My First Review, Celebration B2B May 5th to 18th

[LaRue1975]

It’s debarkation day and this time they are going to make us get off, ugh! We are staying overnight in Miami and flying home early Sunday morning so have the option to hang on the ship as long as possible but that’s not our style. When it’s done it’s done. I hate the sitting around and hubby hates crowds, especially the cattle drive to the gangway, mooo! 🤣🤣 We are Platinum so will do the priority debarkation for checked luggage at 8:30. I messed up and we went to the meeting place for priority self debark and of course they were already gone. It worked out because we were close to the exit and they told to just get off. So it was a fairly short cattle drive, whew! I’m sure we got off before the rest of the priority people because it looked like all the luggage in our section was still in the terminal. We grabbed a porter and headed to the exit. I asked what was easier, taxi or Uber and he said taxi, probably because they are right in front of the terminal. We were quickly loaded and on our way. We always use a porter and tip $20, they are more than worth it to us. 
 

I had booked the JW Marriott Marquis because it’s very close to the Bayside Marketplace. I used the annual free night from my credit card. It was a short ride, probably 10 minutes. Wow, it is a beautiful hotel and I didn’t take one pic, I must have been tired of constantly having my phone in my hand. We were upgraded again to the highest floor, I think it was 42. We are moving WAY on up, the Presidential Suite was on our floor. The room was huge and we were escorted up by a real live bellhop, yes, they still exist! He was classic too, middle age and polished with a bit of a mafia vibe. He reminded me so much of our Vegas days, offering all the info on the hotel and the amenities in our room. He offered to pre book our Uber for us in the morning and he probably could have hooked us up with all kinds of stuff.😜  I need to book more of these fancy hotels. First things first though, we took a two hour nap. 
 

One last Roxie pic in place of all the beautiful hotel pics I should have taken. She is ready for pic up! 

[LaRue1975]

Did I mention it is hotter than Hell outside? I think it was 100 degrees with 90% humidity. The walk over to Bayside Marketplace was uncomfortable to say the least but we managed. When we got there we started looking for a bar but I was so hot (and not in a good way) I wanted to find an indoor one with good AC. Yeah, not too many of those but Hard Rock’s was at least shaded and on the water so we went there. Good choice, it was pretty comfortable and we were the only ones sitting at the bar. We had a nice visit with the bartender, she was dying from the heat too. The drinks were really good, I think I had Mojitos and hubby had Mai Tais or Margaritas. Once we were cooled off and hydrated we left to walk around mall but made plans to come back for lunch, she was going hold a table for us on the water. 
 

It’s an outdoor mall so not the best day to explore but we got around the whole thing and hubby couldn’t find a t-shirt he liked. At the end of our tour we went in the Margaritaville store and he found one so now we have to go in the bar and get a drink. Oh, darn! After that we rode the big Ferris wheel which was amazing because the pods are air conditioned, double whew! We did enjoy it and I got some pics. Back to Hard Rock for a big lunch, hubby got a giant hamburger concoction. I can’t remember what I had but it was good and very filling! The walk back was miserable but overall it was a fun afternoon and would have been great if it was 20 degrees cooler. 
 

Back at the hotel we just relaxed in the room. It was late afternoon when ate lunch so we didn’t need another meal. It was wonderful that we had such a plush space room for the last night of our adventure to rest and recover. I pre booked our Uber in the morning, definitely doing that from now on because it works and I like knowing it’s taken care of. We flew home non stop to LAX on American. I booked with points of course, I think I am a points addict, lol! 

 

That is the end of our adventure but I will come back for a wrap up later. I rushed to finish yesterday because I won’t have much time today and my grandson is coming tomorrow to spend the weekend. Sorry about all the mistakes yesterday, I didn’t have time proof read. Thank you to all that take the the time to read my review, I enjoyed reliving our grand adventure! ❤️😎🛳️😎❤️
 

 

[Jamman54]

Well done! Thanks for taking the time to post it. I know how much work it is, but how much fun it is to relive your cruise. Looking forward to your next one! 😎

[luvcruzing]

Thank you for the review.  It was fun seeing how much fun you and your husband were having and just enjoying life.  Well done.

[MEUB1112]

Outstanding review,  thank you!!

