celebrity-galaxypm040697

Name: Pat M.
Email: webmaster@cruiseopinion.com
Age: 30
Occupation: Cruise Agency Owner
NumberOfCruises: 15
TravelAgent: No
Ship: Celebrity-Galaxy
SailingDate: 04/06/97
Itinerary: 7 day Western Caribbean
FoodDiningRoom: 95
CruiseDirector: 70
CabinComfort: 90
FoodRoomService: 92
CruiseStaff: 92
CabinAmenities: 92
FoodLidoDeck: 94
DiningRoomService: 92
CabinQuietness: 65
FoodMidnightBuffets: 95
CabinSteward: 95
ShoreExcVariety: 90
FoodVariety: 97
DeckService: 89
ShoreExcValue: 85
GoodForHoneymoon: 93
CasinoStaff:
PrivateIsland:
GoodForFamilies: 89
LoungeService: 90
TenderService: 50
GoodForSeniors: 85
BeautySalonStaff: 90
EntertainmentLounges: 93
WheelchairAccess:
ExerciseFacilities: 95
EntertShowLounge: 96
OverallPortsofCall: 87
BeautySalon: 93
EntertainmentPoolside: 99
CruiseActivities: 90
Casino: 89
AirSeaProgram:
MedicalFacilities:
ShipCleanliness: 96
EmbarkDisembark: 89
DiscoNightclubs: 96
DeckSpace: 94
Stabilization: 89
ShopsOnBoard: 90
SpaceRatio: 94
OverallCruiseValue: 96
Submit: Submit Review
Date: 21 Apr 1997
Time: 12:39:48
Remote Name: 206.173.98.34
Remote User:

Comments

We sailed aboard the Galaxy on April 6, 1997, to celebrate my 30th birthday. It was a surprise - I didn't know what
were doing until a couple weeks beforehand. Sonja knew that Celebrity was my favorite line (mainly due to the food
quality), so we were both very excited to experience their newest ship. We weren't disappointed - this was probably our
best cruise overall to date.

Positive aspects:

The food, the glorious food. Do not take Celebrity if you want to diet. The entrees were great. The appetizers were
great. The desserts were great. The midnight buffets were great. The breakfasts were great (best eggs benedict I've ever
tasted). The lido lunch buffets were great. Did I mention the food was great? We had high expectations for the food, and
they were met and exceeded. If you love great food, this is the line for you. I did not have one bad entrée or meal the
entire trip - the only nit you could pick is to say the lunch entrée items weren't quite as good as dinner, but they were still
very good.

Dining room service was excellent. Our cabin stewardess was also great. The maitre'd was very helpful as well, changing
our table for us and coming by just enough to be helpful but not intrusive.

There was a good variety of ages on the ship - everything from teens and honeymooners to younger couples, boomers,
and seniors. The crowd was more upscale than most other ships we've experienced, but not stuffy. Everyone was
enjoying themselves, as there were activities for all age groups.

The ship's public areas and décor are the nicest of any ship we've been on, including the Maasdam. It is contemporary,
but with kind of an understated elegance. Beautiful use of exotic woods throughout the ship. The color sheme, carpets,
show lounge, everything - were all contemporary, elegant, and classy. If you think RCCL ships have "understated
elegance", this ship is several notches up on the scale. We like contemporary style anyway - if you're the more traditional
type when it comes to interior decorating, you may not agree. The disco deserves special mention - a beautiful, high
ceiling space that works just as well for thumping dance music (via Onyx, our favorite band at sea) as it does for the quiet
medleys coming from the Yamaha Disklavier grand piano. Overall, it's the most beautiful ship we've been on, and the
closest to howwe would decorate our dream home.

The entertainment was great, and funky! Thank God there is a line besides Carnival that has entertainment that caters to a
relatively young audience. The production shows were great, featuring funky dance numbers (like a Janet and Michael
Jackson medley), and the wonderful Chinese acrobats. There was a so-so comedian, but the main production shows
were very enjoyable for us. They many have been too funky for the older passengers, but we've had to sit through so
many shows aimed at the 60+ group it was nice to see something more contemporary.

Speaking of entertainment, special mention must go to Onyx, who we mentioned in our review of the Horizon in 1994.
We were lucky enough to have them on this sailing, and they were as great as they were before. What other band can do
reggae, dance music, top 40, ballads, and even COUNTRY, and have it all sound so good? They are the best band at
sea, period. Celebrity, keep them on your ships! I must also mention the sound systems in the disco and show lounge
were very good. The ship also makes great use of the Sony high-tech system, where you have interactive TV's in your
cabin to book shore excursions, order room service, etc. Very cool.

The itinerary was your usual Western Caribbean, no big deal to us as for this trip, the ship was the destination.

Now for the negatives, all pretty minor:

We had a category 2 "outside stateroom with verandah". While it was certainly a nice cabin, we thought it was a little
small for a suite. The ceiling creaked a little bit - certainly not as bad as our cabin on Horizon, but come on, can't they
design them with no metal-to-metal surfaces to creak and squeak? If Carnival can do it, why not everybody?

The tendering process to Cozumel was slow, crowded, and poorly handled. We waited 20 minutes in the show lounge to
get a ticket, were herded down to the ship, and then waited another 30 minutes while what seemed like the entire ship -
including all the wheelchairs, walkers, and baby strollers - was loaded SLOWLY onto the Cozumel-based tender. All I
thought was, pray it doesn't sink, I don't think the Mexicans are exactly strict about having enough life vests on board. All
in all, it took over an hour and 15 minutes to get from walking into the show lounge for the ticket until we were on land in
Cozumel. I'd rather dock away from downtown and take a Death Cab into the city.

There as a very bad vibration in the lower rear level of the dining room whenever the engines were running. This truly felt
like a 20hz vibration that was being pumped in by a wall of subwoofers, it was that bad. This was so bad, we moved to a
table in the middle of the dining room on the upper level, and we suggest you do the same. The staff made it sound like
this was the norm for this ship, and if this is the case, it is a big flaw. We have never experienced a vibration like this on
any ship, and hopefully it was just a problem that needed repairing. If it's an engineering flaw, it is a bad one, especially
for such a great ship with a beautiful dining room.

That's it for negatives. If you're like us, and you value food quality, elegance of the vessel, and service, you owe it to
yourself to try Celebrity. Of 15 cruises, this was our favorite overall. We haven't sailed Seabourn, Silversea, or Crystal
yet, but I don't know how it can get much better than Celebrity.

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