Galaxy 9/3 Westbound Transatlantic Review

[plvogel]

First, I want everyone to know that the opinions expressed are my own. Let me start off by saying we had a wonderful time on the Galaxy, and I am quite taken with her. Mostly all positive things to say, but a few negatives. We have cruised X previously, but only on Summit.

 

EMBARKATION:

 

This was a breeze! We arrived in Civitavecchia by private shuttle that we hired with my brother and sister in law and our friends Eric, Paula, Fred, and Judy at around 1 pm. There were no lines, and plenty of people to help with luggage, etc.. Our paperwork had been previously completed on-line. We got our Sea Pass cards, went through security, got a glass of champagne and boarded the ship. We were on board in less than 15 minutes. We were met by white gloved crew members who took our carryons and escorted us to our stateroom. This could not have been easier or better.

 

STATEROOM:

 

We had a royal suite (1024) which was spacious and comfortable. My brother and sister-in-law had a sky suite (1014). Our only major complaint was that the furnishings were tired and worn. The chairs and carpet were stained. In fact, the arms of the sofa were blackened from all the people who had put there hands there over the years. Our cabin was not the only one like this. Many people commented on this problem. While the room was clean, the furnishings are well past their prime and should have been replaced long ago. Celebrity really needs to drydock the ship and refurbish the cabins.

 

SHIP:

 

The Galaxy is showing her age here and there in the public areas, but she is clean, clean, clean. The crew was constantly cleaning. All the public restrooms were clean and shiney. There were fresh flowers floating in vases in every bathroom, and they never ran out of hand towels in any of the restrooms I used. In ports, they were constantly hosing down the hull and painting. The stainless steel in the public areas was shined to a mirror-like polish. Interestingly, on our second to last day we hit some weather (very strong winds) and some of the metal slats over our balcony fell off into the sea. Again, nothing a dry dock can't fix. The windows were constantly being cleaned. The only negative I can mention is that the windows in the Stratosphere lounge never seemed to be really clean, which was unfortunate as this was one of the best places to sit and view the sea. One thing about a smaller ship is that everything is a little smaller (duh..) This was most noticable in the dining room, where the tables were probably 20% smaller than on Summit. There was no room on our table for 4 for bread. Instead, they placed little stands next to the table for the bread (clever). However, the room was never noisy, and the orchestra could be heard easily. Alittle more nit-picking: The martini bar is too small, and in a bad location. You cannot walk back to the bar on deck 5 because the kitchen is in the way. And the space is way too small. It was always packed, and you could never get a seat. Galaxy also seems to have a small vibration problem. It was minor, and not annoying, but there was a very rythmic vibration which was particularly noticable when in bed, as the headboard of the bed vibrated along with the ship.

 

FOOD:

 

Let me just say this about the food..it was good, very good, very very good, in fact, at times it was superb. The buffet was typical with a good variety. We usually skipped the breakfast buffet and opted for room service, which was always tasty. The waffle station and omelet stations were excellent. The fruit served on board was delightful. I have been on many ships and it always seems like the fruit is never ripe. Every piece of fruit I ate on this ship was sweet and ripe and delicious. Lunch buffets were very good for the most part. The sandwich station made very tasty, fresh sandwiches. They also had a curry station several times which was very good. As far as buffets go, this one was above average. The hamburgers were excellent as well, but for some reason the buns always seemed stale. The pizza was good. Sushi was good, not great, but good. We ate dinner in the dining room almost every night, and I did not have anything I did not like. The rack of lamb was superb, as was the chateaubriand. Celebrity makes the best bernaisse sauce I have ever tasted. We sampled alot of the entrees. Only once did I have to send back a steak for being tough, and the replacement was butter-tender. Desserts were tasty. I have heard alot of folks complain that the food quality has diminished, but I can tell you that on this trip, we had the best dining we have ever had on any ship. In fact, the cuisine was better than on Summit and rivaled the meals served in the Normandie. Considering they are catering for 2000 people, this was an amazing feat.

