Celebrity Eclipse Cruise Reviews - Reviews

Overall ship was good and calm seas.  Wen had to by-pass Bermuda, therefore, no new entertainment was brought on to ship.  Dining room food needs improvement.  Buffet breakfast and lunch was fabulous.  Ship was always clean and attention was made to get hand sanitizers. 

My first cruise. Very clean ship. Service A1 ! Greek Captain had us on the bridge that was an experience. 👍🛳 He is a very kind man. The food was so good. Menu at dinner in a word Amazing! Lots of drinks to choose from. Cups always clean. I played basketball and made use of the gym to stay fit. Lots of areas to find seclusion with a view! 🏝

This was our 5th cruise on Celebrity...15th in all.  We are sincerely spoiled, now that we have  made Celebrity "our cruise line."  We sailed for two wonderful weeks.  The food, staff, room, and shows were all beyond our expectations.  The room attendants were exceptional, and our assistant waiter was truly superb.  The experience starts with a lovely glass of champagne and continues on a beautiful path from there!  If you want to be pampered, eat like a queen, and see wonderful performers, make Celebrity your next cruise.  The Eclipse is a gorgeous ship.  Well maintained.  The cabins are terrific.  Lots of storage and a lot of bathroom drawers and cabinets.  All in all it was just another great cruise with Celebrity.

A cruise ship or cruise liner is a passenger ship used for pleasure voyages, where the voyage itself and the ship's amenities are a part of the experience, as well as the different destinations along the way. Transportation is not the prime purpose, as cruise ships operate mostly on routes that return passengers to their originating port, so the ports of call are usually in a specified region of a continent. There are even "cruises to nowhere" or "nowhere voyages" where the ship makes 2–3 night round trips without any ports of call.[1]

By contrast, dedicated transport oriented ocean liners do "line voyages" and typically transport passengers from one point to another, rather than on round trips. Traditionally, an ocean liner for the transoceanic trade will be built to a higher standard than a typical cruise ship, including high freeboard and stronger plating to withstand rough seas and adverse conditions encountered in the open ocean, such as the North Atlantic. Ocean liners also usually have larger capacities for fuel, victuals, and other stores for consumption on long voyages, compared to dedicated cruise ships.

I have never been treated so poorly in my life! Extremely rude service staff! Terrible! The housekeeping staff were the only pleasant staff members on board. I would never recommend this  cruise ship to anyone, because of the extremely rude service staff! 

We’re a couple in our mid-sixties and this was our 36th cruise and our 12th on Celebrity.  The past two winters, we were on the “Equinox” in the Caribbean and enjoyed both cruises.  We decided to do it again this March and selected this cruise as it was fourteen days with interesting ports.  Also, we hoped that length would limit the number of “Spring Breakers” onboard.  Since there were only a few children and college-age passengers, our plan worked well.

Overall, we found the “Eclipse” to be in very good shape.  There were only a few places that we noticed even the normal “wear and tear” of a ship that’s six years old.  The hard-working crew is very visible as they keep the public areas clean and neat.  They even opened bathroom doors to limit what the guests would touch.  The staff in the Oceanview buffet were much quicker in clearing tables and wiping them down than we’ve seen on other ships.

We didn’t do the casino, spa or the gym.  We did the hot tub and the inside pool a few times, but didn’t use the outside pool at all.  It was very crowded with sunbathers and noisy so it wasn’t very inviting for us.  We’ve got light skin that easily burns so we deliberately avoid the sun so it’s not a problem for us.  We did notice that more options for sun and shade were available on the forward upper decks away from the pool.

We had a 2D obstructed view balcony (Cabin #6204) mid-ship on the starboard side near the atrium elevators.  In that category, the larger lifeboats block the view directly down to the water, but you can see the ocean and shore beyond them.  At that location, we didn’t smell any smoke as that area was on Deck 5 on the port side.

The cabin was comfortable and well designed.  There aren’t many drawers, but there’s enough storage in the closet and in the hinged bins above the bed.  There were lots of channels on the flat-screen TV including MSNBC, CNBC, TBS, TNT, BBC, Skynews, etc.

