review on celebration

[fixin2cruize]

Hello everyone, just wanted to do a review on my first cruise.

as stated it was on the celebration leaving out of jacksonville al. on may 24. We got there around 12 and was on the boat by 12:45. went very fast. We went straight to our room which was alot bigger than i had expected. and alot nicer. it was room E217 o.v. there was just two of us so we had all the space we needed. We went through the drill which was standard. it went pretty fast 20/30 minutes. Then we headed up top for the sail away. it was really neat to go under the bridge. After that we went back to the room and our bags were there!!!!!!!! i was very impressed about this. We put everything away and still had plenty of space. The bathrooms were comfortable for us. Not extremely small but ofcourse nothing like home. Our room stuart was tomas who was a delight. he made sure we were well taken care of. The first night was dreadful. nothing to do with the ship but the waves were horrible. Alot of people were sick. luckly we had both started daramill<?> the night before and took it twice that day so we didn't get sick but my friend didn't get any sleep due to the rocking. The 2nd day we arrived at freeport. Not alot to say about the beacches because it was so windy we didn't stay ther. but we did go walking about the outdoor mall. it was nice and the people were friendly. We did find a little bar called Sparky's with a bartender name neil. Who was an absolute delight. We ended up staying there longer than we expected cause we were just having a ball. when we were ready to go back to the ship we just found a taxi loading people going back and hopped on. That night was also formal night. We did the dress thing and went and ate had pictures done and had a good time. Our table mates were nice and we all talked to each other. i was upfront and told them we would be in saturday night as we were planning on going to the hard rock in nassua. i didn't want them to think we didn't enjoy thier company. Josphep was incharge of our dining room <vista> . He was very entergetic. and came around on the formal night and talked to everyone. The water was better that night but still rocky. we stayed up pretty late to go to the "R" rated comic show. it was so funny. we laughed so much! after that we headed over to the dance club and finaly got to bed around 2:30 .Our third day we were in nassua and we got off the boat and went straight to the straw market and spent a little time there. headed back to the boat to get ready to go to Stuart Cove's. we were going on the snorkeling tour with them. We had a BLAST!!! were went to three different spots with the 3rd being were we could swim with the sharks. that was such an adernialine rush. I highly recomend this to anyone. but it is not offered through carnival. this is an outside tour. but again i highly recommend it. we got some great shot of fish and the sunken airplane. and very dtailed ahot of the sharks up close and personal.

As i stated above we went to eat at the hard rock when we got back. when we got finished we just walked over to the boat and go ready to sail away. that night was ok as for the waves. we went to the casio this night and play for a few hours on 20 dollars. the slot were hitting pretty go for us. we didn't walk away with any thing cause we just put it back in but we were ahead around 80.00 but we had planned on spending 20 and if we won anything under 100. we would just play off it. we had a good time and a few drinks. we ended the night round 12:30. the all day at sea was well just a day at sea. we did lay out for a while and we went to the not so newlywed game and it was pretty funny. we went back to the casino and play a few hours on 10.00 a piece. we drank alot and really just relaxed. that night we went to another "R" rated comic. he was good. then we went over to the dance room and had a few more drinks and headed off to bed. The mornign we docked we did the self assist which took a long time in my opinion. but we were off the ship around 9:30 and headed to our hotel.

Over all the food on the buffet was ok. more like school food. But it was filling and plenty off it. the dinning room was good. the chocolate melting cake was dreamy. the boat was very clean and well mantained. but i know in our room the vibration was horrible. but it was more like white noise for me. The whole staff was great on everything. i would rate them a 10.

as for myself i don't fall into the cruising catagory. i think i will just be flying to where i want to go. but thats just my opinion. any questions please feel free to ask.

[DqALEX]

Thanks for your review. Did you hear anything about the Celebration being sold, on your cruise?? I'm going late Aug on the Celebration again, I can't wait to see Key West again

[fixin2cruize]

i never thought to ask but i also never heard anyone talking about it. sorry i don't have any more information on it.

[GAMOM4]

We were on the boat from the 19th until the 24th - and we experienced some of the worse waves with the ship rocking back & forth. This has never happened to us on a cruise - so I tried to reassure the people with us that this was not normal. A group from our town left from Fort Lauderdale last week also - went to different ports - and they were on the Liberty (I think that is what they said) - they also experience rocking waters. We were on the Empress Deck also - and the noise level was bad there from being under the shows they put on. Next time I don't want to be the floor under the shows. I'm glad you had a good time - we did also - I hope to post a review - maybe tonight.

[J Free 203]

you heard the shows on deck 7???

