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Anyone remember Celebrity Mercury?


Presto2
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Our first Celebrity cruise was on the Mercury. We took my parents on a 7-day Alaska Inside Passage cruise out of Vancouver for their 50th anniversary. They had been on a lousy cruise on the now-defunct Dolphin cruise line, and weren't sure they ever wanted to cruise again, but Alaska sounded pretty good. What they didn't know is that 11 other friends and family members were joining us, and they knocked on my parents' cabin door (we had OV cabins next door to each other) about 5:00 on embarkation day. My parents thought it was the cabin steward bringing ice, and when my Dad opened the door, there were 11 friends and family shouting "Surprise"!

The ship was gorgeous. We had two large round tables at the back of the main dining room where we could see the wake every night. The staff was fantastic! I had made an English fruitcake iced with royal icing and had taken it onboard for their anniversary (my Mum is English and they got married in England with a traditional fruitcake wedding cake). I spoke to the maitre'd and he took the cake and had the pastry chefs decorate it -- a wonderful surprise on their anniversary (July 4th - Sitka had been the port and we had seen a small town Independence Day parade).

We loved the Martini Bar and closed down the Cigar Bar (I think it was Michael's) almost every night. We were so lucky on our whale-watching tour in Juneau; we saw Orcas in the distance and then got close to a pod of Humpbacks -- magic!

Everything about that cruise was perfect. Mercury was the most beautiful ship. Unfortunately, although we've had many really good cruises since then, there was something about Mercury.....

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We ended up on Mercury when our cruise on Millenium was cancelled for a charter...lucky for us...loved Mercury...for the ship itself, the fellow pasengers, and as you mentioned, the outstanding crew and exceptional service.

 

It was our 2nd cruise together after a trial run for dh on Sovereign of the Seas...like day and night! Glad he decided to give Celebrity a try!

 

We liked Century too...great ship for Europe. On our last cruise on her to W Carib, they had removed the T pool, installed a barber shop and enlarged the spa...We seriously missed that T pool

 

This sounds a lot like us! We did a short Sovereign cruise (4 day) and it was not for us. My husband reluctantly agreed to an Alaskan cruise, and we went on the Mercury! I remember thinking how huge it was!

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Our first Celebrity cruise was on the Mercury. We took my parents on a 7-day Alaska Inside Passage cruise out of Vancouver for their 50th anniversary. They had been on a lousy cruise on the now-defunct Dolphin cruise line, and weren't sure they ever wanted to cruise again, but Alaska sounded pretty good. What they didn't know is that 11 other friends and family members were joining us, and they knocked on my parents' cabin door (we had OV cabins next door to each other) about 5:00 on embarkation day. My parents thought it was the cabin steward bringing ice, and when my Dad opened the door, there were 11 friends and family shouting "Surprise"!

The ship was gorgeous. We had two large round tables at the back of the main dining room where we could see the wake every night. The staff was fantastic! I had made an English fruitcake iced with royal icing and had taken it onboard for their anniversary (my Mum is English and they got married in England with a traditional fruitcake wedding cake). I spoke to the maitre'd and he took the cake and had the pastry chefs decorate it -- a wonderful surprise on their anniversary (July 4th - Sitka had been the port and we had seen a small town Independence Day parade).

We loved the Martini Bar and closed down the Cigar Bar (I think it was Michael's) almost every night. We were so lucky on our whale-watching tour in Juneau; we saw Orcas in the distance and then got close to a pod of Humpbacks -- magic!

Everything about that cruise was perfect. Mercury was the most beautiful ship. Unfortunately, although we've had many really good cruises since then, there was something about Mercury.....

 

 

 

You’re right. There was something about Mercury.

 

 

 

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Have just been reading through all of these posts.

 

Just knew that there would be folks on here with fond memories! Will check out the deck plans tomorrow. :D

 

Thank you all SO much - keep the ideas coming :-)

 

I am guessing that we will end up this cruise with TUI or the Edge / Connie

 

Decisions, decisions, decisions

 

Thanks again

 

:)

 

Here is an old thread about Mercury that I saved after our cruise on her in 2010

 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2443379

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Have just been reading through all of these posts.

