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Name: Russell Berman
Email: rberman@lightheart.com
Age: 31
Occupation: Executive Assistant
NumberOfCruises: 2
TravelAgent: No
Ship: Celebrity-Galaxy
SailingDate: 4/4/98
Itinerary: Deep Carribean
FoodDiningRoom: 97
CruiseDirector: 90
CabinComfort: 96
FoodRoomService: 90
CruiseStaff: 90
CabinAmenities: 95
FoodLidoDeck: 90
DiningRoomService: 99
CabinQuietness: 95
FoodMidnightBuffets: 94
CabinSteward: 92
ShoreExcVariety: 75
FoodVariety: 97
DeckService:
ShoreExcValue: 75
GoodForHoneymoon: 95
CasinoStaff: 88
PrivateIsland:
GoodForFamilies: 92
LoungeService: 94
TenderService: 83
GoodForSeniors:
BeautySalonStaff: 95
EntertainmentLounges: 90
WheelchairAccess:
ExerciseFacilities: 93
EntertShowLounge: 83
OverallPortsofCall: 88
BeautySalon: 96
EntertainmentPoolside: 95
CruiseActivities: 85
Casino: 94
AirSeaProgram: 80
MedicalFacilities:
ShipCleanliness: 100
EmbarkDisembark: 95
DiscoNightclubs: 92
DeckSpace: 98
Stabilization: 93
ShopsOnBoard: 90
SpaceRatio: 98
OverallCruiseValue: 94
Submit: Submit Review
Date: 17 Apr 1998
Time: 17:52:38
Remote Name: 206.173.239.65
Remote User:
Comments
This was our honeymoon cruise. I had sailed once before when I was a teenager on Costa and
she had never sailed before.
I think the best way to give an adequate description of the cruise is to give our daily
itinerary and make comment as I go along. I am sorry if it becomes
tedious along the way.
We arranged our air travel with the cruise line. In future cruises I will pay extra do do
this on my own. They has us flying on TWA (totally worthless airlines),
I had put in a request for United so I could use my frequent flier card but that was not
granted. My personal opinion of TWA is that they suck. We had the
redeye from LA to St. Louis. The plane left the gate a half hour late which immediately
caused some concern since we had only 35 minutes to make the
connecting flight to San Juan. The plane was totally booked and not very comfortable. The
flight crew seemed like they were all having a bad day. When the
drink cart came around the stopped right in front of me and said they needed to refill the
cart and would be right back. They never returned. When we
landed in San Juan we only had six minutes to make our next flight. We asked the flight
attendant to please call ahead to the gate and let them know that
more passengers were coming. She said no. When the pilot asked for everyone to stay in
their seats until people with connections ft the plane no one
listened and we had to wait in the back of the plane until everybody got off. We we got in
the terminal we asked the gate agent to please call ahead and let
them know we were coming. She said no and that if we wanted to make the plane we should
run. Little did we know that the gate we needed was on the
other side of the terminal. If we had walked we would have missed the plane. Celebrity
needs to make sure that all connections are at least an hour ahead
of the last flight.
The flight on crew on the leg from St. Louis to San Juan was a little better. When we got
off the plane in San Juan a Celebrity representative pulled us and
other cruisers off to the side. We waited for about a half hour as they gathered more
passengers and then they led us out of the terminal to a waiting bus.
This all was efficient if a little boring. After a 20 minute bus ride to the pier we
reached the ship. It was probably around 3:00pm when we boarded and we
had no problem getting on the ship. It took five minutes to set up the Celebrity credit
card and then we were led to our cabin by one of the stewards. All
very nicely done.
We had a Category 2. Premium Ocean View Stateroom with Veranda. The cabin was a little
smaller than we thought from the brochure but that is due to the
wide angle lens they always use. All in all the room was quite comfortable. Our travel
agent suggested that we first head to the spa to confirm our
appointments (we had purchased spa packages) and then head to the shore excursion office
to buy those. This was good advice. When we got to the spa
there was a bit of a line but once we told one of the staff that we had bought packages
they found our reservations and handed us our appointment times.
