Belated Celebration Review - 12/8-12/12

[obx_fintoo]

What with the holidays and a 2 yr old who had a b-day last week, plus extremely crazy work issues, I am just now getting my review posted. Sorry for the delay and hope it will provide some help for others' upcoming Celebration voyages!

 

Here goes:

 

EMBARKATION

We drove down and went farther than expected Wed. night, so we were early getting to JAX Port. Arrived at 11:02am. It was overcast and 63, which we found great having just left 4” of snow in Richmond! Security told us since we were early, we needed to go to Gate 4 and wait. However, when we got to Gate 4, Mr. Stevens took pity on us and set us straight. He had us go back to Gate 3 and told us Ed would pick us (and our luggage) up and drop us right in front. Ed was there in minutes and we were in. The porters took our luggage and tip and we walked right in. Went straight to the Fun Pass line where Pete took great care of us and was very helpful. He was impressed by our gold cards, but DH is still antsy for his platinum card. Two more to go! :sigh We were then directed to the seating area where we were in Zone 1. Did I mention there weren’t many people there yet? By 12:05 we were in our room and settling in. This was definitely the way to go although I would advise that if you aren’t checking luggage, you will be uncomfortable. There really isn’t room for lots of extra bags.

DAY ONE – JAX

Luggage arrived by 3:20pm. Finally the bar was open! Mixed a drink in our thermal mugs and prepped for the muster drill, but then they announced it would be delayed while we waited on some fellow passengers. We went up to the Wheelhouse to have a snack – a couple pieces of pizza. Were informed that they did have anchovies, but they weren’t loaded on the boat yet. Oh well! Promptly at 4:00 the muster drill was announced. Most people were on time, so it didn’t take too long.

Afterwards, went to the Trolley Bar to meet up with our fellow CC’ers from our roll call. Valerie and Ada showed up and brought their new friends who had won their cruise plus a $150 bar tab per day. We all tried to help them reach their daily limit! :D Actually, DH and I had the early 5:45 seating for dinner, so we broke away for that. Here I will state that the ginger root tabs work!!! Water was quite rough and normally DH has a problem with that. This time, he finished his dinner and the end of mine.

Then it was time to hit the casino. I played slots for a long time on $20 and DH found a Texas Hold ‘em table where he stayed most of the evening, stopping long enough to see me rock across the stage in karaoke. Did I mention it was rough water?? Then to bed!

***It was this first night, while I was celebrating, that I met my favorite bar waiter of all time! He is about 5 feet tall and cute as a button! After getting my drinks (frequently) for a few hours the first night, he began to follow me around so as to always be there when I was ready again for the rest of the cruise! His name is Katut (pronounced K2) from Thailand. Please tell him that Tresa says Hi!

[obx_fintoo]

Woke up early and tried to watch the sun rise, but the low lying clouds made it difficult. The waves had been quite rough the night before and we were still rolling but not as bad as before. We went to the dining room for breakfast our first time ever, and while it was a nice opportunity to meet some new people, neither of us felt the long wait was worth it. Afterwards we donated a little to the slot machines, then tried our hands at Morning Trivia. I won my first “ship on a stick”! Very exciting! Wandered back down to the room and got room service for lunch, resting up for our bottom fishing excursion in Freeport. We arrived slightly late and then had some delay at customs. Several groups were waiting near Deck 3 to get to their excursions when the announcement came over the loud speaker… “The following excursions have been cancelled due to high seas…” Yep, ours was the first one announced! Dang! Also, the snorkeling and glass bottom boat tours were cancelled, so slowly the groups drifted back upstairs.

Since we now had a free afternoon, we decided to just relax and rest up for formal night. Laid in the sun had some frou-frou drinks, then DH won his first “ship on a stick” at Afternoon Trivia. We were on a roll! Went back by the pool for the rest of the afternoon. There were no problems getting deck chairs, plenty of room for everyone.

Next we got all gussied up and went to dinner. Instead of the usual lobster and prime rib, I decided to be a rebel and got the salmon. It was very good. One of the few things I don’t like about the small ship is there is only one Captain’s Cocktail Party and it’s between seatings. I was way too full to enjoy any appetizers, but we tried to make up for it in free drinks. ;) After that, we hit the casino. As mentioned before, Katut followed me around and made sure I always had a fresh drink. In fact, he put DHs drinks on my card too! This helped, since he parked at the Texas Hold ‘em table again. I donated some funds then headed to the room. Ordered room service and then to bed! ....

[obx_fintoo]

Woke up around 8 and ordered room service again. Then we watched one of the movies of the day – Today’s was Bewitched. Afterwards, we got ready and headed off the boat. Time to hit my favorite spot in all of Nassau – Lum’s Green Iguana Café! It’s a rooftop restaurant where you can sit and watch all the people walking around shopping as well as all of the crazy drivers! (Side Note: You could not pay me enough money to drive in Nassau! I can’t believe the people who rent the mopeds. Brave or crazy?) After some conch fritters and calamari with garlic sauce, it was time to shop. In the straw market of all places, we ran into some more of our fellow CC’ers and promised to catch up with them for drinks later. Browsed some more in the market, then hit Sr. Frog’s for a Frog Margarita. After my tongue was sufficiently green, we headed back towards the boat.

