My Mercury Review- 8-24-08 Sailing

[MonicaL]

Background Information

I am 28 and my husband is 34. We cruise with my parents, who have been on Celebrity cruises. This was our 2nd cruise, our 1st was also on Celebrity on the Millennium in a Concierge Class room. After our first cruise we fell in love with cruising. Our favorite things about cruising are seeing multiple places while staying in one room, being pampered, and the fine dining dinners. Our first cruise was absolutely amazing. Our stateroom attendant was awesome, as well as the dining staff- absolutely no complaints. We booked a Sky Suite on the Mercury for the extra space and again because we love being pampered. I tend to have a positive attitude and will overlook small negatives as long as it doesn’t make a huge difference in my experience. While I loved Alaska and had an amazing vacation, it was clear to me, my husband, and my parents that Celebrity is making cutbacks with food and service. I will give an overview of our experience lease feel free to ask any questions about our vacation.

The Ship and embarkation

The Mercury was in excellent condition. We didn’t notice any substantial wear and tear. We felt it was maintained well and were very happy with its appearance and setup. Embarking was disorganized. I won’t hold Celebrity completely accountable to this because the ship was late coming in due to bad weather, so we could not board until 2:30 pm. They gave each passenger $20 SBC to make up for the wait. There were long lines and it was a bit chaotic, but once boarded the champagne was waiting and the buffet looked great.

Service

A little disappointing for us. In a Sky Suite we had a butler and a stateroom attendant. They came to the room and introduced themselves in a timely fashion and it seemed to be a great start. However, we had several issues and experienced what we felt was barely good service. On our first cruise we felt extremely spoiled and pampered. We don’t ask a lot, but when we did ask for something it had not been a problem. On this trip room service took at least an hour on the two occasions we used it. We were told that we could not have pastries at 10:30 am and that I couldn’t have a fruit parfait because it wasn’t ordered on the previous day. After reading on the boards people talked about butler’s tending to most needs and it seemed as if they were often available. We were lucky to see our butler once a day and the times that we ordered room service it was brought by a different butler, who happened to be my parents butler. My parent’s experience was completely different, their butler was fantastic and once he learned what they wanted, they didn’t have to ask for anything. Their butler even brought things to their room that my husband and I asked for when visiting them. For example, we meet for drinks before dinner and after asking for a beer glass for my husband and a diet coke for myself once, their butler had it in the room every afternoon without being asked. There were other small things that were disappointing for use, especially after paying so much more for a suite. Please keep in mind, while this was disappointing it did not spoil our cruise.

Food

Was great n my opinion. My husband is not crazy about Celebrity food. He finds the desserts disappointing. I loved everything, and the fish was great. We were sad to see the tiny lobster tails on the second formal night. We remembered them being much bigger and that there was a filet option as well, on this cruise there was not. The cons were that they no longer offer to carry your trays to the table, tables we often left dirty, and on the last morning the food tasted like leftovers. The waffles were spongy and everything seemed reheated and I am not a picky eater.

Activities

No complaints, plenty to do.

Shore Excursions

Juneau- took the mountain tram and hike Mt Roberts and then went on a whale watch with Harv and Marvs. We loved it. Jay was great, only complaint was that the other boats seemed to get much closer. Also saw the Medenhall Glacier, which was breathtaking.

Ketchikan- Floatplane tour with Island Wings. Absolutely breathtaking.

Sitka- Biking and hiking on our own. We had a nice time, saw great scenery and were happy to get some exercise.

Hubbard Glacier- Amazing, we got as close as legally allowed and it was beautiful.

Overall, we had a great time. Service was excellent everywhere, except with our room staff and some of the staff working in the buffet. We loved our dining staff and also the staff that worked in the casino and lounges. We did not book another Celebrity cruise on the ship as we had planned and will consider other cruise lines based on the cost cutting that we see. I still believe that Celebrity is a great line, just not as consistent as I had believed it to be in the past :(.

[Host Anne]

Monica ~ thanks for taking the time to share your cruise experiences with everyone. Glad to hear you enjoyed Mercury and sorry that your room attendants weren't up to snuff. I hope you made mention of the lacking service in your comment card before leaving the ship. Also, please consider posting your review to the Cruise Critic REVIEWS section as well so more members will have a chance to read about your experience.

[the_dylaness]

I'm guessing your parents were in a Sky Suite as well since you mentioned their butler... could I ask which rooms you had and how they were? We're sailing in a Mercury SS in May and have had lots of grief :p choosing the right room.

[drumleggagh]

Monica:

 

Thanks for the great Mercury review!

 

We are in Sky Suite 1237 on the 1-3-09 Panama Canal cruise and was wondering if you rememebr the names of your butler and your parents' butler?

 

Debbie & Ed

[MonicaL]

We were in 1236 and my parents were in 1237. Rooms were great, we loved the oversized balconies and the privacy. Our butler was Ewin and parents had Godfrey.

[the_dylaness]

You did love the big balconies? We had these originally (1208/1209) but switched to some of the smaller ones worrying that the long walls would interfere with our view... being that it is so cold in Alaska (I'm in FLA right now and have been since August and doin' just fine so anything below 70 is cold to me!) I'm not sure we'd get the use out of all that space.

[drumleggagh]

Thanks Monica!

 

Ed (& Debbie)

[MonicaL]

We did, mostly because the privacy. The other one's aren't as private, but they are still large. I'm sure you will be happy with the room you have.

[marjudles]

Monica - we are sailing on the Mercury a week from today. Have cruised many times before but first time to Alaska. Wondered about the "casual" dining nights. Were jeans worn in the dining room or did people dress up in "work causual clothing? How was the entertainment? Do you think it is better if each person has their own pair of binoculars? Any suggestions for dressing for the outdoors? We have raincoats and rainpants, plan to take gloves and hats, too. Thanks for your thoughts and any advice you might have.

[meow!]

MonicaL: Nice that you enjoyed your voyage. Your problem may be due to just one butler not doing his job, and perhaps he figues that he can get away with young passengers?! We have cruised the Alaska itinerary on the Mercury in 2000 and 2002. It was quite good! We had a very helpful butler on the Century just this past May, we tipped him double the recommended rate.

[marnab]

Marjudles, there were not many jeans in the Manhattan dining room that I saw. Majority of the people were very well dressed. The formal nights were not as formal as I had been led to believe. Everyone was dressed in very nice dress clothes, but no one around us wore tuxes nor evening gowns. DH wore a suit, and I wore dressy slacks and nice beaded tops, and we were very much in line. Many women had on Sunday dresses. I did see one or two men in jeans, but they were very nice jeans with dress shirts.

 

Hope this helps.