Celebration review...little long

[blueeyegirl2004]

Well we are back from the Celebration and this is my story.....All the Good is first...the ugly to follow

 

The Good:

 

We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express in Jacksonville. Its the closest to the port. Very nice hotel. People were very friendly. Next morning got up and went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast which was only like the next exit up. We went to the port around 10:30am and was able to unload luggage at that time. After a very short time....probably around 10:45 or so...they started checking people in. This went very fast. We then had to wait in some chairs off to the side til they started broading which was around noon. It wasn't a bad wait....we met some nice ladies from the high school band that performed on the ship. We broaded...took our carry ons to the room...then went for lunch on the lido deck.

 

Food:

Food on the Lido deck wasn't cold as I read from the broads. However...lines did run long at times but went very smoothly. We never had a problem getting through a line. We had breakfast there every morning but one. Along with lunch with the exception of one day also. Here is a little hint....if you are early riser as me and my husband are...lines in the morning will not be a problem. We were there just as they started serving each morning. The breakfast we had in the Vista dining room was good as well as the lunch we had. We will be eating there again the next cruise. The food in the Vista dining room at dinner was also good. We had some great table mates. Hi Jan and Art. It was a joy to eat with them and we even hung out with them on the ship some along with going into Nassau with them. I did try room service one night. Ordered a PB&J with chips along with the plate of assorted cookies and brownies. It was at my door in 2 minutes. It was very fast. Food was good...brownies was the best.

 

Our Room:

Our room was ok. First time we have ever traveled without a balcony. Our beds was pushed together which made a nice size bed. Hubby and I didn't have any problems. Did use the over the door shoe holder but had to find a different way to hang it because the bathroom door had towel bars on it...so it wouldn't hang just right. But I found a way and it worked pretty good. We was on the Empress Deck E155. It was pretty good spot on the ship...didn't have alot of movement.

 

The Casino:

Casino was nice...kinda small next to the big ships...but it was ok. They have all kinds of slots that takes all kinds of money. They even had penny machines. They were paying off some. Not as tight as I thought it was going to be. I won $77 on a penny machine and hubby won $114 on some other slot machine. However...he lost his when he got brave to play the live tables and tried his hand at blackjack.

 

The Shows:

The shows was ok....one was a broadway type and I didn't care for it. The other was a country show and it was much better. Never made it to the late adult comedy shows but our table mates did and said it was very good. I was disappointed in the magic show. It was just a guy that done about 4 or 5 tricks and they were tricks that you would see the little kid down the street do. Nothing major about it at all.

 

Key West:

This place is great. We arrived pretty early...the shops don't open til 9am. We were off the ship by 8am. We walked around town looking at everything. I really enjoyed the walk. We even took the couch train tour. I do suggest to book this in town and not through the ship. We paid 22.00 per person and the tour was hour and half. Ship's tour is $29.00 pp and its only an hour long. Our driver was very full of information. Showed us all the highlights of the town. They take your picture on the train and you can purchase it for 10.00. They put it in a nice card board frame. Good little thing to bring back from key west. We also done the Aquarium. It was $10.00 pp and it was small but told you alot of information about the fish. If you go during the feeding times (which these times are posted outside the building) you get to watch them feed the sharks and even get to pet a shark. I can't wait to do Key West again. Just wish we had more time for this port.

 

Leaving:

Getting off the ship was very easy. They took everyone who was carrying off their own luggage first along with anyone who needed help off by means of wheelchair. After these people made it off...they started calling decks. We got tired of waiting and made our way to the main deck and sat in some chairs there out of the way. After sitting there for about 10 minutes...he told us if we wanted to leave...we could...didn't matter what color our tags was. So we did. Going through customs was alittle wait. They made sure they checked ID's very good. Finding our luggage was easy. just find the line of luggage that is your color tag and look for your suitcases. A porter took them all the way to our car. We were loaded and leaving the parking lot at 10:30am. Which I didn't think was to bad.

 

The Ugly of everything:

Here is what we didn't like and have problems with. The first thing is the ship was over booked...how...I don't know but the ship is able to hold 1486 according to carnivals website. Well they told us on the ship that there was 1614 on the ship. And I really believe it. You couldn't hardly walk without bumping into someone. That another bad thing. By the ship being older...they are lacking places for the public to spread out. We also had booked early sitting for dinner because hubby is on alot of meds. that he has to take with meals. When we got our s&s card...it had us as late sitting. (8:00pm). Hubby has to eat before then because of his meds so we had to go see if we could get it changed. We did get it changed but he thought we was lying to him about his medical condition. I have never stressed to our TA before about the reason we want early because we have always gotten it...but will stress his medical problems now so maybe this won't happen again.

 

The only problems we had with our room was when we was leaving Key West....our toliet stopped flushing which was fixed in about 20 minutes and then right after that...our lights stopped working in the room. We got ready for dinner and told our room steward and they were fixed when we got back to the room that night to change clothes..Also our room was under the galley. It wasn't a problem other than a couple of nights around 2:30am it would sound like they were dropping every pot and pan they had up up. Wasn't fun waking up to that.

