The final cruises on a Celebrity ship

[benjaminhuf]

Without realizing it, I might possibly have reserved a cruise on one of the last voyages of Infinity, in late December of 2018. As far as I can see there aren't any sailings after that (at this point, anyway), even though some other M-Class ships have sailings scheduled for early 2019. As we all know, Celebrity Edge begins service in late 2018, and so maybe it's possible that as Edge enters the fleet Infinity will leave?

 

Looking at past history, it seems like Celebrity and Royal Caribbean only rarely keep a ship longer than 20 years. Usually around that time, and sometimes years before, the ships are transferred or sold to another line. But perhaps it's possible that Celebrity will just enlarge its fleet for a while as the Edge ships come into service.

 

By any chance does anyone have any memories to share of one of the last trips on one of Celebrity's earlier ships, like Zenith, Mercury, Century, etc.? Is maintenance perhaps sometimes delayed at that point because the ship is about to go into dry dock anyway for refurbishment for the new owner? How is the mood of the crew as they work on a ship that they know is on its final voyages for Celebrity? I assume the employees are first in line for jobs on other ships? And at that point might a few of the "best" of them have already moved to another ship? I'm sure Celebrity will staff Edge with people they consider as their very best....

[champagne123]

Great question! Looking forward to everyone's replies. :)

[Iamthesea]

We were on one of the last Century cruises to Alaska and the ship was in great shape. The crew were delightful, too. Granted, this was not a last cruise. ;)

[gg88]

Interesting! My guess though is that the ship is being kept for charter cruises. Since the Constellation is now in Asia (which was typically ear-marked for the short charter cruises in the Caribbean in years passed), and over this year and next, the Summit is being used which has not been going well. Celebrity has had to cancel regularly scheduled cruises to accommodate the charters, so I think Infinity will be used for the charters in 2019, which is why nothing is on sale. Solstice class are typically too large for charters; and using the Edge for charters would be corporate suicide.

[dkjretired]

Infinity has cruises listed on the web site through the end of March, 2019 just like the rest of the Celebrity ships...

[CHEZMARYLOU]

Another instance of Celebrity's wonky we site. If you search Caribbean with no ship specified, Infinity does not show beyond Dec 2018. If you search just Infinity with no destination the 4 and 5 night sailings pop up from Jan thru April 2019.

[dkjretired]

Another instance of Celebrity's wonky we site. If you search Caribbean with no ship specified, Infinity does not show beyond Dec 2018. If you search just Infinity with no destination the 4 and 5 night sailings pop up from Jan thru April 2019.

 

Yup, that's what I did...

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

I doubt seriously that Infinity is going away soon.

As for cruises close to the end of a run for a ship, I sailed Century with a lot of wonderful Cruise Critic folks for a couple of her last cruises and made some wonderful memories and some new friends, some of whom I still see today.

[benjaminhuf]

Thanks for the responses. And good to hear both answers—that the last cruises are still great, and that Infinity is going to stay with Celebrity in 2019.

 

I hope Celebrity enlarges its fleet for a while as they add the new Edge-class ships.

[timtrek]

We are booked on a Jan 2019 cruise on Infinity - I certainly hope she is still going to be in the fleet! :p This will be our first Celebrity cruise - hopefully not our only!

[Guindalf]

We sailed the Zenith toward the end of her Celebrity life. We didn't know it until we read the news that it had been sold to the Pullmantur cruise line (owned by Royal Caribbean) and was going on to spend its days cruising the Mediterranean Aegean Seas. Not sure what happened to her after two people died when a wave broke over her in heavy seas though, but it appears it made news when a fire broke out in the engine room in 2013.

 

ETA: She's sailing the Caribbean, but not from the USA, She sails out of Santo Domingo.

 

Here she is in Falmouth, docked next to the Allure of the Seas. Tiny, isn't she?!!

 

 

[Proxigean]

Cruised on Infinity over the holidays and she seems like she has many years to go!!

[Cruise Raider]

I am so glad to hear the Infinity is not going anywhere anytime soon! Better yet. they can give her to us over here on the West Coast, namely, San Francisco! I love sailing on her.

We were on the Century in her last season and must admit, I always love cruising but she was beat up and they didn't seem to think it was worth it to fix her up seeing she was probably already sold at the time we sailed on her. We were sitting up in the sky lounge and the windows were leaking like crazy ... I tried to get some towels or buckets but it was all over. Looking up at the seals at the windows, there was a lot of mold ....pretty disgusting.

