Zenith 2/25/06 Review

[FastFreddie]

We boarded around 3 pm. This time we used the Celebrity Fly package. Actually, the Miami airport representatives of Celebrity didn’t do a great job of herding us to the proper busses. It was confusing and a major pain. (Numerous representatives from other cruise lines directed us to the Celebrity gathering place.) The good news is that once on the bus everything else moved quite well. The process of checking in was ok, there was an incredibly long line but it moved quite nicely. Once on board the dream began.

Once on board we were delighted to be greeted by crew members that we have become familiar with on previous cruises. We ran into Simona, the head concierge, as soon as we boarded. We met Simona at the Customer Relations Desk during our first Zenith cruise and she has been on 4 of our 6 cruises. It was a pleasure to see her again. We also discovered that Leisl was the Captains Club Hostess. We first met this delightful young woman on the Horizon in August.

The Zenith is my favorite ship thus far, and this was our 3rd sailing on her. We took my mother-in-law with us to introduce her to cruising. She loved this cruise! The Zenith is in need of an interior overhaul. It’s a worn ship but incredibly clean. You always see the cleaning crew members doing their magic. As always we only saw the room steward the first day where he introduced himself (Alex on deck 4), and sprinkled the magic dust in our room. You know the magic dust where when you go out of the room <poof> it auto magically becomes clean and the beds are made up. As usual this magic is quite undetectable, as in you never catch them in your room EVER! But the room is always spic and span with fresh towels and ice and water.

 

The cruise Director was Jeff Potts, and I had the pleasure sailing with him on a prior cruise and really like his style. This cruise’s entertainment was exceptional! The dancers and singers were outstanding, the magician was the best I had ever seen (I am an amateur magician, and KNOW how he did the tricks but could not “see” how he did them). The comedian was hilarious. For me he started out as “… another mediocre guy” but this guy had everyone rolling in the aisles. Congrats to Celebrity an 11 out of 10 for entertainment.

 

The food (and we all go for the food) was amazing as usual. I had called to arrange for a diebetic/low carb meal plan. The ship staff had NO idea. It amazes me the entire lack of communications between the home office and the cruise personnel! After talking with the Matre d’ staff things were straightened out. These people really go out of the way to make your dining experience healthy and satisfying! Kudos to you Franco, Raefael, and the rest! The members of the wait staff were their usually outstanding selves. Friendly, efficient, funny, entertaining, and overall amazing service. We had 2 different tables 37, and were moved to 64. Ioan, (pronounced eewan) was very good. We were asked by Franco (Matre d’) if we wanted to be just the 3 of us or go to a table with more people. We like to be at large tables and moved. Our waiter was Paulo (from Portugal) and we had been on a cruise with him this past summer. He remembered us so that was nice!

 

Chair hogs, what can you do about them? I think I have a solution. Rent the chairs out!

 

We were really lucky to have been picked for the Captains table. We dined with the Staff Captain, Xenofon Livanios. He (I believe) is the second man in charge. He also had a “Masters” license just like the Captain, and told us that every Celebrity ship has 2 people with Masters Licenses for backup.

 

We had 2 ports of call, Georgetown Grand Cayman, and Key West. This was our 2nd trip to the Caymans, and we missed out on “Stingray city” the first time. We made arrangements through the ship. This tour was the “Rays, Reef, Rum Point” tour. It was expensive, but worth it. The staff was good and the boat skipper made sure we didn’t loose anyone. You might laugh but at stingray city there were at least 10 boats there, and I can see how easy it could be to get left behind there. Trust me when I say a 370 pound fat guy (me) couldn’t swim ashore. We didn’t make the reef because it was too rough, so we went about a mile away from sting ray city and snorkeled. Then we went to rum point for lunch. The beach at rum point is beautiful. Lunch was served and it was edible. It wasn’t amazing, it wasn’t horrid. Then we (after an hour and half) left on the boat to take the bus (a crowded van) back to Georgetown. The ship decided to cut the time in Georgetown by 2 hours because of calculated rough weather. In Georgetown you use tenders to go ashore. This time these tenders were NOT the ships boats. We were told the last tender would leave at 2:45pm. Well we waited for God knows who to make the tender. They apparently didn’t arrive so the ships personnel decided to be less annoying and let us go back to the ship,

 

All in all thus far an outstanding cruise. There are always glitches no matter what you do for a vacation and the ones I experienced were minor.

