British Isles Cruise on Infinity 5-13-13 Review

[Guernseycruiser]

I enjoyed the Potato Peel book - visiting the Occupation Museum and going inside an old bunker (and seeing the remnants of the occupation all over the island) made it very real - it was chilling.

 

I am in the process of organizing my photos and will try to get some out soon of this lovely place.

 

Hi vtcruising

 

I am so glad you enjoyed your visit to Guernsey. For those who are due to visit, here are a couple of websites which may be of interest:-

 

http://www.visitguernsey.com

http://www.buses.gg

 

The first being the local tourist board website, the second being the local bus service. There is a bus, number 91, which drives around the coast of the island. If you stay onboard for the whole journey, this takes 90 minutes and costs £2. You can purchase a 1 day ticket, which allows you to embark and disembark on any of the buses for £4.50. If you have any specific questions regarding Guernsey, please feel free to post them on the "Britain" port call message board, as I try to monitor this to assist when people have questions about our island. I have just been down to the end of the pier to take some photo's of Crown Princess who is in today, she looks beautiful, and it is a lovely sunny day. I wish that Celebrity would visit more often, however the number of visits for 2013 is encouraging, and hopefully more "M" class and even possibly a "S" class may visit in future.

 

Guernseycruiser

[zwolinski]

We were on the same sailing, 5/13. Wonderful cruise. Our opinion was that the food in the MDR was good, not great. Did think quality has gone down a bit. The specialty restaurants were both excellent. Upon embarkation, made our reservations for both, & asked for a discount, got 25% off !

Also, thought the entertainment was fantastic. Best group of singers ever on a ship.:rolleyes:

[Shooraq]

Also was on this cruise... going to try an do a review in the next week. The itinerary was definitely amazing, but I found the service on board to be a little lacking to what I normally expect for a Celebrity cruise. Didn't take away from the cruise, but it was a little noticable. The select dining and breakfest buffet areas did not seem to be the most organized, and that surprised me. Qsine, SS United States and Bistro on Five were great. Spent most of our downtime at Cafe al Bacio, of course! :)

[england1]

Also was on this cruise... going to try an do a review in the next week. The itinerary was definitely amazing, but I found the service on board to be a little lacking to what I normally expect for a Celebrity cruise. Didn't take away from the cruise, but it was a little noticable. The select dining and breakfest buffet areas did not seem to be the most organized, and that surprised me. Qsine, SS United States and Bistro on Five were great. Spent most of our downtime at Cafe al Bacio, of course! :)

 

If you don't mind me asking what was wrong with Select dining? What time did you dine and how long did you have to wait? Was it easy to get a table for two? I really enjoyed it last year on our Med cruise. Never had a problem and had a great server.

[vtcruising]

Hi vtcruising

 

I am so glad you enjoyed your visit to Guernsey. For those who are due to visit, here are a couple of websites which may be of interest:-

 

www.visitguernsey.com

www.buses.gg

 

The first being the local tourist board website, the second being the local bus service. There is a bus, number 91, which drives around the coast of the island. If you stay onboard for the whole journey, this takes 90 minutes and costs £2. You can purchase a 1 day ticket, which allows you to embark and disembark on any of the buses for £4.50. If you have any specific questions regarding Guernsey, please feel free to post them on the "Britain" port call message board, as I try to monitor this to assist when people have questions about our island. I have just been down to the end of the pier to take some photo's of Crown Princess who is in today, she looks beautiful, and it is a lovely sunny day. I wish that Celebrity would visit more often, however the number of visits for 2013 is encouraging, and hopefully more "M" class and even possibly a "S" class may visit in future.

 

Guernseycruiser

 

Thanks so much for responding and suggesting a reasonable way to see your island. I hope I can return some day!

[SkystheLimit]

Also was on this cruise... going to try an do a review in the next week. The itinerary was definitely amazing, but I found the service on board to be a little lacking to what I normally expect for a Celebrity cruise. Didn't take away from the cruise, but it was a little noticable. The select dining and breakfest buffet areas did not seem to be the most organized, and that surprised me. Qsine, SS United States and Bistro on Five were great. Spent most of our downtime at Cafe al Bacio, of course! :)

 

 

 

Always appreciate your input. Look forward to your review.

