This was our first ever cruise and at the end of a very long and tiring European trip. I was a little apprehensive about the quality of customer service on board as dealing with Celebrity prior to embarkation had been a nightmare. We live in NZ and trying to contact anybody at Celebrity by telephone or email proved to be impossible.

Embarkation was relitively easy except that the camera was not working and after waiting half and hour for it to be repaired, they gave up and let us on board. The Oceanview cafe was not too crowded when we arrived about 12.30pm and it only seemed a short time before our cabin was available. We were staying in cabin 9292 which is Deck 9 just on the hump. We thought the location was perfect as we were close to the elevators and stairs but far enough away that the music from the atrium did not disturb us. The balcony was huge which allowed us to move the chairs and table to either catch the sun or dodge the wind as we pleased. The bed was located near the balcony which I preferred.

Our stateroom attendant introduced himself shortly after our luggage arrived and made sure that everything was satisfactory. One of the wardrobe doors was not moving freely so he arranged for someone to come later that day and fix it. I requested that the fridge be emptied which puzzled him a little but he obliged. Read more