Miami to Dublin Transatlantic - Relaxing and Fun!

The Celebrity Eclipse - our home for 25 days!

Welcome back, loyal readers!  (all 4 or 5 of you.)  We just set a new record for us, 25 straight days on a cruise ship.  It was actually two consecutive cruises aboard the Celebrity Eclipse, starting with a 15-day transatlantic voyage from Miami to Dublin, Ireland, and finishing with a 10-day trip from Dublin to Iceland and back to Dublin.  We hosted a group of 9 (including us) on the transatlantic, and 18 more people joined us in Dublin for the 10-day cruise.

So I’ve decided to break the blog into two parts for a couple of reasons; one, I get paid by the blog, and two, I have a better chance of holding your interest with two shorter blogs than with one long one.  Oh, and by the way, reason one is false – I don’t get paid at all.  I do, however, receive some fringe benefits (wink, wink). 

Sailing out of Miami.

The Boss and I flew to Miami the night before the transatlantic cruise departure, and stayed at the airport Embassy Suites.  Our group included Anne and Sue from Florida, and Jim and Noreen from California.  Anne and Sue live in the same neighborhood as our dear friends Herb and Eileen, who unfortunately had to cancel due to medical reasons.  Our group was rounded out by three friends from our neighborhood in North Carolina, Chris and Anne, and Maryellen.  

Chris, Anne and Maryellen at the Sunset Bar before departure from Miami.

Chris and Anne, and Esther and I had been on the Celebrity Eclipse last July when we enjoyed a Baltics cruise, so we were very familiar with the ship.  Eclipse is one of the Celebrity Solstice-class ships, which have a capacity of 2,850 passengers.  This size ship provides an abundance of dining, entertainment and activity options, at a decent service level, without the more crowded feel of the mega-ships with 4,000 to 5,000 passengers.  We love the grass lawns on the top of the ship, which only Celebrity has.  All in all, the Eclipse is a beautiful ship from top to bottom.

The pool deck on the Eclipse - one level up is where we walked the deck, 8 laps to a mile.  During our 9 total sea days, I bet we racked up at least 3 miles!! 

The Martini Bar on Deck 4 is always popular.

Our staterooms were pretty standard, although the balconies were larger than most.  We had two reclining lounges and a table on the balcony.  The bathroom was functional with plenty of storage.  

Unfortunately, Celebrity was unable to have all 9 of us seated together for dinner in the main dining room at a mutually convenient time, so Anne, Sue, Jim and Noreen did the early seating at 6:00 PM and the rest of had the late seating at 8:15 PM.   

The Eclipse has four specialty restaurants: the Tuscan Grille (Italian), Murano (French), Qsine (quirky small plates to share) and Sushi on Five.  Our group all had one complimentary specialty dining included as an amenity, compliments of Dream Vacations.  Esther and I had booked Aqua Class, which allowed us to eat in Blu, a restaurant reserved for Aqua Class, but we stuck with our group almost every night. The food in the main dining room was very good most nights.  

On our Baltics cruise last year on this same ship, our group of 16 had poor wine service because our sommelier had 30 tables to cover.  Prior to this cruise, I spoke with our Celebrity Business Development rep and the head of the Food and Beverage department, and he assured me we would not have the same issue this time.  I'm not sure what they did, but we had an outstanding sommelier at our table, Sedat, who went above and beyond for 15 days.  He was always there filling our glasses, and he suggested pairings with every course, as well as giving us samples of different ports with dessert.  I'm pretty sure he was serving us wines that were not on the menu or included with the premium beverage package.

Sedat was a super sommelier, and our glasses were always full!

Maryellen, Esther and I also paid for the Chef’s Table one night, a private dinner for 9 held in a separate room in Murano.  This included champagne and a short galley tour.  The Executive Chef prepared a seven-course meal with wine pairings, and it was excellent. 

The Chef's Table - Maryellen is second from left, and me and the Boss are third and fourth from right.

The filet was to die for!

