Galaxy/Mercury condition of ship. Your thoughts?

[kelmac]

The Century is undergoing a "major" dry dock now (see photos below)

 

http://www.centuryrevitalization.photosite.com/

 

I'm sure the Mercury and Galaxy will get the same treatment down the road!? I think the poll shows "Celebrity fans" and "others":rolleyes: :) .

 

Enjoy!

Kel

[florida_cruiser]

I think the poll shows "Celebrity fans" and "others".

 

 

So Kel are you trying to say "Celebrity fans" blindly overlook all of the shortcomings on these ships while "others" are the true cruise critics???

 

I much prefer listening to the impartial critic who tells it like it is. I do acknowledge that you have to weed out the responses of those who are partial to other lines just as you have to ignore those responses who state Celebrity can do no wrong.

 

What future cruisers should be more concerned with is how Celebrities customer relations is taking a markedly downward turn (see Mercury posts regarding treatment of passengers during/post cruise with the Norovirus situation and the numerous complaints regarding sewage problems on the Millenium for example) in the last few months.

[greeneg]

"What future cruisers should be more concerned with is how Celebrities customer relations is taking a markedly downward turn (see Mercury posts regarding treatment of passengers during/post cruise with the Norovirus situation and the numerous complaints regarding sewage problems on the Millenium for example) in the last few months."

 

I have to say that that is exactly my concern; that plus what seems to be a trend to delay routine refurbishings as long as possible. I'm not concerned about safety issuses; management wouldn't dare leave themselves open to that sort of thing in today's litiginous world. But one worries that we are seeing a significant change in what has been, in the past, the "Celebrity Experience". One or two "bad" reports do not necessarily mark a trend, but the number of recent negative comments is concerning, at least to me.

 

Well said.

[cechase]

The Century is undergoing a "major" dry dock now (see photos below)

 

http://www.centuryrevitalization.photosite.com/

 

I'm sure the Mercury and Galaxy will get the same treatment down the road!? I think the poll shows "Celebrity fans" and "others":rolleyes: :) .

 

Enjoy!

Kel

 

Kel thanks so much for the pictures. The renovation on Century is much much more extensive than I imagined! She is the favorite of myself and my DW.

 

Incidentally, I voted B+ in the poll based on our Med cruise last Oct. on Galaxy and Jan. cruise on Mercury. We are of the opinion that Galaxy needs the drydock more than Mercury, and we saw considerable signs of refurbishing on Mercury from our prior cruise on her.

 

Again, thanks - the pictures and work really is awesome!

[kelmac]

So Kel are you trying to say "Celebrity fans" blindly overlook all of the shortcomings on these ships while "others" are the true cruise critics???

 

I much prefer listening to the impartial critic who tells it like it is. I do acknowledge that you have to weed out the responses of those who are partial to other lines just as you have to ignore those responses who state Celebrity can do no wrong.

 

What future cruisers should be more concerned with is how Celebrities customer relations is taking a markedly downward turn (see Mercury posts regarding treatment of passengers during/post cruise with the Norovirus situation and the numerous complaints regarding sewage problems on the Millenium for example) in the last few months.

 

It's the luck of the draw; some cruises will have bad weather, some cruises will have obnoxious passengers, some cruises will have Norovirus, some cruises will have maintenance issues -- passengers have a choice as to the way they respond to any negative issue. Do you work with the people incharge or do you go to war with them?

The half empty group may have an ax to grind? When you can't get your way onboard a ship, everthing starts looking negative, perhaps even the worn threads on the bedspread becomes a "deal breaker".

New ships have less problems and that's why they charge more to cruise on them.:rolleyes: :)

I cruised the Mercury in March, 05; the Galaxy in December, 05 and the Century March, 06 -- all three ships had superior food, outstanding service, and were in great shape for ten year old ships. I seems like I got an awful lot for the price I paid!

 

Enjoy!

Kel

[florida_cruiser]

I cruised the Mercury in March, 05; the Galaxy in December, 05 and the Century March, 06 -- all three ships had superior food, outstanding service, and were in great shape for ten year old ships.

