Celebrity Cruises

Amsterdam

Athens (Piraeus)

Rotterdam

Rome (Civitavecchia)

Fort Lauderdale (Port Everglades)

Barcelona

Europe - All

U.S.A.

Caribbean - All

Caribbean - Eastern

Europe - British Isles & Western

Europe River

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Rhine River

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Europe - Eastern Mediterranean

Caribbean - Western

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Belize

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Europe - Western Mediterranean

USVI

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Croatia

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Nile River

Germany

Douro River

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Seine River

Bermuda

Europe - River Cruise

Norway

Arctic

Caribbean - Southern

Canary Islands

Africa

Egypt

Greece

Excellent

Very Good

Average

Poor

Terrible

Celebrity Silhouette

Celebrity Constellation

Celebrity Reflection

Celebrity Eclipse

Celebrity Equinox

Celebrity Solstice

Celebrity Infinity

Celebrity Edge

Celebrity Apex

Celebrity Millennium

Celebrity Summit

Celebrity Beyond

Celebrity Xpedition

Celebrity Xploration

Our new favorite ship...not so much the food...

Ketchikan

This was our first Transatlantic, second time on the Apex and over 10th time on Celebrity.    The ship is beautiful, huge and was crowded all the time.   In that regard, we were so happy that we booked a sky suite.  The retreat was our haven on all sea days, and for pre dinner drinks, and afternoon snacks.  But for those in a suite, your "butler" with a new title, is now a cabin attendant with a fancy title.  The Head Butler introduced himself the first day and we never saw him again in all the 13 days on board.  the Retreat staff make up for that though.   The captain was outstanding.  

It was also pretty obvious that Celebrity is cutting back on staff, food quality and choice.    Staff reductions were most obvious at the buffet where tables were left with dirty dishes for long periods of time and finding a staff person to clean a table when you found one was dismal.  Luminae service was fantastic (well if you found and stuck with a great waiter like we did - NINO), but the inconsistency in food choice and quality was disappointing.  How one day you can have a fantastic meal and the next, you end up eating appetizers because none of the entrees were appealing (and I am not fussy).   And portion sizes were ridiculous.  

One area where the Apex shines was the entertainment.  The guest performers that were brought in were fantastic. 

We did all private tours except for one Celebrity tour in Gibraltar.  It was a disaster on many levels and we got some of our money back after complaining about it.       

We chose this particular sailing as the ports of call were all terrific and balanced the sea days.  For us however, may be our one and only TA, as just too many sea days for us.   Perhaps if the weather was better on sea days, we would have felt differently,  

Overall, we had a great time but think it is time to try some other line or go back to a smaller Celebrity ship.

Great trip with some buts.....

On a transatlantic cruise on celebrity apex. I’ve been on almost 2 dozen cruises. Celebrity was one of my favorites, Oceania being my favorite for bang for you buck. 

First my positives the food is delicious. The entertainment is great. Getting juice or pastries in the morning is extremely hard as they will stop at a table next to you and completely ignore you or stop by your table and giving you coffee and ignore your companion. I’ve never been on a cruise where there was an ice cream station that charged you for god sake raise your prices if you have to charge for ice cream. 2500 people on board and 2 bathrooms on a floor where 1 or 2 urinals are broken. Truly sad to watch someone with tears in their eyes because they had to urinate. I have two cruises booked on celebrity in the next 6 months if I could get a complete refund I would. Looking to book a world cruise sure as hell won’t be on celebrity.

A few great things a bunch of lousy things

We had to change rooms three times due to noise above our cabin. Theater was too small for the number of guests on board. My wife and I had to sit apart due to lack of seats. Too many people with long lines everywhere. The infinity balcony was a large window that opened halfway.  Very disappointed in design of ship. In Oceanview cafe seats were hard to get and we returned to our cabin to eat. Excursions were good at best, in the Azores we traveled to a crater at sunset and saw nothing but fog, no refund, we were told that small print on ticket allowed them to keep our money. We have traveled with Celebrity many times and this was the worse trip on this new class of ship. Wifi was a problem from the beginning of trip.They nickel and dime you for every type of upgrade from drinks to wifi.

