Favorite memories on Celebrity's past ships..... Zenith, Horizon, Galaxy, Mercury??

[Rick-cruiser]

Wondering what your favorite memories are while sailing aboard Celebrity's past ships.... the Horizon, Galaxy, and Mercury?. These ships are now gone....but there are some experiences people never forget.. Of course, these were much smaller ships.... and we were younger passengers then.. ;), which MAY have a slight bearing on your memories... (in a good way..?)... If you have any, I'd like to hear about your favorite memories and past experiences while aboard these fine ships.....

 

thanks!

 

- Rick

 

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[GORDONCHICK]

My very first cruise was on Galaxy and that is where I fell in love with cruising! And my first Alaskan cruise was on Mercury.

 

I think each ship has it's own unique qualities, but I more have fond memories of the crew who made our cruises so special. I don't hold the ships themselves higher than the people.

[pattibacon]

My first Celebrity cruise was on Galaxy -- took our children on their first cruise (one of them it's still her only cruise). It was only a month or so old at that time. My parents got us into Celebrity (we'd been on HA and Carnival before then). Suffice it to say, we are now Elite with X.

 

My second ever cruise was on Horizon -- with my mom. It was very memorable because she had a stroke while we were on her! Didn't get to complete the 12 nights -- got off in Barbados. She and my dad loved the smaller ships. He wouldn't go on this trip so she took me. Quite memorable, to say the least!!! DH and I went on the next-to-last cruise on Horizon to Bermuda. It was great b/c we could go through the cut!

 

Cruised on Mercury 3 times -- once to Alaska, last spring through the Panama Canal, and 2 weeks ago we told her goodbye.

 

Three wonderful ships and wonderful memories on them all. Have also been on Infinity and Summit. Booked on Century to OZ next Nov. but may wait till the Solstice goes in 2013.

 

Never made it on Zenith or Meredian. I believe my parents did Zenith.

 

Hate to see these smaller ships go. They have just as much to do on them and not as far to walk!!

[SuiteTraveler]

I remember standing on our balcony and watching a mother sea lion floating by on an iceberg like it was a pool float in the Bay of Glaciers while her baby frolicked in the water nearby.

 

I remember the second night out of this Alaskan cruise on Galaxy where whales were spotted on the port side of the dining room and nearly everyone got up to go have a look.

 

I remember later that evening the water got extremely rough and nearly everyone except us was desperately seasick. We went up to the top and watched the water flying out of the pool 20 feet in the air like a geyser! Yes, we took pictures! WooHoo!

 

I remember going to the bar at the top front of the ship and seeing how we would climb up a wave, go over the top and then down again like a roller coaster!

[tuggers]

My first extended cruise was on Horizon (b2b2b2b, 43 nights) and I fell in love with them! I cried when I had to go home!!!:D

[webecruzin2]

Our first X (sort of) was on the Britannis when it was Chandriss cruise line. But we were hooked after that and have sailed on Galaxy, Horizon, Century, Constellation and Zenith (3 times). Our most memorable was our last Zenith cruise about 4 years ago. We invited my DB and SIL who was recovering from lung cancer treatment. They hadn't been on a cruise in over 20 years so this was special for them. To our surprise and delight we were invited to the Captain's table (3rd time for that and have no idea why??) and were told to bring our traveling companions along, as well. This was the highlight of our cruise, and it was so heartwarming to see DB and SIL having a wonderful time after the rough year they had been through.

We're looking forward to another Century sailing in a few weeks. Can't wait!

[TravelerThom]

