Eclipse Really Disappointing Beware!!

Just back from our Caribbean cruise and have to say I thought the Eclipse wasn't a patch on the Equinox or the Solstice,Im really disappointed with the whole service,lack of attention to detail,poor cabin crew,no real interaction with officers seen in the 8 days we were on board and the fiasco for getting the bus back to the airport was just terrible ,we had to get a porter (not celebrity)to get us to the airport from the cruise terminal when we had booked proper transfers through Celebrity to get us and all the bags back to the airport and wheelchair assistance .

Booked our full Celebrity package with flights and aqua class to take my elderly mum on her first cruise,this was organised so if anything went wrong someone from celebrity would deal with it .This certainly wasn't a 5 star experience in my book.

Hotel in Fort Lauderdale was a disgrace and I cant believe Celebrity send anyone to the Hilton Marina especially after travelling from the UK for 13 hours and make out its a quality hotel!

Mum requested a walk in shower as she isnt good at getting her legs over a tub,and they told me before we went that there were disabled rooms,we didin't see any.We couldn't even get a table and chairs she could sit at for the continental breakfast and had to sit in the foyer,the room had only paper cups in the bathroom,no shower gel,the coffee maker was not working and the carpets in our room were threadbare(honestly! this is what we paid a small fortune for and were expecting a quality hotel to start our vacation )so she travelled for a whole day ,couldnt shower then we had early seating on our first night in Blu after embarking and the luggage didnt get delivered till much ,much later,not the best start to our 5 star holiday.

I did tell the guest relations officer about the hotel and the luggage ,he showed no interest whatsoever and was not in the least bit interested in discussing the issues which had ruined the start of our holiday,I am going to contact the UK office soon to let them know about the disembarkation fiasco as well and the lack of information or guidance and that things just aren't up to scratch .

I hope nobody else has an experience like this one when your trying to make a dream come true for someone who has listened to you rave about this fantastic cruise line.

I was going to go on my 4th Celebrity cruise next year to the Baltics but am so sickened by the way things were done on this cruise that I would now consider trying another cruise line ,any suggestions welcome!

Early seating in Blu??? I thought Blu was open seating.

Sorry you had a disappointing cruise.

Sounds like you made your displeasure with the hotel set the tone of the rest of your trip

Sorry to hear about your disappointment. We were on the same cruise and had the exact opposite experience.

Spent the night before the cruise in the Hilton Beachfront Resort and had an outstanding stay. I researched the hotel you stayed at and based on the reviews I read, we booked the other Hilton. I suppose I'm glad we did.

We thought the officers were extremely visible on the ship. We befriended several of them and spent a bit of time with them in the evenings. My wife commented that she thought Celebrity may have mandated that the officers get out and mingle to push the public relations angle.

I would definitely push it with Celebrity and let them know your feelings. I can only imagine how let down you would feel after having planned and anticipated the trip for a while.

First night onboard we had a time provided for Blu but open seating the rest of thecruise

First night onboard we had a time provided for Blu but open seating the rest of thecruise

You don't really have to show up when they say the first night. They told us to come at early seating time and there was no way we could eat that early. We just showed up somewhat later but before the "late seating" time. No problem!

We are travelling fin the Uk next week to meet the eclipse having never cruised before.

We booked via a TA and were told we would be staying at the Sheraton beach which gets great reviews. Around the time of final payment our hotel was changed and we only found out because we logged in to my celebrity. No communication from TA or celebrity. When we challenged our TA they just rang celebrity who said there was nothing they could do. We were told that the hotel stay is complimentary and not actually charged in the price of your holiday and the payment info actually says hotel £0. I don't believe that celebrity pay for the hotel when we are paying £5000 for the cruise. They moved us to another hotel which gets mixed reviews and is miles from nowhere according to maps.

Apparently it is celebrity's discretion and even when we offered to pay they said we can't move. I responded by asking that if celebrity can change out hotel at any time what's to say it won't happen again and also what's to stop them putting us in a flea pit?

