Leela's Mom on 5/19 Journey to Bermuda

[Leela]

Hi everyone!

 

My Mom & Dad are on the 5/19 Journey cruise to Bermuda. Mom promised she'd call before the ship sailed to let me know how things looked.

 

The story thus far...

 

A year ago Mom & I sailed on Zenith to Bermuda. We had such a good time (even though we thought Zenith's condition had really deteriorated) that, while on-board, Mom booked a CC cabin on Zenith for this year.

 

When it became known that Zenith was going away to be replaced by Journey, Mom got a phone call from Celebrity telling her about it and giving her a new cabin number for Journey, etc.

 

Two weeks ago Mom noticed that her cruise docs had not arrived, so she called Celebrity. They said they had been sent, and that they wouldn't re-send them, but not to worry because all she needed was her ID etc. Mom has cruised Celebrity many times so she was all fine with that. My Dad, however, is such a huge Nervous Nellie about travel in any form that he kept worrying and complaining so Mom called again two days ago to reconfirm everything.

 

When she called, she didn't have her reservation number in front of her because Dad had packed it into a suitcase (how is that going to help anything, I wondered...). The customer service agent said don't worry, she would look it up by name. The agent couldn't find it, so tried by date and cabin number. But when she looked that up, the name on the cabin didn't match my parents. Then the agent realized that she was spelling my parents' name wrong (there's a space and a capital letter in the middle of the name, so people are forever messing it up). She found my parents' reservation just fine, and informed my mother that they had been upgraded to a Sky Suite.

 

I cannot believe my mother's luck.

 

Mom, wisely, has not said a word about the upgrade to my Dad, just in case it was some kind of strange mistake (she can't believe her luck, either).

 

Anyway, they were planning to arrive at the pier between noon and 1pm, and she said they would call once they were in the room but before they sailed. I'm waiting to hear from her and will come back with a full report!

 

I'm not sure if her cell phone will work in Bermuda (I don't think it did when we went last year although mine did -- I have GSM but she does not) but if it does I'll be able to give a report from when they get there, too.

[ALSEAU]

I know it doesn't sound like fun to everyone but my wife and I like to visit an Internet Cafe when we are in port. It allows us to update family and friends on our vacation. Kinda of our way of sending a post card.

 

We have never been to Bermuda and I haven't read on any threads about the availability of the Internet on land. If you or anyone else knows any thing would appreciate the input.

 

Looking forward to reading your parents initial report after boarding.

 

Third cruise should be a charm.

[Sage]

Thanks Leela for starting this post. I'm looking forward to hearing all the details.

[patpaul]

Thanks for letting us know about the ship,we are going next week and would like to know what to expect. Will be looking forward to hear what your mom has to say.

[Leela]

There's internet in Bermuda, but there is no chance my parents will take the time or effort to log in. They can barely manage to check their email once a week at home. In fact, when my mom wants to know something, she calls me and I do it for her.

 

Anyway, I am waiting on pins and needles for her to call me back. I called about an hour ago and she said she and Dad were having lunch, and that it was very nice. She was going to put Dad on the phone, but he was eating pizza. I guess that was a good sign because he is a self-styled home-made pizza King and if it didn't at least look good I doubt he would have picked it for lunch. Unfortunately, we didn't talk more than that because there was a lot of noise around and plus she didn't want to be that person who sits in the middle of the cafe' yakking on her cell phone and annoying everyone.

 

I figure it's 3pm there now, so they are probably going to do the boat drill soon...still, I wish she'd call!

[Leela]

Mom called back just now and we talked for about five minutes, and then she had to hang up because the public announcement was being made warning that the boat drill was about to start.

 

Here is what she has to say so far. She says the ship is very nice, and that it looks like a large yacht. The passengers she's seen so far make up for an elderly group, most people appear to be in their 70's and 80's. My parents are in their mid-60's and say that they are the youngsters on this cruise.

 

They drove from New Hampshire to Bayonne, and found the drive-in experience to be very easy. They drove up to the terminal, dropped off Mom and the bags, and then Dad parked the car and walked back. A porter took the bags as usual, and since Mom & Dad didn't have bag tags he wrote out tags by hand for them.

 

In the terminal Mom & Dad checked in quickly in the normal Celebrity manner, and were directed to a pre-boarding lounge set aside for Suite passengers. She says it was very nice lounge, with carpeting and chairs. They had food set out: pizza, sandwiches, soft drinks, coffee, juice and water. They waited 15 minutes in the lounge and then were ushered to the shuttle bus for the trip down the very long pier to the ship.

