just off the Eclipse... any ?s...

[maal1980]

Hi,

Just off the celebrity Eclipse, visited grand cayman, cozumel and costa maya mexico and roatan.

 

Did not do private restaurants, spa or aqua class.

 

questions??? ask away...........

 

Thanks

[fireygrl1]

How was it getting lounge chairs? I know on some ships it's cut throat trying to get a good spot without having to get up at 7am to get it......

 

Pretty sure I'm going on the same cruise in just under 3 weeks.... haven't booked yet but leaning towards it......

[traxspm]

Hi!! We are leaving on the April 2nd cruise out of Miami on the Eclipse and we were wondering if you could let us know what time people can start boarding the ship on Saturday? The website says 1:00 but we have seen posts from various people saying that they were on the ship by 11:00. Is this correct? Thanks!!

[Orator]

Who is currently the Cruise Directorand the Captain's Club Host/Hostess? Thanks :)

[maal1980]

How was it getting lounge chairs? I know on some ships it's cut throat trying to get a good spot without having to get up at 7am to get it......

 

Pretty sure I'm going on the same cruise in just under 3 weeks.... haven't booked yet but leaning towards it......

 

 

We did not have any problems at all with lounge chairs, there are "pool butlers", they leave 2 rolled up towels are the lounge chairs so you can tell if someone is using the chair or not, if you can not find a place to sit you ask the "pool butler"....they are always around the pool.... very good idea ;)

1 pool with 4 hot tubs and

1 pool with 2 hot tubs (adults only)

[dancermom]

Did you happen to run into my son Matthew? He is one of the Activity Staff. He loves the excitement and variety of the Solstice class ship so I expect our next cruise to see him will be there. My favorite continues to be the Millennium class ship however. More personal...small enough to get to know people.

Deb

[maal1980]

Hi!! We are leaving on the April 2nd cruise out of Miami on the Eclipse and we were wondering if you could let us know what time people can start boarding the ship on Saturday? The website says 1:00 but we have seen posts from various people saying that they were on the ship by 11:00. Is this correct? Thanks!!

 

 

we boarded about 11:30AM, after we got out of the hotel. There were people everywhere when we arrived. the buffet is open, rooms are usually ready by 1:00PM

 

BEWARE, they NOW do a through search for anything other than your "2 allowed bottles of wine", it is a madhouse......... they even took my water bottle that I was carrying and shook it, then a 2nd person asked if anyone shook it, my husband had to take his belt and baseball cap off..........

it was a new experience as we cruised out of ft lauderdale last year on the solstice.....:)

[maal1980]

Who is currently the Cruise Directorand the Captain's Club Host/Hostess? Thanks :)

 

 

Sorry we didnt attend the Captain's club events so I dont know the host/hostess.

 

I am not used to a cruise director who is not seen at all times around the ship (such as on rcl or princess) I saw him introducing people at the shows, and of course I have forgot his name........ he comes from the US, a family of entertainors?? he is tall with dark wavy hair......... sorry .........

[Snorkel Dawg]

did you do any of the lawn picnics at night? if so what time do they begin?

 

thanks

[maal1980]

Did you happen to run into my son Matthew? He is one of the Activity Staff. He loves the excitement and variety of the Solstice class ship so I expect our next cruise to see him will be there. My favorite continues to be the Millennium class ship however. More personal...small enough to get to know people.

Deb

 

 

No Matthew, sorry

[maal1980]

did you do any of the lawn picnics at night? if so what time do they begin?

 

thanks

 

 

I was actually looking forward to this "wine/cheese party on the Lawn", they only offered it on 1 night and it started at 7:30PM, our dinner was first seating at 6:00PM with all the coffee and dessert we were not able to go to the picnic... it was disappointing....

alot of things were like that

5:30/7:30PM scotch tasting... I would like my scotch maybe around 9 or later.

1 comedian did 2 shows both shows were at 11:45pm, yes 11:45PM, so we had things to do the next days and didnt stay up to watch him, saw a bit of him on the variety show at the end of the cruise and he was pretty funny.

movies were shown at weird times, also.

[BethV114]

I know you didn't go to any Captain's Club events, but do you happen to remember what they were?

