Live from Celebrity Eclipse

[Ray Scully]

Flight out with American Airlines. First leg to Philadelphia fine. Airbus 320 same as Thos Cook use for P&O but with one less seat across. Much more comfortable. Second leg as cattle in an old Boeing 757 crammed to the gunnels. US Airways provide complimentary soft drinks on all flights. Hotel in Fort Lauderdale right on the beach, very good. Today we took the local version of a hop on hop of bus on the magnificent inland Waterway. Tomorrow we board, however this has been put back a few hours as resulting from Norovirus on the last cruise a deep clean is required. Quite impressed with Fort Lauderdale we should have stayed longer to do it justice.

Ray

[Boris+]

Thanks for that Ray - hopefully you can keep this report going without spoiling your holiday. Have a great time.

Em

[towny44]

Look forward to more posts if you have the time, will be very interested to know what you think of the wonderful Eclipse.
By the way I assume you meant A330 on the first leg to Philly.

[GillD46]

We liked fort Lauderdale too.

I'll be interested to read your views on Eclipse. Have a great time.

[cornmillgirl]

Thanks for that Ray I will be very interested in your thoughts on Celebrity Eclipse as this is a ship/compamy to try at some point.

Hope to hear more as time goes on.

[haveabeer]

Look forward to your reports we be on board in September

[ChrisB]

We are looking forward to your reports as we are on board in September. Our first time with celebrity.

[ItsmeAnnC]

We're on board in September, too, but have sailed on her four times already so really looking forward to it. I hope you have a lovely time.

[Ray Scully]

Considering the difficulties of many guests arriving at the same time, 1.30 pm, boarding was relatively quick and painless. Cabins were available from 3.00 pm.
The balcony cabin is longer but maybe a tad narrower than that of Azura. I do however like the use of mirrors in P&O staterooms The balcony is deeper and furnished with two classy recliners and a sensible height table. The bathroom is to a higher standard and I won't miss my daily battle with the shower curtain. However the hanging space for clothes is much inferior to that of Azura. Despite sun bathing areas appearing limited we did not have a problem finder loungers on our first sea day. The alloy deck loungers are much lighter and easy to position.
Rather than a few large entertainment areas, there are many smaller more intimate venues on Eclipse, many offering live entertainment, they are all dimly lit.
The average age on this cruise must be at least 10 years higher than on our P&O pre Xmas Caribbean cruise and there is a noticeable absence of 'body art.
Oh and our first Celebrity con whilst we have a booze package as part of our booking, we understand that we are still required to pay the gratuity at 15%. Early days yet but the food and particularly the choice appears much superior to the P&O offering. However the MDR lacks the design style of Azura, and the tables are crowded together.
Second sea day, now really missing the tea and coffee making facility, and with already paying $24 a day tips, we are reluctant to add to this with a further tip for room service. Last night we went to the production show, Edge. Content similar to many P&O shows but IMHO the production lacked the refinement of P&O. One thing quite evident straight away is how much more engaging all the crew are, none of that perfunctory P&O service one experiences much to often these days.

[Dark Knight]

Good stuff Raymondo
the high tips and extra gratuities puts me right off Celebrity

[towny44]

Good stuff Raymondo
the high tips and extra gratuities puts me right off Celebrity

You have to pay for quality DK, and those costs are small beer when compared with the cruise price.

[Dark Knight]

towny
not sure why you think they are expensive
looking on their web site they are no different than anything else
at £700 each for a weeks cruise, the tips and extra gratuities make a big impact on this price

[kruzgal]

Not sure why you think you have to pay 15% gratuity with the beverage package - everything I have read and researched says it is included in the 123go beverage package offer. I am presuming this is how you got the drinks package?

[ItsmeAnnC]

Why don't you remove the gratuities from your account and pay what you want to? It's what we do. I don't think £100 per night is expensive for a cruise, considering what you get. And room service doesn't attract extra gratuities on Celebrity. We had tea every morning without further charge, and it came bang on time, every time. Oh - you must be on a fly cruise - sailings out of Southampton have tea and coffee making facilities in the cabins - sorry, staterooms.
I agree about the shows, but I don't like everything in the hanging space on show to all and sundry - i.e. cabin steward - as on Azura. Each to his own.
We have the booze package in September, but also have $500 OBC, and as we don't normally spend more than that anyway, that will cover any booze gratuities, if it's true we have to pay them. I'd better find out about that!

