LONG Galaxy Panama Canal review 3/9-3/20

[TXcat]

Here’s my review of my recent Galaxy cruise (3/9 – 3/20 2006) from Galveston. I’m younger than the typical Celebrity cruiser (mid 20s) and was enjoying this cruise during spring break with a friend. We knew there would be an older crowd and actually enjoyed the peace and quiet.

Embarkation: We live within driving distance of Galveston but decided to stay in a hotel the night before. We stayed at the ‘Victorian Condo Hotel’ near 61st and Seawall Blvd. for $94 including free parking during the cruise and shuttle to/from the terminal. The parking cost for an 11-day cruise is high enough that it made the hotel stay virtually free. It was a comfortable hotel with pools, full kitchen, and a living room area. The shuttle took us to the terminal the next morning and we gave our luggage to a porter and were on the ship within 15 minutes. We had completed our embarkation documents online, so that sped up the process, but the area wasn’t very busy and there were plenty of agents working. We got our embarkation photos taken and boarded the ship. We got our free champagne and a paper stating where food could be found. The buffet opened around 12:30, so we went up to the Oasis Café on deck 11 and had lunch.

Finances: Upon boarding, you get a card that’s your room key and is used for all purchases. You can get a hole punched in it at guest relations (they have a special machine for doing it so they don’t mess up the magnetic stripe) and then you can put it on a lanyard so it’s easier to keep track of. There’s an ATM but the fee is $5.50 per withdrawal…yipes. You’ll get a form in your stateroom that allows you to pay your gratuities through your account. To do this, you need to pay each person on the form at least the minimum, but there’s also spaces where you can add more to those people whom you wish to tip more. Or you can give them additional cash in an envelope on the final night. If you’re doing tips through your account, be sure to turn in the form by the date/time specified (for us it was Friday by 6:00pm for a Monday morning departure). Otherwise you’ll have to get cash from the ATM. If you pay tips through your account, you’ll receive vouchers that you can give to your servers to thank them and show them that you’ve tipped. We used U.S. dollars in all ports with no problems.

Computers: Unfortunately I had a bit of work to finish up on the first day of the cruise. There are ample computer facilities on deck 6. There are about 6 or 8 internet stations with normal sized computers that’s in the hallway and is open 24 hours, and an adjacent room with many laptops that’s open during the day. The laptop room is sometimes used for classes (most were $20, but some intro ones were free). The classes were geared towards people who take photos with digital cameras. It’s free to use the computers to look at your digital photos. Internet access is 0.75 per minute – not cheap! Be sure to follow the instructions for logging off so you aren’t charged after you finish. Thankfully, non-internet use of the computers is free. You can use Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, etc.) free. This allowed me to type my work and then I only had to log onto the internet to actually send my e-mails. If you want to save money, type all your e-mails in Word and then cut & paste them into your e-mail account once you’re online. The internet is on the slow side, about like dial-up on a good day.

Stateroom: We had an interior stateroom on deck 8. It wasn’t huge but was roomier than I expected. There were 2 closets with about 6 hangers each. One closet was full length, and the other had 2 sides with 2 half-length hanging areas and 6 drawers below. Plenty of space to stash everything. The desk had 6 drawers and there was a small programmable safe behind the mirror. There were 2 nightstands with 2 drawers each and a lamps for both sides of the bed. The mattresses were firm, but not as rock-hard as I expected after reading this board! It was no harder than the one I have at home, but might be uncomfortable to someone who’s used to a softer mattress. Our suitcases fit easily under the bed. The bathroom was a decent size and the shower was larger than I expected. Hot water was always plentiful and if you have small kids, you should set the water temperature for them because the midway point on the temperature guide actually gave out quite hot water. There’s a retractable laundry line in the shower that’s useful for hanging wet swimsuits. They provide Q-tips, cotton balls, Kleenex, lotion, and a combined shampoo/conditioner. The lotion and shampoo have a kind of woodsy smell that was a little too manly for my tastes, but the smell dissipates pretty quickly. There was an ice bucket (which our stateroom attendant kept well-filled) and glasses on the desk. Towels were changed seemingly every time we left the room! There was a small stain on the carpet and a few small cracks in the sink that had been repaired, but overall the room was in nice condition. The hairdryer was an absolute joke and produced no more than a gentle warm breeze. It would have taken me an hour to dry my hair, so I was glad I had brought my own. Only a razor can be plugged into the bathroom outlet. There is only ONE single outlet in the whole room, above the desk.

