Renovation News for Horizon & Zenith

[patrioticgirl]

Jano1932.... you missed the point [i][u]entirely[/u][/i] on the flip-flops......... I suggested that you [i][u]include[/u][/i] them (not [u][i]replace[/i][/u] them) as a roundabout way of implying that [i]maybe you need to be a bit more laid back about things out of anyone's control.[/i] By all means, pack your heels and wear them, too...... but be open to the possiblity that sometimes things don't always go as planned; and when those things happen, perhaps the flexibility of flip-flops (ie.. openness to other options) would be a good alternate plan. You'll live longer if you don't stress over the things you can't control....... try making lemonade out of lemons instead of letting them sour life's experience for yourself and everyone around you. As for the flip-flop purchase, try shopping Old Navy instead of KMart... there you'll find a fresh, upbeat, go with the flow selection that tends to be somewhat contagious in spirit.
Quite honestly, I probably would not have even bothered to respond to your complaints, but one line from your 2:14 PM post prompted my rebuttal to your opinions regarding the Horizon. You stated [i]"and my opinions were voiced by everyone on the Horizon[/i]". [b]Simply not true[/b], for I had a [i]wonderful time and found little to complain about on the voyage that you felt was horrid.[/i] Different strokes for different folks, I guess. You are entitled to your opinion as much as I am mine. And for the record, I am not picky by any means.... the only reason I noticed the carpets was because someone ranted about the stains in a post earlier in the month. I made a mental note to look for them because [i]I could not believe that someone actually let that sort of thing become an issue in determining whether the cruise was a success or not[/i]. The carpet stains and the little things like not being able to watch TV during my voyage don't put me out of sorts. There's way too much else to do on the ship for me to let minor details get in the way of me enjoying my vacation. As I stated earlier, I am sorry that you did not find your Horizon trip enjoyable. Best of luck in finding the voyage that suits you perfectly!

[greenacres]

Ok! Now I am getting a little annoyed. At first I felt that the author had the right to sound off about her unhappiness with her nine(9) day cruise. We all know that NOTHING is perfect. She obviously was not pleased -- and she has that right not to be pleased. BUT -- your last post really showed a lack of class. I am sorry to say that but your probably should have just left your last post off the board. I am scheduled to sail on Horizon on one of her final sailings and was about to email you on this board -- but I am afraid that your responses probably wouldn't be well ----

[patrioticgirl]

Greenacres, if you are referring to my post, I apologize if it offended you.

[DebfromTampa]

I was also on the March 24 sailing, and yes, there were problems on board. We were 17 hours late leaving Tampa, as fog forced the port authority to close the harbor. In fact, as we finally left, we passed both the RC and HA Veendam, finally being able to return to Tampa, hours late, and I am certain causing major hassles for their passengers trying to get home for Easter and missing their flights. This was not the lines fault at all.

It was disappointing missing out on Grand Cayman and arriving too late in Costa Rica, due to the delay, but this does happen, it was not the fault of the line, and no cruise line would compensate their passengers for these problems. Ports of call are always subject to change, and is clearly stated in all documents and travel information. I agree, it was beyond our comprehension how we were so late into Colon, it seems that our arrival was later than the time loss should have caused. The crew did everything they could to make up for an extra sea day and were always friendly.

There were 300 children on board, and most of us did not feel they were a real problem. The staff did a great job entertaining the young ones. It was impossible to get chairs and lounges on deck, but this has been the case on every holiday sailing I have done, both of the others being on RC. If you don't want to cruise with children, avoid holiday cruising.

It is a fact that the sattelite reception was non existant! When at sea, you could forget about receiving channels such as CNN, and it was spotty in port. This was also our first experience in these waters to have such problems. I learned after one attempt at the internet not to waste another dime on it!

The ships stabilizers were not working correctly, as one crew member did reveal to a fellow passenger. For most of the cruise, the ride was terrible. After leaving Cozumel, we did hit incredibly rough seas, that I question if the ship should have sailed in at all. Even the crew members were having a hard time dealing with it! The final Gala show was postponed for the late seating, for one night, due to the seas. As our cruise director stated, he was not willing to risk the dancers careers. On the bright side, if you went on the pool deck, you were treated to a great show as the water from the pool shot at least two to three stories into the air! I doubt any ship could have handled the seas we were in.

Would I sail again on Celebrity? Absolutely, the level of service was outstanding. We loved our waiter Georgie, who was always on the spot when asked to make a menu selection. The cruise director did not lie to us about the ports, trying to sell shore excursions, a refreshing relief from other lines. This was Rich's final cruise before his badly needed vacation.

