First time with Celebrity

We had only sailed with Carnival in NOLA prior to this cruise, so that's all I have to compare it to. WOW!! So quick and so easy. Getting through the port was seamless. We did not have priority embarkation as we weren't Concierge or higher. We never stopped walking once and we felt we got there during the peak time (11:30). We got on board quickly and were immediately handed a glass of champagne (Nice touch!) I will note that while we had our Xpress Pass, our family did not. They did not seem to be delayed too much even without it.

Almost everyone on a Celebrity Cruise has some form of beverage package. Ours was given to us by our travel agent as well as other "perks". With that being said, it was never difficult getting a drink. Celebrity is kinda pushy about upgrading to the higher drink package when you are first embarking, but we were never asked again once we actually left port. I will add this: Many people on the message boards, facebook page, etc ask about whether a drink package is worth it AND should you upgrade. For us, it came down to 3 variables: 1) Do you drink more than a few drinks per day on a cruise? 2) How many sea days? 3) Are you against drinking non-top shelf liquor? Again, our package was free so our main question was whether to upgrade. I drink frozen drinks on the pool deck, wine at dinner, and beer or mixed drinks at all other times. To me, it wasnt a big deal to pay the extra $10 a day to get Jack Daniels rather than Jim Beam, AND I did the math on how much I would pay to drink my favorite beers at the GastroPub and a martini or two at the Martini Bar. My beer costs me $1.18 on top of my classic package, and my delicious indulgence martini cost me right under $3.25 after my package. We had three sea days on our cruise, but even then I would be hard pressed to make the additional $10 per day a profitable decision. On top of that, my pinot noir and specialty coffees (espresso, Irish/Jamaican coffees after dinner) were at no additional cost to me. We stayed on classic and will do so again in the future. Food: Overall, really, really good. We never dined in a specialty restaurant (we will for sure next time) and were pleased. My steak the first night wasnt fabulous, but the rest of the meals in the MDR more than made up for it. We enjoyed delicious breakfast on our balcony nearly every morning via room service and a couple mornings in the Ocean View Cafe. We were thrilled with everything we ate for breakfast no matter where we ate it. For lunch we either did the pool side Mast Grille (wife LOVED the gourmet hot dogs, and the burgers were great as well) and a couple times went to to the buffet, It can be hard to find a seat at the buffet but we managed. Food was diverse and you had plenty of options. We were more than pleased.

On the Equinox, its the Gastro Pub. Awesome atmosphere and selections. Really enjoyed this place as it had the Men's basketball tournament on all the time.

Loved the shows and the comedy shows. Comedy was 100% clean, which my wife was thrilled to learn.

This is something that Celebrity hangs their hat on. Overall, the service was awesome. We felt as we were treated like kings and queens the entire week with the exception of a few incidents which I will go into shortly. The biggest improvement I found from Carnival is that it was never hard to get a drink. Almost all passengers on Celebrity have some sort of drink package, so I had thought it would be more difficult. I was wrong. There are plenty of waiters on the pool decks, bars, and shows to never let your drink go dry. We were very impressed to say the least. The two issues I had with service: one was reasonably minor, and the other I am still quite upset about. I always sign up for the Cruise Critic Roll Call meetups. The time and location are set up after embarkation and invites are sent to registered participants rooms. I literally got my invite 20 minutes after the mixer started. In the end it wasn't a huge deal to me, but it was disappointing. The second issue is inexcusable. My wife had been wanting to buy a Michael Kors bag and wallet for months. I told her there was a store on the Equinox and it would be cheaper to buy it there. My wife is 25, and probably looks a couple years younger. I say that because when she walked in, the two ladies who were working that store looked up and her and completely ignored her. We aren't rich people being so young, but she could buy anything in that store (and had planned to) and was disrespected to the point that she ended up not buying either. I, on the other hand, am in my late twenties and look much older. When I wanted to buy a nice watch, I had two gentlemen literally meet me at the door and thus helped be purchase a beautiful Citizen watch that Im thrilled with.

Great ship, easy layout, and plenty of things to do. It has a "country club" kinda feel to it, which we really enjoyed.

Great room, plenty of space and super clean. Storage was an issue, as we couldn't unpack all of our non-hanging clothes due to lack of drawers and shelves.

Quick and easy yet again. We did luggage valet and we walked off the ship without any problems whatsoever.