s0479

It just went into dry dock in early December 

They are out - at least some 

I had my booking on board OBC disappear when I moved the cruise.  Contacted my TA and was corrected that same day.

On the Solstice to was in Tuscan.

On 5/4/2023 at 9:04 AM, Chrissit said:

 

I actually held off answering this question so I could walk through a few decks this morning and give a balanced answer. I'm going to say yes, the Solstice is good shape.

 

Are there things that show she's a 15 year old ship? Of course. There are places that we can see repairs were made. Some of the soft goods are showing wear. Nothing crazy bad. There is a glass panel in one of the elevators that is broken/covered.  There are small dings, nicks, and I'm pretty sure the curtains in the cabin have a small hole in them. But they did a great job blocking out the sun this morning so I'm pretty happy with that. 

 

The ship overall is beautiful and she's looking good. The railings are in great shape (we did a cruise on Freedom of the Seas a few years ago and the varnish peeling from the railings was very noticeable and peppered around the ship). The color scheme is the older one, but we like it. Food so far has been very good. 

 

The crew has been nothing but amazing and like usual, they were out cleaning, scrubbing and doing their best to keep her clean. Everyone we have encountered so far have been kind and very engaging. 

 

Hopefully that helps? 

I’m on this cruise also and agree overall the ship looks good.  The biggest sign of wear I’ve seen is the table on my balcony and a few windows need to be fixed.

If my mom is traveling and not elite would she get a pass too?  Thanks!

I ended up booking train up and bus back just because there are stops with tr bus and read you can get some better photos.

We went a year  - it was ok.  Beautiful and views great, staff great,  bit bigger boat than I’d prefer.  For us it was a double decker.

It was in main dining room 12-3 on Eclipse last month - first day.

I think mine did the second day or cruise 

On my 5/15 cruise it was 12 - 3.  Of course our embarkation was horrible and took 3 hours to get on so many probably missed it!  I got on there at 2:55 so just made it - it was "ok" food wise - it was nice to relax in the dining room vs. the craziness of the buffet.

15 minutes ago, Peteymil said:

Food - very good (We were in Blu), and the buffet was also good

Service - excellent in Blu; generally good but you could tell at certain points that they were shorthanded (staff covid isolation)

weather - mostly great! Juneau and Ketchikan sunny and 60's, Sunny and beautiful at Hubbard Glacier

70 % full

Very little in the way of COVID protocols; huge lines for check in (took 3 hours in packed spaces), very little masking, no transparency on # of cases, reports now of people coming down with Covid now that they are home

Barnacles had a huge impact: Very, very short hours in Ketchikan and Sitka

 

Having said all that, because we have done this cruise multiple times, I could live with the short port times, but had it been my first time in Alaska, I would have been very upset.

They are taking care of the barnacles this week, so this should not be a problem again.

 

As far as Covid, we do there were isolated individuals that were holdovers from the previous cruise. Don't know if/how many from this cruise.  As many people have posted, Covid is a risk you have to be willing to take, if you are going to cruise.  We masked everywhere inside and so far we are fine, but who knows.

 

It was still a beautiful cruise and I would do it again.

 

 

I agree overall!  The disappointments for me were embarkation and shorter port times.  I personally would have liked more openness about COVID numbers and I believe it just helps make decisions.  Overall a great cruise!

24 minutes ago, kjwinston2019 said:

I wonder why I read so much on the Celebrity (Cruise Critic) Now I am getting worried about Staff shortages causing delays in the MDR? We have never seen to have a concern here for we always go to the Last sitting to "DINE" with each other. We don't mind waiting and enjoy alot of time with the employees. If there is a problem, we would just talk to the  Maitre'd  they always will try to make it right, I am waiting for some of the first recent reviews after April 1st to see if this staffing concern is still a problem. 

Reading other lines they seem to be in the same Boat....(no Pun intended) Has anyone else heard any other reviews on the Eclipse recent? 

