Live from Celebrity Eclipse on a 6 day cruise from L.A. to Cabo..,

[CTSandy]

Following your report with a lot of interest.  Have never sailed Eclipse, but she will be sailing out of NJ this summer and I have booked May 26 sailing to Bermuda. Loved Summit and was sad when they moved her, hoping we like Eclipse.  Thanks for posting!
 

Your toilet issue is not encouraging - just got home Sunday from a cruise on Oasis of the Seas and our toilet was unflushable for an hour or two.  I called and they said they had plumbers working on it - we never saw them in our room, so I’m assuming something got thrown in on another cabin.

[Stockjock]

22 minutes ago, CTSandy said:

Following your report with a lot of interest.  Have never sailed Eclipse, but she will be sailing out of NJ this summer and I have booked May 26 sailing to Bermuda. Loved Summit and was sad when they moved her, hoping we like Eclipse.  Thanks for posting!
 

Your toilet issue is not encouraging - just got home Sunday from a cruise on Oasis of the Seas and our toilet was unflushable for an hour or two.  I called and they said they had plumbers working on it - we never saw them in our room, so I’m assuming something got thrown in on another cabin.

One thing I will say to their credit is that the assistant housekeeping manager, Clyde, just showed up at my door and apologized for the problem and he gave me his card and told me to call him personally if we experienced this issue again.

 

So I thought that was a plus for sure. I’m hoping the problem does not happen for a third time.  He seemed to take the problem very seriously and listened intently, and did not act like I was insane, lol.

 

for what it’s worth, Clyde just called back and offered us a complementary bag of laundry for our issues, which I thought was very nice of him to do.

Edited October 26, 2023 by Stockjock

[lovecruzin]

It looks like you did an excursion of some sort in Cabo? Did I miss what it was?

Did tenders over night while you were in Cabo?

Edited October 26, 2023 by lovecruzin

[Stockjock]

6 hours ago, lovecruzin said:

It looks like you did an excursion of some sort in Cabo? Did I miss what it was?

Did tenders over night while you were in Cabo?

We didn’t do any formal excursions in Cabo San Lucas. The first day, we just went to dinner, and also got some drinks, both downtown and at Medano Beach. Today we did a 45 minute tour in a glass, bottom boat, but it was not organized through the cruise line.

[Stockjock]

2 o’clock in the morning here, and once again, the toilet began overflowing onto the floor. We called the front desk and they sent a plumber up to look at it for a minute and then he disappeared. They didn’t tell us what they were or were not going to do to address the problem, but after we flushed it many times, once again, it stopped overflowing.
 

We then got a phone call from the front desk, and a fellow with a heavy Indian accent started yelling at us, telling us that we need to tell the customer to clean the toilet. I didn’t know what the hell he was talking about, neither did my buddy, so I told him that I didn’t know what he meant and then he started really yelling and said I told you you need to tell the customer to clean the toilet!  I then told him that I was the customer, and he apologized and said he called the wrong number.

 

Then, they sent housekeeping here, but they really was not anything to clean, because we stood there, pressing flush over and over again until the problems stopped. I told him that this wasn’t a housekeeping issue. It was a plumbing issue.

 

They forgot our chocolates tonight, which I didn’t mention, but I did mention that they only gave us one bath towel, and asked if he could rectify that, and he did.

 

I still don’t think this plumbing issue is resolved. I might have to call the assistant, housekeeping manager, Clyde, in the morning. It’s pretty annoying.

 

 

Edited October 26, 2023 by Stockjock

[AMediator]

1 hour ago, Stockjock said:

2 o’clock in the morning here, and once again, the toilet began overflowing onto the floor. We called the front desk and they sent a plumber up to look at it for a minute and then he disappeared. They didn’t tell us what they were or were not going to do to address the problem, but after we flushed it many times, once again, it stopped overflowing.
 

We then got a phone call from the front desk, and a fellow with a heavy Indian accent started yelling at us, telling us that we need to tell the customer to clean the toilet. I didn’t know what the hell he was talking about, neither did my buddy, so I told him that I didn’t know what he meant and then he started really yelling and said I told you you need to tell the customer to clean the toilet!  I then told him that I was the customer, and he apologized and said he called the wrong number.

