Mercury B2B PNW Reviews: 10/19 and 10/22

[PescadoAmarillo]

I just returned from B2B PNW cruises on the Mercury, and wanted to post a few thoughts.

 

First, some background. I have taken 27 cruises; these were my 11th and 12th on Celebrity. These were by far the shortest cruises I have ever done. In fact, my average cruise length is almost 14 days…even 7 night cruises are fairly rare. I have done 4 two week cruises on the Mercury (the last one was in 2002, when I did B2B cruises around South America), and have always considered the Mercury my favorite “older” ship. I booked these PNW cruises to meet up with a friend from Sydney, Australia who was going to be visiting in Seattle. These were her 2nd and 3rd cruises (the first being a 31 day transpacific on a new Princess ship), so she has certainly seen two cruising extremes!

 

I thought I’d break my comments down into the plusses and minuses. A full blown review is a bit of overkill for 3 and 4 night cruises, but, in general, I came away with a good, but not excellent, cruise experience.

 

Positive

- Embarkation was early and easy. I was on the ship shortly after 11am, which was great, as I arrived in Seattle at 9am and was at the pier shortly after 10am. We were not escorted to our room (don’t recall that we were on the Summit Panama Canal in April either), but they did have champagne and OJ for us as always.

-Disembarkation was equally early and easy. We did take advantage of the Elite waiting area, but were off the ship a little early and were able to get an earlier shuttle to SeaTac.

-The ship is in excellent condition. I’ve always thought that Celebrity doesn’t maintain their ships quite as well as some other cruise lines, but I was very impressed with the current condition of the Mercury. My only disappointment was that the 4 bowls in the steam room which used to have motion activated faucets on them to dispense cold water no longer work. There are two hoses in the steam room with cold water, but I did miss those bowls!

- I love the lack of announcements. My friend remarked that perhaps Celebrity takes the “no announcements” thing a bit too far, because we did, in fact, miss out on a couple of things, but, if I have to choose, I would prefer fewer rather than more announcements.

- Waffles, pasta and stir fry…oh my! What can I say? I LOVE Celebrity’s made to order items in the buffet. In fact, I was very pleased with the non-dining room options available for dinner, as my friend scheduled one late night spa treatment and I skipped the dining room and went to the buffet instead. I knew that the Millenium Class ships had lots of dinner options, but was happy to see that the Mercury did too. Quite a change from our first Celebrity cruise on the Century in 2000 when it was dining room or room service.

-The dining room food for the most part was wonderful. I had the BEST filet mignon I’ve ever had, the teriyaki salmon was delightful (especially the fried rice it was served with), I was able to get extra broccoli with my dinners, and I could live on those yummy breadsticks. The brioches at breakfast are as good as I remember. The nicest part about short cruises….no dietary restraint at all!

- The room service menu (and ability to order off the dining room menu at dinner) continues to impress. As other cruise lines have whittled away at hot room service offerings, or begun to charge extra, Celebrity has stayed true to its past.

-The new soda card “mugs” are awesome and much larger than those old ones (we must have 20+ of those in the basement somewhere). The new ones have a picture of a Celebrity ship on them and hold enough soda to make them worthwhile to carry around the ship. In fact, since I’ve been home, I’m using my to drink water all day.

-Bar service was very good (except in the dining room, see below). I spent a lot of time in the Cova Café area, reading and people watching, and was well served with both club sodas (from the soda card) and specialty coffees. The pastries and goodies in the Cova were very tasty. That’s one thing I really enjoy about Celebrity….the pastries and desserts not only look good, they taste good too.

-Our inside cabins were perfectly maintained. Sheets and duvets were of excellent quality, and towels were nice and thick.

-The crew was friendly but reserved, clearly not as happy as the crew on the Summit in April.

 

Negatives

-The entertainment was sad at best. I need to preface this by saying that my least favorite cruise entertainment is a ventriloquist. My second least favorite is a banjo player. Well, on the first cruise (3 nights), we had a comedian the first night (Jeff Nease, who I’d seen before but he was very funny), and a ventriloquist the second and third nights (I’ve also seen him before and knew it wasn’t quite my style). I skipped entertainment the second night and the third night sat in the back just to watch the singers and dancers perform a bit at the start of the variety show. On the second cruise (4 nights), to my dismay, the ventriloquist stayed on (1 more show plus a variety show), a banjo player joined (1 show plus a variety show) and we finally got to see a production show. Also, the Mercury, although it offered alternative entertainment in musical performers, didn’t seem to have the space to offer them as often as on the Summit. In particular, I missed the string quartet that we used to watch every night after dinner on the Summit.

