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Note - this page contains multiple reviews.
Name: James Tepper
Email: tepper@axon.rutgers.edu
Age: 46
Occupation: Professor of Neuroscience
NumberOfCruises: 1
TravelAgent: No
Ship: Celebrity-Galaxy
SailingDate: 1/08/00
Itinerary: Eastern Caribbean
Cabin: 9121/Outside stateroom with private veranda
FoodDiningRoom: 90
CruiseDirector:
CabinComfort: 95
FoodRoomService: 70
CruiseStaff: 85
CabinAmenities: 95
FoodLidoDeck: 85
DiningRoomService: 90
CabinQuietness: 100
FoodMidnightBuffets: 90
CabinSteward: 95
ShoreExcVariety: 100
FoodVariety: 85
DeckService: 95
ShoreExcValue: 90
GoodForHoneymoon: 92
CasinoStaff: 95
PrivateIsland:
GoodForFamilies: 95
LoungeService: 95
TenderService:
GoodForSeniors:
BeautySalonStaff:
EntertainmentLounges:
WheelchairAccess:
ExerciseFacilities: 95
EntertShowLounge:
OverallPortsofCall: 90
BeautySalon:
EntertainmentPoolside: 80
CruiseActivities: 85
Casino: 95
AirSeaProgram:
MedicalFacilities:
ShipCleanliness: 95
EmbarkDisembark: 88
DiscoNightclubs:
DeckSpace: 99
Stabilization: 82
ShopsOnBoard: 85
SpaceRatio: 97
OverallCruiseValue: 93
Submit: Submit Review
Date: 16 Jan 2000
Time: 10:09:14
Remote Name: proxy1-external.vron1.nj.home.com
Remote User:
Comments
SHIP This was our first cruise and the bottom line is, we loved it. This is going to be such a positive
review that it will probably seem like I work for Celebrity, but I don't. It's just that one rarely finds as good
an entertainment value for the money as this trip was, and we wanted to communicate this fact. The
ship, the Galaxy, was bright modern, clean and neat. Despite the fact that the cruise was full and there
were over 1900 passengers on board, nothing ever seemed very crowded. There were so many bars,
and lounges, and so much useable deck space that even when everyone was aboard, there was never
any trouble getting a place just exactly where we wanted one. The casino had 5 or 6 blackjack tables
and a few Caribbean Stud tables, plus roulette and craps and it too was never so crowded that we
couldn't get seats at a blackjack table.
CABIN We had a standard outside stateroom with a private veranda. The veranda is an absolute must,
and we will make sure we have one on all of our subsequent cruises (of which there are sure to be
many). Being able to sit outside our own room, having a drink and watching the sunset, or the shoreline
go by, during the day, or listening to and smelling the sea at night was an experience not to be missed.
So go for the private veranda. The few extra hundred dollars is more than worth it. The cabin itself was
absolutely fine, except for an acute shortage of closet space. There were a bunch of drawers scattered
throughout the cabin. most of which were too shallow to be of much use for clothing other than
underwear. The room was dead quiet- we never heard any of our neighbors, and even on the couple of
nights when the seas were unusually rough, there was only the barest of creaking audible. The service
was extraordinary. It seemed like every time we left the cabin for a couple of minutes, someone entered
in our absence and serviced the room. It was much better than the service we have had in most
$250/night rooms in upscale hotels around the world.
