Celebrity Eclipse Review – Portugal & the Azores – 11 nights from 17 September 2017

[Geoff&Louise]

Celebrity EclipseReview – Portugal & the Azores – 11 nights from 17 September 2017

This was our first Celebrity Cruise, and we treatedourselves to a Celebrity Suite (Stateroom 1237).

Overall we had a very good experience with one exceptionthat unfortunately took the shine off our overall holiday.

Ship overall:

Definitely 5 star, with everything very clean and in goodworking order, and despite being full, never seemed over crowded, with plentyof seats available in all lounges and sundeck.

Crew:

With one exception, all excellent and very hard working.Upon boarding the ship, my first experience with a crew member was a maletoilet attendant (I wish I had taken his name) as when I went to the toilet hewelcomed me with a big smile saying "welcome to my office", and uponleaving, said "thank you for visiting and come again soon". Hisfriendliness brought a big smile to my face, and in general, this was my experiencewith virtually all of crew members.

The Senior staff were very visible throughout the cruise,especially Captain Leo, who was at the bottom of the gangway at every port ofcall wishing all guests a good day, and as you have may read in other reviewswas known as the "voice from above" in his light-hearted andinformative daily information updates. I also think the ladies enjoyed havingtheir photographs taken with him!

Restaurants:

We were lucky enough to have access to the Luminaerestaurant as a suite guest. I cannot praise the quality of the food and allstaff high enough. This was without question the highlight of our cruise andeven when not really hungry enough for a full lunch on sea days, we still wentjust for one small course for the welcoming experience. As mentioned all staffwere excellent, but special thanks for to the Maître D' Nedad, as well asRoxana, Victor, David, Uilana and the sommelier, Enesto. Every meal was a greatexperience and they could not do enough for you and from the first nightremembered you food and drink preferences. If you are lucky enough to be ableto treat yourselves to a suite - I fully recommend this just for access toLuminae.

Prior to our cruise, we also pre-booked for Tuscan Grill andMurano. Firstly, Murano that was booked for my birthday. This is a high qualityrestaurant and a great experience, especially the show cooking at your table. Icertainly recommend the Lobster Tail and Crepe. Is it worth $50 extra perperson, probably for the experience, but Luminae is a very hard act to follow.

Whilst several other reviews also praise Tuscan Grill, unfortunatelywe had a bad experience at Tuscan Grill (where we paid an extra $45 perperson). Prior to the cruise I had advised of my wife's cheese allergy(something Luminae were aware of in advance), and I even went to Tuscan Grillearlier in the day of our booked visit to mention her allergy again. When thewaiter came round with the bread options, two were cheese related and the thirdoption was touching the other cheese related bread so cross contaminationissues. My wife had to therefore decline, but was not offered other bread fromthe kitchen that had not been contaminated. Also, as Tuscan Grill is next totwo other speciality restaurants, different bread could have easily beensourced. Starters were ok. When going to the restroom my napkin was taken butnever replaced so I had to ask for another. Then for main course I ordered thefilet mignon, asking for "medium rare". When this arrived it was"medium / to well done". Normally I may have accepted this, but asour experience hadn't been great so far with the bread and napkin issue (andbearing in mind I have paid an extra $45 for this meal) I rejected the steak(which wasn't taken well by the waiter). Some ten minutes later when a newfilet was delivered (by which time my wife had finished hers main course) itwas still not medium rare, more well done! (It should be noted that I had filetmignon on our first night in Luminae, ordered medium rare, and was cookedperfectly). I could not be bothered to return it again as I had lost myappetite by then so ate some of it - and it should also be noted that my sideorders were not replaced either so these were luke warm at best when thereplacement steak arrived. Finally I ordered Cheesecake for dessert, which wasfairly dry and I could not finish. At the end of the meal I expressed mydisappointment to the Maître D', who whilst was very apologetic and offered forus to return to Tuscan another day at no "extra cost", I politely advisedthat as Luminae was so good I did not really want to return and felt that I hadwasted $90. He said he would see what he could do and left if there (seecomments below re Michael’s Club Concierge).

We did not try Qusine but heard good reviews.

