Just back from eclipse to the med...any questions?

We just returned from the Eclipse 14 night cruise to the Med from Southampton...any questions?

It was a great itinerary! :):)

Are you going to review your cruise and then we can ask questions

Are you going to review your cruise and then we can ask questions

Yes, probably in the next few days.

Glad you enjoyed your cruise. We shall be on Eclipse in November for her TA.

Are you a tea-drinker? If so, can you comment on the quality of the teabags, please? There had been a post about a change of supplier and a reduction in strength/quality.

If you have a copy of Celebrity Today for the first day, would you post details on the "Who is on board" thread, please?

Just to say that I will be looking forward to your review with interest.i am going on my first ever cruise on the celebrity eclipse in 3 weeks time from Southampton to the med. so excited.

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Glad you enjoyed your cruise. We shall be on Eclipse in November for her TA.

 

Are you a tea-drinker? If so, can you comment on the quality of the teabags, please? There had been a post about a change of supplier and a reduction in strength/quality.

 

If you have a copy of Celebrity Today for the first day, would you post details on the "Who is on board" thread, please?

Sorry, but I'm not a tea drinker.

Just to say that I will be looking forward to your review with interest.i am going on my first ever cruise on the celebrity eclipse in 3 weeks time from Southampton to the med. so excited.

 

 

 

 

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We are also on that cruise. We have been on the Eclipse, beautiful ship, love it.

We will be very interested in the review of the ports.

Hi rhlaw :)! Not long now until the cruise. I am also trying to figure out excursions and port reviews.

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Here's Part I of the Review of Celebrity Eclipse, August 2, 2014 to the Med:

PART 1:

Embarkation

We stayed 2 nights in London before the cruise and used Smiths for Airports to transfer us from our hotel in London to Southampton. We have used Smiths before and they are a very reliable company to use to/from the pier/airport. We were picked up on time (8:30 AM) at our hotel and driven to the Southampton pier. We hit some traffic and arrived at the pier at 10:45 AM, dropped our bags off, and quickly checked in and were on board by 11:30 AM. Everything was well organized and went very smoothly.

Backgound

We were familiar with the ship, since we sailed to the Baltics last year on the Eclipse. It is a beautiful ship with a great layout. The decor is very modern and the glass elevators show off its beauty. We booked a Concierge Cabin / Cat. C3 / midship, deck 9. It was in a convenient location to the elevators and public rooms.

We have been on over 25 cruises and have recently switched from Princess to Celebrity because we really enjoy the S class ships. The beds are very comfortable and the bathroom shower has been greatly improved over Princess. Unfortunately on this cruise, we noticed the leather couch and chair in the cabin needed cleaning. The cabin stewards are responsible for more cabins and there was a noticeable decline in the wear and tear in the cabin. Even though we were in a Concierge Cabin, the linens were at times worn out with some of the towels shredding on the ends and also small holes in the sheets. I did ask that they be replaced and the cabin steward did so with great service. Our Cabin Steward was friendly and tried to please, but he had many cabins to take care of each day.

We had a quick lunch at the buffet in the outdoor area on the back of the ship...much more peaceful than the table area in the buffet. After lunch (1:30 PM), it was announced that the cabins were ready, so we went to our cabin to drop off & unpack our carry on bags. At 2 PM, we met other Cruise Critic Members at the Sunset Bar (Deck 15) for an informal get together. We enjoyed meeting some of the people we were sharing private tours with & had been chatting with before the cruise! Next, we went to the Muster Drill and then it was the official start of our vacation. Our bags were delivered in the afternoon & we were able to get unpacked and organized.

Thank you so much for sharing. We will be on the Eclipse August 30th for the Norwegian Fjords cruise. We have never been on a Celebity ship.

Welcome back, hope you enjoyed your cruise.

Thanks for offering to answer questions. We are on the 7th September sailing and I have a couple of questions:

1. If you had (non wine) drinks with dinner in the MDR what was drinks service like? I understand that Celebrity no longer has dedicated bar servers in the MDR?

2. We enjoy trivia and are used to playing a couple of times a day; did 'Modern Luxury' still include trivia?

Thanks in advance.

Thanks for offering to answer questions. We are on the 7th September sailing and I have a couple of questions:

 

1. If you had (non wine) drinks with dinner in the MDR what was drinks service like? I understand that Celebrity no longer has dedicated bar servers in the MDR?

2. We enjoy trivia and are used to playing a couple of times a day; did 'Modern Luxury' still include trivia?

 

Thanks in advance.

We were on the Classic Drink Package and my husband ordered a mixed drink many nights. He had no problem ordering a vodka & tonic in the MDR.

