Summary of my thoughts on 1st celebrity cruise, Infinity med july 2019

[fragilek]

I am just back from our 1st celebrity cruise - We sailed Infinity at the end of July 2019 from Venice round to Rome.  I have not a huge number of sailing to compare to - 2 x Royal 2x Carnival and 1 on  the Marella Explorer

 

As an over planer having trolled the boards pre cruise I was quite surprised on my take on this cruise as it seems out of kilter with what I had expected from reading on here.  This was a special cruise for us to celebrate my getting into remission from leukemia and to celebrate with our gilrs and their fiances after missing a 21st, a graduation and two engagements while I was in hospital. Our mums were coming too but unfortunately my mum took ill a few weeks before so was unable to travel.  We selected celebrity as we thought is would be superior to RCL and it was sailing from and to ports that interested us.  

 

I will highlight any differences with the  other lines - better or worse and will also try and describe the bits I found surprising wrt info I had read.

 

 

We had a good cruise - Nothing would have made it bad after the year we had had lol.

 

Things that surprised us 

The main shows were soooo much better than any we have had on our other 5  sailings- this surprised me as I had read that RCL and TUI should be much better but infinity was much more professional.  Unfortunately, that's were the good entertainment ended- the bar singers we encountered were awful.  (there was a good female singer/ duo but she seemed to always be put out of the way in the upper lounge or was on over our dinner).  Apart from me, my family are very musical (sing, and play many instruments and also compose too) and they struggled to sit through the male guitar singer even I could tell how off tune he was lol. That brings me to the venues - this was just odd all these seem to be just walk ways through the ship, so never able to have any atmosphere as most just use them to walk though. The only one (which again was just an area to walk though that was ever busy was the martini bar - its patrons seemed happy just to sit and drink all night getting louder as the night went on. There was no background music here - just odd.  We would go to the outdoor bar after the show but although there was music here during dinner time it was finished by 8.30 and the bar shut prompt at 11 (well no cocktails after 10.20 as the stuff was already cleaned apparently lol)

Another surprise was the pool area - In 2 ways - one you cant see the water from the beds in the indoor pool and the outdoor pool too is strangely obscured by showers/ spas and others things.  I cant go in the pools but usually like to be able to see them rather than face a low wall.  But even more surprising was the pool games- I thought from what I read that celebrity did not go in for all that stupid Butlins stuff - Well it went on all day person to person balloon passing (described by our 22yr olds as a bit like hen/stag go entertainment) , belly flopping, country team olympics and even sing alongs.  More antics on here than I have ever come across on Carnival or RCL. Definitely Butlins on sea especially on the sea day.  Escape to deck 4 were there is shade and peace.

 

The food

The main dining room probably had the best food we have had in here on any of our cruises, however, we had issues in here wrt allergies.  Our first night was really difficult my daughter is  allergic to egg.  We asked the waiter several questions and told him this.  But we quickly knew he did not know what he was talking about as he told her (and then me as I am celiac) that we could not have balsamic vinegar and removed the bottle from my daughters hands just when she was about to pour some.  He then said she could have the bread rolls but she was unsure by this point as he had also got other stuff wrong so she didn't take them  just as well as we later found out they had been glazed with egg.  We asked for the maitradee but he took 40 mins to arrive (It was very busy the 1st night but we had a booked time and had stated our allergies and filled forms in ahead of the cruise).  We did speak with the head on way out was told waiter was new and given a different excellent waiter for the rest of the cruise.  Again the food was very good even for me being celiac

 

The Buffet

 

Breakfast- we tried a room service breakfast the first day - but it was stone cold so from then on we went up to the buffet

the selection was good for most but was a bit of a let down wrt celiac - other cruises have this sorted but here I would say it was poor- they fried their stuff together so things I can usually have were not gluten free,the only labeled gluten free hot food was bacon( asked for an omelet one day but he correctly said need to wait 20 mins as he needed to clean down for me - we had a trip booked so opted for my daily banana on toast).   - they do not offer anything else other than 1 bread (sometimes white sometimes brown) and raisin bread - no rolls,no pancakes, no banana bread.  But there was plenty fresh melon orange and pineapple along with tinned other fruits and usually 2 different cheeses ,( note they claim salami ect has gluten in) so you wont go hungry even if celiac.

 

Lunch

 

Very good wide choice for lunch even a few choices for gluten free sweets (all be it they are also low sugar as well) and a nice ice cream selection

 

Afternoon tea

 

A very big let down for me here- I LOVED this on Marella - but they do not offer a gluten free version of this on the Infinity - they don't even have any gf bread and cheese out so a no go for me and as we had several trips booked that meant we missed lunch - then that  was me until dinner unless I took a gf pizza ( tried one - think microwave 1990's pizza - but at least I was full lol).- they really could improve on afternoon tea and could also do with learning from Marella how to make gf pizza.

