I should preface this letter by noting that our party consisted of three very experienced cruisers, and one novice recreational cruiser, who happens to be a retired USN Commander. I and my partner typically cruise about six times a year, a few on Norwegian, mostly on Carnival. We are members of both Cruise Critic and Trip Advisor. My experience with Royal Caribbean is limited to two prior cruises within the past two years, one on the Monarch of the Seas, and one on the Independence of the Seas. The experiences while on the Monarch were adequate, service, facilities, and such, while our experiences on the Independence were nothing short of spectacular. I might add that my experiences with Carnival and Norwegian also vary from good to spectacular, generally leaning toward the latter. Carnival has always been very consistently great.

Now we come to this Celebrity cruise, which was also a birthday present for an individual in our party. We arrived early, as we typically do, around 11:30am for a 5:00pm departure. We had to wait for about a half an hour, no problem, before we were asked to get in line to board. The line was VERY slow, and took at least another 30 to 40 minutes while we wound our way onto the ship. While we finally approached the gangway there was a VERY strong smell of some type of petroleum based solvent. Well, probably routine maintenance or touching up the paint. No problem at all. After we got past the first check point, we approached the open doors about 25 meters down the outer walkway of the ship. The smell was almost overwhelming, and one of us slipped on a puddle of something. The puddle was caused by one of the lifeboats which are stored above the walkway. There was a rag stuffed behind the propeller which was so completely saturated and was dripping of solvent. There were no cones or warnings of any kind, we were lucky it did not drip on our clothes. I was very surprised such a safety hazard was not addressed, and I brought it to the attention of a member of the welcoming crew who barely acknowledged my observation. (Not my problem)...

Well great!!! We are on board!!! Time to relax with a cocktail!!!! We proceeded to the pool bar where a young bartender was presiding. I decided to have a bushwhacker, a drink prominently offered on both Carnival and Royal Caribbean. He quickly stated I don’t know what that was and walked away. I was sure he was busy setting up his bar, so I pulled up the recipe in my phone and asked him on his next pass by all of us if he could make this cocktail. He looked and said NO...he was only allowed to make drinks which were found in his drink menu book. OK, I was surprised by his answer and attitude, but we just got on the ship and I was going to make the most of it. So I asked if I could pick out a frozen drink from what he was allowed to make from the menu book. "I don't have one", was his answer and he walked away again. I should also note that one of my fellow cruisers ordered a Bud Light, which was served in a glass bottle. I noted that it appeared all their beer was served in glass bottles the length of the cruise, this being around the pool bar. Later, on Coco Cay, the Bahaman Police Patrol noted the glass bottles, and made everyone pour their beers into plastic glasses. Read more