FOOD The food (dinner) was very good to excellent. The food was not outstanding. It was not like
going to a 5-star restaurant every night. But considering the price of the trip, and the fact that the
kitchen was turning out somewhere close to 1900 dinners per night, the food was as good as it could
be. There were several choices of appetizer, soup, salad, entree and dessert every night. My 2 least
favorite entrees were both be steaks. The appetizers, soups and salads were always excellent - the
desserts a little less so. There are two seatings for dinner: an early one at 6:00 pm and a late one at
8:30 pm. The early seating is so early that if you have left the ship for an afternoon excursion (which
most people do), you often have to really rush when you get back to the ship in order to get cleaned up
and ready for dinner on time. In addition, about half the time the ship sailed from port at 6:00 pm so if
you are in the early seating you can't stand on desk and watch the departure which is great fun. You
request your seating (and the size of your table) when you book the trip. And here is an important
cautionary note - we requested late seating. When the first invoice reflecting our reservations and initial
deposit came a week late it stated 'late seating'. When the second invoice reflecting our final payment
came a couple of months later it said 'late seating'. But when our tickets arrived a few weeks after than
they said 'main seating' and we didn't notice that until just a few days before sailing. When I called
Cruise.com (through whom we selected the cruise online) they told me not to worry and to see the
restaurant manager when we boarded. But it turned out that there was a very long line waiting to see
him and an even longer waiting list for late seating. Initially the restaurant manager told us there was
nothing he could do. I had brought both sets of invoices with me and showed them to him. It required a
lengthy explanation of the depths of our disappointment and displeasure as well as a couple more
telephone calls during the first day at sea but eventually we got moved to late seating (at a table for 2
immediately adjacent to one of the kitchen doors). The moral of this story is reserve early and make
sure your tickets reflect your late seating preference, or else get on the phone immediately and
straighten it out long before the cruise date. We brought half a dozen bottles of wine with us on the
recommendation of a friend who had sailed before (but not on a Celebrity ship) and had one every
night with dinner (for a $10/bottle corkage fee). But this turned out to be completely unnecessary and
we won't do it again. The wine list, although not as extensive as one would find in a typical high-end
restaurant, was more than adequate, and the pricing was extremely generous. Of the wines (and
champagnes) that we recognized, the prices of many were only 10-15% higher than we would pay in a
liquor store at home. The sit-down breakfast was not nearly as impressive as dinner. The egg dishes
were not particularly inspired and I was just as happy going to the breakfast buffet. My fiance, however,
liked the bagels and lox which were not available at the buffet. We only had lunch on the ship 3 times.
Once in the main restaurant, where we found lunch to be a mini-version of dinner with several courses
and choices, and twice at the buffet. Both were fine. One advisory note: Stay away from the burgers
and hot dogs (I am a burger and hot dog connoisseur and ones on this ship were not worth eating). We
were usually so full from dinner (8:30 late seating from which we usually did not finish until 10:00-
10:15) that we didn't ever really sample the midnight buffet. But we looked at it a couple it times and
even though our eyes were connected to our still over-stuffed stomachs, it looked pretty good.
EXCURSIONS/ITINERARY The only disappointing experience we had with the crew was with the
excursions desk. It turned out that most of the excursions we wanted to go on (all of which involved
snorkeling) were all booked up by the time we tried to sign up for them. This was our fault. We didn't
realize that the excursions would fill up so fast and assumed that we could simply sign up the night
before which one most definitely cannot (One can't even count on being able to sign up several days in
advance)! Next time we will sign up for our excursions before embarking. When we found that we
couldn't sign up on board ship for anything we wanted in Marinique, we asked the person at the
excursion desk for help and suggestions as to how to find our own way to some snorkeling. The woman
behind the desk was less than unhelpful, actually almost rude, and we ended up wasting our day taking
cabs and ferries and hiking around the island looking unsuccessfully for a beach for swimming and
snorkeling. We only managed to sign up for one ship-based excursion. It was catamaran
sail/beach/snorkel trip on Antigua and it was sensational. Tons of fun and well worth the money. In our
first port, St. Lucia, we took a 'tour' of the island that lasted for over 3 hours from a friendly and
knowledgeable driver who showed us all the main sights as well. He dropped us off at a couple of
places (the botanical gardens/waterfall and the volcano) and waited for us while we took little mini-tours
of these attractions. The price for this was $80 for the two of us. This was great fun and was a better a
value than that offered from the ship since it was a little less expensive but best of all we had our own
private van and driver, whereas all the ship excursions has6-8 people packed into one of the ubiquitous
white Mitsubishi vans. For our next cruise, we intend to book any water excursions well in advance
through the cruise line, but for land based excursions may still try our hand at finding something on our
own. All the islands were fun, except for Martinique for the reasons listed above and the facts that
unlike the other islands you needed to use francs in many places and things seemed a little pricier than
they should be. The snorkeling was best in St. Thomas. So was the shopping. But Barbados and
Antigua were beautiful, as was St. Lucia. It was a great selection of ports and if there were not so many
other places in the world to visit, we wouldn't hesitate to take the same cruise again
SUMMARY It is hard for things to live up to their expectations but this trip met or exceeded ours. The
cruise line was fantastic, the facilities, food, ports and service we excellent. We loved it and recommend
the Galaxy and the eastern Caribbean cruise to any and all who are interested in a good time.
