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Note - this page contains multiple reviews.
Name: Mark Griffith
Email: griff1@bellatlantic.net
Age: 39
Occupation: Customer Service
NumberOfCruises: 0
TravelAgent: No
Ship: Celebrity-Horizon
SailingDate: September 14, 1998
Itinerary: Bermuda
FoodDiningRoom: 90
CruiseDirector: 90
CabinComfort: 92
FoodRoomService: 88
CruiseStaff: 88
CabinAmenities: 94
FoodLidoDeck: 95
DiningRoomService: 95
CabinQuietness: 88
FoodMidnightBuffets:
CabinSteward: 89
ShoreExcVariety:
FoodVariety: 96
DeckService: 92
ShoreExcValue:
GoodForHoneymoon: 98
CasinoStaff: 90
PrivateIsland:
GoodForFamilies: 90
LoungeService:
TenderService:
GoodForSeniors: 95
BeautySalonStaff:
EntertainmentLounges: 92
WheelchairAccess:
ExerciseFacilities:
EntertShowLounge:
OverallPortsofCall: 98
BeautySalon:
EntertainmentPoolside: 92
CruiseActivities: 92
Casino: 91
AirSeaProgram:
MedicalFacilities:
ShipCleanliness: 98
EmbarkDisembark: 90
DiscoNightclubs:
DeckSpace: 95
Stabilization: 97
ShopsOnBoard: 90
SpaceRatio: 95
OverallCruiseValue: 92
Submit: Submit Review
Date: 03 Oct 1998
Time: 18:50:18
Remote Name: 151.204.202.165
Remote User:
Comments
This was my first non-working cruise. I had spent some time aboard a Coast Guard Cutter so
I had to force myself to relax at first. The first benefit
of taking this particular cruise was the location of the ship. We live in Southwestern New
Jersey and the trip to the ship was only about 20 minutes.
Philadelphia is a new port for the Horizon so there was a bit of confusion and hassle
getting on board but truly nothing out of the ordinary. You
can figure on spending about an hour getting through lines and showing documentation. Once
aboard, my wife and I checked out our room and
the ship. The room, 9100, was small but very functional. If you plan on a lot of romance,
make sure you book a room with a double bed. The single
beds are just that. The table that was located between the beds had your basic room
controls such as radio, lights and volume controls for both
occupants. There was plenty of room to stash your clothes and personal items. The room
safe is very easy to program and use. The bathroom was
functional. I found the toilet to be rather uncomfortable so do not plan to read your
shore excursion material there. The Horizon had three types
of sink and shower water; warm, hot, and molten. We left Philadelphia at 4:30 P.M. on
Monday. Tuesday was entirely at sea and we docked in
Bermuda on Wednesday at 1:30 P.M. The ship left at 3:00 P.M. on Friday and arrived
promptly at 8:00 A.M. Sunday. I was somewhat concerned
before the trip about cabin noise and there was some noise but not overbearing. Our
problem had to do with a passageway door that did not
close properly. Our room was the last room starboard aft so the passageway door was right
outside our door. At night a considerbly strong draft
would blow down the long passageway and keep a constant force against the broken door
making it sound as though we were cruising through a
hurricane. We complained about it but never had it resolved. Don't be shocked to wake up
at 4 A.M. and hear water being sprayed on the outside
of your cabin window. The crew washes down the outside of the ship (keeps the salt and
corrosion down). You get used to it by the third night. The
entertainment was diverse so I think everyone who cruises will find something to their
liking. Rob, the cruise director, was a pleasant individual who
spoke warmly and performed his role well. The food was wonderful. You will experience
foods that you have never had before so get ready to
have your taste buds ready! As I have read prior to the cruise, the overall taste of the
food was on the salty side. I love salt so it didn't bother me
but I can see how some salt-restricted folks may be concerened. The dining room service
was excellent and we were lucky enough to get a table
for two. The buffet was just as tasty. We ate at the buffet for breakfast and lunch and
reserved the dining room for evening meals. Two nights we
ate dinner in our cabin. I was disappointed at the lack of selection regarding cabin
meals. I have heard folks getting much more variety on other
cruises. The best food presentations are at the midnight buffet. I sort of wished they had
put that effort into the other meals since I find it suicidal to
eat that kind of food at that hour of night. Bermuda is absolutely fantastic. When they
say that it's the biggest little place you'll ever visit they were
not joking. It is as if the entire island was engineered to maximize beauty and space. The
native islanders are very, very patient with the tourist.
The ferry and bus will get you anywhere you want to get but be ready for sweaty line and
no air conditioning. The daily temperature while we were
there ranged in the upper 80's but believe me folks, a dewpoint of 77 degrees would make a
cotton ball sweat. It was very, very humid. The
beaches on the east side of the island are breathtaking. The best thing to do is rent a
moped while you are there and see it all. Be warned, if you
rent the mopeds, be careful. One gentleman on our cruise took a bad spill and went home in
bandages and a sling. Traffic can get crazy in
Bermuda especially the left side of the road rule. The circles will confuse you and the
aggresive bus drivers will scare the heck out of you so do
yourself a favor and try to pull over when you can to allow local traffic to get by you.
As far as money is concerned; we found that shopkeepers will
go out of there way to ensure you get U.S. currency as change for your cash purchases.
Carry as little cash as possible for obvious reasons. If
you like cigars you'll find what you want in Bermuda, but at a price. I smoked a nice
Cuban Cohiba for $38. Expensive but tasty. I must comment on
the cashless system aboard Horizon. They really need to fully computerize their system.