 

MJ

[Lois R]

Also was on this cruise... going to try an do a review in the next week. The itinerary was definitely amazing, but I found the service on board to be a little lacking to what I normally expect for a Celebrity cruise. Didn't take away from the cruise, but it was a little noticable. The select dining and breakfest buffet areas did not seem to be the most organized, and that surprised me. Qsine, SS United States and Bistro on Five were great. Spent most of our downtime at Cafe al Bacio, of course! :)

 

Hi Robyn:) looking forward to hearing about your experience too.

 

Thank you to the OP for your review as well.:)

[librarylady19]

Also was on this cruise... going to try an do a review in the next week. The itinerary was definitely amazing, but I found the service on board to be a little lacking to what I normally expect for a Celebrity cruise. Didn't take away from the cruise, but it was a little noticable. The select dining and breakfest buffet areas did not seem to be the most organized, and that surprised me. Qsine, SS United States and Bistro on Five were great. Spent most of our downtime at Cafe al Bacio, of course! :)

 

Looking forward to reading it!

[betterthanvegas?]

Thinking of booking this ship for a September cruise. I have a few questions please - is there a cinema on board? Was free tea/coffee/lemonade freely available? What's the menu like in qsine? Thank you!

[Shooraq]

If you don't mind me asking what was wrong with Select dining? What time did you dine and how long did you have to wait? Was it easy to get a table for two? I really enjoyed it last year on our Med cruise. Never had a problem and had a great server.

 

We had set reservations every night at 6:45pm, though there were some nights we changed it because we were still resting from a long excursion. I think the challenge was that much of the wait staff we encountered was either overworked or not balancing covering tables right. Usual the waiter greets you and tells you the recommendations, Quite a few nights, the first interaction with our waiter was "What are you ordering?"

 

Another customer service problem: I was served salad one night, and waited patiently for salad dressing. I waited over ten minutes and didn't see either the waiter or assistant waiter. I had to politely ask another waiter to get some. When my waiter came back, he apologized but it seemed somewhat uncaring. The food ranged from okay to good, but it just seemed that the service was lacking in the typical wow "above-and-beyond" treatment that I have always experienced on Celebrity cruises.

[Shooraq]

Always appreciate your input. Look forward to your review.

 

MJ

 

Hi Robyn:) looking forward to hearing about your experience too.

 

Thank you to the OP for your review as well.:)

 

Hi ladies... going to try to very soon. Being back at work and kung fu has been quite busy! :D

[SharonK]

That is disappointing to hear.:( I hope we will have a better experience with select dining in August.

[vtcruising]

Thinking of booking this ship for a September cruise. I have a few questions please - is there a cinema on board? Was free tea/coffee/lemonade freely available? What's the menu like in qsine? Thank you!

 

There were no movies shown on our cruise that I know of - I have read that the original cinema was eliminated during renovations, but they have an area where movies can be shown, if they do offer them on a cruise.

 

I know there is free tea, coffee and juices in the Oceanview café, main dining room and AquaSpa café.

 

Qsine has is a tapas-like menu that you order on an ipad. It is quite an interesting place to dine, with many tasty items to share. You can order as much as you want and they keep bringing it until you tell them to stop. Here is a link to the menu and a description of the items.

http://www.celebritycruises.com/onboard/level3Type1.do?pagename=onboard_celebrity_restaurants_cafes_qsine&parentpage=onboard_celebrity_restaurants_cafes

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

We were also on this cruise. We were in Aqua Class for this leg, and the dining and service in Blu was excellent, particularly for breakfast. We had select dining on the next leg and I agree with Robin, service was VERY hit or miss in select. Very good some nights, unbelievable others. One waiter asked me to re-use a fork! On the old Celebrity I know and love this would never have happened.

We had set dining in the MDR on the cruise before this. Service was mediocre. On the whole, I thought the food was quite good. It definitely got better after the TA leg.

