Celebrity Infinity Review-February 18 2018 Antarctica and SA

Celebrity Infinity-Antarctica and SA February 18, 2018

I’ll preface this review with the caveat that although I’m aseasoned cruiser with about 30 cruises under my belt, this was the mostspectacular I’ve ever done. Done the Baltics, Alaska, Asia, Australia and NZ,Europe, Hawaii, and nothing prepared mefor the grandeur of Antarctica.

Something about the natural elements , the landscapes, thewildlife, the simpler elements of our earth on this cruise make it truly a oncein a lifetime voyage

if you ever get the opportunity to visit Antarctica, JUST DOIT. Celebrity only do 2 or 3 Antarctic voyages a year because of weather, theother 6-9 months a year its -20 to -80 degrees out with 3 hours of sunshine, sonot real user friendly to tourists. A few other lines and smaller craft makethe voyage as well, but it’s a very limited number, and with good reason

I was really proud to learn what they do to keep Antarcticaintact in terms of who/what/where/when is allowed, and the prohibitions thatare made to keep it that way. Read aboutwhat’s allowed and what isn’t here. https://iaato.org/home Odds are we are human,so eventually we’’ll probably muck up Antarctica over its minerals, water orsomething else. See it why you can in all its bold, brawny, frosty fury, itsjust plain gorgeous.

Sadly though, you DO NOT get a stamp in your passport thatsays you entered or exited Antarctica….darn it.

We started our voyage at the Four Seasons in Buenos Aries. I’vestayed at 5* hotel before but this one beat out others in the class in myopinion, Attention to detail and smiling faces is built into the staff here. Imever met a staff more engaged, anxious to help, and genuinely happy to helpwith any guests needs. They also had the most magnificent breakfast buffet youcould ever dream of. Luckily I shopped around and found a deal for less than$200/night. Great deal, exceptional hotel.

Big Takeaways forthis vacation (Some very specific because of destination and ports)

1. Use the Celebrity excursions, and book them BEFOREboarding and get to the Celebrity theater early to get on yours. My friend got to a theater for a 915departure tour and by 910 the tour was already gone. He ran to the pier, butship was already full and was told tour was oversold by a seat. Many othertours were sold out well before boarding. Luckily the concierge Javier, wastelling people at arrivals to sign up for tours immediately after boarding,this really helped a friend of mine, who hadn’t pre booked.

2. Don’t wear expensive jewelry or watches while sightseeingin Buenos Aries, keep cash and expensive cameras out of sight as much aspossible. Quite the band of pickpockets both walking and on motorcyles, andthey work as a team (one or more distracts, while other grabs).

3. Pick one or two credit cards to bring and call the creditcard company issuer and let them know you’ll be in Argentina, Falklands, as wehad a few people had their CC’s denied (I chose two Credit Union accounts sinceneither has foreign transaction fees)

4. If you can afford it buy a wide angle lens or borrow onefrom a friend. It will be the most magnificent scenery you’ll ever see in myhumble opinion. The scale, the wildlife and natural beauty are truly stunning.

5. Don’t be surprised if you see a port change/cancellationor modification. From my research doesn’t matter which cruise line you useCelebrity/NatGeo/Lindbladt/Princess/HAL/Silversea , ~25-50% chance (most alwaysbecause of weather) you’ll see a change or two in your itinerary. Chill out anddon’t go nuclear about it. The Captain didn’t purposely do it to ruin yourphoto ops, if it’s conceivable to safely get in a port, they do. That beingsaid, they won’t endanger you or others just so you can get the money shot ofyou and Free Willy the Orca or Tennessee Tuxedo and his penguin pals .

6. Buy the transfers from ship to Airport/City, it’s only$28 and they bring your luggage directly to airport. You get off the ship, takebus to terminal, and get the bus to airport while everyone else is grabbingtheir luggage, and trying to figure out where the taxis, and private cars are.It’s a madhouse outside the terminal.

