Opinions about Zenith - from recent cruisers

[RiaTM]

If anyone is sailing soon and would be willing to give a message to a wonderful crew member that we met I would really appreciate it. Please let me know if anyone can help!! If anyone has any other questions about the ship please ask.

 

 

Hi Maria!

I'm leaving on the zenith on June 25th.

Hi Cherub,

 

If you give someone a message from me that would great!!!! Can you email me so that I can explain?

 

Thanks,

Maria

[katleigh3]

I am 29 and my boyfriend is 31. We had an amazing time on the Zenith. We traveled with 7 other people, (2 in their late twenty's, 2 in mid 30's, 2 in 50's and 1 3 year old), all had a great time! We were all in Conceirge Class with Isabelo, and assistant Glen, as our stateroom attendants (rooms 1056, 1058, 1062 and 1065). They were exceptional. Our waiters at dinner were Saed and Wayan, also exceptional. Franco was our Asst Maitre'd...again Excellent.

 

I'm not a show person but my sister in law who was 28 loved them all. I enjoyed the comedian, Luis Johnson, very much!

 

We had no problems with our rooms. I loved the conceirge service: fresh flowers, fresh fruit and snacks everyday, welcome champagne...etc.

 

I loved the casino and really enjoyed the dealers: Helen, Daniella, Louis, Amanda...etc.

 

The food was amazing the service was amazing...loved the pool deck and the hot tubs.

 

Loved the sushi everynight from 6pm - 10pm.

 

Bermuda was also amazingly beautiful. We went on the Bermuda Ship wreck triangle snorkel with the fantasea excursion crew...Awesome! That was in Hamilton!

 

We then did the Peppercorn Helmet Diving in St. George with Graham and Brice. This is a must!!!! By far the coolest thing any of us has ever done. You literally walk on the bottom of the ocean while breathing normally.

 

Those of you who read negative reviews, ignore them! Go have a great time...every cruise is different, every person is different. Just go and have fun.

 

-Kathleen (Long Island) :) :) :) :)

[chrissieo]

Thank you to the twentysomethings and thirtysomethings who posted about the Zenith. DH and I are going in Sept. (we are 29 and 32) and I am starting to get a little nervous that we will be bored.

 

We chose this ship in the hopes of avoiding a large mass of children, and we wanted a more relaxed trip. But fun is where you make it. This will be DH first cruise, so it will be nice just experiencing it all with him. But I am still crossing my fingers that I can get the DJ to play some good songs too. :)

 

Roselyn

 

Don't worry -- I really don't think you'll be bored. I honestly think that boredom is something you create for yourself, so if you go into the trip thinking everything is going to be a blast, it really will. We had late dinner, so that made the evening go so fast. I loved being by the pool/jacuzzi at the end of the day, when early dinner was going on. It was so quiet and relaxing up there. I thought the pool band was really good, I loved hanging out on deck in the amazing weather, I even had fun playing Bingo with my mom (my boyfriend even joined in -- after I bribed him with a drink -- and had fun each time). My mom even won Bingo once, so that added to it. I guess I just love cruising, so I don't find it boring at all. Sure, there are lulls in action and times when you'll have to find something to do, but I think doing nothing on a cruise ship is still a lot more fun than doing a lot of things at home! Just go in with a good attitude and you'll enjoy it. We spotted A LOT of complainers on this trip, which was so unfortunate for them. If they just stopped and counted their good fortune of being able to be on a cruise and stopped whining about every little thing or comparing this to this and that to that, I'm sure their time would have been much more pleasant -- just like ours was. :)

 

Oh, and I'm sure you'll be able to get the DJ to play what you want. The DJ on our cruise was spending his last week there, so you'll get a new one for the Zenith, which is probably a good thing. DJ Greg was kind of a dork. But he did play a lot of requests, and pretty random mixture of songs, from Snoop Dogg and Biggie to Blondie and the Beatles -- basically anything you asked for, he would play. Have fun!!

