Celebrity Eclipse Review

Amazing Ship/Cruise Of A Lifetime

Review for the Baltic Sea Cruise on Celebrity Eclipse
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tally10
First Time Cruiser • Age 70s

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Sail Date: May 2010
Cabin: Deluxe Veranda 2A

We were a family of three on this cruise. We have done Baltic cruises twice before and wanted our daughter to see and experience our favorite itinerary and love it just as much as we do. The fact that the Eclipse is a brand new ship was the icing on the cake. Let me just say that we had a fantastic time. The cabin was a bit tight for three but would be fine for two. The closet was small but the bathroom was a bit larger. We made it work. We were close to the elevators which was a plus. They also have sliding glass automatic doors that would drown out the sounds coming from the bands playing in the Centrum at night. I would definitely recommend this cabin location. We thought it was perfect. Celebrity brought in a great staff for this new build. The room steward, Augusto, did a great job with keeping our cabin clean. The wait staff, Danilay from Brazil, and Eszti, his assistant, from Hungary were great. We really had fun with them and they did a great job. We loved our table by the window. We had a table next to us with 4 Aussies and we enjoyed their company as well. We even ran into a waiter that we had on the Constellation 3 years ago! Menino recognized us and approached us. The staff in the buffet was great. The omelet maker, a tall gentleman from Jamaica, made the best omelets. Our DD who is very picky, enjoyed them so much. His assistant was good, too. They spoiled her. The assistant maitre'd, Slobidan also catered to her food preferences on several occasions. Celebrity is all about sevice and they definitely exceeded our expectations. I just also wanted to address the "fashion police" who claimed that if you were not "properly dressed" on formal night, that you would be turned away or made to feel embarrassed. This was not the case. We saw plenty of people's definitions of "formal" and no one was turned away. I will say that on one formal night, we opted for the buffet. We were disappointed because very little was offered as far as food choices. Lunch in the buffet was a different story and there was always something you could enjoy. The food in the main dining room was very good. Much better than the food on RCCL.We enjoyed Bistro on 5 twice for lunch and really enjoyed that, too. Our daughter just loved the band, "Frontliners" and we did, too. They were fantastic! There were really only two negatives as far as we are concerned. The I-Cafe (internet) was just awful. The Mac notebooks had issues and would often log out in the middle of an email or whatever you were doing. They were waiting for a "fix" to come which never did. It was also often down. The stools they had were bare bones and totally uncomfortable. The worst ship's internet cafe we have ever experienced. The female staff member in there was useless. The two guys in there were better. The other negative was the Sky Observation Lounge on deck 14. Half of it was smoking and the smoke was, of course, affecting the whole area. This had the best view on the whole ship and we could not enjoy it. We had to leave the Connections party because of the smoke. Couldn't they find another venue for smokers? This was not well thought out by Celebrity. Other than that, this is a wonderful ship and we booked another sailing on her for Oct. of 2011.