The first seven days of our transatlantic cruise were sea days.  People often assume that sea days are boring, but nothing could be further from the truth.  In fact, it’s difficult to decide what activity, show, restaurant, or bar to go to between walking the track or working out in the fitness center (full disclosure – Esther and I only saw the inside of the fitness center once, and we weren’t there to exercise).

Among the things that kept our group busy and entertained: playing bocce on the lawn, glass-blowing classes, golf putting contest, daily trivia contests, lectures, art auctions, bingo, the casino, the martini bar, evening shows in the theater, afternoon matinees, live music all around the ship, and hanging out at the Sunset Bar on Deck 15 with our favorite bartender, John.  The weather on those first seven sea days was unbelievable – warm and sunny with calm seas.  Brought to you by Dream Vacations!!

The lawn on the Eclipse is beautiful - we played bocce, people lay on blankets, there's a putting area, the glass blowing area, and of course the Sunset Bar.  Note the Dream Vacations weather!

Chris demonstrates how a one-armed man counts his money!  Unfortunately, he cut himself on his zipper and bled all over the place.

Amy Lee, a 26-year-old violinist from Indiana, put on a great show.

Chris and I thought she was cute, and she thought we were......old.

Of course, Chris loved all the entertainers.

  The group gathers is the Sky Lounge to play Meme, an often X-rated game that had us howling.  This is also where our crack trivia team gathered for music trivia followed by general knowledge trivia.  We never won.

Jim and Anne head for the Sunset Bar in their scooters.  Noreen keeps an eye on them and I try to keep up.

The Liar's Club was hilarious - Eddy the Cruise Director on the left, Giuseppe the Assistant Cruise Director on the right, and one of the comedians, Bengt Washburn in the middle.  Anyone know what a "hawsehole" is?

The entertainment on this crossing was really outstanding - we rarely missed a show, and the performers were great.  We also loved Eddy Jenkins, the Cruise Director and his assistant, Giuseppe.  Both made us laugh during shows, on the Cruise Director channel on the stateroom TV, and during trivia and other activities all over the ship.

No Celebrity cruise with a Dream Vacations group aboard is complete without a complimentary martini tasting, and this one was no exception.  We had the martini tasting on our 4th sea day.  It always starts out with everyone sitting around quietly, but after the impressive pouring by the bartenders and sampling of all the flavors, it gets to be a rather rowdy affair. 

Clockwise from left: Noreen, Jim, Esther, Anne, Chris, Maryellen, Sue and Anne.  Still pretty quiet.

Do not try this at home - bartender pours 24 martinis (6 different flavors!) at one time!

Each of us received samples of six different flavored martinis.  Of course, there was no law against drinking additional ones that someone didn't like!

Sue and Ann debate whether the lychee martini is better than the watermelon martini.....

....and Anne decides they are ALL good.

The other Anne is sad when her martinis are gone.

By the end, even people who aren't part of our group are enjoying the party!

Eventually, the ship had to land somewhere, and that was in Ponta Delgada, the capital city of the Azores, a group of nine volcanic islands in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.  We docked early in the morning and disembarked to meet our guide at the port for a private island tour.

Nothing is too far away on the island of Sao Miguel - it is only 40 miles long and 5 to 8 miles wide. Our first destination was a valley and a little town, both named Sete Cidades, or Seven Cities.  The town is located along the banks of one of the twin lakes of Sete Cidades, which are in a volcano crater.  We got our first look at some of the amazing scenery on the island.

These are the twin lakes of Sete Cidades (Seven Cities), situated in the crater of a dormant volcano.  Normally, the water in the near lake is green, and the water in the far lake is blue, because each side reflects sunlight in different colors, but on this visit they looked the same.

Great shot of the group overlooking the lakes on a beautiful day.

Next we went down into the little town of Sete Cidades on the shores of the lake and saw this pretty little church.

Our tour provided some spectacular views of the coastline, with stunning cliffs and volcanic formations. 

Our guide, Nuno, was excellent.

Our private tour included lunch in a 200-year-old home, served in a private dining room.  Although the home was lovely, and quite interesting, it proved to be a challenge for Jim and Anne.  A steep set of stairs was the only way to get in. But they were troopers, and with a little help from their friends, they made it up and back down after lunch.