 

SERVICE:

 

Celebrity has always provided us good service, but on this ship, it was exceptional, in my opinion. With a smaller ship and a crew of 1000, the passenger to crew ration was less than 2:1. Crew members got to know us quickly, and were always happy to go our of their way to please us. I asked our head waiter to make us bananas foster one evening, and voila....there it was the next night. "Anything to make you happy" as he said. Our waiter was efficient, friendly, and always tried to make us happy. We had 3 diet coke drinkers at our table, and new ones always arrived before the old ones were even finished. They re-arranged tables on the last night to accomodate our request for a table for 8, as we wanted to eat with new friends. Our butler was excellent, and any request for room service arrived within minutes. I ordered at least 4 cappucinos daily. One thing I do not understand...why are cappucino's free in the suites, but not at the cova. It makes no sense what-so-ever. All you should have to do is show your card and they should be free. ( celeb,...are you listening?) Our butler set up for a party in our cabin, and brought us 3 extra bottles of champagne, lots of glasses, bowls for snacks, etc.. He even brought us a huge tray of canapes for the party. Stateroom attendants were always courtious and efficient. The rooms were cleaned twice daily, even when we slept in. We would leave the room for 5 minutes, and they were in and out before we would get back!

 

ENTERTAIMENT:

 

To my suprise, the entertainment was extremely good. The production shows (4 of them) were quite good, and 2 were excellent. The broadway review and a new show called "Elements" which featured a performer from Cirque du Solei was outstanding. The dancers were good. 3 of the 4 singers were good, but typical for a cruise ship. The fourth singer (Tia) was amazing. This girl could blow you out of the theater. Imagine a singer who looks like Vanessa Williams and sings like Patty LaBelle. This girl is going places! The other shows were also surprisingly good. I skipped the comedian. The pianist and violinist were entertaining. The show with marrionettes (yes....marrionettes) was AMAZING....funny, a little baudy, and technically fascinating. I thought I would hate this...but I loved it. I talked to the cruise director (Nick Weir), and commented on how much better the entertainment was onboard Galaxy. He was very gracious, but did comment that the star of the show on Mille-class ships is the stage (I agree...they make way to much use of video walls, special effects, etc...). On Galaxy, they really concentrated on talent, and it showed. This ship had the best entertaiment of any ship I have sailed on. The bands and singers in the rest of the ship were uniformly good.

 

DEBARKATION:

 

Of course, this is the worst part of any cruise. But it went smoothly once the ship was cleared by customs, and we were off and reunited with our luggage in a short period of time. They did serve a full breakfast buffet that morning until at least 9 am, which was very nice.

 

I could go on and on, but overall, this was a great cruise. Celeb has always provided us with a quality product, and with a few minor exceptions, this was one of the best yet. The crew on Galaxy is the best afloat and we would sail her again in a minute.

[signman]

What time did Galaxy arrive at the pier in Baltimore. What time did passengers actually start to leave the ship. Thanks. Sailing G on 10/18.

[pamkev]

Where was the waffle station? The last time we were on the Galaxy it wasn't there. We found it on the Summit this past July and that was where we headed for breakfast just about every morning! Pam

[gkm]

What time did Galaxy arrive at the pier in Baltimore. What time did passengers actually start to leave the ship. Thanks. Sailing G on 10/18.

Howard, the ship arrived in Baltimore in the wee hours of the morning, 3:30ish I think. We were suppose to be in the second group to depart and had an 8:40 time, but immigration held things up. They did call out the names of two people (non-U.S. citizens) who evidently had not reported, so don't know if that was the reason or not. Our number wasn't called until 9:50 and by the time we struggled from the theater on deck 7 to deck 5 (with carry-on luggage) it was approximately 10:10 before we were able to get off of the ship. After that, things went smoothly and immigration was a breeze. The set-up for picking up our luggage was easy and the shuttle bus to the airport also went without a hitch.