-Dining room service, particularly on the second cruise, was NOT up to Celebrity standards. Service was frequently slow, and, given the short cruise length, the waiter and his ass’t never really learned our preferences. In addition, on the second cruise, the ass’t maitre de never once stopped by our table. I am used to them stopping by every night, or almost every night on a Celebrity cruise, but it just didn’t happen on the second cruise. Also, we had great difficulty getting a bar waiter to come to our table on the second cruise, and when he did, and delivered our sodas to the table, they were, without fail, flat. We pointed this out and he went back to the bar and got two more, also flat, and told us that the bartender said they were okay. Sorry, but they weren’t. For my club soda, it didn’t really matter but for my friend’s Diet Coke, it certainly did.

-Celebrity Elite benefits are almost a thing of the past, aren’t they? We missed out on the tea due to (I think) the short cruise length, but aside from a galley tour, flowers in the cabin, the 6 Cova chocolates and a drink at the cocktail party, there really isn’t much else offered. I don’t cruise for the repeater benefits, but as I am also Diamond on RC and Elite on Princess, it is getting a bit hard to not compare, even a little bit.

 

It was a great “girls week away” cruise, but I worry a bit that people might take a 3 or 4 night cruise as a “taste” of cruising, when, in fact, the cruises had a very different feel than a longer cruise. Maybe it was that the time didn’t allow the “wow” factor, but I disembarked feeling that this was not Celebrity’s best effort, and I hoped that new cruisers would be adequately pleased to take a longer cruise with them.

[paintedduck]

thanks for the review, i sailed and enjoyed the oct. 15 itinerary and as a repeat celebrity cruiser, i concur with your opinion....in many little ways, not their best effort.

happy sailing

gary

[c-legs]

:) Good evening,

Interesting review.

In my opinion, based on our having tried both the ''shorties'' and long cruises, I find it almost impossible to compare the two, they are so vastly different. A cruise lines ''top shelf'' product can only be acheived over a certain minimum of sailing days...an feat impossible to acheive on a ''shortie'' ( As I call those 3-4 days coastal or ''repo''cruises).

Both the expectations, and the onboard experience differ widely.

All in all, the OP's review is quite flattering, considering she was on a couple of shorties;; had she spent the same amount of sailing nights on ONE voyage, she would have seen a difference...and quickly !!

 

My opinion.

Cheers

;)

[paintedduck]

c-legs, your point is well taken, there is a difference between shortie and longer cruises. but i don't understand why "top shelf product" can only be achieved after four days? our first X four nite cruise was definately top shelf.

 

my experience on X is only 3 and 4 nite cruises. so my comparison is only short cruises and this last one didn't measure up to previous sailings in many of the small ways that attract us to celebrity in the firs t place.

 

happy sailing

gary

[Lois R]

Hi, I was on a b2b before the OP..Hi Gary:) tell Cindy hi too!

 

Pescado, thanks for the review..enjoyed reading it. Maybe

one day our paths will cross on the seas!

 

I had a wonderful time and it was 7 nights too;) I felt like my

service was up to par for me.

The wait and bar staff were outstanding:D

[paintedduck]

hi lois, we are glad you enjoyed the mercury sailing, too! we hope to sail with you again someday (we are planning future florida trips). we agree, on our sailing with you, the resturant dinner staff, the buffet staff, and the bar staff were outstanding!!

 

happy sailing

gary

[lilylacruz]

Thanks, Pescado, for the good review. We just returned from the 10-22 Mercury cruise--our first on Celebrity, others were all on HAL. We enjoyed it and would happily consider longer cruises on X ships again. We found X and HAL to be quite comparable, with the usual differences based on personal preference and individual experiences. Generally: food on Mercury was a bit better and onboard activities, such as games, featured more energetic and engaged staff; cabins and entertainment on HAL have seemed better. We thought most service on both lines was very good.

Currently going through cruise withdrawal.

Lily & Jack

[cruisenw]

"It was a great “girls week away” cruise, but I worry a bit that people might take a 3 or 4 night cruise as a “taste” of cruising, when, in fact, the cruises had a very different feel than a longer cruise. Maybe it was that the time didn’t allow the “wow” factor, but I disembarked feeling that this was not Celebrity’s best effort, and I hoped that new cruisers would be adequately pleased to take a longer cruise with them."

 

This was our first cruise on Celebrity and did not feel the "wow" factor at all. We found the service to be lacking in the dining room and also in the Martini Bar and the Cova. One night we sat in the Cova Cafe for about 30 minutes listening the the string quartet and no one ever came by to see if we wanted a drink. In the Martini Bar it took about 10 minutes to get a waiter and another 10 to get a drink. Also did not receive some of the Concierge Class amenities until I went to Guest Services to request them. All in all I was not too impressed with Celebrity even though we had a good time on the cruise. Not sure I would sail with Celebrity again.