Back from Infinity

[kitty9]

We just returned from our Infinity Alaska cruise. While the weather was pretty bad for the most part with lots of fog and rain, that really didn't matter as we were prepared for cool and rainy.

 

We were in 6099 and 6101 and I loved the location---right mid ship. Easy to get everywhere on the ship. Wilson was our butler, and he was OK. Not as good as we've had before on Summit and Millennium, but he did his job competently. We had table 438, a table for four with Svilino as waiter and Miguel as his assistant. They were wonderful, but I felt really sorry for both of them because of the table for 6 next to us. One couple obviously couldn't tell time as they showed up at least 20 minutes late every evening, and on two evenings, they were 30 minutes late---they obviously preferred to sit in the Martini Bar far too long. That really messed things up for the waiter, and it made it difficult for the others at the table. Please, everyone, at the very most, you need not be any more than 10 minutes late to the dining room. It's just plain rude to be consistently late to dinner every night.

 

They have a female cruise director, sorry I cannot remember her name, but she leaves a lot to be desired. Simon Weir is the hotel director and from what we experienced, he needs to do a better job with some of his staff. We experienced things from staff that we have never experienced before on other X ships. Rude behavior, workers in the buffet just standing around, not being able to find anyone to assist us with our trays in the buffet (mom and I are disabled and really rely on this assistance but it was not forthcoming on this cruise) staff in the purser's office not being very helpful (we asked where the boxes were for the surveys and he said we just needed to look for them, they are everywhere, but no matter where we looked on deck 3, no boxes were to be found, and things like that. Here's one instance---there are a number of places to pick up a tray at the buffet----at the start of each line, at the pizza bar, at the sandwich bar (those sandwiches are really good), at the area where specialty dishes are made each day and at the pasta bar. Well, if you approached the guy who was setting up the tray at the pasta bar, he asked if you were ordering pasta and if you said no, he would say "no tray for you, you must be getting pasta". There was one lady who wanted a tray because she was going to order one of the salads of the day, which is right next to the pasta bar. This guy refused to give her a tray----I mean he was rude and steadfastly refused to give her a tray !!! At the end of the cruise, I saw some ladies I played 3 card poker with each night and they told me they started calling this guy the "pasta ****". That fit him just perfectly---like the soup **** from Seinfeld. BTW, the automatic word filters won't allow the word I want, but I think you get the idea.

 

The tours X offers for Alaska are great and not to be missed. Any of the flightseeing, whale watching and all that are worth the price.

 

What was interesting on this trip was the mix of passengers. I would say that conservatively speaking, at least 40% of the passengers were non-US or Canadian citizens. There were large groups from China, Japan and Mexico on this cruise. Not all that many kids either, which surprised me.

 

There are, according to our waiter, 14 new menu items for the main dining room. We did notice some changes, but nothing major what they call change might be a new sauce or different veggies with the main course, but nothing earth shattering. Thank God, the beef cheeks are gone. We loved being able to order the garlic butter escargot every night as it was on the every day menu on our last cruise but that's gone now. The only appetizer they have on the every day menu is shrimp cocktail.

 

NOTE: If you are disabled and you use a wheelchair or scooter, you ABSOLUTELY need to book an HC cabin as the wider wheelchairs and scooters won't fit through the regular cabin doors. And CareVacations did a great job providing the wheelchair for mom. It was waiting in her cabin when we arrived. She had one of the very small chairs, and it fit through the door easily, but any of the larger/wider chairs would not fit through at all.

[cinnamon]

Thanks for your review Kitty.

We are sailing on Infinity this Sunday. I am a little perturbed to hear the negative comments and will keep an eye out for the sloppy service. In particular, I think that the Restaurant manager should refuse entry to the dining room 15 minutes after sevice begins. It is just not fair on the wait staff, tablemates and nearby diners.

 

Our only previous experience of a female CD was when on Zenith last year and the senior activities staff member took over while all the CD's were at a meeting in Miami. I forget her name too but she was not very good!

 

I am afraid that the forecast is still not good for Alaska. Here's hoping for an improvement.

 

Was any of the daytime entertainment/lectures anything special?