We had a wander around the Ocaenview Café a couple of timesand the buffet seemed very varied and of high quality. On a couple of the seaday afternoons we did go up there for an ice-cream (and was very good, andreally no point paying the extra for gelato in Café Al Bacio). On sea days thelunch times did seem fairly busy, and available seats had to be searched for.

Stateroom:

We had a Celebrity Suite Cabin no 1237. This was veryspacious and clean (showing some signs of tiredness to a couple of the units,especially the dressing table), and we enjoyed having a separate bedroom andtwo TV's, so that if one of us wanted a rest, the other could watch TV withoutdisturbing the other. The balcony was spacious and had a comfortable sunlounger. We ordered breakfast in our stateroom twice, very good, and also lunchto watch the sail into Lisbon, again very good. Whilst we did not use theservices of our Butler much (Peter) was he always there and polite. The stewardMaynard was also very good and kept the room very clean and re-stocked thefridge and toiletries.

Michael’s ClubConcierge:

Unfortunately, this is where our cruise was spoilt. TheConcierge is meant to be there to resolve any issues we have. Early in the cruise I had mentioned to himthat there did not seem to be cabin breakfast menu cards in our room (as youorder the night before and leave them hanging outside on your cabin door when yougo to bed). He said he would sort this, but I had to chase again the followingday. An early sign that he did not do his duty and follow up on requests toensure they had been actioned. But our main issue was how he handled our poor TuscanGrill experience. On the morning after our meal in the Tuscan Grill (asmentioned above), I advised the Concierge that I was unhappy about theexperience and he confirmed that he would resolve the matter (after all,that is a key part of his job description). This was on the Thursday morning.As we had not heard anything from him or anyone else for that matter some fourdays later, early on the Monday morning I specifically went to him to find outwhat was happening about our complaint. His response was, "Oh haven't theycontacted you?". I'm sorry, but someone in his senior position should havefollowed up on the matter to ensure that it had been resolved, and as we hadseen him at least twice every day for the past 4 days he could have asked ifeverything was ok, I again expressed my huge disappointment that we had notheard anything. Again he promised that he would sort the issue immediately.Later that night (some 11 hours later) when going into Michael's Lounge for anight cap, the Concierge was in there, but rather than engaging with us toupdate us on what he had been doing to resolve our complaint, he saw us, lookstartled, and make a very quick exit and never returned. I found this to beextremely rude and very unprofessional. By this point I was very annoyed as Ihad given him several opportunities to resolve our issue and therefore had nooption than to take matters further and went down to guest relations tobitterly complain about his actions. The following morning I had a call fromEunice, the Guest Relations Manager, and after explaining the events that hasoccurred over the preceding days, she was very apologetic, fully acknowledgedthat the Concierge had acted inappropriately and not carried out his dutiesproperly, and offered to resolve the matter by refunding our Tuscan Grillcharge, offered free internet for the last two days sea days of our cruise anda token towards the cost of another Celebrity Cruise to try and keep ourloyalty. I accepted this in good grace (albeit I have still yet to receive the$90 refund as this was not taken off our on-board bill), and later that day didget a call from the Tuscan Grill Maître D' to again apologise and trying totempt us back to Tuscan so that he could show that our bad experience was a oneoff. However, at no point did we ever get a word of apology from the Concierge.I obviously felt uncomfortable that I had to complain about him and takematters to a higher level to resolve the issue, and as he made no attempt toget in contact in any way, felt very uneasy about returning to Michael’s Club(as I did not was to cause an issue / embarrassment in front of other guests)or participate in any of the activities that we had been invited to where theConcierge could be present. Therefore due to his actions, we missed out onfurther visits to Michael’s Club for 3 days, a helipad port sail in, a bridgetour, and the more relaxed disembarkation offered to suite guests whenreturning to Southampton.

In fairness, I know other guests have been complimentaryabout the Concierge, perhaps we were just unlucky and caught him on a bad fewdays. Still, I understand that the will be a new appointment of a Suite Managersoon on the Eclipse and the Concierge and Butlers will report to this newposition so hopefully that will ensure that a similar problem does not happento another guest in the future.

