Galaxy Panama Review Part 1

It looks like this is going to be a novel, so I'll go ahead and post it as I write it. Here's part 1.

Galaxy, Panama Canal, March 10, 2005

Executive Summary

This was a great cruise. The service was outstanding, our stateroom (sky suite 1229) was wonderful, the food was good, the ship was in good shape for her age, the itinerary was perfect, and the weather was damn near perfect. The entertainment was mostly good, the activity staff was fun, the activities were numerous and fun, and there is no such thing as Jack Daniels Bourbon, not even in Canada. (more on this later)

Who Are We?

We are Lisa (46), Gary (53) and David (11) from the Texas Gulf Coast. This was our 5th cruise, and our 3rd on Celebrity. We have sailed Royal Caribbean once (fun and okay) and Carnival once (mostly fun but never again). In addition to cruising, we have been on about 20 tropical vacations, including several all-inclusives, private island resorts, crewed charter sailing, villa rentals, Club Meds, and just plain hotels.

Embarkation

Embarkation was easy and fast. We pulled out of our driveway at 10:20 am and boarded Galaxy at 12:20 pm. That’s not bad, considering it’s an hour and 15 minute drive from our house to Galveston.

We parked at EZ Cruise parking. I booked ahead, so we got the $5 discount. Parking was $60 for 11 days. Service was excellent and the shuttle arrived immediately, taking all of 3 of us, along with our 10 bags, directly to the ship. We shared the shuttle with 2 women, one of whom was on her 109th cruise.

At the pier, there was also very little waiting. We walked straight up to the suite check in, but there were non-suite check in lines with no waiting also. Of our 10 bags, 5 were carryons. One of our carryons was a small rolling suit case that contained 12 bottles of wine – 9 red, 1 white, and 2 half bottles of champagne. No one even blinked an eye at the X-ray machine.

Upon boarding the ship, we were handed a glass of sparkling white wine, and were told to proceed to Deck 11 to the Oasis café for lunch, since our rooms were not ready. Once we got on the elevator, we pressed Deck 12, so we could drop our carryons. A fellow passenger warned us not to go to 12. We assured her we were just dropping our bags, but she seemed very unhappy with our flagrant violation of the rules. Risking bad karma, we flagrantly violated this particular rule by dropping our bags in 1229 and walking down to the Oasis for lunch.

The Ship

For the most part, the ship is gorgeous and well kept. Our first cruise was on Mercury during her first season, and Mercury remains my favorite. Galaxy doesn’t look like a brand new ship, but she looks like she’s been on a steady diet of antioxidants and botox. The public rooms are nicely decorated and well kept. There is some interesting art around the ship. Although, some of the art is a little tired and some is even damaged – no doubt by marauding children.

All of the hot tubs were working. The fountains in the Oasis Pool and the main foyer don’t work and haven’t in ages as far as I can tell. (This probably takes a major facelift, as botox and vitamins can only help so much.)

The hallways, stairways and elevators were clean and well maintained. Kid’s hand prints were regularly cleaned off of the glass doors. All of the carpets, that I took the time to look at, looked new – with the exception of the one in our room.

The one area of the ship that I thought could be cleaner was the Oasis Café. This could be because I was never there first thing in the morning. By the time I got there, a thousand passengers had already eaten there. The chairs, the floors under the tables and the partitions all needed a good scrubbing.

Coming up next - The Cabin

Thanks, Lisa, for the first chapter!

My first Celebrity cruise was on Galaxy, in a sky suite, and that balcony cannot be beat! That's why I was so concerned about the reports of poor maintenance. Thanks for your early comments in fireguy's post re that.

Will be looking for the next chapter, especially The Cabin!!!!

Welcome home!

Pincus

Hi Lisa, I'm glad you enjoyed the whole trip. I also enjoyed it but that comes with a caveat. My wife just tolerated it,lol. She is not one to lay around and hated the sea days. When wife isn't having fun it's hard for me to,lol although she didn't put pressure on me I knew she wasn't happy laying around the room. I should have know better. My next cruise will be port intensive. We love the southern route as you are at port every day. Usually only one sea day. But people know going into this cruise how many sea days there are so this aspect of the cruise shouldn't be an issue. it just is for me, never again,lol By the way, how did you like that nightmare getting off the ship. X should have done more to place the blame where it belonged. They are going to get a bad rap for that one.:(

Your Review Was Right On. We Were On This Cruise. We Had Sky Suite 1203. The Reason I Am Replying Is That We Have Booked 1229 On The Mecury For Next April. Was The Balcony Huge. I Noticed There Was A Small Cut-out On The Right Hand Corner. Hope Your Butler Was As Good As Ours (vasant) He Was Great.

Happy Sails To You

Barb

Your Review Was Right On. We Were On This Cruise. We Had Sky Suite 1203. The Reason I Am Replying Is That We Have Booked 1229 On The Mecury For Next April. Was The Balcony Huge. I Noticed There Was A Small Cut-out On The Right Hand Corner. Hope Your Butler Was As Good As Ours (vasant) He Was Great.

Happy Sails To You

Barb

Hi Barb, we have a hold on 1203 later this year, so it is good to hear that you agree with Lisa's assessment of the cabin. My husband has a bad back, so the mattress is always a consideration/problem.

And, we have had balconies (1228) with the cutouts...no problem, in fact, they provide a "different" view from the rectangle of 1203....not a better or poorer view, just different.

