Podie

SHIP: Eclipse

CABIN: 6254

DECK: 6

CLASS: Veranda

AREA: Mid ship

BED NEAR: Closet

QUIET: Very!

BALCONY VIEW: Obstructed if looking straight down (lifeboat)

BALCONY SIZE: Standard (MUCH larger than Norwegian!!!)

WIND A PROBLEM: No

SOOT A PROBLEM: No

PROBLEMS/COMMENTS: Great location, starboard side, amazing attendant!

Select issues are why we stick to Trad. early seating.

I much prefer traditional dining, but it was completely unavailable when I booked the cruise nine months out. I was able to get late seating for our Dec 2017 cruise, thankfully.

We are booked on Silever Moon in Feb while on Equinox. Thanks for the positive feedback. Were you able to swim with the Turtles?

The short answer is yes, we could swim with one turtle. I chose not to because there were two other boats there and I didn't want to crowd the turtle, who didn't seem stressed but too many people (not from our boat) were practically riding him.

Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts about your Eclipse cruise and for taking questions. We just got off of Infinity for a 15 night Panama Canal cruise. Our experience with Select Dining, food selections and quality, and waiting times was quite similar. In 16 Celebrity cruises we never looked at the MDR menu to decide to eat in the Oceanview instead. This happened on 3 different evenings.

 

We sail on Eclipse in February and have a question about Select Dining. On Infinity we were unable to make reservations for dining times between 6 & 8 PM. We were often given a beeper and waited anywhere between 30-45 minutes for a table and then sometimes another 15 minutes before the waiter came to the table. Like you, we often felt the disorganization in the dining room. Food items that we have enjoyed on previous cruises were served overcooked (particularly fish), dried out (perhaps sitting out too long), and bland. Twice a chef came to our table with the Assistant Maitre'd and asked our opinions about the food. We were polite, but honest. Were you able to make your dinner reservations onboard or were you able to make them online?

 

Thanks so much for your help.

 

Sandie

I made the reservations online a few weeks before the cruise. However, it was so disorganized that we never sat at our reservation time, and once we were literally led all over the dining area while they found an open table.

We will be on Eclipse next month so this is helpful. What time did you have to vacate your cabin on the final morning? Thanks

7 am

This was very confusing to me when I was on Eclipse this 11/27-12/11. The Passport Bar has a large beer case on the wall across from the bar, and the daily paper states it has "pub style food" available, but not once did I see any evidence of food. Nor was it ever called the Gastropub. My partner upgraded his package so he could have Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, but yes, there were some beers with prices way above the premium package.

Cellar Masters, which I thought was to become a pub, sat completely empty a good 95% of the time. I don't know why they don't do something with it.

This may sound like a really crazy question, but is there any sure way to tell whether the bed is near the bathroom or near the veranda in a specific cabin? I'm talking about Eclipse, and yes, I have checked the cabin spreadsheet on this thread and the cabin I'm interested in (7240) does not have an entry.

My cabin attendant on Eclipse said they are alternated each cabin, and all you have to do is find the bed placement in the first cabin on that side (starboard, in my case) and then you can figure out the rest. And I remember seeing deck plans that show the little "indentations" showing where the bed is in a cabin, but now I can't find that type of deck plan.

I also tried finding a cabin closest to 7240 on the spreadsheet and then doing the alternate count, but the results were contradictory. Any suggestions? I've always done the bed near the bathroom and next time I really want to try the other configuration. Thanks!

That has never been our experience on any Celebrity ship. Usually the chairs are full at least by 8:30am. Last cruise a certain 'leader of the pack' had 10-12 chairs all 'saved' with colourful pegs. Absolutely no-one showed up until 11am most days (we like to stay in somewhat the same area) and no deck supervisor put any kind of card on the 'saved row'. In fact, we overheard a passenger inquiring re the 'row of chairs', the deck person saying "oh...those chairs are saved", as if that was ok. The 10-12 people came and went leaving most chairs empty with people looking for one they could use. That was on a 7 day Reflection...may have had more passengers than the Eclipse 14 day. We'll be on the 14 day Eclipse in March and we'll see if the sun lounges will be more accessible.

