Review: Celebrity Cruises - Mercury - [May 17, 2004]

[Net Reviews]

Review By:

Reviewer Comments:

My wife and I took the Celebrity Mercury round trip from San Francisco
on May 17, 2004. We cruise fairly often and had previously taken two
cruises on Celebrity (Millennium and Constellation), but this was our
first time on a Century-class ship. We had a "Category D" outside
cabin without a verandah.

Ship Basics:

Ship Size: 77,713 tons
Service Entry Date: 1997
Passenger Capacity: 1,870 passengers
Crew Capacity: 909 crew
Space Ratio: 41.5
Crew to Passenger Ratio: 1 to 2.1
Ship Registry: Bahamas

CABIN:

Cabins are one place where Celebrity really shines, and our cabin on
the Mercury was no exception. It was large, clean and fresh. There
was ample closet space and lots of drawer space, with room to sit
comfortably on the love seat or at the small desk/dressing table.
Four suitcases fit perfectly under the bed. The furnishings were
clean and not too old. It was decorated in standard Celebrity chrome
and light wood with blue fabrics and a nice modern print on the wall.
The standard Celebrity bathroom is just the right size, with an
outstanding shower, a hair dryer, and plenty of storage space.

My one quibble with the cabin -- and my biggest gripe about the ship
-- was the relatively uncomfortable bed and pillows. (I usually take
my own down pillow for cruises but somehow forgot this trip -- much to
my regret, as the cabin pillows were hard and thin foam rubber.) The
mattress wasn't terrible but this is one place where they could stand
to spend a little more.

SHIP:

The Mercury is in fantastic shape after seven years. The elevators
were clean, new-looking, and worked perfectly. Windows were washed
every day and repainting was ongoing during the voyage. Most
upholstery and carpeting was clean and fresh, and the woodwork and
metal was in excellent condition. A+ on general ship condition for
this middle-aged beauty.

I loved the ship itself. It is very understated for a cruise ship.
Dark to medium blue, with some beige, and medium-toned wood with
chrome accents, is a color scheme followed by the entire ship.

Compared to the dizzy pool architecture of Royal Caribbean, the
soaring atriums (atria?) of many lines, the art-deco theaters on
Millennium class ships, or the neon-glitz of Carnival, Mercury's decor
is quite understated. It is much closer to Princess in interior
design than to its parent company (Royal Caribbean).

For my taste, the ship's interior gets high marks for both function
and atmosphere. The dining room is the quietest and most comfortable
of any ship I have sailed. It glows in the amber reflection of the
extensive wood surfaces. The entertainment was quiet and appropriate,
either a string quartet or a pianist/vocalist (Manon -- more about her
under music, below). A+ on dining room atmosphere.

Kitchen placement is *much* better than on the newer Millennium-class
ships, resulting in much faster service and hotter food. You could
easily finish dinner in 90 minutes, with 5 separate courses, compared
to the very unsatisfactory 120-150 minutes on Millennium-class ships.

The Cova Cafe on Mercury is excellent. It takes up the full width of
the ship, with a lot of tables and two banks of extremely comfortable
armchairs/sofas and enormous windows. Premium coffee and tea are
available all day, with free pastries in the morning and afternoon.

The theater is also excellent. Although not ornate, the decor is
nice. The functionality, however, is outstanding. Unlike most
two-level cruise theaters it is one-story with internal balconies on
the wings; that is, you enter from one deck (Deck 7)at the back of the
main floor, rather than the more common upper (balcony) and lower
(main floor) entrance. The degree of pitch from front to rear is thus
greater than usual. The result: Both sound and line-of-sight to the
stage are 100% in every seat. The seats have enough leg and hip room,
and the tables are adequate without mashing your knees. Exceptional.

I won't enumerate all of the little lounges and areas. The public
areas get an A+. The only disappointment is the small and nearly
inadequate library, unfortunately typical for Celebrity.

The pools seemed small to me and might be a problem for pool bunnies,
but since this was an Alaska cruise I didn't pay much attention to
them. The rear deck pool and lounging areas were great.

The spa and gym areas are good sized and adequate. Unfortunately, the
wonderful thalssotherapy area (hot salt water Jacuzzis), which is free
on Millie-class ships, requires an extra charge (@ $10 per day).

The Lido (called "Palm Springs" cafe) was sometimes overcrowded, to
the point where I once did an circuit of the entire area without being
able to find a table (and I was perfectly willing to take two empty
spots at a large table).

FOOD: The food in the main dining room has stabilized after a period
of deterioration. Dinner was very good overall and sometimes
excellent. Breakfast and lunch were good to very good.

