Celebrity Mercury Cruise Review by excitedofharpenden

Background

This was my fourth cruise, all of them on Celebrity. It was originally planned 18 months or so ago as a reunion for those we had met in 2003 and it soon became clear from our roll call that many others would be joining us.

Pre-cruise

For the first time, I booked my own flights and accommodation so took the opportunity to fly into San Diego a couple of days early to enable me to see the sights and spend some pre-cruise time with my shipmates. It really worked out very well. The flight out would be direct from London Heathrow to LA and then I would ground transport myself from LA to San Diego. Driving on the right after sitting in a plane for 11 hours didn’t appeal and after umming and aaahing over public transport finally decided on a Town Car, not the cheapest option, but it would get me there quickly and safely. I arrived at the hotel at 6.15pm. Not bad at all considering my flight didn’t land until 3.30pm.

I had booked the Holiday Inn on the Bay along with many others from our cruise, mainly because of the reviews here on the boards and the proximity to the Cruise Terminal. Fall out of bed and you are there. Well almost. I must say that I was very impressed with the hotel. It doesn’t look too hot from the outside, primarily due to its colour scheme, but once inside my room was clean, spacious and well decorated. The staff were friendly and helpful.

Having met up for a bite to eat with a few of my buddies from our 2003 cruise, we eagerly talked about what we were going to do in San Diego the following day and the cruise.

There is no lack of breakfast spots to eat nearby the hotel and after a healthy start of egg, sausage and hash browns washed down with Cappuccino, we made our plans to visit the zoo.

We had a very enjoyable day. I’m not sure if it was because it was unseasonably warm in San Diego, but a lot of the animals seemed to be in sleep mode and although we did see quite a few animals, many were conspicuous by there absence. The cable car was great fun and we did quite a bit of walking before the free shuttle eventually brought us back to the hotel that evening.

I was up very early to watch the cruise ships come in the following morning. First Crystal Harmony, then Carnival Spirit and finally Mercury. Our carriage awaited. More breakfast, a long walk with cruise buddy John and then back to the hotel to check out.

Embarkation

I didn’t bother with the hotel shuttle, but simply walked across the street with my one 41lb suitcase and hand luggage. Embarkation was very simple although the priority lines seemed a bit disorganised. I was on the ship just before 1pm and had that glass of bubbly in my hand before heading to the pool deck for a view of San Diego and the USS Midway from the ship.

The Ports of Call

I won’t go into great detail of what we did at each port as it would take me forever. Instead I will give you an overview of what we did and how I felt about it.

Cabo San Lucas – I hadn’t planned anything here and fellow Cruise Critic folk, David, Becky, Tom and June kindly invited me along on their glass bottom boat trip to the rock formations. We had a really good day here. We literally just picked a boat out at the harbour and were taken off to see a view of some of the fish and the rock formations. We were out there for about 45 minutes and were taken up close and personal to Los Arcos, Lovers Beach together with some seals sunning themselves. The boat driver then took us across the bay to The Office beach bar for a bite to eat and a beer (not having yet got the taste for Margarita). This was a tender port. I don’t like tender ports very much, but as they go, this wasn’t too bad.

Mazatlan - This was our official Mercury Amigos tour day. Amigo Bob had booked Mazatlan Frank many months before having read great reports of him on the boards. I was not disappointed. DocJohnB has already given a report on what we did, suffice to say from me that a great day was had by all. Frank is knowledgeable, funny, attentive and altogether a great host and I thoroughly enjoyed my day seeing the “Real Mexico” in a very comfortable and modern air conditioned bus. Quite the best tour guide I can remember, if you are lucky enough to spend a day with him as your guide, you won’t be disappointed.

Puerto Vallarta-We did the dolphin swim. In a word, excellent! We all had great fun and the swim, although more expensive, seemed much better value than the encounter. Some will only want to touch and interact in the small pool, but from what I could see the encounter was over all too quickly and I would take the swim every time. They provide you with life vests so there is no need to tread water for a long time and you are safe floating in the water for about 40 minutes with these lovable mammals. If you haven’t done this already I would highly recommend the swim here. It all seemed very well organised.

This was an unscheduled tender port. We wasted LOTS of time getting on and off the ship here, worse coming back than going. The local tender boat was a two deck affair and it seemed to take forever to get all the passengers on and off. Say about an hour in total. There was quite a climb down from the pier at PV to the ship tenders that were also being used here.

Acapulco– I was preparing myself to dislike Acapulco, but we ended up doing a ship excursion that I really enjoyed. We started off walking to Fort San Diego, a very well preserved and smart building and then set off for the Flamingos Hotel, made famous by Johnny Weissmuller and John Wayne. There were some lovely views of the cliffs from the top. It costs $55 a night to stay here and I quite liked the idea of doing just that. There was also the opportunity for an ice cream and a visit to a church. Very pretty. Then off to the see the cliff divers. To be honest I couldn’t see them hit the water, only leap as it was mobbed, but at least I can say I have seen it.

