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Celebrity Cruise Line

MV Mercury

Your Rating:
Reviewed by: Tom Huck
# previous cruises: 7
Date of Trip: June 18, 2004
Itinerary: Alaska

The scenery was spectacular! We had beautiful weather and a wonderful time with family. I was a little disappointed with certain parts of the ship. It was the most expensive cruise we have taken and I didn't think the value was that great.

The ship was lovely - very understated. The public rooms were comfortable and plenty roomy for all passengers, which has been a problem with other cruises. The pool was great except that there was so much NOISE at both pools. The nice padded chaises with blankets would have been so perfect for a nap, but there were either screaming and splashing kids or loud music. I didn't expect this. The Navigators Lounge was wonderful - floor to ceiling glass and lots of seating. It was a great place to see the scenery.

The food was excellent. The buffet was much better than I have had before on other cruises. The ice cream bar was excellent. The hours were a little limited - and there were not many options if you wanted a late night snack - midnight buffets only on two nights. THe service in the dining room at dinner was outstanding - our waiter and assistant waiter were incredible. The service at open seating lunch and breakfast and at the buffet was little better than surly. We often had to wait for drinks and to have our order taken. Once, when I asked for iced tea for breakfast ( I am not a coffee or juice drinker) the waiter sighed and said "I will have to make it myself". The $35 soda card was a great buy if you drink lots of soft drinks, but could only use it at the bars and they didn't open until 10 am.

The cabin was very nice - fairly roomy for a stateroom. It was well appointed except that there was no place to plug in my book light, near the bed. The bathroom was adequate and the shower was nice, however it had an odor that was unpleasant and I couldn't make the cabin stewart understand what I was talking about. The second day of the cruise I discovered water in the bottom of my closet - and it had wet my shoe that I needed to wear that day. I called four times to get someone to come check it and finally someone did after three hours. They said it was the fridge from the minibar leaking and since I had a towel in it to soak up the water, they just said to change the towel when it needed it. I asked to have my shoe dried and they promised to send someone to get it but never did. The closets (2 of them) were good sized and there was plenty of drawer space. Our cabin was right under the theater and the late performance was quite noisy in our cabin.

We went to all the shows and the first one was awful. The ones after were very good and the comic was great - not filthy mouthed like some. Everyone loved the naturalist on board (except me). He was quite animated.

We went to Juneau, Skagway and Ketchikan. We did not take any of the tours on board, just did our own thing. The most impressive was the hour we spent at the Hubbard Glacier. The health club was nice and the beauty salon was very good. I got a great hair cut and color since I hated the haircut I got before I left. They had lots of activities but mostly I enjoyed just relaxing.

We were with family - but also met lots of other people who were great. There was one huge group on board and they were not friendly at all - they had the whole bottom floor of the dining room for breakfast and lunch and were in the movie theater for special services most of the time. They hung out in big groups and were very noisy during the shows and entertainment.