Celebrity Cruises (Celebrity Cruises)

Member Name: Hitman

Product:	Celebrity Cruises
Date:	19/08/01 (906 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: High staff:passenger ratio, Very clean, Brilliant food!

Disadvantages: Shore excursions can take a while to dis-embark

Finally it's done!! All 5 ships have been added now for you to read.

Overall, in terms of quality, price, value for money, room service, cleanliness and general service aboard I rate Celebrity as being the best cruise's going today.

Celebrity has 5 ships in its fleet:

Century
Galaxy
Mercury
Horizon
Zenith

You might remeber a couple of years back, Celebrity was featured on BBC1 "The Cruise" and it made Jane McDonald famous.

All 5 ships are instantly recognised by the big X on the funnel so all can be seen easily when boarding after a day out on the mainland.
Apparently the X represents C in Greek which stands for Chandris, the owning company!
Not that you can miss one of these ships though, the smallest ship, Horizon, is a massive 680ft in length.
Mercury and Horizon are the longest ships both at a staggering 865ft.

Now for each ship in detail;
This opinion isn't quite finished yet, I've still got 1 more ship to write about.

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Century:

Built in Germany and entering service in December 1995 this ship tips the scales at just over 70,000 tonnes.
Built at a cost of $320M this is one of the newer ships in Celebrity's fleet.

Century has a crew of 843 and can accomodate 2,140 passengers.
There are 875 cabins aboard, 571 being outside.
There are also 8 wheelchair cabins available.
Each cabin has a fridge, safe, TV and VCR(Upper grade rooms only).
Each room has an interactive TV where you can even go shopping now.
A hairdryer is also available in the bathroom aswell as the 100% cotton towels.All cabins are finished in a warm wood finish and are very nicley decorated.
There are no cabins for single people on Century.

For real luxury, but at a price, Century also has 2 Presedential Suites of 1,173 sq ft.

Century has 2 dining rooms, with 2 seatin
gs, both connected by a grand staircase.
Food aboard Century is excellent, with the menu being designed by Micheal Roux.
Celebrity are very concious about their food and deliver it hot and superbly cooked.
This is the main beneit of going with Celebrity Cruises.
Note though that the chairs in the dining room have no armrests which can be annoying, and they are also quite heavy!

Century has a very high ratio of passenger space, so you will not feel crowded and with a staff : passenger ratio of 1:9 the service you recieve is excellent and fast.
This is also common with Celebrity that there are more staff to passengers than most other ships.
You notice it in the cleanliness and service at the bar/restaurant.
Many passengers have noticed staff constantly cleaning, vacuuming and polishing all day long.

Passenger flow, both on and off the ship is also quick and has been well thought out and is tried and tested.
Medical facilities on board are also very good, but hopefully you won't need to try them out.

Also contained on the ship is a library, which has a good selection of books, a movie theatre with 190 seats, a massage palour, sauna and steam room, gymnasium, 4 whirlpools, 1 inside swimming pool (hydropool), 2 outside pools, and of course the casino, which also has slot machines.The aqua spa outside is amazing, set alongside a Japanese rock garden with shoji screens. A photo has to be taken of that!

Getting up and down the ship is easy too, with 10 decks in all and 9 elevators to service these floors you shouldn't be waiting too long.

For those who smoke cigars, don't miss out on the Micheal's Club, a cigar and cognac room.
It is a traingular shaped room and the decoration inside is very much like an old English gentlemens room. Several sizes of Cuban cigars are available, all hand rolled each day by a cigar maker.
If you have no money for one, don't despair, there
is an ATM inside the room. Relaxing is an understatement here.

Also, get a look of the early morning and take a jog. The teakwood promenade is wonderful and clean with a jogging track on top of the ship.
The air at that time is so refreshing!!

The foyer on the ship is amazing. It is 3 decks high and contains 9 giant TV screens with constant changing of scenery.

On board the ship are 500 pieces of artwork, that cost $3.8M.

Probably the worst thing about Celebrity ships are the shore excursions though.
Because it is a large ship with so many passenegrs, it can take a while to get off, but staff really do try their best to minimise discomfort.

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Galaxy:

Galaxy was built in Germany at a cost of $320M and entered service in December 1996 so again, it is fairly new.
It is one of Celebrity's largest ship, being a total of 865ft in length, and weighing in at over 76.000 tonnes.