Our first Celebrity ship was Horizon which used to do wonderful 10 and 11 night Eastern and Western Caribbean cruises out of Tampa [where we spend the winter; went on her three times]. When Horizon left the fleet, we did a Zenith 11 day Western Caribbean as she, in turn, was getting ready to head for Europe. Now there are NO Celebrity ships out of Tampa, and RCCL does only 4 and 5 day trips to Cozumel - rather shorter than our desired cruise length. Our only Galaxy cruise was 11 nights out of Baltimore [from the dump of the old cruise port; new one is much nicer] when we had the privilege of encountering the edges of two major hurricanes [ivan and Jean] and also pick up refugees bobbing helplessly in the Straits of Florida. We did a Trans-Atlantic on Century with 17 days of Noro lock down [nothing was allowed to be passed at the table; if you wanted salt it was shaken on by the waiter]. Just so there is no misunderstanding, let me say that I looked on these as adventures, and still enjoyed the cruises. Mercury was one of our favorite ships, and we were lucky enough to do two Northbound spring repositionings to Alaska on her, as well as a 17 night San Diego-Panama Canal-Baltimore, and the recent bittersweet Valentine's Day Farewell cruise. The Mercury T-Pool was fantastic - much better than the ones on the M-class ships. We have had the privilege of enjoying the ultimate Celebrity small ship, Xpedition, and it is still in the fleet and is an experience not to be missed. We have also enjoyed the M-Class Millie, Infinity and Summit, and have a Connie trip scheduled with the ex-Mercury Captain Franztis, so despite missing the older smaller ships, we will still be knocking around Celebrity. We may even make it back to S-class although our scheduled maiden voyage [it actually became the third voyage] on Solstice left a lot to be desired. The S-class ships ARE beautiful and our minimally priced cabin was quite large, but there seemed to be a conspiracy to make storage as non-useful as possible. I should have walked off the Mercury with those decent bedside tables and saved them to replace the utterly useless excuses for tables that S-class has [and don't get me started on the small closets, the (alleged) storage space 6 feet above the bed, the lack of clotheslines, etc]. Of course my experience was colored by [not my first encounter] with the clown of a CD that Celebrity uses for their kick-offs. It is my considered opinion that that individual is more in tune with the spirit of Wrestle-Mania than the supposed refined atmosphere of Celebrity [continual exhortations to scream and shout - having my neighbor encouraged to scream in my ear does not enhance my enjoyment of the singer on stage]. So you might see me on S-class, but never again with that CD [not for free, not if they paid me (well not unless they paid me a LOT:rolleyes:)].

 

Thom

[Lois R]

Our first Celebrity ship was Horizon which used to do wonderful 10 and 11 night Eastern and Western Caribbean cruises out of Tampa [where we spend the winter; went on her three times]. When Horizon left the fleet, we did a Zenith 11 day Western Caribbean as she, in turn, was getting ready to head for Europe. Now there are NO Celebrity ships out of Tampa, and RCCL does only 4 and 5 day trips to Cozumel - rather shorter than our desired cruise length. Our only Galaxy cruise was 11 nights out of Baltimore [from the dump of the old cruise port; new one is much nicer] when we had the privilege of encountering the edges of two major hurricanes [ivan and Jean] and also pick up refugees bobbing helplessly in the Straits of Florida. We did a Trans-Atlantic on Century with 17 days of Noro lock down [nothing was allowed to be passed at the table; if you wanted salt it was shaken on by the waiter]. Just so there is no misunderstanding, let me say that I looked on these as adventures, and still enjoyed the cruises. Mercury was one of our favorite ships, and we were lucky enough to do two Northbound spring repositionings to Alaska on her, as well as a 17 night San Diego-Panama Canal-Baltimore, and the recent bittersweet Valentine's Day Farewell cruise. The Mercury T-Pool was fantastic - much better than the ones on the M-class ships. We have enjoyed M-Class Millie, Infinity and Summit, and have a Connie trip scheduled with the ex-Mercury Captain Franztis, so despite missing the older smaller ships, we will still be knocking around Celebrity. We may even make it back to S-class although our scheduled maiden voyage [it actually became the third voyage] on Solstice left a lot to be desired. The S-class ships ARE beautiful and our minimally priced cabin was quite large, but there seemed to be a conspiracy to make storage as non-useful as possible. I should have walked off the Mercury with those decent bedside tables and saved them to replace the utterly useless excuses for tables that S-class has [and don't get me started on the small closets, the (alleged) storage space 6 feet above the bed, the lack of clotheslines, etc]. Of course my experience was colored by [not my first encounter] with the clown of a CD that Celebrity uses for their kick-offs. It is my considered opinion that that individual is more in tune with the spirit of Wrestle-Mania than the supposed refined atmosphere of Celebrity [continual exhortations to scream and shout - having my neighbor encouraged to scream in my ear does not enhance my enjoyment of the singer on stage]. So you might see me on S-class, but never again with that CD [not for free, not if they paid me (well not unless they paid me a LOT:rolleyes:)].

 

Thom

 

Hi Thom, you need to learn how to express your feelings better:D;):)

and come out of that shell;)....tell us how you REALLY feel about the

CD;)

[bellybutton530]

Please don't throw rocks at me...