For instance, you ask for a drink and the waiter asks for
your card. Now instead of just swiping the card magnetically and returning it to you, they
fill out a two page receipt in which you have to print your
name and then sign it. The waiter then tears off your copy and you have to carry scraps of
paper with you all day. It would be so much better to
swipe and forget. There were a few families with children on board. The kids were mostly
6-12 and appeared to be really bored. Horizon is not the
Big Red Boat so you may want to reconsider this ship if you are bringing the kids along. I
think Horizon is great for newlyweds of all ages and of
course seniors. Single folks may also find Horizon to be slim pickin's. We had to medevac
a woman on the last day of the cruise. The Coast Guard
flew out from Norfolk, Va to hover over the ship and pick up the unfortunate lady (rumor
had it she broke her hip or suffered a heart attack). Be
sure to keep a watchful eye to the sea while on your cruise. We saw dolpin, flying fish,
Osprey and other winged creatures. Don't forget to check
out the tree frogs at night in Bermuda. They have a particularly strange chirp that
somehow soothes the soul. Crazy? Check it out. Overall the
Horizon was a very beautiful ship. Not the largest but very classy and clean. I would like
to sample another Celebrity Cruise ship so that I could
compare it to this ship. Maybe if I beg the wife...
Name: Douglas Praskach
Email: DougPaz@aol.com
Age: 41
Occupation: Branch Manager
NumberOfCruises: 3
TravelAgent: No
Ship: Celebrity-Horizon
SailingDate: 11/6/98
Itinerary: Southern Carribean
FoodDiningRoom: 98
CruiseDirector: 82
CabinComfort: 93
FoodRoomService: 90
CruiseStaff: 93
CabinAmenities: 92
FoodLidoDeck: 95
DiningRoomService: 98
CabinQuietness: 88
FoodMidnightBuffets: 98
CabinSteward: 97
ShoreExcVariety: 90
FoodVariety: 98
DeckService: 95
ShoreExcValue: 88
GoodForHoneymoon: 90
CasinoStaff: 91
PrivateIsland:
GoodForFamilies: 95
LoungeService:
TenderService: 97
GoodForSeniors: 99
BeautySalonStaff:
EntertainmentLounges: 96
WheelchairAccess:
ExerciseFacilities:
EntertShowLounge: 98
OverallPortsofCall: 94
BeautySalon:
EntertainmentPoolside: 88
CruiseActivities: 94
Casino: 98
AirSeaProgram:
MedicalFacilities: 97
ShipCleanliness: 99
EmbarkDisembark: 70
DiscoNightclubs: 92
DeckSpace: 97
Stabilization: 89
ShopsOnBoard: 88
SpaceRatio: 95
OverallCruiseValue: 95
Submit: Submit Review
Date: 20 Nov 1998
Time: 13:47:33
Remote Name: 152.163.201.199
Remote User:
Comments
The Horizon was our third cruise and the smallest and oldest ship we've been on. We were
needlessly worried about that as the ship and cruise in
general was great. Embarkation was by far our biggest and almost only drawback to the
trip. Supposedly, the Coast Guard held them up and they were
at a strange pier but it was truly a mess and about a 1 1/2 hr. wait where no one seemed
to know what was going on. The captain handled a couple of
bad times rather well as we left Ft. Lauderdale. 2 hours out to sea we had a passenger
pass away from heart attack and we had to turn back to Port.
We were already dealing from rough seas and heavy winds from the remains of Hurricane
Mitch so the first day and a half were pretty choppy as we
tried to make up the 5 hours we lost. It was all handled very professionally. As a former
Executive Chef, I can give nothing but highest compliments to
Celebrity's food. Both the dining room and casual and midnite buffets are really top notch
and the presentation is far better than the Royal Carribean
we had previously. Each plate is a work of art and everything has been painstakingly done
to make each meal memorable. The Shows in the
entertainment lounge were also the best we've seen. Thien Fu a comedic juggler was
fantastic and did two shows on out 10 day cruise. Jeff Meese was
also an excellent comedian and he added a midnite show which was refreshingly clean and
funny. There were a couple of good but now outstanding
singers and a very good puppetteer. The highlight of the shows, however were the Celebrity
Singers and Dancers who did four really excellent
broadway type productions. We've seen plenty of these before but these were the best by
far. The excursions seemed rather bland and somewhat
over-priced. We usually bartered with a cab and made our own tours. The exception however,
was the America's Cup Yacht Race in St. Maartin. I can't
emphasize enough that you shouldn't miss this one. It was fantastic and one of the
highlights of the trip. One thing that we did learn is that 10 and 11
day cruises seem to draw an older group of passengers. Seniors seem to have more time for
the longer cruises so it is a bit of an older crowd. We are
not drinkers or big partyers so it wasn't a big drawback to us but may be to some younger
couples. All in all, we were much happier with Celebrity than
some of our other cruises. They are worth the trip for the food alone. If you have any
questions about horizon, feel free to e-mail.
