Mercury 6/11 Review - Part One

[bwarren]

My husband and I went on this cruise with another 30-something couple. We have cruised before (not Celebrity), but it was the first cruise for the couple travelling with us. Because Celebrity offered a tremendous deal on airfare, we let them do all of our flight planning.

June 11, we departed from Shreveport and connected at DFW without incident, and we arrived a little after 11:00 at Sea-Tac. We were very fortunate we had no delays, and American Airlines was working liking clockwork that day. We immediately saw a Holland representative at baggage claim, but no one from celebrity was in sight. I asked others on our flight heading for Mercury if they, by chance, had seen a rep. One told me we should follow the Holland group because they had bought out Celebrity…I said thanks for the advice, but no thanks!  We claimed our bags and finally found a Celebrity Rep who told us to walk to the end of baggage claim, (which is a VERY long walk with a week’s worth of Alaska luggage!), and turn right. Nothing could have prepared us for the mass confusion we encountered upon that turn. It was a sea of people, (no pun intended!). Everyone was lined up, but no one knew what we were in line for! I left my group with our luggage and tried to find out, but I could not even see where the line was heading, but I spoke to a large number of people who were all on our cruise, and they said they were specifically told to wait in that line, so we waited, and waited, and waited. The four of us we so excited to be there, the wait didn’t really hinder our spirits, but I can’t say the same for the woman behind us in line. We dubbed her Cruella DeVille and got a kick out of her bad attitude for the remainder of the cruise.

Finally we reached the front and were given a bus number. We were told to just leave our luggage in this massive pile of bags, so we did as we were told and waited for the bus. Our bus driver was very friendly, and gave us a nice narration of the downtown Seattle area as we made our way to the port. Once there, we were hearded towards the embarkation area where we encountered two lines: one for suite, concierge, and captain’s club, and one for everybody else, (I had heard that there would be separate lines for birth certificates and passports, but that was not the case here.) Since we didn’t meet the former qualifications, we headed for the “everybody else” line which had about 500 people in it already. It did move pretty quickly, but all in all, it took Celebrity about 4 hours to get us from baggage claim to the boat…since the actual drive was only 15 minutes, I’d say that is unacceptable.

We were given our glass of bubbly, and our first picture was taken before we were pointed for the elevators. We were not given an escort to our room, but the couple with us was, and we actually beat them there! I guess the Celebrity crew purposely took them to distant elevators to alleviate the crowd.

We chose an inside room for a couple reasons. I get sea sick very easily, so I wanted the closest thing to the center of the boat as possible, we also didn’t want to deal with sunlight while trying to sleep, (and we napped A LOT!), and finally…it’s cheap!!! Our room was very comfortable. The “king” bed slept very nice, and we each had a bedside table with lots of drawers. Also in the bedroom area was a well lit vanity with the obligatory solo outlet (to which we connected a power strip). We were told we would need a night light, but our room already had one in the vanity. The vanity also had ample drawer space.

Also in the bedroom area was our 20” TV and small refrigerator. Cajay, our cabin steward asked us if we wanted him to unlock it, and we said yes so that we could put cokes in there that we had brought. Our room didn’t have a price list for the contents of the fridge, but our friends’ did, and they said the prices were outrageous. We never found out, because we never took anything. Also in the fridge area was an umbrella for us to use on the cruise. I thought that was a nice touch. (It was $11.00 if it was not left in your room at the conclusion of the cruise, the bathrobes were $39.00 if they were missing from your room at the end). The bathroom was very nice. There were four hooks on the door for towels, and there was a shelf area on one side of the mirror that easily held all of my make-up and everything else we needed in there. We definitely did not need one of those over the door organizers that some people bring. Lotion and shampoo were provided in wall dispensers; also provided were soap, cotton balls, q-tips, and shower caps. Nothing was replenished during the cruise.

We had two closets and lots of drawers. I way over-packed, and there were still drawers left empty after we unpacked. Our large suitcase’s zipper was broken by the airline, so we just bought another one in Ketchikan (the suitcase was old and had served its time). But on the last day we remembered and told Cajay it was broken and needed to be thrown away. He said we should have told him because he would have had it fixed for us easily. He was shocked that we wanted to toss it, so we offered it to him, and I guess he kept it, I really couldn’t read him very well.

