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Note - this page contains multiple reviews.
Name: Lane Morgan
Email: lane.morgan@mci.com
Age: 33
Occupation: Sales
NumberOfCruises: 1
TravelAgent: No
Ship: Celebrity-Galaxy
SailingDate: 03-21-98
Itinerary: Deep Carribean
FoodDiningRoom: 95
CruiseDirector: 95
CabinComfort: 95
FoodRoomService:
CruiseStaff: 90
CabinAmenities: 90
FoodLidoDeck: 80
DiningRoomService: 95
CabinQuietness: 75
FoodMidnightBuffets:
CabinSteward: 95
ShoreExcVariety: 75
FoodVariety: 95
DeckService: 85
ShoreExcValue: 50
GoodForHoneymoon:
CasinoStaff: 90
PrivateIsland: 75
GoodForFamilies:
LoungeService: 75
TenderService: 75
GoodForSeniors: 90
BeautySalonStaff:
EntertainmentLounges: 50
WheelchairAccess:
ExerciseFacilities: 95
EntertShowLounge:
OverallPortsofCall: 85
BeautySalon:
EntertainmentPoolside: 50
CruiseActivities: 75
Casino: 75
AirSeaProgram:
MedicalFacilities:
ShipCleanliness: 100
EmbarkDisembark: 90
DiscoNightclubs: 75
DeckSpace: 100
Stabilization: 90
ShopsOnBoard: 90
SpaceRatio: 100
OverallCruiseValue: 90
Submit: Submit Review
Date: 15 Sep 1998
Time: 14:48:44
Remote Name: 166.33.210.165
Remote User:
Comments
My wife and I celebrated our 10 year anniversary on this cruise. This was our first cruise
and will definitely not be our last. Following, I will list the
positive and negative aspects of our cruise as well as overall comments and suggestions
regarding the experience.
Positives: There were many positives and at the top of my list is the disconnection you
will feel from the rest of the world. My wife and I have 3
young daughters (5,8,10) and time alone is a luxury. I also work for a telecommunications
firm and during our week on the trip there were no
ringing phones, faxes, pagers, cell phones and not one email to return. We called my
parents once to check on the kids during the middle of our
trip and that was it. It was great to rediscover each other and I can't think of a better
format to relax: Lot's of drinking, great food, lot's of
sunshine,and beautiful scenery. If you are looking to ignite the flame to a roaring blaze,
you will not be disappointed. The food in the main dining
room is outstanding. We had late seating and it worked out well. The variety is excellent
and you can order as many entrees as you like; however,
one is adequate. The breakfast buffet is second to none. I would cut off a digit from my
hand to have the french toast right now. We ate huge
breakfasts because we typically did not eat again until late (4-5pm) when we returned to
theship. The ship is incredibly clean and the service
throughout the ship is excellent including the lounges, casinos and guest services. Our
room was very spacious and the window was very
large.(Outside stateroom-level 4)The workout facilities are great! The view of the ocean
is incredible and I recommend the virtual reality bicycles.
You will have an interactive menu on the tv in your room that allows you to access your
tab at all times and is updated immediately. If you have a
drink on deck, it will appear on the screen by the time you get to your room. I liked this
feature as it kept us up to date on our expenses at all
times. Negatives: There were few negatives, although enough to mention. Dressing up for
dinner every night grew tiresome. Most nights require a
suit and/or jacket and dresses for the ladies. Casual dress is defined as at least slacks
and polo shirt, no shorts. Essentially, we were on the cruise
to relax and found the nightly ritual a pain. The shows were very lame and directed at the
over 50 crowd. Speaking of the over 50 crowd, this
cruise has a good mix consisting of very few children or elderly but we found the crowd
much older than expected. We travelled with another
couple our age and made our own party; however, a younger crowd would have been more fun.
A couple of nights, the windows rattled a lot
making sleep difficult; however, Celebrity may have solved this problem by now. In terms
of the Islands, Martinique was the worst. Rude french
people and naked old ladies. Old San Juan is exactly that and not impressive upon your
return. Comments/Tips: My wife and I had a great time but
if we were to cruise again I think it would be the western carribean itinerary: Grand
Cayman, Cozumel, and Ocho Rios. It was a lot of stops, but if
you have never been to the Caribbean it is a great way to see many of them. In terms of
activities I recommend the following: The Jolly Roger in
Antigua and The Wild Thing in St. Thomas. Both are combination snorkel and booze cruises
and you will not be disappointed. Catalina Island is fun
but limited with activities. I recommend renting a wave runner or snorkeling. The downtown
area in Barbados is a pigstye and full of con-artists so
we took a cab to the Hilton on the beach and bodysurfed. We had a great time! On Antigua,
we took a cab to the other side of the island and had
a great time seeing the beautiful ports and areas less frequented by tourists. Instead of
going ashore in Martinique, get drunk. Really, the island
stinks and you will not be impressed by the nudity. There were few americans and unless
you want to see your grandmother nude, skip it. St.
Thomas is beautiful and the shopping is great! Do your homework ahead of time for major
purchases and do not buy the first place you visit. I
purchased an inexpensive Citizen dress watch and the prices ranged from $50-$120 for the
same watch! The stores will negotiate for most items.
Fragrances, jewelry, and booze were great buys. One of my co-workers purchased a Rolex
watch and saved $750 on a $3000 watch versus
stateside. Buy booze in the store on the ship and make drinks in your room. You'll be in
your room dressing for dinner anyway. Our bar tab was
about $400 but we didn't think it was too bad. If you are not sure if you get seasick, you
will find out in a hurry. The ship provides free seasick tabs;
however, the most effective remedy is the wrist bands. The catch is that once you are
sick, you are out of luck. If you even think you might get sick,
try them. The Stratosphere lounge really rocks when the waves are rough as does the dining
room, better safe than sorry. Hit the tanner prior to
the trip. The sun is beastly and you will be lobster-like without a good base.All in all,
it was our best vacation ever. I recommend travelling with
friends as it makes it even more fun. Enjoy and feel free to email me.
Name: Ralph Cooley
Email: maxnest@aol.com
Age: 45
Occupation: Computer Systems Analyst
NumberOfCruises: 6
TravelAgent: No
Ship: Celebrity-Galaxy
SailingDate: 10/24/98
Itinerary: Deep Caribbean
FoodDiningRoom: 95
CruiseDirector: 92
CabinComfort: 96
FoodRoomService: 95
CruiseStaff: 100
CabinAmenities: 98
FoodLidoDeck: 95
DiningRoomService: 96
CabinQuietness: 95
FoodMidnightBuffets:
CabinSteward: 100
ShoreExcVariety: 92
FoodVariety: 90
DeckService: 95
ShoreExcValue: 80
GoodForHoneymoon:
CasinoStaff: 90
PrivateIsland:
GoodForFamilies:
LoungeService: 95
TenderService:
GoodForSeniors:
BeautySalonStaff:
EntertainmentLounges: 100
WheelchairAccess:
ExerciseFacilities: 95
EntertShowLounge: 80
OverallPortsofCall: 90
BeautySalon:
EntertainmentPoolside: 87
CruiseActivities: 80
Casino: 85
AirSeaProgram:
MedicalFacilities:
ShipCleanliness: 100
EmbarkDisembark: 95
DiscoNightclubs: 90
DeckSpace: 96
Stabilization: 93
ShopsOnBoard: 85
SpaceRatio: 98
OverallCruiseValue: 97
Submit: Submit Review
Date: 06 Nov 1998
Time: 22:30:02
Remote Name: 152.163.201.188
Remote User:
Comments
*** Background: This was our second cruise on a Celebrity ship. Our previous Celebrity
cruise
was on the Century about a year ago. We had previously cruised with RCCL and NCL.
*** Highlights: The day preceding embarkation, ship condition, cabin comfort, late dining
seating,
formal nights, embarkation (as a Captain’s Club member), Bernie Griffith -
entertainer, Pamela
Blake, Beatles sound-alike group Shout, doo wop group Double Play, food, customer service
desk
and staff, disembarkation morning, Bacardi/San Juan shore excursion.
* The day preceding embarkation – In an effort to stave off jet lag as well as do
some relaxed
sightseeing in old San Juan, we flew into Puerto Rico the afternoon before embarkation
day. We
stayed at the Wyndham hotel in old San Juan. The hotel was a good choice in a great
location.
