shoesonfire

Having a great time here on Quest. I know there have been mutterings of the ship not quite, how shall I put this? Shipshape? Well I am happy to report that from this cruiser's perspective it is really excellent. Phil

Hi Phil: Just tuned in to your live report and loved seeing the Suite photos. Reading your posts makes us feel as though we are back on the Quest and hope you will continue to keep us all informed.

Safe travels and best wishes from Jan & Frank (Shoesonfire):D

It was from a X Sales Manager at a sales event.

Sounds like a good source and all inclusive not such a big deal but River cruises especially in North America would be exciting as current river cruise company costs are out of sight.

GHStudio: on previous cruises we have observed crews replacing carpeting painting touching ups and other maintenance tasks, have you noticed anything similar on your TA? Seems as though the days at sea would be a good time to spruce the ship up a bit!

Thanks ghstudio for posting live. Sorry you're experiencing such bad weather.

 

We got off the Infinity on Oct. 1 after a 12 night wine immersion cruise. This was our 20th Celebrity cruise, first one as Elite-Plus. We were also in Aqua on Deck 9 midship (didn't take the upgrade to A1 because I was afraid of motion in the Bay of Biscaye). I agree with you completely about the changes and they're not for the good. To say our Aqua/Blu experience was a complete 180 from the one this past March, would be putting it mildly. It appears that Celebrity no longer sees the need for quality control. Guess the Senior Officers are too busy being part of the ship's nightly entertainment.

 

Our room staff and wait staff were fantastic. The Blu Manager went above and beyond to make things right. But there's just so many times you can apologize for inferior cuts of beef. As for the room, I can do without chocolates and flowers. I was disappointed when I discovered Celebrity decided made to remove the Frette towels from CC, AQ, and suites but, would have been OK with that if the replacement towels didn't have the terry part seperating from the border. Also didn't appreciate getting a Frette robe with a freyed collar. Certainly not the standards we've become accustomed to.

 

If this is what Celebrity call Modern Luxury, I'd rather have Traditional Luxury back.

We are sailing the Infinity when it arrives back in the USA returning to an Aqua cabin and hope your experiences with beef and modern luxury items are not the norm! Just wondering, since we previously enjoyed and now expect the luxury oversized towels and Frette robes without freyed edges, can we request that they be replaced? Has anyone done so?

PORT CHANGE: We are not stopping in Lisbon (presumably because of weather). They are trying to decide where we are going instead….or if we are just heading towards Bermuda which has a category 4 hurricane bearing down. Net…we have no clue where the ship will stop next; we have no idea what provisions they were planning to load in Lisbon, etc. On the positive side, we are rocking and rolling less now, presumably due to a change in course to avoid weather.

 

Good show tonight..comedian. Went to Blu immediately after the 7pm show and just avoided the rush, so no waiting tonight. Good dinner. We will exchange our welcome on-board champagne tomorrow in Blu (sommelier said OK). Our friends asked the cabin steward and he changed the champagne to wine for them.

 

We do have some mysteries. Last night we found chocolate covered oreos on our pillows; tonight nothing. Our friends who are elite received a fresh rose for their room….we are elite plus and just four doors down from them and received nothing. We had a cruise critic cabin crawl and some cabins had towel animals, and some (including ours) have none.

 

The captain’s club event worked tonight because of the weather….some apparently skipped although it’s amazing how many appear for a free drink. More hors d’0evers were passed tonight than last night.

 

I had a sushi snack…they had mostly rolls or handrolls..tuna and eel as well as vegetarian and fake crab for California rolls. It was OK, but the selection on the solstice class ships is much better.

 

We’ve had a couple of maintenance problems in our cabin but they were taken care of almost immediately….well done.

Wow your posts have been amazing, can almost feel the rock and rolling!!! We will be on the ship 10/27 -- hope it stays in good shape. Thanks for some wonderful reading.

Jan & Frank

I'm on her in less than three weeks. Thanks for the good review, so looking forward to Blu and just having 8 days of being pampered.

We are also booked on the 10/27 cruise and would like to hear robandlil's comments about the Aqua cabin, Captain, Cruise Director, entertainment! Anything you have time to post. Thanks

Does anyone know who the Captain is end of October and if Alejandro will be the CD? Have heard he is excellent!

Elena,

 

We sail Azamara and Celebrity. They are completely different experiences, but we love both. :)

Hi Texed: Just curious as to what differences there are that you love. We love Azamara and just started back sailing on M ships with Celebrity. For us booking Aqua and dining in Blu helped in the changeover from Azamara to X.

yes...A1...we managed to get one of the new rear facing cabins on deck 11. We've been in A2's on deck 9 of the infinity twice in the past year so we should be able to give a fair comparison.

Yes, I now recall reading your recommendation for Deck 9 and we booked 9110 and 9112 for our friends. We had an A1 on the Summit last year, beautiful cabin and location with easy access to Sunset Bar. Our reason for A2 this cruise was DH needs a little more protection from the sun. Will be watching for your posts.

Follow my "live from the infinity" thread which I'll start around Oct 10/11th.

Thanks, we will definitely be following your thread. If you are booked in Aqua, we would love to hear your thoughts on Blu etc. Wishing you safe travels.

We were on Infinity in June of this year and had a fantastic cruise. No problems with the conditions of the ship at all.

