Infinity or Merc

[4yanx]

My wife and I took our sons (22 and 19) on a cruise a couple of weeks ago and they want to take another ASAP. We can take an Alaskan cruise in August aboard the Infinity or the Mercury. Ignoring for the moment embarkation points and ports of call, what are the pros and cons of each ship. If someone would compare verandah rooms and sky level suites on each ship, and the food servce on each ship, at minimum, I'd be obliged. We would be looking for separate cabins for my wife and I, and my sons (our 4 to a cabin days are long since over!). :)

[rubrrick]

We have never sailed on the Infinity, we have sailed on the Mercury to Alaska, and love this ship. We were invited aboard the Infinity in Juneau, Alaska, while we were aboard the Mercury in 2001. While the Infinity is a beautiful ship, the Mercury has a mystique about her, and we continue to enjoy her charm. As noted in my signature, we will be back aboard her next month for a trip to the Mexican Riviera.

 

The staff aboard the Mercury continues to be top notch, as does the food. We have friends that have sailed on an M class ship as well as the older ships, and so far, we have heard more favorable comments on the older ships.

 

Rick

[dileep]

Millennium Class ships are much better esp the balcony rooms which are great for Alaska!

[4yanx]

We sailed on the Millenium, loved it ourselves, and figured it woul dbe about the same as Infinity. Was wondering the comparison between one of these and the Mercury.

[catmand]

Other Indulgences

Rediscover your senses in the aromatic warmth of the Persian Garden or immerse yourself in the soothing salt water of the Thalassotherapy Pool as warm bubbles caress your muscles and skin. Surrounded by beauty, find the perfect way to unwind and drift away.

The above quote is descriptive of among other things the T-pool. This is very large, very nice and a no charge option on Infinity (of course the spa treatments cost $$) anyone can use the pool and there is a very nice spa café with lite meals.

Mercury has a very small indoor pool at the aft of the resort deck which is a plain water pool.

We have sailed both Mercury and Infinity and would do either again at the drop of a hat. If we were looking at the same basic itinerary and could choose either one it would be Infinity as it is somewhat larger so has more choices. We had balcony cabin on Infinity an outside and sky suite on Mercury. The cabins looked the same for each category on either ship.

Take a look at the deck plans found on the Celebrity web site, that may help with your decision. You can't go wrong whichever you choose, have a great cruise.

[4yanx]

Hard to believe that no one else has anything to say in this compariosn. Maybe it has been said and done already, but I'm not finding the threads.

[Fredr]

Hello,

 

My wife and I have been on the Infinity twice and the Mercury once and will be on the Mercury's 3/27/2006 sailing to Mexico. You will have a great time on both ships. If we were traveling with our children (26 and 21) I would select the Infinity because there are more things to do and especially the pool areas are much bigger. We are sailing on the Mercury because the price for this cruise was just too good to pass up, that is, for a quality 11 day cruise.

 

Hope that this helps,

 

Fred

[Sky Sweet]

My husband and I have been on both ships. We sailed the Infinity from Vancouver to Alaska during the summer of 2001 and loved it. Last winter we took a cruise on the Mercury from San Diego to the Mexican Riviera. We booked a sky suite with a huge balacony which was wonderful, but the standard balcony cabins on the Mercury have conventional doors instead of sliding glass ones. The Mercury also lacks a specialty restaurant, but the food in its main dining room was very good. One of the nice things about the Mercury was that we kept running into people we had already met during the cruise, which does not happen as often in a larger ship.

[nu2sea]

We sailed the Infinity to Alaska and the Mercury on a Coastal Repositioning cruise. Given the choice between the two ships, I would go for the Infinity. She is a beautiful ship. In addition to the T-pool that catmand mentioned, is the specialty restaurant which is a marvelous dining experience, and well worth the extra charge. I also loved the conservatory on board the Infinity.

 

The Mercury did have the nicest crew though, and we really enjoyed Dru Pavlov as the CD.