Public areas: After reading some previous comments on the boards, I was expecting the Galaxy to be falling apart. Rest assured, this is still a very nice ship. The only things I noticed, aside from the normal wear & tear you’d expect, are that there are some large areas of worn deck near the Ocean Pool and many of the windows in the Stratosphere Lounge are fogged up. Neither was a big problem for me. The rest of the ship is beautiful and I always saw people cleaning and polishing. I spent a lot of time near the Ocean Pool on deck 11 or sitting in the lounges on the back of deck 8, so those were my favorite places. The Ocean Pool is actually 2 parts, a bigger pool and then a slightly smaller one with a basketball hoop behind it. There are 3 hot tubs at one end of the pool but they never seemed very hot. There was a bigger hot tub between the pools and it was much hotter, but I think it’s too powerful because I’m above average height and the water was splashing in my face…bleh! There are pool towels provided and lots of lounge chairs, but get there early if you want a seat because the pool hogs were out in full force! Deck 11 has a small ‘Oasis Pool’ aft. It’s not big enough to really swim in and the room is covered by a retractable dome which was never opened. I never actually saw anyone in that pool. There’s also a nice seating area back there with tables both inside and outside. This is where waffles can be found in the mornings. The ‘Oasis Café’ is on deck 11 midship and had 4 serving lines for the breakfast and lunch buffets. Sometimes it could be hard to find a seat there since the sailing was nearly full, but then I’d just take my tray to the pool or the back of deck 11.

The ‘Ocean Pool’ area on deck 11 midship was where most of the action was during the day. There are lounge chairs in the sun and the shade. There were plenty of chair hogs and I didn’t feel too much remorse when people moved their stuff after a reasonable amount of time. I noticed the pool butlers tried to check with people in nearby chairs to see if the original chair-hog had any intention of returning, but it seems like a lot of people just used a chair for the entire day to store there belongings. Celebrity needs to develop a spring-loaded device that will power launch the entire contents of the chair into the ocean if no one has sat in the chair for 15 minutes!

I didn’t spend much time in the Stratosphere Lounge (nice area, but the windows are very fogged up), Michael’s Club, or the nightclub so I can’t give much info on those. The gym on deck 12 had a decent number of exercise bikes, treadmills, and ellipticals. Despite my best intentions, I never made it there! They offer fitness classes, some free and some for $10 each. The free ones were stretching, abs, and step aerobics. Pay ones were yoga, pilates, and a few others I can’t remember. We took a spa tour the first day. Treatments were expensive, but they later sent ads for discounted services to our stateroom for port days and the final sea days. There were several shops on deck 6 selling souvenirs, clothing, liquor, cosmetics, and jewelry.

[TXcat]

Entertainment: The cruise director was Shawn Cavanah and he did a great job. He came to our cruise critic party and seems like a nice guy. He’s clearly very enthusiastic about his job and he was frequently seen walking around, making sure everyone was enjoying themselves. I didn’t really go for the bingo or other organized games, since I prefer to read and lounge around. The guest lecturers were a Caribbean historian who gave some interesting talks about the canal, pirates, and the Maya. The other was an opera singer/historian, but I didn’t make it to any of his talks. The Celebrity singers and dancers were pretty good, but not outstanding. I was impressed that they were able to provide such a variety of entertainment, and I wouldn’t expect the same quality from them having to perform so many different shows than I would if I went to a Broadway show. I really enjoyed their show ‘Elements’, but I didn’t care for ‘Dance Around the World’ since the music in it just wasn’t as good as in Elements and it was pretty hokey. The band that played near the pool, Fusion, was really good and I also enjoyed the string quartet during dinner. Unfortunately you could barely hear them playing due to the noise in there from everyone’s voices and the vibration from lower decks. A Chinese musician played the hammer dulcimer, a xylophone-type instrument, and he was outstanding. Pearl Kauffmann, a pianist who has performed music for many movies, was also excellent. Jack Walker was a singer with an excellent vocal range, but I enjoyed his ‘classical’ pieces much more than his Vegas-type part of the performance. We went to most of the art auctions and had a great time. Free champagne and a free small artwork at the end of each. Some of the pieces are sold as “take offs” and have to be carried off the ship, but most were shipped to the buyer (free for the expensive framed ones, and $35 for up to 5 works for the normal ones). Even if you don’t buy anything at your first auction, it’s fun and you’ll learn a lot about art and artists.

