Eclipse med cruise

[Mrs Haggis]

Anyone just returned from Eclipse Med cruise?How was it?W?hen is formal nights?Any tips for the ports?Who was Captain and CC hostess?We leave 4th June same cruise.

[staygulf]

Anyone just returned from Eclipse Med cruise?How was it?W?hen is formal nights?Any tips for the ports?Who was Captain and CC hostess?We leave 4th June same cruise.

 

Just returned today. Brilliant cruise, though not 5* in the MDR. You need to go to specialty restaurants for that. There were 3 formal nights, 2 on sea days and 1 at Vigo. Captain Maletas left today for holiday (hopefully he gets to go without too much hassle as he had to deal with the man overboard incident last night when a crew member decided to jump into the sea). cant remember who the CC hostess was. Be prepared to pay to be bussed in to some ports.

[Mrs Haggis]

Thank you for your quick reply. Glad you had a great time.Have been on Eclipse few time and never eat in MD prefer speciality and blue.On the count down now and cant wait.

[tigerhev]

Hi

We are also going on Eclipse on 4th June! Its our honeymoon!

This is our 1st celebrity cruise.

 

Have you used the cruise lounge at the De vere Hotel before?

We have quite bit time to spare on the return journey as we are flying back to Newcastle.

 

Any info you can give me regarding the ship would be great!

 

Hev

[staygulf]

Hi

We are also going on Eclipse on 4th June! Its our honeymoon!

This is our 1st celebrity cruise.

 

Have you used the cruise lounge at the De vere Hotel before?

We have quite bit time to spare on the return journey as we are flying back to Newcastle.

 

Any info you can give me regarding the ship would be great!

 

Hev

 

Congrats on the wedding !

 

You've chosen a great ship for your You may get selected as contestants in the Newly wed/Not so newly wed show if you go to it. It's usually a good laugh. Never stayed at the de Vere hotel, sorry can't help on that one.

 

What specific info do you need on the ship ? I wouldn't know where to begin.

[Alexis13]

We're on this cruise too, our first time:)..........I just like to say one thing.....................................................

 

 

 

 

I'M SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!

[SuiteTraveler]

I just got off the Eclipse yesterday as well. It is a very beautiful ship. My husband loved Cafe al Baccio and he also liked Bistro on 5. We ate in the MDR with our friends and it was great. We've cruised a lot of different lines. The food on the Eclipse is definitely better than on other ships. We ate a Qsine one night with friends from CC - we got through 15 courses before we gave up. That was a lot of fun. The differences I noticed: pool area - hardly anyone ordered drinks - don't know why not. If you drink alchohol or soda or latte's I'd recommend you definitely get the drink package and go all out! It was well worth it. For me, there was not a lot to do onboard, but we had a fantastic time at the various ports. The ship was full of people from the UK. Many of them told me that they found the food too fancy. It was more like normal food to me - but to each their own. Despite Cafe al Baccio, my husband did manage to find a Starbucks in Seville and was drawn to it like a nomad in the desert who finds an oasis - Starbucks is his "natural habitat" that he goes to at least once a day at home and he had been without Starbucks for over a week at that point. He also ran for the Starbucks at London Heathrow yesterday before we flew home. LOL!

 

Our CC Meet and Greet was a disaster - I didn't get an invitation and the lady who had our nametags didn't find her invitation until it was all over with - so it was not well attended - maybe 15 out of the 60 people who registered showed up. The ship subsequently had a breakfast for the group at 8:30am on the last full day - but had not arranged a large table for the group in the MDR - so those who went had to ask for that. Why not a cocktail party? We would have attended that! The breakfast was also poorly attended. Fortunately, lots of people on our roll call got together on our own for shore excursions and cocktails and to play trivia during the cruise. So while the ship messed up on our meet and greet, it really didn't matter in the end. However, they missed an opportunity to meet some very enthusiastic CC members.

 

I never did receive any invitations to the Captain's Club member cocktail party, although I did get a rose from the Captain's club. Go figure. LOL!

