Celebrity Eclipse is a Solstice-class cruise ship operated by Celebrity Cruises, a subsidiary of Royal Caribbean Group. After she was ordered with German shipbuilder Meyer Werft in July 2006, she saw her keel laid in February 2007 and she was formally delivered in April 2010. The 122,000 GT-vessel followed sister ships Celebrity Solstice and Celebrity Equinox as the third Solstice-class ship in the fleet.

Design and construction

The keel of Celebrity Eclipse was laid on 14 February 2007 and she was floated out of her drydock on 28 February 2010. The ship was delivered to Celebrity on 15 April 2010 in Eemshaven and was christened by British yachtswoman Emma Pontin on 24 April 2010.

Celebrity Eclipse is the third Solstice-class ship, preceded by Celebrity Solstice and Celebrity Equinox. Solstice-class ships were designed to save energy through their photovoltaic systems and an optimized hull design with efficient hull coatings and lighting systems using light-emitting diodes.

Service history

2010 Iceland volcanic eruption

In response to the 2010 shutdown of UK airspace due to the eruption of Iceland's Eyjafjallajökull volcano, the newly completed Celebrity Eclipse returned 2,000 British tourists stranded in Spain as "an act of goodwill" by the owners, sailing from Southampton to Bilbao on 21 April and returning on 23 April.