How's the refit? Did Celebrity 'exceed your expectations'?

[ 06-11-2006: Message edited by: Malcolm @ cruisepage ]

And yet, if you could see past all that (one shouldn't have to I know), then I would say that this is clearly a quality cruise line. The little signs like staff everywhere waiting to help you wiht buffet trays, the good quality (although surprisingly basic - at least to me) food. However the absolute highlight to me was the Murano restaurant - the newly added speciality restaurant. The food was superb and was exactly like the Roux brothers restaurants on land - far and away the best premium dining experience I had.

The most priceless thing of all - the celebrity wine auction which my dad (a wine merchant) had been looking forward to. On this UK sailing to Guernsey the auction was on but the only people allowed to buy are US residents - precisely none on the cruise.

What did I make overall - well underneath it all I rather liked the ship, particularly the dining room. I found the decoration much more restrained than I expected given Celebrity's modern art . In a few cruises time, when the ship has been thoroughtly cleaned and finished, I suspect she will be a nice operation, but I'm not thrilled about sailing a building site. Some things should have been sorted in the refit like scratched lift doors and screens, scratched tables in Rendez vous etc were not sorted. Also there was a fair bit of paint on the windows of some rooms!

Oh and the big fuss Martini bar, think white leather chairs with butchers counter and disco lights!

Oh and one intriguing thing, the comment card was pre refit with the dining options not matching those available onboard.

[ 06-11-2006: Message edited by: Matts ]

[ 06-11-2006: Message edited by: Matts ]

Extreme - teen club (formerly part of Hemispheres I think)

Unfinished deck

Trailing wires

But the saving grace - Murano food

[ 06-11-2006: Message edited by: Matts ]

[ 06-11-2006: Message edited by: Matts ]

[ 06-11-2006: Message edited by: Matts ]

Giggle over the 'Ice Bar'.. now I had sat and watched all the colour changes a few times, the ar did not look like I imagined an ice bar from pictures. I asked a member of staff where the ice bar was... he looked at me and said, "sorry Ma'am, we have the Crystal Bar, x Bar... etc, but no Ice Bar" Anyhow, someone told me to go and touch the bar... well it's a mere covering of thin ice on a small proportion of the actual bar top, and then half the metal freezing plate was showing as only part appeared to have had water on it.. very odd. Forget that.

The most amusing pastime, was watching people trying to find a working coffee machine in the Islands Cafe [lido buffet].. there are 4 machines and often only one was working. One needs an early breakfast in there, or it gets a bit full.. the waiters do carry trays, well Dave's anyway, I tagged along behind carrying my own.

One also needs to watch where you step on deck before 9am.

Overall impression, not good. She was not ready for pax by a long way. mec 1, we did not get shown to our cabin or even get asked if we wanted to be, there was no offering of a drink on boarding either.

Room billing was chaotic. The new systems do not seem to work correctly.. a long story...

I hope before you go next week they will have at least bought some vaccuum cleaners, some polish and cleaned things up a bit. No mirror, rail etc shone, all finger printed and smeared.. etc

The new bedding is good, the pillow topped mattresses, but as the beds are 'curved' it cuts off a corner.. I could write tons..

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Originally posted by Ernst:
What a pitty. I hope you could nevertheless enjoy some aspects of the ship/cruise. (....for such occasions one should always have some a DVD at hand... )

What I do not understand why we see this happening again and again? 'They' (yards, contractors, cruise lines) should have thier act together by now.

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Ernst,

it's the result of the lines wanting the ships out of service for the absolute minimum amount of time and to win the bid on the contract, they of course, tell the lines "absolutely, we can completely gut and rebuild your ship in thirty days, no problem!"

IMO, this was far too ambitious a project for 30 days and I'm surprised they even got her to the state of finish that they did. I thought they'd end up cancelling the Barcelona-Dover voyage.

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Originally posted by PamM:
. I could write tons..

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Please do... The truth must be heard.

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Originally posted by Ernst:
..and also most cruise lines should know better..

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I bet most of the passengers were disappointed but I guess only 25% (if that) will bother to formally complain and ask for compensation. Therefore the cruise line still generates a substantial profit for these cruises, even though they Celebrity should be ashamed of themselves.

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Originally posted by Ernst:
This is actally my suspicion - that 'they' expect this to happen.

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Will I swallow it? I already wrote an epistle on the comment form, but I doubt they will read it, the CD seemed to want 'excellent' for everything.. hmm, he got a N/A from me! LOL.. well he wasn't.

I too wrote a 'fuller' comment form and N/A the cruise director and his irritating 'excellent is just that bit better than good' exhortations. But then every line does that.

I on't rule out giving Celebrity another go but not post refit and probably from USA - where the fares make all the difference! It certainly didn't 'exceed my expectations'

[ 06-11-2006: Message edited by: Matts ]

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Originally posted by PamM:
I already wrote an epistle on the comment form, but I doubt they will read it...

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Originally posted by PamM:
...so thought an ideal time to try a cruise, with a Channel Island to boot.

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Did you eat *all* those desserts Matts? Here's a couple of 'normal' ones:-

Check your Personal messages

Celebrity is also not a cruise line with experience in mini-cruises. No doubt this also contributed to some of the confusion and standards well below what is typical for Celebrity.

Having sailed on CENTURY years ago I can attest she was a stunning ship. From what I have seen in photos she is even more so today. Once she is properly finished and up to speed with food and service I have no doubt she will once again be a tough act to follow. It's just too bad that such a comprehensive and well planned refit had to get off to a bad start. Maybe Fincantieri is not the best choice for refits? They seem to focus on newbuilds which many in the industry point out are actually easier than refitting an existing ship. This was also RCI's first experience with Fincantieri. I wonder how pleased they are with the work?