Have you sailed Alaska on the Eclipse in 2023?

[bigAWL]

I'll be on my first Celebrity cruise on the Eclipse to Alaska in Aug 2023.  I'm looking for any reviews and information.  Specifically:

 

- scanned daily cruise planners

- was there are concierge embarkation lunch?

- how loud was the music in the lounges and theater

- food and service reviews

- ship and cabin condition reviews

- recommended experiences

- anything else you wish you knew before you cruised.

[Alsmez]

Yes, just disembarked on Sunday. It was a fantastic cruise overall and Alaska is MAGNIFICENT. I'll be posting a thorough dining review soon. To answer some of your specific questions:

33 minutes ago, bigAWL said:

-scanned daily cruise planners

Sorry, I didn't scan or save these. 

- was there are concierge embarkation lunch?

I was in a Sunset Veranda so not sure.

- how loud was the music in the lounges and theater

Varied by venue, but I found the live music/events in the atrium to be aggressively loud at times. Certain musicians in Ensemble Lounge as well (anything with percussion and sometimes guitar). Shows in the theater were reasonable for the size of the venue.

- food and service reviews

Will post a long food review soon. Service was good to excellent in every venue I visited and our room steward did a good job keeping our room clean and tidy.

- ship and cabin condition reviews

Public areas are clean but showing some wear and tear, especially on soft surfaces (carpet, upholstery). Same with our cabin, but nothing that diminished our experience in any way. 

- recommended experiences

If you mean off-ship excursions, we took a helicopter tour to Herbert Glacier in Juneau, a whale watching tour in ISP, UTVs to Mahoney Lake in Ketchikan, and the small boat glacier viewing excursion offered by Celebrity for the day at Hubbard Glacier. The only one that wasn't a WOW for me was whale watching - we actually saw better whale activity on the ship. That's luck of the draw, though. In terms of on-ship experiences/entertainment, none of the shows/activities were can't-miss, IMO (and a couple of them were should-miss). Depends on your taste in music, etc.

- anything else you wish you knew before you cruised.

This was our first time to Alaska - some of our clothing choices could have been better (more under layers, more outer layers). This is highly dependent on weather, though - if it hadn't been quite so cold and rainy, I would have been fine. You can always pick up sweatshirts in the gift shop. Also, if you ever plan to invest in quality binoculars, do it before you go.

 

[bigAWL]

9 hours ago, Alsmez said:

Yes, just disembarked on Sunday. It was a fantastic cruise overall and Alaska is MAGNIFICENT. I'll be posting a thorough dining review soon. To answer some of your specific questions:

 

Thanks for the responses!  Looking forward to your food review.

 

We are a three-generation group, ages 16 to 81.  Would you recommend any of the theater production shows?

[Alsmez]

Here a link to the dining review: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2942993-celebrity-eclipse-dining-review-may-28-2023-sailing/

 

 

As for the production shows, we stopped by most of them but left quickly because the singing was poor (we are pro classical musicians - others may have felt that the singing was good). The show called Topper was odd but there were at least dancers and aerialists to distract us from the bad music. Amade was a joke.

[bigAWL]

1 hour ago, Alsmez said:

Here a link to the dining review: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2942993-celebrity-eclipse-dining-review-may-28-2023-sailing/

 

 

As for the production shows, we stopped by most of them but left quickly because the singing was poor (we are pro classical musicians - others may have felt that the singing was good). The show called Topper was odd but there were at least dancers and aerialists to distract us from the bad music. Amade was a joke.

Thanks!  I just read the review.  Very thorough and helpful.

 

I'll likely check out all the shows.  Though I did just look up a few youtube clips from Amade.  Maybe I'll skip that one.

[Steve H]

Just off Sunday,  the service was great in the MDR food was good as was the buffet. We were a family group and we had a great dinner in Tuscan also got 20% off the price. Music in the foyer was loud but everyone enjoyed it and it was packed.They had the concierge lunch,  we had a CC on the hump it was nice. The weather was great, overall a great time except some of us got colds near the end tested negative for Covid.

[bigAWL]

6 minutes ago, Steve H said:

Just off Sunday,  the service was great in the MDR food was good as was the buffet. We were a family group and we had a great dinner in Tuscan also got 20% off the price. Music in the foyer was loud but everyone enjoyed it and it was packed.They had the concierge lunch,  we had a CC on the hump it was nice. The weather was great, overall a great time except some of us got colds near the end tested negative for Covid.

Thanks!  What the concierge lunch on embarkation day?  Others reported it happening later in the cruise on a port day, but that may be due to differing departure times for different sailings.

[Steve H]

On embarkation day I’m pretty sure.

[TeachAloha]

Sailed in May, and it was wonderful. I agree with the music in the atrium is too much and people camp out in the chairs around the area so it can get crowded. We are now show people, but we had a blast at the silent disco nights. they usually do 3 different channels so always something fun to dance to & great for a multi-age group. 

 

As for the ports, Icy Straight is not much to see, but the Gondola is beautiful (FYI, there are 2 the green that is free and takes you to the main area & the Red that has a fee but takes you up much higher)

 

Juno & Ketchikan we just wandered around & did not do excursions. Juno has some fantastic breweries & distilleries. A crew member mentioned to get Thai food there as it's the best they've had. They were right!

 

Ketchikan, we booked a pub tour with a couple that are just the coolest people. Send me a message if you're interested & I can pass along the info. We got a great walking tour and visited some dive bars. 

 

Weather, in late May it was way warmer than I expected. We did not use any of the warmer gear we packed. Just a light rainoat over pants & a tee. 

 

On the glacier days, it's just breathtaking, we found the Solarium was not very crowded and we got the best views (some of the windows open)

 

Edited June 12, 2023 by TeachAloha

[phoenix_dream]

On 6/8/2023 at 8:23 AM, Alsmez said:

Here a link to the dining review: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2942993-celebrity-eclipse-dining-review-may-28-2023-sailing/

 

 

As for the production shows, we stopped by most of them but left quickly because the singing was poor (we are pro classical musicians - others may have felt that the singing was good). The show called Topper was odd but there were at least dancers and aerialists to distract us from the bad music. Amade was a joke.

Different tastes for everyone.  Not sure of the quality of singers on this particular ship, but Topper is one of my all time favorite Celebrity shows!  Love the music options.  Over the years (and many cruises) we've seen some great singers, and some just ok singers, but never bad ones.  And having a live orchestra is great and being eliminated on many lines.  I did not care for Amade either - once and done for that one.  

[CU64]

11 hours ago, phoenix_dream said:

Different tastes for everyone.  Not sure of the quality of singers on this particular ship, but Topper is one of my all time favorite Celebrity shows!  Love the music options.  Over the years (and many cruises) we've seen some great singers, and some just ok singers, but never bad ones.  And having a live orchestra is great and being eliminated on many lines.  I did not care for Amade either - once and done for that one.  

March New Zealand….fabulous female violinist on Deck 5, behind Murano…I know music. Also terrific couple, she sang, he played guitar….same bar area on Deck 5…..went every night after dinner. Did not like Topper….left.