Long Review of Celebration, March 26-April 2

[Astromaid]

Mistake in post #24, it is not the Grand Spectrum, it is Center Stage. Sorry. 

[MPH711]

Thanks for the review. Please use paragraphs to make make it easier to read. 

[LatinaInTexas]

Following along since I unexpectedly will be sailing on Celebration in the fall. Great details, think I will be learning a lot 😁

[Astromaid]

OK my husband just asked me to add something I missed, when we had breakfast at the Blue Iguana there is no coffee there. Had to go into Lido to get his coffee, juice is available. 

 

3/28 Tuesday Amber Cove: Early day docking in Amber Cove, we got up about 7:15 and headed to breakfast at Pig & Anchor. We felt it might be crazy on the Lido deck but very few people getting breakfast at Pig & Anchor, it just had a small selection but decent. No omelet station but they did have a very good egg dish with a tomato base (I got this twice on the cruise), sausage, potatoes and all the usual. We were satisfied. We got off the ship and walked around the port area. The pool area is quite nice if you like that, lots of activities. And I did a bit of shopping, I had forgotten my sun screen, $16.00 for a small bottle. The pharmacy also offered tramadol, I have bad hips and they had been bothering me. So I checked it out, $50.00 for 10 pills, I passed and settled for the Motrin I had brought.

 

Once back on board I went to Trivia with Gabby, I knew her from Vista and she is a lot of fun. I normally don't do trivia as I am terrible, but this was cats and dogs, thought I might have a chance. Well I ended up tying for 1st place with 3 other people! I lost it in the bonus round. Now, I will tell the truth, there were only 4 of us playing and the first place tie was 7 right answers. 

 

We then headed to Guys Burger, again too early so we just hung out on deck until they opened. Longest line we stood in and it wasn't bad. I know there is a great debate about Guy's fries, I don't think they are as good as prior to Covid, but they were better then I got on the Pride. And the burger is always great. We were happy.

 

Tried to get a bed at Serenity, none available. Checked out an area around the The watering hole, had a few chairs in the shade, again they are the uncomfortable chairs. The straight back chairs at the tables aren't too bad, but this is the smoking side. Even though we weren't sitting in that area the wind pushes the smell down the deck. Ended up on our balcony. 

 

Had an early dinner at Emeril's Bistro, yes it is extra cost but very reasonable in my opinion. We got a plate of crispy boudin sausage balls to share, very tasty. I got roasted duck & andouille sausage gumbo and Dave got red beans and rice, we both really liked our food. 

 

Headed to Center Stage two hours early to get our seats, it is worth it. The Most Magnificent Circus is really worth the time, the aerial acts are tremendous.  Then headed to comedy with Lowell Sanders, running theme we did comedy every night. Afterwards we headed to Miami Slice for pizza, as we got to the counter they ran out of pizza and did not have any in the ovens. So we headed to watch Family Feud, this was fun too. Then back to Miami Slice to get pizza, the line was way past Deco Deli. Nothing is open at 9:45, lido closes at 9:30. Carnival really needs to address this issue of no food after 9:30. We went to Pig and Anchor to listen to the band. Way too loud for us and they area seems like a cavern, not to our taste. No violin music or piano music so we headed to bed. 

[hard_eight]

Thanks for the review, and the paragraphs!

 

Agreed with the no food after 930, it's a bit ridiculous.

[momof3cruisers]

Curious if you were able to see everything with the Circus show from the same area you sat in the previous night. 
 

We wholeheartedly agree that the lack of food choices at night is just ridiculous.

 

Enjoying your review!

[Astromaid]

5 hours ago, momof3cruisers said:

Curious if you were able to see everything with the Circus show from the same area you sat in the previous night. 
 

We wholeheartedly agree that the lack of food choices at night is just ridiculous.

 

Enjoying your review!

If you can get one the tables in front on 7, you can see everything, but there are only a handful. 

[Astromaid]

3/29 Wednesday, San Juan:

We slept late, did not wake until 7:00. I have not slept past 6:00 in years, usually up at 5:00 or 5:30, this was a treat. Lido was not busy at all for breakfast, we both got made to order omelets. Carnival has lots of ingredients for the omelets, excellent as always. 

