We returned on Saturday 26th June from our first cruise with Celebrity (although we had an overnight on Equinox last year) on Eclipse to the Baltic......we had a straightforward embarkation after dropping the luggage off and parking the car close to the City Terminal....we had checked in online which made things much quicker and we were onboard at 12 noon. We went straight for lunch at the Ocean view buffet restaurant which we found adequate. Our cabin was available at 1330...we did venture towards it earlier but all the doors to the corridor were closed.

The cabin was as expected...identical to that which we had on Equinox...Deck 7 with a balcony....enough room but not large. Double hanging wardrobe, single width 5 drawer chest, two cupboards over bed head, safe, fridge, kettle with Tetley tea bags (decaf and ordinary), glass mugs in holders, (not too safe - fell in sink when tipped up to rinse out). Bathrobes are provided and also an umbrella.!! Bathroom is superb except for lack of washing line and the tap over the washbasin is fixed across it so it is impossible to splash your face with water or tip water over you hair to wet/wash it.....much better if it swivelled !! However there is loads of storage in here and the shower is a great size with sliding doors ....not the blasted curtain that sticks to you!!!!!!! Good water pressure and heat in the shower.....The balcony was a good size not overlooked with two reclining chairs....a footstool would have been nice ...we noticed all the aft cabins had them...I did fill out a comment card which I handed in later in the cruise and we had a phone call to say that if we had asked at the beginning of the cruise they would have found us a footstool.....as a result of my comments on the card we were supplied with Nescafe coffee sachets and also shower gel (which is not left as standard) so it pays to ask your steward for these things at the beginning of the cruise.....we know for next time!! We had a midship cabin 7250 which was in a good position with lifeboats below and 'humps' forward and aft which gave us some shelter we felt....we would not recommend going higher than deck 8 as the balconies above that appeared to be shaded by the overhang...deck 6 seemed to be only just above the lifeboats so our favoured decks would be 7 or 8. Our cabin was only a short walk to the central lifts and atrium so was ideally placed for most things.....the only noise we heard was from our neighbours who have yet to learn how to shut a door quietly !!!!

Food was excellent...we ate in the Oceanview for breakfast and lunch and in the Moonlight Sonata for dinner where we had Arturo and his assistant who served us very well (we have asked the Maitre D for their service on our next cruise in September!!) Arturo explained each dish on the menu every night so we knew exactly what it was we were ordering.....he certainly knows his subject and appears to thoroughly enjoy his job. The menus had a page of dishes available every night and a page of different dishes each night so there was plenty for all tastes we felt...although I have read elsewhere that there was not much vegetarian choice....as neither of us are veggie we didn't notice. We were surprised that only about 50 per cent of men wore evening dress for the formal nights and assume that it's the American passengers who of course have to be careful of their luggage weight. I enjoyed the choices in the Oceanview, curries, pizza, pasta, grills, carvery, salads etc. (I did notice shepherds pie and mushy peas on a couple of occasions !!) Nice selection of ice creams as well. Read more