Date: Tue, 28 Oct 1997 20:19:20 -0800 From: Ron Nicholson Newsgroups: rec.travel.cruises Subject: Celebrity Galaxy - travel disaster synopsys: I booked air though Celebrity for the 10/18 sailing of the Galaxy, and I missed the boat !!! (gives new literal meaning in my life to the term "missed the boat") the story: I went to corporate travel on 10/2 and said I wanted to be on a cruise before the end of the month. The travel agent found me a very nice cabin (probably a cancelation) on the 10/18 sailing of the Celebrity Galaxy. Expensive cabin (mini-suite with a veranda), but no single supplement was charged. We looked at a few options for air travel, but Celebrity was offering the best deal by several hundred dollars. The catch was that Celebrity wouldn't disclose exactly what air travel arrangements they were going to give me until after I booked the cruise (even though it was only about 2 weeks before embarkation!) Documents arrived by Fed-Ex in about 3 days. They had me going out of SFO at just after 6am, with about 1.5 hour for connecting in Chicago, and about getting into San Juan about 1.5 hours before the Galaxy departed. I though to myself: tight; but they must know what the're doing. Saturday, finished packing at 2am, at the airport at 4:30am, no problems with check-in and boarding. The plane sits at the gate for awhile. Pilot says it a problem with the compass, but it's fixed. Taxis out to the runway. Sits there for awhile. Plane taxis back to the gate. Compass readout is still broken. Since the compass on the MEL (FAA mandated minimum equiptment list), the plane can't take off. Airline decides to switch planes for this flight to ORD. By now, I'm almost awake and I hear a passenger behind me saying that she's going to miss getting on her Princess cruise. Now I completely awake! Overhear a couple ahead of me talking about how to get on the Galaxy in time for their cruise so I walk over and listen carefully. They try to call Celebrity. Is the Celebrity emergency phone number anywhere in the travel documentation? Not a phone number that anyone will answer before 8AM on a Saturday. Will American Airlines hold the connection in Chicago. Nope. The other couple calls the home phone number of their travel agent (7AM on a Saturday!). He calls Celebrity. Will the Galaxy sail without us? Yup. #*$&@#$ !! Their travel agent is saying something like SFO-JFK-SJU is the next fastest way to get to San Juan. They go yell at the gate agent and get booked on a flight to NYC which leaves in 5 minutes. I'm clueless so I jump at the agent and say put me on that flight. Gate agents are madly running around pulling bags off the cart. I was supposed to be going to San Juan but find myself on a plane to New York (JFK). Arrrrgh! I finally find the number for corporate emergency travel in my bag and call from inflight (and put on hold while running up $$$ on my phone card). Nice lady confirms that this is the fastest way, books me on the leg from JFK to San Juan and calls Celebrity. They want me to stay in San Juan overnight and take a puddle jumper (actually an ATR twin turboprop) to the Dominican Republic the next morning, which is the closest island to where the Galaxy will be anchored. Get to San Juan and get lost in the airport while trying to find an AA manager. He gives me hotel and taxi vouchers, but not at the nice hotel the corporate emergency travel agent recommended. He also gives me a ticket to some airport I've never heard off in the Dominican Republic. Met the other stranded folks. A very nice extended family, including a 2 year old and the daughter who supposed to be meeting up with her fiance (traveling separately) on the ship. Trip from San Juan to D.R. was uneventful (but I'm a licensed pilot; any landing that I can walk away from I consider a good one.) Celebrity agent meets us at the gate, walks us through customs and takes us to a pier where we meet a tender taking a bunch of Galaxy passengers to a tour onshore. The good news. No lines for embarkation! There looked to be only about 12 of us catching the Galaxy mid-cruise. They had a steward walk me to the front desk and then to my cabin where my bags arrived about 5 minutes later. The Galaxy is a wonderful ship. 5 pools. 5 dance floors (but I couldn't find any single ballroom dance partners, borrowed a couple ladies away from their husbands/companions for 2 dances.) Excellent appointments, lighting, sound systems, bands. Rooms had large bathrooms. Good food. Good service. The bags belonging to the lady who was meeting her fiance on the Galaxy were still somewhere in New York. They screwed up my dinner seating, first put me in the early seating, then wedging me in with 3 couples, one of them newlywed. (I asked for a large table, late seating, which is supposed to be best for singles traveling alone.) Fortunately my tablemates all turned out to be excellent dinner companions who put up with the odd-man-out. The newlyweds made plans to get to San Juan a day early and avoid travel mishaps. Their bags were lost in transit from the hotel to the Galaxy. Everybodies bags finally catch up at Barbados, 2 days later. Now after spending $NNNN for a cat 2 cabin (and I don't have time to take many vacations), to whom do I complain about the fact that I'm an unsatisfied customer (essentially only got a 5 day cruise)? And lets see how all the travel