Be prepared to fight off the vendors in Acapulco. They are polite, but persistent and you need to be the same. In the end I became almost oblivious to them and for the most part they didn’t bother me.

Zihuatanejo/Ixtapa

This is a delightful little village with some nice non-pressurised shopping to be had. We took a tour by van to Ixtapa. It took a while for us to find a van for all five of us here and began with one that was definitely not air conditioned unless you count opening a window as air conditioning! We took a trip out to a hotel on the beach and had some nice chips and guacamole and not for the first time for me a Margarita, although I have been told that a Margarita on the rocks without salt is not a Margarita. A bit like a serious Scotch drinker having it neat with ice in the glass. Never mind. I enjoyed the day here all the same. Thank you Joan (MaBell) for taking us all out for a very relaxing trip.

Manzanillo - The least attractive of the ports to look at, you need to get away from Manzanillo’s port area as it really is like any other large commercial centre (the largest port in Mexico). I hadn’t planned an excursion in every port and this was another that was decided upon quite late. Well, half an hour beforehand when I met up with my tablemates Brian and Arlyn in that lovely Cova Café area. We took a cab out to Playa Audencia, the beach used in the film “10” and had a very relaxing day with some pizza at the hotel buffet and a couple of those semi-Margaritas. The water was chilly for swimming to start with, but was soon fine once used to it. I did a bit of snorkeling, but couldn’t really see that much and it wasn’t the blue of the Caribbean and I knew it wouldn’t be. It was a very pleasant way to spend the day.

If I had done a bit of homework and decided on an organised trip, I think I would have favoured the long tour out to see the volcanoes. Apart from a visit to Mt Teide on Tenerife, I have had little experience of volcanoes up close and they fascinate me. I now still have something to look forward to next March in Hawaii. That will be volcano overload and I can’t wait.

Upon boarding we had been told that cabins would be ready imminently. As mine was near the pool deck I went to check and yes it was. Having booked early I had picked my cabin from a good choice. Cabin 1200 is one of four Concierge Class cabins on the Sky Deck with much larger balconies. 1200 and 1201 have square balconies and 1240 and 1241 have more of a cut-out because of the shape of the deck below. 1200 is on the non-smoking starboard side so there was less likelihood of drifting smoke from the adjacent deck area, hence the choice made.

First impressions? What a great cabin. A nice room and a really good size balcony. The bathroom was very adequate with a large shower stall and plenty of storage and there was also plenty of room in the cupboards in the cabin itself. Flowers in the bathroom and on the dresser looked very nice. Now I had read stories about tired and worn. Not as far as this cabin was concerned. Admittedly there was some staining in the sink, but nothing that really mattered as it was all so clean. The rest of the room was spotless too. The outside of the door to the balcony was gleaming white and the glass polished. The balcony furniture all looked in great condition. Three lounge chairs with blue pads, a small table and another larger table and two chairs to sit at. Still space to spare. Yes, this would do fine for the next 11 nights!

The Ship

At this point I will also comment on the ship itself as I took the opportunity to have a look around before all the passengers were aboard. I had been on Mercury in 2002 and she still looked as great now as she did then. Perhaps this is the non-detail person in me coming out, but I really saw absolutely nothing that said to me “tired and worn”. I am not finicky, but at the same time won’t take shabby either. She looks great. Some have commented on the wood in the elevators in need of renovation. Until someone mentioned it to me, I honestly hadn’t noticed, probably because the mirror like shine in those elevators took my eye away. Once it had been mentioned, yes they do need a nice coat of varnish on the floors and handrails, but it really isn’t tatty, just well used. The Cova Café area really is the nicest interior area on the ship in my view. The whole of Mercury seemed warm and very smart. I’d watched her come in that morning and the blue and white paint on her hull looked clean and sharp to me too.

I spoke to many who couldn’t understand the fuss about her condition either and one lady who said she was in need of a refit. Everyone will have there own opinions. No complaints from yours truly though.

The Food

Breakfast for me for the most part was room service in the cabin to give me a chance to wake and become more sociable. A morning person I am not! The strawberry smoothies, Special K, bagels and cream cheese and coffee brought me round very satisfactorily. Those smoothies are delicious by the way.

I did go to the buffet once for lunch and it was fine although I much preferred the pasta station and also the sandwich bar. We ate in the restaurant a couple of times too and the food was very good there too. Service on both occasions was excellent and better than I have experienced before. The second time we had our regular dinner waiter serving us and he sat us right at the back with a lovely view of the wake of the ship.

