Galaxy 10/7---A joint review from the Med

[Ships R Great]

The CC'rs on the 10/7 Med Galaxy cruise felt that we had made a joint effort to plan the cruise so we are going to make a joint effort to review it. If we try to keep it in sequential order this should work. But, please feel free to back track if you wish. Okay, I'll start.

 

The cruise started with a down side when we sat on the runway in Dulles for two hours waiting for clearance from JFK to take off. We finally got in the air and landed at JFK just in time to check in and make it to the Air France gate after they began loading the plane. The flight to Paris was uneventful. Air France is a good line and the crew were very, very nice. However, the plane change in DeGaulle was just as horrific as everyone had warned. But we made it. We had more problems/delays in Rome due to some folks not getting their luggage. But we finally made it to the hotel. Nice room there. Sleepless night, due to time change and excitement over the cruise.

 

Next morning---on to the port. Embarkation was swift and easy. We boarded but no champagne!!!! We hit the window of empty trays being refilled. But no matter. We drank enough free champagne at the art auctions to make up for it, lol. We hit a good window in the buffet, had a nice lunch and then wandered around a bit. Luggage came early in the PM and we were unpacked and settled in before muster and dinner (early seating). Had nice table mates, we are happy to say. (Sooner or later we are going to pay for all the good table mates we have had.) We were very happy to learn that Shawn Cavanaugh was the CD. We have sailed with him a couple of times before. He remembered us when we ran into him at muster.

 

We really enjoyed the guitar player at the show that night and were disappointed that he did not reappear later on.

 

Next?

[Ships R Great]

We have two Galaxy review threads posted so I thought I would consolidate the two. Here is Charlie's post (though I can't say I saw and experienced the negative things he did). He and Nedra were great dinner companions at the Capt.'s table.

 

"Hello again to all of our great CC'ers from the 10 night cruise on Galaxy in the Med. Ships R Great has suggested this thread where we all jointly add our comments about our cruise, Galaxy, and the Med. So I will start it off.

 

First, for those readers who were not on this cruise, our cruise experience was greatly enhanced by our participation in the Roll Call for this cruise. We were able to get to know so many of our fellow cruisers well prior to the cruise. We flew from Atlanta to Rome with one of our fellow cruisers, who was so helpful in guiding us at the Rome Airport. [That was Jody, and we were very appreciative of his kindness.] We were able to prearrange a transfer from our hotel to Galaxy, and met Bill and Helen the morning of embarkation. On the ship, we met so many of our fellow CC'ers, had some great chats in our suite, and one couple were our very fun dining companions. So be sure to register and meet many of your fellow passengers well in advance of embarkation.

 

Now, to sort of a mini review. All four of our cruises have been on Century class vessels, and we have had a Royal Suite on each. This review really consists of comparing Galaxy with Mercury and Century. [Note: That we have a real bias for Century, as it is our favorite.]

 

Embarkation: It was raining very heavily when we got to the luggage drop off area. Because of the setup at the pier, we had to walk outside from the luggage drop off area to the check-in area and got thoroughly soaked. We boarded Galaxy at about 12:15 p.m., and headed to the elevators to go to deck 10, and drop off our carry-ons in our suite. We were stopped by two Galaxy staff who informed us that we could not do so, and accompanied us in the elevator to Deck 11 where the buffet is located. This never never happened on Mercury or Century. In the buffet area, we spent almost 30 minutes trying to find a table, because people were just sitting there reading after eating, and were unable to get any help from the buffet staff. So, unlike our prior embarkations, Galaxy started us off with a negative feeling.

 

Our Cabin: When we got to our suite at around 1:15 p.m., we had fresh flowers, a bottle of champagne being chilled, and a surprise - a large box of Cova chocolates. It was exactly what we expected, however Nedra thought that none of the furniture in the living room matched. A funny thing happened right after the Muster Drill. Our room steward and his assistant came in, removed our sofa and replaced it with another sofa and never told us why. The muster drill was very well done, although the person on the loud speaker kept repeating himself over and over.

 

Public Areas: We did note some details on Galaxy which should be attended to now, rather than wait for a dry dock. The port enterence to the Stratosphere Lounge on Deck 12 has some vinyl tiles which are misformed and could be a tripping hazard. They seemed to have suffered some water damage. A display case with a glass top in Michael's Lounge was severely cracked and could provide a hazard. We did observe some frayed carpeting in a number of places. We did not observe much cleaning of the public areas, elevators and bright work. When we were on Century in February, we marvelled at how often we observed staff cleaning, polishing and the ship just gleamed. We did not observe this activity on Galaxy.

