First, the title. One fine morning our suite butler delivered breakfast on the balcony. As he left, he inadvertently locked the sliding door from the inside. We were trapped on the balcony with no way of contacting the ship. I did have my iPad, so I emailed a friend back home, who called Celebrity's emergency number, and after two hours on the balcony we were released. The staff were properly embarrassed.

Now to the review. First, background. We've taken about 20 cruises, mostly on Princess, but as our resources have increased we are shifting to Viking. We ended up on Celebrity with one-week's notice after Princess cancelled our booking because we had a baby along. They wanted everyone vaccinated, and of course babies can't get vaccinated. We wouldn't have minded if they had told us that earlier. As a result, we booked with Celebrity which has the same time frame from the same port.

I am going to compare Viking and Celebrity. Sounds odd, but Celebrity, like other cruise lines, is trying to do "tiers" of service. We had a suite, which meant a "butler," a separate dining room separate sun deck facilities, wine and beer, and other perks. Basically, Celebrity is selling a ship within a ship. Regular passengers get the standard sightly upscale experience, those who pay for a suite get more. I'll compare the Viking and Celebrity experiences, since the prices are comparable. The cruises I'm comparing were all running at partial capacity given COVID requirements. Read more