iandjm

So is Sue Denning gone now as the CD of Eclipse? She has been the CD for the past three years. We will be on Eclipse in March of 2016 and 2017. I am curious if she will be back or has left the ship as CD.

Apparently Sue is returning to Millennium after her holiday.

I have just returned from 2 weeks on the wonderful Celebrity Eclipse in the Caribbean. I thought I would give an account of how the cruise went:

We booked the complete package direct with Celebrity, including flights from the UK, all transfers, a night in a Miami hotel, the cruise, and a dayroom before the flight home.

We flew BA to Miami arriving early afternoon. Immigration seemed a lot better with much of the process now carried out on automatic machines. After immigration we were met by a fairly miserable RCI / Celebrity representative and asked to stand in a corner of arrivals and wait for more information about out transfer to the Marriot airport hotel. Eventually we were walked to a small coach for the transfer, although the reps did seem unsure of where we were going, which coach etc. The coach was full and did not really have enough room for all the passengers’ suitcases so we helped the driver loading these!

We had a good evening / night at the hotel and met in the hotel reception at the allocated time the next morning for the transfer to the ship. This part was pretty chaotic with nearly 200 Celebrity customers all waiting to be transferred to the ship, and a flustered uncooperative representative from intercruises refusing to answer our questions regarding how many coaches were being sent, what time etc. In the end we gave up a paid $30 for a taxi to the port. Many others did the same.

Check in and boarding was smooth and fast and we were on board at the wonderful Martini bar within half an hour 

We were then chased around the ship by over enthusiastic crew trying to get us to upgrade our drinks package and book speciality restaurants. They did not seem to take no for an answer and actually followed you trying to get a booking.

Stateroom – 6224 – Superb location, ideal for popping down to deck 5 for coffee etc. Very well looked after by the friendly efficient cabin stewards, although no towel animals . Events being held in the Grand Foyer could be heard quite loudly in the stateroom. Balcony rust / corrosion on door handles could do with some attention before it gets any worse.

Moonlight Sonata restaurant – Superb service from Waiters Alfred & Pablo and Asst. Maitre’d Milton. Great food selection, always warm and well presented, although every meal for the 2 weeks seemed to come with mashed potato and green beans. Disappointed that waiters / galley staff parade has been dropped. This has always been a good event and was our chance to say thank you.

We were very lucky to dine with the Hotel director on the last formal night (literally the last formal night ever) and had a lovely evening.

Ocean View Café – Great selection of food and always somewhere to sit. I was Impressed as always with this venue.

Tuscan Grill – This was a real disappointment. I have been to Tuscan Grill many many times on Eclipse and have always had a special evening there, but this time the evening seemed to be total chaos. To start with the lighting was so bright it gave the venue same atmosphere as a MacDonald’s restaurant. I noticed the nice antipasti platter that used to be provided to the table (and by early this year was brought by a waiter for you to choose items from) was now charged for!

The staff seemed to be running around like headless chickens and not actually getting anywhere. In addition I found a lump of bone in the spaghetti bolognaise. As the Maitre’d did not come and see us at the table during the meal I went over to highlight all the issues directly to him, to his surprise!

Given the cover price increasing every year and now being over $40, this restaurant should give a better experience than the main dining room, but in reality is was far inferior. It’s worth noting the friends I was travelling with were new to cruising and expressed how disappointing the experience was, without even knowing how good it used to be!

Entertainment – The Cruise Director Richard and Activity Manager Maartin were a great double act and organised some very good entertainment. We also had the new production shows on this cruise. Topper was great; Chandelier was weak and Rock City superb. I really enjoyed the music in the shows, but could not help thinking much of the music really did not suit the older clientèle on board.

Future cruise sales – I enquired about booking a July 2017 cruise on eclipse expecting the usual free drinks package / on board credit / low deposit offer, but was told this did not apply for 2017, so despite the fares being £400pp more than the same cruise in 2016 there was no advantage booking on board whatsoever. This was a shame as rather than making a future booking on Celebrity it encourages potential customers to look elsewhere, including other cruise lines.

Ports – Aruba, Curacao, Grenada, Barbados, St Lucia, Antigua, St Kitts & St Maarten – we did our own thing at the ports, and the weather was always in the high 20’s / early 30’s

Celebrity Life activities - We had Jim Kennedy the ex Director of the Kennedy Space Centre onboard presenting lectures about the Space Shuttle, International Space Station and sharing some wonderful stories about his long career with NASA. He as a lovely man and brilliant speaker.

Post cruise – We left the ship at the allocated time and boarding a coach that took us directly to the Sheraton Miami airport. Upon arrival a member of hotel staff brought our hotel keys onto the coach, which saved having to queue at the hotel reception. This was a nice touch.

Later we were picked up by a coach and taken to the airport in time for our flight back to London.

Ian

That must be a change made in the past few weeks?? Either that or the difference between North America and the UK?