Name: Charles L Johnson
Email: JonsenBC@worldnet.att.net
Age: 70
Occupation: Retired Military & Fed Civil Service
NumberOfCruises: 20
TravelAgent: No
Ship: Celebrity-Horizon
SailingDate: Oct 26, 1998
Itinerary: Caribbean 11 days
FoodDiningRoom: 98
CruiseDirector: 69
CabinComfort: 95
FoodRoomService:
CruiseStaff: 75
CabinAmenities: 90
FoodLidoDeck: 96
DiningRoomService: 95
CabinQuietness: 69
FoodMidnightBuffets:
CabinSteward: 85
ShoreExcVariety: 90
FoodVariety: 95
DeckService: 90
ShoreExcValue: 69
GoodForHoneymoon:
CasinoStaff:
PrivateIsland:
GoodForFamilies:
LoungeService: 90
TenderService: 69
GoodForSeniors: 83
BeautySalonStaff:
EntertainmentLounges: 95
WheelchairAccess: 50
ExerciseFacilities:
EntertShowLounge: 85
OverallPortsofCall: 70
BeautySalon:
EntertainmentPoolside: 70
CruiseActivities: 85
Casino: 90
AirSeaProgram:
MedicalFacilities:
ShipCleanliness: 80
EmbarkDisembark: 69
DiscoNightclubs:
DeckSpace: 75
Stabilization: 85
ShopsOnBoard: 85
SpaceRatio: 80
OverallCruiseValue: 75
Submit: Submit Review
Date: 08 Dec 1998
Time: 20:31:45
Remote Name: 12.77.176.165
Remote User:
Comments
Remarks. Celebrity-Horizon Cruise-Caribbean-Sailing Oct 26, 1998
Referring to Mark Griffith’s review of the Sep 14, ’98 sailing to Bermuda on the
Horizon. I shall not comment on anything he has
already reported except where we differ in opinion.
This was our 20th cruise, all out of and return to Florida ports, our home for many years.
I was in a wheelchair from beginning to
end. I am able to go short distances on metal arm crutches – but spend most time in
the chair. There were 13 wheelchair
passengers, although only 4 handicapped cabins. We were on deck #10, Deluxe Room #1034.
Boarding was a near disaster. Was supposed to begin at 1:30PM, (although our experiences
have been that they begin boarding
about 12:30PM, and send you to the dining room or café to have lunch) , but the ship
hadn’t even arrived yet from Charleston,
S.C., but was supposed to have arrived hours earlier – yet for some unexplained
reason, it was very late. Worse yet, there was
no official PA announcement until about 1:30PM, alleging we would be boarding in a few
minutes, which was a lie, and they knew
it to be a lie when they made the announcement Boarding actually began about 3PM. Probably
by that time, 85 to 90 percent of
the passengers had arrived and were waiting. You can imagine what the waiting rooms looked
like. Once begun, with wheelchair
passengers first, the boarding process was very slow. At least two of us who had arrived
at the port in wheelchairs, were provided
no assistance in the boarding what-so-ever by Celebrity personnel until after [ I ] was
aboard the ship – then was wheeled to my
room by a shipboard attendant. Yet, all the wheelchairs which came off the ship to the
waiting room, included an attendant, for
assisting the passenger through the boarding process. It was very difficult for my wife to
push me and carry hand luggage (while I
had it piled in my lap) at the same time. A most difficult experience. In fact, the entire
boarding process was probably the worst
we’ve ever experienced.
The ship’s officers or cruise staff never ever explained why the ship was late
arriving at Ft Lauderdale, nor did Celebrity ever offer
an apology before or during the cruise for [the near disaster] the late arrival caused. In
19 previous cruises, we never arrived at a
port of departure, and found our ship hadn’t even arrived yet. We also never before
sailed late more than a few minutes. This time,
it was more than 90 minutes late (a few minutes after 6PM). This was our second
consecutive Celebrity cruise that ranked near
the bottom of our 20 cruises. Yet, our first Celebrity cruise (Zenith-1995), ranked near
the top with the food and cleanliness of the
ship second to none!
The Emergency Drill, which was first announced to take place at 5:15PM, after the ship was
to sail, actually took place at about
5:30PM, before the ship sailed. The crew personnel couldn’t seem to make-up their
minds where they wanted wheelchair
passengers for our emergency station to locate. There were three of us at our station,
with the Casino as our gathering place.
First the official ordered us into the casino; the official in the casino ordered us back
outside; then it was back inside; then back
out – finally deciding outside would be best for us. They acted as thought they had
never performed Emerg Drill before, or, had
exhibited very little training.
It became our understanding that this ship had sailed from Charleston to Bermuda and
return to Charleston. It then sailed from
Charleston with approximately 85 new passengers on a 12 day cruise, with first stop at Ft
Lauderdale to pick us up to begin our
11 day cruise. It was from these passengers we learned some matters. For example: They
said our ship’s Master had just
assumed command because the previous Master had been relieved; that ship’s employees
did not wish to sail under this newly
assigned Master; that many of the Horizon’s employees left the ship and Celebrity had
to recruit more people in a hurry at
Charleston and Ft Lauderdale. To confirm this story, in part, we learned (from the
ship’s service personnel that this was their first
cruise on this ship or first working cruise ever. During the cruise, it became quite clear
that many of these people were under
trained.
Food-Dining Room. Overall, we give the food a Very God, but not an Excellent. There were
some tough steaks and rubbery
lobsters. Our formal dining room service at times was outstanding. But at other times,
rather average. . When we first arrived in the dining room on Oct 26th for dinner, we
found that our assigned table (for 8) was #32.
