We regard ourselves as seasoned cruisers but somehow we had never cruised with Celebrity Cruises before and when we were offered an attractive deal on Celebrity Eclipse cruising to the Baltics we jumped at the opportunity. The package offered was 1st passenger full price, 2nd passenger half price, with a classic drinks package and gratuities included. This turned out to be incredibly good value for money. When we made the booking the itinerary included 4 formal evenings. It wasn’t until we received the passenger information booklet two weeks before sailing that we were advised that formal evenings had been abandoned and replaced with ‘chic’ evenings. The recommended dress was now smart casual including jeans. This was a big disappointment to us as formal evenings are a significant part of our cruising enjoyment. There were also no themed evenings.

Never the less we arrived at Southampton and the ship looked impressive. Boarding was slow and even though we had been allocated a specific time for embarkation there didn’t seem to be much heed paid to this.

We had chosen a mid-ship balcony cabin on deck 7 which turned out to be excellent in both size and layout. The en-suite was particularly appealing with a proper shower enclosure instead of the curtained off corner provided on so many other ships. The cabin steward was smart, friendly and attentive but we did find that complaints about minor issues were not dealt with efficiently, e.g. the balcony door would not lock and it took three days to resolve. Also, the bathroom tap leaked from day 1 and was still leaking at the end of the cruise. Read more