 

They boarded and went to their cabin. She says it's very nice (and she's saying it in her "I really mean it" way, not that "I'm being nice" way that some moms have!), with lots of wood, lots of storage, she says it's very yacht-like to her. There is a tub in the bathroom.

 

I asked her about the pool, she says she went by it and she thought that size-wise it was a lot like the pool area on Horizon and Zenith, and that there were maintenance staff out there varnishing.

 

Then the PA came on to announce that the boat drill was going to start, and she said my dad was chomping at the bit (I said "why, there's no point in going down there until the klaxon sounds?") so she hung up saying she would call back later.

[eph89]

We have never been to Bermuda and I haven't read on any threads about the availability of the Internet on land. If you or anyone else knows any thing would appreciate the input.

 

There are at least 2 places convenient to the ship when docked in Hamilton. I personally used Logic on Burnaby (http://www.logic.bm/res_section/res_burnaby.html) which was $10/hr. There is also an Internet Lane on Front Street (http://www.internetlane.net/) if you're not into walking up a slight hill.

 

Logic had a fast connection; you can use their machines or bring your own laptop.

[JkyLovesRuss]

Mom called back just now and we talked for about five minutes, and then she had to hang up because the public announcement was being made warning that the boat drill was about to start.

 

Here is what she has to say so far. She says the ship is very nice, and that it looks like a large yacht. The passengers she's seen so far make up for an elderly group, most people appear to be in their 70's and 80's. My parents are in their mid-60's and say that they are the youngsters on this cruise.

 

They drove from New Hampshire to Bayonne, and found the drive-in experience to be very easy. They drove up to the terminal, dropped off Mom and the bags, and then Dad parked the car and walked back. A porter took the bags as usual, and since Mom & Dad didn't have bag tags he wrote out tags by hand for them.

 

In the terminal Mom & Dad checked in quickly in the normal Celebrity manner, and were directed to a pre-boarding lounge set aside for Suite passengers. She says it was very nice lounge, with carpeting and chairs. They had food set out: pizza, sandwiches, soft drinks, coffee, juice and water. They waited 15 minutes in the lounge and then were ushered to the shuttle bus for the trip down the very long pier to the ship.

 

They boarded and went to their cabin. She says it's very nice (and she's saying it in her "I really mean it" way, not that "I'm being nice" way that some moms have!), with lots of wood, lots of storage, she says it's very yacht-like to her. There is a tub in the bathroom.

 

I asked her about the pool, she says she went by it and she thought that size-wise it was a lot like the pool area on Horizon and Zenith, and that there were maintenance staff out there varnishing.

 

Then the PA came on to announce that the boat drill was going to start, and she said my dad was chomping at the bit (I said "why, there's no point in going down there until the klaxon sounds?") so she hung up saying she would call back later.

 

Thank you Leela! I hope your parents have a wonderful time! Keep us posted!

[Leela]

The tugboats are arriving and the party has begun...Dad just called me from the Looking Glass, which is the bar that stretches across the forward part of the ship. He says that it is drizzly so the sailaway party is inside.

 

He also has no compunction about shouting in to his cell phone over the band!

 

Anyway, here's what I could get out of him:

 

He agrees with Mom's "yacht-like" assessment, and says there are only two shops on board.

 

He says there are wooden chairs by the pool. I tried to cross-check with this with Mom but she couldn't remember and she wanted to get off the phone because she refuses to shout over the band (I agree with her, cell phones anywhere but one's cabin or an emergency on a cruise ship are bad in my mind).

 

Tonight they are going to eat in the regular restaurant, but they have a reservation for tomorrow night in Aqualina, which is the Mediterranean-style specialty restaurant. On the last sea day, they will be eating in Prime C, which is steaks & chops.

 

I asked him what he thought of his cabin, and he said it was really neat. The veranda has a table for two and two upright chairs on it.

 

The last thing I asked him was his overall assessment of the readiness of the ship. My dad is a retired US Navy Captain (was in submarines), so whatever info I get out of him will be from someone with a good eye for ship-shapeness. He said that everything looks fine to him, except there is still a lot of "wet paint" signs around because of all the varnish work going on. (He added that it's not being helped by the rain.)

 

I hope they get better weather, but there's not much that can be done about that.

 

I urged them to try to call me from Bermuda. If not, I'll call them when they get back to the US and get as many details as I can!

[ALSEAU]

Leela,

 

Thanks for the update. No bad news is good news for everyone whether they are staying in a inside cabin or a suite. It sounds like the ship and crew are beginning to get into their groove.

 

eph89 thanks for the input for the locations of the Internet.

[patpaul]

Hi everyone!

 

My Mom & Dad are on the 5/19 Journey cruise to Bermuda. Mom promised she'd call before the ship sailed to let me know how things looked.