We normally get poor deals and non refundable deposits so no change there [emoji53]

Greeting to my neighbour on the beautiful IOW :) We just came back from a wonderful cruise in Australia on the Solstice & booked another cruise in Jan 2017 for Asia. We booked an outside cabin & got $175 onboard credit plus the drinks package. It was only $75 deposit each & I transferred to my travel agent who gave me another discount. This was only a few weeks ago.

Hey from a Sandownite [emoji3]. I think the offer runs until April 17. I am / was trying to book July. Hope you are having an amazing time [emoji3]

There's not even a low deposit available on 2017 onboard bookings.

Hi Andy. The onboard offer for 2017 is not combinable with anything at present. In fact prices are up £400pp on an identical 2016 booking!

The 2016 offer is still as it's always been though. It's a bit of a shame that Celebrity are not gaining valuable early bookings with a decent incentive at this stage but as you say offers will come along. I just hope they do before Cunard fares are released or I may be tempted.

Hi. I'm on eclipse at present having a wonderful time. All is great. I asked about booking 2017 on eclipse and the offers are not good at present. No low discount and nothing extra free on the new booking, just up to $250 onboard credit. I'm assume the free drinks package will return in the future? Such a shame tough as I always try to book onboard to get the free classic drinks package.

just curious as to where this is?

Is there a web address for the live cam's then? I must admit I have never heard of this

Thanks

Ian

We regularly cruise both lines (among others). In fact, 3 weeks ago we were on the Regal Princess and next week we will be on the Celebrity Eclipse. We enjoy both lines. Each has their pros and cons (and this differs among ships) but that kind of variety makes things new and fun. The Regal is the newest Princess ship and she is gorgeous. But like very ship she does have some design flaws so you might want to read some reviews (there are plenty here on CC) of the Regal and Royal (they are sister ships with a similar design) before you select a cabin location.

 

Hank

See you on Eclipse next week [emoji3]

Sue is like Marmite. Love or hate, but it's impossible to deny she is incredibly enthusiastic and makes an effort to be everywhere.

Hi all

 

 

 

Thinking of doing the 14 day Scandanavian and Russian cruise sailing from Southampton next july.

 

 

 

To those who already have, what were the highlights of your trip? Would you recommend it? Do you have any tips or pearls of wisdom you'd care to share? :)

 

 

 

Thanks in advance.

I've done this cruise twice and have 3 July next year booked. I love Stockholm and Copenhagen as well as St Petersburg. I don't go crazy on tours in St Petersburg and tend to do half day tours and enjoy the ship for the other half of the day. Stockholm Warnemunde Talinn and Copenhagen just don't need tours and are great to explore on your own.

I highly recommend the cruise

Ian

Not sure if we would all agree on what is interesting, but as far as Eclipse out of Southampton is concerned I would certainly like a lot more variety.

Its getting boring isn't it. I don't know about you, but some more Med cruises and a 14 night Norway cruise up to the North cape would be great.

Certainly from the UK perspective Eclipse keeps doing the same itinerary's over and over again, with a Norway cruise, 3 months of Baltic cruises in a row, another Norway cruise, a med cruise and a few canaries cruises. This makes the options for subsequent cruises very difficult and sadly pushes me towards Cunard, who have varied itinerary's all year.

not keen to book at the price with no perks included

The perks will come once all the early bookers have been lured in I imagine :confused:

I really cant believe how much complaining there is about suites around here. I consider myself fortunate when I have the vacation budget for a room with a balcony.

Sadly the trend on CC is misinformation and people winding each other up about assumptions rather than fact, followed shorty by over reactions about cancelling every booking and going elsewhere!

We all know Celebrity's marketing materials / website can be horribly inaccurate and what you actually receive on-board is normally really good. I am pretty sure CS will get the same if not more than Sky Suites in reality.

I have sailed on many Celebrity cruise and can assure people that all the annoyance of shore-side soon vanishes once you are on-board being treated really well :)

I had to go to Facebook and read some of the comments. OMG, People are acting like it is the end of the world! "Class" is really coming through in some of those posts. You know, I used to be opposed to cruising but my husband "forced me" to go on one back in 2012 by getting it after final payment. That is all it took! I was hooked! He then suggested the Summit on Celebrity and I remember thinking this was a line full of snobs based on the comments here but it was a nice itinerary and snobs would not stop me from cruising. I am glad I didn't pay attention to the snarky comments of the "Experts on Dress Code" because I had a fantastic cruise and my signature shows what we like.

Today again, those long time cruisers, and those that post often here are letting the same "I am above everyone attitude" come through their posts on this thread. I find this so entertaining but those cruising for the first time on Celebrity might find it off putting, just like I did a few years ago.

 

I say that if attire will make you lose sleep (someone's comment from facebook) then your priorities are so wrong. Instead of continuing posting here, go and spend your money somewhere else where you can play pretend with everyone else.

 

There is more drama here than in a Mexican Telenovela! I think the drama here beats the drama we had during the update of the Beverage Packages!

So good to see a sensible reply. People get so wound up about what is a small change that actually does not make any difference to you if you would like to wear formal wear. I must say it really helps people flying to their cruise with a limited weight limit.

