Editor’s be aware: TPG’s Erica Silverstein accepted a free journey from Carnival Cruise Line to cruise on Carnival Celebration’s first crusing from Miami. The opinions expressed beneath are completely hers and weren’t topic to assessment by the road.

For its fiftieth birthday, Carnival Cruise Line gave itself a celebration — particularly, the just-unveiled Carnival Celebration, the second ship within the line’s Excel class. And it is clear that Celebration is not your mom’s, or grandmother’s, Carnival cruise ship, taking the corporate into its subsequent half-century with a extra fashionable, up to date model of Carnival’s “Enjoyable Ship” type. Carnival referenced this evolution when it selected Cassidy Gifford, daughter of Carnival’s authentic spokeswoman Kathie Lee Gifford, as godmother of the ship, closing the books on the previous period and welcoming within the new.

To be honest, most of Carnival Celebration’s fashionable updates have been debuted on sister vessel Mardi Gras, which launched in 2021. Carnival Celebration is now the second ship within the fleet to be powered by liquefied pure gasoline. It is also the most important ship Carnival has ever sailed, together with Mardi Gras, carrying 5,282 passengers at double occupancy.

Gone is the road’s iconic hovering atrium, changed by the three-deck-high Celebration Central with panoramic home windows searching to sea. Man Fieri is not the one celeb chef on the town; he is joined by Shaquille O’Neal and Emeril Lagasse. Carnival’s thrilling water parks now need to make room for a top-deck curler coaster, and the RedFrog Pub has been changed by the indoor hangout within the Summer season Touchdown zone.

The ship can be the second Carnival vessel to bear the Celebration identify. The primary, recognized merely as Celebration, set sail for the road in 1987. It left the fleet in 2008 earlier than ending up with Bahamas Paradise Cruise Line as Grand Celebration, which was scrapped throughout the business’s pandemic pause in 2021. Now, Carnival Celebration resurrects the identify to supply extra enjoyable to extra folks.

TPG was on board Carnival Celebration’s second crusing and the primary from its Miami dwelling port to the Caribbean. Right here, I’ll define what’s new, what we cherished and what might use some tweaks.

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Issues to find out about Carnival Celebration

Carnival Celebration is split into six themed zones, three of that are totally different from the zones on Mardi Gras. Some zones really feel extra distinct and self-contained than others. The zones are:

Celebration Central

Celebration Central incorporates the atrium/efficiency space of the identical identify, JavaBlue Cafe, Bonsai Sushi, Bonsai Teppanyaki, Piano Bar 88 and the Punchliner Comedy Membership. You will additionally discover the brand new Aquaria Bar, that includes two-deck glass murals rescued from Carnival Victory, and the Tropicale Bar on Deck 6, named after former ship Tropicale, which was the primary ship in Carnival’s fleet to have the model’s well-known whale-tail funnel. Search for the classic blue 1934 Rolls-Royce, introduced over from Carnival Ecstasy earlier than that ship was scrapped, and the Golden Jubilee Bar, named in honor of the road’s fiftieth anniversary and adorned with items previously discovered on previous Carnival ships.

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820 Biscayne

A nod to the handle the place Carnival Cruise Line was born 50 years in the past, Carnival Celebration’s 820 Biscayne zone is designed with a purposeful Miami vibe. Positioned on Deck 8 midship, this new space is a eating mecca, that includes Rudi’s Seagrill (seafood), Cucina del Capitano (Italian), Miami Slice (pizza) and Deco Deli (Latin-inspired sandwiches). The realm additionally contains Bar 820, serving Cuban-inspired espresso drinks and cocktails.

The Gateway

The brand new travel-inspired neighborhood The Gateway on decks 6 and seven midship is most noticeable for its LED “home windows” that show scenes from nations around the globe, relying on the night’s theme. The brand new practice station-inspired Latitudes Bar and returning Emeril’s Bistro 1397 anchor this space, with the favored pharmacy-themed Alchemy Bar above. Emeril’s serves Louisiana-style breakfast, lunch and dinner in addition to three night specials primarily based on the day’s worldwide theme.

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Additionally on this space are the Carnivale Restaurant and Festivale Restaurant, fundamental eating rooms that pay homage to the second and third ships to sail for the model, in addition to the Limelight Lounge nightclub, Fahrenheit 555 steakhouse and Carnival Kitchen (a demo kitchen for cooking lessons).

Summer season Touchdown

Aft of 820 Biscayne, Summer season Touchdown makes a comeback on Carnival Celebration. This space is your lounge and yard. Inside, the Heroes Tribute Bar, with its cozy couches and big TV, spills into Man Fieri’s Pig & Anchor Smokehouse | Brewhouse; you may discover soft-serve machines in a army truck, a recreation room for foosball and desk shuffleboard and a stage for reside music. Outdoors, a small pool, two sizzling tubs and the Watering Gap present an inviting spot to hang around on a sizzling day.