7. Don’t exchange money at airport, found we were gettingabout 20 pesos per dollar exchanging it on our own, or 19 if I used forpurchases using my credit union VISA card, and would have gotten 16 at airportor bank

8. MickeyLive (AKA Mickey Richardson) The best onboardpresentations I’ve ever experienced on Celebrity (and I’ve done about 30cruises). He comes from a tech background, but he has a quest for knowledge, heknows so much and he really knows how to focus on the destination. He thengives you the history, the back story, so by the time you arrive, you’re hungryfor it. He’s insightful, funny, and also promotes a photo sharing service (forFREE) where passengers can share their photos, Mickey compiles the best of alland gives the CD to the passengers who participated in the photo share. He wasa SUPERB asset to the Infinity team. I wishthey had a Mickey on every voyage. Another small thing Mickey reminds you is tobe KIND to each other, it may sound inconsequential, but sometimes we all needto remember we’re here on a holiday not an invasion, so slow down, the buffet,shows, and endless ice creams and pizza will be there...... and try to enjoyeach other, and who knows might even meet some other nice folks.

THE VOYAGE

About a month before we sailed we received notice thatbecause of an issue discovered with one of the ships two azipods they would beadjusting our schedule as they were limiting the speed on the affected azipod. Itmeant we would lose our stop in Puerto Madryn, Argentina and adjust the timeson the other ports to compensate. This really had no impact on us at all.

My understanding insimple terms as the ship has two giant engines called azipods, and from what Iunderstood of them, the problem was onewas the thrust bearing on one azipod was operating at a higher temperature thannormal. So to prevent the issue from getting worse, they limit the maximum speedon the affected azipod. This gives you a slightly slower average speed. It canstill be used at any speed, but this is the conservative approach to take untilit reaches its next drydock.

I know when I visited the engineering control room, we werecruising at 19 knots, with one azipod running slightly lower in speed than theother. Normally cruising speed is’s about 21 knots (maximum is 24 knots).

These Azipods are like any big piece of mechanicalequipment, and just wear over time. One of the engineers said that's why theyrebuild them every two years as a preemptive maintenance measure.

I'll get the annoyances out of the way first then onto thegood stuff.

Annoyance-The ships voicemail on Infinity doesn’t work. It’sa nuisance problem but seems to be an ongoing issue since it has been ongoingat least as far back as my last voyage in May 2017. It didn’t work again thewhole cruise, and you do miss information, some of it important.

Annoyance-We had an ongoing issue with a Friends of Billmeeting (Alcoholics Anonymous). Was scheduled in the library 5PM the first twonights, and because that was a trafficked area, we asked to have it moved toany other quiet place at any time. Day 3 it was moved to a conference room butthey forget to include that change in the daily schedule. By day 5 it was movedto the conference room, but there was a Thai group matching movies there. Days6-10 same thing, other groups would show up even though we had the roomaccording to the schedule, including one day a Celebrity future cruisepresentation, so we’d have to move after the daily apologies from guestrelations/event coordinator. It wasn’t a big deal other than it should havebeen corrected 3 or 4 days in not 10 days in. Did try notifying guestrelations, event coordinator, and hotel director as well on different days, butnever really got resolved till about the 10th day, so it caused a lot offrustration that it never should of.

Annoyance-Checkout the fine print in the online bookingoffers. We had one offered this cruise “save up to $300 early booking bonus”with no asterisked terms or conditions, and “Exclusive offer-Receive up to $500OBC*”

*Terms and condition apply

I booked an 11 day Caribbean on RF and turns out you onlysave the $300 if you book it as a non refundable deposit, and it wasn’teligible for the any of the up to $500 OBC other than the 4 perks that comewith the suite. And believe me I looked, and that was the best deal they had.When I got back to my stateroom, checked online and the onboard booking deal wassame as one I would have gotten had I booked it myself with Celebrity. So sinceyou have the luxury of looking up prices onboard, comparison shop, and see ifthe online booking is a value.

