Astromaid

Our family is considering a cruise on Mardi Gras, two members are prone to sea sickness. They sailed with us on Magic and had some issues, I think we were on deck 7 or 8. I think that maybe a cove balcony might be a better choice for less motion. We sailed in a cove balcony years ago on Dream and were never able to sit out there because everything was covered in salt. We were somewhat forward, so I wondered if we were further back midship maybe we would not have a problem with salt. We just got back from Celebration and we were forward on deck 14 and often felt movement.

Are the items premade or are you able to build your own requesting certain ingredients (like Blue Iguana on Carnival)?

We just got off the Celebration and ate at Rudi's. I had Dover sole and enjoyed it very much. My husband had the crab stuffed lobster and he said it was awful. He loves crab and he said it tasted bad and he found several bits of crab shell in the filling.

Carnival has a winner with the excel class ships. The majority of cruises I have taken are with Carnival, so I basically love their product. The big problem I have now is they don't offer many unusual itineraries. But that is beside the point. Positives; Entertainment (best I have seen) Food (best I have had on a cruise ship) The amount of different restaurants (loved having lots of choices) Service (always great on Carnival) App (love using the app) Cabin was comfortable (would not have been happy in an interior, needed the balcony) Beautiful common areas Negatives: Need more than pizza late night Much of the seating is uncomfortable No quiet areas (serenity yes, but hard to get a good place to sit in the shade that is comfortable) Middle of the Ground: Big Ship (even on sea days I walked about 9,000 steps) Crowds (honestly the crowds were not a huge issue, Carnival seems to figured out how to disperse people and never had any trouble getting into a restaurant, but there are a lot of people) More movement when sailing then I expected Sometimes elevators were difficult, but the only time this was an issue for us was at night when a venue finished. In my opinion, it will be hard for us to sail on anything but excel class in the future. Thank you for taking the time to read my review if you lasted to the finish.

April 2nd, Sunday: Debarkation We woke as we were coming into Miami, maybe 5:30? We sat on the balcony, watched ships go by and ate our breakfast. The most leisurely last morning we have spent on a ship. I think we finally left the room at 8:00 and went down to sit on deck 7 at the Center Stage. We were zone 10, no problems getting off the ship and through customs. It is so quick and easy if one has a passport. We are out of the parking garage by 8:45. We did have a bit of trouble getting off the island, wanted to take the tunnel and with the sun in our eyes missed the signs. We had to circle around the island again. We drove with no problems to Orlando and got on I75. Atlanta was a bit of a slow down and we spent the night just North of Atlanta, other than that we were home at 6:30 Monday evening. I will wrap up with observations and conclusions.

April 1, Saturday: Sea Day We decided to try the breakfast sandwiches at Java Cafe, I had my doubts that an egg & bacon sandwich warmed up in a microwave would be palatable. I was very wrong, they were really good. We discussed whether to use this as our debarkation breakfast as we really don't like the lido on that day either. We came up with the idea of breakfast pizza, which is how we eat leftover pizza at home. So Dave went and got a pizza and after it cooled down we put in the the cabin "refrigerator". It was raining so we sat on the balcony for a bit. Today was Win a Cruise Bingo, so we had purchased cards after breakfast and headed to Grand Spectrum for Q & A with our cruise director and afterwards would be bingo. Based on the amount of people who showed up at $5000.00 bingo we thought it would be packed and this would be a good way to reserve our seat. The Q & A was really good, and we did not have just Chris, but this was a turnover cruise and Lee Mason was there also. So we had two really great cruise directors to answer questions and there were interesting questions. Afterwards was bingo, surprisingly the theater was maybe half full. And it was guaranteed that someone would win a cruise. Unfortunately it was not me. Lunch was Big Chicken again, and this time when I got the chicken and fries I requested an extra dish. That way I could get a decent portion of salad. I thought the potato salad was better then the coleslaw. We got our usual gelato and discovered they had donuts at the station with bite sized desserts, so I grabbed a couple for tomorrow's breakfast. And a couple cookies. In the afternoon Sky Breeze was playing at Lattitudes, Dave went and got a beer at Pig and Anchor, I actually ordered a proper drink from Lattitudes, I tried a Bramble, Bombay Sapphire Gin, Lemon and blackberry. It was OK, I should just stick with my silly umbrella drinks like Kiss on the Lips or Sex on the Beach. But we sure enjoyed the music, a couple of toddlers started dancing as they passed along the walkway. We dressed for dinner, or I should say I did and Dave changed to a nice shirt. Tonight we were dining at Rudi's Seagrill. They have a dress code and I did not realize Dave did not bring any long pants (other than jeans), he was in nice dress shorts. We did get caught at the door and I asked if we could eat on the patio and was told that would be acceptable. That being said, we did see a person wearing jeans in that dining room. But I do accept that there is a dress code and we were fine on the patio. We both had Coquilles Saint-Jaques and really enjoyed that. I had the seared shrimp (very good) and Dave had the seafood bisque, which was a thin broth and he did not care for it. When I have had seafood bisque in the past, it usually is a thick creamy broth. I had the Dover sole with brussel sprouts (excellent) and Dave had the crab stuffed lobster, he was not happy. The crab stuffing wasn't tasty even though he loves crab and there were bits of shell in the stuffing. It ended up being his least favorite meal and my favorite meal. We both had Key Lime Pie and it was artfully decorated on the plate. We then watched Tim Young at the comedy club and finished the night with Sky Breeze, an early night as we went back to the cabin and finished packing to set our luggage out by ten.