Sorry that you had a disappointing vacation. Not sure what exactly you expected Guest Relations to do about your negative hotel experience -- except to provide you with the address of corporate customer service in Miami (or the UK). And, as far as delayed luggage delivery goes, you're preaching to the choir! :rolleyes: We've been Elite guests, and staying in a Suite -- and were still the last people on our deck to receive their checked bags. But, as irritating as that was, we didn't let it ruin our cruise. :cool:

We are travelling fin the Uk next week to meet the eclipse having never cruised before.

We booked via a TA and were told we would be staying at the Sheraton beach which gets great reviews. Around the time of final payment our hotel was changed and we only found out because we logged in to my celebrity. No communication from TA or celebrity. When we challenged our TA they just rang celebrity who said there was nothing they could do. We were told that the hotel stay is complimentary and not actually charged in the price of your holiday and the payment info actually says hotel £0. I don't believe that celebrity pay for the hotel when we are paying £5000 for the cruise. They moved us to another hotel which gets mixed reviews and is miles from nowhere according to maps.

Apparently it is celebrity's discretion and even when we offered to pay they said we can't move. I responded by asking that if celebrity can change out hotel at any time what's to say it won't happen again and also what's to stop them putting us in a flea pit?

We are travelling fin the Uk next week to meet the eclipse having never cruised before.

We booked via a TA and were told we would be staying at the Sheraton beach which gets great reviews. Around the time of final payment our hotel was changed and we only found out because we logged in to my celebrity. No communication from TA or celebrity. When we challenged our TA they just rang celebrity who said there was nothing they could do. We were told that the hotel stay is complimentary and not actually charged in the price of your holiday and the payment info actually says hotel £0. I don't believe that celebrity pay for the hotel when we are paying £5000 for the cruise. They moved us to another hotel which gets mixed reviews and is miles from nowhere according to maps.

Apparently it is celebrity's discretion and even when we offered to pay they said we can't move. I responded by asking that if celebrity can change out hotel at any time what's to say it won't happen again and also what's to stop them putting us in a flea pit?

which hotel have they put you in now

Just my 2 cents

I've stayed at the Hilton Marina. It is a good hotel. What was your problem with it?

Regarding body wash - from what I understand it's not supplied anymore.

We got our luggage very late on one of our cruises. While frustrating - we just went with it.

As far as special cabins - they do exist - you need to request them and fill out the paperwork.

I agree with others - I think that your challenges, respectfully, clouded your vacation experience.

I had a terrible butler once on the Constellation but I didn't let it ruin my cruise. In fact it was that cruise where my luggage was late!

I'm sure you could create a list of the top 10 things you loved about your cruise.

Respectfully,

Judy

We are now in a Marriott which I am sure is very nice and have stayed with them many times. However when we initially got placed at the Sheraton we made Plans with friends in the local area and this suited us being on a tight schedule now we can no longer do these plans.

Hobgoblin, you should know for future reference that shower gel is not commonly provided in US hotels. Some offer it but it certainly is not a universal amenity. This is one little difference between travel on the opposite sides of the pond....

Out of curiosity, went to the TripAdvisor website to see what travelers thought of the Hilton Marina. Overall the ratings were 3 1/2 out of 5 but recent reviews indicate it is in very bad shape. I would write to Celebrity about that component of the trip. As to the rest? Late luggage? Happens to us all now and then. No specifics on the other complaints except the transfers so who knows. I also strongly suspect the 'book-end' experiences of the bad hotel and difficulty with transfer at the end of the trip may have colored the experience. I have been on the Eclipse twice and I thought she was wonderful - would take her again in a second. I would ask the OP - put aside your frustrations and tell us the plus side of this cruise. Knowing Celebrity as well as people do on this board, and knowing Eclipse as well, the review would be better received if it were more balanced as I have to believe that despite some bad experiences there were likely more good than bad?? You are of course welcome to say what you want to say, but I am just saying that people would be less suspect of a balanced review, even if the bad side weighed heavier.