They had scheduled all our appointement for the day at sea (which was a formal night on
the ship). My fiance made a couple of changes in her schedule
and then we were done. I recommend either purchasing a package or individual treatments in
advance through your travel agent. The shore excursion
office was closed but you could still fill out the form and put it in the box. There were
a couple of new excursions that were not listed in the brochure sent
with our tickets. I mention this because you don't have to leave your cabin to purchase
trips you can do it on their interactive television system. The system
did not have the new trips however so I recommend paying a visit to the office. By the
time the office opened later in the evening our tickets were ready. A
number of trips sell out quickly (the subs and snorkeling) so make sure you pick what you
want as soon as you get there.
We were about to go into Old San Juan when our luggage arrived so we spent the next hour
putting stuff away. Don't overpack there are enough shelves
and cabinets if you pack wisely. Otherwise you will have to keep some stuff in your
suitcase.
Old San Juan is nice. We did not have alot of time to explore before it got dark so we
just hung around the waterfront and looked at crafts. Celebrity docks
across the river at the bad pier. You have to take a taxi in to town. Princess and Royal
Carribean were at the nice terminal. If you get in early everyone
said that the rainforest is amazing.
First night dinner was open seating. The orion dining room is beautiful. Two level with
grand staircase. Plenty of variety in the types of tables from two
persons to ten. No show the first night but there was a band and bon voyage party on the
pool deck. Ship rides real smooth. My fiance did not even know
we were moving until I pointed it out.
Catalina Island.
This is Celebrity's private island. I was not too impressed but we actually went over to
the Dominican Republic for Horseback Riding (highly recommeded). A
little inefficient on the tender service. They had everyone board the tender, take a 20
minute ride to the private island. Had everybody get off. Then all the
people who were doing shore excursions had to get back on and take a fifty minute ride to
the Dominican Republic. The problem was that they didn't tell us
about that. We all thought the shore exursions were on the island. I did not mind but the
seas were a bit rough and the people who were prone to
seasickness had a hard time. Once on the Dominican they put us on minibuses for another 15
minute ride to the resort. Horseback riding was great. They
let you really ride the horses not just walk in a straight line. It poured rain but we
still had a lot of fun.
Ordered room service when we got back to the ship. Again you can either call or use the tv
system. Room service is 24 hours but the menu is somewhat
limited if you are not in a suite. There were 3 salads, 3 sandwiches, chili, pizza,
various drinks. The menu could be expanded somewhat. I found the
service to be slow and had to call both times I ordered to check where my food was. But
the food itself was good. It was great to eat on the Veranda.
Dinner is absolutely amazing. I read here about people who had bad service but not our
table. We had a table for eight. The food is amazing. I am not a
gourmet by any means, more of a meat and potato guy, but there were enough choices each
night that I did not have a problem finding something to eat.
The waiter was superb, friendly and always around. We all felt really pampered. They even
brought out a surpise honeymoon cake and sang for us. You
can always order as much as you want and they take it as a personal insult if you did not
like the food. One night I had ordered a drink from a bar outside
the dining room and brought it in to dinner. It was one of those frothy concoctions and I
did not really like it. The bar server came over and asked what was
wrong with my drink. When I said I just didn't like the taste she disappeared and in a
moment was back with the bar manager who insisted that they get me
something else to replace it. Another night one of the women at the table did not eat much
of her pasta and it was all she could do to convince the
maitre'd that she just was not hungry. Everyone in the dining room, wine steward to busboy
was incredible.
Day At Sea
They need to have a few more days at sea in the itinerary. First because you need a
vacation from your vacation when you are doing a port a day and
second because it is hard to take part in the ship activities when you are sightseeing all
day and have a late seating for dinner. The day at sea we both
spent in the spa. If you try anything use the Thalasotherapy pool. It a jacuzzi to the
extreme. My massage was great, facial interesting, pass on the aqua
meditation, I did not really need a shampoo and blow dry but they would not let me
transfer parts of my package. Same with my manicure although my
fiance had a good time taking pictures as I was getting my nails done. If you do go to the
spa. Make sure you want what is in the package or just pick items
separately.
