Celebrity Eclipse Cruise Reviews - Reviews

met several people who had previously cruised with celebrity eclipse.. said the food and wait staff not the same as when greek owned.now owned bt royal caribbean the tension between the wait staff and officers was obvious felt they were all about making money

This cruise was unbelievable! Not just because of the extremely beautiful islands, but the on board entertainment, the accommodation's, the top of the line customer service, & the food very delicious. I'm never cruising with anyone else It's going to be celebrity everytime hands down!

The ship was extremely well maintained. The entire crew was helpful, pleasant and more than met the \"Star\" quality of Celebrity Cruises.

It was a wonderful cruise, just the right mix of sea days and interesting ports of call. As always, Celebrity cruises are top notch. Food quality was a step up from past cruises in variety and quality.

My husband and I thoroughly enjoyed our 14 day cruise on the Eclipse.  The ports of call were exceptional.....well organized.  The staff had been extremely warm and helpful.  The food was superb!

My only complaint is that the ship offered yoga classes of which I thought were excellent- but not enough of them!  Offering stretching classes every morning would have made the cruise PERFECT!  There are many passengers who are out of shape, but would have loved to partake in late afternoon and/or early morning stretch class.  Perhaps on our next Celebrity cruise?

Super modern luxury ship. Not enough seating inside the ship. Great entertainment, good dining. Tables very close together in main dining room. Mixology a hit!

The best ship I have been on, food outstanding and the accommodation. A little subdued for my liking but not a big deal. I would definitely cruise on her again.

It was supposed to be the best vacation ever; prefaced by three incredible sails enjoyed with Celebrity Cruise Line the summers before it on their other Solstice Class vessels, the Baltic Sea adventure we were about to embark on was understandably met with high hopes, expectations, and excitement. This was our once-a-year family getaway; our annual hiatus from reality that we so look forward to, and our way of enjoying time together before our lives and responsibilities bring us apart for another 365 days. Let it be known that we never ask to be treated like kings and queens, we don’t need red carpets, and we have always been pretty capable of making our own beds; in terms of hospitality, the bare minimum requirement for contentment really comes down, quite simply, to respect. And very sadly, the guest relations team aboard the Celebrity Eclipse was neither willing nor able to deliver.

This being our fourth family cruise with Celebrity, my mother thought it time to explore and upgrade. In doing so, she booked a room for my father and herself with the Aqua Class—one of the ship’s higher level classes. Amnesties include a balcony room on the 11th floor, a sequestered, quite area in the spa all their own, and dining at the high-end Aqua Restaurant, among other things.  But of all of these, the only perk my mother was interested in was the dining option, and so in booking, she was sure to not only ask her travel agent if it would be permissible to also eat with her children in the Aqua restaurant, despite the fact that we were not Aqua class, but she was also sure to ask Celebrity at the 1-800 number. Both parties told her it was not an issue, and rightfully so, she believed them.

However, when we arrived to the restaurant our first night aboard the ship, we were told otherwise. With quite the attitude, the hostess informed us that there is a very strict policy aboard the ship disallowing any party not of the Aqua Class to eat in the Aqua Restaurant. My mother explained that she was told otherwise, and the hostess told her it was not her call to make and that she must follow up with guest relations.

I worked in customer service for a very long time. As a matter of fact, I was even a front desk agent at a hotel, and the only cardinal rule I was to follow was always the customer is always right. That being said, I expected nothing but warm hospitality from the Guest Relations desk when we went there the next morning to address the issue, but this expectation was greatly rebuffed. Not only did the Assistant Guest Relations Manager elude a disinterest in my mother’s stress, he also seemed to have no intention to rectify the situation. As opposed to apologizing for the confusion and offering words of comfort, the way customer service agents usually do, he was fixated on where they blame should be placed and who it was that told my mother she would be allowed to dine with her children in the Aqua restaurant. But it was when my mother gave him the name of the agent she spoke with upon booking that things really took a turn for the worse.

It was two days later and my mother and sister were enjoying the Captain’s Cocktail Hour in the ship’s Skylounge. My mother had spent the past two days letting the situation go; it was just money and all she really was asking for was compensation in the form of, maybe, 1 or 2 dinners. She never thought it would trouble the ship so, and thought it a perfectly reasonable request in lieu of the extra $500 she spent for amenities that had proved idle.