Cruise from hell

THE FOOD:

The food on this ship was, overall, the best I've seen in 30 years of cruising.  Even the Oceanview (buffet) was great. Not every single item was to my liking, but there was always something delicious available to eat.  We ate at Blue, Luminae, Eden and Raw on 5, and Oceanview, and every meal I had was ranked from good to great.  The crab cake and beef wellington  in Eden are the best one I've ever had in my life.   I will crave that crab cake forever!  We got the seafood tower in Raw on 5 and, for me it was just okay.  The seafood was plentiful, but it is served ice cold with two sauces, which were both terrible, so all I had to flavor all that delicious seafood was lemon.  Was a bit disappointing, but overall, the food on this ship is wonderful. 

THE BARS:

Eden, and all of the outdoor bars had your typical, friendly hard working, wonderful bartenders.  Where it fell were the other indoor bars which are Craft Social, the Club and the Martini Bar.  Craft Social had the worst bartenders who all seemed untrained and unhappy to be there. They were always out of everything and had to keep going in the back to get even the most basic thing...like club soda.  The Club bar just seemed understaffed and very slow.  The wonderful Celebrity Martini Bar is now a thing of the past.  They stuck it in the middle of the ship, so the atmosphere is gone. The bartenders are standing below you in a pit so it's very awkward to walk up and get a drink.  There are only half the chairs available and  they are always full because it's in the center of the ship.   They now schedule the bartender "show" of juggling bottles, and none of them were very good at it.  I tried to get a dirty martini 3 times and gave up because they never could make a good one. The first one was made with black olives!  When I pointed out that martinis are made with green olives, she said, "well that's all we have".  I was heartbroken to see the martini bar as we knew and loved it is now gone.    

ENTERTAINMENT: I don't like cruise production shows, so will not judge those. They had a few singers and a comedian onboard and they were all good, except the singer took this weird turn where she stopped singing and spent 10 minutes showing us slides of her kids, telling us her life story and giving us life advice. Was weird and annoying. The comedian was good until he stopped telling jokes to launch into some weird thing, where he re-enacted his grandfather watching his wife die and fall out of the chair on the porch and then HE also gave us life advice on how to be kind to the elderly because they're all lonely.  Talk about bringing down a room!  Everyone on that ship was 60 or older and don't need his life advice about elderly people.  There was a band named Magnifica who were very good and a singer named Ge Luz, who had the voice of an angel! 

THE WEIRD: Whoever chose the furnishings for this ship should, seriously, be fired and banned from interior design. Every chair in every public place was uncomfortable in some way. They either left you in a reclining position, so you had  to prop yourself up with a pillow, or there was no back rest at all, so you had to sit up.  Even in the dining room, they have benches that require a pillow behind your back.  In Blue, if you have a  bench seat, you can't put your feet in front of you because the table bottom is in the way, so you have to eat with your feet scrunched to the side.  In the main gathering areas, every chair requires some kind of pillow for you to sit in a normal position.    We found ourselves frequently  wondering how anyone could have ever sat in those chairs and said, "Oh yeah, this is perfect for a cruise ship".  

The Club on 4, where all the trivia and games shows are played took the effort to put in a giant screen, but then designed the room so less than half the people can see it.  None of these things affected my good time, but it's all Just plain WEIRD! 

It was, overall, a very nice cruise, but I'm giving it a 3 in value for money because, at about $1000 per day, cruising has become  just too darn expensive

The Good, The Bad, The Just Plain Weird

Tortola

When I booked my cruise to sail on the Celebrity Apex, I was so impressed by the photos and videos of the Infinity Cabins, and the ship in general, that I thought that even if the ship went no where, I would still love the cruise. I would think back on that thought during the cruise and after the cruise ended and I returned home. This cruise was booked as a “10 night Israel, Egypt & Med Cruise”. It quickly became “Cyprus, Greece, & Turkey”, but what I think of as simply a cruise in the Greek Isles. It became one of the most memorial cruises of my life but not for the right reasons.