We didn't play trivia, but I do remember they had it on the schedule a few times during the cruise. :):)

Look forward to the rest of your review. We are on the Norwegian fjord cruise and staying on for the Med. Wondering what you did in Gibraltar and Livorno?Thanks!

I was on the Baltic cruise on the Eclipse in June and compared to the Med cruise last year there were fewer trivia competitions. There was the team trivia competition - I think most days- but we didn't have a team and we found the scheduled times didn't suit us (My OH is tricky to rouse in the morning!)

Looking forward to the Sept Med cruise as I repeat last year's great cruise.

I see a Manx dweller :) I have Manx ancestry and Love the IoM !

We were on the Classic Drink Package and my husband ordered a mixed drink many nights. He had no problem ordering a vodka & tonic in the MDR.

 

We didn't play trivia, but I do remember they had it on the schedule a few times during the cruise. :):)

Thanks for responding; appreciate it.

Hi rhlaw :)! Not long now until the cruise. I am also trying to figure out excursions and port reviews.

 

 

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Hello Caren979! Yes, I am still doing port research. I will really need this holiday by the time I get on the ship. We leave the states in 13days. Very Excited!

We just returned from the Eclipse 14 night cruise to the Med from Southampton...any questions?

 

It was a great itinerary! :):)

What nights were the formal nights? Thanks.

What nights were the formal nights? Thanks.

I didn't save the daily newsletters, but I believe the formal nights were on the first, third, and next to last sea day.

Here's Part II of the Review of Celebrity Eclipse, August 2, 2014 to the Med:

PART 1I:

Entertainment

We enjoyed many of the shows on board, except the first production show. We didn't go to the other production shows, but one of the male singers was wonderful and he did his own afternoon performance later in the cruise. It was excellent!

On the second sea day, Lindsay Hamilton was the vocalist and her performance was very good. She has appeared in West End Shows and her show was great.

On Gibraltar day, the evening performer was comedian Jeff Stevenson. He was a rapid fire comedian and his show was geared towards a British audience. Most of the entertainers were British, since the majority of passengers were from the UK. As Americans, we know we missed some of the jokes, but he was still very funny and we thought it was a great show.

On Genoa day, Mike Doyle performed. We missed this show but have seen him before and thought his singing was great, but didn't care for the rest of his act.

On the fourth sea day, the Tenors Of Rock performed. Their show was terrific and different from the other shows. They were very talented and had a terrific high energy show.

Food and Service

The dining room service was hit & miss on some nights early in the cruise. At times, it was difficult to order drinks, but this improved after the first few nights. When we ate lunch in the MDR on the sea days, we found the quality of the lunches to be better than the dinners. Some nights the dinners were very good, others were not so good. Since we had sailed on the Eclipse last year to the Baltics, we thought the quality of the food and the dining room service had gone down. Things seemed to run much smoother last year in the MDR. Even though we noticed some differences, we still enjoyed most of our meals.

We ate dinner in the Tuscan Grill on the last formal night and were very disappointed in our meal. Dinner in the Tuscan Grill costs $45.00 extra per person, so we felt the food and service should be excellent. Unfortunately, this wasn't so. We ordered the crab cake appetizer and it was full of bread crumbs with very little crab. We ordered sparkling water and the waiter didn't refill our glasses until the end of our meal and then he almost poured tap water into our glasses. He also spilled the water on the table and just left it there for us to blot it up. We had sea bass for our entrees and that was very good. We skipped dessert and left the restaurant very disappointed and sorry that we spent what we did there because we enjoyed our meals more in the MDR than the Tuscan Grill.

One popular place on board was the Cafe Bacio for terrific coffee, tea, pastries and specialty coffees. Every afternoon it seemed to be the hot spot on board for an afternoon pick me up.

This was our first cruise where we didn't receive chocolates on our pillows at night. It appears this is another small cut back for Celebrity to save some money.

Thanks so much for your informative posts. We are on the Eclipse on the 30th & this information is of great value. Disappointing about the chocolates -- we bring them home to enjoy after the cruise.

Question: Did you have dinner in the Buffet? If so, did they have the grilled meats & fish?

Looking forward to reading more of your posts before we leave. Shirley

Just to say that I will be looking forward to your review with interest.i am going on my first ever cruise on the celebrity eclipse in 3 weeks time from Southampton to the med. so excited.

 

 

 

 

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Our friends are on that cruise. Its their first time with Celebrity. We were on the Med cruise in May. Youve picked a great first cruise.

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Thanks so much for your informative posts. We are on the Eclipse on the 30th & this information is of great value. Disappointing about the chocolates -- we bring them home to enjoy after the cruise.