Back to our first day, after discovering our cabin, we quickly headed for the buffet. We hadn’t eaten all day. We came upon a line with pizza and burgers, so we grabbed it and ate by the pool. Only after we scarfed that down did we realize that the real buffet was beyond the hamburger and pizza line. Oh well, lesson learned. The burgers were great, but we were so hungry at that point they could have fed us dog food and we’d be happy!

We then walked around the ship a bit before dinner. We were scheduled to depart at 4:00, but we were delayed and didn’t actually leave Seattle until about 5:30. That was the first of many delays and miscues on this cruise.

We had early seating, so we changed and headed for the Manhattan dining room. People waiting at the doors were a little grumpy. I guess they didn’t do as we did and get a snack before dinner! Many were angry because they waited on one side for a long while before anyone told them they needed to be on the other side. We had table 611. A wonderful little table for four way in the back of the top floor of the dining room next to the back and side so we had lots of windows to watch scenery through. Our Maitre D’ was Sasha, (very friendly…he made a point to come to our table and speak to us every night, and I did see him correcting some things for some diners. I mention that because many people take offense when asked to tip the Maitre D’, but I think he well deserved the minimal tip that is suggested). Our waiter was Goksy. “Ladies, Gentlemen, Bon Appetite,” I’ll never forget that phrase! Goksy was very nice, but I was a little disappointed by the level of service we were given. It took quite a while for our iced tea to be refilled (not his job, by the way, the bus boy was supposed to do that), and our bread was never refilled unless we specifically asked. Our Sommelier was Vick, a very tall, very young German. He was very efficient. We watched amazed as he inspected every wine glass for spots over in the corner while we ate. Back to the service. I don’t at all fault our waiter. We watched him bust his booty trying to haul twenty-something entrees on his shoulder. He just had too many tables.

The food: Overall, let me just say I gained five pounds. I ate a LOT of steak, and it was always good. The lobster was fabulous!!! There were no crab legs on this cruise, and I was disappointed with that, others were disappointed with the fish selection, but I am not a fish person. The soups were a big hit with everyone, especially the creamed asparagus soup. The bread was awful. Plain and simple. It was always served cold, and it was always tough. The baked Alaska: Fabulous! Crème Brulee: Cold and lumpy. Chocolate Mousse torte: OMG! Yum! There were lots of things we tried and did not like, but that is one of the great things about cruising, getting to try new things. If you don’t like it, just send it back and get something different!

After dinner that first night we headed to the Martini bar. I had heard about the sample special they had on the first night and wanted to try them. For $8.95 I got five not-so-tiny martinis. My husband and I shared. Talk about stout! They definitely do NOT skimp on the Vodka!

All four of us were dead tired from the trip, so we called it a night early this first night.
More to come!

Beth [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]

[cruise2ak]

Thanks for the great review. I am on Mercury in August, so I really appreciate it! PLease keep posting!!!

[sdcruiser]

Thanks Beth for doing such a detailed review so far. We are looking forward to this same cruise in August..Keep it comin...

SDCruiser

[beeg]

Sorry to hear about your creme brulee, we were on the 6/4 sailing and it was by far the best creme brulee I'd ever had.
Our bread was also a highlight of dinners. Although it was not served warm it was always fresh and delicious, crusty exterior, not gummy-soft. Maybe that's a personal preferance, some folks like soft bread, I like a bit of a crust.
I haven't had the courage to weigh myself, so more power to you!
My boarding experience had us standing in a very small (maybe ten person) line to board the ship. This was because our bus was so late from Seattle that we were probably the last group to board, close to 5pm. Our trip from Seattle to Vancouver was long,in rush hour traffic, lots of stops to pick up passengers. Once we crossed the magic threshold onto the ship the whole experience was great!
My extended family was planning to take a cruise to the Carribean next June, I had such a wonderful time we're going to Alaska instead on this same line.

[bwarren]

I've never tried posting a link before, so forgive me if this doesn't work, but here is the address for the second part of my review:

[url="http://messages.cruisecritic.com/2/OpenTopic?a=tpc&s=927093444&f=147097554&m=130101162&r=130101162#130101162"]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/2/OpenTopic?a=tpc&s=927093444&f=147097554&m=130101162&r=130101162#130101162[/url]

Beth [img]http://messages.cruisecritic.com/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif[/img]