[tradewinds traveler]

Amazing review! Thank you for taking us a long. All the photos are so great.

[LaRue1975]

On 6/14/2024 at 2:06 AM, beshears said:

I believe I am at the end of your cruise reporting, and I have enjoyed all of it, especially along with the pictures. You also mentioned you are "people watchers," that is ME as well, especially if I am at the airport, etc.

Thank you for following along! We are definitely people watchers, humans can be very entertaining. You just never know what you are going to see. 

[LaRue1975]

22 hours ago, Jamman54 said:

Well done! Thanks for taking the time to post it. I know how much work it is, but how much fun it is to relive your cruise. Looking forward to your next one! 😎

Thank you, means a lot coming from the master! I loved reliving our adventure and now I am ready to move on to the next one. 😎

[LaRue1975]

13 hours ago, luvcruzing said:

Thank you for the review.  It was fun seeing how much fun you and your husband were having and just enjoying life.  Well done.

Thank you! I didn’t expect to write a day by day but it was fun reliving it that way. Happy to hear it was fun for you too! 😎

[LaRue1975]

13 hours ago, MEUB1112 said:

Outstanding review,  thank you!!

Thank you for following along, I enjoyed sharing our adventure! 😎

[LaRue1975]

13 hours ago, tradewinds traveler said:

Amazing review! Thank you for taking us a long. All the photos are so great.

Thank you! I enjoyed sharing our trip, it was almost too good not to share. We were blessed with such good weather and the Celebration is a home run. I have a 15 Pro Max but it was so gorgeous it would have been hard to take a bad pic. 😜

[mamiamjo]

On 6/11/2024 at 8:10 PM, LaRue1975 said:

I have no idea where we went to dinner or what we did after but according to the few pics in my phone there was at least one bubble drink involved. I am enjoying putting this review together so I will definitely take notes and more pics next cruise. San Juan is up next, should have time to work on it tonight. 

Love the popping bubble pics 😎

[LaRue1975]

10 hours ago, mamiamjo said:

Love the popping bubble pics 😎

I loved popping the bubble! It was fun to watch the bartenders make them. Sometimes they busted a lot of bubbles in the process. 😜

[shandryl]

On 6/10/2024 at 8:40 AM, LaRue1975 said:

This is not going to be a day to day trip report, the hubby and I are too old for our day to day exploits to be that entertaining, not to mention my ability to remember what we did.  I do want to contribute so will attempt to write a review of our recent back to back cruise on the Celebration May 5th to 18th. This was a special vacation, celebrating our 48th anniversary starting with a five day stay in Fort Lauderdale followed by 13 days on the Celebration visiting Amber Cove twice, St. Thomas, San Juan, Grand Turk and Nassau. We were in a 14th deck extended balcony on the first cruise and a 15th deck Exel Aft Suite on the second. This was by far our best cruise since we started cruising again in 2022 after a 14 year break. I will break it down into sections so you can skip whatever doesn’t interest you and I’ll include pics. Ok, let’s see how this goes…

Congratulations 48 years!! What a beautiful way to celebrate! Thank you for Sharing your 1st review & pictures! 💞 🍹🥳🎉

[LaRue1975]

17 hours ago, shandryl said:

Congratulations 48 years!! What a beautiful way to celebrate! Thank you for Sharing your 1st review & pictures! 💞 🍹🥳🎉

Thank you and thanks for reading our adventure!  😎🛳️😎

[LaRue1975]

I finally found the time to wrap up my report, sorry for the delay. I am going to do a review because my review turned out to be a day to day trip report, who knew? I will break it down into sections, first up the ship! 

 

THE FUN SHIP CELEBRATION

What a humongous and gorgeous ship she is! There has literally something for everyone. If you can get bored on this ship then you are a boring person and it must be your fault! 😜 I know a lot of people fear the size of the ship and worry about overcrowding but we didn’t find that at all. There are so many food, drink and entertainment options that keep the passengers spread throughout the ship. There are a few bottlenecks but none as bad as the Guys Burgers and Blue Iguana areas on the lido deck in all the other ships. Walking through the Marketplace buffet was much better too and we didn’t have to do it as often as on the other ships. The aft upper decks were well designed with the aft pool, sports deck, roller coaster, ropes course, walking track, mini golf and water park all together and separated from the rest of the ship. This is the outdoor recreation area which you can completely avoid if that’s not your thing. We thoroughly enjoyed playing mini golf, especially when the coaster was roaring over our heads. You use the app to make a reservation for Bolt but I waited until the morning of the next to last sea day and no slots were available. So sign up as soon as you get on the ship if you are determined to ride the coaster. 