 

Just knew that there would be folks on here with fond memories! Will check out the deck plans tomorrow. :D

 

Thank you all SO much - keep the ideas coming :-)

 

I am guessing that we will end up this cruise with TUI or the Edge / Connie

 

Decisions, decisions, decisions

 

Thanks again

 

 

:)

If you go to cruisedeckplans.com you should be able to see current deck plans for the ship. It's a TA website with all ship of all the main lines and has a free section. We always find it valuable when booking a cruise.

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If the Mercury is now, Mein Schiff, it has a very large pool area. We docked beside it in Saint Martin, mid April. Not sure if it was “2”, but she looked well kept.

 

 

 

That was one of the Mein Schiff newbuilds (3 or 6).

 

 

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Our first Celebrity cruise was on Century, followed by Galaxy. My first solo cruise was on Mercury over Thanksgiving 2009. We/I loved the C class ships. When my DH was alive, we stayed in a Royal Suite. I stepped down, as a solo, to concierge. Loved every minute of these cruises. My last five cruises have all been in suites. While this has been wonderful, I still have a great fondness for the C class ships.

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Just as an update for this thread.

 

We have just booked a cruise on Edge for 2019 rather than TUI..... we just trust the quality of service more on Celebrity.

 

If nothing else, am glad that this thread has given you all the chance to share many happy memories :-)

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  • 1 month later...
Just as an update for this thread.

 

 

 

We have just booked a cruise on Edge for 2019 rather than TUI..... we just trust the quality of service more on Celebrity.

 

 

 

If nothing else, am glad that this thread has given you all the chance to share many happy memories :-)

 

 

 

We are on Edge in 2019 as well. Very excited to experience a new ship!!

 

 

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Our first cruise was on the Mercury, during her inaugural sailings. We sailed the Western Caribbean, April 1998. We were celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary and we became hooked on cruising . I remember during dinner, there would be music being played, softly by a small stringed group.There were no specialty restaurants. Just the main dining room, and the food was so delicious. Also the waiter would bring out samples of the desserts on a tray for you to see and choose from. Our waiter would bring us every dessert, even though we didn't ask for all of them. Such a wonderful experience and a special time in cruising!

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  • 2 weeks later...
I will try and describe some really great cabins on that ship assuming everything is pretty much the same. On what used to be the top passenger deck which Celebrity called the sky deck were four cabins on each end and each side. All the cabins in between were suites but these cabins were the same size as the suites and had huge balconies. They were so nice the new owners may have made them suites if that whole deck is still suites. Celebrity had these cabins as veranda cabins which were much cheaper. They were so desirable when Celebrity created Concierge Class, these were designated as Concierge. Same thing happened on Galaxy

Don.....we had one of these back when the ship was pretty new sailing Alaska.......it was awesome!

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If you go to cruisedeckplans.com you should be able to see current deck plans for the ship. It's a TA website with all ship of all the main lines and has a free section. We always find it valuable when booking a cruise.

That cruise line is not listed on cruisedeckplans.com .

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I have two very interesting stories about the Mercury, both with fond and interesting memories. Back in about November of 2010 we booked an amazing 12 (or maybe 11) night cruise on the Mercury from Vancouver to Hawaii. We had a group of 18 friends and family on that cruise. I met Les and David on these boards as a result of booking the cruise. They were frequent Celebrity cruisers. The cruise was scheduled to leave out of Vancouver on 09/24/2011 as I recall. I do not need to remind anyone of what happened on 09/11. We were booked in one of the 2 penthouse suites on the ship. Fast forward, a number of individuals in our group cancelled. We had a lovely 3 days in Vancouver before boarding the ship. When we boarded the ship, which had been sold out for over 6 months, it sailed at about 50% occupancy. It was a wonderful cruise. 4 or 5 nights sailing the Pacific and 7 nights sailing around the Hawaiian islands. One very distinct memory. The next sailing was a 10 night cruise sailing the Hawaiian islands and ending in Ensenada. There were so many people that cancelled due to 09/11 that they offered anyone to stay on for the next cruise for $200pp. Can you imagine? $200pp to stay in that Penthouse? I could not do so due to work obligations. Now, that Penthouse cannot compare to those on the M class ships because of the tiny verandah. We did not have a very good Butler on that ship either.

 

So, stay tuned for my next Mercury story.

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We cruised the Mercury out of Baltimore 8 times in one year! The last one was very sad but they gave away a lot of stuff! I still have a Celebrity Martini glass, big wood pepper mill, towels, binoculars, robe, plates and more from that cruise. They didn’t want to have to move it all I guess... Best crew ever, like a family...

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