In today's video, much more about our recent cruise on Celebrity Solstice.
Including spectacular video of some of the ocean life we saw...
And a look at the places we visited...
Avalon, on Catalina Island, off the coast of Southern California...
San Diego, where we toured a famous aircraft carrier...
And Cabo San Lucas, where we went on a whale watching excursion.
Plus, an illusionist who turned a dollar in to a hundred dollars...
And a couple of cute dogs we met on the ship.
A few weeks ago, I put out a video about our recent cruise on Celebrity Solstice.
There's a link up in the corner of the screen...
In case you haven't already seen that one.
After I finished editing that video...
There was still so much great footage I had shot on the trip...
That didn't make it in to that first YouTube video about Celebrity Solstice...
That I realized I have to make this second video...
And show you some of the things that...
I just didn't have time to get in to on the first video.
So, let's start with all the wildlife we saw.
On a Mexican Riviera cruise Be sure to book a balcony cabin...
And during daylight hours, if you don't have anything better to do...
Sit out on your balcony and keep an eye on the water.
Because on a Mexican Riviera cruise...
There is so much more wildlife to see...
Then on most other cruises you've probably been on.
We saw hundreds of dolphins swimming along with the ship...
And one day when the ship was at anchor...
We saw this seal bring up a big chunk of fish from below.
It was funny to see him toss it in to the air...
And it caused quite a commotion among the sea gulls...
Who wanted some of that fish.
At the marina in Cabo San Lucas...
This Sea Lion was a lot of fun to watch.
There were a lot of fish in the water...
And he was just having a great time...
Looking around under the water...
And popping his head up to see what we were doing every now and then.
My wife and I had a lot of fun watching him.
We're big animal lovers...
So, we got a kick out of meeting not just one...
But two service dogs...
That were sailing on Celebrity Solstice that week.
When we're on a cruise ship my wife and I at some point...
Will usually check out the ship's arcade.
My wife gets a kick out of this game called PacMan Smash.
Which we've seen on quite a few cruise ships.
So, we headed up to deck 15 on Celebrity Solstice...
Where the deck plans said that next to the two kid's clubs...
There would be an arcade.
But when we got there, there was a mostly empty room...
With just one unplugged arcade game...
And a ping pong table...
Where I guess all the arcade machines used to be, back in the day.
So, we decided to play ping pong...
And my wife asked me to take it easy on her...
So, I served very gently...
And she did this to me...
Yeah, let's see that again in slow motion.
Well, that's the last time I'll take it easy on her at ping pong!
In addition to all the big musical production shows they had on Celebrity Solstice...
They also brought in a really talented magician/illusionist from Las Vegas...
His name is James Cielen...
And I'm going to show you just one part of his act...
Where he turned a dollar bill in to a hundred dollar bill. Watch...
A very nice feature of Celebrity Solstice...
Which I totally forgot to mention in my previous video...
Is the Sky Lounge...
Which is an observation lounge up at the front of the ship.
At night, they have a band that plays up here...
And there's a bar...
But be sure to come up here during the day...
To enjoy the fantastic views...
Especially if it's cold or windy outside.
If you take an Alaska cruise on Celebrity Solstice...
This is the place to take in the views...
While staying warm, and relaxing in the nice seating that they have up here.
An unusual feature on Celebrity Solstice...
That I don't remember ever seeing before on a cruise ship...
Is a huge Ficus tree in the atrium.
The interior design style of a cruise ship's atrium...
Says a lot about the style of the cruise line.
As I was admiring the classy style...
That this beautiful tree brings to the atrium of Celebrity Solstice...
I couldn't help from contrasting it in my mind...
To some of the atriums I've seen on Carnival's ships.
I like the graceful looks of the big tree on Celebrity Solstice much better.
And I suppose it might have something to do with the fact that...
At my house, back home in Washington...
The centerpiece of our living room is a big Ficus tree, too.
Well, what do you think of this video, so far?
If you’re enjoying it, do me a favor and hit the thumbs up button...
That lets YouTube know that it's a good video...
That they should recommend to other people.
And if you're thinking about booking a cruise with Celebrity...
Or with any of the cruise lines...
I want to suggest that you use the services of my travel agent, Caitlin Gallagher.
I used to just book my cruises directly with the cruise line, but...
As I became a more experienced cruiser...
I came to realize how much better off I was to book through a travel agent.
It's not about price.
That cruise is going to cost you pretty much the same no matter how you book it.
The cruise lines have total control of the pricing.
But a travel agent is there to answer all your questions for you...
And to give you good advice, so you don't do anything stupid, like...
Booking a balcony cabin downwind from the smoking area.
I especially like Caitlin because she's an American, with no accent...
So, I have absolutely no problem communicating with her...
And as my agent, she gets to be the one stuck on hold with the cruise line, not me...
