17-31 July 2016 We took the same cruise in 2012 and decided to repeat it this year as we needed a recuperative experience after a serious illness for me and a stressful time for my husband who had to take on a full time carer role for a prolonged period last year.
We travelled down from North West England with Eavesway.
Embarkation was speedy as we were Elite and in Aqua and when we looked at the queues this was a big plus.
We were able to go straight to our stateroom again a big plus.
Our Aqua A1stateroom was kept spotless throughout the cruise and although I had requested a shower stool through completing the special needs form it was not in the shower.
However as our stateroom attendant, Ronaldo, came in to introduce himself I explained why I needed one and he quickly obtained one for me.
Apart from the 2 bottles of water on arrival, water is no longer provided in Aqua but on hearing I only drink water Ronaldo provided a fresh carafe of water each day in place of the iced teas.
These staterooms are under the overhang and the balconies are shaded, there can be some noise from the pool deck.
Our luggage arrived quickly and we were soon unpacked.
The storage over the bed remains difficult to reach but this time I had come prepared with net bags to store smaller items in so we could just pull the appropriate bag out.
The wardrobes had plenty of hangers and storage.
The bathroom has good storage.
The towels were of very poor quality and thin.
The toiletries were run of the mill but we had brought our own.
We ate in Blu and again it did not appear that the restaurant had been informed of my food allergies (I am allergic to shellfish and capsicums and related spices including pepper) but our waiter Vinod ensured that this was rectified and I preordered for the next night each day.
Service in Blu was excellent and the maitre d ensured you were sat with the same waiter each night.
My husband enjoyed the food at both breakfast and dinner but it was a limited choice for me at dinner and several nights I ordered the always available options.
I also got rather bored of the mash potato and steamed broccoli, cauliflower, carrots and squash.
Vinod noticed and later in the cruise used to bring a dish of chips and a side of peas.
As a starter I had a melon plate every night.
We had noticed the food was not the same quality as on our previous cruise.
We never had to wait for a table at either breakfast or dinner but we eat about 6pm.
Alexandra our sommelier and Olga the assistant maitre d were also very good.
We ate a light lunch in Ocean View and we thought the choice of food was good.
As a result of my illness I now walk with a stick and staff were always asking if they could carry my plate.
It can be difficult to find a seat in Ocean View on sea days.
We had the classics drink package included, the only use we made of it was a glass of wine with dinner for my husband and coffees inCafeAl Bacio plus bottles of water.
We are used to water being freely available as you go ashore on Azamara, not the case on Celebrity you have to remember to buy a bottle if you haven’t got a drinks package.
The staff inCafeAl Bacio were very good, kept constantly busy and remembered your preferred coffee and name when they served you again.
Loved the cakes.
Again very hard to get a seat on sea days and some people just used the area to sit and read or talk so if you wanted a coffee you had to get it to go.
The ship is very clean and the crew are constantly working to keep it that way both on deck and internally.
Staff were at the ocean View restaurant and the Eclipse Theatre doors with sanitiser and there were dispensers at each public venue and restaurant but I am amazed at the number of people who walk past and refuse to use them.
Captain Leo was excellent however the other senior staff were not as visible as we were used to on Azamara.
Because of my illness we took a couple of ships tours instead of organising our own as we did last time we visited the Baltic and they were a mixed success.
We enjoyed the trip to villages in Bruges and Helsinki, the St Petersburg half day canal trip was ok but we had been spoilt by our 2 days in 2012 with SPB who had set the gold standard for us.
The Lake Malaren trip in Stockholm was a little disappointing as they used a closed top boat, it was crowded and very difficult to see the scenery that was being pointed out.
The shows and music around the ship were a mixed bag, we enjoyed Jane Curry, (she announced at her matinee show which was packed including standing room that she had signed an 18month exclusive contract with Celebrity) the band Blind vinyl, the Beatles Tribute act, Sam Kane, the only cast show we saw was dreadful, we had read the reviews on cruise boards but had thought we would just assess for ourselves.
The critics were right.
There were varied on board activities which seemed to be enjoyed.
The library was well used and there was a good choice of books.
There are plenty of shaded areas to sit on deck and the Sky Lounge is a very comfortable area to sit.
We had a lovely relaxing holiday, were well looked after and on a couple of port days when we didn’t go ashore enjoyed a lovely empty ship.
Disembarkation was the least painless we had experienced, we basically walked off the ship onto our waiting Eavesway coach for the journey home.