Bars:

We had the "Classic Drinks Package" as part of ouroriginal booking offer, and found this to be more than adequate to meet ouralcoholic drink tastes (i.e. any drink up to $11), and the package includedgood quality wines at dinner. We did go to the Martini Bar a couple of times(good experience) and paid an extra $3 for each drink.

All bar staff are extremely quick an efficient and veryfriendly. Our favourite was Nevad, the Senior Bar Manager in the Sky Lounge,who remembered what we drank every time we went there (very impressive whenthere are over 2,800 guests that can use the bar).

We often grabbed a coffee to go at Café Al Bacio and neversaw large queues, maybe three of four people in front of us, but were servedvery quickly.

Art Auctions:

We have never really taken an active interest in Art, and inaddition to Luminae, our cruise was enhanced by the Park West team who made usnovices feel very welcome, were never pushy, and spent a lot of time with usexplaining the artists and their works, and enabling us to gain anunderstanding and appreciation. So much so, that we bought two small picturesto start our collection!

Entertainment:

We went to several shows. Not all to our own personal taste,but were all very professional and of high visual quality. The singers anddancers were all above average. The comedian was good. We also enjoyed thevarious live acts on various locations throughout the ship every day. TheEntertainments Director, Eddy, was very good, and his daily shows on the CruiseTV channel with Giuseppe updating you on the day's activities were not to bemissed - a great double act and very funny.

Also the Celebrity Life programme of on-board entertainmentwas very good and varied, from quizzes in the Sky Lounge, dance classes, to apaper plane making and throwing competition. You could just choose what tookyour fancy on the day. The Hot Glass show is also very worth watching.

Ports of call:

La Coruna

Nice town with plenty to do for the day with ship dockednear town centre. We pre-booked a coach tour with Tour4Cruises that cost €15for a two and a half tour in a clean and air conditioned coach that did 4 stopsin and around the area at the key tourist spots. Great guide who was veryfriendly and informative. Well worth the money.

Funchal (Madeira)

Our first time in Madeira and we loved it and want to goback for a few days at some point in the future. Funchal is a lovely city thatreminded us of the French Riviera with a good seafront and places to see andvisit. We did the local Red Bus Hop-On / Hop – Off to get a feel for the areaand the round trip lasted about 90 minutes and was very picturesque. Cost was€17. Audio commentary was hard to hear on the bus due to a faulty system. Itwas about a 15 minute brisk walk from the port to the town centre.

Ponta Delgada(Azores)

Another lovely place to visit for the day, although not thatmuch to do in the town centre itself, albeit the ship docks right in the centreof town. We pre-booked a Celebrity trip to the very scenic crater lakes andhave come back with some great photos. The tour guide was very good and overallgood value for money at £33 each.

Lisbon

We have been to Lisbon before and it is one of our favouriteEuropean cities with so much to see and do within a relatively small area. Alsowe were lucky to have a port side cabin for a beautiful sail into Lisbon ataround 1 o’clock. As we knew the town well, we decided to pre-book a Celebritytrip to Sintra and Cascais. Both a very different and beautiful. Cascais in avery pretty fishing town close to upmarket Estoril, and Sintra is a wonderfulworld heritage site. The trip only gave us an hour in each town, but that wasenough to give a feel for the area and a very strong desire to go back to spenda couple of days in each. You can easily get to both by train from the centreof Lisbon. The 4 hour trip cost £31, and was good value with a very good andefficient guide.

Summary:

All in all a very good overall experience, which for us, wasunfortunately spoiled by the actions of one particular individual that we havedirectly followed-up with Celebrity is to ensure that it doesn't happen to a anotherguest in the future.

 

Would we sail with Celebrity again - yes, certainly the bestship we have sailed on to date.

[spendless]

Cruised on the Eclipse 4 times so far including Norway this May. Off again this 8th Oct to Canaries and have always had classic drinks package. Also always end up in Martini bar in the evenings but have never had to pay additional $3.00 for a drink. Did you order drinks that were in the premium package without realising it? Only other drinks in there are the Martinis which cost a kings ransom. Not for me.

