ZENITH Review 1/23-1/28

[ltprn]

Just returned from our cruise on the ZENITH. Overall it was nice, but I was dissappointed in a few things. We got a good deal on this 5 day cruise so I guess "you get what you pay for"! PRINCESS is still my favorite cruise line so far.

 

I won't go into a long, detailed review but will just list some things that stick out in my mind.

I will be glad to answer any questions you may have.

 

We sailed to Key West, Cozumel, & Costa Maya.

 

THE GOOD:

 

Embarkation and disembarkation were a breeze - no complaints with either!

 

Very few announcements and NO announcements for tag colors at disembarkation!

 

I LOVED COVA CAFE. The latte was great and decently priced at only $2.50!

 

The food was good, but nothing spectacular. No "always available" menu.

Nice presentation of entrees.

 

All of the staff were very friendly and smiled and spoke to everyone they passed in the hallways.

 

Tender service was fast and efficient to Cozumel - did not have to wait in line leaving or returning to ship.

 

Gift shop prices were decent and they did have sales on T-shirts and watches, rings, etc.

 

It was nice to get continental breakfast in our stateroom on the last day of the cruise - PRINCESS does not offer this due to disembarkation.

 

The "late night bites" were a nice evening snack!

 

The casino was nice and we especially enjoyed the "Mexican Midnight Madness" one night where a lot of nice prizes were given away.

 

The Celebrity Singers and Dancers were good, as well as the illusionist.

 

 

THE BAD:

 

The bathroom in our stateroom was in bad shape. There were large chips of porcelain missing in the sink. There was a lot of rust in the shower and the floor tile was dirty. (I guess this should be expected for a ship this old). It was kept as clean as possible by our stateroom attendant.

 

The blow dryer looked like a vacuum cleaner with a long hose hanging on the bathroom wall and had very LITTLE power! Take your own!

 

The mattresses on the beds were lumpy and worn out. We were in stateroom 4034 on Florida Deck Aft. Some of the bed linens were stained.

 

LOTS of vibration and pitching, as well as creaks and crackles. This was probably due to our location on the ship and the seas were pretty rough the last 2 days.

 

Room service is very SLOW - takes up to an hour to get served. I ordered a chef salad one day and they didn't even send a fork to eat it with!

 

No refrigerator in room and the ice melted fast in the bucket. Had to ask for more ice mid-afternoon most every day and we weren't heavy drinkers!

 

No soda or bottled water available in stateroom. Had to purchase cans from the bar and take to our room.

 

The Celebrity Interactive TV station rarely worked correctly. It took several attempts every day just to see what our account balance was and to order continental breakfast for the next day.

 

The whirlpool tubs were COLD!

 

No 24 hour buffet. If you didn't want to dress for dinner you had to make reservations for the "Casual Dining Boulevard" where you were served from a very limited menu and a $2.00 per person tip was expected.

 

There was only one casual night in the dining room. Besides formal night, the rest were "informal", where men had to wear dinner jackets.

 

That's all I can think of right now. All in all we had a nice time - mostly relaxed, ate, and slept! In my opinion, there is no such thing as a bad cruise! We just like some better than others!

[Heaven2]

We cruised on the Zenith right after the drydock in Nov.

 

At that time we reported hard, broken down mattress and sheets with holes.

Towels that were very threadbare and had stains.

 

I wonder why by now they have not replaced all the soft goods. It would seem the logical thing to do.

 

Decent sheets, towels and mattress should be a given on a ship.

 

Some rooms are evidently done but not all. Why would it take so many months to have new sheets and towels delivered ?

[slotaddict]

We were in room 6030 and there was bottled water in the room. We didn;t use it, we used the water in the pitcher. Our linens were fine as were the towels. I must have missed that midnight madness in the casino. All in all I thought it was a great trip for a very reasonable price. Also, they were calling the tag colors in the Celebrity Showroom.

I have sailed Celebrity before so I did have something to compare this cruise to as well as other lines. There is no such thing as a bad cruise.

I'm sorry this cruise was not to your expectations.

[rucruisn2]

We were on the same cruise and found everything to be great. We had breakfast in bed 4 mornings. Filled out the menu request the night before and hung it on our door indicating the time we wanted our breakfast. We even added items not on the menu and got them. At exactly the correct time our phone rang to say breakfast was on it's way up.

There were 3 casual nights, 1 formal(the second night) and 1 informal( the fourth night). We found the service the be great. Tips were automatically put on your seapass account UNLESS you told guest relations not too!!!

[mikvie]

We were on the same cruise and found everything to be great. We had breakfast in bed 4 mornings. Filled out the menu request the night before and hung it on our door indicating the time we wanted our breakfast. We even added items not on the menu and got them. At exactly the correct time our phone rang to say breakfast was on it's way up.

There were 3 casual nights, 1 formal(the second night) and 1 informal( the fourth night). We found the service the be great. Tips were automatically put on your seapass account UNLESS you told guest relations not too!!!

We found the service to be great also. There were three casual nites. Sport jackets were optional. I thought for an old ship, it was in great shape.

[WeBeCruisin']

There was only one casual night in the dining room. Besides formal night, the rest were "informal", where men had to wear dinner jackets.

!

 

By "dinner jackets", to you mean sports coat or blazers? A dinner jacket is usually considered to be a cream-colored tuxedo jacket which is worn with a tuxedo shirt, tuxedo pants and a bowtie. That would be far more formal than a dark suit, much less "informal".

[slotaddict]

We found the service to be great also. There were three casual nites. Sport jackets were optional. I thought for an old ship, it was in great shape.

 

Mikvie - there you are, did you ever get to the beach break. We never went, the weather in the morning was an issue and by the time it cleared to beach weather, I didn;t think it would be worth it.

[mikvie]

Mikvie - there you are, did you ever get to the beach break. We never went, the weather in the morning was an issue and by the time it cleared to beach weather, I didn;t think it would be worth it.

We went. Check out my reply on Celebrity Connections.

[m61376]

We thought it was one of the best cruises we've been on. It was nice being on a smaller ship; we haven't been on one for a very long time. The cabins were great, everything was nice and clean and service throughout the ship was what you'd expect. It was nice not having any crowds.

 

My husband only wore a jacket on the formal night. Our table companions didn't wear jackets either and the waiter gave us great service.

 

I agree that the whirpools could have been warmer- they weren't cold, but weren't hot either. But it was fun relaxing in them and lying out on deck afterwards, so it didn't bother us. As for the hairdryers- they are standard hotel-type dryers. I always bring my own along because I have long hair. I guess different things are important to different people, but we really thought the cruise was great.

[riandei]

Im hopefull its not all this bad ... we didnt get a DEAL as we are heading to Bermuda so I'm hoping some of these things have been resolved.