Celebrity Eclipse Southern Caribbean Winter 2024

Contents

• Celebrity Cruise Day 0 (12/21/24): Heading to Fort Lauderdale
• Celebrity Cruise Day 1 (12/22/24): Getting to the ship
• Celebrity Cruise Day 2 (12/23/24): Mobility
• Celebrity Cruise Day 3 (12/24/24): Grand Cayman
• Celebrity Cruise Day 5 (12/26/24): Aruba
• Celebrity Cruise Day 6 (12/27/24): Curaçao
• Celebrity Cruise Day 7 (12/28/24): Bonaire
• Celebrity Cruise Day 8 (12/29/24): Sea day
• Celebrity Cruise Day 9 (12/30/24): San Juan
• Celebrity Cruise Day 10 (12/31/24): Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic

Celebrity Cruise Day 0

Heading to Fort Lauderdale

Today we flew to Fort Lauderdale.

Leaving the house: mostly smooth, only ~10 minutes late. Driving to the airport: easy. Dropping the family and luggage off at the terminal: seamless. Economy bus: waiting for me as I walked up. Checking bags: 5 minutes. Security (TSA Pre): 2 minutes. Even Starbucks was fast¹. Having Raleigh-Durham (RDU) as our home airport has been a blessing for us: large enough that it has some direct flights to interesting places (like Iceland) but still small enough where it’s not overwhelming. That’s not to say it hasn’t been chaotic at times, but at least it’s organized chaos.

The wheels fell off the cart once we landed in Fort Lauderdale, though. We landed 10 minutes early, and then it took Delta 55 minutes to get us into a gate². Then Uber was saying 25+ minutes for an UberXL so we got a cab³. Then when we got to our hotel, 30 minutes after check-in, not only was our room not ready but their machine to cut keys (a big part of a hotel’s operation!) was not working. They did provide a $50 voucher to the restaurant, so we went there to kill time and have a snack.

Once finally in our room, I vegged out and destressed. This is where old me would’ve wandered down to the bar for a Scotch or two. I settled for a Heineken Zero instead. Oh, two more hotel ‘misses’ today: that was the last Heineken Zero they had, and they ran out of mint to make my backup drink, a virgin mojito. Trying not to take these as signs… of something, I don’t know. I’ll just stick with the “full-bodied” Florida tap water instead, I guess.

The taxi driver had a handy book that shows which cruise ships are in port each day. Today was 8. You could really feel it at the airport and during check-in at the hotel. Tomorrow is 7, so I’m expecting a degree of chaos in getting to the port and onto the ship.

For the evening we had sandwiches from Publix⁴ in our room and then turned in early.

Footnotes:

Celebrity Cruise Day 1

Getting to the ship

The Embassy Suites free breakfast is a madhouse, a traditional that has carried on for at least 23 years when I stayed in the one in Indianapolis for a month.

When I picked up our vouchers for our bus transfer to the cruise terminal, the worker said to budget at least 15 or 20 minutes to make it downstairs. She wasn’t kidding. After leaving our room with our bags, we first tried waiting 20 minutes for an elevator down to the lobby, then eventually formed a strategy of “go up to go down”, merely to get space with our bags in an elevator. The lobby was jam-packed with people waiting for cruise transfers.

The chaos of the experience at this hotel will make me reconsider future travel plans where we’re heading to a ship. We’ve mostly pivoted away from Airbnb’s but this might be a situation I’d think about it.

Once in our transfer bus the entrances to Port Everglades were overwhelmed by traffic, taking us 25 minutes to go the 4 miles from hotel to ship. The ship left more than an hour and a half late.

Ever since the first snafus yesterday, and through today’s headaches, I had this feeling of dread that was hard to shake. Then, it manifested: son managed to roll his ankle jumping down some stairs. He made it back to the room and it started swelling up immediately. We engaged the Medical Center here onboard the ship, who took some X-rays and concluded nothing seems to be broken, but he definitely can’t put weight on it, and was advised not to try for at least several days.¹

He was wheeled back to the room and now has loaner crutches for the duration of the voyage. Keep in mind this happened in the first hour of an 11 night cruise.

