This was our 13th cruise, first with Celebrity. We usually cruise with Royal or Princess. We booked this vacation for a low key spring break with our two teenagers, one balcony cabin and one interior.
Despite some issues booking both cruise and air, using the Celebrity specialists, once on board the vacation was very nice and relaxing. The ship is beautiful and well maintained. There was plenty of public seating in all areas of the ship, including the pool and the buffet. The theater is nice, and was used for multiple purposes besides shows, such as Easter mass, Muster Drill and debarkation. We liked the use of the large space for these purposes. We liked the layout of the main area. The bars, the shops and services are all arranged around the center of the ship. The library on board is gorgeous, quiet, and well stocked. The buffet is laid out in a food court fashion, which eliminated one long line, but did lead to a little bit of chaos in finding your choice of entree. The gym is large, clean, good equipment and has a great view. Most classes have fees. The cushions on the pool and deck chairs was a treat! Overall we were very impressed with the layout, decoration, cleanliness, and maintenance of the ship.
The cabins were TINY with very limited storage compared to Royal or Princess. The balcony is larger than what we had on the Island Princess, and had two chairs that reclined, one ottoman (other balconies had two) and a wooden table. The beds were very hard, had rounded corners and very small uncomfortable pillows. The bathroom is larger, but minimal counter space and one tall shelf unit. The shower is larger, with glass doors and bottles of shampoo, conditioner, lotion and a bar of soap. The desk in the room is small, includes 6 small drawers (2 shallow, 4 deeper) and a mini fridge that is full of mini-bar items. Two outlets and a European receptacle were on the lower edge of the two level desk. TV is on the wall. The nightstands are very narrow, 3 open shelves, the phone is on one shelf. The closet is small, and half blocked by an in room day bed, (which is useless). The top shelf is only about 5 inches high. 5 pairs of shoes did not fit on the floor of the closet without stacking them. A backpack and a briefcase were on the other side of the closet floor (there is a divider down the middle). My teenagers had an interior cabin which was very small and very dark. We realized this was attributed to no large mirror on the wall that we were used to. Same set up as balcony room, but no balcony- obviously.
The cabin was clean and well cared for. Beds were hard and pillows unacceptable. Balcony is large and had nice furniture- 2 reclining chairs, and ottoman, and a table. From the balcony you can see up into the bridge on deck 11. Very minimal storage, though the bathroom is larger than other cruise lines, and the shower is nice. The cabin was very quiet and in a good location between main dining rooms, theater, and pool deck and buffet. I would book this cabin again.
Our first time leaving from Miami. It was a nice city. We stayed the night at Hampton Inn Blue Lagoon, which had an airport shuttle, free breakfast buffet, is across from a shopping plaza with Walgreens, CVS, grocery stores (get your wine!) and other stores (a Burlington Coat Factory!) They book an outside company for scheduled cruise shuttles. This was nice also. Will definitely stay again pre-cruise.
Evening stop limited the things we could do. Toured the San Cristobol Fort on our own, had a snack and some drinks, walked Old San Juan. Back on board after a few hours.
Beautiful island. Lots you can book on your own: sails, island tours, rent a car, go to a gorgeous beach.... This time we just walked down and had a delicious lunch and the not to miss guavaberry coladas!