Back From Zenith, 2-6-06

[BB5953]

:) Hi, normally I write full reviews upon returning home.

But I am not doing that this time.

I will summarize my experience and if anyone has questions

I will try my best to answer them honestly.

This was my first time on Zenith and my first 5 night cruise.

It was most importantly a sailing to celebrate a friend's

50th birthday and we did that and I hope she had a good

time. (Hi Lorraine)!

The ship is smaller than any I have sailed but I enjoyed it

very much. She was built in 1992 so she is quite a bit older

than the other X ships too. She has her own atmosphere

and feel and I had a wonderful week. I am not a person who

has to be occupied with activties so lounging around, napping,

eating, drinking, lounging around, napping were just fine;).

The service (in my opinion) was FANTASTIC. As good as any

cruise to date for me. Our waiter was Milan and Assistant

Juan. They were both attentive and I felt the service was

top notch.

Cabin Attendant was Allen and Asst was Joey.....both kept

the room made up and we did have breadspreads! Cabin

9091 window with an obstructed view but it was just fine.

LOTS and LOTS of closet and drawer space.

As I said, the ship is small and definitely has its own

personality (as do all the ships). The Guest Services area

feels more "Business Like" than on the C or M class ships.

It is set up differently due to the size of the ship. But the

staff was fabulous.

Gueremillo and Elsa at Excursions are wonderful. I didn't do any

shore excursions but met them and visited a bit and they

are 2 great people.

Josie is the Future Cruise Consultant and she is personable,

helpful and a pleasure to deal with!

Anyhow, I would sail Zenith again. Then again, my only

problem has always been I love all the ships...Zenith,

C Class and M Class...I enjoy them all!

Oh, embarkation and disembarking went VERY SMOOTHLY!!!

I had an excellent time and hope any of you going in the future

will enjoy your cruise as well.

 

I am happy to hear you had a great cruise!

 

Do you remember what the menus were like in the dining room? It seems like everytime we cruise we get the same menu no matter what ship we are on....

[southhavenjen]

Thank you Lois for your review. After much deliberating(we almost cancelled numerous times) I feel very comfortable with our decision and am now trying to keep a lid on my enthusiasm. Could you answer a couple of questions, please:

1.) Did you go into the hot tubs and how warm were they?

2.) When you go to Cova Cafe do you pay extra for the pastries? Can't wait to try their specialty coffee drinks which I know they charge for.

17 days until we leave for sunny Florida - YEA HAH!!!

 

I was on Lois' sailing as well, and I can answer your question about the hot tubs. I had heard they were on the cool side, but we found them to be hot enough. They were comfortable, but not so hot that you could only stay in a few minutes at a time. I know some ppl like them REALLY hot. I would guess they were around 100 degrees. One other thing about the hot tubs, they close at 9pm so no hot tubbing under the stars. :(

[signman]

Menus are pretty much the same as always, just in new covers.

[catmand]

Hi Lois, so nice to read your review, glad you had a god time. I know that if you had something that wasn't quite right you would be sure to mention it. That is why you are one of the folks whose opinions and views I appreciate.

[BB5953]

Menus are pretty much the same as always, just in new covers.

 

 

This is the only thing IMO where X is a bit behind. I would really like to see some variety....

 

But this is my only complaint (if you can even call it that) so I should just consider myself lucky!

[Lois R]

You are correct about that assumption;) I didn't mention it before

but I did notice a couple of very rude pax....(it didn't ruin my cruise)

but it sure did make me go "hmmmmmmm":rolleyes:. And I probably should

have called them out on their rudeness. Call me a wimp I guess, but

if I had said something it probably would turned into a p****g match:(.

 

I was walking by the Future Cruise Consultant's desk. (Josie, and she

is a wonderful person). Anyway, Josie was not working at the time....

they do get a few breaks;)

And 3 women decided they wanted to see what was behind her

desk.....so they walked behind it, sat in the chair.....etc., etc, etc.

I ended up seeing Josie later in the day and told her what I had seen.

She said the ladies were still there (about 10 minutes later)when Josie

came back from her break!

She told me they had actually moved a beautiful vase of flowers off

her desk over to the "brochure table"........

Next time I am going to have some chutzpah and say something.

If we get into it, so be it. But all day long..I thought to myself I should

have told those women they really shouldn't be sitting at that desk...

and going through it:mad:

[dmarch@islc.net]

Hey Lois,

 

I have to ask....did you like Zenith more than Century?

How about that service, did you get Eggs Benedict room service?

 

David

[Lois R]

Hey Lois,

 

I have to ask....did you like Zenith more than Century?

How about that service, did you get Eggs Benedict room service?

 

David

 

Hi David! I never use room service. I love the dining room on the

ships!

But I did have the Eggs Benedict and they were wonderful.

 

As for your other question......Century is and will always be

my favorite ship. I had a fantastic time on Zenith and yes the

service was excellent too....and it was on all my sailings!

But I have to admit there was just a bit more elegance in the

overall ship on Century (to me).

