Celebrity with a family - a simple review

[suzsummit]

Hey family cruisers -- just a copy of a review I posted on the Celebrity boards -- thought you might be interested too. Feel free to ask any questions but I have to say the kids loved all the sea days and 15 days was a perfect amount of time. my 7 year old son become homesick only in the last 24 hours of the cruise -- I think the packing brought it on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

First let me say I have thought carefully about the reaction that this posting may have on this board. Not only am I mentioning the mere thought of cruising with my children but I may also point out some things Celebrity may improve upon. If you are the type that only like the happy, ‘what a wonderful cruise’ reviews the please stop reading and pick a different thread.

 

OK the details

 

Ship : Infinity

 

Date : May 1st – 16th (FLL to SFO) via the Panama Canal

 

Stops : Aruba, Panama, Puntearenas Costa Rica, Huatulco, Acapulco, Cabo

 

The family details : myself and DH (pushing 40) and our three kids ages 12, 10 and 7

 

The rooms : royal suite 6137 connecting to CC class room 6135

 

 

 

 

 

The rooms were GREAT! It was like having a two bedroom suite. The whirlpool tub was larger than I expected and worth every penny. The hot-tub/whirlpool on the balcony was a great addition which we actually used about 10 times. Even have pictures of my son taking a bubble bath outside while we navigated the Panama Canal. Privacy is a little bit of an issue since people from the Oceanview café can see down into the balconies of these rooms. Although the royal suite balcony was partially covered it was still visible from a certain part of the Oceanview café (trust me we went up there to check out what people could see). The living room was big – we had 12 people in it for a cocktail party and nobody seemed crowded. The dining room table (which had 5 chairs) was used often. We ate breakfast on it and it became a great place for the kids to do their school work. The balconies were large and teak which was nice. The railing though was peeling… pieces of varnish would come off. But this was not a problem just something to note.

 

 

 

Water – you may have read that one poster had trouble with dirty water on this cruise. Well… it was interesting to note that sometimes when you filled up the bathtub you might get orange or grayish water. Now we attribute the gray to probably some sort of carbon filter change. The orange??? Hummm…. It usually went away and if you were not filling up a bathtub you would probably have never noticed it. I just made it a point not to let the kids drink the tap water; it was probably fine but didn’t want to take the chance. I mentioned it to the butler someone came up to check but since the problem was sporadic it was hard to pin down. Still took baths because 85% of the time the water was crystal clear.

 

 

 

Kids Club aka Fun Factory – there were only 22 children on this sailing and the staff of the Fun Factory are wonderful. My kids loved the PS2’s and the climbing structure with ball pit. My 10 year old enjoyed the variety of Arts and Crafts activities. They had lots to bring home at the end of the cruise. Being such a small group of kids they enjoyed winning many prizes at trivia and other games. They seem to have a lot of scavenger hunts for the older kids to go on. I was a bit scared about my 10 year old going around the ship to ‘find’ things. I still am up in the air about this activity. My 12 year old hated going up to strangers for this hunts so after we talked to the staff she no longer had to participate in these types of activities. The staff was very understanding and gave her alternate things to do.

 

 

 

Meals –

 

Breakfast - I am going to be honest here and probably will get flamed for my opinions. I found the breakfast to be boring after the first few days. The Ocean view Café had a breakfast buffet that was the same stuff for 16 days. The only variety I found was that on a few occasions they had cheese crepes. By day 12 I couldn’t stand to see the same food again. Although my kids didn’t seem to mind and I think they survived on bacon and frosted flakes. I would have like to see different foods available. Maybe a daily special item… They had an omelets station that you could add your variety too but I am not one to eat omelets for 16 days straight. Also maybe it was just me but does this ship have tomato or cranberry juice in the morning? Had trouble ever finding it. The dining room breakfast was basically the same as the Oceanview but with poached egg options. Room service breakfast was strange…. My kids were in the connecting CC class room and they had a fabulous breakfast menu (smoothies, French toast with marmalade butter, asparagus, and Total cereal listed…) the suite breakfast menu was the same as the rest of the ship. It made no sense to me that the CC rooms were able to get better food options than the Suites… We ordered off the CC class menu for the whole family quite a few times and just ate it in the suite. If we did not have the connecting rooms we would have never noted the difference.

 

 

 

Lunch – Went to go to the trellis restaurant once for lunch and they had no kids menu. Since my kids were not interested in anything on the adult menu that day we walked out. It was disturbing that they had a great kids menu for dinner but no such option for lunch. Because of this we never got to eat lunch in the Trellis restaurant. OceanView café always had a few tasty items but I still found it lacking flavor by the end of the cruise (I wanted more garlic and spices). Kids ate a lot of hot dogs and hamburgers. The fries were very tasty. But the true find was the AquaSpa café – loved the food here, found out that they even have a daily menu of 2 entrees that you can order and someone will bring them out to your table. Talked to the waiters whom I recognized from the SS United States Restaurant and found out the same cooks prepare the food for the AquaSpa.

