Mercury to be sold

BSeabob

BSeabob

Forum Manager
Staff member
ShipMaven

ShipMaven

Forever Remembered
I saw the press release and immediately thought of you, BSea.

I hope Celebrity doesn't divest themselves of Century. She has such as wonderful reputation.
 
A

anton

3rd Officer
BSeabob:

I was checking the Celebrity cruise schedule for 2011.
It looks like they've dropped Charleston, SC as an embarkation port.
With the "Mercury" going to TUI as "Mein Schiff 2," and the "Century" doing the Alaska run in 2011, Charleston will be just another port of call. Then, they lose even that status after the "Mercury's" Valentine's Day Bahamas run from Baltimore in 2011.
March's Norovirus outbreak (with the attendant bad press and negative cash flow) has obviously had an effect.
The grumbling and bad feelings from my fellow passengers on that cruise didn't help either, doggone it!
I hope RCL/Celebrity doesn't abandon Charleston altogether.
If Princess can dock the 115kT "Crown Princess" at Charleston's Concord St. cruise terminal, I know a Celebrity "M" class can dock there as well.

I guess it's "Wait and See" mode for now.

anton
Chief Yo-Yo, etc. etc.
 
BSeabob

BSeabob

Forum Manager
Staff member
If the Crown was in there I'm sure an M class would fit as you say. The draft of both vessels is basically the same and the M class is only 99280 tons so you would think it would fit.

I've never been able to quite figure out why they use and don;t use certain ports. But for sure you have a lot more folks within driving range than a lot of potential ports.

Was the Merc sailing close to full all the time. Capacity is only about 100 or so more.
 
A

anton

3rd Officer
Bob,

The Ya-Ya's cruise on March 8th was full-up, despite the bad Norovirus press from the sailing previous to ours.
The one following our cruise was about 2/3rd's full; I guess folks got hinky about "Mercury" being a "sick ship," and stayed away.
A real shame, since it was the Charleston-area retiree community passengers themselves who brought the illness on board in the first place.
These folks were feeling, umm, "unsettled" before they boarded the 'Mercury," but deliberately didn't acknowledge their condition on the health affidavit they made us sign.
(By God, they weren't gonna miss out on their cruise that they paid for, no sir!)
Then, once they got on board and had the tummy bug a-working on 'em, there was the stubborn few who refused to follow the quarantine rules and stay in their cabin. Nope, they wandered all over the ship, being sick wherever they felt like it. I saw four of these "ornaments" in the casino, their airsick bags, empty and otherwise, perched on on the slot machines next to their spare change cups, just whanging away at the slot machine for all it was worth.
Sorry for the vent, Bob, but Sheesh! let's put the blame where it belongs, no?
I'm still pondering how to get this particular point across in my review of the cruise without offending a bunch of very selfish fellow cruisers who should have known better, or at least been more responsible for their actions.
Prayer seems to help.

Thanks for the use of your soapbox.

anton
Chief Yo-Yo
 
BSeabob

BSeabob

Forum Manager
Staff member
We sailed on the Zenith's last cruise under a yellow flag. The bleach crew was out and hand service etc. etc. There were a few folks that got sick on our cruise after we sailed but most new cases had stopped occurring after the first week.

There were some loud complaints about no salt and peppers/butter etc in the dining room but the protocol worked. Met a nice guy though the wall with Morris code as he was quarantined in the room next to us.(5 days) :doubledown: . He wasn't happy but he knew that he had to stay inside and away from us all...and he did. His wife never got it and was only quarantined 2 days I think it was.
We fared well however and only lost a pair of shorts to a bleached railing :)

I wouldn't worry about offending anybody that did what you say ..they are not very likely the kind of folks that would be on line in forums like ours anyways.

Well all except for bOB he would do almost anything for a drink and a slot pull. :biggrin:
 
Jeanie

Jeanie

Staff Captain
Anton, I like your post, you absolutely correct. I hoping to sail on the Mercury one of these days out of Charleston. Charleston is about hour and half from my neck of the woods.
 
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