First, we had requested a table for 4 or 6, hoping to avoid being a wheelchair burden to
those around us; secondly, table 32 was
located right next to the waiters service area; thirdly, table 32 was buried deep into the
dining room area and people had to get up
from their tables to allow me to pass, both arriving as well as departing. The waiters
kept kicking my wheelchair as they were
attending their duties at their work station, coming and going. Worse yet, not one of them
apologized. I complained to our waiter;
he said he would speak to them but it continued; we told the waiter we would not return to
this table; he agreed it was a bad
location and wheeled us to see the Maitre d’ following dinner. The Maitre d’
stated they had not been informed that I would be in a
wheelchair, (so much for Celebrity management), and then assigned us to a table for six
(#95) which was in an excellent location
with easy access, and from then on, everything was fine in this respect. (See Wheelchair
comments below.)
Our busboy, although a nice young man, needed additional training. We forever had to wait
until we were underway with our meal
before our bread products would arrive. He would say, there is only one area in the
kitchen from which to procure bakery
products, and there was always a long line of busboys waiting. So much for management. The
dining room managers as well as
our table waiter were very good to me in so far as assisting me to and from our table. I
was very appreciative of that.
Food-Lido Deck. For the most part, the foods were excellent and with great varieties as
well as nice presentation. There was
however, some very tough sliced roast of beef and fresh roasted (?) turkey that was so
tough, it was inedible.
The busboys & supervisors, etc, both at breakfasts and luncheons, were very good to
me, as a wheelchair passenger, always
providing me assistance, which was welcomed and appreciated. This assistance was better in
the dining room and café than any
other place on the ship.
As for Seniors, we rate the ship low because so much seemed to be targeted for younger
people in spite of the fact that probably
80 to 85 percent of those aboard were over 55 years of age, and that group probably
averaged 65 years of age.
Wheelchair access was really poor. There was no place anywhere from deck 5 on up where
those of us in wheelchairs didn’t
have to fight to get over bumps in the hallways and various rooms. In the main show
lounge, we had to stay in the very rear
because you could not go forward because of steps. It was not a smooth theatre-style
slanted floor. The one handicapped toilet
on deck 7, near the show lounge was extremely difficult to get into, through the first
door; then quite difficult to get into the actual
toilet area in a wheelchair; and once you did get into it, it was even more difficult to
get out of, even with assistance by an
attendant, who had no idea how to maneuver a wheelchair, especially with someone in it.
Ports-of-Call were somewhat disappointing. Although we had previously been to them
anywhere from 4 to 15 times, it was our
first at Grenada – which was part of the reason we chose this cruise. Grenada was
only one notch away from being another Haiti.
In two consecutive ports, the stores were closed – one because it was Sunday, and the
other (Monday) because it was All Souls
Day, (Barbados & Martinique – two of our favorite ports). If the cruise would
have been done in reverse, that wouldn’t have
happened – but I doubt Celebrity actually cares. Many passengers were very angry
about the store closings at these two ports,
which was not revealed to us until the day before. There was a lot of confusion at the
ports with local tours & ship’s tour people,
everything seeming to be chaotic. And we were the only ship in port at all ports except St
Thomas. Even one tour had been
cancelled, and we were not notified until after we got off the ship to go on the tour. We
have vowed never again to take a tour
purchased aboard ship. They are all extremely overpriced (so that the ship gets their
cut). The scare tactics pronounced by the
tour office people & Cruise Directors (on all cruise ships we’ve traveled), about
arranging your own tour, just won’t fly anymore.
There are good people out there on these islands, who desperately need our business to
make a living, and who are very happy
to take we cruisers on tours for half the price charged by the ships.
Cruise activities. Some were done quit well – such as the wine-tasting affair.
However, sending invitations a second time to those
who came the first time, was uncalled-for, and nothing more than trying to rip-off the
passengers for another ten bucks. Many
activities were geared more to young people, which was not the clientele aboard this ship,
and it would seem the cruise
managers didn’t have the mental capacity (or desire) to change their usual routine to
more reflect the age group of the vast
majority. Also, there was no trap shooting; no golf putting nor hitting off back of ship;
no shuffle board; no Ping-Pong; no
basketball hoop. The ship’s library was a terrible farce. What had been the library
was converted into another sales store, and the
small selection of books was moved to the end of another room, which also explained why
there were no specific library hours
and no book accountability required on the part of the passengers.
Our Cruise Director seemed to love himself very much, and was a very mediocre cruise
director, in our opinion, which is based
upon the experience of 19 previous Cruise Directors, 18 of which were male. He is not
worth more coverage in these pages than
is necessary. His immediate staff were just so-so, some seeming to not know just what they
were supposed to do, and those
who did do something seemed limited in their knowledge about their responsibility, and
their was the appearance that it might
have been the first time they had ever been in charge of anything.
Medical facility. Although we did not have the need, two different people we were
acquainted with did. They were both in shock at
what the doctor gouged for an office visit, and the price he soaked them for drugs were
off the chart. A young lady, on her first
cruise with her boyfriend, felt she had gotten sick from some food she had eaten, went to
the doctor. The physician told her she
was just ‘queasy’ from cruising, and it cost her $190.00 total for less than 10
minutes. One of our dining room table friends came
down with a cold. Being 70 years old, went to the doctor. Cost him $186.00. Thank God we
did not come down with our colds
until a week after returning home.
