Our Thoughts on Mercury Mexican Riviera

[tarheelmjfan]

I realize there's been several reviews of this itinerary. :o Since many of us have differing expectations on a vacation, I thought I'd add a review from our prospective.

 

Background: After only one cruise 13 yrs. ago, we didn't take another until we sailed on Infinity in June 2005. Since then, we were on Century in Nov. 2005 & Mercury's, Apr. 7th sailing. Our typical vacation includes nice accommodations, great food, & entertainment, with excellent dining experiences being our top priority. For example, I don't go to Vegas to gamble, but to stay in great resorts & dine in exceptional restaurants. :p

 

Pre-cruise stay: We spent 2 nights pre-cruise at the Marriott Hotel & Marina. Due to recommendations on several boards, I booked a city view. The hotel was great & the view was incredible. We were assigned a room in the North Tower. Our room had a balcony with a view of the Bay & City. Not only were we able to enjoy the city lights at night, but were also able to see the ships, including Mercury, during the day. The hotel pool was beautifully shaped & landscaped, but it was too cold for us to enjoy. However, there were several people taking advantage of it. We arrived late the 1st evening, & opted for dinner in the hotel. We made a reservation at Molly's. The Bellman heard me calling for the reservation & gave us a 20% off referral card, which was a nice surprise. This was the best meal of our trip. When searching for dining options, this one wasn't on any of the "Best" lists. This is most likely due to it being located in a hotel. We wished we had another night to dine there.

 

We were able to visit Coronado Island, Gaslamp Quarter, & Seaport Village during our stay. The Marriott has their own ferry to Coronado. It was $5/ person each way & runs every 30 min. The drop off point is at another Marriott, which looked like a timeshare. Our 1st stop was for a taxi to the Hotel del Coronado. It's a beautiful hotel, but wasn't exactly what I was expecting. It sits in the middle of a shopping & dining area. For some reason, I was expecting it to be a bit more secluded. We very much enjoyed touring the resort, especially their mini-museum. It was free & very interesting. Next, we set off to wander the downtown area. We thought we'd browse the shops awhile, then take a taxi back to the Marriott. Before we knew it, we had walked the entire downtown area, & were almost back to the Marriott. There was no need for a taxi as the walk was a pleasant one. We had lunch at Il Fornaio in the Ferry Landing Marketplace, thanks to a recommendation on our Roll Call. It was a wonderful lunch, with an incredible view of the bay. A short walk & we were back to the ferry.

 

Gaslamp Qtr. was a charming area & pleasant to explore. We didn't spend a lot of time at Seaport Village this day.

 

We had dinner this evening at Bertrand's @ Mr. A's. This restaurant received excellent reviews. The view from the top of the building was incredible, but we didn't feel the food lived up to the hype. It was very good, but not exceptional. IOHO, Molly's was much better.

 

On a side note, prior to our trip, we debated on whether to stay on Coronado Island or San Diego. After touring both, we were glad we chose SD.

 

 

Post-cruise: We had a red-eye flight out of SAN, & decided to rent a car for exploring & storing our luggage. Enterprise was the cheapest we found & had a shuttle pick-up at the port. My DH called for the shuttle, but was told it would be an hours wait. We took a taxi to their office instead.

 

With maps in hand, we headed to Balboa Park. Their gardens & parks were very nice, but there didn't seem to be a lot to do if you chose not to visit the zoo or museums. I suppose that's to be expected, since these things are the major draw.

 

We left there & drove to La Jolla. The coastline here is beautiful. A lovely place to visit or live. We also wandered through the town & stopped for lunch at the Ocean Terrace. This was yet another restaurant with an incredible view. We could have easily spent several hours here, but were parked in a 3 hr. max. space. Definitely, not enough time to thoroughly enjoy this area.

 

Back to the car, we explored the coastline back to the SD bay. This was a pleasant drive, & we'd definitely recommend it. We then decided to spend more time at Seaport Village. We quickly realized that we hadn't given it ample time earlier in our trip. It was deserving of more. We browsed the shops, stopping for ice cream, people watching & watching the cruise ships sail. A perfect ending to our vacation. :)

 

FYI, Enterprise doesn't have an onsite, airport location. You have to drop off the car offsite & take a shuttle to the airport. From the time we drove in to dropoff the car, until we were dropped at USAirways was less than 20 minutes though.

