hapytobehr

The OP stated that the deal is for Drinks everywhere on the ship which is indeed the Cheers package.

Don't avoid the Color my World show. It was very good. Very talented performers and the choreography was awesome!

We loved Rudi's so much on the Celebration we went a second time!

LOL...very few games and very few players. If you like Carnival's casinos, you will not like MSC's.

IF the ship leaves the port at 6:30, you ,most likely have to be back on board by 5:30. As far as the dining time, from what i remember, you have a 15 minute window. I have, however, seen people walk in 30 minutes late and have not be turned away. I would imagine it depends on the matre'd. Also, I think early dining time is 5:30/5:45 now.

We did the MSC seaside Yacht Club and the experience was fabulous. The food however was just meh. We then tried the Divina and hated it. The food was awful, very little activities and the casino was awful. Yes, they do have tablecloths and the ships are beautiful, but I'll take fun over tablecloths anytime. We keep coming back to Carnival which truly are the "fun" ships. Many have complained about cutbacks and to be honest, on our NYE cruise on the Celebration, it wasn't noticed.

Center stage (atrium) has the aerial acts and the elaborate shows. The seating area is awful and very difficult to get a seat. There are 3 floors of seating, decks 6, 7 and 8. If you are successful in getting a seat on deck 6 near the stage you can see everything. Anywhere else if not in the front row, you will not be able to see when they are not on the stage. Also, on deck 7 & 8 there is a lot of background noise. The grand spectrum theatre has the usual productions shows, but much better choreography than the older shows. The talent is excellent. The seating is done well in this venue. You will not have a problem seeing the comedy shows as they have several different times and 2 different venues. I don't remember how many nights they had a show in the grand spectrum theatre with both comedians as well.

This is completely different than the Vista

I heard that starboard side has the smoking, so if you have a balcony, you may want to avoid that side.

To be honest it wasn't bad when we got there at 10:30ish. But I believe if you get there after 1:30, it should be easy.

Happy New Year to all! I will start by saying that the ship is absolutely beautiful! Embarkation was quick and easy and the new terminal is really nice. We had a balcony room and found it to be very nice with lots of storage. The bathroom was a little smaller than usual but was fine for us and loved the shower door! The shows were very entertaining. However, the design of center stage as many people have commented is awful. You cannot see unless you are sitting on deck 6. If you are on any of the upper levels you cannot see over people's heads unless you are in the front row. We were able to get good seats on the second showing of the circus show I guess because a lot of people may have gone to the first or just gave up trying to get seats. (although we did get there an hour before start time). We loved the shows in the Spectrum theatre and the choreography was so well done. All the performers were very talented. It was easy to get into the comedy shows due to the way they have them scheduled. Now for the food: We never stepped foot into the MDR except for the Sea Day brunch. I found it to be very good as usual and had no issues with service. They may have changed the menu but to me it was a non issue. We ate at the Steakhouse the first night and it was great. Rudi's Seagrill was the next night and we like it so much, we went back for a second time. Bonsai Teppanyaki is a don't miss! If you can, book it in advance otherwise you will have trouble getting in once on the ship. We ate at Emril's for lunch one day and it was delicious as well. We went to Cucina one night and although the food was good, the service was awful besides waiting over an hour. Chibang was good too and the service wasn't too bad. It seemed that all the pay restaurants had much better service than the ones that were free. The only time we went to the buffet was for breakfast and the choices were the same each day. My DH and I are Casino players and spend lots of time there. We NEVER had a hard time getting a drink as my husband tips well and the servers came back to him consistently. They also came over to me to ask if I needed anything every time he ordered. We sat on the no smoking side of the Casino and it was a pleasure not having to stink from smoke every night! I think there are more tables on the no smoking side as well. The casino was very crowded but we usually never waited too long for a seat. Embarkation went pretty smooth because of the facial recognition. Overall we loved this ship and enjoyed ourselves even though I came home with a terrible cold. (at least it wasn't COVID this time). We are ready to sail again on her March 26th!

Check in process will be available 14 days prior to your cruise. You can print them afterwards.

If you are referring to a hold'em table where you play against others, there are none. They do have heads up hold'em (where you play only against the dealer), 3 card poker and let it ride. The casino is set up with 2 sides, smoking and non-smoking. It was awesome not smelling of smoke every day!

🤣 No pun intended?

I heard that the newer ships, i.e., Celebration will now be $10 minimum on craps.

Does the ship seem crowded?

YES

From what I have read, the 8:15 dining time is really 7:45 now. We showed up "late" the first night we went on our previous cruise. Check it out on the fun times.

There still will be lines with FTTF

There is no time at all that I would not cruise. I think we have cruised every month in the calendar. Maybe because we live in Florida and it's easy to pick up and go. This will be our 6th NYE cruise and we love it!

From what I have heard from recent cruisers, things are like they were pre covid as far as boarding and check in times

Definitely! and because 7 days will not be enough to check out everything, we already booked the Celebration for March as well!

Thanks for the ride! Our NYE cruise on the Celebration will be like we have already been on the ship!

<~~~~~was #154 😄

You're the best! Thank you! Hope you had a great cruise!