Murcury's final sailing a less than pleasant trip

My wife and I just got off the final sailing (decommissioning) of the Murcury. It left from Baltimore for the carib. and returned to Baltimore. We did not know this was a decommissioning cruise until we had made our final non-refundable payment.

As the cruise ended they started to run out of food. The portions got VERY small and the seconds were tough to come by. They started removing items from our suite as early as three days before we arrived back. It was like living in an eviction. Things like the magazine rack, fruit bowl and other things kept being removed.

At one point some of the bars were running out of diet coke and the pool grill ran out of relish and other items. Its as though they were trying to stock just enough for the last drop on the last day.

The lobster tail was only half a tail and very small and when one of our table mates asked for a second, he was given the shell with mashed potatoes in it.

The crew was very upset the last few days and some of them reflected it in their service. They were not being told until the last day or so if they would be reasigned and if so to which ship or just sent home.

Many of the art works on the lounge walls were being removed two days before arrival. It was a very unpleasant experience.

I think Celebrity needs to make it known at the time of initial booking if there is anything unusual about the trip. When we did find out that this was a decommissioning trip, we called Celebrity and were assured that all food and service would remain unaffected for the entire trip. This was clearly NOT the case and has left a bad impression about this company.

I would not recommend a decommissioning cruise for anyone and this cruise was far below the prior Celebrity standard that we had become accustomed to on our prior Celebrity cruises.

:mad:

My wife and I just got off the final sailing (decommissioning) of the Murcury. It left from Baltimore for the carib. and returned to Baltimore. We did not know this was a decommissioning cruise until we had made our final non-refundable payment.

As the cruise ended they started to run out of food. The portions got VERY small and the seconds were tough to come by. They started removing items from our suite as early as three days before we arrived back. It was like living in an eviction. Things like the magazine rack, fruit bowl and other things kept being removed.

At one point some of the bars were running out of diet coke and the pool grill ran out of relish and other items. Its as though they were trying to stock just enough for the last drop on the last day.

The lobster tail was only half a tail and very small and when one of our table mates asked for a second, he was given the shell with mashed potatoes in it.

The crew was very upset the last few days and some of them reflected it in their service. They were not being told until the last day or so if they would be reasigned and if so to which ship or just sent home.

Many ofthe art work on the lounge walss were being removed two days before arrival. It was a very unpleasant experience.

I think Celebrity needs to make it known at the time of initial booking if there is anything unusual about the trip. When we did find out that this was a decommissioning trip, we called Celebrity and were assured that all food and service would remain unaffected for the entire trip. This was clearly NOT the case and has left a bad impression about this company.

:mad:

I'm sorry to hear the last cruise of the Mercury wasn't what you had hoped for. I'm surprised, we've had friends on the last cruise of other Celebrity ships and they reported that they went out in true Celebrity style.

ps - Welcome to Cruise Critic

I would suggest sending a letter to Celebrity detailing what you've described here. Avoid sounding angry. Don't demand anything and see what happens. Please post results. I've found that a good letter sometimes brings a nice surprise. Perhaps your comments will help some future cruisers.

I avoid last Cruises as have heard of issues in the past and also avoid the week prior to a Refurbishment and the first couple weeks after one of these. Saying that, information as to when these are going to occur is usually hard to find.

Sorry you had a less than wonderful cruise.

Sorry you had such a bad time. You would think they would have better planning than to start removing items before the end of the cruise. :rolleyes:

Sorry to hear about it...I've been hearing the same things from many!

My wife and I just got off the final sailing (decommissioning) of the Murcury. It left from Baltimore for the carib. and returned to Baltimore. We did not know this was a decommissioning cruise until we had made our final non-refundable payment.

As the cruise ended they started to run out of food. The portions got VERY small and the seconds were tough to come by. They started removing items from our suite as early as three days before we arrived back. It was like living in an eviction. Things like the magazine rack, fruit bowl and other things kept being removed.

At one point some of the bars were running out of diet coke and the pool grill ran out of relish and other items. Its as though they were trying to stock just enough for the last drop on the last day.

The lobster tail was only half a tail and very small and when one of our table mates asked for a second, he was given the shell with mashed potatoes in it.