 

Also, don't arrive early at SAN expecting a leisurely meal while awaiting your flight. There was only fast food in the terminal.

 

Sorry, so long. :o Continued below.....

[NorCalCruiseGuy]

Hmmm... Did you miss the boat? Or did I miss your review of the cruise???

[Sailingseas]

Enjoyed reading your impressions of San Diego. We spent 3 days there at the end of our Panama Canal cruise and can't wait to return. We stayed at the Manchester Hyatt near your Mariott. Just outside our door was Seaport Village, and we were surprised at how much there was to see and enjoy there. We breakfasted there each day and enjoyed people watching as well. We did love Balboa park, however. We just mostly walked around, went into the Botanical gardens and ate a wonderful lunch at their Prado restaurant. We want to go back, because of the many free museums, concerts, etc. in the park. San Diego is a wonderful city and no bugs!!! Thanks for letting us visit again through your review.

[tarheelmjfan]

Hmmm... Did you miss the boat? Or did I miss your review of the cruise???

 

LOL :p Yes, we made it on the ship. :D I'm too afraid of a post not going through to write everything at once. I'm working on the 2nd installment now.

[tarheelmjfan]

Enjoyed reading your impressions of San Diego. We spent 3 days there at the end of our Panama Canal cruise and can't wait to return. We stayed at the Manchester Hyatt near your Mariott. Just outside our door was Seaport Village, and we were surprised at how much there was to see and enjoy there. We breakfasted there each day and enjoyed people watching as well. We did love Balboa park, however. We just mostly walked around, went into the Botanical gardens and ate a wonderful lunch at their Prado restaurant. We want to go back, because of the many free museums, concerts, etc. in the park. San Diego is a wonderful city and no bugs!!! Thanks for letting us visit again through your review.

 

Shame on us for not being better acquainted with what Balboa Park has to offer. :o We didn't see any restaurants. I agree that the Botanical Gardens were absolutely beautiful. Unfortunately, we didn't really have time for the museums. We'd also like to return to SD someday. Preferably, in the summer though. :p

[FinelyCruising]

We too did a two day pre-cruise and it was amazing. We toured gaslamp the first day and night and then the next day we took the Old Town Trolley Tour and saw everyhting we could. Passed Petco, we had an incredible Sunday Brunch at the Del in the Crown Room when we jumped off in Coronado. That may have been the highlight simply because it was the most incredible brunch we have ever had. King Crab Legs and Oysters, the best Sushi, no, really, the best Sushi Tuna ever... I can't say what wasn't there....and the desserts....All the highlights up to the San Diego Zoo where we jumped off here too, Balboa Park drive by, not enough time, Old Town drive by, the Seaport area, Sea Port Village jump off...Whew it was just great.

We loved San Diego, what a great city! To ayone thinking about sailing from there, particularly from the east coast who has never been, take two days before or after, you will be so glad you did, and if you don't, you have no idea what you will be missing! Amazing place.

[tuggers]

Hey Tammy! My best friend lived in SD for 20 years so I have visited there often and it is a very special city.

I went in two days early to LA, met some Owls for dinner, drove to SD the next day and took a leisurely drive around the city Sunday. I, too stayed near the ship. I did use the pool as our hotel had a nice windbreak around it and it was very warm. Nice way to start the cruise.

BTW, I bought a piece of artwork in SD and the hotel packaged and FedExed it home for me! How's that for service??

Sure hope we sail together again sometime, Tammy!

FC, nice post!

[FinelyCruising]

Hey Gail....I am guessing you were at the Hyatt then?

[tarheelmjfan]

Embarkation:

We knew that Embarkation would be delayed, due to extensive cleaning. This was actually good news, as we had been informed that X was bringing an independent cleaning crew to help the overworked staff. We spent the morning touring more of the area & having lunch, arriving at the port around 2:30. Check-in was the usual breeze. Gotta love the Express Pass. :D Nothing new, except for the illness form we all had to fill out. This took less than 5 minutes.

 

They were still handing out numbers, but had begun loading the ship. We waited in the terminal for about 30 minutes, but were soon on the ship, champagne in hand. So far, so good. :D

 

This was the 1st time we'd experienced a lock down on all floors. All passengers were funnelled onto Deck 11. The other floors were all closed off, with doors shut. After a short wait, an announcement was made that we could now go to our cabins.

