Caribbean Cruise Galaxy 1-14 trough 1-25-08 (REVIEW)

[avalon1025]

I am not surprised by the original posters comments, anyone reading these boards should know the Galaxy has been do for a renovation for a long time. The Mercury (Galaxy's sister) was in fine shape for her age in the fall, but she had a large dry dock in Spring of 07.

[bdpatrick]

I was also on this same cruise with my wife and 2 other couples.

 

I must say that yes, the ship does have some issues that need some dealing with and hopefully will be taken care of in dry dock in April.

 

Having said this, in no way did this affect our trip. We had a great time. The food and service in the dinning room was superb, had a great meal every single night of the cruise and didn't notice any smells. As for the vibrations, yes there we're some and the worst of times we're when docking or leaving port.

 

We really enjoyed all of the ports even with the changes. We we're obviously disappointed with the change of port in Dominica, but since we had never been to this island wasn't a huge deal. We took advantage of it and spent most of the day walking around Cabrits National Park and going into Portsmouth.

 

As somebody else said,a day in the Sun is much better than a day at work in the middle of a winter storm!!!

 

Sylvain

[reklawr]

One of the nice features of Cruise Critic is it allows people to offer differing opinions and we are all entitled to our opinions.

We've been on Galaxy 3 times. We did notice some aging, but nothing even close to being a detraction from our enjoyment of our cruise or the ship.

There is so much information given on these threads that many who frequent these boards go on cruises knowing what to look for good and bad.

If you look for warts you will find them.

If you look for an enjoyable cruise you will also find it.

[marylander2]

DonnaLuv2Cruise:

I have several favorite spots in Caribbean, but this time the Anse Chastanet beach (St. Lucia) was a highlight. Volcanic sand plus incredibly clean (visibility up to 50-70 ft easy) water.

You can get there from the Castries pier by speedboat – the price varies from $30 to $50 pp, but this most probably will include the land tour (sulfur springs plus some waterfalls at Sufriere). Negotiate your fare and adjust it only for the portion of transfer to Anse Chastanet. They will drop you at the pier in A.C., and right there, along the Southern cliff, you’ll find a great snorkeling. In fact, this is a part of Marine Park. If you swim around the corner, you glimpse at both Pitons – a view to remember, trust me! Be careful, though, if you are not an avid swimmer, as the drift splits at that point – one branch goes in the bay, one licks the tip of the cliff and drags you back to the sea, and it might be hard for you to swim back.

TO ALL WHO WERE SO PASSIONATE ABOUT X AND MY REVIEW:

Fellow cruisers, I am not trying to torpedo X’s reputation or Galaxy’s fame. A simple test question:

WOULD I GO BACK TO GALAXY?

My answer is “Yes!”. (Itinerary pending, though...)

Why?

Because now I know what to expect from this ship. If I am offered a $2,000 pp oceanview cabin for 2 weeks in Caribbean on Galaxy, I would probably think and bargain. But if I can steal a $600 inside cabin for the same trip/ship – see’ya all in the Michael’s Bar!!!

Dear Adlibjac, please do not get too upset too early! Did I say I didn’t enjoy the cruise? Not at all! We had a great time onshore, we enjoyed the company of our tablemates, and we were pleased with food and service... Need I say more?

Three components are crucial in matching what you expect from the cruise to what you finally get:

- Choice of a cruise line/ship/stateroom;

- Price you’ve paid;

- Your tolerance level.

Don’t want to go over these in detail; all 3 are pretty much self-explanatory. However...

If you go on Carnival Love Boat and want to spend your cruise in quiet solitude resting – wrong choice! If you want to watch shows every night and bought a Windstar cruise – you will die from boredom! If you wish to see unspoiled remote islands and chose Adventure of the Seas – kiss goodbye your single-person-on-the-beach dreams...

So if you chose Galaxy for itinerary, it’s great, because it indeed covers great islands and has balanced combo of nature-packed and organized tourism.

The price is important because... You may figure it out yourself, I guess. See above $2,000-$600 comparison.

Finally, the tolerance is critical because if you are a nitpicker, you’ll find a stain or a chip even on a brand new sink (I hope you are not...).

After first day of “thank you for your review”, folks here took on me on the wrong foot – largely because of Adlibjac's cry-in-the-office... – but this is wrong again.

We do tolerate little messes well, as long as it does not affect our health or our well being... so Galaxy was a little low in our ranking, but this is our cruise and our experience!!! Please do not feel outraged or upset just because my take on this ship does not match yours!

Somebody, I think blong 2200, said that their experience was 180 degrees opposite from ours; well, good for them!

(By the way, I was trying to use Frodos (similar to Beno’s tour agency) service in Dominica, but as soon as he learned that we will dock in Cabrits, he said “no-can-do”... Too far from Roseau).

I also met a couple of distinguished cruisers onboard Galaxy who prefer to spend all time in their Sky Suite, rarely going even to the main dining room. Well, guess what, their opinion about Galaxy is that it still is an outstanding vessel and is in great shipshape...

Would you take their word over mine? :p

If this is your first (or one of the first) cruising experience, I’d say it is great, because you will set your tolerance level at Galaxy mark, and then you may go with the same X, but take a trip on Infinity or Connie. Or perhaps you decide to go with Silversea...

Example: we started our cruising in Tahiti on “Paul Gauguin” in her prime, and this is pretty much a tall order to beat for any ship and any itinerary! Yet we recovered and went on 6 other cruise lines, which by the way gives me a great handle for comparison.

Thank you very much for your comments and questions – glad I was able to help!