Mercury - good, bad and ugly?

[mrstay]

I only decided yesterday to consider doing the Mercury for Alaska instead of RCCL. My father is a faithful X cruiser and suggested I cross over to try it. But I did a search on this board for Mercury and did not like what I was reading. It seemed that most persons problems and complaints were with the bedding. I understand that the Mercury is having drydock for extensive changes, including bedding and the addition of an alternative dining, in April of 07.

 

Those of you that had the complaints about Mercury, once the furniture, sink, vanities, TV and bedding is replaced, would you think it could be a good cruise? Or were your complaints also about the food and service? Please help me to decide.

[Davey Interweb]

We sailed Merc last May. If this is going to be a fairly involved dry dock for the ship, I suspect that the any issues I personally had with the ship will be resolved. X's maintenance of their ships seems to be lacking in areas, and it was evident on Mercury at the time. I had read many similar complaints about Century prior to its dry dock, but recent reviews have been glowing. The ship looks great.

 

Maintenance issues aside, the service we received and the food served in the dining room was everything I expected from X. I don't think you have much to be concerned with if your sailing is post-April '07.

[dkjretired]

Celebrity has made no announcements as to anything being done in drydock. Drydocks are generally to maintain things that can't be done at sea and are not to redo the ship. Nothing has been said officially as to what if anything is being done other than bedding which will be changed fleetwide by next year. That can be done at sea... I am not saying they are not going to do anything but as of this moment there is nothing official...

[rubrrick]

My DW and I were on the Mercury this past February for a Mexican Riviera cruise, and all that we asked for was the egg crate foam to put on the bedding. We had the same cabin that we had in '01 and '05 and it was showing a bit of wear, but still very exceptable. The food and service was up to X standards.

 

We will sail on her again this December for a Panama Canal cruise, and I expect the same excellent service and food that we have always received in the past.

 

Rick

[Laoghaire]

Hi Tammy,

 

For what it's worth, we just got off the Mercury a weeK ago, after a 4 night "Canadian" cruise. Our first Celebrity sail, we are loyal RCI ers. We found the ship to be in very good condition for an "older" ship. A few worn spots, but we didn't spend our valuable shipboard time looking for flaws.

 

Food, entertaiment, service very good. We had an oceanview stateroom on Deck 9, lots of storage space, huge showers. We did ask for an egg crate mattress cover and received it that evening.

 

All in all, we would cruise the Mercury again.

 

Helen

[Fblack]

I have been on 35+ cruises, am Elite status on Celebrity, and was on the Mercury this past April. They were out of egg crate pads that I have asked them to use in the past. And the cabin attendent pretended he never heard of them. In a word, the mattress was crap. If I rolled onto my side, you could feel the plywood platform with your hip. I demanded something be done and they put on 3 quilted mattress pads and it was fine. The chair in the room had a damaged leg and it wobbled. Carpet was shabby. The bed spread was so tattered we just had it removed.

 

The wood floors in the elevators were so bad they were constantly sanding them and putting on varnish. The halls and our room stunk. There was the smell of sewage in the hallway by our cabin whenever we docked. Common area carpet was bad as were chairs and sofas around the ship. But... we had a nice cruise in spite of that. Food was good, entertainment was good, staff friendly.

 

I ate dinner one night with the Chief Engineer. He is third in command. He said Mercury was getting a full blown overhaul next year. Not like Century, but lots of repairs and upgrades.

 

As for RCCL vs. celebrity, I was on the Radiance in Alaska in 2005. It is a great ship with lots of features, good food, two alternative restaurants. I would take a Radiance class ship in a second over a worn out ship like the Mercury. In fact, I refuse to sail on the Galaxy in Europe next year for the same reason.

[SheilaNC]

We sailed Mercury to Alaska in July. It was one of our best cruises and we have sailed on many Celebrity ships. You might search for Recently Returned from Mercury type threads for complete reviews. Suffice it to say that the service, food and entertainment were first class and we had a wonderful cruise. The crew told us that there would be a major overhaul including bedding next April and we are booked on B2B cruises on her in Feb/March 2008. Do it!

[caviargal]

We sailed Merc last May. If this is going to be a fairly involved dry dock for the ship, I suspect that the any issues I personally had with the ship will be resolved. X's maintenance of their ships seems to be lacking in areas, and it was evident on Mercury at the time. I had read many similar complaints about Century prior to its dry dock, but recent reviews have been glowing. The ship looks great.

 

Maintenance issues aside, the service we received and the food served in the dining room was everything I expected from X. I don't think you have much to be concerned with if your sailing is post-April '07.

 

Ditto to everything stated above. She is need of a comprehensive drydock.

 

I asked my X rep (I am a TA) about this recently again and she said there are no plans to do anything close to what was done on Century and the April 07 drydock is the for basics as djkretired states. I would like to see them do a spiff up because the ship has a lot to offer but I personally would not sail her again with the cabins as they are now.