 

Cabin:

We had a CC cabin on Century, which seemed quite small after our AFT CC on Infinity. This prompted us to forgo a balcony cabin on Mercury & book an FO instead. After entering our cabin, we felt we'd made a good decision. There was plenty of room for me to dress, while my DH enjoyed a snack & relaxed in the living area. The amount of storage space was unbelievable. Even I, a habitual overpacker, didn't use it all. The only down side to this cabin was that it was often reduced to an inside cabin. The public deck behind these cabins is quite a popular place to be, & people had no qualms about staring into your cabin. It wasn't uncommon for people to turn their lounge chair around & face directly into our window. If you are in need of any semblance of privacy, the blinds must be closed. We knew to expect this however, & were still very pleased with the cabin. The bed is located behind a sliding door, so we were able to leave the blinds up at night & still have privacy while sleeping. I love waking up to sunshine & a view of the sea, & was thrilled that this was a possibility. It would have been perfect, if X would have installed one-way glass in these cabins.

 

Our Cabin Attendant, Estrella, was great, & was the most visible we've had. She kept the cabin very clean & neat at all times.

 

Two notes on booking these cabins... The TV is in the living space. If you enjoy watching it while you fall asleep, you will need to move the bed or only the person sleeping in front will be able to see it. Also, I would suggest booking a cabin on the smoking (port) side of the ship. There's not nearly as many people hanging out on that side & you would have more privacy. I wish we would have known this in advance.

 

Dining:

Admittedly, this is the aspect of the cruise in which our expectations are highest. For us, it's not only about the food, but the entire experience. Unfortunately, Mercury didn't live up to the other ships in this respect. Dinner the 1st evening was met with great excitement. We had tried to check our table assignment upon boarding the ship, but the Maitre' D wasn't available prior to dinner. Since we had received our requested table size on Century, we didn't anticipate any problems. We had once again requested a table for 2, & were very much looking forward to intimate dinners. This is something we never have at home. Upon entering the dining room, we were escorted to a large table. We didn't even look to see who was seated there, because we were really hoping for a table for 2 & didn't want anyone to think it was anything personal against them. We were shown to the Maitre' D & joined others who hadn't received their requested table size. This was when things quickly turned bad. My DH inquired about our table assignment & was promptly told there was 25 other couples on the list in front of us wanting these tables. He was then very rudely reminded what our table number was. We were so upset with his behavior that we ended up going back to the cabin & ordering room service. It's pretty hard to get my DH angry, but he succeeded. Kenneth still didn't respond to him with the same deplorable attitude, but needed time in the cabin to cool down. There were others in line with us who were treated even worse than we were. He actually told one couple that their table number was 605 & if they wanted to dine in the dining room during the cruise they would take it. The way he said it was shocking. These people hadn't been rude to him in the least. Another couple in line were hoping to change their table to dine with the rest of their party. They were travelling with a party of 8 & 6 of their party had been seated with 2 strangers. Yes, the other couple who had made a request on their reservation to dine with the others in their party were seated at a table for 2. :confused: The message of the evening was to make the guests feel that this fiasco was their problem. The Maitre' D took no responsibility & made no apologies.

 

My DH made another visit to the MD the next day hoping for the best. He hadn't even put us on his list for changes. It was obvious, he had no intention of bothering to please us. After DH spoke with him, he finally assigned us to a table for 4. This worked out fine, as we really enjoyed our table mates. However, the way it was handled & his total disregard of guests requests really left a bad taste in our mouths. This was a Spring Break cruise full of kids. There were fewer couples on this cruise than the others we've been on. If they truly had this much of a shortage of tables for 2 on this sailing, they really need to address the problem immediately. I can't imagine people will continue to cruise knowing they have a good chance of having their requests ignored. We requested a large table on Infinity, & a table for 2 on Century. In both cases, we received our request & were thrilled with both.

 

We were seated at table #600, which was in the very back corner. It had a great view, but was out of the loop. The Asst. MD only came by our table twice in 10 nights. We thought for sure we'd see him on the last evening, but ended up having to hunt him down to give him his gratuity card. Our table was ignored by the photographers also. They only came by once, but that was fine with us. :p The most comical thing about our table assignment was that our Sommelier didn't drink alcohol. It was never a problem, & I would hate for anyone to lose a job because of this very personal choice. We just found it a little ironic.

