Back from a wonderful week on the Eclipse: Long review

[ohhbother]

Hi all.

 

My husband and I have returned home from the April 7 sailing of the Eclipse. Because I loved reading reviews when I was planning our trip, I decided to share my own review.

 

This was our second Celebrity cruise. We previously sailed on the Solstice. My DH (43) and I (39) were joined by my parents, as well as my younger sister, her husband and their two kids (ages 8 and 4). While the rest of my family drove in from Tennessee, my DH and I flew Southwest from New Orleans to Ft. Lauderdale Friday night.

 

Even though our flight arrived after 11 pm, the airport was super busy. My parents drove over and picked us up, and we headed to our hotel -- the Homewood Suites in Ft. Lauderdale. It's super close to the airport. We had booked a two-bedroom suite for all of us. However, when my family got to the hotel earlier in the day, they were told the AC was malfunctioning in the suite. So they gave us three individual rooms instead. It actually worked out better, since we got three bathrooms instead of two. The rooms were very nice and looked new. Breakfast the next morning was decent.

 

On Saturday morning, we left the hotel around 9:30 and drove to Miami. We were in line checking in by 10:15. My DH and I stayed in AQ 1605, while my parents were in 6111, a veranda stateroom, and my sister's family was in 7208, also a veranda stateroom. My husband and I were taken upstairs to a waiting room after we checked in, while the rest of my family waited in a line downstairs. Around 11:10, AQ was allowed to board. My DH and I grabbed our welcome mimosas and headed to Deck 14 to the Oceanview Cafe. The rest of my family joined us within 15 minutes. The embarkation lunch was very good with lots of variety. I immediately put my premium drink package to work and ordered an Evian. My husband had the non-alcoholic premium package and ordered a Coke.

 

Ater lunch, we headed off to the explore the ship. We were able to go to our staterooms around 1:30 as expected. The large balcony in 1605 was awesome, and my parents' room was also nice. My sister's family was a bit disappointed, because they could not look directly down to the water from their balcony because of a lifeboat. We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring and then headed to muster drill. After that, we all met on Deck 15 for sail away. However, a rain storm drove us indoors right as we left the port. We headed back to our room and found our luggage, so we unpacked.

 

We had a letter in our room to come to Blu at 8:30 for the first night only. We were hungry and went a bit earlier and were accommodated without a problem. My DH and I had a table for two, and I noticed the tables are spaced further apart than they were on the Solstice a few years ago. On the Solstice, we really had no option but to talk with the people beside us. On the Eclipse, the tables had just enough space to allow for separate dining. We immediately made the acquaintance of the sommelier, and I asked him to pick my wine pairings for each meal. He did and never steered me wrong. I tried a wide variety of wine throughout the week -- much more so than I would have on my own. For our first dinner, my DH ordered the filet, and I had the orrichette pasta. Both dishes were perfectly cooked. We both had the gingersnap basket for dessert, which was my favorite dessert of the week. I had a lovely dessert Riesling that I adored.

 

After dinner, we headed back to our room to read for a bit. I had several books on my Kindle, but my husband is a purist and had already hit up the library. After relaxing a bit, we turned in for the night.

 

CONTINUED IN NEXT POST

[Karen@Steve]

Looking forward to the rest of your review. Thanks for taking the time.

[PathfinderEss]

Like your review so far, looking forward to the rest.

[2morecruises]

ohhbother

 

You nailed a great AQ stateroom !!!! Celebrity could sell that one (& 1610) for a ton more !

[ohhbother]

Day Two was a sea day, Easter and our 17th wedding anniversary, so there was lots going on! We slept in and then headed to the Moonlight Sonata dining room for Easter brunch. It was fabulous! In addition to the normal wide variety of foods, there were huge chocolate Easter eggs and bunnies, as well as smaller Easter candies. We grabbed some for my niece and nephew ( not that they needed them -- the night before, my DH and I played Easter bunny by sneaking to my sister's room after the kids were asleep and setting up their Easter baskets, which we'd hauled with us from Louisiana). Back to brunch -- I had a mimosa, and my DH and I both loved the food. As we were eating, a small band of musicians and the Easter bunny paraded through the dining room. So fun! There were several Easter activities on the ship, including an interdenominational service and a day's worth of activities for the kids in the Fun Factory.

