Cleanliness of rooms on Mercury

[GRSN]

We were just in cabin #9227 on the Mercury (1/28/05). The cabin was absolutely filthy when we embarked. Rug had stains, dust ruffle looked like it had been stepped on with muddy shoes and the bedspread also had dirty stains on it. The couch was broken, you sank down to the floor when you sat upon the cushions. Clearly, this room was not properly maintained.

We called for housekeeping and they sent someone with authority who toured the cabin and was quite disturbed by what she saw. She asked if we were willing to vacate for some time and she would have the carpet cleaned,dust ruffle washed and bedspread changed. We agreed and when we came back the room was clean. The dust ruffle was missing and the cabin attendant said it was being washed, and she would put it back on "tomorrow". It was replaced three days later only after I asked about it at guest relations when I went to complain that our linens had been changed in the same three days. The cabin attendant was "very sweet" but clearly tried to get out of doing her job. She should have done something about the condition of the room before we got on the ship.

I had read comments on Cruise Critic addressing the fact that Mercury needs some sprucing up. In fact it does...the mattress was considerably flat and uncomfortable. The arm rests on many chairs were faded or discolored.

Hope that this gives some of you a "heads-up" and inspires you to examine your cabin before you settle in.

I have sent an e-mail to Celebrity and am anxiously awaiting to hear what they have to say about the situation.

[windermere]

Wow! I am so bummed to hear this. I was looking forward to our upcoming cruise on the Mercury. We have booked Stateroom # 9125. We have been on the Infinity 2 times and never had a issue with our Staterooms.

Let me ask you this would you sail on the Mercury again??

I have heard so many wonderful things about her. I know she is getting older but this sounds bad to me. I am shocked. Should we rethink our cruise?

[Lois R]

Hi GRSN, sorry your cabin was so bad:( hope the rest of the week was good though:)

 

Windermere, I would tell you to stay on your cruise.....or maybe get some input from others who have sailed her recently as well.

 

I wasn't there so of course can't speak first hand, but I do know there are always positives and negatives on each cruise.....seems 2 people are on the same ship and can have totally different experiences.....like night and day.

 

I recall a few months ago it seemed there was nothing but negative reviews on CENTURY.......now I have read just the opposite...things seem to be smooth....

I am sailing her next month......and would be sailing her even after reading those negative items.

I was on Mercury last year and had a a wonderful time...hope you do as well.

 

GRSN..did you have a good cruise overall? (other than the cabin thing)?

[cruisincousin]

We were just on the Mercury Jan 17 sailing. We were in concierge class and our stateroom was immaculate. As a very experienced cruiser the best advice I can give you is don't wait to complain and be sure to go to the top first. On HAL if we had a problem I would go to the desk and ask for the Hotel Manager. That always got action because nobody wanted a complaint to go to him so it was looked after promptly. On Celebrity I guess it is the Staff Captain. Ask for an appointment - they can't refuse you but will try to find out what the problem is and rectify it first. I think you were too patient waiting 3 days for the dust ruffle. It is never as effective to complain after the fact. Make some noise. All that being said whenever I called the guest relations desk on the Mercury we had immediate action. Don't hesitate to sail on her. She is a lovely ship with wonderful staff.

[MBMiner]

We encountered a similar situation on a recent Zenith sailing. The drawers were all filthy, I found three hats from a previous occupant in the closet, and a variety of items under and near the beds in plain view including a pair of tweezers, wrappers from the pillow chocolates, toothpicks from the canapes and the previous occupants' embarkation envelope complete with name and table number. A bit disturbing and not a good beginning to a 14-day cruise. Our fifth cruise on X and had never experienced this.

[Lois R]

Hi Cruisincousin...cute screen name:)

 

Too bad the Hotel Manager on my Hal Cruise was so UN-helpful....I made an appt to see him......he acted like everything I had to say was totally false.

 

Oh well, I guess that old saying s**t happens......it is the truth.......

 

I guess being back on X is the best thing for me.

[doree]

We were in 9135 and our friends were in 9137 in Jan.

and our rooms were fine!!! Robbie was our cabin steward and he did a GREAT job!!!!! Granted.....the bedspreads and dust ruffles could be "updated" b/c they are showing wear, but our room was very clean. Sorry you had a bad experience.