Lunch in a Portuguese home - our van driver is the one wearing a tie. Nuno took the photo.

All the dishes were traditional Portuguese fare, and quite tasty. 

Anne (r) chats with Anne (l), who takes a short rest after navigating down those steps.  

After lunch, we were off to Ribeira Grande, a town on the north side of the island.  

This fountain in the town was built in the early 1500s, but was buried by lava during a volcanic eruption in 1563.  Portions of the town were rebuilt over the lava.

I always try to take a shot or two of the local residents.  I love the character in this man's face.

Typical Azorean architecture exhibited by the Town Hall.

A visit to this shop is mandantory in Ribeira Grande.   The capote is a large hooded cape traditionally worn by Azorean women, and "mulher" means woman. Licores are liquers, and this place has lots of flavors. 

Baskets full of airplane-sized bottles of flavored liquers.  We got to taste about six or seven of them in the shop, and Esther bought a bottle of tangerine gin.

A stop at the chocolate shop was also fun.

After booze and chocolate buying, the ladies are happy!  

We continued our drive higher into the mountains, and stopped to look at the Lagoa do Fogo (Fire Lake), a crater lake which is the highest lake on the island.  From there we drove to the second highest point on the island for some breathtaking views.

Lagoa do Fogo - this reminded me a little bit of Alaska and some of the mountain lakes we saw there.  

This is a panoramic shot from Esther's cell phone showing the narrowest part of the island - note water on the left and right in the middle of the picture.  This was taken from the second highest point on the island.

Non-panoramic shot of pretty much the same view.

This is a view looking in the other direction to the highest point on the island.

The last stop before returning to the ship was the pineapple plantation – a bit unusual in that it is located in town.  The pineapples are grown in greenhouses since there is no tropical sun. Smoke is used to help the plants grow, and Azorean pineapples are unique with their small crown and intense flavor.

Typical greenhouse at the Arruda pineapple plantation.

Note the smaller crown on a full-grown pineapple.  Of course there is a pineapple liquour in the gift shop along with a billion other gifts related to pineapples.

A view of  Ponta Delgada from our balcony on the ship, after a full-day or touring the island.   Did I mention the Dream Vacations weather?  

The ship stayed docked in Ponta Delgada overnight, and the next day we had no scheduled tours.  Most of the group went into town to walk around and do some shopping.  Cork handbags and jewelry were popular with the ladies.  Esther and I had been to Ponta Delgada for three days a couple of years ago, and enjoyed walking through town and seeing familiar spots.  Esther even visited the same jewelry store she had been in two years before and had a missing earring replaced.

This is the square in the center of Ponta Delgada with the city gate on the left and the clock tower of the Church of St. Sebastian on the right.  Also notice the distinctive mosaic black and white patterns on the plaza.  

After leaving Ponta Delgada, we had two more days at sea, and quickly settled back into our at-sea routine.

I am watching for whales from the Sunset Bar - don't laugh, because we actually saw them on a couple of our sea days. Still wearing shorts and a t-shirt on our way to Ireland.  Change was on the way.

Eleven days after leaving Miami, we finally sailed into Ireland, with our first stop in Cork.  Actually, the port is in Cobh.  Chris and Anne went with Esther and me on a private tour of the Ring of Kerry.  The Ring of Kerry is a 111-mile circular tourist route in County Kerry, and due to limited time, our tour did not include the entire ring.  Our stops included Kenmare, the Torc Waterfall in the Killarney National Park, Ross Castle, and the town of Killarney.  Unfortunately, our driver and guide, Craig, was not great, and it was a long day of driving. 

The woolen market in the town of Kenmare, our first stop.

Esther couldn't resist the book shop, where she added to her collection of children's books from all of our destinations.  When our grandchildren learn to read, she has a plentiful library of folk tales from all over the world for them.

County Kerry does have some spectacular scenery - this is Ladies View in the Killarney National Park.

In the National Park near the Torc Waterfall, we walked through this area, and half expected to see some leprechauns amongst all the greenery.

