Review of Mercury - Mexican Riviera 10/31, part 1

[DocJohnB]

My wife and I just returned from an 11 night Mexican Riviera cruise aboard Celebrity’s Mercury. I will preface this review with the usual rejoinder. The thoughts in this review are my wife’s and mine and are strictly our opinions. Others may agree or disagree with what I have written.

 

This would be a bittersweet cruise. A year ago, my best buddy Eddie and I started planning this cruise. Over the months we pre-booked our hotel in San Diego, obtained flights and arranged for a Park/Stay/Fly in Orlando. Eddie booked his while on the Summit last November. In addition to his wife, his adult daughter would join him. I booked ours while on the Explorer of the Seas. We both then turned our bookings over to our trusted Travel Agent. Unfortunately, Eddie had a recurrence of a cancer and passed away 6 weeks prior to the cruise. His wife and daughter decided to fulfill his wishes and were joined on the cruise by a second daughter.

 

Pre-cruise:

 

As our flight was to leave at 7 a.m. from Orlando we booked a room at the Wingate Inn ( http://www.wingateorlandoairport.com/hotelhome/ ) thru Park/Sleep/Fly. The hotel was well appointed and comfortable. We were able to park our car there free for one week and paid only $5 per day the second week. Transportation was provided to the airport.

 

After a rather long flight via Atlanta, we arrived in San Diego around noon on October 28th. After gathering our luggage, we caught the shuttle to our hotel - Holiday Inn on the Bay (HIOTB) ( http://hisandiego-onthebay.felcor.com/ ). We were able to secure accommodations via Priceline.com at $70 per night. Others paid more and it appeared that success depends on how early you booked and how much nerve you have. The HIOTB is a very nice hotel. It is situated directly across the street from the cruise terminal . . . this would prove beneficial to some at embarkation. The hotel provides shuttle service to a nearby mall and the San Diego zoo. One night they even provided us a shuttle to the gashouse district for dinner. Two blocks away is a stop on the city trolley (a good way to get around parts of this beautiful city. While the hotel does have a restaurant on premises, the food was rather blah and overpriced. They have an excellent Pub called the Elephant and Castle. For breakfasts we would walk about a block south to a deli and grab a bagel and egg at a reasonable price. There are numerous evening dining options available in the immediate vicinity and the famous Gaslamp quarter is a moderate walk or a short cab ride from the hotel.

 

Our friends second daughter flew in from Charlotte on the 29th and another single lady friend from our community would join us on the 30th. Friday, after settling in at the hotel, we explored Seaport Village, an eclectic collection of shops and restaurants just a few blocks from the hotel. Saturday, the ladies visited a local mall (Horton Plaza) and took a boat trip around the bay. Meanwhile, I visited the Navy base exchange and picked up some libations for the cruise. I then paid a visit to the USS Midway museum (located 3 blocks from the hotel). Being a retired Navy man and not having been around a naval base in almost 20 years, I rather enjoyed my day unaccompanied by the ladies. Sunday would find us at the San Diego Zoo. It is a lovely place to visit, with many, many exhibits to visit. But, be forewarned, bring you walking shoes. This was the evening that the hotel provided us a shuttle to the Gaslamp district. The main problem with the Gaslamp district is there are too many choices of restaurants. And, with 5 women trying to make the decision, the problem only grew exponentially. Eventually a fine Mexican restaurant was chosen. We decided that the meal had to be walked off, so instead of calling for the shuttle we walked the mile or two back to the hotel.

 

Monday broke sunny and cool (like the previous 2 mornings). Looking out across the street toward the cruise terminal I saw the Carnival Spirit and the Crystal Harmony tied up at the piers, but, alas, no Mercury. But, she did arrive about 30 minutes later and tied up getting ready to disgorge the previous cruisers and to start making preparations for us new guys to embark.

 

We had talked with the concierge the day before and he told us to call and ask for a late check out (2 p.m.). He said by then the mob would be gone and it would be quite simple to get a shuttle across the street with all our baggage. His prediction was dead on as there was quite a line-up going to the 3 ships starting at about 10:30 a.m. Unfortunately, the latest we could check out was 1 p.m., but this was OK as by then the mob had dissipated. We checked out and were shuttled over to the pier at 1:15 p.m.

 

Embarkation: Well, what can I say other than they have it/do it right in San Diego. We were in our stateroom at 1:40. After the shuttle dropped us off, a porter took our luggage. We had to wait a bit as our companions did not have luggage tags (more on this in a minute) and had to find a Celebrity representative to give them one before they handed over their luggage. We had all printed out our “E-tickets” and consequently things moved real quick. After giving up the e-ticket, showing our passports and credit card we were issued our “sail and sign” card and got in a small line to have our carry-ons checked and then we made our way to the photographer. The Carnival Spirit had use of the main terminal and the Mercury check-in was in a permanent tent like facility. It worked quite well though, but instead of walking up a ramp, we had to take a series of steps to the base of a ramp. Those with disabilities, were transferred via a machine to the top of the stairs. For us, just a minor inconvenience, for those with a disability, perhaps a bit more. Anyhow, once onboard, we were offered a glass of champagne or mimosa. Most were met by white gloved crewmembers and escorted to their staterooms. As we were familiar with the layout and were just one floor directly above our cabin, we opted to head there on our own. Once in the room (4071 - outside standard), I looked out the window and saw the stairs leading into the ship. So, rather than enjoy that view for a few hours, we decided to go up to the buffet for a late lunch then to go exploring until the muster drill..

 

(Celebrity as some know is going to a ticket less system. I am not sure all that this entails, but hope it works as well as it appeared to in San Diego. We got our documents about 4 or 5 weeks prior to the cruise . . . . our lady friend from the same neighborhood received hers about a week out . . . . while our friend and her daughters never received any documents. We all pulled the e-tickets from the website, so the only hang-up was - no baggage tickets - but it really wasn’t a problem, so maybe it will all work out just fine..