Celebration Review: 12/2/06- 12/07/06

Celebration

This was my second cruise. My husband and were to go on this cruise for our Christmas present to each other. My husband could not go due to a conflict in his job and my sister went with me. Some background on us: I am Julie ( jrmende63)43 yrs, 2nd cruise on Carnival. Debbie is my sister ( 39 yrs), her first cruise.

Arrival to Jacksonville: I drove to Jacksonville as it is only 3.5 hours from my house in SC. Debbie flew from Indianapolis to Jacksonville. Dec 1, 2006 was the huge snow storm up north and we were not sure Debbie was going to make it in to Jacksonville. All was well and Debbie arrived 1.5 hours later than scheduled.

Hotel: We stayed in the Best Western at Airport in Jacksonville. They have a room, Hot breakfast, complimentary shuttle to cruise port/ airport and parking of the car for $99.00. We were extremely pleased with the Best Western and would stay there again. Rooms were very clean and modern.

Embarkation: We were up bright and early on Saturday morning, December 2. We were too excited to sleep! We went down and had a hot breakfast. We had booked the shuttle to the cruise port for 0900. We got out side to realize the shuttle was picking up previous cruisers. We got to ask them first hand how the Celebration treated them! All were quite pleased with the ship and service. ( we left the Best Western about 0945) We met Rodger and Theresa ( their first cruise) and Cedric and Gina ( her first cruise, his second) We rode to the cruise port with high excitement and anticipation! Oh my there she is....the Celebration! Debbie, Rodger, Theresa and Gina about came out of the seats of the van! In truth, ALL of us were excited to see the ship! Our cruise was finally a reality! We showed our ID's and passports to the guard at the entrance. The shuttle pulled up to the unloading dock. Porters were right there to get out luggage. A tip was given by all of us to the very nice porter that assisted us with our luggage. We went into a short line to fill out our Bahamas forms. ( they should have been sent with our cruise docs but were not included.) We then went through the metal detector and were seated by numbers to await boarding. We waited about 20 min and they announced the ship would be boarding about 1115. We were put in line to board at 1120 and 5 min later were getting the Embarkation photo taken. We took our carryons to our cabin. We met our cabin steward , Mario, who was more than willing to let us drop off the carry ons. We went up to the Lido deck ( 10th deck on the Celebration)and had a nice lunch. The selections were nice and the service was fast. Tables were cleaned as soon as you got up from your spot. There was plenty of room for all to eat.

The Cabin and the Ship:

We had cabin E-206 Aft. We felt some vibrations in the cabin, but nothing that bothered us. The only time we really were bothered was at 3:10 am when going to Key West. The vibrations did wake us up that morning. Our cabin held 3 with 2 lower beds and a bunk bed. Our OV was spacious and clean. Mario did an excellent job of keeping our cabin neat. Mario was rewarded with Huge Hershey chocolate bars, as I overhead him say to his assistant that he really was craving chocolate. The shower water temp was hard to regulate. There was Dove shampoo and Lever 2000 body wash. A container on the bathroom sink had razors, Emergen C powders, Hair gel, Face wash ( Noxema), Toothpaste, mints, an d a couple of other things which escapes me at the moment.

The ship was smaller but nice. Workers were constantly cleaning. The Astoria lounge was where most shows and the Captains cocktail was held. Islands in the skye is another lounge, the past guest party was held there. There are 2 dining rooms on the Ship. We ate 5:45p sitting at the Horizon dining room. Our waiter was Gusti, from Indonesia. He was WONDERFUL! The food was really good. We were at a 10 top table with pax from Ohio, Canada, Georgia, Indiana, and SC. There were 3 Debbie's at our table! Debbie from Canada is a CC member and we were very pleased that she was seated at our table. The first night at dinner we felt very rushed to "hurry and finish." But after that night dinners were relaxed.

The pools were nice and of course filled with salt water. No chair hogs present! All pax were very nice and pleasant. All the staff on the ship were smiling and greeting us everywhere we went!

Excursions: We did both of our excursions through Carnival. In Key West we did "The Taste of Key West" this was a walking tour of Key West and tasty treats of Conch fritters, Dolphin fingers( Mahi Mahi) different hot sauces at Peppers bar, coconut shrimp and chocolate covered Key lime balls. The tour was interesting, but I would not do it again. Once is enough with this tour.

In Nassau we did the Pearl Island Stingray and snorkel adventure. I LOVED IT! Debbie can't see without her glasses so she did not have as much fun snorkeling as I did, but still enjoyed the scenery. The water was chilly but you got used to it quickly. We were picked up at the dock in Nassau. A boat took us to Pearl Island. The waters out there are stunning. We saw all the private owned houses, such as Oprah's etc.. and were told all about the history on the way to Pearl Island. On Pearl Island we got our snorkel equipment and safety briefing. We snorkeled for about 45 min. At first I saw nothing, but moved to a different location and saw lots of fish, and coral. Beautiful water and fish. and more fish! Now it is time to go into the stingray area. Yes, they do have the stingers on their tails. We were shown how to walk and what NOT to do...esp scream! The rays are really neat. They are very friendly. They are fed squid every day. We held them and kissed them and they were placed on our shoulders or heads for pics. I would do this excursion again in a heartbeat! There are 2 seaturtles in the stingray area and some conch shells. There was a storage area where Debbie and I stored our stuff while doing the water sports. Debbie had gone shopping in Nassau before the excursion and did not have time to get back onto the ship to deposit her porcelain doll and water globe. Well long story short, they both got broken in the storage area on Pearl Island. The management was very nice and because Debbie had her receipts, they reimbursed her for both items. She was able to replace them when we got back into Nassau. As a side note She won the 5 carat midnight sapphire at Venetian Jewelers that was being given away by our super shopper Kevin.

Debarkation was a long line of waiting. We had to do self disembark due to the airline changing Debbie's flight to 11:55 am. Once off the ship customs was a breeze, the hotel shuttle came to get us and we were on our way home.....OOPS not quite....Water globes CAN NOT be taken in carry on luggage. I had to turn around on I- 95 and go get the water globes or security was going to make my sister throw them away.

We had a wonderful time and would recommend the Celebration to anyone. Key West is a nice area. Nassau is nice as well but some of the vendors are a little pushy.

They are charging tax on drinks in Florida before you leave the port.:cool: I found this out when I had a higher price on my one drink that was bought as soon as I got in the Wheelhouse dining room.

Thank You for your review. I found the hot water also hard to regulate. Im going on the Celebration again in Jan. I can't wait to do it again

Thank You for your review. I found the hot water also hard to regulate. Im going on the Celebration again in Jan. I can't wait to do it again

You are welcome! Have a foo foo drink for me in January....My next cruise is not until September:(

Thanks for the review! We leave in January for our first Carnival cruise.

We are booked on this one at the end of July as our second family cruise! Thanks for the review!

Thanks for sharing!

Very well written and you made it sound like fun!

We are counting the days.

Thanks for the great review. Is these a safe in the rooms? Is there a frig in the rooms?

Thanks for the great review. Is these a safe in the rooms? Is there a frig in the rooms?

There is a safe, no frig unless you have a suite.

What time did your sister arrive at the airport? I am concerned about moving my flight to a earlier flight. The airline cancelled my flight and put in on a few hours later