Esther and me at the Torc Waterfall.

The Ross Castle, outside of Killarney, built in the 15th century.

Murphy has a bar, restaurant and hotel all in one building in Killarney.  We had a traditional Irish lunch here, including Chris trying the black pudding!

The ladies have our first pints of Guinness in Ireland - but by no means our last!

This statue of Annie Cooper and her brothers is at the port in Cobh.  She was the first immigrant to the United States to pass through Ellis Island.  Cobh, formerly called Queenstown, was the last port of call for the RMS Titanic on her maiden voyage across the Atlantic.

Our second stop in Ireland was Waterford, and Esther had arranged another private tour for the day.  Waterford is actually the oldest city in Ireland, founded by Vikings in 914 A.D.  First, we stopped at a hotel to pick up Bob and Marie, and Art and Ronnie, two other couples from our Compass Pointe neighborhood.  They had come to Ireland a couple days early and were going to join us on the second cruise.  The tour started with a visit to the Waterford Crystal facility.  Naturally, we had plenty of time in the gift shop, which provided free shipping to the U.S.  Our group helped Waterford have a profitable day.

I love this photo, even though it has nothing to do with our tour.  I call it "Empty Boats in the River in the Morning."

Waerford Harbour sits at the mouth of three rivers that join together in Waterford - the River Nore, the River Suir, and the River Barrow.  The weather looks a little iffy, but just wait.

The origins of crystal production in Waterford date back to 1783, when George and William Penrose started their business. The business closed in 1851, then re-opened in 1947.  This Visitor Center and factory opened in 2010.

The manufacturing of the crystal is done mostly by hand by skilled craftsmen.

This clock has 48 panels and 250 decorative buttons, all individually handcrafted in Waterford crystal.

Sue gets to hold a replica of the PGA Trophy, one of golf's four major tournaments.

Our guide describes this piece dedicated to all the first responders from 9-11.

Next, we drove through the Irish countryside to Jerpoint Abbey, a ruined Cistercian abbey constructed in 1180, or about 830 years before Compass Pointe.  We had a very passionate, and wordy, guide, so we had to take our leave before she finished all of her talk, in order to stay on schedule for the day.

The lovely Irish countryside in County Kilkenny, taken from our private tour bus. 

The ruins of Jerpoint Abbey.  We learned much about monastic life - mainly that we wouldn't have liked it.

More of the abbey ruins.  

The bus continued to Kilkenny, the seventh largest town in Ireland, located on the River Nore.  We had time for lunch (and a pint of Guinness) before our scheduled entrance to the castle.  Kilkenny Castle is awesome, and one of the most visited tourist sites in Ireland.

Our guide give us a little history about Kilkenny and the castle.  Private tours are well worth the slightly higher cost versus ship tours with 70 or 80 people.

Our first look at Kilkenny Castle, built in 1195.  Of course, in 1195 there wasn't a food truck parked out front.

The castle was lived in almost continuously until the 1930s, then was neglected for 30 years.  It was sold to the Castle Restoration Committee and turned over to the state in 1967.

This is one of those cool castles that is still furnished inside, which makes it much easier to imagine what castle life was like.  For some reason, I can't find a picture of the oversized toilet that intrigued our group so much!

The view of the river and town from inside the castle was beautiful.

Chris, Anne, Esther and Sue in the castle courtyard.

Must I say it?  Weather brought to you by Dream Vacations.

We departed Waterford at 7:00 PM, and although the distance is only about 90 miles, we didn’t dock in Dublin the next morning until 11:30 AM.  Esther scheduled a private half-day tour of Dublin, and we picked up Joan and Eddy, who came in the night before and were going on the next cruise with us.  We were supposed to see the Book of Kells at the Trinity College library, but the line to get in was over an hour, so we walked the college grounds, stopped in to St. Patrick’s Cathedral, drove through the city and past the Guinness plant, cruised through Phoenix Park, and finally stopped at a pub for a pint.

Trinity College is widely considered to be the most prestigious university in Ireland and among the most elite in Europe.  The Book of Kells, a manuscript of the four Gospels of the New Testament believed to have been created around 800 A.D., is in the Trinity College Library, but the lines were too long.

