Background: My husband and I are in our 40's-50's. We've cruised many times on various cruise lines. We brought our 14 year old daughter and a friend of hers who is also 14. Our daughter has now cruised 6 times and this was her friends 3rd. We cruised on Celebrity in December of 2007 and had such a horrible time that Celebrity decided to aid us in another trip. I'm glad that they did as I had a much better trip this time around.

Pre-Cruise: We made our own arrangements to fly from Colorado 2 days in advance since March weather here tends to be unpredictable. Easy flights via Houston and a short cab ride took us to the Embassy Suites on 17th for 2 pre-cruise nights. The Embassy Suites is a nice hotel with a lot of shopping opportunities nearby. We'd planned on spending Saturday using the water taxi service which is supposed to be within walking distance, but due to rain, we made different choices. There is a shopping center directly behind the hotel with a Publix grocery store, a nail salon, a liquor store, and various other shops. Across 17th street and down a half a block, there is another liquor store and a Winn-Dixie market. Enough choices for any forgotten items. The girls and I made appointments to have manicures and then went shopping for some bottled water and soda which we stowed into our fold-up spare suitcase. Then we had our nails done. The Embassy Suites has a very good breakfast and an evening reception with soda, beer, wine or (limited) mixed drinks. They also offer snacks; Evening one had popcorn, pretzels, and potato chips. Evening two had popcorn, pretzels, and goldfish crackers. The girls used the pool (outdoor) while we drank mai-tais. Evening one we tried to go to the Outback Steakhouse around the corner, but the wait was longer than we wanted, so we went across 17th to Chuck's Steakhouse. The meal was fair...my filet was good while my husbands' mahi-mahi was overcooked and dry. My daughter had ordered her kabob medium-well and I'd judge it to have been medium-rare. The salad bar was okay, but nothing great. Evening two, we'd planned on going to the Outback early, but it was pouring rain so we decided to eat at the hotel. I'd read (either here or on tripadvisor) that the hotel restaurant was horrible with poor food and poorer service, but was surprised by the quality of both. None of us was really hungry enough for the dinner menu, so we asked about sandwiches...they promptly brought out the lunch menu (saying that dinner would cost slightly more but it didn't) and allowed us to bring our drinks (and seconds) from the managers reception. I was very pleased with the restaurant and the service. The hotel was sold-out. It did make getting seats both at breakfast and at the reception difficult. Sunday morning, the hotel offered an Easter egg hunt for all kids. Ours joined in and I've got a great picture of 2 teenage girls being hugged by the Easter Bunny....something to save forever!

Travel to Port: We got a cab on Sunday at noon (checkout) and went to the pier. Compared with our December trip, check-in was a breeze. We were on the ship in less than an hour. Our room wasn't ready, so we went upstairs after our champagne greeting to the buffet for lunch. We knew where the pizza, pasta, and ice cream were and had no lines that first day. Read more