BecT

We debark the Eclipse tomorrow. Overall as others have said the ship is in decent shape just outdated and a little tired in areas. Everything is kept clean all around the ship including our suite. Our PH suite showed it's age. The floor was surprisingly all scratched up. There are no USB ports. There is one US style outlet in the bedroom, one in the bar area and one by the piano. I assume the RS will be similar with the exception of the piano outlet. The furniture inside and outside are worn and could use replacing. The curtains in our bedroom are showing signs of being threadbare with light coming through in places. With all that said in no way did it stop us from enjoying ourselves. Service is naturally terrific for upper suites. We are not fans of the new Luminae menu (YMMV) so ate mostly elsewhere to include Tuscan, Buffet, and Room Service which we're all good to excellent. . I guess because we did an Antarctica cruise some basic foods were limited or not available about midway through the cruise. Items such as lettuce and fruit such as berries and bananas were scarce or non existent. If you like visiting the casino be prepared to be underwhelmed. It wasn't very busy and machines were the tightest I've seen in a long time on any ship. There was no casino host so not many real events being sponsored. But staff in the casino were great. Martini bar was fantastic and a great place to visit. Live music was definitely hit or miss about the ship. I heard several complaints about it not being very good. Hot Glass Show is great. You can sign up for a class to make your own glass creation. We made a couple of penguins but the have several options to choose from. Sky lounge was a fun place to visit especially around 10pm when they had different things happening. Main theatre entertainment was generally good. Michaels Club was ok. There were several events scheduled throughout the cruise mostly lectures from onboard guest speakers. The Concierges were very attentive and knowledgeable which was appreciated. Hope this helps! Becky

In a PH now on Eclipse. Booked it because it was 14 days to Antarctica and we wanted to be comfortable during that time since there were so many sea days. It's been awesome especially for picture taking. We set up the inside chairs in front of all the sliding doors to look out at all the beauty and when we wanted to take a picture we quickly opened the doors snapped some pics and went back inside where it was warm. We're also not fans of the menu change in Luminae so we've been taking advantage of the complimentary dining at Tuscan a lot. With that being said, I'm not sure we're in any rush to book another one soon. The prices are becoming more outrageous for what you get especially now that gratuities and OBC are no longer included.

Thank you. I agree we just never know what tomorrow brings and to always cherish today.

Exactly. We took a shore excursion to A Carib Indian village in Dominique. While their my husband had a conversation with the village chief. My husband mentioned he had just built a 16*24' shed. Before he could say anything else the Chief said "Wow, that's big you live in a mansion!". That comment put our lives in perspective. I always love interacting with staff because I learn so much about other people and their cultures. I'm always amazed by their stories.

We cruise a lot and I'm only 63 but this is also a once in a lifetime cruise for us due to health issues. We are spending this year completing bucket list activities. The week before the cruise I got to throw beads off a Mardi Gras float! (Bucket list) But I also think that many frequent cruisers bring family members with them that for whatever reasons such as health or economics would ordinarily be unable to go. For instance my older brother and his wife are for all intense purposes confined to their house. We took them on a cruise to Canada several years back with all their medical equipment in tow. They were never able to get off the ship but truly enjoyed the experience and will never be able to do it again. We've also taken family and friends on cruises who would ordinarily not be able to afford to go. Again it was a once in a lifetime experience for them. I've also met young parents who brought their terminally ill child on a cruise for that once in a brief lifetime experience. Sometimes I too forget how fortunate I have been in life.

That's how my pictures turned out too. I just took a picture of 2 penguins floating by on a iceberg and all I see are two black dots. But this one has a few more dots.

You're welcome. I have been up since about 5am taking pictures and short videos. I've also seen penguins and whales. Unfortunately, I'm not quick enough to catch the whales on camera and the penguins were too small to see in the pics. So I decided to focus more on taking in the memories vs looking through a camera lens waiting for the whales to cooperate. 😝. Celebrity is a nice cruise line but it is much quieter than NCL. I like sailing both and just match my expectations based on which line I'm sailing. Becky. **I call this first picture a speed boat and the other one a submarine. Our butler showed us a picture she took of an iceberg that looked like a whale tale.

In December we are sailing NCL from Australia to New Zealand so I have been lurking about these boards to see how things have been on NCL since we last sailed them and I found this thread. I am currently sailing on Celebrity Eclipse and we are just leaving Paradise Bay. Tomorrow we will visit Elephant Island. We are traveling very slowly through the waters and announcements are restricted to inside areas and the television... Plus no paper or plastic on outside decks. After this morning I understand why the NCL Star passengers are upset and disappointed. For many like us I'm sure this is a bucket list experience. The beauty and serenity of Paradise Bay cannot be truly captured on camera or experienced through pictures in a book or in movie. To those of you who missed this experience I'm so sorry for you and I hope that maybe you will get a "do over" later in life.

Thanks. My brother and I are from Maine so the cold doesn't bother us much but my hubby hates the cold? 😝

Absolutely incredible photos! You are making me feel like a kid again that can't wait for Christmas to unwrap my gifts! 3 weeks now feels like an eternity away. From which side of the ship are you taking the pictures? Our cabin is on the port side. Does the Captain turn the ship in a circle so both sides of the ship can enjoy the views? Also, what's the coldest temperature you've experienced so far? Thanks.

Thanks. We are spending the night at Sheraton prior to the cruise. I think we'll check with Viator first and also Miami Retreat desk.

We have used Viator in the past when we cruised out of Barcelona. We were quite happy with them when we toured Rome.

Is that the Nautilus in the top picture? If so, my oldest brother was the last non-commissioned officer off the sub when it was decommissioned back in 1980. I attended it's decommissioning. Really enjoying your review... We will be on the Eclipse February 17th and are also staying at the Sheraton the night before. What travel company did you use to arrange transportation from the airport and also to the port? I'm a little bit concerned about the boarding process because my husband uses a wheelchair. We are in an upper suite and I was hoping that would help us out a little bit but it appears that luggage drop off will be rather difficult.

I just noticed the picture of the German chocolate cake. The sheet cake on Spirit did not look the same. It was about the same height but had 3-4 layers to it more like what you would see as a petit-four. The posted picture looks a lot better than what I got.

Just got off Spirit today. I noticed the same thing. I like their German chocolate cake but they typically have too much frosting. With the normal layered cake I could remove most of the frosting. With the new version the cake itself was so thin I couldn't separate the frosting which was disappointing. My husband got a piece of the red velvet cake but it was still the layer cake. He was served a ridiculously oversized piece but was mostly tasteless frosting so it was wasted. I think Carnival is trying to find the right balance while minimizing waste. Kind of unrelated but on the positive side, we enjoyed several of the new offerings in the main dining room. It was especially pleasant to see different entree sized salad offerings at dinner. Many times if I eat lunch in the buffet I'm not super hungry so those entree salads were a welcome addition.