[davehau]

As a very experienced cruiser the best advice I can give you is don't wait to complain and be sure to go to the top first. On HAL if we had a problem I would go to the desk and ask for the Hotel Manager. That always got action because nobody wanted a complaint to go to him so it was looked after promptly.

 

Hmmmmmmmm... while I always advocate expressing your problems to the staff rather than stewing about them and letting it ruin your cruise, I've found that the best approach, not only on a cruise but in many circumstances, is to start local -ie., with the person immediately responsible for the desired resolution. So, if it's an issue with my cabin, I politely ask the attendant if he/she can help. If it's a dining issue, I may hang back a bit after dinner and talk to the waiter privately. If this doesn't work, I'll go their supervisors, then finally to the manager if need be.

 

Why do I think this works better? First, it shows respect and understanding to the other person involved. You are not jumping way over their head, escalating an issue that they may have happily resolved for you in minutes. For the rest of your cruise, they aren't mumbling downstairs about "that $^#^&$ passenger who got me in trouble with the boss", but instead have seen that you worked with them, treated them as a person, and (hopefully) thanked them when the problem was handled. Desired end result: You're happy, they're happy, and human nature tells us that folks that like you (or at least don't hate you) are more likely to go out of their way for you in the future.

 

Secondly, this path is far more efficient in most circumstance. Rather than wait to see the boss, then explain the issue to him/her, then wait while they see whose area that is, find the individual or their supervisor, relate the problem to them, then the individual at the low end of the totem pole still must be the one to take the actual action. Of course, as you go up the management chain, their time is more in demand, so this course of events may take a while to occur :rolleyes: It's sort of like the folks that immediately want to write to the president of a company -- there's only one president, but there may be thousands of Customer Service representatives, any one of which may be able to handle an issue in moments.

 

I've always handled issues this way, and most of the time gotten great results. In any circumstance, the best path seems to first be to simply reverse the issue and see how you'd want someone to act if you were the attendant, waiter, etc. Let me tell you, if I knew a customer had given my boss another reason to chew on me for the next few months, I might be less inclined to do the little extra I might do for the person who always treated me decent.

 

Just my way of looking at the issue, your mileage may vary, yada, yada.

[GRSN]

I would sail again because everything else was fine. I posted this note because I know that many people drop their belongings off and head for lunch, etc. The goal of my note was to make cruisers aware to take a few moments and make sure that everything is to their cleanliness standard in daylight. No one on Mercury disputed our claim, and were responsive. They did in fact attempt to shore up the couch. Clearly, we had a dud of a maid. We've cruised on RCL and have never had anything like this. Perhaps their purchase of Celebrity will solve this problem.

Gail

[benjamins]

Clearly, we had a dud of a maid. We've cruised on RCL and have never had anything like this. Perhaps their purchase of Celebrity will solve this problem.

Gail

 

Dud maids are on all lines, if anything Celebrity's standard of cleanliness before the RCI purchase was exemplary. I think, and others do as well, that RCI has cut the budget for Celebrity's cleaning staff and Celeb ships don't seem to be as clean or as well maintained as they used to be. But, at any rate, it's been at least 6 years since the purchase and Celebrity ships were still very well maintained years after the purchase with few complaints. There seems to be more in the last 3 or 4 years, and not only on the previous generation ships, there have been complaints for Millennium and Infinity as well.

 

Glad to hear Celebrity was responsive to the cleanliness issues.

[excitedofharpenden]

GRSN

 

Really sorry to hear that your room was not up to standard. There is no excuse for a cabin to be dirty. It is down not only to the maids but the management of your deck and hopefully someone responsible got there a** kicked.

 

I definitely agree with cruisincousin on going straight to the top and speak to the Hotel Manager. In all likelihood you are on the ship for little more than a week and problems like these need fixing immediately in my view. Firm but polite would be my approach.

 

Hopefully we'll have a better experience on Mercury in October.

