Quick report on 29 November 15 Eclipse cruise

[iandjm]

I have just returned from 2 weeks on the wonderful Celebrity Eclipse in the Caribbean. I thought I would give an account of how the cruise went:

We booked the complete package direct with Celebrity, including flights from the UK, all transfers, a night in a Miami hotel, the cruise, and a dayroom before the flight home.

 

We flew BA to Miami arriving early afternoon. Immigration seemed a lot better with much of the process now carried out on automatic machines. After immigration we were met by a fairly miserable RCI / Celebrity representative and asked to stand in a corner of arrivals and wait for more information about out transfer to the Marriot airport hotel. Eventually we were walked to a small coach for the transfer, although the reps did seem unsure of where we were going, which coach etc. The coach was full and did not really have enough room for all the passengers’ suitcases so we helped the driver loading these!

 

We had a good evening / night at the hotel and met in the hotel reception at the allocated time the next morning for the transfer to the ship. This part was pretty chaotic with nearly 200 Celebrity customers all waiting to be transferred to the ship, and a flustered uncooperative representative from intercruises refusing to answer our questions regarding how many coaches were being sent, what time etc. In the end we gave up a paid $30 for a taxi to the port. Many others did the same.

Check in and boarding was smooth and fast and we were on board at the wonderful Martini bar within half an hour 

We were then chased around the ship by over enthusiastic crew trying to get us to upgrade our drinks package and book speciality restaurants. They did not seem to take no for an answer and actually followed you trying to get a booking.

 

Stateroom – 6224 – Superb location, ideal for popping down to deck 5 for coffee etc. Very well looked after by the friendly efficient cabin stewards, although no towel animals . Events being held in the Grand Foyer could be heard quite loudly in the stateroom. Balcony rust / corrosion on door handles could do with some attention before it gets any worse.

 

Moonlight Sonata restaurant – Superb service from Waiters Alfred & Pablo and Asst. Maitre’d Milton. Great food selection, always warm and well presented, although every meal for the 2 weeks seemed to come with mashed potato and green beans. Disappointed that waiters / galley staff parade has been dropped. This has always been a good event and was our chance to say thank you.

We were very lucky to dine with the Hotel director on the last formal night (literally the last formal night ever) and had a lovely evening.

 

Ocean View Café – Great selection of food and always somewhere to sit. I was Impressed as always with this venue.

 

Tuscan Grill – This was a real disappointment. I have been to Tuscan Grill many many times on Eclipse and have always had a special evening there, but this time the evening seemed to be total chaos. To start with the lighting was so bright it gave the venue same atmosphere as a MacDonald’s restaurant. I noticed the nice antipasti platter that used to be provided to the table (and by early this year was brought by a waiter for you to choose items from) was now charged for!

The staff seemed to be running around like headless chickens and not actually getting anywhere. In addition I found a lump of bone in the spaghetti bolognaise. As the Maitre’d did not come and see us at the table during the meal I went over to highlight all the issues directly to him, to his surprise!

Given the cover price increasing every year and now being over $40, this restaurant should give a better experience than the main dining room, but in reality is was far inferior. It’s worth noting the friends I was travelling with were new to cruising and expressed how disappointing the experience was, without even knowing how good it used to be!

 

Entertainment – The Cruise Director Richard and Activity Manager Maartin were a great double act and organised some very good entertainment. We also had the new production shows on this cruise. Topper was great; Chandelier was weak and Rock City superb. I really enjoyed the music in the shows, but could not help thinking much of the music really did not suit the older clientèle on board.

 

Future cruise sales – I enquired about booking a July 2017 cruise on eclipse expecting the usual free drinks package / on board credit / low deposit offer, but was told this did not apply for 2017, so despite the fares being £400pp more than the same cruise in 2016 there was no advantage booking on board whatsoever. This was a shame as rather than making a future booking on Celebrity it encourages potential customers to look elsewhere, including other cruise lines.