The staff was very friendly and helpful. During our arrival evening we walked through old
San Juan
to the Galeria restaurant, which had been recommended by the hotel. It was wonderful.
Although
the streets were dark and most of the tourists were gone for the night the walk to the
restaurant
was very pleasant. That night we used the outdoor (top floor) pool and whirlpool. From
there we
watched a ship (the Nordic Empress?) leave port. It was a wonderful sight. The day of
embarkation we shopped and walked around old San Juan. Shoppers should not miss the Ralph
Lauren/Polo and Dooney & Burke stores. Each offered excellent prices. By the way,
Galaxy
passengers should be aware that the ship does not dock at the old San Juan cruise
terminals as
most of the other ships do. Instead, it docks across the channel at the Pan American dock.
We
had to take a $12/10 minute taxi ride from the hotel to the ship for embarkation.
Fortunately, we
knew this ahead of time. Overall, this extra day in San Juan was a great start to our
trip. We
highly recommend it if you can afford the extra cost and time.
* Embarkation check-in – We arrived at the terminal at 1:45 pm. Initially we were
instructed to
get in to one of several very long lines to await check-in. However, once I identified us
as
Captain’s Club members we were directed immediately to a check-in desk with no line.
We were
on the ship within 5 minutes of arriving at the terminal. The Captain’s Club
membership paid for
itself at check-in.
* Ship condition – As with the Century, the Galaxy is very well maintained. Although
the two
vessels are considered (along with the Mercury) to be ‘sister ships’, we were
surpised at the
differences between them. While some public areas are virtually identical, e.g. dining
room, Savoy
lounge, main theater and Aqua Spa, the look and ‘attitude’ of most of the other
public rooms
were very different. The Galaxy was very nice but the Century seems a bit more
‘elegant’ and
personal.
* Cabin comfort – We had cabin 9139. This is a category 2 cabin (with verandah)
located
virtually at the port center of the ship. The major differences between our category 5
cabin on
the Century and the category 2 cabin on the Galaxy were the verandah and the orientation
of
the bed. (The bed on the Galaxy was parallel to the length of the ship.) The room was
relatively
large (172 sq ft), well laid out, and had large (but not as large as the Century) closets
and a
good sized bathroom. Having a verandah was great. We spent some time during each of the
nights sitting on the verandah.
* Bernie Griffith, evening entertainer in the Rendez-vous Square – I rarely spent
time in this room
on the Century. However, my wife and I made a point each evening to spend 45 minutes or so
before dinner listening (and dancing) to Bernie Griffith. He played guitar, piano,
harmonica,
saxophone, violin and sang. For each song he was accompanied by a drum machine. He played
light, relaxing ‘lounge music’ and was absolutely superb.
* Pamela Blake – Introduced as ‘one of seven women to play the role of Evita on
Broadway’. Very
entertaining, great voice, good song selection.
* Beatles look-alike group – I think the name of this group was ‘Shout’.
They played at poolside a
few days and in the Stratosphere lounge virtually every midnight. Three of their midnight
shows
were Beatles music only. They were very entertaining and had some of the most realistic
Beatles
sounds I’ve ever heard.
* Doo wop group Double Play – this group performed at 11:30 pm in the atrium. Great a
cappella
renditions of songs of the 50s and 60s.
* Food - Yes, the food lived up to it's billing. Was it what I would expect in the finest
restaurants? Not quite, but it was usually very, very good. No matter where or when you
eat, the
food is exceptional relative to other cruises we've taken.
* Late dining seating – On our previous cruises my wife and I had selected early
seating. This
was primarily due to our habit of eating earlier in the evening at home with our children.
I will now
choose late seating for dining on future cruises. The primary advantage to late seating is
having
an additional 2-3 hours of time for relaxing before dinner. The extra time was wonderful
and
allowed us to, among other things, be on the top deck each evening when the ship left
port. It
was usually during this time that we walked a mile for exercise.
* Formal nights – As on our previous Celebrity cruise, I rented a tuxedo for formal
nights. My wife
and I felt great dressing up. It seemed that more than 50% of the men wore tuxedos. The
vast
majority of folks stayed in their formal dress throughout the evening.
* Customer service desk and staff – We engaged the customer service desk on three
occasions.
First, our account had accidentally been charged for someone else’s drinks due to an
inadvertent
mix-up of charge cards. This was fixed cheerfully and without question. Second, I
misplaced my
tennis visor at the pool one day. It was turned in by one of the pool staff. While this
seems
minor, the third occasion was not. On the last night of the cruise my wife lost a valuable
emerald
ring. We retraced our steps through the ship but could not find it. We inquired at the
customer
service desk and they had the ring. It had been found by a staff member cleaning the main
theater. We tried to find the person to offer our thanks but could not. The simple act of
turning
in the ring preserved our wonderful cruise experience.
* Disembarkation morning - My memories of past cruises are that we get very little
attention,
very little breakfast, we're rushed and I feel depressed getting shoved off the ship. This
was not
of the experience we had on our disembarkation day on the Galaxy (as well as the Century).
I felt
really good when I left the ship that morning.
* Bacardi/San Juan short excursion - As our outgoing flight was not leaving until 2:40 in
the
afternoon, we chose to take the Bacardi rum factory/Old San Juan shore excursion. It was
the
only shore excursion we took. Three hours long, a nice tour at Bacardi, some time at the
San
Cristobal fort and about a half hour of shopping in old San Juan, after which we were
dropped off
at the airport. A perfect way to spend a few hours after disembarkation.
*** Lowlights: Embarkation check-in, main theater entertainment, portside room location ,
location of embarkation dock in San Juan.
* Embarkation check-in – While we had an excellent check-in experience we heard many
of the
other passengers complain bitterly about theirs. The lines to check-in were very long and
seemed
to be slow moving.
* Main theater entertainment – We attended the evening entertainment in the main
theater on
four of the nights. During two nights we left after a few minutes as the entertainment was
uninteresting. The other two nights the entertainment was quite good.
* Portside location of room - When we reserved our room, I specifically requested it be on
the
portside of the ship. Based upon my previous sailings to the ports we would be visiting, I
felt
confident that our view while in port would be better from this side of the ship. With the
exception of St. Thomas and, to some extent, Antigua, I was mistaken. I would choose a
starboard side room on a future trip. That’s not to say that the port side location
was a
significant disappointment, just that a starboard location would have generally given us
better
views while in port.
* Embarkation dock location – As previously mentioned, the embarkation dock is not in
the old
San Juan cruise terminal area near the Wyndham hotel. It is across the bay at the Pan
American
dock, a 10 minute taxi ride from old San Juan. This was not a surprise or a problem for
us, but the
majority of passengers were not aware of this discrepancy. The major disadvantage of this
location was that there were no off-ship activities within walking distance before the
ship left
port at 11 pm.
*** Miscellaneous
* Due to damage to the Dominican Republic from Hurricane Georges, our itinerary was
altered.
Instead of a stop at Catalina Island and a day at sea, our first day was at sea followed
by a day
on St. Lucia. I much preferred St. Lucia to anything we could have done on Catalina
Island.
* We love days at sea. However, we chose this island-intensive itinerary because the
ship/cruise
line was our destination. We had been to each of the islands (except St. Lucia) on a
previous
cruise. Surprisingly, we greatly enjoyed the days in port. . The port towns were great fun
to
roam. We were usually back on the ship each day by noon and had most of the pool area to
ourselves.
* There were *no* shipboard announcements. Also missing were some traditional games/events
such as lotto and the ‘horse races.’
* The seven piece shipboard orchestra, which played at shows and occasionally in the
lounges,
was excellent. The Verona quartet, which played at dinner, was also very good.
* Tips to travelers on the Galaxy – We ate breakfast and lunch on the fantail of the
resort deck.
It was never crowded. In addition, at lunch the grill at the rear of the ship was much
less
crowded than the grill in the main pool area. Another tip, treat yourself to the Aqua
Spa’s
Thelassotherapy pool, sauna and steam rooms. The cost is $11 per person for a day unless
you’ve signed up for one of the packages or are located in a suite (in which case
it’s free). Try it
at least one day. You’ll be glad you did.
* The Galaxy offers computer training (at an additional fee) while on board. While we
didn’t take
advantage of this training, we did utilize a service by which we e-mailed a picture of us
on the
ship, along with a message, to a number of friends and relatives. The cost was $9.95. We
used
our embarkation picture (which was placed in the instructor’s laptop computer via a
scanner) and
the instructor sent our message and picture from Antigua from his laptop computer. Very
cool.