 

 

 

Dinner – our waiter was fine…. Not stellar…. Just fine. I never really felt ‘special’. We didn’t order coffee on the first night so he never offered it to us after that. He really spent very little time explaining the menu. Never got that warm fuzzy feeling. Food was French cuisine so I found it lacking in the spices. Everything was good but I found myself craving more flavor (aka zing, spices, exciting the palate) by mid cruise. Tried to talk to waiter about this and was offered a bottle of hot sauce but that was about it. Kids menu was good and the children always found something to eat – even by combining their ordering from the adult and children’s menus. Ate at SS United States where the food was GREAT! But just too much of it! Would have liked a lot smaller portions; I was full by the third course and never got to enjoy the rest of the meal. But everything I did taste was top notch. Next time I think I would eat there at least three nights on a 14 night cruise.

 

 

 

Room service – Kids stated room service pizza was better than that found by the pool. I had to agree. They also had clam chowder and chicken noodle soup. The chicken broth was amazing! I ordered at least 6 bowls during the cruise and it always seemed to be excellent. The canapés delivered to the room were very funny. We enjoyed them the first week; playing guess that canapé. If you are not adventuresome with food and don't like seafood than the canapés might not be best for you. They were heavy on things like shrimp, smoked salmon and caviar. But as with everything else by the second week it became a bit boring. We received afternoon tea at 3:30pm delivered to our suite. It was nice always had a nice selection of sandwiches and cookies. Enjoyed this – a nice suite perk.

 

 

 

Overall I would have to agree with past posters and rate the food as really good wedding food. I know that 2,000 people a night is a challenge so I think Celebrity did a great job – I just wish they understood that some of their clientele might be younger and enjoy spices, salt and crunch foods. If the same foods were served on land I don’t think I would go to it more than once. I am spoiled though, living in California Bay area with an abundant of fresh veggies and fish. And I like fusion cooking so for me 15 nights of French style cook was overkill.

 

 

 

The breadstick were…. Breadsticks…. I honestly don’t understand the hype on these boards for them except they were better than any other bread in the basket. The SS United States had amazing breads and rolls though. The salads were the same items just chopped in a different way each night. Two nights I had tomatoes that were totally crunchy, it could be me but I don’t think tomatoes should taste like celery. Also if you don’t like cream dressing make friends with your assistant waiter and make sure he brings you the ‘light and healthy’ option. It seems ours just brought around the creamy ones every night and always forgot to bring the healthy option. On two occasions I made him scurry off to the kitchen to track down the alternate dressing for the night.

 

 

 

 

 

We, as a family, enjoyed the sea days. We took this cruise to spend time together and this itinerary gave us that time. We enjoyed Puntearenas in Costa Rica. Had a private tour company give us a fabulous tour. They were extremely kid friendly – it was the highlight of the trip. Best shopping for local crafts was definitely in Costa Rica. I loved the objects made from all the various woods; puzzle boxes, bowls, and trivets. We bought the most in this port and liked the prices we found at the craft stands that are located at the end of the pier. I never felt like I was getting ‘ripped off’ and usually did not bargain because I thought most prices were fair and the vendors could really use the money.

 

 

 

Huatulco in Mexico was our second favorite port – small town feel. Good food, nice people. Not full of hustle and bustle. Would definitely go back to this town for a land based vacation in the future. Bought some nice ceramic bowls here.

 

 

 

Alcapulco was nice… did swim with dolphins at CiCi water park. Kids had a marvelous time. Stop to Tacos and Beer (close to the ship) for food. WONDERFUL, spicy, lots of seafood, avocados on everything… YUM! Also had a brand new climbing structure that the kids spent about an hour paying on. It was safe and very clean. Bathrooms were spotless. Highly recommend this place for families. But the town in general was too noisy, to fast, too crowded for my tastes. Hated running the gauntlet of taxi drivers and people wanting cash just for walking me somewhere – never said ‘NO thanks’ as much as I had to on this pier.

 

 

 

Cabo – been there, done that. Nice water front but the Starbucks coffee and Curves workout center sort of says it all. Pricey for food – it seemed to be as expensive and possibly more than what I pay at home.

 

 

 

Aruba – beautiful… nice beaches (liked baby beach but kinda funny with the refinery spewing out black smoke in the background). Ostrich farm was fun for the kids. They got to hold 5 day old ostriches. We enjoyed this stop on our tour. Did the colors of Aruba tour and was a great general tour for people that have never visited the island and with four stops in total and one being a hike through some rocks (kids fun!) and another for some time on the beach it was the perfect mix for our family.

