Pilot70D

We were on the Eclipse until January 11th AND there were a lot of ships in port that Saturday, a lot.. Our debarkation was organized but took a long time. We were in suite and could have left the ship at anytime but we chose to remain aboard until 10:00 or so.

We used the luggage valet service and that worked like a champ. Our four large suitcases appeared on the baggage carousel on schedule when we reached home. We each had one small piece of carry off luggage but nothing we needed to retrieve never the less we had to go through the same serpentine as those who had to retrieve luggage before going through customs. Stupid and useless wait.

For those retrieving luggage the wait to get a porter was around ten minutes or so. There were lengthy lines to clear customs but the that delay was relatively short, no more than 15 minutes. The line to get a cab though was something else. That line was very, very long but orderly and well managed. It took 25-30 minutes to get to the head of the line and into a cab.

All totaled it was one of the best organized debarkation days we've seen. Most of the delays were due to factors beyond Celebrity's control. The only senseless part was making everyone go through the serpentine line whether one had luggage to retrieve or not. We can't say enough good things about luggage valet. That made the trip home a lot less painful than in years gone bye. We had four large, hard sided spinner suitcases which never had to touch after we put them in the corridor the night before.

Here is something to consider as well. Once we got to FLL the line to go security took 55 MINUTES!!!! Luckily we had enough spare time before our flight that we weren't panicking. Many others weren't so fortunate.

Hope this info is helpful. Now go enjoy that next cruise.

;):);)

I was very, very fortunate in that I was a supernumerary many times and for several days each time aboard what back then was the two most luxurious cruise ships afloat, the Sagafjord and the Vistafjord.

I sailed on each vessel several times from Ft. Lauderdale or from San Francisco depending on what and when I needed to do aboard each vessel. This took place from 1977 to 1981.

Back then EVERY night was a formal night. Gentlemen were requested to wear tuxedos or a coat and tie every evening. The meals were sumptuous and the service was superb. The midnight buffet every evening was better than the main dining room is now on the mass market cruise lines.

In a strange twist of fate P&O ended up owning one these two ships and the records of who was aboard as well as for how long. P&O is part of Princess and we are both members of Princess' Captains Circle. We both have cruised exactly the same number of nights, same ship of course on Princess since we started modern cruising back in 1999. A couple of years ago I called the Captains Circle to check our status because we haven't sailed with Princess for several years. I was very surprised to learn that my level was the highest level they offered while the War Department's (a.k.a. Mrs. B.) level was much lower than mine. What happened was that Princess gave me credit for all of those days I was aboard those ships as a supernumerary.

OK, long enough trip down memory lane. Everyone out there have a great week

:):):)

And tell him that internet is insanely slow. I swear most of the money spent on wifi is just waiting for anything to download.

Kitty, you are absolutely right but you sugar coated the pill so to speak. PATHETIC would be a more accurate description of the Internet speed aboard the Eclipse.

We just did a New Years cruise on the Eclipse. Given todays's technology the Internet throughput provided aboard =X= ships is downright pathetic. I sat there and watched and waited for five and a half minutes to just get Yahoo email to load. Not access any messages mind you, just to get the Yahoo email to load and then display the contents of the inbox.

A previous poster mentioned asking the crew and then going where the crew goes in the various ports. This is good advice. We have done that for years and then checked email and whatever from a WI-FI hotspot ashore. Not only is the price cheaper, the bandwidth provided to each user is much higher as well.

Hope this is helpful info. Go enjoy that upcoming cruise.

:D:):D

I just got this same survey this afternoon but have not yet filled it out. We are Elite and we are suite guests but that's immaterial. I for one would be disappointed if the Bistro on 5 disappeared. We liked the smaller venue with a relaxed atmosphere. We also liked the smaller meals (excellent quality) that are served in the bistro.

We just did the New Years cruise on the Eclipse. On this cruise we purchased the Ultimate Dining Package and could therefore eat in any of the specialty restaurants without an additional charge. We ate lunch in the bistro approximately half the time. The other times we went to the buffet. There were several days when the bistro was completely full and others when it was virtually empty but the days when it was busy far outnumbered the empty days. By the way, we found the food and the service in the buffet to be excellent every time we ate there.