 

The story thus far...

 

A year ago Mom & I sailed on Zenith to Bermuda. We had such a good time (even though we thought Zenith's condition had really deteriorated) that, while on-board, Mom booked a CC cabin on Zenith for this year.

 

When it became known that Zenith was going away to be replaced by Journey, Mom got a phone call from Celebrity telling her about it and giving her a new cabin number for Journey, etc.

 

Two weeks ago Mom noticed that her cruise docs had not arrived, so she called Celebrity. They said they had been sent, and that they wouldn't re-send them, but not to worry because all she needed was her ID etc. Mom has cruised Celebrity many times so she was all fine with that. My Dad, however, is such a huge Nervous Nellie about travel in any form that he kept worrying and complaining so Mom called again two days ago to reconfirm everything.

 

When she called, she didn't have her reservation number in front of her because Dad had packed it into a suitcase (how is that going to help anything, I wondered...). The customer service agent said don't worry, she would look it up by name. The agent couldn't find it, so tried by date and cabin number. But when she looked that up, the name on the cabin didn't match my parents. Then the agent realized that she was spelling my parents' name wrong (there's a space and a capital letter in the middle of the name, so people are forever messing it up). She found my parents' reservation just fine, and informed my mother that they had been upgraded to a Sky Suite.

 

I cannot believe my mother's luck.

 

Mom, wisely, has not said a word about the upgrade to my Dad, just in case it was some kind of strange mistake (she can't believe her luck, either).

 

Anyway, they were planning to arrive at the pier between noon and 1pm, and she said they would call once they were in the room but before they sailed. I'm waiting to hear from her and will come back with a full report!

 

I'm not sure if her cell phone will work in Bermuda (I don't think it did when we went last year although mine did -- I have GSM but she does not) but if it does I'll be able to give a report from when they get there, too.

Thanks for the info. I hope they finish varnishing, between my husbands asthma and the rest of our groups allergies we are all going to be miserable. Glad to hear your parents feel the ship is nice. When I saw the first picture of the ship my 1st words were we are not on a ship but a yacht guess it was a pretty good description.

[Susan-M]

We have never been to Bermuda and I haven't read on any threads about the availability of the Internet on land.

 

We've used the computers at the public library, which is at #6 on the attached map & about a 5 min. walk from the ship.

 

http://www.frommers.com/images/destinations/maps/jpg-2006/91_walkingtour1:thecityofhamilton.jpg

[cruisingdelt]

Leela,

 

You are not making the 7 week wait until my 7/7 sailing any easier! Thanks for the info. I have made use of plenty of great info from these boards over the pasr few years and intend on returning the favor in July.

[Leela]

I'm on the phone with Dad right now. Their cell phone works in Hamilton!

 

He says the service is the best he's had on any cruise except for one -- years ago he did a transatlantic on the old Cunard Vistafjord. He says the hotel staff is better than on the Queen Mary 2. He also reports he's had the best martini ever (and he's had many a martini in his day), made by Supat in the Martini Bar.

 

Mom and Dad say the food is good, they ate in Aqualina and said it's not as good as Todd English on the QM2 but it was still very enjoyable. Mom ordered some fish dish and it came really really dry, but other than that she had no food complaints.

 

Now for the bad news: Dad says that the physical plant of the ship needs a lot of work, and that in his estimation it could take as long as a couple of months for it all to get done. Dad says that all the decking is off of Deck 11 and they are up there chipping and painting, etc. People weren't even allowed up there for several days. There is scraping and painting going on everywhere.

 

He also says a lot of finishing work was just not attended to during the refit. For instance, the sliding doors to their veranda didn't close properly, and because of that there was always a whining hissing noise as air was sucked out through the door. Later, the door jumped off the track. A maintenance team came in to look and discovered that part of the protective plastic wrapping on the doors was never removed after the refit.

 

The team came through another time because Dad noticed that the edge of the railing on his veranda wasn't attached to anything, it was just left loose and unfinished. The team came and bolted it down properly.

 

There was a problem in their area of the ship near his cabin with the toilets. One neighbor's backed up onto the floor and got the carpeting all wet. Mom & Dad's backed up but Dad bailed it to keep it from overflowing.

 

There's also some trouble with the heating/ventilation: Mom & Dad came back from somewhere and Maintenance was in their cabin with a ladder, they had removed some roof tiles and were working on a vent that was never properly hooked up. Apparantly the Sky Suites are new, and are all "modular." During the refit the old cabins there were removed and the new Sky Suites slid in, and that's why the railing, sliding door, and vents weren't all connected the right way.

