Carnival Celebration 1/7-1/15 review

[shdixon]

Hello,

I know many have given in depth reviews so I will keep this sweet and simple.

 

We traveled from New York. Flew in the night before. Stayed at Hampton inn dolphin Mall. Great location if looking to do something that evening. There was a Latin restaurant with a live band right across the parking lot. Also very close to nail salons, CVS, in too many other things to mention. Took us about 15 to 20 minutes to get to Port from the hotel. 

 

The ship. Nice ship. Actually love the ship  This is my first post covid cruise and I am one if those mask wearers in doors so I was a little nervous about the crowd. The one and only time I got covid was in a crowd of thousands at a conference so I was going to do my best not to have this happen on board ...if I could help it. Im a hypochondriac and a health care professional so double overreactions for me at times lol. 

Anywho based on the size and amenities on board i never felt over crowded. There are a lot places to eat and drink so you never have to be on top of each other. I dont think i even got the chance to visit all the restaurants and all the bars available.

My cabin was on deck 11.  Perfect location for me to take the stairs everywhere I want it to go. 

 

The food was surprisingly good. For the first time in a long time on a cruise I put on weight. Never had anything I thought taste bad. Actually one thing, the breakfast sausage at Big chicken lol.

Big chicken- amazing quality. The chicken fingers, the chicken sandwich and the fries. Season well, crisp just right. The chicken buttermilk biscuit during breakfast was so delicious. They add something sweet to the chicken as well as the biscuit. 

Chibang- service could be better. Dont come starving. I had potstickers. You only get 2 and they were good. Beef and broccoli taste fine but didnt seem fresh or made within the hour. Server brought me my desert and ice cream in the middle of my dinner. I am by no means a slow eater . Im very reasonable he could have mentioned the time and that they were going to need to speed up the process.

Main dining room- Ate there for brunch one day and for dinner 3 times. Great service and the food was actually good. Didnt remind me of applebees like in the past. It's not the best I ever had eaten out but far far far from subpar in my opinion.

Rudi Sea Grill- awesome. Slow service at times but worth it. My crab stuff lobster was slightly overcooked at the tail but didnt ruin the meal. Surprisingly my lobster tail in the main dining room on lobster night was a little better than a lobster tail here. Everything from the bread, to the bisque, to the stuffed lobster to the bread pudding was worth the surcharge. 

Lido-I actually like the new set up. So many breakfast and lunch options on ship that i never had an issue having a smooth breakfast or lunch. Between street eats, blue iguana, guys, big chicken, schwarma, the french fry place, the dumpling place, and hot dog spot. There are always options. The main buffet is now smaller with less options since there are so many other things to eat. 

Emerils- only had ceviche which was  very fresh and great for $6. You go to counter and order and then they bring you your food when ready..

Steak house- Great meal despite the changes. They no longer do the desert art which I was looking forward to but service and food was amazing. I ordered tuna tartar, surf and turf and chocolate sphere. The lobster was cooked beautifully as well as filet.  All amazing. They do go above and beyond. A couple near us wanted wine from another bar and although it took a lot, they obliged and found it a brought to her. Another lady also near us didn't seem to like her ribeye. The servers were so kind trying to offer her so many alternatives and she just kept shooting them down. I guess they had to try their all before moving on. Maybe she likes to give away money because I would have found something on the menu especially since they were trying so hard to make her happy.

I did not get the ribeye but that's only because I did not think I would be able to finish it. But It looked delicious and great portion. 

Embarkation- we were late for our arrival time trying to buy a lotto ticket in Florida but that didnt matter. We went right on in to the terminal, showed our passports, went through security and was on the ship within 15 minutes. 

Debarkation - We did the self-assist and was off in no time. They did not open the gangway until 8:00 a.m. because they said there were some delays beyond their control. Our luggage is too heavy to carry on the stairs so before things got hectic we took the elevator up while everyone else waited for it to go down. I must have been the only one at that time who knew that trick because when it came back down to our floor they were still standing there and we were already on the elevator heading to Deck 6.