Looking at this issue for my own point of view, I don't care one way or the other if =X= sets up a private dining room for those occupying suites. If they do and I like it then fine, we'll eat there. If not then we'll eat in another venue. Still, we really like the existing Bistro on 5 and we hope that it doesn't go away.

I read several posts here about Blu not being as crowded if they did create a private dining room. We ate in Blu one time. On our voyage at least the quality in Blu for both food & service had slipped considerably. This same observation was voiced by some 10-15 other people who ate in Blu alll the time. I would hope that this gets corrected and that there always is room for those who are in AQ cabins.

Anyway. this is just my $0.02 worth. everyone have a good day out there and enjoy that next cruise.

;):);)

We too were aboard the Eclipse for the New Year's cruise and enjoyed the Hot Glass Show every time we went. On our cruise they had either two or three shows per day depending on whether it was a sea day or not. They did a night show almost every day in which they did the hot glass show. This show is impressive during the day. It is more so at night.

Hope this helps and that you enjoy the show as much as we did.

:D:):D

Curious how often they do the show?

If you had to choose only one or two, which would you pick?

 

Do any of them offer lunch? (Aside from Bistro on 5)

Thanks!

In our opinion it would the Tuscan Grill hands down. It is open for lunch on some sea days. We just finished the two week New Year's cruise on the Eclipse. We bought the unlimited dining package and ate virtually all of our meals in the up scale restaurants. The food and the service in Murano's has slipped considerably from that of a year ago or at least it had on our cruise.

You might want to check out this thread before making your decision. There are a number of posts from people who have dined extensively in the various restaurants.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1978720

Hope this information is helpful and that you enjoy your dining experience no matter which venue or venues you choose.

:):D:)

What I really would like to see is a chef's table with wine and food pairings for the entire meal where the chef really has an opportunity to get creative. We were offered this once on a cruise and I deeply regret that we did not do this. We were put off by the astronomical price. Next time. . .especially if the chef cooks the food right there in front of me!

We did the Chef's Table on our New Year's cruise aboard the Eclipse. This was our third Chef's Table dinner and it was a major disappointment compared to the previous two, one aboard the Connie and the other aboard the Century.

This Chef's Table was held in Murano's instead of in the galley itself. No ship's officer hosted this one. The executive chef put in an appearance at the beginning. He had to leave and told us that he would return. That never happened. One person attending this dinner fell ill during the first two courses and left the table. No one noticed this and dishes for this person kept appearing as the dinner wore on. We were often ignored by the staff in Murano's for much of the evening once the Chef disappeared.

It was from our point of view a major disaster dinner. Bear in mind that participants are paying well over a $100 per person to attend the Chef's Table dinner. We don't intend to do another one.

:mad::mad::mad:

I would also agree that the menu is not the most exciting.

 

Whilst we enjoyed Murano on Silhouette, we found our experience in Ocean Liners on Constellation and SS United States on Infinity far better. The Quality of both the food and service was fantastic on the M class ships.

 

On our last 10 night cruise we dined in SS United States on 2 evenings and would have booked additional nights if the menu was improved/changed.

 

We tried Qsine once on Silhouette and really didn't enjoy the experience. We felt that it was just poor quality food presented in a fancy way.

We experienced virtually the same thing. Before our most recent New Year's cruise on the Eclipse we were on two week long cruises aboard the Century and before that the Constellation. On each of these cruises we ate in the up scale restaurants 10 out of the fourteen nights. We ate in the equivalent of Murano's aboard each vessel. We found the food and the service was MUCH better aboard those ships. On our most recent cruise, our first aboard an 'S' class ship, we were disappointed in the food and the service in Murano's. We switched to the Tuscan Grill and found both the food and the service were top notch. Furthermore everyone associated with the Tuscan Grill took time to make us feel especially welcome. In Murano's we couldn't tell if anyone gave a damn if we were there or not. I will point out that we purchased the Ultimate Dining Package so we ate in all of the upscale venues. I don't know if having this package changed their out look in Murano's or not.

As other posters have written we too noticed that several things had been eliminated form the menu at Murano's. We originally started out with reservations every evening in Murano's except one but soon changed that to the Tuscan grill.

