Infinity Review (first-timer): 2/26 - 3/5

[USSFRef]

Just got back from our cruise on Infinity, our first-ever cruise. Please keep in mind that the following review comes from the mind of a "newbie".

 

Embarkation

 

We flew JetBlue from Washington-Dulles to FLL the morning of the cruise. What a great airline! FLL seemed a bit overwhelmed when we arrived about 11:15 AM, but this was probably due in no small part to the fact that the port had approximately 9-10 ships departing that afternoon. It was an awesome sight to see all the ships in port at once; some "old-timers" said it was the first time they'd seen that many ships in port on a Sunday.

 

By my count, there were two X ships (Infinity and Summit, fresh from its trans-canal cruise), two Princess, two HAL, two Costa, two Carnival and a couple of other smaller ships. Infinity was docked at Pier 25. We arrived via taxi from the airport, dropped the luggage at the dropoff, sailed through check-in (Express Check-In is a must), and were in stateroom 2017 by 12:30.

 

Stateroom 2017

 

We had booked an Oceanview GTY back in November, which was a steal at $750 per person. I was a little apprehensive, however, when we were assigned a cabin on deck 2, portside, almost at the very front of the ship. I had visions of a dingy, musty room, a vision which was exacerbated by the fact that Infinity would be entering dry dock three weeks after our cruise.

 

I'm happy to report that our room could not have been better (ok, a CC cabin would have been better, but what do you want for $750?). The bed(s) were comfortable, the bathroom was spotless, and the window gave us a great view of the 12-16 ft seas the first day and a half out of Fort Lauderdale. That's right - 12 to 16 ft seas for almost the entire trip down to the first port. My wife's first introduction to cruising was to be medically enhanced. There's nothing like watching fish swim by your porthole every third or fourth wave. Pam's comment: "this window doesn't open, does it?"

 

Ports

 

Casa De Campo - I could go on endlessly about how bad this port was, but I'll just borrow a phrase often seen on these boards: Casa De Campo really is Spanish for "stay on the boat". Yes, it's that bad. Why Celebrity stops here is a complete mystery. In the future, I'll avoid any itin with this port stop on it.

 

San Juan - ah, that's better. Pam and I wandered around old San Juan and got in some shopping, and we also went to the old forts. It was a bit windy that day, so the waves on the Atlantic provided a dramatic backdrop to El Morro.

 

St. Thomas/St. John - Got off the boat almost as soon as the dock workers could tie up the lines. On the advice of a co-worker, we jumped a taxi out to Red Hook and caught the short ferry from there to St. John. St. John is almost entirely a National Park, so the facilites are a bit crude, but the beaches are absolutely fantastic. We went to Cinnamon Bay, which is a little further east than most people go, but it was well worth the death-defying taxi ride from Cruz Bay. I rented some snorkeling gear for the day ($5) while Pam relaxed on the beach. I must have spent close to two hours in the water, which is probably why my back and shoulders look beet-red right now, but the burn was worth it. There are wild donkeys on the island, descendents of those who worked the old sugar plantations in colonial times. They came down out of the mountains and kind of half-heartedly begged at lunch time, but you got the feeling they didn't really care if you fed them or not. All in all, the best stop of the tour.

 

Nassau - ugh. I hate being hustled, so I dont think we were off the boat for more than an hour before we ran back. The main street there (Bay Street, I think), is one long tourist trap of questionable jewelry stores and typical beach "fashions". Paradise Island looked interesting, but there were five other ships in port that morning, and it seemed everyone was heading over there. Again, I'm not much for crowds, so your mileage may vary.

 

Food/Service

In a word, outstanding. Our stateroom attendent was very helpful, sensing our needs before we had. The food was varied a bit, as it should, between the buffet, the Trellis and the SS United States restaurant. The SS US is highly recommended not only for its food but for the presentation and service; it was the best $60 we ever spent on a meal.

 

Experience

It all comes down to the overall experience. Would we do it again? Well, I'd have to qualify my answer. First, Pam didn't have a great time with sea sickness. When she wasn't feeling quesy, she was in our stateroom trying to sleep off the Bonine.

 

Secondly, and I say this as a first-timer, I'd appreciate more time in port. Casa De Campo, as noted, was a complete waste of time. Why not make San Juan (or better yet, St Thomas) an overight port? I guess I'm just used to going one place and staying long enough to get a "flavor", as opposed to the panic induced by realizing I only have "x" hours in port and trying to cram in as much as possible before the ship leaves.

 

Celebrity provided a wonderful cruise experience, but we're questioning whether we'd want to cruise again. Maybe with a different intinerary we'd get a better appreciation for it.

