Eclipse Thanksgiving- my take

[kk99]

We just returned from the Eclipse Thanksgiving cruise and hopefully , here is a balanced review of the week.

 

Bakcground- we are experienced cruisers and have done many Celebrity Cruises, mostly in suites. We were in a Royal suite this week, Cabin 1614, and were traveling with other adult family members.

 

What was Great

 

The ship was extremely clean (we sailed it a year ago and almost no wear and tear this trip). Our stateroom attendants were always smiling and fantastic, the activities staff were always upbeat and positive, especially with such a large contingent of children onboard the sailing, and the updates to the specialty restaurant menus were great. After final payment for this trip, we found out it was an American Girls cruise. we then booked our dinners in the other restauants. we also had the beverage packages and they worked well this cruise. We did not eat any night in the main dining room, so can't comment on the food there this trip. The comedian, Dave Burleigh had great shows, and the productions shows were above average this trip.

 

What was Average

The Oceanview buffet items lacked variety over the week and were for the most part very bland. Several of the chefs I met that week, stated that they tended to put out less seasoned items since they believed the families onboard with small children wouldn't like the more spice enhanced items. So, the Indian curries tasted like mashed up vegetables you might find in a cafeteria. It was filling and hot, but underwhelming. There seemed to be a larger variety in the desserts, and a different bread pudding every day. Aqua Spa cafe was above average for the lunch offerings.

 

At the spa, where we book lots of treatments, the hard sell by the Steiner spa services was more than usual. I finally said on the 3rd treatment, that if they didn't try and push their onboard products, their tip would be increased. It worked like a charm, and I got a great massage.

 

Because of the American Girl events, those individuals eating at late dining, could not go to the shows until 11:00 p.m. as the usual time of 7:00 p.m., the theater was taken over by events for the group. It did not impact us, as we are later hours people, but for others, they just couldn't stay up that late to see the shows.

 

What was below par

It was unacceptable for the kids to be in Quasar at 11:30 p.m. There is a sign posted about the age limit on the evenings, and both the parents and the cruise staff should have honored that. The kids took over the dance floor one evening, and that is where most adults went to dance, since the kids were at all of the after dinner pool theme parties having fun. The casino staff should have escorted the children out of the casino more quickly, or asked the parents to get a ship's babysitter for them, if the parents wanted to stay in the casino. I really didn't find the children to be disruptive there.

 

We sent a letter to the Hotel Director on Tuesday of the cruise that the jetted tub on the balcony was not working, and that the main bathroom was missing a door stop(which caused the door to rattle) and also in the note praising our regular stateroom attendants. We never got a followup even though we also telephoned guest relations about the two items. I also though it was odd that I never met our Butler until day 4 of the cruise. That was a first in all of our Celebrity Cruises. He was very nice, but did not enhance the experience at all this trip.

 

The computer system glitched something at least once a day on our account, such as a double charge for the specialty restaurant, or extra charges not belonging to our cabin, or cancelling reservations. They all got fixed, but it took several trips to guest relations. I'm pretty sure we were on a first name basis with them by the end of the trip.

 

 

I found the kids on the ship to be mostly well behaved on the trip. We didn't participate in some events since we didn't want to be around the kids jumping into the pools, so we would go to the solarium instead. I do think that Celebrity should have informed everyone that a large group was booked, so that people could have decided if it would impact their vacation, and they could have rebooked.

 

We still had a great holiday, and are looking forward to our next cruise with Celebirity in February.

 

If anyone has any specific questions, I'll be happy to answer them.

Kelcie

[FrankinPA]

Thanks for your review.

 

Did the butler offer any sort of explanation of why it took him 4 days to meet you? The butler (Robert) we had on Infinity was in our cabin within 30 minutes of us arriving on board and left his cell phone number for us to reach him at any time. We saw him at least 3 times a day and was a real pleasure to be with even though we know he was the butler for 9 other cabins.

[portofrome]

Thank you for the review.

[Andy]

Hi Kelcie,

 

Thank you for your balanced and informative review. I'm suprised as to the Butler situation, as that is so unlike Celebrity. I hope he receives additonal training.

 

Welcome Home !

[kk99]

Yes,

Mr. Pena( the butler) knew(from prior cruises) that we are low key type of people, and he was inundated with requests every 15 minutes from some of the other Royal and Penthouse suites that he was servicing. He knew if we really needed something we would call. We only ate dinner in the suite once with other friends, and just asked to have the entire dinner order delivered all at once. We didn't request any other service from him during the week such as room service. I did think Celebrity should have fixed the hot tub(since it wasn't usuable) and the door stop since we had reported it twice. It was odd, because again usually we meet the butler in the first hour of every cruise. I do chalk it up to the larger number of families onboard during this holiday week cruise. We cruised last Thanksgiving as well, and the butler didn't seem as harried as this one was.

[kk99]

Hi Andy,

Yes, I was surprised by the butler situation. He, in fact, is fairly senior with Celebrity. I think he just relied on our good nature to skip us unless we wanted something and called. I saw both of our stateroom attendants at leat 3 or 4 times a day, but never even saw Mr. Pena in the hallway until departure, other than our one dinner. The space in the suite was great, but we didn't feel as "special" as usual on this cruise, as the suites are a saved up for splurge. We have three more booked next year, so I'm still a fan, just maybe expectations were not fully met this cruise.

 

I do think Celebrity should post if there is a large group of 900 (one third) or more of the ship booked as a group, because there will be certain venues closed for private events. I saw several of the little girls with their parents in specialty restaurants and they were beautifully behaved in those venues. On the pool deck, not as much. Lots of jumping into pools instead of just getting into them. More of a safety issue than anything else. I hope all of them had a great vacation.

[dkjretired]

Hi Andy,

Yes, I was surprised by the butler situation. He, in fact, is fairly senior with Celebrity. I think he just relied on our good nature to skip us unless we wanted something and called. I saw both of our stateroom attendants at leat 3 or 4 times a day, but never even saw Mr. Pena in the hallway until departure, other than our one dinner. The space in the suite was great, but we didn't feel as "special" as usual on this cruise, as the suites are a saved up for splurge. We have three more booked next year, so I'm still a fan, just maybe expectations were not fully met this cruise.

 

I do think Celebrity should post if there is a large group of 900 (one third) or more of the ship booked as a group, because there will be certain venues closed for private events. I saw several of the little girls with their parents in specialty restaurants and they were beautifully behaved in those venues. On the pool deck, not as much. Lots of jumping into pools instead of just getting into them. More of a safety issue than anything else. I hope all of them had a great vacation.

 

Thanks for the review. Its funny but this is the second or third recent post in which people mentioned they didn't see their butler until a couple of days into the cruise....

[uktog]

I have to say this is the butler who was a little absent for us on a cruise, I am not sure if it is his style, interestingly he "blamed" the other suites when we remarked we never saw him a lot, maybe he has trouble extracting himselves from situations or maybe he is unlucky with the number of demanding guests he gets..... or maybe

[orchestrapal]

he "blamed" the other suites when we remarked we never saw him a lot, maybe he has trouble extracting himselves from situations or maybe he is unlucky with the number of demanding guests he gets..... or maybe

 

If the above is the case it is Celebrity's fault.

Considering an X cruise in a Royal Suite but, after the wonderful service we have always received from our butlers on Oceania, it may be a real "come-down" if this is the kind of service we can expect.:mad:

[gelo7]

Nice review.

[kk99]

Hi orchestrapal,

We've cruised Celebrity many times in suites, and this is the only cruise where I thought it was a little off for the Butler service. I do know that the gentleman who was next door in the Penthouse suite told us that he was using the Butler( Mr. Pena) for services such as meals and other services several times a day, after we remarked that we never saw him. I also think they may have been short staffed for the requests made.

 

Oceania is an absolutely wonderful line, but it is more in line with Azamara than with Celebrity. The Royal suites on the Solstice class ships are very handsome, and a good use of space. I think if we had contacted Celebrity precruise or notified the hotel director about our expectation level, the service might have been stepped up from the Butler. As I said the two stateroom attendants were great, and they got tipped accordingly way above the standard gratuities.

