Just back from Eclipse - any questions?

[weegl]

We just got bak too (happy and sad)! The ship and experience was top notch. Best food EVER on our cruises...shows were terrific!

 

Had a blast indeed. Hope we can do it again!

[flygirl123]

I would love to see a MDR menu if you have the time. Thanks

[kitkat9438]

Welcome back. It sounds like you had a wonderful cruise. Can you tell me when the muster drill was? We are trying to coordinate our sail away get together.

 

Looking forward to your review and pictures as we sail her in 12 days!! Really excited.

[psyfi]

Welcome back. It sounds like you had a wonderful cruise. Can you tell me when the muster drill was? We are trying to coordinate our sail away get together.

 

Looking forward to your review and pictures as we sail her in 12 days!! Really excited.

 

We usually schedule ours for "right after muster drill" so that whatever time it is over, everyone heads to the meeting place at that time.

[Infi]

Answering a few more questions...

Orator: That's good to hear. I was not impressed with Anita, the CC hostess. I thought she was a little cold, particularly to my daughter when we attended elite events.

 

Gracie115: The masquerade was really unique. I was impressed with Celebrity for coming up with such a different type of party and the elaborate costumes for it. The Grand Foyer was rocking during both parties. Princess does something similar (a "New Year's eve" party in their atrium) and this was much better.

 

Flygirl123: Will post the menus soon, still trying to get the pictures off the camera and onto the computer.

 

Kitkat9438: Muster drill was 3:45pm, it lasted about a half hour. Plenty of time to get to sailaway afterwards, as we were one of the last ships out of Miami (and at the last terminal in line). Psyfi's suggestion for scheduling after muster is good idea, too.

[sunor]

Answering a few more questions...

 

Kitkat9438: Muster drill was 3:45pm, it lasted about a half hour. Plenty of time to get to sailaway afterwards, as we were one of the last ships out of Miami (and at the last terminal in line). Psyfi's suggestion for scheduling after muster is good idea, too.

 

So does that mean you were at Terminal G?

 

Looking forward to your review and photos as we are sailing a b2b Feb 5 & 12.

 

Thanks

Suz

[Infi]

Sunor: yes, we were at Terminal G, both for embarkation and disembarkation. Will start working on the review ASAP :)

[psyfi]

Infi, thanks again for all the info. The masquerade party sounds like fun. What night was it and what time? Perhaps once word gets out we will see more masques on guests? Or perhaps they would sell masques? I'm thinking to go to a party store and see if I can find one to pack... :)

[sunor]

Sunor: yes, we were at Terminal G, both for embarkation and disembarkation. Will start working on the review ASAP :)

 

Thanks for the quick response.

 

Suz

[rigldbrg]

now if we could just figure out a way to get on board one of them soon.

 

Tiki

 

february 19, 2011!!!!

[Infi]

Psyfi: The Masque party was on Thursday, the second formal night. It started after the second show, so about 10:30pm. (They had to allow the dancers time to get into costume for the party.) I don't know if they just began the party on the Caribbean sailings or not, but I could see people wanting to wear or bring masks for it. (They didn't sell any onboard,) If you like dressing for the theme, I say go for it!

 

Sunor: You're welcome. Enjoy your cruise!

[bhughey]

We just booked a cruise on this ship! I have been dying to try and S-class ship, so I am so excited! Can't wait to see your pics!

[B-May]

Hi, we were on both the 3 nite Bahamas and 7 nite Caribbean cruises. Just a warning with regards service. We could see that there were many crew changes (due to most already having done their 6 months in Europe) so found service very inconsistent! Many times bar staff were confused when filling orders (one poor guy asked the Mast Bartender for a Jim Beam and coke and he actually had to walk the guy thru the drink order!).

 

We had great MDR waiter/asst waiter for Bahamas but for Caribbean the guys were useless (table #147 stay away from!). The asst. waiter we figured had to go below deck to milk the cow for our milk order and he'd come back 45 min. later and say he forgot to bring it! Our fault but we waited 3 days before we complained to the m'aitre de who was great and he moved us for the last nite - we shud have complained after 2 days. Normally I'd give them some slack but the waiter has been with X for several years and just didn't care. When you see everyone else around you getting top notch service and you wait forever for food, or the little touches like taking your lobster off the shell or sweeping crumbs off the table and it doesn't happen you notice these things.