Embarkation 

We boarded in Piraeus, Greece after spending one night in town at a hotel. Our appointment for embarkation was for between noon-12:30 pm. I received numerous emails from Celebrity reminding me to only arrive during this time slot. We arrived at the port on time, and after dropping off a 24 inch suitcase which DH and I were told was too big and that needed to be collected by the port workers, we entered the building and were ready to line up at 12:21 only to hear the announcement that people who were “One o’clock only” could join a line to proceed forward to security. I said that we were noon- 12:30, and DH and I were told to get in line with the 1:00- 1:30 pm group. What? Then one rude passenger announced that “you are late, we have already been sitting here waiting”. I certainly was not late, I was on time. For some reason, people who had appointments an hour ahead of me ended up boarding before me. I have never had this happen before. We then had to sit around in groups waiting for security to let us through. Very time consuming, and not what I was expecting after Celebrity’s repeated reminders to arrive between 12- 12:30. That was the first sign that this was not going to be a typical cruise. Perhaps this is simply a Piraeus port problem, but definitely an opportunity there.

The Ship

The ship is lovely. She is near new, very contemporary, and clearly no penny pinching took place in the planning of the design, building, and the decoration of the spaces onboard. Our cabin was an Infinite Veranda, which we enjoyed very much. It was spacious and modern, if lacking closet space. 

The Itinerary 

This was to be a cruise to Haifa, Israel for one day in port before moving on to an overnight in Ashdod, Israel, then cruising onward to Egypt for an overnight in Alexandria. Our final stop was to be Kusadasi, Turkey before docking back at Piraeus. We were enjoying a sunny afternoon on board Saturday afternoon, due to dock in Israel the next morning, when news reports stated that thousands of rockets had been sent into Israel. War was declared on Hamas by PM Benjamin Netanyahu. We were southwest of Cyprus at the time, with the ship slowing notability down. Looking at the map of the region, I felt the Captain would be docking there, which he announced in the late afternoon that he would be doing. Israel was canceled. Passengers were very grateful to Celebrity for keeping us safe and avoiding going into a war zone, however, as the vast majority of the cruisers were from church groups, with many planning to be baptized in the River Jordan, obviously there would be many disappointed passengers as well. The church groups organized prayer groups to replace the group discussions on upcoming port activities.  We docked in Cyprus for an overnight stay. Unfortunately, since this port was not planned, the few excursions available sold out for both days we were there, including the most interesting one which included a visit to an UNESCO World Heritage Site. 

Cyprus

On our first day, because it was Sunday, many of the shops were closed, but DH and I found plenty open and did our sovenir shopping. I downloaded a tour book on Cyprus on my Kindle (It is a good idea to download some general travel guides since you never really know where you may end up on a cruse as ports can change), and on the second day, as the excursions all remained sold out, we decided to go to the zoo and a museum (the Limassol Archaeological Museum)- both beat expectations. It was nice to see artifacts in a small, quiet setting after visiting such large museums such as the British Museum. Some passengers I spoke with went independently to the UNESCO site as well as other landmarks via a cab. We were due to have a sea day and then dock in Alexandria a day early and spend three days there instead of two.

Mykonos, Greece

Alas, Egypt also was not to be. While enjoying dinner after leaving Cyprus, the Captain announced that we were unable to go to Alexandria as planned due to rising violence in the area. DD who was monitoring the news back home, texted me that an Egyptian police officer had shot and killed an Egyptian tour guide and two Israeli tourists. We made for Mykonos, passing by Rhodes the next day (which we then docked at after visiting Mykonos); we zigzagged all over the Mediterranean going back and forth as port berths became available). On Mykonos, all excursions were once again all sold out, so we went on our own with Delos Tours to Delos to see the ruins, and as we got off, the Celebrity excursion groups got back on the boat we had just vacated. We paid one hundred twenty seven dollars and change for the both of us to go on the tour, whereas Celebrity was charging $129 pp for the few that were able to go. Now, I have no problem with cruise companies making a profit on excursions- and they do guarantee that the ship will wait for you and it is convenient and easy to go with the official tour groups- but charging double seems excessive to me. 

