Celebrity Xcel Sea Day: Awesome Bora Brunch, Speakeasy & 2 Shows
At the next table over at Bora brunch sat a guy filming a cruise vlog — it turned out to be Jared, one half of J.J. Cruise, recording the same “first impressions” video we’d later watch ourselves. That was the kind of day it was: equal parts celebrity sighting, questionable mattress reviews, and a Speakeasy we got smuggled into through a secret door behind a photo booth.
Our first Celebrity Xcel sea day had us sailing southwest past Cuba into the Caribbean Sea. We slept just okay, maybe because the brand new mattresses were painfully firm. We heard later from our travel agent who was on the very next sailing that other passengers and funnily enough, the Caribbean Group CEO’s wife also thought the beds were too firm. A couple of vloggers reviewing the sailing mentioned it too. As the cruise went on, my back got cranky if I stayed in bed too long. Hopefully the mattresses soften up over time, or Celebrity fixes it.
Bora for brunch was our sole specialty dining reservation this sailing, set for 11:30 AM, though a little card at our door let us know we could show up at 11 for the unlimited Bloody Mary bar in the garden. Since we’d risen early, I brought us back coffee from Café al Bacio and called room service for some protein and fruit to tidy us over until brunch. (Had we planned ahead, we could have filled out the order form left in the stateroom the night before — it would be nice if the Celebrity App supported ordering room service the way Princess does.)
About 30 minutes later, room service arrived with bacon, sausage, fresh fruit, and fresh-squeezed orange juice, which we ate with the Infinite Veranda view. Had we not bought the Premium Access package, the bacon and sausage would have been an extra charge, so this worked out. The bacon was bacon — good. Always a room service risk, the sausage was a little cold, but tasty. The orange juice was refreshing; the fruit was a mixed bag, with the honeydew and cantaloupe sadly underripe.
The Bazaar on Aqua Day: Viewing the LED Tunnel & Shows
Fortified with some greasy protein and a couple of bites of fruit, we headed down to deck 5 to see how the Bazaar had been redecorated — today’s theme was Aqua, with the digital displays in the tunnel and Bazaar configured like we were walking beneath an aquarium.
Same tunnel as embarkation day, a completely different look. For those who’ve been to Epcot in Walt Disney World, it kind of had a very elaborate Living Seas vibe.
The menu at Spice had also changed to reflect the Aqua theme.
Celebrity Xcel Bora Brunch Review: Is the $42 Cover Worth It?
After losing at General Knowledge Trivia back in the Club, we headed up to deck 15 for our Bora reservation, arriving at 11 as suggested. The host handed us some wooden Bora tokens and sent us to the stand-alone Bloody Mary station in the garden — it turns out anyone with the right drink package (or a token) can use it, with a choice of vodkas, gins, and tequilas, and a range of toppings, including various olives, tomato and mozzarella skewers, antipasto skewers, bacon, shrimp, and more. I don’t drink Bloody Marys, so this one was all Rona’s.
We took her drink and my water bottle to a cushioned garden seat. It was windy up on top — the giant umbrellas spent the whole time proving they were tougher than the wind gave them credit for. We chatted with a lovely couple from Texas until 11:30 AM, when I went back to the host stand and we were seated 5 – 10 minutes later.
Bora sits essentially outside, but is sheltered enough to stay comfortable in a light rain, which was fortunate — right after we sat down, a brief shower rolled through. Bora features a breezy, Mediterranean-inspired decor, with Santorini blue-and-white accents. Some tables offer panoramic ocean views, though not ours, which was closer to the host stand.
The menu looked excellent, and I ordered a Paloma to go with Rona’s second Bloody Mary. The server told us to order whatever we wanted, however much we wanted, with the only limit being the two-hour seating. There were four seafood items that were an extra charge, including oysters, crab claws, a seafood tower, and jumbo shrimp dish.
For starters, we ordered all three of the included seafood items: a smoked salmon platter, shrimp with oil, paprika and sherry vinegar, and lobster medallions in a lemon beurre-blanc. Five good-sized and super fresh pieces of rolled smoked salmon came out with capers, chopped onions, tomatoes and eggs. The shrimp tapas dish included a couple pieces of bread for dipping, and the lobster medallions were sizable and tender. Both were absolutely delicious.
For entrees, Rona ordered the shakshuka with chicken sausage on the side — tasty, though the egg wasn’t very warm, but Rona would get it again, except perhaps the chicken sausages. I opted for the eggs benedict, prepared “the Bora way” — gravlax, ricotta, and poached egg served on a croissant. It wound up being served on a more traditional English muffin for some reason, but everything else about it was “the Bora way” and it was delightful. They know how to poach an egg up here.
Along the way, they brought around trays of pastries, including plain, pistachio, and white chocolate croissants, which we sadly declined given the amount of food we had in front of us and what was already stretching our stomachs. Others who had those croissants gave them a thumbs-up.