 

I wrote a three page comment card on both the extremely positive things, and the items they could improve on. I hope that they take the time to read it and tweak their product. I do think you would have an enjoyable time on Celebrity, especailly in the specialty restaurants.

[lmp22]

I like children, but....I would have been out of my mind if I boarded a ship full to the brim with kids and dolls! :eek:

 

I too have read other posts on the AG sailing and most have been very easy going with their comments (not sure I would have been so nice). Shame on Celebrity for not having a policy to notify passengers in these circumstances.

[eyeglassbrad]

I like children, but....I would have been out of my mind if I boarded a ship full to the brim with kids and dolls! :eek:

 

I too have read other posts on the AG sailing and most have been very easy going with their comments (not sure I would have been so nice). Shame on Celebrity for not having a policy to notify passengers in these circumstances.

I dont understand why theses people are bitching about the Ag group. When you cruise on a holiday there are allways tons of kids. What do they ecpect.

[Keith1010]

Thank you for sharing your review.

 

Keith

[number5]

Thank you KK99 a fair and balanced review

I was also on the Eclipse and those American Girls did not have a huge impact on my cruise.

You raise some interesting points

In general I thought the Oceanview buffet was good but now you mention it perhaps there could have been a bit more variety. I decided to avoid the Indian & Mexican food because I thought it might be too spicy so I was interested in your remarks.

As a first timer on Celebrity I had no idea that the shows times had been changed and thought 10:45/11:00pm was normal as I was on the 8:30 tradittional dining but I wasn't that bothered by the timing and watched the later shows although on wednesday when we were at St Kitts the show started at 7:00pm & 8:45 and the same again on the last sea day.

So I went to the earlier show on those nights.

 

I also looked into Quasar on three nights late after the shows. I agree with what you say about children being in that adult venue that late. I think you must have been unlucky as there was a doorman by the door when I popped in and only a few people sitting the dancefloor nearly empty...no children in sight when I was there :)

 

I think your review is more how I viewed the cruise and am pleased you didn't let the small niggles/issues you had spoil your cruise.

[Huddler]

Thanks for the review! I appreciate you taking the time to give a fair and balanced review.

 

Jeff

[jackdiamond]

Thanks for posting. It appears that your comments are much more mature than some others which have been presented.

[wwcruisers]

As someone who is gravitating to X, after a decade with RC, all the threads and posts about the "doll cruise" are a little unnerving. :eek: We've all been told here that RC is marketing more and more to families -- hence the Dreamworks themes, kids being allowed into the Concierge Lounge, etc. In response to complaints about their efforts to out-Disney Disney, RCCL has suggested that those who want a more adult-oriented experience should try cruising with Celebrity or Azamara. And, although I've never sailed Disney, I've been told that they do an excellent job of keeping kids out of the adults-only areas. RCCL should really take a page from their book, on that one! :rolleyes:

 

And, as to booking a suite and not meeting your butler until Day 4 -- I'd have been hunting him/her down by dinner on Day 1. Unlike a good room steward, who can still do a good job while being virtually invisible, a butler's services are (by definition) personal. If I'm paying extra for those services (which I am when I book a suite) I expect to receive them! :cool:

[TourDeCruise]

Thank you for your review and sharing your experiences. I read with particular interest because we are booked on the Eclipse for next Thanksgiving.

 

How many nights was your cruise? Do you know if they plan another AG cruise on the Eclipse for next Thanksgiving?

 

Our Eclipse cruise will be 14-nights next year. I thought we could expect very few children for a 14-night cruise, even with it being Thanksgiving. So far our rollcall seems to be "adult."

 

Does anyone have experience at Thanksgiving with the longer cruises - still a larger number of children?

 

Kathy

[kk99]

Hi everyone,

Kathy, our cruise was 7 nights long. American Girl was celebrating its 25th anniversary, and there was no announcement made of its next cruise while on this sailing. Since it was a very popular event, I would expect them to repeat it sometime in the future. We have done 7 to 14 day sailings with Celebrity over Thanksgiving. There are always children onboard, but maybe half or less than what was on this particular sailing. I think the experience was when some of the party events let out, the kids were just very excited and sometimes loud, just like adults can be with sporting events!

