megaphone84

@Lady Arwen Thank you! We very much look forward to giving Celebrity a try when the cruise fever hits us next!

This was my 8th cruise though all previous sailings were on NCL. We were looking for a more elevated experience, were interested in trying a new line and were thrilled to be able to spend two weeks with our dear friends @JamieLogical and her husband Clayton. Jamie has done a fantastic LIVE that can be found here with much more detailed information than I intend to provide. Overall: I’m glad we tried it out, but it did not meet expectations. It felt like they were implementing cost cutting measures at every turn and they seemed very understaffed. Pros: ◦ I actually liked the décor. I didn’t expect to and I know people often complain about it but I thought it was regal even if it’s a little tacky. ◦ Comfortable bed and I like the large closet with so much hanging space. This was especially helpful for such a long itinerary with three formal nights. ◦ Kind staff though my heart breaks for how horribly overworked they are- CCL truly must be the worst line to work for regardless of sub-brand. It felt like they were all expected to make up for Carnivals financial problems by covering more tables, servicing more rooms or being the only bartender at a crowded bar. Our room steward Michael was wonderful, we made friends with many of the bartenders and waiters. Shout outs to Palfrey in Sabatini, Cristina and Francis at Crown Grill, Imran at the main pool bar and Pamela at Explorers Lounge. ◦ Doing laundry worked great for us! ◦ The older demographic is both a pro and a con- we met some very intelligent and well-travelled passengers, but the ship is pretty sleepy by about 10pm. ◦ Fewer children lending to a general sense of peace and quiet on the ship which I really appreciated. ◦ I loved the treatments I received in the spa. ◦ Sanctuary was wonderful as was Movies Under the Stars ◦ My husband ate his weight in salmon from the breakfast buffet and we think he actually lost weight on this cruise because of the number of high-quality lower carb options he found. ◦ Crown Grill and Sabatini’s were great. We preferred their food to such an extent that a few times we would find a quiet place on the ship and just order for delivery ala carte. Cons: ◦ I hated the ship layout. I realize that this is personal preference but even after 2 weeks I never did fully understand how to get from point A to B. ◦ Bathroom was horrible. Smallest shower at sea! ◦ Sinks in buffet are abusive- I had more than one outfit marred by the auto dryer turning on and slinging soap at me. ◦ Food quality was way below expectations in the MDR for almost every meal. ◦ Menu design is baffling; lots of added ingredients that are either incongruous or I felt were unnecessary. I love fine dining and innovative food but truly do not understand whoever designed this menu. Why would you put cocktail sauce on a monte cristo and leave out the egg?? Or grapes on top of pecan pie? Quesadillas made with swiss cheese?!? ◦ Buffet is small and very repetitive ◦ 60% of specialty dining was closed on this sailing (Salty Dog did open for the last few days but never actually served us a full meal) and we would have loved to have tried Planks or Steamers. I supposed with more research I could have calibrated my expectations but I didn't realize three of the places we hoped to try would be closed. Lesson learned there. ◦ MDR is so short staffed that half the tables go unoccupied, there were long lines to get in and reservations were irrelevant, meals often took literal hours and arrived cold and often over or dangerously under cooked. One time they just didn't bring me breakfast at all because the kitchen was so backed up. ◦ The motion lights in the room are terrible and wake up companions ◦ 45 minutes for Karaoke means about 25% of people who sign up get to participate. I didn't find the quality of any of the entertainment on board to be as good as NCL pre or post startup. ◦ Wifi was very slow. ◦ The Princess Medallion app added nothing to my experience and only left me frustrated. Here's a partial list of things it should be able to do or maybe I just couldn’t figure out: - book spa appointments or show appointments made - view shore excursions booked before cruise - show full itinerary without scrolling forever - show ship position - many items on Princess patter do not show up in journey timeline and I found the journey layout very hard to read. Why is there no PDF of the patter available in the app so I can see everything in one place? - drink/ food delivery orders can not be placed from many areas of the ship - drink orders often just cancelled with no notification - can’t book tender tickets ◦ Public bathrooms are dirty, often smelled like mildew and desperately need to be renovated. What's with the weird black powder like residue in so many of the toilets? ◦ Shortage of tender boats- we were told there are 6 working tenders for 2600 passengers. In Panama this was exacerbated by also only having 3 shuttle busses into town. Some days even Princess excursions were delayed by hours due to the tender issues. ◦ 3 hours to never get our full meal at Salty Dog Gastropub- we ended up just leaving after speaking to one of the food and beverage managers who literally told us theres nothing she can do but "stand there and be pretty" because she knows the system is broken. ◦ Air conditioning either not working or freezing depending on what part of the ship you were in. ◦ Awful bath products- I'm convinced that was dish soap and laundry detergent not shampoo and body wash.

“gatun lake cruise and locks” was the title if I recall correctly. The tendering situation was a mess, our tour bus took us to the Panama Canal Visitors center first and I have no idea why they allow for 90 minutes at the stop. The excursion involved a large amount of driving versus actual activity which I wasn’t expecting. In 8 hours we spent about 1 hour on the nature cruise and it was the last stop meaning the highest heat of the day so most of the animals were keeping cool by hiding. Additionally, there was a sick woman who insisted the tour bus was her way to get to a pharmacy because she didn’t want to take a taxi?? She knowingly got on the excursion despite knowing she was ill and that she would expose 37 other people to whatever she had going on and then insisted the tour operator drive around finding a pharmacy which really bummed me out. All in the excursion got us back 3 hours late and potentially got us sick so I would not recommend due to the logistics though the actual activities could be an enjoyable under different circumstances.

The Grinch was not that bad! Looked way worse than it tasted! in re below- can confirm; very drunk- truly we made the most of that night and man that pizza saved my life!