Just off Mercury - our happy review!!

[Imagineer]

...we just arrived home last night, we got off the Mercury yesterday morning after a very enjoyable cruise that departed on August 16th. After reading so many varying opinions about the Mercury, I thought I'd provide my own insights while they are fresh in my mind...
...we really like the ship, she's a nice size, easy to get around on, and we thought the layout worked just fine. We like the decor, tastfully opulant is the way I'd describe her look, not glitzy with bright lights and pizzaz, but like a classy lady out on the town. With a number of mentions of how 'worn' she's getting, I cast a critical eye while walking around to get my own feel on the topic. I'd put it this way, and its the comment my wife made when I asked her about it, if you really want to search for something that looks as if its showing a bit of wear and tear, you can find it, but we didn't see anything that was glaringly evident. The only real things we could find that are showing a lot of evident wear are the wooden railings that are used throughout the ship, and this would stand to reason based on the many hundreds of thousands of hands they've had running over them. So I think you need to keep the 'worn out and tired looking' thing in perspective, each year now we've seen brand new ships being launched, each one bigger and glitzier than the previous one, the 'race' to be the biggest, newest and best just keeps on with seemingly no end in sight; with that fact in mind, any and all ships are going to soon lose their lustre after a relatively short time...
...however, where she shines, she does so with such incredible brilliance that you are truly dazzled, Mercury is just one very classy lady, and once you've experienced her you just want to come back again, read all the comments that say the same thing, now we know why. The crew is outstanding in all areas of service, from the bottom with the security staff at the tendering area right to the top with the waiters in the Navigator Club. We can't even begin to describe the service we experienced in the Manhatten Dining Room, impeccable, gracious, helpful, humourous, these people LOVE doing what they do and it really shows, and they are proud of their ship, and that also really shows. The food is simply marvelous, yes, you may experience something 'nicer' in another fine dining establishment, but this would be right up there close behind it. Everything was well presented, our waiter Gunawan and his assistant Orvin, along with Larry our Maitre'de, and our bar waiter were a delight to have serving us, and one of the reasons we looked forward to dinner, along with the fabulous food...
...but, and it seems there always has to be a 'but', we felt things could be a bit improved up in the Palm Springs Cafe. The selection is great, varied and plentiful, but there were a few times our food was just not hot enough, and other little things like the hash brown potatoes that were overcooked, dried out and simply in need of replacement. This area was also the only one where we noticed a bit of an indifferent attitude from crew members, even a bit more of a smile and a friendly greeting would go miles. After eating there for the better part of the week we tried out the dining room for breakfast and lunch and decided to stay with that as the staff there bend over beckwards to keep you happy. This was the only area we noticed anything other than truly great and genuinely friendly service...
...on our sailing the Cruise Directoe was Stewart, and he's great, its evident he enjoys his job and really likes people. The Naturalist on our cruise was Milos Radokovich, and his insightful presentations were always enjoyable and delivered with a really nice blend of shared knowledge and humor. The presentations in the Theatre are incredible, each night was an entirely unique offering of the highest calibre, they featured an acrobatic couple known as 'Duo Velikovi' who used to tour with Cirque d'Sole' and their performance was literally breathtaking, and I mean that. The other talent was equally as good, and the Celebrity Singers and Dancers also put on very colorful and action packed spectacle, the stage lighting and effects are also top notch, just as good as any I've seen on other stages...
...our room was fine, we were in cabin 8112 on the Panorama Deck and it was just as good as any cabin we've had before, there really isn't a lot of difference between any of the ships when it comes to a standard cabin other than having a veranda or not having one. For this trip we chose an ocean view over paying more for the veranda that we knew we wouldn't utilize on a trip to Alaska...
...we were on a family reunion cruise, so there was an age spread from 17 to 86, the older folks really didn't do much other than stroll around and watch a few of the shows, but the younger set wanted as much activity as they could find, so they were a bit put out that the pools and hot tubs all closed at 8pm.
This is about the only reservation I would have regarding Celebrity, I realize they're not aimed at this age group, so anyone planning a similar group cruise has to take that into consideration...
...we've been to Alaska before and were familiar with the ports of call, the only difference this trip being Hubbard Glacier. Unfortunately the tide and wind conditions when we arrived prevented the ship from getting any closer to the face of the glacier than around three miles, so we didn't really get a good exposure to Hubbard this time. All the other stops were as usual, with the all to familiar Diamonds International stores all flogging their all to familiar wares, this becomes rather tedious and annoying after experiencing it on each and every cruise you go on. We quickly bypassed these stores and sought out local merchants to find genuine made in Alaska items to bring back with us - it is quite irksome to pick up a souvenir of Alaska and read the all to common "MADE IN CHINA" sticker on the bottom, so make sure you're buying the real McCoy before you lay out your cash...
...the ship did host a Cruise Critic Connections party, a number of us met together and chatted, the ship provides a meeting area along with coffee and pastries, it was fun meeting a few of the other "critics". Embarkation and disembarkation were all as smooth as you can get, the only thing that occurred was my suitcase went missing when we boarded, I had to go down to security to retreive my suitcase as the X-rays showed some very suspicious items, turned out to be my son's mini tripod and my wife's curling iron, in the X-rays the combined image looked like a rather formadable weapon! It all worked out and after a thorough search of the bag to reveal its true contents, everyone had a good laugh...
...in conclusion, my wife and I were very pleased with our trip on the Mercury, we would certainly welcome another oportunity to travel with her and give the Mercury our highest recommendation...

