The last time we were on the Celebrity Eclipse was in June 2013, going to St Petersburg from Southampton. The ship, excursions, staff were all great but the entertainment was poor to mediocre. We actually gave up going to the venues. This time, it was 1000% better. More about that later.

We obtained a very early flight out of Newark, and got to the ship in plenty of time to surprise our friends Roseann and Nick. We flew into Fort Lauderdale as we try to stay away from Miami Airport, but FLL is becoming just as congested. We used the Celebrity Transfers both ways. Have used these on every cruise, as its better to leave the headache to someone else. Our friends went down the night prior, staying at a La Quinta hotel near the airport. (If you do this, you need to arrange prior to the trip for a private vehicle to take you to the pier, or go back to the airport and use the cruise line transfers.)

The ship was just as beautiful as it was several years ago, but this time, due to the better weather, we took advantage of the three pools and our huge balcony area. When it was too cool to go into the outdoor pools, it was very nice using the indoor solarium pool. Celebrity makes use of many solar panels, especially there. Read more