Maybe people need to spend some time in a children's hospital just to put things into perspective....

If a price reduction is posted, you can call Celebrity if booked by them or your TA and they will reduce your pride. This can be dune up to final payment date. I believe it is possible to loose certain OBC's.

 

Jim

I was told by Celebrity UK yesterday that if the price reduces it is very much a case of tough, it will not be honoured.

Oh well

Ian

Hi. I called Celebrity UK to ask if they could price match on my July 2016 cruise, which is something that they have always offered. I was told that they no longer honour price drops. This is a shame as it really was a big plus point with booking Celebrity, as you felt reassured booking a cruise well in advance.

Has anyone else heard anything about this?

Ian

Cellarmasters is pretty well exactly the same as it was on Eclipse. The Gastrobar which is also the Passport Bar on deck 3 did serve food although I never one witnessed anyone having it. Why pay there when it's free elsewhere I guess. Eclipse is looking fantastic though [emoji3]

This is what I found on the website:

 

Eclipse Offer Terms and Conditions

 

1. The ECALLIN promotion is valid for new bookings created and confirmed between 07th - 31st May 2015 meeting the conditions stated.

2. The ECALLIN promotion is valid for selected sailings departing between July 2015 and April 2017

3. Book Balcony and above and receive all THREE of: Free Classic Alcoholic beverage package, Free Gratuities and Free On-board Spend

(On-board Spend amounts vary depending on duration of cruise)

3-5 nights - $100 On-board spend per stateroom

6-9 nights - $200 On-board spend per stateroom

10+ nights - $300 On-board spend per stateroom"

4. The ECALLIN promotion offers is through a promotion code. Please ensure that you apply ECALLIN promo code at the time of booking. Adding a promo code after booking has been created and confirmed within campaign booking period will be at prevailing rate.

Interior & Oceanview staterooms and Z, Y, X, XC, XA and W staterooms are not applicable to the promotion.

5. The ECALLIN promotion Free Classic Alcoholic beverage package and Free Gratuities is applicable to the 1st & 2nd guest in the stateroom only. On-board Spend is per stateroom, On-board Spend amounts vary depending on duration of cruise.6. The minimum drinking age for all alcoholic beverages on Celebrity Cruises ships sailing from North America & Middle East is 21. The minimum drinking age for all alcoholic beverages on Celebrity Cruises ships sailing from South America, Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand is 18. If the eligible guest is under the age of 18 or 21 for North America & Middle East sailings on the date of sailing, we can provide a Non Alcoholic Classic beverage package upon request, please call Celebrity Cruises to request this only applicable to the 1st & 2nd guest in the stateroom. Passenger date of birth information must be provided at the time of booking before the Classic Alcoholic beverage package can be applied. This is a legal requirement and we reserve the right to withdraw the package if guests do not meet the qualifying criteria. Please drink responsibly.

7. The ECALLIN promotion is only applicable to guests travelling on EC 07-May-2015 sailing in GBP & EUR (IRL) currencies.

 

There is a lot more but this covers the main points. Happy booking!!

You have to love the way conditions 1 and 7 contradict each other :s

Just been talking to friend on the Eclipse, there are no plans for dry docking in the near future, any alterations will be done internal, there are no plans to halt cruising up to now.

:):):)

Hi,

The drydock has just happened before the transatlantic began :D

Hi,

I have had a look on there. Like most roll calls it will go silent once the cruise starts.

Ian

Hi,

Is anyone on Eclipse at present able to take some photos of the new bar / restaurant areas please. Many thanks.

Ian :)

What a beautiful part of the UK you live in

Hi It's a lovely place and only 30 minutes from Southampton. Seeing the cruise ships sail past most evenings can prove to be expensive though :D

Ian

In previous posts I've discussed my thesis that Celebrity is attempting to drive away the bargain and low spending cruiser. The future elimination of short cruises and the increased emphasis on top Suite cruisers serve as evidence of this change in corporate strategy. I've concluded that this is a high risk, high reward strategy. If it works Celebrity will attract a higher margin passenger. If it doesn't Celebrity might lose some traditional passengers to other lines. Part of this strategy is to approach an all inclusive package for top spending passengers and make others pay a premium for food and beverage packages. I've had an opportunity to be on a number of cruises since the Suite emphasis started and can tell you that it appears to be working. I've met so many in Michael's Club who can't stop saying how they just love the new perks. Several have told me that they will no longer book anything less than a CS. There have been many who have posted the same on these boards. I walked away from Bistro on 5 when I saw the new menu and increased price. Others will be there to filmy seat and will enjoy the experience. We tend to see things as consumers, Celebrity sees things as bottom line decisions. Only time will tell.

Great post. Everything you say appears to be true. The risk is they will attract people that cruise less and will alienate the more frequent regular cruisers. I used to book suites, then the prices went up. I moved to balconies, then the prices went up. I now book inside staterooms. I guess the next move is to another cruise line. It is worth noting that Queens Grill in Cunard is now cheaper than a Sky Suite on many ex UK Eclipse cruises!