Great for guests looking to party, lots of fun entertainment and casual food options. Very little perks for Suite guests compared to other cruise lines. Hate to nitpick but not having in room coffee machine in EXCEL Suite was very disappointing.

Item: Carnival Celebration
Rating: 3.8
Author: dckeichan

Carnival Celebration Cruise Review

dckeichan

Contributor Level: Second Mate

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Reviews: 5

Helpful Votes: 195

Overall rating:

3.8 out of 5

7 Night Western Caribbean (Miami Roundtrip)

Sail date: February 19, 2023

Ship: Carnival Celebration

Cabin type: Suite

Cabin number: 12363

Traveled as: Family (young children)

Reviewed: 1 year ago

Review summary

Overall, we had a great time despite the last day COVID but we’d stick with other cruise lines for future cruises.

Embarkation

3 out of 5

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

3 out of 5

Food is adequate in terms of quality. Expect the quality/type of food you get at major chain restaurants/fast food places. Same with speciality restaurant. My filet was more like beef short ribs. So we mostly stuck with main dinings as I did not see the benefit of paying extra for speciality restaurant. I did appreciated the variety of day time casual options like burger, tacos and bbq especially with a kid.

Onboard Activities

4 out of 5

Deck parties were a lot of fun - more so than other ships but they start late (10:45pm). Water slides were fun. Didn’t do roller coaster or rope course but they looked great. Pools are always so crowded on sea days so we mostly spent time at Cloud 19. We enjoyed Karaoke.

Entertainment

3 out of 5

Entertainment was ok. The best shows was the cruise director, Flying Scotsman’s one man show. He is pretty good and talented. Other shows were ok but somewhat boring - song selections were questionable - lots of ballads. They need to mix it up a little more. Saw comedy once. It was ok but comedy seemed to be a popular option as there was usually line forming every night before the show.

Children's Programs

3 out of 5

Our 8 year old went to kids clubs twice. She said it was ok. She enjoyed deck parties (she is a night owl so could stay up).

Service and Staff

4 out of 5

Service on Cloud 19, main dining and other areas in general was good. We did not really have any bad experience. However, there was no dedicated service for suite guests like you see in other cruise lines. There is “dedicated concierge line” but that’s about it.

Ship Quality

4 out of 5

As a brand new ship, it was clean and well maintained. No complaints on layout except jogging track is a part of activity deck so practically non existence unless you go up very early in the morning.

Cabin / Stateroom

4 out of 5

Best part of this cabin is HUGE balcony. One of the largest we’ve seen in this level of suite rooms. Sadly, Room service options were somewhat limited even for Excel Suite (Room service is complementary but menu is very limited) so we could not take advantage of the Al fresco dining on the deck. Room is nice size, shower is huge and very nice - enough to fit 3 of us. I loved a bed (I like it firm) while my husband hated it (he likes it soft). Again, not having in room coffee machine was so disappointing especially considering how much the room costs.

Ship tip

If you are looking for “spring break” party vibes and like to be in a huge crowd, highly recommend! If you are looking to chill, go with another line/smaller ship.

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Ports of call

Miami, Florida

4 out of 5

Mahogany Bay, Roatan, Bay Islands, Honduras

4 out of 5

Isla Roatan has beautiful beaches/coast. We booked dolphin swim excursion through carnival. It was expensive but well worth it. This takes place in the open sea and their staff was so friendly and knowledgeable. Beautiful water. We’d love to come back.

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Disembarkation

5 out of 5

My husband tested positive for COVID on the last day. So our disembarkation was not through the normal process (was escorted by the staff and used service elevator/gangway). I appreciated that they had a proper procedure in place and took very good care of us until we were off the ship.

Traveler Photos

13 Comments

NluvCruiser 1 year ago

Finally, an Excel Suite review. I’ve been looking everywhere for these. I’ll be staying in this room and I can’t wait. Thanks for the detailed review. I wish the suites had more perks, but I think the included ones are great. I value the extra space and loft 19 access the most.

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seaturtlebus 1 year ago

Wow. No coffee pot. Room service brings coffee though to suites right? I know they do to my cabin when I order to my much preferred interior cabin.

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Knackll 1 year ago

Thank you for your review. We always do suites so it's nice to hear your experience. We have an aft excel suite booked next year. Past 3 years we have been doing Magic Carpet Sky Suites on Celebrity Edge class ships and love it. EVERYTHING is included, premium drinks, premium wifi, gratuities and $600 OBC! You want for nothing. Their suite amenities on Edge class in my opinion is superb. We were doing Grand suites on Royal's Oasis Class. You get premium wifi but that's it unless you stay in their top tier suites and their suite amenities don't hold a candle to Celebrity. The only thing they all have in common is priority on/off ship. Celebrity's suite area (the Retreat) is amazing. We even get a butler and a room steward! I already know Loft 19 is sub-par but will give it a try. Problem with Celebrity is they doubled their price for suites and now we can't afford to go on after this year! Once you do suites on ships you can't go back to regular rooms.😭 Celebrity is definitely not a party ship. It's very laid back & shows are some of the best we have seen even compared to Royal's. It's definitely a luxury cruise line. Looking forward to trying Carnival's new style ships though!

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Wiser1 1 year ago

Thank you for your review.

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Gladis50 1 year ago

Glad you had a nice time. I'll be sailing the Celebration on Aug 12th.

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dckeichan 1 year ago

I should have added in my review that we were very impressed with the size of the room itself (as well as the deck i mentioned). We had a regular Excel Suite (midship location) and the room was very big. Much bigger than much more expensive NCL courtyard penthouse haven suite. With rooms getting smaller with new/mega ships, compared to the older ships, Carnival Excel rooms definitely beat NCL/RCI/Celebrity as far as the room sizes are concerned. I guess you pay extra with other ships for more exclusive concierge/dedicated services.

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envy1219 1 year ago

Thank you for sharing

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javawoody 1 year ago

Appreciate the review

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lsbs 1 year ago

Thanks for sharing

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Cruisehopping 1 year ago

Question about Covid - did they test the entire ship or did you decide to test because you were not feeling well?

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AuntPinkie 1 year ago

Appreciate your detailed and informative review. Evidently several schools were out during the week of your cruise (I wouldn’t have known except reading reviews on this APP). Sorry you had some disappointments. Glad you mostly enjoyed your cruise.

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Mmjay 1 year ago

So sorry you did not enjoy the overall food quality and choices on the room service menu. Thank you for your review.

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Gwbigdog 1 year ago

Thanks for sharing your cruise with us

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Other reviews of this sailing

Beautiful ship

Great Cruise but ship to big for my tastes

carnival Celebration was a wonderful ship!