My revieww of GALAXY, March 26 sailing

[SleepingUgly]

We got home on Friday from our 11-night cruise on the Galaxy. This was our first cruise on Celebrity -- my third cruise overall, and the first cruise for dh and the kids. A quick summary for those who do not have time to read this review -- The Galaxy is a WONDERFUL ship that shows hardly any signs of age. She is being updated on a regular basis, and for those of you who will be crusing on her this summer in Europe, you are in for a real treat. The crew was incredible -- we truly were treated "famously" by just about everyone we met. It was an experience that helped to convince us to stick with Celebrity for all future cruises. If all the service on Celebrity ships are like what we experienced on the Galaxy, then we are customers for life!

 

Now, here are the details:

 

Cast of Characters - Dh and I are in our mid-30s. As noted above, I have cruised twice before, but dh and the kids have never cruised before. The girls are ages 7 and 4. We have traveled extensively with them -- to parts of Europe and in the US, so they are quite well-traveled. We mostly lean towards hotels such as Loews and Four Seasons chains when traveling (if possible), so we were hoping that our Celebrity experience would be as nice as our experiences with these hotels.

 

Embarkation - Our flight landed in San Juan around 1 pm, and in the next 40 minutes, we had gotten our four pieces of luggage, gotten into a taxi, and had arrived at the Pan American pier. The ship is quite a sight to behold when driving up to the pier. We got in line to have our porters take our bags. This area was quite confusing and congested. There were two lines, but no one paid attention to them. Several parties rushed in front of us to check in their bags first. I said something to one of the porters, and he finally acknowledged us. After checking in our bags, we then got in the line to check in. The line was long, but moved fairly quickly. We got into the terminal and then sat in plastic chairs and filled out embarkation forms (even if you had checked in online, you still have to fill this out). We were then called up to stand in line for the check-in counter. All lines moved quickly. By 2 pm, we were standing at the counter already, showing our documents to the person behind the counter. We then checked in with the Fun Factory personnel, got our pictures taken, and embarked. The champagne and juice were there to greet us, along with the white-gloved personnel.

 

Cabins - We had cabins 8221 and 8223 (deluxe oceanview, adjoining). The cabins were near the aft elevators. We never heard any noise from the elevators at all at anytime -- not people walking up and down the stairs or the "ding" of the elevators arriving. It was a very convenient location, except for embarking and disembarking at the ports, since the gangway was located on Deck 3, forward. But the walks did us good. The cabins themselves are quite spacious and the windows large. It was adequate for two people in each room, and I am glad we chose this route, rather than trying to squeeze four of us in one cabin. We had just enough storage space for two people in each cabin, but if we had to have four people and our clothes all in one cabin (and the luggage!), we would not have had enough room at all. Besides, we had the luxury of having two bathrooms, so we were all able to shower in one bathroom (not all at once, of course :D ), then move to the other bathroom to get ready, so someone else could shower at the same time and not worry about fogging up the mirrors for whoever was getting ready at the same time. Also, the kids could have their space to relax and watch their videos on TV during downtimes (we had a VCR in both cabins and had rented a few Disney movies from the Guest Relations desk for the kids) while dh and I were able to relax and read / watch TV in our cabin. It was a great arrangement.

 

Public spaces - I must say, I was quite worried upon reading the many comments on this board that noted how the Galaxy was worn-out and showing signs of her age. However, after having been on the ship for 11 nights, I must whole-heartedly disagree. Yes, there are signs that the ship has been in service for a while -- for instance, there were these strange, light-brown / greyish stains in our bathroom sinks. But did that bother us? Did the stains harrass us or attack us? No, never. In fact, for the most part, the ship is a real beauty. Carpet was being replaced consistently. While we were there, we saw workers replacing the carpet on the stairs on the upper decks; they looked to be moving their way downwards. Also, the carpet in our cabin had been completedly replaced, but it was quite funny to see only patches of carpeting replaced in our children's cabin. You could tell the difference -- the new carpet was a brighter color and the older carpet was faded. Again, did this affect our crusing experience? No, not in the least. Besides, the crew did a great job in keeping all areas as clean as possible. We never saw anything that would gross us out.

 

All the space was beautiful. I did not go around searching for imperfection, but then again, I was on vacation -- I was not on the job as a ship inspector or whatever. I was there to enjoy myself, and I thoroughly did. The Orion Restaurant was beautiful, and while the Grand Foyer area was smaller than I expected, it was tastefully done. All areas were tastefully decorated -- understated elegance -- nothing too gaudy or over-the-top, which we really appreciated. The Celebrity Theater was large and beautiful, although the shows left something to be desired. Actually, to be fair, we went only for the first show (the Broadway revue) and after that experience, we decided not to go to any more shows. It was not bad, per se, but just kind of cheesy and we didn't feel like spending our time at any more shows. I'm certain many passengers enjoyed them, and it is a very subjective thing, so do attend at least one show to see if you like them or not; don't dismiss them altogether.

