I just got off the Eclipse this morning and wanted to make a few comments while it is fresh in my mind.
First off, I must say the staff was absolutely phenomenal!! Captain Leo leads a great team.
Check in was interesting but reasonably well done except that once we went through all our Covid vaccine information etc etc we were directed to security. The lady who had checked us in made a comment about a slip of paper but due to a combination of loud noise and my deafness I must have misunderstood. Apparently there was an agent handing out little coloured slips further up the line. No agent was handing anything out as we turned the instructed corner so I thought I misheard and kept going. Got to security and they wouldn’t let us in because we didn’t have it. My husband couldn’t walk any further at that point so I said just sit down and I’ll go talk to the agent security directed me to. They were great. They walked me all the way back to the beginning of the process to point out the agent I dealt with. He then helped me by escorting me through the system, which even he found confusing, but we made it back, through security and onto the ship. It took us 1 1/2 hours from start to finish. Lucky part was it took so long the rooms were available!
One noticeable issue for me at meal times the lack of hand sanitization efforts at the beginning of the cruise. The first two machines I tried didn’t have any fluid in them. No crew was there ensuring people USED the sanitizer either. We boarded on Sunday and by Monday you could hear coughing starting around the ship. It took until Wednesday for a consistent response for sanitizing hands was implemented. I know masks are not required and at the beginning they were few and far between. Again later in the week many more had masks on.
The crew always wore masks.
Food was great and it was nice to have Maritime (Nova Scotia or Maine) lobster tails. I don’t like the Caribbean rock lobster tails so this was a pleasant surprise. The service staff we had was outstanding!
I did the hot glass as well. I paid before we left on the trip back in March. I couldn’t find any reference to it on my Reservation nor on my X app once it loaded up so I reordered it. Turns out I had two bookings but a simple call to Celebrity cleared that up. There we about 8 people who prepurchased spots but if you didn’t go upstairs the first day they were there to book you had to take what was open. Might be nice if precooked appointments could be made on the x app. The fee covered most projects but I made the flare bowl. You only have to pay the difference for the more expensive pieces but again they was not clearly spelled out anywhere I could find. Maybe I am technologically challenged. It was fun and you get to help form and blow your item.
I know you can’t control weather but I can’t leave it out. It was 27*c or 80*F in Juneau! We got within one ship length of the Hubbard Glacier and saw lots of ice breaking off. I get climate change and realize the heat of the day added to our show but it was THE highlight of the week.
Disembarkation was smooth and quick. 10mins from the scheduled off time to walking out through customs with our bags.
We unfortunately did test positive for Covid when we got home this afternoon after over two years of avoiding getting it and being fully vaccinated and boosted. We started getting symptoms within a couple of days boarding even though everyone on board should have been negative.
All in all it was a nice jump back into the cruising life!
Zaandam March 16-30 Panama Canal