[fixin2cruize]

we were are the very last room in the very back E217. we never heard any of the shows or anything like that. all we had was the vibration. and it was very bad. but as i said in the first post the waves were horrible. that had nothing to to with the boat it's self as some other people from different ships in port that day said that their boats were really rocking too and the were on larger ships.

[blackvinyl]

fixin,

 

thanks for the review. i will be leaving on the Celebration next thur. and have read some less than positive reviews. I am glad you had a good experience. I have lots of questions but will try to narrow them down.

1. did they have a captain's cocktail party and were all drinks free?

 

2. did you get the dinner time you requested and which late time was in the Vista?

 

3. in freeport i plan to have a taxi take us 25 min. out to paradise cove for snorkelling and am concerned about spending $100 for a taxi if the weather is not agreeable. what problems did the wind cause for you?

 

4. do you remember the comedian's name you liked the best?

 

5. i also have the stuart coves snorkel scheduled and am so happy to hear you enjoyed it. they are picking us up 12:15 and I wondered if we would really be back to the ship by 6pm.

 

6. did you take food for snacks to stuart coves and which underwater camera did you use? did you use their snorkel gear?

 

7. do you wish you had used assisted debarkation or would you self assist again?

 

thanks so much for your help!

 

Kevin

[fixin2cruize]

1. yes they had the captin's thing but i didn't go to it. it was early for the late seaters and we were getting ready for the formal dinner so we didn't make it to it. but from what i heard the drinks were free.

2.yes we got the dinner we requested. it was the late seating of 8:30pm.

 

3: the taxi we took over to port lucya<?> was 5 a person cause they fill them up before leaving. the wind was a real problem for us at the beach because the sand was stinging our faces. the beaches were really nice though and were not crowded at all. don't know if this was because of the wind or just because 90% of our ship were on excursions. coming back it was 5 a person again because we found a group going back. you can tell your taxi whatever time you want to go back and they will pick you up at that time.

 

4:i don't have my papers with me but i do know that he got off the boat when we went to naussaand the other one flew in. but both had been on the comedy channel and i believe showtime. they were both really funny . i just liked the first one better.

 

5: we had the 12:15 pick up also. when you get there go out the little mall thing you have to go through to get outside and tuen o your left. walk up to the end of the building and walk across the street. you will see a huge fountain and wait there. this is where they will pick you up. make sure you are there ontime. being there at 12 is a good idea. yes you will make it back by 6:00. this tour was absolutly the highlight of our trip. the guides are great and the swim with sharks is so worth it. i stayed in the water the whole time with them. it was such a rush.

 

6:we had out own snorkel gear we got a gander mountain. we like them cause the flippers are short. you have to wear the life vest thing but it's no big deal. we took snacks with us but they have a store and a snack bar. we just used the kodak underwater camera's and they worked great!!! i will try to post a few on here. but the pictures are very clear and detailed. ofcourse there are some that are not the best but i am happy with them. we never tried to aim of anything cause the fish/sharks were everywhere so we just snapped away. Alot of people used the rental gear and seemed to do just fine.

 

7:i would do self assist again just so i wouldn't have to worry about finding my bag and because it seemed just so much easier than the other.

 

ok now this is just my personal take on this but if you or any one in your family think they might even get the slightest bit sick start taking something the day before you get on the ship. this way it's in your system and it will not be so bad. as i said we took it every day twice a day and we never got sick.

If you have any more questions please feel free to ask. i will answer all that i can.

[39Scuba]

Not sure what we'll do in Freeport, never been on this boat and hope the waves are not to bad, I don't get sick, but my wife might, she's got the medicine though.

[youngcruzr]

we were on the celebration the 24-28th and we also had some pretty rough water...the waves looked pretty big looking out the window..i was a bit seasick but i was not wearing a patch and did not take any medications or anything..again not the cruiseline or anyone's fault and certainly did not ruin the vacation...

 

i read some of your ?s, and i am thinking that the comedian that cruize liked more was tony esposito? he was the first of the two comedians and i too enjoyed his show more, but they were both entertaining.

 

oh and the late seating in the vista is the 8:30 just to make it a little more clear

[Breezybreeze]

Thanks For your review Fixin. We will be on the celebration the 21 of June. It to is our 1st cruise. Sounds like we will enjoy it. Thanks for the idea in Freeport. We were just talking about 20 minutes ago what were wanted to do there and came up with nothing. We may try Sparky's, is it far from the ship?

[fixin2cruize]

sparky's is in the center of the outdoor mall thats across the street from the casino. You might want to look into doing some kind of excursion either through the ship or own your own. doing it own your own will cut down the cost.