[Geoff&Louise]

Cruised on the Eclipse 4 times so far including Norway this May. Off again this 8th Oct to Canaries and have always had classic drinks package. Also always end up in Martini bar in the evenings but have never had to pay additional $3.00 for a drink. Did you order drinks that were in the premium package without realising it? Only other drinks in there are the Martinis which cost a kings ransom. Not for me.

 

We bought Martinis that were $14 each, and knew that they were over the $11 limit under the Classic Package, and just charged the extra $3 per drink. It was worth the $3 to try the various flavours they did. Also fun to watch them make them throwing bottles around.

[Orch at Sea]

The "Welcome to my office" chap is Lukeman. Reading your review made me smile, as I think he is the happiest person on earth !

[miched]

Don’t know when or where you booked your cruise but lately the suites get all 4 perks. I know many think that it is standard but it is a promo that they now have. The promo doesn’t always apply to some special discount pricing.

 

Capt Leo does have many “girlfriends”. The ladies sure do love him. One of the many social captains on X.

 

Thanks for taking the time to post. We have our first suite booked on the Eclipse and your comments about Luminae help to confirm spending the extra over Aqua.

 

Other than avoiding the host how were the drinks and drink service in Michaels Club?

 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌞

[Geoff&Louise]

Don’t know when or where you booked your cruise but lately the suites get all 4 perks. I know many think that it is standard but it is a promo that they now have. The promo doesn’t always apply to some special discount pricing.

 

Capt Leo does have many “girlfriends”. The ladies sure do love him. One of the many social captains on X.

 

Thanks for taking the time to post. We have our first suite booked on the Eclipse and your comments about Luminae help to confirm spending the extra over Aqua.

 

Other than avoiding the host how were the drinks and drink service in Michaels Club?

 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌞

 

Unfortunately being from the UK has its disadvantages, and the US offers seem far better and we do not benefit from the "bigger / best" promotions and up to 4 perks for Suites. In the UK, I suspect we get slightly cheaper cruise pricing but usually only one perk of a "free classic drinks package". I am sure overall we all pay roughly the same but their offers just reflect the different way Celebrity market their products in different markets. That said, in the UK they are currently offering 50% off for the second guest. Concierge aside, we did enjoy our time in Michael's Club, it was never crowded and the bar staff were all very friendly and efficient. They were happy to make up cocktails for us, and even go to the coffee shop for us to get a speciality coffee if they weren't too busy. Also the afternoon tea on sea days was very good and served by the Butlers. It is certainly a good perk for suite guests when you want somewhere to relax peacefully in very comfortable surroundings.

[Clarea]

Thanks for the very extensive report!

[Schmoe38]

Sorry to hear about your experience in Michael’s Club. As a general rule the MCC has been top notch on our previous Celebrity cruises.

We are sailing on Eclipse in December. Do you, by any chance remember the MCC’s name?

 

Randy

 

 

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[riclop]

Thanks for the review.

[Geoff&Louise]

Sorry to hear about your experience in Michael’s Club. As a general rule the MCC has been top notch on our previous Celebrity cruises.

We are sailing on Eclipse in December. Do you, by any chance remember the MCC’s name?

 

Randy

 

 

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Hi Randy,

His name is John Escobar. You will see from other reviews that previous guests have reported a good service from this MCC. Perhaps we were just unlucky. For us, him running away from the issue and not dealing with problem to hand after several chasers was just rude an unacceptable. As you can see this was a small blip in the overall very good Celebrity experience.

Geoff

[picodrive]

I just got off of the Eclipse on Oct. 8th and had a great experience with John Escobar. He could not have been more helpful to myself and everyone in our group. Sorry you felt you had to give him a bad review. I got excellent service and I gave John a 10+!! :)

[groryjm]

I just got off of the Eclipse on Oct. 8th and had a great experience with John Escobar. He could not have been more helpful to myself and everyone in our group. Sorry you felt you had to give him a bad review. I got excellent service and I gave John a 10+!! :)

Onboard at the moment and I whole heartedly agree John is an excellent Michael's Club Concierge - friendly, caring and helpful to the last.

 

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