 

Key West I opted to stay aboard and read. Key West has a lot of things to do, been there done them. I could feel the Key Lime pie factory calling me but I resisted the urge. In Key West we went through US Immigration. This brought out the usual long lines to show your passport to a US official and be decreed ok to land on US soil. Of course there were some who didn’t show up on time. However, unlike our experiences on other cruises, this did not affect the disembarkation time of other passengers. Once you had passed through Immigration, you were given permission to leave the ship.

 

It’s always sad when the cruise ends. New friends depart, old friends depart, and there is always the “packing frenzy” that the last night brings. After 6 cruises we smartened up and had packed before dinner so we could enjoy the last night without stressing.

 

The last day departing was the worst run cluster event I had ever been a part of. There are always too small lounges for too many people. I never heard any announcements and I was in the room! Getting the bags was MUCH improved and it seemed much easier picking our bags out of the thousands lying about. We had arranged for a stay over at a Miami Beach hotel. This was through celebrity, and it was NOT coordinated very well. We would NOT do it again through celebrity, simply because the port people haven’t a clue! This I find really annoying, and when it comes to me getting frustrated because the man in charge doesn’t have a clue I ask myself “WHY”! Next time we will just take a cab and make our own arrangements thank you.

 

I really love sailing on Celebrity. I like the smaller ships rather than the larger ships. I think though, we will try Holland America next or perhaps go to a resort. We will certainly sail Celebrity again. I hope that they get their debarkation act together; it was almost a show stopper for me.

 

 

 

FastFreddie & BarbJ52

[CaribbeanBound]

Thank you for your review.

 

"The Zenith is in need of an interior overhaul."

Intersting to note that after the "refurbishing" in Charleston last year, and the supposed ongoing maintenance still leaves folks with this impression. Too bad. It was in dire need of interior work last October, especially in the linen, carpet, and deck chair departments. I had hoped they work get these easy to replace items taken care of by now.

[newmexicoNita]

We boarded around 3 pm. This time we used the Celebrity Fly package. Actually, the Miami airport representatives of Celebrity didn’t do a great job of herding us to the proper busses. It was confusing and a major pain. (Numerous representatives from other cruise lines directed us to the Celebrity gathering place.) The good news is that once on the bus everything else moved quite well. The process of checking in was ok, there was an incredibly long line but it moved quite nicely. Once on board the dream began.

Once on board we were delighted to be greeted by crew members that we have become familiar with on previous cruises. We ran into Simona, the head concierge, as soon as we boarded. We met Simona at the Customer Relations Desk during our first Zenith cruise and she has been on 4 of our 6 cruises. It was a pleasure to see her again. We also discovered that Leisl was the Captains Club Hostess. We first met this delightful young woman on the Horizon in August.

The Zenith is my favorite ship thus far, and this was our 3rd sailing on her. We took my mother-in-law with us to introduce her to cruising. She loved this cruise! The Zenith is in need of an interior overhaul. It’s a worn ship but incredibly clean. You always see the cleaning crew members doing their magic. As always we only saw the room steward the first day where he introduced himself (Alex on deck 4), and sprinkled the magic dust in our room. You know the magic dust where when you go out of the room <poof> it auto magically becomes clean and the beds are made up. As usual this magic is quite undetectable, as in you never catch them in your room EVER! But the room is always spic and span with fresh towels and ice and water.

 

The cruise Director was Jeff Potts, and I had the pleasure sailing with him on a prior cruise and really like his style. This cruise’s entertainment was exceptional! The dancers and singers were outstanding, the magician was the best I had ever seen (I am an amateur magician, and KNOW how he did the tricks but could not “see” how he did them). The comedian was hilarious. For me he started out as “… another mediocre guy” but this guy had everyone rolling in the aisles. Congrats to Celebrity an 11 out of 10 for entertainment.

