Which cruise to take? Need opinions...

[SusieV]

My husband and I are currently booked on the Feb 19 sailing of Century to celebrate our second anniversary. We've been thinking about it and 5 nights really isn't long enough... we'd like a little longer of a vacation but we're not sure which to choose.

 

We'd love to hear some opinions!

 

Ideally, we'd love to switch to the Feb 19 sailing of Constellation, with that amazing itinerary. However that sailing is a little out of our budget once we factor in onboard expenses and shore excursions.

 

Our main idea is to book a B2B on the Century but because of scheduling it would be much easier to take the 4 nights prior rather than the 5 nights after, and right now the price is very high relatively speaking for that segment because of your President's Day holiday.

 

Our third option is to take the 11 night on Galaxy, departing Feb 12. I am a little concerned about the upkeep on the Galaxy from posts here on Cruise Critic and I'm not sure we'd enjoy it as much as the newly redone Century. However it is approximately the same dollar value and 2 extra nights.

 

No matter which cruise we take, we're getting an inside room. Please share your thoughts on which cruise you would recommend and why!

[SusieV]

I can't seem to edit for some reason... I wanted to add one more cruise for consideration.

 

So I'll briefly summarize our realistic options for an inside cabin:

 

1) B2B on Century, Feb 15-24 for 9 nights. Pros: Ship recently refurbished. Cons: first segment overpriced because of American holiday. Potentially a lot of kids.

 

2) Millennium, Feb 18 for 7 nights. Pros: My husband loves Mille class ships. Cons: Ports suck.

 

3) Galaxy, Feb 12 for 11 nights. Pros: Longest stay. Cons: Older, non refurbished ship. No specialty restaurant.

 

My husband's main concern is, is the food going to be as good on all three ships? The food is seriously the highlight of his cruise experience and he wants to enjoy it. He is a little sad that there is no specialty restaurant on Galaxy.

 

So which itinerary would you choose, and why? And please comment on the food to relieve his concerns!

[Andy&Mary]

I can't help with information on the Galaxy, but my husband and I did the 5-day/4-day back to back over Thanksgiving week on the Century. We're both in our 30's with no kids and yes, there were too many children on board for our liking. The kids did not bother us except the pools and hot tubs were not usable to us except for on port days.

 

Not to make your decision more difficult but Murano on Century was AWESOME! We went three times and that was one of the highlights of the cruise for us.

 

Other highlights: some awesome CC friends that we met and hung out with on the ship, the martini bar, and yes, the ship decor is new and very nice.

Mary

[chessbriar]

Read some of the recent threads. People coming off the ship have positive things to say about the Galaxy.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=451954

 

I'd choose the Galaxy. Great itinerary and a great ship. She doesn't have all the bells and whistles of the new ships., but you will have a great time.

 

I've sailed on her 3x with my fourth coming Feb 23. Join us!!!!

 

The quality of food on X is consistant over the fleet. You will have great meals which ever you choose.

 

We did the Millie with that itinerary, it's a pretty lousy itinerary. Take the ports in to equal consideration with the ship and the food. What's the purpose of going on a cruise for the ship then hating the ports.

[chessbriar]

A quote from Leenie29 about her recent cruise on the Galaxy.

 

"I really don't understand all the negative posts about the Galaxy either. It wasn't a war torn rust bucket in need of repair as some have described it. It's got this comfortable old friend feel to it......

 

I actually liked being on a smaller ship for a change especially when it came time to get off the ship (we've done NCL Dawn and Caribbean Princess) or coming back exhausted from a shore excursion.

 

Every crew member that we encountered were friendly and very charming. Some cynics might says it's their job to be that way. It might be but it never felt insincere or forced it always seemed real and caring. My youngest son who's 8 had a great time getting himself all the pizza and ice cream he could down and within a couple of days the food staff knew his preferences and name. Whenever we would bump into one of the pizza or ice cream crew around the ship they always greeted my son with a high five and by name. My older son who's 12 enjoyed talking to the crew about their families and their home countries. They were as happy to talk to him as he was to them. One person both of my kids took a liking to was Cihan the ass't maitre de. He missed his kids and my youngest was his daughter's age. Unfortunately he's off for two months but he was wonderful.

