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Name: Eric and Carol Helm
Email: EricHelm@aol.com
Age: 36
Occupation: manager
NumberOfCruises: 3
TravelAgent: No
Ship: Celebrity-Mercury
SailingDate: July 10, 1998
Itinerary: Alaska
FoodDiningRoom: 95
CruiseDirector: 85
CabinComfort: 95
FoodRoomService: 85
CruiseStaff: 95
CabinAmenities: 92
FoodLidoDeck: 75
DiningRoomService: 99
CabinQuietness: 96
FoodMidnightBuffets: 90
CabinSteward: 98
ShoreExcVariety: 98
FoodVariety: 95
DeckService:
ShoreExcValue: 74
GoodForHoneymoon: 95
CasinoStaff: 92
PrivateIsland:
GoodForFamilies: 85
LoungeService: 84
TenderService: 98
GoodForSeniors: 90
BeautySalonStaff:
EntertainmentLounges: 94
WheelchairAccess:
ExerciseFacilities:
EntertShowLounge: 80
OverallPortsofCall: 90
BeautySalon:
EntertainmentPoolside:
CruiseActivities: 90
Casino: 98
AirSeaProgram: 88
MedicalFacilities:
ShipCleanliness: 99
EmbarkDisembark: 94
DiscoNightclubs: 90
DeckSpace: 98
Stabilization: 99
ShopsOnBoard: 90
SpaceRatio: 99
OverallCruiseValue: 95
Submit: Submit Review
Date: 21 Jul 1998
Time: 00:36:34
Remote Name: 152.174.238.233
Remote User:
Comments
My wife, daughter, and I took the Mercury from Vancouver through
Alaska to Anchorage (Seward). Despite the fact that the ship was
full - a sign at the
guest relations desk warned no cabin changes were available
because all were sold out - the public spaces never seemed
crowded. Even
embarkation/disembarkation were handled smoothly, with only about
a 30 minute wait to board the ship, and a disembarkation process
that adhered
closely to the schedule announced the prior evening.
The dining room food and service were terrific. Our busboy
brought Evian every night, and custom
requests like plain salads for our teenage daughter (it’s
not easy to explain raddichio to a teen) were happily
accommodated. The staff also used the
window shades and blinds in the Manhattan dining room to reveal
the late-night twilight to excellent effect. The dining room is
very stylish, and appears
remarkably intimate while feeding half of the ship’s 1,500
passengers at once. The midnight "buffet" on the ship
varied, from a spectacular Grand Buffet
(especially the desserts), to two nights of ‘Gourmet
Bites’ (the waiters bring trays of appetizers and pastries
to the lounges and casino at midnight) to a
rather mundane Chinese buffet.
The breakfast and lunch buffets were fine; lines were short,
with a good number of waiters and busboys waiting to help
with trays and find empty tables. The Palm Springs buffet was one
area of the ship where seating was a problem; with the ship full,
finding empty tables
(much less one by the window) was sometimes difficult during
lunch. Room service was generally prompt, although one request
submitted via the
interactive television took nearly an hour to arrive. The best
dishes from the limited room-service menu were the fruit/cheese
platter and the fresh pizza
(3-7pm and 10pm-1am).
Ports of call in Alaska are fairly limited to major cities on
the Inside Passage: Ketchikan, Juneau, and Skagway are on every
cruise itinerary. All are becoming more tourist-oriented than six
years ago, with several expensive chain jewelers from the Virgin
Islands (Columbian
Emeralds, Little Switzerland) promising ‘Caribbean Duty Free
Prices!’ throughout our first three ports of call. There is
something very incongruous about
Rolex watches and diamond tennis bracelets in a rustic gold rush
town like Skagway, and these shops made this town look almost
tawdry, as if it had
somehow sold out to the cruise industry. The microbrewery in
Skagway had much more affordable (and for me, enjoyable!) wares
for sale. We would have
preferred Sitka to the stop in Valdez, which has little to offer
beside a view of the Alaska Pipeline terminal. The visit to
Hubbard Glacier was very well
handled - the onboard naturalist offered commentary over the
public address system, while the crew held the ship first
port-side, then starboard-side to
the glacier’s face, so passengers taking shelter from the
cold in their rooms could enjoy the view. Given the nearly
constant scenery of the Inside
Passage, we opted for a verandah cabin, which we highly
recommend. There was ample space for three of us on the balcony,
and adequate space in the
cabin, with a king bed and a twin-size sofa bed.
We heeded other reviewers warnings about the lack of outlets,
and the extension cord we brought
proved useful (also, no clock in the room). Out stewardess was
very friendly, and introduced herself and unlocked the minibar
shortly after we boarded.
Each evening, she placed our daughter’s stuffed pig in a
different position - reading a book, looking out the verandah
door - a creative touch that
delighted our daughter. Celebrity offers a massive variety of
shore excursions, all of which appear to have premium prices. I
am confident that we could
have obtained better deals ashore, if we were willing to risk
finding seats available. The only reason to buy excursions
onboard is to ensure that a
particular trip you want is reserved. Even with these prices, the
ship quickly sold out of all helicopter glacier-landing tours
before the shore excursion
lecture our first morning at sea.
The Skagway train trip was pricy at $89 for a 3-hour train
ride, but a seaplane tour of the glaciers near Juneau was a
better bargain at $130. Our cabin neighbors took the
whale-watching tour in Juneau and saw a number of whales. The
show lounge is very comfortable
and offers good views from all seats. Our family had different
reactions to the entertainment. Our daughter loved the three
production shows, On
Broadway, Bond Voyage, and The Winner Is, while the
singers/dancers didn’t impress my wife. The variety acts
were an Irish comedian (we all liked), four
young a capella singers calling themselves Grand Slam (probably
the favorite act of everyone aboard, including us), and a pianist
who, while skilled, came
across as Liberace Jr.
Other entertainers aboard included a dance band (Onyx) which
was very good, a pre-dinner lounge duet who were a fine lounge
duet, a terrific string quartet who often played live in the
dining room, and a harpist. There was a good DJ in the Navigator
Lounge/Disco, but we never
saw more than 2-3 couples dancing. This is not a Carnival ship,
which we were grateful for. However, passengers seeking a
late-night party crowd should
look elsewhere. The evenings we stayed up past midnight, we often
noticed crew shining mirrors and banisters, constantly polishing
the ship - it looks
brand-new and the crew appears determined to keep it that way.
The casino offered a very good variety of games, with a Caribbean
Poker game and a
craps table in addition to the standard blackjack and roulette.
For those interested in blackjack, the rules are very
favorable to players (dealer stands on
all 17’s, and players can double on any two cards and on
split pairs). The air/sea flights arranged by Celebrity were
fine, and we were met at Vancouver
as advertised, with luggage checked through from LAX straight to
our cabin. Our bus driver from Seward to the Anchorage airport
(Daniel) was a delight,
and the only downside of the return trip was the 3-hour wait in
the Anchorage airport for our departure. Flight availability is
not terrific in Anchorage, and
the Delta plane that came to take us home arrived at least
half-full of Mercury-bound cruisers from Los Angeles. Overall, we
greatly enjoyed the ship and
the scenery, and we are very likely to take another Celebrity
cruise.
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