 

Then, they sent housekeeping here, but they really was not anything to clean, because we stood there, pressing flush over and over again until the problems stopped. I told him that this wasn’t a housekeeping issue. It was a plumbing issue.

 

They forgot our chocolates tonight, which I didn’t mention, but I did mention that they only gave us one bath towel, and asked if he could rectify that, and he did.

 

I still don’t think this plumbing issue is resolved. I might have to call the assistant, housekeeping manager, Clyde, in the morning. It’s pretty annoying.

 

 

IMG_0542.mov 114.25 MB · 1 download

 

If this happened in a hotel not only would you be moved to a suite but you would get a credit.  I would be moving up the management food chain on this one. I find this toilet issue 100 unacceptable.  

[binro01]

Do you mind sharing what Cabin number you are in? I’m in a concierge cabin on Saturday on Eclipse as well. 

[Beachlover1989]

5 hours ago, Stockjock said:

2 o’clock in the morning here, and once again, the toilet began overflowing onto the floor. We called the front desk and they sent a plumber up to look at it for a minute and then he disappeared. They didn’t tell us what they were or were not going to do to address the problem, but after we flushed it many times, once again, it stopped overflowing.
 

We then got a phone call from the front desk, and a fellow with a heavy Indian accent started yelling at us, telling us that we need to tell the customer to clean the toilet. I didn’t know what the hell he was talking about, neither did my buddy, so I told him that I didn’t know what he meant and then he started really yelling and said I told you you need to tell the customer to clean the toilet!  I then told him that I was the customer, and he apologized and said he called the wrong number.

 

Then, they sent housekeeping here, but they really was not anything to clean, because we stood there, pressing flush over and over again until the problems stopped. I told him that this wasn’t a housekeeping issue. It was a plumbing issue.

 

They forgot our chocolates tonight, which I didn’t mention, but I did mention that they only gave us one bath towel, and asked if he could rectify that, and he did.

 

I still don’t think this plumbing issue is resolved. I might have to call the assistant, housekeeping manager, Clyde, in the morning. It’s pretty annoying.

 

 

IMG_0542.mov 114.25 MB · 6 downloads

 

There is nothing more frustrating on vacation than when something goes wrong like this and they tell you it's your fault!

[Stockjock]

2 hours ago, binro01 said:

Do you mind sharing what Cabin number you are in? I’m in a concierge cabin on Saturday on Eclipse as well. 

1065

[Stockjock]

Quite a bit of noise from the balcony last night, and I think I figured out why. It looks like there’s some problem with the glass divider, and the wind moves it around, which causes it to get pretty noisy. Apparently, this is how they have “fixed” the problem, by wedging, a piece of paper in there, but that really doesn’t fix it. So I actually slept ok, but I could hear this divider moving and making noise all night. 

Edited October 26, 2023 by Stockjock

[lovecruzin]

On 10/23/2023 at 9:02 AM, NutsAboutGolf said:

Enjoy!  Would like to know what you were planning on doing your evening/night in Cabo and the overnight tender schedule

Interested in the tender schedule as well!

[hcat]

You posted some nice photos.. enjoyed them..thanks.

 

We would not sail on  this  ship.  The older ones seem to have alot of deferred maint issues..ugh.

 

Your last ship also seemed dated.   Even EDGE is not in "new ship" condition anymore. . Maybe the key.is to book the newest ones as they debut .

 

Hope we are not disappointed with Silhouette despite good reviews!

 

 

[Stockjock]

21 minutes ago, hcat said:

You posted some nice photos.. enjoyed them..thanks.

 

We would not sail on  this  ship.  The older ones seem to have alot of deferred maint issues..ugh.

 

Your last ship also seemed dated.   Even EDGE is not in "new ship" condition anymore. . Maybe the key.is to book the newest ones as they debut .

 

Hope we are not disappointed with Silhouette despite good reviews!

 

 

Our next cruise with Celebrity is on Ascent.

[Stockjock]

1 hour ago, lovecruzin said:

Interested in the tender schedule as well!

The tenders ran all night. There’s a little bit of a wait to get on the tenders, but it wasn’t bad. No complaints there.

