Hi Bobbi!
Glad you are having a great cruise. Have you sailed Princess? I was wondering how Celebrity compared as they are similar lines... We haven't tried Celebrity, but the new Edge looks very nice. We did just get off of the Regal Princess (which we LOVED), but always love more options!
Have a great cruise and if you are on the DVC member cruise this year, we hate that we're missing ya!
We have sailed Princess and will be on Princess in May as we are sailing Alaska and then doing a land cruise with them.
We were delighted with some aspects of Celebrity, disappointed with others. However, we did book a Mediterranean Cruise with them in October 2020 because of the itinerary and the things we liked, loved, about this cruise.
One disappointment is probably not Celebrity’s fault, but the ports we visited are not like Miami or Port Canaveral, and certain embarkation/debarkation structures were AWFUL. In Buenos Aires, we were climbing something akin to scaffolding, steps and ramps up to Deck 4! Since we overnighted there, we did this 3 times and the angle of the ramps varied due to tides. I and many others had a very difficult time. Celebrity Employees were wonderful, but anyone going on a cruise like this, should know it’s not like home!
The loyalty program was extended to us because of the number of RCCL cruises we have done. We each had a bag of laundry washed free, up to 30 pieces. Free scoops of delicious gelato. A dedicated place to have continental breakfasts including specialty coffee. Access to cocktail parties just about every day, and we got our bottled water there. There were more freebies, but these are the ones we attended.
Food in the buffet was EXCELLENT.... no doubts about it. The MENUS in the main dining were our main disappointments. We probably passed on the main dining 4-5 times during the 14 night cruise.
Staff, waitstaff and room steward were excellent. I have commented on the captain who was extraordinary!
We were pleased with the “chic” dining standards. Nice, not very formal, yes, there were tuxedos, and usually they were in a group of friends.
The production shows were definitely not up to
DCL standards IMO, but some of the other entertainers were, singers and musicians particularly.
They showed The Green Book, A Star is Born, and Bohemian Rhapsody on the big screen on certain afternoons. They have a smaller room, perhaps 150 seats where they showed movies daily, and I watched Christopher Robin there ( my third time). Watched Moana on our TV.....watched a lot of HGTV too.
It was too chilly for us to swim, but there were some who did.
A very nice inclusion was the fact that Celebrity had a priest on board for daily Mass. This was especially appreciated because it is Lent. He is retired from parish work in California, but goes on Celebrity Cruises, he was going on a different ship as we disembarked. He has a Celebrity name tag. Daily Mass had 50-75 attendees, weekends many more, 2 Saturday and 1 Sunday. Two days ago, I sent Celebrity an e-mail commenting on Father’s presence. Today we received a telephone call AND e-mails, thanking us for the kind feedback.
I definitely feel that Celebrity appreciates our business.