Momto5

Confused? You put your luggage in a line at 630am and then headed to breakfast? Isn't that the same as saving a deck chair?

For 25 minutes? Really? Saving a deck chair for 4 hours is a bit different. I suppose we could have eaten separately. As it is, there were maybe 5 people behind us when we returned. We would have left the luggage in the cabin, but wanted to give the crew the opportunity to have a head start on our cabin.

I hope to post a more comprehensive review with pictures when I find some time. For now this will do, and I hope it will be helpful to you lucky people planning your trip!

Pre cruise stay We arrived in Fort Lauderdale at 10 am from an early morning flight out of Buffalo. We were at the Embassy Suites Fort Lauderdale by 11. We were happy to find out they had a room ready. The hotel is dated, the room a bit dark. It was a rainy dreary day and we did not get to check out the pool. However the hotel was convenient to shopping, airport and cruise port. Free drinks in the evening and a substantial free breakfast in the morning. I would stay there again.

Embarkation The hotel called us a cab at 10 am and we were at the port by 1030. Dropped the luggage and walked over to security. We breezed through and then went to the check in desks. No lines anywhere. I was in a festive mood and everyone was friendly and helpful. We were up in the departure lounge by 1045. We waited a bit and were on board by 1130. Very easy process.

Ambience The ship is beautiful and spotless. The public restrooms were always pristine-even with those glass sinks, how do they do that? DH left his coffee cup one day while picking up water as we disembarked. He quickly went back and it was already in the trash. Every public area was beautiful. Other than the pool deck, it never felt crowded anywhere we went. We had been on a 12 year old ship last yr with our kids and this was so much nicer. The lawn is a nice touch. Pools were small, and we were surprised they were not saltwater. The Solarium was nice, but we were looking for a more active atmosphere.

Crew The crew were excellent. I had read some complaints, but I have none. Well maybe one. Our cabin steward was efficient but just not friendly. First time we have had an issue. We normally get to know them really well, so this was a new experience for us. All of the other interactions we had with crew was wonderful. I did see some bad passenger behaviour toward the crew and it made me sad. They were clearly trying so hard but some people are never happy. One more hiccup-the pool butlers. If you have been on the ship you know those nice big orange loungers by the pool bar. We were up at 8 am every day to secure them. We did so by plunking our growing behinds in said loungers and staying there. It was nice and quiet and we read our books. The first sea day a gentleman had also secured one. For his wife. With his hat. She came down at 10 and announced she did not wish to sit there. The hat and book happily remained on the chair until 2. There was a lot of this and no enforcement that I saw. Boo!

Dining Again, I had read some negative reviews but we found the food quality to be excellent. The food is so much better than on RCCL. Portions in the MDR are reasonable and allowed us to have a four or five course meal and not feel ridiculously full. I forgot how great hose breadsticks are and our second assistant waiter brought us extras every night. Yes, second assistant waiter. We originally had late dining. We switched to select a week before the cruise as 830 seemed too late. We arrived the first night for our reservation and asked for a large table. We were seated at a two top by the window (it's dark in January) in a corner. The 4 top beside us had an older gentleman who insisted on telling us what to order and a younger gentleman in Reebok shorts and a muscle shirt. Maybe his luggage hadn't arrived? I went to the maitre'd the next morning and asked to be changed to late dining at a large table. We arrived night two to our assigned table-a 6 top. Immediately a family of 6 arrived and announced that this was their table. Now we are standing in the dining room with our seating card in hand, looking lost. Our assistant waiter ushered us to a 4 top. Where we had a lovely meal. Alone. We ended up dining at said table with a great couple we met on board 4 out of the next 5 nights, so all was well. My lobster tail was a bit chewy but that happens. Every other dish we ordered was very good. We enjoyed room service breakfast on our balcony the first four days. It was prompt, hot and correct. We tried the buffet in the mornings and felt like we were fighting for our food. Not fun. We enjoyed the fabulous burgers (I know, burgers on a cruise, right? You have NO idea) at the Mast Grill every sea day. The sushi is the Oceanview Cafe was a nice pre dinner snack. We enjoyed the outdoor seating at the back.

Entertainment and Nightlife For all out there who are worried that Celebrity is dead at night FEAR NOT!! We were never in bed before midnight. There is live music in many venues. The martini bar is hopping. The Sky Lounge had lots of theme nights and we enjoyed dancing up there a few times. Michael's Club was open for the NFL playoffs. We caught the end of both games. There were some very excited Ravens fans. You had to be there. We met two couples on board and spent may hours with them. It is an older demographic than RCCL last year, but by no means is it dull. We went to two production shows and they were good. The illusionist was pretty bad. The comedian was so good we went a second time, knowing he would be repeating a lot of the same material. There was just enough poolside entertainment. Zumba in the morning, pool volleyball or pool olympics on sea days, bands and guitar players. Nice music in between-nothing overwhelming but you could hear it.

