Lower your expectations

Item: Celebrity Eclipse
Rating: 2.1
Author: Regcoach

Celebrity Eclipse Cruise Review to Mexico

Regcoach

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 12

Overall rating:

2.1 out of 5

6 Night Cabo & San Diego (Los Angeles Roundtrip)

Sail date: November 11, 2023

Ship: Celebrity Eclipse

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 1174

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 1 year ago

Review summary

This was not the experience we wanted for our first, and possibly last, cruise on Celebrity.

Embarkation

4 out of 5

The port of LA (berth 93) was probably wonderful when the Love Boat set sail from there in the 80’s. Today it is a dated, dirty, and cavernous space unfit for a modern cruise lines who wish to make a good first impression on travelers. The signage driving into the port was turned off, making navigation difficult.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

3 out of 5

The food was mediocre and repetitious. My first three meals were Short ribs. On the main dining room menu, expect to see the same “starters” every night with a rotation of soup options. Specialty dining was very good, but not worth the upcharge to do so (the upcharge being more than the equivalent meal on land would cost in total).

Mast Grill and Bar

1 out of 5

Flies. Soggy fries. No iced tea.

Oceanview Café and Bar

2 out of 5

Many tables, but when not cleared off with any sense of urgency. Expect your food to get cold as you hunt for a place to sit.

Main Restaurant

1 out of 5

The chairs are work out. The tables are crowded. There is no main walkways. In a wheelchair? You are screwed.

Onboard Activities

1 out of 5

The activities were run by two clowns. They think loud and bouncy is a replacement for substance and fun. Their “Card Room” had no cards and puzzles that were missing pieces. Really, why not put three new $10 puzzles out each day?

Guest Relations And Excursions

1 out of 5

The Guest Service rep (from Mexico) lies.

Fortune's Casino

2 out of 5

The slot machine aisles were not wide enough to walk through with no one in the seats. It was horrible.

Entertainment

1 out of 5

Their house band could not carry a tune. It was really quite awkward and sad.

Sky Observation Lounge

1 out of 5

Cavernous and rarely used. Windows seals a are busted and glass is cloudy.

Card Room

1 out of 5

Five boxes of Checkers. No cards. Bring your own entertainment.

Children's Programs

No kids with me

Service and Staff

1 out of 5

The staff was abundant yet not trained. They were generally functional, but lacked flair and attention to detail. This evident in paint on windows, 18 minute wait to get seated at lunch, wrong food orders, multiple no-message broadcast voicemails from concierge (Oscar does not know how to use the phone system), and a Guest Relations rep who I caught in 4 lies in one interaction.

Ship Quality

4 out of 5

The ship is as clean as stewards can make it, but a vacuum and rag cannot clean years of poor / shoddy maintenance.

Cabin / Stateroom

2 out of 5

The balcony has an abundance of flaking paint. The glass balcony was never cleaned. The ikea quality drawer unit was falling apart. The balcony furniture was old and faded. Our hairdryer caught fire. Soap scum on the shower doors. Need extra hangers?, expect to receive used left-behind dry cleaner hangars from previous guests. The TV options are poor and their security in the TV prevents hooking up your own device.

Ship tip

Do not go on this ship. The structure and the people are tired and not receiving the necessary support to provide a “wow” to guests.

Thumbs up

Ports of call

San Pedro (Los Angeles), California

1 out of 5

Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

2 out of 5

The tender service was borderline unsafe. Our tender ran into a docked Princess cruise tender in the port.

Thumbs Up 0

San Diego, California

4 out of 5

Disembarkation

1 out of 5

We booked the airport transfer. What a joke. A dozen busses with no effort to divide guests by airline/terminal. Instead, everyone got dropped off at terminal 1 or 6 and had to figure out how to get to their airline. I feel badly for the disabled and elderly who had to navigate by themselves.

Traveler Photos

Window seals busted and paint means you will never have a picturesque view.

Explosion at the LA port delayed our departure.

Why fix it right when you can screw it’s from the front.

10 Comments

Kplumm1027 11 months ago

Glad you had a wonderful time! Hope your next cruise is just as amazing!!😎

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SeaDBoats 11 months ago

I was on this sailing and while I too had a single wire hanger and flaking paint on my veranda I didn’t let it taint my whole experience. I had something different every night in the MDR. Tendering is always a pain and Cabo is not the greatest port. I went to enjoy 6 nights of being waited on and loved it.

Thumbs Up 2

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JoySam 11 months ago

Obviously you cruised with champagne taste on a beer budget. Don’t complain about the amenities you’d hoped for but couldn’t afford.

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sd159 1 year ago

I did not write “prick”. It was autocorrected by the app. The word I used started with a f followed by a u then a c and ended with a k.

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sd159 1 year ago

Why the prick would you go anywhere. Stay at home!

Thumbs Up 1

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Ruby13 1 year ago

Sorry for your experience was on the eclipse and it was beautiful at the time

Thumbs Up 1

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sandy73 1 year ago

Ww had a great time in Sept on Eclipse around Alaska. Entertainment was fine food fine cabin fine. Bit of flaky paint on balcony but nothing worth complaining about

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TheBigSalad 1 year ago

Thanks for sharing your experience.

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Gwbigdog 1 year ago

Oops sorry 😞 thanks

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cruising2004 1 year ago

Sorry you were disappointed with your cruise.

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