 

The food (and we all go for the food) was amazing as usual. I had called to arrange for a diebetic/low carb meal plan. The ship staff had NO idea. It amazes me the entire lack of communications between the home office and the cruise personnel! After talking with the Matre d’ staff things were straightened out. These people really go out of the way to make your dining experience healthy and satisfying! Kudos to you Franco, Raefael, and the rest! The members of the wait staff were their usually outstanding selves. Friendly, efficient, funny, entertaining, and overall amazing service. We had 2 different tables 37, and were moved to 64. Ioan, (pronounced eewan) was very good. We were asked by Franco (Matre d’) if we wanted to be just the 3 of us or go to a table with more people. We like to be at large tables and moved. Our waiter was Paulo (from Portugal) and we had been on a cruise with him this past summer. He remembered us so that was nice!

 

Chair hogs, what can you do about them? I think I have a solution. Rent the chairs out!

 

We were really lucky to have been picked for the Captains table. We dined with the Staff Captain, Xenofon Livanios. He (I believe) is the second man in charge. He also had a “Masters” license just like the Captain, and told us that every Celebrity ship has 2 people with Masters Licenses for backup.

 

We had 2 ports of call, Georgetown Grand Cayman, and Key West. This was our 2nd trip to the Caymans, and we missed out on “Stingray city” the first time. We made arrangements through the ship. This tour was the “Rays, Reef, Rum Point” tour. It was expensive, but worth it. The staff was good and the boat skipper made sure we didn’t loose anyone. You might laugh but at stingray city there were at least 10 boats there, and I can see how easy it could be to get left behind there. Trust me when I say a 370 pound fat guy (me) couldn’t swim ashore. We didn’t make the reef because it was too rough, so we went about a mile away from sting ray city and snorkeled. Then we went to rum point for lunch. The beach at rum point is beautiful. Lunch was served and it was edible. It wasn’t amazing, it wasn’t horrid. Then we (after an hour and half) left on the boat to take the bus (a crowded van) back to Georgetown. The ship decided to cut the time in Georgetown by 2 hours because of calculated rough weather. In Georgetown you use tenders to go ashore. This time these tenders were NOT the ships boats. We were told the last tender would leave at 2:45pm. Well we waited for God knows who to make the tender. They apparently didn’t arrive so the ships personnel decided to be less annoying and let us go back to the ship,

 

All in all thus far an outstanding cruise. There are always glitches no matter what you do for a vacation and the ones I experienced were minor.

 

Key West I opted to stay aboard and read. Key West has a lot of things to do, been there done them. I could feel the Key Lime pie factory calling me but I resisted the urge. In Key West we went through US Immigration. This brought out the usual long lines to show your passport to a US official and be decreed ok to land on US soil. Of course there were some who didn’t show up on time. However, unlike our experiences on other cruises, this did not affect the disembarkation time of other passengers. Once you had passed through Immigration, you were given permission to leave the ship.

 

It’s always sad when the cruise ends. New friends depart, old friends depart, and there is always the “packing frenzy” that the last night brings. After 6 cruises we smartened up and had packed before dinner so we could enjoy the last night without stressing.

 

The last day departing was the worst run cluster event I had ever been a part of. There are always too small lounges for too many people. I never heard any announcements and I was in the room! Getting the bags was MUCH improved and it seemed much easier picking our bags out of the thousands lying about. We had arranged for a stay over at a Miami Beach hotel. This was through celebrity, and it was NOT coordinated very well. We would NOT do it again through celebrity, simply because the port people haven’t a clue! This I find really annoying, and when it comes to me getting frustrated because the man in charge doesn’t have a clue I ask myself “WHY”! Next time we will just take a cab and make our own arrangements thank you.

 

I really love sailing on Celebrity. I like the smaller ships rather than the larger ships. I think though, we will try Holland America next or perhaps go to a resort. We will certainly sail Celebrity again. I hope that they get their debarkation act together; it was almost a show stopper for me.

 

 

 

FastFreddie & BarbJ52

boy do I agree with you on debarkation. We had CC class and waiting in the lounge for over an hour. As for packing it is amazing how we learn through time: I actually start packing 2 days prior to debarkation. Anything I know we are not going to use and the dirty, yucky stuff gets packed. The last day I finish up, as you did, prior to dinner. We enjoy our last few hours before bed and set the luggage out about 11pm. NMNita

[Lois R]

Hi, the Miami airport can take some lessons from FLL.

 

I flew down last month and had a Celebrity rep waiting for me...no

problems at all.

And upon disembarkation, got off the ship and the bus to the FLL Airport

was at the end of the line.....one of the Celebrity reps pointed me right

to it.