 

I agree with plvogel (Hi Peter) on his review. One thing I will add is our disappointment with the activities staff. They seemed disorganized and very few of the activities started on time so this made the next activity late.. you get the picture.

 

There are not enough public areas on this ship and nooks and crannies are non-existent so there is no place to go to curl up with a good book and read. Often there was more than one activity being held in the same room. An example of this is was in the Stratosphere Lounge. Bridge instruction would be going on in one area (with microphone) and trivia would start in another area (with microphone).

 

Peter didn't mention the Computer Lab and I thoroughly enjoyed the classes there. They offered four sessions on Acrobat Photoshop Elements ($20 a session), and to me it was well worth the cost. There's a wonderful staff there to help with any of your internet questions (or any other computer-related questions you might have).

 

We were in a Sky Suite (1212), and our cabin was in excellent condition considering the Galaxy's age. We have no complaints about that and loved our veranda!

 

I also agree with Peter about the food. It was excellent and I enjoyed every morsel!:D

 

Garry

[signman]

Garry, thanks for the details. Sounds like your arrival went smoother than most at the Baltimore pier.

 

I'm extremely discouraged that Celebrity still serves such inferior hot dog and hamburger rolls. I would imagine that many many people specifically comment on this on their comment cards, yet X has made no effort to improve this basic product. Either buy a decent quality roll, immediately freeze it and defrost as needed, or bake them every so often so they are fresh. How many of these rolls are actually used in a day. 50 dozen???

[plvogel]

The waffle station is located next to the Oasis pool behind the cafe. They made fresh, made to order waffles which were delicious. Toppings included butter, syrup, fruit, and whipped cream. Much better than the pancakes and french toast which tended to get dried out sitting on the buffet.

[plvogel]

I did not make use of the computer lab (Hi Garry!). I can tell you that WiFi is available on Galaxy both in the Rendezvous and in Michaels Club. This was very convienent as you could access the internet with your own laptop whenever you wished. I also did not mention the spa. I have a few comments regarding that. The T-Pool was wonderful (so much better than on Summit). The gym was adequate and well equipped, and was never crowded. Spa treatments are the standard ones, and while very nice, are overpriced. The casino was also nice, and rarely crowded on our cruise. They did not open up the craps table until after we left the Azores as they we short on dealers until several came on board in Lisbon.

[nutzizi]

Since this was my first cruise, I really have nothing to compare it to. So I will just comment on what I liked and disliked.

 

 

:) The things that I liked:

 

The entertainment was second to none. The show Elements blew me away, and this funny guy named Beni made me darn near laugh my backside off in his comedy show.

 

The public areas were very clean and well cared for.

 

The food was above my typical fare of fast food for sure, and the food service crew in all the eating places were so very friendly and helpful, but the guys that waited on us in the Orion were out of this world. I have never been treated any better in any land locked restaurant I have ever been to, and I have chowed down in some pretty good restaurants in my time.

 

The vast majority of the crew were very helpful and friendly. Seeing to your every need with a smile.

 

The cabin we had was an outside room with a nice big window (not the little port holes I was fearfull of). The room was indeed small, but very functionable. Just enough room for two people. Our assistant stateroom attendant was very friendly and Johnny on the spot for anything we needed of him. The main attendant was neither friendly or helpful however. We just learned to work around him though.

 

:( The dislikes (bitching):

 

Thecarpet and chairs in our cabin were beyond dirty, they were down right nasty. The carpet had black and grey stains all over it and the chairs looked like they had been used as a catch basin for various liquids (use your imagination on what kind of liquids) I never sat in them, or for that fact put anything on them that would touch me. We had notice that some folks down the hall had put their dirty chairs out into the hall.