 

 

 

Your score of A+ for the condition of the ship is apparently based upon the fact that the ship is 10 years old and you are sailing at a reduced cost and not upon the actual ship board conditions. If you were to grade it compared to a brand new ship does your score then drop accordingly?

 

If I also understand you correctly the prices for cruises on Galaxy and Mercury should be dropping each year in relation to other cruise lines with newer ships as they continue to get older without benefit of any refurbishment. I don't think Celebrity got this memo!!

 

My main point, however, actually has nothing to do with the condition of the ships, the on board service or the food. I was simply making the point that the level of customer relations service from Celebrity post/during cruise appears to be waning. Why is it they don't seem to care about the valid complaints of the 3/17/06 passengers of Mercury. You call it the luck of the draw that they were effected by Norovirus. Perhaps so, but they did not receive full value for their dollar nor what the brochure promised them with respect to on board dining services. All they have asked for is what Celebrity afforded the passengers of the subsequent 3/27/06 cruise. They had the same cruise conditions, same cruise experience (or lack thereof) and in the end a completely deaf ear from Celebrity.

 

You are certainly free to view your Celebrity experience with your rose colored glasses and make comments such as "....the half empty group may have an ax to grind...." . Future potential passengers, such as myself, are able to read through all of these comments from loyal Celebrity fans and then read the comments from those people who genuinely had problems and who also had no ax to grind and it becomes very clear that there is trouble brewing at Celebrity. It is also becoming very clear that the number of Celebrity loyalists is on the decline.

 

I have read extensively through posts from the past year and in the last few months there is a distinct turning of the corner and changing of the guard for Celebrities customer relationship. I have not booked on Celebrity and am rather hesitant to do so until I have read something positive with regard to their attitude towards their customers. This board has been very enlightening to me to say the least.

[kelmac]

I have read extensively through posts from the past year and in the last few months there is a distinct turning of the corner and changing of the guard for Celebrities customer relationship. I have not booked on Celebrity and am rather hesitant to do so until I have read something positive with regard to their attitude towards their customers. This board has been very enlightening to me to say the least.

 

florida_cruiser,

First of all, let me say my rating was an A-, and I know Celebrity is far from perfect. I think you are correct about the number of negative posts concerning select sailings on the Mercury. Was there a problem? You bet!Did Celebrity handle it poorly? Probably. Do the other cruise lines have similar problems? Most certainly.

All I can offer is my experience (Rose color, and all). I have never had a bad cruise (24 total). Ten of those cruises have been on Celebrity ships (1994--2006) and I believe this company offers the best product in the Mass market/Premium catagory. Better than NCL, better than Princess, better than Royal Caribbean and slighty better than Holland America.

Cruise critic is a wonderful tool for people to educate themselves. On this board, if you have been treated poorly by any cruise company, you can let them have it!! Over, and over, and over, and over again. You just have to read between the lines.

 

Good luck selecting a cruise!:)

Kel

[florida_cruiser]

Cruise critic is a wonderful tool for people to educate themselves. On this board, if you have been treated poorly by any cruise company, you can let them have it!! Over, and over, and over, and over again.

 

Good luck selecting a cruise!

 

Fair enough.

 

I just wish that the cruisers who let them have it were not blasted by loyal Celebrity fans time and time again as happens in these boards. Obviously no cruise line is perfect and what may be a wonderful or acceptable experience for one person can end up being horrible for another. That does not make the person who had a rough experience a bad person or worthy of being slammed by the people who thought the same experience was good for them.

 

I would just like to be assured that if something goes terribly wrong that I can count on somebody to step up to the plate and take care of things. To me, I would consider having dining rooms shut down (albeit temporarily), and other events cancelled on a cruise something terrible. I would feel no different if I took my kids to Disney and after I had bought my ticket and entered the park they informed me there were only 50% of the rides open and if I wanted to eat I only had a choice of one venue and should expect to stand in line forever and have no place to sit when I did obtain food. Disney would not let that happen and nor should Celebrity. Sounds like I was on that Mercury cruise - I wasn't.