Dining: We had a table for 8 in the Orion Restaurant at late seating 8:30pm. The other 6 people we were seated with were a lot of fun and we had fun dinners. Our waiter, Alberto, and assistant waiter, Samuel, were fantastic and we were sad to say goodbye to them at the end of the cruise. They were wonderful waiters and provided excellent service. They got to know what each of us liked and we didn’t even have to ask for our favorite little needs to be met. The assistant Maitre D’ was Chian from Turkey and he was a great guy, always ready with an amusing story and I don’t think he ever slept because we saw him from morning til night. I’ve never seen anyone able to de-bone a piece of chicken so quickly! We had lots of great comments for all of them on the questionnaire. Each dinner included 5 courses: appetizer, soup, salad, entrée, and dessert. There were usually 3 or 4 appetizers to choose from, 3 soups, 2 salads, 5 entrees, and numerous desserts. I loved the cold fruit soups! The salads were ok but not very exciting (never any cucumbers or carrots), but the dressings were usually great. The entrees usually included a pasta, poultry (duck, quail, chicken…but never chicken breast), seafood, lamb or veal, and steak or prime rib. Lobster was served on the final formal night and was excellent. I wasn’t a big fan of their pasta, as it seemed overdone to me. The beef was always fantastic. I had filet mignon in some form at least 3 times! Be sure to ask your waiter for menu suggestions, since they can tell you what past passengers have enjoyed or not enjoyed (such as chilled green pea and mint soup…whose idea was that?). Also don’t be afraid to request an extra course of something if you want to try more than one item from a category. The portion sizes seemed just about right. We usually had coffee after dinner and that was free, but there’s a cost for specialty after-dinner drinks.

Sushi was served in one corner of the Oasis Café every night (except embarkation day) from 6 to 10pm. It wasn’t the fanciest sushi I’ve had, but they do a very nice job considering that they’re working on a ship. There are California rolls, veggie rolls, spicy tuna rolls, salmon with cream cheese & green onion, crab salad, and something with roe. There were also pieces of tuna, salmon, shrimp, or barbecued eel on rice. Miso soup was available too. The sushi servers were very friendly.

There’s a pizza station near the Oasis pool (where the waffles are during breakfast) that featured a special variety each day, or they can make you one to order. Hamburgers, hot dogs, tacos, and fries were offered near the Ocean Pool. Drink waiters are always circulating around the pool, lounges, and theater. The mixed drinks aren’t a bad price at $5.95, but $4.50 for a beer is high in my opinion. There were 3 mixed drink specials for $4.95 each day, and one of them was always a frozen drink – my favorite! A 15% gratuity is automatically included in the bill and you can add more if you wish. If you order drinks on one of the first few days, your drink waiter will recognize you and provide you with great service for the rest of the cruise. There were also some wine and martini tastings, which I think cost between 9 and 15 dollars. The liquor store occasionally offered tastings, but they were tiny little shots and are mostly to let you decide if you want to buy the liquor.

For breakfast, I usually had waffles in the area near the Oasis Pool. They are the best waffles ever and 2 of them make a great breakfast. The available toppings are strawberries, blueberries (hot or cold), whipped cream, syrup, and orange butter. There were also fresh pancakes there but those weren’t as popular. There is an omelet station in the Oasis Café. I sometimes wandered into the Oasis Café for breakfast, but the selection didn’t seem to change much from day to day, except that the shape of the sausages or potatoes sometimes was different. There was always sausage, bacon, scrambled eggs, bagels, salmon, some other fish that I didn’t try, cream cheese, sliced melon, yogurt, berries, little boxes of cereal, and probably more that I’m forgetting. Between about 8 and 10, there were delicious fresh pastries near the Cova café on deck 6. The chocolate croissants were fantastic and highly addictive! The pastries are free, but coffees there are not (free coffee is only at the buffets and dining room).

Drink stations are found all around deck 11 and provide coffee (regular & decaf), hot water and all sorts of tea bags, milk, and small drink machines with iced tea, apple juice, orange juice (mornings only), lemonade, fruit punch, and pass-o-guava juice (kind of tropical tasting). There are all the usual sweeteners including sugar, brown sugar, Sweet n Low, Splenda, and the other artificial one (pink, blue, and yellow packets). The cups for both coffee and drinks are ridiculously small – bring your own!!!