 

The forward upper decks is the more adult relaxing area with a huge Serenity deck and the exclusive Loft 19 area. Both areas have their own pool and there is a full service bar in Serenity that also serves Loft 19. Plus Serenity has large hot tubs on the port and starboard sides. I thought it was great that the water park is on the opposite side of the ship rather than next door to Serenity. I didn’t go to the spa or fitness center but I think it was a good idea to move them to the lower decks and leave more room for Serenity and Loft 19. Both are a home run! We checked out Loft 19 and thought it was plush and nice but we liked our even better Exel Aft Suite balcony more! 😎

 

We never had trouble finding a lounger overlooking the main lido deck area but we were out fairly early to grab them. In the afternoon they start to fill up but there are so many all over the ship and five different pools so it shouldn’t be a problem for anyone.  The summer Landing pool on deck 8 looked very nice and if you want a lounger there you need to get out there early and grab it. There is a lot of space around the pool but not a lot of loungers. There is ample room to sit at the edge of pool and it is a good sized pool so if you like to just hang in the pool it’s perfect! Awesome aft view included. 😎

 

Deck 6, 7 and 8 are filled with restaurants, bars, shops and entertainment venues. The Grand Central area is all three decks and has a bar on deck 6. It’s a very unique venue for some of the production shows. I think most of them included circus style acrobats and you can often see them practicing during the day. I hear it gets crowded but we only went to Deal Or No Deal there so I don’t have a review of the shows. It is stunning though, day or night, we enjoyed walking through and the bar was never crowded when there wasn’t a show. 

 

The main showroom was comfortable and well designed but I think it probably runs out of seats too. We went to Family Feud and almost every seat was taken before the show started. We did enjoy it and will probably go again. The Punchliner Comedy Club is large and we didn’t have to line up too early to get great seats, maybe 15 minutes? We saw one 18+ show and it was hilarious! 🤣🤣 

 

The three decks are huge and there are so many bars, restaurants, shops and other venues that it is really hard to remember where everything is. So just get off the elevator, look at the nearby map and use the stairs or get back on the elevator if you are on the wrong deck. Or better yet, look up where you are headed on the app first! It is a long walk from one end to the other but excerise is good, maybe you’ll only gain 5 pounds instead of 10! 😜

 

Ok, let’s talk about the elevators. Yes, they are too small and generally pretty crowded. Why oh why did Carnival give up on the smart elevators they put in the Vista Class ships? Yes, people complained when they couldn’t figure them out but we are smarter than you think and they are now working great. Bring back the smart elevators please! The best thing to do is avoid the two sets of mid deck elevators. Our room was mid deck 14 so if we were heading aft we would walk down to the aft elevators and forward elevators if we were going forward. I did like the glass in the  elevators so you could watch the people whizzing by while you were waiting for one to stop. 

 

Because we didn’t see any shows or participate in the parties I will only make separate posts on the dining and bars, we made good use of those offerings! I covered the ports well earlier, especially with the pics. We visited Amber Cove twice, Puerto Rico, St. Thomas/St. John, Grand  Turk and Nassau, Bahamas. Thanks again to anyone that came along for the ride, even if you only made it halfway. Reliving this very special adventure was great for me, it’s almost like I got to do it twice.  If you have any questions about the ship, ports or whatever ask away. I have found so much helpful info and tips from this forum I would love to pay it forward. 

[LaRue1975]

DINING

This is the best reason to choose an Exel Class ship. The number of options, variety and overall quality of the food cannot be matched on the smaller ships. This goes for the fast food outlets, buffet, moderate and high end restaurants. The main dining room is comparable and I thought the room service was terrible but that was the only disappointment. I missed a lot in the report so will cover it here. 

