We chose this cruise because it was going to Russia which was fantastic, we did our tours in St. Petersburg with a company called TJ Travel they were brilliant, only 12 in our group, plus a superb tour guide and driver, it was also much cheaper than the ships tours. The food on the ship was very ordinary, particularly in the main Curvee restaurant, certainly not what we expect from a 5* ship, and although the service in this restaurant was good, this was only because we requested to be seated in a specific area where the service was better than in other areas where we had previously been seated. There was a general feeling in all service areas (bars and restaurants) that there were insufficient staff available as there were often long waits for orders to be taken in both main restaurant and bars and on occasions people were experiencing long waits before they could be seated for dinning. We only used one of the speciality restaurants and that was on our first evening, where the food was very ordinary, despite it being quite expensive. The service in the buffet restaurant was generally good, however on a number of occasions, partially on sea days at lunch times, it was extremely difficult to find a table, you could see many people walking around trying to find seating, including a lot of elderly people who had mobility problems. The drinks package also caused us some concern in particular with the choice of wine, where only the cheapest of wine brands were available without a supplement, I drink sauvignon blanc and the French wine which was being offered was to be frank horrid (not just my view but also other dinners seated around us), I therefore opted to pay the supplement for New Zealand SB. Although the shows in the main theatre were good, when there was entertainment in the foyer, there was insufficient seating in level 3 where the foyer is which meant trying to get a place on the above balcony it all felt a little too cramped and did not make it a particularly enjoyable experience. The cabin itself was good as was the service we received in the cabin, apart from the breakfast room service which we only used once because our orders were muddled, and our food was not particularly warm when it arrived. This was our second cruise with Celebrity and we are unlikely to cruise with them again, it felt to us and other people we spoke to onboard, that Celebrity are cost cutting, hence the food and service being below that expected of a 5* rated cruise line.