 

My first =X= cruise was before there was a Celebrity Cruises. It was in 1978, on Amerikanis. We flew to Hamburg and sailed in the Mediterranean for 14 days. The ship would be considered a "dump" by today's standards; but I loved it nonetheless. There was no television; some of the cabins shared bathrooms; it was dark even in outside cabins; the venues were small and cramped. But I had nothing to compare it to....

 

Then, in 1979, we decided to take a Caribbean cruise. Yup, the Amerikanis again. Loved it even more. The crew was amazing; the ports were too.

 

Thus began my love of cruising.

[Karynanne]

We've sailed on Mercury many times, but our favorite was a B2B, embarking in Sydney, Australia, and debarking in Honolulu, Hawaii. 29 days of wonderful experiences and memories.

[iluvcruises]

We sailed on the Horizon which was our first Celebrity cruise. Everything about that vacation was great, from the food, weather, the island, the ship and on that sailing I truly fell in love with my then boyfriend who is now my husband of 15 1/2 years!

[LeftcoastBC]

Horizon -- Our first cruise through the Panama ..it was X's first also

 

Zenith - Orinoco River (South America) they did this twice.

[lvz2cruz]

Our favorite was on Zenith when they had the 14 night run out of Jacksonville. We had been on a couple 7 night cruises and loved it. We were in Panama on day 7 and realized that a typical week cruise would be over but we thankfully had another week to be aboard.

I loved that ship and was very sad when it left the fleet.

[USVI-4-me]

We did not like the deck plan of the Horizon but had a huge bathroom and loved our tablemates. There was lots of the same fish on the menu for lunch and evening so we drank more wine to compensate. The line and servers in the buffet were wonderful in saving food and calories with the measured small portions.

 

The Horizon entertainment was lacking. We heard the same taped song every evening for sailaway. However, the sailaways in the S. Carib. are especially beautiful when the islands are close together. I'll never forget the day visiting Antigua, all those beautiful beaches, and that sunset with Guadeloupe closeby.

 

The Galaxy gets both thumbs up for food, a pool at the back of the buffet, a splendid guitarist that entertained empty rooms while I listened and others were busy having the evening meal, cocktails elsewhere, or getting in to evening dress. I especially loved the pay per cruise T-Pool in the spa because it was seldom busy and the jets gave a great massage.

 

I'll always love the Galaxy experience even though I volunteered to take the top bunk so a relative could enjoy the cruise with us. And the jasimine in bloom in Charleston, has made me see Charleston again and again.

 

-Maris

[TravelerThom]

Hi Thom, you need to learn how to express your feelings better:D;):) and come out of that shell....tell us how you REALLY feel about the CD;)

Actually I could have used some "choicer" words:eek:, but made an effort to make my comments less than X [and I don't mean Celebrity;)].

 

On the recent Mercury Farewell cruise I was riding in the elevator and considering how much better elevators were on the "old" ships. I know everything ends up being a function of cost, but having longer ships with more passengers dealing with S-class' two banks of elevators versus Mercury's [and H-class and M-class] three banks of elevators is certainly a step down [rather contrary to Celebrity's old "a step above" tag line]. I also enjoyed the relative peace and quiet of the Mercury elevator; after one week on Solstice I would have gladly strangled the "elevator lady" who each and every floor announced "Deck 6" "door opening" "door closing" and should there be a late arrival who aborts the door closing once again "door opening" "door closing". I'll put up with a deck announcement, but really wish they would otherwise shut up and leave me in peace. After all a significant reason I travel with Celebrity is the absence of announcements other than at noon. One of my early cruises was on NCL, and the continual announcements were so intrusive, they in themselves were enough to make me not want to go back. I will once again concede the beauty of S-class, but IMO quite a number of items [some of which I have specified] are a decided step down from the older ships.

 

Thom

[LeftcoastBC]

Actually I could have used some "choicer" words:eek:, but made an effort to make my comments less than X [and I don't mean Celebrity;)].

 

On the recent Mercury Farewell cruise I was riding in the elevator and considering how much better elevators were on the "old" ships. I know everything ends up being a function of cost, but having longer ships with more passengers dealing with S-class' two banks of elevators versus Mercury's [and H-class and M-class] three banks of elevators is certainly a step down [rather contrary to Celebrity's old "a step above" tag line]. I also enjoyed the relative peace and quiet of the Mercury elevator; after one week on Solstice I would have gladly strangled the "elevator lady" who each and every floor announced "Deck 6" "door opening" "door closing" and should there be a late arrival who aborts the door closing once again "door opening" "door closing". I'll put up with a deck announcement, but really wish they would otherwise shut up and leave me in peace. After all a significant reason I travel with Celebrity is the absence of announcements other than at noon. One of my early cruises was on NCL, and the continual announcements were so intrusive, they in themselves were enough to make me not want to go back. I will once again concede the beauty of S-class, but IMO quite a number of items [some of which I have specified] are a decided step down from the older ships.

