Celebrity Eclipse Review
Loved the Eclipse but they need self-service laundry!
Rating by category
Additional details
We thoroughly enjoyed our 14-night cruise on the Celebrity Eclipse; having chosen it for the itinerary being one of the few ships that sails to the Azores as well as Madeira in addition to the Canary Islands and Lisbon. We flew from Belfast, Northern Ireland the evening prior to embarkation and met our daughter who had flown down from Newcastle.
If you also have to fly, just book it yourself as our Flybe flights were very reasonable compared to a couple who had booked their flights through Celebrity; they paid a much higher price and also had the inconvenience of flying to Heathrow and using the Celebrity organised coach to get to Southampton (at the end of the cruise their flight was not until 6 p.m. despite disembarking before 9 a.m.). A word of caution; Southampton Airport is ruthless when it comes to excess baggage and they even weigh your carry on baggage at check in -- be under no illusion they will charge you if you are over, it cost us £12 per extra Kg on our return flight despite us bringing nothing back and having "got away with it" on the outbound flight from Belfast.
We flew from Belfast City to Southampton and flew out only 3 hours after disembarkation direct from Southampton; a taxi to the centre of Southampton was £17.50 and we stayed in the Premier Inn which is a 7-min walk from the ship. The taxi from the ship back to the airport is £20.
Cabin Review
Deluxe Veranda 1B
The Stateroom (9278) was excellent even with 3 of us sharing. The bathroom was of a very high standard with quality Hans Grohe shower and tap fixtures; excellent water pressure in both and it was nice to have a good-sized shower cabinet with sliding doors rather than a curtain.
The bathroom also had loads of clever storage space in drawers, cabinets and shelves which negated the need to pack toiletries away each day. The Stateroom was a good size and our (26-year old) daughter slept on the sofa without any problems (there was also a drop-down bed recessed in the ceiling but we had no need to use this). The slide-robe was just long enough to take all of our clothes, after getting extra hangers from Antonio, our excellent Stateroom Steward. The balcony was a decent size with two reclining chairs and a small table.
The Stateroom was located starboard, aft/midship next to the elevators (separated from the Stateroom Gangways by a partition wall) but it was extremely quiet and we never heard our neighbours or the elevators at any time. The location was excellent giving fast access to the elevators and therefore the restaurants and central bars, lounges and shops.