 

Not learning our lesson with dinner, we requested a table for 2 for lunch. We had a nightmare breakfast once, due to being seated with less than pleasant people & aren't interested in repeating the experience. This request was always met with smiles on Century. Mercury was again a different story. We did receive our request a couple times, but they usually didn't seem happy about it. One day, we were told the tables were almost full & they weren't taking requests. I suppose the tables in the center of the restaurant were almost full. However, the tables on each side of these were all empty & were obviously going to stay that way.

 

I don't want to make it sound like our entire dining experience was bad, because it definitely wasn't. The food in the dining room was great, as usual. We felt the new items on the menu, esp. the pasta dishes, were a welcomed addition. Our server, Danny, was fantastic & kept plying us with food. We received a 3rd entree to share more often than not. Many times he brought 3 or 4 desserts to split between the 2 of us. This was without us asking. It was obvious he wanted us to enjoy the food, & wanted to make sure we were pleased with what we were served.

 

We were very pleased to see the sushi bar up & running on our cruise, & took advantage of the casual tea several afternoons. The fruit tarts are something we always look forward to. We didn't attend the formal tea, which we normally enjoy. This one was at 4pm & formal attire was required. 4pm is a little too early to get dressed in a gown & Tux, when you don't eat until 8:30. The waffles were superb, as always. The buffet was a typical X buffet. More times than not, there was only 2 drink dispensers open. At first, we thought it was because they were being manned & it was a staffing issue. However, this didn't appear to be the case. There wasn't always someone serving the drinks, but the number of closed machines never seemed to change.

 

To be continued...

[FinelyCruising]

I will not begin to relive the Maitre'd experince. Beleive me it was not like anything I can describe without a bunch of expletives referring to this guy. Simply put I have never seen ANYTHING like him.:mad:

 

The upside is we were so burned out that we took the first night at the assigned table and found we were so incredibly lucky to have been seated with the two other couples that we were seated with. So, I think a blessing in disquise.

 

But, don't get me started on that waiting on him, and the stories of mine and others who waited with me about this guy....

 

.

[tarheelmjfan]

I will not begin to relive the Maitre'd experince. Beleive me it was not like anything I can describe without a bunch of expletives referring to this guy. Simply put I have never seen ANYTHING like him.:mad:

 

The upside is we were so burned out that we took the first night at the assigned table and found we were so incredibly lucky to have been seated with the two other couples that we were seated with. So, I think a blessing in disquise.

 

But, don't get me started on that waiting on him, and the stories of mine and others who waited with me about this guy....

 

.

I don't think I heard about your experience. It sounds like I didn't want to. :eek: Sadly, it also sounds typical.

 

Gail,

We were hoping to see you on Mercury. Looks like we just missed you. I'm sure we'll bump into each other again soon. I wish it would be on your Amazon River cruise. :p Maybe, some day.

[FinelyCruising]

No I haven't shared and I'm not planning to....your post was a blast from the very recent past. I have not encountered in all my cruising a staff member quite this bad. We have had several encounters with the maitre'd requesting assistance for our selfish needs and every time we have been met with pleasure for an ordinary special request...a private table. But not this time....we couldn't even get an audience with him...after two appointments.....OMG I don't want to go back to that!!!!

 

...Tall...dark hair and trendy rectangular glasses...is this the guy you referred to? If so, same bad guy as mine!

 

If not, we had terrific fish and I loved the lamb all three times. :)

[tarheelmjfan]

Entertainment:

Okay, this is another sore spot on this cruise. We truly enjoyed the entertainment we saw. We went to all the shows on formal nights. And The Winner is... was great! It made me feel young again, with all the 80's songs. :D A Touch of Broadway was another very good show, & was even better than we'd remembered. The X performers did a fantastic job on Dance Around The World. This would have been considered a good show in any venue.

 

Unfortunately, that was all the entertainment we saw. All other shows were pre-dinner. We were really shocked when the much anticipated comedian had a 7pm performance. This was the exact time as sailaway from Puerto Vallarta. We book late seating, because we don't want to rush to get ready in the evening. If we wanted to be dressed for the evening by 7pm, we'd choose early seating. We felt that we were really cheated on entertainment on this cruise. I hope this is a practice X will put a stop to on all their ships. We've experienced this on other ships, but this one was by far the worst.

