My wife and I got off our 2 night mini-getaway aboard the Grand Celebration this morning. We're a married, middle class, white collar couple with a 7 month old son that lives outside of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. We've been on many cruises, primarily on Royal Caribbean and Carnival, and this was our first time traveling without our son. We chose this cruise because of the price, date, and convenience of sailing out of Palm Beach (my mother who watched our son lives in Boca Raton).
Instead of booking online or through a Groupon, I booked this cruise about 3 months out by calling the cruise line directly. I asked for an upgrade from the least expensive cabin and I was given an Ocean View cabin on Deck 5 aft. Additionally, I was supposed to receive a $25.00 shipboard credit.
The Palm Beach port does not allow you to self park. Instead, you have to valet your vehicle, which is a pain. We arrived at the Palm Beach port at around noon and it took about 1/2 an hour to valet. Embarkation was breeze (we avoided all of the people trying to sell us something) and debarkation was just as simple because we had our passports (those without passports had to wait in a separate line that was at least an hour long).
Our cabin, M154, was fifth to the end on the second passenger deck. The room looked identical to the other Carnival ships that I have sailed on. The main problem with this room is that I believe the cabin is over one of the thrusters. It sounded like a freight train in our cabin while we were docking in Freeport.
We learned the hard way that Senor Frogs and the other restaurants and shops are only open when a Carnival ship is in port. Instead, we took a group cab to Taino Beach ($30.00 r/t p/p). The Junkanoo Beach Club is permanently closed. We therefore paid the admission fee to Taino Beach ($3.00 p/p) and rented 2 beach chairs and umbrella ($15.00). The beach is very pretty and was not crowded.