Our Cabin Stewardess was somewhat of a disappointment. It is the first cruise we’ve
been on whereby the room steward did not
come to our door shortly after boarding to introduce themselves. This time, we did not
meet our stewardess until day-3, and then
only because we ran her down in the hallway and ask her if she was our stewardess. She
said she was. We asked her why she
had not come to us to make herself known. She acted as though she did not understand
(which is a ploy we've learned to live
with on cruise ships). We asked her why our room the previous day (day-2) had not been
made up until very late afternoon, and
she replied that she has many rooms. We have never before, on previous cruises, come back
from breakfast to find our room had
not yet been made-up! This is just one more aspect of the overall view of this ship and
Celebrity, which was hard to accept. The
hallways on this deck were constantly blocked with the room attendant’s working
carts. All-day! Many times we could not get to
our room by wheelchair, having to get out, get into crutches, fold wheelchair to get past
the work carts. This was uncalled for.
You could go by there any time of the day, and the isles were blocked, and no room
attendants could be found anywhere. Why
were the carts not moved to an area so they would not block the hallways??? There was also
carpeting being replaced in the
hallways on deck 10 during our cruise. This added to the difficulty and inconvenience for
the passengers. This along with many
other matters showed that Celebrity did not give a hoot about the passengers on this
cruise. It they did, such work aboard the
ship would not have been scheduled during the cruise – and this crap continued
throughout the 11 day cruise somewhere on the
ship.
Lounge Service waitpersons. There is a problem here which has developed over the years
since after the mid-1970s to 1980s. It
is two-fold. (1) With the waiters now automatically receiving a 15% gratuity automatically
added to the passenger’s bills, they
hustle much less than would normally (and was) the case; (2) The waiters take your order,
then roam the general area looking for
more orders before finally going to the bar to get the order they first took, which
sometimes means 10 minutes or more delay –
the object being, get as many individual orders as possible at one time so that they make
excellent tips on one general sweep
through the lounge. This must be corrected.
Deck space was at a premium, probably because of two reasons. (1) Some deck space was
closed off (for the entire cruise)
because of installing new carpeting, (some of which was again torn-up and reinstalled
– around the pool area, no less – causing
much inconvenience to the passengers); (2) Deck #8, what would have been a popular
(shaded) deck where many people would
like to have retired to for peace and quiet to read and just relax, had absolutely no
chairs of any kind, thus useless. What a
waste and inconvenience to the passengers. It was not a carpeted deck and we could see no
reason for there being no chairs.
Also, there was no access to deck 12 for handicapped; the hot tub, which Celebrity brags
about, on deck 12, was closed for the
duration of the cruise; the exercise room was small and had a minimum of equipment. What a
bummer.
Customer Service desk, (formally a part of the Purser’s Desk, operating 24 hours).
What a joke that was. They didn’t know the
answer to half the questions asked, telling you they would try to find out, but often not
getting back to the passenger with an
answer, causing the passenger to have to come back to re-inquire. Also, the ATM machine,
which Celebrity brags about, was
‘temporarily out of service’ which turned out to be for the entire cruise. We
formally did our banking at the Purser’s office, 24
hours each day – this ship, we had to do it at the ship’s ‘Bank’
– which operated only a couple of hours in the morning, and the
same in the evening.
Cabin quietness, in our case, was a joke. In spite of the fact that deck 10 is the most
expensive passenger deck, morning,
afternoon and several (late) nights, the noise coming through from deck 11 (Pool Deck) was
unreal. One could not nap in the
afternoons, and some late night events took place above our heads, caused difficulty in
trying to get to sleep. Chairs scraping
over the deck; the loud thumping music (most of which was on the level of 17
year-old’s hype and stomp, was at times
unbearable.
Tender service. Tender service at any time, is not the ideal thing to have to put up with.
The one time we had to resort to that, it
was absolutely terrible. At the outset, there was not enough tenders placed into service
to accommodate the passengers,
especially those who paid a lot of money for tours, such as us. It was a mess. Beginning
with the ship’s tour personnel who did a
messy job of coordinating the passengers into tour groups vs those not going on tours but
were leaving the ship. The personnel
operating and loading the tenders acted as though this was their first time. Related to
this was the crew’s emerg boat drill while
in port. Many people were watching stated they hoped an actual emergency did not develop
while at sea – it looked like trying to
get the life-boats down on the Titanic. Celebrity ought to be ashamed of themselves.
Main Entertainment Lounge. A couple of the shows were very nice. The singers and dancers,
although very good at the outset,
really got boring after two or three shows. We have been on 14-day cruises where you never
saw the same entertainers more
than twice. Also, too much of the [overall] entertainment was geared to the younger
people, not the vast majority of seniors
aboard this cruise. Once again reflecting Celebrity’s failure to alter the
‘business as usual’ to accommodate the older cruisers.
This was evident by watching the number of persons leaving during the shows after about
the first 3 nights, not to mention we
never saw the show lounge filled. The night ballyhooed as ‘Big Band night’, was
a bust. Most of us thought the ship’s main
orchestra would be on-stage, playing in concert. Not so. They were perched up high in the
balcony, and routinely played a
mish-mash of music and invited people to dance. There would have been more than enough
room on the large stage area for both
the orchestra as well as the dancers – what few there were. Again, not surprising,
half of the people who came, soon left,
including us.
Entertainment poolside. This was pretty much a joke. The crappy childish games of the
early 1970s cruising, we noted, are still
in the bag of tricks the Cruise Directors have been using for 25 years. Where was the
steel band – the first time ever, for us, with
no Caribbean-type steel drums band; on the other hand, can you believe a
‘jazz-band’ at poolside from 12noon to 1:30PM. Who,
for God’s sake ever heard of a jazz band at poolside at noontime?
Embarkation was one of the worse we’ve ever encountered as stated at the beginning of
this review.