*** Overall comment: This was a wonderful cruise. From my previous experience with the
Celebrity Century, I had very high expectations. I was not disappointed.
Name: Robert J. Rose, Sr.
Email: roser@pernet.net
Age: 44
Occupation: attorney
NumberOfCruises: 3
TravelAgent: No
Ship: Celebrity-Galaxy
SailingDate: November 7, 1998
Itinerary: Eastern Carribean
FoodDiningRoom: 91
CruiseDirector: 95
CabinComfort: 84
FoodRoomService:
CruiseStaff: 91
CabinAmenities: 90
FoodLidoDeck: 80
DiningRoomService: 88
CabinQuietness: 78
FoodMidnightBuffets: 88
CabinSteward: 96
ShoreExcVariety: 90
FoodVariety: 90
DeckService:
ShoreExcValue: 87
GoodForHoneymoon:
CasinoStaff:
PrivateIsland:
GoodForFamilies:
LoungeService: 88
TenderService:
GoodForSeniors:
BeautySalonStaff: 90
EntertainmentLounges: 90
WheelchairAccess:
ExerciseFacilities:
EntertShowLounge: 89
OverallPortsofCall: 85
BeautySalon:
EntertainmentPoolside:
CruiseActivities: 90
Casino:
AirSeaProgram: 90
MedicalFacilities:
ShipCleanliness: 98
EmbarkDisembark: 95
DiscoNightclubs: 92
DeckSpace: 99
Stabilization: 83
ShopsOnBoard: 84
SpaceRatio: 91
OverallCruiseValue: 89
Submit: Submit Review
Date: 17 Nov 1998
Time: 23:09:10
Remote Name: 205.229.2.117
Remote User:
Comments
This was our third cruise. We had previously sailed on vessels in the 25,000-35,000 ton
class. I expected a more stable ride from a 77,000 ton vessel.
The vessel had a good deal of motion without the influence of outside weather. It seemed
that most of the trip was completed in 1-3 foot seas. Very
seldom while the vessel was underway did we notice that there was no movement to the
vessel. If a person is subject to motion sickness, then you
should definitely wear a patch or take appropriate medication. The most common comment we
heard concerning the vessels movement was at night
you would be rocked to sleep. We did not find the motion uncomfortable, just a little
annoying at times.
The cruise director was everywhere. We would see him at breakfast and also at 1:00 a.m. in
the disco/lounge. He was friendly, helpful and talented.
He provided information timely. The excursion director was also helpful. He performed his
duties well. We registered for our excursions within one hour
of arrival on the vessel and we were booked on all of the trips requested. There was even
a shopping director for those who were headed to the
islands to shop for jewelry, watches, perfume and liquor. Continuous closed circuit
television in your stateroom replayed the talks given by the
excursion and shopping directors.
The entertainment was very good with several flashes of excellence shown by performers who
had been on Broadway. The lounge acts ranged from
good to excellent. There were three inside locations to dance in the evenings. None of
these locations were crowded to the point that it was
uncomfortable to be on the dance floor or to be in the lounge.
The general quality of the food was very good to excellent. The breakfast buffets left a
bit to be desired, however, lunch and the evening meals were
first rate. We were disappointed to have requested to be seated at a table of at least
eight (8) in our reservations two months before the cruise date
and upon arrival finding out that we were placed at a table of four (4). We did end up
being changed to a table of six (6). We were told that tables for
eight or more were held for large parties and families. Be prepared to pay for every soda
water and bar drink you order (including at meals). If you
drink many soda waters, the charge of $1.75 plus tip can be a bit annoying. One thing that
was noted was the absence of Dr. Pepper on the entire
trip. One was finally obtained in St. Thomas. The vessel operated on a cashless basis with
a ship provided room key/ship ID/charge card provided for
your purchases on board. You may need to keep an eye on your cash flow as the cruise
progresses. The system was really very easy to handle.
It was a little distressing that the ship would pull into a port at around 7:00-8:00 a.m.
and then depart port between 5:00-6:00 p.m. at each port. There
was no time to enjoy any of the local nightlife.
Overall, we had an enjoyable time. We would sail on this vessel again. Have an enjoyable
trip.
Name: Karis Rower
Email: imaxtian@hotmail.com
Age: 14
Occupation: Student
NumberOfCruises: 1
TravelAgent: No
Ship: Celebrity-Galaxy
SailingDate: April 4, 1998
Itinerary: Deep Caribbean
FoodDiningRoom: 98
CruiseDirector: 97
CabinComfort: 99
FoodRoomService: 100
CruiseStaff: 92
CabinAmenities: 92
FoodLidoDeck: 95
DiningRoomService: 97
CabinQuietness: 94
FoodMidnightBuffets: 91
CabinSteward: 97
ShoreExcVariety: 89
FoodVariety: 98
DeckService: 89
ShoreExcValue: 85
GoodForHoneymoon:
CasinoStaff:
PrivateIsland: 93
GoodForFamilies: 99
LoungeService:
TenderService: 89
GoodForSeniors:
BeautySalonStaff:
EntertainmentLounges: 92
WheelchairAccess:
ExerciseFacilities:
EntertShowLounge: 98
OverallPortsofCall: 97
BeautySalon:
EntertainmentPoolside: 97
CruiseActivities: 98
Casino:
AirSeaProgram: 100
MedicalFacilities:
ShipCleanliness: 98
EmbarkDisembark: 98
DiscoNightclubs: 97
DeckSpace: 85
Stabilization: 93
ShopsOnBoard: 92
SpaceRatio: 98
OverallCruiseValue: 98
Submit: Submit Review
Date: 23 Nov 1998
Time: 16:42:19
Remote Name: 216.100.27.115
Remote User:
Comments
The 7 days my family and I spent on the Galaxy with Celebrity Cruises was wonderful. We
traveled with extended family, ages 2-68, and it was perfect
for everyone.
The Air/Sea program brought all of us to the correct airport at the correct time, and took
care of our luggage from check in at the first airport, till we
were in our cabins. Transportation to the dock from the airport made arrival as stress
free as it could possibly have been. Embarkation only took a
matter of moments, despite the amount of people they were dealing with. In no time
everyone was settling down in their staterooms, preparing for an
adventure.
All of our evening meals were eaten in the Orion Resturant, and they did a wonderful job
accommodating the 14 of us. The food was exquisite! My
grandparents, 'professional cruisers', made it a point to let everyone know that of all
the cruises they had been on, this was, by far, the best.
Our stewardess kept the room beautifully clean (despite the messy little girls staying
within). She was prompt to clean it in the mornings, while we were
up enjoying breakfast in the Oasis Cafe, and again in the evenings while we were dining in
the fabulous Orion Cafe.
With such an age range we thought it would be difficult to find activities we would all
enjoy, but it was not. The shore excursions, while most were over
priced, provided an interesting way of looking at the islands. My personal favorite, was
the jeep tour around Antigua. Our tour guide, Ira, was
wonderful. He showed us all of his favorite spots on the island (waved at his mother as we
passed through town...) and gave us just enough history to
love it. That was a wonderful day. Although I think for the most part I would have rather
explored most of the other ports on my own.
The night shows were absolutely fabulous. Sony's technology doused the shows in wonderful
lightning and effects. After the shows, my older brother
and I enjoyed finding the friends we had met and going to the midnight buffet with them.
The Celebrity cruise staff never treated us life 'youth' but as
wonderfully as they treated the adults. We were always greeted with smiles (even from the
repair man!) and never felt restricted.The teen disco
provided us a place to 'hang out' without our parents worrying (and without having to
watch them try to dance). The programs for the littlest of us kept
my cousins and sister busy letting my aunts and uncles off the hook to go have some fun of
their own.
The people I met, and memories I made on that cruise will be with me always. It was a
wonderful gift from my grandfather to all of us, and, as he says,
the fun that we had was a gift from us back to him.
