Celebrity Mercury (Now Mein Schiff 2), Alaska

May 1998

Important Note: This was my first review, of my very first ever cruise.  I was a younger man and had nothing to compare the experience with.  If I took the same cruise today, I would almost certainly have some different opinions…but hey, it’s a record of what I though and felt at the time, way back in 1998. 

Introduction

I jumped straight in at the deep end: I picked the premium cruise line,  Celebrity Cruises and the then newish state-of-the-art mega-ship, ‘Mercury’.  For the itinerary I picked ‘Alaska’.

I probably picked ‘Mercury’, because she was the sister of ‘Galaxy’. Galaxy was the ship that made Jane McDonald famous. (A U.K. reality star/Singer/TV star, who was discovered on Galaxy.)

This was my first ever cruise. Although I have travelled/holidayed by other methods, I cannot draw on any nautical comparisons.

The  was essentially a 14 night re-positioning cruise from LA, via San Francisco and Victoria, to Alaska.

Sisters, Mercury & Galaxy in Skagway, May 1998.

Mercury was then about six months old at the time (built late 1997) and this Cruise was her first to Alaska. At around 77,000 gross tonnes, she was a mega-ship (at the time). I had never seen a big modern Cruise ship in the flesh, so her scale was breath-taking – Mercury looked enormous, in port, in LA.  After all, they are the biggest moving objects, made by man.

Boarding took about an hour or so, which was very efficient considering that there were 1,900 passengers which had to be processed plus some 4,000 items of luggage. We had a lovely cabin with double bed and picture window, which was great, considering that we had only paid for an inside cabin (thanks Celebrity).

The Ship

I did not know it at the time, but I guess I am a traditionalist in terms of ships décor, but Celebrity’s is very contemporary in style.  Mercury’s décor was very garish/glitzy in places and not entirely to my liking. At the time, I would suggest that we British were accustomed to  more understated décor onboard ships and in general. I guess Mercury’s décor was an  American version of  ‘upmarket’. (In the decades that have followed, we Brits have been exposed to/become more accustomed to vibrant ships décor. For example, even the British P&O ship are more colourful and glitzy than they ever used to be.) 

The ships passenger corridors seemed to go on forever. The Grand Foyer and staircase was pleasant and functional, but had more in common with a Shopping Mall than the ‘Grand Staircase’ of an ‘Ocean Liner’ of yesterday . The Casino was particularly tacky for my liking, but the Celebrity Theatre with its 1000 seats was attractive and very impressive, although being at the bows of the ship, like most ships theatres are, makes them prone to the rocking and rolling of the sea.

Various items of modern art decorated the ship which was a very nice touch, if you like modern art. The ‘Promenade Deck’ was one of my favourite areas as this looked rather traditional, with a teak deck which encircled most (but not all) of the ship.

The Food

The Mercury was a clean, functional and spacious ship. It never ever seemed like you were sharing her with 1,900 other passengers. Queues of more than a couple of people were rare. This was in part due to the fantastic organisation by the crew, of all the events and excursions etc. The staff, almost a 1,000 in number, were generally excellent. The entertainment was good and succeeded in providing something for everyone. We particularly liked the enrichment Lecturer, Tom Logsdon, who was a rocket-scientist who had worked for NASA.

The food is an important part of any cruise, but is of course very subjective. Everybody agreed that it was at least ‘very good’ if not ‘great’. The Chef’s  of course had an almost impossible task, of providing 2000+ high class meals for both evening sittings, using assembly-line techniques. However in general they achieved it.

As a relatively young man, at the time, my culinary pallet was not fully developed. At the time, I often enjoyed ‘plain’ cooking with a pint of larger, rather than fine dining and a glass of wine. (My pallet has now matured).  In fact I got a little fed up with the aesthetic looking French dishes, with rich sauces, that were served every evening. After a few days, I began to dream of a simple things like Hamburger and Fries, although, these could be obtained during the lunch buffet. I particularly enjoyed the breakfast buffet which was very good and of course flexible. Surprisingly, they never had mushrooms or tomatoes for breakfast, a small point I suppose.

Room service was prompt, but only limited items were available for our cabin grade.

The motion of the ship could sometimes be felt quite strongly when dining . There was also strange vibrations from the propellers (I guess) which could occasionally be felt in the aft main restaurant, quite badly (That’s why all the old Ocean liners located their Restaurants in the middle of the ship.)

Every thing on-board ship was designed to relive you of your hard earned cash, apart from the food which was included. Beware; you can spend a fortune on on-board shopping, drinking, smoking, gambling, photographs and excursions. The ‘cash’ free system makes it very easy to loose count of your expenditure. However, I understand that this is the case with all Cruise lines. After all, they are a business – they would hardly give it all away, would they? Fortunately, for us Brits, the tips for the staff were included in the price of our holiday. This is not normally the case with most other cruise lines (or Celebrity now).

The Disco

I clearly remember being in the ship’s night-club one evening and dancing (badly) to Michael Jackson. I remember how surreal it was dancing, yet being in one of the worlds more remote places.

I had to occasionally pinch myself, to remind myself that I was on a SHIP in ALASKA! It all felt felt rather surreal.

Alaska

Glacier Bay was very impressive and it was amazing just how close our big ship could get to the big bluish ice walls.

The ports of call in Alaska, Skagway, Ketchikan and Jeneau were all surprisingly touristy, featuring gift shop after gift shop.  Every day, during the season, six or more Cruise ships would descend upon the ports, making them very busy indeed. (And today the ships have become even bigger).

I found the ‘seas days’ a little challenging at the time,  as I had not developed the art of relaxation.  I now look forward to ‘sea days’ to them now, in my advancing years.

The excursions available were numerous, of good quality, but were very expensive, which of course is the norm..

In Conclusion

Well this was  my first cruise of many, so I must have generally enjoyed it as I have been on many more in the decades since. However I did not “love it”, as such.

I think that I did not fully get into the ‘rhythm’ of cruising and did not appreciate aspects like fine-dining and the ‘relaxing’ sea days. These things came much later, with my maturity, after subsequent cruises.

The very modern décor did not suit me. Even today, I do not generally enjoy modern décor and modern art. I am clearly a traditionalist, but I did not know that at the time.

The best things about this cruise for me, was the excellent staff and the fantastic ‘Inside Passage’ scenery. The weather was very warm for May, and it never rained once.

I would certainly recommend ‘Celebrity Cruises’ and ‘Mercury’. The food was definitely ‘fine-dining’ in style. The ship is not a 1930’s style ocean palace, it was very “contemporary”. Times have changed, this is modern-day Cruising.

Malcolm Oliver