How did I end up on Celebrity’s Galaxy for ten days? Well, this
was my first cruise and I knew nothing about selecting the best cruise
line, ship, stateroom, etc. I live in the Baltimore area and found out
this ship sails from here, so that is how I ended up on the Galaxy. My
time on the Galaxy was simply incredible. I will review each part of the cruise as broken down below.
Packing:
I did not know where to start or end with packing. I checked the
boards and received lots of info from a previous cruiser and I must
say I packed almost perfectly. I did not have too much but wanted one
or two more items. I even did well with the shoes, which is where I
tend to over do it. My husband also did pretty well with his packing.
I think he wished he had brought a couple more undershirts. I felt
like I needed just another t-shirt/polo shirt or two. All the tops I
brought were rather dressy because I only wanted to change my shorts
for dinner on casual nights. I did some grungy shore excursions and my
old polo shirts would have been better to wear.
Embarkation:
I was dreading this process because of all I had read on the boards.
Not sure if I can give a good rating on this because I was starting my
cruise and no wait would be too long. Seriously though, it was not too
bad and a plus was the 20-minute drive or so to the port.
Approximately one and a half hours after arriving and paying our $70
to park our vehicle, we were in our rooms. For not being Captain's Club
members or having a suite this was not too bad. We arrived at the port
around 2:45pm. The longest parts were waiting in our vehicle to unload
our luggage into one of the containers prior to parking and then
waiting in the terminal for our number to be called (which was 20-30
min). All else was fairly quick. Having our documents filled out
beforehand helped that process to be quick. Also, it is a good idea to
print out the forms you fill out online because the computers were down
when we went through and having that print out saved us some time. If
you book excursions online make sure you print out that info as well. We set sail at 6:15pm.
Stateroom/Ship:
I guess when we got on the ship we must have been behind a crowd of
people and the attendants that show you to your room must have thought
my husband and I were with the people ahead of us, so we did not have
anyone show us to our room. It was easy to find though. We were only
one floor down in a category 7 stateroom, 4074. Our room was midship
with a nice ocean view. Here we witnessed not one, not two, but
several late arrivals. I really don’t know why they did not get left
because it was after 6pm when I saw a women running for the ship with a
blanket and pillow in hand. They had to use the gangway where the
tenders came during the cruise because the other one had been removed for
departure. Our room was nice and cozy with sufficient space for the
two of us. Had our kids come with us, I think the room would have been
too small. The room was pretty clean, although I felt I had to do a
little of my own cleaning (toilet) to be more comfortable. I did not
feel the facilities were unclean; cleaning the toilet is just something I do whenever I
stay at any public place. I guess I must know the seat has been
thoroughly cleaned if I am going to put my rear end on it. Our
stateroom attendant and his assistant did a very good job throughout
the cruise with keeping our room clean and providing us with what we
needed. He was put to the test as soon as we got to our rooms because the
beds were still separated and we had requested them to be together
beforehand. We called and he was there in a matter of minutes to take
care of the beds. The thing we enjoyed most in our room was being able
to watch the free movies that were playing throughout the cruise on
our television. We had no major problems with our room or it’s
amenities.
The ship was also very clean. Someone was always cleaning it
seemed. The décor on the ship was interesting, but I kind of liked
it. It was different and I like things that are visually unique. Our
sail was smooth the entire cruise. I can only remember two or three
times it seemed slightly rough, but it lasted no more than 30 minutes.
On most days, I enjoyed the sky and promenade deck to relax and take
my afternoon nap. The promenade deck provided shade with the lifeboats
hanging above. I could also watch people play shuffleboard. My husband
took most of his naps in the room. We also enjoyed just going up to
one of the top decks and just looking out at the sea, feeling the
breeze. The ship was HUGE. On the last day we still did not navigate
ourselves directly to some places we wanted to go. Two places I
thought were really cool to hang out were the Savoy and Rendez-Vous
Square lounges. We only hung out there briefly, but I wish I had spent
a little more time there.
Food/Entertainment:
The rack of lamb was my favorite dish; glad we had it two nights.
All other meals were very good to excellent. Please keep in mind I am
not a food critic and am only judging by whether I thought the meal
could have been better for me. I only remember one time I thought it
could have been better, but still it was very good. I believe my
husband felt the same, although he was not as crazy about the lobster
as I was. Actually, I ate his. The lamb and the pork tenderloins were
his favorites. The desserts were not that impressive to me. They were
a little too fancy. Just give me some good old cobbler or sweet
potato pie to excite me for dessert. I did manage to like one or two
of them very well though. I am not a chocoholic but my husband enjoys
chocolate and loved the desserts that were made of or included
chocolate. He said the chocolate was real chocolate!! We ate at the
Oasis café for breakfast and lunch each day and the food there was
better than average.!