Disembarkation was not delayed for us in wheelchairs, except for the unnecessary excessive
length of time we all gathered and
waited (per instructions) on deck five, (had to go to the bathroom twice during that long
wait). These management people just
don’t use good sense sometimes! However, once we got off the ship, it was a terrible
madhouse. There was only one elevator,
and the operator allowed 6 and 8 people on the elevator because they said they were with
the person in the wheelchair. (And in
most cases, these were wheelchair people who arrived at the port not in a wheelchair
– which was then furnished by the ship -
which they did not use on the ship – and then got another one in order to debark
first. The ‘ol scam, to which Celebrity was a
participant. As a result, only one wheelchair could get on at a time. Can you imagine how
long it took to get everyone down to
the lower level? Half the ship was emptied before the [true] wheelchair passengers reached
the lower level! Of course, we are
certain that some of the wheelchair people quickly abandoned their ship-furnished
wheelchair as soon as they got off the ship.
Celebrity did not live up to their own rules which stated: If you require a wheelchair,
you must bring it – the wheelchairs on the
ship are for emergency use on the ship and not for everyday use by passengers. So what did
Celebrity-Horizon do? They brought
about 7 or 8 wheelchairs into the waiting room to load embarking passengers into them.
What crap!
We had been told by the Customer Service Desk (who didn’t even know what the
‘Cruise-Connection Bus’ was), that we would
have to see the Celebrity people on shore after debarking to see about reserving the front
seat on our bus for me, (handicapped),
who would need help in boarding with metal crutches while my wheelchair went into baggage.
What actually happened after
leaving the ship was, when we asked the Celebrity lady about arranging for a front seat in
the bus, she had no idea what
Cruise-Connection Bus was and had to go ask someone. They said we would just have to work
something out with our bus driver
about that. As it turned out, it was my wife who went to find the bus-driver supervisor.
Unfortunately, people who had come up
from Port of Miami already took the front seats. There is also the matter of Celebrity
contracting with a bus company which has
no way of boarding a person who is in a wheelchair. When we book our cruise, we were
identified as handicapped in wheelchair,
although we would not require a handicapped room aboard ship. However, we were assured
we’d have no trouble about the bus.
But that was not true. I had to board the bus on my own, like it or not. There is a
federal law about this matter.
Overall cruise value. We rate this cruise at #18 of 20, with another Celebrity ship rated
#19, and that was the disaster we
experienced in 1997 sailing from Ft Lauderdale to Bermuda. Ship #20 was with a company who
is out of business, and hopefully,
the ship has been scrapped. Would it be fair to say that the newest ships are [usually]
coveted by everyone from the Master to
the Cruise Director, etc, usually because of pride of ‘moving up’ or pure and
simple ‘ego’. Thus, as a result of seniority, the
assignments are made accordingly. So who do you think winds up with the oldest ship in
Celebrity’s fleet! Think about it…
End of comments…
Name: Robert Palumbo
Email: bpalumbo@concentric.net
Age: 49
Occupation: Professional
NumberOfCruises: 5
TravelAgent: No
Ship: Celebrity-Horizon
SailingDate: 12/6/98
Itinerary: 11 Night Caribbean
FoodDiningRoom: 95
CruiseDirector: 90
CabinComfort: 95
FoodRoomService:
CruiseStaff: 92
CabinAmenities: 95
FoodLidoDeck: 85
DiningRoomService: 95
CabinQuietness: 95
FoodMidnightBuffets:
CabinSteward: 90
ShoreExcVariety: 93
FoodVariety: 95
DeckService: 93
ShoreExcValue: 87
GoodForHoneymoon: 69
CasinoStaff:
PrivateIsland:
GoodForFamilies: 69
LoungeService: 92
TenderService: 88
GoodForSeniors: 95
BeautySalonStaff:
EntertainmentLounges: 75
WheelchairAccess:
ExerciseFacilities:
EntertShowLounge: 85
OverallPortsofCall: 88
BeautySalon:
EntertainmentPoolside: 85
CruiseActivities:
Casino:
AirSeaProgram: 90
MedicalFacilities:
ShipCleanliness: 95
EmbarkDisembark: 90
DiscoNightclubs: 70
DeckSpace: 90
Stabilization: 90
ShopsOnBoard: 85
SpaceRatio: 86
OverallCruiseValue: 85
Submit: Submit Review
Date: 30 Dec 1998
Time: 09:26:44
Remote Name: 207.155.129.116
Remote User:
Comments
Although we’ve taken five cruises to date, this is our first time on the Celebrity
Line. My wife and I have been on two other cruise
lines, Norwegian (Norway and Seaward) and Princess (Sun Princess). We chose Celebrity
based upon our travel agent’s
recommendation for an extended 10 or 11 night itinerary. We are in our late 40’s,
very late…oh, ok…we’re 49! But we’re a young
looking 49; we could pass for our late thirties, which does have some significance as you
read further. Oh yes, and we were
celebrating our 30th anniversary.