[Snorkel Dawg]

I was actually looking forward to this "wine/cheese party on the Lawn", they only offered it on 1 night and it started at 7:30PM, our dinner was first seating at 6:00PM with all the coffee and dessert we were not able to go to the picnic... it was disappointing....

alot of things were like that

5:30/7:30PM scotch tasting... I would like my scotch maybe around 9 or later.

1 comedian did 2 shows both shows were at 11:45pm, yes 11:45PM, so we had things to do the next days and didnt stay up to watch him, saw a bit of him on the variety show at the end of the cruise and he was pretty funny.

movies were shown at weird times, also.

 

Maal-Thanks for the heads up. We have 8:30 late seating & find one night and the 7:30 time disappointing as well.

 

Do you remember what "new" movies were showing?

 

Again, thanks for the info,

Snorkel Dawg

[pbrady]

The CC Hostess was Anita from South Africa, very friendly and we saw her around much more than the Cruise Director. I agree with the OP that the CD was only at shows and the last formal night to make intros in the MDR. However, this was his first week there, or first week back. The week before was someone else, but again, never saw him around. We did not go to the moring offering in Michaels but did go to many (we were on a B2B) of the 5 to 7 Elite offering in the Sky Lounge - I never thought I likes Apple Martinis, but I do now :)!! They had the Senior Officers' Meet & Greet but it was at 2:00 & you had to be dressed up - so we skipped that. I think for Elite there was also a complimentary wine tasting on either Sunday or Monday morning. Again, it would have been nice but not at 10:00am.

[maal1980]

Maal-Thanks for the heads up. We have 8:30 late seating & find one night and the 7:30 time disappointing as well.

 

Do you remember what "new" movies were showing?

 

Again, thanks for the info,

Snorkel Dawg

 

 

they showed the movie "solitary man" with michael douglas, which could also be seen on your tv for free, they showed "RED" with bruce willis (good movie) not available for free in the room and unstoppable with denzel washington (not available in room) and I think one other one the last night.

[acwmom]

Who is currently the Cruise Directorand the Captain's Club Host/Hostess? Thanks :)

 

The Cruise Director was Nick Weir. Unlike the OP, my husband and I saw him quite a bit, and even spoke with him for a short while at one event.

[Orator]

The Cruise Director was Nick Weir. Unlike the OP, my husband and I saw him quite a bit, and even spoke with him for a short while at one event.

 

Thanks. I've seen Nick several times.

[fireygrl1]

Thanks for the feedback! We booked and are also going on the April 2nd cruise!

[luvinsun]

We will be going to the same islands in a couple of weeks! Can't wait! :) Curious as to what shore excursions you chose?

[Whippets]

Wondering if there was a priest on board offering Mass?

[wanderlust402]

Wondering if there was a priest on board offering Mass?

 

I thought Celebrity only had mass for Easter and Christmas.

[rich5258]

Wondering if there was a priest on board offering Mass?

 

 

I saw where they had Mass on sunday at 0830 and then on Ash Wednesday also, I really meant to get to both of those and for some reason, did not have the time!

 

Pat

[danstr1]

I too was on the Eclipse last week. Having a difficult time at work right now as I reflect back to where I was at this time last week :( Had a wonderful time on the cruise and really enjoyed sailing with Celebrity once again. I did want to add my experiences on the ports since someone had asked earlier. We all have different interests but I'll share with you what I did at each port and my experiences. I'm a seasoned cruiser and have been at several ports for comparison. I will admit that I favor the Eastern Caribbean but the itinerary of this cruise offered a few new ports for me including Grand Cayman, Costa Maya, and Roatan.

 

Grand Cayman: Grand Cayman is a beautiful port. Very new and clean since they had to virtually rebuild it after the hurricane of 2004. Here, I grabbed a van/bus at the port which took me on a quick ride to 7 Mile Beach where I spent the day. The beach is quite nice and also busy. I rented a chair and spent the afternoon. As I understand, there are resorts where you can pay a fee to use their beach and facilities. The chair rental and beverages were pricey as is most things on this island but the cab fare was very reasonable (sorry I don't recall the exact amount). The cab ride was only about 10 minutes.

