Welcome Home... Galveston/GALAXY Folks

[TEXASMUNK]

Ok, you guys just back from the first Galveston departure, there are hundreds of thousands of us waiting to get your opinions!

[springtxbill]

I believe it does not get back until Saturday the 13th. It is supposed to be at sea today, but the bridge cam shows it tendering at some port. Does anyone know where it is?

[TexasGal62]

I think I had read that this itinerary was going to do Key West instead of Grand Cayman. So earlier this week when the webcam said they were in Grand Cayman, I think it was really Jamaica. And now today they were in Key West and will be heading back to Galveston from there. Don't know if future cruises are going to do this.

[springtxbill]

I imagine they will do it until they let them back in Grand cayman. :)

[SusieQT]

They should disembark on Friday.

[luv2cruise123]

Hope some will post soon! I am SO anxious to hear of the Panama Canal details onboard the Galaxy. We'll be on her in less than 2 weeks now. I;ve been holding off from booking excursions to hear from some of them first hand and my time is running out. Galaxy cruisers, please post soon!

[chessbriar]

Galaxy doesn't get back until the 13th. Hold on another day

[luv2cruise123]

The suspense is killing me - ha!

[FlorenceItaly]

with us in Montego Bay. I did not talk to anyone personally from the Galaxy but spoke to someone who did and the passenger was having a wonderful time, however, they did mention it had rained 8 days!!! I will be anxiously awaiting a review, as I am now considering replacing my Princess cruise with the Galaxy...loved my first Celebrity cruise.

 

Marie

[fireguy091]

Have you guys forgot about this site.

http://www.cruisecal.com/20041113p.html

The Gal. isn't back yet,jeez

[SA Traveler]

I'm anxious to hear too! We'll be on the Galaxy on 12/6! Lou

[TEXASMUNK]

mixe dup my days...they ain't back yet...few more days....then we get to ask a ton of questions

[fireguy091]

Thats OK Jim, I'm anxiously waiting for reviews also...:)

[Randyk47]

Now they're back!!!! It's almost 8 AM here in Texas and the Galaxy webcam shows the boat in Galveston. Looks like they're in the process of unloading the luggage and moving it to the terminal for pick up. One cruise down and about 10 to go before ours! :) I've heard they had a lot of rain....maybe up to 8 out of the 12 days....but we'll see what the reviews have to say.

[luv2cruise123]

I have only ONE more group before mine on 11/25 so I am down to the wire literally on ordering excursions online! that's why I am so anxious. I'm waiting on them.

[luv2cruise123]

Welcome home, Galaxy cruisers - speak up, please!

[carkosh]

Hi Future Galaxy Cruisers, Yes, we're home, at least I am! What a ship, what a cruise, wish I were still on board! Out of 17 cruises I think this was the best, even though it rained at least 9 days out of the 12. Didn't stop us a bit, we just kept on going.

 

To start with, Galaxy has the friendliest crew of all the ships Hubby & I have been on. We didn't see a frown on anyone (well, except for this morning when they were rushing around getting ready for the next pax but this was well understood; I'm sure the smiles were back on when the first pax arrived).

The ship is in remarkable shape considering that she is 7 yrs old. The food was the best of the 4 Celebrity ships we've experienced so far as was the dining room service.

 

We were in a RS & loved it (who couldn't? lol). If any of you future pax are in a suite I hope you get Challs for your butler & Esther for your housekeeper; they are excellent.

 

The only drawbacks were the embarkation (a little confused but this was the first cruise out of Galveston, hopefully they improved today), the rain (not much you can do about that), Costa Rica (we didn't get off there because of the rain & warnings about safety in town), Key West (debarkation was total chaos but Celebrity had just finalized that stop & we understood the problems & besides Cayman should replace KW during the current cruise). I will say that debarkation this morning was the easiest & most organized that we've seen. Found the bags immediately & were in our car headed home by 10:30.

 

But besides those few problems this was the "perfect cruise" at least for Hubby, Me & our 2 friends. The 12 days felt like 2! It went way too fast (don't all the good ones seem like that?).

 

I am now jealous of all of you future Galaxy cruisers but very happy for you that you have this cruise to look forward to.

 

If you have any questions please ask away. I'll be checking this thread often & I'm sure that the other Nov. 1 cruisers will chime in soon.

 

Carol

[luv2cruise123]

Well here goes - what tours did you do in the canal? I haven't booked anything yet. I will be on the Thanksgiving cruise so I've got to do the online booking thing SOON!

 

I hate you did not get off in CR - what does that mean about security there???????? I WAS going to ask what tours you did there also.