 

Cinnamon

[paulam]

Thanks for your review! Looking forward to our July 15th cruise. I'm not too concerned about the service. It HAS to be better than that which we received onboard the Queen Mary Memorial Day cruise out of New York just a few weeks ago. Hoping for good weather!

[cyscopup]

The female cruise director (I don't remember her name) was finishing her training on the May 27th cruise. This is her first CD position. We met her one evening during the anniversary and honeymoon party, she was very excited and has a great personality. Everyone just needs to give her a chance and I am sure she will be great.

 

Just remeber we were all new at something once and I doubt if each and everyone of us were perfect or first attempt.

[localady]

Interesting that you noted that the escargot was no longer offered every evening as it was offered every evening of our 5/7-20/07 Infinity SF to Vancouver cruise. That is a shame, as I know a few at our table that ordered them each evening.:o

[bobbyleduck]

No need to despair escargot lovers. If you ask, you will receive. All you have to do is ask for escargot and if your waiter is up to the task, he/she will get it for you.

 

Bob

[NorCalCruiseGuy]

We just returned from our Infinity Alaska cruise. While the weather was pretty bad for the most part with lots of fog and rain, that really didn't matter as we were prepared for cool and rainy.

 

We were in 6099 and 6101 and I loved the location---right mid ship. Easy to get everywhere on the ship. Wilson was our butler, and he was OK. Not as good as we've had before on Summit and Millennium, but he did his job competently. We had table 438, a table for four with Svilino as waiter and Miguel as his assistant. They were wonderful, but I felt really sorry for both of them because of the table for 6 next to us. One couple obviously couldn't tell time as they showed up at least 20 minutes late every evening, and on two evenings, they were 30 minutes late---they obviously preferred to sit in the Martini Bar far too long. That really messed things up for the waiter, and it made it difficult for the others at the table. Please, everyone, at the very most, you need not be any more than 10 minutes late to the dining room. It's just plain rude to be consistently late to dinner every night.

 

 

Who really cares if they were late to dinner? If they preferred to sit in the Martini Bar, (in your opinion, "far too long") then that is their choice. They were there to have a good time and obviously were doing so. It shouldn't matter to anyone else where they were. If the dining room doors were still open and they were allowed in, the wait staff should accomodate them.

[kitty9]

You are entitled to your opinion, and that's fine, but can you honestly tell me that you wouldn't be a little upset if you shared a table with others who were late every evening, and threw off your dinner? I mean, every night the other couples had already been served their appetizer and soup, when this couple showed up. Then the other three couples had to wait until this couple were served their appetizers and salads before they all were served their main courses. Yes, the couples could have asked that they be served their main courses as the late arrivers got their main courses, but I heard them say that they didn't want to be rude to the late comers. It's just plain common courtesy not to arrive late to the dining room, and it has nothing to do with them closing the doors to the dining room. No cruise ship is going to do that, and we all know they have to cowtow to all their passengers, no matter what or lose business---no matter how thoughtless the behavior, cruise lines are forced to accept this, no matter what. But if this couple wanted to arrive late every night because they wanted to enjoy their cruise in their own way, they could have had a table for two, so as not to inconvenience the three other couples. It has absolutely nothing to do with it being their vacation and they can do as they please. If that attitude is taken by everyone on a cruise, it would be a miserable experience for all. After all, manners aren't left on the dock just because you're on vacation, or because you paid for this vacation and you do as you darn well please. When sharing venues on a ship, we must always consider others around us, even if it is our vacation.

 

BTW, this couple had no impact on my cruise, but I was just reporting an incident I observed. There have been posts on this and other boards asking whether it's OK to come late to dinner. But, isn't it interesting how one, innocent comment is taken and trashed by others. Yes, I did include my opinion, and like everyone, I'm entitled to give that opinion, but that's what happens on these boards. It's the nature of the beast when commenting on what happens on a cruise.

[localady]

Very well said Darcie!!

At the very least, they could have indicated that the rest of the table should go ahead with your meal and not let their late arrival hold you up! :rolleyes: Polite is a 2 way street and required as you said when choosing a cruising vacation.:D

[StknCPA]

Interesting that you noted that the escargot was no longer offered every evening as it was offered every evening of our 5/7-20/07 Infinity SF to Vancouver cruise. That is a shame, as I know a few at our table that ordered them each evening.:o

 

 

I don't know if I would want escargot every day, but I was looking forward to having them more than once.