Name: Cliff Zierer
Email: Cliffz@webtv.net
Age: 37
Occupation: Q.A. Analyst
NumberOfCruises: 3
TravelAgent: No
Ship: Celebrity-Galaxy
SailingDate: 12/18/99
Itinerary: Southern Caribbean
Cabin: Suite
FoodDiningRoom: 60
CruiseDirector: 90
CabinComfort: 85
FoodRoomService: 80
CruiseStaff: 80
CabinAmenities: 70
FoodLidoDeck: 80
DiningRoomService: 100
CabinQuietness: 1
FoodMidnightBuffets: 60
CabinSteward: 95
ShoreExcVariety: 70
FoodVariety: 60
DeckService: 50
ShoreExcValue: 80
GoodForHoneymoon: 70
CasinoStaff: 0
PrivateIsland: 0
GoodForFamilies: 1090
LoungeService: 70
TenderService: 0
GoodForSeniors: 10
BeautySalonStaff: 95
EntertainmentLounges: 50
WheelchairAccess: 0
ExerciseFacilities: 100
EntertShowLounge: 30
OverallPortsofCall: 95
BeautySalon: 100
EntertainmentPoolside: 90
CruiseActivities: 90
Casino: 100
AirSeaProgram: 80
MedicalFacilities: 0
ShipCleanliness: 100
EmbarkDisembark: 20
DiscoNightclubs: 90
DeckSpace: 100
Stabilization: 100
ShopsOnBoard: 90
SpaceRatio: 100
OverallCruiseValue: 60
Submit: Submit Review
Date: 17 Jan 2000
Time: 12:03:58
Remote Name: proxy-544.public.rwc.webtv.net
Remote User:
Comments
My wife and I cruised on the Galaxy 2 years ago and found the quality of everything was exceptional, so
we booked a holiday cruise for my wife's 40th birthday. We found that, since the buyout by RCI, the
quality on this ship has deteriorated markedly- most especially in the food. Whereas previously the food
was truly outstanding, on this cruise it was no better than average, and our waiter on almost every night
had to warn us not to order at least one of the entrees. Also, the overall quality of service has gone
down- staff seemed to be in shorter supply and not as well trained and friendly as before. You could sit
out on deck all day and not have a waiter come by. Shore excursion staff was rude and under-trained-
the quality of the excursions was good but each day there was chaos on the pier and several trips were
cancelled or changed at the last minute. The major exception was the AquaSpa staff- our spa
treatments and the staff there were excellent; also the wait staff in the restaurant are all excellent.
The worst problem on this cruise was the lack of supervision of the children on board. We should have
known, I suppose, that there would be more children on a holiday cruise; however, we had no idea that
they would be allowed to run wild at all hours of the night. There were packs of teenagers running up
and down the halls and stairs in the middle of the night; vandalism was done to many of the elevators;
altough many people were complaining about this nothing was done and the ship's staff seemed
completely unconcerned. We were in a suite on the Penthouse deck and on one typical evening found
a group of drunken teenagers, half-dressed, lying on the floor near our cabin. We could not even find
refuge on our veranda because the teens next door to us were out there all night. Needless to say we
got little sleep. We have complained to Celebrity but from what I hear we shouldn't expect much from
their customer service dept. On top of everything, our camera was stolen from one of the lounges on
the second night of the cruise.