 

There was also a noise problem related to a ramp one deck up: it wasn't attached properly, and every time someone would step on it, it would make a clomping noise that sounded like people throwing chairs around. The people in my Dad's part of the ship kept complaining about it, and it eventually got fixed.

 

Mom & Dad are having a very good time, they are really enjoying Bermuda and the food, drink, service and entertainment on the ship. It just sounds to me like the ship could have used some more time in the refit. For every week it sits in refit it's not earning money...but on the other had who the heck wants to vacation on a "home improvement" cruise? I think if it weren't for the highly discounted price a lot of people paid (by virtue of having originally booked on the much less expensive Zenith), people would be feeling more disgruntled.

[bubbie617]

You are making me a little nervous about sailing on Quest in November. It will only be about the 3rd sailing with the same short amount of time scheduled for the retrofit. I'll have to watch these boards carefully to see how the problems on Journey play out. :eek:

[Andy]

Hi Everyone !

 

I have deleted the last few posts, as they have nothing to do with the topic of this thread.

 

Please, try to stay on topic. Thank you !

 

This ends the announcement. I now return you back to our regularly scheduled thread :)

[happycat Bainbridge Is]

Hi Leela,

 

It's incredibly nice of you and your parents to share thoughts and information about their cruise on Journey!

 

I was hoping we could get back to that ....

 

Thanks!

[Leela]

Dad called me again and left a message. Apparantly things with the physical plant are not improving. My Dad says he & Mom were up all night for some reason (he didn't say if it was noise, or plumbing issues, or heating/cooling issues related to that vent I mentioned before, or if it was some all-new issue). All his message said was that "cabin 8075 is the cabin from hell" and that he & Mom were now trying to get Celebrity to send them home. (Yeah right Dad, good luck with that....)

 

I'm in London now and didn't feel like paying $2.00 a minute to call him in Bermuda and find out exactly what is going on, especially since he will talk for 15 minutes nonstop before I can even get a specific question in.

 

I now an starting to feel skeptical about taking any Journey or Quest trips in the first two months after their refits. My parents booked for Zenith, a known quantity, and the ship got changed out from under them and now they aren't having such a great time. As I get more details, I'll post them here.

[corona5657]

well that doesn't make me feel any better since i am leaving 6/23 on this ship. but keep the info coming, better i am prepared thanks again for the info:(

[Leela]

I think part of their problems are due to the fact that they are sailing in a Sky Suite. They weren't originally -- they had booked a Concierge Cabin and got visited by the upgrade fairy. Or maybe I should say mugged by her :) Anyway, as someone pointed out on another thread, the Sky Suites are all new and are likely to have unexpected "installation" problems. Like the plumbing and the railing and the vent that I mentioned earlier.

 

If you aren't in one of those, it might be a totally different experience for you.

[JkyLovesRuss]

well that doesn't make me feel any better since i am leaving 6/23 on this ship. but keep the info coming, better i am prepared thanks again for the info:(

 

Don't feel bad Corona. At least you know more or less what to expect.. not at all like the 5/6 cruisers, they had no clue (aweful). You will make the best of it! FOOD IS GETTING RAVE REVIEWS! :o I'm sure that by 6/23 everything will be much better.

 

I'm going in August, and I truly hope things are decent by then. If not, we'll have no choice but to make the best of everythng!

 

Happy cruising every one!

[cruisingdelt]

All his message said was that "cabin 8075 is the cabin from hell"

 

Leela,

 

Is 8075 the correct cabin. I cannot find it on a plan.

[LHT28]

All his message said was that "cabin 8075 is the cabin from hell" and that he & Mom were now trying to get Celebrity to send them home. (Yeah right Dad, good luck with that....)

since there is no cabin 8075 that could be the problem!!!;)

 

Sorry to hear they are not having a good trip.

Hope things improve for the remainder of the cruise

[sailing sal]

All his message said was that "cabin 8075 is the cabin from hell"

 

Leela,

 

Is 8075 the correct cabin. I cannot find it on a plan.

 

I, too, could not find 8075 on the deck plan. We were upgraded to the Pent House Suite, 8091 for the 6/23 sailing. Although I am a bit worried, I am optimistic that everything will be done and we will have a great time. Maybe if I expect the worse I will be pleasantly surprised instead!;)

[corona5657]

i couldn't find cabin 8075 either. i am looking at it this way: i booked a year ago for zenith. now its journey. i am planning on enjoying every single minute of my cruise that i worked all year to go on. i don't care if there are work men around, or if my safe doesn't work or if the chairs by the pool are plastic. i plan on spending most of my time in bermuda doing whatever i like to do. things could be much worse. i could have no vacation planned and sitting in this house all summer long. so for me, it will be great no matter what. i do enjoy reading all the posts good and bad tho. :)