Type of ships

[Waterdancer]

In a previous thread, someone went into great detail about the different classes of ships, such as the Millenium class. Which ships are in which class? The two cruises we are looking at are aboard the Constellation and the Mercury. I was particulary intrigued about the dance floors - my husband and I love to dance (slow, not disco). So we like the idea of several places to dance. We also envision sitting around in the sun by the pool - is the number of pools different by the type of ships?
I've heard great things about the Celebrity line. I've previously cruised on HAL and NCL. We are only in our early 50s but liked HAL because it was elegant, not too crowded and had good dancing. We found the food to be pretty good but my husband is not into gormet, give him a good cut of steak and he's happy.
Any information would be apppreciated. Thanks.

 

[Mary El]

The Millennium Class ships are: the Millennium, Infinity, Constellation, and the Summit.

The Century Class ships are: Century, Galaxy, and Mercury.

We've been on the Summit (once), the Century (three times) and the Galaxy (2 times). The Summit is almost exactly like the Millennium apparently. Each of Century class ships have their own style/decor, etc. The dance floors on the Millennium class ships are very small, they are much larger on the Century (Mercury) Class.

I am very sure that you will ejoy the ambiance of Celebrity. It's a class act.

 

[Waterdancer]

Thanks, that's very helpful. Looks like the Mercury is what we want. What about the pool areas?

 

[Aaren]

I have been on both ships. We like the Mercury better for different reasons than you may. Both are GREAT! SO pick the one with the best itinerary. Longer cruise will give you more of the atmosphere you are wanting. I am 33 but like to travel with an adult crowd (if you catch my drift.) The older the crowd the more traditional style dancing you will see (even at the disco). We were on the two week transatlantic this month and the live band was great! They played oldies and modern music. People danced the waltz and two step for everything! Now the current musical group that plays in the rendevous lounge prior to second seating sucked! (Bad voices and no bass) We laughed but tons of people danced away while waiting for dinner time.

Personally, I like the poolside deck aboard the Mercury better than Constellation. It is a whole unit where pool games can be seen by all. The Constellation is broken up and parts are elevated. I think that because it is a bigger ship with more passengers they tried to make it feel more private. Really they just ruined a great group space.

The best difference between the two ships is that the Mercury is German built and the Constellation is French. You can really see the difference. It is like a Mercedes VS the new Jag (owned now by Ford). Although the Constellation is very new, it is showing sigs of age the Mercury has yet to ever see. In our cabin we had our veranda door squeek with the ship movement. Our parents door to their veranda had a broken lock. Both cabins were missing 25-30% of the grout from the shower floor and had several cracked tiles. Probably from ship flex and cleaners. The Mercury we thought was more solid and had less noise from neighboring cabins and facilities.

Either way you will have a great trip!


Aaren
Rhapsody of the Seas / Panama Canal 1998
Vision of hte Seas / Panama Canal 1999
Mercury / Panama Canal 2001
Constellation / Transatlantic 2002
Constellation / Transatlantic 2003
Infinity / Hawaii 2004

 

[daysatsea]

If you like to dance, the Century class (Century, Galaxy, and Mercury) ships are better. The Millennium class (Millennium, Infinity, Summit and Constellation) have one less dance floor..

 

[Waterdancer]

We ended up booking a cruise on the Galaxy because we liked the itinerary. Plus we listened to all your advice about the types of ships and we do believe we will be happy with the Galaxy voyage. thanks

 

[Benjamin Smith]

Galaxy is fantastic for dancing. The thing of it is that the Galaxy and other Century class ships, as well as the Horizon class ships, have an aft located nightclub. On the Galaxy it is one of my favorite lounges of *any* ship and is called the Savoy Lounge. It is a 1930's re-creation, similar to the Century's but with different furniture and materials. It is a destination lounge and nicely separated into distinct sections. Dance floor is large. When I was aboard both Galaxy and Century this is where I spent much of my time. I love this lounge. The fact that the Millennium ships don't have this lounge makes them unacceptable to me.

Galaxy, Mercury, Century, Zenith, Horizon, all fantastic for dancing. Millennium ships poor for dancing as it is done in the Rendezvous lounge and that's the only choice you have outside of the observation lounge that's high up in the front of the ship (and more suitable in ambiance for disco rather than "romantic" dancing). The Rendezvous lounge features the duo, OK for dancing depending on their quality, but there is no alternative to this lounge as the upstairs area has an overlook and is linked to this lounge . The Century class have two distinct public lounges, different ambiances, completely separate from each other, and offer the choice of the duo or whoever is appearing in the Rendezvous vs. the nightclub, where that choice doesn't exist on the Millennium ships. The Millennium ships, I think wisely, converted to a piano bar replacing the oversized Michael's club cigar club, but I think, unwisely, did not add a much-needed dance floor.