Name: Sheri Drake
Email: sedrake@usa.net
Age: 31
Occupation: Real Estate
NumberOfCruises: 2
TravelAgent: No
Ship: Celebrity-Galaxy
SailingDate: November 21, 1998
Itinerary: Caribbean
FoodDiningRoom: 90
CruiseDirector: 80
CabinComfort: 90
FoodRoomService: 40
CruiseStaff: 95
CabinAmenities: 90
FoodLidoDeck: 80
DiningRoomService: 95
CabinQuietness: 90
FoodMidnightBuffets: 80
CabinSteward: 95
ShoreExcVariety: 85
FoodVariety: 80
DeckService: 80
ShoreExcValue: 85
GoodForHoneymoon: 100
CasinoStaff: 95
PrivateIsland:
GoodForFamilies: 85
LoungeService: 80
TenderService:
GoodForSeniors: 90
BeautySalonStaff: 50
EntertainmentLounges: 88
WheelchairAccess:
ExerciseFacilities: 90
EntertShowLounge: 88
OverallPortsofCall: 95
BeautySalon: 75
EntertainmentPoolside: 90
CruiseActivities: 80
Casino: 95
AirSeaProgram:
MedicalFacilities:
ShipCleanliness: 99
EmbarkDisembark: 99
DiscoNightclubs: 88
DeckSpace: 85
Stabilization: 95
ShopsOnBoard: 90
SpaceRatio: 90
OverallCruiseValue: 95
Submit: Submit Review
Date: 01 Dec 1998
Time: 23:59:45
Remote Name: 206.173.182.56
Remote User:
Comments
I will try to keep this as concise as possible, however, having just returned, it is all
so fresh in my mind I hope I don't bore you.
First, the ship really was lovely, no complaints, the decor was contemporary so if you are
expecting the dark woods and opulence you see in Titanic, it
is not there. The ship was very clean, there were attendants cleaning constantly. The
bathrooms had a ting of a smell to them but I am sure some
people did not even notice it. Our room was exactly what we expected, we had seen pictures
prior. The closet space was adequate (and I brought a
lot). The only complaint about the room was that the electrical outlet (except for
shavers) was not in the bathroom it was at the desk area. This was
inconvenient as the lighting in the bathroom was much better for make-up and hair. The
balcony was nice to have. Our room was on port side so when
we woke each morning we got to see the island from our balcony.
Our room stewardess, Patricia, was very sweet and genuine. Our room had accidently been
set up in Spanish but she got it changed immediately. They
did a wonderful job cleaning up after us. If we left stuff out they neatly laid it on the
chair and organized our bathroom, this was nice. However,
evidently our room stewardess was also in charge of our room service and room service
really was poor. Our cabin had interactive television where
you could order excursions and room service from the t.v., check your bill, etc. So, when
you order room service you can order from the t.v. or call it
in. Either way, it was slow slow slow. The menu was the pitts, hardly anything worth while
on the menu. We could figure on an hour wait each time we
ordered room service. Evidently the stewardess would have to go to different parts of the
ship in order to pick up our foods. To get Pizza they had to
go the Pizzeria and then to get apple pie to a different area and so on. Poor procedure
for this. The food from room service was nothing good either,
no selection.
We had early seating for dinner which we thought was great. Of course those who had late
seating thought late seating was great. We felt that eating
early allowed us to do more in the evenings because many of the activities occured in the
evenings and we could maximize our fun this way. However
late seating allowed more rest between returning from excursions. The dining room, Orion's
restaurant was lovely, the waiters were wonderful. Most
were eastern European and somewhat formal but our table was silly and crazy and they got
silly with us, they were great !! We had heard there was a
vibration in the dining room and there was but we did not mind it. Only one night was it
really bad. The ship was turning away from the port and the
noise was very loud, we all teased that we would have to get out and push the ship. The
food was very good, I would not call it great though, we have
had better food at super inclusive resorts. Other veteran cruisers felt the food was some
of the better food they had had on cruise lines, others said it
was pretty equal. Either way it was very good, no complaints from us. Each night they had
4-5 entree selections, pasta, chicken, beef, seafood and
pork or lamb/veal. The buffets were good but not overwhelming. The buffets were at
midnight and we only went to 2 of them. The much acclaimed
'Grand Buffet' was not that grand, it was pretty but I found the foods too fancy and not
so savory. But, we are not really eaters, the food was just
there and not our main focus. The pizzeria was nice and the hamburger grill came in handy
for quick lunches between excursions. Everyone should
be aware (we were not) that for liquor drinks and sodas they automatically added 15%
gratuity onto your bill plus they have a gratuity line for you to
put down a tip (that is on top of the auto 15%). We did not know this so our bar people
were tipped double.
The other lounges were fine, but we are not really lounge dwellers but they were lovely to
look at. The Shows were pretty good but we have heard that
on other cruise lines they are better. The magician was great, the circus de Galaxy was
great, the piano player was talented but it lulled me too much,
the Goldwyn years show was okay and the first night show was nothing worth going to. They
only had like 2 movies playing and they were recent
movies but we did not go to the Cinema on the ship. The evening schedule was way too
repetitious. I felt they needed to have more selection at night.
Much of their activitys did not start until 11:00 and some people did not want to stay up
for this. The dance partys started at midnight. The casino was
good, we won more than we lost so this was great !! The cruise director was not
impressive. To me he was just an MC for the evening shows, this was
the only time we saw him. The rest of the entertainment staff was more accessible and down
to earth. I think they probably get bored doing the same
thing week after week. Overall the staff was wonderful and helpful.
The aquaspa was disorganized. I made an appt. for a hair style (which I got) and also a
massage. I made this appt. the first day on the ship and the
day of the massage they called to cancel because they mis-scheduled me and could not reset
it due to no space. I found this irratating. Also, they guy
who did my up-do for the formal evening did a great job but he was so full of himself it
was pathetic. He was criticizing hometown hair dressers, saying
most did not have enough skill to do the state of the art cuts and he was throwing out
names and such he was also very quick to point out that he was
staff and not crew and that he would never take a room below deck 4 as it was below him.
Whatever, just stuck up. The gym was good but using the
equipment was always a wait, very busy.
The activitys on the ship during the day were repetitious too but since we were on
excursions this was no big deal. It was difficult to find a deck chair to
lay by the pool. The excursions were pretty good that we went on. On St. Lucia we struck
out on our own and spent way too much money on cab fare
but we had a good time horseback riding, went to Pigeon Island and ate good food. Then in
Barbados we did the ships Harrisons cave trip and flower
garden. The cave was good the flower garden was boring but had good photo opportunitys.
The snorkeling on Martinique was not reccomended. My
husband like the topless beaches though !! We did the beach on our own. The shopping in
all the ports is the same to me and the shops the ship
suggests are probably in collusion with the shipping companies. The souvenirs on all the
islands are almost identical so don't wait for something better
just buy it whereever, prices are the same. Also the ship suggested shops, personally if I
want to shop I will go to a mall, the savings are not that
attractive, no matter what the ship people tell you. Back to excursions, The snorkeling at
Trunk Bay was Wonderful, the 4x4 trip was excellent, The
helicopter ride on St. Thomas was great. Some people will tell you that the ship
excursions are costly but unless you know what you are doing and
where you are going I still think they are a good way to see the real charm of the
islands. Our friends only stayed near the port and the cities when
they did not go on excursions because they did not know where else to go and they got
bored at port sometimes. Fortunately I had my triple A book
so we had a clue what we could do on non-excursion days. Some people felt the cities were
dirty and poor, but sorry guys this is not the USA and if
the cities were modern, new and developed this would not be a place to vacation, it would
be just another over developed city like Hawaii or Florida.
The water was clear, warm and gorgeous on all the beaches, just gorgeous.
The embarkation and disembarkation went smoothly and easily no complaints at all.
We would definitely cruise again and we would cruise with Celebrity, however since this
was our first cruise we will want to try other lines to compare
but we may very well come back to Celebrity, no major complaints, we had a great time !!