NOW ONTO THE GREAT STUFF

Rooms- I selected a CC2 this trip, and pleased in everyregard. Although Infinity is 17 years old it’s a well maintained vessel. Thefurnishings in the room were well maintained and even on inspection of thecaulking in the bathroom, it looked well kept. Deck rails looked great,Curtains and linens plush and not worn. Plenty of hot water and water pressurethroughout the whole voyage. Had an extraordinary stateroom attendant namedBudi, who was a smiling friendly hard working man who met my every wish beforeI could even ask him.

THE FOOD

TUSCAN-I adored Tuscan. It’s a kind of a mix of steakhousewith Italian overtones. We ate 6 times while onboard (we had a specialty dining6 package ), and never had a disappointing meal. Every single soul that workedin that venue was spectacular from the maitre’d Jovel, the talented, friendly,and professional wait staff. I think we had a different member of the waitstaff serve us each night, and really enjoyed learning about their origins andexperiences. Always smiling facesescorting us in, delicately making suggestions on food choices, andcombinations to try.

Without question loved the filet of beef the best, it rarelyneeded a sauce to complement its flavor, but I tried several to see if itenhanced it. It usually gave it a nice polish, and found the peppercorn saucemy favorite, The meatballs for an appetizer are to die for as the blend ofpork, veal and beef they use literally melts as it hits your mouth. The seabass also an excellent choice. Veal Marsala was good, but not great. Loved thepasta choices as well, the lobster rigatoni (muy Bella) Great choice of salads and desserts aswell¬¬¬. The spinach was a bit bland, the mashed potatoes were delightful, butall in all, not really anything that needs changing in Tuscan. 5/5 stars

QSINE is like an off Broadway play it can really amuse,entertain, and fill your palette if it’s executed correctly. Flip side is itcan seem too contrived without the right direction and audience.

The night we went we had a group of us 17 at two tables. Ihad the feeling the waiters struggled with the execution, food and drinks camerandomly. The two waiters certainly tried their best, but really seemedoverwhelmed. Ideally in my experience Qsine works really well when there is agroup of 4-6 people, anything more or less is a challenge. The menu is strongthough, and the presentation makes it worth the visit.

From a logistics perspective, for this particular cruise andits cold weather make Qsine an additional challenge, being up high on deck andnot a lot of insulation. Bring a sweater as the change in temperature wassubstantially colder when we left from when we came in. Would give it a 4/5.

TRELLIS-Thought it was a great place to dine. We had anexceptional waiter and assistant, Jose and Juan Carlos at table 224. Also washappy to see the maitre’d/manager at the MDR checking in at least 4 or 5 timesto get a feel on how happy we were eating in Trellis. She really did a greatjob (also nice to see woman as the maitre’d/manager in the MDR) The foodservice was excellent. Seemed to be a bit spotty on getting drinks though, asthe sommelier would usually take the drink orders, but on more than oneoccasion we had to ask someone else a second time after nothing showed up 20minutes into the meal.

The variety was good though, soups, starters, and consommé’ssuperb, main courses were very nice as well. Desserts were very nice as well.Of course the last of our three evening chic nights had the best menu withlobster, chateaubriand, and rack of lamb featured on the menu. Would give it a3/5.

SUSHI of Five-I preface this with the fact that I’m not muchof a Sushi fan, but still loved the experience. My friend ordered a variety ofthings for us to try and all were quite tasty and had a nice freshness to them.They had some steamed lobster and shrimp dumplings as well that I reallyenjoyed. Only problem I had with Sushi at 5 was the closeness of the tables.After we sat down the waiter came by and adjusted the table next to uspresumably to set it up for guests. We literally had a span of 10” betweentables (other side was blocked by a wall) to get in and out, and a lightingfixture above the 10” gap. After dining, I stood up, took a knock on the headfrom the light fixture, bumped the table and spilled the soy sauce on the nexttable, then caught caught the soy dish. I’m sure it looked like a physicalcomedy sketch to anyone watching. I then carefully extracted myself from thetable. Would give it a 3/5.