 

Thom

 

I need a "Like Button" for this post. And

 

I forgot to mention I had the opportunity to spend a few days on the Mercury also along without the others.

[Jennifer815]

My first was on the Horizon with a large group of college kids. Ages 19-21. we had so much fun. Even though we were the youngest people on that ship, there are memories I will never forget!!

[PatC]

Our very first Celebrity cruise was in 1992 on Zenith in her inaugural year. I still kept that tee shirt!

 

After that we were hooked. We sailed Horizon 3 times, once on the infamous Legionnaires disease cruise that was flown home from Bermuda and another time when we couldn't get into St. George's because of wind.

 

Sailed Zenith 2 times, again thrown out of Bermuda after a few days and ended up in Martha's Vineyard. That was an experience. The Captain sailed out of the harbor, the horbormaster left the ship and we "swerved" 45 degrees to avoid lobster nets. All the liquor went crashing, dishes and glassware were broken and all the cheesecake went flying. Third time was a charm, we finally saw St. George's and entered thru the cut.

 

Galaxy we loved. We met so many great crew on her, especially the bartender at the Sky Bar, Orville! Sailed her twice.

 

Mercury we sailed just last March and, again she was terrific. Problem was that the German company who were receiving her this year were all on board, taking pictures, measuring and just overall annoying on such a great trip. Someone at the bar finally had enough and told the "it's not your's officially yet". :mad:

 

How sad that only Century is still in the fleet and probably not much longer. :o

 

I still remember our very first CD, Steve Park I believe was his last name. From Australia. When he saw you you had to say "hidee ho".

 

Also our waiter/ass't. maitre'd was Romel from Poland. He's since opened almost every main dining room on Celebrity. We've run into him many times and he graciously remembers us.

 

So many fond and wonderful memories. Of course we're still making them. We sail Connie next week!:D

 

Pat C

[mferranti]

What I most remember about our Horizon cruise to Bermuda in 2003 is the first evening after sailing from NYC. We were sitting by a window in the Martini Bar watching (and feeling) the bow of the ship rise and fall in the heavy Atlantic seas. It was the first time we actually felt we were on a ship instead of a floating hotel as in all our previous cruises.

 

Luckily we don't get seasick! :D

[Redtravel]

I loved the Mr. and Mrs. Zenith hunt. It was so much fun. It really got people talking to each other. I loved the Zenith and the Horizon....small, but not too. They had a certain charm. I wasn't fond of the Galaxy...staff was rude. My favorite Celebrity ship still remains the Century...has the feel of the Zenith with the service of Azamara...a win all around.

[Andy]

Hi Everyone !

 

We have fond memories of all of Celebrity's departed ships. One that is very bittersweet for us, is when I invited an Aunt and Uncle to join us on Mercury several years ago. It was our gift for a very special occasion, and they had never Cruised before. In hindsight, I'm so glad we made this decision.

 

I will never forget how happy My Uncle & Aunt were on the Mercury sailing, and how many times he thanked us after the Cruise. He passed away about a year ago, and it's my fondest memory of Him.

 

I hope they have Cruise Critic in Heaven. We miss you Uncle Matty. Rest in Peace.

[hancock]

I loved the hot tubs on the back deck on the Zenith. Sitting in them and watching the wake was just wonderful.

 

Met great friends on both the Horizon and the Zenith.

[Lois R]

My best memory has to be my birthday on Mercury 2007. Fabio,

who was the Restaurant Manager at the time, along with 6 waiters

who had all been my waiter at one time or another all posed with me

on formal night at the bottom of the staircase in the main dining room

for a picture:)

[bugsy43]

My very first cruise was on Celebrity Zenith to Celebrate my 25th birthday (back in 1993 :() and even though I have cruised many times since then, it still remains my favourite. The service we received was unlike anything I have ever received and I can still remember some of the outstanding food we had to this day. I still love cruising and usually go with Celebrity or Princess, but no cruise since then has been comparable (for service & food), although I look forward to continuing to cruise as it's still my favourite way to travel. :D

[rhuntington3]

My very first cruise was on Mercury to Alaska back in 2004.