Day One on the Atlantic Ocean…
So far, so good. Just like our friends Howard and Connie told us, “like sailing on glass.” They crossed the Atlantic on the flagship of Celebrity’s Solstice Class, and we’re on the Eclipse, and either Celebrity’s found the formula or this is a typical Transatlantic trip. However, it is just Day One.
There was a flotilla of sorts, often the case for cruise ships leaving Miami through a channel wide enough for one vessel at a time, at the foot of the world-famous South Beach. Norwegian’s Epic was first off the docks, followed by Carnival’s Liberty. The Eclipse followed 
the senior member of the Celebrity family, Grandpa Century (above), bound for the Caribbean.
Getting this far always comes with a few interesting tales:
• We make a habit of arriving in a cruise port at least 24 hours before we are to embark, not wanting to leave a cruise in the hands of an airline mechanic looking for a problem. So in this case, it was Miami by Friday, leaving time for pre-cruise shopping. Does anybody know what it means to shop on a sale day in Miami? Put it this way: We almost needed an extra suitcase.
• While we’ve stayed at several hotels near southern Florida cruise ports, if there’s a better one than the Westin Colonnades we haven’t found it. An old hotel, it’s just off Miracle Mile in the heart of Coral Gables, about 10 minutes from the airport, which is critical if you’re departing from the port. Why? Because there’s always direct transportation to the cruise ships when that’s your starting point.
• We rented a car that was barely large enough to accommodate the shopping expedition, booking it online from All Day rentals (we know, sounds suspect) for $26 a day, plus tax. The only real drawback with this small “r” rental company is that it doesn’t shuttle customers to the port like some of the big boys do. Not a problem. A shuttle driver from another company offered to take us for “whatever you want to pay me.” A cab is at least $20, so we offered him $15. Good deal for us, found money for him.
• The dreaded embarkation experience wasn’t. Minutes after leaving the shuttle, our bags were in the hands of a porter. We almost walked onto the Eclipse without stopping, other than finalizing documents and signing on a few dotted lines. The longest we were delayed between the terminal and our stateroom was 60 seconds, tops…and in case that’s what you’re thinking, there were no special privileges or fast-tracking.
• Our first impression of this beautiful new ship came at the muster station drill, that obligatory half-hour experience cruise lines conduct so that they have put all passengers through the safety procedures, just in case. Celebrity has it down to a science. At the “muster station” — in our case, sitting at a table in the main dining room — Avatar-like figures go through the procedures on a big screen. Unlike some such drills we’ve attended, where idle conversation drowns out the instructions while the wind whistles through the deck to give passengers an excuse for tuning out, at this gathering everybody was glued to the screen like it was a first-run movie. Well, almost everybody. One passenger near us was asleep.