Celebrity Mercury

[Frankie Sue]

I have posted on Mercury, but I am sure that you can also help me.

 

I am looking at a Carribean cruise on the Mercury for the Fall of 2010. We have never sailed on Celebrity before and I don`t want to choose the wrong cabin.

 

I am looking at the SV, but I read on the Celebrity board that the bed in that category is pushed against the wall plus the cabins that I am looking at are either just above or just below the children's pool? Would that be a problem. How about the CC cabin?? Has anyone sailed in one?

 

How do Celebrity balcony cabins compare to Hal?

 

I really look forward to your comments.

[kakalina]

You might want to post this on the Celebrity board. I am sure someone there can answer your questions. I've only sailed HAL.

[bepsf]

All I can say is that my one and only Celebrity cruise aboard Mercury was among the worst experiences of my life.

 

I've heard that the newer X ships are better, but I could never recommend Mercury to anyone.

[CRUZBUDS]

You'll get better results on the Celebrity board. We love the Mercury and would sail on her again in a heartbeat.

 

We've spent 61 days on her and everyday was wonderful

 

We wish they would bring her back to San Diego.

[dam1050]

You'll get better results on the Celebrity board. We love the Mercury and would sail on her again in a heartbeat. We've spent 61 days on her and everyday was wonderful

 

We wish they would bring her back to San Diego.

 

Couldn't agree with you more! We had a fantastic cruise to Alaska on her last month ... wonderful service, excellent food, ship is still in beautiful condition, a most enjoyable cruise overall.

 

We were in a Sky Suite on the deck 12 with a huge balcony and a butler. The new no-smoking policy of Celebrity is so nice as one can really now enjoy their balconies so much more so than before. It was also enjoyable having a huge balcony at Hubbard Glacier to share with some guests and have breakfasts outside.

 

Must say though that HAL's beds are more comfy than X's .... :)

[Ichiban Nekko]

We were on Mercury in Jan. 2009 for our Panama Canal cruise. We loved the ship, despite a Noro outbreak and enduring all that a Code Red involves.:eek:

 

Sorry, we can't comment on SV accommodations, since we were in a more "modest" category ;) (read: inside). However, our steward and waitstaff were fabulous, as were the activities staff.

 

We particularly liked the new smoking policy and having a sommelier in the Main Dining Room. On the other hand, we find that we prefer HAL's bathrooms, beds, Wajang Theatre/Culinary Arts, and a real library.

 

Whatever you decide, have a great cruise!

[SandyMc]

I'm solidly with Brian here - Mercury, and Celebrity itself, provided us with the cruise from hell and as a result we will never consider them again! :p

I realize many people like Celebrity but the company itself lies and cheats their customers - impossible to accept. You could get lucky and have a nice cruise (apparently many have) but we will never take that chance with them again.

[taxmantoo]

I realize many people like Celebrity but the company itself lies and cheats their customers - impossible to accept.

 

That is a very strong statement. Care to elaborate?

[bepsf]

That is a very strong statement. Care to elaborate?

 

Well, in my case I left the ship after 2 days because the onboard conditions were downright horrible -

 

(Concave bed, showers that went from scalding to freezing and back, leftovers being served in the Palm Springs Cafe, nothing to do on sea days that didn't involve spending money, lukewarm jacuzzis, burnt out lightbulbs in the public rooms, threadbare linens and curtains in the stateroom, opaque windows in the Observation Lounge, surly servers, lying bartenders, not a single comfortable chair in any of the public rooms, staff who "Forgot" to have a CC Meet & Greet, an acupuncturist giving a talk in the Observation Lounge who got annoyed at pax who had the gall to step away from her monotone speech to observe a real live whale just off the starboard bow...)

 

When we reached San Francisco on the 2nd day of an 11 day cruise, I signed off with a $99 onboard bill (The folk at the front desk couldn't care less)...

...after the end of the cruise (when the captain was arrested/fired/deported for being drunk) I was charged over $1500! It took me @ two weeks and several phonecalls, broken promises and threats in order to get my money back.