Would I sail again on the Horizon? NO. The ship was anything but stable. It was still attractive, and being well maintained. Everything was kept spotless, rails and mirrors constantly being wiped down. I have been on ships which were in bad shape, notable the Nordic Empress and Royal Princess, and the Horizon looked wonderful in comparison. But, this was by far the worse riding ship I have been on. The sattelite system can be repaired, and I sincerely doubt paying the bills has anything to do with it, as that would be handled by the cruise line and does not seem to be a problem on their other ships. But unless they repair her stabilizers, I would avoid her, including whatever her name will be with her new fleet.

[mahdnc]

Our family was on this sailing as well. And while we enjoyed it, it was a cruise with some unusual aspects. The fog and the rough seas surely made things exciting. In fact when we talked to the lead male singer who was working at the last art auction, we found out that one of the main reasons that the late seating show was postponed was because he and several other singer/dancers were really seasick!

Jano1932, I believe we sat next to you and your husband during open seating for breakfast towards the latter half of the cruise. We were the chemical engineering couple from Chicago.

Anyway to the rest of the posters, I will vouch for Jano and that if you met her in person, I think you would enjoy the debate (a limitation with internet boards).

My wife and I made a point of going to alot of the open seatings to meet other people. My general observation was that a large portion of first time Celebrity cruisers that we met (like Jano) seemed to be negative about the cruise for various reasons (one couple that we met was very put off by the advanced average age of the passengers on board). This surprised me alot. On the other hand people who had traveled with Celebrity before (including the CCers that we met) seemed to roll with the punches.

I guess my point here is there is room for different interpretations of this (and any other) cruise. And I am disappointed that some of the responses are that the dissenting opinion should just go away.

[patrioticgirl]

Hi there, Deb! It was good to meet you onboard!
Mahdnc.... I believe that you are quite correct that the CCer's tended to roll with the punches with a bit more flexibility. I never suggested that Jano should go away, I only hoped she would realize that some things were out of anyone's control. In fact, I would gladly invite Jano to sail again with our cheerful group. I'd much prefer that she were smiling about her Celebrity experience; it bothers me that she was left with a negative feel for the line. This cruise was not typical by any means, and its a shame that this sailing may be the only taste of Celebrity that Jano experiences. My replies to his post have both ended with a quite sincere wish that she find the voyage that suits her. Perhaps that did not come across clearly, but the comment was indeed sincere.

[DebfromTampa]

I believe we were also seated with jano1932, as i do recognize her complaints and choice of terms, as well as desire to stick with the Mega ships.

Personal opinions about the mega ships, my favorite ship I have been on was a 680 passenger Renaissance, and it is a crime to see the smaller ships being weaned out from the fleets.

[mahdnc]

Patriotgirl, I am truly sorry that we did not get a chance to meet while on board!

I agree with your responses in general and especially about the unavoidability of many of the problems. One side note--the ship's doctor told us that the medivac'd passenger was very lucky that our cruise departure was fog delayed because Horizon would otherwise have been out of range for the US Coast Guard to help.

[patrioticgirl]

Mahdnc, I kept asking everyone if they knew who you were! They were laughing on the Oscar Brown tour because I kept asking, "NOW WHICH ONE OF YOU IS MAHDNC?" :) Were you in late or early seating? Where were staying on the ship? Probably right up the hall..... LOL!:D

I had dinner at the Captain's table on the last formal night and was told by the host that it was indeed a serious problem that caused the medical evacuation. And you are exactly right... had we sailed on time, it would have been even more of a medical emergency! As I mentioned, two of my table mates were forced to leave the ship immediately upon docking in Costa Rica; the medical staff insisted because one of the passenger's blood pressure was dangerously high and could not be brought down onboard. Both passengers were disappointed, but pleased that the ship's personnel made every effort to make all of the travel arrangements for the trip home. And boy, were they glad they had purchased the travel insurance! I hated to see them go for they were great dinner companions: I stayed in contact with them onboard and will continue to check to see how things are going.

[mahdnc]

We were main seating at Table 27 which was in the section of the dining room that was aft of the Capt Table off to the starboard side. We were staying in Horizon Suite 1016.

At the cc party, you were the subject of conversation ("are you patriotgirl? where is patriotgirl?"). I told everyone that you probably didn't really exist and that it really was some Celebrity employee shilling on the roll call board to generate interest etc etc etc.

OK let me give you the advantage: we were the family of 4 that showed up to the zip line behind your humongous Oscar Brown tour. There was another group of people in between us but they went to do the jungle hike or something like that. Your group went zipping off and the four of us had to wait and watch you guys from the observation platform.