The pizza from the grill was pretty good and the pasta was
outstanding; it was very cheesy. The sushi was pretty good, but served
cold. I like mine to be a little warm. Overall I would give the food a
grade of A.
We found the shows in the Celebrity Theater to be entertaining. We
went to most of them. The Celebrity dancers/singers are really good
singers but the dancing was not crisp or all in step. But for
entertainment on a cruise, it was good. The juggling act was corny at
times but very entertaining. The comedian (Bennie Long) was funny and
Jeff Harnar, the singing entertainment had a very nice voice. It was
easy to listen to him. Overall, the theater entertainment was good.
The movie theater was nice in size, but the screen did not
complement the size of the room. The sound system also sucked. I may
be biased when speaking about these things being that my background is
in visual media. I do think everyone thought the screen was too small;
it was complemented with two more monitors toward the back of the
room. Not everyone may have realized the sound was not proper for that
room or maybe some did since home theater systems definitely sound
better. None of these things, however, stopped us from watching three
movies, one really long one during our voyage.
We did not really participate in any of the other activities but it
seemed like everyone was having fun when we reviewed a tape of our
cruise the last night. We did see the Newly Wed, not so Newly Wed game
and that was a lot of fun to watch.
Ports/Shore Excursions:
First stop was Key West, FL. I had never been to Key West so I wanted to see what it was like. Here we did the extended Conch train
tour, which allowed us the see the city, shipwreck museum and the
aquarium. This was a nice tour but could have been better had we not
gotten soaked by the 20-minute downpour. After the one-hour train tour
we went back to the ship to change into dry clothes then headed to the
museum & aquarium. The museum was cool and included a live
presentation and a video. We learned lots about pirates and shipwrecks
off the coast of Key West. The aquarium was pretty basic and since I
am from Baltimore where there is a national aquarium it would have
taken something spectacular to impress me over that. I noticed the
ticket price of the aquarium while there. Had I paid that price
separately, I would have been disappointed. Key West is a very nice
place that I have now visited, but let’s face it; this is still the
US & not much to get excited about when you are going to such places as Belize.
Next stop, Cozumel, Mexico. I loved the excursion we did in this
port--the Catch the Wave Snorkel Safari and BOND Adventure. The glass
bottom boat and an authentic Mexican lunch were included with this as
well. The lunch was pretty good too. Snorkeling allowed us to see many
exotic fish and the BOND was awesome--the best part of the trip for me.
The BOND is like an underwater moped. This was an excellent excursion.
The clear water and fish made this a fantastic place to snorkel or do
any underwater activity. After our excursion we walked around the town
for a short while. This was your typical scene with shops and people
egging you to buy from them. The looks of the town were not that
great, but there was so much more to see here that one visit would not
allow. This port is one among my two favorites. I would love to visit
there again.
Next stop was Belize City, Belize. This was a port we had to tender
to the mainland. Although the city is not really developed we enjoyed
our time here. We did the Cave Tubing/Jungle Walk excursion. The ride
to the resort was longer than the brochure stated, but we got to
see a lot of the area. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and gave
us plenty of info about the city. The tubing was very relaxing with
the river flowing in and out of the caves-–very cool. The meal
provided was tasty as well. We did a little shopping in the small area
of shops right where the tenders port. The area past these shops was
very rural with not much to do or see. Since the area is not that
developed this is one of the ports that you must do an excursion to
enjoy the city. There were so many different interesting tours you
could take. I heard nothing but good things from people that did a
different excursion than we did. With all good comments I heard about
other tours this port warrants a few more visits that I would be glad to make.
Next stop Coco Cay, Bahamas. This is Royal Caribbean’s private
island. We had to take a short tender to the island. This was a long
process. First we had to wait an hour before we could disembark or get
tickets to disembark. This was because the crew had to get all the
equipment, food, etc off the ship for the beach party that was thrown
on the island. I noticed there were four tenders for the first few
runs, but I guess after all the crew made its way to the island the
amount of time it took the rest of us did not matter as much. I only
saw two tenders making trips back and forth after the first couple of
runs. At this port, more than half the people on the cruise went
ashore. More tenders were definitely needed. Once we finally made
it to the island we immediately had lunch. This was not the best
experience. The flies were all over some of the food and the rest of
the food did not taste good. Should have taken a hint from the flies.
After the bad lunch it was time for our excursion. Here we went parasailing and snorkeling.
