Celebrity Eclipse: This ship is advertised as a 5 star cruise experience, well the ship itself was a 5 star ship but i'm afraid the staffing situation has a lot to be desired,they will probley say with it been a new ship it has new staff still learning, sorry I dont buy that, all staff should be fully trained.
Here is a few points of interest about staff and the ship that other potential cruisers should know.
1. Gratuaties: automaticly $11.50 per day added to your account unless you stop it. Not many people knew about the cancelling of payment of gratuities. In the cafe were you can get what food you want
(3 star choice only) there are no small bins for rubbish so there is tea bags and sugar bags all over the table.doors to cabins open outward and very stiff to open nearly impossible for any body with weak hands oe a female. Fridge door would not close. Wash basin in toilet was diabolical, tap came right across sink making it very difficult to wash in sink without catching yourself. Was charged 20% VAT on gifts but nothing else, I queried this and was told that this is normal although we was off southern Ireland, I asked to whom they paid the VAT to as the ship is not British the asstant could not give me an answer. They sold Cigerettes but you could only buy 20 per day, not 200 as normal. In the main dining room a charge of $3.50 was made if you wanted coffee with your meal. The organization in the dining room has a lot to be desired on how to look after passengers, just small things like pulling the chair out for you (I am disabled) Back to the cabin, TV had only one film channel if you wanted a greater choice you had to pay, most other channels aimed at the American cutomers not the British. On arrival into our balcony room we found under the bed the previous customers bill statment also ladies false finger nail on the floor. Cabin boy? on the second day of cruise we had 4 differerent cabin boys then 2 each day. on last day of cruise envelope left in cabin for gratuities with 2 names on envelope, they even came to cabin at 10pm to see if we was O.K. that to me was to see if we was going to leave them a tip because we was walking off the the ship the following morning and they knew we would not see them again. As an ardent cruiser for the past 7 years sailing with Cunard 6 times, Royal Carrabbien 4 times and P.& O I think I know a little about cruising holidays and I can honestley say this fits in to one of the worst cruises I have been on, lets hope thing will inprove with time. Brian61UK