Cruise 2010 --- 12 day Caribbean cruise with Celebrity

Last Update: 01-SEP-2018

12 day Caribbean cruise with Celebrity

This was a 12 day Caribbean cruise with Celebrity Mercury departing from Baltimore on 29 November.

We booked this cruise with Vacations-to-go on the web in the summer and for the two of us we paid about $1,500 including a $25 ship credit.

We got on the ship at noon or so after parking at the port ($180). No problems and the process was quick (less than 20 min).

All photos were taken with a Cannon PowerShot S90 10MP camera. Video was shot with a Cannon PowerShot S90 camera and converted to AVI with AWS Video Converter 6 - We took appx. 500 photos on this trip

Itinerary

Day 01 - Nov 29, 2010 MON Baltimore - Maryland                        ---               4:00 p.m. 
Day 02 - Nov 30, 2010 TUE At Sea                                      ---               --- 
Day 03 - Dec 01, 2010 WED At Sea                                      ---               --- 
Day 04 - Dec 02, 2010 THU At Sea                                      ---               --- 
Day 05 - Dec 03, 2010 FRI Charlotte Amalie - St. Thomas               9:00 a.m.         6:00 p.m. 
Day 06 - Dec 04, 2010 SAT St. Croix - USVI                            8:00 a.m.         5:00 p.m. 
Day 07 - Dec 05, 2010 SUN Basseterre - St. Kitts                      8:00 a.m.         6:00 p.m. 
Day 08 - Dec 06, 2010 MON St. Johns - Antigua                         8:00 a.m.         5:00 p.m. 
Day 09 - Dec 07, 2010 TUE Philipsburg - St. Maarten                   8:00 a.m.         5:00 p.m. 
Day 10 - Dec 08, 2010 WED At Sea                                      ---               --- 
Day 11 - Dec 09, 2010 THU At Sea                                      ---               --- 
Day 12 - Dec 10, 2010 FRI At Sea                                      ---               --- 
Day 13 - Dec 11, 2010 SAT Baltimore - Maryland                        7:00 a.m.         ---

Photos

Baltimore and the first few days on the ship / Charlotte Amalie - St. Thomas / St. Croix - USVI

Basseterre - St. Kitts / St. Johns - Antigua / Philipsburg - St. Maarten / The last few days on the ship

SHIP LAYOUT: This was the largest ship we've been on 1,800 passengers and it was full. It was very classy and it was in good shape even though Celebrity has sold it, and its last cruise is Feb. 14. We were in an outside cabin on 9th deck. As usual the people stayed around the pool on Deck 11. Deck 12, 13 and 14 had plenty of chairs and areas you could stay out of the wind. I would hang out on Deck 13 and 14 and in some cases we were all alone for a number of hours with the entire deck to myself. Celebrity would tie up the chairs but it was easy to untie and they did not ever say anything to me for doing that. The front area of Deck 11 was a good place to look at the stars as it was the darkest place on the ship. For some reason they would rope it off, but I would just un-rope it. I saw no reason to have it closed. Strange on that logic. Also, this ship has some rear areas that were very private and out of the wind and out of the way places to sit and read. Again, it was a good layout. For having 1,800 people it never seemed that crowded.

Celebrity ALCOHOL POLICY: They seemed to be strict. Mary brought on a box of wine and they asked about it. I doubt if you could have brought on the hard stuff without being detected. I was able to get smaller bottles on at one of the ports, as they only seemed to look for big glass bottles.

DRESS: We had two formal nights. I did dress up but it did not seem to be enforced. I saw a number with no ties and no jackets. On the non-formal nights I saw a number of people wearing jeans in the main dining room. Again, they did not seem to care, which is good. If we do this cruise again in FEB I will not bring a jacket as it really was not needed.

CHILDREN / DEMOGRAPHICS We make no secret that we don't do vacations with kids... And would never go on a cruise that could have the possibility of having many children (or even the 20 something's) on it. This cruise was fine. We saw only 3 or 4 kids on the ship. Also, we were concerned that the departure from an urban / blue collar town such as Baltimore could change the demographic of the passengers. Well, it was definitely a different crowd. I am not a small person by any means... But, I have never seen so many LARGE people... Celebrity lost some serious food $$ on this cruise.

ENTERTAINMENT We are not show people. Mary will go to a few but I will not. The type of music that was being played in the pool area was very urban to say the least ! Many people were complaining as it was not the primary demographic of the passengers. When that racket would start I would just go to one of my quiet areas ! Also, they would play music all night in the pool area. Strange.

