Eclipse Trip Report Sail Date Jan. 22nd through Feb. 5th, 2017

[July_Cruiser]

Eclipse Trip Report Sail Date Jan. 22nd through Feb. 5th, 2017

 

We chose this cruise line and this ship based on the itinerary. It did not disappoint – especially the overnight in Aruba.

 

Cabin 7293 was wonderful. Because of Celebrity’s ban on smoking, we were able to enjoy the balcony a lot. The pool area on this ship was way too noisy, so we were able to relax, read, and enjoy listening to the waves. We avoided the pool area like the plague and were thankful to have our balcony.

 

Cabin was well laid out with plenty of storage. No vibration. Our cabin steward, Kem, was one of the best we have ever had on any ship. Clean cabin. Fresh linens. Bed was nice, firm, and comfy. The only design fault was the bathroom sink. The sink faucet is so long that you risk concussion when you wash your face and water seems to splash out onto the floor when you splash water on your face so far above the small raised basin.

 

Room Service – Be prepared for your food to arrive up to 20 minutes before scheduled. We ordered morning coffee to arrive 7:00-7:30 and it always seem to arrive between 6:45 and 6:55. We wanted our coffee a little later one day so we chose 7:30-8:00 choice and had to wait until almost 8:00 so we never tried that again. Finally we embraced the earlier time and used the phone call that announces room service being on its way, as our wake up call. Room service waiters were all very nice, so we never complained.

 

Ship Cleanliness – They will “Purell” you constantly. However they didn’t get the memo that Purell does nothing for Norovirus. They do have reminders about washing your hands in the restrooms, but I think the captain should always stress the importance of hand washing as a better way to avoid spreading germs, than just Purell. I can’t imagine why the officers on this ship encourage so much handshaking!

 

Events Enjoyed – Free wine tasting seminar for Captain’s Club members, Captain’s Club Celebration Reception, Senior Officer’s Party. Hot Glass Shows, “Beyond The Podium” talks, “10 Things you didn’t know about…” talks by Cruise Director all very good. Captain Leo’s talk on Ship Navigation and the Q&A session following his talk.

 

Meet & Mingle – Celebrity dropped the ball. We had 125 from our roll-call registered and some of us inquired at the customer relations desk about why none of us received an invitation on our first night. The “Big Excuse” on their part was that “Miami didn’t send the list”. This slip-up messed us up big time on trying to meet people we planned to tour with. The ship did print a message in the following day’s new letter that many people in our roll-call either missed completely or saw too late to attend the party that was set up for the next sea day.

 

Shows – WARNING: Do not attempt the shows without good quality music earplugs!!!! We recommend the Impact Noise Reduction earplugs that reduce the noise by 18 decibels, but even the Fender Earplugs with 12 decibel reduction would be an improvement in ear protection and increase your enjoyment. Topper and the Rock City shows were not only obnoxiously loud but also just pain weird. Good dancing, good singing, and enjoyed aerialist.

 

 

Guest Entertainers were quite good. Fly Boys, 3 Tenors, Savannah, Travis Turpin, Jeri Singer, were all worth attending. (again with ear plugs but volume was not as bad as the production shows) Amy Lee might have been good if the violin wasn’t amplified so loud that we had to leave (in spite of arming ourselves with ear protection). We really enjoyed Jerome, the comic.

 

Main Dining Room – Major disappointment. Food was below mediocre (example, the Cod filet was so tough that we couldn’t cut it!) Our waiter did offer to get us something else as a main entrée when he saw us get up and leave, but we declined that offer. Some appetizers were good and some not so good. For instance, I ordered a simple Caprice Salad and the tomatoes were not Roma tomatoes but just plain light pink winter hothouse tasteless tomatoes with the most anemic looking balsamic reduction that I have ever seen! In contrast, we had been at a cocktail party in the Sky Lounge where they had wonderful Caprice hors d oeuvres that were made from cherry tomatoes with wonderful balsamic reduction drizzled across the tomatoes, basil, and cheese. Our waiter seemed indifferent, uncaring, and offered no help. The assistant waiter was always friendly and helpful. The menu was passed over top of the table to the person on the other side, this was a table for 2. Denny’s does better with service.