So, I just found out my review is being trashed in another forum. I do need to apologize to all of you in the way I started with no paragraphs. I have never done a review in this much detail but I was inspired by reading the reviews of St Greg and Sid. I did not want to try and do a Live review but felt that my observations would be relevant to others thinking about cruising Celebration. I assumed that a review should explore both good and bad aspects, but I have read that my review is very negative. Again, I apologize if I seem too negative, that was not my intention. On the whole, I had a great time and loved the cruise.

Yes the Serenity is adults only and free. Lots of loungers in the sun, shade areas are limited.

3/31 Friday - Sea Day We had breakfast at Blue Iguana. Headed down to buy bingo cards at 9:00. We find it is much easier to buy bingo cards at the early slot rather than wait in line just before bingo. Then we watched something we have never seen before, Baby Turtle Trek, Dave thought I had lost my mind. But it was hilarious! A child has to be under two, they have a large mat that has pretend sand and toys at one end and the ocean at the other. One parent kneels with the child at the end with the sand and the other is at the ocean side. The child has to be on it's bottom and when it starts the parent let's go. The child either walks or crawls to the parent on the ocean side. I never laughed so hard! If you ever see it listed it is worth your time. We had lunch at ChiBang. I had the shrimp noodle bowl and flan caramel, both good. Dave have the chicken and shrimp bowl, says it is a noodle dish but it is with rice. After he picked all the onions out he loved it (and I ate the onions and the sauce was delicious). $5000.00 Bingo was held at Center Stage, I got there about 30 minutes early, big mistake. All three levels were packed with people. I finally found a space on the tiered seating on deck 7. This seating is uncomfortable, it hits my back wrong. Maybe I am just weird. I am so glad I did not try to sit here for one of the stage shows, I would not have made it. Of course we did not win, but a gentleman won the $5000.00 with two balls to go. Then headed for lido deck for the Queen Sing Along. And it was crowded, we did find a place to sit and I figured as loud as lido is, I could sing and no one would hear how terrible I am. Wow what a disappointment. After 20 minutes we left, they played two Queen songs during that time and then songs I did not recognize. Why call it a Queen singalong and not play just their songs? Then we checked out Time Journey at The Gateway, it was entertaining, fun to watch once. It is amazing what they do with the "windows" here and at Center Stage, they are marvelous. Dinner was at Cucina Del Capitano. I had arancini (very good), Cesar salad, (ok), Chicken Parmesan (just ok), crispy potatoes (very good) and the baba Napolitano (very good). Dave had the arancini (very good), the minestrone soup (good), chicken Parmesan (just OK) , broccoli cauliflower vegetables (very good), and tiramisu (very good). We headed to Center Stage, this time we got seats in the area just in front of the stage. We watched The World Works here, which is each nationality who works on the ship carries their country flag on stage. I thought it was very moving. Then they had a group of children from the kids club come on stage. They had been learning signing while on ship and they signed a song. I thought that was great too. We stayed because we wanted to watch We are One. The dancers have stations all around the floor with costumes and they change right there just feet away from us. It was amazing, They sang and danced all around us, which is a neat experience. You do have to crane your neck a bit to see on stage and the aerial acts, but well worth it. We headed to, you guessed it, Golden Jubilee for Sky Breeze and the pianist. And we actually got a drink! Dave got a beer (what a surprise) and I did look at the menu, no Kiss on the Lips but I got a Lemon Drop. Then headed to comedy to watch Tim Young (great) and Jaylyn Bishop (good). Ship was really rolling when we left the comedy club. That being said, several nights I noticed it would gently rock side to side, now we were on deck 14 near the front. We usually are mid ship much lower, so I don't know if we were getting this motion because of our cabin location or whether the ship seems to have more motion than the others we have been on. But this night I really noticed it. Still not has bad as the time we took the Pride down the coast from Baltimore, now that was a really rocky ride. They would not let you out on deck and the pools were closed. A lot of people seasick on that cruise. But we thought it was great fun!