 

The ship arrived in San Juan at 10:00, we sat on our balcony and watched until the first wave of people getting off the ship trickled down. We have been here several times, but I had read about a ocean walk to El Morro and we decided to do that. It was sprinkling slightly but that did not deter us. We walked down Paseo de la Princesa which is to the left of the ship past all the street vendors. Very pretty walk, then it turns to walk along the old city wall along the waterfront, Paseo del Morro. It is an absolutely lovely walk along the wall and the ocean. You will come to the San Juan Gate and you can enter the city here. I had been told the gate into El Morro was closed on the cruise critic boards, but we met a policeman and he said the gate is open. Plus many people were walked towards El Morro and none were coming back. You will see and smell lots of feral cats along the way. Once you get to El Morro there are a lot of stairs to walk into the fort. At that point you have the choice of entering the fort (there is a fee) or heading into Old San Juan, which is what we did. Walking back to the ship is downhill and there are lots of streets with shops you can browse in. 

 

Back on ship it was lunch time and we tried Big Chicken. The sandwiches looked too big so we both got the chicken strips and fries. Wow! This is the best chicken strips I have ever had! There is coleslaw, potato salad, pickles and lots of sauces at the bar. But it is a joke that you are expected to put salad in the little cups you use for the sauces. Then we went for gelato and small dessert bites. 

 

Headed for Serenity, score! We got a bed in the shade. Settled down to read and ended up taking a nap. Again, I never nap in the afternoon unless I am sick. This cruise melted the stress away, it was amazing. 

 

Changed for dinner and headed to Golden Jubilee and listened to Sky Breeze and piano, guessing it was Roman on the piano who looked like he was a brother to one of the violinists. Headed to ChiBangs for dinner, getting in as they opened. I got Queso Fundido and loaded nachoes as appetizers, excellent. Then Pescado Frito and Yucca as main, the fish had too much breading for me and the yucca which I have never had was yuck. Dave had egg drop soup (ok) and spring rolls (excellent) and then Kung Pau Chicken with Halka noodles, very good. We both had Crema Catalana, which is like a crème Brule. 

 

Headed to comedy, new comedians were on board. This was Jorge Solano, he was just OK as far as we were concerned. This was the only time we saw him as he became sick for the rest of the cruise and the other two comedians who came on board had to fill in for him. Then we watched Jaylyn Bishop who was good. Our cruise, director, Chris the Flying Scotsman had a show. I had heard that he is an amazing singer and he was very very good. Then off to bed. 

[Astromaid]

March 30, Thursday St Thomas:

Arrived in St Thomas about 6:15. We decided to do breakfast again Pig and Anchor, not busy at all. While Dave was finishing coffee I headed up to Emeril's Bistro and got us Beignets. They are as good as others say. Got off the ship and shopped the port area, got some earrings and we both got t-shirts. It was hot.

 

When we got back we headed for lunch, finally got our pizza. It is OK, I rate it about like Dominos. Again I got a bed in Serenity and again I took a nap. When my husband showed up I got up and said I don't need to nap the day away. We played skip-bo at a table in lido overlooking the ocean. 

 

Got changed for dinner and ate at Emeril's Bistro, tonight was Taste the World Mexico. This was the one time dinner was a bit messed up. At Emeril's you place the order and they give you a number and you sit at a table. They bring your food out. We ordered crispy Boudin sausage balls (they are really good), I ordered the special which was Ancho Agave Glazed Pork Ribs and Dave ordered Natchitoches meat pies. It was a much longer wait then we were used to, a table that sat after us got their meal before. They brought out just the sausage balls and the meat pies, no ribs. It was fine I nibbled on the sausage balls. But Dave was almost done eating the meat pies (and he said they were great) before I got the ribs. The ribs were cold and only had a bit of sauce on them, it was tasty but I would have liked a lot more sauce. The thing I didn't like was they still had the membrane on. I cook ribs, usually baby back and I always remove the membrane before cooking them. I think it adds flavor and I also don't want to deal with the membrane while eating them. I wouldn't order them again, but they came with a sweet potato and black bean casserole and that was delicious, I would definably order that again if it were offered separate and Dave agreed with me when I gave him a bite. 