[Stockjock]

Just a few photos from last night’s dinner, and show. Starting with the show, I think that the entertainment fellow we talked to, Benji, was correct, in that the storyline makes no sense whatsoever. I thought the show was OK. I think it’s worth seeing, but it’s odd, and sometimes odd is good and sometimes odd is not too good. So you can see Amade, but temper your expectations, because the storyline is quite disjointed. In fact, there is no storyline, lol. That said, I do think the entertainers are pretty good.

 

In terms of the dinner, the service in the main dining room was very good. The food quality was hit and miss. I think that the veal medallions I had were very good and flavorful. I don’t like green beans, so they substituted some other veggies, and I thought that worked out pretty nicely. My buddy had the sirloin, and he said it was tasty. I asked him to rate it on a 1 to 10 scale and he said probably it rated a 6 1/2 or 7.  This mirrors my recent experience on Infinity, so I don’t personally love those little thin, sirloin steaks, but that’s what’s on the menu.
 

By the way, if you’re looking for a good red wine that is included on the premium drink package, but not listed on the menu, I recommend the Decoy Cabernet.  Dessert was nothing special.
 

Today is a sea day, and I think it is elegant night tonight. I’m hopeful that the food will be stepped up a notch, but we will see.

 

We had a rattle that was pretty annoying all evening, coming from the veranda.  This morning, I noticed that when the wind hit the veranda, it was moving it around because the bracket shown is loose. So the glass bangs back-and-forth when the wind hits it.  You can see their “repair” attempt, which is basically shoving a piece of paper up in there that really doesn’t stay in place completely. So that was another thing that was a little annoying. I was able to sleep, but I would wake up periodically because of some clanking sounds coming from the balcony. 

Edited October 26, 2023 by Stockjock

[CunucuMom]

Between the overflowing toilet and the rattling divider, it's amazing you slept at all.  Definitely makes me reconsider our Eclipse booking next year.  Thank you for taking the time to post and for sharing your photos.  Hopefully the rest of your cruise brings you only the best!

[Stockjock]

37 minutes ago, CunucuMom said:

Between the overflowing toilet and the rattling divider, it's amazing you slept at all.  Definitely makes me reconsider our Eclipse booking next year.  Thank you for taking the time to post and for sharing your photos.  Hopefully the rest of your cruise brings you only the best!

Despite all of this, we are still having a good time. My buddy and his girlfriend recently got back from cruising on one of those Ritz Carlton yachts and he was dazzled by the service he received there, so I think it’s a pretty big step down from that, of course, but he seems to be having a good time.  He and his girlfriend are much bigger spenders than I am, I don’t know what the Ritz-Carlton yacht cost him, but if I had to guess somewhere between $10,000, and $20,000, perhaps more, so Celebrity has an opportunity to impress people like him. I’m sure he would cruise on Celebrity again, but I’m not sure that he is impressed. 
 

But yes, of course there are a few things that could be done a little bit better. I think when I referred to a lack of attention to detail earlier, that’s something that could be improved upon for sure.
 

One little example from last night, one bath towel hung, and a gaping space where the 2nd towel should be. And then no towel for the floor, and no chocolates on the pillows. But the bathroom thing was pretty glaring because it was so obvious that there was a space where there should be a towel. Now this is not the end of the world, and I don’t wish to make a federal case out of it, and I do think our housekeeper has been very good overall. But just pay attention to those little details.
 

Another example of not paying attention to details was the fellow I mentioned earlier, who was yelling at us on the phone saying to tell the passenger to clean the toilet over and over again. I spoke with him, and so did my friend.  We are both native-born Americans who are English speakers, so it should’ve been obvious that he wasn’t talking to somebody from the Philippines, or Indonesia. And eventually, he did say that he dialed the wrong number and apologized, and I’ve dialed numbers incorrectly myself, but what I’m saying is get a clue.  If your Plumber is from the Philippines, India, or India, and you get two guys who sound like they’re from California asking, what the hell you’re talking about, don’t just get upset and raise your voice, figure out that you called the wrong number, for God’s sake.

 

And I also think that when the customer has a problem, it could be sometimes be handled a little better or differently, though , I thought that Clyde, one of the assistant managers in housekeeping, seemed to listen very intently and tried to rectify the problem. 