[Host Kewlguy]

My DH and I were on the 4/30 sailing also...(Hi, Kewlguy!!)...I would say that, although the Zenith was a lovely ship, I prefer the larger ships...Infinity (my only other cruise experience) spoiled me. The food? Quite good on Zenith, but Infinity has it beat. The service? Top notch on both ships, IMO. We had stateroom 1036...air conditioning was a problem from Day 1 on the Zenith...had to complain twice, and after the second visit by the maintenance staff, things DID improve. We did finally had air, but it was never wonderful. I did miss having a specialty restaurant (none on Zenith). Cabin steward and waiter were great on both sailings. Never encountered a problem with any of the staff on either ship-all were wonderful! There just seemed to be more to do on the Infinity...There is also the Thallasotherapy pool (sp?), and INDOOR hot tubs on the Infinity...These I truly missed on the Zenith. Of course, part of my opinion (admittedly somewhat negative) of the Zenith comes from the fact that I became ill (head cold) by Monday (sail away was Saturday). I rarely get head colds. Was it something on the ship? I don't know, but I spent 3 miserable weeks getting rid of it! Mary

 

Hi Mary. It was a pleasure to meet you on our Zenith sailing back on 4/30.

[MaryL31]

Same here, Kewlguy, and Mrs. Kewlguy, and also Susan-M!

[jmarilyn]

Katleigh - where in Long Island do you live? me and DH live in Oceanside (nassau county). too bad I didn't meet you on the cruise. :)

[katleigh3]

Hi Marilyn...I am from Holtsville (eastern Long Island). We were a group on 9 traveling on the Zenith. My in-laws are from Selden and my sister in Law, her husband and their daughter are from Setauket.

 

It was such a relaxing week, we all loved it. We actually just booked Royal Caribbean, Mariner of the Sea last night for Nov 13th - 20th 2005. Can't wait!

 

-Kathleen :)

[Cherub]

Hi Cherub,

 

If you give someone a message from me that would great!!!! Can you email me so that I can explain?

 

Thanks,

Maria

 

Sure thing Maria, what's your email address?

Pam

[RiaTM]

Hi Pam,

 

My email is RiaTM@comcast.net. Thanks, I really appreciate it.

 

Maria

[slotaddict]

Anyone know how the casino was on the Zenith. Are there updated slot machines,or are they as old as the ship. Going on the Zenith in January and the casino is a big part of my trip. LOL:)

[patnjohn]

katleigh3- We are neighbors - Holbrook. We leave on Sept. 24th on the Zenith. 4th time to Bermuda. Looking forward to it. Thanks for great review. We plan on having a blast.

[pamkev]

Loved the Zenith! As for the casinos it's very small and had the strandards slot that I could see. It took my money and never gave any back! Pam

[slotaddict]

thanks, i was just trying to figure out if they had any wheel of fortune type:D or the multiscreen slots.

[Cracker Ken]

Good info here. Thanks to all. Someone mentioned earlier that the first fall '06 Zenith cruise from Tampa was 11/17/06. We just booked the 11/3/06 14 day Caribbean cruise on Zenith out of Tampa. We like ships this size, which are about the same as the HAL "S" class ships. We live nearby, so we don't have to deal with air travel (a real plus with the current high prices for airlines). Perhaps things will be spruced up quite a bit after the drydock later this year.

 

Ken

[Host Kewlguy]

Good info here. Thanks to all. Someone mentioned earlier that the first fall '06 Zenith cruise from Tampa was 11/17/06. We just booked the 11/3/06 14 day Caribbean cruise on Zenith out of Tampa. We like ships this size, which are about the same as the HAL "S" class ships. We live nearby, so we don't have to deal with air travel (a real plus with the current high prices for airlines). Perhaps things will be spruced up quite a bit after the drydock later this year.

 

Ken

 

From your mouth to gods ears.