Our balcony and furniture out there was in dire need of replacement and the bathroom tiles were loose ... some were grouted in over and over and over again. We all know what that looks like. The furniture had seen it's better days, too. It just was a 5 star cruise on a 2-3 star cruise ship. Still a fun cruise ... just not a well maintained ship once they sold her. I get it, though ... just sayin.

I sailed on the Infinity a few times, most recently right before her refurb and she was great even then. There were little minor defects as you might expect but in much better condition than the Century when we sailed on her.

And I still extend that invitation to come over to the west coast. We'd love to have her over in our home port ....or even LA, which she does from time to time.

[ChucktownSteve]

Oh good so the Infinity may still be around when the second Edge class ship, Beyond is launched. I'm interested in doing a nearly B2B on Infinity & Beyond. :D

 

We were on the Mercury in 2010 and on the final Mercury cruise in 2011. We had booked a later Mercury cruise but it became after the accelerated transfer date to TUI and forced us to move our cruise up a couple of months and switch ports from our home town to Baltimore.

 

In 2010, the Mercury was one of the best cruises we had ever been on. However on the 2011 final sailing, it was a different story. During the cruise the food storage kept running out of more and more items as the sailing progressed. They had apparently already transferred off the best crew. Service was inferior to the previous cruise. There were workmen on board during the cruise that actually began striping some things in preparation for an accelerated stripping once she disembarked. One example was some of the art work began disappearing from the walls.The stores had no sales and had dwindled their stock. They started packing up inventory on the last two sea days.

 

I had heard that Celebrity did final cruise celebrations for previous ships. I was looking forward to that. Not on the Mercury. There was no acknowledgement of her leaving the fleet and no events related to it.

 

All in all and as a result of that cruise, I will never again sail a Celebrity ship that is about to be decommissioned.

Edited March 22, 2017 by ChucktownSteve

[oneputt18]

We sailed the Century on one of her farewell tour cruises. Everything was still upbeat, the ship was immaculate and everything worked fine.

[crusinthrough]

Solstice class are typically too large for charters; and using the Edge for charters would be corporate suicide.

 

 

If RC Oasis class ships can be charted then the Solstice ships can be chartered. The Oasis class capacity is approx 5400 vs approx 3000 for the Reflection, which is the largest Solstice class ship. I believe the Silhouette was charted this past January because there was a 4 night itinerary vs the typical 7 night or longer itineraries.

 

 

 

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[Katie H]

We sailed the final sailing of Zenith and it was one of our best cruises. Our last port of call was Bermuda where we overnighted. When we sailed in mid-afternoon, all the ships and boats in the harbor were blowing their horns and the tugs were sailing out with us with fire hoses going. We were all in tears on the deck.

 

Later, we sailed on the final Mercury. While it was a good cruise, there was nothing special done. For our final sailaway, we all left the Elite lounge to go on deck and there was nothing. It was just like any other sailaway. Very disappointing. On that cruise, we were invited to the Captain's Table with the Chief Engineer as the host. Also at the table was the captain from the new company who would be taking over at he end of our cruise. We learned that the Chief Engineer and his assistant would be going with the ship since they were familiar with its operation. We loved the Mercury and were glad we did the final cruise but were very disappointed that nothing special was done.

[benjaminhuf]

Oh good so the Infinity may still be around when the second Edge class ship, Beyond is launched. I'm interested in doing a nearly B2B on Infinity & Beyond. :D

 

We were on the Mercury in 2010 and on the final Mercury cruise in 2011. We had booked a later Mercury cruise but it became after the accelerated transfer date to TUI and forced us to move our cruise up a couple of months and switch ports from our home town to Baltimore.

 

In 2010, the Mercury was one of the best cruises we had ever been on. However on the 2011 final sailing, it was a different story. During the cruise the food storage kept running out of more and more items as the sailing progressed. They had apparently already transferred off the best crew. Service was inferior to the previous cruise. There were workmen on board during the cruise that actually began striping some things in preparation for an accelerated stripping once she disembarked. One example was some of the art work began disappearing from the walls.The stores had no sales and had dwindled their stock. They started packing up inventory on the last two sea days.

 

I had heard that Celebrity did final cruise celebrations for previous ships. I was looking forward to that. Not on the Mercury. There was no acknowledgement of her leaving the fleet and no events related to it.

 

All in all and as a result of that cruise, I will never again sail a Celebrity ship that is about to be decommissioned.

 

Thanks for that story!++

 

I'm now extra glad that my cruise in Dec. 2018 isn't one of the final trips for Infinity.

