Mercury 9/25/06 to 9/29/06 Pacific Northwest 4 day

[Joan G]

This was my 15th cruises on various lines,

 

I have never seen a ship get as mixed reviews as the Mercury, I was a little apprehensive at first but after 14 cruises on various lines, there have been some negative and positive aspects to any cruise, but what is better than being on a cruise? I wanted to sail out of Seattle to visit family there precruise and go on a 4 day cruise, and I wanted to try Celebrity again so here it was a perfect situation. My last cruise was on Crystal (Alaska) so I had to be careful not to compare this cruise and a cruise which was many more $$$$$$. (But I did a little).

Embarkation: We arrived at the pier a little after noon. No lines and plenty of staff if it had been crowded. Gave them the Express Pass I printed on line, showed passports, swiped credit card and were on our way. For those of you interested in bringing liquor on board, I had two bottles of water in my carry-on (left them there as a test), they went right through, could have been vodka….On ship we were greeted by a smiling staff with trays of sparkling wine. They said the cabins would be not be ready until 1:00 but we went up to our deck (Vista – deck 9) to scope out our cabin location, it was ready so we dropped off our carry-ons (and non vodka water) and went exploring on our way to the buffet on deck 11. We thought the buffet was laid out pretty well with 2 sides each side having the same selections. The pasta/pizza station was also opened as well as the hamburger, hot dog grill, so plenty of choices.

Cabin: Because of comments about the bed being hard (thanks for the heads up) I asked the cabin steward to put a pad on the bed, (that was done in the blink of an eye) it was very comfortable. Four pillows were on the bed so you could adjust to your liking of pillow thickness. The cabin had plenty of storage and hanging space. The bathroom had a nice counter and plenty of storage even under the sink. The shower was the best I’ve ever had on a cruise, lots of hot water and good water pressure.

We had a balcony and it was very private no one could look down on it and the sides were completely closed.

Ship: The ship is well laid out and easy to maneuver around, a lot of bars and lounges, each one plays a different style of music. The ship is very clean and has a lot of character you don’t always see on the new flashy plastic looking ships. It does need some recovering and updating of fabric in the public areas, but I don’t feel it affected the ambience that much.

Service: Another good comment here, everyone was friendly and service was definitely a notch above some of the other cruise lines I have been on, everyone seemed to have a good attitude. In talking to some of the staff many had been with Celebrity for years. Our waiter Kristaoff from Poland has been with Celebrity for 6 years! He was a great waiter with personality and knowledge of the menu. Arnold our assistant waiter handled his duties above and beyond, never had to ask for a thing. Room steward, John was great too. We ordered the Absolute vodka liquor package and Guest Relations called and told us they were out of Vodka??**xx@@@, WHAT??? It upset John and he took it personally that he wasn’t able to deliver what we ordered and paid for. We were about to cancel the order (and I was reminded many times from my DH that the water could have been vodka) when here comes John with the Absolute, nuts and mixers.

Entertainment/Activities: We had the most fantastic naturalist aboard, Brent Nixon. He lives in the Pacific Northwest area, so if you ever find him on your ship don’t miss his presentations. He possesses passion and knowledge. As we passed though some of the inside passage viewing the most beautiful scenery he gave a commentary that was mystical and enriching. When I have gone to the presentations for naturalist they have been interesting and the 20 or so people that usually show up enjoy them…but Brent ended up with such a crowd his final presentation was in the showroom and he had it packed. We were very fortunate to have several whale sightings this trip; I think they must follow Brent wherever he goes.

CD was Robin McCartney; he served well in his job with personality and friendliness. Rumor had it the President of Celebrity was on this cruising so I am sure everyone was on their toes. I did see many Celebrity personnel from the home office.

Room Service was always on time and served hot. We appreciated the call a few minutes before they arrive to give you a little warning.

Food: Food was good with some items being outstanding. There was always a good variety at the buffet, along with all the other dining venues.

 

Itinerary: Seattle is a beautiful city to cruise from. First stop was Nanaimo. Residents from the city are everywhere in their yellow vests ready to give out information and maps. Pretty neat. In walking around we even found an Indian casino, (which was much looser than the casino on the ship). Next we went to Prince Rupert, a true fishing village, not much of a town and don’t expect to do much shopping there. Some of the passengers took excursions and seemed to enjoy them. The highlight of the cruise for us was cruising the inside passage. It was wonderful passing by all this wonderful scenery, the water was like glass and it was smooth sailing. We were blessed with the best weather the entire time.

