We stayed in The Sheraton one night precruise and got on the boat with about 40 minutes of queueing, the Security was very rude to us. Its not necessary to be so rude to people. This was our first time on a big cruise ship and the Eclipse was a lovely ship. We felt very young compared to everyone else on this cruise as the average age seemed to be 70. We stayed in an inside state cabin which was kept clean by our 2 cabin staff. The general toilets were always immaculate. The ship in general was clean although there was a strong smell of urine always in the cinema. The room was spacious, nicely decorated and the bed very comfortable. The shower was spacious and the bathroom nice. The cabins were very well soundproofed as we could never hear our neighbours. We found the air con in the corridors too cold, the older people must have been frozen. We caught the cough that half the ship seemed to catch and it did take away from the enjoyment of our holiday. We ate breakfast and lunch on deck 14 every day and there was plenty of variety. We ate dinner every night in Moonlight Sonatta and they catered for my dietary requirements. Our waiter and his assistant were very good at their jobs. When I remarked that our food seemed to be always lukewarm, they sorted it out from then on. They didn't try to learn our names though. All staff onboard were friendly and smiley.

Tips - bring your own tea bags and coffee as the tea and coffee in the onboard restaurants is undrinkable. Very disappointing as you expect better. The coffee you can purchase onboard isn't nice either. Drink plenty of water, wear a hat and wear sunscreen as the sun is very strong and you can get burned very easily. It would have been nice if free drinking water was supplied daily in our cabin. It wasn't. We Europeans are not used to the tipping culture of the US. We paid the daily tips but felt obliged to tip on top of these as our waiters were so nice and we felt sorry for our cabin staff. It all adds up so make sure you factor in all the tipping to the cost of your holiday.

Some of the islands are a bit third world, open sewers in middle of the streets. Not a good look. Read more