[ChucktownSteve]

We sailed the final sailing of Zenith and it was one of our best cruises. Our last port of call was Bermuda where we overnighted. When we sailed in mid-afternoon, all the ships and boats in the harbor were blowing their horns and the tugs were sailing out with us with fire hoses going. We were all in tears on the deck.

 

Later, we sailed on the final Mercury. While it was a good cruise, there was nothing special done. For our final sailaway, we all left the Elite lounge to go on deck and there was nothing. It was just like any other sailaway. Very disappointing. On that cruise, we were invited to the Captain's Table with the Chief Engineer as the host. Also at the table was the captain from the new company who would be taking over at he end of our cruise. We learned that the Chief Engineer and his assistant would be going with the ship since they were familiar with its operation. We loved the Mercury and were glad we did the final cruise but were very disappointed that nothing special was done.

 

I had heard the story about the Zenith and was expecting something special for the final Mercury. BTW Marylou, were you part of the elitists group of Jim, patty/mike, Bob/Phyl and Gail/Charlie?

[villauk]

If RC Oasis class ships can be charted then the Solstice ships can be chartered. The Oasis class capacity is approx 5400 vs approx 3000 for the Reflection, which is the largest Solstice class ship. I believe the Silhouette was charted this past January because there was a 4 night itinerary vs the typical 7 night or longer itineraries.

 

 

 

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S class ships are often chartered. Equinox used to be annually chartered in August for Med cruises by Atlantis ;). Our sailing dates were changed 2 years running because of the charters.

[Katie H]

I had heard the story about the Zenith and was expecting something special for the final Mercury. BTW Marylou, were you part of the elitists group of Jim, patty/mike, Bob/Phyl and Gail/Charlie?

 

We were not yet "elitists" on the Zenith but we were on the Mercury. We are now Elite Plus :D. You must be there by now. Seems you have been doing a lot of cruising. Would love to cruise together again.

[ChucktownSteve]

We were not yet "elitists" on the Zenith but we were on the Mercury. We are now Elite Plus :D. You must be there by now. Seems you have been doing a lot of cruising. Would love to cruise together again.

 

Yep made it in December. Miss you & Jim. Say hi to him plz. Email me at my CC handle @ outlook com sometime. We now return you to your normally scheduled thread. :D

[richsea]

We sailed the final sailing of Zenith and it was one of our best cruises. Our last port of call was Bermuda where we overnighted. When we sailed in mid-afternoon, all the ships and boats in the harbor were blowing their horns and the tugs were sailing out with us with fire hoses going. We were all in tears on the deck.

 

We also were on Zenith's final sailing & agree; that was one hell of a sendoff! Very emotional, especially after 4 sailings on her doing the Bermuda run. Do you recall the horse & carriage stampeding through the crowd on Front Street during harbor night the one night we were in Hamilton? Scary! I remember the Captain hosting a luncheon in the MDR for a few Bermuda bigwigs. Do you recall the farewell party they had one night at the pool, with just about the entire crew surrounding the pool on the upper deck. I do recall that some the art was off of the walls, & and on the final morning, all of the loggers were piled up against the bulkhead to make room for the removal of the things Celebrity. I have to say that the crew did a great job honoring Zenith, & the device did not suffer at all. One of our all time favorite sailings!

[Katie H]

We also were on Zenith's final sailing & agree; that was one hell of a sendoff! Very emotional, especially after 4 sailings on her doing the Bermuda run. Do you recall the horse & carriage stampeding through the crowd on Front Street during harbor night the one night we were in Hamilton? Scary! I remember the Captain hosting a luncheon in the MDR for a few Bermuda bigwigs. Do you recall the farewell party they had one night at the pool, with just about the entire crew surrounding the pool on the upper deck. I do recall that some the art was off of the walls, & and on the final morning, all of the loggers were piled up against the bulkhead to make room for the removal of the things Celebrity. I have to say that the crew did a great job honoring Zenith, & the device did not suffer at all. One of our all time favorite sailings!

 

We went to bed too early on the last night. We found out the next morning that late at night all the drinks were free (before drink packages) because they could not remove open bottles from the ship.

[phoenix_dream]

I am glad to hear Infinity is scheduled into 2019.

 

Can answer the original question - we sailed on Galaxy and on Century very near the end of their ownership with Celebrity (albeit not the last sailing). The Galaxy was in excellent shape - in fact we were remarking how nice she looked only to find out soon thereafter that she was leaving the fleet. Our theory was that she was spiffed up to attract buyers.

 

Conversely, when we sailed the Century she was getting pretty rundown. That said, the crew itself was fabulous - possibly the most friendly crew we had ever encountered.