When there's something like a price drop before final payment...
That needs to be worked out with the cruise line.
So, give Caitlin a call, or send her an email, When you're ready to book your next cruise.
Now our first port of call during our cruise...
Was Catalina Island, off the coast of Southern California.
There's no dock big enough to handle cruise ships, so...
Celebrity Solstice anchored...
Just a short distance from the town of Avalon...
And used her lifeboats to shuttle passengers ashore.
We rented a golf cart and had fun exploring Avalon.
And one of the most iconic sights there, is this building...
Which is known as The Casino.
It's the largest building on the island...
And the most visible landmark in Avalon.
But it's not a casino, as in gambling.
The name is based on the Italian language meaning of the word casino...
Which can mean a social club or a gathering place.
Inside the casino, part of it is a movie theater...
And another part can be used for meetings or conferences...
Or even converted in to a ballroom.
It was built in the 1920s by chewing gum magnate, William Wrigley Junior.
While we were visiting the casino...
I got a kick out of seeing all the scuba divers and snorkelers...
Lined up on these steps that lead down in to the ocean...
And a very nice spot for snorkeling or scuba diving...
Right there next to the casino.
And I want to just mention as you look at this nice aerial shot of Catalina Island that...
I'm a licensed commercial drone pilot.
All this beautiful aerial video you're seeing...
I shot this with my drone.
It's my original footage.
Not some stock footage that I found somewhere on the Internet.
Our second port of call was Cabo San Lucas, Mexico...
And the day started with a beautiful sunrise.
Cabo is another one of those places...
That doesn't have a dock large enough to handle a cruise ship.
So, Celebrity Solstice anchored offshore...
And used her lifeboats to ferry passengers over to the marina.
It was such a warm, beautiful day that...
Instead of riding inside the lifeboat...
I sat up on top, in the open air...
As the lifeboat made its way from our ship...
In to the Cabo Marina.
Now the last time we were in Cabo was about a year earlier...
On one of my favorite cruise ships, Carnival Panorama...
On another Mexican Riviera cruise.
We really enjoy doing them, and because we live in Washington state...
They're easier and less expensive to get to than a Caribbean cruise.
Anyway, when we were in Cabo a year earlier...
We went on the most amazing whale watching excursion on a small yacht...
Where we saw lots of whales very close to the yacht we were on...
And the whales put on an amazing show for us that day...
Including not just adult whales...
But there was one mother that had her little baby with her.
And it was a whale watching adventure...
That we'll just never forget.
So, this year... back in Cabo again...
We absolutely had to go whale watching again...
In hopes it would be as great as last time...
But of course, in retrospect...
Maybe it was stupid to do that because...
The last time was so great...
I guess I shouldn't have expected to get that lucky two times in a row.
And I didn't!
This time the whales...
Were not putting on anywhere near as spectacular of a show...
As they had for us a year earlier.
And honestly, if you want to see some great whale video...
Just click up on the link in the corner of the screen...
To that video I shot last year...
Because this time was a bit of a dud.
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And there's still a lot more to come... So, stick around...
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Our final port of call was San Diego, California.
It's very cool, as the ship goes past...
The two lighthouses at the entrance to San Diego Bay...
You get a really good look at the Naval Air Station on Coronado Island.
It was fun to look at all the various aircraft and all the activity at the base.
If you like naval military hardware...
You sure can get a good view from the deck of a cruise ship...
As it sails past the navy base on the way to the port of San Diego.
We got a really nice look at the USS Abraham Lincoln...
An aircraft carrier that saw a lot of action in the Persian Gulf in the 1990s.
If you're fascinated with Navy ships...
And you find yourself in San Diego someday...
Be sure to visit this one...
The USS Midway.
It's now a museum, located right next...
To where the cruise ships dock in San Diego.
On this cruise, we were travelling with our dear friends, Bob and Joan...
Who live here in the San Diego area...
And when he's not cruising.... Bob is a volunteer on the USS Midway.
So he led us on our own personal tour of the Midway.
And we spent a fun couple of hours...
Looking at all the cool aircraft they had on display...
Including a helicopter you're free to explore....
A fighter jet that you can climb in to and sit in the cockpit...
And Bob took me up in to "The Island"... The tall structure on top of the flight deck...
Where officers directed flight and ship operations back in the day.
And we explored below the deck, in the interior of the ship...
Places like the galley...
And the office of one of the ship's officers.
The Midway museum is really worth a visit if you come to San Diego.
So, now you know the rest of the story about our cruise on the Celebrity Solstice.
A story too big for just one video, it took two!
If you missed the first video...
I'm putting a link to it up on the screen...
As well as links to some of my other cruise ship videos.
Click on one that looks interesting to you, and enjoy another video!
I'm Jim Zim. Thanks for watching!