jam19872016

Adult game night if it hasn't gotten any better. I was on one of the first sailings to offer it (maybe the second or third) and I overheard the beards who were on the ship mentioning it was getting terrible reviews from guests. It wasn't any better that night. If I'm ever fortunate enough to get on the Excel class again I will give it another shot, that was back when Celebration was brand new, perhaps they have worked the kinks out of it.

Perhaps I misspoke, nobody was "forced" to participate (although it was suggested it was not for spectators by the CD). I think rather that the intimate venue led to more people feeling comfortable to participate. I'm sure not everyone did. I would say you can't please everyone, but should everyone have to miss Quest because the venue is too small, or just a few people who are uncomfortable in a small venue or turned away if it's at capacity? I feel like one way leaves more people satisfied than the other. This CD also bragged about being the #1 rated CD in the fleet that past month based on the surveys we do. Plenty of other things to enjoy on an excel class, but I do wish they would try Quest and see if it could work.

On Freedom it was held in the tiny lounge on deck 4 that used to be the cigar bar. Very tiny room and seemed like a terrible setup. Then once it began, it was a very intimate experience and turned out to be the best Quest I've ever attended. Everyone had to participate, nearly impossible to be a spectator in such a small space and a genuis move by the CD. So yes, saying there is no venue big enough on Excel class is an excuse. The adult game night they hosted instead was very cringe and hard to watch.

The duck is another Celebrity favorite. I tried duck so many times on various cruise lines, including " Cunard, and found it to range from didn't care for to just OK. I'd pretty much just concluded I didn't like duck but tried it again anyway and was blown away by how good this dish was!

Excellent news!!

I love the piano bar and always sorely miss it on Celebrity. Any piano bar is better than no piano bar, but I have to ask, what style is it? Is it a rowdy, jolly good time sing along style piano bar music, or is it mostly just a guy playing music on a piano? '

The trout is one of my favorite dishes on Celebrity. I was like you the first time I tried it, grapes seemed like such an odd choice. They paired with the fish perfectly and now I order it every time I see it on the menu and it has never disappointed. Yummy!😋

It's getting hot in here

Yea I don't bother behaving either on vacation but I still track it so I don't get too bad of a shock when it's all over. I gained 18 pounds last cruise, which sounds so much worse than 1-2 pounds every day for twelve days.

Yummy. I would try all three and then go back for seconds of any real standouts along with some dessert. That and a salad upstairs, I think I would be set. Then head back for tea time at 3 so I can make sure my scale insults me consistently 😅

So they do have sandwiches now! That is awesome to see. I hope they continue to be delicious, I could see myself making a lunch out of it as I just don't usually find much I care for at the buffet.

DId you bring a scale also? Mine was pretty mean to me. Two weeks back and I've still got 3 lbs to go before I get it back off. Terrible. Totally worth it though 😄

Following along! Can't wait to see some Al Bacon goodies to remind me what I'm missing as I am back to fasting trying to take those cruise pounds back off.

I'm just trying to convince myself that the next cruise is not so far far far away 😅 My mom called me today. Seems Cunard has sent her a brochure with some lovely rates. I am quite tempted and the wheels are certainly turning. One of them was the Alaska trip I was already eyeing, the flight costs all the way to Vancouver are really what is holding me back from booking, as the cruise fare is an absolute steal, 10 days for $699 plus taxes.

Just a few days to go! How exciting! Enjoy Oasis, it is a wonderful ship even if Café Promenade is nowhere near as good as Al Bacon 🙂

My fare for an inside was 100% comped. I paid just the taxes ($170 ish) plus gratuities. Of course somewhere along the way, I lost a lot of money in their casino so it was prepaid. I would like to think I have regained what I've lost but I am sure that I have not broken even yet. I still have offers, they haven't gotten tired of me sailing without dropping much more money in their bank but I expect it to stop any time now. I'm sticking with Royal's casino program as I prefer their product better overall. I matched to Elite thanks to status with Royal, doubt I will ever see Zenith since I prefer an inside cabin which gets almost nothing in loyalty points. Free premium drinks and internet would be nice, but I can't complain I do appreciate the Elite happy hour drinks and the 30% discount on wifi. At those costs, 30% is a nice savings!