 

I’ll start with the fast food. Guys Burgers was as delicious as always but is on the 17th deck, right above Lido. It is a large space with plenty of seating inside and out. There is plenty of room for the line and it is not out in the sun or blocking traffic. It also has a Swirls ice cream and is adjacent to the Red Frog On Top.

 

Street Eats and the Blue Iguana are on lido mid deck by the main pool and Big Screen. Blue Iguana was great as always, especially the tacos. Street Eats was busy but the lines weren’t too bad. We tried the carnitas fries and I had plain tater tots once too. The carnitas fries were really good, you could put whatever toppings you wanted on them. The tater tots were the best I’ve ever had, I swear this is true. I’ll admit to being starving, it was probably after our beach shore excursion in Amber Cove. Hubby must have wanted to get something else so I was walking behind him scarfing the tots and kept saying they were the best I’ve ever tasted and making yum sounds. He finally turned around and told me to just shut up already! 🤣🤣🤣 The other two outlets didn’t appeal to us but I’m sure they were good too.

 

Pizza was good, hubby had it a few times. I love Shaq’s Big Chicken and was not disappointed. There was never a long line, sometimes I just walked right up. The pizza place and deli are next to each other on deck 8 I think. The pizza line was usually small but the deli was busy most of the time we walked by. We got sandwiches once and hot dogs another time. We honestly have yet to order sandwiches that we think are better than just ok. The hot dogs were pretty good though, maybe we are not ordering the right sandwiches. 🤷‍♀️

 

One thing that stood out in a positive way was the space between the tables in the restaurants, so much better than the Panorama and Vista which we have sailed the most. They are still close together but at least double the three inches or so you get on the Vista class ships. This is a huge improvement that we especially appreciated. The Italian Cocina restaurant was the same but I think I finally figured out what to order which helped.  Hint, you can order a side portion of Carbonara with any entree.  We ate there both cruises. I think I covered Chibang but to repeat the Beef Broccoli was horrible and the Sweet & Sour Shrimp was fab. I think overall the Chinese food is better than the Mexican food and there is a big wall of ocean view windows so you might see a sunset. We ate at Chibang once each cruise too and the service at both restaurants was good to excellent. I covered Pig & Anchor but we did go back the second cruise. Hubby ordered the full rack of ribs which he enjoyed but thought the prime rib was better. I got salmon again which was not quite as good as the first time but good enough, lol! This time they brought us three full size desserts to share, very nice! 

 

Rudi’s Seafood Grill I covered well in the report. Scallop appetizer, lobster Mac & cheese, lobster tail and crab stuffed lobster entrees were fabulous! Best meal we’ve ever had on a cruise ship! The Santorini Martini on the cocktail menu is great too if you’re a martini girl like me. 🍸 Service was excellent! Lots of !!! For Rudi’s!!

 

The Steakhouse for me was super good but hubby’s Cowboy rib eye was not so be careful with that. I could only eat half my lobster and took the other half and put it in my fridge. We had an early excursion the next morning so I grabbed a croissant from the buffet and had a lobster sandwich for breakfast. It was delicious and the lobster wasn’t wasted. Who wants to throw lobster away? 

 

We liked the Marketplace buffet better than any ship we have sailed on. It was so spacious and the line was never long. It is spread out into different areas instead of one big line and there was more space between them so you weren’t constantly bumping into people. We ate most breakfasts there and while it is basically the same food as the other ships it tasted so much better and fresher. Maybe we were just there at the right time but the food didn’t taste like it had been sitting under the lamps too long. We could get omelettes almost every day because there was rarely more than two three people waiting. We ate dinner there at least once the first cruise and it was good too although I can’t remember what we ate. I would definitely remember if was terrible like on the Panorama! 🤮 They had cocktail servers in the buffet too which is great when you need a mimosa or Bloody Mary, Cheers! 

 

I was very disappointed in the room service but the hubby thought it was fine. After writing about it and then deleting it I realized it was probably just me. I am just not a room service gal even if it’s free. Put cocktails on the menu and I’m all over it! Ok, that’s a lot of food info but the Celebration has so much to offer. 

