This was my 1st celebrity cruise and I was really impressed. Overall compared to the other cruise lines, the ship was beautiful. All of the spaces seemed bigger and more open. The casino was non smoking which I so appreciate! Food and drink options were awesome and definitely good quality. Lots of live music.. Overall a more chill experience and and upgraded vibe.
Embarkation
4 out of 5
Pretty quick and organized! They had lots of people working. Had to show vaccine cards first, then headed upstairs to do the typical travel documents, take photo, etc.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
5 out of 5
The food and drink was really fantastic on this cruise, definitely an upgrade from Carnival and Royal Caribbean in my opinion. The entrees are better than your typical, boring cruise dishes.
I also love how they operate their main dining.. There are 4 different themes/cuisines (Italian, American, Mediterranean and French) so you can bounce around and get a slightly different experience. Each space is beautifully decorated with its own vibe, dishes, color scheme, etc. Each of the restaurants have their own signature appetizers and entrees, plus a large menu of items that change every night and are available at all four. Each offers bread-and-butter service which I love, always having different flavors of butters and spreads. We did My Time dining and never had to wait very long to get seated, however, perhaps this was because our cruise was at reduced capacity. Really the spaces operate more like a real restaurant.
I had so many different types of drinks thanks to the drink package. I appreciate that every bar and restaurant has their own signature cocktails.
Blu
4 out of 5
You can only go to Blu if you are in you are in an aqua class room.. Long story short we ended up getting upgraded to one of these rooms so we checked it out one night for dinner. The food was plenty good, but it was nothing overly fancy or more spectacular than the main dining rooms. Just another different menu to enjoy. I do think the service here was better! The waiter that we had was a lot more personable and took more time to speak with us.
Café Al Bacio
4 out of 5
This was definitely an added plus on the cruise. They had a very good selection of alcoholic coffees and cocktails which I definitely took advantage of with the drink package. You could also go here at any time of day and get some small pastries and cakes free of charge. It was a nice comfortable space with lots of comfy seating by the windows and also small tables along the railing which overlooked the main lobby area where they would often have live music. Servers come to you or you can go up to the counter and order. The only negative is that they advertised a certain drink that included popcorn and sounded really fun, but they never had it.
The Martini Bar
5 out of 5
I think we spent the most time here. This lobby bar is so much better than other cruise ships I've been on. Yes there's limited bar seating but then they have so many tables scattered throughout. It's great to sit in the evening and have drinks before or after dinner. There's almost always live music going on. They also have like 20 different specialty flavored martinis! The bartenders do a quick flair show nightly (around 8pm) which is fun.
Eden Café
3 out of 5
Totally a hidden gem! They serve breakfast and lunch here and I feel like most people don't realize that. The negative is that lunch is only served till like 1:30 p.m. Still we went there one day and had some excellent prime rib sliced sandwiches. They offered few different paninis and salads. Nice for a change from the buffet.
Onboard Activities
3 out of 5
The hands-on activities were light on this cruise, but I was fine with it. They had a few things but it was more chill. For example, the pool deck was usually pretty quiet. Sometimes they would have a guitar player or a DJ out during the day. But it wasn't constant recreation staff yelling and doing stupid games like belly flop competitions. I liked Deal or No Deal which was a fun alternative to Bingo, they did this in the club in the afternoon each sea day. You have to buy cards, chance to win some slot play in the casino or actual $$ if you are the person selected to play.
Boutique Shops
1 out of 5
This was my biggest gripe about the whole cruise. I was very disappointed in the shops they had available, and especially with the branded merchandise. I just feel like there wasn't much of a selection.. I didn't buy anything. I wanted more smaller, fun, souvenir type items. Even for the apparel they had the designs were kind of boring. Perhaps it was just a little bit too fancy for my taste.
Entertainment
5 out of 5
The entertainment was one of the best things about this cruise! They had so many different live music acts and they really bounced around to all the different venues on the ship. They had 2 male guitar players, a 5 piece band from Jamaica, a Latin/Dance band with a female singer, the show band with horns and I think 1 or 2 more options! 2 DJs, Silent Disco is the best.
They had 2 main stage shows and one was much better than the other.. That being said I was very impressed by the level of talent. The dancers killed it! The choreography was quick and more modern and they just had so much energy the entire time. Really enjoyed their special performance that they did one night in the club.
They brought in more guest entertainers than I expected, and they were just OK. I also missed having more/better comedians.
Service and Staff
4 out of 5
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
Definitely splurge for one of the infinite veranda rooms. I normally go for the cheaper option on cruises with interior rooms, so this was a real treat. We don't spend much time in the room so it's not like we sat out in the veranda area very much, but I still love the views. Being able to see so much of the ocean as you're getting ready in the morning and to see what the weather's like, etc. is really nice. It was little bit warm to have the window down/open. Loved that you can control that and the shade from the app on your phone.
Lots of storage scattered about, bathroom was a good size. Overall a little tight for 3 people but that is to be expected. The 2 main beds are closer together than I would have liked. The pull out was a little odd as its almost in like a drawer but the mattress was comfortable.
This is an OK port; better than some designed for cruise ships but also not as big and nice as others. Definitely worth getting off the ship and walking around for an hour or so. If we didn't have so many sea days we likely would have enjoyed the large pool with swim up bar. I think there is some beach area but nothing really beautiful and inviting. The shops weren't that great in my opinion, they all had the same stuff. No big name drunk restaurants, but a few small spots.
Thanks for the review. Love hearing from everyone getting back onboard. We are crossing in February on Edge and really looking forward to it! Our first cruise was Celebrity, we have tried others, but keep going back.
Celebrity was our first ever cruise. We loved every minute of it. We've been on 9 more since then, some not on Celebrity. We've loved all our cruises but Celebrity will always hold a special place in our hearts. Top notch cruiseline. Amazing food. Fantastic staff. Love it. So glad you enjoyed yours.
Loved the review. Great comparison to more main market cruises. I really don't care for my relaxing time on deck to be interrupted by some guy yelling at me to make some noise for harry chests. I haven't been on Celebrity for a while but that was the only line where I actually ate the bread rolls at dinner.
Bang on accurate review! We also love Celebrity and enjoy Elite status on board. Now that you have sailed once, you will now get a 1 category complimentary upgrade on your next booking.
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