The Final Playground

Thrill chasers will flock to the Final Playground to get their hearts pounding. Right here, the Bolt curler coaster, the second within the fleet, zooms over the mini-golf course and across the water park and ship’s funnel. A packed basketball course and an elevated ropes course preserve the enjoyable going; foosball, pingpong and bean bag toss provide a neater type of competitors. A jogging monitor encircles the whole Deck 18 playground.

The Lido

For all different outside pursuits, the Lido is your go-to spot. The midship pool brings again Dive-In Films on a large LED display and is surrounded by a two-deck RedFrog Tiki Bar, Road Eats, BlueIguana Cantina, Seafood Shack and, one deck up, Man’s Burger Joint. Aft of the Lido Market buffet is one other pool, plus Shaq’s Huge Hen. All the way in which ahead on Deck 18 is the adults-only Serenity Deck, with a pool, two sizzling tubs and the Recent Creations customized salad bar. Above is the Loft 19 solar deck unique to suite friends.

What we cherished

The Final Playground

I’ve seen ships from different strains the place the top-deck sights take up a lot house, the swimming pools and lounging house get brief shrift. Carnival Celebration manages to pack loads into the Deck 18 playground, leaving loads of actual property for the solar worshippers. The Bolt curler coaster is a worthy thrill experience — my solely grievance is that for $15, it could possibly be a bit longer. The ropes course manages to be each scary and utterly manageable; you may really feel such as you’ll fall, however the obstacles are simpler than they seem. Undoubtedly attempt the brief zip line and “stroll the plank” over the sting of the ship.

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The water park has three totally different slides to go well with all tastes plus a splash park, and the mini-golf course is a enjoyable time and truly difficult. I noticed everybody from little youngsters to adults having fun with the basketball courtroom, and Carnival misplaced the ridiculous outside train gear from its Vista-class ships and saved solely the video games cruisers really play.

Informal eating

Considered one of my favourite issues about Carnival is that the road’s ships provide a variety of informal, included eating venues. Carnival Celebration continues this custom. New with the Excel class is Shaquille O’Neal’s Huge Hen venue serving variations on the fried-chicken-and-biscuit theme from breakfast by the late afternoon. The marginally spicy tenders are scrumptious. Carnival’s pizza is among the greatest within the biz, and the customizable tacos and burritos at BlueIguana provide one thing for everybody.

Nevertheless, I have been on older Carnival ships the place all of the informal venues are on the lido deck, and the realm will get extremely busy at lunchtime. Too many individuals crowd into the identical areas, strains snake round corners and bumps and spills are unavoidable.

The Excel-class ships clear up that drawback by spreading out the informal venues throughout a number of decks. Man’s Burger Joint is up on Deck 17 as an alternative of by the midship pool; Huge Hen is exterior the Lido Market on the very again of Deck 16. Every is accompanied by a duo of soft-serve machines that get heavy use.

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The deli, pizza and Man’s barbecue eateries are all on Deck 8, with a 3rd ice cream outlet within the Heroes Tribute Bar. The one problem with this association is that neither of those spots are huge on greens; you’ll be able to not get a salad on the pizza venue. If you’d like some greens together with your pizza or turkey sandwich, you must journey seven decks to the Lido Market.

Sit-down eating

In case you’ve by no means sailed with Carnival, you may be shocked to find that it has among the greatest sit-down eating among the many big-ship strains. I’ve at all times loved the primary eating room, and Carnival Celebration continued the custom of expansive breakfast menus, scrumptious Indian meals, daring appetizers (the place else are you able to order frog legs?) and the most effective molten chocolate cake on the excessive seas.

We sampled a couple of of Celebration’s specialty eating places, they usually additionally impressed. Rudi’s Seagrill delivered an infinite cioppino and a Dover sole that was mushy and moist. Emeril’s Bistro 1397 wowed my husband with a flavorful ceviche, whereas I loved hot-from-the-oven beignets. We dined at Chibang! twice to attempt each its Asian and Mexican specialties. Each have been scrumptious however we agreed that the Mexican menu stole the present. My youngsters slurped up pasta at Cucina del Capitano at lunch, and I heard others rave that the steakhouse was nearly as good as I bear in mind from different ships.

Cabins

Carnival’s Excel-class ships provide extra cabin sorts than ever earlier than, with household cabins, Havana cabins with patio swings, and every kind of suites. I stayed in a typical balcony cabin with my household of 4 and was impressed by how nicely designed the room was to accommodate 4 folks in a small house.

I am at all times speaking about cabin storage and Carnival nailed it. Its four-section closet had all of it: tall and brief hanging areas, cabinets and three pullout drawers. The desk space has two deep drawers and one shallow drawer, two cabinets and an ottoman stool with storage inside. I needed to ask for further hangers (rapidly delivered), however all our stuff discovered a house.

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The toilet was additionally spectacular. I am unsure two folks might stand subsequent to one another with out somebody getting into the bathe, however the bathe itself is roomy for a loo that small. I by no means banged my elbows or kicked open the door in an try to choose a bottle off the ground. Plus, it has an adjustable bathe head with a detachable wand and a shave bar in a single nook — considerate touches.

