7 Day Alaska Cruise w/ 7 People
Written: Aug 11 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Cleanliness, Food, Service, Desserts
Cons: Travel
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| wajlee's Full Review: Celebrity Mercury |
I went on the M/V Mercury for a southbound Alaskan cruise from Seward to Vancouver in July of 2000. This was the first time that I've been on a cruise along with six other family members. To sum it up, it was great.
Celebrity is an excellent cruise line for families. Everyone from my four year old nephew to my 60 year old parents had activities to do. The "Celebrity Enrichment Series" had several lectures on different topics such as investment (not very informative) and graphology (interesting).
There were three Broadway type shows which were all well presented. They are produced by Opryland Productions (a division of Gaylord Entertainment) and exceed the quality of other Opryland shows that I've seen. The music for the shows comes from both pre-recorded music and the small, sub-par Celebrity Orchestra.
For dinner, in addition to the normal dinner, there was also alternative casual dining if you don't feel like dressing up. The service in the main dining room is very good. Our waiter and busboy served only four tables (two of them were tables of two, so he was serving 18 people). Wine prices were lower than I expected.
Cleanliness is the best I've ever seen in a cruise ship or hotel. The carpets were vacuumed more than once a day with some kind of a dry powder. The frequent vacuuming is annoying if you happen to wander into the halls outside of your room a lot, but there was so much to do that I rarely spent time in the room.
There was a large array of excursions to choose from. If you choose a helicopter tour, make sure you have a backup plan because the helicopter tours are often canceled due to rain or high winds. Celebrity provides a list of "approved" shops, but shop around for the best price if you have the time.
My only complaint is the travel arranged by Celebrity. I live near San Francisco, and the default flight was one that routed through Salt Lake City and then went to Anchorage. My family decided to pay $35 per person to take a direct Alaska Airlines flight. To our disappointment, the direct flight was cancelled, and we had to take a flight to Seattle, then to Anchorage. The flight was supposed to get there two hours earlier than the default flight, but it ended up arriving an hour later because of all the delays and transfer times.
I almost forgot to mention something. The best place to see stuff if you want to stay away from the rain is the Navigator Club on deck 12. It has gigantic windows that you can sit right up against. I recommend going there a few hours before arriving at Hubbard Glacier because the view of Yakutat Bay is breathtaking. (Not to say that there aren't other breathtaking views)
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
wajlee
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Location: California
Reviews written: 13
Trusted by: 2 members
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