 

I also think it was our best cruise or even vacation ever. My kids loved everything about this vacation and really hated leaving. They got more out of that vacation educationally than they get in school. I can say both my husband and I hated coming home and going back to work."

[usha]

SusieV, my DH & I were looking at exactly the same options for cruising next February.

 

We've been on all of these ships, but haven't been on Galaxy since spring of '99 (which was our favorite cruise EVER, for many reasons). You'll read reports that run the gamut from Galaxy being in great shape, well maintained and beautiful to Galaxy being a disgraceful rust bucket. It's a shame there's no specialty restaurant on Galaxy yet, I wholeheartedly agree, but we really have loved the food in the main diningroom on all of Celebrity's ships, including Galaxy. The 11 night itinerary looks GREAT to us, even though we'd rather not deal with San Juan at the beginning and end.

 

Century is indeed a beauty after the redo, IMO, and well-worth considering a b2b (or even a b2b2b!:D) Still, you'll read mixed reviews.

 

Millennium's a lovely ship, but we quickly eliminated it from the running, because of the crappy itinerary.:o

 

Constellation is the newest ship in the fleet, with all the bells and whistles, and hasn't been plagued with the infamous "pod problems" that some are all freaked out about. For us, air to Ft. Lauderdale would be a cinch, but the itinerary for the 11 night on Feb. 19th wasn't as appealing as the Galaxy's 11 night on Feb.12th.

 

For us, the decision was Galaxy 11 night on Feb. 12th.

Guess we'll find out firsthand if it's a lovingly maintained beauty or a disgraceful rust bucket! ;)

 

Obviously, you and your husband are the only people who can make the "right" decision for your anniversary cruise in Feb, but have a great time on whichever ship you pick!:D

[Andy]

I can't seem to edit for some reason... I wanted to add one more cruise for consideration.

 

So I'll briefly summarize our realistic options for an inside cabin:

 

1) B2B on Century, Feb 15-24 for 9 nights. Pros: Ship recently refurbished. Cons: first segment overpriced because of American holiday. Potentially a lot of kids.

 

2) Millennium, Feb 18 for 7 nights. Pros: My husband loves Mille class ships. Cons: Ports suck.

 

3) Galaxy, Feb 12 for 11 nights. Pros: Longest stay. Cons: Older, non refurbished ship. No specialty restaurant.

 

My husband's main concern is, is the food going to be as good on all three ships? The food is seriously the highlight of his cruise experience and he wants to enjoy it. He is a little sad that there is no specialty restaurant on Galaxy.

 

So which itinerary would you choose, and why? And please comment on the food to relieve his concerns!

 

Hi Susie !

 

Given those 3 choices, I am leaning towards Century. IMHO, I would go for the 10 night Constellation Ultimate Caribbean option as the best choice, but yes.... the prices for that itinerary are very expensive. While I like Millennium, the itinerary is awful. If the ports are important to you, I would cross that one off the list. If you want a great Cruise experience, you can still consider Millennium.

 

I was just on Century last week, and we had a wonderful time. The ship is in great shape, and the crew was excellent. You will run into some repitition on the back to back, such as duplicated meals and entertainment.

 

As for Galaxy, I have not been on her in a while. Chessbriar (Rick) always has good comments about Galaxy. I would surely trust his judgement. Question, how do you feel about flying to San Juan ? That has to be taken into consideration.

 

Good luck with your choices !

[SusieV]

The flights aren't really an issue because we have miles, so we aren't paying for it either way. The timing isn't great for flights to San Juan unless we go a day ahead though, which means extra cost for a hotel.

 

My husband also asked me to throw the Feb 9 Mercury sailing to Mexico into the mix... thoughts?

 

1) B2B on Century, Feb 15-24 for 9 nights. Pros: Ship recently refurbished. Cons: first segment overpriced because of American holiday. Potentially a lot of kids. Some repeated ports.