 

The ship

 

Not a fan of this layout - I missed the atriums we had in RCL and Carnival ships

The decor was better than I had expected for an older ship and they were fixing stuff daily - the bathrooms could do with a revamp.  We rarely saw our cabin guy - but I don't need to see them, I have never had to ask for anything extra- just saying in case that is important to others

We had an issue in our cabin on night 1- there was a problem with the fan it seemed to blow out then made an awful noise that was like a jet landing, maintenance came after we called and just as well as 10 mins later there was an awful smell of wires burning  which meant we had guys in and out of our room and in the roof space until 3.30am they then left and forgot to remove their master key  from our door so a stranger walked into our cabin very very drunk at 4,30am-  (no idea were is was going as we were 6004!! at the end of the corridor) so not the best night I have had on a cruise.

 

The cruise as a whole

 

This ship was best for shows by far and up there with Marella for MDR (probably slightly better)  but Marella has the edge here as it has so many waiter service venues  to dine in for free including the MDR, formal Italian, laid back Italian, Tapas and a steak house. and also has an awesome afternoon tea that included food for celiacs

 

Value for money I would definitely say it wasn't worth twice what we paid for RCL (doing similar med  7night trip sames dates 2 yrs ago) and over 1.5 x what we paid for Marella all inclusive  for 14 night trip in the Caribbean. However, it was still a great cruise.

 

 

 

 

[hcat]

Thanks for your  review.  Congratulations on completing treatment and your remission,  Best wishes for  future good health!

[mnocket]

Thanks for the review.  The only real surprise for me was your experience with poolside entertainment.  I haven't experienced constant pool games, etc. on my sailings.  An occasional crew vs passenger volleyball game or poolside "name that tune" trivia, but that was it.  I sure hope this doesn't represent a new direction for Celebrity as I too enjoy relaxing by the pool without a lot of distractions.

[fragilek]

yip came as a total surprise to me having read the boards. Passing balloons over under strangers bodies in their swimwear does not give out the vibe I was expecting, however, it's a big ship so easy to ignore and move on/elsewhere.  I don't know if this was because it was high season or if it was because it sailed from Italy, as I know the Italians are very much into the 70's Butlins stuff.   You can always tell when your booked in an Italian holiday resort made that mistake in mexico once lol. There was also an ABBA sign along in the main atrium on deck 3/4 on the last night where the hosts walked round and grabbed people up to sign along through the mike. Again not what I had expected and also wierd timing wise as there was a large queue of us trying to settle their accounts in amongst the noise

Edited August 8, 2019 by fragilek
sp

[hcat]

No the usual ambiance of Celebrity.  And not one we would enjoy.

Who was the cruise director?  They usually set the tine,

[fragilek]

Luigi (I think that was his name someone will recognition his trademark and can correct me if I am wrong as  he would come on stage in very OTT outfits doing a sort of forward moonwalk entrance) although other than seeing him on TV or after the shows I never saw him around. It was his work force organizing the stuff during the day. 

[fragilek]

just did a quick search for him on here and found a lot of the same story

 example 

 

..here is what I put in my online survey: I was not at all happy with Cruise DirectorLuigi. He does not convey the “modern elegance” vibe that you advertise for the cruise line. His tag lines like “I can’t hear you” to get more applause for performers showed what a phony he was since he...

[4774Papa]

Not sure that X ship she was on.

We love the ship design of the S and M class ships.   We like Royal C, but not that wild about the open area with the fake balconies facing.  We don't like the Royal ships that don't have the Sunset Bar just aft of the buffet.  Most Royal ships have blocked off this area for a spa or something.

 

 

[Essiesmom]

1 hour ago, 4774Papa said:

Not sure that X ship she was on.

We love the ship design of the S and M class ships.   We like Royal C, but not that wild about the open area with the fake balconies facing.  We don't like the Royal ships that don't have the Sunset Bar just aft of the buffet.  Most Royal ships have blocked off this area for a spa or something.

 

 

In her opening paragraph she stated Infinity.  EM

[TeaBag]

Congratulations on your remission. 

Just a thought I had about the wild pool games on Infinity.  Was it possible there was a group on there who provided their own entertainment?  Did you see an activities crew person leading these games?  Like others, I hope this is a one off.  Definitely unusual for Celebrity.

[fragilek]

4 minutes ago, TeaBag said:

Congratulations on your remission. 

Just a thought I had about the wild pool games on Infinity.  Was it possible there was a group on there who provided their own entertainment?  Did you see an activities crew person leading these games?  Like others, I hope this is a one off.  Definitely unusual for Celebrity.