Such an unfair thread title.

We did the Equinox in summer 2010 and the Eclipse over new year 2011/2012 and they were both equally amazing.

Then again - we book our own flights and hotels, and let Celebrity take care of the cruising part.

We are now in a Marriott which I am sure is very nice and have stayed with them many times. However when we initially got placed at the Sheraton we made Plans with friends in the local area and this suited us being on a tight schedule now we can no longer do these plans.

Which Marriott?

We are now in a Marriott which I am sure is very nice and have stayed with them many times. However when we initially got placed at the Sheraton we made Plans with friends in the local area and this suited us being on a tight schedule now we can no longer do these plans.

Think it's Marriott north but don't quote me on that as cant log in as website down. We are not as peeved with the move as I'm sure it's a nice hotel more the fact celebrity informed us that they can choose to change us again, move us to a lower standard hotel and also do not have to communicate it too us.

We have friends in the us and they were going to meet us for dinner after flying in from their own holiday. It's now become a bit more difficult due to their timescales. Oh well.

I've stayed at the Hilton Marina and was also disappointed. The room wasn't too bad but the bathroom was especially shabby. I also agree Equinox is slightly better in a couple of areas, but only slightly.

Did you contact hotel reception and tell them you required an accessible room? They may have been able to sort it out. The room had soap?

You don't actually say what the problem with the transfer was?

All in all, your thread title seems very misleading as it doesn't sound like you had a problem with the cruise itself. Sorry you feel so aggrieved, but sounds as though you let a bad start cloud the rest of your holiday, and probably your mothers too.

Just back from our Caribbean cruise and have to say I thought the Eclipse wasn't a patch on the Equinox or the Solstice,Im really disappointed with the whole service,lack of attention to detail,poor cabin crew,no real interaction with officers seen in the 8 days we were on board and the fiasco for getting the bus back to the airport was just terrible ,we had to get a porter (not celebrity)to get us to the airport from the cruise terminal when we had booked proper transfers through Celebrity to get us and all the bags back to the airport and wheelchair assistance .

Booked our full Celebrity package with flights and aqua class to take my elderly mum on her first cruise,this was organised so if anything went wrong someone from celebrity would deal with it .This certainly wasn't a 5 star experience in my book.

Hotel in Fort Lauderdale was a disgrace and I cant believe Celebrity send anyone to the Hilton Marina especially after travelling from the UK for 13 hours and make out its a quality hotel!

Mum requested a walk in shower as she isnt good at getting her legs over a tub,and they told me before we went that there were disabled rooms,we didin't see any.We couldn't even get a table and chairs she could sit at for the continental breakfast and had to sit in the foyer,the room had only paper cups in the bathroom,no shower gel,the coffee maker was not working and the carpets in our room were threadbare(honestly! this is what we paid a small fortune for and were expecting a quality hotel to start our vacation )so she travelled for a whole day ,couldnt shower then we had early seating on our first night in Blu after embarking and the luggage didnt get delivered till much ,much later,not the best start to our 5 star holiday.

I did tell the guest relations officer about the hotel and the luggage ,he showed no interest whatsoever and was not in the least bit interested in discussing the issues which had ruined the start of our holiday,I am going to contact the UK office soon to let them know about the disembarkation fiasco as well and the lack of information or guidance and that things just aren't up to scratch .

I hope nobody else has an experience like this one when your trying to make a dream come true for someone who has listened to you rave about this fantastic cruise line.

I was going to go on my 4th Celebrity cruise next year to the Baltics but am so sickened by the way things were done on this cruise that I would now consider trying another cruise line ,any suggestions welcome!

Think it's Marriott north but don't quote me on that as cant log in as website down. We are not as peeved with the move as I'm sure it's a nice hotel more the fact celebrity informed us that they can choose to change us again, move us to a lower standard hotel and also do not have to communicate it too us.