Another mistake, I wish I could figure out how to correct a post. Pizza tastes like the $5.00 pizza you can pick up at Little Caesars, not Dominoes, (probably not $5.00 anymore) Dave, stop looking for my mistakes! 🙄

March 30, Thursday St Thomas: Arrived in St Thomas about 6:15. We decided to do breakfast again Pig and Anchor, not busy at all. While Dave was finishing coffee I headed up to Emeril's Bistro and got us Beignets. They are as good as others say. Got off the ship and shopped the port area, got some earrings and we both got t-shirts. It was hot. When we got back we headed for lunch, finally got our pizza. It is OK, I rate it about like Dominos. Again I got a bed in Serenity and again I took a nap. When my husband showed up I got up and said I don't need to nap the day away. We played skip-bo at a table in lido overlooking the ocean. Got changed for dinner and ate at Emeril's Bistro, tonight was Taste the World Mexico. This was the one time dinner was a bit messed up. At Emeril's you place the order and they give you a number and you sit at a table. They bring your food out. We ordered crispy Boudin sausage balls (they are really good), I ordered the special which was Ancho Agave Glazed Pork Ribs and Dave ordered Natchitoches meat pies. It was a much longer wait then we were used to, a table that sat after us got their meal before. They brought out just the sausage balls and the meat pies, no ribs. It was fine I nibbled on the sausage balls. But Dave was almost done eating the meat pies (and he said they were great) before I got the ribs. The ribs were cold and only had a bit of sauce on them, it was tasty but I would have liked a lot more sauce. The thing I didn't like was they still had the membrane on. I cook ribs, usually baby back and I always remove the membrane before cooking them. I think it adds flavor and I also don't want to deal with the membrane while eating them. I wouldn't order them again, but they came with a sweet potato and black bean casserole and that was delicious, I would definably order that again if it were offered separate and Dave agreed with me when I gave him a bite. We then went to Color My World in the Grand Spectrum, it was supposed to be Amore Cubano but I was told one of the dancers was sick so this was substituted. This was an instance were it was good to have the hub app. When I compared it to the Funtimes they were different. It would have made a difference which show we would attend so I called customer services to find out which show was correct. The app was correct. We did this instead of Deal no Deal, we don't know how the game is played and I would have liked to go and check it out. Ends up I was not impressed with Color My World. Then did comedy with Tim Young (great) and then a comedy show with Jaylyn Bishop (good). We finished the night out with Sky Breeze at Golden Jubilee. That being said, I realize I missed a couple of situations in previous posts. Sometime before this we listened to Sky Breeze at Lattitudes in the afternoon, maybe before dinner. My husband wanted a drink, looked at the menu and it said they offered the Parched Pig Beach Lager. I went to the bar and ordered it for him, bartender said they did not have any and tried to offer a different beer. He is fussy about his beer so I didn't order something different. Now I am going to hang my head in shame, I asked for a kiss on the lips for me. The second I said that I knew I was wrong, this type of bar would not offer such a silly umbrella drink. So we went alcohol free that time. And to cap it off, another day we were walking by Alchemy Bar and Dave said that he was going to pick up a beer there. That time I knew better and told him they will not have beer at that bar. LOL!