 

Ports – Aruba, Curacao, Grenada, Barbados, St Lucia, Antigua, St Kitts & St Maarten – we did our own thing at the ports, and the weather was always in the high 20’s / early 30’s

 

Celebrity Life activities - We had Jim Kennedy the ex Director of the Kennedy Space Centre onboard presenting lectures about the Space Shuttle, International Space Station and sharing some wonderful stories about his long career with NASA. He as a lovely man and brilliant speaker.

 

Post cruise – We left the ship at the allocated time and boarding a coach that took us directly to the Sheraton Miami airport. Upon arrival a member of hotel staff brought our hotel keys onto the coach, which saved having to queue at the hotel reception. This was a nice touch.

Later we were picked up by a coach and taken to the airport in time for our flight back to London.

 

Ian

Edited December 17, 2015 by iandjm

[snowyboy]

Great report and fair we are on Eclipse early March doing same cruise,we been on Eclipse before and also loved the Tuscan Grille was very good on Equinox earlier this year also, so disappointed to read your comments, still as they say things can only improve.

[themutis]

Thanks for your report.

 

Would you happened to have a photo of the Tuscan Menu. Interested in when the pay-for Antipasti Board got instated. It seems a shame when you are already paying an uncharge, that Celebrity continues to charge you (for cheese and meats)????

[snowyboy]

Thanks for your report.

 

Would you happened to have a photo of the Tuscan Menu. Interested in when the pay-for Antipasti Board got instated. It seems a shame when you are already paying an uncharge, that Celebrity continues to charge you (for cheese and meats)????

 

Not sure this will help but can try

 

http://www.thepreismans.com/equinox_ta_menus.htm#tuscan

[B1G]

I was on the same cruise, did enjoy Qsine two times, we pay $30 and $25 the second time (filet mignon was excellent).

[yorky]

We are at the Tucson grill twice the cruise before yours. I must admit I was not aware the Antipasti had been free in the past. Our experience was better than yours and in our view a step up in attention, atmosphere, and space next to the MDR. Not our favourite restaurant as Murano was fantastic but at the $25 pp we paid well worth it in our view.

[Been There, Planning That]

We were then chased around the ship by over enthusiastic crew trying to get us to upgrade our drinks package and book speciality restaurants. They did not seem to take no for an answer and actually followed you trying to get a booking.

 

 

Ian

 

We had a similar negative experience this year on a Princess cruise to Hawaii and vowed to never cruise Princess again, after one already booked. Just six months later the Princess TA was a completely different experience with no hard sell whatsoever. What made the Grand sales' pitches bad was it was non stop by every single table steward at every meal.

 

We'd hoped to avoid this on a return to Celebrity after a few years exclusively on Princess and HAL.

 

We'll be boarding with no special packages. Oh dear, I dread this new aggressive approach, but at least your experience just seemed to be upon embarkation.

 

At least Princess and HAL speciality restaurants are modestly and consistently priced with no need to shop and wait for bargains/reductions.

 

Ruth

Edited December 17, 2015 by Been There, Planning That

[iandjm]

Sadly I don't have a photo of the Tuscan menu with the extra costs for the antipasti. It was around $14 though which for something that was free until recently seemed bad.

 

I personally think its so sad that you have to 'haggle' to get a decent price at the speciality restaurants. If they were more sensibly priced then they would be fully booked. All that discounting does is annoy those paying more / or that planned ahead.

[yorky]

Sadly I don't have a photo of the Tuscan menu with the extra costs for the antipasti. It was around $14 though which for something that was free until recently seemed bad.

 

I personally think its so sad that you have to 'haggle' to get a decent price at the speciality restaurants. If they were more sensibly priced then they would be fully booked. All that discounting does is annoy those paying more / or that planned ahead.

 

Personally we never needed to haggle. They had a table set up as people boarded offering Murano at half price that night with a table outside the Ocean view cafe most days offering the same deal for the Tuscan grill. Given our experience I would never book the advance package. I would agree though regarding the price, just price them at $25/30 and they would be full. Murano is worth the $50 though in our view and was fully booked most night I believe.