Final thoughts: In comparing Celebrity with the luxury Crystal Cruise: The service was the same, the entertainment better on Celebrity, food better on Crystal. $ for $ you can’t beat Celebrity for an overall experience. If you have booked the Mercury don’t be nervous it will give you a wonderful experience that will more than make up for some worn material on a chair.

[Angel]

Hi Joan,

This is Bev(Angel), I agree with you, the cruise was great... The weather beautiful and just the whole 4 days was wonderful. I also notice a little wear and tear but a little facelift will help that. Being from the seattle area we are so blessed here in the northwest.

Will be going next oct(07) for a 3 night cruise on the mercury also with our 7 grown children and cant wait to share this cruise with them. None as every cruise before, so I know that they will enjoy the ship life.

Again glad to see you are home safe and hopefully we can meet up next time.

Bev

[C 2 C]

Nice to hear that Mercury provided you with a great cruise experience. Thanks for the upbeat post.

[Joan G]

I guess we never got it firmed up where to meet. I was on deck at sail away and looked around for anyone looking around, yes maybe next time. We did meet some great people from the area on the ship. Also a waiter heard me mention Cruise Critics and commented on the fact that they pay a lot attention to what Cruise Critics think and say.

[USNDiver]

This was my 15th cruises on various lines,

 

I have never seen a ship get as mixed reviews as the Mercury, I was a little apprehensive at first but after 14 cruises on various lines, there have been some negative and positive aspects to any cruise, but what is better than being on a cruise? I wanted to sail out of Seattle to visit family there precruise and go on a 4 day cruise, and I wanted to try Celebrity again so here it was a perfect situation. My last cruise was on Crystal (Alaska) so I had to be careful not to compare this cruise and a cruise which was many more $$$$$$. (But I did a little).

Embarkation: We arrived at the pier a little after noon. No lines and plenty of staff if it had been crowded. Gave them the Express Pass I printed on line, showed passports, swiped credit card and were on our way. For those of you interested in bringing liquor on board, I had two bottles of water in my carry-on (left them there as a test), they went right through, could have been vodka….On ship we were greeted by a smiling staff with trays of sparkling wine. They said the cabins would be not be ready until 1:00 but we went up to our deck (Vista – deck 9) to scope out our cabin location, it was ready so we dropped off our carry-ons (and non vodka water) and went exploring on our way to the buffet on deck 11. We thought the buffet was laid out pretty well with 2 sides each side having the same selections. The pasta/pizza station was also opened as well as the hamburger, hot dog grill, so plenty of choices.

Cabin: Because of comments about the bed being hard (thanks for the heads up) I asked the cabin steward to put a pad on the bed, (that was done in the blink of an eye) it was very comfortable. Four pillows were on the bed so you could adjust to your liking of pillow thickness. The cabin had plenty of storage and hanging space. The bathroom had a nice counter and plenty of storage even under the sink. The shower was the best I’ve ever had on a cruise, lots of hot water and good water pressure.

We had a balcony and it was very private no one could look down on it and the sides were completely closed.

Ship: The ship is well laid out and easy to maneuver around, a lot of bars and lounges, each one plays a different style of music. The ship is very clean and has a lot of character you don’t always see on the new flashy plastic looking ships. It does need some recovering and updating of fabric in the public areas, but I don’t feel it affected the ambience that much.

Service: Another good comment here, everyone was friendly and service was definitely a notch above some of the other cruise lines I have been on, everyone seemed to have a good attitude. In talking to some of the staff many had been with Celebrity for years. Our waiter Kristaoff from Poland has been with Celebrity for 6 years! He was a great waiter with personality and knowledge of the menu. Arnold our assistant waiter handled his duties above and beyond, never had to ask for a thing. Room steward, John was great too. We ordered the Absolute vodka liquor package and Guest Relations called and told us they were out of Vodka??**xx@@@, WHAT??? It upset John and he took it personally that he wasn’t able to deliver what we ordered and paid for. We were about to cancel the order (and I was reminded many times from my DH that the water could have been vodka) when here comes John with the Absolute, nuts and mixers.

