ROUND THE HORN

We must admit to having loyalty to Celebrity, this being our 10th cruise with the line.
The first 8 cruises were completely fault free, the 4+ stars rated by Berlitz being in our opinion correct.The 9th cruise,on Constellation started at Istanbul, where we had an hours wait before boarding the ship. On board, the coffee machines were regularly not working, the cabin stewards told us that they had been given extra cabins to clean per day. This was obvious as there were marks on windows and doors Only a small point, but previously it was hard to spot any marks whatsoever.
The Constellation was obviously becoming a little tired. 4 star would be more the mark.
When we boarded Infinity, it had just been ‘Solsticised’ which meant that more cabins had been added. It did not look as if the rest of the boat had been refurbished. At best the ship could be described as tired. However, the food was up to the usual excellent standard, although there was still problems with the coffee machines. We did not see the entertainment, but other guests said that it was very good.
Unlike Mr Hoke’s review, we have never found the staff anything other than polite and friendly and keen to give the best service. The photographers are a nuisance – but doesn’t that apply to other cruises?
The trips and photographs are expensive – but doesn’t that apply to other cruises. He mentions gratuities and the 15% added to drinks – but doesn’t that apply to other cruises? On Regent and Silverseas the gratuties are included, but surely the price you pay reflects this.
Our voyage around Cape Horn was very enjoyable. The Captain endured extemely high winds and rough seas, but although the ship rolled at a slow rate, we had no worries about the safety on board.This was our third and probably last trip around Cape Horn and we must say that we have found the Agentinian and Chilean people very nice and smiling. We were a little worried that the Falklands situation would cause a problem, but at Ushuaia, where later boats were refused permission to land because they had been to the Falklands, we found nothing but friendship, when they found that we were British.
Although Infinity isn’t what it was, we would still recommend Celebrity to future cruisers. The strong points are food and the good staff. Infinity does need a refit, but we enjoyed our cruise and would use the same ship and route again.