Willdra’s Celestial Carnival Celebration May 28-June 4 Cruise Review

[willdra]

3 hours ago, Crusin Karen said:

Wildra’s reviews: tied with Jamman for the best cruise experience even tho you’re not on a cruise! 👏😎

Awwww Shucks! Thanks so much for this! ♥️♥️♥️

[willdra]

2 hours ago, MzShae said:

Loving it as always!🤩

Thanks and welcome back! 😁😁

[willdra]

1 hour ago, Hogladyrider said:

@willdra...following with pleasure.

 

As for Margaritaville, it reminds me of the other 55+ in Florida The Villages.

 

I am sure they will be very happy there and stay very active, but those HOA fees are not for me for sure, been there done that, but too each his/her own.  Too many politics in those communities...and residents have very little control over the HOA fees that keep rising and rising.  Not too mention the cost of homeowners insurance in Florida these days.  Just so everyone knows Florida is not all roses and flowers.

 

We lived in central Florida for over 40 years and we left in 2019 and while we still own property there we have it rented out and we do not anticipate residing in that state again we love it out west.

 

Looking forward to your review for sure love your writing.

Thanks so much for the insight! It’s always good to be well informed. Thanks also for joining me! 😘😘😘

[Hogladyrider]

Just now, willdra said:

Thanks so much for the insight! It’s always good to be well informed. Thanks also for joining me! 😘😘😘

I hope you were not offended by my insight, it was not intended to be negative just informative.  I so enjoy your writing.

[willdra]

8 minutes ago, jimbo5544 said:

Great start to your review, could almost hear TT singing those words.

Thanks for joining me again! That song is my favorite song of hers. Her voice was just phenomenal! 😊😊😍

[willdra]

3 minutes ago, Hogladyrider said:

I hope you were not offended by my insight, it was not intended to be negative just informative.  I so enjoy your writing.

No not at all! Sharing is caring. I value every point of view. It’s important to look at all different perspectives when making life decisions.Thanks for hanging out with me!! ♥️♥️♥️♥️♥️

[ItsADryHumor]

1 hour ago, Hogladyrider said:

@willdra...following with pleasure.

 

As for Margaritaville, it reminds me of the other 55+ in Florida The Villages.

 

I am sure they will be very happy there and stay very active, but those HOA fees are not for me for sure, been there done that, but too each his/her own.  Too many politics in those communities...and residents have very little control over the HOA fees that keep rising and rising.  Not too mention the cost of homeowners insurance in Florida these days.  Just so everyone knows Florida is not all roses and flowers.

 

We lived in central Florida for over 40 years and we left in 2019 and while we still own property there we have it rented out and we do not anticipate residing in that state again we love it out west.

 

Looking forward to your review for sure love your writing.

Not the Villages!!! 🤣🤣🤣

[Hogladyrider]

8 minutes ago, ItsADryHumor said:

Not the Villages!!! 🤣🤣🤣

Nice place to visit but not to live.....they have grown so much over the years it is frightening!

[purpleally]

4 hours ago, Crusin Karen said:

Wildra’s reviews: tied with Jamman for the best cruise experience even tho you’re not on a cruise! 👏😎

No way!  Willdra wins!   She rocks reviews with her writing style

[AKR2011]

Welcome back, Willdra! I've been looking forward to this review and am excited to follow along. I'm sailing myself in 5 days and need a distraction from the excitement this week.

[SenatorsFan]

Yay, Willdra is back! 🥰I've been looking forward to this.

DH was introduced to Old Bay when he lived in Baltimore and we are fans here, too. 

[mlshum]

Oh, thank Heaven!  I was hoping Willdra would be on Celebration soon!  Following!

[mlshum]

I should probably say a prayer tonight thanking God that Willdra survived the golf cart experience and made it back home to entertain us with her awesome (know it will be!) review.  Amen.

[willdra]

Cruise Day

 

 

My alarm was set for 5 am but I got up at 4:45. I wanted to get a head start before W got up. I love those first few minutes of solitude in the morning. Pure Bliss. I got ready pretty fast for me, and I woke up W around 5:30. He was moving kinda slow and sluggish. He blamed it on all of those cups of free beer that he poured down his throat the night before. Highly likely. But shake it off sir. We've got to Cel-e-brate good times, come on!

 

 

I was motivated to move cuz we were going to Buc-ee's for some quick breakfast items before hitting the road. The Daytona Beach Buc-ee's was about 2 miles away so it was divinely appointed. If Jesus had a bucket list, Buc-ee's would absolutely be on there. Twice.

 

The car was loaded by magical man hands and we slid over to the spot right quick. Waze was tripping and telling us to make u turns to get on the highway towards Miami. I don’t even know why. Waze knows Buc-ee's will always be visited. So I told it to hush until further notice. 