I have booked my shore excursions and gotten most of what I wanted. On a couple the times I wanted were sold out so I chose an alternate time. I have read that you can keep checking back to see if there have been any cancelations. What I don't understand is once I book a time and it is confirmed, I don't see a way to check to see if another time is available without canceling my confirmed reservation, which I don't want to do unless another time slot has opened.

Update, we did take the walk. We happened to meet a policeman during the walk and asked if the gate at El Morro was open and he said yes. So you can walk until the end and get into El Morro. There are a lot of stairs to get into the fort. The walk is delightful, though you will meet and smell feral cats along the way.

3/29 Wednesday, San Juan: We slept late, did not wake until 7:00. I have not slept past 6:00 in years, usually up at 5:00 or 5:30, this was a treat. Lido was not busy at all for breakfast, we both got made to order omelets. Carnival has lots of ingredients for the omelets, excellent as always. The ship arrived in San Juan at 10:00, we sat on our balcony and watched until the first wave of people getting off the ship trickled down. We have been here several times, but I had read about a ocean walk to El Morro and we decided to do that. It was sprinkling slightly but that did not deter us. We walked down Paseo de la Princesa which is to the left of the ship past all the street vendors. Very pretty walk, then it turns to walk along the old city wall along the waterfront, Paseo del Morro. It is an absolutely lovely walk along the wall and the ocean. You will come to the San Juan Gate and you can enter the city here. I had been told the gate into El Morro was closed on the cruise critic boards, but we met a policeman and he said the gate is open. Plus many people were walked towards El Morro and none were coming back. You will see and smell lots of feral cats along the way. Once you get to El Morro there are a lot of stairs to walk into the fort. At that point you have the choice of entering the fort (there is a fee) or heading into Old San Juan, which is what we did. Walking back to the ship is downhill and there are lots of streets with shops you can browse in. Back on ship it was lunch time and we tried Big Chicken. The sandwiches looked too big so we both got the chicken strips and fries. Wow! This is the best chicken strips I have ever had! There is coleslaw, potato salad, pickles and lots of sauces at the bar. But it is a joke that you are expected to put salad in the little cups you use for the sauces. Then we went for gelato and small dessert bites. Headed for Serenity, score! We got a bed in the shade. Settled down to read and ended up taking a nap. Again, I never nap in the afternoon unless I am sick. This cruise melted the stress away, it was amazing. Changed for dinner and headed to Golden Jubilee and listened to Sky Breeze and piano, guessing it was Roman on the piano who looked like he was a brother to one of the violinists. Headed to ChiBangs for dinner, getting in as they opened. I got Queso Fundido and loaded nachoes as appetizers, excellent. Then Pescado Frito and Yucca as main, the fish had too much breading for me and the yucca which I have never had was yuck. Dave had egg drop soup (ok) and spring rolls (excellent) and then Kung Pau Chicken with Halka noodles, very good. We both had Crema Catalana, which is like a crème Brule. Headed to comedy, new comedians were on board. This was Jorge Solano, he was just OK as far as we were concerned. This was the only time we saw him as he became sick for the rest of the cruise and the other two comedians who came on board had to fill in for him. Then we watched Jaylyn Bishop who was good. Our cruise, director, Chris the Flying Scotsman had a show. I had heard that he is an amazing singer and he was very very good. Then off to bed.

If you can get one the tables in front on 7, you can see everything, but there are only a handful.

A lot of people love the cove balconies and I thought I would because it is so close the ocean. Our balcony was unusable because it was always covered in salt.