We definitely miss the days where you could get offmenu items, but we were told it simply isn't possible anymore the way it used to be. We also miss the over the top service and live music at Murano.

 

That being said... we still find the ambiance, service, and food in the specialty restaurants much better than in the MDR (at least on the S class), so we will likely continue to purchase the Ultimate Specialty package most of the time.

We too were very disappointed when after dining in Murano's twice we inquired about something off the menu. They politely declined to make anything other than those things on the menu. The only exception was that we could have a lobster tail added to anything on the menu. On both the Connie and the Century they offered to make anything for which they had the ingredients regardless of whether it was on the menu or not. Three or four nights we simply said surprise us and they did with really great meals. They got to strut their stuff so to speak making their favorite specialty things all of which were prepared tableside. Now in Murano's very little is prepared tableside. Fortunately I have a lot of pictures we took in Ocean Liners. I can look back at them and remember how it used to be.

The bottom line was that we felt that the food while still good had slipped in Murano's. We felt that the Tuscan Grill on the Eclipse at least was better than it was on the Constellation. We ended up dining in the Tuscan Grill either nine or ten nights. Unlike Murano's the staff in the Tuscan Grill offered to make us virtually anything we wanted. They seemed to be delighted that we were there which was a stark contrast to Murano's.

We tried Quisine and found the food was OK, not great but not bad either. We were disappointed in Blue when we ate there. The Bistro On Five was a real gem from both a service and a food point of view. We divided our lunches between there and the buffet. Incidentally we found the food at lunchtime in the buffet to be very good. We also had a cheeseburger or two from the Lawn Grill. Those were as good as they have always been. Unfortunately they have eliminated the onion rings that used to be available there.

I hope this information is somehow helpful. Please bear in mind that this is my opinion of the food in the upscale restaurants as they exist today. Fortunately or unfortunately I do have an extensive basis for comparison going back for two years now.

Everyone have a great week out there and go enjoy that next cruise. We surely intend to do just that!!!

:)

Wow, just 7 - that's amazing! I wonder if that's because it was a holiday sailing with higher fares and they figured more people would do the specialty restaurants (or already had)?

I think you are correct in your guess. I think that =X= severely limited the number of Ultimate Dining Packages because it was a holiday sailing and a larger number of people would want to dine in the upscale restaurants.

This was our first time to buy this package and we made it a specific objective. After reading many, many posts here we altered our normal precruise routine. We had a rental car and we dropped our bags off with the porters at the pier around 9:30 A.M. We then returned the rental car and took the rental car shuttle back to the terminal. This made the time around 10:45 and there already were a lot of people inside the terminal in line to do the administrative stuff. We were in a suite and there was a separate line with no one in it for suite passengers so we breezed through that part of the precruise necessities.

Once we were actually aboard we got the glass of sparkling wine and walked about 50 feet to the upscale dining sales table. We told them what we wanted and they escorted us to Muranos to complete the sale and to enter whatever reservations we wanted. Actually we gave them a written list and then went to the Bistro on 5 for lunch because they told us it would take a little to enter all of the reservations and that they would call us later with confirmation about all of our times.

:):D:)

In retrospect it was fortunate that we boarded early and went directly to the upscale dining sales table because as I wrote earlier an hour and a half later the Ultimate Dining Package was no longer available for this cruise.

Looking for a good bar for a group to meet up. A bar they don't use for private events. Any suggestions?

We have sailed on the Connie four times and she is our favorite =X= ship. Aft topside is a GREAT bar. I have never seen it used for private functions.

The port side of this particular bar is a smoking area but the bar is big enough that a large group of people can meet there. We did our informal CC sail away get together there. Sorry, I don't remember the deck number but the aft bar isn't hard to find.

Hope this is helpful. Head to this bar and have a Bahama Momma as you watch the sun set.

:):):)

Everyone always says this, but someone in another thread acknowledged that they'd never read a post from someone who wanted to buy it and wasn't able to.

This did happen on our most recent cruise. We were on the Eclipse for the New Year cruise. We boarded around 10:50 and immediately purchased the Ultimate Dining Package. Two other couples who also happened to be CC members boarded less than an hour and a half later and wanted to purchase this same package but were unable to do so. They were informed that it was sold out and was no longer available.