The parasailing was awesome and allowed us to see the whole island
from a bird’s eye view. The island is very small (1 mile x 1/4
mile). Next, we went snorkeling. We had not planned to snorkel, but
anything you wanted to do was available at a booth or shack on this
island, so we went for it. I actually enjoyed the snorkeling, but my
husband quit soon after he saw all the jellyfish. We heard jellyfish
stung tons of people who ventured into the water. Neither my husband
nor I was stung. I did not venture out as far as the people that were
stung, although I did see a few jellyfish. My husband went out further
than I did and he was practically swimming at Olympic speeds to get
away from what he called an approaching attack of jellyfish. He called
it quits after that. Soon after, I wrapped up my snorkeling and we
lined up to head back to the ship. I must also mention that it was
quite hot here, but I love hot weather. Hot weather does not bother me as much as it
may other people. Despite all of the negatives of this port it is the
second of my two favorites. I guess I just found this to be a place
you could truly relax by the sea or join in on some activities if you
like. No one was hounding you to buy their products, although there
were shops on this island. I did hear the hair braiders calling out to
people a few times though. There were hammocks and lounge chairs
everywhere along the sea. I saw several people under the coconut trees
taking a snooze. The atmosphere of this just being a plain island was
refreshing for me.
Last stop Nassau, Bahamas. This was another port I enjoyed. Here we
did the Sea & See tour. Both parts of the tour were great, but I
enjoyed the sea portion of it better. On this part of the tour we
boarded a semi-submersible boat that allowed us to sit underwater
about ten feet without ever getting wet. The glass bottom boat has
nothing on this. We saw all kinds of coral and fish, including a
shark! The tour guide gave us many facts about that portion of the sea
and its inhabitants. The land part of the tour took us sightseeing
over a portion of Nassau. We saw plenty of historical places and
learned a lot about the city from our driver/tour guide. We also
stopped at some of the places and walked around. We ended our time at
Nassau with shopping and just strolling around seeing more of the
sites. Nassau was a lot different than what I thought it would be. It
was nicer and cleaner than what I expected. Overall, my time here was
enjoyable. I would like to visit here again to see Paradise Island and the Atlantis. Our tour did
not take us to that part of the island.
Misc. Facilities/Services:
Internet – we used the computers a few times during our voyage.
They were not in high demand. I thought the cost was a little pricey
at 50 cents per minute. I tried to do my business as fast as possible,
but the connection speed was on the slow side. If you use this luxury
more than once try to use the same computer, as it has been to the
sites you are trying to access, which aids in connecting faster.
Pool/Spa/Gym - From the looks of it everyone was having fun in the
pools. However, we did not get in any of the pools or hot tubs. The
only pool I used was the Spa’s Thallosotherapy Pool or T-pool, which
is really, really soothing to your body. I also indulged in a facial
and massage, which were quite soothing as well. If you get a facial be
prepared to buy or refuse when they try to sell you their products.
The Aqua Spa services I used were well worth it, especially since I
did one of the specials they were offering.
I went to aerobics class once. It was a typical class but having it
offered is the thing. I did not use any of the equipment in the gym,
but my husband did a few times. He used the treadmill or stationary
bike. The stair steppers and other equipment were not used as much as
the treadmills, which I guess is why there was a sign up for the
treadmills. The gym is on the smaller side but not too small. It was a
comfortable place to work out if you can talk yourself into it more
than once, as I did not.
Disembarkation:
Disembarkation was a little disorganized, but not because of
Celebrity. Everyone had specific appointments for customs but people
were in line 40 minutes or so before their scheduled time. Once the
assistant cruise director realized this was the problem, they had the
people with the later times step aside and let the current time people
through. Once we had that taken care of we sat in the theatre for one
hour and 15 minutes before our color/number was called. We were in the
third group of colors. I must say that if you live in the Baltimore
metropolitan area you will probably be the last to disembark, as we
originally were. We had a situation arise concerning our kids so I
asked to be moved up so we could get off earlier and we were told we
could be offered only as high as Captain's Club. That was fine with me,
which moved us from the last (12th set of colors or so) to the third
set. That’s good customer service in my book; they really did not
have to do that. We saw the Customs guy a little after 10am and were in our vehicle driving
away, tearfully, by 12 noon.
General Comments
Bad points:
- The kids roughly ages 9-12, were out of control in the later
evening hours. Running through the ship, playing on the elevators and
just plain being loud. I did not have any problems with them during
the day.
- The food and flies in Coco Cay and the long tender wait.
Good points:
- Cell phone service worked at all the ports I tried to make a call,
albeit analog. Belize is the only port I did not try to make a call.
Some may not see this as a good point, but I had young ones staying
with granny that I needed to stay in touch with. I wouldn’t dare
think about using the phone on my vacation for any other purpose.
- The service we received from our waiter and assistant waitress (Darko
and Billyana) was excellent. They learned our eating tendencies very
quickly and did not have to ask us about anything more than once.
- The friends we met at the table next to us. We had a table just
for two but very close to the next table.
- A couple we met at the Baltimore terminal that we chatted with
throughout the cruise and plan to stay in touch with.
- The BAG of chocolates our stateroom attendant gave us our last
night.
- Being able to look at the sky and see the stars. Being a southern
girl that now lives in the city, I really miss that.
- Just being away on a fabulous cruise. I would do this cruise again
tomorrow if I could. I only wish I could.
Here is a link to view some photos of the cruise:
