Eclipse - Quick thoughts on Iceland & Norway

[RTPGiants]

Just wanted to check in after our Iceland and Norway cruise. We had a great time and it was fun meeting a few people from the boards here. It was quite an interesting itinerary and views were spectacular despite the weather at times.

 

While the whole trip deserves a comprehensive review, I wanted to mention a couple of quick items.

 

First off, the Passport bar, and particularly Andre at it were excellent. The move to the large beer selection was great. Only ate at the Gastropub portion once, but that was excellent as well. Highly recommend Eclipse passengers try it out.

 

Second, World Class bar and the two or three people manning it were also excellent. If you have the premium package, spend some time trying it out. With our group it wasn't very busy, but their recipes are definitely recommended.

 

Generally speaking, service was great all over the ship. Buffet service was perhaps the exception, but I realize it's tough to manage the chaos there.

 

A couple of interesting notes to anyone who was on board. We took the "Inside Access" tour on the last day and found out just how close we were to not docking at Faroe Islands and then Stavanger. At Faroe, they had made the decision at 5:45 to leave and go to Norway, specifically Bergen or another nearby port (forget the name), but the ports were full. So we waited on the fog and got lucky, but we were apparently about 15 minutes from leaving even then. Later in Stavanger with the winds, the pilot apparently asked our Captain if he really wanted to dock and you might have noticed the MSC ship turned away instead. As you saw they used extra lines to secure us. Apparently we were also asked "ok, now how are you going to get out?" after docking, but winds later in the day cooperated. The tug was there just for safety.

 

Hope everyone else enjoyed themselves. Now to sort through the thousands of pictures...

[jelayne]

Your post brought back some wonderful memories. We did Iceland & Norway last year- absolutely beautiful. Fortunately we had great weather every day, just one short rain shower in Olden.

 

We will take your advice and try the World Class Bar. We aren't beer drinkers so doubt will we spend any time at the Passport bar in the future.

[cruisestitch]

I was on that same cruise, with someone different experience regarding the Passport bar. There are two television sets there, mounted on opposite walls. Their sound is not synched so you hear one, then the other, and couple that with the fact that there is music playing on the PA system, or even sometimes live music in the atrium, and give up any chance of hearing the commentary. Wimbledon was on, and the place was packed during the matches, but the bar didn't open until late in the afternoon. Not much of a sports bar, in my opinion.

[chemmo]

We have looked at this cruise and really fancied it. What has worried me is I am not the best sailor and tend to go for the Dramamine the minute it gets choppy.

 

Honestly, please, what were the sea conditions like? If it could/is likely to be rough I would rather give it a miss.

[Keith1010]

Thanks for your post.

 

Keith

[willma]

We were on this cruise and loved it. The scenery was stunning, and we were thrilled to see humpback whales, awesome waterfalls, glaciers, geysers, and do a little cod fishing! We were not aware of the close decisions regarding docking in the Faroes and Stavanger, although we thought the captain handled the ship very skilfully in the diverse conditions.

As the cruise was largely an indoor one, we thought the crew coped very well with the additional pressure on places such as the Oceanview Cafe, and everything ran very smoothly.

We would recommend the itinerary, and thought that the sea was not as rough as we had feared it might be at times.

You absolutely must get up early to see the fjords at their best, during the long sail in.

[cruisestitch]

We had a few hours of rough seas -- I would estimate 8 hours total, most of which was overnight, out of the 14 day cruise.

[chemmo]

8 hours......I could do that I think with a little help from the Dramamine...would appreciate any other comments on usual sea conditions on this cruise. Sorry to OP for the sideline!

[HokiePoq]

Thanks for your comments. Would love a review. If your write one, please link it here. Love hearing about the ports, especially.

Thanks so much!

[ClaudiaB]

chemmo

 

I have disabled the long (boring!!) repetitive signatures on everybody's post here on CC so I have no way of knowing if you're a frequent or a new cruiser because I don't see anyone's. My feed just goes from one post to the next without all that stuff at the bottom. I say that because I can't tell if you have a signature with lists of past and future cruises or not. But as you know, if you have cruised often enough, there are certain areas of the world where sea conditions are "notoriously" more prone to rough seas than others. The Bay of Biscay can be one of those. The North Sea can be one. It's weather. So your question isn't really answered to your satisfaction I'm afraid. It would be a shame to miss out on a glorious part of this beautiful world, however, because it *might* be a bit rough for a time. Because at the time of your sailing it might not.;) We cruised the Bay of Biscay and it was very calm. Off the coast of St. Thomas once - ridiculously high and rough seas.

 

We cruise an average of about once every 10months or so but if I was easily prone to seasickness I probably wouldn't cruise because I don't like to take things. I'm lucky because I just don't *get* motion sickness, at least as far as 21 ft. seas so far. As a matter of fact, I like a bit of rocking and rolling on a cruise, for a time. Lets me know I'm sailing! I know that's weird.

Having said that, there really is no way to know sea conditions at the time of your sailing. My friend and her husband just sailed Norway and the British Isles and it was apparently very calm and blue skies the entire time. The week before they heard it was kind of rough and rainy. You just never know.

 

We have booked Azamara's Norway cruise for next August. It does not go to Iceland. However, it's 15 days up the coast of Norway, all the way past the North Cape into the Arctic Circle. Best itinerary we could find to cruise Norway. So for the first time we're jumping ship to Azamara (along with our elite+ status). We'll do something that includes Iceland another time. Seems to me it would be worth a separate land trip all on it's own, actually. Anyway, a cruise to consider, although there aren't many cabins available at this time. Very popular cruise apparently. We booked it nearly 2 years out.

