Embarkation was a breeze. Landed at SJU at 2.15pm, in cabin at 3.45pm. Taxis are the best way to go if travelling as a group of 2 or more. Ship wanted $36 for r/t transfers. Taxi is $38 r/t for up to 4 people with $1 extra for each bag placed in trunk. Fast too -- no waiting for the bus/van to fill up. Lunch buffet on first day was quite extensive with many good choices. Hint - pannini sandwich counter not panninis, just grilled sandwiches.

Chose the select dining alternative which required prepaying gratuities. Made reservations in advance online, and only had to wait to be seated one night (2d formal night) for about 10 minutes when we overslept and missed our reservation time. Celebrity only sets aside the balcony on the port side of the restaurant for select dining, so if you are interested, book it when you book your cruise. We had a $250 refundable onboard credit from crucon.com, which worked out great since we seldom take ship arranged land tours. Money saving tip: $2.50 round trip bus in Curacao to beach, $2.30 round trip in Aruba to Palm Beach, $10 per person round trip (group of 4) to the former Mailbu Beach Club in Barbados, $14 round trip of beach at St. Lucian resort, $10 round trip (group of 6) to beach in St. Kitts. Did a lot of beach lounging since we did this trip in 09 on Galaxy and had seen just about everything worthwhile on these islands between that trip and visits off the Norwegian Pearl in 07 and the Norwegian Spirt and Golden Princess in 05.

Service as always is superb on Celebrity. Very well organized dining room service for select dining, every bit as good as Holland America. Food quality, although still good, doesn't offer as many excellent choices each night as it did on Galaxy and prior cruises on Horizon. Had to go with red meat options 9 times (3 filets, 3 sirloins, 2 rack of lambs, one veal with pasta). Rack of lamb was fantastic, as were 2 of the 3 filets and 2 of the sirloins. Veal with pasta was a disaster as far as we were concerned. Celebrity continues to cook burgers and dogs ahead of time, which results in burgers that aren't piping hot and dogs that are only luke warm and many times not grilled sufficiently, Suggested to ship they follow Holland America's way of doing -- cooking them to order, got a big song and dance about long lines and an apologetic invitation to the bridge tour. They offer a spa breakfast and spa lunch in the large Aqua Spa for people concerned about calories (which we were, but we bypassed this option ever day). Read more