A First Time Cruisers Thoughts on Zenith March 6th Cruise

[redheadskier]

I thought I would return the favor of all those persons who posted their experiences on a recent cruise

We took the Zenith on the 5 day March 6th cruise to Key West, Cozumel, Costa Maya (NOT!!!) then home. The ship was completely booked with it being Spring Break

We had Celebrity handle the airline tickets, transfers, etc. Would I do that again? Probably not - they didn't get us to the ship until 3:45 so we missed a day on this ship (the party was in full swing on the pooldeck when we got on board and the lunch buffet was ending- we were pretty hungry) - the only positive here was that there were only 8 people on our bus from Ft Lauderdale so we could stretch out and no line to go thru to embark. If there was a tour of the facilities, etc. to introduce people to the ship's amenities we missed it. On the plus side, however, when we got to FLL to leave, there was an agent in the Continental line who saw our cruise tags and gave us our boarding passes and put us in a special check-in line that avoided the long lines

PORTS OF CALL - Key West was lots of fun - tho our stay there was much too short !!!(they left at 2pm) Cozumel - we took the snorkel/catamaran beach party - the highlight of our trip- Ricky and his crew were fabulous - they made sure everyone always had a drink (whether it was beer, soda, water or 'ritas - no one went thirsty). Lots of dancing on the front deck on the way home. Big tip there. Again, stop was too short - arrived at 11 am - we tendered off at 11:30, got on the catamaran, then got back in time to tender back at 6:30 - no time to get off what is left of the pier, ship left at 7. The tendering was not alot of fun but a necessary evil to get to shore. Day three was supposed to be Costa Maya - unfortunately they closed the port to ships due to 10 foot swells and it was too rough to tender. What did that mean? A 2-day sail back to Miami instead of the one day originally scheduled -that just about soured us on cruising. I think the cruise line should have a backup plan in place for such problems - and evidently Zenith has not been able to land in Costa Maya the last several attempts - time to drop that port. If they had spread our time across longer stops in Key West and Cozumel we would have been very happy!!!

DINNER - We opted for the late sitting and that worked out best for us - gave us an opportunity to rest/cleanup between shore excurions. Food was good (not as great as I had heard it would be, but for the most part it was good - limited choices on the menu we thought, and shrimp cocktail offered on only 2 evenings (small) - in fact one night we opted to get hamburgers on the back grille since we were not impressed with the choices that night:rolleyes: ) - The service was wonderful, tho!!! And our table mates were well matched to us - we all were from the same geographical area it turned out. The wine steward was very good - we brought our own on 2 evenings- $ 15 corkage fee -good deal, and bought wine one night - in fact we did not realize we hadn't finished the bottle until the next night when he asked if we cared to have some of our wine from the night before!! We did room service the morning we expected to disembark at Costa Maya -what a spread!!! :D We had breakfast in the main dining room one morning which was very nice, tho most people opted for the buffet - omelets to order on the back deck, waffles (yes they are as good as everyone says) Never had lunch in the main dining room -too much like a mini dinner. Lunch buffets were pretty good but again the back grille was the best bet with burgers, hot dogs, stir fry. Everyone enjoyed the sushi bar (we were hoping for shrimp cocktail - bummer)

Best Buy - the $5.00/day soda option - nice insulated travel mug - soda was very appreciated on the last 2 days (when we bought it) due to sea-sickness

DUTY-FREE SHOPPING -Only good buys was the liquor (and that was fantastic - along with the cigarettes if you were into that). You are only allowed one bottle per person - not four like the store employee told us - we attended the last day disembarking lecture and found that out so we went to the customs agent and confessed we had 6 bottles between us - the duty on the extra bottles was less than $10 and was waived!! :D The shops reminded me of airport shops. I guess the larger ships are more impressive. Art Auction - pass (not impressed in the selection)

OUR ROOM - We were booked into a Concierge Class Room - was it worth the extra - not sure. I do know that I expected more than what we received in extras, but on the otherhand, there are no interior staterooms on Deck 10 which meant less people in the halls, much quieter than the other decks (it was college spring break and some of the other staterooms were PACKED with students). We were in Room 1047 - it has not been refurbished yet, but was still impecable and our attendent (Michelle) was fabulous. TIP - skip the standard hors d'erves that they bring (nasty) and ask for a cheese/cracker platter instead. Because of the location with its "own" back deck, and less people, if the price was not alot more I would book the concierge cabin again

OVERALL IMPRESSION - This was our first cruise - the size of the ship was perfect for us. We did not go to the shows (which I heard were great) or the casino (we don't gamble), but did frequent the Fleet Bar (for the Key West sunset), the Library (nice seating), and the Rainbow Room for dancing after dinner. We also went to the pool party one night.

We would have been lost on a larger ship. Our table mates all bemoaned the "smallness" of the ship (they missed the towel animals, the Midnight Buffet, and bigger on-board doings such as the rock wall kind of things), but that was due to the 2 day sail home - just nothing to occupy us for the 2 days (we all were booked for excursions - we really missed the Mayan Ruin tour at Costa Maya and that day - if we were unable to land - they should have stayed in the area rather than to start to motor to Miami -the seas were 30 foot swells and 40 knot winds - alot of sick people - some injuries when it got really rough but that was more their fault than anything)

The ship itself was extradinarily clean, service everywhere was wonderful, friendly, helpful - they even were great with the rowdy college kids who at times we thought were rude and demanding. How they kept their cool was beyond me - the kids had them hopping for glasses of free water - instead of bottled water which cost them money! The kids also left empties, dishes, etc all over the place -they kept coming thru every 1/2 hour and cleaning that up too!

The hot tubs were nice (not hot by the way but that was ok - we got to stay in longer) Too crowded by the pool with all the college kids, but we were able to find spots to lay out and relax on Deck 12 without a problem (be sure to score a pool towel early in the day and hang onto it - they were in short supply on this full ship)

Oh - and the Wine Pairing Seminar was great on the last day - $10/pp - 4 different wines (full pours) with different foods to sample. A definite do again!:p

I also kept a close watch on our Sea Pass account - no problem at all!!! Got the final accounting slipped under our door at 3 am of the day we were leaving (yes I was awake) and it matched our records. We kept all of our receipts just in case!

Long and Short - did we have a good time? -I did, husband was happy until the cancellation of Costa Maya with no backup option. We got alot of sleep those last 2 days. Would I cruise on Zenith again - you bet! The "little" ship was the right size for us and the service was wonderful!:D

[mahdnc]

Nice review! Thanks for writing it. We have been on Zenith's sister, Horizon, and really enjoyed it. Sorry about Costa Maya though.

[Ships R Great]

You were on our favorite ship. The crew is fan-tabulous! I am trying to finagle a Zenith cruise to Bernuda this year. Wish me luck. If I find a really good rpice maybe I can convince DH. sorry you missed a port. That would not have been a downer for us as we love the sea days. But I can understand your being upset since you were counting on it.

[Lois R]

Hi:) welcome back and I am glad you had a good time.

Sorry you missed your port.

 

Some folks don't like small ships......while others don't enjoy the

BIG ONES.

Happy to hear you enjoyed the size of Zenith. She really is a little

gem.:)

[delyn]

We leave next Sunday for our cruise on the Zenith and found your review a great comfort. I can understand about some of your points, especially the missed port....and I hope we don't have to deal with as many college kids!!

 

We are looking forward to our cruise and even more so now.

 

Thanks!