Celebrity Eclipseis a, operated by Celebrity Cruises. She is the sister ship of Celebrity Solstice, Celebrity Equinox and Celebrity Silhouette. Celebrity Eclipse measures and carries 2,852 passengers plus crew. The ship's godmother is Emma Pontin.
Design and construction
The keel of the Celebrity Eclipse was laid on 14 February 2007 and she was floated out of her drydock on 28 February 2010. Celebrity Eclipse is the third Solstice-class ship, preceded by Celebrity Solstice and Celebrity Equinox. Solstice-class ships are designed to save energy, equipped with photovoltaic system, an optimized hull design, highly efficient hull coatings and lighting system using light emitting diodes, and are said to use only 70% of the energy consumed by other ships of their kind. The ship is scheduled to undergo a dry dock in April 2020.
Facilities
The facilities on Celebrity Eclipse include swimming pools, a casino, a theatre, shops, a library and an art gallery.
On 20 May 2011 a 31-year-old crew member was lost overboard 12 km north of Cherbourg, France; despite an extensive search the man's body was not recovered.
In October 2012Channel 4 TV aired a Dispatches undercover documentary that exposed poor working conditions and exploitation of workers on Celebrity Eclipse. Allegations include flying under a flag of convenience to enable the ship owners to be unconstrained by employment legislation, including minimum wages and working hours. The documentary showed footage of workers who had no rest days in many months, and workers who had to pay helpers to enable them to fulfil their duties. Celebrity Cruises denied the allegations in the documentary.
The ship disembarked its passengers in San Diego on March 30, 2020. In April, allegations began surfacing in the press that the ship had failed to protect passengers from known cases of COVID-19. Passengers and crew have tested positive despite Celebrity's original public denials of any cases onboard. One man died in the United States four days after returning home in the United States and his wife also tested positive. Another passenger, an 83-year-old man, was reported dead in Queensland, Australia on 18 April. After disembarking the passengers the ship was placed under a no-sail order, effective through July, by the Centers for Disease Control. As of May 2020 the Eclipse and two other cruise ships were still at anchor offshore from San Diego. Approximately 700 crew were reportedly still aboard the Eclipse.