Thank you both for your kind words and for reading along 🙂

Oasis not Icon, but I knew what you meant. Icon's pricing will leave me on the outside looking in for a few years at least, and with the exception of the dueling piano bar, there isn't really anything that excites me that much more than Oasis class, they really set a hard bar to beat with that ship. Yes I agree the ability to upgrade the dining makes a wonderful difference with Royal. I hope to do a review soon without the dining plan to showcase more of the included options, it is quite a difference and I think you would definitely need to purchase the dining plan to enjoy similar quality to Cunard. It is nice that there are options though, as I will have to find a bargain again in order to sail on one of the lovely Queens again since that cost is baked in already. I can't think of one area where I would agree that Cunard places second to Celebrity. Pricing, perhaps, though Celebrity is no bargain by any means. Entertainment (this trip excluded 🙂) is probably more diverse, but I think the entertainment options on QE were perfectly suited for the demographic. There were certainly no gaps in offerings, just none that were particularly exciting for a thirty something American. Soon is a relative term. Compared to a typical human lifetime, 298 days is soon so in that sense, I will be cruising again soon. Of course, I hope it will be even sooner than that as right now that many days certainly feels another lifetime away 🙂

I enjoyed Reflection as well. That class of ship is simply stunning. I was reading a review today where sandwiches were spotted at Al Bacon! Oh my, that has some serious potential if it is as good as the sweets. I could skip the buffet all together 😄

Thank you for following along! The aviary is such a nice treat. I could go back time and time again and never tire of seeing it.

I'm also spoiled by newer ships. I don't need the newest flashiest toy out there, but this ship was a little older and smaller than what I typically look for. So part of the problem is on me but I loved the itinerary which more than made up for it I think. I was certainly tempted to use a taxi they seemed plentiful! My mom was doing ok she got a nice bench to sit on (and could have sat on her scooter if she had needed to) but we stuck it out. I meant to check times so I could describe how long everything took but in the chaos of the morning I failed 🙂 I would probably still use them again but definitely stick to my plans of being to port early just in case they get backed up like this every time. It's one thing to wait to be picked up, don't make me wait to board 😂

Thank you all for following along with me as I rambled on for three weeks 🙂 Right now the countdown is at 300 before the next cruise 😮 but I will be sure to come back and post a link if I sail away again before that time (fingers crossed)! One other thing I forgot to mention, my mom's scooter. She called about sending it back as it was still under warranty and she was asked to turn it on so they could hear the beeping sound it was making to try and determine the problem. When she did so, it worked just fine. My thought was perhaps it could not get a charge on the ship, but she did not charge it at home at all before turning it on for the scooter people. It seems to be working now but she does not really use it at home so it is hard to really test it out too much. She thinks maybe she had a safety switch cut on. I'm not sure? Hopefully it was just an operator error and she will be able to use it in the future as I think it helped her enjoy her cruise a little bit more.

Service: I was happy with the service I got from my room steward. He was a little odd and awkward in the hallway but he did a great job keeping the room clean and fulfilling our needs. I enjoyed our dining room team although my mom was no longer a fan by the end of the cruise. Service in other areas was always pleasant and while not as friendly as I have seen on other Celebrity cruises where you can't walk past a single crew member without a smile and hello, they were all still very friendly and I had no instances where I was unsatisfied. Overall: Despite the negative tone this wrap up still took, I really did enjoy the cruise. It did not have what I wanted out of the nightlife but I enjoyed the time with my mom and she seemed to also enjoy herself in her own way. I think the scooter helped with that as I could detect a shift in her mood after her day walking around Cozumel. I also loved the longer itinerary and the chance to really get settled into the ship a little better than you do on a week long cruise. I am not sure I will have another Celebrity cruise any time soon though. I will be scaling back my cruising for now and so I need to be more selective. Nothing about the Celebrity product really jumps out at me and that is ok because there are plenty of options for everyone to enjoy exactly what they like. I would still like to try an E class ship, and the quick trips on Reflection to Coco Cay might be nice for a quick getaway. Celebrity is also moving to Port Canaveral soon, that would be a nice new option close to my mom although Princess is also moving there and I still have yet to try them. Other than those options, I would need to see a cruise "priced to move" in order to try them again but they will certainly be a consideration for a nice price and itinerary, and the Elite perks would be icing on the cake since refilling the mobile bar would be cheaper!

