Eclipse Jan 25, 2014 scans

[C 2 C]

We are in stateroom 6206 and as far as we are concerned, in a great location. We have not used our balcony much since we were in the sun the for the first week. There is an obstruction by lifeboats but we are mere steps away from the iLounge, one deck above Bistro, Ensemble, Tuscan, Cafe al Bacio, Molecular bar… all the important places accessible without the need of an elevator.

 

 

Intenet is very slow right now and I can't get the pictures to load..

 

We love the entertainment from the live performances. The West Side Strings are our favourite for the Classic Music we love above all others. The guitarist is wonderful for music we can recognize as dance favourites especially when he plays in the Sky Lounge.

 

The ship is of course beautiful and life on board is wonderful.

 

By the way there is no separate port boarding lines for Suites and VIPs.

 

When we boarded in FT Lauderdale there was a line for Suites and something known as "Pinnacle".. yeh right… :roll eyes:

 

We arrived before 11 am, and processing was quick with no wait lines and direct boarding.

I'm on the balcony in very pleasant temperatures looking across at the former Mercury, no Mein Schiff II.

 

 

"Mercury" upgrades on the balcony..

[chamima]

We are in stateroom 6206 and as far as we are concerned, in a great location. We have not used our balcony much since we were in the sun the for the first week. There is an obstruction by lifeboats but we are mere steps away from the iLounge, one deck above Bistro, Ensemble, Tuscan, Cafe al Bacio, Molecular bar… all the important places accessible without the need of an elevator.

 

 

Intenet is very slow right now and I can't get the pictures to load..

 

We love the entertainment from the live performances. The West Side Strings are our favourite for the Classic Music we love above all others. The guitarist is wonderful for music we can recognize as dance favourites especially when he plays in the Sky Lounge.

 

The ship is of course beautiful and life on board is wonderful.

 

By the way there is no separate port boarding lines for Suites and VIPs.

 

When we boarded in FT Lauderdale there was a line for Suites and something known as "Pinnacle".. yeh right… :roll eyes:

 

We arrived before 11 am, and processing was quick with no wait lines and direct boarding.

I'm on the balcony in very pleasant temperatures looking across at the former Mercury, no Mein Schiff II.

 

 

"Mercury" upgrades on the balcony..

 

 

 

Those hammocks look dangerous!

I can just see someone laying there in rough seas. :eek:

 

 

We're on next week.

I hope the West Side Strings and the guitarist will still be on board.

I've been reading your Dailies intently and can't wait for concerts on the lawn with a glass of wine!!!! :D

Edited February 3, 2014 by chamima

[cruisenlove]

Thank You so much for Posting day by day as I am really looking forward to our time on the Eclipse for our Honeymoon on April 5th. We have a Balcony Cabin that they said is slightly Obstructed but did they lie... is it Fully Obstructed? It is Cabin #6157. All these menus the food looks soooo good!!! Also, I noticed there is a Love and Marriage game like on Royal....How can we get on it as contestants as we will be married 1 week on this cruise :) Thanks for posting too!!! I am looking forward to seeing more!!

[Shir Hayam]

Cruisenlove, congratulations on your upcoming marriage! My understanding is that if you want to volunteer for the Love and Marriage game, you should go to the venue where it's being held very early. Don't know how they actually make their selections since we are content to watch and enjoy the game. Besides, I think my husband and I would be really terrible at even though we've been married 44 years :rolleyes:.

 

Sheila

[cubfan65]

I am thinking that the Interactive 80's party will be a blast. Thanks for positing the Celebrity Todays.

[buckbohdan]

Thank You so much for Posting day by day as I am really looking forward to our time on the Eclipse for our Honeymoon on April 5th. We have a Balcony Cabin that they said is slightly Obstructed but did they lie... is it Fully Obstructed? It is Cabin #6157. All these menus the food looks soooo good!!! Also, I noticed there is a Love and Marriage game like on Royal....How can we get on it as contestants as we will be married 1 week on this cruise :) Thanks for posting too!!! I am looking forward to seeing more!!

 

You can look out but not down as top of lifeboat is at your balcony.

[C 2 C]

There are many ships in St Maarten today. When we returned to Eclipse the security guard on the pier told us we were at the wrong ship and that Zenith was right in front of Eclipse. :eek:

 

There are four Zenith couples on this sailing but all the staff are still not quite familiar with the new black cards.

 

Deck 6 View sitting down:

 

]

[bluedog13]

Thank you so much for all your valuble info and time. So much for us to take in when we get on board on March 8th.

[travellerin1984]

Hi!

 

Thank you for posting. I have one question regarding 14 nights cruises. We are planning to book a similar cruise for January 2015. The cruise we are looking at has still a lot of staterooms which are not booked and I am wondering if these 14 nights cruises are popular. Are there usually price drops or do the prices go up? I know it is difficult to say but sometimes you have a general feeling how it is...

