Just off Infinity - Post Cruise Review

[hcat]

1 hour ago, budmeister said:

I agree.  I wish we had bought a dining package. We always do on RC, but thought that on Celebrity we would not need one. Wrong!

What specialty restaurants are on Infinity? Will any new ones be added during the drydock?  

 

While Infinity is a NO for us we'd love to see  Constellation refurbished.

 

Tampa as a port seems not get the highest marks but is a  convenient drive from our winter place .

[dibbsy]

5 hours ago, Bluebury said:

Oh dear, sounds depressing. Especially as we are on the Infinity from 2nd January - she then goes in to dry dock. Will expect the worst and then cannot be disappointed. 

 

Where did you find out about the dry dock? I can't find anything about that online? Will it be a revamp?

[mahdnc]

39 minutes ago, dibbsy said:

Where did you find out about the dry dock? I can't find anything about that online? Will it be a revamp?

 

Here is a post about it from last month.  Another example why this forum is so valuable.

 

Edited October 4, 2023 by mahdnc

[CruiseMrB]

Sailed on Infinity a year ago (15 Oct 2022) in the Caribbean. I injured my back on a cruise excursion that put me in the room for two days, needed 2 months of PT, surgery, and a total of ten months from incident to recovery.

 

I only mention this because this was not the worst part of the cruise. The food was. By the third of seven days, we were ordering defensively by getting things that we thought they would mess up the least. 

 

Didn't matter where from. Oceanview messed up scrambled eggs and pizza. MDR bland to bad with rubber chicken dinner chicken. Room service (required, not an option for two days) was cold and stale.

 

P.S. The back seems to be much better now after surgery. Because it was a cruiseline booked excursion, Celebrity comped the on-board medical visit and whatever slight meds they could give me. So, I'm fine with that. Celebrity MD called it a pinched nerve, was actually a herniated disc. Given the situation, there would have been no difference in treatment on the ship.

 

[scouseronline]

On 10/3/2023 at 2:12 PM, benkon said:

Before you read - here is a disclaimer:  We are avid cruisers with five cruise lines and 25 sailings under our belt.  Comparisons and impressions here are not mean spirited or ultra fussy.  I'm writing this review because I wish someone had done this before I booked this horrible mistake.

 

We were super excited for our very first Celebrity cruise.  We'd listened to all the hype about this "premier" cruise line and wanted to experience it for ourselves.  Greece has been on our bucket list for awhile and the Infinity was the ship that fit our itinerary and scheduling needs.  We knew it was an older ship and in much need of a refurbishing.  We don't travel with children and have never really taken advantage of the bells and whistles on some of the newer mega ships (rock climbing, Flo-Rider, etc.).  So, we set sail with those lowered expectations in mind.

 

Embarkation - The port of Athens is clean and organized.  We were on the ship in short order and our luggage delivery was speedy.  No complaints there at all.

 

Stateroom - We had an Aqua Class balcony cabin on the 11th deck.  The location was great - a few steps to the buffet and the pool.  The first thing we noticed was the scum on the balcony glass and sliding doors.  You could not see out.  The decor is outdated and the fixtures were rusty.  Our bathrobes were like cardboard, as were the towels.  Toilet tissue couldn't have been cheaper quality.  The television was no larger than a laptop computer.  It was on one side of the bed and placed on a low cabinet, so if you slept on the opposite side, you couldn't see the screen over your cabin mate's legs.  No matter what we did, we could not keep the water from the shower flooding the bathroom.  The doors simply don't close and seal.

 

Food - I'm not a picky eater.  But, this was the WORST cruise food we've ever had!  Nothing was ever hot - in fact, it was barely warm.  The buffet layout is ridiculously inconvenient.  The buffet food selection was nonexistent for breakfast and lunch.  None of the usual cruise fare was there anymore.  The serving utensils were always filthy.  The "Oceanview" Buffet had no view, as the windows there were also very dirty for the entire cruise.  If you were lucky enough to have someone come over for a drink order, you would be unlucky enough to receive it WAY after you were done eating.  We ate dinner in Blu for all but one evening.  I had three beef and lamb entrees which were so tough you could not cut through them.  Again, food was barely warm.  Menus are unimaginative and bland.  Our one specialty dining experience was Le Petit Chef.  It's basically a video projected onto your table.  Nothing special.  And to top it off, they charged us twice for the meal on our account (we had purchased it online during a flash sale and then they charged us at dinner for the full price).  We've done Wonderland on Odyssey OTS - there is no comparison whatsoever.  

 

Entertainment -  Wow.  Just horrible.  The singer/dancers in the main shows were out of tune and out of shape.  Costumes were low budget.  Special effects were few and far between.  The "magician" was inaudible because the sound guy had the background music up too high.  The "juggler" dropped stuff every trick.  We saw a medicre string duo in the bars, but not much else.  The pool had zero live music during our time there and the recorded Muzak was just awful.  

 

Pool - There was dirt and debris in both outdoor pools and the quality/cleanliness of the water was sketchy.  I know this is a problem on all cruises, but we saw passengers put down towels at 8 a.m. and never return for hours and hours.  Most of the pool loungers were just towel resting places.  Of course, the staff did nothing about it.  We spent two port days sitting at the pool and never once did we have anyone offer us a drink.

 

Drink Package - $10/per drink on the Classic Package basically gets you nothing on the menu.  Such a ripoff.  Stop calling it a "perk" and call it a "discount".

 

Casino - We cruised on a Casino Royale promo, so I tried to have some fun playing slots.  The machines were SO old and outdated.  I never saw anyone win a jackpot.  I played $500 out of sheer boredom, but gave up because every spin was a losing one.  

