Magical Hawaiian Cruise
Celebrity Eclipse Cruise Review to Hawaii
Contributor Level:
Purser
Cruises: 7+ cruises
Reviews: 2
Helpful Votes: 95
15 Night Hawaii (Los Angeles Roundtrip)
Sail date: October 27, 2019
Ship: Celebrity Eclipse
Cabin type: Suite
Cabin number: 2133
Traveled as: Couple
Reviewed: 5 years ago
Review summary
This was a fabulous cruise! Ten sea days is not for the feint of heart. If you get bored with five days in a row at sea, it may not be for you. We loved the sea days but can say we were happy to see land when we reached Ensenada on day 15. My only negative comment is that I believe that Celebrity could have extended the time at each port until later in the day. Only Oahu had a night time departure. The other days we sailed at 5 or 6 pm limiting the amount of time on those islands.Embarkation
Quick and easy!
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
We took our dinners exclusively in the suites restaurant, Luminae. We had access to both the MDR and the Luminae menu and selected from both throughout the 15 day cruise. Our server, Juan Pablo, was amazingly skilled and always made sure that we had what we needed. We had such affection for him and his partner, Putu, that we hated to leave! The sommelier kept our wine glasses filled and knew what we wanted as we arrived.
Meals, service and ambiance in Luminae are superb and we found no need to go elsewhere. We should mention that we often enjoyed lunch at the Mast Grill on the 14th deck. Only complaint would be that they did not have enough tables available and of course they were in direct sun. But, that did not deter us from enjoying the burgers while out by the pool.
Onboard Activities
Entertainment
Service and Staff
Cannot express how excellent the waiters, room steward, butler and any other staff interactions that we had were.
Ship Quality
Restrooms are spacious and spotless. The theater is large with comfortable seating.
Cabin / Stateroom
We downsized from a Celebrity Suite on prior cruises and were pleasantly surprised that the stateroom was quite spacious. I did not think that the bathroom was much smaller than the Celebrity Suite and had plenty of room for storage of bath and beauty items. The tub had a rain style shower head which was heaven but if you are tall, that could be a problem.
We had lots of room for baggage under the bed as well as in the closets and drawers for our clothing. The room was immaculately maintained. We had afternoon delivery of savory snacks which were a treat. Our butler, Josip, was attentive and even arranged for canapes and served our champagne when we had another couple in before dinner. We felt like rock stars!
The balcony has an overhang as the Oceanview Cafe is on the next deck. With that said, we did not have direct sun. We were comfortable sitting on the balcony any time of the day. If you are looking to sit in the sun then this deck of Sky Suites on the resort deck may not be for you. It was a short walk on the same deck to the pool, solarium and spa. We thought that it was well located to the elevators and Luminae restaurant.
While we did occasionally hear rolling carts from the Cafe above, it was not bothersome. We have no reservation about booking this Sky Suite in the future!
Ports of call
We took a ship's tour to the Astronomy Center in a very comfortable bus. I did have a little trouble understanding the guide but he was informative. Included in the tour was a lunch at a botanical garden and we were pleasantly surprise that the food was very good.
Thumbs Up
0
We took a private tour with three other couples. The guide was excellent but the van was not adequately air conditioned. They provided a luncheon at a bee farm that was prepared by the tour company and was great!
Having been to Maui many times, we chose to rent a car and drive around on our own. We found Budget will pick up the driver at the pier but we chose to take an uber to the rental desk about 7 mi away. They did agree to take both of us back to the pier when we returned the car. Lahaina is a quaint town and gets very crowed when there is a ship in port. So beware that if you end a tour, allow enough time for browsing in the crowds.
We did not know that as a suite guest, you get preferential tender boarding and were pleased to have the suite manager pull us from the very long line to quickly board the tender.
With a full day in this port, we were able to take a private 8 hour tour with 3 other couples. What a beautiful island! Our group had already visited Pearl Harbor so we were able to enjoy the North Shore and many other sites. We had a lunch at a "food truck" and were thrilled to share the experience and the great food. However, the plate was huge and unless you are really hungry, two could be very satisfied with a single portion!
Disembarkation
This cruise was our least favorite disembarkation. We never sailed in or out of San Pedro. In other ports as a suite guest we had virtually no wait time. That was not the case, but we did get an escort from the Suites Manager to exit and that was expedient. However, after that we were on our own and waited in line with the others. The suites baggage was separated in one room and we were easily able to locate it. The curb side was a nightmare. We ordered an uber and waited a very long time. Trying to locate the uber was difficult. Next time from this port I would just take a taxi and pay the higher price.