Darren Burris

Age: 27
Occupation: U.S. Government
Number of Cruises: 1
Cruise Line: Carnival
Ship: Celebration
Sailing Date: September 14th, 2002
Itinerary: Western Caribbean

We got into Galveston at about 11:30 am and the Celebration was still unloading from the trip that ended that morning. For some reason it got into port late and therefore there was a lot of traffic. Half the people were trying to get off the boat and half were trying to get on. We drove to Galveston from Dickinson, Texas, which is a whole 25 miles north of Galveston. We didn’t park in the parking lots (we have family that lives on the Island) so we saved that headache. My wife dropped the bags and myself off to check them in, while she parked. There were guys there that would take your bags for you, however I was dropped off right in front of the baggage drop off, so I just carried my own. If you do get someone to help you with the bags, the standard tip is $1 per bag. I would recommend bringing a stack of $1 bills strictly for tipping. I would bring all cash in small bill, since the peddlers in Mexico are not fond of giving you change back in American money.

Once we went in the terminal we went up the escalator and through security. The security is just like at an airport. After security we got in line to give a Carnival representative our boarding passes and birth certificates, drivers licenses, and our Credit Card to activate our Sail & Sign card. Once he was through looking those over, we headed over to a table to pick up our room keys and our Sign & Sail card. After that we had to wait about 10 minutes for the boat to begin boarding. The whole process from the time I was dropped off to the time we got on the boat was about 30 minutes. Very efficient, but then again, we arrived fairly early. I knew to get there early from reading previous reviews.

Once we got on the boat, we went directly to our room to drop off our carry on bags (backpacks) and we found the rooms to be much larger than we anticipated. We were on the Upper Deck room U141. We wanted an inside room because we figured it would not move as much. We booked our cruise through galvestoncruises.com and we got a free upgrade with our room from the Main Deck to the Upper Deck. We thought this was wonderful and we got a great deal on the whole cruise. Galvestoncruises.com also had some bon voyage gifts waiting on us as well. One was champagne --- that couldn’t be delivered until the following day due to Texas liquor laws and the other was a plate full of wonderful Chocolate covered strawberries and a few other chocolates. There was actually plenty of closet space. We had our room steward, Teddy push the beds together to make a king size bed. There was also plenty of room in the bathroom and in the shower. The room had a table underneath the television and a desk. After we dropped off our carry on bags we headed to the Lido deck for lunch and to drop off our shore excursion list early.

Lunch was in the Wheelhouse and it was buffet style. All the food in the Wheelhouse was good. There is a 24-hour pizzeria there as well. The only thing I didn’t care for in the Wheelhouse was the size of the glasses. Three big sips and it was all gone. We ate and then headed outside to check out the ship. The Celebration was scheduled to depart at 4pm but it was running a little late. The muster drill was scheduled to begin at 330 but it didn’t start until 350. We did have enough time to finish the muster drill, run back to our rooms and put our lifejackets up and then head back up topside to watch the ship leave Galveston. The ship departed with an escort from the United States Coast Guard vessel, the “Seahawk”. Then, an Apache Helicopter and a Coast Guard Helicopter escorted us.

We had the main seating time at 6:15pm so soon after we were under way, we headed down to get ready for dinner. We dressed up in nice “Church” clothes for all the dinners, except the formal dinner where I wore a suit and my wife wore a black outfit. The first night some people did show up way under dressed in shorts. Our waiter was Carlos from Jamaica. He was wonderful. The food was great and there was plenty of it. Don’t be shy ordering seconds or two different things. There were many nights that I ordered two entrée’s and two deserts. Some night I even ate my wife’s appetizers. She’s not a big fish or seafood person and there was a lot of that on the menu. She’s more of a “meat and potatoes” girl; so Carlos knew what she was going to order before she ever looked at the menu. The deserts are wonderful as well. We had a table for eight, but we were the only ones that showed up for all but the first meal. After dinner we went back to our room, changed clothes, and went outside and enjoyed the fresh air.

The next day was a “Fun Day at Sea”. I really thought that I would be bored on the ship, but I was anything but bored. There was a ton of stuff to do on this ship, from shopping to gambling, to shows to food. We slept late the first morning and decided to go swimming in the pool and to sit and watch the water go by. After that, we ate lunch and then just played around on the ship. After supper that night, we went to the Captain’s cocktail party for free hors d’oeuvres and cocktails. We went back to the room to take a nap before the first big “Welcome Aboard” show. Well our nap turned into an all night nap, so we missed the show. We were worn out. I ended up waking up about 430am and decided to get up and walk around the ship. I think I was the only one awake, but I got some good pictures of everything when it wasn’t crowded.