Formal night was fun. Rented a tux from the brochure that came with the tickets. Jacket
was too big but one phone call got that replace in five minutes.
That night was the first show in the Theater. The theater itself is great. Thanks to money
and machinery from Sony it is state of the art. The is not a bad
seat in the house. We arrived about 10 minutes early for each show and had no problem
getting the seats we wanted. The shows however need some
help. I put them in the cheesy category. Celebrity nights, the first show, was pretty bad.
All the ususal cruise ship costumes but they sang songs they wrote
especially for the cruise. They should stick to broadway revue type shows. The juggler was
pretty good but I didn't pay as much as I did to see a juggler.
The impressionist needs to be put out of his misery. The tribute to Samuel Goldwyn (where
to they get these ideas) started out bad and them had some
redeeming value when they went into some real show tunes. The guy who used to sing for the
Platters was very good although he talked more than he
sang and the second show he did his voice started to crack. The Cirque du Galaxy was
probably the best because they finally stopped singing and tried to
emulate Cirque du Soleil. Overall they need to rethink what they want to perform.
Barbados
The Atlantis sub was fun, I hear you can get reservations a little cheaper in port than on
the ship but it is worth the little bit extra to have the tickets in your
hand and not worry about it being sold out. Definitley fun to go 150 feet underwater.
Better than those stupid glass bottom boats. You can also do the sub
in St. Thomas but I hear Barbados is better. In the afternoon we took the 4 hour Best of
Babados tour. Very long, very hot and we were stuck with very
annoying people on the back of the tour bus that should have gone on the Kon Tiki Party
Boat. I recommend you do the sub than find some people to
share a taxi tour with and then hit the beach. Pretty island but depressing in its poverty
and run down look.
Martinique
Other than waking up and seeing the beautiful hillsides from our Verandah we were not
impressed with Martinique. Supposedly the Volcano tour is good.
We did the snorkeling which was very fun. (Brink an underwater camera with you before you
leave or you will pay $20.00 on the ship). A lot of people
went to the resort and jet ski'd etcetera. That would probably have been a good idea.
Antigua
We decided to try and do this island on our own and not take a ship tour. Good idea. Go to
Nelsons Dockyard, very pretty, good guides, then up to Shirley
Heights to take pictures and buy some beads. Then it's off to the beach. The ship was
recommending Millers by the Sea, but we did not want to go where
everybody else was going. We went to Galley Bay, a private resort on the island. You can
just take a taxi there and use their beach. Awesome. The resort
only holds sixty two guests. When we got there there were maybe 5 people on this beautiful
white sand beach with huge waves to bodysurf. Perfect.
Highly recommended. They have sunfish and snorkeling equipment to rent if you want but we
just played in the waves.
St. Thomas
We took the ship excursion to Trunk Bay on St. John for snorkeling. Excellent.
Unbelieveably beautiful beach and great snorkeling. You don't need to take
the tour thought. Just take the ferry over so you have more time at the beach.
If you are planning to shop in St. Thomas know what you want before you go or you will
head into shopping overload like my fiance. Check the prices in the
U.S. then come and get a bargain. St. Thomas is a very pretty island.
What else can I tell you. The midnight buffets all looked good but with the late seating
it was hard to take more than a few bites. The regular activities on
board seemed a bit lame to me. But we were sightseeing so we didt participate much.
They have a couple theme nights. The 50's sock hop was fun. I was sick during Country
night. There is always a band playing somewhere.
One serious note. The dining room in certain areas has an awful engine vibration/noise
when the ship is going at full steam. It was quite noticeable at our
table but we grew accustomed to it. Others might want to move if possible.
Well that's it. Overall I do recommend Celebrity Galaxy if you take into account the
problems with shore excursions and shows.
Have a nice trip.
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