 

2) Millennium, Feb 18 for 7 nights. Pros: My husband loves Mille class ships. Cons: Ports suck.

 

3) Galaxy, Feb 12 for 11 nights. Pros: Longest stay. Cons: Older, non refurbished ship. No specialty restaurant.

 

4) Mercury, Feb 9 for 9 nights. Pros: He loves Mexico. Cheap itinerary. Cons: Older, non refurbished ship. No specialty restaurant. Bad reviews?

[chessbriar]

Andy had brought up the flights in and out of San Juan. Since you would not be flying in on the weekend the airport won't be the mess we've become accustomed to after a 7 night sailing from San Juan.

 

The Mercury and Galaxy are near identical ships. Minor changes in decor. That being said, the Mercury is my second favorite ship. I just loved sailing on her. If I'm picking just on ships I'm going on Mercury.

 

If I'm looking at itinerary, I'm picking Galaxy. We did a Mexican Riviera crusie and learned that the weather can very iffy. We sailed in January to a good number of overcast cool days. Talking with the crew and locals found out this was not out of the ordinary for that time of the year.

 

You can't go wrong with either.

[Lsimon]

Personally - I'd pick the Galaxy out of the choices you outlined above. It is a great cruise itinerary, and if you read a lot of the threads I think you'll see the Galaxy is a pretty nice ship. I haven't been on it but will be on the same cruise you're thinking about! (OK so I might be a "little" biased.). Besides - 11 days is better than 9 or 7, and with the timing of the Galaxy you can easily extend a couple days and spend the weekend before or after in San Juan and easily have 13 or more days!

 

While lack of a specialty restaurant is a bit of minus, I don't consider that a big deal and it wouldn't drive me towards a choice unless everything else was exactly equal.

 

With that said - I've loved our trips on the Summit and Connie and did the 10 and 11 day Caribbean itineraries the Connie is doing this year on the Summit in '04 and '05. They are great itineraries and from what I see the Connie cruise you're talking about isn't that much more expensive. That might be my first choice.

 

Now I've never done a back to back cruise, and I'm sure there is a lot going for them, but there are a few negative things I've read here about them to consider, including the repetitiveness of entertainment and meals, which are generally the same between the two trips and the fact that the last day of most cruises generally has an anti-climatic, slightly down, atmosphere on board as people have to pack and say goodbye. While you won't be ending your cruise at the end of the first b2b segment others will - plus the fact that the turnover day is not going to be as fun as a "normal" day on a longer cruise so you more or less lose a day there. One other point is that looking back at our favorite cruises they've been the ones where we've met nice cruise friends on board and have had a good time socializing with them in the lounges or over dinner. This generally gets better as the cruise goes since it takes a few days to get to know people. On a short b2b cruise you're going to more or less start from scratch in the middle of your trip.

 

 

One more comment, and this one is really my own personal bias even more so than the above, is that I'm not that crazy about the Mexican Riviera. While I did enjoy our Mexican Riviera cruise I really enjoy time on the beaches and water and I don't think the beaches and water on the West Coast of Mexico stacked up to the Caribbean.

[Hoosiermama]

Can I ask...why are the ports awful for the Mille cruise? We are planning a trip next year and I could use some advise on those ports.

 

Susie,

I've only been on the Constellation, although we will be on the Century in March. If you do get a chance to cruise on the Connie, do it! It's a beautiful ship and OceanLiners is an amazing restaurant.

[Hlitner]

Most of the posts do not address the issue of back-to-backs. We have done a few of these (with several cruise lines) and even once did a back to back to back (Enchantment of the Seas). Personally, we like to avoid back to backs unless its our only option. The first problem is that when you come back into a US port you will still have to get off the ship and go through immigration before you can re-board. The 2nd issue is that on back to backs the cruise line will often repeat much of the entertainment and might even repeat some of the dining menus. We have also found that on any cruise both the first and last nights are a bore since many passengers are wiped-out the first night (and you have to put up with welcome aboard shows, life boat drills etc) and everyone usually hates those last nights. I think paying a little extra to have one longer cruise is a good investment.