Entertainment: Phew, I seem to recall saying I was trying to not be too negative in my summary 🙂 I'm not succeeding thus far, and this category is not going to change that tone. I think I touched on most of my points throughout the review but I do wonder where the fault lies here, Sue, whoever plans the activities, or the passenger demographic? I kind of feel like part of it is one of the first two. Looking at any given night, at 6-8 when this age group is enjoying their early bird dinner, there would be 3-4 musical acts performing as well as a show in the theater for the late dinner folks. This was very much a traditonal crowd that loves to do dinner and a show, or a show and dinner. Then after 8, there was literally nothing going on. I mean nothing, anywhere, except sometimes a movie outside and a sales pitch in the shops. This is the time most people are done with dinner and are looking to be entertained, and there is nothing going on until the 9 show. Then the late show starts and the traditional dinner and a show crowd is happy. That is not me and it takes a pretty good show to hold my interest. So I would like to go see one of those musical acts, of which 3-4 were playing earlier, except none of them have an evening set except the party band and they don't go on again until the 10:15 party of the night. Occasionally another act would do a set at 11, I only went one time to check that out, and in fact the venue was empty and there was nobody playing. That might be on the crowd though, if nobody showed up maybe the band closed down. I have never really heard of ship performers only doing two sets a night, but if that is a thing, wouldn't it make more sense to stagger the sets? Instead of them all performing at 6 and 7, maybe half perform at 6 and 8, and the other half 7 and 9? Most of the music was not to my liking so maybe I still would have been bored but I could attribute that to the demographic on board, by simply not having anything on the schedule at all, that feels like poor planning. Most of the 10:15 parties were not to my taste, but some were more enjoyable than I expected, especially the St. Patrick's day party. The nightclub was dead by opening at 11:30 and they did not help matters with the songs they chose to play. By the end of the cruise nobody even bothered showing up. I would show up to an empty venue. The karaoke night I was not ready to give up and tried again at midnight, and they had actually closed down since nobody showed up. I loved silent disco. Three times in 12 days was kind of poor compared to the three times on my six day Reflection trip, but still way better than the one time in 26 days on Carnival Magic. Karaoke was an unexpectedly good time. That was a fun bunch. I wish they had come to the club. I went back down and they were all still hanging out there in the now closed venue instead of bringing that energy up to the club which was now also shut down since nobody came. I think that was the general theme of this trip, it was meant for people in large groups who enjoyed sitting around with a glass of wine enjoying each other's company. It was not really a group looking or needing to be entertained. I would have been quite content with a decent selection of on demand movies, even for a fee, but that was not on offer either. If you love 50's and 60's music, this may be a great ship for you. Sue was trying to sell the 80's party (on the last night so I couldn't stay up for it) and started by asking how many in the audience were over 80. Thunderous applause. No wonder the music was not geared to me 🙂 She followed by saying "and forty years ago you were listening to Freddie Mercury so don't tell me that you are too old for 80's rock." I wonder if they really were? My 67 year old mother was most definitely not 😂

Public Spaces and Cabin: The ship was very well maintained for an older ship. I did not really notice any wear and tear that you would expect on a ship this age. The only issues I noted were the elevators which I previously documented and they seemed to be working again by the end of the cruise. The other was the temperature inside the ship. It was slightly warm in many of the public areas. As I tend to run hot I would often think, ok it's not that warm, it's just me. Then I would walk into the next section of the ship and be blasted with cold air and go nope, this ship is a little too warm. The only spot that crossed "warm" and into "hot" was Reflections Lounge. During the daytime it was too hot to sit in there for more than a couple minutes. Then by the end of the voyage I went in there and it was an absolute ice box! So who knows? The design of the ship was a little clunky. The biggest spot I noticed it was the pool deck and inside the buffet. Instead of buffet stations it was mostly one big line and no real clear start point so it was not uncommon for people to just butt in. On the pool deck you could not cross from side or the other without climbing through the pool area which was of course always slippery. Then there was the pool bar in the middle of the walkway on the port side that you had to squeeze past, don't bother trying to cut across because you will need to cross through the pool. That said, as there are not a lot of people onboard, it rarely felt too crowded but you can definitely see where ship designs have gotten smarter as they have increased capacities. The cabin I can't really find anything nice to say. Other than the Majesty of the Seas, I can't recall ever having a more cramped stateroom than this one in all my travels. It was tiny and non functional at every turn. Very little storage space even considering how light I pack and I would not call my mom an over packer. The AC worked well, which is very important to me, so it did have that going for it.