Carnival's Celebration Key — Attraction in City of Freeport

Great experience-- with caveats. Rented large cabana on calypso lagoon. Its basically a gigantic pool with a liner that covers acres of land. It has a beach entrance in several areas so easy to enter/exit. Its very nice and clean, though a bit shallow. Most of it waste deep or less. I cannot imagine how many acres of liner fabric had to be seamed and stay leak-free to make this thing. We had dedicated attendants all day for the $900 price split among 3 couples. The attendants (Locals) were very nice and attentive. They brought lunch and drinks to us(think that is a perk for that cabana). You get a menu with a list of items you can get for free. I had wings and fries. They actually give you 12 wings. Perfectly cooked wings at that. The cabana has no ceiling fan(odd, some others do have them) but it was a high ceiling and breezy so that was not an issue, more of an FYI.

Now, the not so great parts that stick on your craw afterward.... Your drink package ends at the gangway, which is ridiculous, and these guys are charging a fortune for weak drinks on shore. Then they add 18% gratuity regardless of the service you receive, and another 10% value added tax (aka sales tax). And these fees are stacked so the two $12.50 apiece, machine-dispensed, pina coladas in plastic ~12oz cups you ordered for you and the wife will set you back 12.5 x 2 x 1.18 x 1.1 or $32.45. Yea, that's Carnival math. You actually pay tax on the tip and I have a statement to prove it. Go figure. Anyway, we figured that out the hard way at the swim up bar. I am really glad we did so early on because if you wait until the end of your stay, the cabana tab that shows up could put a huge damper on your day!!!

Next gripe. Pool Noodles. The kind you pay $15 for at Costco. They rent them for 10.99. Should be free. Also, I just noticed that I got billed for 19.99 which is what they charge for a float. So watch your statement !!! That was one of 3 billing errors Carnival made on my folio alone this trip totaling about $40.

Last gripe- Poor messaging. They tell you it starts at 7 (on the ticket I think) and the booking screen says it lasts 6 hrs. Elsewhere (under good to know section I think) they say "all day" which is nebulous. None of this is precise and correct info. Can you get there at 7? Seems early to get off ship and to an excursion. If you show up at 9 do you still get 6hrs ? Why 6hrs when back-on-board time was 3:30 or 8.5 hours later? Do they kick you out after 6? I don't like going in not knowing the details. I had to get on land and ask our attendant. She said service ended 1 hr before back-on-board time, so 230pm. Got it. That was a simple, clear message I could get my head around. But no where does carnival tell you that. In fact, they have the perfect place to communicate these details-- on the specially produced 6x8 cardstock info card that only covers how to prepare for Celebration key, that they leave in your stateroom. Poor messaging. BTW, on that card, they also tell you to take your sign and sail card (only) which made sense since you are going from carnival ship to carnival land and back. So no passport/license to lose. I liked that. But, then when we were on the elevator on the way down to disembark, the nice lady comes on the PA and says to bring your government issued photo ID also. Back up to the room for i.d. And no one ever looked at it. Poor messaging. Details should be on the card. Also, take some cash. They advertise as cash less, but if you want to tip one of the hard working local attendants on the side.... you...

Unfortunately it rained within 2 hours of getting there. That was a SUPER DUPER BUMMER!! 🤷 I'll be it, not their fault unless they are apart of controlling that area of the grid with the cloud seeding? I would not be surprised at all. Think about it, they FORCE that EYE ID thing upon us all to go, almost like taking a mark. I oppose that, don't agree with that. Should not be forced, should be a choice. That says allot and I regret going now just for that fact alone. THAT IS the SYSTEM.... And I'm not referring to GOD'S system. The rain got people back inside gambling. Yes, It was pretty, the ocean just naturally is. Since this is carnivals actual owned spot, and this Island is the trip we paid for, it didn't make sense we had to spend more money to utilize different parts of that Beach? I Could of gotten this in Florida, just stayed there and spend way less money. Needless to say, We were unable to enjoy the beach for very long at all and besides the rain, it did feel fake, simulated, and I'm referring to the "REAL" part of the ocean. Not the man made one with the super soft plastic bottom. I was not allowed to collect or bring back ANY shells. I found that odd. But then again, maybe better I don't bring back any of their "grid" with me?😬 The first beach we went to in the BAHAMAS was ok. But, the minute you get off the boat and onto land to get to the beach, the locals will hound you to no end, in your face, for money or whatever they are trying to get. It's so so intrusive and unapologetic. The local restaurant we ate lunch at charged us inflated prices x3 for several dishes. No shame! This was my very FIRST TIME EVER cruise. It was not so good. Believe me, we tried hard to get past all the stuff, starting with boarding the ship, from the start of the cruise, causing a domino effect for my entire party. With minutes to spare, (7 min.)as their 3rd party busing Sunward Tours,(that I paid for separately in full for rides to and from the Airport to the dock)left without me. It cost me another 150.00 to take a taxi to make it there, very last person to board, 7 min. Left before door closed. I threw up, cried, laughed! I had to use so much energy to not allow this incredible amount of stress pumping thru me, to not affect the Lupus & Breast Cancer I'm currently fighting and why I even went on this thing. Was a gift from my son and family. My bucket list item he made possible.This Cruise line could care less for the damages they are responsible for. The absolute VERY LEAST they can do, is to make me whole monitarely. THEY are liable for those monetary damages I incurred. Otherwise, it could have been a pleasant trip/experience. What we ended up getting/experiencing, for our money, was a very expensive boat ride,(which you can prolly get a boat ride anytime off the docks, anywhere FLORIDA, for pennies compared to these dollars) Do that instead. Save yourself. The domino affect caused Distortion to the whole vibe. Mostly due to their lack of regard or respect in dealing with and handling the entire matter has been completely DISRESPECTFUL, DISREGARDING, and WITHOUT ANY KIND OF RESPONSIBILITY IN THE MATTER. I consider that pretty SHAMEFUL for such a CONGLOMERATE. I have read similar posts, so I know it's not just me and sounds like CARNIVAL & SUNWARD TRAVEL have a very negative pattern of customer service approach to their guests.Which supports my claims and concerns for the public. Please approach...

It was awful. Its just.... a large pool. They told us that we would be the only ship there but we weren't. There was another one just as big as ours. Our ship has approx 6,000 people. So now your have approximately 12,000 people on this "island" which.. its just a piece of island. And one large, very large pool. It was so crowded in the pool becsuse of how many people were there at once. People were throwing small balls across the pool and some would hit other people or hit really close to them in the water....and there are TWO water slides. Yep. Only Two. We had bracelets that let us ride unlimited but they were turning people away if you already rode them because of how long the lines were. They told you to come back later. The beach had very sharp rocks or coral on the shallow places that can nick or cut your feet. And the tram that takes you around? To And from the ship and around the island.. it holds 8 people. And there were not a lot of trams running. You had to wait forever for food because those lines were also insanely long. We had a cabana and there were lounge style chairs under the umbrellas. But the umbrellas werent big enough to give shade to both chairs. The kids splash pad.. it was next to nothing. None of the 4 little kids even wanted to play in it.

The soap dispensers in the bathroom didnt even work so there were just small bottles of hand soap to use. Hopefully it'll be better when theyre done building but they shouldn't have even opened it until it was finished. It was really really disappointing. And I cant believe they made the times we had at other destinations so short just to give us an entire day at an...