I’m disappointed for so many reasons. I book these vacations for us as a family because I can feel the time with our kids as kids racing by, so I want to maximize the experiences we share together. I’m crushed for him because he so values his mobility on these trips: being able to ‘elevator race’, play shipwide hide and seek, and just generally have a level of independence that he doesn’t get much at home. Racing around the ship is completely off the table now. How mobile he’ll be a few days from now we’ll have to see. We will cancel at least three shore excursions already purchased for all four of us. I’ll see what other ones we might do instead where he can be accomodated. And I’m disappointed for my daughter, who now won’t have her vacation buddy to help give her the confidence to meet other kids.

Having written all that, I now realize in my anger, both immediately following the accident and then thinking through all the implications, I haven’t done a great job of supporting the emotional pain he’s going through. It’s like a can of gas was tossed on what was already a lot of complex emotions I’ve been feeling even before the trip.

Still: we’re here, we’re alive, it’s winter, and we’re heading to the warm Caribbean.

Footnotes

Celebrity Cruise Day 2

Mobility

Today was a sea day as we navigate from Fort Lauderdale to our first stop Grand Cayman.

Son is dealing with the implications of his injury better than I would’ve expected, though he’s still having periodic waves of emotions over missed opportunities. I’m trying to be very supportive, pointing out that many of his plans don’t change simply because it takes him longer to get from place to place. He can still eat his favorite foods. He can still sit upstairs for a bit and work on his tan. Plus, all this crutch work is probably good for his shoulders (glass half full).

I can see him struggling to push his mind past all the negatives, with some success.

We’ll have a better idea in a few days when he tries to put weight on his ankle exactly where we stand.¹

I aim to get out of the room before 8 most days (more usually 7:00-7:30) so that I have a lot of choice in where to go where there won’t be a lot of people and I can grab some decent photos of us coming into port. I have 2-3 coffees, get a nice caffeine buzz going, and try to knock out some early writing. Success is mixed. But at least the weather and sceneary are spectacular more often than not!

The rest of the cabin are late risers.

Sea days are sea days. Too much laying around and eating, not enough planned activites. It is what it is. Sunset was somewhat redeeming.

And I’m including this phone as the cloud kind of looks like a partially constructed Death Star on the horizon:

Tomorrow is Georgetown, Grand Cayman. We visited three years ago, plus it’s a tender stop, so we’ll stay on the ship and enjoy the extra space.

Footnotes

Celebrity Cruise Day 3

Grand Cayman

Not a lot to share today. The ship was tendered outside George Town, Grand Cayman. The weather was gray most of the day, with temperatures in the high 70’s and humid.

Two other ships were tendered near us, one NCL I forget the name of, and the RCCL Brilliance of the Seas, which from far away first looked like Reliance on the Seas to me… technically true.

Son spent most of the day in the stateroom today. Despite several attempts to have him download shows and movies to his iPad before leaving home, he did not. He’s lucky, then, that his father managed to cache some things.

Daughter and I wandered the ship some, listening to music and admiring the holiday decorations.

In the evening the main dining room featured a special menu. We suspected there would be something special, one because it’s Christmas Eve, and two because all the Celebrity app showed for dinner was wine.¹

After dinner me and the kids went up to the top deck lawn and took in what felt like ~40 knot winds.

We did not end up going to “Christmas Eve Party With Party Band Next Stage”. Instead we all called it an early night.

Footnotes

Celebrity Cruise Day 5

Aruba

Today we are in Aruba. This is the first of our “ABC Islands”: Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao. All three islands are constituent countries within the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has its own government, led by a Prime Minister, but the King of the Netherlands serves as its head of state.

Siena and I had the first of our scheduled shore excursions today, a sailing and snorkeling trip lasting around 3 hours. We had originally planned this for all four of us, then canceled when Rowan twisted his ankle.

The snorkeling itself was… okay… but we enjoyed the boat ride there and back, at least. In hindsight my son likely could have come and just not snorkeled. Live and learn. All was not lost as he was able to make a new friend, Jonathan, through their shared interest in Brawl Stars.

With the ship in port until 8:30pm I wanted to try to find dinner onshore with Sherri and Siena but ultimately it wasn’t in the cards. I escorted them for awhile while they shopped, then we headed back onboard for main dining room dinner.

Next stop: Curaçao!