We had a bit of a luggage problem precipitated by improper instructions given by our
travel agent. We went down a day early and
stayed at the Hyatt in Ft. Lauderdale. Our travel agent told us to keep our luggage with
us and to not place the ‘Horizon’ tags on
our bags until we were picked up at the hotel by the bus taking us to the ship. BAD
INFORMATION! But Celebrity came to the
rescue. We never did it that way before, so in order to check, just to make sure, I asked
the Celebrity host when we arrived at
the airport if this was right. She informed me it wasn’t and said we should have
place the Horizon tags on before checking our
bags in at the airport we departed from. I was a bit miffed by this and thought we’d
just have to deal with it…lugging around our
baggage until the bus picked us up tomorrow. To my surprise and appreciation, this
Celebrity host came running into the
baggage area, calling out our name, just as we were about to take our bags off the
conveyor. She explained a way to tag them
and send them on through so we wouldn’t have to lug them around ourselves. This was
service beyond the call of duty and I wish
I had taken her name…I would have mailed a letter to Celebrity of appreciation and
commendation of her. I now have a bone to
pick with our travel agent, our change of clothes while at the hotel was now waiting
inside our bags…which we weren’t to see
again until on board the ship. But alas, the hotel had a store filled with shorts, shirts
and miscellaneous items for our shopping
pleasure. Yikes, the reserve cash is already depleting, and we haven’t even left the
pier!
Over all, as we look back, we enjoyed our time away and have good memories of our cruise.
We found the evening meals on the
Horizon were the best we’ve ever experienced on a ship. I would say they lean more
toward a French style cuisine. The portions
were very adequate and pleasing both to the pallet and to the eye. Our waiter was
exceptional and made our dining experience
very enjoyable. This also was the first time on a cruise that the folks we shared our
table with were lots of fun. We also thought
the dining room was quiet, and that added to a pleasant dining experience.
On the other hand, though very good, the food served at breakfast and lunch was not
exceptional. We chose to eat breakfast and
lunch at the buffet rather than in the dining room, except once and we wished we
hadn’t. We felt rushed. The option of an omelet
made to order at breakfast or pasta made to order at lunch was a nice option. After nine
or ten days eating, the buffet breakfast
and lunch was wearing on me…mostly around my waist.
A late seating at dinner made it impossible for us to partake of the midnight buffet,
although we did take a gander at it a few
times. Where do people put all that food? Anyway, the presentation was very nice and
I’m sure it all tasted very good. We did
make nachos during one midnight buffet. (Ok, I lied!) The nacho sauce was exceptional,
although I paid for it around 3 a.m., but
we won’t go there.
The biggest difficulty we had was the age differential among the passengers. I think the
average age was about 77. It looked like
the older folks were having a wonderful time, but it was disproportionate compared to
other cruises we’ve been on. We had a
difficult time finding folks our age or younger. One of the couples at our evening dining
table were our age and that helped lots.
The age imbalance made for some funny moments. One couple thought we were newly weds on
our honeymoon. We’re 49 for
Pete’s sake! And we have three grand children ourselves. (Did I mention we look
young?) I got into an elevator with my wife and
about seven older ladies who must have just got out of the wine tasting party. They got to
talking and laughing and one said of
me, ‘He’s such a nice looking young man.’ Yeah, that means a lot on THIS
ship. Walter Matthau would be a nice looking young
man on THIS cruise.
It seemed to effect the nightlife somewhat too. My wife and I are not party animals mind
you, but we do enjoy several nice slow
dances together to some good music. For the first week on board, the only people in one
lounge were my wife, bartender, waiters
and myself. The band was even asking us where everyone was. I think most of the passengers
must have gone to bed by 10
p.m. Hey, I’m not being overly critical here. The comedians who played the nightclub
were even making cracks about how few
younger people were on board. We did meet some very nice folks thirty years our senior
however, and by the end of the cruise
people began to stay up later and found the lounge.
Oh, did I mention I like to slow dance to good music. The featured band, in the lounge I
mentioned before, flavored most of the
songs with a Caribbean beat. They were good instrumentally but not very good vocally.
I’m a musician myself, not professionally,
but I do tend to be a bit critical in that area. It seems though that they got high marks
from most on board when they took a final
bow at the close of the cruise. They were fun, and at poolside provided some nice
Caribbean sounds.
There was another lounge called the Rendez-Vous which featured the Celebrity Duo, a piano
and harmonica duet from Poland,
who were quite good. (Although I did keep waiting for Clint Eastwood to make an appearance
during the harmonica solos.) The
shows were well done for the most part (good singing and nice costumes) and the comedians
were exceptional.
The port itinerary offered a decent amount of variety. In Barbados we spent the day at the
Hilton which allows swimming at their
beach to non-guests. It was a post card day, with a bar and grill, palm trees and
beautiful emerald waters with 3-4 foot waves.
We had one of our best days there. In Granada, the Spice Island, we picked up some nice
spice gifts for our family. At
Martinique we did the land and sea excursion to St. Pierre where we learned all about the
Volcano which devastated the city in
the early 1900’s …that was hot! And then our return trip to the ship by taxi
took us through the rain forest…that was cool. We’ve
been to St. Thomas many times in the past but this was the first time we stopped at the
shopping mall by the pier. All these
ports were very nice, especially if you’re into shopping, which I’m not…but
this cruise isn’t about me, is it! My wife had a
wonderful time at most these ports. We both, however, enjoy the time cruising at sea the
most and this trip had four days, two
down and two up, at sea.
Our cabin stewardess and assistant provided exceptional service. The cabin was one of the
nicest we’ve had. My wife particularly
liked the ice water on her dresser in a stainless steel pitcher throughout the cruise. The
cabin had very bright lighting, was clean
and had a wonderful shower. Only problem was, I kept waking up in the morning with melted
chocolate on the pillow (yuk,
yuk…stolen from the comedy show).