[kruzgal]

This was taken from the celebrity.com website.....


FREE Beverage Packages
Receive Classic Beverage Packages for two, including spirits, valued at $88* per day, with beverage gratuities covered by us

[Dark Knight]

looking into this ,the drinks package is roughly the same as the Thomson full price AI and there are no surcharges on that
the tips do seem a little high ,esp if you are doing a 2 weeks one, at £7.50 per day

[Ray Scully]

As far as quality goes P&O only need to get a few things sorted to equal the celebrity offering. You don't appreciate the transportation out to P&O Caribbean cruises until you have experienced the alternative. Last night a really clever American comic, fredd Kletts, real value for money

Ray

[barney]

Glad you're enjoying it Ray

I've been tempted by the charms of Celebrity Eclipse a couple of times but have yet to give in.

Like any cruise line, I've read mixed reviews so would value your opinion as an overall product, at the end.

regards
Barney

[Dancing Queen]

As far as quality goes P&O only need to get a few things sorted to equal the celebrity offering. You don't appreciate the transportation out to P&O Caribbean cruises until you have experienced the alternative. Last night a really clever American comic, fredd Kletts, real value for money

Ray

That surprises me Ray, personally I would put Celebrity at least 1* above P&O, just my opinion though.

[Ray Scully]

As far as quality goes P&O only need to get a few things sorted to equal the celebrity offering. You don't appreciate the transportation out to P&O Caribbean cruises until you have experienced the alternative. Last night a really clever American comic, fredd Kletts, real value for money

Ray

That surprises me Ray, personally I would put Celebrity at least 1* above P&O, just my opinion though.

DQ I didn't explain myself well, but there is little or overall difference in the ships. It's just the level of service that P&O need to address

Ray

[Ray Scully]

Free WiFi on the Eclipse today,well not quite, we are pickybacking the local free service from our balcony

Ray

[wolfie]

More please Ray. We have booked Eclipse and want to know all about her.

[ItsmeAnnC]

I think that where P&O win on trips to the Caribbean stems from flying into Barbados, rather than into a US airport. It's the one reason that we won't sail with any other line out there. The one year P&O flew us into Miami (it was the inaugural cruise on Oceana) we said never again. Handling your own luggage after standing for three and three quarter hours in the immigration queue, then being stopped at Agricultural Control...
For the return flight we were dumped at the airport to claim our luggage from a huge mound dumped from the buses (security anyone?) and, red tape later, arrived at the departure lounge twenty minutes after the plane should have taken off - of course, it hadn't - there was no-one on it.
After so many complaints P&O went back to using Barbados as their home port.
That said, last year we flew to Rome and back from Venice for a Celebrity cruise and every stage of the transportation was as good and painless as P&O in the Caribbean.

[towny44]

As far as quality goes P&O only need to get a few things sorted to equal the celebrity offering. You don't appreciate the transportation out to P&O Caribbean cruises until you have experienced the alternative. Last night a really clever American comic, fredd Kletts, real value for money

Ray

That surprises me Ray, personally I would put Celebrity at least 1* above P&O, just my opinion though.

DQ I didn't explain myself well, but there is little or overall difference in the ships. It's just the level of service that P&O need to address

Ray

Now that does surprise me Ray, we found Eclipse to be much more elegant than Azura/Ventura, ship and cabin furnishings much higher quality and the general layout of the ship and the style far superior. Then on top of that the cleanliness of the ship was way above P&O, I commented in my review that we never saw even a fingermark on the lift buttons on Eclipse, whereas we never saw a clean lift button on P&O.

[ItsmeAnnC]

I agree, John. Add to that the quality and choice in the buffet area, and the quality of food in the MDR - particularly the meat, and you have why we former P&O anoraks have defected - unless for a Caribbean cruise, of course!