Infinity Iceland and the Fjords cruise 24 June - our review of life onboard

[uktog]

RobandJames have already posted a very good review of this cruise but as we have some other highs and less highs to pick up on I thought we would go ahead and post this review.

We agree so much with what RobandJames said about the range of passengers from the delightful to the downright rude. Unfortunately some of the rudest were from the more senior citizens onboard. There was also some cultural differences in how we line up that had to be addressed (aka reminding some guests this was not to Madrid or Tokyo underground where you push first and think later). Coupled to this we had some differences in how families manage their children (there were quite a few on board) – again this ranged from the loveliest politest young gentlemen holding doors open and behaving impeccably during activities to some complete non supervision of young children where parents thought giving kids Ipads/Tablets and letting them loose was acceptable and then playing the “no speeky the English card” when challenged about their kids running around the buffet and corridors.

Anyway to the cruise. We chose this trip for its itinerary and its dates which worked best for our schedule. Our preference was for an Azamara trip but we could not get dates to line up, so we opted for Celebrity whom we have also been with many times before. We did remember to manage our expectations and remember this is not Azamara!

We were blessed with average weather for the area, no heatwaves but also it did not rain every day as some predicted and temperatures were very acceptable

Boarding

We drove to Colchester to the Travel Inn on the A12 the night before via Cambridge. Anyone looking for somewhere to spend time within a 90 minute drive from Harwich and who has done London should think about a trip to Cambridge – its another world and so pretty.

We decided on staying in Colchester rather than the Travel Inn at Harwich which adjusts prices depending on whether there are cruises leaving the next day or not, so a cost saving of over £50 was not to be overlooked.

Entering the port car parking was less efficient than we have experienced at Southampton however it was hampered by the fact that the occupants several cars ahead of us had inexplicably packed their passports in their suitcases and could not remember where (unbelievable I know!). Once into the terminal, check in was extremely efficient and we were on board before we realised it sitting in Bistro on 5 avoiding the zoo elsewhere.

Our cabin

Cabins were ready ahead of the previously announced time and we met out room attendants (Ray and Romeo) who turned out to be two of the best we have ever had. Our room was an Aft Aquaclass on Deck 11, we have been in this room on Summit so knew what to expect. We did note this cabin creaked a lot more and on this trip, there was a lot of movement in this room which we did not feel whenever we walked towards midship. I would advise others to think twice about the aft cabins if ship movement affects you. We certainly had a lot of swell on this trip and although the stabilisers were fully deployed, this does not fully protect the aft rooms.

You no longer get a fruit bowl in Aqua class, just a trendy dish with three apples in it. I am not sure what would have happened if I had asked for a fruit bowl, our cabin team was very accommodating so I think it would have appeared but I did not test this.

Food onboard

Ah the subjective issue of food. We met people who ate the same meal as us and said it was awful, we met others who said the food was so poor now as to be not worth eating and then we sat in our parallel universe because we believed we had great food in Blu. The team is really well managed by Woldzimierz Czajka the Maitre D who has a lovely style when he seats you - after a few nights once he knows everyone’s names, he introduces you by name to the people sitting at the table beside you which really breaks the ice nicely.

 

Wine service is excellent – there is a darling poppet of a sommelier Nash (just married to the lovely sommelier Rebecca in the MDR) who gave absolutely excellent service. All the waiters were good and efficient, the two young assistants (Pamela and Maria) were the most engaging – better in some ways than many of their male counterparts.

 

We had issues with two meals, one a main course of squab was hard to cut and chew– to be fair, the waiter had warned against the choice but I love squab. It was well tasted, slightly tough and hard to manage. On a second evening our prime rib was not warm – however this was properly rectified in an instant and the resultant dish was great. So the message has to be, be guided by the wait staff, but if you do not like what is served speak up.

 

We certainly enjoyed the steaks (ask for frittes to be included if you wish them) and the duck breasts were delicious. Desserts are a little more limited but the anytime chocolate cake is certainly something to enjoy the layers of duc du leche in it make the cake extremely moist. For us as ever the soups were the high spot – it has to be the old adage of having a good stock that makes the soup as all had very good strong stock bases.

 

We found the lunchtime buffet was good with a lot of variety – yes items repeated on several days but we were on an eleven night cruise and there were so many options between pasta, salads, sandwiches, hot entrees, Asian choices, you could easily find something different each day. We did find the lunchtime desserts a little repetitive but as we were in colder climes managed this by starting with soup instead something we do not normally do on cruises.