Here's my take: Celebrity has cut staff drastically and service is suffering from this. Also, training seems to be lacking. It's hit or miss. If you get a great waiter and a great cabin attendant, things will go wonderfully for you. If not, you will have issues. We loved our time in AQ and the service in Blu was impeccable, but we had a cabin attendant who treated our requests for ice as an imposition. If we got ice once a day, we were lucky. We had a suite on the leg prior and a butler and a cabin attendant who couldn't do enough for us. Also on the third leg, we had a corner FOV with wonderful cabin attendants.

So, overall, it's not the consistently excellent experience it's been in the past.

[Scotswoman]

Thanks for the excellent review. Like others who have posted here, our last cruises have been on the Solstice and Silhouette - so we were a little worried that we might find the Infinity a disappointment. You have reassured us!!

Morven

[Trekker954]

Might anyone have or gotten hold of a Celebrity Today activity brochure for this itinerary. would love to see some of the planned activities and general times. Thanks.

[Trekker954]

also, do you recall if the ship offered a shuttle from Dunmore to downtown Dublin? How much?

[Shooraq]

We were also on this cruise. We were in Aqua Class for this leg, and the dining and service in Blu was excellent, particularly for breakfast. We had select dining on the next leg and I agree with Robin, service was VERY hit or miss in select. Very good some nights, unbelievable others. One waiter asked me to re-use a fork! On the old Celebrity I know and love this would never have happened.

We had set dining in the MDR on the cruise before this. Service was mediocre. On the whole, I thought the food was quite good. It definitely got better after the TA leg.

Here's my take: Celebrity has cut staff drastically and service is suffering from this. Also, training seems to be lacking. It's hit or miss. If you get a great waiter and a great cabin attendant, things will go wonderfully for you. If not, you will have issues. We loved our time in AQ and the service in Blu was impeccable, but we had a cabin attendant who treated our requests for ice as an imposition. If we got ice once a day, we were lucky. We had a suite on the leg prior and a butler and a cabin attendant who couldn't do enough for us. Also on the third leg, we had a corner FOV with wonderful cabin attendants.

So, overall, it's not the consistently excellent experience it's been in the past.

 

Glad to know I wasn't the only one who felt that way. I work in a customer service industry so I know how challenging customer service efforts can be. So I often let little things goes, but I was very surprised by the overall staff service. Just not "above and beyond"... more like "enough to get by." This is not in the case of every individual - we had great individual service by staff. But as an overall feel, I wasn't wowed like I typically am. Thankfully we did this for the amazing itinerary, so DH and I were still happy. Hopefully in future British Isles cruises, the service will get better and more like what one would expect from Celebrity. :)

[celebrity]

Thanks for such a detailed review.

I cried when I read about your experience in Normandy.

I hope you create many more memories at sea.

[Sun-Cruisers]

also, do you recall if the ship offered a shuttle from Dunmore to downtown Dublin? How much?

 

I don't believe it was a X shuttle, but, there was a coach from the pier to the Trinity College area (Kildare St.). Cost was €10 round trip.

[jkskrap]

Great info. Thanks!

[bamatravlr]

Thanks vtcruising,

You did an excellent job. We will be on the 8/26 sailing - this has been very helpful. I'm looking forward to more reviews of your cruise and possibly some of the more recent ones!

[shipfriend_max]

Hi :)

 

thank you for the review - we cruised on Summit in March/April 2013 and we loved the ship!!

In Aug 2009 we have done the British Islas cruise on Crown Princess - it was one of our best cruises ever!!

Hopefully you enjoyed it as well as we did in 2009!

The weather was better than expected...:)

[charlie52]

Thrilled to see this review! This cruise is next on our bucket list if we could just get the timing down...we shouldn't be away from our business between May 1st and October 1st. We may just have to break a few rules!

[lknlady]

Thank you very much to everyone who has shared their experiences.

 

A bit concerned about exchanging dollars for pounds onboard. Did you find this to be a problem? We have always just exchanged onboard as needed.

 

Alice