 

Our first full day out in the Bay of Biscay was incredibly rough. We spent most of the day midship hanging around Cafe al Bacio as our cabin was an FV at the front of deck 7 and it was not fun in there during rough seas - although we loved having 500 sq ft for 2 people during this cruise - that was FANTASTIC - especially having a separate master bedroom which worked great for us. We used the second bedroom as our walk-in closet/dressing room. The stateroom setup was really great for us! Like having a big suite, but without a concierge and butler (so what?) Cafe al Bacio sort of became our daily hangout for the duration of the cruise. We went to the comedienne's show that night and he was great at speaking extemporaneously and making fun of the rough seas - as it was impossible for him to stand still on the stage. Just don't be late to his show or he will let you have it - and he's very, very funny!

 

We ate dinner in Murano and found the waiter pretentious and the food overly sauced and very retro and randomly garnished with micro greens that add nothing to the dish - which is also very retro - like the old time piece of parsley on every plate back in the 1970's. My husband and I eat in 5-star restaurants frequently and we know this is NOT how a fine dining experience is supposed to be. To my amusement, since I'm a chef and my husband and I are definintely foodies used to the best of the best, the waiter explained the various dishes to us. For example, he assumed we wouldn't know what fois gras was. LOL! Our wine stewardess was much better, very gracious and very helpful in bringing samples of wine for us to choose a bottle from. I deconstructed several of the dishes I was served to improve them. For example the peeky toe crab and salmon parfait came topped with salmon roe and creme fraiche. The salmon roe overwhelms the other flavors with its saltiness. I love salmon roe, but not when it takes away from the other food in the dish, so I removed it, replaced the creme fraiche on top of the crab and smoked salmon and it improved the dish. My fois gras inexplicably appeared with Japanese pickled ginger on it, among other things and a minced duck pastry with Eastern European spices rendering the duck flavor quite unrecognizeable - I knew it was some kind of minced meat, but could not discern the flavor of duck at all - even though I tasted it several times trying to figure out what on earth it was before finally asking the waiter - this is the first food item I have not been able to instantly recognize in perhaps 20 years - which says a lot about how off base this recipe os - it should have been obvious that it was duck - even with all the spices. Which begs the question, why not fois gras with carmelized apple tart, or cherry or fig or prune instead? That would have been significantly better. And I don't know why anyone would put sliced almonds, Japanese pickled ginger and other items on a nice piece of fois gras. I was also not wowed by the tableside lobster with the creamy sauce loaded full of dijon mustard. Very retro circa 1980. My husband's trio of filet's were average beef with random stuff added to it and even a sampling of beef tartare on the same plate, which added nothing to the whole. Both dishes just seemed very dated, overdressed and not the kind of food you would find nowadays in a 5-star restaurant on any continent. The cheese selection was very nice and we enjoyed the cheese service. I did meet the chef. He is very nice. He told me that the recipes are designed by the corporate chef and he executes them. I bet if he were allowed to design his own menu that things would have been significantly better. That said, Murano is a beautiful restaurant. I just wish the food were more like modern 5-star cuisine.

 

We stayed at the DeVeer overnight prior to boarding the ship. The bar service is OK - you have to get their attention, but once you order they will actually bring you whatever you ordered. Then you must attract their attention again to get the bill. My husband enjoyed the tandoor chicken and I had a egg mayonnaise sandwich. Both of which were fine - nothing to write home about, but perfectly good. We also ate breakfast the next morning - it's a buffet. Also OK, nothing really great, but a typical full English breakfast. We saw lots of people waiting in the bar for the cruise - so I am guessing that is the "cruise lounge." There is comfortable furniture, a bar, food available for order and it overlooks a pretty garden with access to the outside. There were additional tables and chairs and ducks and ducklings out there. There was also a TV on a news channel.