Rhodes, Greece

There was one excursion available to purchase for Rhodes, and as we had been here before, we decided the available beach excursion suited us and we enjoyed our time at the best beach on Rhodes- the three mile long Faliraki Beach. We swam in the Aegean Sea for the first time. 

Santorini, Greece

Five ships tendered to Santorini at the same time and we were warned that the line for the cable cars (six Euros pp each way) could be very long indeed. The only other ways up were to ride a poor, tired, overworked donkey who spend their days carrying obese Americans 500 plus steps up the hill, or to walk on the same path as the donkeys. We had been to Santorini before, and DH has knee problems, so we stayed on the ship. Again there were no shore excursions available for purchase. Two of our favorite crew members did get off and had to walk down the hill as the wait for the cable cars was too long and they were due back for their shift. One guest booked a private excursion which picked her up where the boats dropped you off and took her on a dinner cruise and tour of the island. That definitely sounds like an option for next time if we should end up in Santorini again. 

Bodrum, Turkey

With no excursions available, we decided to walk to the Castle of St Peter and ended up meeting some of our fellow passengers who were on a tour there at the same time. The admission of $18 was reasonable and we enjoyed our visit to the castle which is on a waitlist to become an UNESCO World Heritage Site. We walked back to the ship buying some cheap gifts along the way. 

Kusadasi, Turkey

This was the only port that we visited that we were actually scheduled to visit. We had a pre-paid excursion to the Holy Mother’s House with long lines and only about a minute of time allotted to each person inside the home. We then toured Ephesus (a must-do in Turkey), and stopped at the required Turkish carpet demonstration but left as soon as possible. 

Food

Food was good, but nothing exceptional. I enjoyed the Baked Alaska and a few other dishes. The menus were lacking choices and often the Celebrity app did not match up with what was on the physical menu you were given in the MDR; the menu stopped being displayed on the app after we pointed this out to our server. In the buffet, a great hand washing station was set up but many people walked right by it, and unlike Royal Caribbean, washing of hands was not enforced. Disappointing and probably a factor in the health of passengers by the end of the cruise- more on that later.

Photos

This was the first cruise ever in which no one offered to take our photo. DD sent a laugh emoji to me after I told her because  we had had photographers practically tripping over each other to take our picture on our Royal trips earlier this year.

Shows

Everyone was great! Such talented musicians and performers. Just amazing! We enjoyed every performance. Cannot say enough good things about these talented people, in particular, Charity Lockhart and her tribute to Aretha Franklin- such a fabulous singer.

Crew

Everyone is wonderful! Great service all around. Loved everyone working the bar in Eden especially.

Final Thoughts

Although the cruise was far from what anyone was expecting, passengers and crew did a great job with going with the flow. The people and animals caught in the crossfire of war were on everyone’s thoughts and everyone was grateful to be safe and out of harm’s way, but DH and I feel that Celebrity missed an opportunity for passengers to feel better about the money they had spent on the cruise (a Greek Isles cruise is cheaper than a Holy Land/Egypt cruise) in not offering us some type of compensation (e.g. FCC) while we were still onboard. At the moment, we are still waiting to see if Celebrity does contact us. My final bill was also incorrect, so I'll have to see if that can be resolved.  By the last weekend, before going home on Monday, people were freely coughing and sneezing on a regular basis, especially in the buffet. We wore masks onboard throughout the cruise, and always washed our hands and regularly used hand sanitizer.  DH had an upset stomach in the early morning hours before heading out to the airport, and he felt weak, lost his appetite, and had difficulty getting up on the flights home to stretch his legs. On Tuesday, he took a Covid test and it was positive for the first time in his life. I tested positive the next day, again, for the first time in my life. Would higher standards of cleanliness have prevented us from becoming ill?  Yes, it was a memorial cruise in so many ways, but not completely in a positive way, no pun intended.