 

Sure wish all of my decisions were as tough as this one!:)

 

Susan

[morriscats]

We have sailed both - Infinity is larger and has the specialty restaurant which we loved. We stayed in FV7202 which was wonderful. But for some reason we favor Mercury. Can't really put my finger on it - can't wait to go again. With kids there is probably more to do on Infinity. Either way, they are beautiful ships with wonderful staff.

[Cruise Arizona]

We just got back in December from the 14 day Infinity, and two years ago we did the Merc.

 

Merc was a little bit more intimate because of the slightly smaller size.

 

We had a CC tour on the Infinity of different peoples cabins from our roll call. We got to see the Sky Suites and a Celebrity Suite. We had a standard Veranda Cabin. Sky Suites definetly gave you enough room for two that you didn't have to go outside to change your mind, and the layout is a bit more functional than the standard Veranda or Inside cabins. The Celebrity suite was really faboulous, and you could easily, I think do 4 per cabin in that suite. If the Alaska weather is cool the Panorama windows might easily beat out a balcony. We had a CC party in one of these rooms with 10 people and it still didn't seem crowded.

 

Mercury, we had an ourside cabin but no balcony, but the room was identical to our cabin on the Infinity. We are doing the Merc in Nov next year and got a family ocean view cabin. (Kids are 8 and 10, so we are still in the 4 to a room modes.)

 

Things I thought were the same were the dining service, cabin service, and and entertainment.

 

The lounges and public areas are bigger on the Infinity, though they are basically identical to the ones offered on the Merc. The Merc does have the Pavillion night club that the Infinity does not have. The Celebrity Orchestra often played there, so if you like big band orchestra music, this might be one advantace over the Infinity, where I think the Celebrity Orchestra only played once or twice outside of the production shows.

 

So, I would say that you really can't go wrong with either one. If you have any more specific questions, I can try to answer them. I loved both ships.

[Jim_Iain]

We have sailed both Mercury and Infinity. While both ships strive for the same service we somehow felt there was always something (very slightly) missing on Mercury as compared to the M-Class ships. It was hard to put a finger on it - the service was just a tad less, the food was just a little less fantastic. We did miss having the Thermal pool and also the specialty restraunt.

 

Saying that - we traveled in a Royal Suite on both ships. While they are both nice we were a little disappointed with the M-Class version vs. Mercury's.

 

We are taking Infinity again this May to Alaska. If all things were equal, ports, price and cabins I would recommend Infinity.

[trcori]

Infinity, from Vancouver in August 2003; Mercury, from Seattle in August 2005.

 

We did *not* have a balcony cabin on either cruise, so I can't help you with the cabin comparisons. As for everything else:

 

--ITINERARY: When we sailed Infinity, the cruise went to Juneau/Skagway/Ketchikan, the same three ports as our recent Mercury AK cruise. Since then, Celebrity has substituted Sitka for Skagway on the Infinity cruises. I haven't been to Sitka yet, so I can't say if this is an upward trade, but I can say I would *highly* regret an Alaska cruise without Skagway -- it's our favorite port of the three that we've now been to twice. Going into the Yukon is awesome. Just walking around the town is a blast too. The shorter stops on the Mercury cruise are a bit of a minus, though. Also, Infinity spends more time in the Inside Passage, since Mercury has to sail up the west side of Vancouver Island to make up the extra distance from Seattle. (Although sailing out of Puget Sound on a -hopefully- sunny afternoon can compensate for some of that!)

 

--C CLASS VS. M CLASS: You asked about the food. We've been on Millennium (Eastern Carib. a year ago) as well as Infinity, and we've been on Mercury twice, Century twice. Overall, the C-class food quality and service impressed us a bit more. Activities are comparable. Re: the whole T-pool "free vs. pay" thing, remember that the T-pool on C-class is much more of a Jacuzzi situation (lots of wondrous jets) than M-class and IMO worth the $.

 

If I had to make the choice, having been on both, I'd go on Mercury again, and not just because it leaves from our home town -- it's my absolute favorite ship. Our next cruise is on its sister, Galaxy, and we can't wait! -- TR