OK my husband just asked me to add something I missed, when we had breakfast at the Blue Iguana there is no coffee there. Had to go into Lido to get his coffee, juice is available. 3/28 Tuesday Amber Cove: Early day docking in Amber Cove, we got up about 7:15 and headed to breakfast at Pig & Anchor. We felt it might be crazy on the Lido deck but very few people getting breakfast at Pig & Anchor, it just had a small selection but decent. No omelet station but they did have a very good egg dish with a tomato base (I got this twice on the cruise), sausage, potatoes and all the usual. We were satisfied. We got off the ship and walked around the port area. The pool area is quite nice if you like that, lots of activities. And I did a bit of shopping, I had forgotten my sun screen, $16.00 for a small bottle. The pharmacy also offered tramadol, I have bad hips and they had been bothering me. So I checked it out, $50.00 for 10 pills, I passed and settled for the Motrin I had brought. Once back on board I went to Trivia with Gabby, I knew her from Vista and she is a lot of fun. I normally don't do trivia as I am terrible, but this was cats and dogs, thought I might have a chance. Well I ended up tying for 1st place with 3 other people! I lost it in the bonus round. Now, I will tell the truth, there were only 4 of us playing and the first place tie was 7 right answers. We then headed to Guys Burger, again too early so we just hung out on deck until they opened. Longest line we stood in and it wasn't bad. I know there is a great debate about Guy's fries, I don't think they are as good as prior to Covid, but they were better then I got on the Pride. And the burger is always great. We were happy. Tried to get a bed at Serenity, none available. Checked out an area around the The watering hole, had a few chairs in the shade, again they are the uncomfortable chairs. The straight back chairs at the tables aren't too bad, but this is the smoking side. Even though we weren't sitting in that area the wind pushes the smell down the deck. Ended up on our balcony. Had an early dinner at Emeril's Bistro, yes it is extra cost but very reasonable in my opinion. We got a plate of crispy boudin sausage balls to share, very tasty. I got roasted duck & andouille sausage gumbo and Dave got red beans and rice, we both really liked our food. Headed to Center Stage two hours early to get our seats, it is worth it. The Most Magnificent Circus is really worth the time, the aerial acts are tremendous. Then headed to comedy with Lowell Sanders, running theme we did comedy every night. Afterwards we headed to Miami Slice for pizza, as we got to the counter they ran out of pizza and did not have any in the ovens. So we headed to watch Family Feud, this was fun too. Then back to Miami Slice to get pizza, the line was way past Deco Deli. Nothing is open at 9:45, lido closes at 9:30. Carnival really needs to address this issue of no food after 9:30. We went to Pig and Anchor to listen to the band. Way too loud for us and they area seems like a cavern, not to our taste. No violin music or piano music so we headed to bed.

Mistake in post #24, it is not the Grand Spectrum, it is Center Stage. Sorry.

