I would suggest doing Barcelona. Easy to the port, inexpensive hotel prices and food choices. We also love Rome, but it isn’t as easy to get to the port as Barcelona is and it is more expensive.
I received 3 of these last year and ran into the same issue. We were on a B2B2B, but 2 of the certs were from the same cruise from different crew members. They honored 2 of them in the end.
I was just there 4 days ago. The pool was heated and beach was nice. There were quiet places to be found, but you could also choose a loud place with no problem. The food differences are only that you can also have pizza and empanadas(if that is important to you).
We are on the Adventure. The first week Diamonds were excluded from the lounge during HH, but this week Pinns are allowed in the Suite lounge and Diamonds are allowed in the Crown. We will be on next week and I am sure it will be different again.
We had this same issue. We got the same “there will be a shuttle,” but it didn’t happen. After waiting and going back and forth asking about the shuttle, we just called an UBER.
The only thing that Celebrity matches is that you receive a free bag of laundry if you are a Diamond on Royal. The benefits don’t compare other than that.