The Best of Cruise Critic: Celebrity Eclipse…The Definitive Review With Photos Part 3

[DrGary]

 

Another area where Celebrity Eclipse gets star billing is its entertainment programs. From a musical ensemble including solo guitar, classical string quartet, acapella vocal quartet, easy listening pop band, brilliant solo tenor, aerialists, comedy, and full-production Las Vegas style shows, Celebrity Eclipse covered the full spectrum of entertainment possibilities and much like the food service, it was the best we have ever seen on a cruise ship. Each evening brought some other surprise to the stage...always entertaining, well produced and memorable. “Eclipse The Show”, “Masque”, and “Edge” were the big production shows and each was quite good. Cruise Director Nick Weir was a hoot...funny guy who can actually sing. He kept things rolling along with good fun throughout the cruise.

 

 

The Spa and Fitness Center were quite good...rarely was the fitness center crowded, perhaps in part because of the older demographic of cruisers on this voyage. Top-of-the-line fitness equipment and a high energy staff in the fitness center were evident and much appreciated. The spinning classes that were offered during the four sea days were especially good. We also enjoyed the sauna although we did not avail ourselves of the other services of the spa.

 

 

Shore excursions were satisfactory for the most part. Using the television reservations system in our stateroom to reserve excursions with quick and easy...a big improvement over standing in queues at the Shore Excursion desk that is typical on other cruise lines. We did the ship’s excursion called “Taste of Madiera” with Cruise Critic friends which was enjoyable, although puzzling that the wines served were rather unremarkable local table vintages rather than the highly-rated Madiera wine that is globally famed. The excursion “Cultural Tenerife” was underwhelming as the cultural stops included the rather dull Museum of Man and Nature, one historic house and although a stop at a university town was advertised, we never actually visited the university...this one would be better named “Twilight Zone Tenerife!”

 

 

The last formal night of the cruise was quite special with a personal invitation to dine at the Staff Captain’s table in the Moonlight Sonata dining room. Daniela, Eclipse’s Captain’s Club Special Events Coordinator notified us and our Cruise Critic dining companions that we were to be the guests of Captain Nikolas Christodoulakis for the formal evening meal following our sail-away from Vigo, Spain. We all met for pre-dinner drinks in the beautiful Cellar Masters wine room. This room has the warm feel of rich wood and colors that might be found in a traditional Napa Valley wine room. We were than escorted to the Captain’s Table which was located directly beneath the magnificent wine tower that forms the centerpiece of the main dining room. It was interesting to learn that the wine tower, which is unique to Celebrity Eclipse, was constructed at a cost of a half a million dollars...money well spent as it is a most impressive display of fine wine. At dinner, we thoroughly enjoyed the company of Captain Christodoulakis as well as another member of the operations team, 2nd Officer Donald Toby. It was fascinating to learn about the ship’s operation, and about their families, and the extensive training of these professional and knowledgeable seamen. Celebrity was extremely well-represented by both of these delightful and enthusiastic officers. As well, Eclipse’s head chef and chief sommelier made their introductions and together presented a superb meal...another seafood masterpiece with huge shrimp and lobster in a savory champagne sauce was out-of-this-world delicious! After dinner, the ladies were presented with red roses and a beautiful group photo of this most memorable evening. Sometimes, things are just magical !!

 

 

So that’s the definitive story about Celebrity Eclipse. Lots of superlatives? Absolutely! Celebrity Eclipse is a success story across the board in terms of her sheer beauty as a nautical work of art, the attention to detail of virtually every area of her design and operation, and most significantly, for the warmth, dedication and spirit of those who serve aboard her. This was the dream cruise we have always imagined and hoped to experience...and then some. Top marks and well done to Celebrity Eclipse. Yes, we liked it. :-)

 

~~~

Cheers,

Gary and Carol

 

 

 

　

　

[Wine-O]

Nice review. I am glad to see Daniela as the Captain's Club Hostess. She was on Solstice last December TA and we loved her. Sailing Eclipse TA in Oct 2011 and hope she is still on board.

[Jdell]

Gary-

 

Fantastic review--love all the details, love the montages. Thanks for shaing and taking the time!

[kitkat9438]

Fantastic review, but did I miss the pictures? We will be on the Eclipse in December and can't wait. It's nice to see what we have to look forward to. Thanks for posting.

[celebritydave]

Awesome review!! We are booked on the Eclipse TA in October and we can't wait. We have been on the Solstice and Equinox and we agree with all your comments.

 

The Solstice class ships are the best there is. I totally agree with your review on Murano. We have eaten there 3 times and have found the food and service to be top notch. Well worth the extra charge.

 

Celebrity has truly created something special with the S class. We are already planning on sailing on the Silhouette.

 

Dave

[celebritydave]

Did you visit the martini bar while on the ship? If so, do you remember if one of the bartenders was named Peter?

 

He was on the Solstice when we cruised and he was one of the best bartenders we have ever had. We just missed him on the Equinox, and we are hoping he is still on the Eclipse when we sail in October.

[mad lizzie]

Hi Gary

Thanks for your review which was as a entertaining as your posts on Cruise Critic before we sailed.

Sorry we did not bump into you and Carol after the initial sailaway and CC party.

We, like you thoroughly enjoyed our cruise and although the weather could have been better the ship more than made up it.

Enjoy your future cruises but they will have to be extra special to come up to Eclipse.

Regards

 

Liz & David.:)

[MTElkwhistle]

Thank you for your review, we go on the Canaries cruise on Eclipse on 20th October and are very much looking forward to it.

 

Can I ask which night the Eclipse show was on - I wish to book Qsine but dont want to miss the Eclipse show as it was the highlight of our 4 night trip to Cork in April.

 

Thank You.

[rosie_red]

What a great revue Gary! Seems almost like a dream now we're back to reality. Lisa (Abbafan) also did a great write-up, think Celebrity could use you both in their PR department! Pity we didn't bump into you after the Meet & Greet, but it was quite a big ship and everyone seemed to have a great time. Thanks for all the precruise work you did and the hilarious cartoons you produced nearly everyday.

 

Happy cruising!

 

Pat & Keith

[scf1270]

Thank you for taking the time to share such a detailed review.

 

Sara

[dalitos]

Great review, very entertaining to read and amazing pictures.

The one of the ship taken from above, did you take it or is it from some kind of brochure/advertisement? Love it.

Looking forward to trying Murano and Qsine some day, thanks to your review. :)

Glad you had such an amazing cruise.

[cruzeluver]

Thanks for such a great review.

 

I'm not sure if I'm just dense today, but I can't see the pictures or a link to them. Can someone help?

[kitkat9438]

Thanks for such a great review.

 

I'm not sure if I'm just dense today, but I can't see the pictures or a link to them. Can someone help?

 

I can't see them either. It must have something to do with our settings or what version of internet explorer we are using.

[lvcruiser]

Gary, this was an outstanding review and the pictures were fantastic. Your nearly completely positive review makes my mouth water in anticipation of our December cruise aboard the ship. Having recently retired to Florida from the St. Louis area, I'm curious to know in what area you live, if you don't mind me asking.

 

John