My cruise on Celebrity Eclipse

I am not long back from my cruise on Celebrity Eclipse. I have already written about the destinations we visited so this time I will tell you about the ship.
Customers often tell me that the Eclipse is their favourite ship and it is easy to see why. This is now my firm favourite and we loved every minute we spent on board.
First impressions always count and from the speedy check-in at Southampton and quick and efficient security checks we were on board within 10-15 minutes of arriving.
We were welcomed on board with a glass of champagne which is very rare nowdays but it was a very nice touch and a good start for things to come.
I went with my husband and 2 daughters age 9 and 12. They have only cruised once before and we had an inside cabin which they found to be very claustrophobic. We told them we had booked an inside again so they were really excited when we got to our cabin and they saw the large window.
The cabin was spacious with a sofa bed, lots of draw and cupboard space. The bathroom was much nicer with a large shower with a glass screen door. We also had bathrobe and slippers. The only negative thing about the cabin was the sofa bed. It was really hard and uncomfortable with just a sheet folded over the leather seat and the 4th bed was a draw pulled out from underneath.

The ship is beautifully designed and has a more upmarket feel compared to other mainstream cruise lines. The sunbeds were all cushioned and the pool area had large hammocks and double sunbeds with a canopy.

There is an indoor solarium but this is adults only which was a shame as we were cruising to Norway and would have been nice for the kids to have access to an indoor pool. They did have family time from 6-8pm which we did make use of a couple of times. However it wasn’t advertised very well we just noticed it on the daily programme and we did get a few funny looks from people who obviously thought we were ignoring the rules !!
The food is one of the highlights of a Celebrity cruise. We were in the Moonlight Sonata restaurant which is the main dining room for non suite guests. We opted for 2nd sitting rather than freedom dining because we felt the kids would get more from having the same waiter every evening. We were not wrong because they couldn’t have done anymore for them and made such a fuss of them every evening they didn’t want to dine anywhere else. We had a lovely table next to a large picture window so we had fantastic views of the Fjords while having dinner.
The food is amazing. There was a good choice every night and the quality was better than their competitors. My girls ate from the adult menu and was a great chance for them to try food they otherwise wouldn’t have ordered.

The buffet was in the Oceanview Café. There was a huge choice and was open more or less round the clock. There was a snack bar on deck serving burgers, hot dogs etc plus an endless choice of speciality restaurants.
The entertainment was very good. They had their own productions which were good but they also brought in extra acts which were brilliant. We had the Flyrights who performed swing/brat pack music and dance, Jayne Curry who is a British singer/comedian and a comedian who I can’t remember his name but was excellent.
The liveliest part of the ship was at the Martini bar Crush. This was my favourite bar. This is outside of the upper entrance to the dining room so was very busy for pre and post dinner drinks but also stayed fairly busy most of the day and night. The bar is made of ice to keep your drinks cool and the barmen were very friendly and kept everyone entertained with their cocktail making skills.

Every evening there was a show in the theatre and then live music and games etc in the Observatory bar after. This was a really nice place to finish off the evening and I was surprised by how many people were there until the early hours. It is also nice for drinks during the day with panoramic views out to sea. They also had a silent disco several times. It is a new craze that I hadn’t tried before but it was so much fun. It was so funny to all be dancing and singing to different music and it was really popular with all age groups.

We were on board for 8 nights and they had 2 evening chic nights which were very formal. I can’t understand why they have changed things because I found it very confusing and wasn’t expecting it to be so formal.

I can’t report on the children’s clubs because my girls didn’t want to go which was fine as long as they were happy. We were lucky because we had very good weather so they spent a lot of time in the pool and jacuzzi’s but had the weather been bad they wouldn’t have had much to occupy them without the kids clubs.

We knew it wasn’t a ship that is as family friendly but my kids love food, going to the theatre and dancing so I knew they would enjoy this. If your children need more action it may not be your best choice as there are no gimmicks like rock climbing and ice skating etc. What you do have is excellent food, stylish surroundings, very friendly crew and excellent service and very good entertainment.
The officers are visible regularly on and off the ship and you have a true sense of luxury for affordable prices.
There are 6* luxury products around but if this is out of your budget and you want a good quality cruise then I can’t recommend Celebrity enough.