[kelmac]

Fair enough.

 

I just wish that the cruisers who let them have it were not blasted by loyal Celebrity fans time and time again as happens in these boards. Obviously no cruise line is perfect and what may be a wonderful or acceptable experience for one person can end up being horrible for another. That does not make the person who had a rough experience a bad person or worthy of being slammed by the people who thought the same experience was good for them.

 

I would just like to be assured that if something goes terribly wrong that I can count on somebody to step up to the plate and take care of things. To me, I would consider having dining rooms shut down (albeit temporarily), and other events cancelled on a cruise something terrible. I would feel no different if I took my kids to Disney and after I had bought my ticket and entered the park they informed me there were only 50% of the rides open and if I wanted to eat I only had a choice of one venue and should expect to stand in line forever and have no place to sit when I did obtain food. Disney would not let that happen and nor should Celebrity. Sounds like I was on that Mercury cruise - I wasn't.

 

Good point! I hope I never experience that kind of cruise, and I hope this run of great luck stays with me!

By the way, the first person to come up with an inexpensive, 15 second, Norovirus test kit will rake in millions. ;) :)

 

Kel

[hdawson]

I've been on 5 Celebrity cruises on 4 different ships and 3 ship classes. Total 18 cruises. I've never noticed anything but excellent facilities that are kept immaculate. Of course some people seem to live to criticize and that is all that really makes them happy.

[missm]

Zeebrugge is a large industrial port which is quite a ways away from the lovely medieval town of Brugge. When we were there several years ago, Celebrity provided a shuttle bus to the train station. We wasted quite a bit of time waiting for a train into Brugge - both going and coming - so I would recommend either a ship-sponsored tour or a private one for those of you who want to maximize your time there.

 

Mary

[florida_cruiser]

Of course some people seem to live to criticize and that is all that really makes them happy.

 

Just the sort of response from a loyal Celebrity fan with blinders on that I have come to expect from these boards. I guess those unfortunate cruisers on Mercury are quite happy now that they have been afforded the opportunity to criticize Celebrity. It surely must make up for their cruise experience or lack thereof.

 

 

I hope I never experience that kind of cruise, and I hope this run of great luck stays with me!

 

That would be my wish for you and all others as well!!

[Netcouple]

Hello,

 

I am far from an experienced cruiser (this was only cruise #2 for us) but thought I would post a couple of personal observations. I know for certain that other people on this exact same cruise had a very different view of their trip (sometimes I wonder if we were on the same boat!) but I can only present my experience on this cruise.

 

My only prior cruise was Carnival, so perhaps comparing it to Celebrity is an "apples to oranges" type of thing, but it's my only point of referece, so there you have it. The Carnival cruise was six years ago AND on the Sensation, also an older ship. But, here goes:

 

About the itinerary...

There was a disappointment right at the beginning; we learned that our itinerary would be changed. The ship skipped Mazatlan and spent 2 days in Acapulco instead to have a bearing replaced. I was especially disappointed because (like many on this sailing) i had booked a slot at the Royal Spa in Mazatlan; but, I decided it wouldn't ruin my vacation and I'd deal with getting a refund from the spa when I returned home.

 

In terms of ports of call, I was not overly impressed. Having cruised the eastern side of Mexico, my husband and I had both expected very lush, green ports of call. Surprise! Cabo looked to us like Nevada, only on the ocean; Acapulco was very dirty and kind of scary. :eek: Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo was nice, especially Zihuatanejo. It's a very charming little fishing town and we enjoyed a couple of hours on Las Gatos beach. Puerto Vallarta was by far the best port in our opinion, and one to which we would like to return. The people were charming, our ship excursions were great, it was clean and obviously a place to live that people took great pride in and there was plenty to do and see.

