Fantastic Ship
Written: Oct 10 '05
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Stability, entertainment, service, overall ship facilities
Cons: Food good, but somewhat variable.
The Bottom Line: Overall, this was our best cruise experience so far. The ship facilities were exceptional, service was excellent, and entertainment terrific. I would highly recommend the Celebrity Infinity.
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| alleng's Full Review: Celebrity Infinity |
My wife and I took a 14 day trans Panama Canal cruise on the Infinity. We were not very experienced cruisers, this being our 4th. However, it was the best overall cruise experience we have had. Here are the details. GTS Infinity is a very large ship with a displacement of 91,000 tons. She carries approximately 2000 passengers and 1000 crew members. The ship is so well designed however, that there is no feeling of being crowded. It has lots of intimate spaces and plenty of facilities for the passengers. It was amazing that even on a very nice day at sea, there were lots of empty lounge chairs on the sports and promenade decks. The only areas that tended to fill up were those directly around the pools. The ship's size makes for excellent stability. Even in some moderate seas, the ride was very smooth and stable. Most of the time there was no sense of motion. Only for a couple of very short periods was there any significant rocking motion.
Boarding:
Our cruise departed from San Diego. The ship was scheduled to sail at 8 p.m. We arrived around 3 p.m. and found quite a large crowd waiting to board. The Celebrity staff, however, was very efficient. They had all our credentials ready to go and gave us a colored tag to indicate our boarding order. We waited about 30 minutes until our tag was called.
State Room:
We had an outside state room on the Continental deck (Deck 2). It was very nicely appointed and exceptionally clean, although a bit smaller than a similar level room on the Holland America Veendam that we had sailed on before. The window was a very large (4 feet, or so in diameter) and provided a great view of the sea. Overall, the room was very functional and comfortable.
Main Dining Room Food:
Food was plentiful and, overall very good. The dinner menu always had 3 or 4 appetizers, 3 soups, 2 salads, 5 entrees, and several desserts. Food quality was variable. Some of the dishes were outstanding and others were so-so. Only the desserts were consistently excellent. I would say that the food quality was a touch below the level we experienced on Holland America. Dining room staff and service were excellent, however. We were served by a waiter, assistant waiter, sommalier (wine steward), and an assistant Maitr D.
Specialty Restaurant:
We had one dinner in the SS United States Restaurant. It required an additional $25 per person charge but was well worth it. The food here was outstanding, as was the service. I wouldn't go there every night, but it's an experience to have once, at least.
Buffet:
We had most of our breakfasts in the buffet on deck 10. The food here was o.k., a bit better than what one would expect from a "commercial" buffet, but not outstanding. There was generally a good selection. Here again, service was excellent. The line moved quickly and the staff was always ready to help anyone find a table and bring drinks or whatever else someone wanted.
Poolside Cafe:
This cafe serves pizza, hot dogs, and hamburgers every day. I only ate there once. The hamburger was pretty good, although a bit over cooked. My wife tried the pizza once and said it was so-so.
Entertainment:
Here is where this cruise outdid all the previous cruises we have been on. The entertainment was of very high quality and with lots of variety. There were comedians, jugglers, a classical pianist, a magician, broadway reviews, novelty music, etc. It was all great. The ship has a large, very well equipped theater with rotating and elevating stage components. The shows were very sophisticated for a cruise ship. There were also a couple of excellent lecturers who talked about the Panama Canal, history of the Carribean area, and Perl Harbor. Both were outstanding speakers with very interesting subject material.
Leisure and Sports:
Facilities on the ship are excellent. One thing I had never seen before was a "Thalassotherapy" pool. This is a salt water pool kept at body temperature. It's in an enclosed area, large enough to swim in, and has bubble lounge areas. It was very soothing. Next to this pool are two hot spas. Other facilities include two regular, outdoor swimming pools, two more hot spas, a full gym setup, running track, full basketball court, and a golf simulator. We made lots of use of the golf simulator which was run by an Sandi Hamm, and excellent LPGA teaching pro.
Ports of Call:
This cruise had 8 days at sea (including one while transitting the canal) and only 6 in ports.
Cabo San Lucas:
Here we went ashore for a while to look over the town. There was little to do unless you are into some kind of water sport (fishing, parasailing, jet skiing, etc.). The port area is typical, being loaded with tourist shops. We did eat lunch at an outdoor restaurant that provided good food.
Acapulco:
Here we hired a taxi at $20 per hour to take us around town. The guide was very nice and spoke good english. We went to an overlook from which we could see the whole harbor, several jewlery/silver shops, and some general site seeing. We also stopped to see the famous cliff divers. There is a $2.50 to $5 per person charge and they also look for tips after the dive, but given the death-defying plunge into a narrow channel near the cliffs, it's well worth it.
At night there was a "sail-away" party on the ship during which we could see the lights of Acapulco all around us as we sailed away.
Huatulco:
This was a surprise. Huatulco is a new stop for cruise ships, having just built a large, new pier. It's a very nice little town. The dock area is clean with a small park and a nice beach within walking distance of the ship. There are several other beaches reachable by boat or taxi. We opted to take a 20 minute walk into town. The town center is clean and very nicely kept. There are some interesting local craft shops that don't have that grubby tourist sense to them. This is a town I would like to visit again.
Costa Rica:
Here was the one place we elected to purchase one of the ship's excursions. We chose the Rain Forest Hike. Our dinner table mates chose a Rain Forest tram ride and were disappointed. The hike, however, was short but quite interesting. In spite of needing to walk down some muddy trails, it was very civilized. Our guide was good and the trail was well developed with handrails and steps in areas where they were needed. One still had to be careful because some of these facilites were made of wood and not very strudy.
Panama Canal:
This was the highlight of the cruise. It's possible to go through the first set of locks and then depart the ship for a land based excursion, but we elected to stay on the ship. The transit takes a full day and it's fascinating to watch the operation of the amazing waterway. Infinity is as large as the largest ship that can transit the canal. Watching some equally large freighters ahead of us go through the locks showed how tight the fit is. The clearance is just inches! Once we reached Gatun lake at the center of the canal we opted to sit in the Constellation lounge on deck 11. This lounge has huge panoramic windows and it was easy to take in all the action.
Following the canal transit we stopped at Christobal (Colon) and were told that it is dangerous to go into town and only to visit the shopping area on the dock. We went out briefly. There were some very nice handycrafts being sold, but we resisted the urge to buy more stuff.
Aruba:
Here we rented a 4-wheel drive vehicle and drove ourselves along the dirt road along the north side of the island. Aruba is mostly a desert, but there is some very beautiful scenery. We also stopped at a small beach for some snorkling and drove through some of the smaller villages for sight seeing.
Disembarkation:
The ship arrived in Ft. Lauderdale very early in the morning. The disembarkation process was quite efficient. First everyone had to show their passports to a US immigration agent. This was scheduled between 6:30 and 6:45 a.m. Everyone went to the theater and then was escorted to where the agents were so that they could verify the passports. The whole process took about 30 minutes. After breakfast, there was about a 15 minute wait in one of the ship lounges until our color was called. We were scheduled to leave the ship at 8:30 a.m. and actually got off at about 8:35.
Overall, this was our best cruise experience so far. The ship facilities were exceptional, service was excellent, and entertainment terrific. I would highly recommend the Celebrity Infinity.
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Seniors
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Reviews written: 14
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