Cruising in a Time of War...and Covid

A trip luxury trip back in time, flying business class and visiting the sights of the ancient world, Athens, Jerusalem and the Pyramids.

We booked a Infinite Veranda and a classic drinks package (we are light drinkers) and looked forward to a sunny cruise it is not our first Celebrity cruise, we always have a balcony cabin.

Lets get this straight a infinite veranda cabin is just a outside cabin with a large opening window, the cabin when open does not feel any larger than other ships. The internal doors are flimsy, the electric blind will not operate with the window open, so you have to close the window at night or the cabin is light, the blind is full width and opens from the bottom so you have to raise it to see out. A simply set of curtains would be so much better.

You have a choice of 4 waiter service main restaurants included in the price, these have a couple of signature dishes, a couple of variable dishes (change nightly) and a couple of always available dishes. We used all 4 but found the menu highly repetitive, a problem a week cruise really disappointing over 10 days.

The public rooms are fantastic and imaginative we did not feel crowded, the entertainment was OK, but not for us, we would cruise with celebrity again but not on a edge series ship.

Disappointing, not as the reviews.

This started out as a trip to Israel, Egypt, and Turkey. It was changed due to world events and only one of the original ports remaining from the initial itinerary was visited. The ship was lovely, food was good, and service was great. What I would like to do in this review is to share with you a missed opportunity on Celebrity's part to take care of their best customers: Elite members and above. But before we get into that, here is a breakdown of the basics:

Embarkation 

Embarkation was the worst I've seen in my many years of cruising. I don't remember sitting around waiting due to a lack of equipment available to scan luggage in a timely manner before. It seemed disorganized- perhaps there was a lack of staff?- and it appears to have set the tone for what was to come. 

The Ship

This was my first time on an Edge series ship and I loved everything about it including: common areas, layout, the flow of the ship, and the easy way to get on and off the ship in the unique, special area called Destination Gateway, which was used for this purpose which left passengers feeling that customer satisfaction was the focus. 

Cabin

We had an Infinite Balcony, which we loved. This is a cabin with the unique feature of having a balcony which is part of your cabin.  We enjoyed the extra space and I did not miss the opportunity to sit outside as you would on a traditional balcony. The bed was comfortable and the bathroom was very nice and designed well to look attractive while also being functional. 

Food

I did not have the opportunity to partake of any of the speciality dining experiences, but I did dine at all four included dining rooms with my "Anytime Dining", never having to wait for a table, and the buffet for breakfast and lunch, as well as dinner a few times. All of the food was good, even with the limited selection. Menus on the app did not match with the MDR menus handed out, which was a bit confusing. The buffet had a great selection, and  fabulous presentations of food choices at all times, however, the excellent hand washing station was underutilized, with hand washing not enforced by the buffet greeters with, for example, the suggestion of "washy, washy" experienced on Royal Caribbean. I attribute this to my testing positive on the Covid test that I took the morning after I got home.

Entertainment 

Entertainment on the ship was the biggest surprise and the biggest plus of our cruise. All of the performers went above and beyond to keep us entertained. Very disappointed in the passengers, however, who walked out while performers were still taking a bow. These performers work their heart out providing us with entertainment each and every night. They should have been treated with greater respect.  The cruise director, Timmy, could have done a better job of listening to suggestions on how to improve the customer experience onboard I felt as a result of my conversations with him. 