Entertainment. I saw on the cruise app that there was always something to do I just didnt have interest in any this time around. My body basically told me this was a relaxing trip vs. party trip but there was no shortage of shows, parties, trivia, comedy, etc.

Casino- too crowded for me but I would have sucked it up if there were good slots. I wasnt fond of the availability. I have my favorites,  wasnt familiar with most there. That worked out well for me, I did not come home broke. 

Spa- about expected. Average overpriced massage. I have gone to all types of spas and the best massages ive gotten come from mom and pop no frill massage places. The gratuity is automatic. My husband accidentally pre paid for deep tissue when i wanted swedish. I asked them if it was too late to change when i first got on board and they said yes but they can reduce the pressure. Not their fault he brought the wrong thing but i had to ask if i could switch to a swedish and perhaps get something extra with the price difference but they said " oh anything extra we can add to the services for additional cost like stones". Haha I know its not their fault but there is no way I was adding anything when we prepaid for a service i wasnt going to use for its intended purpose. Again not their fault I just dont plan to pay for an onboard massage again. I can get for half price in most ports. They have wet rooms but those are only for weekly pass holders. You cannot purchase a pass for one day. Even if you pay for a $200 massage it only includes the sauna. The steam room or whatever else they have is not complementary. 

Ports. I have been to san juan and st. Thomas a couple times on my own over the past couple of years so I didnt have much planned. San Juan I checked out Barrachina where they first made the pina colada. I miss it every time I visit because they close at 5. Then just walked around the shopping area. 

St. Thomas. We normally stop at Megan's bay. This is the first time I saw it so packed. I also dont recall paying $40 for 2 chairs and an umbrella so i passed on that and just put my towel in the sand. The water was cold and the sun left when we arrived lol so we didn't stay long. If you never been to st. Thomas taxis are shared. They are $12 pp each way for open air van. Short trip which is an adventure in itself with the fast driving and curves. 

Amber cove - this time around we stayed in port. There is a pool that has a party vibe but if you are looking for a beach you must leave port. It was so much of a party (doesnt affect anyone else just an observation) there was a guy drunk, got sick, and they still served him and he took his drunk self into the pool. Maybe the servers didnt notice or things are different there.

Wifi- i had no issues. My whatsap netflix, peacock and youtube worked so I was fine. 

 

Your room is only cleaned once. I really just look to have the bed made i clean up after myself. I thought this change would be a big deal for me but I wasn't. I spend a lot of time on my balcony so I probably wouldn't have wanted to leave again once Im comfortable. 

The only down side is i miss getting ice at night. Its brought during the day when im not around and it will melt but no big deal

 

Overall service. Most were courteous. The stand outs for me were main dining room, bars and cabin steward when I saw him. Some staff are dismissive maybe they have just learned to tune annoying people out but I had to kindly ask a couple of them to please listen to my question before they blow me off. For example, and I found this funny, my lettuce wraps in Chibang was freezing. The chicken inside taste it like it was just brought out of the freezer. I asked the server if it was intended to be this cold and he said " This is what we call the appetizer course". I just laughed because obviously he wasn't even listening to me And it wasn't a language barrier. Otherwise seemingly happy, helpful staff. 

 

 

 

[lazydayz]

Thanks for the review.  

[Drazil65]

The only down side is i miss getting ice at night. Its brought during the day when im not around and it will melt but no big deal

 

Not sure if you asked or were given a choice for morning or evening cleaning but last month on the MG we had evening cleaning (when we leave for dinner). We asked our cabin Steward if he would fill our ice bucket at that time.  We always had a full bucket of ice when we returned later in the evening for our cabin drinks.  

Edited January 16, 2023 by Drazil65

[shdixon]

5 minutes ago, Drazil65 said:

The only down side is i miss getting ice at night. Its brought during the day when im not around and it will melt but no big deal

 

Not sure if you asked or were given a choice for morning or evening cleaning but last month on the MG we had evening cleaning (when we leave for dinner). We asked our cabin Steward if he would fill our ice bucket at that time.  We always had a full bucket of ice when we returned later in the evening for our cabin drinks.  