 

In spite of our surprise at the topography, and shock at the filth of Acapulco, we still had an interesting vist to both Cabo and Acapulco; they just would not be places to which we would return. Taking a cruise to those ports was perfect for us. People who visited the resorts seemed pretty happy overall; if I went back to Acapulco that I would do a resort excursion and spend the day at the beach. :cool: I think I would be afraid to get in the water though - it sure looked like raw sewage floating around in there to us.

 

About the ship...

Mercury is not new and doesn't look new. There were some worn spots on furnishings in public rooms. Our shower stall had a small area where the finish was worn off (which I never noticed till our last day at sea for some reason). The toilet looked a bit worn, as did some others in the public restrooms. Some of the carpeting was showing wear, especially at seams.

 

Still, I gave the Mercury a B+ on the poll here. Why? I thought for her age she looked in remarkably good shape (consider, 1700 people per week use and abuse her!). Secondly, I am personally less concerned with how new something is and more concerned with how clean something is...and I felt that the ship was very well taken care of. I am a person who doesn't care if my hotel is a Holiday Inn - as long as everything is spotlessly clean. :p

I think the tired looking items should be replaced/refurbished; but their slightly shabby appearance won't ruin the experience for me. Perhaps my prior sailing on the rather old Sensation is influencing my view here. Had I sailed a new ship most recently, or a luxury line, I might have a different opinion.

 

I do think (and heard from crew members several times) that people who sail a luxury line expect the exact same experience on a premium line like Celebrity, which might be unreasonable. I can't comment one way or the other, never having done a luxury line...I hope to one day though!

 

In terms of cleanliness I have no complaints whatsoever. Our room steward, Hector, was outstanding at his job. Twice a day that bathroom was scrubbed top to bottom; chrome that might be wet from a shower was dried meticulously so there were no water spots; we never ran out of toilet paper and only once ran out of tissues, which he wouldn't have been able to tell as they are in a box inside a container mounted on the wall - we couldn't tell it was low until it ran out. It was replaced immediately the next morning.

 

Hector even made sure to lay out the complimentary tote bag the morning of our first port of call, so we would have something to carry our beach towels, etc. I heard from several other people while waiting for the tender that their stewards hadn't done that.

 

Like many hotels, if you hang up your towels after use they don't give you new ones, but I would swear they were replaced daily anyway. We had fresh water and ice every day; sometimes twice a day if we drank any of it. I know our tablemate at dinner said his room steward made sure that any beer left from his bucket of beer was keep well iced in the room! :p

 

If a glass was used during the day, it was replaced with a clean one at the evening turn-down. The room was always tidied up at the evening turn-down, and the sheets and pillows were arranged slightly differently each night (I did miss Carnival's towel critters tho!).

 

I do hope (and have heard it's in the works) that they upgrade the mattresses and the pillows - the pillows especially were not very comfortable. I also know that one of our tablemates was unable to get his tv to work at all for the length of the cruise.

 

The other major hitch I noticed was the ATM kept going on the fritz and stopped working completely in or just after we left Puerto Vallarta. This was unfortunate for us because we wanted to have more cash available for tips then we had planned, and the only other way to get it was a cash advance on our credit card at the casino, which incurred a 3% fee from Celebrity as well as whatever our card will charge us.

 

Tip for future cruisers if the ATM quits working: go to the casino, present your Seapass card, ask for cash. If they say "to gamble" say yes, drop a few bucks of it then go your way. No fee for cash advances for gambling and far as I know there is no way for them to track the amount you actually gamble from that cash. Wish I'd figured that out but we're not much into gambling and even less into cash advancing for anything, so we're pretty clueless! ;)

 

You can pay for the tips through your Seapass card but it must be done 2 days or more before the end of the cruise, and for us anyway, we weren't sure what amts we wanted to give at that point.

 

I noticed several things going on while onboard: carpet was being replaced, wood railings and trim in elevators and elsewhere was being re-varnished, windows were being cleaned. I personally didn't see a lot of left over evidence from the "bleach cruises", but I did see some (stained wood or carpet for example). My feeling was that these items would be repaired or replaced as time goes forward, but I have nothing concrete to base that on.