 

There were offers to be had for speciality restaurants – we did not take any but did take part in the Connoisseur dinner ($99 each six courses including paired wines). We were joined by three other couples and it was a very good evening. They also offered a lunch one day for $25 and a champagne afternoon tea (I do not recall the costs).

 

Entertainment

So I have been in subjective bear trap No 1, now trap 2, entertainment. We had not cruised before with the cruise director John Coleman who liked to be referred to as JC. He was very young and I got the feel as I did not see his own talent he had been employed as much as a manager of entertainment as anything. He was very personable, always around the ship and the range of entertainment put on was fair given the itinerary and demographics of the guests.

 

We thought the production cast had been strengthened and the shows were good. It was lovely to meet up again with Tina Larusso leading the Celebrity orchestra. The party band was Fusion, but maybe it was me but I thought they were not a patch on The Fusion I remembered of old and I thought the group members had changed. I will be happy to be corrected on this one but they were just off for us on this trip.

 

Guest entertainers were limited, with three production shows, no show overnight in Reykjavik, the start and end varieties and one lounge act (Ric Steele) also taking a turn on stage. We did not see the hypnotist as we know we do not like that sort of activity but unlike on previous cruises we really enjoyed the comedian (Dianne Coussins, a slightly more “mature” welsh lady) who reminded us in some ways of Sue Denning. Her humour hit the mark for us, as ever we found others who hated it, isn’t it good we do not all like the same thing!

 

Several activities were offered under the banner of Celebrity Life Activities. There was a naturalist (Graham Sunderland) which some loved. I was probably a little unfair as I was benchmarking him against Brent Nixon and I had some issues with the relevance of some of the content and the timing – ie I wanted to know more at the beginning of the cruise and was disappointed to discover items at the end that would have been relevant during the Iceland visit for me.

 

For us, two activities really worked, firstly the talks on space exploration by Jim Kennedy the former director of the NASA (Kennedy) Space Centre. Superb insights, woven into his thoughts on leadership and really so “listenable” – says she who hated all things physics at school. He was also a charming person and he and his wife seemed so happy to give up time to converse with guests all over the ship even when it was probably intruding on his eating and leisure time.

 

I also took part in the watercolour classes run by Giaccomo (Jim) I was thrown out of art classes in school as I hated drawing people (and in retrospect probably transferred that hatred into inappropriate and disruptive behaviour.) Here I had my eyes opened to what I could achieve and these classes which were at no cost but included all the materials some of which you could take home like the paints, were such a delight – shame they were on at 0915 they reduced my elite bloody mary time!!! I was horrified by the greed and behaviour of fellow guests on the first day. People were taking 2 and 3 paint sets one I regret to I say it Elite lady told me she would take the kits home as presents for her family and a large asian family walked in and lifted 6 packs for the children in their group, playing the no speeky the English card when challenged by other guests (we know they did but were as said earlier past masters at using this card). Anyway those who came in later classes had to use different paint sets so Jim coped well with a group where multiple watercolour palate types were being used.

 

There were various dance classes and a Glee Choir all of whom performed in the Infinity’s got Talent show the last sea day. That dance event had to be the funniest thing I have seen for a long time – please though if you are a serious dancer, bear in mind this is not a serious event as you are paired with officers and having fun is the main purpose of the event. All I will say is on our cruise we had split trousers, illegal use of props and a number of other sillies but great judging involving the F and B manager John Paul – a character. At that event the officers did a dance routine - great to see them have such fun and sending themselves up as they did.

 

Captains Club

Melissa Snow was a very good hostess and seemed more relaxed on this ship than on Solstice. The number of elites was below the level to trigger vouchers so most evenings we had access to the Constellation lounge. The lounge is now laid out with areas and routes roped off for non elites – it makes sense though this meant we were always beside the band area rather than looking out to sea.

 

The staff worked very hard up there, Linda and Jennifer were particularly attentive and we made sure they were rewarded for their efforts. We saw a few others gently pass tips to servers but most seemed to ignore them (though they may have given a larger sum last night though for many I think not). They were being quite firm serving the menu only and we heard some people being unspeakably rude to the servers about the fact they could not have their favourite drink – and to the person who said they would be making sure everyone on Cruise Critic understood how tacky the drinks were, taking it out on the young server is not the way to handle your issue – Melissa was always on hand and she is the point to go to.

 

There is a lovely snacks server Jules with the biggest smile ever looking after guests – he positively rushes over to those he knows appreciate snacks and has such a happy demeanour.