10 decks make up Galaxy with 948 cabins, 639 of which are outside. 8 wheelchair cabins are also available.
Galaxy is able to accomodate 2,681 passengers, with 908 crew members to look ofter them.

All cabins on Galaxy are very comfortable indeed and feature a fridge, interactive TV from which you can order room service, excursions and goods from the boutiques.
For those that miss junk food while on board, a fresh pizza, boxed, can be ordered and delivered to your room.
The bathrooms in all cabins are very spacious aswell.

Galaxy has 2 dining rooms with a huge gracious staircase adjoining the two, and just outside the lower level entrance there is a brilliant champagne and caviar bar.
On board the Galaxy there are 9 elevators to keep you moving between floors with a casino, which also has slot machines, 2 outside swimming pools, 1 inside covered by a magrodome and 3 whirlpools.
You can also find a gymnasium, sauna, but no steam room, a
massage parlour and a library.
There is no movie theatre on board!
Again there is an aquaspa which is very popular, both on Galaxy and Century.

Galaxy is slightly longer than its sister ship Century, only by 14 metres or so and has 4.5 acres of space on the open deck.

Inside there are 2 foyers, the first is 4 decks high and the second, 3 decks high.
The artwork dotted all around the ship is also quite stunning.

Again, the excursions are Galaxy's weak point as with Century.
It is purely the bulk of passengers but they are working on speeding things up constantly.

One thing to take note of is the "Stratosphere".
It is a huge observation lounge and disco and it is an excellent viewing place when in Alaska.

Overall, for amenities and service Galaxy will be very hard to beat.
Without paying absolute top dollar this is a cruise you should try out.
Value for money is excellent - top notch and it will be a memorable holiday indeed aboard Galaxy.

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Mercury:

Once again, built in Germany at a cost of $320M Mercury id very similar to Galaxy.

It entered service in November 1997 so it is quite new.

Mercury features 10 decks with a crew of 908 serving 2,681 passengers.

There are 948 cabins aboard Mercury, 639 being outside.
8 wheelchair cabins are also available.
Cabins on board Mercury are very comfortable indeed with butler service, whether you want it or not.

If you have the money and can afford it choose on of the suites on Deck 10 or 12.
This way you recieve a gold card to open your door.
No....thats not the only reason. It also gives you priority service throughout the ship.
Free coffees, free welcome champagne, flowers and the use of the aquaspa is included.

Occupants of standard rooms, both inside and out, have a white card to open their rooms with.

><br><br>The Presidential Suites aboard Mercury are probably the best in the industry.
They are perhaps even better than Galaxy and Century.
Located in the middle of the ship there is a seperate bedroom, with a real high tech Sony multimedia centre, large lounge with dining table, a massive closet with loads of drawers, and a king sized marble tiled bathroom.
If you choose one of the forward Sky Deck suites, be prepared for constant music.
This happens from 8am to 9pm due to music from the pool deck.
Another draw-back is that the shaving mirrors in the Sky Deck rooms are far too high so take another mirro with you, and you cannot view the TV from you're bed!!!

All the standard rooms are very nicely decorated though, with generous spaced out bathrooms complete with power showers.

Interactive TV is standard in all rooms the same as Galaxy.

Dining aboard Mercury is first class!
The two-level dining room is really grand and each level has its own galley, ensuring fast service on both floors.
At night, the dining room looks fantastic.
The windows facing the stern, have blinds which roll down, and have pictures of views of Manhatten on them.

Wine is very expensive on Mercury, particularly for champagne!

As with Galaxy, fresh boxed pizza can be delivered to your room, if you can't live without the junk food for more than a few days.

This ship has virtually everything you could want, and is really grand!
The 3 deck foyer complete with waterfall, is very nice indeed.
If you want to be pampered, all the better.
The ship has an indoor pool, aquaspa, "mud" treatment room, Michaels Club (the cigar and cognac room) a small cinema and a large casino.

The interior inside the ship is made of wood, or wood-look material, and also has a $3.5M art collection aboard.

Lastly, as with other large ships, excursions and dis-embarkation can take a while
due to the mass of people.
Another problem is the ability, or perhaps non ability to get hold of room service or reception on the phone.

This is where they need more staff, although this may be better nowadays.

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Horizon:

One of Celebrity's oldest ship, Horizon is still in use and going strong!
At a weight of 46,811 tonnes though it is, in comparison, light compared to the others.

