ruru107

It’s gluten free?? I wish I had known that 😔

No, I’m asking the OP, @FrankieJayIII

What cruise line and ship will you be on?

They also have sweet and sour shrimp at Chibang! It’s very yummy

I am not sure. I avoided the spa area to be honest

It did have a keypad but I didn’t trust myself to remember the number! 😝

Carnival Celebration out of Miami Max capacity 6500 April 30 - May 7 Amber Cove, Dominican Republic San Juan, Puerto Rico St Maarten We flew down the night before and stayed at the Embassy Suites near the Miami airport. They have a shuttle from the airport to the hotel. Additionally, there was a shuttle in the morning to the cruise port, $10 per person. Make sure to sign up for the shuttle the night before because it will get full. The woman at the front desk at the hotel seemed resistant to signing us up for the shuttle, so we had to be a little pushy. She kept saying “do that with the bellman” and would point to the bellman station, but there was no one there. We would ask, “Where is he?” “When will he be at his desk?” and she wouldn’t answer. Finally, she sighed and pulled over a list she had next to her and added us to the list. Not sure what was so hard about that?? Our arrival time slot at Terminal F was 12:00 to 12:30. We got there way too early, probably around 11:00. My husband gave his luggage to a porter to be checked. I decided to carry mine on at the last minute, because it was raining, and I have soft sided luggage. Some checked luggage was sitting out in the rain. Even if you arrive too early, you can still go inside the air-conditioned terminal, get your boarding pass stamped, get sniffed by the dog, and go through security. After that you will need to stand around until your group is called. There weren’t chairs, but you could sit on the floor if you wanted. There were bathrooms. We were group F7. Once your group is called, your face is scanned for facial recognition, and you walk onto the ship. We were definitely on the ship by noon, so boarding was very quick and smooth! We went to our muster station first (E6- Carnivale). Then we got lunch at Deco Deli. It was great! I requested a Cubano with gluten free bread which they did accommodate but it took a little longer (not a problem). We ate at the outdoor seating area outside of Deco Deli. Then we went to Lido on deck 17 and relaxed on the beds in the shade until 1:30 when the rooms were ready. The first thing I did when we got in our room was wipe it down with Lysol wipes! Then I unpacked a little. I tried to use the safe with the card swipe method, but I got an error message no matter how I swiped the card. So we didn’t use the safe. My husband’s luggage arrived shortly after that, and he unpacked also. Around 5 PM we went up on deck to watch us pull away from Miami. Then we got dinner at Guy’s Pig & Anchor (complimentary on Celebration). Neither of us ordered dessert and it was still way too much food! I couldn’t finish it and felt bad. You choose 3 meats and 3 sides. I got salmon, chicken, pulled pork, French fries, collard greens, and baked beans. This was when I had the one and only food item I thought was actually bad on the cruise – the collard greens. The ones they had were way overcooked and were mushy and flavorless. All other food I had on the cruise was either fine or great. We closed out the evening at The Golden Jubilee, which became our go-to bar. It is calm and cozy and chill. Roman Joubert played the piano there most afternoons and evenings. He is very talented and plays some classical, some contemporary covers, and some original compositions (classical style). Complimentary drinks: Morning only: orange juice, apple juice, orange guava juice. All day: water, lemonade, iced tea (unsweetened), coffee, decaf coffee, hot chocolate, hot water with tea bags. Also, the breakfast buffet in Guy’s Pig and Anchor had “Americano” but it tasted identical to the drip coffee. My thoughts on the drinks: the iced tea wasn’t “bad” but it was very weak, so I didn’t drink it. The lemonade was all right; I drank it a lot. The complimentary coffee was just fine! I was worried because so many people said it was bad, but I had no issues with it and drank it every morning. It is very hot! My husband liked to do half coffee/half hot chocolate. My only complaint is there is no alternative milk available for coffee. We tried every complimentary food spot except Guy’s Burgers, Cucina del Capitano, the Mad Sizzle stall at Street Eats, and Fresh Creations (salad bar in Serenity). For dinner at MDR Your Time and dinner at Chibang (complimentary on Celebration), you need to check in on the app ahead of time. Wait time was anywhere from 5-30 minutes. We usually checked in while we were getting ready, then went downstairs, got some pictures taken, and by then our table would be ready. MDR: we ate at the MDR for elegant dinners and one time for sea day brunch. I heard others complain about long waits for food or drinks, but we had no issues. Possibly this is because we chose Your Time dining, and it was just the two of us at a table, not a large group or a shared table. Dinner usually took about 90 minutes, which is comparable to a sit-down restaurant on land. In MDR I tried crab cake, shrimp cocktail, grilled barramundi, pan fried striped bass, and vanilla crème brulee. Everything was good. (Although the crème brulee was almost too sugary and that’s saying a lot coming from me!) For sea day brunch I had cheese grits, bacon, and banana cream pie. At Chibang I got the chicken spring rolls and sweet and sour shrimp. I also tried the pepperoni pizza at Miami Slice. From Blue Iguana I tried fish tacos and a breakfast burrito. At the breakfast buffet I usually had oatmeal with lots of toppings, potatoes, fresh fruit, and sometimes shakshouka. We liked to go to Lido buffet at night (even if we didn’t eat dinner there) and get a dessert or two to take back to the room or take out on the Lido deck and eat while watching the “Dive In” movie. The chocolate panna cotta is delicious. In the evening on the last night of the cruise, we tried to get beignets from Emeril’s, but when we got up to the counter the employee said there was a 45-minute wait for beignets and that wasn’t worth it to us. Steward and room cleaning: Our Steward was named Disna. He was excellent! We saw him almost every day. We always got our Fun Times delivered the night