 

Spa - We made the mistake of upgrading to (and paying a lot more for) Aqua Class for the "perks".  The thermal spa is a joke.  It's small and claustrophobic.  Didn't look very clean.  Our last experience was on NCL where the thermal spa was world class awesome.  

 

Tendering - So, here's the system.  When the ship tenders at a port, you have to go to the Martini Bar and wait in a line to get a numbered ticket.  Then they start calling banks of numbers all at once and people converge on the gangway entrance from all manner of hallways, lobbies, and stairwells.  At this point, it doesn't matter which number you had - it's every man for himself in hand to hand combat to get to the entrance.  Yeah, good job.  I love me a relaxing vacay.

 

Fellow Passengers - See above.  Also, I love the guy who wanted to know if he liked the flavor of yogurt.  He stuck his finger in and licked it.  Decided NAH.  Put the yogurt back in its place.  

 

Ports - We loved Greece and had a great time.  Captain couldn't port in Mykonos due to high winds, so we missed that one.  

 

Service - Kudos to our stateroom attendant and service staff in Blu.  They all went above and beyond to be efficient and friendly.  

 

Disembarkation - Went fine, albeit too early in the morning for a relaxed pace.

 

If this cruise was a sampling of the Celebrity experience, I need see no more.  If this truly is the future of mainstream cruising, then it's a sad state of affairs.

 

The icing on the cake:  We both started to feel unwell halfway through the plane ride home.  Both of us had pretty bad cases of Covid for 10 days post cruise (vaxxed and triple boosted).  Maybe even if we don't revisit all the Covid mandates (masks, vaccination reqs, etc.), we could at least go back to keeping the ship clean and insisting people wash their hands???  Yes, we could have become infected in port.  I'm betting on the enclosed, crowded, unclean ship vs. the great outdoors.  Hey, maybe it was the yogurt guy.

We were recently on a B2B cruise on the Infinity in Greece, (over 35 cruises taken) I have my complaints about the quality of the food in the MDR and have voiced these issues, however we did not experience most of the issues you mention. 

 

We were in Aqua for the 1st week, This is an older ship and we had sailed on her a few times before so knew what to expect, The Infinity is not the Edge, so it's not ultra modern however we found it comfortable, our patio door was not dirty and our towels and bathrobes were just fine. If the glass on the patio door was not clean I would have just kindly asked the stateroom attendant to clean it. The toilet tissue has to be the way it is due to the plumbing systems onboard,I don't think you'll get the ultra plush paper we can buy at home on any ship. The TV was small but is that way in most cabins on most ships, I've never sailed and found a big TV, nor needed one. I think the ship would have sent the maintenance department to add a new strip to the bottom of the shower door if you had reported the water problem to the room steward. 

 

Our drinks service around the pool was excellent, we were constantly asked if we wanted another drink, so we have no complaints there. We also found the pool water to be clean. The problem with people putting towels on a chair and leaving is an ongoing issue as you'll know from reading these boards. 

 

Music and entertainment was not as good as other sailings, this was a disappointment, we also found the evenings to be much quieter than other cruises but this may be due to it being such a port intensive cruise so people were tired from being on the go all day.  

 

Blu food was fabulous, the service and the food was the quality of the restaurants you pay for. MDR quality and options available had really deteriorated, so much so that we ended up eating dinner at the buffet most nights for the 2nd leg of our cruise when Blu was not available to us, which is something I have never done on any other cruise. The MDR food had deteriorated, but the buffet food quality had been greatly improved and was actually far better than the dinner buffet we tried on the Edge, which was awful. I am not sure what else anyone could want for breakfast as there was dozens of choices for breakfast, not sure what else they could have added to breakfast. Lunch and dinner buffet were also excellent with fresh choices. Not one time was our cutlery dirty and we did not find the windows to be that dirty that this was noticeable. Drinks service at the Oceanview was not as good as by the pool, so if we didn't see anyone available we just went to the Oceanview inside bar or the outdoor bar and got our own. 

 

Spa comments I agree with, the Spa was very basic and the persian gardens were not an area I bothered to spend any time at, the persian gardens on newer ships are far nicer. 

 

As Elite Captain's Club members, we had priority tendering which was a nice perk and this system worked great for us

 

One thing I have to say about the Infinity is that the staff are top notch, heads above the service we received on the Edge. One staff member even remembered us by name from our last sailing with them 9 months earlier. 

 

We were both on the same cruise yet our experiences were so different, was it 100% perfect ? No, but it was still a great 14 night cruise for us and we would not hesitate to return to this ship. 

Edited October 5, 2023 by scouseronline

[Forresters]

We sail on the 2 January from Barcelona and excited to be back on Infinity. Have booked Aqua class and premium drinks. Small thing but wondering what champagne or sparkling wine is being served by the glass - other ships mention Montaudon and Chandon as premier selection - hoping imminent dry dock won’t mean less choice 

[indy406]

I've been hearing for several years about Infinity going into dry dock and/or being refurbished. Is it actually true this time? 

[CtinaontheSea]

We got off an Italy Greece cruise on Odyssey (brand new) and I caught a cold that lasted for 3 days. On a Europe cruise with my Mom in 2019, I caught a wicked 7 day cold.

 

I believe the stress of travel has a hand in getting sick. It definitely weakens my immune system. Traveling with my Mom was more stressful and I was a lot sicker on our post-cruise in Rome!!

[gizmodog]

All these replies to book a specialty dining package just boggles my mind, seems that this is just want celebrity would want so why make their dining room food better? I’m not being sarcastic or mean spirited but why keep giving them more and more money for a lesser and lesser product? 
guess my head just won’t wrap around buying a more expensive food when you were always able to get great food in the main dining room for the cost of your cruise.

guess they should just start charging for food no matter where it is but not lower your cost for the cruise.