Celebrity Cruise Day 6

Curaçao

Curaçao (or Curacao) is the second of our “ABC” or “Caribbean Netherlands” islands. Like yesterday, and for the same reasons, it was just Siena and I on our scheduled shore excursion. I’d like to say this one was drier than the snorkeling trip yesterday, but it was very hot and sticky out today.

We started our day with a hello from Santa:

While on the bus heading to the first stop on our excursion, our tour guide shared some info with us:

• Curacao is moving more toward renewable energy sources, with new windmills being constructed on the north (windiest) side of the island. As of this writing and per this page, there are 15 wind turbines installed generating 47.3 MW.
• Like Aruba and Bonaire, Curacao is outside the hurricane belt.
• Papiamentu is the most widely spoken language on the island. It’s a Creole language that blends African, Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, and English influences. School children learn Papiamentu first, then Dutch as a second language. In secondary school English is added.
• Houses typically have walls surrounding the properties due to wild goats
• Unemployment and crime rates have fluctuated notably. Like many Caribbean islands Curacao is heavily dependent on tourism. The tour guide said there would be more than 300 cruise ship visits this season.

Today’s excursion took us to Hato Caves on the north side of Curacao, adjacent to the international airport, and then a guided walking tour through the downtown.

At the caves:

There were lots of iguanas all around. Our tour guide even told us how iguanas are on the menu for some Curacao residents!

Back in the capital of Willemstad, I enjoyed some of the architecture:

Kraspassi Market is near the downtown and is where vendors from Venezuela (and sometimes other countries) bring their goods to Curacao on boats and sell them along the waterfront near downtown Willemstad. We saw fruits and vegetables, clothing, jewelry, and some other souvenirs. The vendors on these boats live on the boats while they’re docked here in Willemstad! I didn’t get a great picture, though.

Back on the ship, we enjoyed the twilight hours:

Next stop: Bonaire!

Celebrity Cruise Day 7

Bonaire

Bonaire is the last of the “ABC Islands” we’ll visit. It’s the smallest, both in term of land area and population, encompassing around 112 square miles¹ and ~21,000 people.

The downtown Kralendijk piers appear to have space for one large cruise ship like ours and then perhaps another one for much smaller ships a bit to the north. The effect of not having mass cruise ship traffic makes the island feel like it runs more at my speed when compared to places like Aruba, Curaçao, or San Juan. The entire island can be traveled by golf cart². Vehicle traffic through Kralendijk never seemed too bad. Electric scooters are easily found and available to use via a mobile app. Given the “vibe” here, in hindsight I wish I’d had the chance to thoroughly explore the island.

Before my son’s ankle injury we had a land sailing excursion planned. We canceled that for all four of us and didn’t see any excursions to replace it with. He stayed onboard with his friend while the other three of us wandered through Kralendijk for awhile.

In the late afternoon, our 5:30pm departure was delayed by about an hour due to two people needing to leave by ambulance. For each of the ABC Islands we’ve visited, I’ve researched them as a place to possibly “snowbird” to. One of the benefits of Bonaire – its smaller population – is also one of the primary drawbacks when it comes to the availablity of medical care.

After the ship departed Bonaire Sherri and I celebrated a milestone at Murano, the ship’s premium French restaurant. I had the second best Dover sole I’ve ever had³; the rest of the meal was fine for a premium dining experience.

Footnotes

Celebrity Cruise Day 8

Sea day

Sea day travelling between Bonaire and San Juan, Puerto Rico. Not much to write about.

Their croissants onboard are really good.

You don’t know me, mirror.

Room with a view.

The first half of the cruise was fairly smooth but here heading toward Puerto Rico we’re feeling a lot more motion. Not enough to make things uncomfortable.

Tomorrow: San Juan, Puerto Rico!

Celebrity Cruise Day 9

San Juan

This is the third visit to Old San Juan for my wife and I and the second with the kids, the last time being a few years ago on Disney. As such, we opted for low-key this time.

Son is walking much better after his ankle injury on the first day but we didn’t want to push it in San Juan, with the hills, uneven sidewalks, stairs, and distance. And daughter just didn’t a big walker. So wife and I set out with no real destination in mind, only a plan to walk and sightsee.

