Carnival Celebration Cruise Review with Photos Jan. 15-22

[lovestocruise19]

We went back to the room for a bit and I enjoyed the sunshine on the balcony. I tried Big Chicken chicken tenders and fries for lunch. The chicken was very flavorful! I also had cookies and tried gelato for the first time for dessert. 

 

 

 

 

 

Once back in the room, I showered and attempted to curl my hair (fail). Hubby tried Big Chicken on a bun. We hung out in the room watching OP Live on hubby's phone since he bought the internet plan. 

 

[lovestocruise19]

It was elegant night and I love dressing up! Hubby not so much, but he does it for me. We took photos against ONE backdrop (hubby's requirement) and then went to Chibang for dinner. 

 

 

Pork belly for hubby:

 

Cheese quesadilla:

 

Chicken spring rolls:

 

Pollo en mole:

 

Green beans:

 

Chocolate dessert with cinnamon ice cream (I forget the name of it):

 

Hubby doesn't like Chinese or Mexican so he was able to order a strip steak from the & More part of the menu.

 

Flan (hubby didn't like this):

 

I enjoyed the appetizers, but wasn't a big fan of the main course chicken.

[lovestocruise19]

Hubby got ice cream up on Deck 8 aft in the military lounge. 

 

 

 

Hubby wanted to watch a football game that was showing on the big screen on Lido. I went to the A Night of Enchantment show which featured the string trio and the Carnival singers and dancers. I loved this show. It helped that the singers could sing, which isn't always the case.

 

Pre show scenes. Oh, no, it's snowing on the ship! Lol!

 

[lovestocruise19]

Right before the show, they had the meet the officers. 

 

Lee

 

The captain

 

And look who it is! Calvin! I KNEW I heard and saw him earlier on the ship.I feel like this is one degree of separation from meeting John Heald.

 

 

 

 

 

[lovestocruise19]

 

 

 

 

[lovestocruise19]

After the show I went back to the room and then down to Havana for live music, but it wasn't what I expected so I left in search of ice cream. I had just gotten ice cream when hubby messaged saying he was going to get pizza and go back to the room. I met him at the pizza place and we went back to the room together. 

 

[lovestocruise19]

A couple of random thoughts about the room: I'm not a fan of the position of the faucet in the sink. It is kinda to the side which makes it a little harder to wash your hands without water getting everywhere. I LOVE the nightlight that stays on in the bathroom after you shut off the main bathroom light. Great feature! There is also a nightlight type over the bed. 

 

Random thought about the elevators: The elevator numbers are lit up in blue and the buttons have a small blue light around them indicating that that button is pressed which makes it a little difficult to determine which buttons are pressed. 

 

On this cruise, we took advantage of the free laundry for platinum guests since we had already been on vacation for days at this point.

 

 

 

[lovestocruise19]

The next day was Amber Cove, Dominican Republic. We hadn't booked any shore excursions this cruise. We figured the cruise ship itself would be an experience, it saved us some money and we had pre booked a Carnival Kitchen class.

 

I found out by reading these boards that there is a zip line over the pool in Amber Cove. I had never ziplined and it was on my Bucket List. Hubby didn't want to do it. I figured this was the perfect chance to get my feet wet on a short zip line just to see if I liked it. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[lovestocruise19]

Hubby took a seat near the end of the zip line and I trekked up the hill to the top. As I was getting into my harness the guy asked if I was okay and I told him I was a little nervous as it was my first time. He gave me a pink helmet in honor of my first time. Lol! It was quite the rush and not that scary. I did get a little turned around at the end, but the lines automatically brake you. I could have gone an unlimited number of times, but I did it just once. Hubby took a video of it. If I can figure out how to post videos, I will put it at the end of the review.

 

 

The zip lines

 

The ending platform:

 

All smiles. I did it!

[kdr69]

2 hours ago, lovestocruise19 said:

 

 

 

 

 

I thought this was super cool and my husband thought I was a dork. Lol! A clock on the floor! 

 

 

 

We actually never went in here all cruise: 

 

 

 

 

I stood on the clock and said hey im actually "on" time now.  Corny i know but it got a laugh from people.

[lovestocruise19]

After that, hubby and I looked around for a bit and took a picture by the Amber Cove sign. We then got back on the ship. Hubby had a really funny idea to play "Baby Got Back" while I filmed the aft of the Celebration. I will post that video at the end as well. You can really appreciate her size when she is docked aside smaller ships. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[EngIceDave]

2 hours ago, lovestocruise19 said:

We lived in Florida for a few years (2018-2020) and are contemplating moving back in a few years. Wonder how much one of these would set us back! 🤣

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fisher Island is the most expensive zip code in the US

[illinoisfive]

Based on the floor plans for the Celebration a Junior Balcony does not show a couch in the room, however the poster has a couch in her Junior Balcony.  

I was trying to decide between a balcony and a Jr balcony based on location for our upcoming Celebration cruise and room definately shows no couch.

confused.