 

The morning of docking back into port...they started serving breakfast at 6:30am. Again...being early risers...we went down about 15 after 6. Which getting there early hasn't been a problem all week...they always started earlier than they said. Well the food was sitting out there but there wasn't any tongs to get the food out with. A man behind us asked and they told him it wasn't time to start serving. We got kinda upset...I mean if everything was out...why not go ahead and serve instead of it sitting to get cold. Anyway...we decided not to eat that morning and went back to the room. Now the ship is cruising up the river to come back into port and as we approached our room...I could see our door standing open. I looked in the room and our room steward had already stripped our bed and started putting on the new sheets. He turned to me and said..."oops..I guess I will come back later". I thought....yes you will because this room is still mine at least till we get back into port. I was so mad. I know they have alot of rooms to clean...but dang...at least wait til we get into dock. Then he also had to the nerve to tell us to leave the room so he could clean it. Well I didn't leave til I was ready to leave. Beside the Cruise director tells you to stay where you are and not to make your way down to the main deck. So I left the room when I got ready too and not before..beside he done had a head start on our room by stripping my bed. Our room steward also got upset if you was still in your room after 10am.

 

Nassau...not good at all. This is our 3rd time time there and I don't like this port. Its just nasty looking. We decided to go to Atlantis this time because we have never been there. The purser's desk told us the best way to go is by water taxi...WRONG!!!! We did buy water taxi tickets but you had to step down about foot and half out about a foot to even reach the steps on the boat. Then those steps shook like crazy when you stepped on them. Our friends stepped over and it was bad...hubby stepped over but I couldn't. My knees started to buckle just thinking of stepping over onto something that looked that bad. The man told me not to worry I could get my money back. Our friends decided to go ahead and do the water taxi but hubby came back off to be with me. They told us they would meet us over there. We walked back to the lady we bought the tickets from which was only like 30 feet or so and she had the nerve to ask me if I bought my tickets from her. I told her yes I did and when she seen I wasn't going to back down...she gave me my money back. We then got a taxi that costed $4.00pp (water taxi is $3.00pp) and proceeded to the resort. We went in and looked around for our friends thinking they had already arrived. Couldn't find them so we started to play anyway. About an hour had passed when they finally got there. They were upset. It took about 30 minutes to finish loading the taxi and it was about 30 minute boat ride. Plus you had to walk a pretty good distance to get to the hotel. They were not happy campers about that. So...take a land taxi to Atlantis...its much better.

 

Wrap up

 

The ship is older and if you want to travel on this ship...be sure and go on broad like we did knowing that. The ship was in good shape. It was very clean. Would I travel on this ship again...I don't think so. Not because of the things that happen...but we just liked the bigger ships better. As far as the workers on the ship....I have never encountered a friendlier crew. It didn't matter if it was a senior officer or someone who work on maintaince crew...if you past them in the hall...they always said hello and asked how you was doing. That impressed me the most. Now I know this is long but I hope it answers some things for people that will be traveling on the Celebration soon. I know I have left out things but its hard to remember everything. Oh...Our trip was april 23rd-28th. Feel free to ask any questions...and I will try to answer. Also remember a vacation is what you make of it. We had a great time with just a few little things that I didn't like. But it didn't ruin anything for me. So go...have a good time and enjoy your time away from work.

[jaxboater]

thanks for the review. I'm booked for the 15 Sep sailing,

[kdickers]

blueeyegirl,

 

Thanks for all the information. I'm leaving in 37 days. I'm so tired and READY for a vacation that ANYTHING will be great!!!! I was very glad to hear that the staff was so nice during your time onboard and the promptness of fixing anything that did go wrong.

 

Since this is my first cruise I don't have anything to compare this to (bigger vs smaller ship) so hopefully I'll just be so excited to actually be ON a ship that the size (;) ) won't matter!!!!!

[BallanceKris]

Thanks for you review we leave in 9 days. Can't wait! I have a question Is there a place on the Celebration to buy Chocolate Covered Strawberries?

[Jonathan Quayle Higgins]

Some friend of ours had chocolate covered strawberries delivered to our room on the Celebration earlier this month.

[suseg]

Thanks for the review...we'll be on her in October...will have to look for the Chocolate Covered Strawberries JHQ mentioned....~S~...

[DONDONMA]

great review......we sail on the Celebration August 27th.....this is my family's first cruise. I have been on two before. Nordic Prince to Bermuda in May of 1985 and The Atlantic in Sept of 1985. Got caught in Hurricane Gloria on the Atlantic ......keeping our fingers crossed no Hurricanes like last year.

 

 

dondonma

[sgriff17]

That was a fabulously good read, Cheers mate!

[BettyB2]

Our Room:

Our room was ok. First time we have ever traveled without a balcony.

 

Would you travel without a balcony again? Just wondering.:confused:

[blueeyegirl2004]

As far as the strawberries....I got room service one night but they wasn't listed on the menu to order. And I didn't see any place to get them on the ship either. Now would I travel without a balcony again???? I am not saying I wouldn't but if I can get in a balcony room at a reasonable cost I will get it. If the price is to high...I will just make sure its on a bigger and newer ship so the windows are bigger. Our window was a nice size but had to stand up to see out of it. I know on the Glory the windows was big enough to sit on the bed and be able to see out just fine. They did have a sushi bar. It was open at certain hours only.