Forgot to mention, after lunch we had our first alcohol. My husband really likes craft beers and he likes what he can get on Carnival. I ordered Fun Ship, first time I had it and I liked it. What I didn't like was these two drinks cost $25.00. Ouch. As we did not have much on board credit, at that point I decided to stick with the soda I brought and not buy alcohol very often. Sea day, Monday March 27th: I love sea days. We had breakfast burritos at Blue Iguana, they didn't open until 8:00, so we sat for a bit waiting. The line was never very long even when they first opened. Then we headed to Serenity and were early enough to snag a bed. I stay in the shade, I had skin cancer a year ago so I avoid sunlight at all costs. And it is very windy, so I got a towel to wrap up in to try and keep warm. I was content and stayed all morning, my husband wandered the ship which is one of his favorite things to do. I had five books on my kindle, so I was all set. Honestly, I only finished one and a half, so I did not spend as much time reading as I thought I might. When lunch time rolled around, I did not leave my towel to reserve the bed. I think this is a very rude practice and we saw a lot of it. We decided to try Sea Dogs, My husband, Dave, had the Italian and I had the Andouille, we were both pleased. I also got Philly cheese steak fries at Street Eats, they were good. He got something else but I honestly cannot remember. Every day we hit the gelato, excellent. I did miss the the dessert station we have had on other ships. the Gelato station always had three other dessert choices which were very good. And right across from it was another small dessert station that would have plates of bite sized desserts and cookies. I had really thought I would like patio pool off Summer Landing. I never hang out at the lido deck pool, too loud and too noisy. First the chairs at the patio pool were uncomfortable, which will be a consistent fault throughout the ship. And being spring break, the pool and the hot tubs were full of kids. I mean full. Throughout the cruise I was amazed at how many kids could fit in the hot tubs. Practically no room for drunks, LOL! So we rarely spent any time at the patio pool. I had pre paid to partake in It's an Ice Cream Kinda Day at the Kitchen. I was horrified to find it was held the same time as Bingo. We love Bingo, and have often won some sort of prize when we have played it. I tried hard to convince Dave to participate without me (one time I played by myself and won $500.00). But he didn't want to. And I really wanted to try the class at the kitchen. The first thing I wasn't enthused about was that there are two to a station, so if you did not bring a partner you are paired with a stranger. I lucked out as one was a family of three and they wanted to cook together, so I ended up alone. Only one can actually do the cooking so you would need to trade off. The first thing the chef did was to make ice cream, by himself, we did nothing (other then have a bite of it at the end of the class). We then mixed the batter to make a waffle cone, but another assistant cooked the cones. We then made crepe batter and we actually made the crepes. And we made bananas foster to go on the crepes. But were not allowed to eat them until after the class was finished. I think they would be better warm, the caramel had seized up on mine by the time I ate them. Then we had bananas, strawberries, blueberries and pineapple which we pureed in a machine to make sorbet and put in the waffle cone we made. Then were allowed to eat what we produced and we received a carnival spatula. Would I do the class again? No, unless I took my grandchildren to a class. We then went to the Grand Spectrum, I have really mixed feelings about this area. It is on three levels with assorted seating and as others have mentioned, a lot of the seating will not give you a good view of the productions. They have rehearsals here during the day, and they were rehearsing Celestial Strings, the violin trio I was so enamored of where part of the production so I knew we needed to see this show. We checked out locations with the best view to have in mind where we wanted to sit. There was a matinee comedy with Doug Williams which we attended. We really like comedy and were thrilled with all the options offered, too many to attend them all. We then went to the cabin to get ready for dinner. The nice thing about the optional dining, it's casual, Dave just changed his shirt, he always wore short (not blue jean). I have numerous pretty outfits I wear for cruising, so I would be a bit dressy, which is fun for me. Again we made a reservation Cucina Del Capitano as soon as it opened and were seated immediately. By the way, we use the hub app a lot and love it, we had no issues and we also had the chat and had no issues with that either. We really enjoy looking at the menus and making a reservation using it. So easy. We both had Nonnas Meat Balls (don't know why it is plural as you only get one). And they were very tasty, I also ordered the shrimp cocktail. I had the short ribs (fantastic), crispy potatoes (fantastic), and Lemon frozen torte (ok). Dave have veal marsala (good), roasted broccoli and cauliflower (very good), and the Apple Crostata (too much crust). And then we headed to the grand spectrum and got a table for two on deck 7 right against the wall. Two hours before production. Yup, two hours we sat there before the show. The seating right at stage on deck 6 was cordoned off and was opened up one hour before production. You cannot move any tables or chairs as the show is partly done down there and the dancers need everything left exactly where it is. This show is the best show I have ever seen, costumes, dancing, music all fantastic. I almost cried during parts because it moved me so much. The singers were the best I have ever heard, it was simply amazing. We then had time to catch another comedy show, Doug Williams, and then the Love and Marriage show. They actually offered two sessions of this, one during the Celestial Strings. Celebration offers so much entertainment to disperse the crowd, they have done a great job of this. In the session of Love and Marriage we saw, the newlyweds had just gotten married that day. But the best thing was that the longest married couple were newlyweds parents and parents in law. What a hoot! That was our night.

Pride was our first Carnival cruise in 2009 and we loved it. So we were looking forward our cruise on her last year. The cruise itself was our favorite, loved Norway. I was very disappointed in the food. The main dining room had problems with food quality and service. It sometimes took 2 hours to complete the meal, we were a table of six and courses came out at different times, missing appetizers, lack of water, wine showed up late, a sausage penne dish had one piece of sausage, short ribs inedible. Lido deck was not much better, most of the time at lunch two of the stations remained closed the entire time. So there were limited choices. One station would be listed as comfort food, to me comfort food would be fried or baked chicken, meatlloaf, beef stew, but it had courses I did not recognize. Yes it was in Europe and I was looking for American food, but a great majority of the passengers were American. Now there is a good chance the problems were because of being short staffed as this seemed to be a consistent issue over all the lines at the time. With Celebration I never felt they were short staffed anywhere but we never tried the main dining room so it is not a fair comparison. The entertainment was good on Pride and we like the size of the ship, Be sure to check out sunset garden. I probably would not sail on that class of ship unless it was an itinerary I wanted. (Spoiler alert) And I will say that Celebration has has raised the bar of my expectations in the future.