Our cabin was extremely quiet.  We hardly ever heard our neighbors unless they were talking on their adjacent balcony.  We were in the cabin many times when we left a port or arrived in the next one and we never knew the ship was moving or stopped.  On the final morning, I woke up at about 6:00 am to see an orange glow so I got my camera to take a picture of the sunrise.  When I opened the curtain, it was coming from a halogen light stand where we were docked at the Port of Miami!

Our cabin attendant, Blasido, did an excellent job figuring out when he could refresh our cabin since our hours varied over the course of the cruise.  He was available when needed, but also almost invisible which is what we like.  Our cabin was always perfectly clean and made up without us having to request that anything be done.  

We opted for "Select Dining" on Deck 5 in the Moonlight Sonata dining room and were seated the first couple of nights at Table 553 overlooking the lower level.  Jesus, Benito and Yezani were our servers and they turned out to be the best trio of all of our cruises.  As we couldn't make our normal 5:45 dinner time on two of the evenings, we were seated in different sections and were very disappointed with the service there.  So, we made reservations for the rest of the cruise at Table 553 and had our great servers for 12 of the 14 nights.  Jesus and Benito were always professional and attentive without being intrusive and made our dining experience a pleasure each night.  Yezani was especially helpful in selecting the wines to go with the various courses.  He's a very personable sommelier with his solid expertise and friendly approach.

We’d read other reviews which said that the food quality had gone down in the MDR.  We found it to still be very good with many tasty options.  The appetizers were especially interesting so sometimes, we’d order four of them and skip the entrée.  We particularly like the Ahi Tuna app and several mains like the Chicken Chiquita and Beef Wellington.  Granted, the steaks on that menu are not the same thick cuts that you’d get in the Murano alternative restaurant, but they were OK.  We also enjoyed the sushi, pizza and Indian food at the Ocean View buffet and the cheeseburgers at the Mast Grille.

Among the entertainers, pianist Jordan Peterson was outstanding.  He's extremely talented, but he is really down to earth and easy to talk to.  Jordan genuinely seems to love what he does as he encourages the guests to request songs they'd like to hear (and then can do almost all of them).  Since many people saw him in the lounges, his “Elton John” matinee show with the orchestra at the end of the cruise was well attended and he got a well-deserved standing ovation.  We loved Elliot Finkel when we saw him on the Equinox, but Jordan is our new favorite pianist so we hope to see him again on one of our future Celebrity cruises.  He’s very different from Perry Grant when he was with Celebrity, but we think that Jordan will develop the same sort of loyal fans following him to the various venues.

We enjoyed the cast of productions shows (especially Nicola Ward who did her own solo performance).  There’s a new set of three shows: “Rock City”, “Chandelier” and “Topper”.  They have a mix of songs that you’d know plus original scores.  These shows are high energy and loud which was fine for us, but they might be little much for others.  I did the Backstage Tour which I do on most cruises.  Since most of the singers are from the UK, it's amazing to hear their accents when they speak which are entirely unnoticeable when they are singing.  I'm always astonished at how young the singers and dancers are as they are in their early twenties.  They are so poised and professional at such an early.

Ryan Joyce is a terrific illusionist (even though we've figured out most of his tricks after seeing him before).  When he does his hypnotism show, he does a great job picking out the most suggestible people and then makes them do some hilarious things.  Why someone would get on stage knowing what's likely to happen is beyond me, but I'm glad that there's no shortage of volunteers!  Also, we’re pleased to report that there is still a live orchestra as it really makes all of the shows more professional and sophisticated.  Most of the other performers were very good although a few that weren’t our style.

As usual, we had a beverage package which really makes our cruises more inclusive.  It's great to have a drink before dinner, wine with the meal and afterwards at the show without thinking about the cost or signing a tab.  We also took advantage of the specialty coffees and teas at Al Bacio as well as the bottled waters, cans of soda and fresh squeezed orange juice.

For the last four nights of the cruise, we upgraded to the Premium Beverage Package for $10 per day plus the 18% gratuity.  We were then able to get beers, wine and liquors up to $13 which allowed us to get Guinness, Boddington and Sam Adams as well as many more wines, top-shelf liquors and full-size martinis at the Martini Bar.

Since we had it, we only went to the daily Captain's Club gathering twice, but we hope that Celebrity continues to host them in a specific venue so that the guests would have an opportunity to meet and get to know each other.  It's disappointing that Michael's Club is still exclusively reserved for passengers in suites, but we know that it's a lost cause to hope Celebrity changes this.