Food in the Palm Springs Cafe was often unacceptable to us. The
coffee is terrible. The free drinks (iced tea, lemonade, fruit punch)
are not very good. Breakfast is just awful sometimes, depending on
what you get. The bacon was inedible, often forming large clumps of
partially-cooked gooey mess. The scrambled eggs are from frozen eggs
and are no better than what you get in the Army. The omelettes tend
toward cardboard. The toast ranges from inadequate to bad, due to
their use of some sort of flash-toasting device that does not toast
except on the very surface; you can easily get bread that is burnt on
the outside and not even warm on the inside. I love bagels and you
just can't get a decent toasted bagel anywhere on the ship.

The fruit, however, is very good and there is fresh milk.

Lunch in the Palm Springs was sometimes terrible, sometimes adequate,
sometimes good. Usually a good salad is available, and sometimes the
hot selections were quite tasty. Pizza and baked pasta, served all
day at a separate station, are marginal. The hamburgers and hot dogs,
also at a separate station, are quite good. The sushi is surprisingly
good. But you might also get a sandwich or hot dish that is very poor
-- I got the worst "Reuben" I have ever had. I avoided the Palm
Springs Cafe as much as possible after the first few days. The dining
room had better food and I really just got tired of fighting for a
table all the time.

MUSIC: The music was great and full of spirit, even though the
performers had some technical flaws. MANON (can't remember her last
name)was a pretty brunette French (or French Canadian) woman who
played the piano and sang. She had a self-contained computer
accompaniment on a separate keyboard, but sat at the very good Yamaha
grand provided by the ship. I loved her music, especially when she
would do ballads and samba appropriate for her voice (rather than the
"New York New York" stuff the crowd asked for).

The Martini quartet appeared to be a family, with Mom and Dad on the
piano/synthesizer, one daughter on the violin and one on the viola.
Very pleasant.

The Black and White duo was a gas. A couple of middle aged men, one
who played guitar and sang (or played harmonica on occasion), the
other on the synthesizer and/or saxophone and backup vocals. Both of
them sounded like Willie Nelson. A lot of dance music (from Achy
Breaky Heart to sultry Latin tango). My favorite was
Johnny Be Good, which the guitarist really had fun playing.

Axis: soft rock and calypso for the party crowd. Not my cup of tea
but they kept people on the dance floor and were pleasant.

There was also a "classical style guitarist" who was so bad I could
not sit in the room while he was playing, but we didn't see much of
him.

ACTIVITIES:

Standard upper-end cruise fare and lots of fun. Trivia of all shapes
and sizes, cards (I did notice duplicate bridge games), basketball and
golf competitions, Snowball bingo (with a $4500 jackpot the last
night), crafts, cooking, party games (like Pictionary) and the usual
"detox to lose 8 inches" nonsense from the spa. Most exercise classes
cost $10 although there was one free aerobics class each day. The
lectures were good for a mainstream cruise: a set of motivational
lecture, a series of Alaska history and culture lectures, and 5
lectures on using a digital camera which were popular. The casino is
excellent.

Celebrity does not have the raucous party games and pool games that
you will find on Carnival or Royal Caribbean. The disco was active
and quite good, but tended to close up at 1-2 a.m.

DESTINATIONS:

We visited San Francisco, Victoria B.C., Juneau, Skagway, Icy Straight
Point, Hubbard Glacier, Sitka, and Ketchikan. I'm not going to spend a
lot of time on the better-known Alaska destinations, since there is a
wealth of information about them on the Internet. IMO there is no such
thing as a bad destination in Alaska. Even Valdez (the worst of the
bunch) has an interesting little museum. Mostly, enjoyment of the
destinations is a factor of the weather, and we got beautiful warm
sunny days at every stop except Sitka.

However, much of the reason I'm writing this review is to describe
the new port of Icy Straight Point, as we were the first cruise ever
to stop there.

San Francisco -- How could anyone not enjoy a few days in Frisco?
Clean air, great food, lots of great places to hang out, and a public
transit system that can't be beat -- $1.25 buys you a bus transfer
that is good on any bus or streetcar for 90 minutes to 4 hours,
including return trips!

The one place I went that I had not been before was Mission Dolores,
which I recommend for a sunny day. You can take the colorful
streetcars, staring with the famous "F" train (which uses antique
streetcars from all over the world) and changing to the "G" train if
you don't want to climb the hill. Get out at the top of the Mission
Dolores Park for a spectacular view of the city from the east
(although the Golden Gate is obscured by downtown). Then walk down
the north side of the park to the adobe Mission Dolores, the original
settlement of San Francisco and the oldest building in the city.
(Most of the city dates from 1906 or later, due to the devastating
earthquake and fire of that year.)

Victoria -- I have been to Victoria before and it is a bit of a wasted
stop on an Alaska cruise, necessitated only because of the "Jones Act"
(technically the Passenger Vessel Services Act of 1886, which requires
that most cruise ships visit a port outside of the U.S.). It is a
reasonably charming historical town (or small city), although very
heavily tourist-oriented.

