I chose this cruise for the ease of traveling through New Zealand and the hopes of an upscale crowd and good food in Blu. We book an Aqua Class stateroom with a balcony.
The unfortunate: Warning! Do not book #1604 or #1602!! These 2 rooms have HUGE air handler vents on the balcony which are super noisy! You really can’t sit on the balcony with the noise, and, in fact, the motor noise can also be heard in the room.
The good: I got to know some of the higher-up staff like the head of the Hotel and head of Guest Relations (Ralf) as well as the Concierge in Michael’s Club. These employees were stellar! Very caring and GREAT at their job. I will give a shout-out to Josue Acosta in Michael’s Club. He was an A+!
Our stateroom was very clean. Our attendant, Jonel, was great - did everything we asked. The balcony was not clean - the railing and plex-glass were filthy and somewhat broken.
Warning!! Do not book #1604 or #1602 - LOUD air handler vents on the balconies. Please see my review above. I believe these are the only 2 staterooms affected, from what we could see from land.
Guest Relations was great. We were two couples who had two rooms. Guest Relations did agree to move us to new rooms and we were very appreciative!! The entire staff was great at helping us move.
My recommendation - from a seasoned cruiser - depending on what YOU like to do on a cruise - Celebrity might or might not be for you. We are likely going to move over to megaships on Royal Caribbean where there are tons of activities onboard.