 

On a positive note do try Qsine! It's fun but you get carried away and can easily waste food. We did it on both cruises and becuz we had done the experimenting 1st time we enjoyed ourselves more by ordering our faves again - the Tombstone dessert is sooooo good if you're a chocolate lover - I was able to bring most of it back to the cabin to enjoy later as you are so full. Some people we chatted with said they were staying away from there with their kids (there were over 500 kids on the ship for Thanksgiving) becuz there would be nothing for them to eat - maybe for the tiny tots but any school age kids would have had a blast!

 

And so many people don't try room service - it's a must (I think they got to hate us we ordered it so much but they were always tipped accordingly). The honey sesame wings are delish as are about 95% of the items. The cookies are good, only once did they give us weird looking chocolate chip cookies that weren't the norm. Pizza was excellent, too.

 

And for those you wondering about the kettles - they have left the ship! I was so determined to get a kettle, I asked everyone, I begged, I was willing to throw money at them (LOL). Finally asked at Concierge desk and he immediately said he'd get me one, called someone on his cell and was told they had been offloaded - what a bummer! Thus all the late nite calls for tea in the room.

 

Enjoy your cruise!

[dwolfe]

Can you tell me if the pools were warm? How is the selection in the library? Any "not miss" things? Thanks, d

[DebNJoe]

Thanks for the welcome backs, all. I will try to answer all the questions in one shot right now, and maybe add some thoughts later. Hope some of these answers will help you lucky future Eclipse cruisers!

 

Noriboating: Entertainment was very good. Production shows were Eclipse (Cirque style show), a Broadway review style show (I'll have to look up the name) and Edge (upbeat, high energy). We had a comedy juggler, Pete Matthews, who was hysterical and always on, no matter where you saw him on the ship. The other specialty act was Karen Grainger, vocal impressionist...I had my doubts about this one, but she was VERY good. Wonderful voice. They also had a comedian, Dave Burleigh, at late night in Celebrity Central. He was so-so, recycled a lot of his material from night to night.

 

psyfi: We were on the Eastern. Saturday: variety/introduction, show, Sunday: Broadway style production show (have to get the name), Monday: Pete Matthews (comedy juggler), Tuesday: Eclipse production show, Wednesday: Karen Grainger (vocal impressionist), Thursday: Edge production show, Friday: variety show (comedy juggler and vocal impressionist).

As for theme nights, they did have a few "interactive parties" in the evenings in the Grand Foyer. The two biggest ones were Motown and Masque (masquerade theme). No one really dressed up for these other than the staff, though. Interestingly, there was no Caribbean themed deck party on this cruise.

 

Infi

Glad you had a great cruise.

We are sailing X for the first time on the Eclipse eastern itinerary 2/12/11. We have Qsine reservations for Tues at 8:00. Do you remember what the show times were for the Eclipse show, we don't want to miss that one!! Also approximately how long did dinner at Qsine take?

 

Thanks!

[Lois R]

Infi

Glad you had a great cruise.

We are sailing X for the first time on the Eclipse eastern itinerary 2/12/11. We have Qsine reservations for Tues at 8:00. Do you remember what the show times were for the Eclipse show, we don't want to miss that one!! Also approximately how long did dinner at Qsine take?

 

Thanks!

 

Hi Debbie:) I was on the sailing before Cindy (Infi) and ate in Qsine

too.;)

The early show is at 7:00pm so you can go see it and

then go to dinner at 8:00. Just be prepared for a long evening

as it literally takes 3.5 to 4 hours. I went with 3 cruisemates on 11/17.

We had 8:30 reservations and finished about midnight.

Next time I will be booking a much earlier time...:)

Food is wonderful though and it really is "an experience".:)

[dogsrule]

Hi Cindy, welcome back. I sailed her on Nov 17th for only 3 nights.:eek:

I am wanting to go back in Jan or Feb;)...mine was too short.

Glad you had such a good time:)

 

My galpal and i are going on the Jan 29 sailing for martinis and meeting lots of great folks. There are supposed to be a group of solo travelers on this sailing as well. Why don't you think about joining us? Would be a blast!!! The prices are right now too!!!!!! Barb;)

[Lois R]

My galpal and i are going on the Jan 29 sailing for martinis and meeting lots of great folks. There are supposed to be a group of solo travelers on this sailing as well. Why don't you think about joining us? Would be a blast!!! The prices are right now too!!!!!! Barb;)

 

Hi Barb:) thanks for the invitation but I can never sail at the end

of the month:eek:..due to that 4 letter word (work:rolleyes:).

[jackdiamond]

Did you dine in Blu? If so, were you impressed with the cuisine and service?

[Infi]

Catching up with a few questions I missed yesterday!