Wow, I'm surprised at that. I can only speak for the solarium, because I don't sit on the open pool deck, but in the solarium every single lounge chair had a card on it every morning reminding everyone of the policy. And I never saw a "reserved" chair the 14 days I was there.

Podie,

 

Since you offered.

 

Were the evening shows 7 PM and 9 PM?

 

Thanks

That sounds right, but since I don't go to shows, I'm not positive.

Just off Eclipse last week, and Cafe al Bacio had all the yummy stuff on our cruise.

Passed Tiami cats when I was on 12 passenger Silver Moon. Tiami looked very crowded to me.

Just did the same type of five hour day on Silver Moon catamarans. By far the best excursion I have ever taken. 12 people, 60x30 foot cat, drinks, food, snorkeling and swimming, beautiful cabins for changing, $115.

Certified since 1982, never been asked for logbook and I've dived in a lot of differentlaces.

I was on the same cruise and the poor choices in the MDR and disorganized select dining are my only complaints. Yes, I voiced my concerns, to no avail. The buffet was quite good. I don't eat sandwiches but did like the egg, chicken, and tuna salads. I never had a problem finding lettuce myself. And I was pleased to learn the grill section of the buffet would grill to order steak or fish for me. But the MDR needs more choices to get me back there.

Thanks for the review. We're taking this trip next month. Looking forward to it.

 

Can I ask what were your other highlights on the other islands?

In Aruba we took a taxi to Palm Beach's Moomba Bar, which had good food and internet. Two chairs were $10 or $20 and they placed them in the shade for us. Plenty of other places as well. Gorgeous water. At night we did the Celebrity excursion Sunset Cruise on a catamaran which was nice as we were surrounded by dolphins much of the time.

Our two days in Curacao were wonderful. I scuba dived the first day, then we went downtown for a lovely meal in the old town (across the pontoon bridge) main plaza. It was all lit up for Christmas and "Sinterklaas" arrived when we were there. The second day was SUPER hot so we just wandered around the Renaissance Hotel grounds and ate in their outside shopping area.

In Barbados we had the spectacular Silver Moon experience. Specify the larger catamaran if you want to go on the 5 hour excursion, I think it's the Silver Moon II.

On St. Lucia, we went on a tour provided by our TA, a catamaran (with 72 people this time!!!) past the Pitons to Soufriere, a visit to gardens and a waterfall there, lunch, and then the catamaran back. VERY nice.

In Antigua, we took a taxi to Fort James Beach and had a great beach day. There's a great place to eat and drink, Miller's, and you can pay $30 to ride horses into the water up to their backs. Most of the crowds go to Dickenson Bay, the next beach, but Fort James is quiet.

My go-to place in St. Kitts is Palms Court Gardens about two miles from the port. It overlooks the port and the ships and has good food and drinks and a great pool. You pay $12 to get in (make reservations!) and it gets a little loud after 12 when young crewmembers from the various ships visit for three hours. But it's great.

We'd been to St. Maarten so many times that we just stayed on the ship and enjoyed our free drink package and the Persian Gardens.

Podie,

 

Thank you. Glad you enjoyed your cruise.

 

Did you have two or three "Chic" nights? What days were they scheduled?

 

Thanks, again.

Three elegant chic nights, all on sea days. One was the first or second sea day, one was the next to last sea day, and I think the third one was on the single sea day between Curacao and Barbados. I saw people in jeans in the MDR on chic nights - and maybe three men in tuxes - so I wouldn't worry too much about it. No one was turned away.

Any chance I could get copies of the dailies? tgvandegrift@aol.com

Thanks.

Sorry, but I did not save any of them.

