Review: Celebrity Eclipse – April 3 – 14 days Southern Caribbean

[Freedom55]

General Thoughts:

The eclipse is a beautiful ship without doubt. It has a perfect layout for someone staying in a “hump” cabin. The central elevators were steps away and where I wanted to go on each floor was very close to the same elevators.

We had a fantastic time with friends from previous cruises. We are just sad that it is over.

We had been to all of the islands before, so this trip was more about R & R than it was about site seeing or excursions. I was extremely disappointed to miss Bonaire and thought that the overnight in Curacao was not necessary.

On to some specifics,

 

Cabin:

We were in the perfectly located 9292 with a large balcony. The bed was by the balcony which we prefer but we do like the M class layout better than the S class. The curved walls really give a cramped feeling in the cabin. The couch that we had was not comfortable to sit on and was way too large. A gigantic waste of space.

The bathroom felt large and the shower was good. Our room attendant (who we did not see very often) kept the room in great shape. I would book this room again in a second (We have actually on the reflection).

 

Food:

We were Select in the MDR most nights. We ate at a variety of time with a varying amount of dinner companions just us, 4 and 6. We ate around 7:30 most nights. We skipped the second formal and ate at the buffet.

The MDR was good. The menu has become more limited. I had one poor meal (meatloaf) and one exceptional meal the Chateaubriand steak. The rest were good meals. Breakfast in the MDR was good (twice). We did not each lunch there.

The buffet had really good food but it never changed. Almost the same thing every day for 14 days. I am so glad the food was good. They had sushi every day. I had sushi when we skipped the formal night and it was one of the best meals of the cruise. We ate breakfast and lunch here most days.

The staffs in the buffet were really good. Always got us drinks and were glad to have a nice conversation.

We only ate in one specialty restaurant, Qsine. A neat experience that, for me, only needs to be done once. Way too long for dinner (3 ½ hours) Too many choices. Half the time I forgot what I was eating. The servers tried really hard, but this is not my thing. I am an MDR guy!

 

Entertainment:

We did not see any of the production shows although the word was that they were good. We thought both comedians were very poor, however, the rest of the shows were well above average.

I think the Sephira show (2 girls on violins) was one of the best shows I have seen at sea. The “Not Really” three tenors also put on a great show! Very funny and talented guys.

Ryan Joyce gave us three shows. First was magic show that was enjoyable, the second was a hypnotism show that was hilarious! The third was a seminar on positive thinking and hypnotism as a self-improvement tool. He is a fascinating dude.

 

Lounges:

Bar service was terrible in most places on the ship. (With some exceptions). You had to flag down a waiter or waitress to get a drink and then they would disappear, never to be seen again. I think the proliferation of free classic packages has changed service. It would be to the cruise lines advantage to give away lees free booze? Or am I just being paranoid.

Café al Bacio rocks! They are the hardest working crew on the ship and deserve huge kudos! Love that place, although it is very busy!

 

Ports:

Aruba; we went to Arashi beach by taxi. Very nice Beach that is less crowded than some of the others (but more crowded than it was last time). Some moderate snorkelling here.

Curacao: We just went into town and shopped had a beer and enjoyed the area. We were here overnight but as previously stated it was a bit of a waste. We stayed on board in the evening.

Barbados: We did the Jolly Roger (for the 2nd time). They do a good job but there is no comfortable seating on the ship, so if that is important, choose another excursion. Great snorkelling over the shipwreck in Carlisle bay (4th time for that!)

Antigua – Another Beach day with a taxi to Sandhaven ($3 each way). A very nice little beach with a bar and shade! No snorkeling

St Lucia: Stayed on board and went to Persian Gardens (free coupon)

St Maarten: Took the water taxi ($7) in to town and shopped, found a nice bar and enjoyed the area again.

St Kitts: In what looks like a trend we just went to the cruise port and poked around, bought some t shirts found a bar, had a Guinness and people watched.

 

Overall:

A great cruise! Friends old and new made it great.

We are booked again on S class for the next cruise so I guess that says something.

Tom Yates – April 2016

[drychi]

Thanks for your review. We really enjoyed our cruise on this ship. We hope to take it again soon. Happy Cruising! Bob and Linda

[kevinyork]

Thanks for the review. We are back on Eclipse in 4 weeks for our fifth 14 nighter. It feels like stepping into comfortable slippers. Roll on the Martini Bar.

 

 

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[Clarea]

Appreciate the feedback.

[Baron Barracuda]

Freedom 55 - we were on the same sailing, so hope you don't mind if I piggyback on your review, agree a lot, disagree a little, and add a bit.