In general I would say that Celebrity can no longer boast that they are the best value going today. I
think there is a larger issue here with security on ships- it's unfortunate but I think the time has come for
cruise lines to start employing a visible security staff sufficient for the number of people on board a
large ship.
Name: Andrea Littleton
Email: expblind@inlink.com
Age: 53
Occupation: Sales
NumberOfCruises: 3
TravelAgent: No
Ship: Celebrity-Galaxy
SailingDate: January 15, 2000
Itinerary: Southern Caribbean
Cabin: 8101 Inside
FoodDiningRoom: 89
CruiseDirector: 85
CabinComfort: 88
FoodRoomService: 75
CruiseStaff: 95
CabinAmenities: 95
FoodLidoDeck: 95
DiningRoomService: 85
CabinQuietness: 69
FoodMidnightBuffets:
CabinSteward: 95
ShoreExcVariety: 75
FoodVariety: 95
DeckService: 95
ShoreExcValue: 75
GoodForHoneymoon:
CasinoStaff: 95
PrivateIsland:
GoodForFamilies:
LoungeService: 95
TenderService:
GoodForSeniors:
BeautySalonStaff:
EntertainmentLounges: 95
WheelchairAccess:
ExerciseFacilities: 95
EntertShowLounge: 50
OverallPortsofCall: 95
BeautySalon:
EntertainmentPoolside: 95
CruiseActivities: 95
Casino: 95
AirSeaProgram:
MedicalFacilities:
ShipCleanliness: 95
EmbarkDisembark: 98
DiscoNightclubs: 95
DeckSpace: 95
Stabilization: 75
ShopsOnBoard: 80
SpaceRatio: 95
OverallCruiseValue: 98
Submit: Submit Review
Date: 17 Feb 2000
Time: 15:27:28
Remote Name: 99.pm3.gtw.net
Remote User:
Comments
This was the third cruise for my husband and me, all on Celebrity. Our first cruise was on the
Meridian (which is now at the bottom of the sea) and we have cruised twice on the Galaxy. Once to
Alaska when the ship was brand new and now this January cruise. To sum things up, we love
Celebrity and would choose them for all of our cruises in the future. Some people say that we should
try another cruise line, but if something isn't broken why try and fix it?
We made our own air arrangements as we had to use some system wide free vouchers before they
expired. We decided to arrive in Puerto Rico on Thursday even though the ship did not sail till
Saturday. You never know what the weather will be like in January and it is always best to arrive at
your port a day or two early if you can. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay in Puerto Rico and would
recommend this port to others. Our cruise documents stated that embarkation would begin at 3:PM.
We decided to go earlier ( 1P.M.) and were glad we did. We are members of the Captain's Club.
Anyone can join after sailing with Celebrity once and the cost is a one time cost of $35 per family.
This membership allowed us to walk right into the terminal and up to the Celebrity desk and onto the
ship. There was a crowd of about 150 people sitting in the terminal waiting for their number to be
called before they could embark. Our cabin was an inside cabin on the 8th floor. We have had
inside and outside cabins and since we never are in the cabin except to sleep we decided to take an
inside cabin this time. The inside cabin was not much larger than our previous outside cabin to
Alaska which was 9036 on the 9th floor. The cabins are roomy enough for two people and the
shower and bathroom roomy also. We had two twin beds that made into a queen by request. The
only complaint we have about the cabin is that on the first night out the seas were very rough and
the cabin creaked and made weird noises all night. This kept me awake, but I know there is nothing
that can be done to remedy this problem. Our room steward, named Sebastain, was always there
when we needed him to fill various requests, ice, extra pillows etc. The room was kept neat and it
seemed as if someone was always cleaning up and providing fresh towels and making sure the
room was spotless. We received our luggage in our room by 3PM that day.
We were late sailing from Puerto Rico the first night out. We did not leave till after midnight. We were
scheduled to sail at 11:PM. The first night out was very rough. This was evidenced the next morning
as many of the passengers were seasick and some of the crew also. The Captain said we were
experiencing the Christmas Winds. Once he turned South towards St. Lucia things got smoother. I
bought my husband some wrist bands as he could not keep the oral medication down. These
worked in about 2 hours. One does not know how or why they work, but I don't think anyone cared
at that point. They just wanted relief.