But this was when she was approached by the Assistant Guest Relations Manager, who carried himself with a smug demeanor as he informed her that, not only did they listen to each and every phone call she had ever made with the cruise line prior to booking, but that there also is nobody by the name Nastasia, the name she had given him.

Now both infuriated with his accusation of virtually calling her and liar, and confused as to how someone in his position could be so pompous, she placed a call to the 1-800 number, hanging on to the hope that somebody on land would help her rectify this incredibly overdrawn situation. Stressed, angry, and embarrassed my mother told the whole story to the woman on the other line, and the woman on the other line reassured her as my mother hoped she would, “I am so sorry Mrs. Aroshas. I will do everything I can to make sure this problem is solved and you can enjoy the rest of your cruise.” My mother was grateful, but still very upset. And as any human would she uttered the turn of phrase to describe her frustration, “He was so smug, I could shoot him.”

And about 20 minutes later she was called back down to Guest Relations by the manager this time, who notified her security would like to speak with her. But more than just speak with her, they followed her. And so for the remainder of the day, for those silly words she said, despite the fact that they knew well enough she didn’t mean it, had no weapons, or intentions of shooting anything or anyone, my mother was followed around like a criminal; forget rights, or basic common decency. This is planet Celebrity Cruise Line, and apparently, they do what they want.

But the best was yet to come. Later that night, head of security offered my mother an apology on behalf of Celebrity, saying it was all a misunderstanding and that she would not be followed anymore. However, the very next morning she was summoned back to Guest Relations where she was sat down and told a bunch of this and that, the whole time worried that she was about to get kicked off the ship, before they finally got to the chase and let her know that this was all on her permanent record that anything else she did would be watched and that there was nothing they could do regarding her $500 per person because she took it too far.

Needless to say, my mother, who is the kindest, most full of life woman I have ever known spent the remainder of the trip on edge, anxious, scared, and stressed. Haunted by traumatic situations of the past, she was not able to take this easy, and although we, as a family, tried to sway her from the sorrow, it was clear this trip was doomed, and the vacation we had so looked forward to would remain tainted and somber.

So I ask you, Guest Relations team aboard the Eclipse, was that your intention? To take a simple request and make it so impossible to settle so that it pushed my mother to anger, bring us to tears, have us feel uncomfortable and deceived so strongly enough so that it ruined our vacation. Because I’m pretty sure your job is to ensure the happiness of all guest on board. But if it is the former then I am happy to tell you, you surely succeeded. 

We cruised the Baltic on Celebrity Eclipse on 5-24-14. The ship was beautiful, the service was excellent, and the ports of call were wonderful.

This was a good cruise, not a great one.  The ports of calls were good and the ships cleanliness was excellent.  The cruise staff provided excellent service.  We really liked Celebrity's restrictive smoking policy and could really enjoy our balcony because there was no smoke blowing in our face.

Up to Celebrity standards in most areas

Very smart and up to date ship

This was our second Celebrity cruise. My wife and I would have a hard time trying another cruise line because we have had such good luck with Celebrity. We booked the same cruise for 2015 while on board. Our experience was good from the moment we got to the terminal to we left the ship. The staff on the ship is excellent. We were warming greeted by eveyone from the Porters to the Ranking Officers during the entire trip.

Our stateroom Attendants Neil and Benedict were friendly and helpful. As hard as these guys work they still took time to make us feel special. The Bartenders at the Casino Bar were great. Khelan and Iwayan were like friends to us by the time the cruise was over. They have a knack to remember what you were drinking from day to day. I never had to order anything after the second day of cruise. My Sam Adams was waiting for me when I sat down each night. 

If any one books this ship in the next couple of months make sure you sit starboard side forward at the Oceanview Cafe for breakfast. You will meet one of the nicest people in the world. Ask for Robbie and tell him Diane and Steve from Boston sent you. He will take very good care of you. Overall everybody we ran into or interacted with treated us very well. 

Make sure you show some gratitude to them, they work hard to make you happy and any little token you give them will come back 10 fold. Trust me.

We had a wonderful trip and enjoyed stopping and sightseeing on the islands in the West Indies.

Never been to the Caribbean before so we thought that we'd treat ourselves, now that we have the time.

