Amazing Alaskan Adventure on Celebrity Mercury (a little long!)

[travelgyalrox2]

Amazing Alaskan AdventureBackground Information So we're a family of 6: mom, dad, three girls aged 18, 15 and 11 and one boy aged 4. Its the first cruise with the youngest being able to go in the kids club which was frankly GREAT, for everyone. Travel To Port of Embarkation
We had to travel pretty far because we're from the Caribbean. We took american airlines to San Juan, then Los Angeles then to Vancouver. It took a WHOLE DAY but I like travelling =) and American airports are really quite impressive, what with the architecture and the seating and the art and the shopping and the restaurants, so we were never bored (well, not often). I guess this would sound pretty funny to everyone, but I dont mind. Where I come from, the airport has only one gate, which is actually pretty funny.
Hotel Info (please skip this if you dont want to know about the Ramada)
Well, we stayed in the Ramada for about four days. Ours was not in a particularly tasteful part of downtown Vancouver, but I'd prefer not to elaborate. All I'll say is that once we walked around the city and left that area, we discovered that Vancouver is actually a beautiful place. We love it! Congrats to all the Vancouverites out there. But back to the Ramada. Really, this hotel is a mixed bag. I cant put it any better than my sister who says, it pretends to be fancy. The lobby is the first thing you see, and nothing wrong there really. Tasteful from afar, but a little shabby upon inspection, although still comfortable. But the staff are quite friendly and efficient, and there is a computer hooked up to the internet for all to use, which was convenient, and a water fountain with plastic cups, also convenient. The rooms however have sticky carpets and smell of stale cigarette smoke (even though its a non smoking room) although they too "pretend to be fancy". There is a rich colour scheme, the beds looks very luxurious (and are thankfully comfortable), there are two TVs and one cupboard. The food available here was in the adjoining irish pub. We only ever had breakfast here, which was very good and reasonably priced. You cant really eat anywhere else nearby though, all the other establishments look too seedy.
I guess the general idea is, if u can very easily afford better than the Ramada, i would advise it. There were other hotels close to the harbour which were not exceedingly pricy, but better in a subtle way that makes a big difference. If you are like us, and need more than one room or a suite to accommodate your large family, I would save the money and stay at Ramada, becuase you arent there too long anyway, and its good enough.

