Breif critique. Connie 12/17-12/24

[jchipgcs]

1st Celebrity Cruise. I'm 99% sold on them and am exploring taking them on an Alaska trip.

 

I hate LONG posts so I'll sum it up briefly.

 

Loved the ship and it's design. My folks who are well traveled and cruised also felt it was extremely well laid out and easy to navigate.

 

It was, in my opinion, quirky and stylishly decorated. Elegance and whimsy mixed throughout.

 

I LIKED the Bar at the Edge of the Earths decor and so did all the folks in our group.

 

Very good passenger mix of ages.

 

Never felt crowded except when you were suppose to like at the pool parties. Parties were well attended and people danced and had a ball. I kept my coconut glass from the tropical party so I can put all my duty free liquor in it. I think it will taste better from that glass.

 

Main dining food was overall great. One or two nights I had a hard time selecting as nothing jumped out at me but was pleased with my choice. I'm considered a good cook. Passengers with us who don't have expansive tastes sometimes were only slightly happy with dinner but were acomodated on request for something else.

 

Cabin service in Concierge Class was super. Our fella, Melanio was sharp as a tack and we even gave him a list of things we wanted fresh every day as we snuck on liquor. We asked for and had a constant and endless supply of 2 buckets of ice, fresh sliced limes, olives with juice, bottle of tabasco and sale and pepper.

 

Tiny bits of wear and tear can be seen in some places but it's mostly like where someone closed the drapes in the balcony door and it left a smudge. The cabin carpets were 85% good but you can see 4 yrs of use out of them. Not bad at all. Common areas on board were beautiful and the ship is super clean.

 

One prob we had was the 1st night. Can't believe I'm saying it but......Black gunk kept the sink from draining and the water from shower, toilet and sink was dark yellow/orange. I yelled at my cabin mate for not flushing, but he had. It took 8 phone calls and me opening a can of "whoop a$$" on the eastern european gal at the guest relations desk to fix it, but they did. 3 of our 6 cabins in the group had a similar problem, but not like ours. My folks had perfect water the entire time. They said it was rust and we tested it. Filled the sink and over night let it settle. Sure enough......tiny rust particles settled to the bottom. I think it's ongoing and they need to fix it somehow. They gave us free bottled water via request to our cabin steward and he also brought as much water in pitchers as we needed till it cleared up.

 

I tested the water in the pitchers and it was sparkling. Must be a certain system of pipes that has the problem.

 

Other than that, I'm sold on Celebrity. My parents had been leaning to Princess for their "large ship" travels but have decided to go with X again as well. All other folks in our group would take them again too.

 

If you have any questions, fire away.