[chemmo]

We are frequent cruisers and have cruised pretty much world wide! Typically, as a UK resident I think I have a lot of respect for the North Sea to the point I am quite concerned about conditions there compared to the Med., Caribbean and South Pacific.

 

I am put off Trans-Atlantic crossings for the same reason.......

 

Ironically I have only ever been really sea sick once and that was crossing the Irish Sea!

 

I am just going to have to be brave, bulk buy the Dramamine, steal some of those airplane sick bags and then try a couple of the cruises I fancy but am a little concerned about the weather/sea conditions on!

 

Sincere thanks for the advice!

[kevinyork]

8 hours......I could do that I think with a little help from the Dramamine...would appreciate any other comments on usual sea conditions on this cruise. Sorry to OP for the sideline!

 

 

We have just got off this cruise, our 2nd time. There was a liitle movement the 2nd evening and the early morning into Stavanger but we have had much worse on Eclipse going to the Med. It really wasnt an issue. It seemed many had those little patches behind their ears which we havnt seen before but which seemed to do the trick for them.

 

One point, having done this cruise twice, dont count on good weather, expect mist and rain and you might be pleasantly suprised.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[chemmo]

Well, I will look into the patches and start itinerary searching. Sincere thanks again for comments and advice.

[genduba]

We have looked at this cruise and really fancied it. What has worried me is I am not the best sailor and tend to go for the Dramamine the minute it gets choppy.

 

Honestly, please, what were the sea conditions like? If it could/is likely to be rough I would rather give it a miss.

 

Hi Chemmo

 

I had the same worries as you. The sail up to Iceland was the worst for me, I felt a bit queezy on the first sea day and took Stugeron. The only problem with this is it knocks me out and I slept a good part of the day. The next day was calmer and no meds needed. We then went Whale watching and due to the small boat I took another pill and was absolutely fine.

 

Although we had some strong winds and rain, the sea wasn't too bad. The Eclipse is pretty stable. Just avoid the high decks, front and back if it's rough. Get a low deck midship cabin too.

 

Don't let the fear of being ill stop you going, it's a wonderful trip

[bossy_01]

We were on the same cruise and had a great time! Out of interest how much was the access tour? we saw it advertised but with no price...

 

Bizarrely we really enjoyed the late arrival into the Faroe Islands as we were up early for our expected arrival, it gave us a stunning back drop to eat breakfast with.

 

I am reasonably sensitive to movement, and found it irritating at times and I did occasionally struggle to sleep, but I am a very light sleeper. I would thoroughly recommend going.

[chemmo]

Apologies again to OP for sidetracking your post.....

 

We always book our cruises really early. We are booked up for 2016 but 2017 could be good! Sincere thanks, I have noted the name of the Meds. suggested too. As the new season comes out I will be seriously looking now.

[RTPGiants]

To answer the various questions:

 

* No, the seas weren't a problem for us. There was a bit of yawing/pitching here and there, but overall fine.

 

* My issue with OceanView service was that they'd rush over to clear your plate about a millisecond after you finished eating. It was a bit irritating. That coupled with the problem that if you ordered a drink, it'd take them 10 minutes to bring it to you, by which time you're halfway through eating. This was true on both the busy days and on the light days.

 

* The rain/fog wasn't ideal, but hey it's vacation and it still beats working. Put on a rain coat and a few layers and hike up that glacier :)

 

* The inside access tour was $150, but was really comprehensive (about 5 hours) and included lunch at Tuscan. Worth doing once for sure. The conversations with officers was a lot of fun. We had 9 people total. Things were a little disrupted by the helicopter (which we didn't get to see), but they handled it all really well.

[happy cruzer]

So any wine drinkers on the classic and premium packages, was there a good selection?

 

How was the evening entertainment? Did they have the dance parties in the atrium?

 

How was the main dining room? Any lines for select dining? How was the food and service?

 

Did you have lots of hours of daylight? Northernlights?

Thanks.

[RTPGiants]

So any wine drinkers on the classic and premium packages, was there a good selection?

 

How was the evening entertainment? Did they have the dance parties in the atrium?

 

How was the main dining room? Any lines for select dining? How was the food and service?

 

Did you have lots of hours of daylight? Northernlights?

Thanks.

 

We had premium and drank wine pretty much every night at dinner. Selection was fine, although not huge at the covered level. A few more options for a few dollars more. No real complaints, but it would be nice if the by-the-glass menu could be the same at every venue. As it is you'll find one Pinot Noir at the buffet and a different one at MDR for instance.

 

There were some dance parties in the main area and more in Sky Lounge at night. The shows were...ok. But they're not the reason I go on a cruise. Some other couple we talked with (56 cruises in 18 years) said the shows were terrible compared to Princess. I guess that's possible, but eh...

 

Main dining room was really nice quality. I feel it was better than last cruise (3 years ago on Silhouette). We ate between 7 and 7:30 each night on select and there was no line. If you wanted a private table for 2 you'd need to wait a bit, but we were (as they phrased it) "happy to share" and never had to wait.

 

Tons of daylight. Barely saw darkness until we got home. No northern lights both because of this and clouds.

Edited July 13, 2015 by RTPGiants

[happy cruzer]

Thanks for the quick response. It is very reassuring. We are on the Norway cruise in a month so your sharing is much appreciated.