Lunch buffets were served in the Oasis Café and were usually themed (Mexican, Fiesta, Asian, American BBQ, etc.) Overall the food wasn’t nearly as good as in the dining room, but the salads and desserts were usually pretty nice. You have the option of eating breakfast and lunch in the Orion Restaurant and being served, but I preferred not to change out of my pool-lounging clothes and so ate mostly in the Oasis. Casual dining is available for dinner in the Oasis and there’s a small charge of $2 per person to pay the waiters. It’s actually a nice area for dinner because they use linen tablecloths and nice settings, but it allows you not to have to dress up on formal nights. I think this is where they train waiters before they let them in the main dining room. I never ate there but I walked past a few times and the food looked as nice as in the main dining room. There’s no buffet for dinner.

[TXcat]

Ports: I won’t spend too much time talking about them, since most people are more interested in the shipboard experience.

Cozumel: We arrived here after one sea day from Galveston. That first night from Galveston and the first sea day were extremely rough. Many people were absent from dinner and breakfast the next morning. I heard many comments that people had never been on a cruise so rough, and even a staff member told me that it hadn’t been this bad since they crossed the Atlantic! The sea was choppy but there were also big swells that made seasickness common. Fortunately things settled down by the time we arrived in Cozumel.

Tendering in Cozumel was not pleasant. We arrived at 9:30 a.m. (30 minutes after schedule and understandable given the weather). We anchored nearshore since all of the cruise piers were demolished during the recent hurricane Wilma. There were 3 other ships in port. We had booked a snorkeling excursion through a private company that was to start at 11:00, so we went to the theater at 9:15 as soon as they started giving out tender tickets. They kept saying that tendering had begun, but no one had left the theater by 10:40. I then told them our situation and we were given priority tender tickets. We were sent to Michael’s Club and they told us the next tender would be leaving in a few minutes. We were then sent down to the disembarkation area on deck 3 and waited for another half hour. We then got on a big local tender and the boarding was pretty chaotic and very slow. It was a big tender but much time was wasted during boarding. People just sat where they wanted and took forever deciding where to sit, and in the meantime blocked access of folks trying to board. It took a good half hour to board the tender and could have been much more efficient if they had had 2 workers showing people where to sit. I sympathize with the difficult situation in Cozumel since the piers are gone and unforeseen circumstances arise, but Celebrity could have done a better job during the tendering process of keeping passengers informed about how long it would take to disembark. If people in the theater at 9:15 had known they wouldn’t have a chance of getting to shore before 11:45, then I think many of them would have chosen to wait and they would have been happier in the meantime.

We missed our snorkeling excursion but were able to find another shorter one. We went to Paradise Reef and Chankanaab Reef. The land-based part of Chankanaab is still closed and there was a lot of beach area missing. The beaches on that side of the island are really diminished (that’s what I was told, but I hadn’t been there pre-Wilma). There were many beautiful fish but we saw damaged soft corals.

After snorkeling, we decided to wander around the downtown Cozumel area since we had heard it’s very safe even though a lot of it looks poor. We found a great little restaurant called “Johnny’s Gallo Blanco Bar & Grill”. It’s at the corner of Avenida 15 & Salas (the road between Calle 1 Sur and Calle 3 Sur) and is in an orange building. We had fantastic enchiladas and quesadillas at a very reasonable price. We even got our picture taken with the owner, Johnny. He’s from Boston and opened his restaurant here 2 weeks before Wilma hit. He said that they only use purified water and ice, and I was very pleased to find what may very well be the cleanest women’s bathroom in all of Mexico. He was surprised that we were from the cruise ship because he said that cruise passengers tend to stay near the waterfront and seldom venture into the town much. He said business has been very hard since Wilma for the small restaurant and bar owners because many of the hotels, who provided most of their customers, are still being repaired. The big chain bars like Senor Frog’s and Carlos & Charlie’s are on the waterfront so they still get cruise passenger traffic, plus they have the support of their corporate headquarters to get them through these hard times. If you head to Cozumel, be sure to support the small businesses in the town because they’re really suffering right now. And if you go to Johnny’s, be sure to ask about his theory of why a clean women’s bathroom is important to business J Also check out his painting of the “Gallo Blanco”, a lovely character that is a morph of a rooster and a George Washington-esque fellow.

