Grand Celebration Review
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This review will be a bit long, I felt I had to put as much info down as I could, because it was hard to find anything about this cruise before we took it. I wanted to make sure others had enough information to go on...
This trip was a short getaway for my daughter and I. We've been on other bigger cruise ships, and wondered what this one would be like in comparison. It was Memorial Day Weekend, and the ship was surprisingly not overloaded with people like so many of the other ships. It is an older ship, one of Carnivals smaller ships originally, but still had all the appeal that goes with cruising. We arrived at noon, and did the Valet parking, $17 each day, cash. I think if you wanted to use your credit card, you had to get a ticket and go pay after you dropped off the car. Embarkation went smoothly. It was at this point you could sign up for shore excursions, and choose your dinner time, 6:15pm or 8:30pm. Then we were on the ship! Lunch was waiting in the outdoor Plunge Pool area, with Calypso Music played on steel drums. This was perfect, felt like you were right where you needed to be! You could also eat inside at the Ocean Breeze Buffet, where it is air conditioned and there is a wider selection of food. We chose not to do the drink ticket specials because the prices were reasonable without it. The best drink we had was the Chocolate Kiss, $9.25, and it was well worth it!!
Onto the Port and shore excursions...We didn't do any of the excursions, their website didn't give you any idea of pricing, and when we got a list on the ship, they were a little high priced, compared to other excursions we had done on other ships. I had researched and found that there was a Senor Frogs and Fat Tuesdays right at the Port, we thought that would take up most of the day. When we got off the ship in Port, you walked out to Taxi's everywhere and they told us we could find those two bars in Port Lucaya, so we took a taxi/Van, $10 each round-trip. When we arrived it was about 10am, short drive. It was a market area, many shops...but no Senor Frogs or Fat Tuesdays. We asked and were told it was back where our ship was docked.???
Cabin Review
My daughter and I decided to "splurge" on an Ocean View cabin, and it was worth it for sure. The room was clean, and spacious for the two of us. Our cabin steward, Loli, was wonderful! He made sure that we had everything we needed at all times. His concern for our welfare, as well as our needs of the room, went beyond our expectations. The room seemed a bit warm at first, but it got much cooler, and stayed that way the entire trip...very comfortable! The window was not just a little port hole, but a full sized window that gave us the glorious views of the ocean and the sun coming through in the morning was a nice compliment. Thank you Loli, for all your attention to making our trip a very pleasant one!!
Port Reviews
Freeport
It has your typical little areas where you can purchase goods, souvenirs, restaurants etc. The beach was beautiful, you could rent ski jets, or just look at the beautiful clean ocean.
Palm Beach
Commercial ship yard. Tropicana etc. Not much to see, not the best area. Parking went okay, some waiting in lines to valet parking. Have cash ready for payment, $17 per day, or you may have to wait in another line for credit card use.