We have friends in the us and they were going to meet us for dinner after flying in from their own holiday. It's now become a bit more difficult due to their timescales. Oh well.

Hi Louiangel,

We are due to join Eclipse in March and we have the same package as you through Celebrity from the UK, and this is our first Celebrity Cruise. Our roll call are starting to try to organise get-togethers for people arriving the night before, but our flight doesn't arrive in at Miami until 19.25, which we've been told by another couple who have done this package before and will be with us too in March, that we probably won't reach the hotel until around 21.30/22.00, by the time we get through immigrations/customs etc. Just a thought...

We've stayed in the Hilton Marina twice, most recently pre-cruise last March, and think it is a very nice place. We tried to get in there for next March but it fully booked. Based on our experience, it is high up on our list for a pre-cruise hotel for a Ft. Lauderdale sailing and remains there.

I'm sorry you didn't have as good an experience there as we've had.

First night onboard we had a time provided for Blu but open seating the rest of thecruise

Hobgoblin, it sounds like you have initial issues with your Mum's hotel accommodations and breakfast issues. I take it you booked everything through your UK travel agent or Celebrity Cruise lines directly. These are issue you need to discuss with them. Why would you expect staff on board a ship to offer you feed back on a hotel. If your mum booked a Handicapped Accessible room at the Hilton, her confirmation should have reflected just that. Sitting space for breakfast is another issue; I'm sure it gets crowded on embarkation day in FLL.

Sounds like you started with a completely different attitude than your fellow cruisers who's experience was so much better.

Good luck to you on future cruises.

We will cruise with Eclipse in January. I don't see any reason that I should beware, perhaps the late arrival of luggage. Booking a specific class has nothing to do with the luggage delivery timing. In my dozens cruises, I could receive luggage within 1 hour of boarding or as late as after supper. We would take it easy on the first day, enjoy a drink, enjoy a show and enjoy a meal.

If you think you were mistreated by Celebrity, please cancel your Baltic cruise and try other cruise lines.

Just back from our Caribbean cruise and have to say I thought the Eclipse wasn't a patch on the Equinox or the Solstice,Im really disappointed with the whole service,lack of attention to detail,poor cabin crew,no real interaction with officers seen in the 8 days we were on board and the fiasco for getting the bus back to the airport was just terrible ,we had to get a porter (not celebrity)to get us to the airport from the cruise terminal when we had booked proper transfers through Celebrity to get us and all the bags back to the airport and wheelchair assistance .

Booked our full Celebrity package with flights and aqua class to take my elderly mum on her first cruise,this was organised so if anything went wrong someone from celebrity would deal with it .This certainly wasn't a 5 star experience in my book.

Hotel in Fort Lauderdale was a disgrace and I cant believe Celebrity send anyone to the Hilton Marina especially after travelling from the UK for 13 hours and make out its a quality hotel!

Mum requested a walk in shower as she isnt good at getting her legs over a tub,and they told me before we went that there were disabled rooms,we didin't see any.We couldn't even get a table and chairs she could sit at for the continental breakfast and had to sit in the foyer,the room had only paper cups in the bathroom,no shower gel,the coffee maker was not working and the carpets in our room were threadbare(honestly! this is what we paid a small fortune for and were expecting a quality hotel to start our vacation )so she travelled for a whole day ,couldnt shower then we had early seating on our first night in Blu after embarking and the luggage didnt get delivered till much ,much later,not the best start to our 5 star holiday.

I did tell the guest relations officer about the hotel and the luggage ,he showed no interest whatsoever and was not in the least bit interested in discussing the issues which had ruined the start of our holiday,I am going to contact the UK office soon to let them know about the disembarkation fiasco as well and the lack of information or guidance and that things just aren't up to scratch .

I hope nobody else has an experience like this one when your trying to make a dream come true for someone who has listened to you rave about this fantastic cruise line.