Entertainment/Activities: We had the most fantastic naturalist aboard, Brent Nixon. He lives in the Pacific Northwest area, so if you ever find him on your ship don’t miss his presentations. He possesses passion and knowledge. As we passed though some of the inside passage viewing the most beautiful scenery he gave a commentary that was mystical and enriching. When I have gone to the presentations for naturalist they have been interesting and the 20 or so people that usually show up enjoy them…but Brent ended up with such a crowd his final presentation was in the showroom and he had it packed. We were very fortunate to have several whale sightings this trip; I think they must follow Brent wherever he goes.

CD was Robin McCartney; he served well in his job with personality and friendliness. Rumor had it the President of Celebrity was on this cruising so I am sure everyone was on their toes. I did see many Celebrity personnel from the home office.

Room Service was always on time and served hot. We appreciated the call a few minutes before they arrive to give you a little warning.

Food: Food was good with some items being outstanding. There was always a good variety at the buffet, along with all the other dining venues.

 

Itinerary: Seattle is a beautiful city to cruise from. First stop was Nanaimo. Residents from the city are everywhere in their yellow vests ready to give out information and maps. Pretty neat. In walking around we even found an Indian casino, (which was much looser than the casino on the ship). Next we went to Prince Rupert, a true fishing village, not much of a town and don’t expect to do much shopping there. Some of the passengers took excursions and seemed to enjoy them. The highlight of the cruise for us was cruising the inside passage. It was wonderful passing by all this wonderful scenery, the water was like glass and it was smooth sailing. We were blessed with the best weather the entire time.

Final thoughts: In comparing Celebrity with the luxury Crystal Cruise: The service was the same, the entertainment better on Celebrity, food better on Crystal. $ for $ you can’t beat Celebrity for an overall experience. If you have booked the Mercury don’t be nervous it will give you a wonderful experience that will more than make up for some worn material on a chair.

 

Like you, I was a little apprehensive about the Mercury, but it sounds like we both had a pretty positive experience. I would definately sail the "Merc" again.

 

Dave

[mctrekkie]

Hi Joan and Bev, sorry we didn't manage to meet up onboard. We're booked on another 4 night next Oct. 8th, and 7 day Alaska on May 7th.

 

Joan's review was right on the dot about Mercury. Nice ship, friendly helpful crew, and a great time. Brent Nixon is SUPERB, I made it to 2 of his 3 presentations (missed the orca one), and he certainly knows his topic. Sure, the carpets are showing some wear but that's to be expected.

 

My favorite spot: Cova Cafe mid afternoon. I was the one with a book and Champagne cocktail of some sort on the table. It became a ritual for me.

[mbisson]

We've never sailed Celebrity. I'm booking a 4 day Mercury sailing for my wife and her sister for next year. I might join them and I have a question. We've sailed RCCL, NCL and Carnival. I don't think there is a cruise we wouldn't enjoy. I've heard that on Celebrity, one is required to wear the "required" dress to all public room throughout the night, and that on formal night this means a minimum of a business suit for men. On most of my other cruises I've work a sport coat, tie & slacks and I've been know (after dinner) to change to resort casual.

 

Would my past dress be acceptable or would a suit be required. No biggie either way, I just want to make sure I follow the rules.

 

tia

-Monte

[Joan G]

On our 4 day cruise I didn't find it extremely formal, sounds like you should be OK. Maybe the longer cruises are more formal on formal nights.

[mbisson]

Thanks Joan. BTW-Your review sounds great and is part of the reason I'm considering going with the gals.

 

take care

-Monte

[reklawr]

Joan, Thanks for the review. :)

We sure are looking forward to our Mercury Cruise!:D

[rcicruiser]

Celebrity was holding there National Sales meeting on the ship, that is why there where some excutives aboard the ship

[grizzlyflat]

Joan

Thank you for your review. What size bottle was in the liquor package?

[Joan G]

The vodka in the liquor package was 1 liter.

[RLM77]

Joan -

 

Thanks for the review. We cruised Mercury in March and had cruised Regent/Radission twice in 2005. Like you, we both thought the Celebrity experience was head and shoulders better on a dollar for dollar basis. Although we would like to try Crystal and Silversea some day, as long as Celebrity keeps offering this level of bang for the buck, we'll keep coming back for more!

[apados]

Hi Joan,

 

Thanks for the review. My wife and I will be going on the Mercury in March and we both appreciate your review greatly.

 

Thanks!