[Fouremco]

Hi!

 

Thank you for posting. I have one question regarding 14 nights cruises. We are planning to book a similar cruise for January 2015. The cruise we are looking at has still a lot of staterooms which are not booked and I am wondering if these 14 nights cruises are popular. Are there usually price drops or do the prices go up? I know it is difficult to say but sometimes you have a general feeling how it is...

Because of the popularity of these cruises, you are unlikely to see price drops. Better to book now with perks and possibly lowest price.

[Gordoncruickshank]

Because of the popularity of these cruises, you are unlikely to see price drops. Better to book now with perks and possibly lowest price.

 

We booked the 2015 Eclispe cruise the day that 123 started. That is the 4th time w e have done the cruise and the price has never dropped below what we paid on any of them. The price when we booked with the 123 offer was equivalent to what we paid in 2012. The difference equates to the package. Looking forward to our bonus cc points in due course.

 

If you book early and price does drop you can get the benefit of it provided you raked the current deal. You lose any 123 benefits if they are not being offered at that time.

 

Gordon

[mahdnc]

There are many ships in St Maarten today. When we returned to Eclipse the security guard on the pier told us we were at the wrong ship and that Zenith was right in front of Eclipse. :eek:

 

 

Actually I think the old Mercury (Mein Schiff 2) was docked in front of Eclipse at St. Maarten today.

[rjrpar]

Hi!

 

Thank you for posting. I have one question regarding 14 nights cruises. We are planning to book a similar cruise for January 2015. The cruise we are looking at has still a lot of staterooms which are not booked and I am wondering if these 14 nights cruises are popular. Are there usually price drops or do the prices go up? I know it is difficult to say but sometimes you have a general feeling how it is...

 

Very popular. We booked the 3/8/14 cruise a year ago and it went up $1000 per person before selling out last week (standard balcony).

[upwarduk]

We sailed Eclipse 23rd March 2013.

I booked a 2B cabin in Sept 2012.

In Jan 2013, I upgraded to 1A and was refunded £496 for the total booking.:p

[Medic5emt]

As others have stated book early. We booked April 2013 for March 0f 2014 and the price never dropped. I would have to spend an extra $1000. pr.person today. Plus you have the 123 promotion until Feb 28th.

[C 2 C]

Actually I think the old Mercury (Mein Schiff 2) was docked in front of Eclipse at St. Maarten today.

 

She was, but the security guy was old enough to remember other Celebrity ships.. but not the new card.

[jbuch02]

I have one question regarding 14 nights cruises. We are planning to book a similar cruise for January 2015. The cruise we are looking at has still a lot of staterooms which are not booked and I am wondering if these 14 nights cruises are popular. Are there usually price drops or do the prices go up? I know it is difficult to say but sometimes you have a general feeling how it is...

 

Second what has been said in the foregoing.

 

Yes, 14 nights are popular but it depends on time and place. So, generalizations like that are not practical. Here's what I've learned after 30 cruises, 26 with Celebrity:

 

(1) If you book a future cruise on board, you'll get a decent cabin credit (amount depending on cabin category) and, I have found, the lowest price the line will ultimately offer. If it goes lower and you have not made your final payment, you'll get the lower price or special offer (i.e, 123 Go). After that, you'll get something but it is more likely to be a cabin credit or such.

 

(2) There is such a thing as last minute deals. You'll get what's left over, not necessarily what you'd like to have but, if it is a deal you are looking for, you can find one two to six weeks out. Register for and receive Celebrity Deals for the week of .....

 

(3) Upgrades are for real. You can get them at a cost savings but the choices for these are totally dependent on passenger load by category. It's tricky and unpredictable. If you are offered an upgrade, make sure you do some research on where the cabin you are being offered is located. Lines will try to give away higher cabin category cabins no one wants to make room for cabins cruisers do want and there is a reason for that give away having to do with not being able to sell it at retail.

 

We usually book three to four cruises a year. At least one of them, more likely two, were booked on board, well in advance. By the time I board, I have already picked which future cruises I might want to book. The other two or three are cruises are booked where there is a deal being offered.

 

You have to really check out the "deal." I have a TA that helps me do that. The "deals" can be tricky. read the fine print .... twice. We booked a 4d Disney Magic Cruise out of Port Canaveral, FL a month ahead of time when I got an email on a cold day in Atlanta, GA, offering an inside GTY cabin for $369pp. For Disney, that is a deal. We really enjoyed it and would go again .... for the right price.

