We heard Celebrity was supposed to be a step up from Royal Caribbean. Don't believe it. It's a nice cruise...just not excellent. We cruised to Alaska on the Celebrity Infinity beginning August 5, 2011 for a week.

Check in: The check-in process was so disorganized. There was only one place, with no line really, to drop off your luggage. After that mess, people waited in another line to check in. Depending on your cabin status, that was either reasonable (concierge or suites) or you waited a very long time. The concierge cabin was very nice with a super veranda off the fan tail that offered a great view. The room was nice, clean and the room attendants were great. However, the mattresses could have seriously used one of those memory foam toppers. The room attendants were great. Fresh flowers and afternoon snacks were a nice touch.

The food: The food in the buffet was a real disappointment. There is one long line, repeated 3 places so if you want to go back for seconds, even if only for one thing, you have to wait in line to get the one thing you want. They use plates for everything....including fruit, cheese, etc. So...if you want a bowl of fruit with your breakfast, you have to put it along with your other plates on your tray and they don't fit. The coffee service sometimes doesn't even have cream with it...you have to go across the aisle where the tea is to find half-and-half. They don't have flavored creamers, either, like many of the lines do...you have to go to another cafe 5 floors away to get a flavored coffee. They have good ideas in the buffet...just not very well executed. They have a pasta bar...great idea but the pasta has been sitting out. They attempt to re-warm it in some water but it only gets to luke-warm and then their already bland sauce is even more bland. Alaska would have been a perfect cruise to showcase some nice, warm, hearty soups after a chilly afternoon on an excursion but not on Infinity. Vegetable soup to them was vegetable consomme with 3 pieces of celery in it. They had no soups that weren't either consommes (read that watered down broth) or bland puree. Even the Lobster Bisque in the main restaurant didn't have any lobster in it...even as a garnish. They definitely have inferior cuts of meat and it's pretty obvious they are trying to scrimp on the food budget. The Trellis restaurant where the main dining occurs is nice and the help is great but again, the food is not spectacular. It took one of our table mates 3 steaks to get one that was edible. The staff tried very hard but the quality just wasn't there. You would think that on an Alaska cruise they would feature lovely seafood but you couldn't find an Alaskan King Crab in sight and the lobster they served on the formal night was mushy as if it had been sitting around in water for hours. There was a lot of potential but they failed to execute it. On days at sea where everybody is eating at the same time, they cannot accommodate everybody and people walk around looking for tables to eat. We gave up and went back to our cabin to eat. They have rules but don't stick to them. For example, they say on formal nights you need a jacket but pick and choose which passengers to not allow in the dining room if you wear only a polo shirt. Therefore, if you're going for great food...skip this ship. If you don't care about the food experience, the rest of the cruise was great. Read more