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Just off Eclipse 14 day Southern Caribbean

Podie

By Podie,
in Celebrity Cruises

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Podie

Podie

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I'm not going to do a lengthy review, but will reply to any questions.

 

Eclipse arrived in Miami late on our embarkation day so it was hours getting on the ship for early arrivals. Luckily, we didn't arrive until 12:30 and were on the ship about 75 minutes later. Our cabin was ready and the cabin attendant was the same one I'd had in March 2014 on Equinox. I don't know how he did it but he brought us our luggage within 15 minutes!

 

The ship is beautiful as was Equinox my two cruises on her. The ports were great and the ship never feels crowded, never trouble finding a place to relax, mainly because the crew removes all unattended items on lounge chairs after 30 minutes. Each chair has a card warning people of this, and as a result there are no seats "reserved" by people gone for hours. The solarium is my go-to place and we never had trouble finding places.

 

My only problem was with the disorganized select dining and the poor choice of menu items. We made reservations in advance for every night and always requested a certain server, but even though we were twice forced to wait ONE HOUR after our reservation time, we were only seated in his section twice in 14 days. Several times, we went to the buffet instead, which was very good. Several select diners did the same.

 

I can only assume it's Celebrity's way of driving us to specialty restaurants, as they are quite aggressive about selling seats to them. But the buffet was fine and I soon learned they would grill fish and steak to order up there, so it was a great alternative.

 

But food is not the main focus of a cruise for me so that didn't ruin my otherwise excellent experience. The casino slots were relatvely loose and we had three favorite bars - Passport on 3, Casino on 4, and Sunset on 15. We went to the Elite functions at Sky Lounge a couple of times, but preferred the more casual Sunset Bar since we had drink packages.

 

We booked an 11 day Caribbean on Eclipse next year because we enjoyed this so much.

 

I would especially like to recommend Silver Moon catamarans in Barbados. We were 2 of only 12 people on a 60 foot catamaran that was so beautiful it was like walking onto a movie set and we have already booked it for next year. Without a doubt the best 5 hour catamaran trip we've ever taken!

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Oceangoer2

Oceangoer2

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I'm not going to do a lengthy review, but will reply to any questions.

 

Eclipse arrived in Miami late on our embarkation day so it was hours getting on the ship for early arrivals. Luckily, we didn't arrive until 12:30 and were on the ship about 75 minutes later. Our cabin was ready and the cabin attendant was the same one I'd had in March 2014 on Equinox. I don't know how he did it but he brought us our luggage within 15 minutes!

 

The ship is beautiful as was Equinox my two cruises on her. The ports were great and the ship never feels crowded, never trouble finding a place to relax, mainly because the crew removes all unattended items on lounge chairs after 30 minutes. Each chair has a card warning people of this, and as a result there are no seats "reserved" by people gone for hours. The solarium is my go-to place and we never had trouble finding places.

 

My only problem was with the disorganized select dining and the poor choice of menu items. We made reservations in advance for every night and always requested a certain server, but even though we were twice forced to wait ONE HOUR after our reservation time, we were only seated in his section twice in 14 days. Several times, we went to the buffet instead, which was very good. Several select diners did the same.

 

I can only assume it's Celebrity's way of driving us to specialty restaurants, as they are quite aggressive about selling seats to them. But the buffet was fine and I soon learned they would grill fish and steak to order up there, so it was a great alternative.

 

But food is not the main focus of a cruise for me so that didn't ruin my otherwise excellent experience. The casino slots were relatvely loose and we had three favorite bars - Passport on 3, Casino on 4, and Sunset on 15. We went to the Elite functions at Sky Lounge a couple of times, but preferred the more casual Sunset Bar since we had drink packages.

 

We booked an 11 day Caribbean on Eclipse next year because we enjoyed this so much.

 

I would especially like to recommend Silver Moon catamarans in Barbados. We were 2 of only 12 people on a 60 foot catamaran that was so beautiful it was like walking onto a movie set and we have already booked it for next year. Without a doubt the best 5 hour catamaran trip we've ever taken!

Thanks for the mini-review....taking this cruise in March. Usually take a cat when in Barbados so will look into the Silver Moon...sounds like a good one. Any idea why the ship arrived late on embarkation day?