Embarkation day March 25th: My husband spent a lot of time studying the routes into the port and the road closures that would be in place. We even watched videos on driving to the port and what parking garage to use for Celebration. I can't imagine driving into this situation without an idea of where to go because we felt the signage at port was very poor. We took off from Orlando at 5:30 am, the traffic wasn't a problem most of the way. We had decided to use the tunnel to get to the port and where coming down I95. As we came into Miami, we started seeing signs saying the tunnel to the port was closed. I understand now after reading happytobehr that there had been an accident in the tunnel. After a couple signs stating the tunnel was closed we made adjustments to get on Biscayne Blvd to get to the bridge. And our travel became slower and slower. It was very confusing when we got to the turnoff to the port, luckily we got into the correct lane but it was bumper to bumper and you could walk faster than we were moving. We could not believe when we had to merge into one lane on the bridge because of construction. Traffic was horrible when we got into port. My husband had planned on dropping me off with the luggage and then parking. With four or five lanes of traffic barely moving, I said no way was he going to be able to get all the way to the right to drop me off and then get all the way to the left to get into the correct lane to go to the parking garage. The video came in handy as we knew we had to go to the backside of the parking garage to get into it. We made it into the terminal about 10:30. Even though our arrival time was 11:30 to 12:00, they still waved us into the building to check in. I was not surprised to see that it was not very crowded. They started calling groups to board about 11:00 and we boarded about 20 minutes later. I am sure that anyone arriving much later than us would have been stuck in traffic for a long time. I overheard one person later saying that it took her 4 hours to travel 5 miles. We immediately went to our muster station and got that out of the way and headed to deck 8 to Guy's Pig & Anchor Bar-B-Que. I have learned early on that you never want to go to lido deck on embarkation day. We walked right up and got our lunch, and we enjoyed the food there. Shortly there after we were able to get into our cabin. The handicap cabin we were in is 1 1/2 larger than a normal balcony cabin, but there is no couch or chair in there. I assume so that one has plenty of room to get around in a wheelchair. And to get on the balcony you have to press a button, that slowly opens the door and when open a small ramp falls down so one can get out there with a wheelchair. We did trip over the ramp a few times going out before the door was fully open. And them you have to press the button to close everything up. The bathroom again is much larger than the normal ones, which was nice other than the shower had the dreaded shower curtain rather than a door. And there was a drain the length of the shower to catch the water, but there was a gap on the side so we always had to put a towel down so it didn't flood towards the sink. And you couldn't open the door to get out of the cabin, you have to press a button and it slowly opens. And then after a length of time will slowly close. Which means we stand there waiting as we did not feel comfortable walking away with the door open. The extra space was nice, but with the inconveniences I would prefer a regular balcony cabin. What I also found out later, I would have been miserable in an inside cabin. Because I would not be able to find a quiet area to sit, I spent a lot of time on our balcony, more on that later. Then we started exploring. We checked out the Serenity deck, I usually enjoy hanging out there but as stated in many other reviews, it is very windy. Of course no beds were available by then, so we sat on one of the couches and discovered that they are very uncomfortable. I am 5'4" and when I sat the back of the couch was probably 8" away which meant I had to slump to get my back up against it. I could have put my feet on the table to get comfortable or curl my legs up in the seat, but both options are gross. This would be a continuing problem with most of the seating in the pool areas and on decks unless one sits in a chair at a table. I also do not like lounge chairs unless I can get a pillow for my back. We sat for a bit and decided to see if we could get into Pier 19 and check that out. Not that we could afford a cabana. No one was at the desk so we went in. The cabanas were really nice, but for $1750.00 (on sale) not an option. At this point we found our luggage in the cabin, unpacked and changed for dinner. Now one of the main attractions to Celebration was all the dining options. In the past we usually ate early dining in the main dining room. In March of 2022 we were on the Vista and in June of 2022 we were on the Pride to Norway. We were disappointed with the quality of the food and service in the main dining room, especially on the Pride it was simply awful. So on the Celebration we chose any time dining so we could make reservations at the alternate dining areas. And we like an early dinner, so in most situations the reservations could be done 15 minutes prior to the restaurant opening, which we did and we were usually seated when they opened. Others have complained about service at these restaurants, especially at ChiBang, we had no issues at all. In fact we did ChiBang this night and were very happy with service and food. We got three appetizers to share, pot stickers, spring rolls and lettuce wraps. We thought they were all very tasty. I got Singapore Chili Shrimp which was on the spicy side but still good. My husband got the beef and broccoli which ended up being his favorite meal of the cruise. He got crema Catalona (excellent) I got Chocolate C-band, which was good. After dinner we went to Golden Jubilee to listen to Sky Breeze, a violin trio from Ukraine. They are AMAZING! They play a wide variety of music and we listened to them many times during the cruise. I also really liked Golden Jubilee, a much more intimate setting for music than Latitudes. We then went to the Punchliner Comedy to listen to Lowell Sanders (great). Then the Welcome aboard show with the cruise director, Chris the Flying Scotsman. Super good CD. Then on to Limelight Lounge for comedy with Doug Williams (great). And since we are not night owls, back to the cabin we went. At home, I typically get up around 5:30 and go to bed around 9:30. My husband is much more flexible with his times. On ship I stayed up late (for me) and slept in. One day sleeping until seven, which I haven't done in years.