But would I sail Zenith again? YES, definitely:)

[Kathy & George]

Lois, glad you had a nice trip...we leave on Infinity on the 19th...can't wait. Still havn't heard from Shawn, hope to hear something soon.

When is your next trip?

[Blazerboy]

Hey Lois, glad it was another great cruise. I know Ruth was on with you, and said what a pleasure it was to meet you! Hope I have the chance some day!:)

 

Andrew

[Lois R]

Hi Andrew, Ruth and John were also a pleasure:) they sat at the

table next to us at dinner.

 

Kathy, I booked Mercury for Oct~Seattle to Ensenada.

Last time I sailed her was March 2004 and I am looking to

this itinerary very much.

[Kathy & George]

Lois is that a repo cruise? I don't recall that itineary, sounds like fun! We can't go at that time of year, with Basketball coaching for George and school schedules, but in a few more years he will retire and we can try them all out.

[Lois R]

Hi Kathy, yes it is a repo....Seattle, Vancouver, Victoria,

Astoria (Oregon), SAN FRANCISCO:D......ending in Ensenada.

[Kathy & George]

Lois, sounds like you could pick up some nice wines, not to mention good times on that trip...Have a great time!

[Blazerboy]

Not to mention stopping and meeting up for a long overdue drink with a fellow CC'er!:D I'll even bring you a bottle of wine for the ship to save you the trip to Napa!

 

Andrew

[slotaddict]

Hi Everyone !

 

Thanks for responding to my questions. I wonder what happened to Camilla ? I heard she was supposed to be onboard until April or so. Perhaps she was moved to another ship ? I am sailing on Century in a few weeks. It would be awesome if she were there.

 

Andy, Camilla was on my cruise, 1/23-1/28 and so was Lisele (splg). Infact I told Camilla that you said hello. She said that Cruise Critic was her best advertisement. I asked her about taking guests that were not Captains Club members to the cocktail party. She gave me an invitation for them. She is a delightful person.

[Lois R]

Hi Slotaddict:) Leisel was really nice! I got my Zenith pictures

posted onto webshots, if you want to take a look. They did not

come out very clear this time:eek: I think I need to just take the

plunge and get a digital camera. I have been saying that for

over 2 years now. After seeing these Zenith photos I need to just

do it;)

Anyway, there is a photo of me, Leisel, Guermello and Elsa

on there. (the last 2 folks are from the Excursion Desk). He is

Will Smith's twin!

 

Andrew, The Mercury will be docked in Oct for a full day..itinerary

says 7am till 11pm!

[Luckyroot]

ACCCCKKK Lois!!

 

Just looked at your pictures. The first couple of pictures of me I'm thinking "damn I never looked better!!" then I see that last one of me and John on the couch. OMG I look like a MOOSE! (see? celebrity food IS good!!! LOL)

 

Leisel & Elsa were on the tender back from GC with us. We were joking because Elsa was yawning, and then the water got a little rough and she kept getting sprayed with waves. I told her it was because she was yawning, Mother Nature wanted her to "wake up". She was very sweet!

[Andy]

Andy, Camilla was on my cruise, 1/23-1/28 and so was Lisele (splg). Infact I told Camilla that you said hello. She said that Cruise Critic was her best advertisement. I asked her about taking guests that were not Captains Club members to the cocktail party. She gave me an invitation for them. She is a delightful person.

 

Hi Slot !

 

Thank you for passing my regards to Camilla. I sincerely appreciate it. I definately agree that there are many on here, that are big fans of her's. I had heard on the Boards, that Camilla had moved over to Century, but I do not believe that is the case. I truly wished it were true, as we are sailing on Century in 2 1/2 weeks. Hopefully, we will meet Camilla again on another Cruise in the near future.

[Lois R]

Hi Ruth:)

 

Elsa was wonderful. Our cruise was her first contract!

 

I heard one of the pax was VERY RUDE to her at the pier:( that it

was Celebrity's fault the waters were rough?....his excursion boat

had to be changed due to Mother Nature.

I felt very badly about it for her....but she seemed to take it in

stride. I wasn't there and I am trying to remember who told me

the story..one of our group.

Sometimes pax can be so obnoxious.

 

Hope the new job is going well:) and you do NOT look like

a moose!!!!

[Lois R]

:) Good morning Dean and Gayle. I was going to post think

link on your other thread......but I don't know how to do that:confused:

so I brought my review back up here for you to read.

 

Hope this helps you a bit.

[DGF]

Thank you

 

I am still on a learning curve on this web site. How did you find your original post?

 

DEAN

[Lois R]

Hi Dean:) I clicked on my profile. It shows 2 choices,

threads I have posted on and threads I have started.

I clicked on that and this one was on there.

So, when you click on someone's profile you can find the threads

they have participated in.......

Hope this helps:)

[DGF]

Now I know why I could not find it

 

When I click on Lois R I get only one option- your posts which has a cut off at 250 posts

 

Thanks

 

DEAN