[staygulf]

I just got off the Eclipse yesterday as well. It is a very beautiful ship. My husband loved Cafe al Baccio and he also liked Bistro on 5. We ate in the MDR with our friends and it was great. We've cruised a lot of different lines. The food on the Eclipse is definitely better than on other ships. We ate a Qsine one night with friends from CC - we got through 15 courses before we gave up. That was a lot of fun. The differences I noticed: pool area - hardly anyone ordered drinks - don't know why not. If you drink alchohol or soda or latte's I'd recommend you definitely get the drink package and go all out! It was well worth it. For me, there was not a lot to do onboard, but we had a fantastic time at the various ports. The ship was full of people from the UK. Many of them told me that they found the food too fancy. It was more like normal food to me - but to each their own. Despite Cafe al Baccio, my husband did manage to find a Starbucks in Seville and was drawn to it like a nomad in the desert who finds an oasis - Starbucks is his "natural habitat" that he goes to at least once a day at home and he had been without Starbucks for over a week at that point. He also ran for the Starbucks at London Heathrow yesterday before we flew home. LOL!

 

Our CC Meet and Greet was a disaster - I didn't get an invitation and the lady who had our nametags didn't find her invitation until it was all over with - so it was not well attended - maybe 15 out of the 60 people who registered showed up. The ship subsequently had a breakfast for the group at 8:30am on the last full day - but had not arranged a large table for the group in the MDR - so those who went had to ask for that. Why not a cocktail party? We would have attended that! The breakfast was also poorly attended. Fortunately, lots of people on our roll call got together on our own for shore excursions and cocktails and to play trivia during the cruise. So while the ship messed up on our meet and greet, it really didn't matter in the end. However, they missed an opportunity to meet some very enthusiastic CC members.

 

I never did receive any invitations to the Captain's Club member cocktail party, although I did get a rose from the Captain's club. Go figure. LOL!

 

Our first full day out in the Bay of Biscay was incredibly rough. We spent most of the day midship hanging around Cafe al Bacio as our cabin was an FV at the front of deck 7 and it was not fun in there during rough seas - although we loved having 500 sq ft for 2 people during this cruise - that was FANTASTIC - especially having a separate master bedroom which worked great for us. We used the second bedroom as our walk-in closet/dressing room. The stateroom setup was really great for us! Like having a big suite, but without a concierge and butler (so what?) Cafe al Bacio sort of became our daily hangout for the duration of the cruise. We went to the comedienne's show that night and he was great at speaking extemporaneously and making fun of the rough seas - as it was impossible for him to stand still on the stage. Just don't be late to his show or he will let you have it - and he's very, very funny!

 

We ate dinner in Murano and found the waiter pretentious and the food overly sauced and very retro and randomly garnished with micro greens that add nothing to the dish - which is also very retro - like the old time piece of parsley on every plate back in the 1970's. My husband and I eat in 5-star restaurants frequently and we know this is NOT how a fine dining experience is supposed to be. To my amusement, since I'm a chef and my husband and I are definintely foodies used to the best of the best, the waiter explained the various dishes to us. For example, he assumed we wouldn't know what fois gras was. LOL! Our wine stewardess was much better, very gracious and very helpful in bringing samples of wine for us to choose a bottle from. I deconstructed several of the dishes I was served to improve them. For example the peeky toe crab and salmon parfait came topped with salmon roe and creme fraiche. The salmon roe overwhelms the other flavors with its saltiness. I love salmon roe, but not when it takes away from the other food in the dish, so I removed it, replaced the creme fraiche on top of the crab and smoked salmon and it improved the dish. My fois gras inexplicably appeared with Japanese pickled ginger on it, among other things and a minced duck pastry with Eastern European spices rendering the duck flavor quite unrecognizeable - I knew it was some kind of minced meat, but could not discern the flavor of duck at all - even though I tasted it several times trying to figure out what on earth it was before finally asking the waiter - this is the first food item I have not been able to instantly recognize in perhaps 20 years - which says a lot about how off base this recipe os - it should have been obvious that it was duck - even with all the spices. Which begs the question, why not fois gras with carmelized apple tart, or cherry or fig or prune instead? That would have been significantly better. And I don't know why anyone would put sliced almonds, Japanese pickled ginger and other items on a nice piece of fois gras. I was also not wowed by the tableside lobster with the creamy sauce loaded full of dijon mustard. Very retro circa 1980. My husband's trio of filet's were average beef with random stuff added to it and even a sampling of beef tartare on the same plate, which added nothing to the whole. Both dishes just seemed very dated, overdressed and not the kind of food you would find nowadays in a 5-star restaurant on any continent. The cheese selection was very nice and we enjoyed the cheese service. I did meet the chef. He is very nice. He told me that the recipes are designed by the corporate chef and he executes them. I bet if he were allowed to design his own menu that things would have been significantly better. That said, Murano is a beautiful restaurant. I just wish the food were more like modern 5-star cuisine.