Cozumel was our first stop. We arrived in port at about 830am and we booked the Catamaran Sail & Snorkel. It was a 3.5 hour trip that was scheduled to leave the pier at 9am. We walked off our ship to the catamaran waiting on us on the other side of the pier. We had a great time. Our first stop was a 45 minute snorkel stop on top of some reefs with tons of colorful fish and beautiful blue water. All the snorkel gear was included as well as all the beer and margaritas you could drink. After the snorkeling was over we headed about 20 minutes to a beach to relax for about an hour. There, we ate lunch and this was the only thing that we had to pay for. We laid in hammocks and relaxed on floats in the water. Again, all you can drink. Then we headed back to the pier. We went back on the Celebration, showered and took a nap. Woke up and then headed back out into town. I don’t particularly care for a large group of tourist, so we rented a moped for $20 and headed to the other side of the island. There is only one road, and at the end of it, there is a nice secluded spot to eat and shop for a few things and just rest and relax on the beach. I ate fajitas and my wife had nachos. Just before dark, we headed back into town and dropped the moped back off and did some shopping and had a few mixed drinks before we got back on the boat. We were supposed to be back on the boat by 11:30pm but we gave out by about 10:30. If you’re going to buy anything in Mexico do not pay the suggested price. I didn’t buy anything unless we talked them down about 50-60% off. Some things were cheaper on the boat. Actually both my wife and I bought some nice watches for a really good price on the boat.

The next day we were in Calica, which is actually just a pier. We scheduled the Tropical Jeep (or heep as pronounced in Mexico) Safari Tour. Actually it wasn’t a safari and they weren’t jeeps. They were small convertible jeeps (GeoTrackers). Our first heep stop was some underground caverns that we got to swim in. They said that we were lucky to get to swim in them since most days, there are scuba teams searching for things in them. The water was absolutely wonderfully clear and cold. It was an awesome excursion. We saw a lot of bats and after we dried off and got a drink (water or cola, since we were driving), we headed back down the Mexican freeway (more like a NASCAR raceway) and went to a beach to eat lunch and hang out on the beach. The water was unbelievable and we stayed for quite a while there swimming and relaxing on the beach. The tour ended back at the ship with about an hour to spare before we had to be back on. We went back to our cabin, took a shower, and got ready for dinner.

Overall, both excursions we chose were more than we bargained for. We had a great time doing everything we chose. I thought we gave a fair price for all that was included. I would definitely recommend both tours to anyone looking for something fun and exciting. We are not big shoppers anyway. After dinner we saw the adult comedy show and that guy was hilarious. Immediately following that was the midnight buffet and that was an awesome sight to see. Every animal in the world was made out of food. The food was good too.

The next day was another “Fun Day at Sea” and this was our last day before debarkation the following day. We hated to think our trip was winding down. We took in as many shows as possible, including the newlywed and not so newlywed game, which was hilarious. After dinner that night we did go and watch that other major Broadway style show and it was really really good.

After the show we headed back to our room to pack our suitcases and leave them in the hallway for the porters to pick up. Teddy, our room steward had been great. Our room was cleaned twice a day and had some really awesome towel animals.

Debarkation can be a pain in the neck. Take notes on this. They will tell you that you have to go through Immigration by colors of your room tags. Ignore that, and go with the first group as early as possible. U.S. Immigration does not care what room you in. The same goes for actually leaving the ship. Leave on the first color called. We made it off the ship, to our bags, through customs, to our car, and on the highway in less than 10 minutes. I was the third one off the ship so I could beat the crowd of people trying to drive their car to pick up their bags.

Overall, this was our first cruise and we loved every minute of it. The food was great, the service was wonderful and the ship was incredible. Some people gripped because the ship moved some. Well, if you’re on a ship in the water and it’s moving, it’s going to move some. It should be expected. We never did get sick and frankly, we didn’t think that the boat moved much at all. Just enough to make you fall fast asleep when you laid down. We will definitely go on another cruise. Our entire cruise was only $1005 and that included all meals, shipboard activities, port fees and tips. We prepaid our tips. There is no other place we could have gone for that price when you include two plane tickets, rental car, food, hotel and entertainment and tips. We did wait until after Labor Day when the schools were back in session and the crowd was a lot older than we were and we were happy about that. Wonderful Ship, Wonderful Service, Wonderful Food, and a Wonderful Vacation!!!

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