[784caroline]

I have no idea what cruise you were on BUT we find Celebrity to be the best of the affordable cruise lines out there. We just returned from the Celebrity Summitt (15 nights) from Bayonne NJ to Quebec and it was a great cruise. The Summitt is an "M" class ship where as the Eclipse is bigger and of the newer "Solstice" class. We cruised the Eclipse on its inuragural transatlantic crossing and it was great. Very modern and stylist....great cabins.

I personally know the Resturant Manager who was just on the Eclipse and recently moved to Celebritys newer ship and I can tell you this mans work ethic is beyond reproach. He is on the floor monitoring the buffets, walks unepectantly throughout all the speciality resturants and shows his staff what he expects by he himself doing it. ...ie carrying a tray /plate for an elderly passenger.

Your comment about trying to upsell the newer speciality resturant...we have seen this and to be honest with you we just say no. There certainly was NO pushing you to sign up for an additional $80...in fact when we did see this upsell in the buffet areas they were actually selling it at a cheaper price ($40-50) becasue reservations may have been light for that particular night. Many people did take advantage of the discounted price. Our group of 6 always ejoy the main diding room and if there is a problem it is easily corrected just by telling the waiter or developing a relationship with the Assitant Matrie 'D...problem solved.
ONe problem we did have on our most recent cruise to Canada was that since it was fairly chilly ..read cold on the cruise, outside tables off the buffet area or tables by the pool were not available...that made seating at lunch time in the buffet area at a premium. I dont think it had anything to do with lack of or unattentive staff.......but this issue did cause some problems for people.

Overall anyone crusing Celebrity especially the newer Solistice class ships should have a great time. As someone recommended, definitely go to cruisecritic.com and visit the bulletin boards for both celebrity as well as Roll Call for your particular ship and sail date. Thee is a wealth of information on those boards.