[travellerin1984]

What would you do without Cruise Critic? People are so helpful... :)

 

 

One more question. Do you consider cruises after the 1 st of January as holiday cruises? I am not that familiar with US school holidays etc. and wonder if I should except the cruise (departure the 4th of January) we are looking at will very popular because of holidays. We are from nothern Europe and have to buy expensive flights and hotel as a pre-cruise stay so we want to get o good deal. A 14 nights cruise, flights and hotel is a quite an investment... + all the excursions... But definitely worth it! ;)

[GiannaD]

What would you do without Cruise Critic? People are so helpful... :)

 

 

One more question. Do you consider cruises after the 1 st of January as holiday cruises? I am not that familiar with US school holidays etc. and wonder if I should except the cruise (departure the 4th of January) we are looking at will very popular because of holidays. We are from nothern Europe and have to buy expensive flights and hotel as a pre-cruise stay so we want to get o good deal. A 14 nights cruise, flights and hotel is a quite an investment... + all the excursions... But definitely worth it! ;)

 

I would not consider a cruise in early January to be a holiday cruise. Most elementary and high schools have Christmas break between Christmas and New Years with students returning to class the first week of January. Most families who cruise also tend to take 7 day cruises. I doubt that you would find many students on a 14 day cruise. The demographic on this length cruise is usually older without children.

 

We usually do 10-14 day cruises in February and March and have not seen any price drops at all and almost no cabin availability. This time period is popular with residents of the cold areas of the US and Canada as we want to escape our winters. The ships usually sail full.

 

Book early and watch for specials and price drops.

[jbuch02]

We usually do 10-14 day cruises in February and March and have not seen any price drops at all and almost no cabin availability. This time period is popular with residents of the cold areas of the US and Canada as we want to escape our winters. The ships usually sail full.

 

Book early and watch for specials and price drops.

 

Our experience as well .....

 

We booked this cruise last year when aboard Eclipse for the identical cruise. The price for our cabin category for this cruise never dropped below what we paid booking on board a year in advance. Moreover, 14d cruises get a $300 cabin credit when booked aboard. Celebrity offered a general state of GA/FL Resident discount sometime in August, 2013, it applied to us and we got a price drop.

 

We have a Celebrity Equinox Cruise Barcelona/Barcelona then B2B Barcelona Miami booked in Oct-Nov. This cruise was not booked aboard but identified when the 123Go promotion showed up. Interestingly, the 123Go package did not apply to the re-positioning leg, Barcelona to Fort Lauderdale but these repositioning cruises are dirt cheap (usu. less than 100/d pp). They are a good way to enjoy discount pricing on cruses.

 

If you like sea days, and we do, these are very good deals. I actually thought the itinerary on this one was quite nice doing three Spanish ports then going through the Canary Islands for two more and staying in the Southern Atlantic for 7 days .... it can get cold going a more northern route returning to the states in November.

 

If you like the Caribbean itineraries, look for cruises during what are called shoulder periods - these are between periods where there is high volume. Thus, your cruise on 4 Jan, just after the Holidays, is such a period. In the US kids get out of school for spring break in late march, early April. You'll see prices rise then, esp. for the 7d cruises. Another good time is right after the kids return to school - usually mid to late September.

 

The 10-14d itineraries, as the OP mentioned, have an older demographic without kids ..... retirees can go just about any time of the year so, you just have to watch for deals and then look at cabin loads ..... I really like the vacations to go web site (google it for the link) for comparing prices. I don't book with them, although I have in the past. The way you can sort by date, line, location is nice.

 

There is a UK outfit called Cabin Scanner (google for the link). I used to use it a lot to check cabin load on a particular cruise I might be looking at. It's not real time regards availability but its close.

 

I'm very sympathetic with you on the cost of air-fares between the states and Europe. They are high. You can off-set that by being a savvy cruise shopper. The industry is very competitive as there are more cabins floating around out there than there are folks to book them at retail. Thus, the discounts/deals being offered to land the bookings and make a particular cruise profitable for the lines. The more you cruise, the smarter you will get. Its fun.

 

My booking agent of choice for now is SkyMiles (Delta Airlines) Cruises. (Google skymiles cruises). Because I am from Atlanta GA and it is Delta's hub, I fly with Delta as much as I can and use sky miles. I would not doubt that British Airways has something like this. When I book a cruise through Delta Cruises, I get miles rewards. Another thing I like about this web site is that you can locate a cruise you are interested in and go all the way through the booking process to identify what cabins, by Category, are available. You don't have to book the cruise or provide any credit card info to do this. Again, its not real time but it's close and reflects blocks of cabins that the line has released to booking agents/wholesalers. The lines always hold cabins, usually the most desirable ones, and manages those themselves (one advantage of booking directly with the line). I have heard from other UK residents that you can book at the lower USD prices if you use a US agent. This can be tricky maybe other Brits can add to this topic.

