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That Other Live: Celebration b2b

jam19872016

By jam19872016,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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jam19872016 "Live from...." Rare

jam19872016

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LauraS
This post was recognized by LauraS!

"Another from jam19872016! Thank you for generously sharing your time at sea with everyone at Cruise Critic!"

jam19872016 was awarded the badge '"Live from...."'

There are a lot of great reviews going on right now. I debated if I should do one or not because there are definitely better live reviews of this ship already going on. But I enjoy doing them and I am part of the casino Ultra group so can give a different perspective so decided what the heck, can never have too many reviews of a brand new ship. Just don't expect this to be next level like the other great live reviews of this ship 😄

 

I will be sailing 15 days B2B starting on 12/4 with the second leg starting on 12/11. Both will be eastern Caribbean. I will be sharing a room with my good friend M on the first leg. It is our first time sharing a cabin in almost three years on account that we both usually get free rooms so book solo. This was quite expensive (for a casino rate) so we split the costs. The 8 day I will be solo as she is not able to be away from her business for that long. 

 

I am most looking forward to all the food options and it is my goal to eat nothing that I can get on every other Carnival ship. Maybe some gelato since that is only Vista class+. Maybe Cucina since its a complimentary menu. BBQ same thing. And I may do MDR once since M wants to eat there one time.

 

If anyone has a question that they haven't seen covered yet feel free to ask and I will try to find out. I don't plan on doing much in the ports so I'm afraid I can't help there. Also try to keep it related to places I am allowed into. So no kids clubs, specific staterooms, lady's locker room etc.

 

The plan is to be on the road no later than 8 and ideally by 7:30 so I am going to bed now. I'm only about 2 hours from Miami but with morning traffic and getting an Uber from the parking lot I've selected it will take closer to 3. See everyone tomorrow for boarding day.

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icft

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I'm looking forward to following along. If you are on an Ultra then you will be spending time in the casino. I'll be interested in your impressions.

 

We spend a lot of time in casinos but few reviews cover them. Let us know how crowded it is at peak times and just average times for example. We went on an Ultra on the Vista shortly after it moved to Galveston. At least at that time the casino was tiny and there was almost never a machine open and everything was jammed together. That is one of several reason we refuse to sail Vista class. And how far are the bathrooms from the casino. Again on Vista you would be wise to wear hiking boots. Things like that be they good or bad would be good to know. Of course the ease of getting drinks and how often drinks waiters come by is critical. 😄

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jam19872016 "Live from...." Rare

jam19872016

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Good morning everyone.

 

So as I mentioned this is my first time sailing with M in the same  roomin nearly three years. She is a bit of a night owl who still gets up as early as she needs to the next morning. I am not. If I stay out all night I like to sleep in. Sleeping through her coming into the room at 3AM after maxing out her 15 and enjoying a few of mine is not an option. She could wake the deaf. I tend to be too tired to fully enjoy myself and its why I like having my own room. She says she is going to try to work on it this cruise.

 

Well we are already off to a poor start. I don't fall asleep well (except on a cruise oddly enough) and I have to kinda decompress. I've said my goodnights and its nearly 1AM and I'm on my phone just about drowsy enough to turn over and fall asleep when I get a knock on the door asking what I'm doing followed by M trying to practically bust down the door to get in.

 

We have words and now I am wide awake. I never really slept at all last night. As sleep quality goes I would rate it "red eye flight to Europe." Long and boring just kind of sitting there never doing more than dozing off for a minute or two at a time.

 

Daylight has appeared so I am getting up, going to pack my last minute items and hit the road. I am hopeful by some miracle my cabin will be ready early and I can grab a nap, but that has not happened since before Covid so I won't count on it .lol.

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jam19872016 "Live from...." Rare

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All checked in and waiting to board at 9:56. Terminal F seems less equipped to handle large crowds than Terminal D which is not good since that Terminal is always so congested.

 

Other than the traffic getting down to this Terminal it was pretty smooth which is why I like getting here early.

 

M is probably not out of bed yet  😆.

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jam19872016 "Live from...." Rare

jam19872016

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9 hours ago, Cherries Jubilee said:

I can’t wait to read along! Everyone kind of focuses on different things in their reviews so it’s never really the same. 
 

Have a good night and a safe trip!

Thanks for for reading along 😀

7 hours ago, Jamman54 said:

Looking forward to your review. We are doing a B2B on her in April. 😎

Glad to have you onbkard again and I'm looking forward to your review of celebration.

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jam19872016 "Live from...." Rare

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8 hours ago, icft said:

I'm looking forward to following along. If you are on an Ultra then you will be spending time in the casino. I'll be interested in your impressions.

 

We spend a lot of time in casinos but few reviews cover them. Let us know how crowded it is at peak times and just average times for example. We went on an Ultra on the Vista shortly after it moved to Galveston. At least at that time the casino was tiny and there was almost never a machine open and everything was jammed together. That is one of several reason we refuse to sail Vista class. And how far are the bathrooms from the casino. Again on Vista you would be wise to wear hiking boots. Things like that be they good or bad would be good to know. Of course the ease of getting drinks and how often drinks waiters come by is critical. 😄

I will have lots of observations of the casino to share. I don't typically play when I take an ultra cruise. They are just too crowded. I took a premiere recently and it was not bad at all so I am wondering if maybe they stopped overbooking them. 

 

We will see.

 

I'll play long enough to establish a relationship with a server or two for my free drinks then just stop in to get a drink and to watch M play.

 

Vista casino is the worse I've ever seen. I could not believe how tiny it was as the ships #1 source of revenue. 

 

I'll check out the bathroom situation too after I've cashed in a few of those free drinks 😅

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jam19872016 "Live from...." Rare

jam19872016

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7 minutes ago, DeanDeeDee said:

Following along.  Enjoy your cruise.  I'm guessing that your 8 day cruise is to the Southern Caribbean.  I'm really looking forward to that one because I will be sailing that cruise but not until May.

Eastern. Mostly the same ports with the addition of grand turk and dropping st.maarten for st.tomas.

 

The southern Caribbean is one of my favorite cruises but I will not be going there this trip.

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    Did they offer Priority Boarding for the Ultra? My husband and I have been on Ultra and Premier and I thought we got to go after D and P Guests but can’t remember! We are on a Premier over Xmas and were wondering if we should just pick a later arrival time and avoid the surge. 
 

   My husband hates waiting in long embarkation lines and we usually get Free Suites, but I didn’t like the Suite options on Celebration  so we went with a Spa Balacony instead. 

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jam19872016 "Live from...." Rare

jam19872016

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Just now, gopackgo21 said:

    Did they offer Priority Boarding for the Ultra? My husband and I have been on Ultra and Premier and I thought we got to go after D and P Guests but can’t remember! We are on a Premier over Xmas and were wondering if we should just pick a later arrival time and avoid the surge. 
 

   My husband hates waiting in long embarkation lines and we usually get Free Suites, but I didn’t like the Suite options on Celebration  so we went with a Spa Balacony instead. 

If they did it was not announced in the terminal. After platinum is zone a1. Maybe you will get the two day jump on picking a zone? That used to be a perk but not sure if it has returned, I got priority as diamond so not sure if I would have had it as ultra.

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jam19872016 "Live from...." Rare

jam19872016

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Shak attack.

 

20221204_114302-X2.jpg

 

Very tasty but not spicy at all. They had sides but I guess it's intended for you to get ketchup container size portions. That's silly, I'll bring a plate from Lido next time. 

 

Next stop on my food tour, street eats.

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