 

 

In response to some of the comments, I fully expected children on a holiday sailing as my family cruises every Thanksgiving with Celebrity. We had just done an Allure of the Seas cruise with 30 family members and friends in September, so I do like being around children. What I didn't expect was how Celebrity who normally follows its policies, seemed to have relaxed them this cruise.

 

I did think it was a safety issue with children jumping in the pools and running around the pools. I just want everyone to have a safe vacation.

 

The nights we went to Quasar before 11:00 p.m., no doorman and no enforcing of the age requirements. It didn't stop us from dancing, but I could have done without the line dances for the children.

 

We did have a wonderful holiday, and have three cruises booked and paid for with Celebrity next year. I'm sure Celebrity will work out the kinks in future large group bookings as far as what venues are open or closed to the rest of the passengers during the cruise so that everyone is informed and has a great time.

 

If anyone has any questions about the ship, venues, personnel, etc., just let me know, and I'll be happy to answer them.

[maxs mom]

Kathy.....I think your 14 night Thanksgiving cruise will be ideal. I'll bet there will be very few children on that one.

We, too, were on this same cruise. The AG thing did not impact us at all. We were very impressed with Celebrity and this cruise. Sure, we saw the girls and thier dolls and heard some hilarious stories.....mostly from the crew. Some people are making a mountain out of a mole hill on this one.

I am curious. We were in cabin 1604 which was not far from your Royla Suite....I think. Was your stateoom attendant Nestlin by any chance? He was ours and did an outstanding job for us. He told me that he and his partner had 18 cabins to service. I thought that was a lot but he didn't seem to think so.

[TourDeCruise]

Thanks for the replies. A 25-year anniversary is a special one. I wouldn't think little girls interested in this doll venue could be too disruptive. We have been on two other Thanksgiving sailings (11- or 12-night) and we know there will be more children than usual, but we are hoping because it is a 14-night cruise, it won't be overrun with children.

 

Thanks again for the quick replies,

Kathy

[kk99]

Hi everyone,

Jane- yes Nestlin was the main cabin attendant and he and his assistant was just great. Their attitude, their smiles and just general conversation about their homes added to the trip. Nestlin got one of the sous chefs to get me some extra spices to put on the curries at lunch. He was definitely a gem.

 

Kathy, I'm sure there will be less of a large group on your 14 night sailing next Thanksgiving. As I said, most of the children were very well behaved on the ship. On our Allure cruise in September the sailing had a hugh group of teenagers from South America who were celebrating their quincenearas along with their families and siblings. They did take over the dance floors and put most of the adults to shame!

 

I don't think the cruise was impacted about whether it was a larger number of children or not, but some of the venues that are normally open , being closed or times rearranged. Celebrity has a board by guest relations, and they could have posted what events were going on each day, and what venues would be closed for special events. I think it is more of a courtesy to the other guests.

 

Have a great Tuesday everyone!

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

Thank you for your review and sharing your experiences. I read with particular interest because we are booked on the Eclipse for next Thanksgiving.

 

How many nights was your cruise? Do you know if they plan another AG cruise on the Eclipse for next Thanksgiving?

 

Our Eclipse cruise will be 14-nights next year. I thought we could expect very few children for a 14-night cruise, even with it being Thanksgiving. So far our rollcall seems to be "adult."

 

Does anyone have experience at Thanksgiving with the longer cruises - still a larger number of children?

 

Kathy

 

We cruised the Connie last Thanksgiving on the same 14-day itinerary. Children were not an issue. There were a few (there always are). But no screaming mobs of girls with dolls. I think you'll find that those sorts of cruises are limited to 7 days.

[TourDeCruise]

Thanks for the additional responses.

 

Linda: I see you are leaving in a few days on your Constellation cruise. You probably recall we were booked for that cruise but cancelled because I wasn't sure if I would have knee surgery this fall. It looks like I will have arthroscopic surgery in January (should get date this week), and we could have gone on the Constellation cruise after all. Enjoy your Constellation cruise!

 

Kathy