 

The shops were fun to browse in every now and then and check out the daily "specials," but we did not make any major purchases -- just souvenirs and such. The computers were inaccessible for the first few days as the ship was reportedly installing new equipment, but was up and running the second week of the sailing. I did not go to the spa, but noticed specials advertised in the Celebrity Today's. I was tempted to try one -- hot stone massage for $123 (usual price was $193), and at the special price, it would have been cheaper than at my spa here at home (which usually charges around $140). So wait for the specials and you may find something you like at a fairly good price.

 

Service - The service was top-notch! As noted before, we usually stay at hotel chains such as Four Seasons or Loews when traveling, and these chains are well-known for their services. Celebrity beat all of them, hands down. Everywhere we went, we were met with smiling faces and heartfelt greetings: "Good morning, sir, how are you this morning?" or "Good afternoon, madam, how are you?" Everyone treated our girls like princesses. There weren't too many kids on the ship, so I guess people started to recognize us sooner rather than later, because of the kids. Whenever we went anywhere without the kids (who spent a lot of time in the Fun Factory, see below), we were asked by crew members (and other passengers!) where our girls were and if they were having a good time. On two nights, when the girls had dinner at the Fun Factory rather than with us at the Orion, our waiter actually looked disappointed not to see them there.

 

Our waiter in the Orion was Tomas from the Czech Republic and the assistant waiter was Oscar from Honduras. These two were quite the team -- they treated us extremely well and really spoiled the girls. The assistant maitre'd, Fathi from Turkey, helped us out with our older daughter's dietary restrictions (she is allergic to dairy products). Every night, he would come to our table with the next day's menu to let me decide what she wanted for the following night. If she wanted something that had dairy in it (ie, creamed soup), then he would have the cook make it with non-dairy products. He kept asking her if there was something special not on the menu that she wanted, and if so, he would have it made for her. She loved the attention, but we encouraged her to always order from the set menu. Can't spoil her too much, kwim? ;) Tomas also folded napkins for the gilrs, including a little Dutch girl hat for our older daughter. He was a hit!

 

Our stateroom attendant was Victor, and he and his assistant did a great job with our cabins. Every night, they would set the girls' stuffed animals in fun positions (not like that, get your mind out of the gutter! :D ), and would leave us extra chocolates. They kept our cabins extremely neat and very clean, and we were fortunate to have them take care of us so well.

 

One little guy who really made our day was the waiter who squirted soap in our hands every morning near the aft entrance of the Oasis Cafe. I forget his name, but I came to call him "Pepe" for some reason. Everyday, he greeted the girls with a loud and friendly, "Oh, there are my Cinderellas!" and would give the girls hugs and chat with dh and me. Everyone loved him -- he always helped us start our days on the right feet with his cheerful attitude.

 

The only "complaints" would be the personnel at the guest services desk, who were professional and courteous, but not friendly at all. Not really a complaint, but it was just a change from everyone else on the ship. Also, the future cruise salesperson was not that helpful with us. I inquired about possibly booking a Mediterranean cruise for us for next summer, and she did not bother to answer my questions and instead, pointed me to the brochures. Of course, the answers were not in the brochures, which is why I had wanted to talk with her, so oh well. I ended up not booking on the ship and will instead book through our TA. But that did not ruin our cruise at all, and it's not fair to really "complain" about such things, but just wanted to point them out.

 

Food - The food was excellent. I am not a seafood lover, but my husband is. He is from Europe, where they are seafood connoiseurs, and loves all kinds of seafood, and even he said the seafood offered was very good. The beef dishes were only OK, I found, although the kids had a prime rib one day that was oh-so tender and juicy. The chicken dishes were mostly dry, but the roasted game hen I had one night was very tender and very good. I mostly enjoyed the pork dishes and the FRUIT. Oh, the fruit. I especially loved the fresh pineapples and the melons. And the sushi bar was excellent. And yes, we tried the famous waffles and we all loved them. Our 4-year-old is a real affectionado of shrimp cocktail, so Tomas made sure she had that as an appetizer almost every night. Our 7-year-old loves fruit, so she had fresh fruit with almost every meal.

 

Fun Factory - This was the highlight of the kids' trip. They LOVED this place. From the very beginning, all the counselors made our girls feel comfortable and welcome. We were told that there were around 70 kids on board the ship, with most of them being ages 12 or over. I probably saw only 15-20 kids under the age of 8 on the ship (including ours). As such, the Fun Factory was never very full, and with seven counselors, all the kids got personal attention. The staff was great. Led by Ms. Kata from Hungary, they were so attentive with the kids and had so many great activities planned. This is not a program where they just turn the TV on and leave the kids alone. No, the counselors themselves get involved in the activities (much of which involved arts and crafts) and at times, the counselors appeared to be having as much (if not more) fun than the kids themselves! The girls went there every night after dinner, and during our two sea days, they spent most of the days there. On our last day, in Tortola, they even chose the Fun Factory over going to the beach! They had a blast and it was all thanks to Kata and the great counselors. Thanks for making the girls' cruise so memorable!

 

Since the Galaxy will not be sailing this itinerary again this year, I'll refrain from commenting on the ports of call, which were the following: Arbua, Curacao, Grenada, Barbados, St. Lucia, Dominica, St. Kitts and Tortola. However, if you are interested, I'll post my comments; just let me know!