 

We then went to Color My World in the Grand Spectrum, it was supposed to be Amore Cubano but I was told one of the dancers was sick so this was substituted. This was an instance were it was good to have the hub app. When I compared it to the Funtimes they were different. It would have made a difference which show we would attend so I called customer services to find out which show was correct. The app was correct. We did this instead of Deal no Deal, we don't know how the game is played and I would have liked to go and check it out. Ends up I was not impressed with Color My World. Then did comedy with Tim Young (great) and then a comedy show with Jaylyn Bishop (good). We finished the night out with Sky Breeze at Golden Jubilee. 

 

That being said, I realize I missed a couple of situations in previous posts. Sometime before this we listened to Sky Breeze at Lattitudes in the afternoon, maybe before dinner. My husband wanted a drink, looked at the menu and it said they offered the Parched Pig Beach Lager. I went to the bar and ordered it for him, bartender said they did not have any and tried to offer a different beer. He is fussy about his beer so I didn't order something different. Now I am going to hang my head in shame, I asked for a kiss on the lips for me. The second I said that I knew I was wrong, this type of bar would not offer such a silly umbrella drink. So we went alcohol free that time. And to cap it off, another day we were walking by Alchemy Bar and Dave said that he was going to pick up a beer there. That time I knew better and told him they will not have beer at that bar. LOL! 

 

 

[Astromaid]

Another mistake, I wish I could figure out how to correct a post. Pizza tastes like the $5.00 pizza you can pick up at Little Caesars, not Dominoes, (probably not $5.00 anymore)

 

Dave, stop looking for my mistakes! 🙄 

[Astromaid]

3/31 Friday - Sea Day

We had breakfast at Blue Iguana. Headed down to buy bingo cards at 9:00. We find it is much easier to buy bingo cards at the early slot rather than wait in line just before bingo. Then we watched something we have never seen before, Baby Turtle Trek, Dave thought I had lost my mind. But it was hilarious! A child has to be under two, they have a large mat that has pretend sand and toys at one end and the ocean at the other. One parent kneels with the child at the end with the sand and the other is at the ocean side. The child has to be on it's bottom and when it starts the parent let's go. The child either walks or crawls to the parent on the ocean side. I never laughed so hard! If you ever see it listed it is worth your time.

 

We had lunch at ChiBang. I had the shrimp noodle bowl and flan caramel, both good. Dave have the chicken and shrimp bowl, says it is a noodle dish but it is with rice. After he picked all the onions out he loved it (and I ate the onions and the sauce was delicious). 

 

$5000.00 Bingo was held at Center Stage, I got there about 30 minutes early, big mistake. All three levels were packed with people. I finally found a space on the tiered seating on deck 7. This seating is uncomfortable, it hits my back wrong. Maybe I am just weird. I am so glad I did not try to sit here for one of the stage shows, I would not have made it. Of course we did not win, but a gentleman won the $5000.00 with two balls to go.

 

Then headed for lido deck for the Queen Sing Along. And it was crowded, we did find a place to sit and I figured as loud as lido is, I could sing and no one would hear how terrible I am. Wow what a disappointment. After 20 minutes we left, they played two Queen songs during that time and then songs I did not recognize. Why call it a Queen singalong and not play just their songs?

 

Then we checked out Time Journey at The Gateway, it was entertaining, fun to watch once. It is amazing what they do with the "windows" here and at Center Stage, they are marvelous. 

 

Dinner was at Cucina Del Capitano. I had arancini (very good), Cesar salad, (ok), Chicken Parmesan (just ok), crispy potatoes (very good) and the baba Napolitano (very good). Dave had the arancini (very good), the minestrone soup (good), chicken Parmesan (just OK) , broccoli cauliflower vegetables (very good), and tiramisu (very good). 

 

We headed to Center Stage, this time we got seats in the area just in front of the stage. We watched The World Works here, which is each nationality who works on the ship carries their country flag on stage. I thought it was very moving. Then they had a group of children from the kids club come on stage. They had been learning signing while on ship and they signed a song. I thought that was great too.  We stayed because we wanted to watch We are One. The dancers have stations all around the floor with costumes and they change right there just feet away from us. It was amazing, They sang and danced all around us, which is a neat experience. You do have to crane your neck a bit to see on stage and the aerial acts, but well worth it. 

