Was concerned about so many bad reviews but was glad we did the cruise on the Celebration. For having over 6,000 people on board it did not feel overcrowded at all excpet for the elevators. Way too small. With them being undertaffed the team did a great job at every venue we did. Food in the Steak house and Teppanyaki was superb! Getting one and off was the best yet in the 12 cruises we have taken. Internet was ok and we did have to conect to it several time thoughout the day. It was not very fast but it did it's job on the things needed for it to do. Entertainment was good but not great and most of that was due to the sound. Our Son is in the theatre sound business on Broadway and we could be a little skewed in our opinion seeing so many great plays.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
We had an arrival time of 10:30 but our shuttle got us there around 10:15. We walked up to the embarkation area and asked where we needed to go since we were early and did not want to impede anyone else there on their time frame. We were told no problem and could check in now. The process was very fast and efficient and took about 10 minutes total before we were sent up stairs to wait until our zone was called to board. That process was also very quick and took us about 15 minutes until our zone was called. We were on the boat about 11:15.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
We ate at the main dining room for dinner and breakfast, Guys, Shaq's, Steakhouse, Emeril's, Teppanaki's, Cucina's and we took 2 of the cooking classes. One was the elegant Italian and the other was the Orient unkown. Food was good, not great in the main dining room. Teppanaki and the Steakhouse food were both superb. Guys and Shaq's are alway top notch for fast food meals. The cooking classes need some help. The Orient class was cancelled due to not enough participants and when we showed up no one was there and no one let us know it was cancelled. The other issue was they did not tell you you were being served the full meal after you had eaten what you prepared. We were pretty full at that point. Need to fix this for future guest. The onlt other reason we gave it a 4 was the dining room staff was very understaffed and our breakfast team was very overwhelmed by that. We were told by one of the crew members that the ship was about 200 people short for this cruise.
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
We did a couple of the trivas which are always fun. We both had a spa treatment and both were good. Only concern was my wife wanted to cancel hers and was told no because it was less than 24 hours and I had just placed it for her the day before which made it impossible to cancel in 24 hours. Fitness center was nice but I do miss the sauna and locker rooms, which are now part of the spa package which was $169 for the week. Havana area was nice since we did not have to fight to find a chair to sun in. We also did the behind the seens tour, which was awesome except when we were down visting the bottom of the ship we got stuck in the elevator at deck zero. It took them about 15 minutes to get us out. Our tour guy was awesome and was also stuck with us. He had to call for help and at first they thought he was kidding. There was 9 of us stuck and one of the ladies was very claustrophobic. Since the elevators were so small it did make it hot and hard to breathe.
Entertainment
3 out of 5
We did not get a chance to see any of the comedy acts. We did go to a couple of shows and they were fair at best mostly because the sound is just not right. The music was way too loud and over powered the singers, which was sad because they had several singers which were good but hard to hear how good they were.
Children's Programs
no children
Service and Staff
4 out of 5
For the most part everyone, though very understaffed were great and friendly to us. Our room steward Iwan was awesome. Our waiters Pande, I Nyoman, Indrawan all were fantastic. Our only bad encounter was our breakfast staff which were very stressed out and understaffed. Vanya and her husband Izzy were also very helpful and informative on buying jewelry and what to do in each port.
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
Ship had a little were and tear but for the most part was very clean. Our gate to our Havana outside area was broke and we could not keep it latched and the staff could not either without not being able to open it at all.
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
Iwan was awesome and very helpful every day. We normally let them know we like to keep the towel animals for each day and Iwan took the first one but later make a new one for us. Our room was service every day and Iwan made sure we had ice ecery day as well. Only problem was our gate would not stay locked.
Ship tip
It is very large and can be a little confussing at first but once you get floors 6, 7 and 8 down the rest is rooms except for the 16 and 17 and 18 which is the large pool area and food. The elevators are very small and were a problem on day 1 so don't even try. The most you could get in any elevator was 9 and that was cramped.
We are given the opportunity to get off the ship at 8am and the team did a great job on getting us all off in the order we had arrived to the meeting area. The only mistake we made was we did not have our transportation lined up and got talked into one of the vans. After waiting 20 minutes we asked why and was told they needed to fill the van. We got off and decided to do Uber. Just be carefully when choosing these vans for that reason. If you need to get to the aiport early do not choose these vans.
Sounds like you had a good time. I’m sailing on her twice in January so your review helps.
My daughter went to school for sound engineering and you are not wrong when talking about sound production. It’s time for some sort of overhaul because it’s pretty bad!
I agree with you and I'm pretty impressed! For so many people on board, it's been really easy to navigate, get food, and it really only felt crowded on the first day!
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