The ship is almost identical to the Reflection that we cruised on back in September (as 'cruise virgins'), so it was all very familiar.

We had an inside cabin this time - if you are out all day and the sun sets at about 5.30pm, why bother with a balcony? (However, we felt that a fake curtain hiding a Caribbean picture may have been a nice touch). Our room 'butler' was excellent and, as we were at the very front of the ship, all of the other room stewards that we passed on our numerous to-ing and fro-ing were exceptionally courteous. Servers at our dining tables, both at breakfast and evening meal, were always keen to please. Even when we received our below-par Christmas dinner they bent over backwards to listen to and act upon our comments and to our make amends to re-dress the situation by offering our whole table a free speciality meal with wine included the next evening. Christmas itself, though, around the ship, was all a bit 'under-whelming'.

Most of the theatre's performers were world class and were breath-takingly awesome. Especially the acrobats and stand-up comedians. I'm not a gambler but the casino was a hive of activity and incredibly busy every evening. Unfortunately, on our cruise, too many people don't take advantage of the night life. After the theatre, we always made our way to the various bars/venues around the ship for a late evening dance and 'happy hour' drink or two (or three!!). Often, later on, we were the only ones in them with a band playing to us alone - such a shame.

The itinery was perfect....on each island we just did our own thing, the ramshackled, rasta-disco, windowless buses and the local service mini buses are an absolute HOOT! We had a great time exploring. Every island is subly different because of its own heritage but I have to say that St. Lucia did disappoint, though. Tip: DON'T walk into the main town, Castries, on a Sunday - it's dirty, derelict, quite intimidating, closed and absolutely awful....so we went back to the ship and booked an island tour using the (very pricey) Celebrity excursion mini bus.

ISLANDS

Antigua... head into town from the port/dock, turn right on the main street, walk 100 metres/yards to the bus station (via a little supermarket to make up a little picnic), and get the bus to Nelson's Dockyard. It's simply wonderful. What is even more wonderful is the (very poorly signposted) Pigeon Bay (pictured)

around the back of it, about a mile walk away. Just ask anyone for directions. It is the perfect, quintessential location that oozes the Caribbean with ocean-side palm trees and a fabulous bar tucked into one end of the beach the serves the best 'Painkiller' cocktail in the world!! (IMHO). Swimming is good too.

St Maarten....get the local mini bus to MAHO beach for an experience of a lifetime!!

Haiti ( Labadee ) I had reservations but I had to ask the waitress who was serving drinks on the beach to 'pinch' me because I truly thought I'd died and gone to heaven. I even managed to pull down a coconut of the tree above me (it looked precarious anyway!!), slam it against the trunk and drink the coconut water from it. MWAH. Buy a bargain in the market as you leave the beach to head back to the ship...... what had been $150 dollars at lunchtime suddenly became $20 for a beautiful, local oil painting. We got on the ship with 10 minutes to spare so we stalled and listened to another of the local bands.

I could go on forever.....but I'll not. One last tip - you only need USD, Eastern Caribbean dollars were only useful on two of the islands visited, where they also took USD anyway.

Phew!!!

the ship is very elegant, clean and nicely decorated for Christmas.

Greeting with champagne

At first the size and layout is a bit overwhelming but you quickly learn it was definitely designed for your comfort and enjoyment! Everything about this ship is exceptional!

Really loved the ship. It is is prime condition and looks sparkling, clean and gleaming white. Very impressed with the high level of cleanliness. Great sense of space and rarely felt crowded.

At 122,000 tons the Celebrity Eclipse is big but not mind-boggling. Cabins and beds are quite comfortable. Decor is very nice. The works of art may be expensive but are not very artistic. Service on board is very good. Crew very courteous and helpful. Built in 2010 in Germany, the Eclipse is a ship that will not disappoint. Varied and very good food at Oceanview Cafe, the buffet option on the ship. Evening entertainment outstanding. One minor point: they should show at least 2 different movies per day, not just one. Overall, a fantastic trip on a wonderful ship from a great cruise line. And a steal. I paid $1,255 including taxes and fees for a single balcony cabin on aa. by booking late, about six weeks before departure. I know the cruise lines and travel agents suggest booking early, but on transatlantic crossings booking late sometimes pays as ships are almost never fully booked.