Newcastle where we’ll probably be lingering around for the rest of the “cruise” until it’s time to head back to Sydney. That’s one way to save fuel costs on a cruise! 😂
 

 

Edited April 20, 2023 by Ken the cruiser

[juanrod]

@Ken the cruiser  did they talk about the solar eclipse that happened today?

[Ken the cruiser]

3 minutes ago, juanrod said:

@Ken the cruiser  did they talk about the solar eclipse that happened today?

You got us excited there for a minute. But the full solar eclipse appears to be on the western side of Australia and we’re on the eastern side. But thanks for the heads up! 😁

 

 

https://www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/map/2023-april-20

 

[trinitygirl]

54 minutes ago, juanrod said:

@Ken the cruiser  did they talk about the solar eclipse that happened today?

my sister lives in Western Australia and they got a great view of it - she was pretty excited. 

[Ken the cruiser]

2 minutes ago, trinitygirl said:

my sister lives in Western Australia and they got a great view of it - she was pretty excited. 

Cool! They are always fun to experience! On April 8 next year there is supposed to be one cutting across the midsection of the US. Our plan is to drive to Little Rock to see it. We saw one a few years ago at our home in Alabama that covered about 90% of the sun. But from what I here it’s super awesome to see a full solar eclipse!

[JeanieC,Aston]

Hi Ken.

Hows your head for heights,,have you time for the Harbour Bridge walk?

[JeanieC,Aston]

20 hours ago, Norwaylady said:

Sorry in advance Ken😅 

 

We will be on the younger side of the guest range, but again.... so are we in celebrity and on all river cruises.... So we are not scared off!

 

Ship was very promising. 

I was able to visit some cabins that were not occupied. Inside, window, terrace deck, balcony, js. For similar cabin as on X, we need to book JS. 

I had lunch in the buffet (everyone knows it not the best selling point for me🥴) but it was serving by crew and they had lots of fish. So I was very satisfied. 

All-in-all, I can see us booking a British isle cruise to try them out more. 

Hi 

We did two Fred Olsen cruises from Liverpool last year.

The Scottish Islands in June,,,8 nights,and it rained every day.

Your lovely country the Norway Fjords in end August,unbelievably sunny and warm.

FO are older ships but full of character,love the wrap around decks,,,,food and service second to none….and beer prices very reasonable,unlike Norway..lol.

 

I bet you know where this is?

[Ken the cruiser]

1 hour ago, JeanieC,Aston said:

Hi Ken.

Hows your head for heights,,have you time for the Harbour Bridge walk?

Thanks! That might be an option to consider after our Opera House tour in the morning on transition day. We’re also going to check out riding around on a ferry in the harbor area depending on time. 😁

[DaKahuna]

7 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

 

 

We were going to go for a walk, but the weather is a little breezy outside with 2-3 meter ocean swells. Oh, did I mention we are pretty much just puttering along out here just east of Newcastle where we’ll probably be lingering around for the rest of the “cruise” until it’s time to head back to Sydney. That’s one way to save fuel costs on a cruise! 😂

 

i am pretty sure you are not missing much by not visiting Newcastle.  From what I remember from my port visit 1988, it’s an industrial city.  We were there having work done n the shipyard.  Nothing really sticks out to me about the city, unlike Sydney.

 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

Tonight before heading down for dinner, here’s a picture of the sky just before sunset, which was finally starting to clear a little bit. At least we’re starting to see blue sky again. 😁

 

 
After another tasty dinner in Blu, we headed to the theater to watch and listen to musician Andy Joy.

 
 
 

 
Then off we went to The Challenge Game Show 

 

 
Later on at 10 pm in the main theater was a show with comedian Sam McCool. I have to say one thing about this 3-day cruise, they are definitely not holding back with the entertainment options!