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This was our second cruise, our first one being a Norwegian cruise to the Western Caribbean. I can't say I was disappointed with this cruise, because there was nothing grossly wrong with it. But I can say it wasn't quite as good as our Norwegian cruise.
Embarkation, debarkation, and overall service were all excellent. Everyone was friendly and eager to please you.
The food was plentiful and available almost all the time. There was a dead zone for food from 3-5 where only the poolside grill and the pizza buffet were available, but both offered enough food to keep you from starving. We mostly ate at the buffet for breakfast and lunch. Breakfast had plenty of options from fruit to made-to-order omlettes, to exotic things like English kippers. The pancakes, however, were awful (obviously frozen and reheated). (FYI, the restaurant serves the exact breakfast food that is on the buffet, just less choice. So don't bother.) Lunch offered a huge variety of salads, sandwiches, pizza, and other foods. The quality on the buffet ranged from good (mostly the made-to-order items) to average buffet food. If you did happen to choose the buffet for dinner, there were lots of fun international foods to try--sushi, Italian, Chinese/Thai/Indian, and continental foods like chicken piccata and roast beef.
The main restaurant had excellent service, beautiful decor, and we never had to wait to be seated. The variety of food was good. We did Celebrity Select dining (where you eat whenever you want) and enjoyed the flexibility. The restaurant had part of the dinner menu the same every day, part changed every day. The quality varied quite a bit. Some things were delicious. Some just Ok. I never felt like I was eating in a top quality restaurant in terms of the taste and quality of food (although it was always beautifully presented), but more like I was being served from a nice wedding buffet. Still, being able to eat whatever looks good to you without worrying about the cost is a very nice thing!
(Just a note, room service was AWFUL. Slow, and they almost always got something from our order wrong or were missing some things altogether--no dressing, no silverware, no side of fruit etc. It took so long to get it there that you didn't dare call for a correction to things. The menu was also kind of limited, but you could order from the restaurant menu during meal times.)
The staterooms were very nice--they looked like a nice hotel, not a tropical explosion inn. The beds were slightly more firm than soft, but the sheets were high quality. Our concierge class balcony room was a good size, constantly kept clean and restocked. We had a nice flat-screen TV although the channels were very lacking, with half of them being onboard advertising and shopping and nearly all the rest news channels. There was plenty of storage--2 closets and 1 cupboard of shelves and drawers. The louge/eat-in area was sufficient to eat room service. The balcony furniture looked worn, but it was functional.
The entertainment was probably the most lacking part of the cruise. Aside from the nightly show, which was average AT BEST (except for the guest comedian, who was EXCELLENT), it seemed there was never anything to do but the pool or the casino. All the "entertainment" they advertised in the daily newsletter was self-promoting like "A class about out our tanzenite collection" or "Learn about fine watches." Who wants to go to classes about things so that you feel pressured to buy them after?? So that part was disappointing.
BUT Overall it was a good cruise. Sleeping in, lounging around, playing some poker, eating in the restaurants at every meal, and lying in the sun are hard to ruin, even with so-so entertainment and a bit of bad weather at the end.
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