Infinity in Cabo San Lucas

Every cruise ship has some really awesome features, and some things it would be better off without – or maybe just something it lacks. Of course one what one person thinks is the worst thing on the ship another might think is the absolute best. It’s a matter of opinion. Finding any one thing every single passenger agrees on would be a very rare thing indeed. So of course no matter what I say here not everyone will agree, but these are the things that stood out to me as the most memorable in both good and bad things about Celebrity Infinity. The Infinity went into dry dock two weeks after our cruise and got some major changes so some things that were there then no long are and some that are there now we never experienced.

HITS ON CELEBRITY INFINITY

Inside Stateroom 3042

This was our first cruise with Celebrity, and we found a lot to like on the Infinity. Starting with the cabin. We had an inside room, and were quite happy with how spacious it was. On some other lines the inside rooms are tiny, but this one was as big as some ocean view or balcony rooms we’ve had on other ships.

non-smoking casino with some free tournaments

We also loved their no smoking indoors rule. It was wonderful to be able to wander freely about the interior of the ship without ever running into second hand smoke. It was also fun to be able to go to the casino and play the games. I’m allergic to tobacco smoke so I have to avoid any areas with smoking allowed and we’ve been on a lot of ships that allow smoking in their casino. Celebrity also had free tournaments for both blackjack and poker that were quite fun to participate in.

Thalassotherapy Pool is open to all adults. It has racks where you can lay in the bubble jets and water fountains to stand under.

My favorite place on the whole ship was the thalassotherapy pool. It was similar to pools you find in thermal suites that you have to pay extra to use on some ships, only on the Infinity it was free. This pool was inside an adults only solarium area which contained the pool, hot tubs, and a small cafe that served healthy options for breakfast and lunch. A few items at the cafe cost extra, but most were free. They also had citrus water available all day. The pool had a main area big enough to swim in (which I only did when nobody else was in it.) It had racks on both sides where people could sit in the water jets. And each corner had a sort of water spout fountain thing to stand under. Great pool and sheltered from the sun, which most cruise ship pools are not. So no worry about getting sunburned – or skin cancer.

canal watching from the Infinity’s Constellation Lounge

The Infinity also had a great observation lounge, called the Constellation Lounge. We especially appreciated the great view from its floor to ceiling windows on the day we sailed through the Panama Canal. We got there early to stake out front row seats and enjoyed the view all day.

French onion soup in Infinity’s bistro

The Infinity had great food. The food in the dining room was excellent, and they had a variety of premium restaurants as well. Qsine was a very unique and fun place to eat, so I’m glad it is still there after the remodel. We enjoyed SS United States, which confusingly with that name served French cuisine. I’m not a fan of snails or anything, but we had some great lobster there, cooked tableside. I also liked Bistro on 5, which specialized in crepes. The coffee shop charged for coffee, tea, or gelato, but the secret there that even people we met on the ship who had sailed Celebrity before didn’t know is that the morning pastries or desserts they have later in the day are free. And delicious. If you don’t care for the dessert choices at dinner just go to the coffee shop and find a fancy delicacy there – we did that a couple times.

Infinity had their own Top Chef cooking contest

Entertainment on the Infinity was great as well. Their production shows were above average for cruise ship shows, and they brought in outside entertainers quite a few nights. They also had aerialists that performed during their production shows. People liked them so much one day they had an afternoon show of their own.

Infinity’s new rooftop terrace  – photo from Celebrity’s website

One of the top decks was just open space when we were on the Infinity, but now they have turned that area into a rooftop terrace with movies, cocktails, and snacks so it sounds like that area would be a hit too.

MISSES ON CELEBRITY INFINITY

No matter how good a ship is there is always something that could be improved. The biggest miss on the Infinity (in my opinion anyway) was the lack of any sort of guest laundry facilities. Sure you can send your laundry out for the crew to wash it for you, but that costs a fortune and still leaves nowhere to iron anything. It’s one thing if you’re only out for a week, but on ships doing longer cruises like this one having a self-serve guest laundry definitely would have been a bonus. It would have saved us from hand washing in the bathroom sink and hanging stuff all over the bathroom to dry. Because even on a long cruise we have better things to do with our money than pay exorbitant prices to have the crew wash tiny bags of laundry. Honestly even when we went on a 4-day cruise (on another line) the launderette on that ship stayed busy, and not just for the ironing boards so I’m not the only one who appreciates self-serve guest laundry facilities on a cruise ship.

Lido deck on Infinity

Another miss was placement of some of their smoking areas. Instead of at the back where the ship would move out of the smoke as it goes forward, they had one just outside of that wonderful solarium with the indoor pool. The solarium had automatic sliding doors which kept the smoke out as long as they were closed. Occasionally people would stand in the spot that kept the door open long enough to let smoke in, but the really bad time was when the door got stuck open one day and they still let people smoke there. So much smoke got in the solarium that day it might as well have been a smoking area, which made it completely unusable for me.

Internet at the cruise port in Guatemala

Internet was a miss during our Infinity cruise. It was so slow it couldn’t even load a page so we got our money back and only had wifi at port stops. Hopefully they upgraded it for faster service when the ship went into drydock. If not it would still be a miss and not worth paying for.

What were they thinking replacing these excellent crepes with sushi?

In the drydock they replaced the bistro with the wonderful crepes with a sushi place and the SS United States with a Tuscan Grill. That seems like a miss to me since sushi, Italian food, and steakhouses are commonplace on cruise ships, but the places they had before were something special and different. Plus the crepes were great and I don’t like sushi.

Infinity in Monterey

Overall we really liked the Infinity and look forward to sailing with Celebrity again sometime in the future.

Copyright My Cruise Stories 2017