 

Dining: We had a great table at the early seating, on the upper level, looking down on the Captain's Table, and having a wonderful view out the stern windows. The dining room on Galaxy is spectacular and obviously clean and gleaming. Fellow CC'ers Jerry and Pam from Lincoln, CA were our dining companions at a table for four, and there was plenty of good conversation and laughter at our table. Dino our waiter and his assistant Henry were very attentative and provided us with excellent service. On the first night at sea, Jerry and Pam were able to view us being escorted to the Captain's Table, where we had dinner with the Staff Captain. Pat and Ralph Wiggins, fellow CC'ers were our dinner companions at The Captain's Table along with a very witty British couple and another couple.

 

We were somewhat disappointed with the quality of the food in the dining room, particularly when we compare Galaxy with Century. [No problem with the service or presentation, which was excellent.] The food on Century on our last cruise as well as the selection was superb, and we felt that the food on Galaxy was at least one notch down from Century. The meats always seemed to be overcooked, and Nedra felt that the soups were blah, and with respect to two different onion soups - "terrible". That's her comment and not mine, but I am not a gourmet cook, and she is.

 

The buffet was just average fare, and was disappointing to both of us.

 

Staff: Bon Fee, our butler and Jose our room steward were excellent and very attentative until the last night and debarkation morning. It seemed that they just disappeared shortly after we gave them their tips on our last cruising day. The day of debarkation, I had to go up to the buffet and get coffee for us. This never happened on Mercury and Century. We noticed often when we walked in the public areas that very few of the staff would smile and greet us. On Century, every time we met staff they would give us a big smile and say good morning, good afternoon, etc., and it was a constant, but not on Galaxy. Of course, we ran into Eduardo a butler on Galaxy, who was our butler on our first cruise on Century, and he greeted us with a big smile [he is always smiling], and we had a great chat with him.

 

Hope that I have not been too negative, because we did have a very enjoyable cruise, saw some very interesting places although we only took two tours, and met some really nice people, and hopefully made some new friends. You have to temper our comments, because we really did have two marvelous cruises on Century, and she is our favorite.

 

Now, fellow CC'ers, it is your turn.

__________________

Charlie"

[superjerryw]

I did the 9/5 Med cruise on Galaxy. The new policy is that passengers cannot go to their cabins before 1:00 PM. That is the reason you were stopped on the way there and that is the reason that the buffet had so many people sitting around. Since they now allow people to remain in their cabins later on the morning of disembarkation the staff simply needs more time to turn around the rooms.

[mari10]

I did the 9/5 Med cruise on Galaxy. The new policy is that passengers cannot go to their cabins before 1:00 PM. That is the reason you were stopped on the way there and that is the reason that the buffet had so many people sitting around. Since they now allow people to remain in their cabins later on the morning of disembarkation the staff simply needs more time to turn around the rooms.

I was on the 10/10 Summit sailing, and I dropped off my carry-on bag and put valuables in the safe before heading up to Deck 10 for lunch.

We met our wonderful Cabin Steward (Edwin), and he said that is wasn't a problem.

I haven't heard about a new policy; always thought that cabins weren't ready before 1:00P.

[superjerryw]

We were told that we could not go to the cabin until 1:00PM. At 1:00PM an announcement was made that passengers could proceed to their cabins.

[Lois R]

Hi:)

We sort of just found the elevator and went up to deck 9. We never

asked if we could do it. Right Mari?

I think we just went up, dropped off our stuff and then headed out.

Nobody said anything to us (that I can remember).

[Ships R Great]

Okay===to get back on track. More reviews from Galaxy sailers?

[cechase]

Hi:)

We sort of just found the elevator and went up to deck 9. We never

asked if we could do it. Right Mari?

I think we just went up, dropped off our stuff and then headed out.

Nobody said anything to us (that I can remember).

 

We meet again! I think that I did disclose our bias for Century :D We felt that the staff did not trust us, and therefore escorted us up to Deck 11 - probably thinking that we would sneak off on Deck 10 and drop off our carry-ons - that was our impression. Never heard about this new policy. Through out our last cruise, it just gave us the impression that Galaxy was more rigid than Century.

[cruisingmimi]

Hi Charlie, sorry that Jack and I didn't get to meet you and Nedra on our cruise. We were looking forward to meeting you after our ongoing online conversations. We missed the CC party because Jack gave me his germs and I overslept that day! LOL By the time we went to the Stratosphere Lounge, everyone but a few people had left.

 

I will make my comments about the ship and follow up later w/ the tour information.

 

Our transfer to the ship went very smoothly. We made arrangements with Claudio and he sent an associate to pick us up. He was very charming! We shared the ride w/ Carol, Jack, Donna and Jack Macey. We arrived at the ship about 1:30 and it was the fastest and easiest embarkation we have ever had! Very smooth. No complaints here.