Since I will probably never get to visit Antarctica, I am really looking forward to your report and especially the photos! Thanks much for taking the time to share!

Enjoying your report/review between the terrific narrative and beautiful photos.

Keith

ENTERTAINMENT-Did see one or two shows, but nothing thatleft any lasting impressions. I do like watching the energy and enthusiasm ofthe house dancers and singers though. Alejandro the CD seemed to be a goodmaster of ceremonies for most events phasing in and out as needed to keepthings moving along. Activities manager also good at keeping things flowing.

Did really enjoy the acoustic sets by the Stone Free duo,nice mix of music spanning the 1970’s to current, and well adapted to tryingnew requests. Judah Moore was also quite nice. The other 4 piece band/singercombination I wasn’t overly impressed with, but then again I’m not JimmyIovine, so does it really matter.

I always enjoy the ship game shows type formats such as“liars club” “not so newlywed game” and “are you smarter than a ships officer”,when they engage passengers into the act. Did a great job on those.

Senior officers were around at all the photo ops and meetand greets. I noticed the F&B manager Ivan in and out of almost everykitchen checking up on things which I thought was great. I didn’t reallyinterface though with any of the Senior Managers, except for a cursory hello,all seemed nice enough though. My hats off to the Senior Officers that keptthings running so well, the Captain, Hotel Director, Staff Captain, Ice Pilot,Engineer go above and beyond on a cruise like this mostly behind the scenesthat passengers never see.

Little things like making arrangements for hotcoffee/tea/soups being brought out on deck to the guests was certainlyappreciated, making extra laps around certain sights so both sides of the shipget an equal view is another. It’ wasreally appreciated and was above and beyond what was required.

EXCURSIONS I did two ships excursions, good value for themoney on both (see #1 up above)

1. Ushuahia, Argentina- Journey to the Sea Wolves andPenguins $159 You walk about 200 feet across the pier to an awaiting catamaranand begin the journey. About an hour out, first stop is a Sea Lion Island thatthe catamaran circles about giving all a photo op, second stop is another landmass home to hundreds of Cormorants (think mini me penguins that can fly),third stop is Penguins galore. We saw literally hundreds in three speciestypes.

2. Stanley, Falkland Island- Bluff Cove Lagoon You walk tothe end of the pier to some awaiting 16 passenger buses that take you closer toBluff Cove (it’s a family owned 35000 acre sheep farm), then you are handed overto a local team of Land-Rover drivers for the 25 minute off-road adventure tothe Penguins. We saw three types King, Gentoo and Magellanic penguins , and awhole lot of birds. You get close enough to get photos, but far enough whereyou don’t disrupt. They also have a nice coffee shop where they serve FREEcoffee, tea, cakes, and pastry as part of the tour.

3. Montevideo-I did on my own- Tour bus on end of pier 3.5hours for $25. You get what you pay for. I think the guide knew less about thecity than I did

Me-When was Uruguay’s’ Independence?

Her-It was many years ago

Me-50, 100, 200 years?

Her-Yes, somewhere in there

Me-Who is the man on the statue?

Her-He is very famous General

Me-What’s his name?

