My wife and I are long time Celebrity cruisers, but, after some management changes a couple of years ago, we had become somewhat disenchanted with them. This cruise and one on Equinox earlier in the year have reversed our thinking.

We booked this Panama Canal Transit on board over a year before the cruise, primarily to get a look at the expanded canal. While the ship cruised only on the original canal and we could see only the entrance to the new one, we're quite happy with the ship, the personnel, the food and the itinerary.

Embarkation in Miami was a nightmare. This seemed to be caused by the need to sanitize the ship because of a few cases of narvovirus (?) on the previous cruise, the immigration requirements from that cruise coming from South America, and the inefficiency of the Miami terminal. Regardless, we were shuffled from one long line to another, with no obvious "plan". When we finally did board, though, as Concierge passengers we were treated to an excellent sit-down lunch in the main dining room. A very welcomed perk as opposed to the usual chaos in the Oceanview buffet. I'm sure suite and Aqua passengers were treated well also. Read more