Celebrity Eclipse – Mini Cruise

If you read my blogs, then you will know that a couple of weeks ago I spent 2 nights on the Celebrity Eclipse in a Sky Suite.

Here is my blog on not just the ship but the mini cruise culture that I also experienced whilst on board.

I have been very vocal in the past in boldly saying that even after just a few hours on board this ship a few years ago, that she is one of my favourites and that is still true. I love the size (approx 2800 guests), the style which is very modern and the food.

This was my partners first experience of a cruise ship and sailing, so wanted him to enjoy it as much as possible, for more selfish reasons of cruising again in the near future and I am pleased to say he enjoyed most of the experience.

The ship is gorgeous, you cannot fault any of the facilities, the spa, gym, pool areas including an adult only solarium. The beautiful library area, the main dining restaurant, the specialty and suite restaurants, the various bar areas and of course the cabins. I could go on and on but if you want to see more click this link Celebrity Eclipse

We was on deck 12 in a sky suite, which entitled us to priority boarding and I have to say what a life saver as the queues for check in was horrendous. The room was extremely spacious and well equipped, with a beautiful bathroom. The balcony was large with a full round table and a couple of chairs. However, this may bother some, but not us, as the balconies on this deck are all sheltered, as you have the overhang of deck 14 above you. We was situated towards the aft of the ship, so coming out towards the mid of the ship on deck 12 brought us straight to the lido area. One floor up and we was at the buffet. Normally I would try and avoid having a cabin above or below a public area, especially a buffet, but we heard nothing and I was pleasantly surprised.

On arrival into our cabin, we was greeted with fresh fruit and a bottle of chilled champagne, our butler Hector was also on hand to introduce himself and give us all the information we needed.

So in nutshell, I still love the ship and all she has to offer and for the size, location and extras in the cabin, if there is a great deal to be had, then why not go for a sky suite again.

Now the cruise itself –  when booked we automatically had included a drinks package of beer, wine and soft drinks. That was fine, as neither my partner or I are big drinkers and in total we only drank (alcohol value) 5 wines and 1 beer between us over the 2 nights, the rest was all soft drinks. But if we did want to drink more, then as Suite Guests we had access to Michael’s Lounge for every drink to enjoy.

The bars around the ship was always busy and one thing I did notice, was the lack of waiting staff that you would normally see, I believe this was because everyone was on a drinks package regardless of cabin category and to try and limit the amount of drinks actually served over the weekend they reduced the staff. Whenever we walked past bars they was packed to the rafters with guests trying to get served. My partner commented that it felt like a ‘booze cruise’ and that other guests was just trying to get as much down their necks over 2 nights as possible. And I have to say, I completely agree with this. After the 1st night, we was in the buffet for breakfast and a young girl commented ‘that she wasn’t able to get as drunk as she wanted because of the lack of bar staff’, this has put both of us off again doing a 2 or 3 night all inclusive cruise.  There was hen parties on board and lots of groups but also families too and half of cruise.co.uk, I cannot tar everyone with the same brush, but there looked to be a few sore heads the following morning.

It was nice seeing colleagues but I was on board with my partner and he isn’t the most social person around! So we would have a quiet dinner in Luminae, the suite restaurant,  then head off for a wander around the ship to see what the evening entertainment was like.

We had a flutter in the casino and soaked up the atmosphere around us as we watched dads dancing with their little girls to the live band, giving me memories of doing the same thing with my dad. The hustle and the bustle around the bars as guests was trying their hardest to get a drink. We did enjoy watching everyone at the silent disco, all singing to different songs and dancing in silence (well to us anyway).

Here is my colleague David having a boogie at the silent disco

Overall it was a great experience to sample the ship and for my partner to try a cruise and I think I have converted him but not to another mini booze cruise! I am happy to say that even though some of the guests attitudes to the complimentary drinks package was a bit ‘desperate’, we still had a lovely time relaxing and spending some quality time together in our spacious suite.

Dawn

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