ARRA

Pizza- We never had a problem. I had a 6 yr old and 4 yr old with me and never had a problem getting pizza. The attendant was super nice. If they didn't have any ready, I would place my order go get my drinks and then return to pick up the pizza that she set aside for us. Maybe a second pizza station or making larger pies would have helped. But seriously, pizza can't compare to NYC pizza so no big loss. Still plenty to choose from. Try something new.

Pasta station- Loved the pasta attendant. She was super friendly and even got my kids to have veggies in their pasta. She definitely scored points with this mom!

Buffet- I agree sometimes it was difficult to reach back for items, but there were always attendants to help. I would rather ask for help than have everyone's hand touch the same serving spoon and spread germs. Too many stories of viruses and people can be dirty and inconsiderate. I've been on too many cruises and all inclusive vacations and have seen too many serving spoons and and tongs fall into the food because people aren't careful to lean it on the side but instead toss it back into the tray.

And in response to the eggs in the containers being gross, I would agree. But we just went to the omelet station and had them make scrambled eggs and there you can pick your own sausage and extra crispy bacon. We never like buffet style tray eggs, they always look green and greasy.

And there were times when the portioned food was not exactly what we wanted like kids didn't like meat touching veggies. The attendant was super accommodating and went in the back to scoop us a special serving.

Being nice, friendly and using your manners with the attendants and a cute 4 yr old batting her eyelashes always helped. ;)

Grill- Would have loved already grilled turkey and veggie burgers instead of having to place an order. It would have encouraged healthier choices. And would have loved the option oh having grilled chicken for a burger or even to top a salad.

Lounge Chairs- New lounge chairs were very comfy. Good support and didn't have the sinking feeling.

Music- Kids loved the DJ and percussionist. We would go to Cafe Bacio every night after the 9pm show and grab a 2nd dessert and hot tea and listen to the music.

We loved our cruise! And it's a vacation so focus on the positive and have a good time. Cruising and service levels are not what it used to be so don't go in with super high expectations and you will be happy and have a great time. It could be worse, you could be on Carnival. ;)

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Our family was on the same cruise and had a great time. I love the change in buffet. It is definitely a positive move in reducing the spreading of germs. The plastic screens to help prevent food being coughed on looked larger and a vertical screen was installed. So it helped prevent folks from picking and digging through the trays and only pick from the front. Many dishes were pre-portioned in small dishes and baskets, very much like tapas or dim sum. Again this helped keep things to be more clean and reduce the number of people touching the same serving spoon. Another benefit was looking around the dining room, there looked to be a lot less waste of leftover food on trays. Soups, oatmeal, and grits were served by the buffet attendant, so sometimes there was a 5 min wait but never excessive. Breads were portioned and wrapped in paper, and dessert was always served by an attendant.

I noticed that the fruit was usually self scoop, I actually would recommend also having it put in bowls since the watermelon always looked crushed from people digging.

I love the new change especially seeing so many people not use the hand sanitizer before going into the buffet. I hope they implement this for all celebrity and RCL ships.

And it looks like the ship also got brand new lounge chairs. The pool attendant said they were very expensive and only got them a couple weeks ago. His face looked so sad when we saw a bunch of young kids running down the deck using the lounge chairs as mini trampolines.

Our family also realized after trying anytime seating on RCL and select seating on Celebrity that it's just not for us. The service level between main seating and select seating is dramatic. Prepaid tipping has made service levels extremely poor in the dining room. I remember cruising before prepaid tipping when the assistant waiters from main dining would keep an eye out for you during breakfast and lunch the buffet and offer assistance and get a warm greeting. Needless to say, that is long gone. In select dining, the food was excellent. The wait times between courses was ridiculously slow. In the last night we waited 45 min to get served dessert.

The specialty restaurants were excellent. Food was excellent and so was service. The only annoying part was I had tried to change my reservation time to an earlier time and they said the time was not available. But upon entering the restaurant, there were empty tables everywhere. So definitely not a lack of table but rather a lack of staffing to provide service.

The shows were good. The cruise musical productions were excellent. The special guest was ok, just not what I was interested in.

Pools and hot tubs were fun and kids loved it. Only complaint is that there were a bunch of old ladies that liked standing in the kids pool that kept telling all the kids to stop splashing or being too loud. I finally had to tell them that this was the only kids pool on the ship and that they can go soak in the other 2 adult only pools and told my 6 yr old and his friends they could do cannonballs to make my point. They left and I was cheered by the other moms and dad's at the pool. Of course then the cannonballs stopped. Safety first. ;)

We had a great time and would do this cruise again. The weather was beautiful.

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I just tried to reserve my specialty dinners for our cruise departing this Sunday. The website it down and stayed on hold with customer service for over 30 mins. And then was told that because we are 3 days away from sailing, the reservations are locked down and can only be reserved on the ship. So pissed right now and I'm not even on the ship yet!

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My kids have been fortunate enough to have very young and retired grandparents that LOVE to travel. With that being said, every time there is a vacation deal whether it's a cruise or an all inclusive, or kids travel and eat free, my parents are begging me to let them take them on vacation.

Both my 4 and 6 yr olds have been on NCL, RCCL, X and Princess, lucky them. We don't foresee ourselves doing a Disney cruise since we have relatives that live in Orlando and visit Disney World almost every year. There is only so much Disney this parent can handle.

I can honestly say that my kids love the Celebrity Fun Factory every time. I'm not sure what it was with the other cruise lines, maybe too many kids or the play areas were too overwhelming for them? The Fun Factory is a little smaller than RCCL, but I prefer a little more intimate. The counselors are enthusiastic and very welcoming. I think the my kids like it because they feel they get more personal attention. As soon as they stepped into the Fun Factory they wanted to stay and asked to go back each day. Whereas, with some other cruise lines, we walk in to the open house tour of the kids place and they sometime want to run out or hide.

We have a "ship routine" have breakfast together, drop them off at the Fun Factory, grampa picks up for lunch and ice cream and a quick nap with grampa to avoid peak sun, and back at the Fun Factory until dinner time, family dinner, late show, bedtime for kids and grandparents, and mom and dad drink and dance at night.

We are booked for another Celebrity Summit trip for June and my 6 yr old keeps telling my 4 yr old how much fun the Fun Factory is and the big Chocolate Party. Kids are so excited.

Good luck on your trip!