You will enjoy!

Pincus

Lisa, I hope you don't mind but I thought I'd add a few of my thoughts to you thread.

1. I thought the coffee was great wish starbucks ws as good,lol

2. I used my carry on to put wine and vodka in and had no problem what so ever.12 assorted bottles of wine and a 750 ml vodka and a 750ml bourbon. As did my friend who was right behind me so they obviously weren't concerened.

3. I did ask about buying on the ship and taking it back to my room. Was told no way. I even tried just for kicks asking diff people in the liquor store at diff times of the day with diff excuses and still was told ,no way. I'm sure you could smuggle stuff back on in water bottles if its really that important once you leave Galvy

Thanks for the comments everyone.

Barb, 1229 on Galaxy didn't have any cutouts at all. It's a full rectangle.

Fireguy, sorry about all those sea days! And whose fault was that disembarkation mess? I heard a rumor in line that immigration only sent 2 guys instead of 6.

Now I off to write the next part of my review.

Lisa my point about getting off the ship was,that it was imigrations fault. X should have made that clear to everyone, but how can you do that and not piss off the customs people. Alot off people were blaming X and it wasn't there fault.

I got some good advice from one of the assistant cruise directors at 8am. He said go eat breakfast and don't come back till you are called. It turns out we got off the ship EARLIER than expected and only stood in line for 5 minutes at immigration. We left on the same parking lot bus with Lisa and her family. At least we weren't trying to fight our way to the airport to catch a flight out.

Rad, that was good advise and worked well for people who weren't worried about getting off to catch a plane. We made it to Bush with time to spare but X could have done more to ease our anxiety. The lines that when up and down stairs and the length of the ship didn't do much for one's nerves. We spent 1 hr 45 mins waiting for 30 secs of there time.

Lisa, Thanks for Part 1. Our Galaxy Crise is up next so your review is perfect timing for us.

Roy

My Mother Slept On The Pull Out Sofa. She Has A Bad Back Also. After The Second Day We Asked The Room Steward If He Could Put A Board Under The Mattress And He Did. It Made All The Difference In The World. Have A Great Cruise

Barb

Your Review Was Right On. We Were On This Cruise. We Had Sky Suite 1203. The Reason I Am Replying Is That We Have Booked 1229 On The Mecury For Next April. Was The Balcony Huge. I Noticed There Was A Small Cut-out On The Right Hand Corner. Hope Your Butler Was As Good As Ours (vasant) He Was Great.

Happy Sails To You

Barb

I'd love to hear more about your suite, since I am booked in it for a trip to Panama next year!

There has been a lot of conversation between Celebrity, me, my TA, and her Celebrity rep regarding the amenities in the sky suites. I have been told two things:

1. Sky Suites have ALL amenities of all the lower classes, PLUS butler service and more square footage (info given by FOUR Celeb customer service reps, my TA, and the Celebrity booking rep for TA's)

and the conflicting view...

2. The Sky Suites have "different" amenities -- and do NOTinclude pillow menu, fresh flowers, duvets, pillow top mattresses, and a few other minor things. (info given to me by Celebrity email rep, and 1 Celeb customer service rep)

SO! Since you have actually been in sky suite 1203, can you give me an account of what you actually had in your suite?

Thanks!

JLDMED, My wife and I were in Galaxy suite 1203 this past October.

Its a GREAT suite in a wonderful location. Just steps from the Oasis and the pools. The Veranda is wonderful too.:D

Regarding amenities please take this advise. Regardless of what you read or hear, if you want something JUST ASK. Your butler will get what ever you ask for. More pillows no problemo. As for flowers, we never had this be an issue because I pre-order 1 dozen red roses for my wife for every cruise. She deserves it for putting up with me.

If you want something and you don't ask then shame on you.:eek:

I have lots of pics of 1203 if your interested.:D

Roy

I'd love to see your pictures of 1203! Thanks for writing back. Just let me know how I can view them.

Hi ,

Ship Shape Sean here.. were on the July 15-25 Europpean sailing on Galaxy.

I enjoyed reading your comments- as I have a group of 40 plus going on the ship -and am concerned on how the ship is faring these days..

Would love it if you would throw some comments on the ships quality - on our site - just to reassure everyone that it will be a great sailing..

our site is "are you on board with us - july 15-25. My partner and I were on the ship years back when it was only 2 years old .. and of course then, it was just beautiful. So I am sure it has it's wears and tares..by now.

Loved the comment on the botox and antioxidents.. that was great!!

Join our site and let everyone know you just returned.

Thanks again.

Ship Shape Sean~!:)

Just thought I'd add my 2 cents also. My husband loved the cruise & I also thought there were too many sea days for my taste. I am not a lover of bingo or some of the other activities they have on board & just sitting around the pool became very tedious for me. DH loved it especially with a bucket of Coronas to keep him happy.

Our only regret was that we couldn't decide what to do in Panama & were too late to sign up for anything once we finally decided! Next time we would choose the Embera indian culture trip. When we finally docked, we met them at the vender area & talked with a Peace Corps volunteer who was with them. Bought most of our items from them instead of the other venders.

Oscar Brown's tour in Costa Rica was the best! We were on the same one that Lisa took & will probably describe later.

We decided to stay in a b&b in Galveston which had free parking & that worked out great. Grace Manor was wonderful & had a big breakfast included.

All in all, a great trip.