 

Phil

[LovetheSea]

windernere...We are leaving in 4 days for our Mercury cruise. I will check things out for you. What cabin number did you book? Things could change a lot by September as well. They could be better or worse. When we were on the Mercury this summer for a one day luncheon and tour, I was disturbed to see some dirty and ripped cushions in some of the public areas. The casino and Navigator lounge. I wrote to Celebrity and complained about it. I have heard a lot of good reviews, so I assumed it was better than when I was on her. We will see. This will be my 6th time on the Mercury, she is one of my favorite ships, so I hope she is being taken care of properly. I think the hotel manager is the best way to go. If you just tell the person responsible they might fix your cabin but in coming weeks do the same to future guests. They need to have a talking to by their superiors.

GRSN... sorry to hear about your bad luck with cabin stewards! Wow there is just no excuse for that. That would really bug me. Who would want to live in someone else's filth. YUCK! We have heard many times on this board that they don't change the sheets everyday or wash the bedspreads every week. I never lay on the bedspread and always take it off if I am taking a daytime nap. On our 17 night cruise I dropped a small piece of chocolate on the bed one night. I waited for the sheets to be changed . It was 6 days before they changed the sheets AFTER I asked them to.

[Danno]

two thoughts...i) there is no excuse for a cabin being in this state.

 

ii) only twelve posts and this situation arises :rolleyes: .

 

I think I may just take the original post with a grain of salt.

[excitedofharpenden]

Danno, I agree with your first point, but sorry, I don't see how having only 12 posts makes it less likely the story is factual. The post seems genuine enough to me and is certainly not a "rant".

 

Phil

[Breezey]

We were on the same cruise. Cabin 1073 - CC.

 

Our room was spotless except the tv remote was gross!

I am glad I brought lysol wipes (saw this on Oprah or 20/20 ??) as I cleaned it up really well

 

Yes the couch could be reupholstered, as it really showed its age and as the week progressed, the shelving in the bathroom got dustier and dustier and was never cleaned. I attribute that to the fact that we had tons of our toilettries on it and the cabin steward didnt want to take things off.

 

What turned me off is on our day of disembarkation, we were in the cabin for a few minutes while the cabin steward was changing the sheets for the next cruisers. He was stepping on the sheets while he rushed to make the bed. Yuck!!! I'm glad I didnt see that before I came aboard.

 

We did however have a great time and found staff cleaning, vacuuming, dusting all the time.

[smudge's mom]

Our ship/cabin/dining room/buffet - was incredibly clean. I was amazed at how I never saw room service trays in the hall - the staff was always picking up dirty dishes in the buffet - glass ware on the pool deck was picked up - the common rooms were always vacuumed - the furniture in the common rooms seemed mostly to be in excellent condition. I did see some wear - but it wasn't pervasive.

 

My overall impression - the Mercury was in excellent condition.

 

However - again - someone doubts the initial post:

 

I think I may just take the original post with a grain of salt

Why is it that one cannot have a negative viewpoint on this board without someone commenting on the veracity of the complaint?

 

I am betting the cabins are refurbished on a revolving schedule and the original poster could've gotten a room that hadn't yet been refurbished - and had the misfortune of having a lousy cabin steward. Hey - things like this happen.

[Danno]

Like I said...there is NO excuse for a cabin in this state OR I have a concern with the poster.

 

 

We all gain a level of credibility with time and number of posts....anyone who indeed knows me understands that I am not one to champion this line regardless. If anything I'm usally accused of being too critical of X.

 

I just have SO seldom heard complaints about the cleanliness of the staerooms.

[CreativeCruiser]

Danno ~

It has been a long time since I have dropped in here . . .

only to find the Mercury being picked on again . . .

Poor Mercury! She really needs new staff and crew who care about her as much as her loyal fans do!

We sailed her in March 2003 to the Mex Riv and was quite distressed at her condition . . .

Dirty windows everywhere. Not just dirty ~ so dirty you could not see through them. Especially our stateroom window.

I posted this back then, and was raked over the coals, tarred and featherd, and hung out to dry . . .

Mercury lovers get pretty ugly if and when anyone says anything less than positive about her.

She is a unique ship with lots to offer, but as I said, she needs to be taken care of by people who care about her.