 

An advantage of going so early, was that it was almost empty. No lines, no waiting, just get it and go. Heaven. I looked around for a short while, then I got one thing. No, I wasn’t sick, I just didn’t really have a lot of time, and I knew that I was only going to eat half of that humongous burrito. We could always stop by to get take home stuff after the cruise when we brought T and K back. This Buc-ee's is at the same exit as Latitudes. The only other thing that I wanted was coffee and the energy that it provides, but I didn’t want the diuretic effect that it has on my bladder, so I opted to share W’s . He was enthused and very happy to share with me. Actually no. He gave me a side eye which meant "touch my coffee and draw back a nub". However, I rolled the dice and decided to take my chances. His bark (and side eye) is worse than his bite.

 

 

 

[willdra]

 

When everyone got what they wanted, we got on the road. When I gave Waze permission to speak again, we saw that our ETA was 10. Cool. There was hardly any traffic. This is the way.

 

That 3 hour and some change ride felt like 10 hours. I actually didn’t know how long it would take until we got to Daytona. I don't prefer to travel that much on cruise day, but it had to happen. Thankfully, we didn’t get into traffic until we got to Miami. This was prolly cuz we were sailing out on a Sunday.

 

We got to the tunnel around 9:54. At 9:58 we dropped off the luggage, then went to park. That’s where the good times ended, or paused. The parking garage is a hike. A long, hot, not smelling so great, hike. No bueno.

 

It was a little chaotic at the terminal. There were random groups of people scattered around. We found the priority line and entered along with a group of 10. The check in process took 2 minutes, if even that. When we got thru that, we were directed to the Captain's Lounge. Ok this was where there was shock and horror. We had to get a boarding card (gasp) then wait. With millions of other priority boarders. Ghetto.

 

We took the card then found seats together. We had Priority B. T and K had P. Ouch. Boarding began at 10:41.  W and I walked on at 10:45.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[willdra]

Our first stop was Muster B8 which was at Chibang. We walked up, they scanned our boarding pass, then asked if we knew how to put on a life jacket. We answered "yes", they said “enjoy the cruise, and come see us at the Sail Away Party”. The end.

 

Our cabin number was 17279. It’s a Serenity balcony that’s directly below Serenity. We went there and dropped off our luggage first. The cabin wasn’t ready yet, therefor we didn’t even linger to take pics. I wanted to take our welcome aboard photos next. A quick walk up the stairs, and we were there. I’m not hating this! We took pics in a few choice spots, then walked around a little. I chose that first activity so I asked W what he wanted to do next. If you guessed food, you are 100% right. Y'all know him so well! GBJ is normally my first food stop, but not on Celebration. We needed Big Chicken in a big way.

 

Since we were on so early, there was no one in line. We got our food in a few seconds. We found seats inside by the buffet area so T and K could easily find us when they got on. They are Platinum and even though we walked into the Captains Lounge together, they had to wait for their zone to be called.

 

This is what you see when you embark on the Celebration. Very underwhelming. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[willdra]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[willdra]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[willdra]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[willdra]

T and K text us at 11:19 saying they just got on. They got Big Chicken also but there was a line by then and it took awhile. After I ate, I went to look at the gelato choices. They had coffee and raspberry. They also had some really good looking cheesecake. I chose the coffee gelato.

 

My table mates were jelly of my gelato, so they all went and got desserts. W got salted caramel cheesecake and it was magically delicious. He shared it with me and I shared my gelato. T and K wanted us to take a group photo. When everyone was done, we went aft for it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[willdra]

After the photo shoot, suddenly I was very tired. I guess those few hours of sleep 2 nights in a row caught up to me. Our cabin steward had other plans tho. Our cabin was STILL not yet ready. We decided to go to Serenity to wait it out. At around 1:15, W did a cabin check, and it was ready so he text me and I went down. It was nice to be able to sit in the cool and quiet. It was warm outside. 

 

I took a few cabin pictures before W sullied it. Then I thought I would take a quick nap before the past guest party, but that was not in the cards either. Lord, why am I this unlucky? W and I really just sat around looking crazy until it was time to go. We left the cabin around 2:45. The party was supposed to begin at 4. We found loungers in the whole full sun. It was hot as fish grease out there! There were chairs behind us in the shade, so we sat back there until the festivities kicked off. God is glorious.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[willdra]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[willdra]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[willdra]

 

 

 

 

[willdra]

The party kicked off and we were so there for it. First, DJ Cue is everything that you need him to be. He played some great songs, and we thoroughly enjoyed it (especially the old school hip hop). He even ran down and started break dancing in the middle of the party. I loved him already. Second, Lee was our Cruise Director and he was good as always. This was one of the best Sail Away Parties because of the music. It was lit for real y'all.