On our cruise we had three full days at sea, and all of our nights were at sea except our Puerto Rico night.
During the days we spent our time working out, sunning, reading, swimming, playing games, and eating, eating, and more eating.
We also got massages one day and attended a few of the "Celebrity Life" events (cooking show, Bermuda Triangle lecture, etc.) The massage was good but WAY overpriced and the Celebrity Life events were generally mediocre at best.
We did enjoy some of the evening events like the Cirque show and the Christmas show.
I most enjoyed just relaxing during the days at sea. We had a lot of quality time as a family playing Upwords and Hearts together. We had a balcony room and I really liked sitting out the balcony reading and looking at the sea.
(obligatory shot of the daily "towel art" in the room).
I really enjoyed our nightly dinners at the special "Aqua Class" restaurant, Blu.
The food in Blu is supposed to be a little more healthy and gourmet than the regular dining room. I liked the food in Blu a lot, but I thought overall it was A-/B+ food (but that was way better than the buffet lunch food). I think it's really hard to have good food that appeals the masses and can be made in mass quantities, ya know? Maybe I'm a little bit of a food snob. :)
Blu was a gorgeous restaurant with great service. Loved this chandelier.
My parents and us brought a bunch of our favorite wines onto the ship and payed the corkage fees at Blu to drink them with dinner. We had some killer wines (Hope & Grace, Opus, Cakebread, Tantara, Beckman, and an Italian Brunello). Here we are with a bottle of one of our favorite wines, Beckman Estate Syrah.
Note: Email me if you want my cruise booze smuggling tips. :)It's no secret that I love dressing up, so I really enjoyed the formal nights.
My Mom does too, because she bought The Mr. and my Dad matching tuxedo vests for the first formal night. So fun!
My little family on the second formal night.
The ship was decked out for Christmas. Loved all these lights!
And this gingerbread house was huge and amazing!
Actually the Celebrity Eclipse was a beautiful ship in general. It's brand new and state of the art. It has lots of cool art and great decor in the social spaces. I loved this giant turquoise flower.
Overall I liked cruising a lot, but not sure if I'd do it again soon. I think I'd rather just stay at beautiful resort on an island (like St. Kitt's for example). Here are my pros and cons of our cruise trip...
Pros: Easy vacation for a group with different interests, great way to see multiple places in a short amount of time, effortless traveling, limited planning needed for meals/activities, gorgeous ship, good excuse to dress up every night, more fun than a standard resort hotel, cool amenities like free room service and unlimited ice cream all the time.
Cons: Feels a little like mass-produced "luxury", food is often quantity over quality, night life was pretty much non-existent, on-board activities were hit-or-miss, felt constrained by ship's schedule so sometimes time in port sometimes felt rushed, and Celebrity was constantly trying to "upsell" you on beverage packages, extra events on board, specialty dining, future cruises, etc.
Have you cruised before? Do you agree with my pros and cons?
