First time on Celebrity-review of Eclipse Vancouver-Honolulu

[broker1217]

We sailed Celebrity for the first time recently. 

I will preface this by stating clearly that we are not big cruisers. When we booked this cruise it was pre-COVID and our only other cruises (when we booked in 2019) were 2 Transatlantics on Viking.

Since COVID we have also cruised Princess to Alaska, Viking to Bermuda, Crystal Bahamas and Viking Panama Canal. We love sea days, good food and wine, and a beautiful ship with lots of outdoor dining options (we love being outdoors). We are anomalies in that we don't gamble and don't go to shows. We only book verandah cabins or higher.

We were headed to Kona to visit oldest kiddo and the Celebrity Trans-Pacific was about the same price as a one way first class ticket. So we figured we would have a bunch of sea days and 11 nights food/accomodation for the same price, while trying out a mass market bigger ship.

 

Boarding in Vancouver:

A complete mess. A Princess ship was boarding at the same time and both ships went through the same security line. Took 90 minutes packed in a sea of humanity. 

 

Cabin:

We used Move Up and bid on Concierge Class and won that. Cabin on Deck 11 under the overhang. We liked that as it provided shade and rain protection. Smallest cabin compared to all other ships. Clearly needed refurbishment. Bathroom had not so great storage and poor lighting. Bed was very comfortable! Decor---fairly horrible. Orange and goldish patterned rug, beat up coffee table, very faded red sofa/extra bed and, oddly, purple ornate curtains. No USB ports anywhere---only ship that did not have them.

 

Service:

Clearly short staffed and we were fine fetching our own drinks in almost all venues. Staff was absolutely wonderful and working so very hard!

 

Food:

Oh boy. This is where we felt Celebrity was by far the worst line. Buffet was great for breakfast, and awful for lunch and dinner. Mostly carb heavy pasta, Mexican, pizza, many rice dishes. They did have good salads which I ate daily. The only grilled meat was the same every day---un-specified fish, and absolutely inedible chicken breast and 1/4" thick boneless pork chop. Lunch meat included bologna which progressively got browner as nobody was eating it. It ended up finally in pre-made sandwiches one day.  Only cheeses were pepper jack, provolone and swiss--not even any cheddar! 

Clearly budget issues resulting in the very cheapest food being served in the buffet. Never had any decent fish, and any beef or pork at the carvery station was marginal. They need to get better quality meat or provide steak knives.

We ate most dinners in Blu---which was better than we expected. Servers and sommelier were excellent and the food far surpassed our expectations. Things like squab, veal, quail, etc. Well presented and we were so thankful we did not have to eat in the MDR.

 

Wine:

We upgraded our drink package to Premium as we like nicer wines as well as fancy coffee and water. Premium wine was easy to find most places on board as was the water so no issues there. Well worth it for us.

 

We would not sail Celebrity again for several reasons. Too crowded for us and too many lines. 

From a value standpoint (we booked in 2019 and lifted and shifted twice) we ended up paying about $200/pp per day for a Concierge Cabin with Premium WiFi and drinks, and gratuities included. It was a relatively good value as the price in the months before we sailed was about $500/pp per day for the same amenities.

Current price levels are ridiculous for the product. We will head back to Viking or a luxury line.

 

[sweetp0618]

We were on the same sailing. Most of our cruises have been on Celebrity but we also occasionally sail other lines. Agree with the comments about the hard working crew. The food was awful. We were shocked. We've never had such bad food (except, maybe, on NCL). We've got other cruises booked on Celebrity - I'm hoping this was a one-off situation. Interestingly, the food was good the last night of the cruise after being in Victoria. 

[Ken the cruiser]

17 minutes ago, broker1217 said:

We sailed Celebrity for the first time recently. 

I will preface this by stating clearly that we are not big cruisers. When we booked this cruise it was pre-COVID and our only other cruises (when we booked in 2019) were 2 Transatlantics on Viking.

Since COVID we have also cruised Princess to Alaska, Viking to Bermuda, Crystal Bahamas and Viking Panama Canal. We love sea days, good food and wine, and a beautiful ship with lots of outdoor dining options (we love being outdoors). We are anomalies in that we don't gamble and don't go to shows. We only book verandah cabins or higher.

We were headed to Kona to visit oldest kiddo and the Celebrity Trans-Pacific was about the same price as a one way first class ticket. So we figured we would have a bunch of sea days and 11 nights food/accomodation for the same price, while trying out a mass market bigger ship.

