Eclipse vs. Koningdam

[mkuliesh]

Hello,

 

We are occasional cruisers (so far - RCCL, NCL and Princess) from New England, who haven't yet tried Celebrity or HAL.  We are looking at both lines for a 7-day Pacific Coast cruise later this year. Either one looks like it would be a very nice trip.

 

While absolutely no one goes on a cruise to watch television -- regardless of what we've done for activities on a cruise on any given evening, and no matter how late it might be when we return to our stateroom, my husband and I like to watch a little TV to relax before nodding off for the night.

 

I noticed when looking at both cruise lines' websites that photos of balcony cabins and the smaller suite cabins on the Celebrity Eclipse (which is one of our choices besides the HAL Koningdam), that the televisions in these room types all look like they're directly in front of the small stateroom couch, instead of the bed. Further, from seeing these photos, the TVs also don't look like they're easily viewed from the vantagepoint of being in the bed. Is this perception correct? Does this apply to most of the staterooms on the Eclipse?   I realize it's a small thing, but if we can't see the TV very well while relaxing in bed, I think that would annoy us. In comparison, the photos from the Koningdam for the same room types look like the TV is directly in front of the bed.

 

We are also looking at doing our first Alaska Cruise next year, following this year's Pacific Coast cruise, so it would actually help me to choose between these two ships for both trips. 

 

This might be an oddball question for the cruise boards, but did you find it difficult to see the TV from the bed when relaxing in your balcony or small suite stateroom when sailing on Eclipse?

 

Any other feedback on Eclipse vs. Koningdam would be much appreciated!

 

 

Edited March 23, 2023 by mkuliesh
repeated words

[mahdnc]

Hi, and welcome to Cruise Critic, @mkuliesh.

 

We sailed on Eclipse in 2014, 2015, and 2016.  Our cabin (a family veranda cabin) had its single flat screen TV installed right above the stateroom desk.  This TV was mounted on a metal bracket that included a swing arm so that the TV could be pulled away from the wall which created room for the TV to be turned at an angle so that other parts of the cabin could view the TV straight on.  This feature should permit the TV to be positioned in a way for the bed in a regular stateroom to be able to comfortably view the screen.

 

Eclipse FV stateroom television.  Jan 2016.

Edited March 23, 2023 by mahdnc

[Ex-Airbalancer]

4 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

We sailed on Eclipse in 2014, 2015, and 2016.  Our cabin (a family veranda cabin) had its single flat screen TV installed right above the stateroom desk.  This TV was mounted on a metal bracket that included a swing arm so that the TV could be pulled away from the wall which created room for the TV to be turned at an angle so that other parts of the cabin could view the TV straight on.  This feature should permit the TV to be positioned in a way for the bed in a regular stateroom to be able to comfortably view the screen.

 

How did you like the balconies on Family verandas ? 

 

My wife as no problem watching TV in Bed on any of the Celebrity ships we have been on 

Edited March 23, 2023 by Ex-Airbalancer

[mahdnc]

14 minutes ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

How did you like the balconies on Family verandas ? 

 

You are speaking of the S-class FV cabins, of course, as they are not anywhere as spacious as the M class FV balconies (as you know).

 

The answer is that I very much liked them, with a qualification: The Deck 8 FV balconies are much much much better than the Deck 7 FVs. 

 

Deck 8 FV balconies are very wide, but have the standard balcony depth.  In fact they are wider than a normal balcony.  Plus the balcony area closest to the bow is actually enclosed on 3 sides so it offers  protection from bad weather.  Because the balcony has the standard depth, you do have to squeeze around the furniture to move around and you can't have a dining table sized for 4 (like you have on the M class FV balcony).

 

Deck 7 FV balconies are not as wide.  In fact it is less wide than a normal balcony (at least what I consider to be the usable portion that offers a view).  A significant fraction of the balcony is taken up by the 3-sided enclosed area that I referred to earlier.  It is not very good.

 

It is difficult to visualize what I am talking about, so here is a photo of the port side FV balconies on Solstice.  The balcony underscored in red is the Deck 8 FV.  The balcony underscored in blue is the Deck 7 FV.  The difference in the two sizes are obvious.  The lousiness of the Deck 7 FV balcony is also obvious.

 

Just to complete the discussion, the Deck 7 FV cabin interior area is also smaller than the Deck 8 FV interior.  

 

Deck 8 FV balcony (red underscore) vs Deck 7 FV balcony (blue underscore).  Solstice, Jan 2018, Great Barrier Reef 

[mahdnc]

@mkuliesh,

 

Here is a better photo of the TV wall mounting system and the different positions the monitor can be put in.  This is taken aboard Eclipse's younger sister, Reflection

 

[Ex-Airbalancer]

Just now, mahdnc said:

 

You are speaking of the S-class FV cabins, of course, as they are not anywhere as spacious as the M class FV balconies (as you know).