 

We did this itinerary two years ago, so it was also a repeat for us. Totally agree with you on beautiful condition of ship and how great cabin staff was. We sailed cc this trip and were pleasantly surprised that they added embarkation lunch for cc in mdr. Helped to start vacation on a positive note. Also seem to have upgraded the afternoon canapes.

 

Dining - We felt food in both mdr and oceanview were excellent. After years of watching them dumb down offerings to their blandest version we were very pleasantly surprised by the high level of spice present at both venues. Tried some spicy asian beef at the buffet one night that set my mouth on fire. We were second seating in mdr so often visited oceanview cafe around 6pm for a quick bite. DW always had sushi while I struggled in vain to avoid eating a full meal. It was hard to resist grilled to order ribeye and tuna. Thought lunch at buffet was also very good. Appreciated the interesting salads and variety of seafood offerings. Twice they had my favorite, seafood paella with lots of mussels and shrimp. Also enjoyed dinner menu in mdr. Very happy that I didn't feel the need to order off the everyday menu even once. Portion sizes weren't large, but everything was well prepared and presented. Have never seen so many lamb offerings though. The five Brits seated next to us were ecstatic, ordering lamb every night.

 

Entertainment - Saw most of the shows. Productions Chandelier and Topper were a bit odd. Didn't recognize most of the music. Amusing to see once, but will skip on future cruises. Acrobats and blonde female lead singer were great, others average. Enjoyed third production "Rock City" and Billy Joel and Elton John tributes. Had seen Ryan Joyce before - same old show. Thought comedian Carl Banks was extremely funny.

 

Lounges - only line we ever encountered was at casino bar which never seemed to have more than one bartender. Spent a fair amount of time at Oceanview and Sunset bars. We had classic bev package so attempted to try new things. DW loves BBC's but discovered she had a fondness for Malibu coconut rum. She enjoyed challenging bartenders to up with new Malibu centered cocktails. They proved to be quite inventive.

 

One event that was featured several times on our prior Eclipse cruise but only once this sailing was a wine and cheese sailaway picnic on the lawn. We really love them. They did offer a sangria and tapas sailaway, however while I found the sangria, the tapas were nowhere in sight.

 

Enjoyed listening to former official Bob Mclewee reminiscing abut his NFL career. DW attended other Celebrity Life lectures, however she missed the origami and painting that were offered on our last Eclipse sailing. She did benefit from the classes on how to use her new Iphone.

 

Bottom line, great cruise.

[charmed101]

Glad that you enjoyed it, we were on this cruise also and loved it. I found the quality of both food and entertainment were above our cruise on eclipse in 2014. Staff were excellent and Murano was great, we ate there twice (for 50% off :-) )

[Grandmaanne7]

Thanks for all these various opinions. It is helpful to have comparison. I am especially glad to read about the lamb on the menu. I fell in love with it on our Eclipse cruise last year and was so disappointed that it was almost invisible on our B2B on Reflection this year. I can look forward to it again next year on Eclipse. Unfortunately, we will miss Antigua and overnight in Aruba. Hopefully this will turn out to be a blessing in disguise.

 

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[dsimkins]

We were also on the same trip. We were on deck 11 so we ate at the blu mostly. We ate one at the Qsine not our favourite. Twice each at the Tuscan and the Murano which we enjoyed.

Very good service in the blu and the other restaurants. Buffet was overall good but similar food each day.

I think our biggest gripe was the lack of service by the pools. Basically you had to get your own drinks.

Other than that we had a great cruise celebrating our 25th anniversary

[jimmieg]

What is the company's thinking behind dropping a port and doing an overnight?

[Texed]

55, Baron, and d,

 

Thank y'all sooooooo much for posting. :)

[Baron Barracuda]

Grandmaanne7 - Not only was lamb frequently on the mdr menu (including enormous lamb shanks one night) it was also prominently displayed at the buffet. There were grilled to order lamb chops, lamb stew and at the carving station a huge side of lamb. Have never seen so much lamb before. We did have sizeable French, German and English contingents aboard so this may have been for their benefit. At the buffet I also saw them carving two (for me) unique items, a whole salmon and a whole small pig.

[Grandmaanne7]

Grandmaanne7 - Not only was lamb frequently on the mdr menu (including enormous lamb shanks one night) it was also prominently displayed at the buffet. There were grilled to order lamb chops, lamb stew and at the carving station a huge side of lamb. Have never seen so much lamb before. We did have sizeable French, German and English contingents aboard so this may have been for their benefit. At the buffet I also saw them carving two (for me) unique items, a whole salmon and a whole small pig.

Thanks Baron Barracuda! I had never enjoyed lamb before but risked it due to the favorable comments on CC. It was heavenly! And yes, the lamb shank was truly enormous. I did my very best not to leave a morsel.

 

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