I can get in and out of main dining room in less than an hour.

2 minutes ago, kjwinston2019 said:

I am sorry, but a little condused here. (must be the grey cells) Are the cruise lines not requiring Covid shots with boosters anymore? I have recieved 8 tests now from the federal goverment can't we use those on the before and after cruise?

Not on celebrity- you have to used proctored tests to get on and to fly back to US.  

14 minutes ago, canderson said:

Did you read what followed?  Go online and try to book a one way rental from CA to the US.

Yeah I tried that for other reasons other than COVID and couldn’t find one.  

38 minutes ago, Babr said:

Thanks for the clarification.

 

May 17 gives you five more days for US sailings. The policy took effect May 1 for Europe - assistance with arrangements but no reimbursement.

Yep I leave May 15 so whew!

46 minutes ago, Babr said:

The biggest change is that Celebrity is no longer providing financial assistance  once you disembark. You can remain on the ship to finish required quarantine at no additional cost, but Celebrity will not arrange or pay for shoreside delays but will assist with air if you booked through them.

 

It becomes a problem if you test positive at disembarkation and can’t fly home right away.

Depends on when you sail - different rules for Europe too

For all Celebrity cruises scheduled to sail from the U.S. on or before May 17, 2022, if you test positive for COVID-19 during the voyage:
• Celebrity will cover the cost of necessary COVID-19 related medical treatment onboard the ship;
• you and members of your Traveling Party may stay onboard the ship to complete any required quarantine period, without needing to pay additional cruise fare, stateroom gratuities or taxes/fees to Celebrity for the same. As an alternative, Celebrity will coordinate and cover the costs of any required land-based quarantine for you and members of your Traveling Party;

I’ve heard that the FCC can be transferred one time.  But was wondering if anyone has successfully done this.  I have an email out to celebrity but don’t know how long they will take to get back to me and I need to make a decision pretty quickly.   Thank you!

14 minutes ago, tpeacockiii said:

This is the unfortunate costs of cancelling the sailing. Vancouver isn't convenient for most people to get to. Even for us coming from Atlanta, the trip is involved. We're on the 5/29 sailing. I'm optimistic that the drydock goes well (still no clue where that is) and our sailing is not impacted.

 

There's no easy answer for Celebrity - you either piss off 1 sailing of passengers or an entire seasons of passengers. They should have been able to handle this BEFORE the Hawaii cruise began - for whatever reason they didn't catch the issue until after it was too late apparently.

Word is they were scheduled to fix right before Hawaii cruise but there was poor weather and it couldn’t be done.  I guess it’s a pretty involved process of how and where it can be done.

10 minutes ago, s0479 said:

 

Nevermind now 5/22 not showing 

5 hours ago, 5waldos said:

15 minutes ago, TeachAloha said:

It's wild. I am on the phone right now and the agent said I was wrong it was sailing??? I read her the letter am now on hold.. Will keep you updated. 

Well I will say the 5/15 isn’t showing on the website - I thought it may have been because they were updating everything- I would hope they wouldn’t mess up the communication that badly!

11 minutes ago, vicnsue said:

Has there been any other ships reporting issues with barnacles? Was the Eclipse docked for long periods of time or just station keeping somewhere?

Off of Long Beach for two years plus

2 hours ago, PKB said:

We fly out at 6:00am Wednesday for Seattle and Friday sailing.  Testing at home would be too early.  Will have to do the proctored online tests at the hotel.  I plan to do an at home test Tuesday night before flying out the next morning just to make sure I am negative.  Would hate to waste a transcontinental flight because I was positive and could have canceled and stayed home.

Why can’t u test before your flight?  We tested at about 4am before we flew.

Ours didn’t have loungers on our Nov 2021 cruise - though we didn’t ask either.

I don’t believe the Eclipse has sailed since COVID- it’s been anchored off of San Diego