 

One good entrée was the roasted lamb wrapped in phyllo. We did like that the ice cream, sorbet, and frozen yogurt always were served solidly frozen, often the main dining rooms on other ships seem to have trouble getting the frozen deserts to you half melted.

 

Sadly the MDR has gone down hill even since our fall cruise on the Infinity. We did have an excellent waiter on the Infinity, he steered us to things that we would like and he made sure that hot food came to us still hot. The Eclipse waiter must be at the end of his contract. The MDR needs improvement.

 

Aqua Spa Café – It was still as good as on other Celebrity ships. We enjoyed a few breakfasts and lunches at Aqua Spa. Especially liked the grilled salmon and the mango chutney shrimp was also a great lunch hot entrée. Nice fresh fruit plates and the quinoa salad was also good. We like that the tuna salad, chicken salad, or salmon salad are all made with yogurt rather than mayonnaise at the Aqua Spa Café. The attentive staff of the Aqua Spa Café complete the positive experience.

 

Buffet – We were so bummed out with the main dining room that we resorted to the Ocean View Café. It was much better! The made to order Asian stir fry and Pasta sautéed vegetables were served hot, fresh, and with a friendly attitude. The dessert crepes were wonderful. All the servers in the buffet were very friendly and attentive. They also have a very efficient system for making omelets and eggs to order. Unlike other ships, one person takes the orders and passes out the finished omelets, while another person makes the omelets / eggs doing maybe 5 or 6 omelet pans at a time. I especially enjoyed the banter of Jorge at the omelet station, very cheerful and efficient.

 

There was Luggage Vallet available, but we didn’t use this service.

Good News, We didn’t have to be out of our cabin until 8:00 am on the last day. I can live with 8:00 am, in fact we were out around 7:45, with no problem, after having breakfast. That 7:00 am thing was a bad idea so we were glad that wasn’t pulled on our cruise’s final day.

We did enjoy our Cruise and loved reading Cruise Critic and Trip Advisor for advice prior to our cruise. We like longer cruises so the 14 days worked well for us.

 

Yes, it was an older crowd, 65 years + but you wouldn’t guess it by Celebrity’s music though. Celebrity “pretends” that they attract the young people. Celebrity’s higher ups need a reality check for the age groups that the really serve.

 

Hope our insights are helpful to those that follow. (We’re experienced cruisers (45 weeks of cruising since 1985 with 188 days of cruising since retirement in 2011) Our first cruise with Celebrity was in 1995. We are cruisers in our 60’s and plan to take many more cruises.

[Clarea]

Appreciate the detailed report.:)

[July_Cruiser]

Appreciate the detailed report.:)

 

Thanks for the feedback. It was a great cruise and it certainly beats shoveling snow, as I had to do this morning!

[TN Vol Fan]

Thanks for the review. We're on the Eclipse next month. Query- were you in Select or Standard seating in the MDR?

[12times]

You said they had luggage valet. Was that the service that took ur luggage the last night and brought it right to the airline. I was told by Celebrity that they didn't offer it any more.

[TFLG]

Crazy how the same ship 3 months apart can be so different. We sailed in Nov, the MDR food was pretty good most nights although we did have a disaster with the short ribs, which were more like shoe leather. But all the other meals were very good. And music by the pool...not a chance. We had to buy a bluetooth speaker in Aruba so we could listen to music. The levels in the theater were fine too.

[easyboy]

Thank you for your objective review. Picked up a lot of info!

[iandjm]

Good report. Shame about the MD food. It seems to vary from cruise to cruise. With regard to the Purell.... Celebrity use the special VF481 type which contains antiviral additives. Its not 100%successful but it is better than the over the counter types available to the public. Obviously stringent handwashing is what everybody should be doing, but there are always the few.....

[ricka47]

I do hope the MDR issues will be addressed as this was our biggest concern on our last Eclipse cruise (Christmas, 2015). It wasn't awful by any means, but in most cases, it was just OK and not what I used to expect from Celebrity. It was one of the reasons why we chose AQ for our Equinox cruise in July as we hope to have a better experience in Blu.

[July_Cruiser]

Thanks for the review. We're on the Eclipse next month. Query- were you in Select or Standard seating in the MDR?