One thing that was unusual was the public appearances (or lack thereof) of our Cruise Director Damian and Activities Manager Jane.  Damian introduced the performers and did his other duties, but he wasn't particularly friendly.  When we boarded the first day, we noticed a man standing to our right sort of staring into space.  He didn't say anything to us or any of the other cruisers who were boarding so we were very surprised to find out later that he was the Cruise Director!  At the end of the cruise, I was alone taking pictures of the cast singers/dancers on the TV near the theater and he walked right by me without saying hello.  The only times I saw Jane were on the daily updates on the cabin TV.  On other Celebrity cruises, the CD and AM were much more visible and personable as they interacted more with the guests.  Maybe they were getting some "down time" or in some other venue that we missed.  Anyway, not a big deal, but a little odd for Celebrity.

The seven ports of Aruba, Curacao, Barbados, St. Lucia, Antigua, St. Kitts and St. Maarten were just fine with a good mix of five days at sea.  The stop in Curacao included an overnight there rather than a visit to Bonaire which we would have preferred, but maybe it worked for others.  We did six Celebrity excursions and five included snorkeling which unfortunately isn't as good as it used to be.  The ones in Curacao and St. Kitts/Nevis were the best but on other islands, we were taken to different locations from what was listed, ostensibly due to rough seas.  More often than not, there were only a few fish to be seen in murky waters with sand covering some of the reefs.  We know that this is due to hurricanes, global warming and pollution, but it's still disappointing.  The non-snorkeling excursion to Harrison Caves in Barbados was very interesting and was easy for all guests as it used a tram.  The commentary on the bus when we were traveling to and from the caves was very informative (including hearing about Tiger Woods' wedding there).  We’d been to St. Maarten before so we took a day off and stayed on the ship.

Overall, we had a great cruise and have booked 8 more with Celebrity in the next 12 months.  We're looking forward to seeing the Mediterranean and Adriatic on the "Constellation", Asia on the "Millennium" and Australia, New Zealand and the South Seas on the "Solstice".  So, we hope that Celebrity keeps up the good work.

Our cruise was Excellent. The crew, our stateroom, the meals and islands that we visited all contributed for a fun loved 14 days.  We were on deck 9 of the Eclipse and having sailed on this ship before we had no problems getting around.  The entertainment was some of the best I have experienced on a ship before.  Always lots of great entertainment and plenty to do after or before the shows in the theatre.

I would recommend Celebrity Eclipse to anyone who loves to be entertained or just relax by the pool or in the sky lounge or enjoy the officers and guests with an Evening of Dancing with the Officers...this was hilarious.

We had an Aqua class cabin which was well worth the upgrade. We also ended up with some ship credit, which we applied to upgrading to the top level drink package, absolutely the only way to go. The staff was the best in any ship we have been on. I would say celebrity is not a cruise to take young kids on, but older teens would probably enjoy it... We saw a handful of younger kids and they just didn't look as happy as the adults. We have 3 younger teens, but we take them when we go on carnival or RC, enjoy the space and relaxation on celebrity!

We were on the Eclipse for our first Celebrity cruise and it made loyal Celebrity guests out of us! Everything was great...food, staff, everything! We were particularly impressed by the live grass on the top deck which was a great place to rest and relax, especially during sea days. Also, the bar staff at Passport bar and Ensemble lounge were particularly fantastic. =)

This was a wonderful trip.  the food and entertainment was excellent.  The wait staff was very friendly and courteous.  The ship was clean and there was plenty to do.  If you wanted to get away to a quiet spot, there were plenty of those places on the ship as well.  We can't wait for the opportunity to go again!

The Good: smooth seas; great weather crossing the Atlantic. Superb service: best on any Celebrity ship! Good speakers and above average entertainment. Really enjoyed the opportunity to engage with fellow passengers and made several new friends.

The Bad: Celebrity seems intent on irritating its best passengers. Why do we have to pay for Cappuccino coffee? Why do they give out 3 drink tickets each day that can only be used from 5 -7 PM? If you eat dinner around 6 it really only amounts to one drink. Upgrading to Concierge when in elite status is a total waste of money!

