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We were also on deck 10, midship. No complaints. I thought the bathrooms were small, but the showers were much nicer than the older ones. Occasionally the elevators were slow, but we noticed a lot of people would use it to go up 1 floor (no noticeable health issues, but who knows). Typically anything less than 5 floors and we are taking the stairs.

Wanted to give a quick review for everyone. We've only cruised 2 ties before (2017 Conquest, wife and I only, and then last summer 2022 Legend, with 2 kids aged 4 and 6). After we took the kids with us last cruise (which was a result of having FCC and OCB from COVID), they loved it and we decide to book another cruise with them. We actually were going to try Royal with their kids sail free deals, and then after diving into the details (there are tons of exclusions), Carnival still came out way cheaper. We flew in a day early and stayed at the Homewood Suites Blue Lagoon near the airport. Great place, easy shuttle from the airport. We took an Uber XL the next day to the cruise port, which was about $40 and 20min drive. Boarding time was 10:30-11, we got to the terminal about 10, and walked through quickly until we were seated for a about 25 mins and they started calling the first groups. I heard a lot of complaints about the port, traffic, etc but we didn't experience any of that. Food: Everything is perspective people, but we truly enjoy the food on Carnival. Shaq and Pig & Anchor are really nice additions compared to other ship classes for some extra variety. For lunch, we pretty much ate Shaq, P&A, Guy's, or Blue Iguana. We were also happy with the MDR for dinner, and used the free dinner nights at Chibang and Cuccina. Chibang was just ok, while we really enjoyed Cuccina. Either way, it was something different and gave more variety. We always choose Your Time Dining because we're early eaters and check in right at 5:15 for the 5:30 opening. MDR was good, but for some reason we had 2 nights where they brought us down to the 6th floor to Carnivle (assume this is early/late dining) and the service was slow. 2nd Formal night we didn't get apps for 45mins, which I kindly mentioned to the manager. Personally I'm fine with it, but our kids were getting hungry and the servers should be aware they served other tables their full apps, dinner, and desert before we received anything. Other than that, very happy with the service during the week. We only ate at the Lido for breakfast, and then did a sea day brunch and Dr Suess. Oh - we also had pizza and sandwiches a few times. Shaq and Blue Iguana were probably our favorite two spots to eat. Entertainment: Maybe because we did smaller/older ships, but we were blown away by the entertainment on this ship. The center stage performers were amazing, having the ability to sing, dance, and acrobats. The regular theater also put on some great shows and their vocal talent is really good. Super impressed with what they put together. The solo artists and bands around the ship were also really good, particular Kiara Johnson (she did a Taylor Swift tribute set, which our girls loved, and it was absolutely packed). Ship: We were a little nervous from some reviews that we've seen for Excel class ships. After going on this ship, I honestly don't think we could move to a smaller ship class (I guess maybe Vista). There are so many food options, so many bars, and we loved that there is always placed to sit down to talk, have a drink, read, etc. Not one time did we feel like the ship was too big. The one knock that I would give, which I've read similar reviews, is that Center Stage really isn't setup well for seating. We knew this going in, so would get there 30-45 mins before the show to get the seat we wanted. It helps that we do the early dining, so we just ran over to get a seat. Boarding, Director, Rooms, Misc: Getting on and off the ship was pretty seamless, very happy with that. Louis was our CD; he was pretty good, better than the 2 previous we had, and was fairly energetic and interacted with our 2 kids quite often. We booked an interior room with 2 Pullman beds. Yikes that thing is small. We had more than enough store space in the closets and under the beds, but moving around was tight. If our kids get bigger, we would book a larger room, but we still would rather save the money to use on other things because we honestly only go there to sleep and change. AC seemed to work fine, so we didn't request any fan. The kids loved the water slides, and there are a handful of pools/hot tubs available. The main deck chairs get snatched up quickly, but I think you can say that on any ship no matter the size. Serenity was huge, but also get snatched up quickly in the morning. We were part of 2 groups on Facebook just to see what everyone is saying. Lots of complaints that they didn't like the cruise, the bars were packed, soda machine didnt work, etc. We didn't have Cheers, but has no issues getting drinks when we needed them. I'm probably forgetting something, but just wanted to put down a few thoughts. We loved the Celebration and will be booking something else on Excel or maybe Vista class, perhaps giving Celebration Key a shot.

It was Monkey Land & Dominican Flavors for Families. We were unsuccessful but kept it anyway. It was about 5 emails back and forth and they kept coming up with new excuses. From the one time that they called, they said those were the only ones that they guaranteeing. I'm guessing those are the only ones they might be exactly the same. Part of my complaint is that they list the guarantee on every single page, not just the ones they are matching. Regardless, we had a good time, albeit at a premium.

Based on what they told me on the phone, I'm going to guess they will only price match the ones in the drop-down list. Lots of different opinions in the thread, but I'm still going to try to get ours honored and adjusted if I can.

It includes transportation from about 20 hotels, so yes it does include transportation. I could probably just pick a hotel that is close to the port if I wanted to. So is Carnival specifically not allowing the excursion operator to pick up at the port so they can carve out their weird exclusions? I'm still booking and will attempt to get the difference.

I tried, and the excursion company won't allow cruise customers to book with them, need need to pick a hotel pickup location. Also, it's 110% of the difference. I believe it's $350 with carnival and 240 viator. So we'd get 110% of the $110 difference which is $121.

Thanks, I may have to try that. Is there any way to email customer service other than calling in and wasting 30 minutes on the phone again? I just tried the form twice again, didn't encounter any error on the form itself, but the next page says it encounters a problem and to try again.

I did purchase and then immediately went to fill out the form. The drop-down list to pick the excursion only have 5 options, which I thought was a mistake since amber cove had 20+to pick from. Then the comments box gives an error code no matter what you tried, so I couldn't even submit the form. That made me call them. There are 2 excursions that are basically exact matches. Regarding the value, the price difference was about 120, so the net would be 130 in OBC.

Anyone know who to contact at Carnival to discuss? I don't see John Heald has a messaging option on Facebook. The "Best Price Guarantee" is posted everywhere. I found a shore excursion (Monkeyland in Amber Cove) that is $150 cheaper for our family by booking direct through Viator. The guarantee claim form does not work on the website for filing a claim, so I called customer service. They sent me over to the excursion group, and ultimately told me there are actually only a few excursions that qualify for the guarantee. I tried to get them to understand how that doesn't make sense, because every single shore excursion webpage notes this language "Find a better price for any excursion we offer and we will refund you 110% of the price difference!". Trying to understand how Carnival can put the Best Price Guarantee on every page, but then state it's only available for certain excursions without any exclusions listed. I tried to ask for a supervisor or to escalate, and the rep just kept stating that this is the only department that handles the claims.

That's good to hear. We're leaving out of Miami for the first time in March and have heard hit or miss traffic. We have an 11:30am flight on disembarkation day, so we'll be in a hurry.

How long is the dinner? We'd like to try it out but would need to bring our kids to camp because they wouldn't enjoy the for our long dinner.

Was just on the Legend, which is a very old ship, and they didn't have anything exciting but did have blantons in the steakhouse. I'm surprised to see people post that the Celebration didn't have much for a new ship. That's our next cruise, so we'll see.

We are early eaters so we typically go right at 545. I would just checkin through the app 45mins before you want to eat if not checking in right away.

Thanks for saying this. We just booked an interior and were second guessing if we should keep it or get a balcony ( only have done interior and OV before). Our main argument is that we're never in the room anyway, and we've only been on smaller ships before.

Thanks everyone. We ended up booking the celebration eastern itinerary in March!