The crew was very upset the last few days and some of them reflected it in their service. They were not being told until the last day or so if they would be reasigned and if so to which ship or just sent home.

Many of the art works on the lounge walls were being removed two days before arrival. It was a very unpleasant experience.

I think Celebrity needs to make it known at the time of initial booking if there is anything unusual about the trip. When we did find out that this was a decommissioning trip, we called Celebrity and were assured that all food and service would remain unaffected for the entire trip. This was clearly NOT the case and has left a bad impression about this company.

I would not recommend a decommissioning cruise for anyone and this cruise was far below the prior Celebrity standard that we had become accustomed to on our prior Celebrity cruises.

:mad:

I think the problems you experienced were not Celebrity's fault but the pushy Germans who are taking over the ship if I was in charge I would have not let them on the ship until the cruise was over. Maybe I should apply to work for Celebrity I would have got it right.

I take real exception to this. I was on the same cruise and I never saw any of this except the relish.

Portions were plentiful on my plate to the end and anything we wanted extra was available, with one exception. We always got an extra plate of steamed veggies with dinner. I like peas. On the last night there were no peas. Big deal.

Nothing was removed from my cabin. Not even the extra robe. More shampoo, conditioner, body wash appeared right up to the last day.

I had diet coke on the last night. Never any mention of anyone having to go to another bar to get it.

They did run out of the relish packets two days before the end. Big deal.

The lobster has been a half tail since they went to the Lobster Melange.

Almost everyone working onboard that I talked to (and I talk a lot :D) knew where they were going, when they were going by the first few days of the cruise. No one visably upset that I saw. Some said they hoped to do only one contract on their ship, but no one upset.

Hard to believe I was in those lounges and missed seeing blank spaces where the art work had been.

With the exception of the lunch I wrote about earlier, all our service was top notch.

I also know from talks with Chef Walter that their stores were not going to run out.

This posting did not reflect the experience I had nor that of any of my friends.

BTW, this is the 3rd X ship I've closed and never saw ANY of this happen on those either.

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The lobster tail was only half a tail and very small and when one of our table mates asked for a second, he was given the shell with mashed potatoes in it.

One of the most hilarious postings I've ever read on CC.

Actually it's a good thing, because shellfish is loaded with murcury.

I agree completely with Gail (Tuggers). Other than the lack of a proper send off, this was a wonderful cruise. Officers, staff and crew I had known from past cruises, as well as those I just met on this one were uniformly pleasant and helpful, and I heard no one complaining about his or her upcoming assignment.

I am sorry your experience was not good. Mine was excellent, as usual.

Anne

My wife and I just got off the final sailing (decommissioning) of the Murcury. It left from Baltimore for the carib. and returned to Baltimore. We did not know this was a decommissioning cruise until we had made our final non-refundable payment.

As the cruise ended they started to run out of food. The portions got VERY small and the seconds were tough to come by. They started removing items from our suite as early as three days before we arrived back. It was like living in an eviction. Things like the magazine rack, fruit bowl and other things kept being removed.

At one point some of the bars were running out of diet coke and the pool grill ran out of relish and other items. Its as though they were trying to stock just enough for the last drop on the last day.

The lobster tail was only half a tail and very small and when one of our table mates asked for a second, he was given the shell with mashed potatoes in it.

The crew was very upset the last few days and some of them reflected it in their service. They were not being told until the last day or so if they would be reasigned and if so to which ship or just sent home.

Many of the art works on the lounge walls were being removed two days before arrival. It was a very unpleasant experience.

I think Celebrity needs to make it known at the time of initial booking if there is anything unusual about the trip. When we did find out that this was a decommissioning trip, we called Celebrity and were assured that all food and service would remain unaffected for the entire trip. This was clearly NOT the case and has left a bad impression about this company.

I would not recommend a decommissioning cruise for anyone and this cruise was far below the prior Celebrity standard that we had become accustomed to on our prior Celebrity cruises.

:mad:

I'm so sorry you didn't have a good cruise. You sound like you have cruised Celebrity before? Don't let one bad experience ruin your view of X. Sadly, it has been a known and widly publisized fact that Mercury was leaving the fleet for a while now.

because shellfish is loaded with murcury.