Built in Germany at a cost of $185M, Horizon entered service in May 1990.

Unlike, the other 3, Horizon has only 9 decks, compared to 10, so straight away you will notice a difference in the size of the ship.
Never the less with 677 cabins, 529 of which are outside there is still plenty of space.
Indeed with a passenger : space ratio of 28.1 this is quite generous.Only 4 wheelchair cabins are available on Horizon though, so it's best to book as early as possible if you require these rooms.

Carrying a crew of 645 to service 1,660 passengers this is still a very luxurious ship.

Each room has a TV, and also to take note of is the voltage, which is only 100 AC.
Cabins on Horizon could do with a make-over though. Don't get confused with this remark - the decoration is superb with fine quality fittings and all cabins are quite large.
No cabin has a balcony though so don't expect to see this on Horizon.
There are no fridges on Horizon's cabins either, and no VCR.
Although bathrooms are very nice and quite spacious, the towels are fairly small.

The dining room is quite large, but not large enough.
It feels quite small as the tables are "rammed" in, but it is very elegant and there are tables for 2 available.
The chairs have no armrests either.

Onboard Horizon you will find a casino with slot machines, 2 swimming pools, but no inside pool, 3 whirlpools, gymnasium, sauna, massage parlour, movie theatre
with 850 seats and a library. The casino is well worth a look, if not a bet. It is a wood paneled that has a stately home look.
Outside the casino is an ATM, but it charges you $5 for access charge.
There is no steam room!

Horizon is an old(ish) ship now but is still very elegant with lots of open deck space.
Inside, the public rooms are quite spacious, and passenger flow works pretty well due to this space.

The foyer aboard this board is very unusual yet very pleasant. It is only 2 decks high, but has a soft peach coloured Miami Beach art deco look to it.

Because of lack of some facilities, and the age of the ship, prices for holidays aboard Horizon tend to be very fairly priced, but service is not let down.

Overall this would be a good starting ship, and then Galaxy later on.

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Zenith:

Zenith is a similar ship to Horizon, infact, so similar it is it's siter ship.
Built in Germany (again) at a cost of $210M it entered service in April 1992.

Featuring 9 decks like Horizon, and a crew of 628 it is able to serve 1,796 passengers.
Although Zenith only has 9 decks, space aboard is still very spacious.

Zenith has 687 cabins, 541 of those outside, and 4 wheelchair cabins.

Cabins aboard Zenith are very nicley decorated with a good amount of space. Bathrooms aboard are set out very nicely aswell, with a good selection of toiletries provided.
All cabins have TV, but no VCR. No cabin has a fridge though!
Also note that most cabins on "bermuda" deck have nice views - of a lifeboat.
This only applies to outside cabins obviously!!

The food and its service on Zenith, are as always, excellent.
Zenith has just one dining room, but has several tables for two. Chairs have no armrests either, but good news for the veggie's. There is a seperate menu for them, and for children.

Oth
er facilities aboard Zenith include a casino with slots,, 2 swimming pools, but no inside pool, 3 whirlpools, gymnasium, sauna, massage parlour, library and a movie theatre with 850 seats.

Compared to Horizon, Zenith has a very similar layout, but has a nicer, warmer decor, and also has a larger observation lounge, with a larger dance floor.

The ship has a 2 deck high foyer, similar to Horizon, but is very cosy with soft furnishings and pastel colours abundant.

An ATM is also available outside the casino, which can get quite busy - the ATM that is!!
Also there is a $5 charge to use it.

Although Zenith and Horizon feel left behind in style and time, most passengers feel well looked after, and service and food quality make up for anything amiss.

One thing that is annoying, especially for the elderly is the weight of the doors going to outdoor decks. They are quite heavy and need some strength to open them.

Also, expect delays in excursions. A lot of announcements are made on Zenith over the loud speakers, to which people usually stand still and cause delays.

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To accompany this it is also good reading to read my other opinion... cruising in general.

I hope I've covered most of the important points without mumbling on too much and I hope it makes you able to choose the best ship for you're holiday.

THATS IT THEN FOR CELEBRITY CRUISES.

If there is enough interest in other liners I might produce another opinion.
Tell me what company and I'll try and do an opinion of equal quality for all their ships.
Comments welcome.

Happy cruising...

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