Mercury

My wife and I just got off the Mercury. If any one has any questions, feel free to post here and I will respond.

Hey Tom,

No specific questions but we'll be cruising on Mercury and it'll be our first time with her and also first time with Celebrity. How about writing a review for us? Was the ship in good shape? How was the service and food quality? What about the shows and entertainment? And most importantly, was there a Midnite Chocolate Buffet?? :D

PS: I have to admit, I peeked in at Krooz Cams and followed your cruise from port to port. I'm getting anxious!

Hi Rick,

I am not that great of a writer, but will try to give to give you a mini review of our trip.

1. Embarkation

Embarkation was a bit chaotic. We chose to arrive at the peir at about 2PM. It appeared that a majority of the guests arrived at the same time so there was a considerable backup of porters getting our bags. We had to stand in line for about 20 minutes with our luggage on the pier. After the porters took our luggage we were sent across the pier to a check in building. Checkin with Celebrity went smoothly and we on the ship within 25-30 minutes. I would recommend arriving earlier or later than mid afternoon. Checkin started at 1130AM. After we got on the ship, I noticed that there were no longer any lines to drop off luggage.

2. The Ship

The ship was in great shape for her age. It appeared to clean at all times. There were crew members constantly cleaning and maintaining the spaces.

3. Entertainment

The entertainment was good. There were the regular ships dancers and band. They performed a couple of shows. A table mate of ours on a previous cruise last year indicated that they were performing the same show that they did the year prior. There was a pianist,a comedian and a ventriliquist that were good to excellent.

4. Food

The food was plentiful and good to excellent. The casual dining, cafetria style for breakfast and lunch was always good. The service was excellent. The casual dining for dinner was good. The menu is different than the main dining room. The service was good. It appeared that the waiters who worked there were being groomed for the main dining room. They were a bit green, but still attentive.

The food in the main dining room was good to excellent. The cuts of beef were good. Veal a bit tough and fish was good most days. The service was good to excellent. Our servers didn't take the personal approach that I was used to on previous cruises. I do not recall a chocoholic cafe as there was on a Princess cruise that I was on previously. However the desserts each day had something chocolaty as I am a chocoholic myself.

All in all the cruise was great. My objective in cruising is total relaxation. My wife and i met our objective. I would have preferred to have another choice in dining in the evening, such as on Princess or NCL, but Celbrity did a nice job. This was a no kids cruise which was nice except that the average age of the guests was up there, My wife and I are in our late thirties and we were a definite minority. I imagine that most people do not want to leave their kids at home for that length. If you have any specific questions, feel free to ask.

We will be arriving next sunday. Board on Monday. How was you weather on the ports and do you have any advice for them? How was your room? Was the water temp warm enough to swim (80) or above? Thanks and thanks for the review.

I have seen a few negative reports about vibration in the dining room, and the stern in general. Any comments? :confused: john taylor

I have seen a few negative reports about vibration in the dining room, and the stern in general. Any comments? :confused: john taylor

My impression was that there was quite a severe vibration when the ship was moving in reverse and using the thrusters. The only time this was noticable was leaving the dock in San Francisco. On my 2 cruises on the Mercury I was very close to the stairs leading to the upper level of the dining room, once on the port side and the other starboard. I never had any problem with noise or vibration in the dining room.

I never noticed any more vibration in the dining room or the stern of the ship than on any other ship.

Reggie:D

We did the Adults cruise last year - and the age was similar - but we still had a good time. Who was the comedian - hopefully not "Noodles".

They did New Years nice - up on deck. Hopefully it was good for this year.

The adults only was nice, especially by the pool.

We did the Adults cruise last year - and the age was similar - but we still had a good time. Who was the comedian - hopefully not "Noodles".

 

Hi Denrpeck !

You didnt care for Noodles ? He was on one of my sailings, and I thought he was extremely funny. Or, is it that he is a regular on the west coast sailings ?

TomL......we never got an invite to the cruise critic party and we registered. ???? Did they have one?????? Would have been nice to put faces w/ my CC friends!!!!