 

I will try asking!

[NorCalCruiseGuy]

You are entitled to your opinion, and that's fine, but can you honestly tell me that you wouldn't be a little upset if you shared a table with others who were late every evening, and threw off your dinner? I mean, every night the other couples had already been served their appetizer and soup, when this couple showed up. Then the other three couples had to wait until this couple were served their appetizers and salads before they all were served their main courses. Yes, the couples could have asked that they be served their main courses as the late arrivers got their main courses, but I heard them say that they didn't want to be rude to the late comers. It's just plain common courtesy not to arrive late to the dining room, and it has nothing to do with them closing the doors to the dining room. No cruise ship is going to do that, and we all know they have to cowtow to all their passengers, no matter what or lose business---no matter how thoughtless the behavior, cruise lines are forced to accept this, no matter what. But if this couple wanted to arrive late every night because they wanted to enjoy their cruise in their own way, they could have had a table for two, so as not to inconvenience the three other couples. It has absolutely nothing to do with it being their vacation and they can do as they please. If that attitude is taken by everyone on a cruise, it would be a miserable experience for all. After all, manners aren't left on the dock just because you're on vacation, or because you paid for this vacation and you do as you darn well please. When sharing venues on a ship, we must always consider others around us, even if it is our vacation.

 

BTW, this couple had no impact on my cruise, but I was just reporting an incident I observed. There have been posts on this and other boards asking whether it's OK to come late to dinner. But, isn't it interesting how one, innocent comment is taken and trashed by others. Yes, I did include my opinion, and like everyone, I'm entitled to give that opinion, but that's what happens on these boards. It's the nature of the beast when commenting on what happens on a cruise.

 

Darcie,

Please excuse me if you felt I was "trashing" you. I was not. And yes, you are entitled to your opinion. If you felt I was disrespecting you, I do apologize.

Perhaps they couldn't get a table for two, or for whatever reason they consistenly arrived late. Maybe this is a question for Miss Manners, but it seems to me if someone is consistenly inconveniencing their fellow diners, they should not be afforded the kind of courtesy they were shown. The other diners should have requested to order and be served.

[shipshape sam]

Hey Mike,

 

Did your luggage and you make your connections? Aren't you on the ship now?

 

Let us know about the Escargot. I was told that if you ask, they will make arrangements. On our last Infinity cruise, someone wanted shrimp each night and it was not listed. They asked, the waiter noted it and the shrimp cocktail showed up every night for this passenger.

 

We asked for sushi once at dinner as we were told by the sushi bar person we could get in the dining room. Well that was not the case, BUT the waiter, head waiter jumped through hoops and got us some sushi. They went to the sushi bar and got some I think. NOT want they want to do because of health and santitation concerns, but they made the effort and I was very pleased with the staff's effort.

 

As to the OP, I do agree that it might be rude, but if the other diners did not speak up and if the waiter did not run the issue up the chain of command and if the dining room doors remained open (which would imply we are still open for entry) then the observed behavior would seem acceptable to the parties involved.

 

I personally don't know what I would have done.

[chessbriar]

Our only previous experience of a female CD was when on Zenith last year and the senior activities staff member took over while all the CD's were at a meeting in Miami. I forget her name too but she was not very good!

That would have been Natalie Clemens. She filled in when Jeff left for the CD meetings. She was the Activities Manager. She now fills that same spot on the Journey with John Howell as the CD.

 

Being an AM filling in, you can't expect the same quality as you get from a seasoned CD. She did however get promoted to CD for her the last 3 months of the Zenith. She did get better once she was doing the job on a regular basis.

 

The CD job is so much more than what we see, if the activities and shows are going off smoothly, they are doing their job.

[sailorgirl]

We could get escargot every evening on Galaxy last month BUT we had to ask for it a day in advance. And we did. Also noticed that the dress codes were not enforced, even in the dining room.

[lovely12no]

Hello - I have been trying to assess how the replacement of mattresses and covers are going on the Infinity. Could you be so kind as to tell us how your cabin looked? A few of the posters have noted that some of the bed mattresses and linens were being replaced slowly, along with some rugs about the ship. What was your experience on this issue?