I have to say I really enjoyed all of the evening meals. I don’t eat anything that lives in water and rely heavily on chicken, beef and pork. I don’t like lamb so I have never tried the rack of lamb either. The chicken on the two or three nights I had it was ok. Nothing special and served on the bone rather than as a fillet. The pork was delicious and the beef which I had on four nights was always excellent. Tender, tasty and just the right quantity. I also had the veal one evening casting aside my knowledge of how the calves are reared and this too was very good. I liked all the soups except the French Onion and without exception, all of the desserts. I like my puddings! So all in all the food gets my thumbs up. It may not have quite the same presentation quality as I remember the first time, but it still tastes good and it beats cooking yourself and washing up afterwards.

I never did try one of the late night buffets, but the gourmet bites were good and were offered around very generously.

The Entertainment

I was very surprised at just how good some of the entertainment was on the ship. I am not a great lover of the shows, so don’t tend to go to those, but the aerialists were superb and deserved their standing ovation. A real treat to watch. The A Capella group, “Sustained” were four very funny and very talented guys who loved to be doing what they were doing and this showed in spades. They performed at a number of venues around the ship and always had a large audience. The banjo player. Well what can you say about a banjo player? This guy was excellent. He started off by playing what everyone would want him to play ie the Dueling Banjos and then went on to an array of songs from all genres. He was very entertaining and I am glad I didn’t miss him.

The Crew

In general the crew were excellent, from the bar tenders to the waiters to the Aqua Spa staff. If I had to say overall, the crew didn’t seem quite as happy and ready to smile as Galaxy last year. That seemed a happier ship to me. A few times I would get a blank look from crew that I didn’t experience on Galaxy. Overall though they were ready to smile and help. Special mentions for our waiter, Walter and his assistant Florin who both did an absolutely super job of looking after us and Ionel Buburazan (Bob), our sommelier who if I ever start up my own sales business will be top of my list of reps to ring! Paula in the Aqua Spa and the Filipino girl there whose name began with ‘M’ and for the life of me I can’t remember always greeted me and had a chat when I was off to use the T-Pool.

Some Highlights

Well I said “some”. There were many and apologies if I miss anything. First of all it was so nice to be able to see some of our 2003 cruisers again. It was a shame because I had planned main seating with them even though I always do late seating. It didn’t work for me and I ended up speaking to the Maitre d’ after a couple of days and changed to late which suited my constitution better (meaning I was actually hungry when I got to the table!). I was sorry not to be with my 2003 buddies, but this was made up for by sitting with Joan (MaBell) and her family and it couldn’t have worked out better. Thank you Joan, Jenny, Brian and Arlyn for the laughs and companionship during the cruise.

We had 104 sign up for the CC party and I should think 80 of those attended. We had a very active and friendly roll call and all I can say that it was an absolute pleasure to meet everyone of you. We had “Mercury Amigos” tee-shirts printed for the occasion (thanks Cathy for getting mine done) and these showed up many times around the ship. I do hope that we can get at least some of the Amigos back together again for another cruise sometime not too distant.

Halloween. What a riot some of the costumes were, although I never made it to the actual party. I’m not sure where I was, but odds on it was in the Night Club trying out a Margarita. I bought the DVD of the cruise, for no other reason than to have video proof of Cathy (Cathy Laz on the boards) dressed up as an UOBL (Ugly Old Bag Lady). First time I saw her I really didn’t recognise her. She won the fancy dress contest and was an absolute scream.

Celebrity Idol. Two of our Amigos went in for the official competition. Our resident Rosemary Clooney, Susan and Janet as Martina McBride. Janet came second singing “A Broken Wing" and I’m sure that Susan was a close third with “Crazy”. Both were excellent performances and also on the DVD.

The hot stone massage. Well in addition to Susanna from Hungary’s excellent hands, this was a wonderful experience. So relaxed was I that it was difficult to get motivated for the evening. A Magarita was all I needed however. Did I mention before that I now have a taste for Margaritas?

The weather. It was blue skys the whole time and having been prepared for a bit of a rocky ride, it was the smoothest cruise I have ever taken. The only exception was the moderate swell the last day, but this caused the ship to pitch rather than roll and as my cabin was mid ships I really didn’t feel much at all.

To Sum Up

This was an excellent cruise, once again made special by the people I met. There is nothing I can honestly say I disliked. It was all good and I have tried hard to put in the bad stuff as well as the good. It was a trip along the coast rather than a journey across open seas that I have done before. Maybe that was a bit disappointing as we never really seemed to go far from land. I thought we may go out to sea a bit more rather than hug the Baja Peninsula. However, if that is all I can find to complain about then I’ve done ok. Great cruise, great people and a great incentive to be back on Celebrity and another Cruise Critic roll call. 26th March 2006 to Hawaii awaits!