SO finally we're talking about the cruise! Yayyy! well fellow cruise-critics, this was a suprise cruise for me so i did absolutely NO research or planning. When I did find out in Vancouver, I resisted the pull to come straight to this site to read some reviews or look at pictures before departure day, because I wanted to see what it would be like to just step onto a ship and know absolutely nothing about it. Perhaps this is because I overdid it two years ago when we were going on the Mariner of the Seas. I am pleased with what I did, everything was new to me, and I like suprises.
Staterooms
As soon a we got onboard (at around 12) we went to put our luggage in the stateroom. We had two, kids in one, parents in the other. I will admit that I was not blown away by the room or the corridor, but I put it down to being an old ship. That's why the corridors are a bit narrower than usual, and the ceilings a bit lower. The stateroom was a good size once we got everything unpacked and neat. There was PLENTY unpacking space. Like, A LOT. Which was very great. There are two cupboard with hanging space, shelves, drawers, and then the desk has more drawers and so do the bedside tables, and then there are shelves above the TV and behind the mirror, even in the bathroom! I hope the way I'm describing this does not make the room seem full and cluttered, because it is quite the opposite. Very streamlined, how much space we had actually kept amazing me.
The beds are REALLY comfortable. I kind of like it that there arent those big duvets that just take up space at turndown. The attendant would take the top bunk beds down for us at night, and make them and put them up again in the morning. This is smart, because it gives you more space during the day. The top bunk beds are comfortable too, with their own reading lights. The room really is very dark ofcourse, being a stateroom, but at night theres a little nightlight by the mirror.
The TV played some good movies, we didnt pay to see any though.
The room was a nice oasis sometimes, to just lie down, read, watch some Tv, order some room service in the A/C. What we usually ordered was cookies and milk
Our stateroom attendant was pleasant. He and the cleaner did an excellent job twice a day, the room was constantly spic and span. The bathroom being small, i was scared it would become very wet and dirty, but they gave it a thorough cleaning teice a day, so it was always dry and spotless.
The shower is nice: good pressure + hot water = lovely
What else to say about the stateroom? Oh...you wont want to get up up in the morning, or maybe thats just me...hehe. The bed is wayyyy too cozy, but then you really dont want to waste your glorious day of the cruise...its a tough battle!! But once you get out of bed, you're fine.
And one last thing, the chocolates you get every night are sooooooo yummy.I dont know y this was so suprising, but they were just delicious. Compared to Royal Caribbean, they are also large.
Ship Info
Ship Info?? Well I dont know quite what they mean. I do know that the ship is very exciting, as well as (was there ever any doubt?) beautiful. The pool deck is expansive. There are two pools out there, although rather freezing, I guess it is an Alaskan cruise afterall. But then there are all of 4 hot tubs which we definitely enjoyed. They were never too crowded. The pool deck has loads of soft lounge chairs, and blankets and towels for everyone. On Sea days, or in the evening, it could be rather chilly, and thats when it would be nice to lie on a lounge chair and curl up with a blanket and read or chat. Sometimes it was TOO windy and chilly and it was a terror to go outside when inside was so warm and cozy!! Suprisingly though, the majority of the time it was very warm and sunny, especially when we were docked in port. Thats when we tanned and basked in the sunlight after jumping in the freezing pool, just for fun.
There is always an inside pool, heated and altogether a lot more practical, and the reason we barely used it is a little embarassing....we could never find it!! I confess to another reason though, its a little dark and enclosed there, I prefer the brightness and the freedom of the open deck.
There are so many lounges, almost too many, but I said almost. Like this, there was ALWAYS space for a family to sit and play cards, a couple to have a quiet drink, a girl to curl up by a window and read a book in peace. The lounges are of course all very stylish and comfortable. The place I found people liked most was the cova cafe. It is very elegant there, with couches and chairs and tables, and you could order a specialty warm drink, which i saw many do while reading, chatting or with their laptops open in front of them. Others simply treated it as a regular lounge, but ofcourse enjoyed the free pastries which they kept under glass for anyone to serve themselves. They were sweet and savoury and EXTREMELY delicious. The only place I've eaten better pastries is in France, and I'm not kidding.
There's also the sport deck, where we had fun playing basket ball and ping pong. This was never too crowded either. There are two courts and about 4 ping pong tables.
There is a cinema which plays a good movie, though not recently released, everyday.
There's a sweet library in which i spent half an hour one day.
The theatre is so beautiful.
There are loads of shops which are fun to browse through.
There is almost ALWAYS live music in the somewhere, sometimes just instrumental, always very good. I thought this very...I cant place the word, but I did love it. There really is something for everyone.
Dining
Can I be very very honest? The food was not great. I'm not saying it wasnt good! I'm not even saying I didnt have a few excellent meals, I'm just saying, it wasnt very impressive. It was good though. The dining room was beautiful and everything was nicely presented. The buffet in the Palm Springs CAfe had a lot of variety, even sushi and stir fry in the evenings, and afternoon tea. There was also an icecream parlour in here, which I thought so neat! Yummy too. There's a 'Pasta and Pizza' station which we frequented for some great pizza. On the pool deck, there's a grill with GREAT hamburgers and fries no kidding. Here, you could always get nachos and cookies if you were peckish. The desserts were all very good, especially the cheesecake.
Activities We did scrapbooking, which was quite popular and very fun! much better than royal caribbean. We also went to a pictonary and a trivia, o yes, and Bingo. The activities listed on the schedule seem to attract only adults, I guess kids are in the clubs, but we still had fun. Being 18, I couldnt go to the teen club (missed it by a few months, sad i know)
- Children's Clubs
loved by the 4 yr old, enjoyed by the 11 yr old. She said it wasnt as good as Royal Caribbean, but it still kept her coming back. Teen club was not rated very highly by the 15 yr old. It seemed the cruise really just wanted to give the teens the opportunity to hang out together, which suited most just fine, but my sister would have preferred some more fun activites, a little more involvement of the counsellors, etc. I think the 12-14 was more like this, I saw them out on things like scavenger hunts a lot.
Service
great!
Entertainment
I looooooooved the celebrity singers and dancers. They put on spectacular shows, way more enjoyable than Royal. But maybe I liked the gues entertainers the best. I think Celebrity does a good job choosing and finding great artistes, like Adam Trent a magician, the Duo Velikovi, contortionist/gymnasts and Don Gavin, a funny comedian. I definitely looked forward to the shows at night. The 60s dance in the Navigator begins with the singers and dancers putting on an interactive show. DONT MISS!
Port & Shore Excursions
Getting off the ship is good. I think even if you dont have an excursion you should get off and explore the Port at least for a while. I know we had fun. In Sitka, you have to take the little boat to shore, then we walked around town trying to find the russian dancers, when we found them, we couldnt buy tickets becuase they didnt take visa cards. A shame, but we looked at the crafts and bought some indian art. The Hubbard Glacier, you dont get off, you see it from the ship, and words cant decribe its beauty. In Juneau we went dog sledding. We had to take a helicopter onto the glacier, and this was a spectacular experience. We then went for lunch then returned to look around and do some shopping and buy some very yummy kettlecorn. We went to the lumberjack show in Ketchikan, then walked around town, did some shopping. When I say shopping, I mean trinkets and souvenirs, which is always fun.
Disembarkation
The funny thing about this cruise was that they pretended the last day was the day BEFORE the last day. That night before the sea day, we had a gala formal night in the dining room, then a great show in the theatre, and all the goodbyes. Strangely, this is a wonderful idea! I dont know quite how to explain it, but it leaves you feeling like you have even MORE time because you have TWO more nights not one, and an entire sea day to relax the next day. The next night, it was all just happy happy, no thinking about leavin cuz ud done that already...except u really hadnt...do u get what i mean? I guess its a little confusing but what I'm getting at is that disembarking is not nearly as miserable a time as I have seen on other ships. The morning you can wake up what ever time you want depending on your plans for the day, that involves flights or whatever else, you eat the same great breakfast you usually do, you go to the place you're told to meet at depending what time you chose, the activities staff tells you bye bye! we loved having you! you applaud and u walk off the ship. On Royal Caribbean (and I know I sound like I'm bashing RC, which was not my intention) the ship becomes like an airport on the last morning! People look sad and half asleep slumped on the floor all over the place, all along the corridors, in the theatre, with their bags against them looking like seious hobos. NONE of this on Celebrity. Professional, elegant, comfortable to the end. No long waits to make you grumpy, which is I suppose the only difference, but it is a big one!!
Summary SUMMARY!!! I loved my time on the Celebrity Mercury and I WOULD recommend it. Everyone had a great time!