 

Question: Did you have dinner in the Buffet? If so, did they have the grilled meats & fish?

 

Looking forward to reading more of your posts before we leave. Shirley

Yes, we did have dinner in the buffet and we also had the grilled meat & fish there...they were very good & cooked to order!

Here's Part III of the Review of Celebrity Eclipse, August 2, 2014 to the Med:

PART III:

PORTS OF CALL

We did not book any cruise ship tours, but only private ones which I arranged prior to the cruise & set up groups of 6-8 from our Roll Call.

Gibraltar:

This was our first time in Gibraltar and we wanted to see Morocco & Spain from the top, so we took a 1 1/2 hour taxi tour to the top of the rock. We saw the apes and some of the caves. It was very crowded going up the rock with a line up of taxis and small buses. I'm glad we did the tour, but if we stop there next time we will probably stay on board.

Villefranche:

We joined another 4 hour private tour through Viator that went to Monte Carlo and Eze with 6 others from our Roll Call. We saw the casino, the downtown area, drove on the Grand Prix track, and then were dropped off in Eze for some time there on our own. We had never used Viator before and were very pleased with our tour.

Rome:

We had been to Rome before and visited most of the historical sights and this time decided to book a Leisure and Food Tour through Rome In Limo. We have used Rome In Limo before and once again were very pleased with their services. We were picked up and dropped off at the cruise pier in an air conditioned van and drove to Rome to begin our tour. We had 6 people on this tour and we all had been to Rome before. We spent the day visiting all the piazzas, the Spanish Steps, a hill overlooking the city, an outdoor market, the Pantheon, and stopping at various locations for cappucino, appetizers (cheeses and meats), and lunch. It was a great day because we didn't have to walk all over Rome, our driver dropped us off at different locations and picked us up at a designated spot. I highly recommend Rome In Limo for their private tours!

Livorno:

We reserved another private tour (8 passengers) with Rome In Limo to Lucca and Vinci. We were picked up at the cruise pier by our guide Elizabeth who was a pleasure to be with for the day. We went to Lucca and Elizabeth set the stage for what we were going to see upon arrival there. She even parked the van and walked around Lucca with us explaining what we were seeing and making our tour more personal. It was a great day with Elizabeth!

Genoa:

We were unable to hire Rome In Limo in Genoa because they do not have tour from there. We wanted to tour Genoa, see some small villages, and end our day in Portofino. After much research, I booked an all day tour with Benvenuto Limos from Genoa to Portofino for 8 people. We were picked up at the cruise pier by our driver/guide and we reversed our tour so we would be back in Genoa at the end of the day rather than at the beginning because of concerns over traffic returning to the ship. This was a good decision for our group. First we left Genoa and went to the village of Camogli where we were dropped off for some time there. It was beautiful and I honestly can say I enjoyed it more than Portofino. Next, we drove to Portofino and had some free time there. Portofino is lovely, but full of tourists, and it didn't have the charm that Camogli did. After Portofino, we drove back to Genoa enjoying the scenery along the way. We had lunch in Genoa and then resumed our tour there of the city. We saw much of Genoa including the Christopher Columbus house. Benvenuto Limos was very responsive to our needs and it was a pleasure doing business with them!

Malaga:

My husband and I contacted an electric bike taxi operator that we read about on the internet and made arrangements for him to drive us around Malaga for a 1 1/2 hour tour. He picked us up at the cruise pier and we spent the next 1 1/2 hours being "entertained" by our driver. He recommended a tapas restaurant for lunch called Los Gatos which was very good!

Lisbon:

We booked a 6 hour private tour (6 passengers) with Top Ten Tours to go to Lisbon and Sintra. We were picked up at the cruise pier and off we went to Sintra (about 30 minutes away). We had some free time in Sintra, but it was very crowded with tourists. Next, we drove the Pena Palace which was quite disappointing because it was costly to get in and was very crowded with tourists. So many tourists made it difficult to get in and out of the palace and we stopped trying to fight the crowds. Due to the crowds, I would have preferred to skip the palace and visit another village that wasn't full of tourists. After that, we drove around Lisbon for a guided tour. Of all of our private tours, this was the one we enjoyed the least.

We were also on this cruise. I kept all the dailies and can confirm that the formal nights were the second, eighth and thirteenth nights. These were different to what I was expecting having read reports from others and previous dailies. We also ate in Tuscan Grille and had a fabulous meal - the best of the cruise by far! We also ate in Murano and Qsine, and really thought that Qsine was hugely overrated and didn't really enjoy it, with the desserts bring the exception.

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