Costa Maya: We missed this port because of bad weather. The pilot boat from the port wouldn’t come out, so we couldn’t dock. Too bad, I had been looking forward to seeing the Chacchoben Mayan ruins even though it was just a 5 hour stop.

Puerto Limon, Costa Rica: Probably my favorite port. We took a private excursion with Oscar Brown. There’s more info on him on the CR board. We saw a cocoa bean farm, banana plantation (very interesting!), took a boat ride on the Tortuguero canal (we saw sloths and herons up close), visited an animal sanctuary (don’t get too close to the leashed monkey or she’ll steal you hat!), and saw a lot of the Costa Rican countryside. He knew a lot about the local plants and animals, and frequently stopped to show us things. We saw some howler monkeys in trees right by the side of the road. We ended with a trip to a restaurant at the top of the city with a great view. Everyone in our tour decided to have lunch here and it was quite reasonable – I think $12 for a big platter of sausage, chicken, beef, fish, plantains, potatoes, and some other goodies and 2 Cokes. We then stopped by a market to buy coffee for $3 per pound and Oscar took us to a supermarket so some people could get vanilla. Costa Rica was poorer than I expected but very friendly. There was a big earthquake in 1991 and there’s still a lot of damage. The main road to Panama is in horrible shape. Imagine if the interstate was a small road full of huge potholes with semis, cars, bikes, and pedestrians all trying to get through. You can’t drive more than 30 mph and I would never do it at night because you could drive into a big pothole. I was glad to let Oscar drive! It was an excellent tour and a great value.

Panama: We entered the Canal breakwater around 5:15 a.m. and then headed towards the locks. Most people watched from Deck 11, 12, or the topless sunbathing deck. I watched us go through the first lock from there but it was pretty crowded, so then I moved down to the Promenade deck. This was actually much better because you’re much closer to the action and you can see the process better. There are 3 locks and then the ship goes into Gatun Lake, where you tender off if – and only if- you’ve booked an excursion through the ship. We opted for the ‘Portobelo Pirate Paradise & Gatun Locks’. It was a great choice. We boarded a comfortable bus and had Theo as our tour guide. He was very friendly and energetic, and kept calling us all “children” even though most of the group was old enough to be his grandparents. We drove for about 45 minutes to Portobelo and he shared information about Panama, the canal, and Portobelo. Portobelo was a strategic port which received large quantities of gold from Europe. Pirates frequently attacked the customs house there. The church, customs house, and part of the old fort are interesting and there’s still a little town there. Some local school kids gave us a little dance performance for tips. On the way back to the ship, we stopped by the Gatun Locks observation area, but I really didn’t see much there that I didn’t see while we were on the ship itself. We then met the Galaxy where it had docked at Cristobal Pier. It would have been a long walk into town and I had heard it wasn’t the safest area, so we opted to stay in the shopping area at the pier. It’s an enclosed area and is very secure. There were many vendors selling all sorts of souvenirs. It seemed the main things to buy were animals carved out of seeds, wooden statues of animals, and woven baskets. There were a few tables where the native Embera people were selling crafts. They don’t wear many clothes so be prepared for some culture shock, but they’re very friendly and offer good merchandise. The ship is docked right at this shopping area, so it’s easy to get on and off if you need a break.

Grand Cayman: We tendered here and it went much better than in Cozumel. We took an excursion to Sting Ray City and a nearby shallow reef with Moby Dick Tours. They provide roundtrip transportation from the pier, and can even drop you off at Seven Mile Beach and pick you up again if you’re at the bus stop at the designated time. There were many boats at Sting Ray City so the rays weren’t hungry when we got there. Our tour guides were very ecologically sensitive to not hurt the rays, but they let us pat them and kiss them. We needed a change of cuisine, so we went to ‘The Thai Restaurant’ in Elizabethan Square. Very good food but pricier than at the other ports. Well, Grand Cayman in general is much pricier than the other ports. It was a nice island and well-maintained, but the least interesting for me because it looked like it could have been anywhere in south Florida. It’s rapidly becoming very overdeveloped.