 

(I had never had problems paying w/ a debit card before: I'll never make that mistake, or sail Celebrity, again!)

 

Not to mention that my cruise was the one after the "Bleach Cruises" - When I returned to my apartment, dropped luggage, took a nap (in a comfy bed - Finally!) and awoke w/ Noro!

[taxmantoo]

Well, in my case I left the ship after 2 days because the onboard conditions were downright horrible -

 

(Concave bed, showers that went from scalding to freezing and back, leftovers being served in the Palm Springs Cafe, nothing to do on sea days that didn't involve spending money, lukewarm jacuzzis, burnt out lightbulbs in the public rooms, threadbare linens and curtains in the stateroom, opaque windows in the Observation Lounge, surly servers, lying bartenders, not a single comfortable chair in any of the public rooms, staff who "Forgot" to have a CC Meet & Greet, an acupuncturist giving a talk in the Observation Lounge who got annoyed at pax who had the gall to step away from her monotone speech to observe a real live whale just off the starboard bow...)

 

When we reached San Francisco on the 2nd day of an 11 day cruise, I signed off with a $99 onboard bill (The folk at the front desk couldn't care less)...

...after the end of the cruise (when the captain was arrested/fired/deported for being drunk) I was charged over $1500! It took me @ two weeks and several phonecalls, broken promises and threats in order to get my money back.

 

(I had never had problems paying w/ a debit card before: I'll never make that mistake, or sail Celebrity, again!)

 

Not to mention that my cruise was the one after the "Bleach Cruises" - When I returned to my apartment, dropped luggage, took a nap (in a comfy bed - Finally!) and awoke w/ Noro!

 

WOW !!! We certainly would not have been far behind you in getting off the ship...

 

P.S. Note that my comment was not aimed at your original post. You clearly expressed that you had a bad experience and that is good enough for me!

 

The other person's post accusing them of being liars and cheats without any explanation is however something I can never understand.

[bepsf]

WOW !!! We certainly would not have been far behind you in getting off the ship...

 

P.S. Note that my comment was not aimed at your original post. You clearly expressed that you had a bad experience and that is good enough for me!

 

The other person's post accusing them of being liars and cheats without any explanation is however something I can never understand.

 

No worries L&L - It's just that when the other person stated that X were liars and cheats, it brought back memories of my own multiple broken promises from RCI/X callcenters and Miami in regards to refunding my money - or even simple callbacks.

[lstrong]

Wow, I was not going to comment, but this thread certainly demonstrates the different experiences/impressions of the Mercury. Personally, the Mercury is my all-time favorite ship. I love the decor - light wood and blues - and the food was excellent. The only negative would be that the cabins (oceanview) are very SMALL. Did like the layout though in that the loveseat and chair and table were next to the window.

 

We've been on all the major cruiselines, except NCL, and would book the Mercury in a heartbeat - if only she were back on the West Coast. Laurie

[usha]

On all 21 cruises I've taken on Celebrity, I've evidently been incredibly "lucky",

because I've had nothing but wonderful experiences on their ships.

I love the food, I LOVE the service, and I love the ships.

That said, Mercury is my least favorite ship in the X fleet.

It's a very nice ship, IMO, but I do prefer the layout of their Millennium class ships.

As far as the aft balcony cabins, my main concern would be getting blasted by cigar smoke.

The outside aft bar (on the resort deck) is the only area on the ship where cigar smoking is allowed,

and I would not want to "enjoy" all of those cigars.:rolleyes:

[Frankie Sue]

Thank you very much to all of you....... I can see that there are some VERY strong feelings about this ship; good and bad...... It helps me in some ways but I still have not learned much about which cabins are best or worse and how they compare to Hall.......

 

Not much more luck on the Celebrity board where I also posted this message..... Not a single reply....... I am almost tempted to think that the Celebrity Board snubbed me.

 

Ah well........ I'll search the posts where the answers have probably been posted many times.

 

PS....... I will most certainly give a lot of thought to all your comments

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

I didn't see your request on the Celebrity board, but I will respond here. We absolutely loved our cruise on the Mercury. The service was exceptional.

