Just back from 11 days onboard Celebrity INFINITY to Hawaii. We sailed on
March 23 from Ensenada Mexico to the Hawaiian Islands. The cruise was a
wonderful mix of four sea days across the Pacific along with five port calls
in Hawaii. We also stayed in San Diego a few days prior to the cruise and
enjoyed Sea World and dinner with Christopffre's father and sister. The
weather was wonderful with a few showers but lots of sun. Many new friends
were made and I hope to stay in touch for years to come.
A full review will follow, but I can say without hesitation that Celebrity
remains (IMO) a step above the other mass market lines such as NCL, RCI,
Carnival, Princess, and HAL. It's hard to pinpoint exactly what makes
Celebrity excel, but I think it's the many small details that seem to be
lacking on other lines. Of course I also find their ships to be the most
beautiful afloat, with an interesting mix of artwork and furnishings, and
INFINITY was no exception. Service was fantastic and EVERYONE on the crew
seemed genuinely friendly and concerned that a good time was had by all. I
can honestly say I did not run into one surly person.... not even at Guest
Relations! 
Celebrity is in the process of re-branding and many positive
changes are being made. Our sailing had some but not all the changes that
are forthcoming to the entire Celebrity fleet. I think Celebrity is on
track to become a higher rated line then they already are, and I would
suspect the prices will be adjusted accordingly once the economy permits.
An added surprise was having John Maxtome-Graham onboard as a lecturer. He
is a wonderful speaker regarding the history of ocean liners, and I
certainly enjoyed his lectures during each day at sea. He is currently
writing a book about the new QUEEN MARY 2 (QM2), and I'm anxious to obtain
this book regarding the world's "largest ocean liner". Strangely enough,
John Maxtome-Graham spoke quite often about QM2, even during a TV interview
with the Cruise Director. The reason this was a bit strange is that
Celebrity is head-on competitor of Cunard and Carnival Corp., but even the
employees at Celebrity are interested in QM2. It was refreshing that
instead of shunning their competitor, they embraced it. Certainly a touch
of class as far as I was concerned.
Air flights were wonderful and went without a hitch. We flew first class
both to San Diego and back from Honolulu on Delta. It sure was nice to have
the larger seats on the 12 hour day getting from Honolulu to Atlanta via San
Francisco.
Hopefully I will get a detailed review up and running in the next few days,
but in the meantime I have posted 80+ photos taken on the cruise. Use the
link below to jump to the photos. If you hold your curser over the photo,
you will get a description. Clicking on the thumbnail photo will enlarge
it.
http://www.cruise-addicts.com/picturepost/view.php?uid=1751
The only thing left to do now is decide which ship to sail on next! If you
any questions about Celebrity, Hawaii, or the INFINITY, please don't
hesitate to email me directly.
Best,
Ernie