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Rjbobalou

Rjbobalou

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Thanks for the mini-review....taking this cruise in March. Usually take a cat when in Barbados so will look into the Silver Moon...sounds like a good one. Any idea why the ship arrived late on embarkation day?

 

We were told customs and immigration

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Podie

Podie

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Podie,

 

Thank you. Glad you enjoyed your cruise.

 

Did you have two or three "Chic" nights? What days were they scheduled?

 

Thanks, again.

 

Three elegant chic nights, all on sea days. One was the first or second sea day, one was the next to last sea day, and I think the third one was on the single sea day between Curacao and Barbados. I saw people in jeans in the MDR on chic nights - and maybe three men in tuxes - so I wouldn't worry too much about it. No one was turned away.

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Podie

Podie

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Thanks for the review. We're taking this trip next month. Looking forward to it.

 

Can I ask what were your other highlights on the other islands?

 

In Aruba we took a taxi to Palm Beach's Moomba Bar, which had good food and internet. Two chairs were $10 or $20 and they placed them in the shade for us. Plenty of other places as well. Gorgeous water. At night we did the Celebrity excursion Sunset Cruise on a catamaran which was nice as we were surrounded by dolphins much of the time.

 

Our two days in Curacao were wonderful. I scuba dived the first day, then we went downtown for a lovely meal in the old town (across the pontoon bridge) main plaza. It was all lit up for Christmas and "Sinterklaas" arrived when we were there. The second day was SUPER hot so we just wandered around the Renaissance Hotel grounds and ate in their outside shopping area.

 

In Barbados we had the spectacular Silver Moon experience. Specify the larger catamaran if you want to go on the 5 hour excursion, I think it's the Silver Moon II.

 

On St. Lucia, we went on a tour provided by our TA, a catamaran (with 72 people this time!!!) past the Pitons to Soufriere, a visit to gardens and a waterfall there, lunch, and then the catamaran back. VERY nice.

 

In Antigua, we took a taxi to Fort James Beach and had a great beach day. There's a great place to eat and drink, Miller's, and you can pay $30 to ride horses into the water up to their backs. Most of the crowds go to Dickenson Bay, the next beach, but Fort James is quiet.

 

My go-to place in St. Kitts is Palms Court Gardens about two miles from the port. It overlooks the port and the ships and has good food and drinks and a great pool. You pay $12 to get in (make reservations!) and it gets a little loud after 12 when young crewmembers from the various ships visit for three hours. But it's great.

 

We'd been to St. Maarten so many times that we just stayed on the ship and enjoyed our free drink package and the Persian Gardens.

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hcat "Live from...." Rare

hcat

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Thanks for sharing all the good info..sounds like a great cruise.

 

We also enjoyed Palms Court Gardens on St Kitts...but could not get a taxi to pick us up back to the ship...we had to walk...glad it was downhill and we had allowed plenty of time! But it was really a beautiful place . Enjoyed the pool and gardens and fabulous view. Had a nice lunch....not many crew there on our day and just a few local folks .

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jagoffee

jagoffee

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Three elegant chic nights, all on sea days. One was the first or second sea day, one was the next to last sea day, and I think the third one was on the single sea day between Curacao and Barbados. I saw people in jeans in the MDR on chic nights - and maybe three men in tuxes - so I wouldn't worry too much about it. No one was turned away.

 

Thank you. I was asking because I try to not do Chic nights in the speciality restaurants as the regular menus are usually special.

 

Does anyone else remember whether it was the first or second sea day? I am going to assume it was the first sea day.

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casper106

casper106

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We got off Eclipse 27th November and never saw one card on any lounge. Great idea but by 9am on our cruise there were dozens of chairs with no one on them, and still by 10.30 they were unoccupied.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

Perhaps the cruise wasn't full. Things will be different during the winter.

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rogfam

rogfam

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In Aruba we took a taxi to Palm Beach's Moomba Bar, which had good food and internet. Two chairs were $10 or $20 and they placed them in the shade for us. Plenty of other places as well. Gorgeous water. At night we did the Celebrity excursion Sunset Cruise on a catamaran which was nice as we were surrounded by dolphins much of the time.