 

Speaking only for myself and my husband, what made this cruise terrific for us was the staff onboard. From the crew members who greeted you at the gangway with champagne, to Hector our room steward who came by almost immediately to introduce himself (he had the most lovely warm smile), to our waiters (Dragan and Dimce, they are THE BEST - ask for tables 600, 602 or 604 and tell them hello from us please!!!), to almost anyone you passed at any place on the ship...everyone had a smile and a greeting of some kind. Everyone was willing to joke or take a minute to chat; no one seemed to have a bad day. Our waiters never forgot their formal "Sir" or "Madams" but they were more than willing to share a joke and have a good time while providing excellent service.

 

To be honest, I felt the "lower" level staff (waiters, room stewards, bar tenders, cleaning people, etc) were more friendly and approachable than the cruise director or activity director or others at their level. Maybe we didn't count to people at the cruise director level because we are novice cruisers and not huge spenders onboard; it never seemed to make a difference to the "lower" level crew members.

 

Disembarkation was a breeze; we appreciated Celebrity providing the customs officers with hot coffee and fresh pastries at 6:00 in the morning to get them in a good mood!

 

Embarkation was also simple and quick. We were onboard less than 30 minutes after arriving at the dock. The tendering process went smoothly at each port where it was required; the tenders that are onboard Mercury are largely enclosed, however, making for a very hot wait while they were loaded or unloaded. At Zihuatanejo (and I think at Cabo as well) there were Celebrity employees at the dock handing out chilled wet washclothes and icy cold punch, water or lemonade to those waiting in line for tenders. We never waited longer than 15 minutes.

 

In terms of sanitation, we saw things being cleaned and wiped down almost constantly, although it did slow up some near the end of the cruise. Each guest was required to disinfect their hands before entering the main dining room at dinner; at all other times disinfectant was available and very visible, but not mandatory. People seemed pretty good about using it, and no one was allowed to serve themselves at the buffets. At Cabo there was even a Celebrity employee who went around wiping down every surface anyone touched, including riding over on the tender and wiping down railings etc at the dock on land!

 

We found crew members willing to discuss the trouble with the Noro virus on the previous cruises but mostly in generalities. All did indicate having been exhausted for a couple of cruises and glad things were returned to normal. No one we spoke to denied there having been a problem on prior sailings; they just didn't go into great detail on how bad it might have gotten. I didn't feel they were "hiding" anything but I think they were instructed to downplay it some and/or keep a positive spin on things. Would it be handled differently at other companies? Maybe, maybe not. Depends on the corporate culture. I don't fault the employees from doing what they were told. Since I didn't sail on the affected cruises, I don't have an opinion on how it was handled at the time.

 

We also found people very willing to answer questions about how they became crew members, including procedures, costs, vacation, shore leave, health insurance, etc. Most interesting!

 

Overall, I would definitely sail Celebrity again, especially if our waiters were going to be on whatever boat we sailed! I found some differences (obviously there would be) between it and our Carnival cruise, but I would say the two biggest were the food quality (Celebrity overall was outstanding; there were a couple of dishes that could have been a bit better) and the crew members...we had a fantastic experience with everyone working onboard Mercury. It was the one thing we and others we spoke to commented on positively over and over again.

 

Happy sailing to those of you with Mercury in your future!

 

Ellen & Craig

[Lois R]

Hi, enjoyed reading your review:)

Have a question about your waiter.....you said his name was

Dragan? I had an assistant waiter on Mercury by that name

when I sailed her 2 years ago..do you recall where he is from?

Wonder if it is the same guy! Tall, and lean in stature?

 

And one other thing....I have always heard and read that

there is no service charge for cash from the casino....did

they mention if this is a new procedure? 3%...have never

heard about that on Celebrity.

 

Thanks again:)

[cechase]

Ellen & Craig, thank you for your balanced report on Mercury. It was similiar to my report of our 11 night cruise on Mercury out of San Diego on 1/2/2006. My report did not contain all positives, but include some negatives, similar to your observations. But, we overall reported that we had a marvelous time, citing specifically the crew, and our wonderful butler, cabin steward and her asst.

