Things could only get better after the most miserable embarkation I have experienced in almost 40 cruises. Celebrity had alerted passengers about 10 days before the cruise that boarding would be delayed from Noon to 3pm because of the larger than usual number of ships in port. Instead of taking us to the ship, the shuttle from the airport took us to a downtown Buenos Aires hotel where we filled out some paperwork and then waited (another hour in my case) for a bus to take us to the cruise terminal. Then the misery began. A mob scene of over 1000 people crowded into a hall with multiple entrances awaited us. After standing for over an hour leaning on my cane because there were no seats anywhere, I finally was ushered into another hall where there were seats. After waiting another hour, I was called to stand in another long line for processing. I had to show my Argentina Reciprocity Fee receipt 3 times before boarding the ship. After finally getting my SeaPass, I had to board another crowded bus to stand for the final journey to the ship. I did not reach my cabin until 6:20 pm. Celebrity gave us a $20 onboard credit for the missed lunch, but that was small comfort for the misery of embarkation.

My next surprise was arriving at dinner to find that instead of the table for 6 that I requested, I was at table 117 for 12 people. Two couples dropped away, another rarely came to dinner so there were as few as 3 people at a table for 12. Very disheartening.

It's not Celebrity's fault, but I was surprised that there were very, very few passengers traveling alone. Read more