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Celebrity |
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"Infinity" |
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| Vancouver~Victoria Repositioning Cruise | ||||
| May 28th thru May 30th, 2004 | ||||
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Just wanna see the pics? ----> Click here. |
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Infinity had returned from the Hawaii-Vancouver Cruise May 28th and would depart May 30th for its first cruise of 2004 Alaska itinerary. The two days in between were a repo window, brief but an excellent opportunity to experience this ship. The weather cooperated on Friday allowing us sunshine & some warmth for sailaway however that's the last we saw of sunshine! The remaining time was overcast & rather cool, though thankfully rain free. We didn't "do" Victoria instead electing to simply enjoy our time on the ship thus nothing to tell about that so on to our experience of Infinity. Beginning with the ugly, we'll speak of embarkation. It was a horror story ~ absolutely dreadful. We intended to park at Canada Place, got our ticket and proceeded to drive around the parking lot for the next 30 plus minutes with many others doing likewise. Finally gave that up, let everyone & luggage out, left that parking lot and drove across to Waterfront Place parking lot, finding a spot there in less than 5 minutes. Why Citipark doesn't monitor their parking availability I cannot understand but know, they do not. Next time we'll do the taxi thing! On my arrival at Canada Place terminal to meet up with the previously dropped off members of my party, we get into this monstrous line which moved at a snails pace - about an hour of this. Once thru a set of doors, thinking we're almost there, we are greeted by a virtual sea of people sitting in chairs. Imagine waiting in a holding area for a flight at the airport but with twenty times the number of people. That was another hour long wait. The "story" we got later in the day was the Celebrity personnel were 'newbies' in training. It was a dreadful beginning. If the "story" was indeed true, please don't train your personnel on my time Celebrity. I and several hundred others were not at all impressed. And a hint to the wise cruiser ~ whatever the embarkation time stated on your documents, either arrive well before or long after (though preferably previous to departure) so, if this situation were to occur, you are not subject to it. And yes, generally they will let you board if you arrive early. Oddly enough on debarkation they never gave us any 'assess your cruise experience' cards. Wonder why that was? Once finally up the gangway, we were greeted, in traditional Celebrity style, with flutes of Champagne and taken to our cabins. You'll see the pictures below which pretty much show the cabin. For this cruise it was a 1A (8160 Starboard Aft) however beginning with the Alaska departure this cabin will be Concierge Class, which means it will be more expensive, so I'll note my impressions for future travellers. It's small. Small enough that I don't know I'd be a happy camper here on a 10 day cruise. It's the width that's annoying ~ one is always avoiding the other trying to get past the bed. In fairness we were in a Sky Suite on Mercury, a cabin which is considerably larger, thus that may be reflected in my feelings of 'small' for this cabin. Putting size aside, it's a very nice cabin with a reasonably sized shower, good storage throughout, a comfy sofa (though some throw cushions would be nice), and a small balcony adequate for cocktails for two (but no more + don't even think in terms of any meal there). Our cabin attendant was Jose Esteves, a very pleasant young man who cared for us excellently and promptly met any request. My sole prior Celebrity experience was on Mercury thus I'll be using her as my comparison standard. Infinity is 91,000 Tons, with a 1950 passenger capacity. Though 14 Tons larger than Mercury, it didn't appear particularly larger. The T-Pool (Thallasotherapy Pool) is larger than Mercury's with a sunroof overhead and teak loungers surrounding it, adding to the atmosphere wonderfully, however we don't feel the 'bubbling action' was nearly as good as Mercury's. Seemed more like a swimming pool than a "Therapeutic Pool". The Trellis Dining Room is identical to Mercury's BLANK Dining Room. The scan for the balcony level of Trellis is here. Sorry - didn't get the plan for the main floor. While our waiter Mazy was excellent as was his assistant Paul, we don't feel the quality & presentation of the food was as good on this ship. Not dreadful at all but just a little flat, lacking something, hard to describe but definitely there. Likewise with Oceanbreezes, the buffet on BLANK deck. The Casino is larger & there are many attractive spaces to gather in, relax quietly or enjoy a beverage or a snack. Definitely, where I on a longer Infinity cruise, I'd make a reservation for the SS United States, the alternative dining room. It's very attractive and worth the time to go down to Deck 3 simply to look at the memorabilia from it's namesake. The scans of the menu for one night are here. The Aquaspa was great and, I believe, the exercise room a little larger. Billy had a massage with BLANK which he very much enjoyed & I a manicure + pedicure with Caroline, equally great. Although the sign on the Workout Room states it's not open until 8AM, both Bill and Ian found (when they arrived at 7AM) that the door was open although no towels were available/in evidence. I'm guessing here but, while 8AM seems a little late for most dedicated workout types, perhaps there are concerns about noise disturbing the passenger cabins below? Thus perhaps they open the door allowing the 'treadmill types' access (read no noise) but don't advertise it as being open??? Don't know ~ simply a guess & a heads up for you if you cruise on Infinity & like to exercise early. No CapClub consideration - is it logged as/does it count as a cruise for CC? What happened with suite passengers? General impression - not nearly as *spiffy* as Mercury. Example carpet on Balcony not vac'd
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