EMBARKATION: Booked Comfort Suites Airport and Cruiseport hotel in Ft. Lauderdale the prior night. Good deal: $166 covers one night stay plus parking for up to 14 days. Fast shuttle for 10 minutes to cruise terminal. Delay at terminal due to extra sanitizing. Advice: don't arrive too early for any cruise as you're guaranteed to wait. We arrived at terminal 2 PM, borded ship at 3:30 PM. Some early arrivals had to sit from 10 AM. Celebrity handled things very well.
SHIP: An understated beauty. Colors are muted. Size and weight rides the waves well during one rough night. With room for 2,850 guests it seems not crowded at all. Good outdoor decks for walkers. difficult getting deck chairs unless you come early. Grass lawn on top deck saw little use and should be converted for additional deck chairs...a unique idea but not at all practical. Sufficient elevators with glass walls, great atrium views. Captain Mike has personality, interacting with passengers face to face often!
STATEROOM: Outside Cabin 8258 is on the "bump" at midships, a super choice recommended by our agent. Extended private veranda perhaps the largest in the class. Midship locale eases the rocking. Well appointed, well insulated quiet, roomy shower, comfy beds. Miss a closeline in bath area, especially with no self laundry facilities on the ship. DINING: Chose Select (flexible times) dining plan in advance. First two nights we had made prior times at 7 PM, a time when everybody on Select apparently wants to eat. Things didn't go well. Celebrity Guest Relations and a few Officers were candid in that the line is struggling to make flexi dining work. Later nights however worked better when guests and management sorted things out. Our experience was to pre book every remaining day after the first two at 6:45 PM, a few minutes before the "rush". Worked well. Food very very good...service excellent even with different serving teams handling us. Downside is the area devoted to Select dining means extremely tight seating in Silhouette (main room). They need more distance between tables. Be prepared to get to know your other table dining neighbors during dinner. And, don't be afraid to refuse a table and ask for another. As for the buffet at Oceanview we were very happy with the "islands" and flow.
Cabin 8253: well appointed, most spacious veranda in class, quiet and well insulated, comfortable bed, large flat screen TV with on-demand movie feature, individual climate control, lacks pull out clothes line in bath area,wish there was more storage space.