On February 16th we arrived in San Diego and checked into our hotel. The Holiday Inn Bayside. It was a great deal for the money. They have a free shuttle to and from the airport and cruise terminal. The restaurant isn't bad either. There also was plenty of restaurants all in walking distance from the hotel.

On February 17th we started our embarkment process. We checked in very quickly. We waited to board the ship for about a half hour. We boarded the ship. We took pictures and was greeted with a glass of champagne. The first thing I did was go the MDR to change our late dining to early dining seating. The matre'd could not change it because the first seating was over booked. Then we went to the buffet for lunch. Shortly after we were able to go into our staterooms. Our stateroom was nice. There was plenty of storage space and closets. Our stateroom attendant met us. His name was Gabrielle. The assistant was just as good. We asked for an ashtray to find out, there smoking policy changed. You are no longer able to smoke on your Veranda. There is a designated area on deck 11 and deck 6. There were number of people that got caught smoking on there Veranda. They were warned at first not to smoke on there Veranda. If it happened again you can receive a fine of $250.00 and or be told to leave at the discretion of the captain. Anyway we didn't mind not smoking on the Veranda. The bad part is if I would have known before I booked this cruise I may not have taken a Veranda. This cruise I spent more time on deck 11. Unfortunately Celebrity needs to change there smoking area and allow 1 bar to be able to smoke in. Muster was at 4:15 it was very simple process. Then at 5:00 we started to set sail for Hawaii. Leaving San Diego was rainy and chilly. It seemed that the rain seemed to have followed us throughout the whole cruise. We walked around the ship to familiarize ourselves with the ship. Went back to our stateroom and got ready for dinner. The first night was " smart casual" . My husband wore nice shorts and a collared shirt. He was told nicely that you have to wear pants and a collared shirt. My husband told the assistant matre'd that he had dress pants and nice shirts but was missing his jacket. My husband accidentally left his suit in the airport. All he had was 1 pair of dress pants. Thanks to Lize and Terrance from Guest Relations they loaned my husband a tux. At least my husband was able to wear his nice pants to dinner. The tux on formal nights. There were people in the MDR with shorts on the 2nd and 3 rd day of the cruise. We even saw a guy hiding behind his wife waiting to get into the MDR. The FORMAL NIGHTS they even let people in the MDR with jeans and T shirts. They even were handing out jackets to the guys that did not have one. The guys were putting them on the back of there chairs.

The 5 days at sea was cold and raining. Sad but true. We had rough seas the first couple of days and there were a lot of people sick. With the not so nice weather and 5 days at sea. I participated in a lot of the Hawaiian craft classes, hula lessons, ukulele lessons, shopping shows, lectures to pass time. The shows were good. The theme nights were good. There really wasn't much going on at poolside during the day. I think there should have been. There wasn't even a poolside party at night. With 14 days at sea it would have been nice. It seemed any nightly activities ended about 10 or so. The food in the MDR was not so good. A lot lot of the meat dishes were dry including the LOBSTER TAILS at the final FORMAL NIGHT. After the first 5 nights in the MDR not so good. Even the bread choices were not so good either. We mostly ate in the buffet for dinner. The food was much better and you had more choices. We went to The Murano. We had an excellent experience. Read more