The Ugly: How many times do we need to go through customs? Once in Boston (OK; absolutely necessary); once in Bermuda (OK; necessary); again in Port Canaveral (a REAL cluster!: took over 4 hours before being allowed back on the ship) and then AGAIN in Miami (As an American coming from an American port what was the reason?)

Whilst this cruise on Eclipse was still good it was not up to our previous 3 cruises on Celebrity Eclipse. We got the distinct impression that Celebrity were cutting back. Previously we have had a beautiful Brunch in the main dining room with many ice sculptures and other displays but this time it was relegated to the Oceanview Buffet with just a couple of ice sculptures. Also we felt the Sky Lounge was under used for live entertainment and even when the weather got better there did not seem to be the outside entertainment on deck. We believe the dress code is soon to be discontinued and it was obvious that it was not being enforced at all on this cruise and we think this is a disappointing move.

Accompanied a couple, lady was in motorised wheelchair. We arranged accessible cabin, hoist and shower chair. Arrived at Southampton with 5 minutes to board so no hold ups. Cabin 3101 was a good size and we'll thought out. The automatic door took a long time to shut crew could see in when going past to crew door. The hoist was in cabin on arrival, the only slight problem was the floor was uneven and made hoisting some what interesting at times ! We found the ship easy to get around in a wheelchair, not too much queuing, although some people didn't seem to understand it would have been easier all to stand to one side in lift. Sonata dining room was beautiful, we had the same table each night, the waiters automatically took the chair away to make space for wheelchair. Service was very good, I thought the menu a bit boring some nights. The worst meal was on Top Chefs night, we all agreed that we were not impressed. Breakfast room service was preceded by a phone call which was helpful. Much better coffee than in buffet. The reserved seating in theatre was great and meant we didn't have to sit for ages before shows. Zeebrugge. Unable to disembark due to steep slope of gangplank. Would be OK if able to transfer to manual chair but not possible. Warnemunde. Nice port just to wander about. Access through car park instead of under railway. Town easy to get round in most places. Tallinn. I walked into town, but returned to ship when it poured with rain. My employer went to shopping centre. She found it challenging to get there as road to port entrance very rough and few good drop kerbs. St. Petersburg. Booked private 2 day tour with Alla. Started badly as wheelchair too big for van provided so had to wait for different one for an hour. Went to St Catherine s palace, took a few exterior pictures, then the officials decided that the wheelchair was too heavy for floor and wouldn't allow us any further than cloakroom. 150 kg + 70 kg. We were then told the 2 of us could desert her and have a tour leaving her in cloakroom. Not impressed as we had said she was unable to transfer. Couldn't find pie shop/restaurant without step. The boss then met us and said they couldn't guarantee access to hermitage because lift might breakdown and leave us unable to get out again. Went back to ship without going anywhere else as weather too bad to take pictures. On the 2nd day we both spent some obc in spa having massage. Helsinki. Accessible bus into town. Lovely street to market and harbour. Really enjoyable port. I went on boat trip to fort and had interesting walk round island. Stockholm. Misinformation from celebrity. No boats are suitable unless you can walk a few steps. HoHo bus from port into town, expensive but good way to see places. I went on canal trip. Not enough time to visit everywhere we wanted to go. The sail in was fantastic, well worth getting up early and beautiful sun set later. Copenhagen. Nice walk for me into city and cheap Netto canal trip. Nyhvn very busy as expected. Celebrity provided free mini bus for people in wheelchairs, top marks, more of a service lime this please. Think they had listened to numerous complaints from the less able. Very crowded everywhere. I hope if you are in a wheelchair and read this it has been a help. Cruising is a fantastic way to see different places, the ship is so easy to get around and even using a hoist etc is just like being at home. The biggest downside is that tour operators and cruise lines do not differentiate between motorised wheelchairs and manual users who can usually transfer. It would be nice to think that as cruises become more popular they would provide more accessible transport at port. The only other problem was people leaving room service trays in corridor, although they wete usually cleared promptly it does make going down corridor difficult. Any questions I will try and answer. I look forward to my next opportunity to work at sea.