Ports 

While en route to Israel, we learned of the unfortunate events occurring there and the declaration of war. Celebrity, rightly so, made the decision for the safety of its passengers, to remove Israeli and Egyptian ports from this trip. What was originally a scheduled visit to the Holy Land and the pyramids turned into a Greek Isles cruise. I visited with a Captain's Club concierge rep in order to understand the new plans more clearly and to give feedback on how we felt Celebrity could improve our cruise experience. At the time, we were told that they were collecting information from passengers and no decisions had been made regarding future accommodations. Our final evening onboard, we spoke one more time to Melvin and gave him our final thoughts to pass along to Celebrity. More on that later. As these changes were last minute, not enough shore excursions were able to be planned for, and scheduled, to accommodate the number of passengers onboard. Since I had visited many of these same ports on a prior Viking Ocean cruise, I really wasn't interested in these newly added port stops. I did my best to find things to do on my own at these ports- with the exception of Santorini in which I didn't get off the ship as there were five ships there that day tendering passengers, negatively impacting the ability for passengers to take cable cars up and down the hill to visit the town. 

Shore Excursions

As mentioned, there were very few options available, and the few that were offered, sold out immediately; some I believe were loaded onto the app during the night between 11 pm and 7 am, and how any of the passengers actually booked most of these tours, I don't know. I thought that perhaps the suite customers were offered these first, however, that was not case per my conversation with a passenger in The Retreat, who said that she was unable to book any excursions. We did book one available beach excursion which was nice, but that was the only opportunity for us to book anything in these new ports added last minute. We did have an excursion already booked for the port of Ephesus.

Final Thoughts 

I signed up for a very unique, bucket list cruise experience to visit Israel and the pyramids. Beyond the control of anyone, putting safety first (which was the right decision), this much anticipated journey could not take place. It would have been nice to see a partial refund or FCC offered by Celebrity. What was offered by Celebrity, at the end of the day (and after we returned home) were repeated statements of what they didn't have to do for us, which included: no refunds, no FCC, "NO compensation as it is stated as well in the booklet/contract that they signed when purchasing the cruise...the company has all the right to change the itinerary". Very clear and concise. What is also clear to me is that I have many choices when it comes to planning my next cruise vacation- and it will NOT be with Celebrity. Celebrity missed an opportunity to rise above the unfortunate events taking place which were beyond anyone's control and missed an opportunity as well to take care of their most loyal customers on this cruise.

I Didn't Sign Up For This

Belfast

This was our second cruise since the pandemic.  We took a Viking Ocean Cruise in the spring and it was the most boring experience we have ever had, never again or at least not until we are in our 80's will be contemplate Viking again.  The Apex on the other hand was amazing.  

Boarding in Rotterdam was very simple, on the ship in minutes.  Our Aqua class cabin was amazing.  We have never had a more quiet Cabin before and have cruised a fair amount.  We never once heard any noises from fellow passengers from the walls or ceiling.  The Viking Mars Cabin we have had, we could actually hear voices from the neighbouring state rooms.  The cabin was well designed, shower was awesome.  Stateroom attendant was very good. 

We dined in Blue most nights, the service and food was amazing.  I sometimes hear people gripe about food on cruise ships and I wonder to myself, where they eat every night when not cruising??  Our server was amazing and would find items not on the menu for my wife on occasion.   The main cafe had very good food choices and we always found a place to sit easily even at the most crowded times.  It was all day and into the late evening, unlike the Viking cafe which seems to be structure like an old folks home cafeteria, closed for breakfast at 10am!!.  

Entertainment on the cruise was very, very good.  We were up late most nights dancing, met some great fellow passengers.  It was a very active ship.  We only attended the Celebrity shows and they were all excellent and entertaining.  Live entertainment, the bands and soloists were all good.  Celebrity knows how to entertain its guests  There were multiple choices of things to do at any time, especially on sea days. 

We enjoyed the Aqua spa, only once but we discovered it quite late in the cruise.  Gym was excellent although a little busy.  

Ports were all good, shuttles provided worked well with minimal waits.