I asked about The available times morning vs evening and he kind of just stood there and smiled . So then I asked when is the latest he can come and he still just seem hesitant and smiled. So I just said forget it come when you like lol

[snowdogsmm]

56 minutes ago, shdixon said:

I asked about The available times morning vs evening and he kind of just stood there and smiled . So then I asked when is the latest he can come and he still just seem hesitant and smiled. So I just said forget it come when you like lol

We had late morning service on the Horizon and we asked the Steward to put our ice bucket in the fridge and it lasted all day and well into the night.  It was a great solution.

[pikeman56]

Thanks for the review.  We have a cruise booked on the Celebration for next summer.  Can't wait.

[me plus 3]

Thanks for the review, helpful!

[jimbob22]

3 hours ago, shdixon said:

Chibang- service could be better. Dont come starving. I had potstickers. You only get 2 and they were good. Beef and broccoli taste fine but didnt seem fresh or made within the hour. Server brought me my desert and ice cream in the middle of my dinner. I am by no means a slow eater . Im very reasonable he could have mentioned the time and that they were going to need to speed up the process.

The key to chibang (and we also didn't know this the first time) is that it's all small-plate, tapas type portions.  So I spread the word on this to others.  We went a 2nd time and I had 3 apps and 2 entrees, but like you mention: much of it was not blazing hot, was really not unlike any basic grocery store frozen meal I could have microwaved.  And I do tend to wonder if Carnival is doing as much as they can with frozen foods b/c my banana pie at P&A (on Mardi Gras) was partly frozen, not as good as if it was much closer to room temp.  Street eats and all the fast foods were great though--just mostly not open for dinner.

Edited January 17, 2023 by jimbob22

[shdixon]

49 minutes ago, jimbob22 said:

The key to chibang (and we also didn't know this the first time) is that it's all small-plate, tapas type portions.  So I spread the word on this to others.  We went a 2nd time and I had 3 apps and 2 entrees, but like you mention: much of it was not blazing hot, was really not unlike any basic grocery store frozen meal I could have microwaved.  And I do tend to wonder if Carnival is doing as much as they can with frozen foods b/c my banana pie at P&A (on Mardi Gras) was partly frozen, not as good as if it was much closer to room temp.  Street eats and all the fast foods were great though--just mostly not open for dinner.

Thank you! I couldn't put my finger on what it was but it definitely had a PF Chang's frozen bag feel. I love the bags just didn't expect it in the restaurant. I never made my way back to try the Mexican side of the menu

[shdixon]

2 hours ago, snowdogsmm said:

We had late morning service on the Horizon and we asked the Steward to put our ice bucket in the fridge and it lasted all day and well into the night.  It was a great solution.

Not sure why i didnt think of that 

[maintain242001]

We were on the same trip, Havana Cabana area. The Havana area is quiet, no doubt about it but it's a step down from Vista Havana areas. One tiny worthless pool that no one got in all week. The outside bar provided great service and the inside Havana area was always rocking at night. Is it worth the money....you decide.

 

From my talking to people Chibang was overwhelming not good, Cucina had it's ups and downs, the MDR was below average at best. Big chicken is a huge hit, its actually really good. Blue Iguana was steady with prior good experiences, Guys was busy but didnt eat it, Lido is actually very visually appealing, it looks nice and I thought the food showed well this trip. Bonsai is worth the money and very good, the pig and anchor was good too, you can make better bbq at home but its vacation. Pig and anchor was a rowdy spot( fun rowdy) when watching NFL games or the college title game last Monday, great bar and folks there who make great drinks.  There are four self service pop/soda machines at Lido, one in pig and anchor. At best two of the four machines worked on lido, sometimes only one. You can get 12oz out in one swipe of the card but there is no way all those machines are calibrated the same as the amounts varied....and do yourself a favor and take a quick drink before your pour time runs out, plenty of times it was just water, no pop/soda in it. I did not hit up the street eats places but as mentioned there are options to eat on this boat. Pizza was acceptable and the sandwhich shop next to it was fine too.

