My husband and I have cruised over a dozen times onboard Celebrity ships. This was our first time on Eclipse. We were in Concierge class and selected the cruise because of the unusual itinerary from Los Angeles along the west coast of Central and South America.
To get my primary complaint out of the way . . . from embarkation through the entire cruise, queue management was a problem. I do not know what department is in charge of that, but they were hopelessly befuddled. At embarkation concierge class is supposed to have priority boarding. We boarded after people who rode in the bus with us from our hotel. Most people gave up trying to go to Cabo because the queues for tenders were hours long. When we had to turn in our passports prior to arriving in Guatemala, they called everyone to turn them in at the same time. Ridiculous! The queue for shore excursion to Guatemala was the length of the ship and then some. The passengers were frustrated and so were the crew. I've never seen anything like it. It was as though Eclipse had never done this before.
Prior to embarkation: We arrived in Los Angeles about 1am and slept in a cheap motel until it was time to go to the ship. Drop-off at the ship was uneventful.
Concierge class. Why, you ask? Because the price was the same for a veranda when we booked it, so why not? Believe me the canapes in the afternoon are not generally worth any extra cost. That seems to be the only benefit associated with concierge class. The cabin itself was fine, nothing special. If you've never sailed on Celebrity, they have a lot of storage room in their cabins, it's great!
Self-guided walking tour of Antigua. The bus trip was two hours one way. There were many bus loads of people. The buses couldn't fit into the old streets, so two shuttle buses were used to take people from the bus parking lot to a drop-off point in Antigua. This took time. The cobblestone streets are rough rocks, not worn cobbles. Walking on and/or crossing the streets was treacherous. The sidewalks are narrow, but they do have them. The main plaza was large and well-kept. Street vendors and persistent and pervasive. Going back to the ship was the same waiting waiting waiting for the shuttle bus, waiting for the bus, long ride back to the ship. Missed late-seating dinner.