[EngIceDave]

51 minutes ago, lovestocruise19 said:

We hung out in the room watching OP Live on hubby's phone since he bought the internet plan. 

So you could stream TV? Glad it worked and I love that show, glad it's back.

Best part (maybe) is we live in Daytona, so I can pick out some areas of Daytona and Volusia County.

 

Were you able to stream regularly?

 

 

[lovestocruise19]

Once back onboard, we decided to find a non crowded pool since the pool at Amber Cove was smaller than we thought and crowded. We went to the pool in Summer Landing. It was moderately crowded, but then I spotted an empty hot tub so we spent a few minutes in there. We then got ice cream and headed back to the room to change. After that, we went to Lido and got Big Chicken. 

 

Show rehearsal (more on this later):

 

 

Hubby likes to get lettuce and tomato for his Big Chicken at the toppings station at Guy's:

 

 

 

 

[lovestocruise19]

8 minutes ago, EngIceDave said:

Fisher Island is the most expensive zip code in the US

 

I knew I had good taste! 🤣

[EngIceDave]

Just now, lovestocruise19 said:

 

I knew I had good taste! 🤣

If you're on the port side on departure, you'll see the ferry and dock to go over there. There is no bridge. Ferry only. Used to be they had a clear water "shower" you drove through as you exited to wash any salt off your fancy car.

[lovestocruise19]

7 minutes ago, illinoisfive said:

Based on the floor plans for the Celebration a Junior Balcony does not show a couch in the room, however the poster has a couch in her Junior Balcony.  

I was trying to decide between a balcony and a Jr balcony based on location for our upcoming Celebration cruise and room definately shows no couch.

confused.

 

I was concerned about this as well. There was actually a video showing a tour of my exact room and I was happy to see the couch. But you are right, the floor plans are deceiving. I'm not sure if it is like that for all junior balconies, but room 15229 definitely has a couch! 

[lovestocruise19]

 

 

 

 

 

 

[lovestocruise19]

For dinner, we went to Guy's Pig and Anchor. I'm not into barbecue, but they had salmon on the menu so I decided to give it a try since hubby tried Chibang for me the other night. Hubby had an upcharge rib eye steak and I had the maple glazed salmon which I enjoyed. I wasn't a fan of the Carolina slaw.  For dessert, hubby had an apple crumble type thing and I had Mississippi Mud Pie. Who knew mud could taste so good! 😜

 

 

 

 

[lovestocruise19]

1 hour ago, EngIceDave said:

So you could stream TV? Glad it worked and I love that show, glad it's back.

Best part (maybe) is we live in Daytona, so I can pick out some areas of Daytona and Volusia County.

 

Were you able to stream regularly?

 

 

 

Hello! We were actually watching it from it being recorded on our DVR through the internet. It wouldn't work on his iPad so we had to use his phone. It was in and out at times, but I have to say that internet overall seemed pretty good on this cruise. It is "fun" when you recognize locations on OP Live. Nova Road, International Speedway Blvd! Lol! Happy Watching tonight! 

 

We are thinking of moving back to Florida (we lived in the Orlando area for almost three years) and the Daytona/Port Orange/New Smyrna area is at the top of our list. We absolutely love New Smyrna Beach.

[lovestocruise19]

After dinner, I bought a ship magnet and a large funnel magnet. We went back to the room to drop off my purchases and then headed down to the Grand Spectrum Theater to watch Family Feud Live. There was a few minutes before the show so hubby snuck off to get an ice cream cone. It was a fun show to watch. After that, we each got our "nightcaps" (pizza and ice cream).

 

 

Random shot of Lido I took. Lido was set up really well. A lot of smaller stations which prevented crowding at the buffets.

 

[lovestocruise19]

The next day was San Juan. We got up at 8:30 a.m. and went to the Festivale Dining Room for breakfast. Hubby really likes having breakfast in the dining rooms now because he can get bacon and eggs how he likes them (over medium). Our head server was Adinta. It was a little slow, but we didn't mind because we weren't in a hurry. Lee came on the PA to let us know that the health inspectors had come aboard. Hubby saw a lot of officers in the dining room and a lot of workers scrambling so we surmised that that had something to do with the slower service. 

 

This was the only time that I had BAD food. The yogurt tasted sour. I had yogurt on Lido twice that week and it was fine, so I'm not sure why the dining room yogurt was bad.

 

 

 

[lovestocruise19]

We got back to the room, but they were cleaning so we went down to Summer Landing. I asked Guest Services whether or not they were still having the circus show because I had seen them rehearsing for it before and I had it saved on the Hub app as one of my favorites, but it had disappeared. Sadly, she said it had been cancelled most likely due to technical issues. We played three rounds of foosball and then went back to the room. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[lovestocruise19]

We gathered our things and went ashore. The plan was to walk around the historic streets and go shopping. Hubby bought a tshirt and I bought pretty earrings.

 

 

 

 

 

No umbrellas, just doves.