Name: Mary G. Nallan
Email: MaryGN@aol.com
Age: 36
Occupation: Research Analyst
NumberOfCruises: 1
TravelAgent: No
Ship: Celebrity-Galaxy
SailingDate: 11/28/98
Itinerary: Southern Caribbean
FoodDiningRoom: 95
CruiseDirector: 90
CabinComfort: 98
FoodRoomService: 85
CruiseStaff: 95
CabinAmenities: 95
FoodLidoDeck: 95
DiningRoomService: 99
CabinQuietness: 98
FoodMidnightBuffets: 95
CabinSteward: 91
ShoreExcVariety:
FoodVariety: 99
DeckService: 95
ShoreExcValue:
GoodForHoneymoon:
CasinoStaff: 99
PrivateIsland:
GoodForFamilies:
LoungeService: 95
TenderService:
GoodForSeniors:
BeautySalonStaff:
EntertainmentLounges: 91
WheelchairAccess:
ExerciseFacilities: 95
EntertShowLounge: 80
OverallPortsofCall: 89
BeautySalon:
EntertainmentPoolside: 95
CruiseActivities: 90
Casino: 95
AirSeaProgram:
MedicalFacilities:
ShipCleanliness: 98
EmbarkDisembark: 80
DiscoNightclubs: 95
DeckSpace: 95
Stabilization: 95
ShopsOnBoard: 95
SpaceRatio: 98
OverallCruiseValue: 95
Submit: Submit Review
Date: 09 Dec 1998
Time: 11:12:32
Remote Name: 207.172.198.69
Remote User:
Comments
Galaxy: Through the eyes of a first time cruiser
Just a note before I begin. If you are looking for information on shore excursions you
will not find it here. We did not do any of the
excursions offered through Celebrity. We prefer to explore on our own. However, we did
find some very nice places that I will talk
about in this review. My husband and I are in our late 30’s and had not gone on a
vacation alone since our honeymoon 13 years
ago so this was a very much anticipated trip.
11/28/98: The day FINALLY got here, Mike and I would be leaving for our first trip alone
together in 13 years. The last 2 weeks
had been hell for us, but the anticipation was fun.
We arrived in San Juan PR at about 12:30 PM When we got off the plane we were met by
Representatives of Celebrity Cruise
Lines. The Reps were holding up signs calling out the name of Galaxy for all those getting
off planes. Princess Cruise Lines and
Royal Caribbean were there as well for their passengers. We went to the line that we were
asked to go to and waited for about 15
minutes. Then we were taken to buses that brought us to the ship. The ride from the
Airport to the ship was about 20 minutes.
We arrived at the ship at around 1:15.
As a first time cruiser, our first impression of the ship was simply awe inspiring. We
could not believe the size of it. It is HUGE!!!!
We got giddy just looking at it. Getting on the ship was very fast and painless. We had to
wait all of maybe 5 minutes to get
through the paper work then we were walking aboard. They handed us a card that said we
were scheduled to have our first dinner
at the early seating that night. I did get a bit confused because we were supposed to have
the late seating. They explained to us
that this would just be for the first night. The rest of the cruise we would have late
dinner seating.
We arrived in our stateroom, room 8155. It was an Ocean View with a sitting area. The size
of the room was VERY comfortable
for the 2 of us. There were 2 flower arrangements there. One came with the Anniversary
package I had ordered and the others
from my mother and step father. I was so surprised they had sent us flowers, what a nice
way to start our vacation. J Our
stewardess, Beata, came in and introduced herself and showed us how to work the safe and
the mini bar. She was a very soft
spoken girl from Poland. She and her assistant Raffael were very attentive to all of our
needs. Which were not many. We were
just so happy to be there.
After we settled into our room we took a quick walk around the ship and found the Oasis
Restaurant where they had a very
beautiful lunch buffet set up. We were pretty hungry by this time, since we had left home
at 4:30 AM to catch our flight and
airline food just could not compare to what was offered us there. We had carved roast beef
and very tasty vegetable and potatoes
for lunch. Lots and lots of other foods were at the buffet too. They had a carved ham as
well as the beef and then fish and lots of
other veggies and potatoes, salads and other things too numerous to mention. For dessert
they had lots of beautiful pastries. I
can’t eat these but Mike really seemed to enjoy them. I enjoyed watching him enjoying
them *smile…. Living vicariously through
him in the sweets department.
After lunch we set off to explore Old San Juan. When we got off the ship there were plenty
of taxi’s waiting there for us. We
grabbed one and headed off to Old San Juan. The taxi cost us $5.00. The driver took us
past the building that was City Hall, the
equivalent to the Capitol Building in Wash DC is what the driver told us. We past by the
Fort El Morro too. Old San Juan was
very crowded with cars everywhere. The streets were very narrow. We walked around looking
in shops. We forgot a few items so
we picked them up while we were in OSJ. We really enjoy just walking around looking at the
buildings and people. OSJ was not
as clean as I had imagined it and the streets were so close together that the car fumes
had no where to go. This was a bit
disappointing. We went into a local pub for a beer, the people were very friendly. We were
both eager to get back to the Ship and
explore some more. So we grabbed a cab (which there were plenty of all around) and went
back to the ship.
Our first dinner onboard was WONDERFUL. I do not frequent 5 star restaurants but let me
tell you… In my opinion, the food
definitely lived up to expectation! I had salmon and Mike had the beef. They sat us at a
table for 8. The others that we sat with
were all very friendly and we enjoyed nice conversation as we ate. This was not going to
be our table for the cruise. We would
start eating there the following night. It was a very enjoyable meal and the service was
top notch. After dinner we went back to
our room and relaxed until the time came for embarkment.
EMBARKATION: We went up to the pool deck, deck 11, at around 10:30. People were starting
to gather and the atmosphere
was very festive. The band "Opus" was playing Caribbean music, people were
dancing, laughing and having a great time. We sat
at the Ocean Bar and just took it all in. We didn’t even realize it when the boat
starting pulling away from the port, it was so
smooth. I saw that it was 11:05 and said that we were supposed to leave at 11, the
bartender said that we did. I had to go and
look over the side to see that we were actually moving. It was a good laugh. We were
scheduled to meet up with all the people
from online that I had been corresponding with the previous month at Michael’s Club
at Midnight. We walked around for a little
while and headed off to Michael’s Club.
Michael’s Club is a quaint little room set off to the side. It had beautiful wood
trim and very nice atmosphere. I didn’t realize it was
a cigar club though. Had I known I probably would have picked a different place to meet.
But as it ended up, the only people in
there this night were the ones from online so it didn’t matter much. It was so great
to meet everyone after chatting and e-mailing
back and forth for so long. We sat and talked for about an hour but then everyone started
feeling the results of traveling all day
and we all decided to call it a night. Most of us would see each other quite a lot over
the next 7 days.
Before going to bed we had to take a quick walk through the casino just to watch it in
action. While we are docked in port the
casino is closed. It only opens once the ship is out to sea. It was packed that night.
Lots of people and lots of the cha-chang
noises coming from the different slot machines. It was all very exciting. Mike noticed
that there was a black jack tournament set
for the following day and decided to try his luck so he signed up for it.
When we got to our room that night, our bed was turned down and there were chocolates on
the pillow. I had ordered the
anniversary package so there were also 2 Celebrity bathrobes, candy, and a rose. It was
very nice to come back to. In the
morning we were going to have our breakfast in bed that came with the package so we filled
out the order form and placed it on
our door. The boat was rocking very gently. You definitely knew you were moving but it was
not really a lot of motion. Mike and I
both liked the feeling of being rocked to sleep by the ship.
Our First Day At Sea:
We woke up to the gentle rocking of the ship. It was not enough to make you sick or even
uncomfortable. I did go to sleep with
the wrist bands on just to be on the safe side but I woke up feeling fine so I took them
off. We found out that we were 2 hours
behind schedule because someone had gotten sick during the night and they had to make an
emergency stop in St. Thomas to
let them off to seek medical attention. Poor Things. L
Our Breakfast came at the time we had requested it. They did forget to bring the
silverware but they came right away with it when
we called. We ate well believe me!
After breakfast we walked around the ship and ended up in the Rendezvous Square Lounge
where we had a Bloody Mary. This
became a ritual for us. We were on vacation so we decided to live it up. Their Bloody
Mary’s were delicious too!! Not too spicy
which is the way I like them. While we were there they had a trivia game that was lots of
fun. (I happen to be a trivia buff so I
enjoyed these games.) We met some very nice ladies from England and had a great time
chatting with them until it was time for
the Black Jack Tournament. It was also time for lunch too. We went to the Oasis again for
lunch. They always had a great buffet
at lunch time in the Oasis. There were also Pizza and Hamburgers and Hot Dogs offered at
the Ocean Grill out by the pool.
The Black Jack tournament was lots of fun. You entered it with $20. They gave you $1,000
in chips and you played 7 hands. The
top 7 players who got on the board went to the finals. When Mike played he got the highest
score totaled for the competition so
far so he was on the board. We went and lounged around the pool until about 3:30, we had
to wait around till 4 PM for the finals.