 

As to your cabin recommendation request, I would not recommend those aft cabins. The bed is indeed sideways against the wall which I would think would be awful if you have two people.

 

Concierge class cabins are fine--we had one midships on deck 11. There are a couple on deck 12 which have much larger balconies, but those go first. Can't remember the numbers offhand, but 1200 & 1201 spring to mind. Check a deck plan--I think those are the only CC cabins on that deck, the others all being sky suites.

 

Just a note--I don't know if it is the itinerary or what that is having you look at the Mercury, but if you choose one of the M class ships, your CC cabin will be larger than a regular balcony cabin and larger than the ones on the Mercury. And the aft CC cabins on the M class ships have balconies to die for--absolutely huge--and the bed is not sideways against the wall.

 

As to comparing cabins on Celebrity to those on HAL, I haven't yet had the pleasure of cruising on HAL. Am trying to get information on the grand cruise next fall, but that famous travel agency in Seattle hasn't sent me a brochure yet. From what I've read on both boards, people seem to give the edge to cabins on HAL.

 

Good luck and have a wonderful cruise, whatever you decide!

[SandyMc]

I did make strong statements and do stand by them. Understand that we are not hard to please - have cruised many lines and the Celebrity cruise was the only one that rendered any harsh feelings.

Sadly, we were on one of their famous "bleach cruises" referenced by Brian. They had noro the cruise before ours but never told any of the passengers on our cruise of that - ever! Imagine getting on a ship swimming in bleach and never being told why. :p We spent 10 days with bleach running down the walls of the elevators, pooling on the tables and bars - staff running around with sprayers of bleach, spraying everything (including chairs and clothing!) All wore gloves and masks - what a sight! :eek:

Realizing how irate the cruisers were on our cruise, Celebrity freely admitted noro on the next cruise and gave everyone credits/discounts. Even tho hundreds of people on our cruise complained during and after, the cruise line never admitted any problem with that cruise - it was as though it never happened! So, you see, they do lie and cheat their customers.........:mad:

[Frankie Sue]

My Post on Celebrity is titled: New to Celebrity..... We are looking at the Mercury because we have been wanting to try a different cruiseline and Celebrity appears to be similar in style and quality. We are also attracted to the Mercury because of its size (under 2,000 passengers) and the departure Port of Baltimore is a huge plus to us since we can drive to it and not have to worry about luggage, flight schedule, and so on......

 

Your information is very helpful..... On Holland we have always travelled in SA or SY size cabins and although the CC on the Mercury get good reviews, they appear rather small to me and the SKY suite is quite a bit more expensive than what I would expect to pay for an SY on Noordam. After seeing pictures posted of the SV cabin, we could not travel in one of those either.........

 

We will give it serious thought and we'll have to decide whether we will be swayed by the cabin or the departure and ship size.

 

Thanks again.

[sammiedawg]

I'm solidly with Brian here - Mercury, and Celebrity itself, provided us with the cruise from hell and as a result we will never consider them again! :p

I realize many people like Celebrity but the company itself lies and cheats their customers - impossible to accept. You could get lucky and have a nice cruise (apparently many have) but we will never take that chance with them again.

 

 

We did one Celebrity cruise 5 years ago, the Century, and our cabin and bath were just disgusting. Plus the ship had just flunked its CDC health inspection. Our TA tried to get us rebooked on something else in the fleet but we were stonewalled by Celebrity.

I have not booked with them since. I would have to think long and hard.

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

My Post on Celebrity is titled: New to Celebrity..... We are looking at the Mercury because we have been wanting to try a different cruiseline and Celebrity appears to be similar in style and quality. We are also attracted to the Mercury because of its size (under 2,000 passengers) and the departure Port of Baltimore is a huge plus to us since we can drive to it and not have to worry about luggage, flight schedule, and so on......

 

Your information is very helpful..... On Holland we have always travelled in SA or SY size cabins and although the CC on the Mercury get good reviews, they appear rather small to me and the SKY suite is quite a bit more expensive than what I would expect to pay for an SY on Noordam. After seeing pictures posted of the SV cabin, we could not travel in one of those either.........