[patrioticgirl]

Mandac, we were given a nice upgrade when we arrived at the pier. The only problem with that was that none of the notifications of the cruise critic party, captain's club party, or our ship excursions were ever delivered to our new cabin. We eventually met the couple in our original cabin, and they said our paperwork kept being delivered to them. We did not find out when the CC part was until I asked Rich about it around 1 o'clock on Saturday and he told me that it had been held that morning and I'd missed it. He said everyone was looking for Joy, too. The upgraded room had one bed and we needed two, so they moved us again after late seating on the first night of the cruise. We played musical rooms the first night! :D
I went on the canal tour with Carol, Oscar's sister...... I wanted to do the ziplining but my friend that I went with would have no part of the zipline. LOL! She broke her back when she was thrown from a horse during a school activity the first year she taught with me, so anything that is the least bit dangerous she tends to avoid.
We were in 1087..... the last room on the opposite hallway from you. We were originally assigned table 102, but when we went to dinner the table was full so they moved us. (when we were upgraded, I think the assigned the folks who got our original room to the table and left us there, too... so the table had too many people for the seats available...) I think the new table number was 20....... port side rear of the dining room about three rows up from the aft elevator entrance. Our waiter was Joey.... he was the one singing Unchained Melody one night during dinner and we had the large Happy Birthday sign hanging on the drapes above our table on March 30th and we were the group that was constantly laughing and having a great time. I got my hair put up every formal night and usually wore black,except for the night that I wore the fushia formal! Were you the tall guy wearing glasses in the tux with with the hair parted to the side sitting at the large table for 8 near the aisle? LOL! You are gonna have to post a picture!
Now I have to laugh at your suggestion that I work for Celebrity.... one of the senior officers suggested that I submit my application for Social Hostess! LOL! I am probably a little old for that job!:D

[patrioticgirl]

I will catch up with you tomorrow on the roll call board... gotta get to bed here so I am rested for school tomorrow. I am still trying to get the time change straight....... I was up at 4:15 this morning and then overslept when I went back to sleep!:eek: Six AM is just around the corner, so I am headed to dreamland. Talk to you tomorrow!:cool:

[Bollinge]

Horizon is being pensioned off and leaving the Celebrity fleet later this year. It's not before time. We were on her last Christmas and basically she is worn out, the proposed refit last November having been cancelled.

The deal with the Island Cruise Lines joint venture between RCCL and the UK's First Choice holidays is basically that RCCL has the (old) ships, and First Choice has a fleet of charter aircraft, and a loyal customer base used to vacations on land. So they are ripe for conversion to first-time cruising.

To my mind, their current offering, Island Escape (a former Scandinavian car ferry and RCCL's Viking Serenade) is quite downmarket, catering for the British blue collar package tourist. Although if you had never been on any other cruise ship, you might be impressed.

[OPSoccermom]

[quote name='jano1932']OK..I will go away...I am rushing to the nearest KMart to purchase a pair of flip flops...I see now that is where I went wrong....silly me...I should have figured that out....next trip will include them instead of high heels..and when I watch 3 people rush from the dinner table to "hurl"...I will shout after them...Should have worn flip flops....and offer them mine....and when I wait for days for the TV satellite not come on...I will throw a bottle overboard to make communication....with the outside world...and when our dinner companions mention some of the same things I have I will answer them: "Come on up to deck 10 and have a ball"....and when they invade my bank account for $500.and not inform us.....and hold it ...to test whether we can pay our bills...I should say...OK..keep the change!! And funny, but I never noticed the carpets....I am not that picky....[/QUOTE]
Jano - just a comment on the banking issue....

If you plan to pay for your on board charges with cash, RCI does the same thing unless you give them a $500 cash deposit upon embarkation.

Good luck with your next cruise.

[cruising grandma]

We are sailing out of Tampa this Friday(April 15) on the Horizon for a b2b cruise to San Juan and on to Norfolk. These will be cruises 18 and 19 for us. Having sailed on 6 different cruise lines in the last ten years, I have to say Celebrity is by far our favorite!!! We sailed Horizon to Bermuda several years ago, and I know she's getting a little old-----so am I!! We will be in one of the obstructed view cabins, which we chose.

The stained carpets, and missed ports and water splashing out of the pools, I've seen on all lines! How about being on Zenith to Bermuda and instead of putting passengers at risk of hurricane, the "mean old captain" took us to Cape Canaveral and then said we were going to Savannah, GA. People acted so ignorant, demanded to go where they paid to go. The captain, in the middle of the night, turned the ship around, and headed to Nassau. We had a wonderful time and met some very nice people. I was scared to go to NY to get on the ship, prior to sailing, for fear of going toward the hurricane. I was extremely relieved when they passed out slips telling us we "might not be going to Bermuda because of the weather".