Photographers Yes, they get their own "section". We had hoped to get some great family shots on RCCL last yr. The photographers were unimaginative and grumpy. I was going to bypass the whole thing this year and then on Formal night decided to give it a whirl. These guys were great!! They are set up every night, not just formal nights. We stopped in one night and had a private shoot (they were bored). We got some phenomenal non-posey shots! Big shout out to the photo staff!

Ports Three ports, three sea days. My idea of perfect. We walked around San Juan for a couple of hours and visited the small fort. It was our third trip to San Juan. we love it there, but only had 3 hours of daylight. In St. Maarten we grabbed a cab with our new friends to Maho. It was awesome!! Worth the trip over. In St. Thomas we took the ship excursion to St. John. The ferry left from the dock. It was a 45 minute sail over. Not for the weak of stomach. I gave DH an extra Bonamine and he was fine. It was pretty rough. But beautiful if you don't get motion sick. We got off the ferry, ditched the walking tour (as did a few others, they actually asked who wanted to skip the tour) and grabbed a cab to Trunk Bay. What a beautiful quiet beach. We have been to St. Thomas twice and it is so busy. This was a perfect day. Cost 10 dollars more each than doing it on our own. Worth the peace of mind!

Beverages, hot and cold We had a Premium Alcohol package. And we came out 200 dollars ahead. Did we buy things we normally wouldn't like lattes? Of course!! But it was so nice to not have to think about what it cost, do I want it etc. We made our way through the entire Molecular Bar menu. I love a good martini, fruity and straight up, but the Molecular Bar is a step beyond. Amazing. We took water off when in port. It was so convenient. The only issue was with the sommeliers. The Select one tried to sell us a bottle at 20% off and seemed grumpy when we declined. The Late seating one mumbled and we could understand him!! Neither seemed receptive to the idea of pairing wines with our food. We managed but we had been looking forward to some new wines, suggested by the sommeliers.

Disembarkation We had an 1120 out of FLL. Yeah, I know, I know. We had witnessed the chaos the Saturday we flew into FLL. I had read here that self disembark lines filled quickly. So we were up at 6, dropped the luggage in the line at 630 (we were told to be there at 0745-we were 10th in line at 0630) and headed up to the top floor of the dining room for breakfast. Ironically we sat at the same table as night 1. We went back down and waited. There was some attempts at line cutting and some poor communication by the crew. Made for good entertainment while we waited. We were off the ship at about 0750. Long walk with luggage in tow to customs, no wait there and in a cab by 0810. We were at our gate at FLL by 0845. Made for a long wait, but better that than a load of stress!! I would do self disembark again. Just get there early-there was a massive line by 730!!

This was our best cruise ever. We will sail Celebrity from now on when we don't have the kids with us. Unfortunately they would be bored so we will have to return to RCCL with them.

I can answer any questions you might have. This Board was a wealth of info for me and helped make our cruise the great experience it was!!

We recently had Richard Spacey and I agree-he is awesome. And a little bit hot...

We previously cruised on Celebrity. I can't remember our cruise director on the Zenith and our CD on Millennium was only memorable for the fact he was from a city near us in Canada.

So so far, Richard Spacey wins by a mile!

Can't comment on your cabin or Bermuda, but AO for the kids is awesome! My kids begged to go back after dinner. There was never any question. When one was feeling under the weather, my clingy 7 yo went back without her sister.

They got tons of crafts and keepsakes from there, so leave some room in the luggage!

We got there around 10, baggage dropped off, parked and checked in by 1030. Disembarkation of the previous cruise was slow, so we didn't get on until just after noon. Bring a book just in case.

I have cruised out of Miami and Fort Lauderdale. This was easy, well organized and probably our quickest check in yet. Everyone was extremely friendly!

Looks like an awesome excursion. My youngest would be terrified though. Like on our boat on Georgian Bay in the summer-lol.

We had a similar camera disaster at Disney. My Nikon D40 crapped out suddenly. During the afternoon parade. In the Magic Kingdom-day 2 of our trip. Are you KIDDING me?

Sent DH out that night to buy a new one. He calls me at 830 pm, telling me he can't find one. Where are you dear? At the outlet mall. Are you kidding me again! That's for purses, shoes and last year's fashions. Go to a Target!!

He wisely did. And got us a Canon p and s which we still use when we want something portable. The Nikon? Not fixable, cheaper to buy a new one. Got a D60, with the extended warranty. Still love the Canon though, it does the trick when space is tight.

Loving your review. Hoping to do one of the Explorer next March. Are you using Photobucket to get the pix on here?