 

Cozumel: I had been to this port on another cruise and have to say I wasn't anymore impressed than I was the last time. Really all depends on what you like to do. Since we enjoy our time aboard the boat and didn't have all that good of an impression of Cozumel during our last visit, we decided to take a cab to the main shopping area (forum shops?) for a quick visit. This is in the vicinity of the bars etc. The cab ride was short and cheap. Cozumel is known as a big drinking port with interesting bars such as the infamous Carlos and Charlie's. If drinking and/or shopping isn't your thing you definitely want to pursue an excursion of some sort. There are a large variety of shops for the shoppers but sales people are very pushy and follow you around the store and there are those begging you to come in to their shops everywhere you walk. Personally, this made me feel very uncomfortable and I can't say I felt entirely safe there. After our brief and somewhat disappointing shopping experience, we decided to make a quick stop at Carlos and Charlie's to say we had. Lots of people love this place and I can definitely see why. I had the drinking package so why pay to drink there while we could be drinking for free aboard the safety of the ship. So after one drink, we grabbed a cab back and enjoyed the remainder of the afternoon aboard the ship.

 

During my last visit to Cozumel a few years back, we had taken a ferry from Cozumel to Playa Del Carmen where we spent the day at the beach. Despite the fact we weren't impressed with Cozumel itself, the beach on the mainland was absolutely gorgeous and would recommend the trip if beaches are your thing. We were served buckets of Corona and fresh salsa with homemade chips while lounging in chairs on the beach. It was wonderful until a little later when we began to understand why everyone tells you be careful what you eat..... Highly recommend the beer...but beware of the salsa even as fresh and wonderful as it tasted. We would have considered doing this again during this visit, but we already had two beach days scheduled

 

Costa Maya: Costa Maya itself was a bit disappointing. As I understand, other ships had cancelled this port and often do (Celebrity included) due to the rough waters surrounding this port. And we found them to be rough indeed and it was very windy! Maybe during other times of the year this port becomes more pleasant but the beach and immediate vegetation looked quite haggered. The port appears to have been built pretty much exclusively for cruise ships. There really isn't a town to speak of but several shops and bar/restaurants. They do have a beautiful public pool that's free to use which sits among the shops etc. The pool did look like a nice spot to spend the day with a swim up bar. All of this is as soon as you walk down the pier off the ship.

 

We had an excursion for the Mayan ruins scheduled at this port. I don't recall the particular name of the excursion but it was the long two destination ruin tour offered through Celebrity. Although long, I thoroughly enjoyed the ruin tour. We were picked up in a comfortable and well maintained Greyhound variety bus which was fully air conditioned. This is important as the travel time is 2.5 hours each way. The tour guide grew up locally and was full of information which he eagerly shared. The bus ride goes quicker than you think as the guide takes the opportunity to give you a history of the Mayans prior to visiting the ruins. Again, I highly recommend this tour. Would I do it again if I visited Costa Maya in the future? Probably not as it's one of those been there done that things but I don't regret at all going.

 

Roatan: Roatan was my favorite port we visited during this trip and is know among my favorite ports in general. The island is beautiful and the beaches of West Bay are simply gorgeous. I had previously booked a resort for the day which I discovered here on Cruise Critic where it was highly recommended. The resort is Banana Rama Dive (a Google will take you there). For $30 they pick you up at the pier and return you when you're ready. This is about a 20 minute drive to West Bay from the pier. Also included is a beach chair for the day and a free drink. I highly recommend doing this if you are a beach lover as the water was crystal clear and so calm it looked like glass. It was the perfect setting with a bar and full service restaurant a few short steps away. I found the food to be good and prices very reasonable. They also have a fair amount of security around the resort to help keep the vendors and other undesirables away. I felt very safe there and I understand that some of the fellow passengers who took a beach day that day came back without any shoes..... Yes, keep track of your shoes! They may come up missing as I spoke to three different people who had this happen! Again, Banana Rama has security that really keeps it's eyes out so no issue there. Just another reason to go there. For those of you more adventurous into snorkeling, diving, kayaking etc there are plenty of places that provide that opportunity along West Bay. I believe this can also be booked through Banana Rama. All in all it was a perfect day!

 

Hope this helps anyone trying to decide what to do during a similar itinerary. Sorry if I was a little long-winded....

[piratelooksat45]

There was a Catholic Mass every day at 7:30 a.m.

[Whippets]

Thank you Pirate! I knew the last time I was on Celebrity there always was a priest on board. Didn't know if that was something Celebrity may have cut in order to save $$$.