 

We were in the standard seating (8:30 PM) which is on deck 3 port side.

I have always wondered why Celebrity does the "main" seating at 8:30 rather than 8:00 like other cruise lines. It is really nice, in a way, that the 8:30 time allows you to see the 7pm show in the Celebrity Theater, before going to dinner. Maybe Celebrity really does recognize that "older" people like a 7pm show versus 10pm shows.

[July_Cruiser]

You said they had luggage valet. Was that the service that took ur luggage the last night and brought it right to the airline. I was told by Celebrity that they didn't offer it any more.

 

Yes, thanks for asking, I checked with DW, she knows everything, and she told me that our sailing was the first one that they re-instituted the luggage valet. I believe it was $25 per bag (they noted on the form that this is in addition to what the airline may charge) and you were also able to use OBC to pay for the luggage valet.

[iluvspb]

We were on this same cruise and thought the food in the MDR was fabulous! Chicken roulade, crispy chicken, beef Wellington, salmon, sirloin, all were very good. Only meal I was not crazy about was the penne pasta with garlic cream sauce. Very tasty but way too rich. Took this same cruise in 2016 and food, in my opinion, has not slipped. Food is just so subjective. Oh and the lobster tails were very good!

 

 

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[July_Cruiser]

:D

Thank you for your objective review. Picked up a lot of info!

Glad to be of help, keep in mind that we all have our little quirks, for instance DW requires hot food to be served HOT and cold food to be COLD! It absolutely kills her to see people go to the buffet and leave a dish of food at their table, getting cold, while they wander back to get something they missed. Likewise, if she takes some coleslaw from the buffet, if it is not COLD or pretty cool she will tell me "don't eat it!" Foods kept at the wrong temperature for too long can result in a really bad experience. We are so spoiled having a microwave at home, if we are at the table and our food isn't hot enough we pop it in and nuke it a minute and it tastes so much better! :D

[July_Cruiser]

Interesting information. I do both, wash hands and use their special Purell. DW claims there is something in Purell that messes with a woman's hormones, so she uses good old soap and water.

Good report. Shame about the MD food. It seems to vary from cruise to cruise. With regard to the Purell.... Celebrity use the special VF481 type which contains antiviral additives. Its not 100%successful but it is better than the over the counter types available to the public. Obviously stringent handwashing is what everybody should be doing, but there are always the few.....

[July_Cruiser]

I envy you, AQ would be a great way to go and I hear that Blu is a great experience.

I do hope the MDR issues will be addressed as this was our biggest concern on our last Eclipse cruise (Christmas, 2015). It wasn't awful by any means, but in most cases, it was just OK and not what I used to expect from Celebrity. It was one of the reasons why we chose AQ for our Equinox cruise in July as we hope to have a better experience in Blu.

[July_Cruiser]

Thank you! Good points that you make.

Sometimes it is what you order that makes the difference in your experience. People at the next table ordered the beef Wellington and it really did look great to me, thanks for confirming that I really should have chosen that on the evening it was offered. As for the Lobster table, we both really enjoyed our lobster tail (so sweet and served hot) and the waiter asked if we wanted another, big mistake! The second lobster tail for each of us must have been a different batch, they were still served at a good temperature but no sweetness and a little fishy aftertaste. So glad to hear from someone on the same cruise that had better experience. By the way, the pasta in the buffet (made to order next to the pizza) always seemed to please us more than in the MDR and this goes for other ships and other cruise lines. :D

We were on this same cruise and thought the food in the MDR was fabulous! Chicken roulade, crispy chicken, beef Wellington, salmon, sirloin, all were very good. Only meal I was not crazy about was the penne pasta with garlic cream sauce. Very tasty but way too rich. Took this same cruise in 2016 and food, in my opinion, has not slipped. Food is just so subjective. Oh and the lobster tails were very good!

 

 

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[TN Vol Fan]

We're in early tradional dining next month and maybe our waiter will be more attentive. Also like hot foods hot and cold foods cold. If they are not, they go back or we talk to the Matre 'D. We haven't been on the Eclipse in a long time.We like 14 day cruises like this one, although we also do 7 day B2Bs to get our 14 days in.

Agree with idea that food is so subjective, but X does a good job of solving problems, even with their food.