We board Infinity in about an hour. Let me know if you have any questions.

[Stockjock]

For the record, we did have a few minor issues. In the first issue, they canceled one of my excursions and asked me to book another one. I told them that I had booked at excursion on a flash sale of 35% off, and they told me that I would have to pay full price because the flash sale was no longer on. I told them that shouldn’t be my problem and they should honor the discount originally offered and they said no.  Then, they offered a 10% discount. I had to politely raise a bit of hell and they wouldn’t take off 35% but after standing around for 25 minutes they did agree to take off 30%.

 

I guess the next issue was that our bathroom door would not stay shut and just swung back and forth so they did call a Mechanic and he ultimately fixed it l, so that’s a good thing.

 

They also forgot to deliver my shore excursion tickets, but I had a talk with the cabin steward, and he seems very nice but for some reason he didn’t recognize the name, even though it is the correct name, but he delivered them after we talked about it.

 

And final issue was that I had been promised a bottle of champagne that was allegedly sent from the CEO due to FBC airline problems, and that didn’t show up either. So the front desk said that they would take care of it. It’s not the end of the world, because we do have a drink package, but since they told me she was sending me one I will accept her offer.  

 

These are mostly minor things, but of course you’d prefer not to have any issues when you’re barely beginning your cruise.

 

I would still say so far so good for the most part. We have dinner coming up in about an hour and a half so we will see how that goes. We are actually not all that fussy when it comes to dinner, since are used to MSC, lol.
 

 

Edited September 2, 2023 by Stockjock

[Guera53]

1 hour ago, Silkroad said:

Surely it’s not necessary to have two of the most simple entrees - both fowl - on the same evening. The main dining room should provide appealing choices to all palates on a given night. Why should anyone be forced to pay an extra fee to “dine elsewhere”?

We shouldn’t have to pay extra and forced into specialty dining for the quality of meal we are used to having. 

[CruisinBanka]

Enjoy your cruise!

[George C]

We did infinity in a suite before Covid and it wasn’t in the best shape , actually had the worst suite we ever had on any line , most of the other things wrong were minor.

[Georgia_Peaches]

I'm glad you stood your ground on the excursion price.  It shouldn't matter that the flash sale has ended.  They cancelled your excursion which, dare I say, forced you to select a different one.  They should have been bending over backwards to accommodate you as you did nothing wrong!  You've got the right attitude, though.

Edited September 2, 2023 by Georgia_Peaches

[Jim_Iain]

Following along and really enjoying your Live post. 

 

Curious about the pictures in Venice -  It looks like the Square was flooded.   Were the tides really high for the Blue Moon?

[Wichenford Wolf]

Interesting to read your comments on Infinity. We are doing our first M class cruise (on Infinity) this November. 
 

I hope MDR is satisfactory because I persuaded my wife that the Aqua cabins (which we have previously taken on Silhouette, really just to enjoy Blu) at £800 each extra weren’t worth it.

 

 

[hcat]

3 hours ago, Georgia_Peaches said:

I'm glad you stood your ground on the excursion price.  It shouldn't matter that the flash sale has ended.  They cancelled your excursion which, dare I say, forced you to select a different one.  They should have been bending over backwards to accommodate you as you did nothing wrong!  You've got the right attitude, though.

the excursion thing was a bummer.

customer service on board is apparently  at a new low..administered by puppets with no authority, flexiblity or common sense! 

Glad OP would not back down..but it leaves a bad taste

[lovesnow]

I will be on Infinity on Sept 16th in Athens

[lovesnow]

What entertainment is onboard

[Missusdubbya]

20 hours ago, Stockjock said:

We’ve got an ocean view cabin, but it is one of those that used to be part of the conference center where the window is probably twice as big as usual.

Great window! Where are these cabins please?

[Stockjock]

11 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

Following along and really enjoying your Live post. 

 

Curious about the pictures in Venice -  It looks like the Square was flooded.   Were the tides really high for the Blue Moon?

They have high tides, low tides, an exceptional high tide in during one of the points we were there. They said it was an exceptional, high tide. I’m not sure if it’s related to the moon or not, but I know it does flood pretty frequently in various parts of the day.

[Stockjock]

6 hours ago, lovesnow said:

What entertainment is onboard

We haven’t really done a lot of the entertainment venues yet. There was a comedian we did not see. There was a woman singing out in the back of the ship at an outdoor bar. Whatever it’s called and we did some disco thing and I really didn’t want to dance, but my girlfriend made me so this was DJ Pyro in the house, who was sure to let us know when we rode up in the elevator with him that it was his house. So I guess we enjoyed his house even though I don’t like to dance.

[Stockjock]

Here are some pictures from last night’s dinner, as well as menus from tonight‘s dinner, and finally a picture of our sail into Dubrovnik, Croatia.
 

Just some comments from last night’s dinner, it was incredibly disorganized.  You can see the line to get into the restaurant and my girlfriend said it was a cluster F, and I won’t say what the F stands for, but you can figure it out. I would say we waited about 40 minutes, and they just seemed really completely in over their heads and things seemed utterly chaotic and disorganized. Even the person who finally was going to seat us had no idea where the table was. I’m hoping it will be better tonight, but we’ll see. 

 

Now, in terms of the food quality, it is unquestionably several steps down from what I’ve enjoyed on Celebrity in the past. I think now it’s on par with MSC in terms of the main dining room. Their cappuccino definitely is not as good as MSC. In fact, I think MSC seems a little more creative in terms of their dishes in the main dining room. I compare this with MSC because that’s basically what we sail, either Celebrity or MSC.  In the past I had considered Celebrity’s service and food to be substantially better than MSC. But I don’t think that’s true right now. We’ve got another six days so we’ll see.

