Eclipse review Baltics 5/6/16

We were on the Baltics cruise that followed the one that had the Norovirus. The handling of this was excellent and did not impact on as at all although I think the crew were quite tired and had to do a lot of extra shifts because of it but you would never have known and they kept smiling through. All dining areas and the shops and toilets had crew enforcing hand sanitising for the whole 2 weeks and the buffet was served by crew until the last 3 or 4 days at sea which I preferred, it might take 5 more minutes to get your food but at least it is not sneezed on,coughed on or mauled about by other passengers.

The organisation at the port was great, we were allowed to leave our luggage, get booked in (no line at all) and then headed off into town for lunch, when we returned we went straight through security and straight onto the ship. I must say I think we were lucky as when we returned the line was massive. We had to wait about 2 hours before our cabin was ready(9128 with balcony) but that was because of a deep clean going on. Our luggage was delivered very shortly after our cabin was ready at about 6pm. We unpacked then changed and headed down to check our dinner seating. We had tried for select dining but it was full so we ended up with early dining which actually suited us fine as we are not late diners and we liked to catch the early show at 8.30pm. We asked for a quiet table for 2 and that is what we got. Our waiters were very efficient and kind and we had great service for the whole 2 weeks. The cabin was quiet apart from our neighbours who seemed unable to close a door without slamming it! It was kept clean and tidy everyday and the tea and coffee tray was replenished twice a day as were any toiletries we used. The shampoo and body lotion smelled lovely !

We did not have great weather but the sailing was always smooth going.

The captain was always very visible and seemed to lead a very happy team (he has a great sense of humour). The officers are friendly and interact with passengers as do most of the crew. We were greeted everywhere by smiles and hellos and good morning, good evening etc wherever we were on board. Especially nice was the warm welcome back after excursions where the crew would be waiting with hot chocolate and soup and a kind word and a smile. We really were made to feel like valued guests.

The entertainment was okayish but not superb(IMHO) but that is a matter of personal taste and the entertainers put their all into their performances. I would have liked a few more production shows, even small ones as there was not enough evening entertainment for my taste unless one stayed up late at night which is not doable on early excursion days! I enjoyed the quizzes and I must say the activities team of Dan and Brendan were very funny and hard working. (the newlywed game is a must) Bingo is very very pricey and we played twice, would have played more if it was a bit cheaper(£40 for 3 games ! eek)

Ship shops were expensive as expected for cruise ships although the perfume and aftershave is quite good value.

Ports were all very good as we had hoped as they were the reason we choose this cruise. We did Celebrity tours in St Petersburg, pricey but okay and we liked the peace of mind they came with. Tallinn was a shuttle service into the town bought on the dock. Stockholm was the Vasa museum through Celebrity, I would not recommend as it was expensive and not enough time in museum. Warnemunde we did a tour to Rostock from the dock with a local company which was great, a fabulous funny guide and 2 drinks each included, we also got 2 free hours in Rostock to shop. On return to Warnemunde we walked into the pretty town and hopped on the noddy train for 5E each. Copenhagen we did through Celebrity and I think it would have been better to use the hop on hop off bus on the dock as it was very very close and a lot cheaper, you live and learn.

We enjoyed all our meals on board and I have included some pics of food for the foodies which are available to view on the review page of this site (sorry I cannot figure out how to add pictures on this part of the site)

:) Room service breakfast is the only thing not too good but it is okay if you only choose cold items like cereal and danish. The cafe el Bacio had the nicest peanut butter cookies ever and Murano was a wonderful treat on my husbands 70th birthday. They provided a beautiful chocolate cake which he was delighted with. We did try Tuscan Grille and Qsine as we got a 2 for 1 deal which was worth it to us to try. I thought Tuscan Grille was no better than the MDR really apart from the nicer chairs and table to sit at and the service was lovely. Qsine was good but I would not go again as I think it is too faddy but my husband said he would do it again and the service in here was also exceptional.

We thought the glass blowing was a bit boring and a waste of space but others seemed to enjoy it.

We did watch some Pay movies in the cabin and they cost $12.95 , there was quite a good up to date selection and some decent movies on the free channels also. We liked the interactive TV in cabin for accounts and navigation channel it was fun to see where we were on the TV.

Overall we did enjoy this cruise very much and we have booked for the Fjords next April.

Thank you so much for your review. We are doing the Baltic in 2017 and your information was very helpful. Glad to hear you enjoyed your cruise

Thank you so much for your review. We are doing the Baltic in 2017 and your information was very helpful. Glad to hear you enjoyed your cruise

you are welcome..there are some pictures as well on the review page under title Happy Ship Eclipse....I am sure you will have a marvellous cruise:)

I have just realised after reading my review through that it may seem I do not recommend the Vasa museum in Stockholm. I wholeheartedly encourage anyone to visit this wonderful museumbut just not to take the ship excursion which did not give enough time in the Museum.

Thanks for the report.

I have just realised after reading my review through that it may seem I do not recommend the Vasa museum in Stockholm. I wholeheartedly encourage anyone to visit this wonderful museumbut just not to take the ship excursion which did not give enough time in the Museum.

We took the local bus from the end of the pier and it dropped us just a couple of minutes walk from the VASA museum. I had read great reports but my OH is not a museum person. When you enter you see the whole ship in one room and he said (sarcastically) " right then we've seen it" however we spent nearly 2 hours there as it was superb. The info panels are really interesting and the scale of the ship is amazing. It's also potentially walkable in around 30-40 mins from the ship for anyone wanting to stretch their legs.

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Thanks for your review.

Tremendous!! A very helpful review. We are on Eclipse the 17th of July. It is so nice to hear from those happy with their cruise.

Thank you for your review.

Keith

everyone who thanked me for the review..you are welcome. I had so much info from this forum before we went that it only seems fair to give back a little:)

Thank you for this and the port info. We are on the 17/7 cruise and having done private tours on our 2012 Baltic trip on Eclipse are taking it easy this time and the availability of shuttles etc at ports was useful.

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That's really interesting that you were on the one after the norovirus. We got off on the 5th june and our cruise had not had it or any sign of it, we got to serve ourself in the buffet etc. I wander when that happened.

That's really interesting that you were on the one after the norovirus. We got off on the 5th june and our cruise had not had it or any sign of it, we got to serve ourself in the buffet etc. I wander when that happened.

We deffo went on the 5th June Baltics cruise I am sure I did not imagine going LOL :rolleyes: They had the whole ship in deep clean mode when we boarded and the whole checking in area was in hyper sanitising mode!

That's really interesting that you were on the one after the norovirus. We got off on the 5th june and our cruise had not had it or any sign of it, we got to serve ourself in the buffet etc. I wander when that happened.

Really? We got off on the 5th. The buffet was staff served from day 5 to the end of the cruise. The soft furnishings were removed from the cabins, the daily paper had a Noro warning every day, the Captains daily announcement warned people about the virus, there was a letter delivered to cabins on the last day asking for people to declare if they had suffered from Noro and not sought treatment, the Martini Bar lost its ice bar and ghostbuster clean up teams were everywhere. The buffet stations were wrapped in film for 7 days to stop people even trying to serve themselves and on the last three days staff wouldn't touch your cruise card in case of cross infection.

You must have been in a different sailing date or ship.

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Hi, thanks for the review. I will be on this cruise at the end of July. Could you tell me the kind of films avaliale to buy, on the interactive TV?

Thanks in advance.

Hi, thanks for the review. I will be on this cruise at the end of July. Could you tell me the kind of films avaliale to buy, on the interactive TV?

 

Thanks in advance.

Hello...they may well be different when you cruise but we watched things like Deadpool, a couple of the newer type of things you would get on Sky but I can't recall the names now...the freeview had a few films like Spectre and some others we had not seen.