before (although we also didn’t mind looking at events on our phones). He cleaned our room every day. I had read discussions of having to choose morning cleaning or evening cleaning…that never came up with Disna. Usually, our room was cleaned around midday or in the early afternoon, which worked fine for us. We would go to breakfast, then come back and get ready for the day. We would leave the room until it was time to get ready for dinner, or if it was a port day, when we got back on the ship, and the room was always clean at that time. Amber Cove, Dominican Republic: Off the ship at 7:15. We booked a Carnival excursion to Playa Dorada ($60 per person). The beach was not crowded and was very pleasant. There were little crabs digging in the sand and they were cute to watch. For lunch we ate at the restaurant that hosts the excursion (Le Petit Francois). I had grouper filet in coconut sauce. There were a couple outdoor kitties lounging in the sand next to the restaurant. On the way back to the ship we checked out the shops in port and bought a couple chocolate bars. San Juan, Puerto Rico: Off the ship at 10:15. We walked around to Save-a-Gato and Parque de las Palomas. Had lunch at Café el Punto. We shared an order of mofongo with shrimp. Good but expensive. Stopped at CVS to get some aloe lidocaine gel and AA batteries. St Maarten: Off the ship at 8:15. Rented a Toyota Corolla from Rodael Rentals (rental was $95.45 for the whole day including tax and insurance). Rodael picked us up from the cruise port and drove us to their office for no additional fee. We drove up to Loterie Farm on the French side of the island. The drive took longer than expected because the roads are very narrow and hilly, so we drove cautiously. First, we went on a hike (10 euro per person). The trail itself was not too difficult, but it was very hot and humid. Then we ate lunch at their restaurant. I had a niçoise salad. Again, good but expensive. There are iguanas and other smaller lizards all over the place. I was told there would be vervet monkeys, but we didn’t see any unfortunately. Weather: It was in the upper 80s every day. No rain until the afternoon of the last sea day, when there was a brief shower. Pools: Main Lido deck pool seemed to be mostly kids, although we did go in it once. We wanted to enjoy Serenity, but every time we went there the pool was full and all the seats in the shade were taken or “claimed.” There is the “Tides Pool” on deck 16 aft. We liked that one and went a couple times. It was a little emptier than Serenity and calmer than Lido. There is also the small “Patio Pool” on deck 8 aft. That one seemed the emptiest, so we went there the most. Things I brought that I didn’t use: · Earplugs. Maybe it was just our room location (rm 10437 - deck 10 balcony) or our neighbors, but our room was really quiet, and I didn’t need earplugs. I slept like a baby. · Kleenex. There’s Kleenex provided in the bathroom. · Waterproof pouch on a lanyard. I bought this for our beach excursion because I was worried about leaving valuables on the beach unattended when we went in the water. But when we got there, I could tell it would be fine, so we just left our stuff on our beach chair. We did not buy the Wi-Fi package, Cheers, or the Hub app chat. When my husband booked our room, the rate included $50 promotional on-board credit. I bought 4 cocktails while on board and these were pretty much covered by the OBC. The 4 cocktails I got were Tequila Sunrise from Golden Jubilee, Fresh Italian from MDR, Cuba Libre from Havana Bar, and Pimm’s Cup from Latitudes. Entertainment: We went to Love & Marriage, Family Feud, the magic show, and Q&A with the cruise director Lee. For comedians we saw: Valarie Storm, Tim Young (my favorite), and John DiCrosta. We played trivia once. We rode the Bolt roller coaster and played mini golf. My husband did the ropes course. I tried to do it, but they told me I couldn’t because I was wearing a tank top. That restriction wasn’t mentioned anywhere! Favorite music: Oscar on steel drums on Lido deck, Roman on piano at Golden Jubilee, Sky Breeze violin trio at Golden Jubilee Debarkation: We chose to express/carry-off debark. Express debark started around 7:15, which was ahead of the scheduled time (7:30). We still wanted to eat breakfast, so we did that at the Lido buffet before getting off the ship. Then you get in a line to get off the ship. They scan your Sail & Sign card. Then you go through the scanners. Then you split into two lines, one for birth certificate and one for passport (we were in the passport line, although no one actually looked at our passports). They just need to do the face scanning again. Then you are outside! There was a company with a van offering rides to the airport for $10/person. So, by 9:00 am we were on our way to the Miami airport! I was surprised and thankful that we didn’t get COVID, norovirus, food poisoning, etc. We did use the handwashing station every time we went to the buffet. We never saw anyone else using the handwashing stations! I got some mild sea sickness one evening but it wasn’t terribly bad. You can feel the ship moving most of the time. After we got back, we both had “mal de debarquement” for about 3-4 days. My worst issue was heat exhaustion the day at St Maarten, but that wasn’t the fault of the cruise line.

Yes, you can bring a stainless steel cup on. Just has to be empty when you board. Yes, there is a hairdryer in the room.

Crab cake, key lime mousse. And honestly, the mashed potatoes!! For brunch you gotta get the bacon.

Amber Cove is owned by Carnival and is only used by Carnival ships. Other cruise lines use Taino Bay.

They look lovely!

Okay, thank you!

I usually have long and painted nails, but I'm going to have them bare and short(er) for my upcoming cruise. I know they would get chipped and broken anyway and that would be a pain.

Yes, you can reserve a spot for the roller coaster on the Hub app. I'm not sure how long the reservation window is open, but you might as well do it earlier rather than later in case all the time slots are filled up. Khakis and button up would be fine for elegant night.

Okay, I guess I'm confused because there is a menu for a bar specifically called "Atrium Bar" This website https://profcruise.com/carnival-bar-menus-and-drink-prices-2023/#atrium says the bar is on all Carnival ships but maybe they are mistaken.