Inside Passage -- The cruise from Victoria through the inside passage
is beautiful and really sets the stage for Alaska, as you begin to see
snowy peaks, mile after mile of fir-topped mountain wilderness, and
the occasional wildlife (mostly whales at this point).

Skagway -- the spectacular White Pass Railroad, over the route
traversed by the Klondike gold miners in the late 19th Century, is an
Alaska "must see". The tiny town is not much except for a few tourist
shops, but it is pleasant.

Juneau -- a good town for a stroll. The best excursions here are a
flight over the Mendenhall glacier and ice fields, and a trip up the
Mount Roberts "tram" (really a funicular or gondola). I have
previously been to the Taku Wilderness Lodge and loved it.

Icy Straight Point -- Our Mercury cruise was the first large cruise
ever to visit Icy Straight Point, a new development outside the
Tlingit Indian town of Hoonah. This is a joint venture of the locals,
a special corporation partly financed by the State of Alaska, and
Royal Caribbean Cruises (Celebrity's parent company). It is designed
as a day stop for cruise ships. A large dock is apparently under
construction for 2005, but for now passengers must tender to Icy SP.

Icy SP consists of perhaps 10 wood frame buildings of various sizes.
These are very nicely done from local fir/pine/hardwood and include a
roomy building for excursion rendezvous, a general area museum (free),
a mock-up of a salmon cannery with period machinery and resin salmon
(including salmon guts on the floor!), a cultural museum, and various
shops and such. The area serves as a jumping off place for excellent
wildlife tours.

About a mile down the road is the village of Hoonah. It's a nice walk
down the bay front, with the channels to the right and steep mountains
to the left. Or for $3 an enterprising local guide will give you a
ride in his bus, complete with tour commentary. We walked downtown
and rode back.

Hoonah is a village of 800 Tlingits who were displaced from Glacier
Bay. Although the internet says Hoonah means "by the cliff", the bus
driver assured me that it REALLY means "protected from the north wind"
and was chosen for its favorable climate. It occupies a large island
to the west of Juneau. Just across a narrow channel from downtown is
some sort of eagle sanctuary, and the downtown area is swarming with
bald eagles and ravens. We also saw three orcas in the wider channel
from Icy Straight Point.

The town is unspoiled Alaska. The prevalent buildings are very
rural-looking small homes, either prefab or framed with aluminum
siding, many with pretty little gardens. The only industry is a major
fish packing plant, which ships something like 50 million pounds of
fish (mainly halibut) per year. Two or three local restaurants, if
you could call them that, seemed to be getting unusual business.
There is a pretty little church, an elementary school, a tiny high
school.

Unemployment is low in the summer and will probably be nonexistent if
the new Icy SP development is a success (which I would say it almost
certainly will be). The atmosphere is very different from Juneau or
even Ketchikan. There are no hippies wandering around and, at least
while our ship was in port, no aimless looking people anywhere.

One would expect that the cruise industry will have some impact on
Hoonah, although only 30-40 ships per year are anticipated, so maybe
Diamonds International and Little Switzerland will not open stores
there. But some poor local homeowner's backyard stands between the
dock and the best point for watching the bald eagles, and by the end
of the day his grass was looking a bit trampled. The gift store SOLD
OUT of merchandise. The shelves were almost completely bare (I
confess, I bought a t-shirt.) When we departed we saw about 50 people
waving goodbye to our ship! I felt like James Cook in Hawaii.

Hubbard Glacier -- One must see a big glacier from the sea. I can say
that one suddenly realizes why the terrain looks like it does. I can
say that a six-mile-wide river of ice casting house-size chunks of
brilliant blue ice into the ocean, is awe inspiring. But I cannot
explain the feeling you get by actually being there.

Ketchikan - Ketchikan is a very pleasant town, built on salmon
canning. The primary excursions available are sea or air tours to
Misty Fjords and coach tours of Saxman Village for cultural shows and
a nice collection of Tlingit and Haisa totem poles. We did not take
excursions here or in Sitka this trip.

Sitka - Sitka is the old capital of Russian Alaska, and the bishop's
house, well restored and preserved, is a must see. Also excellent are
the wildlife park, which is a short walk from the pier and full of
bald eagles and totem poles, and the Indian Museum at Jackson College.
This is where James Michener stayed while writing "Alaska" and has a
memorable display of artifacts from the seven major tribes or tribal
groups in pre-European Alaska.

OVERALL: One afternoon I walked out on deck and nodded to an
Englishman who was taking a picture. He sighed and said, "you just
can't explain it". I knew exactly what he meant. The magic of Alaska
simply cannot be translated by words or photographs. Mile after mile
after mile of majestic uninhabited mountains, covered in fir,
punctuated by whales and seals and eagles, begets a feeling that
cannot be expressed. One must visit it to understand why people love
it.