Celebrity Eclipse 2018 - Second Day At Sea

Another sea day so it was more of the same in the morning. Before lunch, there was family bingo at the Kids Club. Unlike the last trip where we totally cleaned up, only Teddy won a game. I have to admit that the kids weren’t super-gracious losers, and I was steamed at them in the moment. But later in the day I gathered a little perspective and put myself in their place, where it’s been two years of build up, then a day-and-a-half of wait—GO! wait—GO! between travel day and embarkation day, plus bedtimes thrown entirely out of whack – there were a lot of reasons for them not to be the best versions of themselves. By and large throughout the trip, they were good. We had a few random folks approach us at various times to say how well behaved the kids were, so let’s remember that and not the occasional descents into savagery.

After bingo and lunch, we went swimming, where some friends from the kids’ club showed up. And when I jumped into the hot-tub with my little dudes, about seven of their friends joined in and it was a kids’ club soup in there. Then it was showers, re-enrolling the kids, lazy time, and dinner. The adults had late reservations at Qzine, which is my favourite restaurant on board, so we took the kids to the buffet for their dinner, and dropped them off upstairs so we could eat.

Qzine’s angle its unique presentation style. For steak, you get the painter’s filet – a really beautifully cooked filet mignon with extras like red wine sauce and mushroom set alongside in containers resembling paint jars. Popcorn fish and chips are served bite sized in an old time movie theatre popcorn box. You place your order on an iPad. Your dessert menu is like a rubik’s cube. It’s quirky, and you’ll hate it or love it. I love it. Sarah’s dad: not so much. “I like the food, I just wish they could forget all this other nonsense.” (That makes him sound crabbier than he is. He was smiling when he said it.) Sadly, menu items have changed a bit over the years. The first time we went, they served these sliders made of kobe beef which where the best damn hamburgers I have ever had in my entire life. Every time since, the sliders have been sirloin. And every time before this visit, they served a sushi lollipop rolled in Dorito crumbs, but now that’s gone. So it was a good meal, but I was a little bummed about my lollipop. On top of that, we had WAY too much food – we ordered what seemed like a sensible number of portions, but because there were four of us they doubled all the portions. So I walked out fat. (Who’s kidding who? It was the third day of cruise food: I was plenty fat when I walked in.)