It was here we had our second brush with a cruise Youtuber — Jared from J.J. Cruise, seated at the next table, recording material for their Celebrity Xcel first impressions video (Easter Egg at the ~50 second mark), while his partner Jordan covered Star Princess. He couldn’t have been nicer to chat with. And darn it, no photo again!
For $42 per person including gratuities, brunch at Bora was well worth it — the service, the food, and we got lucky with the weather too, sheltered from any wind with mostly sun overhead. This was on our list when we’re got back on the Xcel in 2026.
The rest of the afternoon was a mix of typical cruise activities and entertainment, of which the Xcel has a ton. We lost, as we’d done on the Celebrity Apex back in April, at Musical Bingo in the Grand Plaza. The Bazaar hosted its Aqua Show at 4:30, so arrived 45 minutes early — and still only found seats tucked by the side of the bar, facing the wrong way.
From our vantage point it did look colorful and lively, but we could only see it properly if we stood by the bar, blocking other passengers’ views. Considerate people that we are, we just hung out for a while with a cocktail and enjoyed the music. (There was plenty of social media grumbling that night about people rudely standing in front of others.)
We tried again later in the cruise, arriving 45 minutes early a second time, but finding standing room only. Standing around for 45 minutes in a crowd isn’t on our top 10 list of things to do anymore. Maybe it was first-sailing enthusiasm or maybe it was how the space was arranged — on the Apex, crew set up rows of seats before the show; on the Xcel, they didn’t. The Xcel does run the show twice daily though, which the Apex doesn’t. If you want to actually see the Bazaar shows here, I’d show up at least an hour early, at least until the novelty wears off.
That night brought Adam Trent, a magician in the main theater at 7:30, and 254 West in the Club at 10:45, with time in between for a drink at the Club #IYKYK.
Cosmopolitan Restaurant Review: Classic Dishes & Oxtail Royale
Dinner was at the Cosmopolitan Restaurant shortly before 6 PM, where our servers — clearly aware we were angling for the early theater show — kept things brisk without feeling rushed.
For starters Rona ordered escargots and the tomato watermelon salad and I got the French onion soup, all off the classic menu. The escargots were delicious, soaked in garlicky herb-butter, the salad was light and refreshing, and the French onion soup was rich and savory.
We both ordered entrees we’ve always wanted to try but never have. Rona got Steak Dianne from the classic menu while I had the Oxtail Royale off the Cosmopolitan Exclusives menu. The steak was excellent, cooked exactly to Rona’s liking. The slow braised Oxtail was rich, tender, and unctuous.
For dessert, Rona had two bites of the crème brûlée, always a favorite, and I made my way through the warm apple crumble a la mode. Overall, this was a really good meal.
Adam Trent’s show on Celebrity Xcel was a high-energy mix of modern magic, comedy, music, and audience interaction — fast, polished, and genuinely crowd-pleasing. We highly recommend catching him if you get the chance. His other work, The Road Trick on Red Bull TV, follows him performing magic across different cities.
After the show, we headed over to the Club. To the right of the bar sits a photo booth that, after 5 PM transforms into a passageway to a Speakeasy. Yes, an actual speakeasy. Now #YK. A short line meant we got a pager — reachable, they said, all the way to the Grand Plaza — and a 20-30 minutes wait. We stuck around the Club bar for a Hibiscus Collins (Rona) and a very sweet Dutch Mule (me), had a fun chat with one of the bartenders, and finished our drinks right as the pager buzzed.
How to Find the Celebrity Xcel Secret Photo Booth Bar
Into the photo booth we went, scanned a SeaPass card, and after three photos, a door opened to our left. Through a secret passageway, we emerged into the Speakeasy — a 1920’s style room filled with theater smoke, live music, dancers, and magicians. No phones allowed, no photography — it is the 1920’s, after all. You get about an hour inside but can return as often as you like.
The drinks menu, era-themed and pricey — at least half were over the $20 Premium package limit. The cocktails we ordered were tasty as heck, though we’ve got no photographic evidence to indicate how pretty they were. Live jazz music gave way to a dancer running a full cabaret routine among the patrons — genuinely fun, and we went back later in the cruise.
When we were ready to leave, they escorted us out a different secret door that conveniently left us at the entrance of the Club. The timing was great, because we were able to snag seats in the Attic overlooking the performance space and dance floor, where we ordered a couple more cocktails.
254 West is a new show for Celebrity and is billed as a high-energy, interactive 1980s–themed club show, staged as the “closing night” party for the fictional 254 West club. Guests are invited, should they so choose, to jump in, dance, enjoy 80s music, and then keep the vibe going in a live “After Party.” The set list was amazing, and folks were dancing both downstairs and in the Attic.
The theater and Club shows had been new and top-notch all day — would the trend hold for our final two nights? We’d find out, but first, maybe one more protein snack at the Oceanview Cafe before bed. Tomorrow was our first and only port day: Cozumel, Mexico, and the seas were already getting choppy.
This post is part of our Celebrity Xcel 2025 preview cruise review series.