[MaryL31]

We sailed Zenith 4/30/05 to Bermuda. As for the slots (I, too am an addict)- hope you have better luck than we did. There IS a wheel of fortune machine (actually 2, but one of them was not working the entire cruise). It is a $1.00 machine. We watched one woman hit almost continuously-she had probably $600-$700 dollars early in the cruise. Friday morning, I saw a fellow who had been in the casino as much as us (A LOT!!) waiting for the casino to open. We had walked away, and returned about 15 minutes after it opened

(9:00, I believe). He had just hit for $1000. How he knew that machine would hit, I don't know-but he was waiting to be the first one on that particular machine. As for the slots in general-we had HORRIBLE luck. We did not see much in the way of "payouts". There is a "Black Tie"

quarter machine that I had a little luck with (the 3-quarter machine, not the 2-quarter machine), and a "10x Win" machine right in front of the cashier's

booth, which was also not too bad. Bit in general, I'd say to save your money for AC or Vegas. I did not realize how greedy Celebrity is. Most of the machines, IMO, are rather old and outdated. The nickel machines were pretty good-if I went back, that's what I would play-IF you can get one! I sat down to play the ones near the door, and some woman had 3 of them tied up-and her friend was playing the other 2 nearby.

Mary

[peanutter]

Katleigh3, we are going to be in 1056 on the Zenith in Feb., 2007 and I'm so glad to hear you liked the rooms there. We've been a little worried about noise from above and such and we've never done the CC thing before. We were on the Horizon last fall to Bermuda (mid Europa deck) and just loved her (hate to see her go away) and hoped the Zenith would be the same. Thanks for your positive comments!

[teajak]

Good info here. Thanks to all. Someone mentioned earlier that the first fall '06 Zenith cruise from Tampa was 11/17/06. We just booked the 11/3/06 14 day Caribbean cruise on Zenith out of Tampa. We like ships this size, which are about the same as the HAL "S" class ships. We live nearby, so we don't have to deal with air travel (a real plus with the current high prices for airlines). Perhaps things will be spruced up quite a bit after the drydock later this year.

 

Ken

We just booked the Nov. 3 cruise. Long time in advance but the price was great, we have cabin 1095, the last aft cabin. We had this cabin on the Horizon twice and loved it.

[BrooklynGirl2]

We sailed on the Zenith June 4th as well. We had no real problems with plumbing. We were in 4037 on the Florida deck. One night our toilet didn't flush and then an hour later it did. No big deal. I agree the cabins need some updating (bedspreads and rugs) but we were hardly in our room so it didn't really matter.

 

We had the absolutely most perfect weather you could ask for. On our return the sea was like glass with nairy a movement of the ship. Skies were blue and cloudless. We were very fortunate.

 

My hubby and I are in our late forties. We were never bored unless we wanted to be :) . I enjoyed lazing by the pool and reading, especially in the late afternoons when the early dinner crowd had already left. My son is 5 and loved the children's program and this gave us the free time to enjoy the shows and the Cova Bar.

 

We thought the food and the service was just excellent. Our cabin steward Michelle worked hard to keep our room immaculate. Our dinner waiters Melwyn and Keith were just wonderful, especially with my son, entertaining him when he came to dinner and bringing him special treats. Alan, who served us for lunch one day became by son's "sticker buddy" and would stop by and visit us at our table for a moment just to say hi to my son. Other waiters in the Windsurf would always talk to my son and give him little things. This crew was professional, warm and efficient. I loved having such an international crew.

 

I enjoyed all the Zenith had to offer and I don't know if I would be as happy on a larger more impersonal ship. I think what made me the happiest was the intimate and manageable size of Zenith and encountering familiar people (passengers) in different places on the ship. In the end I felt like we were all one big family. We would not hesitate to book on this ship again.

[slotaddict]

Thanks Mary I appreciate you taking the time to answer me. I did pretty well on the Voyager in May machines were pretty good.:D

[cruisebliss]

I was on the Zenith in April and had a wonderful time. I love the size of the ship. She is an easy ship to navigate. I was on a Voyager class ship last year and I was constantly getting lost. It is easy to lose your sense of direction on a ship that size. That problem was never an issue on the Zenith or Horizon. The food and service was very good in the dining room. I would sail on her again.

[katleigh3]

Peanutter,

 

We heard no noise from above at all. The CC was well worth it. I'm sure you will love it. I hope you have Isabello as your room steward, he was awesome!

[Jeanne S]

There were two Wheel of Fortune Machines at least. We were in cabin 4112 which did not back up, but then we had perfect seas.