My wife and I, as well as our cruising friends, are firmly sold on Celebrity cruises. We had completed about a dozen cruises on Royal Caribbean, but had noted a fairly steady decline in quality (especially the food) on Royal. Our fear was that the trend might be generic to the cruise industry. But...after a couple of cruises with Celebrity, we have found a new home on the seas. We have cruises booked with them for 2019 and 2020, and are already counting down the days.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
The embarkation process was an absolute breeze. We don't often cruise out of Miami, but there was no reason for concern. We hit the terminal at about 12:30pm (after our van was nearly an hour late picking us up at our hotel in South Beach). From the time we walked into the terminal, until we were walking about the ship was no more than 20 minutes.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
5 out of 5
We took a little less than half our meals in the main dining room. The food was great, and the wait staff was truly superb. It just took too darn long. After our first couple of dinners ran 2 1/2 hours plus, we asked if there was any way to speed things up a little. They were able to get things down to about an hour forty-five. We did specialty dining in Murano, which was very good; Qsine, which was an absolute blast; and, Sushi on 5, which was only fair at best. The service in Sushi was good, but we're just not fans of the food. We ate several dinners in the buffet, and found the food and variety to be excellent.
Sunset Bar
5 out of 5
Our go-to bar for this cruise was the Sunset Bar, deck 14 aft. The three bartenders, Errol, Nicholas and Sherwin were outstanding. Within the first couple days of the cruise, they had memorized our preferences...and we were a group of 8!
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
Entertainment
4 out of 5
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Our cabin attendant, Del, was terrific. He always had a big smile on his face, and was lightning quick in taking care of our cabin. We are pretty simple folk, and don't have a lot of needs or requests. Del was always wanting to know what else he could do for us. Any time we had a small request, he responded almost immediately. In fact, all of the staff we encountered on this cruise seemed to go out of their way to help, and they were always super friendly. We had two very minor concerns that required a trip to Guest Services, and in both cases our issue was handled promptly, courteously, and fairly.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
We really like this class of Celebrity ship, and the Eclipse was exceptionally clean...and kept that way. You could always find staff roaming about the ship, cleaning and polishing. There were restroom attendants in the public restrooms outside the main dining room that kept the facilities spotless. We never once had the feeling that there was a part of this ship that cried for attention.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
We were not in the Concierge Class this year, but really couldn't tell any difference...other than not having the foot rests for the chairs on the balcony. We were on the aft elevator hump, so we had an oversize balcony, which I always like. The cabins have adequate storage, and all of our suitcases easily fit under the bed. The large flat-screen TV worked without a hitch, even though we didn't watch it much. One bonus was there was near around-the-clock coverage of the Winter Olympics, which we enjoyed watching the daily updates before retiring each night.
Ship tip
If you are hesitant about booking a cruise aboard the Eclipse...don't be. It is a wonderful ship, and the ship's Master/Captain (Captain Leo) always seems to be about somewhere. He is very approachable, and is quite funny if you get a chance to talk with him. One day, during his daily 0945 briefing (when he would tell you where we were, the weather, etc) over the ship's speaker system, he remarked, "the ship's current position is upright...and I intend to keep it that way!"
St. Maarten is still actively cleaning up from the hurricane in September 2017. They are, however, making good progress, and the people there are genuinely happy to see the cruise passengers coming back.
Again, not having much experience cruising out of Miami, we were not looking forward to the disembarkation process and customs. It could not have been easier. We were off the ship, through customs, and in the taxi queue in less than 20 minutes.
Thanks for the great review. We bump back and forth between Celebrity and Carnival, and agree that Celebrity offers a much better cruising experience. If we could sail with them every time, we probably would. But from our location, Carnival is hard to beat on price and convenience, so we enjoy both. We leave on the Eclipse for a fortnight on the 18th... can’t wait!
I totally agree with you about RCCL. It was my favorite cruise line. I went on RCCL in March and I couldn't believe the decline in almost all categories. Very sad.
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