Hotel Info: We stayed at a Residence Inn (newly remodeled) next to Aventura Mall. We used Marriott point and I really like that price! Lots of stores nearby and we enjoyed looking at the Christmas decorations and watching the kids with Santa Claus at the mall. We flew in the day before and rented a car from Payless for $38 which included taxes and fees. The hotel is 12 miles from the airport. We had dinner at the Rustic Inn on a recommendation of a cruise critic member. It hit the mark: Soft shell crab, stone crab, blue crab with their garlic sauce, king crab, golden crab, Dungeness crab, conch chowder and a blue cheese dressing to die for. The place has been there since 1955. Rustic just like the name, informal, paper on the tables, they give you a wooden mallet to crack the crab. Everyone pounds their table when they sing Happy Birthday. This place is close to the airport. •Embarkation and Disembarkation: Celebrity gets the highest marks on this area. They have this down to a science. We walked on and walked off. It was amazing! •Ship Info: We were greeted with champagne and told to go explore the ship as the cabins were not ready. The ship is gorgeous. So easy to find your way around, they have Lucite models of the ship that help you navigate. The art is beautiful and thoughtfully displayed. I felt like I was in fine hotel and not on a ship. The Martini Bar is the place to be seen. I loved the hand washing stations and sanitizers stations throughout the ship. The public restrooms with the glass sinks were the best I have seen. The solarium with the dancing waters, light show and music and round intimate cabanas was a peaceful retreat. Things that bugged me or I wish that they would change: They let kids into the Solarium and there is a sign that says 16 years or older. I was napping and awakened by screaming kids. Not sure how they can police that. The floor was slippery in the Solarium, so be careful. The pool was way too cold! Please heat it up! We talked to a lady in a wheelchair who had a broken arm. She said of the automatic doors in the solarium closed on her and she fell and broke her arm, so be careful there too. Some of the exercise equipment was broken already! •Stateroom: We were in Aquaclass and I loved our cabin. It is not large but adequate. I was worried when I saw the closet and drawers but everything fit. The closet was a little hard to access; our configuration was the bed was close to the bathroom. I love the ability to dim the light and turn everything off with one switch. I want a Hansgrohe shower like the one they had in my home shower! The bed was so comfy. The interactive flat screen large TV was great too. They need a computer geek to update some of the info, they were missing information and it said XXX. We had infused tea (which came in different flavors and was quite good) and bottled water delivered daily, although I did have to remind my steward to leave water. It was advertised to have fresh cut flowers, daily canapEs and personalized stationery in AQ. No fresh flowers. No personalized stationery so no one got a letter. The canapEs only showed up on two days and consisted of pineapple wrapped in ham and apple slices squirted with blue cheese spread. (I am looking at something I printed off the Celebrity site that says all of these items are included in AQ) You were to have larger plush towels. We did at first but ours disappeared after Monday and from Tuesday on we had small towels. I asked our cabin steward what was up and he said that they didn't order enough towels and were picking more up in Miami. Now I would think that Celebrity would have the number of towels needed down pat? When I compared Concierge Class to AquaClass it looked like AQ only lacked the butler and you had access to the Persian Gardens and Blu. Concierge Class may have been better. The aromatherapy in the room was a reed diffuser and oils in a small vial. I did not see a pillow menu and never received a VIP invitation to any event related to AQ. The Persian Gardens were relaxing. You could relax on your heated tiled lounger and watch the sunset. One of the loungers was not heated and I am not sure if that was on purpose or a defect. I would have liked an option in the showers in the Persian Gardens. You had tropical or spring shower choice (one cool, one warm) but they both dumped on your head from a shower head on the ceiling. Not nice if you want to save your hairdo! There is a steam room and dry sauna with aromatherapy. Be careful selecting your room in AQ, I had read the boards about the noise below the pool. Our room was midship and at 7:00am Monday morning we heard thunk, thunk, thunk followed by a long scrapping noise lasting 30 seconds. On and on it went. It happened the next morning...and so I wrote complaint and asked for earplugs and it never happened again. They did deliver earplugs though! The ice bucket was cool in design but way too small. The fridge was nice but no room to put the ice bucket in there but I was able to squeeze in the water bottles. It is full of beer and pop and snacks to buy. We did have fresh fruit daily.

