It took over two decades to get my husband on a cruise ship. He had a bad experience on Disney's Big Red Boat about 25 years ago, and he swore he would never step on a cruise ship again! It took a lot of convincing and the promise of good scuba diving on the ABC islands, before he finally agreed. Coming home, he said the cruise exceeded his expectations and that he is now a "cruise ship convert".

Celebrity certainly made it so easy for our family (six adults), from the seamless and quick check-in and embarkation process, to the outstanding service from all the staff, and the caring and followup when my husband had an accident on one of the Celebrity shore excursions.

Food and Beverage: we bought the 3 dinner Specialty Dining package: (1) Murano was outstanding, both in food and service. The only hiccup was the extremely dry and hard duck confit drumstick, which I brought to the chef's attention when he came around asking about our meal. (2) Qsine's menu was simple, but the food was well executed. Show was cute, but when dining, we want the focus be on the food. I was disappointed that the previous tapas menu had been changed to this new dining "experience". The "show" was not new to us, as we had seen something similar at the Museum of Wine in Bordeaux just a few months earlier (3) we were really disappointed with Tuscan Grille after reading previous posts on this forum. The appetizers sounded good when reading the menu, but were not well executed. The carpaccio was fine (but it's raw), but the calamari was overcooked, crab cake was OK, burrata was OK, etc. The restaurant reminded us of a (very good) Mexican all inclusive restaurant; however, with very good red meat. Two of our party had fish which was overcooked. We also participated in the Chef's Table, which was a fun experience as we met some other people. Our party of eleven got louder and louder as the evening progressed, well lubricated by all the wine that was being poured. The meal was very good: the amuse bouche was a bit strange; I didn't like the pairing of minced escargot with lobster, the white onion soup puree was excellent, and all the other courses were very good to excellent. I had to send my halibut back as it was overcooked. After that meal, we finally clued in that we had to instruct our waiter to tell the cook(s) not to overcook the fish. We think that they may be cooking for a crowd that prefer their fish well done (and hard!) We all had the premium alcohol package which made ordering drinks simple; however, after day 5, I only drank one or two cocktails as it was all too much for me. The Oceanview Cafe was fine for breakfast and lunch; their stews/braises were the highlights. They cut corners a bit by serving the same basic fruit every day, with the exception of the last day. Some of the pastries were not well-executed, for example the croquembouche looked impressive, but was not made with choux pastry. The main dining room was very good. In fact, it was outstanding the first 2 nights (the rack of lamb was one of the best we've had), but we found the menu offerings became simpler and simpler as the days progressed, with the exception of the last Evening Chic night where they served lobster and Beef Wellington. Read more