We enjoyed the cruise so much we booked another one for next year while on the ship.  BTW even though I picked up something, making me feel pretty lousy the last sea day, the fact I still am very positive about the cruise says a lot.

Well done Celebrity, we had a great time.

Its great to be back to Celebrity

We were looking forward to our first Celebrity cruise after hearing so many rave comments by our friends. In some ways, they were exactly right - the cabins were among the best we've found in the various cruises we've taken. On the other hand, the dining was not nearly as exceptional as they made it sound and the entertainment ranged from excellent to merely soso. Overall, we had a very nice cruise experience with the highs too often offset by some lows.

Our "Infinite Veranda" cabin was a high point of the cruise. The cabin has an exceptionally large amount of storage, making the organization of our clothing and other items easy - especially considering the 12-night length of our cruise. The bathroom also felt very spacious - with a shower that did not feel cramped. Having the "veranda" as part of the room added to the spaciousness of the room - space we could use rather than an exterior deck that we'd visit only sporadically. We opened the veranda window a few times during the cruise to fully enjoy the sea air - again without feeling cramped on a small exterior balcony. The design and execution of the cabin is excellent.

Our dining experience was mixed. Here are some broad comments;

+ The four main dining room concept works better than one or two very large main dining rooms. The areas felt more intimate and the ability to select from different setting was a positive. Although each dining room offered a selection of their "specialties", the shipwide offers were available, so there was a good set of menu options. However, over the course of our 12-nights, the "specialty" menu items did not seem to vary - making return visits to, say Normandy, less interesting. I'd have expected these menu items to change multiple times across the cruise.

+ The quality of the food served in the four main dining rooms ranged from excellent to merely good - that is not measurably better than on our previous cruises. 

+ The variety and quality of the food offered in the buffet OceanView venue was excellent. With the exception of the embarkation day and once or twice during the cruise, there did not seem to be the normal mob scene that we've experienced at the buffets on other ships. It was challenging for us to find tables for our group of 6, but there was plenty of open space for parties of 2 or 4. My observations here apply to all 3 meals - breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

+ We visited 3 of the specialty restaurants during the cruise; Le Petit Chef (twice), Eden (twice), and Fine Cut Steakhouse. The quality of the food and service at these venues was a step up from the main dining rooms. Of course, we were paying for it - premium for each is close to the cost of a similar meal off the ship! Le Petit Chef is worth it both for the food and the visual show - it was entertaining. They changed the menu at mid-cruise, so we went back for a second show. The food in Eden was excellent and the setting very nice. We ent back a second time lat in our cruise but found that the menu had not changed. This was disappointing. Fine Cut was very good but in our group of 6 we had two people whose steaks were not outstanding. One of our party ordered the prime rib, which was excellent.

Similar to our dining experience, the onboard entertainment was a mixed bag. Most of the performers in the various venues around the ship were very good and worth visiting. The theater shows, however, ranged from merely OK to excellent. Two of the headline performances were excellent, while the larger productions were not very engaging and the music much too loud for enjoyment. Compared to other cruises, we'd rate the entertainment average overall.

Our WORST experiences were with the shore excursions that we booked through Celebrity. We booked two excursions in Lisbon - one to Cascais and another to Sintra. Both were much worse than expected and, on retrospect, a waste of time and money. Here are some specifics;

+ Cascais - we booked the Cascais on Your Own tour, which we understood to be a 5+ hour tour to Cascais where we would have several hours to tour the seaport town on our own. The problems started when our ship was delayed in clearing the port and we ended up waiting 2 hours in the theater to depart for our tour. While waiting, we (stupidly) assumed that, since this was a Celebrity tour, and the ship was overnighting in Lisbon, the 2 hours lost on the front end would be added to the normal end time of the tour. WRONG! When we finally arrived in Cascais at 1:15pm, the "guide" informed us that we had to be back at the bus at 2:30pm for the return trip (a 1 hour self-guided tour?). To make matters worse, the tour did not provide any maps or other information, so everyone was literally "on your own" to figure out where to go. We got some lunch and then decided to Uber back to Lisbon later in the afternoon. The Uber cost less than 1/2 our tour price and the driver was very informative. DO NOT BOOK THIS TOUR! After the fact, and with some follow-up on my part, Celebrity credited us for the tour cost plus our Uber fare. This softened the negative feelings but did not erase the bad taste left by the way we were treated.