By that time he was in 3rd place. And he WON the finals so it started off our vacation
just right! J He won $428, Not bad for a $20
investment eh?
Dinner was formal this first night at sea. The Orion Restaurant is gorgeous! We were
finally going to see who we were sitting with
for dinner. When we got to our table it was a table for 4 but we were the only ones there.
The other couple never showed up. We
really didn’t mind though. We had been having such a nice time being together. It had
been a while since we were able to just
enjoy each others company without the kids or phone ringing. We got to know each other
again.
Our waiter was George from Romania and his assistant Celvin from Honduras. They were great
fun. Mike and I have good senses
of humor and so did these men. They made dinner fun but knew not to constantly be on top
of us either. We really enjoyed
having them as our waiter and assistant. They were very attentive and formal in their
service but also knew how to smile. Our
cocktail waiter was Mangus, from South Africa, who was always full of energy. He had a
great sense of humor as well. The wine
steward was Charles, from Canada. By the end of the cruise he had our wine already waiting
for us at the table. We are
creatures of habit and always ordered the same.
After dinner they had Kareoke scheduled. I love kareoke so we went to check it out. The
entertainment staff doing the kareoke
that night didn’t really know how to sing. Well, he was not like the kereoke players
in New York anyway. In NY the person that is
doing kareoke usually likes to start it off and when no one wants to get up and sing they
wouldn’t hesitate to sing a song to keep
it going. This staff lacked the knowhow to pull it off. After a while it got rolling but
it was a slow start. They got up there and just
asked who wants to sing. There was a girl from Brooklyn NY onboard that did kareoke on the
side (She was actually an
electrician) and she got up to sing. She was OUT OF THIS WORLD! I wish she were the one
that were hosting it. She really got
them rocking! We met a few friends we had met onboard and ones we had met the from online
and had a blast! I got up and sang
and even Mike got up and sang. It was great!! Oooggies hubby even got up to sing too. We
really had a great time. We hit it off
very well with Ooogie and her husband and decided to do a beach in St. Lucia together the
following day.
ST. LUCIA
We met Susan and Tom (Oooggie and hubby) for Breakfast in the Oasis Restaurant located on
deck 11. This was a breakfast
buffet. You could go to a sit down breakfast in the Orion Restaurant but we decided to
meet in the Oasis Cafe. The breakfast
buffet was wonderful though. They had anything and everything that you could want with the
exception of eggs cooked the way
you like them. (That is available in the Orion Restaurant though) They only had scrambled
eggs (which I was not crazy about.)
and an omelet bar where they made your omelet while you waited. You would tell them what
kind you wanted and they had it
done in no time. Believe me there was PLENTY I did like for breakfast. I’m going to
miss having the salmon and bagel every
morning *sigh.
We finished breakfast and went out into Antigua. Remember when you leave the ship to take
your picture ID and your Celebrity
Card. (This is the card you get when you get on the ship. Everything onboard is charged
right to the card. It made for a very
pleasant way to do things. We didn’t have to carry anything but the card with us
wherever we went onboard.) Outside the ship
there were lots of taxi drivers that would take you wherever you wanted to go. We spoke to
them and decided to go to Marigot
Bay. This is where they filmed the first Dr. Doolittle movie. The taxi’s were vans
that took you through hairpin turns past banana
plantations and up into the countryside. The port in St. Lucia is not very pretty and the
country side looked a bit poverty stricken.
I have heard that St. Lucia is Gorgeous but I do believed we made a wrong decision about
going to Marigot Bay. It was not all it
was cracked up to be. It was very pretty but not my ideal of a Caribbean beach. The taxi
drove us to a dock where we had to take
a boat over to the beach. It was a small beach with lots of palm trees for shade. The
water was nice but not as blue as some that
I had seen in pictures.
We got on the beach and instantly someone came up to us and asked us if we wanted to go on
a snorkel excursion on their
boat. We wanted to just sit and relax and explore this beach first and we told them that.
But every 15 minutes or so they would
come back and ask us if we were ready to go on their boat. It got to be a bit annoying.
Then the sky got very overcast. I don’t
know if any of you saw the post I made before I left for this cruise asking what happened
when it rains on a cruise… well I found
out the answer… you get wet! The skies opened up and it Poured on us. We sought
shelter at Doolittles Restaurant but decided
that we didn’t want to stay on the beach. We were all a bit disappointed. The weather
was lousy and we were not at all
impressed with the beach. I think the next time I go to St. Lucia I will go and see the
Pitons. I hear they were beautiful. It was a
long drive to get there though and I didn’t want to do the drive. Silly me! But as
they say Hindsight is 20/20 and we made the best
of it. We had some great laughs with Susan and Tom.
We went back to the Ship and had the Lunch Buffet in the Oasis Café. Excellent as usual!
By the time we were finished with
lunch the sun had come out we all decided to go and look at the shopping area in St.
Lucia. You had to take a ferry over to it. It
was not that impressive. I didn’t find prices there to be terrific.
We went back to the ship and decided to meet at the pool. It is really great just relaxing
by the pool too. I am not the kind of
person that has to be constantly on the go. I really enjoyed just relaxing and meeting and
talking to others. It was a very nice
afternoon. At around 4:00 everyday they have a tea set up in the Oasis Café. Finger
sandwiches, salads, fruit and pastries were
offered here. Believe me… there is no way you could go hungry on this ship! There is
something for everyone. They also serve
pizza every afternoon. The pizza is very good as well.
Just before the ship left St. Lucia the band Opus came to the pool and played wonderful
music. It was really nice laying there
listening to them. I dozed off and slept till the band finished. It was so relaxing. When
I woke up. Mike and I decided to go into
the Jacuzzi. He got me a glass of wine and himself a beer and we sat in the Jacuzzi and
watched the sun set.
Dinner was semi-formal that night. Jacket and tie for the men, a dress or pantsuit for the
ladies. Again I have nothing to complain
about with the meal. The choices are varied and one better then the next. The biggest
problem was deciding what to have. The
waiter George and I had a game going. He would tell me what I wanted to order. Most of the
time he was pretty close.
After dinner we went to the Magic Show. The Ramero’s. They were fabulous I thought.
It was a couple performing great illusions.
He had a great sense of humor and made the show very enjoyable. He was great with the
audience. We very much enjoyed this
show and would recommend it as a must see if you like magic.
After the show we went to the casino and gave back a little. After me loosing $10 in slots
and Mike lost $50 in Black Jack we
decided to call it a night. Once again we went back to our cabin and our bed was turned
down and chocolates were on the pillow.
One thing I would have liked is an ice machine accessible to passengers. There was always
Ice in the room but the ice bucket
was very small. And after a while it did melt. They would put ice in the morning and again
at night. We had to call more than
once for ice.
BARBADO’S
This was the day I had been waiting for. I have always dreamed of going horseback riding
on a beach and we were going to go
today. We decided to go early so that we were not stuck in the noon sun. We are both
pretty fair skinned and can’t stay in the
direct sun too long. We got up early and ate at the breakfast buffet. We didn’t want
to take the time for the sit down breakfast.
The weather was beautiful this morning. When we left the boat and rode to the pier there
was a nice little set of shops right there.
This was MUCH nicer than St. Lucia.
We found the booth where you can set up the horseback riding session. It was 9:30 AM and
we got a 10AM appointment so we
just looked around at the shops till 10. We went to the Brighton Stables. We were picked
up in a dilapidated old car by a Man
named Sam he seemed to be in his late sixties. I believe he was English but he had
children in the states. It was about a 15
minute ride to the stables. The horses were beautiful. You could tell they were well cared
for and in good shape. I was a bit
concerned about that but the minute I saw the horses I knew that they knew how to take
care of them. Another couple that were
staying on the island vacationing were there as well and we all went riding together.
We rode along a road for about one city block then turned right and headed for the beach.
We rode along this beautiful beach
called Brandon’s Beach. We were sorry we didn’t bring our bathing suits. It was
simply gorgeous. We were thinking of coming
back there to swim. The water was as blue as the water I had expected to see in the
Caribbean. We rode past the Malibu Rum
distillery. It was right on the beach. There was a beach called Malibu Beach right in
front of the distillery that also looked like a
Hotel but it was small. The horse I had was a beauty. Its name was Slim but it didn’t
look slim. It was very well cared for. We
rode about a half hour along the coast and then stopped. Sam had offered to take our
pictures so we posed our horses and he
snapped away. I can’t wait to see them. We then turned around and went back to the
stables. We had only booked the horses
for an hour. This cost $40 each and WELL worth it!