 

The answer is that I very much liked them, with a qualification: The Deck 8 FV balconies are much much much better than the Deck 7 FVs. 

 

Deck 8 FV balconies are very wide, but have the standard balcony depth.  In fact they are wider than a normal balcony.  Plus the balcony area closest to the bow is actually enclosed on 3 sides so it offers  protection from bad weather.  Because the balcony has the standard depth, you do have to squeeze around the furniture to move around and you can't have a dining table sized for 4 (like you have on the M class FV balcony).

 

Deck 7 FV balconies are not as wide.  In fact it is less wide than a normal balcony (at least what I consider to be the usable portion that offers a view).  A significant fraction of the balcony is taken up by the 3-sided enclosed area that I referred to earlier.  It is not very good.

 

It is difficult to visualize what I am talking about, so here is a photo of the port side FV balconies on Solstice.  The balcony underscored in red is the Deck 8 FV.  The balcony underscored in blue is the Deck 7 FV.  The difference in the two sizes are obvious.  The lousiness of the Deck 7 FV balcony is also obvious.

 

Just to complete the discussion, the Deck 7 FV cabin interior area is also smaller than the Deck 8 FV interior.  

 

Deck 8 FV balcony (red underscore) vs Deck 7 FV balcony (blue underscore).  Solstice, Jan 2018, Great Barrier Reef 

We put in an upgrade bid on the Reflection TA in April , but there hasnt been an open cabin since we book last June , really don’t care if we get or not 

[mahdnc]

3 minutes ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

We put in an upgrade bid on the Reflection TA in April , but there hasnt been an open cabin since we book last June , really don’t care if we get or not 

 

The S class FVs are overkill for 2 people (e.g. 2 bedrooms).  One funny thing about them is that the FVs are furnished very differently among the S class ships.  When Solstice came out, its FV cabin was barely furnished--lots of empty floor space.  By the time Reflection was built, it was like the designers finally got it--they made proper use of the large cabin space and furnished it accordingly.

 

Equinox (I think) and Eclipse FV furnishings were somewhere in between Solstice and Reflection.  Silhouette's FV cabins were well furnished like Reflection, but that is history as her FV was converted into Horizon Suites (I cannot imagine paying the high prices for a Deck 7 Horizon Suite balcony).

 

Here are some photos from Reflection FV 8107:

 

 

[Ex-Airbalancer]

11 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

 

The S class FVs are overkill for 2 people (e.g. 2 bedrooms).  One funny thing about them is that the FVs are furnished very differently among the S class ships.  When Solstice came out, its FV cabin was barely furnished--lots of empty floor space.  By the time Reflection was built, it was like the designers finally got it--they made proper use of the large cabin space and furnished it accordingly.

 

Equinox (I think) and Eclipse FV furnishings were somewhere in between Solstice and Reflection.  Silhouette's FV cabins were well furnished like Reflection, but that is history as her FV was converted into Horizon Suites (I cannot imagine paying the high prices for a Deck 7 Horizon Suite balcony).

 

Here are some photos from Reflection FV 8107:

 

 

A lot cheaper than getting a suite , it was only $100 pp bid for the cabin🤣

[mahdnc]

3 hours ago, Ex-Airbalancer said:

A lot cheaper than getting a suite , it was only $100 pp bid for the cabin🤣

 

That is quite true.

[Ken the cruiser]

5 hours ago, mkuliesh said:

 

Any other feedback on Eclipse vs. Koningdam would be much appreciated!

 

We have cruised on both the Eclipse and the Koningsdam. The main difference between Celebrity and HAL IMHO is that Celebrity offers evening production shows and guest entertainment in the main theater every night whereas HAL shifted to their current evening Music Walk entertainment strategy about 6 years ago and pretty much abandoned production shows and guest entertainers performing in their main theaters.
 

So if you like to hang out in lounges and listen to a variety of quality music offerings in the evening, HAL would be the better choice. However, if you like to be entertained by going to evening shows in the main theater when on a cruise, then Celebrity might be the better choice.

[LadyBerard]

If you do enjoy spending time in the room and watching some tv, HAL has a TON of free movies that you can watch.

[hobgoblin]

12 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

We have cruised on both the Eclipse and the Koningsdam. The main difference between Celebrity and HAL IMHO is that Celebrity offers evening production shows and guest entertainment in the main theater every night whereas HAL shifted to their current evening Music Walk entertainment strategy about 6 years ago and pretty much abandoned production shows and guest entertainers performing in their main theaters.
 