 

We will be in a CC stateroom. Was it a full ship? Did you happen to hear of any upgrades going on at the pier or from anyone by chance? I have this wild thought/fantasy that we'd be upgraded, but I know I'm just dreaming. We already have our docs and chose our cabin anyway.It appears by the Celebrity website that there is still quite a bit of availability on our cruise.

 

How was the entertainment? Any not to be missed shows? Casino? Have any loose slots- ha! I know that's a stupid question, but what the heck!

[Texed]

Carol,

 

Obviously, you are an upbeat person. With the rain, new embarkation, new port stop, MANY passengers would be gripping for a long time.:)

 

Anyhow, I am glad you had a great cruise, and that you liked Galaxy as much as we do.:)

[luv2cruise123]

We have an early flight into Houston hobby at 7:50 am. Hoping we can board by the time we recover luggage and drive to Galveston.

[carkosh]

luv2cruise: We did the dome train in Panama. Great tour, train goes from Colon to Panama City & back to Colon. The dome is just one car in a long train. Our friends were in a regular car & loved it. Personally I'd take the regular car & save $20. But fun anyway you take it. As to other excursions our only mistake was not booking an excursion in Costa Rica. If we go there again we will. In Jamaica we & our friends split a cab ride throughout the northern part. Wish we had done that on our previous times in Jamaica as we would have enjoyed Jamaica much more. We now like Jamaica much better (& btw this was one place it didn't rain lol).

 

Can't tell you much about the entertainment as Hubby & I didn't see any of the shows (I know, we sound strange lol) but our friends did & they were very impressed. As to the casino I didn't gamble. My husband did & did very well in Black Jack. He didn't play the slots but we heard this morning from some people that the slots seemed looser than other ships. Hope this will be good news for you! Btw, a very lucky person won the grand prize in Bingo 2 days before it was supposed to be given away! She won coverall in 49 numbers. As much as I've played Bingo on ships I've never seen this before! Guess you could say Bingo was quite loose this cruise lol.

 

The ship was almost full, the suites were entirely booked. Early seating was completely full but there were many tables empty at late seating which is when we ate. The Hostess told us that many people were eating at the sushi bar instead of in the dining room most nights.

 

Texed: I'm always upbeat on a ship (well except for The Big Red Boat yrs ago, long story lol). It's when I get home......LOL. Yes, the Galaxy is a great ship!!

 

Carol

[SusieQT]

Which RS were you in?

 

How did you use your butler?

 

We don't go until 1/10, but are sooo excited!

[niblick]

... gathered some information about the dining

 

Over 1900 cruisers on the Nov. 1-13. 1200 were in first seating and 700 in second seating ... still over 100 people were trying to get from second to first seating ... large groups were sailing together (Veterans, priviate groups, mostly from Texas)

 

On the second evening, we were asked to move to another table so people cruising together could sit closer. It was okay with us, as long as we could keep the same waiter/assistant. The maitre'd was at the table each evening. Service on this cruise was easily above and beyond the two previous Galaxy cruises (Please understand the two previous cruises were great)

 

My guess, at least 1400 of the 1900 wanted first seating. As one of the waiters put it ... European cruises want second seating, Americans want first.

 

We were also in the dome car in Panama. The actual time on the train is quick. Most of the time is spent on buses touring the Panama City area but not going into Panama City. Other tours from the ship did visit Panama City. Expected a guided tour of locks at Mira Flores, this did not happen. We enjoyed the canal, it is fabulous, it is beautiful and it was more then we expected.

 

Carkosh is correct, this is a dazzleing cruise. We learned the dry season is from December to March in Panama/Costa Rica. I remember some hard rain, especially in the rain forest of Costa Rica and day we got onto the ship. We were in the clear Kayaks in Costa Maya in an overcast but sunny morning. As soon as we got to the reefs, it poured. We still had a ball, as did the 70+ year old couple that just paddled up a storm ...

 

Getting off the ship ... waited until 9:20 in the lounge. Walked off the ship, gathered bags, through customs, into a cab. Our car was at the Galvez. We had the car loaded and pulled onto Seawall Blvd. at 10:00 a.m. Pulled onto the waiting Bolivar ferry and ran into Carkosh again. Had the pleasure of cruising one more time with the Carkosh's.

[TexasGal62]

So glad to hear that y'all loved the Galaxy ... going on her in December and needless to say, can't wait! Couple of questions that maybe someone can answer: How is the gym re: location, lots of equipment, etc. Last two cruises were on M-class ships and they have fantastic gyms. Also, what nights were the format nights? And last, but maybe most important, lol, do they still offer the daily drink specials of the Bloody Mary's & Mimosas's? Thanks!

[springtxbill]

A quick question I must ask for every cruise. Do they have "yellow" mustard or should I bring my own. Wife can not stand the brown mustard. :)