 

Boarding in Vancouver:

A complete mess. A Princess ship was boarding at the same time and both ships went through the same security line. Took 90 minutes packed in a sea of humanity. 

 

Cabin:

We used Move Up and bid on Concierge Class and won that. Cabin on Deck 11 under the overhang. We liked that as it provided shade and rain protection. Smallest cabin compared to all other ships. Clearly needed refurbishment. Bathroom had not so great storage and poor lighting. Bed was very comfortable! Decor---fairly horrible. Orange and goldish patterned rug, beat up coffee table, very faded red sofa/extra bed and, oddly, purple ornate curtains. No USB ports anywhere---only ship that did not have them.

 

Service:

Clearly short staffed and we were fine fetching our own drinks in almost all venues. Staff was absolutely wonderful and working so very hard!

 

Food:

Oh boy. This is where we felt Celebrity was by far the worst line. Buffet was great for breakfast, and awful for lunch and dinner. Mostly carb heavy pasta, Mexican, pizza, many rice dishes. They did have good salads which I ate daily. The only grilled meat was the same every day---un-specified fish, and absolutely inedible chicken breast and 1/4" thick boneless pork chop. Lunch meat included bologna which progressively got browner as nobody was eating it. It ended up finally in pre-made sandwiches one day.  Only cheeses were pepper jack, provolone and swiss--not even any cheddar! 

Clearly budget issues resulting in the very cheapest food being served in the buffet. Never had any decent fish, and any beef or pork at the carvery station was marginal. They need to get better quality meat or provide steak knives.

We ate most dinners in Blu---which was better than we expected. Servers and sommelier were excellent and the food far surpassed our expectations. Things like squab, veal, quail, etc. Well presented and we were so thankful we did not have to eat in the MDR.

 

Wine:

We upgraded our drink package to Premium as we like nicer wines as well as fancy coffee and water. Premium wine was easy to find most places on board as was the water so no issues there. Well worth it for us.

 

We would not sail Celebrity again for several reasons. Too crowded for us and too many lines. 

From a value standpoint (we booked in 2019 and lifted and shifted twice) we ended up paying about $200/pp per day for a Concierge Cabin with Premium WiFi and drinks, and gratuities included. It was a relatively good value as the price in the months before we sailed was about $500/pp per day for the same amenities.

Current price levels are ridiculous for the product. We will head back to Viking or a luxury line.

 

I’m confused. You said you won an upgrade bid to a concierge cabin, but ate most dinners in Blu? How were you able to do that if you weren’t in an Aqua cabin?

[broker1217]

12 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

I’m confused. You said you won an upgrade bid to a concierge cabin, but ate most dinners in Blu? How were you able to do that if you weren’t in an Aqua cabin?

My error--thanks! Were were in Aqua class---clearly I am not so familiar with Celebrity!

We didn't bid on Concierge as there seemed no benefit. 

We don't like MDR dining and wanted a smaller restaurant. I'm sure Luminae is wonderful too.

Edited October 7, 2022 by broker1217

[Ken the cruiser]

Just now, broker1217 said:

My error--thanks! Were were in Aqua class---clearly I am not so familiar with Celebrity!

That makes better sense. Thanks. Sorry you had such a bad experience, but sometimes some cruise lines aren’t a good fit for some. We’re going to be on the Eclipse for 33 days in an Aqua cabin coming back the other way in April from Sydney back to Vancouver. But, in our case, we very much enjoy going to the evening shows as that’s one of their big pluses, laughing at their game shows and playing trivia as well as going to their occasional late night adult evening shows. 
 

However, I will agree buffet food is just that and we’re pretty selective when we have to eat there for lunch. We also hang out on our balcony quite a bit during our downtimes looking for wildlife and playing on our iPads! 😂

 

In any event, hope you have fun on your future cruises and you may also want to give Oceania a look since you enjoy smaller cruise lines.

[prmssk]

Thanks for sharing your experience.  As you compare cruise lines, one thing I want to point out is that Celebrity is not really a competitor to Viking or even Crystal.  Both Viking and Crystal are definitely in a category above Celebrity.  They are also smaller ships so will be a different experience (that maybe better fits you).  Additionally, you are comparing their likely newer ships on Viking and Crystal to an older ship of Celebrity's that missed its revolution because of the pandemic.  If your Princess ship had USB ports, it likely was one of the newer Royal class ships as well.  Your experience on one of Celebrity's newer ships likely would be a different experience.