 

That afternoon, my DH and I were I invited to honeymoon and anniversary celebration in the Sky Lounge on Deck 14. We met several couples celebrating anniversaries on the same day as ours, including a couple married for 50 years! We were welcomed to the reception by cruise director Lisa, who chatted with all of us. We then had a couples' dance and were served wedding/anniversary cake. We also had our photo taken. It was a lovely event.

 

For the rest of the afternoon, we visited with my sister's family (who spent all week by the pool!) and read. We then got ready for our 6 pm reservation at Qsine for our anniversary dinner. I know people have mixed opinions about this restaurant, but we loved it! We were seated right by the window and had a great waiter and sommelier. For our meal, we ordered the popcorn fish and chips, the Chitinis, the sliders, the painter's filet, the crunchie munchies and the Persian kabob. We loved the first four items but could have done without the crunchie munchies and the kabob. Maybe we wer just too full by then, but we didn't think those two dishes were as good. Before dessert, the manager brought us an anniversary cupcake. We didn't receive the standard chocolate cake, and there was no singing. We considered that a good thing! For dessert, my DH had the chocolate tombstone, and I had the cupcakes to decorate. We also had chocolate covered strawberries. By the time we left, it was 9:30, and we could barely move! But we did manage to make our way to the Molecular bar for an anniversary drink.

 

Unfortunately, we had a bad experience there. Milos, the bartender, was very curt. When we walked up to the bar, I asked how we was. He responded with one word -- tired. I then ordered Coming Up Roses. He very gruffly said, "Well, we're out of rose petals. Do you want it or not?" I said yes and got the drink, which was fine. But we didn't go back to this bar the rest of the week.

 

After that, it was back to our cabin for some alone time on our anniversary.

 

CONTINUED

[ohhbother]

By the way, sorry for the typos. I'm typing on my iPad, which can be hit or miss for me.

 

Day Three began as a day at sea, and we arrived in Puerto Rico that afternoon. This was my nephew's eighth birthday, so we had a birthday breakfast in the Oceanview Cafe. He had ice cream for breakfast, which made his day, and he opened gifts.

 

Once we got to Puerto Rico, we met up with the family and walked to El Morro. I had read this was a hilly walk, but we didn't find it difficult at all. Even my 63-year-old Dad, who only has one lung, did fine. We did take an unintentional detour and accidentally walked along the sea wall. Once we figured out we couldn't get to the fort that way, we just kept going since it was such a pretty walk. It was 1.5 miles round trip. On the way back, we cut up the hill and headed to the fort. We spent about an hour there. The views were great! We then walked back through Old San Juan and did some shopping. Then it was back to the shp for dinner. My DH and I headed back to Blu. I can't remember what we had. I believe I had a pasta dish, and my husband had the short ribs. Each night, we always had the soups -- which were always fantastic! In the MDR, my nephew was treated to birthday dinner with cake and singing waiters -- he loved it!

 

After dinner, we went to karaoke (I think it was this night). Then off to bed.

 

CONTINUED

[ohhbother]

On Day Four, we found ourselves in St. Maarten. We had signed up in advance for Bernard's tour. It was easy to find the check-in, but we had to wait about 30 minutes. No one ever told us what caused the delay.

 

I think we're just not island tour people, because this was just an OK day for us. We stopped at a run-down farm to see iguanas and weren't impressed. Then, in the van, two people up front broke into the rum punch and began monopolizing conversation with the driver. From that point on, he basically stopped interacting with everyone else in the van. Because we left so late, we only had 15 minutes in Marigot, which was a shame. We did enjoy our time at Orient Beach, where we rented chairs at Orange Fever, and Maho, where the planes were great. We played in the ocean both places. The water at Orient was calm, but the waves at Maho really tossed us around. We loved it! Afterward, our driver stopped at a souvenir shop and basically demanded we get out. But no one wanted to shop, so we all stayed put. Then it was back to the ship.