Her-I will find out

Still had fun though and found Montevideo lovely. Themarkets are only about a 10 minute walk from the pier. Food was fantastic, andfelt safe and secure. I could easily have spent a week in the city. Especiallylove the graffiti, it was gorgeous

CC Host Paulina Ugalde and Concierge Javier Hernandez-Bothof these two went out of their way to introduce themselves and explain the manyservices that they can help with. Saw them out and about everywhere, answeringquestions and projecting their really positive upbeat attitudes, great brand ambassadorsfor Celebrity. I really enjoyed talking to each and in awe of how much pridethey took in their work

Debarkation-Kind of mess at first glance, but easy tonavigate IF you plan ahead. One youleave the ship they escort you off to buses to terminal where you can pick upyour luggage. IF YOU SELECTED TRANSFERS TO airport by Celebrity, you don’t evenneed to pick up your luggage, instead it’s automatically transferred to theairport, and is waiting for you upon the buses arrival. In this case(of BuenosAries being the departure point) the buses were much easier than a cab orprivate transfers would have been. Their just isn’t anything clearly markedlike taxi stands, airport hotel buses, etc, so glad we opted for the shipstransfers.

And of course some whales

And a few more

Johnny -

Thanks for a wonderful review. The pictures are incredible and feel like we are with you.

Enjoy the rest of your cruise.

Great report, thanks for sharing!

thank you so much for sharing :) Home from work sick today, & this is a nice treat.

Agree with you about Mickey, he was on our NZ cruise, & was the best speaker/presenter I've ever encountered on a Celebrity ship. We were lucky enough to run into him quite a bit on shore & around the ship & he's just an all around great guy.

Wow!! This one is definitely on my Cruise Bucket List. Thank you for sharing!

Thanks for the review. We did this back in 2010 when it was 1/3 the cost it is now. Probably my favorite of over 100 Celebrity cruises!!!

Love the pics and your descriptions. Appreciate your time to do this. We get to relive a great cruise you took and memories of ours!

I think I recognize one of those icebergs. :)

We did this cruise in 2010 and it too is one of our favorites. DW's #1, my top 3. I like warm weather cruises, so I have 2 Panama Canal cruises as 1 and 2.

Thanks for the review. We did this back in 2010 when it was 1/3 the cost it is now. Probably my favorite of over 100 Celebrity cruises!!!

Were you on the sailing that we aborted our initial attempt to reach Antarctica? That was the one we were on. Captain also kicked off ship a lot of passengers in Ushuaia. Next day we headed back to Antarctica and it was a National Geographic day there when we arrived.

It was a memorable cruise from a lot of perspectives! :)

Thanks for sharing. You must have great expertise to navigate in those waters full of icebergs, they look huge.

Thanks for the great review and pictures! So sorry you had to miss Puerto Madryn....one of our favs from Infinity Around the Horn cruise. We saw the colony of a half million penguins there....but it looks like you saw plenty in other places.

Your cruise is one for the bucket list!

Were you on the sailing that we aborted our initial attempt to reach Antarctica? That was the one we were on. Captain also kicked off ship a lot of passengers in Ushuaia. Next day we headed back to Antarctica and it was a National Geographic day there when we arrived.

 

It was a memorable cruise from a lot of perspectives! :)

Ours was the second of the two Antarctica sailings that year. We heard the weather was so bad on the first one that there was water that came into Michaels Club on deck 4 due to the heavy seas. Ours was PERFECT ! Plus we did the following two sailings and ended up in Ft Lauderdale.

Wondering if the heat kept up in your cabin? When we did this in 2010 it definately DID NOT. At the time they still had the wall mounted hair driers in the bathroom. We stretched it out over the bathroom door and used it to help heat the room!!! Also CC2 cabins. Infinity was not designed for such cold weather!

Thanks for the review.

Ours was the second of the two Antarctica sailings that year. We heard the weather was so bad on the first one that there was water that came into Michaels Club on deck 4 due to the heavy seas. Ours was PERFECT ! Plus we did the following two sailings and ended up in Ft Lauderdale.

Did not hear about water in Michaels Club. It did snow as we were approaching Elephant Island and thus did not see anything. Weather was an issue. Wave height was more of the specific issue as I recall. Had to divert course a couple of times, but to Captains credit, he made decision to make a second attempt to reach Antarctica and it was great.

We missed too some of the penguins that Johnny has pictures of.

I would sail that itinerary again knowing the potential weather issues.