 

And when you are comparing prices between lines, make sure you are comparing comparable itineraries.  A Vancouver to Hawaii itinerary is a bit unique so can bring with it a higher price.  We are doing the reverse in the spring and prices are significantly higher on that itinerary than our cruises to the Bahamas, in the Caribbean and even the Panama Canal.

 

All that said, if you enjoy Viking, it makes sense to go back to Viking.  We all have different things we look for in our cruise experience.

[maggie.1008]

We were on the same cruise. I have cruised on X in Aqua class five times in the last year. 

I have noticed Blu is using cheaper cuts. 
I am home now and just tested positive for Covid-19. 

first time. I wonder how many others got sick ? Last few days of the cruise we had to wear masks unless eating or drinking. 
My next cruise will be on a small ship. 

[broker1217]

22 minutes ago, maggie.1008 said:

We were on the same cruise. I have cruised on X in Aqua class five times in the last year. 

I have noticed Blu is using cheaper cuts. 
I am home now and just tested positive for Covid-19. 

first time. I wonder how many others got sick ? Last few days of the cruise we had to wear masks unless eating or drinking. 
My next cruise will be on a small ship. 

Yes--there were many ill people. We started using Room Service for breakfast halfway through.

 

On our last night we heard a woman say 9 out of 23 of her group were positive. I wish they were more transparent about the amount of cases. 

 

[AndyCapn]

This was also our first Celebrity cruise, after 4 NCL cruises. Agree that the crew was wonderful but clearly understaffed. We liked the buffet for lunch (wife raved about the nachos, I always went for the sauteed veggies), was fine for breakfast but preferred room service. 

 

MDR was disappointing, as food temperature was an issue the entire cruise. And maitre D' was still seating people at a snail's pace 11 days in. Long lines every day, in port or not. Drink service often got confused as to who ordered what at which table, or whether the sommelier had already come by.

 

We did love the solarium, much more peaceful than poolside. My dad loved the Sky Lounge. My wife thought the Ensemble Lounge was far too dark and called it the Tunnel of Doom.

 

No issue with the room. Our steward Frederik was a rock star, providing a splitter for our two CPAP machines so it only used one plug. He was on top of everything.

 

I was on the cruise through a casino junket, so no drink package except for free drinks at the casino. I was there six days and cycled $21,000 through the slots... I was offered a drink once.

 

Overall we just wondered if we expected too much from Celebrity. We thought it would be a step up from NCL and if it was, it was just barely. We are willing to try again, but will likely not try a repositioning cruise to see if most of the issues would be resolved with an experienced crew.

[upwarduk]

20 hours ago, broker1217 said:

 

Edited October 7, 2022 by upwarduk
Realise the question about Blu dining room had already been answered.

[Jldevlin]

We were on this one with two other couples one of which had never cruised before. We have cruised Celebrity in years past and in the last few years mostly on NCL. Ages of our group ranged from 40 to 66. We all found the entertainment lacking in the evenings...the stage shows were awful.. the last night with some really weird giant white puffy things on sticks sent us out!!! The game shows were in an area that everyone had to stand to see anything. We really enjoyed deck 14 observation lounge but that was because we made our own fun. Bar staff was overworked but did their best. We had originally been on for the next two legs but cancelled 6 months ago and we are very glad we did. Dining room was okay with traditional seating and we had great service but I cant imagine eating there for another 30 or so days. 

[Katstress]

I was on the same cruise as Broker1217, and also in Aqua Class.  This was not my first Celebrity cruise, nor my first cruise in Aqua Class on a Solstice ship. I agree with much of what Broker1217 said, this trip was in no way close to past cruises on Celebrity, and I was disappointed.
I felt the wine selection was much more limited than in the past, and our sommelier left a lot to be desired, white or red was the prevailing question. I was used to more information and suggestions based on what I was eating. Once I found a Shiraz I liked (based on another passenger’s recommendation), I stuck with that, or the champagne.  The drinks were extremely watered down, and the food, not nearly as good as previous cruises.  Thank goodness we were in Blu, it was consistently better (but not nearly as good as before) than food in other locations. 
The saving grace? THE STAFF! They worked so hard, and were as attentive and helpful as they could be, being short staffed. 
I have to admit, I will reconsider a trip on Celebrity on the near future, and will count on future reviews to see if they return to their previous excellent food, wine, and shows.