Jan.22-Feb. Eclipse review

[keithm]

Well the trip has now come & gone(too quickly) it always seems.

Overall, it was a very enjoyable cruise. I'll try to review as much as reasonable. The embarkation process was quick & smooth. Cabins as usual were not ready upon boarding so we headed up to the buffet after receiving our Champagne toasts.(always a nice touch)

The food in the buffet was pretty much the norm, though variety could certainly be enhanced. I did like the fact that hot food was now in "pots". This helps reduce contamination by pax touching food with their hands. Being in the food industry, this IS a big pet peeve of mine & I don't hesitate to admonish pax who could sicken hundreds of others. We were in room 3160. This is an inside. It's right off the Passport bar & convenient to all parts of the ship. Evita was our cabin attendant & was just perfect. Never intrusive & kept the place spotless. It was a surprisingly quiet area. They could close the entry way, so you never heard any noise from the main foyer during events.

Dining) We had a nice table for 2(#143)& Victor, our waiter was great. We asked him to get us Sorbet between the app & entrée as an "intermezzo". Bogdan was the Maître D & very capable of handling any issues that could arise. We did find the food to be quite subpar at times. Please understand we're both in the food industry & real "foodies". I certainly don't expect gourmet food on a mainstream line, but the quality was surprisingly poor when compared to our 2014/2015 Eclipse cruises. All 3 cruises were of the same time frame, actually, pretty much repeats. We did get a 4 dinner specialty rest.dining package for $120, which we thought quite reasonable. Food in Qsine was fine as usual. Kind of wish they'd shake it up a bit as the courses really haven't changed much. Murano the first night was a mixed bag. My Dover Sole was excellent. Richard's roast Duck & Confit was way too fatty & the "Confit" was really a duck sausage. Pretty lame. The night in Tuscan was delightful & the food overall excellent. My Filet mignon was very good but not as good as Chalet Suisse(which I'll explain later) The 4'th dinner was again Murano, where I had Turbot & a Lobster combo, both were excellent. Richard had the Rack of Lamb, which was about perfect.

Entertainment)Overall this started slow, but gained steam as the cruise went along. Peter Mathew(Juggler/comedian)was excellent & funny. Really a blast. The band & the singers were quite good. At times the band was a bit pressed to keep of with some of the featured vocalists. The "rock show", sorry, really didn't do it for us. Just not our cup of tea, I guess, but plenty of pax liked them. Topper was an interesting mix of pretty good singing dancing & some acrobatics. Kind of a "Hodge Podge", but still quite entertaining. Rondell Sheridan had to be one of the funniest comedians I've seen in a long time. Seen him on TV & he is a laugh riot! He had studied the crowds & his stuff was top drawer humor. Nearly wet my pants laughing so much. Lou Gazara(actor Ben was his uncle)Was a finalist on American Idol. Good singer. The "Not the 3 Tenors" were great singers & very funny. Really a nice show by them. Overall entertainment on the ship turned out quite good. Captain Lou was as funny as a comedian but a gracious Captain as well. Great Credit to Celebrity. Eddy Jenkins, the cruise director was fun & very approachable. We enjoyed him far more than "Ben" from our previous cruises, who we felt could be somewhat condescending.

Canyon Ranch Spa)Very nice (and pricey!)but you're worth it, aren't you? I had the hot stone Message. Loved it!!! I got Richard a rejuvenating "Gentleman's facial along with a manicure/Pedicure. Who says we guys can't have it all?

Ports of Call)Bonaire: This was our first stop. Nice island with great water. Very environmentally aware. Shopping was ok, but we like the beach's, which were nice. A bit rocky as you have to cross Coral or go off the pier. Curacao was the second stop. We always go to "Seaquarium Beach" Next time, instead of the ship excursion, we'll hire a cab. Good swimming. Bring a snorkel as there are a lot of fish near the break water. Aruba:Nice island with powder like sand. This is the result of Parrot fish eating & excreting coral. Sand is too fine & clouds the water easily. As it was an over night, we ate at "Chalet Suisse". Food here was the best of the entire trip. The Duck A la Orange was the best Richard had in the last 5 years(yes, that good!)I had the "Prime" Filet Mignon. The best I've had since last summer. Really can't recommend this place enough. Most people here are from the US & are on vacation or own homes here.