 

We headed to, you guessed it, Golden Jubilee for Sky Breeze and the pianist. And we actually got a drink! Dave got a beer (what a surprise) and I did look at the menu, no Kiss on the Lips but I got a Lemon Drop. Then headed to comedy to watch Tim Young (great) and Jaylyn Bishop (good). Ship was really rolling when we left the comedy club. That being said, several nights I noticed it would gently rock side to side, now we were on deck 14 near the front. We usually are mid ship much lower, so I don't know if we were getting this motion because of our cabin location or whether the ship seems to have more motion than the others we have been on. But this night I really noticed it. Still not has bad as the time we took the Pride down the coast from Baltimore, now that was a really rocky ride. They would not let you out on deck and the pools were closed. A lot of people seasick on that cruise. But we thought it was great fun!

[purpleally]

On 4/5/2023 at 9:38 AM, ninjacat123 said:

That is a looooong drive from Michigan!  Looking forward to your review!!

It’s not a long. One overnight. We do it a couple times a year just because 

[lazydayz]

Agree with you about the ship rocking.  We felt it both Friday and Saturday, and we were on deck 11 mid-ship.  

[Oceansaway17]

7 hours ago, Astromaid said:

3/29 Wednesday, San Juan:

We slept late, did not wake until 7:00. I have not slept past 6:00 in years, usually up at 5:00 or 5:30, this was a treat. Lido was not busy at all for breakfast, we both got made to order omelets. Carnival has lots of ingredients for the omelets, excellent as always. 

 

Headed for Serenity, score! We got a bed in the shade. Settled down to read and ended up taking a nap. Again, I never nap in the afternoon unless I am sick. This cruise melted the stress away, it was amazing. 

 

 

Is the serenity area free and for adults?

I am on this ship for Thanksgiving this year.  Glad to hear omelets are good

[ninjacat123]

1 hour ago, purpleally said:

It’s not a long. One overnight. We do it a couple times a year just because 

I could see breaking it up to make it easier.  That's what we usually do if we cruise out of Miami (11 hours with gas stops) but when we cruise out of Port Canaveral (8 hours with gas stops) it's one big drive.

[purpleally]

7 minutes ago, ninjacat123 said:

I could see breaking it up to make it easier.  That's what we usually do if we cruise out of Miami (11 hours with gas stops) but when we cruise out of Port Canaveral (8 hours with gas stops) it's one big drive.

Yes, we have friends in north myrtle beach. Leaving Miami to make it to their house the day we got off the ship was rough.  

[Astromaid]

1 hour ago, Oceansaway17 said:

Is the serenity area free and for adults?

I am on this ship for Thanksgiving this year.  Glad to hear omelets are good

Yes the Serenity is adults only and free. Lots of loungers in the sun, shade areas are limited. 

[ReneeFLL]

On 4/6/2023 at 3:30 PM, MPH711 said:

Thanks for the review. Please use paragraphs to make make it easier to read. 

👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼

[Astromaid]

So, I just found out my review is being trashed in another forum. 

 

I do need to apologize to all of you in the way I started with no paragraphs. I have never done a review in this much detail but I was inspired by reading the reviews of St Greg and Sid. I did not want to try and do a Live review but felt that my observations would be relevant to others thinking about cruising Celebration. 

 

I assumed that a review should explore both good and bad aspects, but I have read that my review is very negative. Again, I apologize if I seem too negative, that was not my intention. On the whole, I had a great time and loved the cruise. 

[Astromaid]

April 1, Saturday: Sea Day

 

We decided to try the breakfast sandwiches at Java Cafe, I had my doubts that an egg & bacon  sandwich warmed up in a microwave would be palatable. I was very wrong, they were really good. We discussed whether to use this as our debarkation breakfast as we really don't like the lido on that day either. We came up with the idea of breakfast pizza, which is how we eat leftover pizza at home. So Dave went and got a pizza and after it cooled down we put in the the cabin "refrigerator". It was raining so we sat on the balcony for a bit.

 

Today was Win a Cruise Bingo, so we had purchased cards after breakfast and headed to Grand Spectrum for Q & A with our cruise director and afterwards would be bingo. Based on the amount of people who showed up at $5000.00 bingo we thought it would be packed and this would be a good way to reserve our seat. 

 

The Q & A was really good, and we did not have just Chris, but this was a turnover cruise and Lee Mason was there also. So we had two really great cruise directors to answer questions and there were interesting questions. Afterwards was bingo, surprisingly the theater was maybe half full. And it was guaranteed that someone would win a cruise. Unfortunately it was not me.