+ Sintra - The next day we had booked the Celebrity small group tour to the Montseratte Palace and Sintra. This tour left on time and we were optimistic that this would be a great tour/day. Unfortunately, I failed to check the details on what the palace was that we were visiting, assuming it was one of the main attractions in Sintra. In fact, this is a palace in a remote area a ways outside of Sintra. The setting is lovely and the building is architecturally and historically interesting, but not really worth the several hours we spent there. Note that it is only partially restored and is unfurnished, so the visit is to see a building and read about its history. Once again, the guide did not provide any information about the palace and/or Sintra. After the palace, we returned to the center of Sintra where we were guided to a restaurant for coffee and 2 pastries. By this time, we were left we about 30 minutes to visit Sintra - which easily is worth 1 to 2 full days. Again - we recommend DO NOT BOOK THIS TOUR.

One last observation: Our ship seemed to be fully booked, so we were among the 3,000+ passengers. By the end of the cruise, I'd estimate that 30% or more had either a cold, the flue, or COVID. People were sneezing and coughing all over the place. Not many masks were to be seen. Many, but not all, seemed to be paying attention to shipboard health and safety guidelines of using hand sanitizing stations and avoiding contact with others when showing signs of illness. However, there were more than enough who ignored these courtesies and were sitting nearby sneezing and coughing without covering up. Perhaps, in the post-COVID world, we are a bit too sensitive but it just may be risky to share your holidays with several thousand people who might not be tuned into public health.

I'm sure that there is much more to say about our cruise - much of it positive. In summary, this was a good cruise but a bit underwhelming versus the hype we'd heard from friends before we departed. We enjoyed the great ports of call, the good food, and the comforts of the ship and our cabin. We will, however, look more closely at the aspects of the cruise that we value most before booking.

A Very Nice Ship But Nothing Extraordinary

Celebrity was our favorite Cruise line and first choice for cruising. Not any more.

Our first impression once on board was great. We had a infinite balcony on level 6 and loved it. The decor in all areas of the ship was first class. 

We paid for the all inclusive package that was extremely disappointing.  All the classic cocktails tasted like they were made with watered down spirits. The margaritas didn't taste like margaritas. They tasted like cordial. I did try one with a premium package Tequila and it was fine. We switched to drinking wine from the limited classic selection. 

It also was the fist time that Celebrity classic package didn't include aperol spritz or baileys. The general talk at the bars was why someone can order a scotch or bourbon but not a baileys. Baileys is half the cost of spirits, as is Aperol spritz.

We hopped on a MSC cruise 3 days later. The cruise and drink package was half the cost and restored our faith in drink packages.

The food in all the included restaurants and buffet were just ok. On previous cruises they were great. Le Petit Chef was great, Fine cut steak house and Raw on Five was a bit better than the free restaurants but not worth the extra cost.

I feel that Celebrity have cut costs on these areas to recover money lost during covid.

The ship is huge, however falls short in areas that have been popular on other Celebrity ships. The Sunset Bar is tiny and  understaffed. Our group of 7 ended up having to walk down the outside stairs to the deck below with our drinks or walk to the roof top garden with no bar and an always empty Rooftop Garden Grill.

On a positive note, Cafe al Bacio was excellent and the coffee was the best coffee we have experienced on a cruise and always well staffed.

Our other issue was that there is no viewing area at the front of the ship unless you are in a suite with access to the retreat area. This would stop me choosing Apex's sister ship The Edge for their New Zealand cruise. The highlights of Milford Sound and the fjords would be restricted to either side of the ship, or aft.

Didn't live up to the hype

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