 

In our experience, we have never been charged a fee for obtaining cash in the casino on our Seapass. However, we do engage in activities in the casino.

 

I am not surprised that they were installing carpet during the cruise. Using our first Mercury cruise as a yard stick, on our last cruise we did notice that considerable refurbishing had been accomplished on Mercury, and that our Royal Suite had been totally refurbished.

 

As to Mercury being 10 years old, we are assuming that she will receive similar drydock treatment which is occuring with our favorite Celebrity vessel - Century!

[teedee]

I give them a solid B+. I was on Galaxy last October and just got off Mercury yesterday (great cruise, by the way). While I saw minor signs of wear and tear on both ships, nothing major at all. I was surprised at how good Mercury looked given her recent problems. They were putting in new carpet in some of the lounges and new beds and bedding in some of the cabins during our cruise. I would absolutely sail either one again.

 

Terri

[excitedofharpenden]

Welcome home Terri. I'm so pleased you had such a good cruise on Mercury.:) I think I read elsewhere that you missed Mazatlan? This wasn't my favourite port being a large industrial city, but we had a great day nonetheless.

 

Phil

[Netcouple]

Lois,

 

Sorry for the confusion about cash from the casino. You can get cash for gambling with NO fee using your Seapass card. However, if you wanted a cash advance from your credit card for some reason (in our case, to add to the tips we'd already planned on) they charge a 3% fee. What we should have done (had we been more experienced!) was ask for the cash for "gambling", gotten it fee-free, dropped $5-$10 in the casino, then walked away with the rest to do with as we wanted. Sometimes we're not too bright! :o

 

It's unfortunate that the ATM didn't work - I know our tablemate was really in a jam since he wanted to pay his bar bill in cash and couldn't get any!

 

Dragan is tall and lean - he's from Bosnia or Croatia I believe. He and Dimce from Macedonia were incredible - I think they were Terri and Deb's waiters too. If you're sailing on Mercury in the near future, see if you can get seated at their tables, and tell them that Table 600 from the April 28 sailing says hi and we really miss them!

 

E

[Lois R]

Ellen, I am sailing Mercury next week:D Friday, May 19th...and yes,

that is the same Dragan...but when I had him he was our Asst waiter

so he has been promoted:D how great is that?!

 

Now that this group has come back with so many more positive

comments it makes it all even more exciting:)

 

Terri, welcome back and I am also glad you had such a good time!

Hope you are feeling well too:)

[teedee]

Welcome home Terri. I'm so pleased you had such a good cruise on Mercury.:) I think I read elsewhere that you missed Mazatlan? This wasn't my favourite port being a large industrial city, but we had a great day nonetheless.

 

Phil

 

Phil - Yes, we had to skip Mazatland, but I thought the $50 onboard credit was very generous.

 

Terri

[teedee]

Dragan is tall and lean - he's from Bosnia or Croatia I believe. He and Dimce from Macedonia were incredible - I think they were Terri and Deb's waiters too. If you're sailing on Mercury in the near future, see if you can get seated at their tables, and tell them that Table 600 from the April 28 sailing says hi and we really miss them!

 

E

 

We also had Dragan & Dimce and thought they were great. Dimce should be a waiter, he's wonderful & should be promoted.

 

Lois - You'll have a wonderful time on Mercury. Tell Dragon & Dimce hello from us (table 602, late seating) if you see them.

 

Terri

[Dale&Joan]

Just got back from the April 28th trip on the Mercury. For it's shape I gave it a B. For it's age of 9 years, good-very good.

 

My twin bed put next to my wife's had poor box springs in mattress. Did not sleep well first 3 nights, finally had them put a pad in. Our love seat next to our window was slightly worn. You can tell the ship overall was lived in for a while. They were putting new carpet in somewhere when we were in Acapulco two days.

 

It is hard to me to believe they don't check the matresses and the furniture. Everything else is great... food and entertainment.