Celebrity Eclipse Review
Vancouver and Alaska were highlights, Royal Suite Butler a HUGE letdown
Rating by category
Additional details
CRITERIA:
We wanted an Alaska cruise that stopped at a truly impressive glacier, that left and returned to the same port, and lasted no more than 7 days due to work/life restrictions. Many of the one-way or 10-day or 14-day cruises have stops at the good northern glaciers, but this Celebrity one was the only RT that was 7 days and stopped at the stunning Hubbard Glacier.
We also had family spanning ages 8 - 72 in our group, so we wanted a ship that offered activities for all the ages in our group (8, 40s, 70s).
Cabin Review
Royal Suite
The Royal Suite was perfect for what we were looking for in terms of size -- good common space, dining table, very large outdoor verandah. The large main bathroom was sizable and very nice to have. You did not feel like you were on a ship, but rather in a nice hotel room. The smaller half bath could have been better planned out and a nice stall shower placed there, instead of so much excess space in the main bathroom. But it was a nice second toilet, to keep the main bathroom from getting, to be honest, too stinky.
We had stayed in a 2BR/2BA Club Level hotel suite pre and post cruise. The bathroom in the suite was much nicer than the bathrooms at our fancy hotel, actually.
My 8-yr old enjoyed the on-demand movies, though the selection could be expanded somewhat.
Verandah was huge, more than large enough for our entire party of five to be out there to enjoy viewing Hubbard Glacier. Clear view down to the water (no obstructions) and we could even see guests boarding the smaller boat for their excursion at Hubbard. We used the outdoor tub once, which was nice, since it was a very windy sail (roughest cruise I've been on yet and getting immersed the water is a great way to stave off seasickness). Having our own tub was a nice alternative to the constantly overcrowded (and loud) hot tubs on the pool deck. We could also dry out our umbrellas on the verandah while at port.
The entrance to this stateroom is very close to the main stairs, but noise was not a problem.
Suite only sleeps up to 4, and the person on the sofabed found it extremely uncomfortable, with a lot of vibration from below. The sofabed was a disappointment; DIsney offers a far superior product in that category.
Our biggest disappointment was our butler (read above). He definitely did not make us feel special, more like we were bothersome and that he had more important, other suite guests to take care of. While service from the stateroom attendant was top notch, service from the butler was a low point of this cruise.
We will write a separate review for our Aqua Class stateroom.
Port Reviews
Juneau
Excursions cancelled due to fog grounding helicopters and sea planes.
The area near port is just a bunch of touristy shops, which is so sad to see. Mt. Roberts Tramway is close to port though, as is Tracy's Crab Shack. Further afield are some cuter shops and a museum. Juneau could be a lot more interesting if they took away some of the schtick near port.
Vancouver
BEAUTIFUL city that offers so much. Excellent point of departure. We spent almost as many days in Vancouver as we did on the cruise, and I STILL want to come back to Vancouver to explore more. Its got a huge variety of outdoor activities, clean, safe, good food, culture, shopping, walkability. Such a great place to visit.