 

Fun shop prices are definitely not fun, its cranked up everywhere so keep that in mind.

 

Bolt was fun, worth $15 to give it a shot. Do it on embarkation day, nice picture with Miami in the back or a port day, no guarantees it runs at sea with the wind....I do believe it ran everyday except the last sea day which was very windy. Water slides are great, mini golf and rope course is very good. Pools are naturally chilly right now, hot tubs are plentiful around the ship.

 

Serenity area is really nice, definitely get up there.

 

Kind of a mixed bag with the central stage being, well central like it is, again you decide. The backgrounds and aesthetic carnival uses for shows on this ship are really good. Also the shows are always meh for me. The circus was fine but one performer apparently was injured unfortunately which cancelled all remaining shows. Deal or no Deal was fun, one lady made it to the end with the two highest amounts left so the drama was there. The cards the audience uses actually produced a $300 winner which was great for them.

 

Didnt spend time in the casino, I know two slot pulls happend and with several hundreds of spins at $5 a pop I dont think any bonus was even hit, nothing.  Facebook says there was a monster winner on the cruise in the casino but I dont know how or what she was playing.

 

Decks 6 and 7 are cool, do yourself a favor and check out the model ship, the detail is amazing, amazing is probably selling it short. 

 

Fun seven days, weather was great except for the above mentioned last sea day. Stops were fine, San Juan seems run down and a bit dirty but they havent had the best luck with things. RC Wonder of the Seas pulled in with us, that's a big lady.  

 

Almost forgot service, hit and miss, steward didn't call us by name once the entire week but had good experiences elsewhere. There was a hair tie under the shelves next to our bed, reasonably easy to see that looked like it had been there a bit, Ieft it and it remained all week so is the cleaning good, again you decide.

Edited January 17, 2023 by maintain242001

[lebsing658]

Thanks for the review. We're booked on Celebration for a family reunion later this year. Haven't been on a Carnival cruise in many, many years. Hoping for the best.

[shdixon]

49 minutes ago, lebsing658 said:

Thanks for the review. We're booked on Celebration for a family reunion later this year. Haven't been on a Carnival cruise in many, many years. Hoping for the best.

You will have a great time 

[LouChamp]

Aloha. Thank you for your review. Much appreciated 

[hard_eight]

Was on the same cruise and by far the most disappointing food onboard was Chibang. Not portion related, just not good.

 

Loved the ship, so much to do and so little time! 

 

The Jag game in the Pig & Anchor on the last night was amazing! DUUUUVVVAAAALLLLL!!!!

Edited January 17, 2023 by hard_eight
spelling

[shdixon]

I will have to check out that game next time around. Whenever I did go to ping & anchor to get my watermelon drink the people in there always seem to be having fun

Chibang needs improvement 

[shdixon]

5 minutes ago, hard_eight said:

Was on the same cruise and by far the most disappointing food onboard was Chibang. Not portion related, just not good.

 

Loved the ship, so much to do and so little time! 

 

The Jag game in the Pig & Anchor on the last night was amazing! DUUUUVVVAAAALLLLL!!!!

I will have to check out that game next time around. Whenever I did go to ping & anchor to get my watermelon drink the people in there always seem to be having fun

 

Chibang needs improvement 

[kwokpot]

19 hours ago, jimbob22 said:

  And I do tend to wonder if Carnival is doing as much as they can with frozen foods b/c my banana pie at P&A (on Mardi Gras) was partly frozen, not as good as if it was much closer to room temp.  Street eats and all the fast foods were great though--just mostly

Frozen premade food isn't necessarily cheaper and I don't think that's what Carnival is doing. What they probably are doing is pre-making on the ship lots of items then freezing it. But it's made on the ship, not purchased frozen pre-made. 