Edited February 5, 2014 by jbuch02

[buckbohdan]

Our experience as well .....

 

I'm very sympathetic with you on the cost of air-fares between the states and Europe. They are high. You can off-set that by being a savvy cruise shopper. The industry is very competitive as there are more cabins floating around out there than there are folks to book them at retail. Thus, the discounts/deals being offered to land the bookings and make a particular cruise profitable for the lines. The more you cruise, the smarter you will get. Its fun.

 

My booking agent of choice for now is SkyMiles (Delta Airlines) Cruises. (Google skymiles cruises). Because I am from Atlanta GA and it is Delta's hub, I fly with Delta as much as I can and use sky miles. I would not doubt that British Airways has something like this. When I book a cruise through Delta Cruises, I get miles rewards. Another thing I like about this web site is that you can locate a cruise you are interested in and go all the way through the booking process to identify what cabins, by Category, are available. You don't have to book the cruise or provide any credit card info to do this. Again, its not real time but it's close and reflects blocks of cabins that the line has released to booking agents/wholesalers. The lines always hold cabins, usually the most desirable ones, and manages those themselves (one advantage of booking directly with the line). I have heard from other UK residents that you can book at the lower USD prices if you use a US agent. This can be tricky maybe other Brits can add to this topic.

 

Check out Celebrity's Choice Air program. Their pricing has been very good, one way and round trip. Might be helpful.

[cubfan65]

Our experience as well .....

 

We booked this cruise last year when aboard Eclipse for the identical cruise. The price for our cabin category for this cruise never dropped below what we paid booking on board a year in advance. Moreover, 14d cruises get a $300 cabin credit when booked aboard. Celebrity offered a general state of GA/FL Resident discount sometime in August, 2013, it applied to us and we got a price drop.

 

We have a Celebrity Equinox Cruise Barcelona/Barcelona then B2B Barcelona Miami booked in Oct-Nov. This cruise was not booked aboard but identified when the 123Go promotion showed up. Interestingly, the 123Go package did not apply to the re-positioning leg, Barcelona to Fort Lauderdale but these repositioning cruises are dirt cheap (usu. less than 100/d pp). They are a good way to enjoy discount pricing on cruses.

 

Jbuch02,

 

Appreciate you sharing your experience and insights on getting the best deals and knowing where to go. It can be a daunting task to figure out where to go to ensure you are getting the best deals. I have successfully used a website where I was able to establish an alert for a cruise I had just booked and if the fare dropped, I would get an email. There is a modest fee to set-up the alert, but it helped me save $300 on our past cruise last May. So knowing where to go is key.

 

Also, was wondering, do you know of anyone being able to get the 123go package after they booked when it was not offered? So, we booked late October 2013. Our TA had an exceptional deal on AQ. It basically was priced at the initial fare offered a year earlier. A few weeks after booking, the 123go offer was back on the table. We are not huge drinkers, but the drink package is appealing since you can experiment with the different drinks and wines, and if you can get that complimentary, it would be nice. I suspect that Celebrity of our TA would not be able to give us that 123go deal, but just was curious if you have known anyone to ask when it was not offered, but became available a few weeks later. Appreciate your insights.

 

John

[TorontoSailor]

Thanks for these fantastic posts! Awesome.

 

Would be curious the hear your overall thoughts about this cruise. How did it compare with other Celebrity cruises you have been on? How would the food and service compare? Anything better or worse than usual?

 

Will be on the Eclipse on Feb. 8.

 

Looking forward to it--and your posts have been really great.

 

I wondered if some of the MDR choices were pared back a bit from previous years, as some have suggested. Any highlights?

 

Did you try any specialty restos?

 

Thanks again for being such a great contributor to CC!

 

Scott

[jbuch02]

On choice air ......

 

I agree with the comment that the pricing is good.

 

When Celebrity first started doing this a few years back, it was pretty terrible. The discounted rates had horrendous connections and lay overs. If you wanted something decent, the cost was way more than what you could get booking direct with the carrier or through a consolidator.

 

But, they have gotten much better and the web site is very easy to use. One of the obvious values of booking through choice air is that your arrival at the ship at some point in the cruise is guaranteed. Saves you from purchasing trip insurance for that part of your trip anyway. When the weather is bad, like it has been this winter, it is a very good idea to use that booking mechanism. I also think that when you are embarking from one port/location and debarking at another, Choice Air is definitely the way to go. You can find cheaper airfares but you have to know exactly what you are doing with bookings and if you do it yourself and there is a change as a result of the cruise being delayed, you are left holding the bag. OTH, with Choice Air, they'll figure it out. All around a good deal I would think

Edited February 5, 2014 by jbuch02

[upwarduk]

Have you had a 'Brunch' on this cruise?

I cannot tell from your scans, as the page with the meal times is not listed.