If the ship docks with the bow facing Old San Juan then, roughly speaking, there is one fort in front of you (Castillo San Cristobal) and another to the northwest (Castillo San Felipe del Morro).

We decided to do a clockwise walking loop, leading west from the cruise terminal along the water and then meeting up with a nice path that runs between the harbor and San Felipe del Morro. This path was not heavily trafficked (at least not at 9:30am), paved and well-maintained, and provided unique views of both the water and the outside of the castillo. As you continue along the path to the north side you encounter the powerful waves outside the harbor smashing against the rocks. Impressive!

Kitty.

Come for the zumba, stay for the historic Spanish fort.

For us, rain was threatening, so we hastened our walk up the stairs to the fort. The sprinkles held off until we were in the middle of the wide, wide open space between the entrance of the castillo and the rest of the town: zero protection! But, unlike earlier in the cruise, it wasn’t one of those Florida-style drenching downpours, just some light sprinkles.

We continued our walk east along the north side of the island to the Capitol Building, where work was underway setting up for the inaguration of a new governor on January 2.

We then doubled back to the ship. Our total walk was a little more than 4 1/2 miles per my watch.

We lucked out, as around 12 hours after we left the whole island of Puerto Rico would be plunged into a massive power outage.

Tomorrow: Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic.

Celebrity Cruise Day 10

Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic

Puerto Plata is a city and major cruise port located on the north side of the Dominican Republic. This was our last stop of the cruise before heading home.

Something happened this morning causing data service on all of our family phones to be suspended. The tet from AT&T indicated that it would still be suspended when we arrived back in the US, too, so restoring this service became a priority for today. I called the phone number AT&T included in their message and their call center wouldn’t open until 10am our time.

Before the cruise we’d booked a zipline excursion for all four of us. Once son sprained his angle, we took a wait-and-see attitude, since we had lots of time for healing before we made it to this port. Ultimately we canceled him and my wife, and daughter and I still went.

It was a good call. He’s able to handle straightaways and stairs now, but getting to some of the ziplines involved some angled stairs, uneven ground, and climbing some tall towers. On the other hand, my wife probably wouldn’t have cared for the heights.

Video (click):

At zipline six, for the less-heavy people momentum doesn’t carry them all the way to the end, so a staff member on a horse horse rides over and pulls your ankle the last 20 meters or so. I didn’t have this problem, (un)fortunately.

Video (click):

Looking good, Billy Ray:

I made a few notes from our excursion to San Felipe De Puerto Plata and the zipline place:

• At the port and on the way to the bus outside the confines of the port our tour guide was adamant: stay with the group, don’t follow anyone else.
• There was a really talkative guy in front of us (a house painter from Pompano Beach, which he started pronouncing Pom-PAH-no after a drink). He was having the absolute time of his life. Good for him.
• Of all the ports we visited this trip, the DR was the pushiest one with respect to forced reviews and tips, similar to what you’d encounter in The Bahamas. The ABC Islands were much more chill in this respect.
• Multiple places hadn’t heard of Diet Coke, only Coke and Coke Zero.
• It looked like the same facility also offered ATV and horseback trips. They may have even offered lodging, not sure.

Taino Bay is the secured area between the ships and the city, with shops, restaurants, pools, and lazy river. It’s a nice resort-style area but very much at odds with the city just beyond its walls. When returning back to Taino Bay from the excursion, a security person came into the bus and had everyone show their ship cards. They’re not kidding around.

After the excursion, Siena and I walked around Taino Bay and stopped for coffee so I could use the wifi and try to fix our broken data service. Unsurprisingly, the mall’s wifi was pretty bad. But the coffee was great! Siena pleaded with me to take the tuk tuk service back to the ship and I relented. I’m usually a walker.

Back on the ship I made a call to AT&T and had things sorted after about 20 minutes. Truly I have no idea what our cell bill will look like, and may have to make more calls to AT&T in a month (or get a HELOC) to sort it all out.

Later in the afternoon wife and daughter went to to Taino Bay to enjoy the lazy river and resort area. I caught up with them a bit later and then we all walked back about half an hour before gangway up. Daughter tried ‘splash surfing’ attraction, also. The pool, river, and splash surfing were all free for cruise passengers. The NCL ship had left earlier so there was plenty of space to move around.

So long, Puerto Plata:

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