Overall Score
| BERLITZ'S RATING |
| |
Possible |
Achieved |
| |
| Ship |
500 |
416 |
| Accommodation |
200 |
170 |
| Food |
400 |
292 |
| Service |
400 |
313 |
| Entertainment |
100 |
76 |
| Cruise |
400 |
312 |
| |
Celebrity Mercury is a good ship, inside and outside. The profile is quite well-balanced despite its squared-off stern. It has the distinctive Celebrity Cruises’ “X” funnel (“X” being the Greek letter “C” which stands for Chandris, the former owning company, before Royal Caribbean bought it). With a high passenger space ratio for such a large ship, there is no real sense of crowding, and the passenger flow is good.
Facilities include a three-deck-high main foyer with marble floored lobby and waterfall; more than 190,000 sq. ft (18,000 sq. meters) of open deck space (poolside lounge chairs have cushioned pads, those on other decks do not); a magrodome-covered indoor-outdoor pool; AquaSpa thalassotherapy pool (with several “active” water jet stations), and assorted treatment rooms including a “rasul” mud treatment room.
Other facilities include “Michael’s Club”, a cigar/cognac room on Promenade Deck that overlooks the atrium, a small but luxurious cinema, a large casino (this is extremely glitzy, with confusing and congested layout). The children’s facilities are good.As well as the “Fun Factory,” there’s an outdoor play area and a paddling pool.
The interior decor is elegant and understated. It includes plenty of wood (or wood-look) paneling and accenting throughout, and many refinements have been made during the three-ship “Century Series” that Celebrity Cruises has introduced in the past few years.
The ship also houses a $3.5 million living art collection with true, museum-quality pieces. The health and fitness facilities are among the nicest aboard any ship, and have been well thought-out and designed for quiet, efficient operation, with everything in just the right place.
This ship will provide you with a well-packaged cruise vacation in elegant surroundings. It is efficiently run. There are more crew members per passenger than would be found aboard other ships of the same size in the premium category, and hence service in general is very good indeed. Note that a 15% gratuity is added to all bar and wine accounts.
After Celebrity Cruises was bought by Royal Caribbean International, the standard of product delivery aboard all the ships in the Celebrity Cruises fleet went down as cuts were made by the new owner, and this reflected in the ship’s revised score. The onboard currency is the US dollar.
Trying to reach Cabin Service or the Guest Relations Desk to answer the phone (to order breakfast, for example, if you don’t want to do so via the interactive television) is a matter of luck, timing and patience (a sad reminder of the automated age, and lack of personal contact). The library is disappointingly small, and poorly located away from the main flow of passengers. There is a charge for using the Aquaspa/ sauna/steam room complex. The room-service menu is poor, and food items are below the standards of food featured in the dining room. Standing in line for embarkation, disembarkation, shore tenders and for self-serve buffet meals is an inevitable aspect of cruising aboard all large ships.
While under the direction of its former owner, John Chandris, Celebrity Cruises managed to create a superb quality cruise holiday product virtually unbeatable at the prices charged in the Alaska and Caribbean markets, representing outstanding value for money. However, given the subtle changes that have occurred since Celebrity Cruises was integrated into the Royal Caribbean Cruises family in 1997, it has become evident that some slippage of product delivery standards and staff have occurred and the ship looks a bit tired in places.
Berlitz Guide © Apa Publishing 2010
Berlitz Guide © Apa Publishing 2008