cheers,

the Imagineer

[Frankie Sue]

Thank you so much for this updated rreview, especially after all the negative comments of late on the condition of the Mercury.

You are really helping me realize that the Mercury is a very worthwhile ship, with much to offer........... I am very impressed with what you have to say about the entertainement and as far as I am concerned, pool closing at 8:00 PM is just fine...........

Your review is being read with great interest.

Thanks again

[Mrs.Toaster]

Thanks for posting the great review! We were onboard with you, and I hope to get a review up soon. In short, we also loved the Mercury and her crew!

Sorry we missed the Connections party. We just really enjoyed sleeping in (a rare treat for us, with small children) on this trip!

[2Canucks]

Thanks so much for posting your Mercury review!

We are on the Mercury's Sept 6/09 Alaska cruise and can't wait to be back on her again!!

Great to hear that she is still the Grand Lady and the food/service etc is in fine form!

I'm counting down the sleeps before it's our turn to Enjoy the Mercury!!

Pat

[Lois R]

Thanks for sharing your experience with us and glad you had
such a good time..she is my favorite ship and I am sailing along
with 2Canucks on Sept 6th...Hi Pat

Larry was your Maitr'd? Dark hair? From the Phillipines?
I know him! Nice as they come

Oh, it will be so nice to sail her again

[cruisebunny32]

Thanks so much for the beautiful review! I am glad you enjoyed your cruise!

I was stopped once for my curling iron as well...they thought it was a knife.

[jcpc]

Thank you so much for posting your review. After reading it, I can't wait until November comes and I can sail her again. Sounds like you really enjoyed your cruise. Thanks again.

[Texed]

Thanks!

[Telluride]

Imagineer,

Thanks for the review. We sail on the Mercury Sept 13th. I am excited for our trip after reading your review. Just a few weeks to go!

Cheers,
Michelle

[c-legs]

Imagineer,
Tks for well presented ''critique'' of this sailing. Well done !!
I remember your concern about her '' mis-drawn'' and '' real '' routing....were you satisfied , having ''been there, done that'' , that she ( and her collegues out of Vancouver) , indeed sail north thru the Strait of Georgia, the Seymour Narrows, Johnstone strait, etc.etc...on the way North and South.
I've always found the last ''at sea'' day totally fabulous upon entering the area with Vancouver Island on your right and the Coastal range on your left....ties right up with what you see the first night out until it gets dark before the Narrows...

Did you ''raise a glass'' to Putterdude ??? ( lol....)
Cheers
Claude

[ABDance]

Imagineer:
We too were on that trip. It was our first cruise and we were thrilled to the extent that this afternoon (monday) we booked the same cruise (except two weeks later) for next year, we enjoyed it so much. She is a great ship with a fine crew. Our review has already been submitted, so it should show up soon.
We too missed the connections party.