 

They experimented one night and issued vouchers instead. This was the evening we were sailing away from Gerainger at 1800. The vouchers were valid everywhere except Al Bacio, Cellar Masters and the dining room between 1700 and 1900. That was the best move ever made for that night and further convinced me of the value of the change over to vouchers. We sat and soaked up the view on our balcony for the first drink secured from the aft bar, moved to the Aft for the second and met up with Elite guests who we had not seen before in the lounge because they were travelling with non elite friends so a new wider of circle of friends ensued. We gather the Martini Bar was very popular that night with voucher users – they served the smaller measure martinis to voucher guests (indeed if you are a package holder or do not want a big martini they will do a smaller version of any martini) – martini bar is great as ever, Randy is a lovely server.

 

But I digress, back to the Captains Club events. The lunchtime celebration event was like the ceremony of the snouting of the animals. Pushing to get in, typically associated with loud calls of we are usually with Royal Caribbean and we get our drinks/food much quicker. Servers struggled as those nearest the server kept getting hijacked for top ups on the starboard side by those who had “come for the bevy” as one gent so nicely said when those on the other side were still without. All credit to the young Bar Manager and to Linda who spotted after half an hour we were still minus a drink. The food offered seemed less than before (or maybe as in the case of some of the fruit displayed the starving and malnourished had devoured well before we got there). This was fine by us, we did not go for the food and drink but found with the numbers and general atmosphere this event has had its day. We had missed it for a couple of cruises and I think may miss it in future trips if it stays on the same format.

 

The Senior Officers Cocktail party was marginally better, though again because the Captain was slightly delayed in arriving the mob rule to get into the lounge was a little crazy. Next time we will time to arrive 5-7 minutes after the advertised start as quantity of drink does not concern us.

 

We did not attend any of the other events but did welcome the laundry vouchers and the internet minutes. We found the wash and fold came back in a far better state than on Solstice, there were issues with dry cleaning vouchers not being processed but these were quickly sorted by Melissa

 

Internet

At this stage I need to talk about the ships internet – it sucks so much it is terrible. Celebrity need to get in mind that many guests have to keep in touch with home offices and if they cannot do that they will not be cruising. I have some sympathy with the staff on embarkation day but I think there needs to be much better queue to set up accounts management that day and when old Granny who has never used the internet comes along, this is not the time to start to teach her (as happened on this trip).

 

The staff are also not proactive in telling you when the internet connection is down, so you can be signed in running minutes trying to get pages to open and being charged when there is actually a fundamental connection problem. I appreciate in Norwegian fjords connectivity might be challenging but the gem was when I asked the employee why it kept running down my minutes when I was logged on in my cabin when connection was never going to happen, the response was, well you really should not use the internet in your room and we had a sign up about the problem in the Ilounge. A very calm “I will pretend I did not hear that comment as I am on a ship that advertises internet connectivity from my room” produced an appropriate refund of lost minutes. Several times the log off scripts did not run fully so be very careful to check you are logged off – in any event log on and log off scripts take on average 4 minutes of your time each time you do it – another annoying thing they need to sort out as this is an underhand revenue generator. The computer savvy are on their case most days, it is the still learning who are hostage to fortune.

 

Some general points

There is an experiment in place relating to using Michaels Club through the day as a VIP lounge so you can no longer go and sit in there during the day. According to guest relations you can still sit there but the sign clearly says “Private event by invitation only”. There is a concierge in the lounge who is looking after the Penthouse, Royal and Celebrity Suite guests and selected “top cruisers and VIPs” There is no access for Sky suites

 

Park West is back, on a cruise where there is a need for the indoor space (weather, location) it was frustrating that they do not limit their encroachment to the small gallery area on Deck 5 but also take over the Rendezvous Lounge each auction day for several hours. There also seemed to be an issue with some staff and guests if you are walking through to reach the restaurant or aft elevators during an auction, but just keep walking on and ignore them

 

I will do a separate report in the next day or so (maybe even with pictures if I master that) on our excursions and ports of call.

 

Disembarkation

We had been allocated a disembark time of 0800 but as this was too early for us we spoke with Melissa and agreed we would just go off a little later. We left the elite lounge around 0840 and there were absolutely no lines.

 

If you are parked in the carpark do not go looking for your luggage in the terminal beside the ship – head straight for the carpark shuttle as your luggage has been taken over to a second area by the car park where there are porters who then wheel it all the way to the car and help you load it into your car. Very very efficient and a nice calm end to the cruise.

 

UK immigration had boarded the ship in Bergen, they did no face to face checks but did a lot behind the scenes and I believe there were some guests called down for a face to face conversation but for everyone else it was just walk off no checks nothing (Fort Lauderdale please take note!!!!)