 

That night, we were too tired to go to Blu, so we had breakfast for dinner in Bisto on Five. The crepes were very good. We also headed over to Cafe Al Bacio, which was a favorite haunt throughout the week. We loved the hot chocolate, apricot cookies and lemon tarts.

 

Then it was off to bed for the night.

 

CONTINUED

[ohhbother]

Day Five was St. Kitts, and this was our favorite port by far. My DH and I, along with my sister's family, booked the Catamaran Fan-ta-Sea through the ship. We loved this excursion. There was a great mix of adults and kids, and everyone had a great time. The crew was superb. My 4-year-old niece didn't really understand the concept of snorkeling, so one of the crew members put her on a boogie board and pulled her through the water the whole time we were snorkeling. He was great with her (at the end of the trip, she ran up to him and gave him a big hug). After snorkeling, we sailed to Nevis for lunch on the beach. The food was pretty blah, but the water was great. There were hundreds of sand dollars in the soft sand, and it was fun to watch the kids (and adults) dig them up with their toes.

 

As we sailed back to the Eclipse, our catamaran turned into a non-stop party. The crew had everyone -- adults and kids -- up dancing all the way back. This excursion was money well spent!

 

Back on board, we headed to Blu once again. And once again, our meal was great. After dinner, it was back to the Sky Lounge for karaoke. Then off to bed.

 

CONTINUED

[ohhbother]

Days Six and Seven were sea days, so this seems like a good time to share some observations about life on the ship.

 

Our stateroom, AQ 1605, was incredible. That balcony was the best. The only problem we had occurred one afternoon as we were sailing out of port. The suite next door to us had a whirlpool on the balcony, and there was a family with three small kids staying in the suite. These parents had no concept of controlling their kids, and this particular day, the kids were splashing suds from the whirlpool all over their balcony and ours. Even though I asked them twice to stop, it continued until our balcony was completely covered in suds. I called Security to deal with the people next door and our stateroom attendant to clean up the mess. After that, we had no more issues with our neighbors.

 

Speaking of kids, we were told by a staff member there were approximately 600 children on this cruise. So all those people who say kids don't sail on Celebrity are mistaken. There were plenty of them, and they were having a ball! My niece and nephew loved the kids club and spent quite a bit of time there. The only impact the large number of kids had on us was at the pool. The outdoor pool area was full of families constantly, so the Solarium was packed with adults getting away from that. Because it was so crowded, we never got in the pools or hot tubs on this cruise. My niece and nephew, however, spent hours every day swimming and loved it! I thought the kids on the cruise were all very well behaved. I never saw any running, grabbing food in the buffet, pushing elevator buttons, etc. The children on board didn't bother us a bit. But I do have to admit -- when a line of 75 Fun Factory kids came marching through the buffet one afternoon singing, "We are pirates, stinky, stinky pirates," I did crack up thinking about how some of the people on this board would have reacted. :-)

 

On to food: We really enjoyed the food on this cruise. Blu was consistently outstanding, and we enjoyed our breakfasts and lunches in the Oceanview Cafe. I especially liked the pasta station and the hand scooped ice cream. And the carved ham and brioche rolls were a breakfast staple for me. We also really enjoyed the treats during afternoon tea (especially the ham croissants and scones -- yum!). As I said earlier, we spent a lot of time at Cafe Al Bacio and loved the sweet treats there.

 

The crew on the ship was generally very pleasant. Our stateroom attendant seemed more reserved than most, but he kept our room in great condition. The staff at all the restaurants was superb, and we loved the guys at the martini bar. I also had a great experience with the future cruise sales staff.

 

We found the entertainment on the ship to be very good. We loved the spelling quiz (which I won), and Battle of the Sexes trivia was fantastic all week. It was highly competitive, but the women emerged victorious! The cooking competition was a lot of fun to watch, as was karaoke. We only went to one show -- Ovations -- but it was very good. My nephew got picked for the Celebrity game show on his birthday, so that was great! We loved Masque, and we found the South Side Party Band to be exceptional -- really talented performers!

 

All in all, there was something for everyone on this cruise. My parents enjoyed the Celebrity Life activities, and my sister's family had a ball between the pool deck and Fun Factory. My DH and I loved relaxing and spending time together -- enjoying great food, wine and entertainment.