 

Sorry you had so many problems!

[Kathy & George]

Was there a golf pro on board Zenith, I know she is a smaller ship, just wondering?

[Lois R]

Kathy, I didn't meet him, but yes, I believe there is one.

[Kathy & George]

Thanks, Lois, our friends that may be comming with us on Zenith 4-13 are avid golfers.

Fast Freddy, Glad you had a great time on the ship, sorry you had so many challenges getting on. But if we can sail...Life is Good right?

[mahdnc]

Terrific review. Hopefully we will get to sail on Zenith sometime soon in the future.

[BrooklynGirl2]

Thanks for the review. Sounds like you had a good time despite the messy debarkation. We also enjoy Zenith very much and find that the debarkation back to Bayonne has never been anything but smooth for us. The only bad part was the fact we had to get off the ship :D .

 

Thanks again.

[Ships R Great]

Hi Fred and Barbara and Arlene. Glad you are safely home. We finally got home last night. We took two nights to get here via. Jeckyll Island club (wonderful!) and an un-named motel on I95 (so-so).

 

We so enjoyed the times we spend in your wonderful company---especailly the night in the Martini Bar (not to say the Captain's table wasn't great, also). Fred, you are such a hoot!

 

I can't add much to Fred's review. We had no delay whatsoever embarking, but we got to the pier at 11:00am. We also met crew from other cruises, including Simone. Leisl was a new meet but she was delightful. It was good to see Josie (future cruises) again. We booked Hawaii for October while on board. Captain Livanios we had met before. He is delightful also. And quite witty. Fred, you are right, he is second in command and very young to have that position. With two new ships on the horizon, no pun intended, maybe he will make Master Captain sooner than later.

 

As to debarkation---here is one case where Captain's Club Select and Elite status pays off. We were in the Fleet Bar. No crowds, pastries, coffee and juice. A very relaxed atmosphere. BTW, Fred, the reason you did not hear announcements about ticket colors---they don't announce over the PA. Just in the applicable waiting areas. They avoid the PA to the last minute of the cruise.

 

It was a great cruise, tho. I'm sorry you had a few minor setbacks but I am glad you did not let it ruin the overall experience. And you did not complain about it at all during the cruise, as I have heard some do.

 

Diane, Tom, Ed and I really enjoyed meeting the threee of you. Hope our paths cross again dome time.

 

 

Carribeanbound---they did replace carpeting and upholstery. Linens, too, in most cabins by now. Still have the horrid chairs in Rendesvouz. They don't sit any better---just look better.

 

 

Rita, we waited for a long time also but that was because of the large numbers of baggage. They now screen ALL baggage coming back into US.

 

 

Kathy & George. They did have a golf pro as well as golf excursions in most ports. Onboard golf clinic, too.

[bethaniesmom]

Freddie and Barb....thanks for the great review of your Zenith trip!

We sail Zenith on March 20 for the first time.....only question I still have is whether tips are added to our ship account or should we be prepared to pay them in cash...we have done it both ways on other trips...probably prefer to give them out myself, but thought you might know how it really works on this ship!

 

Beverly

[Ships R Great]

Beverly---we handed out our own tips. They put envelopes in cabin on next to last night. I read on this board that they were charging everyone and only took of if you did not want it. That probably backfired on them and they have gone back to regular procedure. i don't know if you can gharge on request or not. We prefer the old-fashioned face-to-face way. You will have a great time. Zenith is a wonderful little ship. Say hello to Leisl, Josie, and juli in the Cova Cafe for Patty and Ed. Whoops, Anna in the Martini Bar, too!

[FastFreddie]

Beverly,

 

I don't believe you can put the tips on your bill. At least for the 4 and 5 day cruises.

 

Ships R Great! Glad to see you and Ed made it home safely! I didn't realize select CC members could go to the fleet bar or I would have been there with you. Oh ya

 

Epilogue,

 

We got to the hotel the Mariott Courtyard aka the Cadillac. The food was great, the service was great, the pool was great, the beach was great! Oh ya the room was great too even though there is new construction going on on both sides of the Motel. I will definately go back there!

