Royal Caribbean has won me over Celebrity

[Joyfredsblondecruiser]

I just returned from a Celebrity cruise on the Mercury. I had been on it a year ago and enjoyed it very much. The food was terrible this time my husband broke a cap off of his tooth tring to chew the tough Filet Mignon. We were on the Jewel of the Sea in Aug Sept and everything was wonderful on it. Happy Sailing, Joy

[captNcrunch]

Thats funny we were on the Jewel in September and the food was nothing to write home about, minimal selections, bland taste, small portions, and lacking the usual presentation. We even got served fried chicken on a formal night!

[Joyfredsblondecruiser]

Isn`t it strange how some people have entirely different experiences with food. Happy Sailing,Joy

[gmpegasus]

Hmmm... we too had a less-than-4-star experience on Mercury. We had previously only gone RCI & were swayed by friends & our trusted TA to try Celebrity as a "step above", a 4 star line. Ours was an Inside Passage to Alaska cruise. Poor food( waiter told us not to order one dish that made his early diners sick!), unresolved cabin maint. issues (they tried several times & never fixed the only light in the bathroom), and a very unsatisfactory experience with the Head of Guest Relations(can't recall her exact title) to cap it all off. We've been on enough cruises to understand things aren't always perfect, & we can make alowances for lots of stuff. A grumpy employee, one bad meal, or cabin maint. issues can be fixed, avoided or tollerated. However.... this cruise created (& didn't resolve) problems for many passengers, & us specifically, on that sailing - some were only "Celebrity" cruisers. This was an "Inside Passage" trip & they tried to change the itinerary to exclude the Inside Passage.... something to do with a Customs problem in Vancouver. (Not the ship's first time in Vancouver.... They've done this same trip several times a year for several years, right!!) Enough passengers spoke to the Purser, & whoever would listen to, have the change in itinerary avoided. And there was no noticable delay in Vancouver. The ship avoided a passenger mutiny! by reinstating the Inside Passage!

I know many folks who still stand by Celebrity as the best.... I have my doubts about Mercury, at least.

 

Georgann

[Joyfredsblondecruiser]

Read my review on the Celebrity board entitled Mercury last year compared to this year. Happy Sailing, Joy

[Sailfish]

I too sailed on the Mercury recently, but my experience was a good one, and would not hesitate to sail with Celebrity again. I have to say, though, that I was not as impressed with the food as some people would have you believe that it's 5 star cuisine. But I thought the fillet they served us was excellent, and everything I had in the formal dining room was very good.

 

I personally prefer a more active ship - the sedate nature of the Mercury was fine for a short 5 night Pacific Northwest cruise, but I prefer newer Voyager class ships. With that said, I appreciated the great service and the attention to detail. Unfortunately, the ship did not impress me.

[hstrybuf]

I haven't yet sailed on Celebrity so I can't make a comparison. Apparently, you also found Princess to be better than Celebrity since you posted the same topic on that forum as well. Celebrity must have made a really bad impression on you.

[caviargal]

Thats funny we were on the Jewel in September and the food was nothing to write home about, minimal selections, bland taste, small portions, and lacking the usual presentation. We even got served fried chicken on a formal night!

 

I imagine if you were served fried chicken it was because you ordered it! There are always plenty of options for food.

 

I was just on Mercury and the food was very good but other things about the ship were disappointing. It was unlike my previous cruises with X.

 

My last RCI was on Serenade. She was beautiful and I totally enjoyed my cruise. I dined at the Specialty restaurants 3 nights of 7 as the food there was excellent, as was the service.

 

I enjoy RCI but there are things about them lately that have me staying away. Too many kids (unsupervised), lack of dress code adherence, no sommeliers on board, etc. I will cruise with them again mostly because of the perks I get as Diamond Plus. On X, the perks for Elite were worthless, IMO.

[Joyfredsblondecruiser]

I found Royal Caribbean and Princess food to be superior to Celebrity. If asked this las year I would say they were all good. Happy Sailing, Joy