 

 

 

I guess this review could go on forever. But basically I found the Infinity to be a wonderful ship but not sure if I got full value. I think with the conversion of a bunch of rooms to CC class it makes the staff busier and since this was the first cruise of the conversion I think they have some kinks to work out. I never felt, ‘special’. Never once did an officer make a point of stopping by our room. I thought the disembarkment procedure was supposed to be easier if you had a suite. It seemed like a cattle call to us. Line to immigration stretched from the Celebrity theater to the Trellis restaurant and back to the casino again. It got comical – but I believe it was because we arrived late in port and it took time for the immigration officials to get set up. Also a group of people did not go through immigration properly and they held up the disembarkment by 90 minutes. We were all ready to hunt down the infamous Mrs. Pringal from the 9th floor and tar and feather her. I think anyone who has to be called more than once should have to pay a fine to the cruise company for the problem

 

 

 

Would I take a Celebrity cruise again…? Maybe? Will I cruise again? Definitely! Looking at the Med next spring. But am looking for a ship with more dining options and different variety of food. But I still want the simple elegance that Celebrity offered…

 

 

 

Ok – so there it is the review, feel free to ask questions, ignore this review or flame away. I have be actively reading cruise critic for the last 9 months so I know the routine.

 

 

 

-s

[MLAW]

Hey, no flames here. What a great review!! I really appreciate hearing the good and the not so good. We are booked for a 12 night cruise in the med. next summer with our 8 and 10 year old daughters so I appreciate your comments about this length of cruise with children. We will be on the Golden Princess with Anytime Dining so I'm hoping this flexability will be helpful on such a port intensive sailing. How did you handle clothes for that many days? Princess as laundry facilities so I'm thinking I will do laundry halfway through and have everyone wear those clothes a second time. Any other advise for longer trips would be appreciated.

[suzsummit]

Packing was difficult. If I would do it again I would pack half as much and use the ship's laundry. We had 3 formal and 4 or 5 semi/informal nights so we spent a lot of time dressing up. I think I forgot that the kids would only be in their 'dinner' clothes a few hours so each outfit could have easily lasted 3 dinners. Also I found that by packing a black skirt for myself I was able to wear it three nights by just altering the top I wore with it. Next time I would do this more for the kids (1 black pair of nice pants and 3 fancy night-time tops).

 

Also found out that if you spend most of the days on the beach / in the pool you actually can pack less underthings since the kids are in their bathing suits all day.

 

We actually had 7 large bags for the cruise and two small carry-on's -- pretty good thinking we are a family of 5. But when we do the Med I want to get it down to 5 bags.... just plan on washing more.

 

about the length of the cruise -- I was worried that it was too long for the kids but they managed great! Just remember sometimes they need down time. One day my 12 year old just layed around in bed and spent the whole day in the cabin (ordering room service). She needed her time and space so we let her have it. ALso there were times where we left the ship in the AM stayed out till 2pm and the kids were tired. SO we dropped them back at the cabin (remembering my daughter is almost 13 and babysitts) and they got to relax and play gameboys while my husband and I left the ship again to do some shopping (we alwyas stayed very close to the ship). And some mornings we never left the cabin until lunch-time. It was good for the kids and us to just hang out in our PJ's some days.

 

-s

[MLAW]

Thanks for the great information. My greatest concern about the itinerary is we will only have one day at sea. It does seem that the ports are scattered well so that a couple of heavy touring days (ie, Athens) alternate with beach days such as Corfu. I guess we will just have to be flexible. Thanks again for the info.

[famcruiser]

Hi and thanks for the review. I'm curious, though, about the hours of the kids programs. We've never cruised on Celebrity, only RCI, with our 7 year old son. But, we're thinking about taking a 10 to 14 day cruise, next time. And, now that Celebrity has partnered with RCI, we can enjoy the same status as a Platinum member on Celebrity.

Thanks, Carole

[suzsummit]

Hi and thanks for the review. I'm curious, though, about the hours of the kids programs.

Thanks, Carole

 

The kids program ran from 9am - 10pm on sea days. You had to take your kids out sometime during lunchtime to feed them (the kids club did not serve lunch) but they do serve dinner. After 10pm there is a charge of $6 per hour per child until 1am. They called this the slumber party time.

 

On port days you had to sign up for the kids club the day before. They had the same hours but charged for lunch and dinner time. (lunch 12 - 2 and dinner 5-7) same $6 per hour per kid. The rest of the time was free.

 

Since I have an almost 13 year old and two younger siblings we picked the kids up by 10pm and then settled them in bed in the room then about 5 times (on a 15 night cruise) we went out for the evening. We only left them in the kids club on one port day (cabo) because the water was very rough that day and getting into the tenders was not the safest.

 

hope this is helpful,

-s

[a1plumbing]

Thanks for the great review! My husband and I are currently trying to decide between Princess and Celebrity for our first cruise and I enjoy reading everything whether good, bad or indifferent about the two lines.

 

Do you know what the age breakdown for the children's programs are? My sons are 8, 9 and 11 and I was wondering if they would be placed in the same program?

[suzsummit]

I believe they were

3-6

7-9

10-12

and 13-17

 

But when the sailings have few children the groups play together more. On our sailing there were 22 kids and only about 15 were in the kids program (others were infants), They put the 3-7 year olds together and the 8-12 year olds together. Understanding that the 8-12's were all girls who became good friends and wanted to do everything together. There were times when only 4 or 5 kids in total were in the child care center that they all just did things together.

 

-s