My family and I were invited on this cruise by my cousin who wanted to celebrate her retirement later on this year. I was a part of the younger group of my family so of course we had different experience than the older part. Embarkation was a breeze and everyone we encountered from the airport to the ship were super friendly. The ship is very, very large yet the cabins are the complete opposite. One of the comedians on board joked that you could touch your bed from the bathroom and he was not kidding. A majority of the cruise staff was very knowledgable and helpful, always smiling, and eager to help. However the security staff that was in charge of getting passengers on and off the boat are a little incompetent and at times it seemed like they did not know what they were doing. My cousin purchased a couple of pocket knives, a fake bullet, and a slingshot at one of the ports of call. When we got back onto the ship, they confiscated the bullet and the slingshot, but not the pocket knives? I'm pretty sure a knife is much more dangerous than a slingshot or a fake bullet, but she complied and received her things at the end of the cruise. Antonio, our stateroom attendant was wonderful, and took the job of tidying our room up very seriously. The dining on board was great. The Oceanview Cafe has a buffet that is open everyday for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and they had great options. The only thing, is that they close off certain parts of the buffet during busy times when a lot of people are coming in to eat. Obviously they have to put out new food during the day, but why rope certain areas off? It was like a maze trying to find what little food they had put out during those times. The Grand Epernay restaurant was great for traditional dining, and every night there was a pre fixe menu. Some of the food could have been cooked a little better and there could have been larger portions as well. Breakfast in the Grand Epernay restaurant is outstanding, and I recommend eating there every morning if you can/want to. The shows they put on in the Solstice Theatre were amazing! The dancing and singing cast put on a show maybe 4 nights out of the cruise and they were awesome. Also the comedians, Phil Tag and Ralph Harris were also amazing and hilarious.

The ports of call were another story for me. Almost all of them were boring and insanely repetitive. Unless you are willing to drop $100+ for a shore excursion, you will be bored at every port of call. The only interesting one was Victoria which is a beautiful town with a lot of shops and great scenery. Tracy Arm Fjord was GORGEOUS and you should definitely wake up early to see the glacier. The other ports however all had jewelry stores and gift shops and were on average 10+ minutes away from where the ship was docked. You could tell that the main source of income for these towns was mostly from the cruise ship passengers. The cruise ship itself is very, very clean and there are always staff around making sure its stays that way. The Celebrity Life staff, I believed they were called, did a great job making sure there was always something going on around the ship. The nightly dance parties and shows on Deck 3 were great and hilarious and everyone should go at least once. The live music bands were also amazing. The only thing I really, really did not like about the cruise were the prices for the different packages on board. $245 for wi-fi???? Nearly an extra $500 for soda and wine?? $75 to purchase three photos?? I hope Celebrity didn't forget how much the passengers ALREADY paid for the cruise, flights, etc. I know its a vacation and you should splurge a bit, but jeez! You splurge on things like clothes, not things you can get for free at home. Overall, the cruise was great, I might, might sail with Celebrity again, but it will definitely not be to Alaska.