On the way back to the ship the skies opened up! It started Teaming rain. Inside the
terminal by the ship the rain hitting the roof
was so loud that you couldn’t really hear what anyone was saying. We waited out the
rain for a few minutes. We ran into
Heidi2QSS and her husband in the port there. They had gotten some very nice and reasonably
priced jewelry in the town. We
shopped in the duty free shop. I brought some Barbado’s Rum for my brother in laws
and Mike picked up a six pack to bring
back to the room. Beer was a bit expensive on board and we tried to save where we could. I
know they ask you not to but believe
me, they were getting enough of our money when we were at the pool. If he wanted a beer in
the room it would be there. They
didn’t say anything to him when we brought it on board and we didn’t try to hide
it.
We got back to the ship and went to the pool for burgers. We didn’t feel like a huge
lunch buffet lunch. The burgers were very
good. There were Hot dogs and Hamburgers and salads at the ocean grill. After lunch it was
still very overcast and drizzling a bit
but we decided to walk into Bridgetown to take a look. It was about a 20 minute walk, it
felt good to walk, we had been eating so
much that we both felt we needed to get some exercise. Bridgetown was nice. There were a
lot of shops of all kinds there. We
just purchased our T-shirt (We got one in every port) and looked around at the sites then
headed back to the ship.
We went to the pool and just lounged around there until it was time to set sail for
Martinique. Again a very nice and relaxing
afternoon. Once again the band Opus came up to the pool and played as the ship left the
pier in Barbado’s. I would definitely visit
this port again. It was the nicest so far! But we still had 3 to go.
Dinner was casual. Shirt and Slacks for the Men and sundress or pantsuits for the ladies.
Again I had Nothing to complain about
with the food. Once again our table mates never showed so we were on our own. We later
found out that the couple that were
taken off in St. Thomas that first night were the ones who were supposed to be our table
mates. I felt bad that they were missing
such a great time and hope that whomever they are, are OK now.
After dinner they had trivia again so we met Susan and Tom and went to play. It was
another fun time. We went to the Show after
that. It was a Comedian named Alan Lubel and after the Comedian was a show called The
Goldwyn Years. The comedian was
Terrible with a capital "T". Mike fell asleep. If you didn’t know his name
before the show you were sure to know it after the show.
That is all he talked about. The Goldwyn Years was not that much better. We decided to
leave and not stay for the rest of the
show. Instead we went to the Stratosphere Lounge and went to the 50’s and 60’s
"Sock Hop" Now THIS was a lot of fun! We
danced the Twist and did the hokey pokey and had a lot of laughs. We didn’t get to
bed till after 2 this night but had a really
terrific time.
MARTINIQUE
I woke up very early in Martinique. I knew Mike was tired so I decided to go up and get a
cup of tea and sit by the pool and write
in my journal I was keeping for the children (This was something that they asked us to do.
We had fun keeping it for them and
they really enjoyed reading it when we got home. We each added something to it every day.)
I then went to the Aqua Spa and
signed up for the Thasotherapy pool. This is a definite must do! It was so nice and
relaxing. I got there around 9 AM and stayed
until about 10AM just relaxing letting the jets hit my neck and back. The water was so
soft but the jets were powerful. I really
enjoyed this.
I went and woke Mike up and we decided to forego breakfast and get out into Martinique.
Fort du France is a very busy city. It
was a bit overwhelming because I never took French in school so I didn’t speak their
language. We walked around looking at all
the stores. The main thing the vendors were selling on the streets were hair ribbons and
ties and ladies underware. We were
looking for a shop to buy T-shirts at. We got one T-shirt on every island. We got so lost
walking around that we went back to the
pier and asked for a map. This is something we learned that we need to do before we go out
exploring on our own. Hey what do
ya want, it had been 13 years since we had been on vacation. LOL Once we got a map at the
tourist information booth we were
set. The lady there told us of a place that we could catch a ferry to go to the beaches of
Martinique. It wasn’t far from a T-shirt
shop either.
We hopped on the ferry to the beaches and within a half hour we were at the hotels that
allowed cruise passengers to use their
beaches. The hotel beaches were separated by small jetties that stuck out into the water.
Vendors were along the jetties selling
bathing suits and trinkets like bracelets and hair decorations. Mike liked this beach, the
women sunbathed topless. It was all
very natural though and no one seemed to pay it any mind. It was different from the states
though. Women who were buying
bathing suits tried on the tops right there. I didn’t go topless… didn’t
want to scare the natives *grin.
We stayed for about an hour and then decided to go back to the ship. We didn’t get
back to the ship until after 2 so we had
missed breakfast and lunch and we were starving at this point. We went and had Pizza in
the Oasis pool grill. It was very good
pizza too. Like I said, you never go hungry on this ship. There is always something to eat
somewhere. After this I wanted to go
back to the thasotherapy pool and Mike wanted to check out the gym. A word to the wise
here… don’t exercise too much when
you don’t usually do it at home. Mike is in good shape but did too much on the
weights and pulled something in his knee. I was
just as glad to go in the therapy pool J I had met Heidi2QSS and her husband there at the
spa and we chatted for a while. It was
so neat running into the fellow Onliners that I had been corresponding with for so long!
This night at dinner the waiters went around singing happy anniversary to all the couples
that were celebrating their anniversary
onboard. They gave a very nice cake that they cut into hearts and gave one to each of us.
It was very nice.
After dinner tonight they had the tropical extravaganza at the poolside. Opus was playing
and they showed Ice carving and then
when it was all done they had an elaborate spread of tropical fruit carvings. A great
watermelon parade of all intricately carved
watermelons. It was beyond belief. The presentation of it all was wonderful. They also had
a lot of dancing and contests. Oooggie
won the Electric Slide Contest. (I’m not going to tell you how she won because that
would ruin all the fun. Lets just say that in
the contest you have to dance the electric slide, blindfolded!!) What a great time we had
that night. Once again, a lot of laughs
and just an all around rousing good time.
ANTIGUA
We woke up to pouring rain. It was very dark and overcast this morning. We were both very
tired from all the running around we
had been doing and the activities of the night before. Antigua was a very nice city but
with the weather being as it was we
decided to make this a day that we would lay low. We decided to go to the sit down
breakfast in the Orion Restaurant. This was
very nice. I was almost sorry we didn’t do this everyday. (well we did from here on
in) I had the french toast and of course my
bagel with lox and cream cheese. J
We went out in town for a little bit and got caught in the rain again. As we were waiting
out the rain under an awning, a very
sweet elderly lady said hello to us and asked us what we were up to today. She was very
talkative and nice. The people on
Antigua all have seemed very nice. She pointed us in the direction we wanted to go and we
got our T-shirt, I also picked up
Maraca’s for my son. We then head back to the ship.
It’s a strange feeling, coming from NY and all, to be walking around in 90 degree
weather hearing Christmas music all over the
place. There was a lady selling cassettes of island music near the port so I picked up a
cassette of Reggae Christmas Music. Its
pretty good too.
We got back in time to play the morning trivia game so we went to the Rendezvous lounge,
had our Bloody Mary’s and played.
We won that day. The prize was fanny packs with the ships insignia on it. Later that day
we played pictionary and won that as
well. This time we won a Celebrity pen and a key holder for the water. More trinkets to
give the kids *grin. We strolled around the
ship and just relaxed the rest of the day. I rather enjoyed just doing that. By the
afternoon the sun came out so we went poolside
and played cards. I again fell asleep by the pool. Its a pretty neat feeling not having to
answer to anyone and being able to doze
when you wanted to.
Tonight was the last formal night. Each formal night they have photographers set up in the
Rendezvous Lounge. You can have
your picture taken and you are not obligated to buy it unless you liked it. They were
always taking pictures somewhere at dinner
time. We did have our picture taken a lot but only purchased 2 that we liked the best. As
it turned out the pictures we chose
were both taken on this day. One when we were exiting the ship going out into Antigua, the
other was the picture of us in our
formal garb.
We went to the casino before dinner and won another $100 (well Mike won, I watched.) It
was so much fun to watch though
*smile.
They had lobster for dinner. This was the only meal I was not impressed with. The lobster
was very tough. I could have sent it
back and I am sure that George would have brought me another, but I knew that the grand
buffet was later and I had had enough
to eat even before they brought out the lobster so I decided not to even bother sending it
back. The rest of the dinner was superb
though.