Hi: Must admit we've been feeling a bit concerned recently reading some unfavorable reviews of Infinity. We have cruised with Azamara and really loved their ships and staff. Seeing that you have sailed Azamara many many more times than we and had good comments on your recent trip on Infinity is comforting. We will be onboard the Infinity end of October and hoping we also will have no problems.

I read a description that the port holes in the floor of the buffet area looked down onto the sea. When viewed from the proper angle, the position of the port hole is over the water not the balcony. Hopefully , Celebrity took customer privacy into consideration!

Do the Constellation oceanview cabins on deck 3 have the oversized windows like those on Infinity and Summit?

This might have changed since August 4th, but this is my list. Staff Captain Matt was very nice. Claudia the Captain's Club Hostess was great. :)

Thanks Ed, appreciate your listing. We are looking forward to another Celebrity cruise after several on Azamara.

Have tried to read through most recent posts, but didn't find any current or new info for Infinity. We sail on October 27 and trying to figure out whose on board. Will Alejandro (sp) be the CD? Would like to hear from previous Infinity cruisers what staffers they liked in the past.

I'll be posting a live from the infinity thread on the TA next month....with pros and cons and changes I notice.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Great - we will be looking forward to your live review as we probably will be boarding right after you. Wishing you a great cruise.:)

We board the Infinity in late October and considering a Panama Canal cruise for next year and have also noticed more negative recent reviews. Are these negative comments due to the itinerary (Norway/fjords, etc.), a more picky group of cruisers, or perhaps a work weary staff? Not sure why the reviews are not more positive as we enjoyed the sister ship Summit in 2013 very much. We prefer the smaller ships and hoping Celebrity is also looking at these reviews and evaluating and making adjustments so that we find the outstanding service and cuisine we've come to expect of Celebrity on the Infinity in October as well.

I think I was the original poster that 9108 and further back we're good a2 cabins. We've been in 9108,10 and 12..our friends were in 9106 when we were in 9108 and they heard noise from a crew area above...we heard nothing. Now that a1 is offered to us at a2 prices, we try to get a rear a1.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

We and friends are staying in 9110 and 9112 on the Infinity in October and are obviously pleased to learn that these cabins are good locations. We were in an A1 on the Summit in 2013 #1124 and found it also to be a quiet cabin. The only tip we'd have is to remind yourself to take the far aft elevator when returning to your cabin, particularly in the evening, since taking the mid elevators up to deck 11 puts you out on the open sports deck which can be very windy and depending on the region chilly!

Sail7seas, would you be able to share the independent taxi/ tour guide you had take you around? Thank you!

Karen:)

We are visiting on 10/31 and would also like to know of the independent tour guide that Sail7seas had recently used, with length of tour and cost. We are not into upscale shopping and anxious to see the island. Thanks for your help.

Jan

All these little changes do make me rethink booking future Azamara cruises as compared to other cruise lines. My next cruise for 2015 is booked on Celebrity since a two week Caribbean cruise was less expensive than one week on Azamara.

Just returned to Azamara forum to read with dismay about the recent Loyalty Club changes. We are feeling less sorrow now about leaving Azamara when their itineraries and fares no longer accommodated our needs. We will always remember the wonderful cruises on Quest and Journey but are happy to say we have enjoyed recent cruises with Celebrity and are looking ahead to new adventures with them as well.

Just read this from Celebrity's recently changed policy for onboard bookings:

Special Update: Onboard Solstice, Eclipse, Constellation, Silhouette, Equinox, and Summit, the benefit of up to $500 with a Cruise Now booking is being given to you during your current cruise. Guests are enjoying instant Onboard Credits during this voyage and 123Go for their next voyage. Just something new we've begun to roll out on the fleet. It's going very well and guests are very excited to not only book their next reservation, but to get the instant OBC to spend on Tours, Gift Shops, Spa, Specialty Restaurants and more.

We will be cruising Oct. 2014 on Infinity and wanting to book another Infinity cruise for 2015 but it looks as though we won't be able to take advantage of the above type obc since Infinity is not listed as one of the ships included in this offer. Am I reading this correctly???

Has anyone heard from X if this offer will be changed to include other ships soon?

Does Celebrity plan any Halloween events? We will be cruising the Infinity leaving St. Barts at 5 p.m. 10/31 and wondered if there will be any special events scheduled with a Halloween theme.

Thanks to Marie51 and Blue Heron for your comforting comments. I try to read between the lines with reviews, but now and then one like this triggers a little more concern. I would expect all hotels have routine pest control, and of course there is always one or two that may get by, but the word "infested" troubled me a bit more this time.

Glad to hear the hotel was very clean in April and hope we too will find it the same. Yes, we got a good rate of $98 with LMT for end of October. Really looking forward to our stay at Gallery One. :)

After much research and comments from CC travelers, we booked two rooms pre-cruise in October 2014 for the Doubletree Gallery One in FLL. I just read a recent review where the guest complained of roaches in the room. Living in Texas we are aware of these pests, but good exterminating service keeps things like this in check. Is this a common problem in the Fort Lauderdale hotels or is this an isolated problem at Gallery One. We are paying a good rate and expect a clean and comfortable, bug free room. Should we consider changing our reservation? :eek:

We just went and it was SeasPass card for drinks and food, and then cash if you wanted to buy any souvenirs. Keep in mind that the locals are hard bargainers, almost felt like a timeshare presentation! Still walked away with some great stuff though :)

Can you give details about the "great stuff" you got as souvenirs, also approximate cost of such items would be helpful too. Thanks