The only thing that has me a little concerned is the problem with the stabilizers. Although I LOVE to cruise, I have a slight tendendcy to get seasick if it's very rough. I carry seabands, and wonder if the ship was giving out Meclazine or do I need to buy Bonine before I leave. The last Bonine I purchased expired before I needed it.

I'm sad that Jano had such a bad experience, and that she is basing her opinion on Celebrity lines from that one sailing.

[heatherb1958]

For me personally I can't wait for Horizon to come over to island cruises.

BOllinge- I don't expect you have X-perienced Island escape. I am a firm believer in that you cannot possibly make any comments about a product you have no X-perience of. We have sailed both X and Island so are in a position to comment on both. The customers on Island are from a wide spectrum , not just your " Blue collar" workers. We had a production show EVERY night on our trip in sept2003 with fantastic singers and costumes, all on a stage no more than a raised platform.The food throughout, but especially in the waiter service Oasis restaurant, was first class. Drinks were reasonably priced. A bottle of house wine 10pounds with NO 15% tip added. We sailed on the Millie a few short weeks after being on the Island. Food on the Millie was not a patch on what we had just experienced. So once again, I cannot wait until Horizon moves over. We will be able to enjoy a ship built for cruising, reasonably priced bar drinks with no gratuity and ,if the Island escape is anything to go by, good food.

[cruizinrican]

I am sailing on the Zenith this December 2005, and I have read so many messages that I have lost count on whether or not that the ships Horizon and Zenith were refurbished and what was done to them? I am curious only because I too have sailed on the Horizon and soon the Zenith and I an booked into a cat.8 obstructed ocenview. Was this every fixed or is this cat. still obstructed? What else was done aboard the Zenith if anything?

[jano1932]

Thank you and your husband for the verification that I am a nice person.
I have sat with Terrorists in the Middle East (Archeologist)..and been treated with more respect than the Patronizing tone of this board..but, in the positive sense...I will know better than to voice any negativism on a CC board..for the slavish devotion to ones choices is not to be ignored.,,I wish you all good health and fair sailing..God Bless America and its Free Speech.

[mahdnc]

I know that you didn't need any verification from me! But I wanted to say it anyway! We hope things are going well for you and your husband down at Celebration.....

[jano1932]

We are just fine..and remember you both with fond memories....and again..thanks for the kind words...
We are planning to hit Nashville Gran Ole Opry..in October; New Years 2006 will find us at the Pasadena Rose Parade and a tour in LA; and Thanksgiving 2006 we will be on RCCL Freedom of the Seas...which is still in the shipyard ....she will be bigger than QMary2...
Those are known destinations planned to date...Lord only knows where we will turn up in between...
Good Luck to you and your family.
Jano

[cruise junky joan]

I thought I read somewhere on the boards that the Horizon was being sold to another line or just transfered out of the country this Fall?

[C 2 C]

Jano1932:

I have found that you can not disagree with the people who love Celebrity because they love Celebrity..well because...

I have cruised a bunch on Celebrity and HAL... 4 times on the Horizon and 4 times on the Zenith. Although the service and food has varied from good to excellent, don't judge Celebrity based on one experience on their oldest ship.

People have a tendency to shoot the messenger and ignore the fact that all cruising experiences are personal experiences... all those people who insult and tell you to step outside or cruise elsewhere don't have the class to tell you how their experiences have been different... Everyone has the right to describe their personal experience without being insulted or ridiculed..

I do think that as one cruise lover to another... try one of the other Celebrity ships.. Celebrity... IMO, offers a superior product... with exceptions.

But anyone who calls either the Horizon or the Zenith... a beautiful ship, has not cruised enough to form an evaluative opinion..

Flamers of the world, unite :p

[Andy]

[quote name='cruise junky joan']I thought I read somewhere on the boards that the Horizon was being sold to another line or just transfered out of the country this Fall?[/QUOTE]

Hi Joan !

Yes, Horizon has (sort of) been sold. She will be transferred to another Cruise Line, which Royal Caribbean has a stake in. She will not be in the Celebrity fleet, and will have a new name as well.

Horizon will be around for a few more months, before leaving the Celebrity fleet. She will be missed.

[tabasco]

Do you know if there are any dry dock plans for Galaxy?

[jano1932]

C2C...What a wonderful overview...and right on target..Thanks a lot..
I happen to love the RCCL mega ships...but, if someone disagreed with me I can handle that...and respect their opinion....and wish them well...not...take a hike; get lost; get off the board etc..attitude....
Oh well...
I did say the following the positive things about Horizon...
Wonderful food; best on any line we had been on.
Wonderful table servers
Commodious room, great storage
Clean
Charming nooks and crannies...Library, game room...Spa..etc..
So...thanks a lot C2C...for your very well articulated opinion..