Disembarkation: The ship returned to Galveston around 6:00 am the final morning (official arrival time was to be 7:00am). We didn’t have a flight to catch, so we were given cards stating to meet at 10:20 in the cinema. We had already placed our bags outside our room the previous night with tags, so we had breakfast and then went to the cinema. We were soon called and left the ship. We had to wait about 15 minutes to go into the baggage area and claim our bags. Fortunately they’re color-coded and easy to find. The line for customs/immigration was pretty long and Celebrity probably could have let us sit in the Theater a bit longer. It’s just a pain when you have all of your luggage and you’re in a long line and have to pick it all up and move it a few feet every time the line moves forward for 20 minutes. But it wasn’t too bad. Once we got outside, we called our hotel shuttle for a pick-up and started the drive home.

Overall we were very happy with this cruise, with the exception of tendering in Cozumel and missing Costa Maya (but who can control the weather?). Some of the passengers were notably spoiled and treated fellow passengers and ship employees with a lack of tact, but they were thankfully in the minority. Most people were very friendly and adventurous. The employees were always helpful and had a good attitude despite working very long hours. I think most of my vacations will still be land-based because I really prefer spending more than one day in a place. But a cruise is a great opportunity to visit many ports in a short amount of time for a reasonable price, and I loved the convenience of returning to my comfortable room after a hard day of exploring.

[poetic license]

Still can't figure out where the negative reviews of GALAXY are coming from ... I went in Janaury, posted a very balanced, yet overall positive review, but somehow there are still 'reports' that this ship is on the outs. I sure wish the rumor mill would stop: It's a lovely ship, and TXcat echoes the condition of it very well.

 

Thanks for the review, TXcat. Glad you had a great time. It sure is a great itinerary, isn't it?

 

BTW, I am sure a lot of cruisers are happy that you included that nice tip about staying at the Victorian Condo Hotel and getting your parking essentially free by staying there. Those are the sorts of things more reviews should have!

 

Cheers~

[packedandready]

Hi TXcat--Thanks for the review. Did you see anyone wearing shorts in the Oasis Cafe during dinner?

[tabasco]

Great review TXCAT - it was so fun to meet you. I'm glad you had a good time - we did too. I agree, the Galaxy has gotten a bad rap, it is a lovely ship. It is older and showing wear and tear in very minor places. It is a very classic ship and the service, food and attitude make up for a few foggy windows that I'm sure will get repaired as soon as they can feasibly do it. I'm sure it is a big job or they would've done it by now.

[tawcat]

if you read our reviews of our galaxy sailings you also would them very upbeat. like you aside of few worn spots by the pool, a few carpet stains, and fogged over windows in the strat lounge the ship is in great shape.

 

thank you for validating our most postive review and so glad to hear you enjoyed the cruise.

 

isn't it sad that X is pulling out of the galveston/houston area.

[TXcat]

Tabasco, it was great to meet you too. It was fun to keep running into the cruise critic people around the ship and on excursions!

 

Packedandready, I didn't take a very close look at how people were dressed for the casual dinner in the Oasis Cafe. I think the whole point of it was that you could stay in the casual clothes you wore during the day. There were certainly lots of people wearing shorts during the day, so I think that nice shorts would be acceptable there. Shorts were allowed in the Orion Restaurant for served breakfast and lunch (NOT dinner), so I imagine that sort of dress code would be similar for the Oasis.

[springtxbill]

I was on this cruise with TXcat and Tabasco and agree that the only problems with the ship's condition are the few areas of extremely high traffic by the pool and the fogged windows in the Stratosphere Lounge. The araes around the pool are not regular carpet that can be easily replaced or patched so will probably have to wait until drydock along with the windows.

 

All of the staff and crew were very upbea, friendly and helpful.:)

[flashdog_1]

Thanks for sharing. I'm always looking for new ideas for shore excursions.

 

So sorry you had to miss Costa Maya. Ivan's tour there was wonderful. Hope you'll have another opportunity to see the ruins.

[tssace]

Great review TxCat! The service and the food were probably about the best we've ever experienced on a cruise (this was our 7th).

I thought the cruise critic party was very well done also - Shawn (cruise director) was very informative. Great to meet you all.

[kwhite7]

I sure do wish you had went the cruise before. I disembarked on the Galaxy the day you embarked and being in my mid 20's as well, it would have been nice to have someone closer to my age. There were very few people even remotely close to my age and out of those only a couple spoke any english! But I had a great time and would do it again. Glad you had a good time! By the way, outside of the ruins in Costa Maya, you didnt miss much. It was the port that I disliked the most. And the water was extreamly rough in the Gulf as well the week before. I too enjoyed the art auctions, never been to one before and found them to be interesting. Thanks for the review...I will be doing one soon.

 

Ken