FOOD The portion sizes were smaller which really was not bad as you could ask for two if you wished. Food quality was a bit less than other cruises but it was still very good. The dinner menu on the left side was always the same so you knew if you did not find something on the right daily menu you could get a good steak (Dave had the same thing almost every night from the left menu) The pizza area varied and sometimes the pizza was very good and other times dry. They had the standard grill items that were good and predictable. The drink people were always trying to sell to you and some days they were a bit bothersome. As usual we did not spend a single cent on the over priced bar items... We did hear of some people spending $400 a day on drinks.. Insane ! But, that makes my cruise cheaper so thank you !

SMOKING Port side in the pool area it was allowed. For the most part it did not bother us. But, the wind did take the smell over to the other areas and it was bothering people. I did get a kick out of one old woman who was on oxygen and was taking off the mask to smoke. Too bad the health system pays for that ! Idiot !

CASINO: Surprised at the amount of nickel and penny machines. I did notice that during the day the payout seemed better than in the evening. Had some fun and lost $20-30 dollars. Would rather give it to a corporation with stockholders than to a state government.

INTERNET: Because of pets at home we paid for one of the internet plans. Figuring on how much time that I needed was not easy but we went with the 90 minutes for around $50 plan. I must say that I was very impressed with the speed. I was checking web cameras and accessing web based mail but the speed was excellent. Generally around 8 am I was all alone using the systems in the computer class area. Also, they had wireless hotspots in a number of areas for you to access the web with your laptop. I did bring a laptop but I found that using the ship's computer systems was much easier. In the end I did not use all of my time. Most ports have wifi cafe's near the ship and I saw many people using this service vs. paying on the ship.

CELLPHONE I have ATT and it works in the USVI as a local call / system. The other islands I keep the phone off. The ship had the Celebrity at sea cell service. I overheard a few people saying it did not work well and they were not getting calls to their cell phones. The prices was about $3 a minute. No thanks as email works just fine. They also have the in room phone at $8 a minute. Again, no thanks !

SECURITY: As usual a joke. We brought on a small fan as we find that some cruise ships are warm as the older crowd likes it warm. Anyway, it was packed in one of Mary's bags and when our bags made it to the room that bag was missing. We got a voice mail in the room stating that we had to go to Deck 3 to discuss our luggage. It was a mess. 100+ people having to dig out the offending item in front of everyone else and do paperwork. People were pissed. Celebrity security staff was NOT handling this well and some people waited almost 2 hours to get their bag. Next time I will dismantle the fan and place across the bags. They won't find it. One good thing is that the room was nice and cool. The fan would have helped in drying swim-related items. The idiots did not find the plug strips / outlet expanders that I had hid across the bags. On the cruise groups I have seen issues with these items being reported.

ARRIVAL / DEPARTURE TIME: No problems at all at any port. Like Mary said it was easy on. In Baltimore I was expecting issues in getting off the ship and it was easy. They generally did not even look at our passport and NO questions were asked. Our carry on bags we not screened for anything I assume our checked bags were checked by dogs but did not appear to be x-rayed. Again, very easy and we were on our car on I-95 within 20 minutes of leaving the room. Excellent !

Cruise Log

Total mileage on this voyage

Ports  Visited                                                   (nm) Mileage
Baltimore, Maryland                                              --
Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas                                     1,431
St. Croix, U.S.V.I.                                                100
Basseterre, St. Kitts                                              150
St. Johns, Antigua                                                 111
Phillipsburg, St. Martin                                            92
Baltimore, Maryland                                              1,494

TOTAL                            3,378 nm

3,378 nm = 3,884 statute miles = 6,250 Kilometers

Ship Facts

Celebrity Mercury - Ship Facts

Tonnage: 77,713 gross tons 
Length: 866 ft (264 m) 
Beam: 105.6 ft (32 m) 
Draft: 25.5 ft (8 m) 
Decks: 12 
Speed: 21.5-knot (40 km/h) 
Capacity: 1,886 passengers 
Date Launched: 11/02/1997 
Registry: Valetta,  Malta
Crew: International 
Complement: 900 
Gross Tons: 77713.0 

Dinner Seatings: 2 
Cuisine: Continental and International 
Dress Code: Traditional 
Room Service: Yes 
Outdoor Pools: 3 
Indoor Pools: 1 
Jacuzzis: 3 
Fitness Center: Yes 
Spa: Yes 
Beauty Salon: Yes 
Showroom: Yes 
Bars/Lounges: 8 
Casino: Yes 
Shops: Yes 
Library: Yes 
Child Program: Yes 
Self-service Laundry: No

DAILY SHIP GUIDES / MAPS / OTHER INFO (Someday I will convert these to PDF's)

SHIP LAYOUT