[trcori]

Hi - I would sincerely like to know what you considered "bad" about Casa de Campo (aka La Romana). I have seen that opinion over and over on these boards to the point it seems to take on a life of its own, and people arrive EXPECTING something horrific. We stopped there on Millennium a little more than a year ago, took the "Countryside Excursion," watched a nighttime baseball game near the port from our balcony in the evening, and considered it the most "real" place on our whole itinerary. None of those god-awful Diamonds International-ish shopping zones near the dock, etc. We actually didn't even set foot in "Casa de Campo" itself, sounded way too touristy, just saw the countryside and the bustling city of La Romana. Anyway, I would love to go back there and see more of the beautiful DR, and I'm really interested in hearing why I seem so alone in this opinion - so if you have a moment to elaborate, please do --- TR

[USSFRef]

Casa de Campo was a disappointment not only for us, but for pretty much everyone I talked to. We didn't do any of the Celebrity-planned shore excursions, but there really weren't that many to begin with, other than golf. I understand the golf was excellent, though.

 

There were essentially two choices for those of us not golfing or snorkeling: La Marina or Altos de Chavon. Altos de Chavon was supposedly an artists' village, but from what I heard it seemed there was only one "artist" there. We went to La Marina, which was essentially a shopping plaza built around a marina. The shopping was so-so, but the prices were way out of bounds. The overall impression was that we were dropped off at some tourists' "Potemkin Village", where the locals were pretty indifferent to our presence.

 

We spoke with a couple the next morning at breakfast about our disappointment, and they felt the same. However, they had spent time in the Domincan Republic and said that there were much better places to go than Casa de Campo.

[Kayleigh88]

Thanks for the quick write up USSFRef. We were on this cruise as well. This was my wife and I’s first X cruise but we are second time cruisers (the first being RC Voyager). Here are some of our thoughts.

Stateroom:

We booked an interior cabin deck 3. It was sufficient for our needs. We did not feel it needed to be anything special since we did not plan to spend too much time in the stateroom anyways. The shower was a good size and we were quite happy that the ship provided us with a lot of free extras like the two beach towels, beach bag, lotion, shaving cream, razor, etc.

Food:

Quite good. The lobster tail was too salty for my taste. The frog legs and escargot was good. I am a big scallop fan so my waiter was able to get me some extra pieces when it came on the menu. Overall, the dinners were above average for sure.

Every morning at around 8:00am deck 5 Cova Cafe would have fresh baked pastries. The same pastries would be on deck 10 but it is a mistake to get the pastries from Oceanview café on 10. Get it from Cova Café straight out of the oven. The chocolate croissants are to die for!

We appreciated the aqua spa food very much as well as the sushi bar. It was nice to have healthy choices to eat during the day.

The midnight buffet was very well done as well.

Ports:

Casa De Campo is not a good port. We did our research before the cruise so we expected nothing from this port. Let me tell you that Casa De Campo definitely did not exceed any of our expectations. We got off the boat, took some pictures and then got right back on the boat. It was the first stop so it was not a waste of our time to skip this port and spend our time discover the ship. A lot of people came back empty handed from shopping. .There might be some value in booking something through the ship. One couple booked the Sail and Snorkel excursion and they said they had a decent relaxing time.

San Juan. We booked the Rainforest tour. It was a good excursion. We expected bigger trees. We also would have liked to do a longer hike but overall this port was pretty good to us.

St. Thomas. We did our own thing. Jumped into an open air taxi and went to Coral world. The taxi guy gave us two $3 off coupon for admission so that saved us $6 getting into Coral world. We spent some time at Coki beach as well. We had a good time at this port.

Nassau. Dara the cruise director did a seminar on shopping earlier on in the cruise. She gave out some coupons for free jewellery as some of the major diamond stores. We went around town in Nassau cashing in our coupons. Sort of like a treasure hunt. Don’t expect to much from the free stuff. It was like a chain bracelet, charms, semi precious stones, but it was fun just to go around collecting the stuff. I heard good things about the dolphin encounter but it was a little too pricey for me.

Entertainment.

The comic Thein Fu was pretty good. He had some recycled jokes in there but I definitely found him to be above average. The two arielist were amazing as was the guy who played the xylo-synth. The cruise ship singers were a bit weak but the over all package was pretty good.

USSFRef, I hope you try out cruising again. I think the 2/26 – 3/5 Infinity cruise was a bit more rockier than usually. I definitely felt quezzy at times but usually a glass of milk and some fresh air does the trick for me. Cheers!