I joined my Colleague Sonia and a group of 40 Travel Stop clients on Celebrity Eclipse for a 4 night short cruise to Cobh (Cork). We sailed from Southampton on the afternoon of the Royal Wedding. Having never been on a cruise ship before, I was extremely impressed at the size and grandeur of Celebrity Eclipse - the then newest addition to the fleet. We were greeted with a glass of champagne and then went and had a walk around the ship. The Royal Wedding was being shown on the huge cinema screen in the theatre at the front of the ship, so guests were able to join in the celebrations if they wished.
Celebrity Eclipse had just returned from 2 weeks in the Caribbean and once our stateroom was ready we went to unpack our luggage which had been delivered there for us. We had a balcony stateroom which was spacious, very modern and the balcony was a good size.
We then went up to the top deck where we had some lunch in the Oceanview Café and Bar, which was at the back of the ship near the Lawn Club.
After lunch we met up with the Travel Stop group and gave a guided tour of the ship to include the AquaSpa.
Some of the group then went up to the top deck again for the ‘sail away’ at 4pm.
We had dinner with part of the Escorted Group in the main dining room ‘Moonlight Sonata’. This in itself was a real treat. The décor especially the lighting was amazing and the food was out of this world.
In the evenings there was a variety of entertainment to go and watch or you could go for cocktails in the Martini Bar, Michael’s Club or dance the night away to one of the live bands in the Sky Observation Lounge or to the DJ in the Quasar Nightclub.
The first full day we were ‘at sea’ most of the day but arrived into Cobh in the afternoon. It was a beautiful day and we were able to disembark and have a look around Cobh. Cobh, then Queenstown, was the Titanic’s last port of call. 123 passengers boarded here on the fated magnificent vessel, in a bid to journey to the new world. We visited the Titanic Museum and walked up the picturesque hill to the church at the top where we could look down and see the size of the Celebrity Eclipse!
That evening was ‘formal night’ on the ship where guests were able to dress up for dinner. The waiters all then did a small show for all the guests in the Moonlight Sonata dining room.
The next day we took the short train journey into Cork where we explored the streets and looked in some of the shops. Then it was back to the ship where we set sail in the afternoon. Just before we sailed away we saw the cruise liner, ‘Independence of the seas’ (Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines – a sister company of Celebrity Cruises) sail into Cobh.
The Travel Stop group were also very privileged to be given a private tour of the Bridge by one of the First Officers. This was a real treat as no other guest was able to do this. We also got a private tour of the Galley, which also was another advantage of travelling with Travel Stop, as everyone else onboard had to join the general tour which had 200+ people on it! All of our clients were thrilled.
On the last evening we dined in one of the speciality restaurants called ‘Qsine’ which was a ‘round the world’ dining experience in which we ordered our food using an ipad each. There are 4 Speciality restaurants onboard Tuscan Grille, Blu (for Aquaclass guests only), Murano and Qsine.
All in all this was a superb short break and a great way to experience a bit of luxury. The staff and crew were extremely friendly and informative and were always on hand to help if needed.