[travelgyalrox2]

please give ur opinions of my review!

[AJD]

Great review, thank you, we are on the Mercury in January so your positive report is very welcome.

[Karynanne]

Great review. I've always enjoyed sailing on Mercury. It's a lovely ship.

[Texed]

Thanks for the review.

[djquog]

What a lovely review. It was so nice to read your positive statements about your trip. Even though all wasn't perfect on your vacation you obviously had a wonderful time.

[TeaBag]

Great review. We spent 30 days on the Mercury nearly 2 years ago and I'm still working on my scrapbook of that trip. I'm glad the crummy Ramada didn't give you a bad impression of our lovely city.

[Lois R]

Glad you had such a good timeI sail her again next month
and cannot wait

[jakzak]

Excellent Review. Thanks for taking the time to post one!

[thepeacha]

I always enjoy the long reviews, thanks for telling your opinions- sounds like you had a lovely time.

As a fellow islander, I do so understand about the airports, lol.

[Shebinz]

Thank you for the info!
We board the Mercury on Sunday!

Sheila

[hwygal]

Hi Travelgyalrox2

It was great to read about your trip on the Mercury. We sail her on Sunday and are very excited.

It was fun to read about your positive experience especially when there's so much negative stuff posted about the Mercury.

We are excited and ready to sail!

[mmmwaw]

WE board Sunday as well. I have sailed her twice before and I LOVE the Mercury.

[CoasterBill]

Thank you so much for taking the time to write all this out! It was fun reading. I have been on Mercury before and loved the ship. We are going again in January with friends and one of them is 24. I sent him a link to this as I think he may be a little fearful of Celebrity. His only cruise was on RCI. This will help him see how great Celebrity is as well. Just in a different way. Thanks again!

[Watery Dan]

Very good review. Appears you really enjoyed your cruise. Did you take any pictures that you care to post?

[travelgyalrox2]

thanks for readin everyone! sure i can post sum pix...

[CoasterBill]

That would be great, I would love to see what you took!