We were on the Celebrity Eclipse January 6th sailing Buenos Aires down to Antarctica. First off the embarkation was terrible, yes they had a terrible storm that knocked out the main terminal. But if you arrived at your specified time, well you could have been in line up to 3 hours. Once onboard you were greeted by wonderful smiling faces that did help. The itinerary was fantastic. Antarctica was a dream. In some spots if you were outside you could have heard a pin drop it was so serene and calm. The only sound you could hear was the sound of whales taking a breathing. So beautiful. Truly a destination we will never forget. We only missed one port with was Port Stanley Faulkland Islands. The winds were pretty bad in the morning but really picked up later in the day. The Eclipse is in dire need of a refurbishment. torn chairs, very dark grimy and warn chairs, drapes in our cabin were torn and the shears were shedded. Up in the oceanview cafe some of the chairs felt as if they would break from right under you. The food in the main dinning room was hit and miss, mostly miss. Very bland or no taste at all. our assistant waiter was one of the best we have ever had she was from West Africa, she was so lovely and during our cruise was promoted to a waiter in the specialty restaurant, she was great and deserved the promotion, our waiter hardly spoke to us at all, I would be very surprised if we got two words out of him. If you asked for his opinion of a food choice he just kind of looked at you and would say I don't know WHAT????. wine steward in main dinning room really knew his stuff and would really talk up a storm almost as if he knew the waiter was a bit of a let down. Oceanview cafe for some reason on this sailing seemed so packed during breakfast and lunch, but food was good. Our room steward was a gem, he was always around if you needed him and kept the room tip top. All in all it was a great cruise because of the itinerary and most of the crew. We are elite plus and thoughts are after this sailing Will I be cruising Celebrity in the future, we definatley will not go looking for a cruise with them just for the ship. If the itinerary is good maybe but way too many other lines out there that are out shinning them. Just an added note, I am in need of a wheelchair and needed assistance for embarkation and disembarking. There was a celebrity employee at the port that helped us so much, his name was Alan and helped us get onboard he basically held our hands getting on, without him there is no way I would have been able to make it On our way off the ship we ran into him and again and again he stepped up to help way above and beyond what we could have ever expected. Happy Sailing.