 

Lunch was Big Chicken again, and this time when I got the chicken and fries I requested an extra dish. That way I could get a decent portion of salad. I thought the potato salad was better then the coleslaw. We got our usual gelato and discovered they had donuts at the station with bite sized desserts, so I grabbed a couple for tomorrow's breakfast. And a couple cookies. 

 

In the afternoon Sky Breeze was playing at Lattitudes, Dave went and got a beer at Pig and Anchor, I actually ordered a proper drink from Lattitudes, I tried a Bramble, Bombay Sapphire Gin, Lemon and blackberry. It was OK, I should just stick with my silly umbrella drinks like Kiss on the Lips or Sex on the Beach. But we sure enjoyed the music, a couple of toddlers started dancing as they passed along the walkway.

 

We dressed for dinner, or I should say I did and Dave changed to a nice shirt. Tonight we were dining at Rudi's Seagrill. They have a dress code and I did not realize Dave did not bring any long pants (other than jeans), he was in nice dress shorts. We did get caught at the door and I asked if we could eat on the patio and was told that would be acceptable. That being said, we did see a person wearing jeans in that dining room. But I do accept that there is a dress code and we were fine on the patio. 

 

We both had Coquilles Saint-Jaques and really enjoyed that. I had the seared shrimp (very good) and Dave had the seafood bisque, which was a thin broth and he did not care for it. When I have had seafood bisque in the past, it usually is a thick creamy broth. I had the Dover sole with brussel sprouts  (excellent) and Dave had the crab stuffed lobster, he was not happy. The crab stuffing wasn't tasty even though he loves crab and there were bits of shell in the stuffing. It ended up being his least favorite meal and my favorite meal. We both had Key Lime Pie and it was artfully decorated on the plate. 

 

We then watched Tim Young at the comedy club and finished the night with Sky Breeze, an early night as we went back to the cabin and finished  packing to set our luggage out by ten. 

[Astromaid]

April 2nd, Sunday: Debarkation

 

We woke as we were coming into Miami, maybe 5:30? We sat on the balcony, watched ships go by and ate our breakfast. The most leisurely last morning we have spent on a ship. I think we finally left the room at 8:00 and went down to sit on deck 7 at the Center Stage. We were zone 10, no problems getting off the ship and through customs. It is so quick and easy if one has a passport. We are out of the parking garage by 8:45. We did have a bit of trouble getting off the island, wanted to take the tunnel and with the sun in our eyes missed the signs. We had to circle around the island again. We drove with no problems to Orlando and got on I75. Atlanta was a bit of a slow down and we spent the night just North of Atlanta, other than that we were home at 6:30 Monday evening.

 

I will wrap up with observations and conclusions.

[Astromaid]

Carnival has a winner with the excel class ships. The majority of cruises I have taken are with Carnival, so I basically love their product. The big problem I have now is they don't offer many unusual itineraries. But that is beside the point. 

 

Positives;

Entertainment (best I have seen)

Food (best I have had on a cruise ship)

The amount of different restaurants (loved having lots of choices)

Service (always great on Carnival)

App (love using the app)

Cabin was comfortable (would not have been happy in an interior, needed the balcony)

Beautiful common areas

 

Negatives:

Need more than pizza late night

Much of the seating is uncomfortable

No quiet areas (serenity yes, but hard to get a good place to sit in the shade that is comfortable)

 

Middle of the Ground:

Big Ship (even on sea days I walked about 9,000 steps)

Crowds (honestly the crowds were not a huge issue, Carnival seems to figured out how to disperse people and never had any trouble getting into a restaurant, but there are a lot of people)

More movement when sailing then I expected

Sometimes elevators were difficult, but the only time this was an issue for us was at night when a venue finished. 

 

In my opinion, it will be hard for us to sail on anything but excel class in the future. 

 

Thank you for taking the time to read my review if you lasted to the finish. 

[lesters]

Thank you @Astromaid for your review!  I have this ship booked for October and your insights and observations were very helpful!

[illinoisfive]

wonderful review! thank you for raking the time to write this.

[Tammylovescruises]

Thank you for your review. I don't know why anyone would "trash" your review. Everyone has their own writing style, and I enjoyed your review. Thank you for sharing your time and observations.