Just off a 7-day Eastern Caribbean Cruise on the Carnival Celebration, I’m back onboard for an 8-day Southern Caribbean run out of PortMiami. The Celebration sails three itineraries – Eastern, Western, and this Southern one which is only offered a few times a year – in fact, for 2023, there are only two more Southern sailings and for 2024 there are a total of just five.
The southern route is one that is referred to as the “ABC cruise” as it sails to three islands which are just a hop, skip, and a jump from each other – Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao.
This cruise marks the third time for me on Celebration and her three unique itineraries. With that said, this set of reports will be a bit different as nothing has changed with the ship, cabins, or dining over the past couple of weeks, so rather than rehash a lot of what has been covered in my other reviews, I’ll be doing shorter highlights.
You can read my other two reviews of Celebration here:
- 7-Day Western Carnival Celebration Cruise Review (April 2023)
- 7-Day Eastern Carnival Celebration Cruise (June 2023)
This cruise has been comped as part of a last-minute casino offer. The cruise was booked just 19 hours before departure! The last-minute casino offer was for an inside stateroom which I was charged a $100 fee for, which is given back in the form on onboard credit. I paid $123 in port fees and taxes.
The exact itinerary for this cruise is:
- Day 1 – Miami
- Day 2 – Sea Day
- Day 3 – Sea Day
- Day 4 – Aruba
- Day 5 – Bonaire
- Day 6 – Curacao
- Day 7 – Sea Day
- Day 8 – Sea Day
Since this was booked last minute, I did not have a room assignment until I got to the port. Once I was dropped off (thanks Joe and Jeff!), I had a very smooth boarding. Once in the terminal, your boarding pass is checked along with your documentation such as passport or birth certificate. This is where I was given my room assignment and a new boarding pass. A quick Google search of “Carnival Celebration 5429” revealed I wasn’t in an inside cabin this trip, but got upgraded to an oceanview.
Once that process was complete, it was on to security screening where the drug dog was out sniffing for weed and other contraband which Carnival has been working very hard to crack down on. In addition to drug dogs as the terminal, Carnival has also been putting these dogs on their ships, however, I have not seen them on any of my previous sailings.
Passengers are lined up, all bags and backpacks are placed on the floor and the drug dog is walked along the line. If he “hits” on you you’re taken aside, if not you head to the baggage screening and metal detectors. Once you pass through them, you are on your way to the ship where your boarding pass is scanned one final time in the terminal and you’re free to walk onboard.
Once onboard it was off to deck 5 to drop off my luggage and check out my home for the week. Stateroom 5429 is one of the outer staterooms which are normally all balconies on deck 5, however on both the port and starboard side there are four oceanviews sandwiched in among the balcony staterooms at both the forward and aft of the ship.
This oceanview stateroom is the same size and layout of a balcony stateroom and features a king bed that converts to two twins, a sofa that converts to another bed, USB outlets at each side of the bed and one at the couch, three power outlets and four USB ports at the desk area.
The bathroom features a roomy shower with a glass door however, the toilet area is very tight.
Closet space and under-bed storage are abundant and more than adequate for two people.
We were scheduled to pull out of PortMiami at 4:00 pm but left about 20 minutes later. We were joined in port by the Carnival Sunrise, Disney Wonder, and Royal Caribbean’s Harmony of the Seas – one of the largest cruise ships in the world. Sunrise pulled out first, with us following behind.
In case you’re wondering… there are 6,423 passengers on board so the ship is full, full, full!
I went to log into the ship’s WiFi and I discovered the first problem…. while I purchased the WiFi and Bottomless Bubbles soda package the day before, neither were active.
I called guest services and was told that they can see the order but they aren’t sure why it hasn’t been linked to my folio. Sounds like a certain Seinfeld episode, doesn’t it? I was told that they would have to send an email to the online ordering department to research and that it may take several hours to get an answer.