 

Other Onboard Experiences:

1st we must give honorable mention to Boom Boom in the Martini Bar. He was exceptional! His martinis were outstanding, & his service & attitude completed the package. He told us he will be on Century when we sail her in Feb. I know where we'll be spending a large portion of our time. :p

 

We attended a few of the demos this cruise, & wonder why we haven't before. We'll definitely be taking advantage of more of these in the future. The Culinary & Martini Demo was great. Each individual had an informative & well presented presentation. The wine pairing class was also very good. It was hosted by The Cellar Master, which was very knowledgeable & had a great personality. We thoroughly enjoyed it, & look forward to attending another.

 

The Future Cruise Agent left us with mixed feelings. We went down one sea day to book a cruise. The hours are pretty short, & we thought this would be our best opportunity. She promptly told us that we needed an appointment to speak with her, even though we already knew what we wanted to book. Later, our table mates told us they were told the same thing. Our 1st thought was, "Oh no, not again." We had such a bad experience on Century that we were tempted to just abandon the idea, after our encounter with the agent on Mercury. We checked her appointment book, but couldn't choose a time that worked for us at the moment. With the free time on our hands, what were we to do? Eat, of course. :D We went to the dining room for lunch, & decided on a time to book an appointment. After lunch, we went back to write our name in for 10am the next day.

 

We arrived at her desk & verified we did indeed have an appointment. She was very pleasant this time. We had an enjoyable conversation with her & accomplished what we had gone for.

 

This only took 5 min., & the appt. time frames were 20 min. apart. I have to admit to thinking they're missing the boat (no pun intended) on booking future cruises. It does seem like more of a hassle than necessary on all the ships. You would think they would be much more accommodating with passengers trying to give them their money. :p

 

 

Port details & anything else I omitted will be added tomorrow...

[tarheelmjfan]

...Tall...dark hair and trendy rectangular glasses...is this the guy you referred to? If so, same bad guy as mine!

 

A perfect description, I would say.

[Brucemcdou]

Tarheelfan - thank you for your detailed review. We look forward to the rest of the story. Our favorite cruise was on Mercury to the Mexican Riviera three years ago. We know that a cruise experience is made by the then-current staff and crew and obviously they change constantly.

 

Your experience with the Maitre d' sounds unfortunate. I hope that both you and FinelyCruising named him on your comments cards? My understanding is that management reads any hand-written comments, and that any comments that name a staff person (good or bad) are given to that person's supervisor. In this case such negative comments would surely make a difference.

 

In our six years of cruises we've only criticized two people by name, and I hope that management took appropriate action. We always have two or three people who we praise by name on each cruise - the bad apples stand out, particularly on Celebrity!

[NorCalCruiseGuy]

Carolininians--

Thank you for the story so far. I am amazed that you are able to keep such a good outlook despite the problems you encountered. Good for you! We loved sailing on Mercury in South America a few years ago. It sounds like things have changed quite a bit.

Maybe the crew was just exhausted after all the bleach and cleaning? Not that that should be an excuse, but I just wonder what's going on.

[tarheelmjfan]

Bruce & NorCal,

Thanks for your comments. :) The odd thing is, we really didn't think the ship's problems had anything to do with the virus. Actually, we didn't think the illness affected our trip in the least. The bleach & handwashing were no big deal.

 

The lower level staff that had been overworked were as wonderful as always. We felt that it was the upper level staff that really dropped the ball. The Maitre' d's attitude was inexcusable. I'm not sure how the added cleaning could have made things so much worse for him. :confused: Also, I definitely don't see how the Cruise Director scheduling the bulk of the shows before dinner could have had anything to do with the current situation. It seemed he was more concerned with ending the evening early for the performers than he was with the enjoyment of the guests. We did read in one of the Dailies that he was previously Team Activities Coordinator (CD for the Crew), & had a strong relationship with X Family members. I don't know if that had anything to do with it or not.