[mr green]

I will be two rooms away, so I will keep an eye out for the 'very sweet' attendant. I suspect however, that, once a complaint is made, that housekeeping will check on the area, and things should be as good as ever. This will be my first cruise on X, and first impressions are most important to me. john taylor

[dmk]

Davehau:

 

Excellent post!! The world would be an easier place to live in if more people handled difficult situations in the manner you outlined;)

[trcori]

I have no doubt that it's possible for many of us to have a great experience on a certain ship and some to have a bad experience such as was the case with the OP on this thread. I think our critiques are helped more when we stick to our specific experience and try to avoid a blanket condemnation or inference (topic here, "cleanliness of ROOMS" though only one room was mentioned).

 

#2, unless someone is way over the edge in potential trollhood, I don't think it's ever fair to give less credit to someone whose criticism is contained in one of their first posts on the board. I have joined some message boards specifically to post a critique or concern and would never have known about those boards' existence if the critique/concern hadn't led me to Google madly in search of someplace to voice it!

 

TR

sailed Mercury in April 2004, great time, booked again for Aug. this year ...

[cechase]

We took an 8 day cruise on Mercury in March of 2004. We had RS1054 [which I have previously cautioned people about because of the noise from cleaning and resupplying the pizz, hamburger and hot dog stand directly overhead resulting in excessive noise in the middle of the night].

 

Our suite when we arrived was immaculate, and was maintained in that fashion for the entire cruise. The furnishings in the suite appeared to be quite new, even though we knew the ship was approximately 5 or 6 years old. No scratches in the extensive woodwork, on the dining table, or on the large wet bar counter. Since my dear Nedra was ill with 101-103 temp, and her back was ailing, we spent a lot of time in our suite, and had absolutely no issues with how it was maintained, including the separate shower, whirlpool bath or sinks, or the walkin closet with a vanity at the end. Perhaps, we don't have a practiced eye or just don't look closely, but we thought the public areas were just great - chairs and couches seemed to be relative new and not threadbare at all. While we were in Matzalan, I made a booze run, and returned to the suite, and Nedra was resting, and two men on a device came along the starboard side and washed our windows from the top down.

Our only really big complaint was that there was a film of salt on the plexiglass shields on the exterior of our veranda - imagine that salt film on an ocean going liner.

 

Despite her illness, we still enjoyed Mercury, so hoping that the same does not repeat itself, we have booked Mercury for an 11 day cruise on the Mexican Rivera for the day after New Years. We really did love Mercury, although we also have a real love affair with Century and her wonderful staff. It should be noted that on these boards recently several people really ripped Century - until those people who sailed on that elegant lady started reporting really positive feelings about the ship and their cruises.

[LovetheSea]

GRSN.. Thank you for your honest account of your situation. I hope you do not take offense when some posters don't credit your statements because you are a new poster. We always want as many cruise passengers, as are interested, posting on this board. Just take the negative comments with a "grain of salt".

 

No offense Danno, I always like reading your posts too. :)

 

I think I may pack a little 409 spray cleaner. If I see those white leather casino seats still dirty, I just may wash them myself! :eek:

I love the Mercury. This will be my 6th time sailing on her. I hate to see her not well cared for.

Remember the Century didn't pass the inspection by the CDC on 11/16/04, That is unheard of for a Celebrity ship! So there must have been something to the complaints. Century recently got a 97. I heard once that it is the Captain's responsibility ultimately to make sure the ship is in good order. They have the power to have carpets replaced and anything else they see is amiss.

[JoeAndMichael]

Don't let this bother you. We had a low-priced INside cabin on the Mercury and it was absolutely wonderful. If our cabin had been anything less than clean I have no doubt whatsoever that the superb staff would have made it spotless within hours or would have moved us. It's a GREAT ship... we're taking it again in a couple of weeks (3/30/05) and have NO reluctance to recommend it without reservation!

 

You'll have a great time. Celebrity is tops, and NO, we are not stockholders in the co.

 

Joe and Michael

JoeAndMichael@bigfoot.com

[kit9172]

I just read this post and noticed that you were going on the Mercury on 2/18/05 and was wondering what you thought of the condition of the Mercury. We leave on 4/10/05 and was kind of worried with all that people have been saying about her. I sailed on the Mercury to Alaska a couple of years ago and fell in love with her. Thanks for your time.