It was our first time with Celebrity, so here are my impressions. Staff could not have been nicer. Our room steward was a doll who remembered everything we liked and even left us a bag of chocolates on the last night. Wait staff in MDR were efficient, entertaining, and hardworking. People remembered our names, greeted us on and off the ship, and made the trip pretty special.

The ship, as many have posted, needs some upgrading in places (mostly the verandas), but staff were always painting, replacing carpets, and cleaning. I enjoyed the lack of neon lights and far-out colour schemes, and Michael's lounge was definitely classy.

The MDR lunch menu was varied and pretty good, but the dinner menu was a bit pretentious. Most dishes (even apps) had five-line descriptions with "foams, nages, fricassees, emulsions, infusions, rillettes, fondants and mousselines". Geez. I speak French, my brother's a big-city chef, and I've eaten my way around Europe -- and it still seemed overly showy for pretty simple dishes. Most nights' entrees were predictable: seafood, a lamb dish, a steak dish, a poultry dish, and horrible-sounding vegetarian selections. On the whole, most apps and entrees were good. A few were duds which, in spite of their fancy ingredients, really had no discernible seasoning. (Chilled tangerine soup was lumpy orange juice in a bowl. Avoid that one. Caprese salad is half a cold tomato with a lump of cold mozzarella. The Italians would be horrified.) Several dishes did not contain the ingredients as billed -- how does that happen? Desserts were often very good, but what is it with cruise ships and cake? They turn everything into a mousse and it's next to impossible to find a real, solid gateau. Celebrity is mousse-obsessed, imho. Desserts with apple were popular and well-executed, the homemade ice cream was a treat, the creme brulee just right. We had the late seating at a table for eight, and our dinner companions were really lovely. I think that's one of the great things about a cruise -- meeting new people. Read more