I was going to go on my 4th Celebrity cruise next year to the Baltics but am so sickened by the way things were done on this cruise that I would now consider trying another cruise line ,any suggestions welcome!

I have a couple of comments as I think your expectations were a bit high as to what a cruise line actually does..

You stated "this was organised so if anything went wrong someone from celebrity would deal with it ." Who organised this as that is not the norm., I have never heard of anything like this. Although UKs laws may be different from the US, Celebrity states in their paperwork that they provide hotels as a courtesy to their guests. They try and provide the best services but this does not always work.

The other point has to do with embarkation. The correct procedure in getting your luggage to the airport is to get a porter, the cruise line does not normally transport the luggage, the Unions at the piers would never allow this. I don't know what the fiasco is but I don't see anything that was done differently from occurs all the time. As I stated earlier I think you had expectations which the cruise line was apparently not aware of nor could deal with.

Just curious but how was the cruise...

Just back from our Caribbean cruise and have to say I thought the Eclipse wasn't a patch on the Equinox or the Solstice,Im really disappointed with the whole service,lack of attention to detail,poor cabin crew,no real interaction with officers seen in the 8 days we were on board and the fiasco for getting the bus back to the airport was just terrible ,we had to get a porter (not celebrity)to get us to the airport from the cruise terminal when we had booked proper transfers through Celebrity to get us and all the bags back to the airport and wheelchair assistance .

Booked our full Celebrity package with flights and aqua class to take my elderly mum on her first cruise,this was organised so if anything went wrong someone from celebrity would deal with it .This certainly wasn't a 5 star experience in my book.

Hotel in Fort Lauderdale was a disgrace and I cant believe Celebrity send anyone to the Hilton Marina especially after travelling from the UK for 13 hours and make out its a quality hotel!

Mum requested a walk in shower as she isnt good at getting her legs over a tub,and they told me before we went that there were disabled rooms,we didin't see any.We couldn't even get a table and chairs she could sit at for the continental breakfast and had to sit in the foyer,the room had only paper cups in the bathroom,no shower gel,the coffee maker was not working and the carpets in our room were threadbare(honestly! this is what we paid a small fortune for and were expecting a quality hotel to start our vacation )so she travelled for a whole day ,couldnt shower then we had early seating on our first night in Blu after embarking and the luggage didnt get delivered till much ,much later,not the best start to our 5 star holiday.

I did tell the guest relations officer about the hotel and the luggage ,he showed no interest whatsoever and was not in the least bit interested in discussing the issues which had ruined the start of our holiday,I am going to contact the UK office soon to let them know about the disembarkation fiasco as well and the lack of information or guidance and that things just aren't up to scratch .

I hope nobody else has an experience like this one when your trying to make a dream come true for someone who has listened to you rave about this fantastic cruise line.

I was going to go on my 4th Celebrity cruise next year to the Baltics but am so sickened by the way things were done on this cruise that I would now consider trying another cruise line ,any suggestions welcome!

I have a couple of comments as I think your expectations were a bit high as to what a cruise line actually does..

You stated "this was organised so if anything went wrong someone from celebrity would deal with it ." Who organised this as that is not the norm., I have never heard of anything like this. Although UKs laws may be different from the US, Celebrity states in their paperwork that they provide hotels as a courtesy to their guests, same with hotels and transfers. They try and provide the best services but this does not always work.

The other point has to do with embarkation. The correct procedure in getting your luggage to the airport is to get a porter, the cruise line does not normally transport the luggage, the Unions at the piers would never allow this. I don't know what the fiasco is but I don't see anything that was done differently from what occurs all the time on all cruiselines. As I stated earlier I think you had expectations which the cruise line was apparently not aware of nor could deal with. Did you read your dailies on disembarkation procedures and luggage handling, its all in the dailies and fairly clear.

Just curious but how was the cruise...

From reading what the OP wrote, it seems he booked airport transfers with Celebrity which didn't seem to pan out.

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