[adbnva]

so, quick ?. id they have the new menus on the mercury? the one with escargot & french onion soup available every nite? we will be on the mercury 11/09/09 out of baltimore. did they have drink & wine packages available? tell us more. thanks ad

[hcat]

So are curling irons OK?--I always take my mini hair dryer (better than those on board) & have a new ceramic flat iron I plan to take--?????

We love Mercury--one of our most fav ships--still has a T pool! we'd love to have her sailing from NY --but will have Summit to Bermuda soon.


Glad you had a nice time & apprepciate your posting a Happy Review.

[Imagineer]

...several of you have asked a few questions, so I'll gladly give you some answers. Regarding curling irons, no specific problem, it was just the way it appeared on the X-ray machine, each piece of luggage goes through one of these prior to being delivered to your stateroom. The new menu's were not in use on our sailing, I inquired and was informed the new menu would be in place after the Alaska season was completed, but we certainly were not disappointed in the menu we had on our cruise. To c-legs, we were very satisfied, the ride through the inside passage portion of Vancouver Island is still one of my favorite portions of a trip to Alaska, the only other area that is equally as scenic is going through Grenville Channel, which is the route that cruises going to Kechikan as the first stop usually take, ships going to Sitka and Hubbard go up on the outside, which has very little in terms of scenery as you are too far from the coastline. One thing I didn't mention was the weather, I was actually very impressed how well Mercury handles relatively heavy seas, when we were crossing Queen Charlotte Sound on the trip back the Captain reported the seas as being over two meters, you could feel the ship moving, but I felt no discomfort and I am one who easily succumbs to motion sickness, heading north going out through Dixon Entrance over night was the roughest ride as we were at that point heading directly into Pacific swells coming in from the ocean, you want to make sure all the drawers and closet doors are in their secured positions or they'll roll in and out and the doors will bang around...
...if we were given the opportunity to cruise on her again, we easily spend more time on the Mercury...

cheers,

the Imagineer

[Shebinz]

Hi Imagineer

We were on the ship with you and met at the CC get together

I agree with you that the cruise was wonderful!
We loved it!
The itinerary, service and delicious food more than made up for the ship's age!

I wish we were still onboard!

Sheila

[ABDance]

<P>Here is thelink to the review that we posted on the members' reviews:</P>
<P><A href="http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=57420">http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=57420</A></P>
<P>&nbsp;</P>

[ABDance]

Here it is again, hopefully without the html codes:
http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberre...?EntryID=57420.

[Snorbert]

My wife and I were also on this cruise. We had a great time, Imagineer really summed up the whole experience perfectly. It was great meeting our fellow CC members at the connections gathering(Hi Sheila and hubby!).

On a side note I wanted to relay a story one our tablemates told us. He and his wife were from England. One day he was reviewing the daily and saw a film playing at the cinema in the afternoon. I think it was a sea day and he said he was bored. Anyway he walked into the cinema sat down and waited for the movie to start. Someone walked in and introduced himself and shook our tablemate's hand. This happens 3 or 4 more times. Our tabemate said he didn't know Americans were this friendly when going to the movies. One person strikes up a conversation with him and says "Boy they really push the booze on this ship everywhere you go they are trying to sell you a drink." Our tablemate responds "Yes, the last cruise I was on it was impossible to get a drink."

Finally someone heads to the front of the room and says "OK lets get this started, my name is X and I am an alcoholic." Other people also introduce themsleves. Our tablemate gets up and says "I am sory I am in the wrong place and leaves."

Our friend thought "Friends of Bill W." was a film.

[meow!]

Originally Posted by Imagineer

...we just arrived home last night, we got off the Mercury yesterday morning after a very enjoyable cruise that departed on August 16th.

We have also cruised the Inside Passage aboard the Mercury before, in 2000 and 2002. We also enjoyed our voyages and the nice little ports on the way besides the ship itself. We are glad that you like it too.

One little suggestion, perhaps you would like to put a blank line between paragraphs. Those of us with wide computer screens tend to "jump lines" as we read long continuous text!

[Shebinz]

It was so nice to meet you guys! Maybe one day we will catch up with you on another cruise!

Hope your trip home was a good one!

I miss the Mercury!

Best wishes,
Sheila