 

Hank

[Irishwhiskey]

Have you given any thought about a repositioning cruise to Europe.We've been on three.They start running them in the spring. I don't know if it would within your budget or time frame but we have had some fairly nice deals over the years,inluding air.Not many ports to worry about booking to many excursions for.Some ports were self walking tours.We always take the late seating and always bring a couple of bottles of wine with us in our carryon bags.Its never been a problem.

[SusieV]

We really appreciate all the feedback! We're still trying to make a decision. We need to do it right away because we are currently booked on the Feb 19 sailing of Century and we need to make up our minds before it goes into final payment :P

 

I think we're leaning towards the Galaxy sailing. Husband after consideration would love to do Mercury because he enjoys Mexico and it's much less than the other trips, plus there is no air miles surcharge which is wonderful... but we think the timing won't work because of a prior commitment.

 

Husband is still toying with the idea of doing the B2B on Century... I will definitely pass along your comments!

 

LSimon, I know it may not seem like a big difference to most people, but it works out to nearly a thousand dollars. We've been saving for two years to go on this trip and unfortunately it's our of our budget.

 

As for a transatlantic... we want to do this in February to coincide with our school break and we need the costs to be low. I can't imagine how much open jaw airfare must cost milewise.

[chessbriar]

Can I ask...why are the ports awful for the Mille cruise? We are planning a trip next year and I could use some advise on those ports.

 

IMO, Nassau and Casa De Campo are waste of ports. I've been to Nassau 3 times. I had the most fun the last time when we stayed on the ship. I just have not found anything there that interests me.

 

As to CDC, it's not built up yet and there's not a lot to do.

 

Now this is just my opinion other may love it, but I'll pass.

[Lsimon]

..LSimon, I know it may not seem like a big difference to most people, but it works out to nearly a thousand dollars. We've been saving for two years to go on this trip and unfortunately it's our of our budget...

 

It's true there are some great deals right now on the Galaxy cruise! If you do pick that cruise stop by our roll call and say hello to some of your fellow cruisers to be!

 

Bottom line: Don't you wish all of life's decisions were like this - you know that whatever decision you'll make you'll have a wonderful time!

[SusieV]

Someone suggested I look at other cruiselines... I am not sure Royal Caribbean would be for us although they do have one other possibility.

 

What do X cruisers think of Vision of the Seas?

[rebeccalouise]

I would do the Constellation and skip some excursions and limit onboard expenses. It was a lovely ship with plenty to do- without shelling out for many things onboard.

I loved that ship. I also love Millenium. Galaxy was nice too but haven't sailed her since 2004.

[slotaddict]

My vote is for the Century everything is brand new, service is great, food was good.

[Host Anne]

Susie ~ we sailed Vision about five years ago through the Panama Canel. Had a great cruise but in comparison to the Celebrity ships, I'd take any (except Zenith) Celebrity ship over Vision. In my opinion, service and food are somewhat better on Celebrity ships, too (although we've had fun cruises on RCI ships). Five years isn't a fair comparison but I'd probably still prefer Celebrity ships.

 

Good luck!

[SusieV]

We have decided to go with the Galaxy. Thanks for all your help.

 

Are there any bad inside cabins on Galaxy or is it safe to take a GTY?

[usha]

There are some category 11 cabins on Plaza deck that have a big "pole".

Do a search on "Galaxy pole cabin", and you'll see several threads about that issue, and many have pictures and the specific cabin #s.

I think it's the first 8 cabins (4 on port, 4 on starboard) just behind guest relations.

[SusieV]

Hopefully we won't get one of those but I guess it's the luck of the draw. I don't suppose a pole in my room would ruin my cruise.

 

I know it doesn't happen often but Celebrity knows it's our anniversary, maybe we'll get lucky and be upgraded :) LOL I will probably check our reservation online daily until I see a cabin posted... but I will be thrilled if it doesn't post until we get to the pier!