As I said, we have wonderful memories of our vacation. Having been on several ships, I
guess I’d have to say we lean toward the
larger ships. The Horizon was very nice but we found we ran out of places to go and things
to do. Our dining friends said they
prefer the Horizon to the bigger ships. I guess it’s a matter of taste. So, I would
recommend the Horizon for a cruise, but I don’t
think I’ll book another smaller ship in the future for the reasons I mentioned. If
you think you would like a smaller ship with
exceptional food then the Horizon is for you.
Name: Jack Mendelson
Email: mcjk@musica.mcgill.ca
Age: 63
Occupation: Physician
NumberOfCruises: 1
TravelAgent: Yes
Ship: Celebrity-Horizon
SailingDate: December 18, 1998
Itinerary: Caribbean 10 day
FoodDiningRoom: 75
CruiseDirector: 75
CabinComfort: 85
FoodRoomService:
CruiseStaff: 65
CabinAmenities: 80
FoodLidoDeck:
DiningRoomService: 90
CabinQuietness: 90
FoodMidnightBuffets:
CabinSteward: 95
ShoreExcVariety: 75
FoodVariety: 80
DeckService:
ShoreExcValue: 65
GoodForHoneymoon:
CasinoStaff:
PrivateIsland:
GoodForFamilies: 90
LoungeService:
TenderService:
GoodForSeniors:
BeautySalonStaff:
EntertainmentLounges:
WheelchairAccess:
ExerciseFacilities: 85
EntertShowLounge: 70
OverallPortsofCall: 80
BeautySalon:
EntertainmentPoolside: 70
CruiseActivities: 70
Casino:
AirSeaProgram:
MedicalFacilities:
ShipCleanliness: 90
EmbarkDisembark: 50
DiscoNightclubs:
DeckSpace: 70
Stabilization: 50
ShopsOnBoard:
SpaceRatio:
OverallCruiseValue: 65
Submit: Submit Review
Date: 31 Dec 1998
Time: 11:17:19
Remote Name: 206.167.227.2
Remote User:
Comments
This was our first cruise and was really an experiment. My wife and I went with a certain
reserve but we started out with an open
mind.Members of our family had been on several cruises and encouraged us to go. Was it to
be the vacation of a lifetime? And
so we set off, and were first met by a most uncomfortable experience embarking. It took
more than 4 hours, and we waited in a
rather dingy terminus. The only comment from the crew was a 'we're sorry' for the delay.
Indeed this was more than a delay. Lets
skip to the disembarkation....this too took a long time, several hours to be sure, and of
course one of our bags was missing at
the terminus. Trying to get some help from someone was another hassle, but I'll discuss
the service staff later. We hit rough
seas, and indeed I was really concerned at times about our safety. The waves hitting the
side of the ship gave me the impression
that a storm was raging at night outside, when it really wasn't. We had difficulty
dancing, and just didn't try. Lest you think it was
an excuse not to dance, understand that my wife and I love to dance.The turbulence lasted
three days, and the wind made it
impossible to sit on deck.(I know, the company can't guarantee the weather, but it is part
of the whole picture). The meals, in
spite of the advertising were good, but not great. Thank goodness portions were small. (Of
course I come from Montreal, and the
restaurants here are outstanding).Also, it was hard to get the food hot. It was invariably
'warmish'. One of the greatest letdowns
re the food was, believe it or not the coffee.It was TERRIBLE! We drank tea. The service
in the dining room was great, the waiter
and the busboy making a big difference.Unfortunately 2 of the 3 couples at our table were
surly and unfriendly. We should have
insisted on changing but the one in charge made it seem like an impossible task. I urge
anyone going on this type of trip to pick
your table partners with care. It may be best, if you're not going with friends to sit at
a table for 2. The crew overall gave me the
impression that they were 'slaves' just doing their time. Not everyone mind you, but
enough to make me uncomfortable. Too
much rudeness, too many surly faces to ignore (and really folks I'm not hard to please). I
won't go into all the details of the
above.Just trying to get our toilet flushing mechanism repaired took 2 days, and one small
bout of a 'raised voice' was needed to
get the darn thing done.The lady at the desk just about ignored me! The 'flush' is a
vacuum and when it gets stuck, you fear for
your life with the noise.You'll see what I mean if it happens to you. The fellow serving
the eggs in the morning at the cafeteria
looked so very sad all the time. Poor guy, he almost had me crying. The great service was
as mentioned above, the waiter and
busboy and the cabin attendent who did a gerat job.My pajamas folded for me every day!
Cool. The 'entertainment' was very
average to poor,but I must say that the dancers were good ('celebrity dancers'). The
'orchestra' was terrible, and the singers were
acceptable. Broadway, or even off Broadway it wasn't. They had a good magician and juggler
aboard so there was something
there. Boy if I had to pay extra for the entertainment I really would have been upset.
Ports of call were ok, and make your own
arrangements for touring. It'll be cheaper and you can tailor it yourself. We particularly
enjoyed Bardados. The people aboard ship
were pleasant, and we met some real kibbitzers. All on all, you may enjoy the type on
cruise this was. Maybe another line would
be better? We felt that the trip was only a 6 or 7 out of 10. I'm glad we did it, since we
now have it out of our systems.Any other
cruise we may take will be very different from this type. Say Alaska, or a 'music cruise'
(there are such things you know) One of
the best things that happened to me on this trip was that I picked up Tom Wolfe's latest
book and read the whole thing. It is over
700 pages and I did it in 4 days.Now I don't have to buy it. By the way, its not a great
book, but worth experiencing I suppose?
Like the cruise? Let me know.
.
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