 

We stayed at the DeVeer overnight prior to boarding the ship. The bar service is OK - you have to get their attention, but once you order they will actually bring you whatever you ordered. Then you must attract their attention again to get the bill. My husband enjoyed the tandoor chicken and I had a egg mayonnaise sandwich. Both of which were fine - nothing to write home about, but perfectly good. We also ate breakfast the next morning - it's a buffet. Also OK, nothing really great, but a typical full English breakfast. We saw lots of people waiting in the bar for the cruise - so I am guessing that is the "cruise lounge." There is comfortable furniture, a bar, food available for order and it overlooks a pretty garden with access to the outside. There were additional tables and chairs and ducks and ducklings out there. There was also a TV on a news channel.

 

Hi Leslie,

 

It's a shame you didn't notice my post on the roll call thread "To everyone who has not sailed X before, you should receive your connections party invitation in your stateroom prior to sailing. However this does not always happen. If it is not there on embarkation, go to guest services on the first night to ask where the party is to be held as it is likely to be held on the Sunday morning."

 

We could have done with a few more there, particularly sue who had organised the nametags. I like your frank description of Murano. We had such a good table of 8 in the MDR that nobody wanted to break up the comoraderie, so we never got to try it. But from your description I'm not regretting that decision. We have a holiday home between Cannes & St Tropez and are going in about 6 weeks, so I'll get my fair share of foie gras there, the PROPER way with fig chutney.

 

Your description of the bar at the De Vere hotel also made me chuckle, "once you order they will actually bring you whatever you ordered". I should hope so !

 

I'm surprised that a starbucks afficionado like your husband enjoyed cafe al Bacio. I found the coffee very weak, but the pastries were much better than those in the Oceanview cafe.

 

All in all, it was a wonderful cruise. They all are. Shame it had to end the way it did.

[SuiteTraveler]

Hi Leslie,

 

It's a shame you didn't notice my post on the roll call thread "To everyone who has not sailed X before, you should receive your connections party invitation in your stateroom prior to sailing. However this does not always happen. If it is not there on embarkation, go to guest services on the first night to ask where the party is to be held as it is likely to be held on the Sunday morning."

 

We could have done with a few more there, particularly sue who had organised the nametags. I like your frank description of Murano. We had such a good table of 8 in the MDR that nobody wanted to break up the comoraderie, so we never got to try it. But from your description I'm not regretting that decision. We have a holiday home between Cannes & St Tropez and are going in about 6 weeks, so I'll get my fair share of foie gras there, the PROPER way with fig chutney.

 

Your description of the bar at the De Vere hotel also made me chuckle, "once you order they will actually bring you whatever you ordered". I should hope so !

 

I'm surprised that a starbucks afficionado like your husband enjoyed cafe al Bacio. I found the coffee very weak, but the pastries were much better than those in the Oceanview cafe.

 

All in all, it was a wonderful cruise. They all are. Shame it had to end the way it did.

 

Oh, I did read your post. I know our cabin was big, being an FV, but it wasn't that big that I wouldn't have been able to find the invitation had it been there! LOL! And I did go to guest services and on the first day they claimed no CC party was scheduled! And I told them that there were over 50 people registered for it so they might want to do something about that. That evening, I tried again and this time they claimed it was going to be at the same time and place as the Captain's club party ( I was like REALLY????? That's not usual.) but they didn't know when or where that was going to be. I didn't get an invite for that either - although I got a rose in a vase from the Captains club. Then on Sunday I found out about our meet and greet AFTER the event was over from SoCalDoc. So I went back and asked why I hadn't been told about it and was told that the invitation was definitely in my stateroom. I guess it was an invisible invitation because it could not be seen on any piece of furniture, in any drawer or anywhere else in my cabin and it was not on the door. LOL! Oh well...