[SheilaNC]

Caviergal,

while I appreciate that you are a TA and got your info from X rep, I have heard differently from other TAs and the upper level crew while on board...they told us that there would be major structural changes (not as great as Century but significant) to include changes in office space (perhaps to future cruise sales, etc), possible enlargement of Martini Bar, etc as well as esthetic changes like carpet, beddings, some furniture, etc. Sure wish we could get one 'correct' statement from X. It would certainly fill their coffers with increased bookings....an April is not THAT far away. Are you listening, Celebrity??

[Sky Sweet]

We took a Mexican Riviera Cruise on the Mercury in January/February 2005. I have sailed on Celebrity's Infinity, Constellation, Millennium, Century, and Mercury, and would recommend every one of these ships, with the exception of Mercury.

 

Even though Mercury is one of Century's sister ships, it lacks the elegance of Century.

 

Our sky suite had a huge balcony and was awesome, but the cabin's upholstery was in very poor condition. In light of what we paid for that suite, I found this factor to be totally unacceptable.

 

Extensive deferred maintenance existed in most public areas of the ship, and this is the only Celebrity Ship where I have observed this situation.

 

Food was very good and this particular cruise had an excellent pastry chef.

 

Our cruise had a great group of passengers, so we had a wonderful time in spite of the ship's extensive deferred maintenance. However, I will not sail on Mercury again unless it has major work done to it.

[caviargal]

Caviergal,

while I appreciate that you are a TA and got your info from X rep, I have heard differently from other TAs and the upper level crew while on board...they told us that there would be major structural changes (not as great as Century but significant) to include changes in office space (perhaps to future cruise sales, etc), possible enlargement of Martini Bar, etc as well as esthetic changes like carpet, beddings, some furniture, etc. Sure wish we could get one 'correct' statement from X. It would certainly fill their coffers with increased bookings....an April is not THAT far away. Are you listening, Celebrity??

 

It would be nice to have consistency, yes. I am in regular contact with X and RCI at the district levels because I do large groups; I would hope that the info given is correct as it affects where I book business and at this time Mercury does not make the short list. As aggressively as they are courting group business, one would assume they put their best foot forward and would overpromise instead of the opposite.

 

The dry dock is fairly short to allow any comprehensive work to be done but then again Crystal is doing a complete redo of the Symphony (over 20M) in a round the clock dry dock so anything is possible.

[Nancynurse]

The good---she is a beautiful ship with a fantastic crew...

 

The bad---the food was really, really good...

 

The ugly---the weight we gained becuase of the really really, good food!:D

 

Nancy

[rubrrick]

The good---she is a beautiful ship with a fantastic crew...

 

The bad---the food was really, really good...

 

The ugly---the weight we gained becuase of the really really, good food!:D

 

Nancy

 

Nancy...........thank you for a very funny post!!

 

LOL!!!:D :D :D

 

Rick

[Nilla]

WE just got off her on Monday we did a three night PNW Cruise and had a great time! I think she is in great shape and the majority of the crew was fantastic! There was a mix up on my birthday last Saturday and the Maitre D, and our waiter went above and beyond to let us know about the mix up as well to rectify the situation! These two both went above and beyond anuthing myself or other half expected! WE enjoyed the trip so much we will be going back again next year! :D

[mrstay]

WE just got off her on Monday we did a three night PNW Cruise and had a great time! I think she is in great shape and the majority of the crew was fantastic! There was a mix up on my birthday last Saturday and the Maitre D, and our waiter went above and beyond to let us know about the mix up as well to rectify the situation! These two both went above and beyond anuthing myself or other half expected! WE enjoyed the trip so much we will be going back again next year! :D

 

 

What category cabin were you in and were you happening with the appearance of the cabin?

[poetic license]

We returned from our first MERCURY cruise on Oct. 6. The issues listed do exist, and yes, the mattresses right now are downright awful. I understand they are to be replaced in April 07. We would sail on MERCURY again post-drydock. We have tried the M class ships and the other two C class ships. We personally love CENTURY best: maybe it was the dark woods and deep shades that made it so warm and elegant. (I'll be trying the new CENTURY in a couple of weeks, so I'll know the new ambience then.) MERCURY isn't as elegant as the other C class ships, and I can't tell you why; It's just an ambience factor, perhaps due to the original palette chosen for the finishes. I am sure that will be addressed in dry dock.

 

We had a wonderful cruise; the crew could not have been more professional, warm or courteous. We had a CC cabin, and our steward greeted us by name as we approached the door of our cabin on boarding day. I was impressed; clearly, he does his 'people' homework. He kept our cabin spotless, and the the rest of the ship was exceptionally clean as well. It is far from the rust bucket some describe it to be.

 

If I had made a decision to sail MERCURY based solely on what I read on this board, I wouldn't have booked it. Just take all the reviews with a grain of salt, since you can't possibly know the background noise that colors the poster who writes them. Some completely unassociated unpleasantness can GREATLY change the way a poster feels about a given cruise; everyone comes aboard with their own baggage [so to speak].:rolleyes:

 

Our attitude makes a difference in the way we see things: We feel very very fortunate we are able to get away to be pampered. That never escapes us while we are on a cruise, knowing any day cruising is better than being at the office. :)

 

Best wishes to you weighing all your options and making a decision. Happy sailing!

 

Nicki