We booked this cruise one week before sailing. At the time we were told that main seating at meals
was the only time available. We saw the restaurant manager upon embarkation and there was no
problem changing to late seating. We asked for a received a table for 4. The food on the Galaxy is
good to very good. It is not 5 star dining, but rather what you would find in a upscale restuarant in
your hometown. The cold fruit soups were excellent. The salads nothing special. The pasta
selections were always very tasty. I had beef two evenings and it was very good. My husband is a
salmon lover and he said the salmon was often overcooked. The service in the dining room was
good to excellent. This is the first time I have ever had someone on a Celebrity ship practically beg
me for a excellent recommendation. Our waiter George was from Columbia. At the end of the trip he
asked our table to tell the manager that everything was excellent. He said telling him that everything
was very good was not good enough. We had to say excellent. George did a good to very good job
- but excellent, well excellent to me means without compare.
Our bus boy, Mansur, was always
smiling and seemed to try to please. He did not speak alot of English but was trying very hard. He
remembered after the first night to always bring iced tea to everyone at the table before we had to
ask for it and he knew who drank de-caf and who had regular after the first night also. The food at
the Lido buffet was very good. The choices were varied and plentiful. We did not use the main
dining room for breakfast or lunch but preferred the buffet. We did not use the alternative dining
room by the Orion pool. We did sample the pizza that is served every afternoon and also the
sandwiches at the afternoon tea. All of the above were very good. Room service could never seem
to get our orders straight. If we ordered eggs and ham and croissants for two we sometimes got
eggs for two, ham for one and no croissants or ham for two, eggs for one and croissants for four or
five. Go figure. We just rolled with the flow.
The only reason we ordered room service was that we
had some early shore excursions and thought it best to eat in our room while getting ready for the
day. Since we had late seating we were always too full to eat the midnight buffet but we did slip down
to see these beautiful extravaganzas. Even though the ship was full it was never crowded. We often
heard other passengers remarking that if there we were 1900 people aboard they must all be in
their cabins because the decks were never crowded. We never had trouble getting a deck chair or
getting waited on in any of the lounges. Never experienced a long line at the buffets or any other
activity. We were very disappointed with the quality of the shows in the main show room. The large
variety shows were good but the juggler and singer solo shows were of poor quality. Celebrity must
do something soon in this area because many people walked out of the shows early or just did not
attend at all. In St.Lucia we took the 4 x 4 jeep ride and enjoyed this very much. This is not an
excursion for someone with a bad back or someone who cannot take strenuous exercise. A couple
of years ago we took the Pitons by land and sea excursion and think that the best excursion we
have ever taken.
In Barbados we just went ashore and went to our favorite restuarant for lunch and
did some shopping. Barbados is a beautiful island and I would recommend future visitors to hire a
guide and tour the entire island. We have done this in the past and enjoyed the tour very much. In
Martinique we hired a guide and toured the island. This was a much better experience than we had
in the past in Martinique. Before we did not enjoy the island at all. We found the people rude and
unfriendly towards tourists. The guide we hired this time told us that even though he had been a
quide for 30 years he went to school recently to learn how to be friendly and smile for the tourists. It
must have been a good school because he was quite knowledgeable and friendly and took us on a
great tour. We left Martinique with a smile instead of a bad taste in our mouth. In Antigua we went on
the 4 x 4 jeep exploration. Again this is not a tour for the elderly or handicapped. The jeeps took us
far into the underbrush and over very rough terrain. Sometimes there wasn't even a road but just
some ruts in the ground. At the top of a large mountain you will find a breathtaking view and an old
deserted fort. We then stopped at a beautiful beach and then into town for shopping or
refreshments. Antiqua is a beautiful and interesting island and we would like to spend more time
there exploring. Our last port was St. Thomas. Here we experienced our first bad experience with
shore excursions. We had signed up to do some snorkeling on St. John's. The night before our
table mates told us that they had heard the excursion had been cancelled because of rough seas.