New bars

As an expert traveler, it is not an enormous shock that one among my favourite public areas on the ship is the travel-themed The Gateway. The Latitudes Bar known as my identify with its seatbacks adorned with fake passport stamps and split-flap departure board signage. My husband and I spent an pleasurable hour attempting a few the bar-specific cocktails, impressed by nations around the globe. For a photogenic and engaging tipple, order the Sakura, which comes with a shock presentation.

And as a cruise buff, I additionally cherished the brand new Golden Jubilee Bar, adorned with doorways, glass, tabletops and different items from earlier Carnival ships. It serves traditional cocktails and takes up its personal house, moderately than spanning a public thoroughfare. It is the proper place for a drink earlier than a meal within the Carnivale fundamental eating room subsequent door.

Summer season Touchdown

The Summer season Touchdown zone on Carnival Celebration is the ship’s lounge, and my household discovered ourselves there usually. My son was a giant fan of the foosball and desk shuffleboard, and my daughter cherished the aft pool, with its loungers within the shallows. Each cherished the easy-access soft-serve machine. We swung by Man’s Pig & Anchor Smokehouse | Brewhouse for breakfast and barbecue dinner, performed trivia, sampled beers brewed proper on board and watched different folks watch sports activities on the Heroes Tribute Bar. I used to be bummed that I by no means bought to listen to the band that performed right here after-hours as a result of the setting is ideal for kicking again with a drink and listening to reside music.

The realm takes the place of the RedFrog Pub, a venue I’ve cherished on different Carnival ships. The decor here’s a little darker, however the expanded measurement and proximity to a pool, sizzling tubs and outside seating are a particular plus.

Combined bag

Celebration Central

In contrast to their fleetmates, Carnival Celebration and Mardi Gras each skip the hovering, multi-deck-high central atrium and change it with a three-deck-high ocean-facing atrium alongside the ship’s starboard (right-hand) facet. The realm was revamped and renamed Celebration Central space on this ship, adorned with color-changing lights designed to seem like confetti. Visitor providers and shore excursions have been moved out of this central space to a extra out-of-the-way spot on Deck 8 aft.

By day, panoramic home windows provide port and ocean views to friends having fun with espresso and a snack from the JavaBlue Cafe throughout from Celebration Central’s decrease stage. At evening, video screens come right down to function the high-tech animated backdrop for musical manufacturing reveals that includes a number of aerialists and performers who dance out and in of passengers sitting closest to the stage.

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I cherished how the atrium space is now extra included into the every day circulation of the ship, moderately than an space you move by to get someplace else. The reveals are gorgeous, with the motion extending past the stage, together with into the air. They make full use of the high-tech capabilities of the efficiency house.

Nevertheless, the realm lacks seating with full sightlines of each the stagebound singers and the aerialists. My household arrived at a present 40 minutes early and solely by luck discovered close-up seats with obstructed views. At one other present I attended solo, I discovered a lone seat within the stadium-style part of banquettes between decks 7 and eight. Even on this space clearly meant for present watching, I couldn’t see all of the motion, and the noise from passengers wandering round Deck 8 and coming out and in of Bonsai Sushi was loud and distracting.

The resort director assures me his crew will discover methods to schedule reveals so fewer folks present up, however I am not satisfied that sufficient seats in Celebration Central have full sight of the stage or that placing a theater in a public house is the most effective thought for specializing in a present.

Eating instances

I respect what Carnival has tried to do on this ship to make versatile eating extra accessible. Along with the primary eating room, passengers who’ve chosen the Anytime Eating plan can take pleasure in dinner at Cucina del Capitano or Chibang! the place they will select dishes from the restaurant’s menu or the always-available choices from the primary eating room menu.

You may request a desk at a particular venue or select the primary accessible amongst all three.

The issue is that friends on the early or late assigned eating plan can’t entry these eating places earlier than 7:45 p.m. We have been assigned early eating, so the evening we needed to attempt Chibang! we requested a desk precisely at 7:45 p.m — however there was a 50-to-60-minute wait, which led to a really late dinner for our youngsters.

And that wasn’t the one restaurant with a wait. You may’t request a desk prematurely for Bonsai Sushi, however when my husband and son got here for dinner at 8:20 p.m., the hostess wasn’t positive she might get them a desk till near 10 p.m.

It is doubtless that many of those eating points are startup issues. The resort director instructed me that it takes round six months for a brand new ship to be operating like clockwork. So in the event you’re on an early crusing, my recommendation is to dine early or request tables half an hour to an hour earlier than you need to eat. In case you prefer to check out totally different eating places for dinner, select the versatile eating possibility so that you get earlier entry to Chibang! and Cucina del Capitano for dinner.

Backside line

Carnival Celebration, like Mardi Gras, takes the Carnival Enjoyable Ship idea to the following stage with an even bigger ship and an up to date structure that also maintain true to the road’s core values of eating selection, plentiful bars, leisure for all pursuits and a give attention to enjoyable. Loyalists will discover a lot of their favourite locations and areas and are available to develop new beloved hangouts, whereas first-timers shall be wowed by the nonstop choices, livable cabins throughout all worth factors and the always-friendly and useful crew members.

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