Carnival Celebration 1/7-1/15 review

[maintain242001]

2 hours ago, ober134 said:

Was also on this sailing. We generally thought food was good. Exception: ChiBangs. We only tried the Asian selections, so can't comment on Mexican options. Emerils was wonderful and well worth the small upcharge. Alchemy is not well situated in our opinion and was always so crowded. We had dinner 3 nights at Cucina and thought it was very good. Ship is huge. Wear comfortable shoes. we had a forward balcony on 10. I found the light breakfast at P&A quick and not overly crowded.... But it was 705 steps from cabin to P&A according to my app. We did stairs as much as possible, tho elevators were accessible without much waiting. Once again I thought debarkation was a mess once out of the terminal. With nearly 6000 ppl getting transport, rides, etc all within a 2 hour time span is an issue; and 5 other ships in port makes me rethink sailing from Miami again.

Agreed the scaled down Pig and anchor breakfast was perfect. Also agree elevators werent a real issue outside of embarkation and getting off to go home.

[Ellaleah]

I was on the Celebration 12/27/22-1/3/23.  I agree that it a beautiful ship with lots of food choices and I agree about Big Chicken.  I thought  that they were purposely short staffed.  I certainly don’t know that for sure, but the service was compromised.  I asked to have a bucket of ice in my room daily and the response from my steward was “ Can you remind me?”  I felt that they were stretched thin.  It took 2 hours in Cucina because there were not enough waiters. I thought that Carnival went along way to promote that they will meet special dietary needs.  They do not!  Every time we asked for GF bread they looked shocked and it took a long time.  We didn’t even want to ask if anything was Dairy free as we could see that it was not.   Those are my only complaints other than Carnival on the sea does not have the same answers to questions as Carnival on land and they should,

[shdixon]

11 hours ago, Crusin Karen said:

Great review.  I don't have plans to book this ship (since I'm now a solo cruiser, I cruise from homeport of Manhattan) but I enjoy reading reviews of all the ships which raises the question: WHAT IS CHIBANG?🥴

I have never cruise out of Manhattan even though I am right there everyday. I always figured I'd be cruising through the cold since most of my cruises happen during the winter. Chibang is a Asian / Mexican restaurant. I only had the Asian food which was okay. When you have your time dining they don't make you pay for it

[shdixon]

5 hours ago, Ellaleah said:

I was on the Celebration 12/27/22-1/3/23.  I agree that it a beautiful ship with lots of food choices and I agree about Big Chicken.  I thought  that they were purposely short staffed.  I certainly don’t know that for sure, but the service was compromised.  I asked to have a bucket of ice in my room daily and the response from my steward was “ Can you remind me?”  I felt that they were stretched thin.  It took 2 hours in Cucina because there were not enough waiters. I thought that Carnival went along way to promote that they will meet special dietary needs.  They do not!  Every time we asked for GF bread they looked shocked and it took a long time.  We didn’t even want to ask if anything was Dairy free as we could see that it was not.   Those are my only complaints other than Carnival on the sea does not have the same answers to questions as Carnival on land and they should,

While I don't have any dietary restrictions, you are correct I did not see many options listed for it. My sister has a restricted diet by choice and when we cruise most of the time she's limited to the Indian food section to avoid dairy and meat

[hard_eight]

Agreed that the port after Debark was a NIGHTMARE. So much traffic coming in they closed the tunnel...Took 45 minutes from the time I got in my car to the time I paid in the garage. Will definitely NOT drive to that port again.

 

 

[hapytobehr]

7 hours ago, shdixon said:

I have never cruise out of Manhattan even though I am right there everyday. I always figured I'd be cruising through the cold since most of my cruises happen during the winter. Chibang is a Asian / Mexican restaurant. I only had the Asian food which was okay. When you have your time dining they don't make you pay for it

It's a free restaurant even if you have set dining.

[DramaQueen22]

You can also see my review of the 5 day run January 3-8.  

[shdixon]

18 minutes ago, hapytobehr said:

It's a free restaurant even if you have set dining.

You are correct. I think when you have your time dining you get first priority with reservations. Thanks for correction

Edited January 18, 2023 by shdixon

[hapytobehr]

47 minutes ago, shdixon said:

You are correct. I think when you have your time dining you get first priority with reservations. Thanks for correction

This is true.  If you have late dining, you cannot request a table before 8 PM in Cucina and Chibang.  So this gives the YTD first dibs.

[Joebucks]

3 hours ago, hard_eight said:

Agreed that the port after Debark was a NIGHTMARE. So much traffic coming in they closed the tunnel...Took 45 minutes from the time I got in my car to the time I paid in the garage. Will definitely NOT drive to that port again.

 

 

 

The port of Miami just keeps getting more and bigger ships. They need to build some kind of monorail or other solution for the long-term.

[EngIceDave]

3 hours ago, Joebucks said:

 

The port of Miami just keeps getting more and bigger ships. They need to build some kind of monorail or other solution for the long-term.

There is, it's for downtown and getting people from downtown to Kendall and South Western Miami.

 

It's not and never been planned for tourists, taxis wouldn't have that (back then).

[EngIceDave]

3 hours ago, Joebucks said:

The port of Miami just keeps getting more and bigger ships. They need to build some kind of monorail or other solution for the long-term.

 

How about this, they're just now finishing up a high speed rail to go from Miami to Ft Lauderdale, West Palm Beach and then Orlando, flying right past Port Canaveral. 

Drive from Orlando to PC and you see it, and it doesn't stop there.

 

Sometimes I do not understand the tourism plans in this state