We had brought along my Verizon cell phone, but never got a usable signal. From what I could find out this may have saved us a lot of money. We ended up buying a $5 phone card and making calls that way. Worked just fine! Back on the boat for a relaxing afternoon. We knew we were planning on hitting the Lido Deck party, so I wanted to be rested up! The casino opened that evening and I did ok at the Roulette table. We skipped dinner but had a bite from room service. The Mexican wrap was very good, but I must say that after all I’d heard about the cookies/brownies tray, I was quite disappointed. Not very big or all that tasty. Guess it just depends on the chef at the time. (see misc. notes on food at the end)

Around 9pm, we headed up to the Lido Deck with some new friends we’d met on the cruise. We drank and danced for what seemed like a very short time, till someone said, “We’re moving!” I argued that there was no way, since we weren’t to sail until midnight, but I was wrong! We’d been there for 3 hours! It was the night of the Mexican buffet, so we filled up on burritos and danced a bit more. Headed back to the room to play cards for a while, but once I hit the nice soft bed, I was pretty much down for the count. Our friends bid us adieu and we all went to bed. What a fun day! .....

[obx_fintoo]

Sunday was a little cooler and windy. Not a whole lot happening on the deck. We played some more trivia but had to be content with runner-up medals (read everyone that didn’t win the “ship on the stick”!). I had a much better day in the casino, hitting the dollar slots once, then a good run at the Roulette wheel. I wanted to hit the Art Auction for Free Champagne, oh and some art, too! That took up a good 3 hours, while DH hung out at the Texas Hold ‘em table. I didn’t win anything (previous cruise I ended up with 3 nice lithos) but I did buy the “mystery piece” for $50. It turned out to be a very nice lithograph by Robert Burroughs called “Beachside Bistro”. I was pleased with that even if it wasn't free.

After the auction, pried DH from the poker game and we had some dinner in the Wheelhouse. Afterwards, packed up a few things then played out the night in the casino. I only gave back about half of my winnings, so I was happy with that. Made it a relatively early night and headed back to the room to finish packing. Since we faced a long drive we wanted to self-assist and get the heck out of Dodge!

DISEMBARKATION

We arrived back to JAX on time and started the customs clearing process. I got ready early then ventured up to grab some breakfast for us while DH showered. Big mistake! The line was huge and barely moving. On the plus side, I met a nice chatty fellow that helped to pass the time and I got to see the sunrise! I’m a glass half full kind of girl! Finally got through the line, then headed down to the room with our breakfast. We ate quickly then went up one floor to Main and got in that line to exit. It was not too long and we were only in line for about 10 minutes before they announced we could get off. We were breezed through customs and to our car by 8:35am. Did I mention that it was only about 35 degrees in JAX? I was in shorts and the Carnival folks at the port were wearing scarves and mittens! They all made comments about my attire, but fortunately I wasn’t outside for too long.

MISCELLANEOUS

All in all this was a fun cruise. We really enjoy just being on the ship and don’t need to have exciting ports of call to make our cruise great. As always, the Celebration staff was friendly and willing to go the extra mile for us. I really enjoyed Risa, the Cruise Director and the entertainment staff. The only disappointment for either of us was the food just didn’t seem up to par this cruise. It wasn’t as good as we remembered (and that was only from April). Other than that, we had a blast. We must have. We just booked our next cruise for March 30! Happy sailing to all!

[cruzeluver]

Great to see so many positive reviews for the Celebration. Glad you had a good time. Risa is the best!!

[iluvdoxies]

obx---yes K2 was great! ALso ALi who worked behind the bar-mainly daytime.

 

We thought the food was excellent this time---we ate in the dining room every night--on the Lido for lunch had either pizza,turkey sammie and salad.

 

Casino was not so good to us-- I broke about even and John lost :(

Oh well that's why it;s called gambling!

 

Cant belive we were on the ship this time last week----waaaaa.

[obx_fintoo]

I love me some K2!!! I'll tell him hello from ya! Have fun Castin' Away!

[Jabee]

On the Five day Cruise we had two Captains Parties for Early and Late Seatin, but I have seen several reviews that on the Four day cruise there is only one.

 

Risa is so much fun....and really does a good job on keeping things going.

[obx_fintoo]

On the Five day Cruise we had two Captains Parties for Early and Late Seatin, but I have seen several reviews that on the Four day cruise there is only one.

 

Risa is so much fun....and really does a good job on keeping things going.

 

That's interesting. It really is nice to have a pre-dinner cocktail party so you can get an hors d'oeuvres if you want to. Alas, we always choose early seating. Guess we'll just have to try the 5-day next time.