So we left early Friday the 24th, figured we would do a 12 hour drive and tried a different route. Took I69 down to Indianapolis to I65, then through to Kentucky, Tennessee and Alabama. Planned on stopping in Montgomery Alabama for the night. Took a detour just south of Indianapolis to avoid a traffic jam on I65, not too bad. But then got the news on GPS that I65 was closed for an accident just north of Louisville. Scrambled to find a way around and so did everyone else, what a mess. Got back on I65 at Louisville, smooth through Kentucky and Tennessee and then hit Alabama. Traffic was awful, slowdowns and stops for no reason we could see, very frustrating. It took us 15 hours to get to Montgomery because of all the delays. Got up early Saturday and headed for Orlando. Hit a bad rainstorm before sunrise, that slowed us down. And just before Orlando had another huge traffic jam, got off the highway again and putted along. Finally got to Orlando about 2:15, decided to stop at Harry P Leu Botanical Garden for a bit, 85 degrees and sunshine was a treat for us from cold Michigan. Stayed in a Holiday Inn Express, and had dinner at Bonefish Grill, very nice.

Start off by saying, I needed a cruise to get away from a stressful fall and winter and wanted to try the Excel class ship. I found a good deal on an inside cabin and booked it. Then the problems began. I did not think about it being spring break, when I looked at airfare from Detroit to either Miami or Ft Lauderdale, the cost was double what I paid for the cruise. The only way I could get cheap airfare was to book on the Wednesday before leaving and returning on the Wednesday after. That meant a lot more hotels and then I would want to go to theme parks, so my idea of a cheap getaway was gone. We kept checking airfare but realized that we would have to drive. Ok, after that decision, then I tried to find a reasonable hotel the night before the cruise somewhere along the coast. Well that was a disaster as everything was priced sky high, so I ended up booking a reasonable cost hotel just south of Orlando and we would have to drive the 3 1/2 hours to Miami the morning of the cruise. We planned on parking at the port, the week before we left Carnival notified us that traffic that weekend would be a problem as there was a music festival that weekend and many roads would be closed. Plan on extra time to get to the port. Great. Let me also mention, we have usually have a balcony, but I didn't want to pay the price, almost $800.00 more than the inside I booked. I was apprehensive after reading about the tiny inside cabins on Celebration. Thursday night before we left I got a call from Carnival offering an upgrade to a handicap balcony on the same deck (14) for $300.00 more. I grabbed the offer. For a bit of background, I will also say that I am 69 and my husband is 68, I have been on 12 cruises and he has been on 9, mostly Carnival, but a couple Royal and one Uncruise. We are not pool people nor do we drink much, so there won't be many reviews of the bars and drinks. We like good food and entertainment, and quiet areas. We had been to all the ports and did not book any excursions. This cruise was to get away from family issues and to relax. Celebration is the largest ship we have cruised on, so I was a bit concerned about the ship being crowded. I am still catching up on work, so I will post more later tonight.

My window opens up while we are on a cruise, which might make things difficult. But I have notes with my most important choices listed first. And I have read this forum to give me my best chances, and that is not using a credit card but signing up to use direct withdraw from a bank account and paying for each one as I book it. Not only does that give me a small discount, but I don't have to waste precious time entering my card information each time. Of course I will be on my last sea day fretting about when the window actually will open.

I am a jeans and tee shirt gal, I never wear jewelry. But when I started cruising I bought beaded and jeweled lanyards through etsy. Cruising is very special and it is another way I celebrate. I have six of them in different colors.