So if you like to hang out in lounges and listen to a variety of quality music offerings in the evening, HAL would be the better choice. However, if you like to be entertained by going to evening shows in the main theater when on a cruise, then Celebrity might be the better choice.

Can I ask would you say cabins are better on Celebrity Eclipse or Koningsdam?

[Ken the cruiser]

3 minutes ago, hobgoblin said:

Can I ask would you say cabins are better on Celebrity Eclipse or Koningsdam?

On our HAL Koningsdam cruise to Norway in 2016, we were in a corner aft-facing Neptune suite. Then in 2017 we were on a 17-day Caribbean cruise in an aft-facing Vista Suite, which is basically an aft-facing balcony cabin. Later on in 2017, we were on the Eclipse in an aft-facing concierge (C1) cabin on a 25-day B2B which included transatlantic cruise back to Ft Lauderdale.

 

We felt very comfortable in both aft-facing balcony cabins. However, if we were going to book a suite, we would definitely opt for a corner aft-facing cabin on a Celebrity S-class ship, as they are much roomier and the suite perks much more extensive, as we never have been very impressed with the HAL Neptune suite perks.

[mkuliesh]

Thank you so much everyone for the feedback and the photos too! It was super helpful. ☺️

[mkuliesh]

On 3/23/2023 at 9:45 PM, Ken the cruiser said:

We have cruised on both the Eclipse and the Koningsdam. The main difference between Celebrity and HAL IMHO is that Celebrity offers evening production shows and guest entertainment in the main theater every night whereas HAL shifted to their current evening Music Walk entertainment strategy about 6 years ago and pretty much abandoned production shows and guest entertainers performing in their main theaters.
 

So if you like to hang out in lounges and listen to a variety of quality music offerings in the evening, HAL would be the better choice. However, if you like to be entertained by going to evening shows in the main theater when on a cruise, then Celebrity might be the better choice.

 

I really appreciate this additional insight about the entertainment. I haven't been crazy about the general song and dance production shows on some other cruise lines in the past, but we did very much enjoy the live music, the comedians, "Love and Marriage" type game shows (which tend to be pretty funny), and the occasional karaoke competition when there are passengers onboard who are actually quite talented singers. I understand on some lines they have upped their game because we've never seen a musical (ex., "Chicago") on a cruise ship in the past, and we haven't been on one of the larger RCCL ships that have those Aqua Theater shows.

[Ken the cruiser]

20 minutes ago, mkuliesh said:

 

I really appreciate this additional insight about the entertainment. I haven't been crazy about the general song and dance production shows on some other cruise lines in the past, but we did very much enjoy the live music, the comedians, "Love and Marriage" type game shows (which tend to be pretty funny), and the occasional karaoke competition when there are passengers onboard who are actually quite talented singers. I understand on some lines they have upped their game because we've never seen a musical (ex., "Chicago") on a cruise ship in the past, and we haven't been on one of the larger RCCL ships that have those Aqua Theater shows.

I have placed some Live From threads in my below signature associated with some of the X, PCL and NCL cruises we went on in the latter part of 2022, with plenty of photos (but no food shots), if that helps.

Edited April 9, 2023 by Ken the cruiser

[Tapi]

We’ve done Solstice (Eclipse’s sister) and Nieuw Statendam (Koningsdam’s sister). We did standard balconies on both. The cabin on the Nieuw Statendam felt a bit tighter, but the TV position and the lineup was much better. Normally we’re not people who stay in the cabin and watch TV, but we found ourselves enjoying being in our cabin and watching on demand movies on Nieuw Statendam. 
 

As far as ships go, they are both very nice, but I much preferred the Nieuw Statendam. The ship had the perfect balance of modern and traditional. Felt much classier than the Solstice. It was also a better layout. Solstice to me felt a bit wonky and disjointed.

 

As far as entertainment goes, Nieuw Statendam had all the venues along Music Walk (Rolling Stones, BB King’s, Lincoln Center Stage, Billboard) and I thought it was brilliant. One moment you could be listening to a classic rock band in one venue and then a classical music ensemble at another.
 

As far as stage entertainment goes, I loved their main theater. Very modern and high tech circular theatre, with huge floor to ceiling LED screens covering 270 degrees. The two productions by the Step One Company were phenomenal. We actually went twice one night to watch the same production. 
 

Solstice’s stage productions by comparison felt unimaginative. It wasn’t bad, just the very standard, run of the mill type of production that one would expect to see in a traditional theatre on a cruise ship.

 

With all of that said, we had a wonderful time on both cruises, and would gladly sail on either one again, but I feel that Holland America blew Celebrity out of the water, at least when comparing these two classes of ships specifically. 

 

 

Edited April 9, 2023 by Tapi