 

Speaking of wine, I would definitely buy the premium drink package again. On most days, I had three to four bottles of Evian, a mimosa, a fruity drink or two, three to four glasses of wine with dinner, a hot chocolate and a martini (or three!). My DH, however, didnt really get his money's worth out of the premium non-alcoholic package. He ended up drinking mostly Coke and ginger ale, so he would have been fine with a soda package.

 

CONTNUED

[ohhbother]

On disembarkation morning, we had requested to leave at 7:30, as my DH and I had a flight from Ft. Lauderdale at 11:15. By 7:20, our number was called, and we were off the ship without waiting in any lines. We breezed right to luggage, had a porter grab our bags and walked out through Customs with no line at all. By 9 am, we were checking in at the Ft Lauderdale airport, and my family was headed north on I-95 toward Tennessee.

 

In summary, this was a truly wonderful vacation, and we can't wait to cruise again. While on board, we booked a 2014 sailing to Antarctica, which is a bucket list item for us. And I know we'll cruise again in 2013. We may look into 10-day itineraries though. Seven days went by entirely too fast!

 

I do know we'll continue to cruise with Celebrity. We've been on six Disney cruises, one Princess cruise, one Royal Caribbean cruise, three Carnival cruises and (now) two Celebrity cruises. While we are huge Disney nuts and will always love Disney cruises, we believe Celebrity provides the best value for our money.

 

Thanks for reading. If you have any questions, I'll do my best to answer them.

[ohhbother]

Oops -- can't believe I forgot this. On St Kitts day, my husband and I, along with my parents, we're invited with other Cruise Critic members to tour the bridge. It was a really neat experience, and I was thrilled Celebrity took the extra step to make us CC members feel special!

[Tenn4ever]

Thank you for the review. Our very first cruise is in June to Alaska so I love reading other posters reviews - to have something to think about while I wait:D

[portofrome]

Thanks for your review.

[Ellen326]

Thanks so much for the review- we were on the same cruise and had an amazing time also...I am planning on writing a review also, let's see if that happens, now that I have to go back to work this mornng :(

[Wedgey2000]

hi! I am pleased you enjoyed your cruise. like you my family and I have been on the Disney cruise a few times. We are a little worried that my children will be dissapointed with the eclispe as it is different to Disney. Did your nieces have a good time and did they enjoy the club? Was there enough to do for them? I Have been assurred by celebrity that the kids will have a great time. How did your experience compare to Disney? Did you prefer Celebrity? We are first time cruisers on Celebrity. Thanks

[handsome_jay]

Thank you for that wonderful view. It's good to read that you and your family had a great and safe time!

[ohhbother]

hi! I am pleased you enjoyed your cruise. like you my family and I have been on the Disney cruise a few times. We are a little worried that my children will be dissapointed with the eclispe as it is different to Disney. Did your nieces have a good time and did they enjoy the club? Was there enough to do for them? I Have been assurred by celebrity that the kids will have a great time. How did your experience compare to Disney? Did you prefer Celebrity? We are first time cruisers on Celebrity. Thanks

 

My niece and nephew had a great time. Compared to our Solstice cruise a few years ago, there were a lot more kids on this sailing (about 600), so the Fun Factory was hopping! Still, my niece (4) and nephew (8) received plenty of personalized attention, and my sister felt very comfortable leaving them with the kids' club counselors. The kids also had a great time at the pool, and they loved our excursions (particularly snorkeling). Food for the kids was also good -- they alternated between lots of pizza and ice cream during the day and actually ordering some items off the adult dinner menu to try new things.

 

My sister and I have already discussed taking the kids on a Disney cruise in 2015 -- she wants to wait until my niece is old enough to remember it. From my experience on Disney, I know the kids will have a memorable trip on a Disney ship. But it certainly costs a lot more! The Celebrity experience for the kids was very good -- different from Disney -- but very good.

[gourmetlover]

Im so glad you liked the Elcipse. Really glad to hear about the food. We lived in Lafayette and know you know good food! We will be on her in a few days! have sailed Celebrity 4 times and prefer their food, too.