Ok Rci....listen Up!!!!

[karen&kevin]

Don't I know it Danno! I was so lucky to have sailed Horizon and I'm afraid that in a few years all of the beautiful smaller ships will be gone and we'll have to resort to the 140,000+ ton monsters.

 

I was so spoiled in '88 on Carla Costa and in '90 on HAL Rotterdam V and Horizon is the only ship that has come close to those experiences. I wish there were more ships sailing today that felt more like elegant ocean liners than floating hotels. Oh well, at least I got three kicks at that can.

 

I know that Zenith is supposed to be nearly identical to Horizon but my friends have sailed both (within 2 months of each other, and within 4 months of our Horizon cruise) and felt that Zenith couldn't compare.

 

Back to the topic at hand, I met more fabulous staff on Horizon than I did on all of my other cruises combined. I wonder why that is? Horizon either attracted the best or the management inspired the best from their staff?

I'll never forget the Captain saying "By-ye, for now" at the end of each of his announcements.

 

Karen

[Danno]

Karen...I might not agree with your friends...if we rated Horizon a 98%, I'd give Zenith a strong 95% grade...I prefered the America's Cup room on Horizon...her decore is a bit gaudier.

 

Try NYC to Bermuda on Zenith...what a great cruise!! I think her days may be numbered...(haven't heard a good rumour, start one :p !!)

[TechKnowBabble]

I agree completely.

 

 

Andy, John Howell is on Summit currently I just got back 2/26 and man we loved him!!!

 

Also from same trip...

 

Fernando Fernandez - waiter

Piotr (Poland) - asst waiter

Santana - cabin steward

[gillianrose]

Hi, it is definitely Zoran. I had him last year..Yes he looked strong

and was from Masadonia too.

 

If you want to see if it is the same waiter, check out my webshots

below. Click on Century March 2005. He is in some of the photos.

 

 

Thanks! I checked the photograph, and it's not the same guy. Our waiter's name was Goran (or maybe Goren, but definitely with a "G"). He said he was from Macedonia (correct spelling). Our Goran may be from a different ethnic group than yours, too. I recall he had light brown hair.

 

There is some dispute about the name Macedonia, to which Greeks lay claim. Many people refer to the COUNTRY (as opposed to the ancient area Greeks refer to as Macedonia) is "F.Y.R.O.M", i.e. the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. They are two different places.

 

From the CIA factbook:

 

"Country name:

 

conventional long form: Republic of Macedonia

 

conventional short form: Macedonia; note - the provisional designation used by the UN, EU, and NATO is Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM)

 

local long form: Republika Makedonija

 

local short form: Makedonija

 

former: People's Republic of Macedonia, Socialist Republic of Macedonia"

 

and

 

"Background:

 

Macedonia gained its independence peacefully from Yugoslavia in 1991, but Greece's objection to the new state's use of what it considered a Hellenic name and symbols delayed international recognition, which occurred under the provisional designation of the "Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia." In 1995, Greece lifted a 20-month trade embargo and the two countries agreed to normalize relations, although differences over Macedonia's name remain. The undetermined status of neighboring Kosovo, implementation of the Framework Agreement - which ended the 2001 ethnic Albanian armed insurgency - and a weak economy continue to be challenges for Macedonia.

** Geography "

 

I love it that Celebrity uses an international wait staff, including Eastern Europeans, especially in the dining room. We learn about many cultures and countries through these wonderful people. We hadn't really considered Eastern Europe, except for Prague, at the top of our lists to visit, but now we do.

 

We had two absolutely great room attendants from Goa, too: Francisco and Allison. Excellent service, and we hope they are still with Celebrity.

[Longboysfan]

Our best Celebrity friend - Melanie Mowat - Captains club hostess - Galaxy.

And every other Galaxy employee that made our last trip special.

Sorry I mailed Celebrity a letter thanking then and mentioning the particular people.

[Kathy & George]

Shawn on Century, had him several times as cabin attendant..he is fantastic.

Larry, Wine Sommonier, Century

Josep, Asst Maitre D, Century

Many more on many ships, you hire the best!

[Lois R]

Gillian, my waiter on Summit was from Goa! His name is Jackviston,

though we all called him Jack:) He was fantastic too!

 

And of course as Kathy mentioned.....Shawn:D He was my

very first Cabin Steward on my very first X cruise (on Century). I have seen

him since then as well, though he wasn't my steward the last

2 times.

He sent the standard for all my Cabin Attendants;)

[cechase]

Danno, thanks for a great thread!!! Sure wish that I had a memory like Lois R. Hi Lois!

 

We had a great butler, Keith on our very first Celebrity cruise on Mercury. My DW had a fever of 102-103 degrees [no not norovirus], and Keith was so attentative to her literally to a fault. We never had to open our cabin door, he was always there, dinners in our suite were fantastic.

 

Of course, we were on Century twice, and our usual procedure was to have a martini in Roudevous Square before main seating. We were treated to Erol Gray, who and I swear had our martinis ready before our arrival :D And he remembered from our first Century cruise. What a very nice gentleman from Jamacia. On our second Century cruise, we had the legendary Lawrence as our butler, and he did live up to his fame.

 

In January, we were treated on Mercury to Stanley as our butler, and Ingrida as our cabin stewardess and they turned out to be the very very best. I do wish that I could remember Ingrida's asst's name, because he along with both of them formed a fantastic team - making our cruising experience a wonderful and memorable one. [Hope Celebrity reads this, because each of the above should be rewarded, other than our tips.]

 

Finally, an honorable mention - Edwardo, our butler on our first Century cruise. He did not come up quite to the level of Keith, Lawrence and Stanley, but his cheerfulness and smile brightened our day. On our cruise on Galaxy last Oct., we ran into Edwardo several times, and the great smile was still there.

[mmp13]

We loved Aristede Ppalmer a bartender on the constellation in the rondevous lounge He had our drinks ready by the time we got to the bar. and also Sercon Ostruk who seemed to be a waiter in every venue on the Constellation...what he lacked in skill he more than made up for with his herioc effort to make us happy. Mostly he accomplished that with his amazing smile and good nature!

[mrjim]

Hector (India), our waiter on Century

Remi, his assistant

Lazaro, our cabin steward

 

All of them were absolutely outstanding.

 

Joachim

 

 

----------------------------

AIDAcara (08/2002), MSC Lirica (09/2004), Celebrity Century (11/2005)

[cechase]

We were on Mercury for the 11 nighter out of San Diego on 1/2/2006. We were at a table for four with Rick and Syl from the San Diego area. Our waiter was not very good and her asst. was never to be seen. [actually, the first time that our wait staff in the dining room was poor]. Our table mates talked to Steve, our asst. maitre'd and expressed the thoughts that empty salad plates should not remain on the table for 30 minutes, that getting bread and the wonderful breadsticks to which I am addicted should not take 25 minutes after several requests to be delivered, and that 2 - 2 1/2 hours for dinner was a bit much.

 

Well, Steve did his best to remedy the situation, and actually assigned another asst. to our table, which was a slight improvement. He did bend over backwards for us and our table mates. On only one other cruise did we even know who our asst. matire'd was. Needless to say, we gave Steve a really nice tip, and expressed our appreciation for his help.

 

So add Steve, asst. maitre'd to the list of really great Celebrity crew.