 

They had so many activities planned during day at the same time, but the ship seemed to shut down after the evening show. Nothing was ever planned after that. I found myself having to choose between two things that I wanted to do during the day, and being bored at night. Sure all the bars were open at night, but who could afford to drink at those prices (we paid over twenty dollars for two martinis, which I thought was insane). My suggestion would be to spread activities over the whole day and evening hours. A lot of the poolside activities could be done at night, instead of closing the pools down at 8 pm. But then again, I am a night owl and most of the folks on this cruise were older and early risers.

 

I went on this cruise with a friend of mine. We had asked for twin beds when we booked the cabin. When we got to our cabin we found one full sized bed (twins tied together) We thought no problem, we will have the attendant seperate the beds. We went ahead and put our things up. My friend likes to leave his things in his luggage, so he pulled down the upper bunk over his side of the cabin and placed his luggage there. We then called the attendant back to the room. He made it very well known that he was put out at having to seperate the beds and scolded Allan for placing his luggage on the upper bunk. Allan asked why, as he has always put his luggage up there on other cruises. The Attendant said it was against the cruise lines rules, because he could hit his head on the upper bunk if he had to get up at night. Allan came back with "so if you book four people in this cabin and use those bunks, then my banging my head would not concern you, right?" This ticked off the attendant and he was rude and nasty to us the rest of the cruise.........except on tip day! He was offset by the nice assistant attentant, who I feel should have recieved the whole tip.

 

The food was fantastic, with the exception of most of the desserts. They were, for the most part very bland and most the pastries were stale. Yes so were the hotdog and hamburger buns, but they would have been ok, if they would have made the buns smaller (the meat was lost in them), and invested in a toaster or a steamer.

 

The disembarkation process was not problem for us at all. We simply paid no attention to the warnings to be in the theatre at 8:40 sharp. Instead, we went to get some breakfast, went back to the cabin, laid down on the bed and watched the gangway that was just outside our window. I knew that there was a group that was scheduled to leave at 8:30, so when I saw those folks heading down the gangway, we went upstairs. We were not there more than 2 minutes when they called for the 8:40 group to leave. That was one time that it paid to have someone with me that had cruised with Celebrity before. He warned me that they always scare you up about being at the set location on time, then when you get there, it is just a lot of hurry up and wait. At least in the cabin we could relax.

 

Overall,I was very impressed with my first cruise and very happy with the ship and crew. I cant wait to do it again, although maybe on a shorter cruise. I hear that you get a younger crowd on shorter cruises. I loved the peace and quiet of the older crowd, just bored to tears at night. Carnival will most likely be my next cruise, but I will be back on Celebrity again!

[FAR_girl]

pamkev: Thank God the waffle bar has been located and vouched for! On my last Galaxy voyage I had the butler deliver waffles ever day after trying dining room breakfast the first morning.

 

nuzizi: I know it's inconvenient, but I always thought they got people out of their staterooms early on debarkation day, so they could be "turned over" for the new set of passengers. Unlike a hotel, where some guests may be staying through on any given day, pretty much every cruise ship passenger is leaving the ship on debarkation (except for BtoBers or stow-aways :D ) and the rooms have to be prepared for the new guests.

[BEAV]

Peter, great review!

 

Having sailed Mercury twice, we've always wanted to sail Galaxy. Aside from the alternative restaurant, I personally like the Century-class over Millie-class.

 

Did Paula & Eric behave themselves?

[Quartetlead]

Just returned from the Galaxy transatlantic (Rome to Baltimore) and have to say from an entertainment point of view, this was the least enjoyable of our Celebrity cruises. There is a dearth of activities during the sea days that I attribute to a decreased activities staff. On past cruises, there was often difficulty deciding between several things to do since many were scheduled close together. Not a problem this time as much of the time there were hours between games. Never played so much shuffleboard before on a cruise. Also, the staff was often late for an activity. Nick Wier was Mr. Cellophane this trip. Unseen mostly except for his obligatory appearances. Had him as a cruise director in the past and was well pleased with his involvement.

