My sister and I enjoyed our three night cruise on Celebrity. It cetainly felt like a mass market experience but there were a lot of highlights too.
Embarkation was a breeze. We checked in at the cruise terminal in SF and just walked on the ship. We were among the very first to arrive at 11am. We were handed a glass of champagne as we boarded. We went to our stateroom (concierge class with balcony)). They were still cleaning it but our steward was in the hallway and he let us leave us our hand luggage in the room. A bottle of champagne was on ice (included in concierge class).
We toured around the ship. It is huge. It can hold 2000 people but it didn't sail full. We had lunch at the grill. A so so hamburger and cold fries. You had to grab a tray and wait in a line. The fries were kept in a cafeteria style serving bin so it was no surprise that they were cold. The only other choice was an unappetizing buffet.
One thing that really bothered me was the constant hustling on deck. From the moment we walked on deck there were many waiters tying to sell, in the style of used car salesmen, the drink of the day. I don't know how many times I said no. I finally bought one that I walked around with ($8.95 weak rum punch) so they would stop harassing me.
The sail away party was fun because the weather was pleasant and the light on San Francisco beautiful. As we went under the GG bridge, people waved to us. A coast guard helicopter also kept buzzing by and waving at us. The band was decent and played a steady repetoire of 70's dance favorites.
We were assigned to late seating at a table of six. Our table mates were terrific. The food was realllllly mediocre.
On day two we ordered room service. They argued with me that it was too late but they finally acknowledged that I was in Concierge class and entitled to order breakfast until 11am. However when they brought the order it was completely wrong and not very good. There were double amounts of some things and none of others.
For lunch we went to the restaurant. Again, the food was greasy and not very good.
That night we ate at the specialty restaurant ($30pp cover charge). The food and service was outstanding. It's a small restaurant that holds less than 50 people. We had incredible lobster soup and goat cheese souffle. The cheese cart had twenty five different cheeses on it.
Rita Moreno lectured on the ship but unfortunately we missed it. We heard she was great. We did see her at bingo though, she never won but my sister won $275. It covered our bar bill ;)
The public areas are beautiful. There is a whole shopping arcade that contained beautiful things to buy. I thought there would be a lot more activities than on the smaller ships but there really wasn't.
The decks had lots of empty deck chairs (probably people avoiding the waiters) but the jacuzzis were always full of kids (sometimes 10 to 12 in one jacuzzi and some in diapers :D ). I never noticed the kids anywhere else on the ship.
Disembarkation was the easiest I ever had. Since we only had one small suitcase each, we packed the morning we were leaving and just walked right off the ship at 8:30am. We skipped breakfast since it wasn't worth the calories :)
I'd be happy to answer any questions.

Julie, it sounds as if the ship was beautiful. While your food didn't sound too appetizing, I wonder if that was the norm or did you just hit on several bad meals in a row.

How was your room?

Welcome back, Julie! Agreed that the SS United States (the alternative restaurant) was fantastic. Also agreed that the main restaurant was sort of disappointing (I was expecting better than Princess, the first cruise we had taken -- I think Princess might have been better). When all's said and done, it's still a mainstream cruise line with its limitations. Did you ever get to try the sushi?

Masaki

Masaki, I did try the sushi a couple of times. It didn't have a lot of flavor. I would have preferred sashimi but I don't think the fish was high enough quality for that. Anyway I made my own sashimi, I made a log cabin out of the rice logs. LOL.

Julie - sorry to hear that. I've been hearing a lot about the decline of Celebrity's food and service in the last 2 years since being bought out by RCCL - I wonder if this is another manifestation of it. You might as well make use of the "logs" in some way ... :)

Masaki

Thanks for posting, JuicyJuJu! After reading this, I'm definitely not even considering Celebrity especially for the following reasons:

- Getting endlessly hawked at with things you don't want to drink/buy

- Mediocre food, unless you pay extra to go to the "specialty" restaurant. VIVA COMPASS ROSE!!

- Better level of service amenities ONLY at the Concierge class (or above?)

- PEOPLE WHO LET THEIR CHILDREN IN DIAPERS INTO A HOT TUB SHOULD RECEIVE A VISIT FROM CHILD PROTECTIVE SERVICES...WHAT IS WRONG WITH THESE PARENTS??? I really take issue with parents who get on these cruises and leave the kids to their own devices...if they want to have a cruise without them, LEAVE THEM AT HOME!!