I chose this cruise because we wanted to do the complete transit of the Canal. We've always enjoyed cruising with Celebrity and this time did not disappoint us. Passengers had been given a specific time to check in (based on the floor on which their room was located) so we didn't have the huge crowds all arriving at the same time. This made the check in process a little easier. Our room was a standard balcony room near the front of the ship (7026). We were able to get into our room shortly after we boarded and were able to relax right away.
The first 4 port stops were Cabo San Lucas and Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala and Puntarenas, Costa Rica. And after the canal we stopped at Curaçao. We had booked excursions at all of them but the one for Guatemala - a visit to a women's weaving cooperative - was cancelled by the tour operator because there hadn't been enough sign ups. Of course that was the one we most wanted to see since I am a weaver. Instead we booked a day trip that took us to the city of Antigua for the day. It was a good trip and the guide on the 90 min. ride provided lots of interesting info about the country, the history and the culture. When we arrived, we were led into a very interesting Jade museum for a brief presentation and tour of a shop. Then we had about 4 hours on our own. We had some lunch and did some shopping. I was in search of some special Guatemalan Ikat textiles and eventually found some lovely pieces. In retrospect - since I speak Spanish fluently - we might have been able to book a cab at the pier and make our own visit to the weaving coop.
The excursions at the other ports were the standard, visit a city or 2, see a special church or museum, a Tequila brewery, a special cart maker, a wood working company and a coffee plantation and a beach stop on Curaçao. Since we really weren't interested in lots of typical cruise port shopping, these excursions were more interesting to us. All had excellent guides and the places we visited were very interesting. We purchased tequila, coffee and some lovely wooden cutting boards and bowls.
We went from the port to the city of Antigua.