Currently on Infinity - Mixed Bag

Just a quick note from our cruise on Infinity. After many cruises with X, we decided to upgrade from our usual Aqua Class room to a Celebrity Suite. The cruise has been lovely, so far, highlighted by the fantastic meals and service we've had in Luminae. Every meal has been amazing, elevated by the terrific service we've gotten by the staff; especially Chitra and Lazar. By the end of our first meal, they were calling us by name and having our preferred drinks ready. I can't say enough about how great the Luminae experience has been. Totally worth the price of the suite!

While we enjoy the space in our suite (9096), we are a little disappointed by some of the maintenance items. There is a strong smell of mildew in the bathroom that we can't get rid of. We have sprayed everything down with Lysol, but the smell persists. The bathroom is a bit worn (grout in the shower, chipped tub, thick black gunk caked on the floor behind the door). Some things have been taped together in the bathroom, instead of repaired. The huge balcony is amazing, as is the closed-in bedroom (allowing great sleep with these short Alaska nights). Just a note to people booked in this room that the deck above creates a lot of noise.

The ship overall is lovely as usual. We last sailed Infinity around South America in 2013. A good majority of the ship are Asians, many of whom refuse to use the hand sanitizer when offered by crew. I'm not sure if it's a cultural thing, but the crew just lets them walk on by without any argument. I'm wiping everything down that I touch, just to be on the safe side. Some of the guests onboard are a little "rustic" - gym shorts , tank tops in the evening at the Martini Bar and loud "F bombs".

We still like Celebrity, but we have said several times on this trip that we miss Azamara. We think Azamara will be our preferred cruise line moving forward, once they've gotten the renovations on those ships done next year. We are in our 30s and find that Azamara's older, stately environment is suiting us better than "Modern Luxury".

Michael & Omar

Chittra and Lazar (Djokovic's brother :) ) are lovely

We were on the previous cruise and yes, there were maintenance issues in our Royal Suite, but all were resolved or in the cases of the patch repairs, things like that don't stress me. Likewise, the man at the martini bar in his bathrobe etc. the beauty of Alaska and the delights of Luminae and Michaels far outweighed the small glitches. We too love Azamara but have now come to the view that in some destinations Celebrity are now right back on the agenda.

PS although we had some Asians they were not in the majority

I had the opposite issue with hand wash I cannot use for medical reasons but even when we were just walking through the buffet to reach the aft elevator every time I was pursued by a guy shouting "washy washy" and trying to spray me. OK he was doing his job but the difference is on Azamara the assistant would have remembered me by day 2

Chittra and Lazar (Djokovic's brother :) ) are lovely

We were on the previous cruise and yes, there were maintenance issues in our Royal Suite, but all were resolved or in the cases of the patch repairs, things like that don't stress me. Likewise, the man at the martini bar in his bathrobe etc. the beauty of Alaska and the delights of Luminae and Michaels far outweighed the small glitches. We too love Azamara but have now come to the view that in some destinations Celebrity are now right back on the agenda.

 

PS although we had some Asians they were not in the majority

 

I had the opposite issue with hand wash I cannot use for medical reasons but even when we were just walking through the buffet to reach the aft elevator every time I was pursued by a guy shouting "washy washy" and trying to spray me. OK he was doing his job but the difference is on Azamara the assistant would have remembered me by day 2

Yes! Washy washy guy has been out in full force:)

Celebrity has always been quick to resolve issues for us, as well. But I don't expect a room to have issues when we're paying over $15k.

Luminae continues its excellent streak. We will get suites from now on just for this amazing experience.

We are in Juneau today and booked the dog sledding tour. We were informed on the pier that it had been cancelled due to weather, so the shore excursion guy told us that we could do the later tour. We showed up at the appointed time for the later tour and then he told us sorry and that he had made a mistake and the tour was oversold. Oh well. Back in the Solarium now reading my book - which is not the worst way to spend a day :)

Michael & Omar

Thanks for the live updates.

We were on the May 15-26 (round trip SF) sailing and "washy washy" guy was in full force on that cruise, too! We were code red for the majority of that sailing, but by the end of the voyage all was well. It's unfortunate you've noticed a lot of people ignoring the sanitizing solution given the bad rap Infinity has suffered with Noro this year.

I assume the large Asian community aboard is due to the fact Infinity is now sailing round trip Vancouver.

Glad to read of continuing glowing reports of food/service in Luminae. I'm sure Celebrity has hand-picked their finest staff to this venue, which is understandable. It's time for us to keep our eyes pealed for a good category W suite guarantee 'happy hour' sale so that we, too, can enjoy the suite life and Luminae!

We will be on Infinity Aug 2nd for the same cruise you are on now and hoping for good weather although the later in Alaska tends to be rainy. We are salmon fishing in Ketchikan and taking the Sawyer Glacier tour(booked away from the cruise line due to cost). High seas would stop our tours but rain would not.

We chose a standard balcony guarantee and are assigned to deck 9 forward and not out to much $$ if it turns out the room has issues. $1,099 each for a balcony and I jumped on it! Can't wait to see Hubbard Glacier!