Barbados: Typical shopping area. Went on a beach break. Nice beach excursion at Carlisle Bay beach, but kind of crowded. Included a decent lunch.

St. Lucia: Prettiest island, very tropical. Did the St. Lucian beach break excursion. Overall quite nice. We really recommend the Catamaran tour to the Pitons. We did this last time. Bring your cameras! St. Kitts: we did the Beach break at Cockle Shell Bay. Best beach break of all. Bring snorkel equipment or rent some. Lots of Sea Urchins, Star fish & really expensive sunglasses lost by careless tourists in the water, are to be found here. We highly recommend the Narrow Gage Train tour. We did this in 2014 & you get a great tour of the island. St. Maarten: Here, we always go to the French side to eat local food. Try Sandy's/Rose Mary's/Spinnaker. All feature local food at good prices. If you like Curry Goat, these are the places to eat. Great Seafood as well.

Outside of the disappointing MDR food, the trip was enjoyable as ever. Dress was generally pretty nice. Chic night does confuse some. We enjoyed the cruise, so much so, that we hope to see some of you next Jan.21 for our next Eclipse adventure!

[davekathy]

Keithm...Thank you for taking us along on your Cruise.

[FunCruiser56]

thanks for sharing your great cruise!

 

Sent from my SM-T900 using Forums mobile app

[easyboy]

Having booked again on the Eclipse, no doubt you enjoyed your cruise!

Thanks for your feedback.

[jagoffee]

See you next year. Still cannot believe Celebrity has eliminated the Standard 14 day (every two weeks). cruise option for 2019 when they move the Eclipse to SA. The Jan 4, 2019 option is too early for us.

[Clarea]

Thanks for the informative report.:)

[keithm]

See you next year. Still cannot believe Celebrity has eliminated the Standard 14 day (every two weeks). cruise option for 2019 when they move the Eclipse to SA. The Jan 4, 2019 option is too early for us.

Yes, not pleased with that as well. The new Edge class should have launched by then & we'll have to wait & see.

[keithm]

Having booked again on the Eclipse, no doubt you enjoyed your cruise!

Thanks for your feedback.

Thank you. Food was a disappointment, but I blame the Ex.chef. We feel things should be corrected by then. Just not sure what to do after 2018 when they eliminate the 14 day trips. Don't really care for B2B voyages. I know the Caribbean Princess is starting to do 14 day trips. I'll wait for reviews.

[keithm]

Having booked again on the Eclipse, no doubt you enjoyed your cruise!

Thanks for your feedback.

The cruise is always great. The food wasn't terrible & I do expect the issue to be resolved by next time. I look forward to Dominica/Antigua. These are 2 of our favorite islands. It's true the itinerary can change, but still not too concerned.

[keithm]

Keithm...Thank you for taking us along on your Cruise.

My pleasure. Feel free to take us on a review of your next one as well. We all can share & learn about all the fun things to do. I did also do a review on the review section as well. I was pretty harsh about the food, which I hope Celebrity takes as constructive criticism.

[jagoffee]

Thank you. Food was a disappointment, but I blame the Ex.chef. We feel things should be corrected by then. Just not sure what to do after 2018 when they eliminate the 14 day trips. Don't really care for B2B voyages. I know the Caribbean Princess is starting to do 14 day trips. I'll wait for reviews.

 

Right now we have the 12 day and 9 day Silhouette B2B for January 2019. Hoping the Edge introduction leads to a shake up. Oceania might have a January 2019 14 day cruise.

 

If the Regal or Royal was doing a true 14 day it would be worth considering.

 

We have another year to enjoy this cruise. We are also looking forward to Dominica.

[WonderMan3]

We have done the 14 day January Eclipse cruise since 2014 but switched to the 12 day Silhouette next year in order to get a couple different islands (Dominica, Puerto Rico, Grenada).

 

We were going to go back to the Eclipse 14 day in 2019 but since that's gone we went with Summit instead. Booked their 12 day out of San Juan. Would prefer an S-Class ship but the itinerary sold me with 10 islands in 12 days including several we've never been to like St. Croix, St. Vincent and Martinique. Also, we'll be in the Penthouse so that should be a great experience even on an older ship.