•Room Service: This is one of the biggest problems I had on the ship. We had a welcoming bottle of champagne and saved it for breakfast on our first morning on ship. Sit on the balcony and drink champagne and have breakfast. We love that. We put the order out the night before and asked that it be delivered between 8 and 8:30. We order bagels and cream cheese and smoked salmon some other items. Breakfast arrived at 9:00, the champagne is gone and some of our items are missing. No big deal. We head to the dining room and have a nice breakfast. We sit with someone who works for Celebrity and he tells us the ship is full which I find out later on the boards is not true. I wondered where everyone was! On with the room service story. That night I figured maybe some couldn't read my checks or they needed glasses for the menu you hang on your cabin door so I circled the items and wrote in large numbers (2) how many of each. The next morning it arrives on time but it is missing items. Bagels but no smoked salmon. I get ticked off and write the complaint along with kerplunking of the pool deck chairs. I get an in person visit from the head of housekeeping and she says I must order my room service via my cabin attendant to make sure I get what I order. A few days later I call room service for lunch and they tell me to call my cabin steward, which I do, and he tells me to call room service, (I become a little irate, one tells me to call someone and I get thrown back to the other) but I do it, they take the order. The cabin steward calls me back and asks if I ordered and I said yes. He said they lost my order. I said well I ordered. He arrives with our order later and shows us the order. It was sent to a different cabin. Our order was missing items and was all screwed up. The cabin steward said things were being worked out. The galley was too small and located on the 9th floor. They don't even have a coffee and tea station on the AQ floor. I did not use room service again. This is the only time I have become angry on a cruise. Not a good thing. Warning: the menu for room service is NOT the same as Concierge Class. •Specialty Restaurants: We dined at all Murano the first night out. I had my mind set for lobster and hey it was our anniversary. The lobster dish was a baked mixed seafood dish in broth covered by pastry. It was ok but not something I would rave about forever. The foie gras was excellent and I had a great mushroom soup. The service was good but the food did not live up to my expectations. The wine pairing cost was outrageous. The room does not have windows. We loved Tuscan Grill which is more of a steak house atmosphere. Great view of the ocean. Everything was wonderful and I rate it higher than Murano. The tomato foccacia bread and roasted garlic...yum. We saved Silk Harvest for the last night. This would be a great place if you have a group. The food was excellent but I think they do need a little work on the Phad Thai. It was good but definitely not Thai. We had so much left that they packed up the food in to go cartons, gave us chopsticks. We always travel with Ziploc bags, so we plunked the food in the ice bucket and had a great breakfast of cold stir fried rice, Phad Thai and some type of noodles AND I didn't have to order room service! We did have lunch and breakfast in the main dining room and it was good but one of the stir fried dishes I had tasted like it had barbeque sauce in it. I think someone grabbed the wrong bottle or they were trying some type of new fusion dish. We dined at Blu for breakfast and dinner (4 of the 7 nights) and we liked it. Clean cuisine is what they call it, no butter or cream in the sauces but don't worry it is not spa cuisine. (If you want the heavy sauces or traditional dishes go to the main dining room!) You can get bacon for breakfast and butter is on the table for your bread but you do have some healthy options. The do a tableside preparation of muesli for breakfast and be sure to try the smoothies. I relied on my waiter's recommendations and he never steered me wrong. The wine steward looks like Sandra Bullock (complete with the dimples) and she was very helpful and funny! Order the salmon in the AquaClass Cafe. It is not listed anywhere so you have to ask.

•Shore Excursions: Our shore excursions were a blast. High quality. We booked thru Celebrity. Read more