Hope your having a lot of fun and post a review when you return!

Thanks for all of the updates on Infinity. Looking forward to our Pacific Coastal cruise onboard her! :cool:

Thanks for the live updates.

 

We were on the May 15-26 (round trip SF) sailing and "washy washy" guy was in full force on that cruise, too! We were code red for the majority of that sailing, but by the end of the voyage all was well. It's unfortunate you've noticed a lot of people ignoring the sanitizing solution given the bad rap Infinity has suffered with Noro this year.

 

I assume the large Asian community aboard is due to the fact Infinity is now sailing round trip Vancouver.

 

Glad to read of continuing glowing reports of food/service in Luminae. I'm sure Celebrity has hand-picked their finest staff to this venue, which is understandable. It's time for us to keep our eyes pealed for a good category W suite guarantee 'happy hour' sale so that we, too, can enjoy the suite life and Luminae!

The suite is so worth it now! Hopefully you'll get to try it out. We weren't interested in paying for anything more than Aqua Class before, but now we have switched all our upcoming reservations to suites just because of Luminae. It's the best move Celebrity has made in a long time.

Michael & Omar

Just off Infinity this morning. This was our first 7-day cruise in years and we keep kicking ourselves that we booked one this short. Never again. We were just starting to get comfortable onboard!

The ship is just as lovely as we remember from 2013. We still prefer Solstice Class, but M Class is still a great class of ship, and we are more itinerary-driven than ship-driven. Overall, we really enjoyed ourselves. I can't speak highly enough about Luminae. Our CS was so roomy, but like mentioned before, it needs some loving care. The staff was overall lovely, with officers very visible around the ship. We do think that they need to improve security who scream at old ladies during boarding. It's very different from Azamara's "welcome home" vibe from the security folks. We enjoyed some great treatments in the spa and spent lots of time in the Solarium. Icy Straight was lovely to walk around - especially with all the eagles we saw. And we had a great zipline excursion in Ketchikan - something I never thought I would want to do, but it was so fun. We've been to Alaska quite a few times and are always searching for something new.

Our biggest quibble was the situation in which our morning tour was cancelled and shore ex staff moved us onto the afternoon tour - only to be told when we showed up for it that they had made a mistake and overbooked it. Just a "Sorry, hope you still enjoy your afternoon in Juneau". So we wandered the town for 30 minutes and then went back on the ship as it was too late in the day to arrange another tour. That night we went to the shore ex office to make sure they refunded our $1500 for the tour and we saw the staff member who overbooked us peeking around the corner and hiding from us. We were so easy-going about the whole thing. The least he could have done was come out and apologize again. My entire career has been hospitality and I have dealt with hundreds of upset guests. An apology note and a bottle of wine goes a long way to show that you care. Apparently the shore ex staff are trained to sell tours, but are not given skills to face guests and resolve issues. Fortunately, the rest of Celebrity's staff excel in this area.

We can't wait to be back onboard for our October cruise out of Sydney! And, honestly, ready to sail warm waters again :)

Michael & Omar

Just off Infinity this morning. This was our first 7-day cruise in years and we keep kicking ourselves that we booked one this short. Never again. We were just starting to get comfortable onboard!

 

The ship is just as lovely as we remember from 2013. We still prefer Solstice Class, but M Class is still a great class of ship, and we are more itinerary-driven than ship-driven. Overall, we really enjoyed ourselves. I can't speak highly enough about Luminae. Our CS was so roomy, but like mentioned before, it needs some loving care. The staff was overall lovely, with officers very visible around the ship. We do think that they need to improve security who scream at old ladies during boarding. It's very different from Azamara's "welcome home" vibe from the security folks. We enjoyed some great treatments in the spa and spent lots of time in the Solarium. Icy Straight was lovely to walk around - especially with all the eagles we saw. And we had a great zipline excursion in Ketchikan - something I never thought I would want to do, but it was so fun. We've been to Alaska quite a few times and are always searching for something new.

 

Our biggest quibble was the situation in which our morning tour was cancelled and shore ex staff moved us onto the afternoon tour - only to be told when we showed up for it that they had made a mistake and overbooked it. Just a "Sorry, hope you still enjoy your afternoon in Juneau". So we wandered the town for 30 minutes and then went back on the ship as it was too late in the day to arrange another tour. That night we went to the shore ex office to make sure they refunded our $1500 for the tour and we saw the staff member who overbooked us peeking around the corner and hiding from us. We were so easy-going about the whole thing. The least he could have done was come out and apologize again. My entire career has been hospitality and I have dealt with hundreds of upset guests. An apology note and a bottle of wine goes a long way to show that you care. Apparently the shore ex staff are trained to sell tours, but are not given skills to face guests and resolve issues. Fortunately, the rest of Celebrity's staff excel in this area.

 

We can't wait to be back onboard for our October cruise out of Sydney! And, honestly, ready to sail warm waters again :)

 

Michael & Omar

On all of our Celebrity cruises we have been most disappointed in the Shorex staff, for a variety of reasons.