We tried to contact the shore excursion desk but they were closed. We really wanted to know the
status of the tour before we went to bed because it was an early tour and we did not want to get up
and rush and find only to find out it had been cancelled. We called the guest relations desk and
they told us that the shore excursions desk had not notified them of any cancelled tours. We
checked our account on the TV and they had not credited us for this tour so we decided that the
tour must be a go. We got up the next AM early and went to the pier only to be told that the tour had
been cancelled the night before. When we got back to our room after breakfast at 10 AM we found a
notice of cancellation had been slipped under our door sometime after we had already left. We felt
the whole thing could have been handled differently by calling all on the tour and leaving a message
if they were not in their cabins. Evidently they knew the night before of the cancellation and could
have avoided all the angry passengers if they just took a little time to be courteous and notify them
promptly. We don't think there is much to do on St. Thomas touring wise, we had already been to
many of the beaches, so we just shopped around some and took advantage of the pool and deck
on the ship. Embarkation went smoothly. We had signed up for the tour of the rain forest in Puerto
Rico so we were some of the first off of the ship. We took the rain forest tour (which is great and we
recommend to all) and then stopped for lunch and they dropped us off at the airport. We had
checked our luggage in with the airline at the pier and took our hand luggage with us on the bus. All
was done efficiently. I would recommend a Celebrity cruise to anyone who wants to be pampered,
wants very good food (not a gourmand) and to someone who wants good value for the money. We
got an excellent price by booking at the last minute, but I understand that early bird bookings give
good value also. Any questions or comments, feel free to e-mail me.
Name: Anna Robinson
Email: anna.robinson@usa.net
Age: 53
Occupation: Office Manager
NumberOfCruises: 9
TravelAgent: No
Ship: Celebrity-Galaxy
SailingDate: January 9, 1999
Itinerary: Southern Caribbean
Cabin: 4151
FoodDiningRoom: 80
CruiseDirector: 90
CabinComfort: 90
FoodRoomService: 80
CruiseStaff: 0
CabinAmenities: 75
FoodLidoDeck:
DiningRoomService: 95
CabinQuietness: 80
FoodMidnightBuffets:
CabinSteward: 95
ShoreExcVariety: 80
FoodVariety: 80
DeckService: 95
ShoreExcValue: 75
GoodForHoneymoon:
CasinoStaff: 90
PrivateIsland:
GoodForFamilies:
LoungeService: 90
TenderService:
GoodForSeniors:
BeautySalonStaff:
EntertainmentLounges: 80
WheelchairAccess:
ExerciseFacilities:
EntertShowLounge: 75
OverallPortsofCall: 95
BeautySalon:
EntertainmentPoolside: 80
CruiseActivities: 70
Casino: 85
AirSeaProgram:
MedicalFacilities: 0
ShipCleanliness: 99
EmbarkDisembark: 90
DiscoNightclubs: 85
DeckSpace: 99
Stabilization: 90
ShopsOnBoard: 85
SpaceRatio: 95
OverallCruiseValue: 90
Submit: Submit Review
Date: 21 Feb 2000
Time: 09:24:37
Remote Name: pppa65-resalegreensburg1-3r7145.saturn.bbn.com
Remote User:
Comments
My cruise on January 9, 1999 aboard Galaxy began as a very upbeat and enjoable experience. I
had four days of wonderful cruising aboard a very modern and upscale ship. The cabin staff, dining
room staff and deck staff were all very considerate, attentive and efficient. On the fifth day of my
cruise I became slightly ill. I visited the ship's doctor and from that time on my life became a living
nightmare. I have never been treated more unprofessionally or rudely by anyone. The doctor swore
at my sister and I. He was throwing things around his office and in general acted like a fool. In short I
was forced to leave the ship in Antigua and was left there to find my own transportation home. While
in Antigua I visited a local clinic and also a specialist upon my arrival home. Both doctors disagreed
with the ship's doctor and saw no reason for the treatment I received or for my being thrown off the
ship. Once I arrived home and had seen the specialist I phoned Celebrity Cruise Line offices in