Was that intentional. Shellfish loaded with mercury on the Mercury:D

We were on this cruise; we had a wonderful cruse and enjoyed quite a different experience from Sailor's.

I might note the lobster tail was larger than those we recently received on either RC or Norwegian. One of the individuals at our table asked for and received another. Since lobster is quite available in New England, I had a breaded pork chop that was as good as any that I have had in the finest chop house. In general, the food was plentiful and outstanding right up to and including the very end. I was impressed that we had rack of lamb on two nights. And on the last night a large well prepared veal chop was on the menu. All things considered, the menu compared somewhat favorably to some of those on "all inclusive" ships that we have been on.

Tuggers, I thought I was the only person that missed the peas.

We thought service throughout the ship was excellent. We failed to experience any decline in service on the last several days of the cruise.

Yes, on the return to Baltimore, our small plastic desk top magazine rack was removed (it held the port sales magazines) - no loss to us. Merchandise in the shops was sparse, but we do not have much interest in doing our shopping on the ship.

Since this was our first "final" cruise, I do not know whether Celebrity might have done more but we sure got our money's worth.

Just because someone was on the same sailing and had a different experience, doesn't mean it didn't happen.

My best friend and I talked to so many staff that were happy to air how p'od they were about going onto the Century or another older ship. One man we met in an elevator said he was on the crew that opened the century, and he didn't like the ship than. LOL

I mean, my asst. waiter is now one of my FB friends, there were some high points in the staff, but we even joked to his face that he was letting the other guy do all the work and he basically implied everyone was slacking off, getting crazy drunk below decks, because reviews had been turned in a few weeks before that helped their reassignments.

My favorite bartender was near tears one day because he was supposed to be on a ship that went to his home country every other run, and it was changed last second.

As of up until the last day of our cruise, the spa staff had no info on the new assignments.

That being said, Food was the best of any cruise I've ever been on. I normally hate the lobster dishes (We have a place in Maine- pretty much says it all) but I was stealing too much risotto off of my friends plate, so she ordered another tail and I and another gal split it. For mass produced lobster, it was awesome, and a good size portion considering there were scallops and shrimp in the risotto. I couldn't finish a full portion.

Just because someone was on the same sailing and had a different experience, doesn't mean it didn't happen.

 

My best friend and I talked to so many staff that were happy to air how p'od they were about going onto the Century or another older ship. One man we met in an elevator said he was on the crew that opened the century, and he didn't like the ship than. LOL

 

Different strokes..I agree!

Curious why crew members don't like being assigned to older ships and I wonder what the fellow meant who was supposed to be on the Celebrity when she began sailing and said he didn't like her? What is not to like?

We were on this cruise; we had a wonderful cruse and enjoyed quite a different experience from Sailor's.

 

I might note the lobster tail was larger than those we recently received on either RC or Norwegian. One of the individuals at our table asked for and received another. Since lobster is quite available in New England, I had a breaded pork chop that was as good as any that I have had in the finest chop house. In general, the food was plentiful and outstanding right up to and including the very end. I was impressed that we had rack of lamb on two nights. And on the last night a large well prepared veal chop was on the menu. All things considered, the menu compared somewhat favorably to some of those on "all inclusive" ships that we have been on.

I too took advantage of the two rack of lamb nights and the veal chop. They were excellent, cooked to proper temperature and very tasty. On lobster night it was the same as was served on my April 2010 Mercury cruise. This time I ordered a 1/2 NY strip with the lobster because I knew it was not a Maine lobster. My waiter brought the whole strip but then cut the strip in half to serve with the tail. He even gave me a choice of which half I wanted.

I learned on my last cruise, to go with the waiter's nightly recommendation so I would not be disappointed

I had heard about the magazine racks disappearing two nights before mine left the cabin on the next to last night.

My wife placed the dirty robe she had been using with the dirty towels four days before the end. It was not replaced. Later our cabin attendent apologized that she couldn't replace it because all the others had already been paletized for off loading.

I don't doubt the OP's experience was as stated. I suspect that his problem may have been with HIS assigned crew or perhaps their reaction to his attitude while cruising. On Mercury's final sailing, I had the BEST cabin attendant of my entire cruising history!! The DR waiter and his assistant were the most personable I've experienced. They even chatted and joked with me when encountered in the Cafe for their morning or lunch duties.