I have no definitive answer about how many Ultimate Dining Packages are for sale on any particular sailing. I suspect it depends on the date of the voyage, how easy (or how difficult) it was to sell out all cabins coupled with how many advanced reservations are sold before the sail date. I was curious after chatting with the other couples at our CC Meet & Mingle so I asked the Maitre 'D at Muranos how many Ultimate Dining Packages had been sold for our cruise. The answer was seven.

BTW, we thought then and still think now that the Ultimate Dining Package was a tremendous buy for us. We intend to buy it again if able on the Eclipse Christmas & New Year's cruise 2014.

:):):)

How to people actually find out how many children are on board?

Is it an educated guess or do the people at Guest Relations give out the information on request?

I'm just being curious.

Two years ago we were on the Connie on the cruise just before the Christmas cruise. We were in the Ocean Liners restaurant and asked the Maître D just out of curiosity because we had seen so few kids on this particular cruise. He told us that they had just over 50 kids aboard but for the Christmas cruise there were over 700 kids booked.

We just finished doing the New Year's cruise aboard the Eclipse. There were kids aboard and they were very well behaved. At no time did we ever see a kid in the solarium nor did we encounter a lot of the misbehaving kids mentioned by other posters. Probably there are many fewer kids on a New Year's cruise and we probably got lucky in that we never saw any unruly kids during the entire voyage. The only incident we saw was caused by poor judgement on the part of the parents. The parents brought a toddler to Murano's and the kid became cranky. To their credit one of the parents took the kid out of the restaurant.

This year we are booked on the combined Christmas and New Year's cruise on the Eclipse. We are keeping our fingers crossed about the kids and their behavior.

Everyone out there stay warm and have a great week.

:):):)

If I could take only one cruise per year it would be a twelve month, one lap around around the calendar cruise on either the Connie or the Century.

Someone else can figure out how many points that would be under the new Captains Club plan!!!

:p:):p

Cruisenut ~ unfortunately on our recent Reflection cruise, your note about more performers playing in more venues for longer periods was not the case. No string quartet, no guitar player, no piano bar player. No entertainment at the Oceanview or Sunset Bar areas. Two groups (a duo that was terrible and a jazz quartet who was OK) played 45 minutes sets in Ensemble and were followed late night by a piano player that we couldn't decipher what he was playing. Two DJs on our cruise and one evening where the entertainment was two guys with iPads and a drummer.

 

I fear Celebrity's direction for entertainment is fewer entertainers, more people who can play iPads and in general create noise.

 

Like the A Capella groups or not, they always packed lounges & lobbies wherever they sang. Maybe Celebrity doesn't want people with drink packages in their lounges any longer. They may get their wish before long.

This is a particularly sad note which has left us blue. We have enjoyed the variety of musical entertainment that we always encountered during Celebrity cruises. We particularly enjoyed the A Capella groups as well as the guitar player/vocalist in the sunset bar and the string quartets too. We even enjoyed the stage productions. On our most recent cruise there was a trio I think that played by the pools. As a previous poster has already said this was an attack of drum pads and synthesized music.

We really liked the original version of several songs they performed. Unfortunately this trio wasn't particularly good. Furthermore, what they lacked in quality they tried to make up for in volume. Little did we suspect that this was harbinger of things to come.

I don't think for a minute that =X= should cater to our musical tastes exclusively. The key is to provide a variety of different music types so that almost everyone can find performances they enjoy. Sadly this variety is simply no longer available on Celebrity.

:mad::(:mad:

Thanks for sharing "Kathleen" or whomever you are....lol ;):D

The real problem is trying to explain to the War Department (a.k.a. Mrs. B.) why I am getting email addressed to 'KATHLEEN'. It's like being Jake from State Farm in real life but I'm not wearing khakis.

Semper Fi, Pilot

Semper Fi to you as well.

Dear Kathleen,

 

....

To learn more about surrounding yourself in modern luxury aboard a Celebrity Cruises vacation via E-mail, be sure to add

News@email.celebritycruises.com

to your

address book

of trusted senders. If you'd like to learn more about the Celebrity experience now, just click the images below to view some of our exciting videos.

