Nice sized beautiful and spotless ship with enough variety of onboard activities to keep you busy. Very few children on this sailing. Otherwise a wide range of ages including active seniors. Really enjoyed this cruise. Like Viking only bigger with more activities though the food is definitely not as good unless you eat at Murano. Great cruise for the price.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
We were in concierge class. Embarkation was very quick.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
Buffet had a lot of variety and the food was fine. Dinner in the main dining room felt rushed. We ate at Murano twice and those were our best meals. The Silk Harvest restaurant was disappointing. Al Bacio had wonderful coffees. There were numerous bars, all with different drinks. Never had to wait too long to be served.
Onboard Activities
3 out of 5
During the day there were a lot of health related activities like foot pain, wrinkles, etc which we skipped. The tour of the kitchen turned out to be an advertisement for the specialty restaurants. The activities poolside in the afternoon consisted mostly of dancing or some sports like volleyball. No sexy legs competitions on this ship!
Entertainment
4 out of 5
We really enjoyed the silent disco and the parties by the pool at night. Live music was also overall very good. The cruise director really keeps things moving!
Children's Programs
We didn't use any childrens programs.
Service and Staff
4 out of 5
Our room was kept spotless, and we received good service overall.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
The ship was absolutely spotless and in good shape. It was easy to navigate. There were plenty of intimate quiet places to relax around the ship. No smoking allowed in the casino so the ship didn't reek of tobacco. The layout was very similar to the Viking Sea we had been on previously. which we absolutely loved. Not glitzy but elegant and comfortable.
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
Nice sized cabin, lots of storage, comfortable bed and nice and quiet even though our room was right across from the crew stairs. The veranda was also a comfortable size as opposed to our veranda on the Norweigan Breakaway which was miniscule.
Ship tip
People tend to dress at night so bring your party clothes. Also something white for the Glow party.
We took a taxi to Kim Sha beach where we rented beach chairs and an umbrella. Cheaper than the ship excursion plus we got to spent the whole day there. Water is a little murky for snorkeling. Beach was nice. There is still a lot of destruction on the island and we were the first Celebrity ship to return to this port. People were very nice and happy to see tourists coming back so go!
Booked a full day island tour via Greys tours. Only us and the couple we were traveling with so it was like our own private tour. Explored Brimstone Fort and Romney Manor which is a botanical garden and batik center. Spent a few hours on the beach also. The island is not very developed but several large resorts are being planned. There is port shopping but when you leave the immediate environs there isn't much in the port city of Zante.
Very organized. Breakfast served until 9:30 in dining room so no need to rush off the ship. Didn't take very long to get through passport control/customs. Took an uber to the Miami airport without any problems.
Thank you for the review and the port and precruise information. I especially liked the objective comparisons to specific alternative cruises. Lots of informative comments; thanks for those also.
Agree with a later flight. Don't ruin the end of a great vacation!!! We have recently been on a cruise that couldn't get to port to debark by 7am due to very heavy fog. Lots of angry and panicked passengers who missed their early flights. No panic if you have MIA after 1pm or FLL flights after 2pm. Have breakfast, debark by 9am, go through customs with your bags, take a taxi or shuttle bus to the airport, check in early, have a light lunch, and get to your gate. Panic if the ship docks late or bags aren't off loaded ASAP is alleviated. Smile and enjoy the trip home!
If you can walk your own bags off, you could be on shore 07:00 ish. If you let guest services and/or your room steward know that you need an early departure because of flight out of MIA, they will organise a low debarking number for you, which will probably be 07:45 onwards once they have offloaded the first bags and cleared port entry paperwork. Hope this helps.
Never done this in Miami, but cruise lines know that some passengers have to get to flights. You should be able to find out from Celebrity the answer to this question. There are always those that get off super early and some form of transportation awaits them.
We found that the Tuscan Grill had very good food. Cafe al Bacio also has free sweet treats. In addition, we were very impressed with the freshly and individually prepared food at Sushi on 5. Thanks for this review.
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