 

 

The production shows, in my opinion, were mediocre at best. Maybe they were just too avant garde for my tastes in a couple of cases. The Celebrity Dancers were ok, the singers (4) were only fair with the exception of one young man who may have a future in the entertainment business. The speciality acts were very good. A couple of pianists, the Russian violinist, the comedian and the comedic magician were entertaining.

 

The food, ah, the food! Never been disappointed in the food on Celebrity. Excellent quality, preparation and presentation. The entire staff in the dining areas were wonderful. Always cheerful (don't know how they do it) and anxious to do whatever it takes to please. Goes for other crew as well.

 

The ship as an entirity seems in need of a major cleaning and refurbishing. Many chairs in the dining and public areas were horribly stained and in some cases unstable. Carpets in some areas, including our cabin, were very stained.

 

The Captain's Club perks were disappointing. A very crowded tour of the galley where no one could hear unless you were right in front of the guide. Would have been much better broken into two or more groups. A back stage tour that was scheduled and then rescheduled and at the appointted time, no one showed up. After 15 minutes, a passenger inquired and was told that the time had been changed again but not in time to notify the passengers. Didn't stick around to attend. A cocktail party for Select and Elite members of the Captain's Club was advertised as meeting with ship's officers was also very disappointing. There was no greeters at the door and I only saw two officers circulating the crowd. Servers were scarce and if you didn't want one of the prepared drinks, you waited a long time to get what you ordered.

 

The Martini Bar, a favorite haunt was very small and as a result, very crowded most of the time. A good place for a pre-dinner drink but often couldn't find a place to sit or even stand without disturbing someone else. Nathaniel Reed was there most of the time singing popular tunes. One evening, however, he was scheduled to be there and there was lots of room. Nathaniel didn't show up.

 

Overall, a good cruise! Just not as good as others we have been on.

 

Bud & Cheri Laumann

[plvogel]

BEAV!!!!

 

 

Yes, we had a great time, and Eric and Paula did not behave themselves at all, which made it even better. Paula's parents are just darling, and had everyone out on the dancefloor in the Stratosphere every night we went. On 50's night, the served little hot dogs, cheeseburgers, patty melts, and fried cheese for the gourmet bites. Since we had a big party in our suite that day, and nobody went to dinner afterwards (except Eric and Paula), the waiter brought us several trays of them!!

 

Galaxy is a warm, lovely ship with a fabulous crew. She just needs some sprucing up. By the way, the had multiple FOD gatherings. By the end of the cruise, we had changed the name to "Friends of Linda". My sister-in-law is now the official "hag" of Celebrity!!

 

Eric only brought 8 pairs of shoes, but this time he brought 14 pairs of glasses and I don't think he repeated an outfit once during the cruise. He's such a wannabe.

 

The only thing that would have made the trip better was if you all were there as well. Perhaps another cruise....

[moya]

Garry and Bob ,

 

Welcome home- sounds like you had a great cruise - Thanks for taking care of our "cabin"

 

We heard from our waiter on the Connie that you hit rough seas and the dinning room was closed for 2 days?

 

We had to divert from Iceland and got to Vigo Spain due to high seas and bad weather in Iceland. We also ahd a medical evacuation at sea off the coast of Ireland.

 

Did you have a CD?DVD player in you SS - I cant seem to remember if there was one?

 

Hope to cruise with you both again.

 

 

Moya- Ted and Diana

[nutzizi]

nuzizi: I know it's inconvenient, but I always thought they got people out of their staterooms early on debarkation day, so they could be "turned over" for the new set of passengers. Unlike a hotel, where some guests may be staying through on any given day, pretty much every cruise ship passenger is leaving the ship on debarkation (except for BtoBers or stow-aways :D ) and the rooms have to be prepared for the new guests.