agents on r.t.c manage to put a positive spin on this one! (should be fun :) -- Ron Nicholson mailto:rhn@nicholson.com http://www.nicholson.com/rhn/ #include // only my own opinions, etc. --- Date: Tue, 28 Oct 1997 18:26:44 -0800 From: Ron Nicholson Newsgroups: rec.travel.cruises Subject: Re: Best cruises for singles "Jim" wrote: > > I've never been on a cruise before, and being single, would like > to try one > that attracts other singles, if there is one. Any suggestions? > > I'm not looking for information about cabins that accommodate one. > I will have a friend travelling with me. > > I'm late 30's, professional type, and am comfortable with younger > folks. I've been on 2 cruises as a single single (that is, I was traveling alone). One was a Mediterranean cruise on RCI in '93; the other was a Caribbean cruise on the Celebrity Galaxy from which I just returned (10/18/97 sailing). The RCI cruise had lots of singles aboard, 20's thru 50's, they held a couple singles mingling partys, and I was seated at a large table with 4 single ladies, 1 other single men, and 2 couples. I'm shy, but it was easy to make friends and find people to do things with during the day. I had a blast. The Celebrity cruise was severely marred by blown travel connections (Celebrity booked the air travel arrangements on AA, and I missed the embarkation !!! ) They seated me at smaller table between 3 couples (including 1 pair of newlyweds on their honeymoon.) There weren't any singles gathering mentioned as such in the daily bulletin. The proportion of singles appeared to be much much lower than the RCI cruise. I didn't start meeting other single people till the last 3 days of the cruise. So, basically, the first half on my vacation was blown (well, OK, I did get a chance to catch up on some reading); and the second half was wonderful. The Celebrity Galaxy is a fantastic ship. I would would cruise on it again, but probably not as a single. YMMV. -- Ron Nicholson mailto:rhn@nicholson.com http://www.nicholson.com/rhn/ #include // only my own opinions, etc. --- Date: Tue, 28 Oct 1997 18:57:55 -0800 From: Ron Nicholson Newsgroups: rec.travel.cruises Subject: Re: bathroom amenities on Celebrity? gayle710@aol.com (Gayle710) wrote: > Can someone give a good description of the bathroom layouts on > Century/Galaxy/Mercury? Hi, I just got off the Celebrity Galaxy (10/18 sailing) where I had a Cat 2 cabin on the 9th deck to myself. There were a total of 10 drawers, 11 shelves and 2 full length closets in my cabin. There was one lower cabinet with 2 shelves and one with no shelves in the bathroom. > How big is shower? The bathroom was enormous compared to RCI and NCL ships that I've been on. The shower is probably big enough for a 300 lb. person to turn around in it without rubbing the walls; skinny newlyweds could easily both fit in the shower. There is plenty of knee room when, um..., sitting in the bathroom, even with a full size newspaper. People taller than 6'3", or so, might have some trouble with low fixtures and sills in the bathroom. > Are there shelves or niches in shower for shampoo, etc? 2 small shelves above the bathroom counter and a large tray in the shower. > How was water pressure? Water pressure was no problem; hot water took about 10 seconds, and had 3 settings, warm, hot and scalding. > And is there a full-length mirror anywhere in the cabin? How is > lighting for makeup? Is there enough counter space for hot rollers > and is there an electrical outlet? One full length mirror and 2 large half length mirrors. One outlet near the ceiling in the bathroom. Didn't check for outlets near the desk/vanity, but I'd be surprised if there wasn't one there. These were plenty of mirrors around the elevators and stairways and in the elevators themselves to double check. > Hook on door? 4 hooks on the bathroom door and 2 hooks outside the bathroom. -- Ron Nicholson mailto:rhn@nicholson.com http://www.nicholson.com/rhn/ #include // only my own opinions, etc. --- Date: Tue, 28 Oct 1997 20:46:08 -0800 From: Ron Nicholson Newsgroups: rec.travel.cruises Subject: MV Galaxy - vibration I was on the 10/18 sailing of the Celebrity Galaxy. Since I had read several r.t.c messages about vibration at the back of the Galaxy and Century, I spent some time checking this out. Method: I put a water glass down at several places near the back of the dining room and on the deck above the dining room at several points along the cruise and observed the amount of turbulance in the glass. Backing out of dock (about 6:15 every evening): the worst vibrations, not quite white caps in the water glasses, but I could see ripples in water glasses from about 30 feet away. Definitely unpleasant, but only lasted for a few minutes. Turning using the side thrusters: not as bad as full reverse, but enough to see ripples in glasses about 5 or 10 feet away. Again, only happened for a couple minutes each day. Cruising at (my estimate) 1/2 or 3/4 throttle. Quite pleasant. Could only see ripples in water if I stuck my eyeball right up against the water glass. There was about an 8 second period where the vibrations became slightly greater, then lesser. This matched the rocking cycle, and was probably the prop periodically fighting the hydrodynamic drag of the stablizers. Full throttle: I think the captain and the maitre'd conspired to turn the trottle up about the