 

Our two days in Curacao were wonderful. I scuba dived the first day, then we went downtown for a lovely meal in the old town (across the pontoon bridge) main plaza. It was all lit up for Christmas and "Sinterklaas" arrived when we were there. The second day was SUPER hot so we just wandered around the Renaissance Hotel grounds and ate in their outside shopping area.

 

In Barbados we had the spectacular Silver Moon experience. Specify the larger catamaran if you want to go on the 5 hour excursion, I think it's the Silver Moon II.

 

On St. Lucia, we went on a tour provided by our TA, a catamaran (with 72 people this time!!!) past the Pitons to Soufriere, a visit to gardens and a waterfall there, lunch, and then the catamaran back. VERY nice.

 

In Antigua, we took a taxi to Fort James Beach and had a great beach day. There's a great place to eat and drink, Miller's, and you can pay $30 to ride horses into the water up to their backs. Most of the crowds go to Dickenson Bay, the next beach, but Fort James is quiet.

 

My go-to place in St. Kitts is Palms Court Gardens about two miles from the port. It overlooks the port and the ships and has good food and drinks and a great pool. You pay $12 to get in (make reservations!) and it gets a little loud after 12 when young crewmembers from the various ships visit for three hours. But it's great.

 

We'd been to St. Maarten so many times that we just stayed on the ship and enjoyed our free drink package and the Persian Gardens.

 

Thanks so much for the great information. Will be on this cruise next month.

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Oceangoer2

Oceangoer2

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We got off Eclipse 27th November and never saw one card on any lounge. Great idea but by 9am on our cruise there were dozens of chairs with no one on them, and still by 10.30 they were unoccupied.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

That has never been our experience on any Celebrity ship. Usually the chairs are full at least by 8:30am. Last cruise a certain 'leader of the pack' had 10-12 chairs all 'saved' with colourful pegs. Absolutely no-one showed up until 11am most days (we like to stay in somewhat the same area) and no deck supervisor put any kind of card on the 'saved row'. In fact, we overheard a passenger inquiring re the 'row of chairs', the deck person saying "oh...those chairs are saved", as if that was ok. The 10-12 people came and went leaving most chairs empty with people looking for one they could use. That was on a 7 day Reflection...may have had more passengers than the Eclipse 14 day. We'll be on the 14 day Eclipse in March and we'll see if the sun lounges will be more accessible.

Edited by oceangoer2
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Podie

Podie

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That has never been our experience on any Celebrity ship. Usually the chairs are full at least by 8:30am. Last cruise a certain 'leader of the pack' had 10-12 chairs all 'saved' with colourful pegs. Absolutely no-one showed up until 11am most days (we like to stay in somewhat the same area) and no deck supervisor put any kind of card on the 'saved row'. In fact, we overheard a passenger inquiring re the 'row of chairs', the deck person saying "oh...those chairs are saved", as if that was ok. The 10-12 people came and went leaving most chairs empty with people looking for one they could use. That was on a 7 day Reflection...may have had more passengers than the Eclipse 14 day. We'll be on the 14 day Eclipse in March and we'll see if the sun lounges will be more accessible.

 

Wow, I'm surprised at that. I can only speak for the solarium, because I don't sit on the open pool deck, but in the solarium every single lounge chair had a card on it every morning reminding everyone of the policy. And I never saw a "reserved" chair the 14 days I was there.

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fielddreamer

fielddreamer

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Just got off of the Reflection last week and had a great time. This was our first on Celebrity and I loved it so much we booked a 14 day Southern next year. We never had a problem with lounges at the pool but we like to sit on second deck. We ate Spec. dinning 4 days and really loved every venure we ate at. We ate in the dinning room twice and did not like the choices or the service. I ate lunch once and not much of a choice of meals. The buffet was o.k. but not real great for us ! That was the only negative for us but we loved the ship! Bob

Edited by fielddreamer
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hurwitz5

hurwitz5

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We have taken the 14 night Caribbean cruise on the Eclipse twice. We will do the same cruise next month. It's a great warm weather getaway if you live in a cold climate (like us). We enjoy having lunch in the Aqua Spa Cafe, which has a selection of healthy salads. Every day they will prepare fish for you, if you ask. Check the menu on a stand near the Aqua Spa Cafe. Deviled eggs are also on the menu.

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