At 5:00 pm, I checked again and neither the WiFi nor the drink package was active yet, so I headed down to stand in line at guest services. After 45 minutes it was my time to speak with a rep. He said, that they did email to see what’s up but they don’t know when they would get a response. I suggested repurchasing both and then just having them issue me a credit, while it sounded like an easy way to remedy things, it was more problematic… so far. I repurchased both, and he credited me the discount for pre-ordering the WiFi prior to the cruise, but now I have a charge on my credit card and shipboard account for these things. Plus, since I used my onboard credit online, he doesn’t know if or how that will be applied or when or if they will refund my credit card for the pre-purchase.
Before dinner, I stopped at Emeri’s Bistro 1397 after ogling the fresh seafood on display. I ordered six shrimp, steamed, priced at $3 each.
You know the old joke about “large shrimp,” yeah… these things were quite large. Served shell-on, they were served warm with a creole spice, drawn butter, and one of Emeril’s signature sauces. Six of these things were a lot and was pretty much a meal – fantastic.
For dinner, I went to the ship’s Italian restaurant, Cucina del Capitano. The hostess remembered me from the last time and that I prefer to be outside, so “Mr. Scott, we have your table outside for you tonight!” A nice personal touch and for the amount of people they deal with, to be remembered is kind of crazy.
As usual, average Italian food but the service was fantastic.
Just this past week, Carnival announced the return of a cruise staple – the Midnight Buffet. Now, I’m going to go back to my first cruise in 1993 on Royal Caribbean’s Sovereign of the Seas for a brief moment. The Midnight Buffet back then was a HUGE deal. Copious amounts of food, chocolate fountains, desserts, ice carvings… it was simply incredible to see. But as time went on, people became more health conscious and the midnight buffets became a thing of the past on all the cruise lines.
Late-night dining options on Carnival have been limited to the ship’s pizza shop which always has a crazy long line late at night and no matter how fast they crank pizzas out, the line is just endless. This new option is obviously a move to take the strain off the pizza makers and spread the crowds out elsewhere.
But….
Carnival’s new Midnight Buffet is absolutely NOTHING like what seasoned cruises would remember from the past. In fact, there seem to be some conflicting names for this new late-evening nosh. While the Carnival Hub app calls it the “Midnight Buffet” signage refers to it as a “Late Night Snack” which is more appropriate.
On the menu:
- Chicken Soup
- Coleslaw
- Potato Salad
- Chips & Salsa
- Chicago Pizza
- Chicken Tenders
- Hot Dog
- Italian Meatball Sub
- Ham & Cheese Roll
- Cookies
This was the first night this new buffet was available on the Carnival Celebration and there are some kinks to be worked out. On this ship, it’s served in the breakfast buffet area of Guy’s Pig & Anchor BBQ | Brewhouse. The single buffet line was set up with two identical food stations with the soup and salads in the middle. For the first 15 minutes of the operation, they had people enter one end of the buffet. With people not knowing the same food was available 15 feet down the line, everyone took from the first station and the second one was not used.
The ship officers watching the flow of guests, quickly saw this was a problem and tried to pull people down to the second station but it quickly became a challenge. Then a rolling cart with plates and silverware was brought in and placed at the second station and people were directed to use both ends… however, with the way the buffet is set up, there is a barrier that restricts guests from just existing out from the center. While there are now two entrances to the buffet, once you get your food, you have to reverse and make your way out via the entrance.
Again, the first night of the operation, so it will be interesting to see if they solved the issue with the flow, tonight.
The pizza served here is much different than the pizza available at the 24-hour pizza shop. This is a square-style pizza billed as “Chicago Pizza.” While not a deep dish, it’s more of a Sicilian style. The crust was very dense, chewy, and tough. For a late-night snack, this pizza is not something “lite,” in fact, it was like lead in my stomach all night. I’m curious as to whether or not this recipe changes as the week goes on as this is definitely not the kind of pizza you want to have before hitting the sack.
That’s it for the day 1 report! Stay tuned for more updates as the week goes on.
FunTimes for July 15, 2023:
The FunTimes for July 15, 2023, is also available as a PDF.