After dinner they had Kareoke again. This time there was a different person hosting it and
he didn’t even attempt to sing. He said
he was not a good singer. We still had a good time because it is what you make of it.
Doris was there again and she sang a few
songs. Susan and I got up and sang "I will Survive" Everyone got on the dance
floor and danced when we were singing. It was a
real rush! We were really hamming it up. Sitting next to us was one of the people I had
been in contact in e-mail but she never
made it to Michael’s club that night it had just come up in conversation that Susan
and I had met on the Internet and the gal
asked me my screen name and then screamed "Your MaryGN??? And told me she was Arose
(I don’t remember the numbers
after her name and I am not online to check it out right now.) We couldn’t believe
it! Then we all got up (Arose, Szcruisers,
Oooggie and I and sang "It’s Raining Men" It probably would have been
better if I had known the words. LOL) but it was a lot of
fun having all of us together. I also sang a song with Szcruisers hubby, Ben, as well. We
had a blast that night and I probably
had a little too much wine that night as well lol But I am sure fun was had by all.
After Kareoke they had the Grand Buffet! What a sight!!! You would not believe the work
that goes into this one. There were ice
sculptures filled with fruits, and swans and fish all sculpted out of ice. I was not even
that hungry but felt obliged to eat something
*grin. How could you not when you saw all the delicacies. And the way it was presented!!!
WOW!!! I don’t know what half of it
was but I do know that it was delicious.
We swung by the casino after the buffet. Mike won another $100 at blackjack. We decided
that this was our lucky cruise. We
took the money and ran with it. It had been a long day. And we really wanted to get out in
St. Thomas tomorrow and explore
Trunk Bay.
ST. THOMAS:
Now I woke up in Paradise! This Island is Beautiful!!!! It was raining when we woke up but
it cleared up by the time we left the
ship. This port was the most beautiful port we had been to. We got up early and went to
the sit down breakfast in the Orion
Restaurant again. This time I had the Eggs Benedict. Now they were out of this world. I
really enjoyed this. We ate with a very
nice couple from Texas.
We went right out after breakfast and took a cab to the shopping area of St. Thomas. The
cab was $2.50 pp. When we got to the
shopping area, Mike bought me a gold bracelet and matching earrings. This town was so
quaint. It had little alleyways that you
could duck into and find some really interesting stores. I purchased some very nice
things. I’m not one for shopping but I did
enjoy all the shops they had on St. Thomas. I would definitely go back again. We walked
back to the ship from the town.
Thinking that the ship was close. It was further then we thought and in 90 degree heat it
seemed even longer. By the time we got
back to the ship we decided we would go to Megans Bay. I had wanted to go to Trunk Bay but
the rain of the morning made me
leery of going there I was afraid of getting caught in the rain all afternoon so far away
from the ship. I think we made the right
decision.
The cab to Megans Bay was really nice and it was only $4.00 pp. The roads leading to
Megans Bay are Beautiful. The scenery
alone was a treat in itself. When we got to the Bay it was breathtaking. The sand was
white and the water blue. Across the bay
is an island sitting there between the cove of the bay. As you walked in the water there
were no rocks, it was all just soft sand. I
could have stayed here forever. Mike wanted to get a job there and never leave.
There was a very nice bar right on the beach. It was your usual outdoor rugged type place
but we liked it. We ordered a Bloody
Mary each seeing as we missed ours that morning. J Mine was very spicy and I couldn’t
drink it. Mike likes them that way so he
was forced to drink mine too LOL. I had a rum punch instead, being that I was on the
islands and hadn’t had one yet. A word of
caution! The bartenders there have very heavy hands!!! 2 drinks and I was feeling them. It
started to pour out while we were having
our drinks and everyone on the beach came into the bar area. There were a few from the
Galaxy at the bay and we chatted for a
while. When the sun came out again I had to go into the bay just to sober up again. The
drinks were big and potent!
We went back to the ship in time to pack and relax before dinner. I was getting very sad
knowing that this was all going to end
soon. Packing was not fun but we managed to get it all done. Tonight’s dinner was
casual. We had to pack up everything and
have it outside our cabin door by midnight. Make sure when you do this that you leave out
the things you will need in the
morning. Just enough to put in a carry on when you get ready to go.
They had handed us the envelopes for the tips the night before with our Galaxy Newsletter
for St. Thomas. We had already
decided on the tips we were giving and everyone with the exception of the Matre De and the
head housekeeper got more than the
requested amount. The Matre De had come by our table and said hello a few times but did
not do anything special for us. And I
have no idea who the head housekeeper was but I had heard that if we didn’t tip her
then the stewardess would have to give her
the $3.50 pp per day out of her tips. So we decided to just put the requested amount in
the envelope. One thing I would have
liked to have seen is the Head Housekeeper at least introduce themselves to us. Knowing
that they were going to be asking us
to tip them it would have been nice to at least meet the person we had to tip.
Before we went to dinner we took out the envelopes for Beata (our Stewardess) and the Head
Housekeeper. We left them on the
bed for them. If I had to do it over again I would have waited until the following
morning. I felt that once we tipped them we got NO
service from them. And we gave her $75 so I don’t think it was that she was upset
with the tip. When we got back from dinner our
bed was made up but the garbage can was overflowing with garbage we had placed there from
all the shopping we had done.
There were no fresh towels for the morning, no ice in the bucket so we ordered ice to be
delivered to our room and never received
it. It was very disappointing. Especially because, up to this point I really could not
find anything that I would complain about. So a
word to the wise… wait until the morning of disembarkation to tip your steward/ess.
After dinner we finished packing and placed our luggage outside the stateroom. We then
went to the casino for one final try at our
luck. Our luck had changed though L Mike ended up loosing $100. Now we really knew it was
back to reality tomorrow. But all in
all we walked away winners. We had only given back about $200 of the $628 we had won. We
knew we had to be up early so
decided to call it a night around midnight.
DISEMBARKATION:
We woke up around 7AM and had an hour to vacate the stateroom. They ask that you be out of
your stateroom by 8AM so that
they can get it ready for the next group of people that are to arrive that afternoon. We
had been given a disembarkation number
the night before. That is how they do it. They take priority passengers first. Those that
have early flights, or Captains Club
members, then the other passengers on a priority of when your flight was scheduled to
leave San Juan.
We went for our final breakfast in the Orion Restaurant. It was nice because they sat us
at the table we had during the cruise.
We had given George and Celvin their tips the night before but it was nice seeing them one
more time before we left the ship for
good. We then went to the Rendezvous Lounge to wait for our number to be called to
disembark. It was a rather sad feeling that
is was all about to end.
At around 10AM they had called our number, we were #20, and we gathered our things and
headed to the gang plank where we
would leave the ship. Well what a mess this was. As we got closer to the 3rd floor, where
you disembark, the stairwells were
jammed with people. Everyone was waiting to get off the ship. There were numbers as low as
13 still waiting to get off. I was
disappointed because it was much more comfortable waiting in the lounge then on the
stairs. We had to wait there for about 20
minutes and it got rather stifling. Finally the line moved and we were headed off this
wonderful ship.
Customs were not a problem. They had us through in no time. We were flying Untied so there
was supposed to be a truck there
ready to take our luggage from us. It was there all right but we had to walk all the way
across the parking lot in the pouring rain to
get the luggage to them. The trucks were not very strategically placed for sure! Once we
checked in our luggage we went to the
bus that was to take us back to the airport.
I had planned on doing some duty free shopping to get the liquor I wanted for the holidays
at the pier but the duty free shop was
closed. Then I thought I would be able to get it at the Airport but the only liquor you
could get in San Juan Airport is Rum. Had I
known this I would have purchased it on the ship or in St. Thomas. I was disappointed at
that because we had seen some great
buys but decided to wait till we were closer to going home. Oh well if that’s the
worst that could happen we were ahead of the
game.
All in all it was a WONDERFUL time. Mike and I got to know each other again and we had met
some really terrific people along
the way. I am already planning the next cruise. We had decided that we will NEVER wait
another 13 years till our next vacation
and that cruising is definitely for us. I hope you enjoyed reading this and sorry it was
so long but I really wanted to write down
everything that we did so that I will never forget it. Enjoy your cruise and
remember…. It is what YOU make of it!
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