Eclipse revisited -a personal view

[Buryfan]

I cruised on Eclipse in July 2010 when she was brand new and have just returned from the Feb 4th-11th Eastern Caribbean cruise. I dont want to do a full cruise review but I thought it may be interesting to see what ( if anything) had changed for the better or worse or was just different.

 

Entertainment

 

Disappointingly, though not unexpectedly ,the production shows appeared to be unchanged so we did not revisit them . The excepFtion was the "Cirque" style show . I overheard one of the other performers mention there were new acts so we went and were very glad we did as the acrobatic performers were new to us and the show was excellent.

 

Also disappointing was that the guest acts, a comedy juggler and a pianist were the same as we saw 18 months ago. Perhaps the acts are rotated between the ships and it was just coincidence they were back on Eclipse at the same time as us.

 

A great improvement for us,however, was the addition of late night comedy and a game show and a chat show as there was nothing of this type on the first cruise.

 

There was also an extensive programme of informative and interactive talks on a variety of subjects which appears to be a recent and very popular addition.

 

On the downside Celebrity have introduced pool games accompanied by extremely loud music which we felt lowered the tone and were at odds with the older demographic of the cruise. We are fifty something's and reckon at least two thirds of the passengers were over fifty. There are other lines that specialize in this kind of "entertainment"- Celebrity does not need it!

 

On the subject of music Celebrity have stuck with their formula of a Capella foursome , party band, solo singer with guitar, calypso band etc which appears popular and all were uniformly good. Our only complaint was the proliferation of intrusive banging music in some of the bars which was not conducive to a relaxing drink and conversation.

 

 

Food

 

Oceanview Cafe : - was excellent 18 months ago and still remains so.If not better!

 

Main Dining Room :- unfortunately the MDR offering seems to have progressively reduced in quality on each of the 4 Celebrity cruises we have taken over the past 5 years. The lengthy descriptions on the menu do not translate to the food on the plate. Also for those of us who do not eat pig or shellfish the choice can be very limited. We consider ourselves to be adventurous and unfussy eaters but on two of the seven evenings ( 1 being a formal night) we could not find one entree to tempt us and rather than have a plain steak ( which they can't get right medium rare) or salmon ( admittedly moist ) we enjoyed sushi and curry in the oceanview.

 

On the plus side all the soups we had both hot and cold were great!

 

Speciality restaurants :- on our first Eclipse cruise ( and Solstice before it) we enjoyed all of them. We made reservations on the ship sometimes only on the same day and never had a problem eating where and when we wished. On this latest cruise we were advised they were all fully booked for the duration of the cruise. We were told we were on a wait list but were never contacted further.

 

Presumably either the deserved reputation of these restaurants has spread or the quality of the MDR has declined to such an extent that those seeking a better dining experience have no option but to choose the speciality venues. Probably it's a mixture of both.

 

The Ship

 

The ship seemed as brand new last week as it did when first launched. We saw no signs of wear and tear or "tiredness" in any of the public spaces or our stateroom. Celebrity have done a great job there. We were also highly impressed with all the cleaning going on all over ship all the time and especially with the amount of scrubbing going on in the Oceanview late at night.

All the staff were pleasant and helpful as ever.

 

 

It's just our personal observations and I hope it's of interest to some of you

 

Wendy

[Azulann]

Thank you very much for the comparison of the two cruises on the same ship.

 

I have only been on the Equinox in the S class. Hope to sail on some of the others in the future.

 

Hate to admit it but I have never seem a show. Usually too tired and always have late dinner seating.

I too would a a better mix of music in the various areas and bars on any given night.

[rigldbrg]

Thanks for the review! Like you, my coming cruise this weekend will be my second visit to the Eclipse, and we hope to have as good a time as our first time onboard.

[mspink98]

Thanks for the review! Like you, my coming cruise this weekend will be my second visit to the Eclipse, and we hope to have as good a time as our first time onboard.

 

Take care of her for us! We board 2/25. :) Have a great cruise.

[portofrome]

Thanks for your review.

[Forgoten]

I cruised on Eclipse in July 2010 when she was brand new and have just returned from the Feb 4th-11th Eastern Caribbean cruise. I dont want to do a full cruise review but I thought it may be interesting to see what ( if anything) had changed for the better or worse or was just different.

 

On the downside Celebrity have introduced pool games accompanied by extremely loud music which we felt lowered the tone and were at odds with the older demographic of the cruise. We are fifty something's and reckon at least two thirds of the passengers were over fifty. There are other lines that specialize in this kind of "entertainment"- Celebrity does not need it!

 

Main Dining Room :- unfortunately the MDR offering seems to have progressively reduced in quality on each of the 4 Celebrity cruises we have taken over the past 5 years. The lengthy descriptions on the menu do not translate to the food on the plate.

 

It's just our personal observations and I hope it's of interest to some of you

 

Wendy

 

Carnival here we come: Maybe we will start to hear insistent public announcements that the “Hairy Leg” competition is about to start and Bingo will be now being played at 3;00PM. May be they will even rip up the lawn and install a water slide and a rock climbing face. ;)

.

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

 

On the downside Celebrity have introduced pool games accompanied by extremely loud music which we felt lowered the tone and were at odds with the older demographic of the cruise. We are fifty something's and reckon at least two thirds of the passengers were over fifty. There are other lines that specialize in this kind of "entertainment"- Celebrity does not need it!

 

I've only ever seen pool games on a Caribbean cruise. Two different sets of crew members competed to see who would take on some passengers in volleyball. So there were two pool games. I thought it was a riot and I'm older than you.

 

As for the loud music, I think that's a separate issue as it seems to be everywhere on the ship! Many of us have commented unfavorably on this.