Get your mind out of the gutter - this is a door hardware store!

St. Patrick's Cathedral, founded in 1191, is not as impressive as many of the much larger cathedrals we have seen throughout Europe, but it does have some beautiful stained-glass windows.

Phoenix Park, at 1,750 acres, is the largest urban park in Europe, and includes the Dublin Zoo, the Wellington Monument, the U.S. Ambassador's Residence, and the Papal Cross in this picture. The cross was erected for an outdoor mass given by Pope John Paul II in  1979, which drew a crowd of over one million people, equal to Dublin's population.

This is Farmleigh, the official Irish State guest house, which was formerly one of the residences of the Guinness family.

My favorite part of the tour was our stop at a "non-touristy" pub selected by our guide.  I found that I like Guinness much better in Ireland than in the U.S.

We returned to the ship in time to get ready for our evening at Johnnie Fox’s, one of Ireland’s oldest and most famous traditional Irish pubs.  We picked up Art and Ronnie at their hotel on the way in our private mini-van and headed up into the hills south of Dublin for the Johnnie Fox Hooley Experience, which includes dinner, music from an Irish folk band, and some amazing Irish dancing.  The food was excellent – I had the wild mussels and the braised lamb shank, both specialties of the house.   A special shout-out to Maryellen and Sue for picking up the bar tab for everyone!

The highest pub in Ireland.

The folk band was quite good and got the crowd involved with a number of sing-alongs.

It was really hard to get clear pictures of the dancers because they move so darn fast.  Very impressive!

That was the last night on the ship for the majority of the passengers, but our group of nine were all going on the next cruise, which was departing Dublin at 10:15 PM the following day.  We left the ship the next morning and somehow amidst the chaos of disembarking passengers getting on transfer buses or trying to get cabs, and continuing passengers (like us) with tours, we found our private tour bus and guide.  Many of the 18 new members of our group booked on the next 10-day Ireland to Iceland cruise joined us for our trip to the Cliffs of Moher.  The drawback to this tour is that it takes about 3 and ½ hours by bus to get from Dublin to the Cliffs.  We stopped for lunch at a highway rest area on the way there.  You stay for an hour, then turn around and go back.  However, the Cliffs are one of the most visited tourist attractions in Ireland, so you almost have to do it. 

This was the day I left the ship without the camera and was harshly scolded by the Boss – “You only have one job in this agency, and you forget the camera!”  With my tail between my legs, I suggested that we take pictures with her cell phone.  So as we came upon the first magnificent vista, I asked for her phone to record the beautiful sights.  Imagine my surprise when she discovered she had forgotten her cell phone on the bus!!  #shithappens #thatsokhoney#karmasabitch

The Cliffs run for over 8 miles and range in height from 390 feet to just over 700 feet.  These fantastic shots of the Cliffs of Mohrer were taken by Anne Isibel - great job!

O'Brien's Tower, built in 1835, marks the highest point on the Cliffs.  On a clear day, you can see the Twelve Pins in Connemara (a mountain range 40 miles to the north) beyond Galway Bay, and the Aran Islands to the west.  We saw EVERYTHING - weather compliments of Dream Vacations!  (Photo courtesy of Anne)

Joan, Tom, Esther and Eddy - friends for 20 years in Ashburn, and our first time cruising together.  Photo courtesy of Joan!

Our 15-day transatlantic cruise ended in Dublin, which makes this a convenient stopping point for this blog.  A second blog will chronicle our adventures with a great group of 27 people on the 10-day voyage that followed.  Esther and I really loved the transatlantic cruise on the Eclipse, and we had so much fun with both our old and new friends.  This blog is dedicated to our dear friend Herb Krupp, who we missed every day of the trip – we hope to travel with Herb and Eileen in the near future!

As with all my previous blogs, I would appreciate your feedback and comments.  Just add them at the bottom.  Evidence that someone actually reads these things is valuable to me during my performance reviews, and I need all the help I can get if I hope to remain a part of the franchise.