Definitely crew led they announced ahead of time what was on the main games day at the pool was called summer pool Olympic games and was also in the daily planner at 12.45  

before that there had been a paper airplane competition at 11.15 followed bay fun funk dance with Luigi at 11.45. then after the Olymipics it was Batak Challenge (no idea what this was as we had retreated to deck 4 lol)followed by a Theme party at 3.15.  So pretty much all day stuff 

[momjkm]

I was on this ship the week before- the review about entertainment was spot on! Especially the house musicians. I would add that solarium was not air conditioned (area by main pool cooler) and not adults only. Our experience last summer on the Equinox was it was  air conditioned and adult only b

[hcat]

Mom jkm: 

 

Did you  observe or experience the sophomoric type activities OP described?

 

Not the usual for X...hope not a trend backwards or maybe this CD  is not a good fit for X??

 

We cruised on Infinity awhile ago..Def had a/c issues. In our AQ Class cabin and elsewhere.  

 

Children are usually only permitted in tje Solarium during  limited family hours which are posted.

[fragilek]

[JFontaine]

Fragilek - If you haven't received a satisfactory response to what happened in your room that first night, I would contact Celebrity.  While things happen that they can't control, having workmen in your room until the morning, and being startled by a drunk (that was Celebrity's fault) is unacceptable.  They should offer you a future cruise discount for your trouble.  Continued good health to you. 

[fragilek]

5 minutes ago, JFontaine said:

Fragilek - If you haven't received a satisfactory response to what happened in your room that first night, I would contact Celebrity.  While things happen that they can't control, having workmen in your room until the morning, and being startled by a drunk (that was Celebrity's fault) is unacceptable.  They should offer you a future cruise discount for your trouble.  Continued good health to you. 

I actually felt worse and ashamed of myself after we tossed the lad out, as I sort of started to panic thinking he was very young (only looked about 18ish) and now wondering about the ship drunk. After about 10  mins I made my husband  get up and go have a wander to see if he could find him (but he couldn't see him about). Kept thinking what if it was one of our lot and some other mum and dad just turfed him back out to wander about a ship drunk.  Then I paniced even more as 2 of ours are diabetic and I ended up thinking what if it was them and someone just assumed they were drunk.  But my husband who turned him round and maneuvered him out insisted he was drunk and smelled of beer. But as a mum I couldn't let it go lol (thus my husband had to give in and go looking).  I must admit I was glad when morning came and no roll call happened.

Not really a big thing no harm was done I did go to reception and hand the key card back and stated they really need to be more careful as it could have been my mother in laws room and as she was on her own she would have freaked out if someone had come in.

[mchell810]

7 hours ago, JFontaine said:

Fragilek - If you haven't received a satisfactory response to what happened in your room that first night, I would contact Celebrity.  While things happen that they can't control, having workmen in your room until the morning, and being startled by a drunk (that was Celebrity's fault) is unacceptable.  They should offer you a future cruise discount for your trouble.  Continued good health to you. 

 

6 hours ago, fragilek said:

I actually felt worse and ashamed of myself after we tossed the lad out, as I sort of started to panic thinking he was very young (only looked about 18ish) and now wondering about the ship drunk. After about 10  mins I made my husband  get up and go have a wander to see if he could find him (but he couldn't see him about). Kept thinking what if it was one of our lot and some other mum and dad just turfed him back out to wander about a ship drunk.  Then I paniced even more as 2 of ours are diabetic and I ended up thinking what if it was them and someone just assumed they were drunk.  But my husband who turned him round and maneuvered him out insisted he was drunk and smelled of beer. But as a mum I couldn't let it go lol (thus my husband had to give in and go looking).  I must admit I was glad when morning came and no roll call happened.

Not really a big thing no harm was done I did go to reception and hand the key card back and stated they really need to be more careful as it could have been my mother in laws room and as she was on her own she would have freaked out if someone had come in.

 

I understand your "mom thoughts" after the fact, but I have to agree with Jfontaine here: leaving a key in your door is totally unacceptable.  Celebrity is lucky you took it so well; I would have given them quite an earful.  What if that lost, drunken, young man was more of a belligerent drunk?  It could have been an ugly incident.  A few months ago, I had a lost drunk trying to get into my room.  It was pretty frightening and she never got in!

Edited August 10, 2019 by mchell810

[TeaBag]

Thank you for answering my question.  I am very surprised that Celebrity is playing those kind of pool games.  I agree with Jfontaine.  Celebrity certainly owes you one.  Leaving a key in your door is unacceptable.  Good of you to be concerned about the young guy.

[marshabear]

After reading this, I sure hope that CD is replaced for the TA coming up in October....we had booked this particular cruise to go to the Canary Islands and we love Celebrity  for their usual "a step up" from other lines we cruise....we love Carnival for their caribbean itineraries but for the TA, we love Celebrity as it is calming and soothing to have all those sea days....love  to lay by the pools but if they have these "games" going on, we will have to sit elsewhere....

[momjkm]

Yes, I observed the same types of pool activities as the original poster did. 

[I_r_a]

Thanx for sharing, F

 

Ira