EMBARKATION: Went so smoothly, we had completed express pass on-line, but didn't even need it. We arrived at the Pier at Bayonne, NJ at approximately 2:00 and by 2:10 we were through the short line of CC passengers and on the ship. We had given our carry on luggage as well as our suitcases to the dockside porter so we didn't have to worry with any luggage once on board, went directly to Deck 10 for welcome buffet. Plenty of seats available and waiters to help carry your tray to a table. We didn't explore the ship, as we wanted to see our cabin and find our emergency station.
ITINERARY: Celebrity seems to make a lot of changes to itinerary. I booked this cruise a year in advance, and in that time, they made three changes to the itinerary. When we boarded, there was yet another change to the itinerary, giving us all port days going Northbound, and three sea days coming back Southbound. It also made us arrive in Halifax a day later, and Quebec a day later, incurring rain at each port. Rather than sunshine if we had arrived the day earlier that we were originally scheduled.
THE CABIN: Was so nice. I knew when I booked CC 6143 that it would be a little larger and have a huge balcony, and we were not disappointed. The cabin was at least double the regular balconies. There were two canvas covers. We could sit under the cover right by the door (approximately 4 ft), and still had another cover of about 6 ft. to the edge of the balcony. We were fully covered from the rain and the sun. It was quite cold on the balcony, the TV in the room said the temp was pretty consistently running a high of 55 and a low of 44, but with the rain and the wind, it seemed a lot colder. Only had breakfast on the balcony the first morning, it was just too cold out there to do it more. The cabin had at least an extra two feet over regular balcony cabins. We had two huge suitcases, two regular suitcases and three carry-ons, and had plenty of storage space. This is the first cruise I have been able to totally unpack the suitcases and have plenty of space to store everything. There were approximately 8 drawers in the closet that my friend used, then the desk had 4 huge shelves that I used. We each also had a two drawer nightstand. The suitcases didn't even have to go under the bed, they were stored at each end of the cabin (out of the walkway). We had fresh flowers everyday in a bud vase in the bathroom, and a row of 8 bud vases attached together in the main cabin. The bathrobes were thick and plush and we utilized them as we didn't pack our own. The only thing we didn't try was the various pillows. The ones we had on the bed were so good, we didn't feel the need to try any others. The bathroom and shower were larger than standard also. I could actually turn around in the shower. The whole layout of the cabin was well thought out and seemed even roomier than it was. Standard balcony cabin has 170 sq ft, CC balcony cabin has 191 sq ft, but it seemed much larger.