 

We will give it serious thought and we'll have to decide whether we will be swayed by the cabin or the departure and ship size.

 

Thanks again.

 

Well the CC on Mercury would definitely be smaller than an SA or SY on HAL. I've noticed that prices on the Mercury seem to be higher, don't know if that's because it's a smaller (for Celebrity) ship or what the deal is. Was comparing two West Coast repos, one on the Mercury and one on the Millennium and the Millennium was much cheaper. Who knows about pricing? One thing about those sky suites on the Mercury, they have enormous verandas. Our friends stayed in one. I can send you pictures if you would like. lajessen at yahoo dot com

[MKMC]

We did the wine cruise form Vancouver the fall of 2008. Our concierge class cabin had a noise like a herd of elephants overhead much of the time. We didn't get many of the CC perks. The library had hardly any books. Michael's Club was U shaped and strange. The list of faults we found with this ship is veery long. We would not recommend it to our worst enemy. On the other hand we have had three wonderful cruises on the Infinity.

Kathleen

[helenp2]

We had a horrible experience on the Summit (much like Brian's) and never went on another X cruise. We found their overall housekeeping to really be lacking. Everywhere we looked we saw a need for serious cleaning. We rec'd this cruise as a gift but I can assure you if I had paid thousands for this experience I would have been calling X with a few choice comments. I'm always surprised when I hear folks say they like X. You would have to have blinders on not to see the condition and lack of maintainence on their ships.

[Frankie Sue]

Well, I have to say that all your comments are not inciting us to go ahead and book the Mercury with Celebrity. Our aim is to have a 10 to 12 days Carribean cruise from a port that we can sail from. My next choice would be sailing from New York on the Queen Mary 2...... The cabin may be a little more expensive but maybe it is worth it. Wha do you guys think?

[sammiedawg]

Frankie Sue, I presume you are interested in a cruise out of baltimore? I have been getting emails from various TA's advertising fire sale prices for 9 or 10 days on Mercury out of Baltimore. It was a steal of a price.

 

We did not book concierge class on Century which cost a lot extra. Our cabin reminded me of an aging airport Holiday Inn. I posted details on the X threads and nearly got thrown off the boards. Loyalists were not open to any dissent. I was called a liar and worse.

 

48 hours before we sailed it was announced Century had flunked CDC inspection. I called my TA immediately and he agreed a transfer should be pursued. Out of Miami Fort Lauderdale, there were several other options that weekend. I was totally stonewalled by customer service who told me I would be subject to 100 % penalty.

In my city restaurants that fail inspections get shut down for at least 3 days but no penalty for a cruise ship.

So we went on the cruise reluctantly.

Cabin- stained carpet, I'm not talking a couple of spots but we had huge blotchy stains more than 1 place. Carpet worn and frayed, you cannot clean worn frayed carpet. Upholstered chair very stained and the desk chair legs were broken. The telephone did not work. Stained bedspread. The TV was out of the 50's and we had the worst reception. The bathroom was just disgusting.

The public areas were not in great shape either.

We sail maintstream lines and I do not expect perfection but have never experienced anything remotely this bad elsewhere.

I am a firm believer in voting with my feet.

I think the brand new X ships would be fine.

I also read one of the X ships just flunked CDC, I don't remember which one this time but it was not Mercury or Century.

[takemewithyou]

Sammidawg-

I can not find an X ship that flunked a CDC inspection on the CDC web site - can you provide a source or a link?

Thanks

[bepsf]

Well, I have to say that all your comments are not inciting us to go ahead and book the Mercury with Celebrity. Our aim is to have a 10 to 12 days Carribean cruise from a port that we can sail from. My next choice would be sailing from New York on the Queen Mary 2...... The cabin may be a little more expensive but maybe it is worth it. Wha do you guys think?

 

FS--

 

I've heard nothing but good things coming from folks who have sailed QM2 recently, and that itinerary from NYC is fabulous - Noordam used to take that route.

 

Were I in your position, I'd book that one in a heartbeat...

...just be certain to get a balcony above the Promenade Deck.