Miami. I was referred to Royal Caribbean, the parent company. Telephone calls to Royal
Caribbean's upper management both went unanswered and ignored. Persistant and written letters
did get answers to my inquiries however I was treated as badly by the Chief Executive Officer of
Royal Caribbean as I had been by the ship's officers. In general I would clasify Celebrity's Galaxy as
a wonderful cruise experience as long as you don't become ill. If you do, you're sailing experience is
likely to become a complete nightmare. Anna Robinson
Name: Mary Edwards
Email: jsteven83@hotmail.com
Age: 43
Occupation: medical technologist
NumberOfCruises: 3
TravelAgent: No
Ship: Celebrity-Galaxy
SailingDate: 02/05/00
Itinerary: southern caribbean
Cabin: 5062/cat 6
FoodDiningRoom: 95
CruiseDirector: 90
CabinComfort: 99
FoodRoomService:
CruiseStaff: 99
CabinAmenities: 99
FoodLidoDeck: 95
DiningRoomService: 95
CabinQuietness: 99
FoodMidnightBuffets: 95
CabinSteward: 99
ShoreExcVariety:
FoodVariety: 95
DeckService: 95
ShoreExcValue:
GoodForHoneymoon:
CasinoStaff: 90
PrivateIsland:
GoodForFamilies:
LoungeService: 95
TenderService:
GoodForSeniors:
BeautySalonStaff: 95
EntertainmentLounges: 90
WheelchairAccess:
ExerciseFacilities:
EntertShowLounge: 80
OverallPortsofCall: 90
BeautySalon: 95
EntertainmentPoolside: 95
CruiseActivities: 95
Casino: 90
AirSeaProgram: 90
MedicalFacilities:
ShipCleanliness: 99
EmbarkDisembark: 99
DiscoNightclubs: 99
DeckSpace: 99
Stabilization: 99
ShopsOnBoard: 90
SpaceRatio: 99
OverallCruiseValue: 99
Submit: Submit Review
Date: 22 Feb 2000
Time: 13:00:14
Remote Name: cbrg0673.capecod.net
Remote User:
Comments
Comments
This was our first cruise with Celebrity. We cruised with Carnival in 1990 and 1993. We chose
Celebrity this time on the recommendation of a friend and on the reviews we had read on these web
sites. This was the first time we cruised with friends and this was their first cruise. We are all in our
early 40’s and we left our children at home. We chose to do Celebrity’s air/sea package and pay the
$35 deviation fee and arrive in San Juan a day early. We did not want to take the chance of missing
the cruise due to winter weather in the Northeast. As it turned out about 50 people missed the first
day and a half of the cruise coming out of Houston due to mechanical difficulties on Continental.
The ship did wait for late arrivals in San Juan. We spoke to a crewmember that said that if the airline
gives the ship an arrival time, they would hold the departure.
We stayed in the Radisson
Ambassador in the Condado area of San Juan on Friday night. We got a discounted rate that our
travel agent had found for us. The standard rates of the San Juan hotels seemed overpriced. It was
a basic room with a balcony overlooking Burger King. There was a casino and a rooftop pool to
distract us before starting our cruise. We had to check out at 12noon so we stored our luggage for
a couple of hours. We were anxious to get our cruise underway so we took two cabs for a short ride
to the Galaxy terminal.
When we arrived at 2pm there were no lines. Apparently they let you start
boarding as early as 1230 if there are no problems. We bought some rum and soda at the duty-free
shop at the terminal and boarded the ship. We had booked a category 6 stateroom with an outside
window a year in advance. We were disappointed that we did not receive an upgrade- until we saw
the room. All three couples had a wheelchair-accessible room that was huge compared to other
standard staterooms. The bathroom was enormous. The stateroom comes with plenty of closet
space but lacking drawer space. The bathroom comes supplied with shampoo and a hair dryer,
which is not strong enough to dry thick hair. There was also a mini bar that had room for water
bottles and soda cans. The phone in the room could be used to call home for $9.50/minute and the
connection was not very good. The TV in the room could be used to book tours, pick wines for
dinner, gamble, or watch the port talks. My husband rented a tuxedo for formal nights and it
appeared at our door at 7pm that night. The shoes were a little small, but our room steward came
through with a larger size for him.
The ship was always clean and the staff friendly and helpful. We
had the late seating for dinner, which was full. Another couple who booked from a different travel
agent was placed at a different table. After much finagling we were a table for eight for the second
night. The first night is open seating since some passengers had not yet arrived. Our waiter was all
business until dessert was served when he relaxed. He brought us extra appetizers and entrees for
our guys at the table with big appetites. Our wine steward was very nice and helpful. She also put up
with a lot of crazy antics of the guys. There was casual dining offered up on the deck, but I don’t
know anyone who tried it. We were all too full to eat the midnight buffet, but who eats at midnight
anyway? The Galaxy had prime docking space in the ports. Our group got taxis to beaches and
then walked around town or the shopping area. We did not take any of the tours. Be prepared for a
little haggling for fares. It is always a couple of dollars more than what the shore guide quotes.
Towels are available when you leave the ship. We also brought along insulated lunch bags with
ziplock bags of ice from our room steward to keep our drinks cold. We packed our own snorkeling
gear so we did not have to worry about leaking masks or the hygiene of rentals. We brought
disposable underwater cameras purchased ahead of time to the ports so that we didn’t have to
worry about losing a valuable camera. We were usually back on the ship by 3pm to have pizza, relax
and be up on deck in the hot tub for sail-a-way around 5 or 6pm. Our St.Lucia beach
recommendation was Pigeon Island. For Barbados we went to Folkstone Beach. It is a small beach,
but has great snorkeling. My husband got cut on the coral and one of the beach staff cleaned it up
for him. Be prepared to pay for beach chairs and umbrellas and have vendors approach you on
both these beaches.
On Martinique we should have listened to the previous reviews and not have
gotten off the ship. We did take the ferry to Anse Mitan (supposedly a good beach for snorkeling.)
We collected some beach glass and got the next ferry back to the ship. Apparently there are
beautiful beaches in Martinique but not near Fort-de-France. Some other people took the
snorkeling tour and said it was good. In Antigua we went to Johnston’s Point which had beautiful
Caribbean green water. There was no snorkeling but a scenic beach when you walk down past all
those cruise ship beach tourists! When we landed in St Thomas, we took a taxi to Red Hook and a
ferry to Cruz Bay in St Johns. A taxi took us to Jumbie Beach, which is right across the bay from
Trunk Bay where all those cruise ship people go. It is very tiny with no facilities, but has great
snorkeling. Our favorite island was St John probably because vendors did not bother us and it was
so clean. We misplaced our camera one night between dinner and the show and it showed up at
guest relations later. We only peeked in on the shows after dinner. They were ok, but we usually left
before they were over to go to the casino.
Four out of eight of us won in the casino so I guess that
was good odds. We spent most of the time at the main poolside deck, but there were many quiet
spots. I would recommend a deck by deck walk on the first day to find your perfect spot. My husband
who hates to be in the sun for a long time spent a lot of time in the Stratosphere Lounge. We used
the spa for massages and pedicures and it was an enjoyable experience for all of us. We only felt
the ship rolling a few nights during dinner, but it was nothing to affect any of us. We signed up for
the San Juan/Bacardi tour since we had a late flight on Saturday. We had to be out of our rooms by
8am and were off the ship easily with no luggage problems. You are free to use any of the public
areas on the ship until your number is called according to flight times. We checked our baggage at
the ship after clearing customs and boarded the bus. The tour was a good way to kill time and we
were dropped off at the airport by 2pm. Disembarkation was so smooth compared to our previous
experiences with Carnival. I would not hesitate to take another Celebrity cruise. Our first time cruise
friends loved it but a couple of them would not go on a cruise again. They found it too hectic getting
on and off the ship at the different ports. It’s a tough life!
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