 

Overall

This cruise did exactly what we wanted it to do – it took us to the places we wanted to see on dates that worked for us and at a price that leaves money in the kitty for an Azamara trip later in the year. The service and food were very good, they did not compare to Azamara though, nor would I expect them to. The guests were much more selfish than we have seen on previous trips and there were far more behaviour issues than we have seen before, but it was also less related to drinking than we had feared when we had heard of the extent to which free drinks card promotions were on offer

 

All credit to Mark Zeller the hotel Director who is clearly running a very well lead operation – we would certainly hope to be on a Celebrity cruise where he is HD in the future.

 

Now back to that pile of unpacking and post cruise exercising!

[villauk]

Thanks for the review, you have brought quite a few interesting points to the table.

 

Pleased to know parking and disembarkation was good at Harwich. We may also look at staying a little further away from the port if there is that much difference in the hotel costs ;). I do hope the gentleman giving the talks is onboard when we sail next year on Infinity. Our DS would love listening to his tales of NASA.

 

Was there an afternoon tea event on your sailing? We thoroughly enjoyed that Elite perk on our Solstice New Zealand cruise :).

[drarill]

Great review!! :):)

[uktog]

Was there an afternoon tea event on your sailing? We thoroughly enjoyed that Elite perk on our Solstice New Zealand cruise :).

 

There was it was served in the Trellis Restaurant on the day between Iceland and Norway if I remember correctly. Due to over eating elsewhere we did not attend so not sure how busy it was or how good it was

 

By the way, warmed scones, jam and cream (though not clotted) is available every afternoon around 1600 in Oceanview café together with nice cakes (though the best cakes are still at Al bacio and I can confirm there is no charge for these cakes even though there are charges for coffee - they have a sign up saying they will do take away cakes). DH used to get his cake there then go up to Oceanview for his tea and sandwich

[villauk]

There was it was served in the Trellis Restaurant on the day between Iceland and Norway if I remember correctly. Due to over eating elsewhere we did not attend so not sure how busy it was or how good it was

 

By the way, warmed scones, jam and cream (though not clotted) is available every afternoon around 1600 in Oceanview café together with nice cakes (though the best cakes are still at Al bacio and I can confirm there is no charge for these cakes even though there are charges for coffee - they have a sign up saying they will do take away cakes). DH used to get his cake there then go up to Oceanview for his tea and sandwich

 

Thanks. Yes, we also enjoy the afternoon cream teas and taking a seat at Cafe Al Bacio to enjoy their delicious offerings :).

 

It's the itinerary that has drawn us to this cruise. Even though we have been to both Geiranger and Bergen previously (we're definitely looking forward to a return visit), Iceland is the place we're most anticipating ;).

 

One more question, we have an aft FV booked and I was curious about your comments on ship movement. Do you think you felt more because of rougher seas, or purely the position of your cabin i.e. being quite high up at the aft?

[uktog]

Do you think you felt more because of rougher seas, or purely the position of your cabin i.e. being quite high up at the aft?

 

I think it was the fact that it was a heavy swell and deck 11 is high up. It was OK for us, but I know others suffered which is why I mentioned it. I did not notice the movement in Blu which is towards the back so I think being on a higher deck also played a part

[portofrome]

Thanks for your review.

[Johnsanders]

We were also on this cruise and concur with most of what RobandJames and uktog posted. We felt the food in MD was good and agree that the Dance Event was one of the funniest things we have seen on a cruise but we thought Fusion were very good.

 

However, along with others we spoke to, we found Graham Sunderland difficult to understand at times and the worst part of the whole cruise was the initial parking at Harwich. We had pre paid but everyone was kept in the slow moving lines and it was not until reaching two cars from the booth that those who had vouchers were waved into the outside lane to drive straight through. So, instead of having a separate lane for vouchers everyone had to queue while others paid at the booth and to make matters worse one of the credit card machines broke and people were searching to pay by cash.

 

However, this did not spoil what turned out to be a great cruise.

Jim.

[cluso]

Great review--so can you guesstimate the number of kids on board--"quite a few" might mean more than 5 to some people--Ha Ha.

[julia]

Extremely "well put" review on every level!

Your observations are keen, and this was well balanced. I hope someone of authority at Celebrity reads this, and takes note of several comments you've made.

 

Thanks for taking the time to post.... :)

[Jb-lhr]

Ann,

Thank you so very, very much for your excellent unbiased review! We have met you both on two different Azamara sailings and we have great respect for you (always friendly, always outgoing, always helpful and able to miraculoulsy balance your work and cruising lives ... truly an inspiration). We are leaving on Monday on this same itinerary. Any specific advice? We have never been on a Millenium Class ship, but have been on many Solstice class as well as at least 8 Azamara sailings. Do we need to 'adjust our expectations'?