 

Thanks so much for sharing!

Susan

[kitty9]

Susan, to be honest, I found our cabins to be in a bit of disrepair. The storage cabinet attached to the desk in front of the mirror, was totally torn off it's hinges and I had to call the butler to have it fixed. I pulled the desk chair away from the tabletop, and the left front leg fell off. Again, a call to the butler and the chair was taken away, only to be replaced three days later. I found the bed to be comfortable, but the pillows were not at all---way too soft and I needed three just to keep equal with my one pillow at home. The pillow shams and bedspread were very clean, and there was a new bedspread in plastic in the closet, waiting to be changed after our cruise was over.

[TenerifeSharon]

I don't know if I would want escargot every day, but I was looking forward to having them more than once.

 

I will try asking!

 

Be careful what you ask for -- you may get more of it than you'd like;). On our Infinity cruise to Hawaii two years ago, one of our tablemates indicated that he would like to have pickled herring as an appetizer the next evening. It never ceased to appear -- every evening at dinner. Until he finally said "STOP". I think it was quite a while before he ever wanted pickle herring again.:D

[Ships R Great]

"That would have been Natalie Clemens. She filled in when Jeff left for the CD meetings. She was the Activities Manager. She now fills that same spot on the Journey with John Howell as the CD."

 

Natalie is a very nice person. We really enjoyed getting to know her on 3 Zenith cruises this year.

[usna88]

We wanted to post to provide a contrasting view, that this may have been an exception rather than the rule. Kitty9, sorry you had the disappointments. We also got back from the June 3 Infinity cruise. Our cruise, only our second, went very well. We did not experience the same problems with any of the staff. We can't count how many times somebody was there at the buffet line to carry my tray or our children's tray to their seat. We were taking our kids for their first cruise, and they seemed to run into our assistant waiter at every turn and he was always assisting.

 

We share your opinion of the diners who showed up late, but fortunately we didn't have that experience.

 

We ran into some confusion at the buffet, but most consisted of fellow passengers joining the head of the line and going against the tide.

 

Our room showed some wear and tear, but it was better than many of the hotels we have been to, including new ones. The only exception we can think of is the Grand Floridian at Disney.

 

As for the cruise director, her name was Rebecca. She was very sweet. We met her on the first full day at the cruise critic meeting. We understood it was her first cruise as cruise director, but we thought she did a great job. We are terrible with names, did you make the cruise critic?

 

:)

[minniemom]

We just got back from Infinity too.

 

Kitty9 I am sorry you had problems. WE on the other hand had a fabulous time. My mom was in a wheel chair, and EVERYONE was so kind and courteous to her. In the dinning room any one of the servers would push her to her chair. They would carry her tray for her at the buffet. They carried my dad's tray for him too. He has parkinsons and so is very shaky, and they always offered to carry it for him, even if he refused and tried to carry it himself.

I have to admit there were times, when they were out of silverware when you picked up a tray. But when I would get done with what I put on my tray and went back they always handed one to me. I thought my waiter Thomas was wonderful. We had wonderful table mates. The tables around us, were sometimes a bit late in coming, but overall, I think our waiter who had both tables handled it very well.

 

NOw in contrast to Becky our cruise director. I thought she was very cute and was sweet and bubbly. Yes you could tell she was new at this, and doesn't have the experience that she will eventully gain, but I liked her enthusiasm. Now this was only my 4th cruise, but I have seem some that were very stiff and unapproachable. I thought for her first time she handled herself very well.

Went to the cruise critic gathering and it was so nice to see the faces I have been reading about. It was fun when you would see them later on during the week. We met some wonderful people.

 

The weather was a bit rough 2 of the sea days, no it wasn't a bit rough, it was VERY rough, thank goodness for Dramamine.

We took my parents and they had a wonderful time. Loved it all.

 

Very disappointed that we didn't get in very far to see the glacier, but it was too frozen to go in further.

 

The duck tour was great. The eagles were flying right next to us in the water, I got so many pictures of them flying. It was great. The closest we have been to the eagles was out there on the water.

 

usna88: I have a good picture of your family, just don't know how to email it to you???

 

I am sure you will ALL have a wonderful time. It is hard to come back to real life, when you have a week of being pampered.