:D:):D

And by the way, the links in these pictures they mentioned - they were broken too!

:rolleyes::):rolleyes:

We tried again to order luggage tags on-line last night. The usual error messages appeared. We also tried to resign up for the connections party for the same December cruise. No go.

We called the Captain's Club toll free number and got the luggage tags ordered. The same person also re-registered us for the connections party. She told us that indeed the luggage tag ordering part of their website still has not been fixed. The best advice I have is to avoid the frustration of =X='s website and call the Captain's Club for these two things.

:o:):o

I suppose that I should be happy to hear from Celebrity at all no matter what the content of their message given all the website problems and all of the Captain's Club transition problems that have recently surfaced.

Still, I had to laugh when I opened the following message which arrived just after 3:30 this morning:

The irony of this is that we have been cruising with Celebrity for the last seven years, have been Captains Club members since right after the first cruise and have two cruises booked with them currently. The other problem is that I AM NOT A KATHLEEN.

Always nice to experience that personal touch. For those whose cruise credits are screwed up not to worry. You're still in the minor leagues. I just got a sex change operation from =X=!!!!

Everyone have a great morning out there.

:D:):D

It's amazing how clearly I remember the precise moment we heard the announcement. I was in my first year of high school and we had just finished lunch. The first period after lunch was Mrs. Smith's English class and several of us were in the classroom waiting when the first announcement was made. At that time the extent of JFK's injuries was unknown.

We lived one black from the high school and we had a portable TV (portable for back then meant about the size of carry on luggage today). I ran home, got that TV and went back to school. We then had live updates as the extent of the tragedy became known.

JFK made a stop in Houston the day before and put in a speaking appearance at a stadium. I was in ROTC and we were the ushers at the stadium. I remember seeing and hearing JFK on that day and thought he was a really great leader.

I still regard him as one of our greatest presidents.

:)

Happy birthday to the United States Marine Corps. The Marine Corps is the nation's second oldest branch of the military and today marks the 238th year of the Corps' continuous service.

What is the difference between the two. Which one do you prefer and why

We prefer =X= to HAL primarily because of Celebrity's smoking policy. The two lines are more alike than they are different.

I do enjoy one aspect on HAL that isn't present on =X=. I was constantly addressed as young man by the other passengers on HAL. I am in my mid sixties.

:D:):D

Yes, very frustrating.

Thank goodness the cruises are run better than their website/IT system.:D

This is very true. However, you are not alone in experiencing these problems checking in.

See this thread which is current:

:(:(:(

Web Site is still showing "Site Under Maintenance". This has lasted about 7 days, and I still cannot complete my Cruise details. Come on Celebrity - get your act together.

Probably never as far as Celebrity's ability to fix their website. 7 Days is nothing in the case of Celebrity's website.

Why do I say that? Well, back on September 1st in 2010 poster Fixit2010 started a thread titled "Petition - Celebrity - Sort out your web sites.

On that same September 1st I posted the following on that thread:

For three solid years now (and probably longer) trying to use Celebrity's website has been like a walk on the wild side. One never knew what would work and if it did work for how long.

All one has to do is to search this forum for website to see a long litany of posters frustrated by Celebrity's website. At this point in time I am no longer optimistic that Celebrity will ever get it right when it comes to website architecture and reliability.

:confused::mad::confused:

We should all be grateful that the Celebrity website remains balky, inconsistent, annoying, intermittent, difficult to navigate when using and down much of the time.

The shock of having it all work smoothly and correctly would probably kill me.

;):p;)

I don't get it, does Celebrity limit the number of ultimate packages sold? I just got on this thread why is that other CCer being so cagey about how it's bought ahead of time?

I am interested in buying the ultimate dining package for the sake of convenience. I can tell you from looking at many threads on this topic that the ultimate dining package is popular and that there is a lot of interest in buying it before boarding.

Personally I don't know if Celebrity limits the number of ultimate dining packages sold or not. However, I would much rather make all of this type of arrangement prior to boarding. Once I get aboard ship all I want to do is kick back and relax.

This is just my $0.02 worth.

;):D;)