My 2 cents & review of the 7/16th Infinity Cruise

[dls1277]

A little Background: This was our 14th cruise. 1st to Alaska. All previous cruises were to the Mexican Riviera and the Caribbean. 2nd cruise on Celebrity. Traveling with my husband and another couple.

 

This cruise was a bit of a disappointment for us. Not just because of the engine problems that caused us to miss Sika and most of the Inside Passage, but because we loved what we saw in Alaska so much we would have rather have done it by car/ferry/train so that we could experience more of it! We just did not get our monies worth out of the cruise portion of this vacation. A lot of the things we enjoy about cruising were not for us in Alaska. We like using our balcony to the fullest and it was just too cool for us to comfortably do so. We also like being by the pool with a tropical drink and listening to Caribbean type music. We just could not get into being wrapped up on deck in a wool blanket. I know, I know there were lots of passengers laying around the pool in their swimsuits and enjoying it. To each his own. We also like going to different ports, and we just did not have enough time in these wonderful ports. Not to mention missing one. We did not realize before booking this cruise how much we would love Alaska! Since this was the first time we have been on a ship that had any kind of problem, we can't compare how Celebrity handled it or whether it would have been handled any better by another cruise line.

 

We were lucky enough to get a heads up on the Infinity problem because we picked up our phone messages when we were at the airport on 7/15 and had a message from our travel agent stating the following: "The Infinity is experiencing engine problems. Your departure from Vancouver will be delayed 8 hours while repairs are made. You may board at the regular time. Celebrity will be giving you a $500 stateroom credit and a $200pp voucher towards a future cruise." Our traveling companions picked up the same message from their travel agent. At the time I said "There is no way we are getting a $500 credit because we are sailing 8 hours late. We are probably missing a port!"

 

Arrived in Vancouver. Beautiful weather. Sunny & warm. In fact we lucked out and had sunny to partly cloudy the entire week. Checked into the Westin Bayshore. It was a great deal! Priceline $60. Asked for upgrade to view room. Received it for $30. It was worth every penny. Our room looked over the harbor and could not have been nicer for the price. Hotel staff and especially the Concierge were friendly and helpful. We ate dinner at Cloud 9 revolving restaurant. Food so-so. Service extremely slow, but the views were incredible and saved the experience for us!

 

Checked out of the Westin at noon and grabbed taxi to Canada Place. No Infinity in sight! Had a bit of a sinking feeling. What were we going to do with a total of 8 very heavy bags between the four of us until it arrived! Not to worry. A baggage handler came over to the taxi as soon as it pulled up and told us our bags would be held until the Infinity arrived and could be put on board.. We proceeded to follow the signs that Celebrity employees were holding every few yards or so to the Convention Hall. Joined the line. Was immediately handed sheet of paper that told us what was going on. But instead of an 8 hour delay it stated we would not be leaving until Monday. It also gave us the new itinerary and just as I suspected we would be missing a port. Sitka. This was very disappointing for us as we were to meet an employee from another ship that was to be in Sitka that day. We had become friends with him on a previous cruise. Plus Sitka was a favorite port of many CC reviews. We were in line for approx 30 minutes. Checked in and were told we would be given our room key when we boarded at 4:00. We looked around the Convention Center. We saw folding chairs and tables with sandwiches in brown bags plus soft drinks. We looked at our watch. 12:45 p.m. We said "No Way" and high tailed it out of the Convention Center. We were not "stuck" there as some have reported in other reviews. We took this as a chance to experience more of this wonderful port city! Right outside of the Convention Center is the Pan Pacific. We had lunch in the Café and as we were sitting there the Infinity rolled into port.. What a view of the Infinity . It was a stone's throw from the Café. After lunch we stepped outside and there were lots of taxis and different city tour vehicles. We decided to take a city tour that allowed you to get on and off at different stops for 2 days. We loved it and were able to see all the different parts of Vancouver. We ate dinner in Gastown. Got back to the Convention Center around 8 p.m. No line to speak of. Boarded..

 

Some passengers have said that they experienced long lines, hours of waiting, and pushing and shoving by passengers. We never experienced any of that. Just the normal cruise ship lines that we have had on all of our cruises. We must have lucked out on when we were coming and going from the ship.

 

Concerning our CC Class Stateroom 6136: Loved the larger balcony even though we did not use it very much. Would not pay extra for CC Class unless we had one of the larger balcony staterooms and the price was right. Our steward was not the best in the cruising world. We had to ask for the robes. Ask for a pillow menu. Ask for the umbrella (never needed to use it). Received most notices of importance late. Never received the leather key holder or personalized stationary (this was not important to us to have, but we did pay for it.). Never received the comment card (I wonder why). The binoculars are not worth it (luckily we brought our own). The canapes were terrible. We did substitute for cheese and crackers with no problem. There was a smell of sewage in our room and in the halls occasionally during the day. Did not think the CC Class in room breakfast was any better or worse than any other cruise.