We have recently returned from 2 weeks cruising the Baltic Sea on Celebrity Eclipse (departed Southampton 25.07.2015).   Ports of call:  Zebrugge, Warnemunde, Tallinn, St Petersburg, Helsinki, Stockholm, Copenhagen.

This was a wonderful cruise - the ship was recently out of dry dock for a refurbishment, and we noted some marked improvements compared to last year (when we cruised the Western Med on this ship).

Celebrity certainly seem to have been listening to their customers - so those little things that had disappeared last year, but which make a difference to that sense of modern luxury were back.  Things like chocs on pillows, towel animals etc.  We think this might be because the new CEO has taken action (having spoken to the cruise director on board).

For the first time we went Concierge Class (instead of balcony stateroom).  We were up in Cabin 2142 at the back of deck 12.   Our stateroom attendant was great.  But in our opinion, Concierge class isnt worth it.   The canapes each day were nothing special and we stopped them. Yes, you get a bottle of fizzy wine in your stateroom on embarkation, but we had a drinks package and so really didnt need this.  Cabin 2142 is under the Oceanview Cafe, and at times the cabin was noisy.

We noted that this year the food was consistently very good in all restaurants.  We did have a ropey meal in QSine on the first night, but this was resolved to our satisfaction (we were allowed to change our second QSine night on our 5-night specialty dining package to Murano - very happy with that!!).  The food in Murano and Tuscan Grill is superb. Recommend the Chateaubriand and Sole Veronique in Murano and the Steak Tartare, Tuscan Onion Soup and Fillet mignon in Tuscan.    Avoid the scallop en croute in Murano (you either get a perfect scallop in soggy pastry or a hockey puck in perfect pastry).  Our only (minor) criticism of these restaurants now would be that the menus havent changed in 3 years.  Come on - give us something new to try!

We had a free classic drinks package, and upgraded that to the premium package for $11.80/day each.  Very happy with that - we like the martini bar.

We were pleased to see a change in the way the drinks package works. In previous years if you wanted a drink that cost more than the limit on your drinks package you had to pay the full price.  This has now changed to you only pay the difference.  So two of the specialty martinis ($16.50 ea) only cost us $3.  (And they are lovely)

The changes to the casino are also great - now there are european as well as US roulette tables.  I won!

As ever, we met some fantastic people.

Cellarmasters has changed, with the removal of the enomatic machines.    It has now become a social hub and was in regular use (it was generally empty last year).  We liked that there was cheese available as well to go with the wines.  

This was a cruise where, perhaps unusually, we had no particular desire to see any of the places we stopped at.  And yet it was superb.   We did the Bruges on your own tour and that was great - Bruges is lovely.   We wandered around Warnemunde  and Tallinn on our own - both are an easy short walk from the ship.   We did two half-day tours in St Petersburg (a walking tour and a riverboat tour) and both were good.   We used the hop-on hop-off buses in Helsinki and Copenhagen.   We did a tour in Stockholm that took in the Vasa museum, which was excellent.

We were extremely impressed by the level of service, which was without fail superb, friendly and prompt.  

Embarkation took 10 minutes from walking into the terminal in Southampton.  Disembarkation similarly very easy (we didnt bother going to our special disembarkation lounge).

This was our third cruise and our third with Celebrity.  We recommend.  We will be cruising with them again next year to see the Norwegian Fjords - but back to Balcony stateroom on Deck 9.

Fab ship fast and friendly service stunning food and drink 🍹 grate cabin size and entertainer quality is high as always is clean and hygienic good going

My husband and I have cruise 17 times with Celebrity Cruises.

This cruises on Celebrity Eclipse was my best.

Sue the cruise director was one of the best cruise directors.

The food was great. Excellent weather, no rain for 14 days.

Loved our BIG room and the bed was sooo comfortable.

This 14 day cruise was very relaxing and almost perfect. We bought the premium drink package and enjoyed the Molecular and Martini Bars almost nightly. The crew was wonderful. We met many people who do this same cruise every year. Most people were of retirement age.

This was our third consecutive trip - basically same itinerary - best experience.  Service was impeccable, food was delicious, staff always willing to accommodate you and there to answer any questions you may have, with enthusiasm.

Perfect cruiseline for our familiy! This will be our 4th time on the eclipse and 5th on Celebrity. We tried a different cruisline last year and it didn’t compare!!

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