We were looking for a longer cruise, and the possibility of a Trans-Atlantic and Europe (a first for me, not my Honey). We tend to look at Celebrity first for the balance and class - I can get a waterslide anywhere.
We spent 3 days in Rome prior to departure, and actually enjoyed walking 20 miles (really!) to tour the city. We were very lucky and happy with our Airbnb rental and the location. Food was fabulous, and the history incredible. The Vatican Museum tour was a cattle drive, unfortunately. I wanted nothing more than to stop and admire art, but this was not practical. The neighborhood we were in had everything - history, food, churches, people all within 10 minutes walk. We would visit again independent of a cruise.
We took a shared van to the port, which arrived an hour late due to traffic. One would think they would have accounted for that (Rome - traffic???). Note to self - shared rides somewhat unpredictable. The embarkation in Civitavecchia was as painless as any we've done. The best part was our room was ready so we could drop our carry-on and packs. That was absolutely terrific, and we enjoyed exploring. The ship is similar to the Celebrity Summit, and for that matter the other Celebrity ships, so we found our way around easily. We will say that the crowd was a bit older than usual, likely due to the long transatlantic. It wasn't a significant issue.
Our cabin was neat, clean, and typcial of a Celebrity veranda. Far enough/close enough to the aft elevators - though realistically, nothing is a long walk on this ship. The result was a fairly quiet area. Our veranda was large and wedge shaped, looking forward from the Starboard aft area. This was very nice. Celebrity missed the "boat" by not including a lounge or at least an ottoman on the veranda in lieu of one of the chairs. This would have been used by us! The steward was quietly efficient. Bed was made proptly, towels were fresh, etc. Never retruned to anything in the wate bucket, or the room not neat. Note the stewards will now apparently unplug your adapters from the outlets.
Two minor issues: the closet doors rubbed a bit, really not a problem for us, but they needed adjustment. We didn't request repair. There were no robes. We thought this was a function of the room class, but saw when we returned home see that Celebrity advertizes robes in veranda class. We missed out robes.......
Toured on our own, stayed in an AirBnB
Toured on our own. Couldn't get into Catholic Mass at Sagrada Familia due to all the cab-slowing roadblocks. Note the Barqueria Market was closed on a Sunday! Very, very sad...