Traveled with husband and friends on Feb. 7th for a 7 day cruise. We booked a room at the Hollywood Beach Towers for the night before (see separate review). We were about 10 minutes away from the port and the hotel provided a shuttle for a $5/person fee which was more than reasonable. We had cruised several times before on other cruise lines, but it was the first time on Celebrity. There are strengths and weaknesses on every cruise line, but overall this was a great experience. Embarkation was relatively smooth and we were on the ship in about an hour. We had a minor glitch on a package we purchased not being on our sea pass, but guest relations resolved this quickly and we had lunch in the Oceanview cafe. The Oceanview is defintely a plus. I think it had a better buffet than any other ship we've been on, especially at lunch. Loved the stir fry and Indian food. Hubby loved the pizza. Service was spotty in the Oceanview, especially during prime times. Waiters were helpful, but it took up to 10 minutes just to get a soft drink. We had a standard cabin (7317) with a veranda. Room was fine, and I especially liked the amount of storage space in the bath. TV was flat screen and very nice. Just wish it had been positioned so you could watch while in bed. Just a minor quibble. Very few children on the cruise, which we expected in mid Feb. Dining room food was good to excellent. There was some confusion initally in the pacing of our dinners (one night took two hours), but we were at a table for 8 with Select time dinning (and some picky eaters), so that could have been part of the problem. Situation improved greatly after a few days and waiters were very friendly without being intrusive.

Entertainment was good, although I think Royal Caribbean cruise directors have been much more interactive with guests. My one interaction with Patti she was a bit standoffish, but she was busy at the time so I'll cut her some slack. She does have a lovely singing voice and is a good entertainer. Joel Mason was our favorite act. We enjoyed the Cirque show, but repeat cruisers complained that it was unchanged from previous cruises. We HIGHLY recommend the valet service at disembarkation. It was worth every penny. We did minimal shopping on the ship since the shops were obviously skewed towards high end shoppers. I ran out of a very basic personal clothing item, and was told that the only solution was to "do the laundry." We can stock $5500 diamonds, but no underwear? Come on. Once again, these are minor quibbles. We did love the refreshments and cold towels when returning to ship. Overall, Celebrity tries really hard to make you feel special and we enjoyed that. We plan to cruise again with Celebrity next year.