 

Then there was the trip from Hell home. I will NEVER fly US Scare again. WHen you have a connection flight and you don't get tickets for the connection ... That means that flight has been over booked. And connecting in Phili is a major pain going from concourse "B" to Concourse "F". When we finally got the bad news the ringing of the liars in Miami "Oh it's because they don't know which plane is going on that flight so they assign seats when you get there". DON'T believe them. We did make the flight someone opted to take the free flight anywhere. The best part was when one of our bags didn't show up! There is another hour and 1/2 standing in line to talk to someone who dosen't know how to spell and is shell shocked by the previous 20 people chewing him out. We eventually got the bag and today was a long one! I still love the Zenith!!!

 

FF

[bethaniesmom]

thanks for the quick responses.....i prefer to hand out the tips myself anyway, seems a little more personal....

really looking forward to vacation even if the weather is greatly improved since a month ago when we booked!

 

Beverly

[jeffs55]

Apparently one can pre-pay tips if the travel agent arranges it. All the others at our table had pre-paid tips, but we had the old fashioned envelopes

[Islandbuoy]

If anyone in management is listening:

 

The Zenith has been on this run since Novemmber and it's hi time this gets straightened out.

 

All the passengers are expecting tips added to their bill like all other X ships and HAL etc. Having to come up with unexpected cash is not a nice surprise.

 

Get the auto adder set up on the Zenith.

[Kathy & George]

Ships R Great, thanks for the golf info, our friends have never been on a cruise before and golf is his passion. He'll be happy to know that it is available. I didn't see any Golf excursions offered on line, maybe once we are on ship they will have more info for him. thanks again.

[Kathy & George]

Fast Freddie, you have me worried about US flying...we are scheduled with them for our trip to England this Aug. I sure hope we won't have trouble, and we are changing planes in Philly too.

[hajekfam]

If anyone in management is listening:

 

The Zenith has been on this run since Novemmber and it's hi time this gets straightened out.

 

All the passengers are expecting tips added to their bill like all other X ships and HAL etc. Having to come up with unexpected cash is not a nice surprise.

 

Get the auto adder set up on the Zenith.

Adding tips to the bill is not automatic on Celebrity. The default is envelopes with the choice to have them added optional.

We would never expect tips to be added to our bill on Celebrity.

I think that on the shorter cruises, Celebrity tried to require auto tipping. But this is not on all Celebrity ships. You are given a slip that you must fill out if you want to have the tips added to your bill. This must be turned a couple of days before the end of the cruise. Otherwise, envelopes are left in your cabin on the next to last night.

[dagadget]

Apparently one can pre-pay tips if the travel agent arranges it. All the others at our table had pre-paid tips, but we had the old fashioned envelopes

 

Optional Items For your convenience, gratuities for your onboard staff may be paid in advance. You may also purchase Vacation Insurance, which offers affordable medical, travel, baggage and personal injury coverage for the duration of your cruise. Make your selection below. Gratuities: 147.00 USD

 

This is from The web site and I plan on paying them before I leave for the cruise on April 16th on Millennium

[BarbJ52]

As indicated above, FastFreddie and I were also offered the option to pay the tips prior to the cruise. We assumed that this option would, as it had been previously, also be offered during the cruise. We figure that the fact that it was a short cruise (5 days) dictated that, if the tips were not paid prior to the cruise, they would need to be paid in cash during the cruise.

 

Ships R Great, FastFreddie and I are Select Captains Club members. We were, however, assigned to meet at the Rendevous Lounge - but unable to get all the way into the lounge due to crowded conditions, thus unable to hear the announcements. Airline arangements were deplorabe, especially when considering that we were travelling with my mother.

 

However, despite some inconviences, we all enjoyed our cruise (and post-cruise experience - minus the air arrangements) tremendously. We shared our vacation with some incredible people, including Ships R Great and travelling companions, and we will all cruise with Celebrity again.

[Ships R Great]

"Ships R Great, FastFreddie and I are Select Captains Club members. We were, however, assigned to meet at the Rendevous Lounge - but unable to get all the way into the lounge due to crowded conditions, thus unable to hear the announcements."

 

Barb, I may have been wrong about Select being invited to the Fleet Bar. I asked Leisl where you and Fred were and she said that you were in a lounge. I am sure she would have made sure you were in Fleet if qualified to. I just can't believe she would have made a mistake about that. She was so accomodating to all of us. Next time you cruise X ask about it before debarkation day.

 

It was such a great cruise, I am sorry you had a sour note at the end.