Yea, I understand that turn around is the reason for the early departure. But it was not a problem for anyone that we stayed in the cabin. The attendants were all the way down the hall working, and told us we could stay in the cabin till they got to us. We were gone before they made it back to us. But one thing did bug me about the early disembarkation. I noticed that we were dragging our feet all the way across the atlantic. One would think that they would schedule a later departure at the start of the trip, so that you would not have to get up at the crack of dawn to leave. You know, kind of like a 11 or noon check out in a hotel. And plan to leave port at 9 or 10 in the evening with the new load of passengers. Well maybe that could be the tool I use to attract passengers to my pipe dream cruise line. "WE HAVE LATER DEPARTURES, SO YOU CAN SLEEP IT ALL OFF" :cool:

[plvogel]

Garry and Bob ,

 

 

We heard from our waiter on the Connie that you hit rough seas and the dinning room was closed for 2 days?

 

 

 

Moya- Ted and Diana

This rumor has appeared on other threads. We had warm sunny weather 13 out of 14 days, and only one day were the seas slightly rough. Otherwise, seas were smooth as glass

[ILuvCruisin']

Thanks Peter. I'm on the Galaxy 18th sailing. I have heard about her needing dry dock repairs and was a little concerned but your extensive review has put me at ease. Thanks for your candor.

 

What ports did you all visit?

[gkm]

Garry and Bob ,

 

Welcome home- sounds like you had a great cruise - Thanks for taking care of our "cabin"

 

We heard from our waiter on the Connie that you hit rough seas and the dinning room was closed for 2 days?

 

We had to divert from Iceland and got to Vigo Spain due to high seas and bad weather in Iceland. We also ahd a medical evacuation at sea off the coast of Ireland.

 

Did you have a CD?DVD player in you SS - I cant seem to remember if there was one?

 

Hope to cruise with you both again.

 

Moya- Ted and Diana

Hi Ted and Diana! It's good to hear from you. It sounds like you had a rougher cruise than we did! I had to laugh at the rumor of the dining room being closed. We couldn't have had better weather. We had one day while at sea that was stormy (with wind), but not bad enough that any activities were cancelled.

 

I asked Bob and he can't remember what we had with our TV. We didn't watch it (except to try to find our hurricane news). We had such a great CC group that there never seemed to be and "down" time. I didn't even get half of my books read that I had brought!

 

What's up next for the two of you! We'd like to cruise again with you too!:D

 

Garry

[plvogel]

Thanks Peter. I'm on the Galaxy 18th sailing. I have heard about her needing dry dock repairs and was a little concerned but your extensive review has put me at ease. Thanks for your candor.

 

What ports did you all visit?

We visited Villafranche (Monaco, Nice), Malaga, Gibralter, Lisbon, and Puenta Delgada (Azores-which were stunningly beautiful, reminded me of Hawaii).

 

Did I forget anythng Garry??

[gkm]

We visited Villafranche (Monaco, Nice), Malaga, Gibralter, Lisbon, and Puenta Delgada (Azores-which were stunningly beautiful, reminded me of Hawaii).

 

Did I forget anythng Garry??

No, that's all of them. Of course some of us enjoyed visiting Rome before the cruise!:D :D And don't forget about the 5 glorious sea days.... and 25 hour days.;)

 

I'd gladly do this cruise again.

 

Garry

[plvogel]

Yes, that was the best. Gaining an hour every night for 5 nights...what a pleasure. Could stay up late and still get plenty of rest... I loved that

[WHMInc]

Tell me aboutthe WiFi. I will be the Galaxy during Christmas which happens to be avery busy time for work and will needto checking withthe office a number of times a day. How much was the WiFi? Was it fast?

 

Thank you.

[plvogel]

WiFi was purchased the same as internet minutes. You can buy "packages" of minutes. I believe we bought 100 minutes for about $70 (I'm not sure about that, but it was less than $1/minute). The access was fast (satellite, about the same speed as DSL) and could be accessed in the Rendezvous lounge or in Michaels club. You just sign up for an account and a password, they give you the info you need, and you are good to go. The minutes you purchase can also be used on one of their workstations, if you so desire.