Thanks again for a great review and FAB pictures.

BTW have you ever done a river cruise? We also love those.

All best John and Paul

[uktog]

Ann,

Thank you so very, very much for your excellent unbiased review! We have met you both on two different Azamara sailings and we have great respect for you (always friendly, always outgoing, always helpful and able to miraculoulsy balance your work and cruising lives ... truly an inspiration). We are leaving on Monday on this same itinerary. Any specific advice? We have never been on a Millenium Class ship, but have been on many Solstice class as well as at least 8 Azamara sailings. Do we need to 'adjust our expectations'?

Thanks again for a great review and FAB pictures.

BTW have you ever done a river cruise? We also love those.

All best John and Paul

 

 

Hello John and Paul

 

Nice to hear from you and thank you for your most kind words. Funny we are beginning to think about some river cruises as time permits - trouble with this business thing, whilst it pays for the cruises, it also gets in the way of us cruising!!

 

I think we prefer the millennium class ships over the solstice class if we cannot go with Azamara as was the case here. They are smaller and if you forget about the "bling" of the solstice class, it is hard to tell the difference in the hardware. However, having a sizeable reduction in guest numbers is a big plus.

 

Yes, adjust your expectations and work out your own preferences - you might enjoy places like Cellar Masters (very quiet but lovely service and the adorable Fiore String trio play there most nights). Avoid peak times in Ocean View, Bistro on 5 is well worth the patronage and look out for those crew who are Azamara like - going the extra mile rather than the robots (there are some robots). Certainly Linda on the Elite lounge is one in that category and if you are in Blu, Nash the sommelier would be perfect for Azamara

 

Have a wonderful trip, I wish I was doing it all again

 

Ann

[uktog]

Great review--so can you guesstimate the number of kids on board--"quite a few" might mean more than 5 to some people--Ha Ha.

 

Good point, it was difficult to guestimate as I would say that around 10 were the "troublesome ones" but there were many others who were with their parents and little trouble. I always find there can be just 5 on board but if these 5 are trouble there might as well be 50 or 500.

 

It was the Scottish school holidays and also it will from this weekend be the rest of the UK holidays so the number will rise on the next few trips out of Harwich and Southampton . My guestimate would be somewhere between 40 and 50

[uktog]

Rather than clutter this thread I started a separate photo journal that covers the ports and some food.

 

It is here

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1877408

[Lovemychoos]

Just found this today, as we're thinking of booking Infinity for next Octobers Immersive Wine Cruise. We have many,many cruises with P&O, jumped ship to Celebrity 4 cruises ago, and have never (and will never,lol)look back :)

 

Brilliant, well balanced review, which has really put my mind at rest, having only cruised on S class up to now, and was a bit nervous about trying M class incase I was disappointed - as if ,lol

 

I also looked at your lovely photos, and we will definitely be doing the special wine pairing menu if it's on offer when we go.

 

Again, thank you for taking the time to post this great review.

 

Lou

[RKF]

Rather than clutter this thread I started a separate photo journal that covers the ports and some food.

 

It is here

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1877408

 

John and I board the Infinity on Monday so very much enjoyed reading your review. Our most recent cruises have been on Oceania. Our last Celebrity cruise was on the Constellation before it was "solticized". Sure we will find the Infinity and Celebrity service fine ( and we got an unexpected upgrade to a suite!).

 

I went to your photo site but I keep getting error messages...sure it is the operator of the computer causing the problem.

 

Can't wait till Monday. Best,

[laughing husky]

wonderful review with lots of good information. I will be on the Infinity in September for the 1st time. It will be the first time on Celebrity as I have usually cruise on Princess. It will be fun to see similarities and differences...And I so agree with you about people.....I think that occurs on all of the lines and, unfortunately, it is getting much more common....in cruising and in life. Tis a pity.....

[AGGSBAGGS]

Uktog, do you recall who the sommelier was on infinity. We were on infinity in Alaska last year and there was a lovely South African lady who was brilliant. She was going to reflection fir six months but was hoping to be back on infinity. Allison

[uktog]

The only two we came across were Nash (from Zimbabwe originally) and his wife Rebecca who was from Mauritius. There were two other lady sommeliers on board but we did not have direct contact with them, so I am afraid I cannot confirm or otherwise Aggsbaggs. The wine service was very good indeed - we did not have any packages and just bought as we wanted

[AGGSBAGGS]

Similar story the one we met, her hubby was from Mauritius and worked in one of the speciality restaurants. Chances are they are still on reflection. Would have been nice to have met them again. We are on infinity in October. Allison :D