[LaRue1975]

BARS

 Sorry, I have no info on the bars because we don’t drink. Oh wait, yes we do, in fact we might be experts, Cheers! I already covered it well but I must add that the bars were very busy almost all the time except earlier in the mornings. I was rarely able to just walk up, be greeted by a bartender and order a drink. It wasn’t a problem for me but I did learn over time which bars were faster or not as crowded. The absolute worst was lido aft but it wasn’t the bartenders, they were working their butts off all day every day. The one bar back there is just not enough and it’s a hot sweaty mess. I’m sweating and thirsty just thinking about it! 🥵😂

 

My fave Red Frog On Top gets too crowded during prime time. It’’s more about the tight quarters up there than more people. They end up with a line at one end which doesn’t work well for the people in that line. The Red Frog on Lido is bigger with lots of space around it so that’s the best bar in the lido area once it gets crowded plus the roaming servers. The second cruise I got a lot of exercise fetching drinks for our beautiful balcony and found the best bar for that is on deck 8 towards the aft. It has a number name, 1840, 1950 or something like that and has an indoor and outdoor bar. Both were good but in the end Vincent at the outdoor bar became my guy. It was usually busy but not crazy and Vincent made me some awesome drinks. Wish I could remember what they were, guess they were extra awesome! 😜

 

I’ve covered how much we loved the Steakhouse Bar, it is the  perfect hang out all night bar for us. The bar chairs are super comfortable too and you are not crammed close together. Alchemy doesn’t work for us because it is so hard to get a seat, they don’t have the extra outside bar top on Celebration and it is next to a congested walkway. Loved the martini Arya made for me the one time we got a seat! Latitudes is excellent too, definitely had a high end feel to it. They don’t have a lot of chairs at the bar but we were able to find two seats every time we went there. The bubble martinis  were so much fun and I loved how they tasted too, maybe too much! Each ship has a different one so I am hoping I like those as much or maybe not! They have live music in Latitudes which we enjoyed except the one night it was too loud. Yep, old people yelling turn down the volume again! 

 

No, we just went to the Golden Jubilee instead, the soloist with a guitar was playing and he was just what the doctor ordered.  Until five minutes later when the drunk lady at the bar started singing along at the top of her lungs. 🤦🏼‍♀️ Fortunately the soloist decided it was a good time for a break after that. The Golden Jubilee is a very nice bar and would be perfect for Elegant Night cocktails or any other time. The bartenders were great too, they were even nice to the drunk lady, I envy their patience. We did go into the Havana Bar once, it is in an out of the way place, can’t remember where. It was almost deserted so we didn’t hang out and I didn’t like the specialty drink I ordered. So it’s a fail for Celebration Havana Bar, you can’t hold a candle to Vista Class on this one. 

 

We went to the Pig & Anchor Bar on Opening Day and I ordered their Smokey Watermelon Margarita. I have had many of them on the Panorama but you do have to be careful because sometimes they are super strong and you will end up singing that I had too much tequila last night song in the morning. The drink they made me was in a big tropical drink glass and tasted like any other tropical drink from the lido deck. I tried to go back there when I was getting drinks for our balcony because it is right by our elevator. It was a total fail because it is not a walk up and a get a drink bar when it’s full, they just ignore you. I think it’s kind of like Alchemy in that it has a ton of regulars after the first couple of days which is fine. Ok, that’s enough bar talk, I need a drink! I have a pic of our favorite Steakhouse bartenders to end with too, miss you Yesenia and Harta! Thanks again, especially to those that made it all the way to the end! ❤️🛳️❤️

Edited June 20 by LaRue1975

[pe4all]

Love, love, love this review.  Very well-rounded.  Thank you so much for taking the time and effort to post it.  The largest ship I cruised on was Horizon, where we had an Havana aft wrap.  After that ship I decided I prefer the "smaller" ships - but your review has me wanting to try Celebration!

[LaRue1975]

8 hours ago, pe4all said:

Love, love, love this review.  Very well-rounded.  Thank you so much for taking the time and effort to post it.  The largest ship I cruised on was Horizon, where we had an Havana aft wrap.  After that ship I decided I prefer the "smaller" ships - but your review has me wanting to try Celebration!

