We cruise a lot and have tried just about all the major lines. We find the celebrity aqua class fits what we like. We like the Persian garden relaxation room and the Blu restaurant. For that reason we find the buffets (on all ships) to be chaotic and do not enjoy the search for somewhere to sit. All though the way the different food stations are set up is a much better plan than 2 long buffet lines on most ships. Embarkation was easy and fast. we booked transfers from airport to ship, for convenience, but (like every transfer we've experienced) you end up waiting so they have a 40 person bus load, this time our wait was about an hour. Leaving the ship they take care of getting your luggage from your room to the airport. But... when we got to the airport everybody's luggage was stacked outside the one terminal where everyone was dropped off. My husband was trying to help the elder people get their bags as there was no help, it was a huge piled up mess. Any one could have come and taken any bags they wanted. Plus lucky for us this happened to be the terminal we were flying out of, other people had to haul all the their luggage around, which is no easy task at the Amsterdam airport.

This cruise itinerary was fabulous, loved every port. As a rule we do not do ship tours, we did our own thing and booked our St Petersburg excursion on line before we left. This ship is set up with lots of tucked away sitting areas, and with the older frequent cruisers on board we never seemed to notice we were on board with 2500 other passengers.