Hello interested readers. We did not pick this ship or cruise line since it was purchased by my folks as a family vacation. Having sailed a couple times before on Royal Caribbean (which owns Celebrity), this cruise line and ship were a huge step down. This was supposed to be a step up with some sort of "white glove service". Definitely not. It was a once in a lifetime cruise opportunity that was flawed from the beginning. So where to start? How about at the beginning? Embarkation and boarding went just fine - line went quickly from the Rome area embarkation. Getting into our cabin which was a portside window provided a fairly decent view of the outside world so we were happy with that. So while the room was clean and updated, it still felt a little old - for example - there was just TWO U.S. power plugs in the whole room. Are you kidding me? In this day and age of phones and devices, this is totally not acceptable. My back started acting up the night we got there - and it wasn't until we left that i realized that the mattress was at fault. The bed was clean and large but clearly bad support for my back. The attendant did terrific in keeping the room up to snuff.

Next lets talk about dining which was what i really looked forward to. It ended up being worst experience ever - amateur hour. Mixed up orders between our table mates SEVERAL times. Service was slow and the Food was sub-par - meat cooked wrong on multiple occasions and sent back. Lobster night was embarrassing as well as the waiter apologized for the size of the lobster tails and had to bring several extras. He rolled his eyes several times as the assistant waiter fouled up orders. We didn't mind too much as they were very nice - but isn't this Celebrity which is supposed to be the best???? Daily menu selections were bleh but we went because the family would all gather there at night. Another example, the Shrimp cocktail were embarrassingly tiny. Sliced scallops looked like the waiter took one scallop and sliced it with a razor blade for the whole dining hall. Go to Oceanside buffet instead. Staff was nice but so SLOW and bumbling into each other. My wife actually had to get up and go to a bar outside the restaurant to get my drink for me as i sat there waiting. My evening coffee i ordered on more than one occasion was so slow that i walked out more than once because it was getting close to either bed time or cocktail hour!. The waiter told me "oh i had to go get it from somewhere else" - whaaat? The Oceanside buffet was far and away better with daily rotating choices - plus you can wear whatever you wanted there. In the dining hall, men had to wear long pants and I got kicked out once because of it. Who brings long pants (besides for formal nite) on a Mediterranean cruise. Breakfast was phenomenal at Oceanside - no complaints at all.

Then there were the entertainment activities -wait - there were none. In 9 days of a cruise there were two pool deck activities. I know this because i spent much of my time with my daughter there poolside. My daughter went to the fun factory which is basically for the kids activities and she had fun. But they struggled to get kids to go. 400 kids were on the ship and they barely could wrestle in 10% - their biggest crowd was during talent night on the last day w 40 kids present. Their arcade was absolutely abysmal. Embarrassingly broken down old 20yr old video game units went virtually unused by anyone. We complained and tried to get them serviced for 4 straight days and not one person got back to me. The "casino" guy will take care of it we were told - never heard from this mysterious person. The machines took your money and the game didn't play. Awful experience with an 8yr old - try doing damage control with a young child when that happens!. Then when i got my statement they tried to charge me, to which i finally put my foot down and said NO WAY and nearly made a scene. They did credit my account at the end. They had daily pre-dinner shows which were fine - fine for adults. Boring for me. But I'm not into the arts so I cant really appreciate or provide a fair analysis. Only one in 9 days was of interest to my 8yr old and that was the magician. Read more