Tell me about the condition of the Galaxy?

[Gawga Girl]

6 of us just returned from the New England/Canada Cruise from Baltimore on the Galaxy. We had inside Cabins on the Penthouse deck in the Aft of the ship. Our cabins were spotless, carpet was very clean. bathrooms were perfect. Our steward Bernard and ass't Hector would do anything we asked. It was a wonderful trip. We had read reviews about what sad shape the ship is in but we were very pleased. Only complaint: the hamburger and hot dog buns are awfully dry [stale] and are never warmed. Answer to that problem, don't eat them!!!!!. Enjoy your trip as much as we did.

[RSteele]

I think we could get a "real thing" going with this trunk business....

 

Phil, you get it to the States...and I'll smuggle you back aboard for the Thanksgiving cruise that I'm on....then somebody who's cruising Dec.6th can smuggle me back aboard...we could get this smuggling thing going for a long time...like some of the threads I've been reading

[davehau]

So all we need now is to get Phil onto the Galaxy with a trunk that seats 8?

 

If nothing else, it'll make it easy to spot Phil in the Galveston terminal.

 

Gawga Girl - Was on that cruise in 8257, which was an incredible "two room" (sliding frosted glass door) inside cabin, located just steps away from the aft deck on 8. Only down side was it included free music at night, as it was right over the club on 7. Didn't bother me much, but might others, I guess. :D It was also under the kids' area, but we didn't have but maybe 4 or 5 kids on the entire boat?

 

Dave

[knelsonmiles]

Thanks for the great reviews! we are leaving Turkey Day......simply CANNOT wait!

[Gawga Girl]

No, Dave, we were on deck 10. No music and no kid noise. Only steps away from the outside deck. Cabins 1157, 1150, 1146. We had these same cabins on Mercury for Alaska in July and found what a gem they are. Large private deck with a wonderful view of the ship's wake. Better than a veranda and a lot less costly.

[rogfam]

Sailing on the Galaxy July 4, 2005 rt from Rome. Anyone going?? Response to the roll call board has been weak.

[TEXASMUNK]

When a cruise line wants to insure they fill the ship...

When a cruise line wants to insure they have friendly people onboard...

When a cruise line wants folks that appreciate quality service...

When a cruise line wants folks to return home with the bigget post cruise smiles they have ever had....

 

THEY SAIL FROM GALVESTON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

4-14-05 GALAXY TO THE PANAMA CANAL!!!

[LisadelRio]

My brother is on the B2B from Baltimore to Galveston right now. We're booked on Galaxy March 10th.

 

After reading this thread, I'm tempted to call him on his cell phone and get an on the scene report about the condition of the ship. He's a workaholic, so he'll be checking his messages at every port he can. They'll be in St Thomas on sunday and I think I'll call him there.

 

I hope he's having a good cruise, because I'm the one that convinced him to try Celebrity. :) Although I'm curious about his impressions, it won't affect our decision to sail her. We've wanted to sail on the Galaxy since our first cruise on the Mercury in 1998 and we're going - unbothered by any carpet stains we may encounter.

 

 

Lisa <--- who thinks the more ships sailing from Galveston, the better

[davehau]

Lisa,

 

Don't call him! You and I both know that if he gets a call about the condition of the ship, he'll end up seeing stains and nicks everywhere. ;) Better he should toss the cell phone in his safe untill he reaches Galveston. If he's having fun, he'll be too busy to notice most anything.

 

Actually, I think the greatest determinant of whether you have a good cruise is Attitude, both of the guests and the staff.

 

If the guests come on wanting to enjoy themselves, relax and take things easy, they'll be halfway to a good cruise.

 

The staff on the Galaxy is excellent. Everytime I cruised her I thought in the back of my head "There's no way the crew I get this time could be better than _______ who was on the last cruise." But, I continued to be amazed.

 

An example: On the Sept 27 Canada/New England cruise, the ship was severely underbooked. Not exactly sure why, but did notice the initial pricing was quite high, and the timing wasn't prime fall foliage conditions. In addition, the average guest age had to be higher than usual, given the folks I saw. This combination led to a very small second seating, with many tables empty, and some whole sections of the dining room with no guests. This meant, of course, that the waitstaff were not going to see the level of income (tips) they were used to, and for some, they had no second seating guests, and thus could reasonably expect their income to be halfed for this cruise. Don't know about you, but this would probably crimp my attitude a bit at work. The staff with no second seating guests still had to be in the dining room for much of the time, as they had to reset their stations for breakfast, and assist with the usual nightly tasks.

 

However, the staff that had guests were their usual pleasant, happy, and professional selves, and even those with empty stations were smiling and even joking with each other and the guests from time to time. Now, it is true that you might notice a few long faces when they thought they were away from the public eye, but all-in-all they remained pros. The service level remained high, the food was the usual excellent quality, and the guests all seemed to enjoy themselves. Would you guess these two had empty tables in their section?

 

Galaxy is a great ship, with a excellent bunch of folk working her. The only negative I can think about her is that she's now going to be ported in Galveston instead of my home town ;)

 

Dave

[RSteele]

Dave

Excellent pictures!! I hope I get those two waiters when I go to dinner. Took the fall folliage cruise in '02...your pictures brought back lot's of good memories. :)

[LisadelRio]

Dave,

 

Those photos are fantastic! Photography has to be your job, right? I want an 8 by 10 of that church yard shot. :)

 

I'll take your advice and not call my brother. You make a good point about him looking for things that he probably wouldn't have noticed otherwise.

 

I am going to call him the morning they disembark, though!

 

Lisa

[excitedofharpenden]

Dave

 

Thanks for sharing your pictures. They are top quality!

 

Phil

[knelsonmiles]

Excellent photos Dave!

[rrmanlht]

We will be on the Galaxy 11/25. We are flying in from Jackson, MS. PLEASE post a review as soon as you can - don;t guess we might get to see it though before WE leave. Would love to correspond with you - email me! We are early 50's and live in Clinton, MS. This will be our first X cruise and first cruise to the canal. We are really looking forward to Celebrity!

Hi .... luvtocruise...

My wife and I are on the Nov 1st cruise on Galaxy. We will post as soon as we get home to New Braunfel Texas. We will be back home Nov. 15th as we will stay in Houston to see our grandchildren on Sunday. This will be our longest cruise also and if it is anything like our 7 day ... we will really not what to leave the ship..lol. Check back for details ...

LARRY AND KITTEN

[LisadelRio]

I got a postcard from the aforementioned brother today! He's on the Galaxy as I type this. He is very well traveled, but this is only his second cruise. He sent the postcard from Charleston. His handwriting's pretty bad, but I can make out this much of what he said about the ship:

 

The ship's stunning. There's a lot of new carpet, etc. Michael Roux's food is nicely done by very middle of the road. Stateroom service is very good, but haven't seen much of the buttler. It's very relaxing especially on the veranda and the coffee bar on Deck 6.

 

I know his comment about the food doesn't sound very positive, but trust me, coming from him, it's a rave. He, like me, is a major foodie.

 

Hey, maybe we should always have siblings or others in the know interpreting reviews. :)

 

Lisa