Relaxation Rendevous

This was our third cruise with Celebrity and the first that we booked through United Airlines.  Everything went flawlessly except that our original airline reservation was changed which resulted in a one hour earlier arrival at our cruise port and a three hour later arrival at our final (return) destination. 

We have always experienced courteous and efficient embarkation and disembarkation routines with Celebrity and love the convenience of being able to unpack our luggage one time for the duration of our stay. We had a stateroom with veranda for the first time thanks to a United Cruise promotion and found our accommodations immaculate.  The sense of space that comes with the veranda will make it difficult to accept a standard stateroom on future cruises even though we didn't spend large periods of time there.

We enjoy the shore excursion opportunities especially when visiting new or unique places and the freedom to explore on our own when we wish.  And of course returning to the ship and having an infinite variety of food choices is a truly regal experience. 

Celebrity certainly accommodates a huge number of people on these cruises but somehow we seldom feel confined or crowded and can always find a getaway (outside of our stateroom) if we want privacy because the number of on board activities is astounding and everyone seems to find their own niche.

While the world is becoming more casual, we still look forward to the occasional formal dinner nights and hope they will not be phased out due to passenger preference.  We would rate the dining room meals as above average for a three or four star restaurant.  Not gourmet but extensive menus with well prepared and presented dishes and we never found the need to try one of the specialty dining opportunities. We would have enjoyed a more expansive sushi bar but there are so many food choices it's hard to understand how anyone could find too much to criticize.

We will be giving very high marks to all the wonderful people that provided services during our vacation and hope we'll see them again on a future cruise.