[jimbob22]

4 minutes ago, kwokpot said:

Frozen premade food isn't necessarily cheaper and I don't think that's what Carnival is doing. What they probably are doing is pre-making on the ship lots of items then freezing it. But it's made on the ship, not purchased frozen pre-made. 

it's hard to determine.  Someone on one of these threads posted a good pic from sysco's website basically showing that the cinnamon twirls and yellow and red danishes are all pre-made sysco products, basically just baked on the ship.  So that kind of made me wonder if hal, celebrity, princess are basically just buying a more expansive selection from sysco(?).    But suppose your theory is correct: it just seems kind of a waste to put the effort into making the items, then putting them in the freezer for later.  Why not just serve them up fresh later that day? or put them in fridge until next day?  

 

We eat a lot of frozen foods at home, so I can actually be ok if it's hot and tasty, but much we had was tepid and 'meh'.  My eggdrop soup at Chibang was particularly hot, good, actually had some veggies, maybe not traditional but did no harm.

[Joebucks]

I was also on this cruise. Will be posting a review soon.

[ober134]

Was also on this sailing. We generally thought food was good. Exception: ChiBangs. We only tried the Asian selections, so can't comment on Mexican options. Emerils was wonderful and well worth the small upcharge. Alchemy is not well situated in our opinion and was always so crowded. We had dinner 3 nights at Cucina and thought it was very good. Ship is huge. Wear comfortable shoes. we had a forward balcony on 10. I found the light breakfast at P&A quick and not overly crowded.... But it was 705 steps from cabin to P&A according to my app. We did stairs as much as possible, tho elevators were accessible without much waiting. Once again I thought debarkation was a mess once out of the terminal. With nearly 6000 ppl getting transport, rides, etc all within a 2 hour time span is an issue; and 5 other ships in port makes me rethink sailing from Miami again.

[Crusin Karen]

Great review.  I don't have plans to book this ship (since I'm now a solo cruiser, I cruise from homeport of Manhattan) but I enjoy reading reviews of all the ships which raises the question: WHAT IS CHIBANG?🥴

[Knights on the Beach]

17 minutes ago, Crusin Karen said:

Great review.  I don't have plans to book this ship (since I'm now a solo cruiser, I cruise from homeport of Manhattan) but I enjoy reading reviews of all the ships which raises the question: WHAT IS CHIBANG?🥴

 

Chibang is a restaurant on Mardi Gras and Celebration that has both Mexican and Chinese food on the menu. We ate there a few times on MG and I loved the Kung Pao chicken. It definitely gets mixed reviews but it seems more bad reviews on Celebration.

 

https://www.carnival.com/cruise-food/chibang

 

 

[tradewinds traveler]

Thank you so much for the review. We are sailing on the Celebration in April. We will rethink about dining at Chibang.

[WhiteOptima]

1 hour ago, ober134 said:

Was also on this sailing. We generally thought food was good. Exception: ChiBangs. We only tried the Asian selections, so can't comment on Mexican options. Emerils was wonderful and well worth the small upcharge. Alchemy is not well situated in our opinion and was always so crowded. We had dinner 3 nights at Cucina and thought it was very good. Ship is huge. Wear comfortable shoes. we had a forward balcony on 10. I found the light breakfast at P&A quick and not overly crowded.... But it was 705 steps from cabin to P&A according to my app. We did stairs as much as possible, tho elevators were accessible without much waiting. Once again I thought debarkation was a mess once out of the terminal. With nearly 6000 ppl getting transport, rides, etc all within a 2 hour time span is an issue; and 5 other ships in port makes me rethink sailing from Miami again.

We have a B2B in April and we have one of the front facing balconies on 11.  Sounds like we will be getting a workout.  We had a back balcony on deck 6 on Pride and would run up to 9 and grab a coffee.  Will have to do better planning!

 

Thanks for debark info.  We haven’t booked flights yet but will make sure we book afternoon.