We haven't been on Celebrity for many years but since we were cruising with our grand-daughter (turned 6 on the cruise) wanted a cruise with an available roomy suite, good service and activities for a 6 year old. This cruise was priced right for a Royal Suite - probably because it hadn't had it's well overdue makeover yet - and also it was relatively early in the Mediterranean season. We weren't sure if or how Sarah would like the kids' club but it was nice to know it was available. Also, included in our cruise price was the premium drink package, wi-fi for 4 devices, access to all restaurants, butler service. Pretty much everything and more we have been getting while cruising Regent and Silversea. Sure, the ship was larger, but by today's standards this is a mid-size ship and it's probably the largest sized ship we will cruise on. Also, the itinerary, while similar to other cruises we have been on, had some different stops for us, including Sete and Corsica, France and Messina in Sicily.

Overall, we were very pleased with our cruise. We were met at embarkation by Michaels Club Concierge Joao, who helped make our cruise special throughout the cruise. We lunched in Luminae, the suites only restaurant for lunch, and they made a great impression on our grand-daughter by finding her favorite drink, doing a special spaghetti and meatball, and throughout the cruise helped her feel very special. Our butler, Chip (not his real name, but that's what he wanted us to call him) from Romania, was always available and brought us hot and fresh breakfasts every morning, made sure our suite was up to speed with all our requests, and helped make Sarah's birthday special with door and room decorations and a beautiful cake. The cabin interior was beautiful and were pretty much all the interior areas of the ship. Our balcony needed upkeep, and the exterior spa tub was too rusty to even consider using. On the other hand, the inside jacuzzi tub was so much fun it was hard to get our grand-daughter out of the bath.

The food was fine. I especially enjoyed many of the seafood entrees and my wife was thrilled that they offered a true and properly cooked veal chop one evening. If there wasn't anything of interest on the Luminae menu, we could always order off the main dining room menu as well. Offerings at the buffet (which we mostly used at lunch when we were on the ship) was varied but we often gravitated to the grill, pizza station and Asian area. Overall, we felt the food was comparable to our most recent Regent experiences, and that was very flattering to Celebrity. Read more