Thank you so much for the kind words! 😊 I’m glad I took the time to do the wrap up/ mini review. Ah, the aft wrap in Havana is amazing! We had a 6th deck aft wrap on the New Years Panorama cruise for hubby’s 70th birthday which is NYE. Five other couples were along for the ride and we had an absolute ball! The Panorama is the Queen of the Vista class and nothing beats staying in the Havana area, well maybe that Exel Aft Suite! We have done a Havana Cabana on Vista and are doing a B2B on Horizon in April in a 9th deck Havana extended balcony. It will be our first time on Horizon, we are really looking forward to that one! Well, me anyway, hubby is clueless. 😜

 

If you are not in the Havana area I would take an Exel ship over a Vista one every time and give the edge to Havana, especially if it involves exotic ports. Unfortunately the chance of getting an Exel ship out here on the west coast is probably slim. I was surprised how much we enjoyed the Celebration and most of my experience is with the Panorama so that’s what I was comparing it to. If you decide to book try to get an extended balcony if you can. Same with the Mardi Gras and Jubilee, I plan to try all three and just booked the Mardi Gras so I’m all set! Definitely try the Celebration, I’m sure you won’t regret it. Happy sailing!  

[SenatorsFan]

Thank you for this most entertaining review! I really enjoyed it. We did a B2B on Celebration in Jan. and are heading out again in Sept. for an ABC cruise. 👍🥰

[jakeT]

When you have a casino drink on us card.  I always get two bottles of water before I leave the casino to bring back to the room. 

[nancy1031]

 Loved your review - I was on the Celebration  in Oct 23- loved it- your hubby reminds me of my dad, dad  never helped plan a trip or pack- mom asked him to help pack once- he brought her a tie and tie clasp!!!  I'm also staying at the JW MARRIOT MARQUIS before my cruise in Oct 24- 

[cruiser12345678]

We are booked on the Celebration for December 2025 in the aft excel suite.  We just cruised on Mardi Gras in a Havana Cabana.  We really loved the Havana Cabana with the private deck and pool.  When we went by the Lido deck on Mardi Gras, it was crazy with all the people.  We were so looking forward to the aft excel suite balcony, but we are now thinking about just switching to the Havana Cabana on Celebration for private deck and pool.  I know we will get access to Loft 19, but that is all the way at the other end of the ship.  What are your thoughts since you have done both?  Is the tub on the balcony hot water only, or can you fill it with cool water?  We would probably be happy staying on the balcony during sea days if we can cool off in the tub.

[LaRue1975]

2 hours ago, cruiser12345678 said:

We are booked on the Celebration for December 2025 in the aft excel suite.  We just cruised on Mardi Gras in a Havana Cabana.  We really loved the Havana Cabana with the private deck and pool.  When we went by the Lido deck on Mardi Gras, it was crazy with all the people.  We were so looking forward to the aft excel suite balcony, but we are now thinking about just switching to the Havana Cabana on Celebration for private deck and pool.  I know we will get access to Loft 19, but that is all the way at the other end of the ship.  What are your thoughts since you have done both?  Is the tub on the balcony hot water only, or can you fill it with cool water?  We would probably be happy staying on the balcony during sea days if we can cool off in the tub.

First, DO NOT cancel the Exel Aft suite, it’s such a special experience and gave us memories we will always treasure. It is a very romantic hideaway and yes, you can fill the tub with cold water. We never used the hot water and only used it during the day to cool off while sunning ourselves on the balcony. You can turn on the jets and bubbles which makes it even more refreshing and there is room for two. We planned to use it at night also as a hot tub but never got around to it. The tub is fully covered so there are no issues when they wash the lido deck at night. The problem with the deck washing only affects the 15th deck and maybe slightly for the 14th deck. 
 

We used our balcony all day on the sea days and all afternoon on the port days. All three sail ins and sail aways were amazing! Add in the spaciousness of the suite, the OMG shower and the personal dining reservation service from Zoey and I don’t see how you can beat it. If you enjoyed the Havana area on the Mardi Gras I highly recommend a Havana cabin on the Vista, Horizon or Panorama. The Havana area on those ships is fabulous with a good sized pool, two huge hot tubs and a lot of loungers and outdoor seating. We have done the Vista and Panorama and will be on the Horizon for a B2B in April. Have a wonderful cruise, I know you are going to enjoy that suite! 

 

 

 

Edited Monday at 06:22 PM by LaRue1975