My partner and I have been cruising with Celebrity for 6 years now I think this is our 7th cruise so we have spent 14 weeks on this ship in total and 7 days on Royal Caribbean’s Anthem of the Seas for contrast. We have been getting less and less happy with Celebrity Eclipse over that time period and I would like to list the reasons. Overall it is nothing major that you can put a finger on just a long slow decline in overall service - to put it bluntly we pay the premium to get a premium cruise experience and initially that is exactly what we got but six years later it is only slightly better than Royal Caribbean yet still premium prices. The staff and the crew (with the glaring exception of the dire entertainment staff on this cruise) are as good as they always were but cutbacks in staff levels and service are obvious. We may as well sail with another cheaper cruise line because this is only “premium” in the minds of the senior management and staff - in reality it is just overpriced these days and the penny pinching Celebrity indulges in is frankly a bit embarrassing.

Anyway our beefs specifically for this “President’s” cruise we are on currently out of Southampton for which we paid more than usual.

Food is still excellent but there is less choice in the Ocean View Cafe. Main Dining Room has been cut down by adding the suite class dining room Lumiere and now we often have to wait before getting seated for Dinner - this almost never used to happen - not a big deal but we notice this stuff. Read more