We were treated as if we were someone very special. From the over-worked poolside bartenders serving their millionth drink of the day to the people who spend hours simply pushing a squeegee around the pool area to keep the ground dry, everyone is the most professional you can imagine.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Like always with Celebrity the embarkation is quick and painless once you get into their station. The Miami port is always chaos because 5+ ships are disembarkI gotta/embarking at the same time.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
Buffet was better than most ships with various options from other countries as well as themed nights. The dining room had excellent food with service that really was perfect. (Favorite drinks waiting for us each night, greeted by name, extra sauces/sides brought before we asked based on previous nights requests, amazing breakfasts, etc)
We tried each specialty restaurant and the food was truly a step up from the dining room, which was already excellent. Murano was a experience not to be missed. Our only complaint is that the speciality restaurants do take “walk-ins” now rather than reservations or even calling ahead. For one of our nights it was understaffed from chefs to waitstaff not expecting tables of 10 or 20 to walk in. We had undercooked pasta, lukewarm meals,and waited forever to get refills, etc while we watched our server almost at a sprint trying to accommodate too many people at one time. Maybe these “extra cost” restaurants should be reservation only with restrictions to walk-ins?
Murano Restaurant
5 out of 5
Perfect food, perfect service. We were treated like royalty. Try the cheese course...it may change your life. 😍
Onboard Activities
2 out of 5
Celebrity caters to an older crowd (which is why we choose it) so does not have the “toys” of other ships. (Zip lines, water slides, etc). The pools, especially the adult area, are lovely and well-maintained. Our low rating would be due to lack of events compared to our other Celebrity sailings. We never saw our cruise director Simon outside of the ending of 2 shows. There was very little in the way of getting guests involved and NOTHING on the last night. No farewell party, no dancing in the foyer, nothing. The ship basically closed up at 10 with people wandering around looking for something to do as the staff cleaned for the new group of guests the next day. On the Reflection we never felt we were being pushed out for the next group.
Entertainment
5 out of 5
They ship performers are top notch. Excellent singers, combo, dancers, acrobats, and one of the best house bands we’ve seen land or sea. If The Cardinals ever put out an album, they already have fans! As musicians ourselves we are consistently impressed by the quality of talent we see on this line.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
There must be a special school for restaurant staff who work for Celebrity. They are remarkable.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
Ship tip
Try Murano. Get a martini from their martini bar and stay for the flair show! On sunny days, head towards the very back of the ship on the very top solstice deck for hidden comfy shaded couches!
Hop on-hop off is great way to explore Miami if you have a few hours before you have to get to the airport and they handle getting your luggage there as part of the cost
We went to a separate island called Blue Lagoon. It was paradise and I highly suggest it.
The city itself is a little overwhelming and they warn you to keep your personal items close to you due to the crime, but we found the local people selling items were polite if you simply said “No thank you”
The staff working at each waiting station seemed overwhelmed and didn’t know the answers to our questions. After waiting 45 minutes and checking with 3 different workers, we finally just headed to the exit ramp on our on only to find our group had been called 30 minutes before but we weren’t notified. We went back to inform all the guests who had been waiting with us. Not sure how to make this easier (and it wasn’t the end of the world) but it needs to be tweaked.
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