 

bhughey: Congrats on booking Eclipse! You'll have a wonderful time, she's a beautiful ship. If you can, try one of the specialty restaurants...Qsine or Tuscan are both fantastic experiences.

 

B-may: I did notice some crew changeover issues and was wondering if they had done the switch on the 3 day or 7 day. I'm guessing it was before the 7 day, as there was a huge crowd of crew disembarking at the end of the terminal when we arrived. We also saw a lot of new crew being trained at the muster drill and attending meetings around the ship.

 

Dwolfe: DD said that all the pools were very warm. They weren't heated, but plenty warm enough for a swim. The library selection is fair enough, with lots of nonfiction, and everything is on the honor system. Try to get there early in the cruise for the best selection. If you have a specific book in mind, though, I would rather bring it than hope for it to be in the library.

Something to "not miss": the ipad art tour of the ship. They'll post a time in Celebrity Today when you can pick up an ipad at Guest Relations and then tour the ship at your leisure. Very unique and cool!

 

DebnJoe: The Eclipse show times were 7 and 9pm. We also booked on that night (didn't like the MDR menu) for 6:30pm and I was worried about Qsine and the show as well. We were told to let our servers know that we wanted to go to the 9pm show so they could move the experience along a little faster. Well, it didn't really work, and we were just about finishing our main course at 8:45pm. We asked if we could come back after the show to have dessert and they happily obliged. It was a good, if unplanned, break before the dessert experience! But, if I had it to do all over again, I would probably either book earlier (6pm is the earliest you can get) or in your case, maybe catch the early show.

Qsine is one of the longest specialty restaurant dining experiences I have ever had - in a good way! - since the M-class restaurants first opened. The staff there told me it can take anywhere from 2 hours to 6 hours! Take your time, enjoy, and don't rush.

 

Jackdiamond: We did not dine in Blu on this cruise. So sorry, can't give any info on that.

 

Hope some of those help :)

[patned]

Catching up with a few questions I missed yesterday!

 

Jackdiamond: We did not dine in Blu on this cruise. So sorry, can't give any info on that.

 

I was on this same cruise and the four in or group dined in BLU.

I can safely say that it was 8 BIG THUMBS UP. Service and food. And. Don't forget that they serve a very yummy breakfast.

 

In the unlikely event that some evening selection does not appeal to you there is always the specialty restaurants. Just ask for the menu in advance. You may not want to miss the opening night filet Minot or the second last day lobster. Enjoy.

[DebNJoe]

Catching up with a few questions I missed yesterday!

 

DebnJoe: The Eclipse show times were 7 and 9pm. We also booked on that night (didn't like the MDR menu) for 6:30pm and I was worried about Qsine and the show as well. We were told to let our servers know that we wanted to go to the 9pm show so they could move the experience along a little faster. Well, it didn't really work, and we were just about finishing our main course at 8:45pm. We asked if we could come back after the show to have dessert and they happily obliged. It was a good, if unplanned, break before the dessert experience! But, if I had it to do all over again, I would probably either book earlier (6pm is the earliest you can get) or in your case, maybe catch the early show.

Qsine is one of the longest specialty restaurant dining experiences I have ever had - in a good way! - since the M-class restaurants first opened. The staff there told me it can take anywhere from 2 hours to 6 hours! Take your time, enjoy, and don't rush.

 

Hope some of those help :)

 

Thanks so much for the info. Wow 2 to 6 hours for dinner :eek:

I considered changing our Qsine reservation to Wed evening, but I suppose that would only give us an extra 1/2 hour since we have the 8:30 seating in the MDR.

Do you recall how long the show was? Maybe we can just advise Qsine that we are going to the 7pm show and will come immediately afterward. From what you said, about going back for dessert, I assume they will be OK with that. :confused:

[dogsrule]

Hi Barb:) thanks for the invitation but I can never sail at the end

of the month:eek:..due to that 4 letter word (work:rolleyes:).

 

Bummer Lois.....was hoping to meet you at some point. Reality bites doesn't it? Hope you can get on Eclipse seven day in Jan or Feb anyhow.

Good Luck!!;)

[gui888]

Can you tell me if the pools were warm? How is the selection in the library? Any "not miss" things? Thanks, d

 

 

dwolfe;

 

Actually the pool in the solarium is heated. There are six jets that feed the pool heated water! This was my favorite spot, enjoy.

[I&J Cruisers]

Didn't notice any mention of an accapella group. We've really enjoyed them on Millie and last year on Solstice. Have they eliminated this from Eclipse?

Irene