 

Next day we got off the ship to do more exploring. We did not want to waste a "port day" on the ship. We did not know about going through Customs until we returned to the ship about 9 o'clock that night. Once again we choose to eat off the ship and not to waste time trying to get back to the ship by early dinner seating. This was starting to be expensive to eat off the ship for dinner and sometimes lunch. We also did it in Juneau & Ketchikan because of the new scheduling. This was our choice, of course, and could have ran back to the ship for mealtimes, but we wanted to spend as much time experiencing Vancouver/Alaska as possible. Luckily we have the means to do so, but even so we were not counting on all the extra expense on top of the cruise price, so it was an irritation. We were in line approx. 45 minutes for the "surprise" of Customs. When we got back to our room I re-looked at the Daily Celebrity Sheet and saw a small blurb about having to go through Customs. This should have been relayed to passengers in a better way . If we had chosen to stay on board for the day, we may have never known!

 

Celebrity food: In total we only ate 3 times in the dining room for dinner and once for lunch. We think Celebrity dining room food is better overall than Princess and our opinion is the same after this cruise. We ate lunch 1 time at the Aqua Spa. It was alright, but would not go out of our way to eat there. Only went to the buffet 1 time and that was for breakfast the day we debarked. We also ate in the specialty restaurant once and it was very good. It is worth the $30 extra charge.

 

Excursions: Far and away the highlight of this cruise was our Misty Fjords floatplane excursion in Ketchikan. Absolutely the most breathtaking scenery we have ever experienced. Capt. Larry's whale watching excursion was great in Juneau, but our glacier helicopter tour was canceled due to weather. This was a big disappointment to us. Not Celebrity's fault.

 

Hubbard Glacier: What happened to the two 360 turns? Our waiter the night before said "stay on your balcony". You will see it all in comfort. There will be two full turns". Yeah right! We never did find out why this happened and could not see any reason for not doing it. What we did experience viewing Hubbard Glacier during our 1 turn was amazing and another highlight of our trip.

 

We never experienced rudest from Guest Relations. They were always courteous and took care of the things we contacted them about. We never saw complaining passengers yelling at the Guest Relations counter. Thank goodness.

 

On the Thrusday of our cruise the $500 stateroom credit turned into a $700 credit and a $300pp future cruise voucher because we were in CC Class. We did not ask for more, but obviously someone else had complained about the amounts. I assume suite passengers received more than us, as it should be. I think it was unfair to say Celebrity never gave us free drinks and not mention the credit Celebrity gave us. That stateroom credit really helped with our bar tab!

 

We never heard about anyone having the virus on the previous cruise or our cruise. I'm glad of that, the "power of suggestion" might have made me sick. Also, we were never advised by any staff member to not eat off the ship. Our credit card bill is the only thing that would have benefitted if we had heard and taken that advise!

 

In summary: We absolutely loved Alaska! We can't wait to go back. But, for us we would not do it on a cruise. We want to vacation in this beautiful State in a different way. Just our preference.

[cathi]

If you want more of Alaska why not think about booking one of the many cruises that only go one way (i.e. Vancouver to Seward) and then do a pre or post tour. Almost all the lines do them but IMHO Princess does them best. They have their own trains and hotels in all the best locations to really enjoy the beauty that is Alaska

[dls1277]

Thank you for your good advice cathi! That may be the ticket for us next time in Alaska!

[handy4u]

Fine review Debra! We will be gong next month. I hope we have good weather! We wouldn't of waited in the conference room either. Sounds like there's a lot to see in Vancouver.

 

My DW and I went to the Canadian rockies and had the most beautiful vacation we ever had! Just drove around in a rental and admired Gods' fine handy work! I don't know how much driving is possible in AK though.

 

We want to do the floatplane ride and we're happy to hear how much you enjoyed it!

 

Thanks again for your review!

 

Chris:o

[Jim_Iain]

Really enjoyed your well balanced and honest review.

 

Jim

[rubrrick]

Excellent and honest review. I'm sure glad that we were not on that cruise, but had friends that were. All that we heard was that the trip was not pleasant......no ranting, just very unhappy that they were aboard on this particular cruise.

 

If we all cruise enough..........we all have experienced delays and unexpected happenings. We were stuck on the bottom in Antigua one evening.........and had to wait till about midnight to be pulled off the bottom. How many of you would remember when there were no bow thrusters.........and everything was handled by a tug or two in the harbor.

 

Now the ships don't require any assistance.........unless they are crippled. So the Infinity was crippled, and it took some stops away from the schedule. In that case......RCCL pays up..........or there will be a lawyer that will be contacting all of you. Good luck in having a good future discount given.

 

Rick

[renebfl]

Glad celebrity handled your credits in a timely and generous fashion. It sure helps that they were quicker than previous cruises to make amends. Maybe they have learned.