 

I would not recommend necessarily avoiding Eclipse, because it’s still a relatively nice ship, and there are a lot of good things about it. But you can see that there are some maintenance items here and there, some of the chairs in the dining room, for example are looking pretty tattered and worn on the armrest and that sort of thing.  I think the prices we are paying we can’t expect perfection, but maybe we can expect a little bit better.

 

For the most part, my impressions of the majority of the crew is pretty favorable. They mostly seem to be happy and more or less enjoying their jobs. So I suspect that Management treats them reasonably well, because I’ve been on ships where I don’t think that was the case, and they seem miserable. They don’t seem miserable on the ship at all. They seem like they’re having a good time, for the most part, and I like the spirit and camaraderie, in general.

Edited October 26, 2023 by Stockjock

[saffy12]

5 hours ago, binro01 said:

Do you mind sharing what Cabin number you are in? I’m in a concierge cabin on Saturday on Eclipse as well. 

I was going to ask as well!  My cruise isn't until February, but want to make sure my toilet works!

[lovecruzin]

1 hour ago, hcat said:

You posted some nice photos.. enjoyed them..thanks.

 

We would not sail on  this  ship.  The older ones seem to have alot of deferred maint issues..ugh.

 

Your last ship also seemed dated.   Even EDGE is not in "new ship" condition anymore. . Maybe the key.is to book the newest ones as they debut .

 

Hope we are not disappointed with Silhouette despite good reviews!

 

 

Shame you wouldn’t sail on EC or an older one. We’ve spent 60+ nights onboard since the restart. The crew is excellent and despite being a bit dated she is well maintained …although the toilet experience by Stockjock is concerning.

[saffy12]

12 minutes ago, Stockjock said:

If your Plumber is from the Philippines or India, and you get two guys who sound like they’re from California asking, what the hell you’re talking about, don’t just get upset and raise your voice, figure out that you called the wrong number, for God’s sake.

 

I think that this is the worst part of the whole situation!  It's bad enough that you have had to deal with a toilet not working on multiple occasions, but to then be yelled at about it is too much.  And, am I understanding correctly, this all happened around 2am?     Plus, I wonder about the advise for guests to clean their toilet in any case - on a cruise, I do not expect to be the one cleaning toilets!  That should be something my housekeeping staff does, so why are they telling the guests to do that?    It's just odd all around!

 

Glad you are otherwise enjoying your trip!

[JeanieC,Aston]

You usually won’t see a plumber fixing the toilet in your cabin there is nothing in there for him to fix.

All the workings for the toilet are behind a panel in the corridor,,,most times he may have to take out the panels for several cabins until he finds the one who has been flushing the wet wipes down the pan.

 

When he came the second time and the toilet flushed,,,he probably fixed it first time without the occupants noticing.

 

Usually thought reception will phone you to confirm it’s now working.

[Stockjock]

Just add one more comment, Clyde the assistant, housekeeping, supervisor, just came by again, and he offered to book a specialty restaurant for us, and I accepted his offer, which was very nice. And we had a very pleasant conversation about some of the things that I’ve discussed here, particularly attention to detail.
 

I told him that I did not want to get anybody into trouble, but I thought that there were some areas that they could button up a little bit.

[hcat]

1 hour ago, Stockjock said:

Our next cruise with Celebrity is on Ascent.

Us too.  Hope we  will find everything  in great shape with a top notch crew!

[hcat]

24 minutes ago, lovecruzin said:

Shame you wouldn’t sail on EC or an older one. We’ve spent 60+ nights onboard since the restart. The crew is excellent and despite being a bit dated she is well maintained …although the toilet experience by Stockjock is concerning.

we had enough aggravation on Infinity a few yrs ago (no A/C,  mildew, wet corridor carpet).... and moved on to E Class..but we are going to try a short cruise on Silhouette..sailed on her when she was new!

[AMediator]

10 minutes ago, Stockjock said:

Just add one more comment, Clyde the assistant, housekeeping, supervisor, just came by again, and he offered to book a specialty restaurant for us, and I accepted his offer, which was very nice. And we had a very pleasant conversation about some of the things that I’ve discussed here, particularly attention to detail.
 

I told him that I did not want to get anybody into trouble, but I thought that there were some areas that they could button up a little bit.

Glad to hear they stepped up.  This isn't about the ship - it is about customer service.  Thanks for the updates!  I am looking forward to boarding in December.