Hi Gramps et al,
My apologies for not reporting in sooner. It's been hectic for me since we got back. I had my last week of work ending on Sept 30th and then signed my employment papers for my new job on the same day. I was supposed to start on Oct 3rd but my new manager saw how drained I was after leaving 19 years behind and told me to take a week off and start next week. I have not spent much time on the 'puter since.
The cruise was fantastic. We could not have asked for better weather considering the cruise headed up close to Alaska and in the open North Pacific Ocean at times. Seas were very smooth all the time. Except for thick fog in the early mornings of our 2 sea days and 1 hour of typical BC West Coast rain, it was clear skies and warm weather.
Celebrity's service and food was everything people told us about. The Sky Suites were roomy for the two of us. It was nice having a Jacuzzi tub in the bathroom instead of the usual small stand-up shower. The complimentary use of the spa was another perk we used frequently, particularily in the evenings. There was never anybody else in the huge Thalassotherapy pool except my wife and me every time we used it.
Our butler Mateus and stateroom attendant Asep provided stellar service. One or the other always seemed to be around and everytime we came up to our suite they were there to open our door and make sure our room was made up to our liking.
We had full breakfast every morning in our suite served by Mateus. Afternoon tea with finger sandwiches, cookies and cakes in our suite at 4pm also served by Mateus and appetizers in our suite at 5pm usually while we were getting ready for dinner. Formal night was on the second night after departing Vancouver which was also our 25th wedding anniversary dinner. The dinner room staff gave us a cake and sang to us.
Nice touch!
We had a table for two which was very intimate and our waiter Anna and assistant waiter Jose had my food allergies memorized after the first night and I didn't have to mention it again. Food preparation was fabulous every night. My wife always went with the Chef's suggestion at dinner. Me, I'm a meat and taters man. The Beef Tenderloin could be cut with a fork it was that tender. On lobster night, my wife said they were very tender so she had 2. I had prime rib which was perfect and the horseradish sauce they use took your breath away. Just the way I like it.
We usually ate a light lunch in the Palm Springs Cafe and every day was a different theme. Asian, Mexican, Italian, Thai themes made the lunches interesting. I tried a lot of different dishes I never thought I would try including sushi. I liked sushi so much we went to the sushi bar a couple of times for snacks.
The rest of the onboard staff was friendly and always said "Good Morning Sir" or "Good Evening "Ma'am" whenever you passed them on the different decks. The staff in the stores were also very good. All their Alaska clothes and trinkets were 50% to 75% off for the whole cruise.
The entertainment was good. Not being Broadway show fans, we missed a couple of shows but the comedian was hilarious the night he was on the bill. Tears were running down the faces of the passengers next to me as they were laughing so hard.
I bought the cruise DVD as my wife and I were on it numerous times. Once during sailaway, once during cha-cha lessons and they videotaped us having our formal portraits done. The first time we have ever been on the cruise DVD, neat!
The demographics of the passengers were about 75% retired couples. We were in the minority when it came to being Canadians. Most of the passengers came from Washington, Oregon or California. They mentioned that Celebrity discounted the cruise for passengers from those states. Us Canadians did not get any discounts, at least when I booked the cruise in March.
The one big thumbs up I give to Celebrity was the way they handle the last full day on board and disembarkation. I always hated coming back from breakfast on the last day as the luggage tags and customs forms would always be on the bed waiting to be filled out.
Instead on the last day, our stateroom attendant knocked on our door and hand delivered everything and explained what we were to fill out. I don't know if this only applied to suite passengers or whether it applies to all passengers but it's a nice touch and doesn't leave you with those last cruise day blues.
On disembarkation day, instead of just finding a place to sit and waiting for the shipwide announcement for all passengers with certain colored tags and numbers to leave the ship,. we went into the Celebrity Theatre and they only made announcements in there when it was our time to disembark. There are various lounges and areas for other passengers to congregate as told to us by our butler and announcements to disembark are only made in these areas for those passengers. Much more civilized than the cattle call to leave the ship that I have been used to.
As for the ship. Considering her age she does not show it. The furniture in our suite looked new and with the exception of a couple of glass stains on the counter in the bathroom, it looked as new as the Diamond Princess which I cruises on 6 months after she was put in service. One issue I had was only one power receptacle in the room. With 3 cameras and a razor, it was a juggling act tokeep everything charged. Next time I go on the Merc (and I will soon), I'll take a small power bar or extension cord so I can do 2 at a time.
I have not posted my photos to this site's gallery. I use flickr.com to post photos online. If you want to have a look at them, they can be found at the following URL:
<http://www.flickr.com/photos/gordr/sets/1017455/>
I hope you enjoy them. I am still missing the last sea day. I took just under 1 GB or 1,200 photos and digital video so what I posted is a small representation of the cruise but it does have the highlights.
If you guys have any questions, let me know.
Gord