 

I got the sirloin steak, and I have to apologize for posting a picture of the fat, but you could see how fatty the meat was. I ate all of it, other than the fat, but I didn’t consider the quality nor the preparation to be particularly good.  I would give the steak about a 6 1/2 on a 10 scale. It came with a dollop of mashed potatoes and a small portion of vegetables.

My girlfriend had the salmon with the pasta. We both thought it was a little bit dry, but she did think it was about a eight on the 10 scale. I thought because of the dryness, lack of sauce, and over saltiness, I give it maybe a generous seven on a 10 scale.

 

The appetizers were pretty good. The escargot was tasty although I think they tried to add some kind of a wasabi, or something, and I thought maybe they were getting a little too creative, but it was still enjoyable. The shrimp cocktail was fresh and I have no complaints whatsoever about that.

 

In terms of the dessert, the crème brûlée was very watery and tasted like somebody went to the supermarket and bought a mix and they really didn’t know what they were doing. We ate it and I won’t say it’s horrible, but it was definitely on the poorer side of the crème brûlée I’ve had in the past. 
 

One strange thing about the main dining room is they didn’t have music, for let’s say 80% of the dinner, and then they started playing some really odd and inappropriate music. And then they stopped the odd and inappropriate music for a short time, and continued with the odd inappropriate music. Then they paused for another five or 10 minutes and then continued with some different odd inappropriate music for a short time before stopping that weird music.  We couldn’t figure out what the heck they were doing, and I’m not sure they knew what the heck they were doing. It did come across a bit like amateur hour, to be honest with you. 

 

We did hit up the sky lounge in the front of the ship, and as I mentioned elsewhere, my girlfriend made me dance, which I don’t particularly enjoy, but the sound system was very good and the choice of songs was very good so DJ Pyro did his job and got everybody dancing.

 

I had to go to guest services this morning for some issues with my app, because my girlfriend could see her account, but I could not see anything on mine.  They did screw up her billing a little bit, which I could see on hers, but again, not on mine. As I mentioned earlier, they canceled excursions that she paid for but then they refunded it to my account, but they billed her for the replacement so I needed to get my access reestablished, and I also needed to have that cancellation credit moved over to her account, which eventually they did.  It took them about 20 minutes to figure things out though.

 

In terms of the passenger mix, it’s a pretty eclectic mix of young people, middle-age, people, and older people. For the most part, everyone seems well behaved, and it’s nice to have some energy on the ship so it doesn’t feel like a cemetery.  The crew is pretty nice, and they generally seem to be pretty efficient, so no complaints there.

 

This morning we sail into Croatia and it looks like a beautiful day and we’re doing a land and Sea tour for about four hours, which sounded interesting, and we get in a little bit later which was nice because we can relax before we have to leave the cabin.

 

In terms of the ship, as you know, it is one of the oldest ships in the fleet, and it has not been revolutionized, but I think it is acceptable if you get a reasonable price. If you’re paying a very high price, then maybe not so much but it’s not bad but definitely could use a little bit of a facelift. But I would not stop that from booking the ship if you found an itinerary and price that was reasonable to you.  The girlfriend said the decor does not look old, but it just looks a bit sterile and not up-to-date.

 

The room has been quiet, and we have felt virtually no motion, and as I mentioned, we are in one of the converted conference room, Oceanview cabins on the third deck.

 

Once again, let me know if you have any questions. So far the experience has been more favorable than not, but I can see a few areas that need some improvement. While we ate the food, and it certainly was not bad, but it is below expectation for Celebrity. I think that’s fair to say. It seems like it’s more on par with maybe Royal Caribbean or Carnival.

 

 

[Stockjock]

It looks like a beautiful day here in Dubrovnik.

 

Edited September 3, 2023 by Stockjock

[Stockjock]

As mundane and uninspiring as the main dining room food is, in contrast, the buffet is excellent. I thought yesterday’s buffet food was very good, but today, the food in the buffet is outstanding.
 

I am half Greek, so I know good Greek food, and they have some really good Greek food and some really nice baklava. I especially enjoyed the moussaka and lamb shank with orzo. The Indian food is also on-point, and I’m sure they must have an Indian chef. 

Edited September 3, 2023 by Stockjock

[vickykay]

We’re your photos of the cafe lunch or dinner?  Thanks.

[Stockjock]

12 minutes ago, vickykay said:

We’re your photos of the cafe lunch or dinner?  Thanks.

We have not eaten at the Buffet except for lunch.

[MISTER 67]

Enjoy your cruise, we did a Caribbean cruise on the Infinity in October 2022 and loved the ship, thought for her age she was in fine shape.

[loving goldens]

23 hours ago, chemmo said:

We board on the 19th…The itinerary has a lovely balance of places new and revisited…

We are on before You... first time for us...

[aaaaa]

Thanks for the update and photos.  I can't believe that the two of you were not even given separate chairs at dinner.  Celebrity has really gone too far.

 

[Stockjock]

We enjoyed Dubrovnik, Croatia. We did the land and Sea tour, or something like that, for four hours. So you have a very nice boat ride over and they give you a guided tour and then a little bit of time to sightsee and shop and then you head back.

 

It’s very clean and very pretty. Heavily wooded outside of the old town area and I guess they filmed the Game of Thrones here. We liked it.

Edited September 3, 2023 by Stockjock

[aaaaa]

 Great updates for those of us who are interested in a similar cruise.  Thanks again.

[Stockjock]

Back to the ship.

[edgee]

21 hours ago, Guera53 said:

We shouldn’t have to pay extra and forced into specialty dining for the quality of meal we are used to having. 

Well, I am also on this Infinity cruise and in the Retreat. I ordered steak in Luninae last night that unfortunately resembled shoe leather. Second try was somewhat better, but still disappointing. Similarly enjoying the cruise...a great day in Dubrovnik.