 

Disembarkation -- This was probably the most confusing and frustrating part of the entire cruise. We had paid for the Luggage Valet service, so we were one of the first to disembark. We met in the Rendez-Vous Square lounge and by 8 am, we were on our way out of the ship. On the way out, again, there were two lines, yet people still tried to "cut" and force their way in front of others. My husband said something to one man who just barged in front of others, and his response was, "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't know there was a line. I just saw a pile of people." To which I responded, "Yeah, and that's called a line." So he backed off and went to the back of the line. We then had to find our luggage to go through customs, and believe it or not, the tags had come off one of our bags. There were no Celebrity personnel around to help, so I had to walk all the way across the large room to the one tiny help desk, and there, I was told that the airlines would help me after we cleared customs. So we got our five pieces of luggage, went through customs with no problem, and then went to pass off our luggage to the airline rep. There, they told us they would place a new tag on our bag for us. I waited around to actually see them place the tag on the bag before leaving, just to be sure.

 

One disappointing thing -- There were no crew members standing at disembarkation, wishing us a nice trip home. I recall my two previous cruises with other lines -- crew members were standing around, saying goodbye to everyone. It seemed as if they couldn't wait to get us off the ship, and once off and we were searching for our luggage, no one was around to help us with questions/issues. It appeared that once the cruise was over and they could no longer make any more money off of us, they didn't really care anymore. I'm sure that's not the case, but it felt that way.

 

Summary - It was a TERRIFIC cruise! Our entire family had a terrific time. The ship is beautiful and clean and neat -- there is no need to worry that you will be stepping on board of a "trash heap." The windows in the Stratosphere did not look that "dirty" to us, and the retractable roof over the Oasis Pool was closed everytime we saw it, although we did hear others say that it was working. The pool deck was new, but can get very, very hot! The bedding in the cabins appeared to be new and was very comfy. The windows in the Oasis Restaurant were dirty at times, but we did not let that affect us. The Norovirus concern was still prevalent, as we got our hands squirted with anti-bacterial soap everytime we entered an eating establishment. Crew members served us at the buffet lines.

 

We did not get any dirty looks from fellow passengers for having our young children with us -- in fact, we got many nice and positive comments from others. We adhered to the dress code every night, including our girls, and they were the ones who received all the compliments. We noticed that crew members did not enforce the dress codes at all -- on the first formal night, in the Celebrity Theather, we saw a group of three people in t-shirts and shorts carrying their shopping bags(!) in the theater. It was rather comical -- almost as if they had walked in off the streets or something and were checking things out. We saw shorts in the dining room at dinnertime, and yes, some of the older kids did get kind of rowdy -- running around, zipping in and out of the crowd. But, likewise, we also saw some of the adults acting rudely -- people pushing past others to get off the elevator first, pushing in front of others in line, etc. I did not see too many chair hogs, but I did not spend that much time out on the pool deck either.

 

OK, that's about it for now. If anyone should have any questions, feel free to ask. Again, we will definitely sail on Celebrity again, and hope to re-join the Galaxy crew on a Mediterranean cruise sometime next summer. Our kids are already looking forward to it!

 

Linda

[Lois R]

Thanks for the detailed review:)...it was very well written.

I will be sailing Galaxy for the first time next March and am

really looking forward to it:D

Glad your family had such a good time!

[YankeeCruiser]

Linda,

 

Thanks for the great review. I for one would like to hear your opinion of the ports of call, as we will be taking this cruise in... oh... 607 days :eek:

 

Thanks again!

[hcat]

A well written review which is appreciated. We will be on Galaxy for a Greek Isle/Medit cruise in 08...sounds good to me--hope they keep the T pool!

[Kapricorn]

Thanks for the detailed review:)...it was very well written.

I will be sailing Galaxy for the first time next March and am really looking forward to it:D

Glad your family had such a good time!

 

Lois, will you be posting a review of your cruise on the Galaxy afterwards? I would be curious to hear how you compare the Galaxy with her sister-ship, Mercury.

 

Donald.

[Lois R]

Hi:)

I usually do try and write a review so I plan on it for that cruise

too.

It is still 10 months away though:eek:

 

My recent review of Mercury was not as good as I normally

write. I had gotten ill after returning home and so my enegry

level was not up to normal.

I wanted to get it written quickly so in order to do that

the context suffered a bit.

Oh well....

[ILoveScotland]

Huangichen - everything you said about the Galaxy confirms what others have also said. DH and I will be on the Galaxy in October and while I refuse to wish away the remainder of Spring and all of Summer since they are my favorite seasons, I also can hardly wait to arrive in Rome and then board the Galaxy for two weeks.

[Cote d'or]

Huangichen, thanks for your nice and positive review ! We had about the same experience as you did, after having our first cruise on the Galaxy in 2005 and decided to stay with X. My DW and I also love this ship very much and will be sailing her again in less than three weeks. We can hardly wait ! :)

The little cheerful guy you were talking about, wasn't his name 'Husaini' ?