I'm not going to do a lengthy review, but will reply to any questions.

Eclipse arrived in Miami late on our embarkation day so it was hours getting on the ship for early arrivals. Luckily, we didn't arrive until 12:30 and were on the ship about 75 minutes later. Our cabin was ready and the cabin attendant was the same one I'd had in March 2014 on Equinox. I don't know how he did it but he brought us our luggage within 15 minutes!

The ship is beautiful as was Equinox my two cruises on her. The ports were great and the ship never feels crowded, never trouble finding a place to relax, mainly because the crew removes all unattended items on lounge chairs after 30 minutes. Each chair has a card warning people of this, and as a result there are no seats "reserved" by people gone for hours. The solarium is my go-to place and we never had trouble finding places.

My only problem was with the disorganized select dining and the poor choice of menu items. We made reservations in advance for every night and always requested a certain server, but even though we were twice forced to wait ONE HOUR after our reservation time, we were only seated in his section twice in 14 days. Several times, we went to the buffet instead, which was very good. Several select diners did the same.

I can only assume it's Celebrity's way of driving us to specialty restaurants, as they are quite aggressive about selling seats to them. But the buffet was fine and I soon learned they would grill fish and steak to order up there, so it was a great alternative.

But food is not the main focus of a cruise for me so that didn't ruin my otherwise excellent experience. The casino slots were relatvely loose and we had three favorite bars - Passport on 3, Casino on 4, and Sunset on 15. We went to the Elite functions at Sky Lounge a couple of times, but preferred the more casual Sunset Bar since we had drink packages.

We booked an 11 day Caribbean on Eclipse next year because we enjoyed this so much.

I would especially like to recommend Silver Moon catamarans in Barbados. We were 2 of only 12 people on a 60 foot catamaran that was so beautiful it was like walking onto a movie set and we have already booked it for next year. Without a doubt the best 5 hour catamaran trip we've ever taken!

We'll be in Antigua on Dec. 6 and Darkwood sounds like where we want to be. Is there any special place we should ask to be dropped off?

I have always had a wonderful time shore diving with The Dive Bus in Curacao. The name is a little misleading as you can walk across the street from their shop and dive their "house reef," Pierbaai, which was very good. They're also the friendliest yet most professional people I've ever done dive business with.

Last month I did the Ho Chan/Shark Ray Alley/Caye Caulker tour in Belize with Coral Breeze Tours. I was very impressed. People who didn't want to snorkel could stay at the Caye Caulker restaurant or walk around the cute little town. You can also rent a golf cart for an hour for about $20 American. Hanging out at the restaurant is nice too, with free wi-fi. The snorkeling was great.

I just returned from my annual week-long scuba diving trip in Southern Belize. One of the locals who has worked on HC says NCL of course wants to keep people on HC, spending money, rather than offer a lot of chances to leave the island. As of last week, they were not even planning to offer boat rides to the mainland 9 miles away.

They cut through the reef to build this private island, and the marine life appears to be quite shell-shocked as a result. (That's first hand, not hearsay) The whale sharks which have been feeding in the area for many years, near Gladden Spit, have disappeared.

Like Royal Caribbean's "snorkeling and scuba trail" at their private islands, they will probably have a largely man-made area that will host a few small fish, but I doubt it will be very interesting. Snorkel in Roatan and it will be much better.

I'm planning to try Qsine on my Nov. 27 cruise. I've spent a lot of time in Italy and don't think Tuscan Grill does a very good job with Italian food. I also thought it was too salty. Murano's was fine.

Yes, it was $179 plus 18% gratuity which made it $211 and change. It cost $20 more if purchased on board.

White Hot Party became the GLOW Party several months ago, maybe even over a year. I met many who expected a white party thought.

I was on Spirit in February and it was the white hot party then, so that's what I expected. But, it was so hot even at night up at H20 that I probably wouldn't have gone anyway.