 

My husband says the coffee at al Baccio was milder than Starbucks, but he still liked it - although he made a Starbucks run in Seville and at London Heathrow yesterday - so clearly he was missing his Starbucks. LOL! I had hot chocolate at al Bacio - which was FANTASTIC and a lot of their tea - also really great! And yes, I liked their pastries as well!

 

It was a wonderful cruise and I couldn't agree more about the tragic ending. I'm so deeply sorry for that poor man and his friends, co-workers and family. Such a terrible thing.

[Adammara]

When we got to our cabin on the 7th, there was a letter with all the Captains Club events listed with dates and time, and a note saying there would be no individual invitations. There was a mention in the daily program mentioning when the events were on. Jonette, the CC host left us a message on the phone the evening before the event reminding us of it. The concierge rang a couple of times as well to see if he could help with anything.

 

A wonderful cruise with such a sad ending.

 

Richard

[skit95f43l]

We are going on this cruise too and am interested in any comments people have who have been on the Italian Med. First time cruisers, but have done transatlantic on QE2 10 years ago. We have booked some celebrity organised shore excursions hope this was the right thing to do, has anyone got any comments on these.

[staygulf]

We are going on this cruise too and am interested in any comments people have who have been on the Italian Med. First time cruisers, but have done transatlantic on QE2 10 years ago. We have booked some celebrity organised shore excursions hope this was the right thing to do, has anyone got any comments on these.

 

That's fine if you don't mind overpaying for excursions and are prepared to wait for Mr & Mrs Slow who always insist on keeping everyone waiting at every stop on the excursion. Most places in the med are doable on your own with a little research, or you can organise private tours with your fellow cruisers (check out the roll call for your cruise). In my experience, Celebrity are not at all interested if your excursion has problems and you do not get out of it what you should. The response they have given in the past is "Celebrity acts as agent for the tour company" and they wash their hands of any dissatisfaction. They are basically adding a commission on to the local tour company's price to organise you into a large group. You can see so much more on your own or in smaller groups. On our 7 May cruise we did Pisa and Rome by using public transport for peanuts and saw so much. But if you want the comfort of someone else doing all the organising for you then go ahead with the ship's excursions, lots of passengers do.

[ghstudio]

That's fine if you don't mind overpaying for excursions and are prepared to wait for Mr & Mrs Slow who always insist on keeping everyone waiting at every stop on the excursion. Most places in the med are doable on your own with a little research, or you can organise private tours with your fellow cruisers (check out the roll call for your cruise). In my experience, Celebrity are not at all interested if your excursion has problems and you do not get out of it what you should. The response they have given in the past is "Celebrity acts as agent for the tour company" and they wash their hands of any dissatisfaction. They are basically adding a commission on to the local tour company's price to organise you into a large group. You can see so much more on your own or in smaller groups. On our 7 May cruise we did Pisa and Rome by using public transport for peanuts and saw so much. But if you want the comfort of someone else doing all the organising for you then go ahead with the ship's excursions, lots of passengers do.

 

We rarely take the celebrity tours, prefering to arrange our own or use a local company found by reading travel blogs/forums on the internet. If you have four people, a private tour is almost always cheaper than doing the gang busses that Celebrity provides. With two, it's easier to join a small group.

 

It is absolutely true that Celebrity washes their hands for anything that happens on a tour....except once. Being alone, I joined a celebrity deep sea fishing trip in Mexico....the boat was unsafe...not poor condition but unsafe...the steering gear had been installed backwards so when one turned the wheel to the left the boat went to the right...and the captain couldn't control it so we almost hit many other boats. That's the only time Celebrity stepped in and refunded the money (and cancelled their contract with the fishing company immediately).