[tarheelmjfan]

Cabo: I had read that Cabo is a good town to walk around in, so we decided to do that. We went in search of a recommended restaurant, which we never found. Other than that, we strolled the waterfront & wandered in some shops. If you enjoy shopping, they have a nice mall. If not, it's pretty much like many of the Carribean ports with patrons hawking their wares. If we return on a Panama Canal itinerary, we'll go on the ATV tour. We heard great things about that one. One suggestion, if you go in the near future, book a later tour or book with the ship. Mercury's tendering is less than efficient.

 

Mazatlan: We went horseback riding with Randi's Happy Horses. This was a great tour! We met Randi outside the pier, then loaded the back of a truck for a drive to a small marina. Here we boarded a small boat. The boat fumes were overpowering, & at times I was afraid it would sink, but that was part of the adventure. :) From there, we were loaded onto a tractor pulling a wagon for a mini-tour of Stone Island. We arrived at the ranch where the horses were kept & were met by some of the friendliest people ever. I chose a slow horse, which was a mistake. I'm a novice rider, & was afraid of getting a spirited horse. My DH chose what they referred to as a medium horse, which was perfect. Unfortunately, my slow horse had to run a lot to keep up. By the end of the ride, my back & other regions were really starting to hurt. Back to the ride... We had a very long, beautiful, & pleasant ride on the beach, followed by a ride back through coconut groves. Next we met at Victor's for a complimentary beverage & beach time. The staff at Victor's were just as friendly & helpful as Randi & her guides. After enjoying the company at Victor's then strolling on the beach for awhile, we reboarded the wagon for a reverse trip to the port. This tour was definitely worth every cent. The combo of transportation just added to the fun. We would highly recommend Randi's to anyone. Stone Island is a beautiful island.

 

Acapulco: We booked the Acapulco City Tour & Cliff Divers through the ship. We started with a drive/ tour to Hotel El Miradora to see the cliff divers. At the hotel we received a comp. beverage. There was also chips w/ salsa, but we didn't try those. The divers were amazing! (You should expect a wait between dives.) They were followed by Mexican Folkloric Dancers. Upon entering & exiting the hotel, you are met with individuals selling wares. They weren't really aggressive though. Next we boarded the bus for a tour of the island. After awhile, the tour started to drag. (It may have been made worse for me by a lady sitting directly in front of me that had on a way too strong, horrible smelling perfume. :o ) Last, we were forced to stop at a jewelry shop that noone seemed interested in stopping at. It was only a 30 min. stop, & another comp. beverage was served. In our opinion, it was a good tour that included some beautiful sites. However, it could have been much better, if they shortened it a bit & omitted the shopping stop.

 

More to follow, after dinner..... :p

[spearmint]

Hi, Kenneth and Tammy. I enjoyed reading your account of your trip, but I felt bad for you that you ran into such a jerk for a Maitre d'. It is almost unbelievable, isn't it, when you have seen other guys on other ships? I would not have been too happy with that situation; as you probably know, we like a 2 person table, too, and for the same reasons as you. On Millenium, we ended up with 4 other couples at a table for 12! (They were really nice people, though.) We now always check in as soon as possible after we board to see if the assigned seating is as we requested, just to be on the safe side. Did I understand you to say that you waited until dinner time to find out about your seating?

I am in complete agreement on your comments re: before-dinner shows, rather than after-dinner (late seating). Like you, I hope that Celebrity fixes that one up soon!

Sounds like you are not impressed by some of the people who are responsible for booking future cruises. Since I learned of this activity from you when we were on board Century in November, I had planned to try it on our next cruise, but now, I'm not so sure.

I'll bet your next cruise will be better and that this one just had a few abberations. Sounds like you did not let it completely ruin your cuise though. Happy sailing. Bill.

[tarheelmjfan]

Did I understand you to say that you waited until dinner time to find out about your seating?

 

Hi Bill,

You read that correctly. We did go there 1st thing, only to be told the MD wouldn't be available until dinner. There was quite a few people with the same idea, who were also turned away.

 

The Future Cruise Agents we've dealt with haven't been the most cooperative of staff members. There seems to be an availability issue. As I mentioned earlier, the lady on Mercury was much friendlier after we made her mandatory appointment. The agent on Century just had a serious attitude problem. Don't let that stop you from booking onboard though. You can't beat free money. :D In our experience, this is an area X could use a little work on.

 

We did have a very good time. This was just the 1st time we didn't feel we got our money's worth. It made us appreciate the other ships that much more. :)