A laid-back coastal California itinerary and a chance to enjoy an Aquaclass cabin (and especially the small, non-harried Blu restaurant) were the main reasons we chose this cruise. It had been four or five years since we'd sailed on Celebrity and we definitely found the quality of the food less impressive than we remembered. But the service was attentive and smiling, the ship was beautiful, the cabin comfortable, and it's wonderful to take a cruise with the chance to eat alternative healthy (low-calorie) fare, especially at breakfast and lunch on the spa deck. And Celebrity still has a remarkably good library, which we enjoyed very much.
Murano is well worth a splurge, especially for the special sea day lunch. The food was beautifully presented and delicious.
We mostly wandered the ports by ourselves and weren't especially impressed by the 17-mile drive tour out of Monterey (we wanted more scenic driving and much less hanging out at the pretentious golf course) and the boutique winery tour out of Ensenada that we chose was exceedingly uninteresting. But the scenery from the ship was unfailingly lovely and we had some memorable lunches in Santa Barbara, Carmel, and at the El Cielo Vineyard near Ensenada. The only serious disappointment was the new incarnation of the specialty restaurant Qsine, which is now about predictable food and an animated tableware show that seems designed for children. We missed the delicious, fanciful, small-plates food we'd loved on past Celebrity cruises.
Well designed, comfortable cabin--with great deck chairs for lounging that got a lot of use on this cruise.
A wonderful port for walking and bicycling...
It was very hot in San Diego and the Museum of Contemporary Art, which had been closed the last time we were in San Diego, was closed again. But the city of San Diego is wonderful and it's difficult not to feel elated by the spectacular waterfront.