time the first dinner seating needed to be cleared from the dining room. A little more vibration. Could be unpleasant to sensitive folks at the very back. Small ripples visible in a nearby water (or wine) glass. Almost never happened during mid-dinner. Overall: not bad except for a few minutes when leaving port. (I was never up early enough to witness an arrival.) -- Ron Nicholson mailto:rhn@nicholson.com http://www.nicholson.com/rhn/ #include // only my own opinions, etc. --- Date: Wed, 05 Nov 1997 14:54:05 -0800 From: Ron Nicholson Newsgroups: rec.travel.cruises Subject: Re: Galaxy Reviews csfowler@cousteau.uwaterloo.ca (Craig Fowler) wrote: > I am planning on cruising on the Galaxy Jan 31 1998 and was > wondering if anyone had a review or knew where to get one. I was on the Celebrity Galaxy just a couple weeks ago (10/18/97). It was my 3rd cruise. Here's a mini-review: There was less rah-rah and more quiet sophistication and quality than the other cruises that I've been on. Decor: Very nice. Seemed well above mass-market cruise standards. Good use of reflecting surfaces, subtile backlit panels and strategically placed artwork to make stair-towers and other community areas appear spacious, yet sophisticated. The double high windows in the Stratosphere lounge made it a great viewing room. Fun treatment of the entryways into two of the nightclubs. I rarely ever encountered crowds, except for the photo area. The exercize room was well equipped with around 10 pieces of weight equipment and maybe 20 aerobic machines (stairmasters, treadmills, exercycles, etc.); the only waiting I saw was for the treadmills at around 7-8am. There is an accurate balance scale near the entry to the fitness room. I considered the track on the deck unusable for running because it had very sharp corners. Food: I was led to expect a level above high quality banquet food, but a little below 5 star restaurant quality. I was not disappointed. I found the appetizers, the breads, and the lite-desserts near the top end of this scale, and the salads near the bottom. The service went from good, to (when a table full of German travel agents was seated adjacent) excellent. My table was a tough one, always sending back dishes or asking for double courses at the last moment, but our requests were always met. Test cases: an order for eggs over medium for breakfast came back over medium. But a order for steak medium well came out well done instead. The room service menu was a little thin at late hours. Cabin: I was in a mini-suite with a veranda. Very spacious compared with any other cruise ship cabins that I've seen. Lot's of storage (shelves, around 10 drawers, closets, hooks, line in the shower). 3 mirrors. Interactive TV. Mini-couch that converts to an extra bed. Large shower. Good ventilation and temperature control. Lots of wood finished surfaces. Some minor squeaking when the ship was in motion. Shows: I'm not into shows, but the corp-de-song-n-dance+circus stuff was OK; and the jazz violinist was excellent. Music and dance: Excellent. Great house copy bands. 5 dance floors: One floor (wood) mainly for big band dancing, one for ballroom, one in main disco, a separate one for loud rock/disco, one out on the deck for the outdoor buffet/parties. They put a ton of money into movable racks of sound and lighting equipment in the disco that focused effects on the dance floor. This meant one could sit a little back from the dance floor and not get ones eardrums blasted. Staff: The DJ could not mix; and the dance instructor did not know how to teach cha-cha! (Some of my fellow passengers commented that they could have done better at one or the other.) There did not appear to be any male dance hosts on this particular sailing. Age range: no wheel chair bound, a good mix of couples 30's thru retired; several dozen families; kids seemed well taken care of and never under foot. Smaller ratio of singles than RCCL or NCL. Ethnic mix was a good urban balance; this was not a WASP-only cruise. Dress: on formal night, the tux ratio seemed above 10%, but below 25%; mostly dark suits. Most ladies wore something more glittery than church wear. The ventilation was very good. There were smokers, but I only smelled smoke about as often outdoors on deck as indoors, and never enough to stick with my clothing. Ports: don't forget to bring some mosquito repellent (in October at least.) I went snorkling in Antigua and scuba diving in St. Thomas. Shopping seemed best in St. Thomas (or that's the port where most of the women I met bought stuff.) Problems: several people with lost luggage that eventually caught up with the ship 3 days later. I recommend that one pack strategicly (swim suit, day wear, plus one evening outfit in your carry-on). There always seemed to be a shortage of US edition newsletters. Vibration: bad only early during the first dinner seating when using reverse prop to back out of port (a few minutes at most). But I'm still amazed when I see something the size of a city block long 14 story building back out of dock and turn on a dime under it's own power. Summary: Excellent cruise ship. I'd easily go on another cruise on this ship (but I'll book my own air travel next time; see my earlier post regarding major travel problems.) YMMV. -- #include // only my own opinions, etc. Ron Nicholson rhn@nicholson.com http://www.nicholson.com/rhn/