Celebrity Cruise 12/13/14 Part I

Background

I couldn’t decide how exactly I wanted to ring in my 30th birthday. I deliberated between Bora Bora, Hawaii, and Costa Rica. I realized those adventures wouldn’t be quite the same solo. My only solution to avoid facing a resort completely alone was to opt for a cruise. I started a mad hunt for a cruise to encompass a few islands I have never traveled to before. I enlisted the help of a travel agent who soon realized he was taking on a Type A Over-Planner.

I have cruised 4 times, all on Carnival. It was easy to decide when I wanted to sail – my 30th birthday was on 12/12, so I wanted to leave that weekend. I first chose the Carnival Freedom leaving FLL on 12/13/14 on an 8 night cruise. My TA encouraged me to look outside of Carnival and try something new for my landmark birthday. St. Barts attracted me to this 9 night itinerary on 12/13/14 out of FLL on Celebrity Cruise Lines. I must say, the ‘Modern Luxury’ tagline hooked me and drew me in to learn more. That’s when I discovered Cruise Critic in all of its glory. I quickly began to devour all of the information on the cruise line, cabin options, port excursion ideas, island information, dining options, pre cruise hotels, and the list continues. I was fortunate enough to join in the roll call and somehow became the organizer of our roll call and even begin a cabin crawl.

Please note that all of my past cruise experience is with Carnival, so my comparison is focused between Celebrity and Carnival. I started cruising a year after college graduation, so I have been cruising for a total of 7 years. 

 

This is me getting dropped off at the airport. My aunt was stunned at my 100 pounds + of luggage. Have I mentioned that I am also an over packer? Hmm you thought I was just an over planner!

 

Pre-Cruise Hotel
Thanks to a somewhat active roll call, I ended up booking a room at the Marriott Springhill Suites. I was originally booked at the Hilton Marina, but booked with Springhill Suites because they provide airport and port transportation. I also saved around $50 on the room by doing so. I would love to say that things went smoothly; however, the main glitch was the airport transportation. I should have called a taxi when I realized this was going to be a problem, but I invested so much of my time in waiting for the hotel shuttle, I decided to wait it out. I called the hotel front desk immediately when I had my bags. I confirmed where to stand and I waited…. And waited…. And waited… I called back 15 minutes later, front desk (Paige) advised me that the bus should be there shortly and I am standing in the correct place. I called her back 10 minutes later, still no bus. Finally at 12:55a she said the bus made its last pick up and I was not on it. Apparently the driver was also looking out for me standing alone. She sent the driver back to the airport against his will because he already completed his last pickup. Somehow I was supposed to assume that I should be looking for a ‘KSA TOURS’ bus. Seriously?! How in the heck would I know to look for a tour bus and not a Marriot Springhill Suites bus????!!!???? And when the driver arrived, he had a HORRIBLE attitude with me saying ‘this is not my fault’ and my response is ‘I sure as heck hope you don’t think this is my fault!’. We had a verrrry silent trip to the hotel. Paige at the front desk was so apologetic. She was very helpful and I felt like she really did try to help me, she just happened to miss a huge detail to help me find the bus.

I was in the very last room down the hall. Unimpressive, but I didn’t care at 1:30am. I had a mediocre breakfast in the morning and a hot shower. I wish I had savored this hot shower because it would be my last for the next week. Bed was comfortable and all of the rooms are suites - you have a sofa and a desk area right when you walk in. This was more than enough space for one person, so 2 people would be very comfortable here.

I did not take the hotel shuttle to the port because I took a taxi ride with Peggy & Frank after they returned their rental. The hotel was hopping with cruisers and we were happy to avoid the chaos. We returned their car to Enterprise and the taxi van picked us up from there. I want to say the cab fare was a little over $20 from the car rental to the cruise terminal. Our cab driver did make a wrong turn and we ended up in the Princess terminal. There is a LOT of road construction, so this is something to consider.

Overall, nice hotel that is in a perfect location to the airport, cruise terminal, and many restaurants/shopping, etc. I only needed a place to sleep and shower, so I would definitely book here again.  

 

Embarkation & Day One
 

 My view when pulling up to the terminal - 

Having only sailed with Carnival, I dreaded this process. I remember all of the hurry and wait, hurry and wait. This process with Celebrity was absolutely flawless. The line for the suites moved at the same pace as my line. I was on deck 7 and had not received any kind of boarding time or email notification I’ve been reading about. We were dropped off around 1:30 and it took approximately 15 minutes to go through the entire boarding process and onto the ship. I spent more time being stunned than I did waiting in line. You can grab a glass of champagne right when you enter the ship – nice touch. I found this day was the day of the friendliest faces, so I should have enjoyed the smiles more.

They had just announced that rooms were ready, so I went straight up to my room. I was able to put my backpack down and film a quick video of my cabin and take some pictures to upload to my social media page. I made a few phone calls to notify friends and family of my safe arrival.

My phone rang and it was Kelly who was settling into her cabin. I went over to her cabin with my champagne. She had a beautiful aqua class balcony that was on the 11th deck all the way aft. She and I decided to head to the Oceanview Café for a buffet lunch before muster drill. It wasn’t as crazy as expected, but we just wanted a quick meal to hold us over until dinner.

 

 

After a painless muster drill in the Celebrity Theatre, I headed straight to the Sunset Bar for the sail away party. It was really nice meeting a few of the people I’ve been chatting with for many months. I was able to enjoy a couple of drinks before heading to the room to freshen up before the show and dinner. I do like the way the shows flow around dinner times, my show time was 7p and dinner for 8:30.

This is a picture of the theater stage... I liked to sit center, but every seat really was a good seat.

 

Here are a few pictures from my iphone just around the guest relations 3rd deck area.

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