Of 23 cruises on several cruise lines, the Celebrity Eclipse was the BEST ship ever. Great attention to detail. So many little things that were a cut above other ships; food, friendliness, bands, Persian Spa, dimmer switches in the stateroom, and even the TV programming.

Food: Although we didn’t eat in the beautiful main dining room, we can vouch for the great food and selections in the Blu Restaurant and the Ocean View buffet. The maitre’d in the Blu ensured we ate well even though gluten and dairy-free, especially the fantastic flour-less chocolate cake. They even had quail legs for an hors d’oeuvre. The Ocean View buffet had so much variety (e.g., three different fish dishes almost every day), that it took extreme self-control to not overeat (too much). :)) They had one ‘island’ that was “Chef’s Specials” that changed every day; one day Cajun, another ‘Californian’, etc. The buffet is well spread out so you hardly ever experienced that ‘frantic-ness’ of overcrowding seen on other ships. Plus they kept the buffet open until midnight or 1 AM, making it easy to have a mid-night snack after dancing for two+ hours every night.

Coffee: Deserves a special mention. FINALLY, a ship that has strong, flavorful coffee…everywhere! (buffet , dining rooms, etc). We have been accustomed to bringing our own, very good coffee crystals to mix with ship’s coffee because it is usually so bad/weak. [Maybe just this ship? The CruiseCritic blogs were very mixed on this topic re Celebrity ships.] Read more