 

We headed up to Lido deck and got something to eat, then did some unpacking til it was time for muster. We then went to the Martini Bar for a cocktail party. It was nice meeting so many people there but I was surprised there weren't more that showed up.

 

The ship was as I expected it to be. Our cabin was much larger than others we have had and our bathroom/shower was larger also. We also had more storage space than on other ships. We actually had empty drawers after we did our unpacking. The cabins definitely need updating and this was confirmed by our cabin steward. The spread and Roman Shades were very used looking. The bathroom sink had water stains on it. We also had the noisiest cabin we have ever had. We were right below the kitchen area and heard dishes and pots and pans banging all night long. Our complaints were to no avail. There were no cabins available. We have never had this problem before. It was the smoothest sailing ship we have been on. We never felt any movement except when we were docking in a port. We have been on other ships where the stabilizers were not as good.

 

The ship was immaculate and very clean. The common areas were always being cleaned, the ladies rooms immaculate. There definitely was a lack of enough ladies rooms in strategic locations on the ship and this created long lines in the ones available.

 

Food: I was not impressed w/ the food on the Galaxy. Jack and I are not fussy eaters and I like to try different types of food when cruising. The dining room food was very boring and they seemed to repeat the same appetizers and entrees on several different nights. I had chicken one night and it was not tender. Desserts were also very uninteresting. The special theme nights on Lido deck had better food. We went up for German food one night and it was fabulous! Our dining room waitstaff were excellent, no complaints there! Always cheerful and smiling.

 

The entertainment: Again, we felt that it was better on other ships. Some nights we skipped the shows and that is one of the things I like best. The violinist and the London singer were the best entertainment. The Broadway show was not as good as on other ships either.

 

Other than that, we found the ship to be satisfactory.

 

More to follow on the ports.

 

Mary

[cechase]

Thanks Mary for your comments. Seems that Nedra and I agree with your comments on the cuisine.

 

Bumping this up from page 4 to get more comments.

 

We loved the cruise - and most particularly being able to see and experience Santorini and of course, Villefrance and Monaco.

[cechase]

Thanks Mary for your comments. Seems that Nedra and I agree with your comments on the cuisine.

 

Bumping this up from page 4 to get more comments.

 

We loved the cruise - and most particularly being able to see and experience Santorini and of course, Villefrance and Monaco.

[mckay1]

Okay===to get back on track. More reviews from Galaxy sailers?

 

Just got back from our trip and still suffering from withdrawal. We had a wonderful time. The staff on the Galaxy could not have been nicer. We got cheery "Good Morning" or "Good Evening" wherever we went. Dan was the best waiter ever and always told me which was the best entre. I learned to trust him after choosing the crab legs. Obviously they had to have been frozen, but they were not nearly as good as I have had on previous cruises.

 

My big disappointment was the condition of the ship. Our cabin had stains and cracks in the sink, stains on the carpet, old mildew stains on the shower curtain and the chairs were worn and stained.

 

The public rooms were a little better but there were many places where the carpet was starting to lift. Watch where you put your feet! Many of the soap dispensers had lost their chome spout. Plastic covers around the toilet flush button missing and the area rusty, yuck. Big patches of the deck surfacing poolside was missing. The thalassotherapy pool is badly corroded by the salt water. Brass that was dull and unpolished. Many gouged, scratched, and stained areas all over the ship. I cannot really fault the crew as they we saw them making a real effort to make it the best they could, but she needs a refit. She has deteriorated badly since our last cruise on her several years ago

 

Celebrity describes itself as a "premium" cruise line. The Galaxy is no longer a "premium" ship.

[mckay1]

Bump

[mckay1]

Bump

[cruisingmimi]

Ok, where are all the reviews? I would like to contribute to the ports reviews.

[cechase]

Really disappointed that more CC'ers have not participated in this thread. So I guess that I will just bump it up in the hopes that others in our large and really great group on this cruise will participate.

 

We are less than a month from boarding Mercury for a 11 night cruise on Jan. 2nd.

[Arubalisa]

Really disappointed that more CC'ers have not participated in this thread. So I guess that I will just bump it up in the hopes that others in our large and really great group on this cruise will participate.

 

We are less than a month from boarding Mercury for a 11 night cruise on Jan. 2nd.

Just a thought, but if the Mercury is presently sailing the same itinerary that you are on, have you checked out the

Roll Calls - Mercury threads from returning passengers?

I know our Galaxy group has received some terrific information from folks who have been on the last 2 sailings of the Galaxy- tour info, ship condition, number of formal nights and such.