Every crew member I asked knew exactly what their next assignment was. The spa staff is not Celebrity crew but a from a contracted company.

CruiseCrazy, my cabin attendant wasn't happy with her new assignment being one of the "big" ships but she wasn't complaining. She preferred the intimacy of the Century class ships.

I was extremely disappointed with the lack of final fanfare however the friends I met from CC and others coupled with my excellent, assigned crew made this my BEST cruise ever.

I wouldn't let the small things ruin my cruise. Perhaps some people are only happy when they are complaining?

Just an aside to someone's comment ... of all the Mercury crew I personally know, only one wanted to go to a newer ship. All others prefer the smaller, older ships. So, as in life, everyone prefers soemthing different. I know one who did not go to the ship he wanted but I spoke with him last night & he is definitely not down, lol!! He's rolling with what's he's been given -boarding his "new" ship today - & will request his preferred ship for next contract.

As of up until the last day of our cruise, the spa staff had no info on the new assignments.

Hi Summer,

Spa staff are employed by Stiner [a third party company that operates sea-based spas on most cruise lines] and not by Celebrity...

Just an aside to someone's comment ... of all the Mercury crew I personally know, only one wanted to go to a newer ship. All others prefer the smaller, older ships. So, as in life, everyone prefers soemthing different. I know one who did not go to the ship he wanted but I spoke with him last night & he is definitely not down, lol!! He's rolling with what's he's been given -boarding his "new" ship today - & will request his preferred ship for next contract.

My waiter and assistant waiter on the Dec. 11-20th cruise both stated they were going to the new Celebrity SILHOUETTE as well as was my cabin steward, all very, very pleased with their new assignments. One other cabin steward 'down the hall' from my cabin was going to the Celebrity CONSTELLATION but didn't appear to enthusiastic about it.

From below: "I avoid last Cruises as have heard of issues in the past and also avoid the week prior to a Refurbishment and the first couple weeks after one of these. Saying that, information as to when these are going to occur is usually hard to find."

This was not our experience on the Constellation's eastbound TA in April, 2010 just prior to her refurb in Germany. Everything was the norm for a fabulous Celebrity cruise. As far as I know (I'm allergic) the lobster was a whole tail, served without mashed potatoes. :D They did hustle us off the ship at disembarkation. They were rolling up the carpets behind us, but not a big deal.

Just because someone was on the same sailing and had a different experience, doesn't mean it didn't happen.

 

I agree. I read Tuggers live from thread, not to sound rude I think her experience was and would have been far superior to A LOT of the other passengers on the ship. She was invited to the Captains room for cocktails along with several other functions that someone cruising w/ Celebrity for the first time would not be privy too.

When we were on the Summit last year we had a fabulous time! Our best cruise to date. The service was fantastic, food 5*, etc... However there were several other people from our Roll Call who did not care for the service, food, etc...

Just an aside to someone's comment ... of all the Mercury crew I personally know, only one wanted to go to a newer ship. All others prefer the smaller, older ships. So, as in life, everyone prefers soemthing different. I know one who did not go to the ship he wanted but I spoke with him last night & he is definitely not down, lol!! He's rolling with what's he's been given -boarding his "new" ship today - & will request his preferred ship for next contract.

I talked to the CD. He did not want to go to the Silhouette

Stewart is going on the Millie.

The comment by sarahc is why I have NEVER before written anything about this. I made an exception because this was the last sailing. My mistake.

One thing I find surprising is the OP wasn't on the X boards to learn this was going to be the last cruise for Mercury, yet they came right here when they felt something was wrong with their cruise.

Personally, my contact would have been with my TA. Let them try to sort things out. Whether or not these things happened we'll never know as different cruisers can experience very different cruises.

Hopefully in the future, the OP will use these boards as a resource to learn more about their cruise. Whether they sail X or another line, these boards are a great way to stay informed as to the goings on within the industry.

Better sailing in the future.

Stewart is going on the Millie.

 

The comment by sarahc is why I have NEVER before written anything about this. I made an exception because this was the last sailing. My mistake.

Glad to hear you had a great time.