[bububr]

Thanks for the post.

 

Sorry to hear about the little problems you encountered.

 

ITs interesting to read many of the other posts that didn't encounter problems, or just didn't pay attention to them.

 

It seems recently, as you know John and I are seasoned X cruisers, things have been going downhill with service and cutbacks. Its only those of us who have been loyal to X who really notice these little changes. MAny of the newbies don't have the experience of knowing what it USED to be like on X, and how it has been slipping slowly.

 

We've got three more booked, and if it doesn't improve or at least stop going downhill, then we will be forced to spend our money elsewhere, which may not seem like much to some, but with just the 2 of us spending in excess of 3500 on our sign and sail per 7 night trip, more on longer cruises, it should send a sign to X that they are doing something wrong. We also inform them via e-mail and written letter of our concerns.

 

I have to blame this on the shortie cruises out of Florida which seem to be free for alls, and the crossover of RCCL benifits which bring bad habits over to X. TO me both lines are becoming one in the same. Maybe this is why AMAZARA was formed. X knew what was happening, couldn't control it and just started something new.

 

As for coming to dinner late. It is RUDE, and disrespectful to both the passengers at the table and the waitstaff. It only makes things more difficult for everyone. Unfortunately they are tolerating this too now.

 

Thanks again for the review!

 

Dave:eek:

[kitty9]

Please don't get me wrong, we had a great time. My mom is also in a wheelchair parttime due to her hip replacement surgery, and everything with that went well, so that's not a complaint. But I would have to agree with Dave. This was my 50th cruise, overall, so perhaps with a small bit of previous experience, we tend to see things we've never seen on other X ships and things you didn't see at all a couple of years ago. I didn't want to get into every service glitch we saw, as I knew I would be blasted for only posting negatively, but let me tell you another incidence. Perhaps not what you would call poor service, but certainly questionable. When I saw our butler on the last full day of the cruise, he asked me how I would rate him and the room steward. I told him I thought everything was fine, no major complaints--and that's the truth---decent service with no major issues. So, when I get the end of cruise survey, I was surprised to see that the section for rating the butler and room steward was already filled out---excellent. I asked the butler why those two areas were already filled in and he said he did it---after all, he did ask me a couple hours earlier if I thought they did their job well and I said yes. Is that something a butler should do---filling in the guest survey for himself? No, so I went and got another survey and docked the butler a couple of steps, and I wrote what happened. In all my other X cruises, nothing like that has ever happened before. I know each ship develops it's own personality with it's crew, but in all honesty, I think Infinity ranks near the bottom when compared to Millennium, Summit and Constellation. I mean, we've never been refused a tray at the buffet because we weren't having pasta. We've not had any major service issues on those three ships, and with multiple cruises on each, that's a huge compliment to X.

 

But again, let me be perfectly clear----we had a great time. After all, the only bad cruise is one that's named Titanic.

 

Oh, and another thing. The SS United States was spectacular. Service and food was sublime, and we dined there two nights. Don't ever miss restaurants like that or Normandie. They're worth the extra cost.

[excitedofharpenden]

Darcie, that incident with the butler marking the score on the sheet would have annoyed me too and I'm glad you took the steps you did. I had prepaid tips one year and the butler tucked an envelope in the final documentation with "Thanks" written on it for his extra tip and that rankled me too. I had every intention of giving him extra, but at my decision not his.

 

Phil

[Lois R]

Darcie, that is unreal:eek: the Butler filled out YOUR questionaire?

Now, I have never had a Butler but if my cabin attendant had

done it you can bet I would have been annoyed as well:eek:

 

I am glad you had an overall good time:)~but I must say

I respect your opinon very much and that would definitely

put a crimp in my thinking as well!

 

Hi Phil:)

[chessbriar]

"That would have been Natalie Clemens. She filled in when Jeff left for the CD meetings. She was the Activities Manager. She now fills that same spot on the Journey with John Howell as the CD."

 

Natalie is a very nice person. We really enjoyed getting to know her on 3 Zenith cruises this year.

She's a sweetie. We try to keep in touch. But it's hard when they are on the ships. No free time. We sailed with her on the Millie and Century and ran into her in St Maarten in February