We absolutely loved Brugges. We wish they would have alloted more time there. We reserved a taxi van from Brugse Taxi. They were very reliable. This is a foodies dream port. You have the frites, the waffles, the chocolates, and the crepes. Cafe Cranenburg on the square has the most delicious crepes with fresh strawberries. A must try dish along with a local beer. We absolutely loved Brugges. We wish they would have alloted more time there. We reserved a taxi van from Brugse Taxi. They were very reliable. This is a foodies dream port. You have the frites, the waffles, the chocolates, and the crepes. Cafe Cranenburg on the square has the most delicious crepes with fresh strawberries. A must try dish along with a local beer. We absolutely loved Brugges. We wish they would have alloted more time there. We reserved a taxi van from Brugse Taxi. They were very reliable. This is a foodies dream port. You have the frites, the waffles, the chocolates, and the crepes. Cafe Cranenburg on the square has the most delicious crepes with fresh strawberries. A must try dish along with a local beer. We absolutely loved Brugges. We wish they would have alloted more time there. We reserved a taxi van from Brugse Taxi. They were very reliable. This is a foodies dream port. You have the frites, the waffles, the chocolates, and the crepes. Cafe Cranenburg on the square has the most delicious crepes with fresh strawberries. A must try dish along with a local beer. We absolutely loved Brugges. We wish they would have alloted more time there. We reserved a taxi van from Brugse Taxi. They were very reliable. This is a foodies dream port. You have the frites, the waffles, the chocolates, and the crepes. Cafe Cranenburg on the square has the most delicious crepes with fresh strawberries. A must try dish along with a local beer. We absolutely loved Brugges. We wish they would have alloted more time there. We reserved a taxi van from Brugse Taxi. They were very reliable. This is a foodies dream port. You have the frites, the waffles, the chocolates, and the crepes. Cafe Cranenburg on the square has the most delicious crepes with fresh strawberries. A must try dish along with a local beer. We absolutely loved Brugges. We wish they would have alloted more time there. We reserved a taxi van from Brugse Taxi. They were very reliable. This is a foodies dream port. You have the frites, the waffles, the chocolates, and the crepes. Cafe Cranenburg on the square has the most delicious crepes with fresh strawberries. A must try dish along with a local beer. We absolutely loved Brugges. We wish they would have alloted more time there. We reserved a taxi van from Brugse Taxi. They were very reliable. This is a foodies dream port. You have the frites, the waffles, the chocolates, and the crepes. Cafe Cranenburg on the square has the most delicious crepes with fresh strawberries. A must try dish along with a local beer. For Berlin,this is actually the port of Warnemunde. Our daughter took a Friends of Dave tour and Dave is a riot and an excellent guide. Our daughter did not get back until 9:45pm and was totally exhausted. She really wanted a few minutes to shop on this tour, but Dave is not into shopping. Other than that, she enjoyed it but felt it was too strenuous for her and she is very thin and fit. His morning stop in a local cafe had the best Black Forest Cake. Dave's knowledge was incredible, though. It was a national holiday in Helsinki when we finally arrived. Most places were closed. We were delayed several hours due to fog. To Celebrity's credit, the captain said that the pay per view movies would be free for the day and when we finally were allowed into the port, the shuttle was deemed free as well. Our daughter took a cruise line bicycle tour and absolutely LOVED IT!!! She thought the guide was just super. St. Petersburg was the highlight of the trip. We designed out own tour with Anastasia and it was super. The guide, Elena, was fantastic. The only problem was that the a/c in the minibus did not work and it was very, very, hot that day. We asked for a different van for Day 2, but they sent the same van and said the a/c was fixed. It was marginally better, but the group members in the back of the van really suffered. We wanted to eat at Blini Domik on the second day but the guide wanted us to go to the pie shop instead saying that Blini Domik would take too long. We were disappointed in the food at the pie shop. Even the dessert pie was not good. We had some fun things included on this tour. The subway ride is not to be missed. The stations are beautiful. We also went to a Supermarket and the guide translated and pointed out all the good foods. Needless to say, we all had food souvenirs. In Stockholm, the Vasa Museum is a must see! We got messed up with the HOHO bus and boat. We wanted the boat but were told that the boat would not run until 10:45, which we later found not to be true. We went on the HOHO bus but had to change in town from the yellow to the blue line. We were told that none would return us to the ship by the shuttle people, so we bought a day pass from the Celebrity shuttle people to return to the ship. We found out that they had lied to us. The explorations desk returned half of our money as a good will gesture, which was much appreciated. Copenhagen was one of our favorite ports. Be sure to go to Nyhaven and take a canal boat tour. We even saw the Queen's husband and his entourage and he waved to us. The last port was Talinn, and it was our least favorite, though most people love it. It is very walkable and unless you want to explore outside of the city, you don't need a tour.

All in all, this was a great cruise on such a beautiful ship!

Cabin Review

Deluxe Veranda 2A

Cabin 2A
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