This is our second time on Mercury and we just love her!!!! (first time was in the Caribb) Very clean.....bedspreads are showing wear, but all in all she was well maintained. Ran into some of the staff that was on the last time, which was fun. Our cabin steward was GREAT!!!!

We went a day early and stayed at Holiday Inn on the Bay (NOT BAYSIDE)...there are several different ones. It was very nice and DIRECTLY across from the port. Sunny day before sailing when we arrived...POURED on sailing day, but weather got nicer as we went south. First sea day was sunny but cool and once we got to Cabo and on down...it was sunny and very warm! Coming home on the last 2 sea days....it was cool, especially the 2nd one.

Embarkation was a disorganized MESS. They started boarding at 11AM and we walked over about that time, but people didnt have their luggage tagged...porters were hard to get, and the rain didnt make it any easier. After we got rid of the luggage, the rest was a breeze. We embarked on deck 5, I think, small area, and none of the officers or staff were there to greet us, as they usually are. No one to take you to your stateroom, like usual. One glass of champagne was given to each guest and that was it...no one was walking around w/ it as they usually do. Disembarking went very smoothly yesterday. We were off by 9:15 yesterday, luggage was organized, and off to the airport.

B/c of the winds and weather when we left, it was a bit rocky the first night, but was fine after that! Vibration is always felt in the DR when the thrusters are on...doesnt bother us.

Weather was GREAT......only excursion we did thru the ship was the whale watch in Cabo and it was GREAT!!!!!! Great guide, saw lots of whales, sea lions, the Los Arcos....well worth the $64PP and highly recommend. We hired taxi's at all other ports on our own w/ our friends and had GREAT tours -- paid approx $45 for the 4 of us each place (plus we gave a great tip) and got GREAT tours, Corona's, tequila, etc!!!!! LOLOL Favorite ports were Cabo for the whale watch, Ixtapa (wish we could have been there longer), and Puerta Vallarta.

Food was good......better than on Galaxy last Jan., I must say. Just sick of the very same menu's. We did alternative 4 nights and it was wonderful....very relaxing. Our waiter and asst were not the best and the Asst. M'd was not very accomodating in helping us to solve the problem. Our first night in the DR was a mess, and only 2 at our table of 8 showed up the following night. We all did alternative. Waiter did get a bit better.

Entertainment was OK.......we have seen quite a few of the acts before. The magician was GREAT, the ventroloquist was good, and the couple that do the dancing on the fabric are EXCELLENT(have seen them before).....and she just had a baby 3 months ago and was out performing. The pool band was terrible and if I heard "Build Me Up Buttercup" one more time....................!!!!!! Very same songs everyday at the pool and it wasnt like "cruise music". DJ Ken in the Navigator was very good.

No chocolate buffets.......also the "ribs", if that is what you call them at the country western buffet were horrible!!!!!! I wouldnt even call them ribs - dont know what they were!!!! They did have ribs at the fruit buffet and they were very good, as usual.

The old famous discussion about bringing liquor onboard.....they were NOT allowing it. One man tried to bring on beer and it was taken. However, the last night onboard, they were allowing you to buy and take it back to your room at the duty free shop.....whoopee!!! We did buy some liquor in San Diego and packed it in our carry on for in our room and took it on w/ us at embarkation.....no problem.

I'm w/ TomL....all in all it was a fun time, met lots of nice people and have more GREAT cruisin' memories!!!!

Great reviews. Thanks Tom and doree! We're looking foward to our cruise date on Mercury. Although we've done the Mexican Riviera before, this will be our first cruise with Celebrity so I've enjoyed hearing about your experiances. It's especially convenient for us as our cruise departs and returns to San Fransisco. Just an easy bus ride (provided) to the pier for us.

I guess I can live without a chocolate buffet..... maybe.

Doree

I would appreciate knowing where in San Diego did you buy your liquor. We always buy a couple of bottles.

is Christina still the social hostess ?, we have sailed twice with mercury, she was really great

:confused: :confused: :confused: Did you change to Local Time? :) john taylor

Re: the liquor....the guys asked at the hotel, and walked...us gals did not go....it was 2 blocks north and 2 blocks over.