Just Back From CENTURY

Hi everyone. Just back from the eastern Carrib.on the century. We are still swaying with the waves...not lost our sea legs yet.

We had a great time. We got in a day early and stayed at the renessaince(Fort Lauderdale)(priceline good price)and took the water taxi to tour($5) the intercoastal waterway...Absolutely the best way to see all the mansions and 70-million dollar his and her yatchs parked in front).(Even if you won the lottery you couldn't afford these!!!) Then on our sail day even thing went great. Got to the peir about 11am..already people there, but took about 20 min. to be processed and on board with champange in hand. Once onboard we just walked around to check things out, ate in the grill the up to the resort deck to hang out. Another extra special treat was that their was an air show in Fort lauderdale that day and the navys acrobatis planes and Blue Angels flew overhead (and close) for and awesome and loud) sendoff. Everyone was excited and on decks for the sailaway...The muster drill was boring but took only about 1/2 hour always a few people who think they can skip this and everyone has to wait for themto show up as a head count is taken. Ourroom 8222 was aft(back and much larger than expected and a large window loking out at the ships wake was great. Nice details like wood panel walls, icebucket and water pitcher. Plenty of drawer and closet space. Only glich (small0 was that our suitcases did not fit under the bed (too tall) but there was plenty of space in the sofa area for them.

Dinners were good in the dinning room. Some of the portions were small but we occasionally asked for more or two entrees. Alot of variety, (always a fish, pasta, poultry, beef, or pork, veal or lamb on every menu). My only wish was MORE VEGATABLES..I love grilled vegaies and more often then not the veggie portions were extra small and starchy. One night I told my waiter how I loved veggies and thought there wasn't much non-starchy veggies and he made sure after that that I got asparagus, green beans, brocccolit or carrots etc.,. The deserts...HEAVENLY. The creme brulee and those types of deserts were great. The cakes were also good but there was never any heavy torte types..even the chocolate cakes were like sponge cakes layered wtih creams. All were good. Burgers, fries and pizza, sandwhiches and pasta by the pool grill. The buffet for breakfast is average, for lunch it got better as the days went on..(Many thought after day 2 that the food was not good but by day 4 everyone thaought it was good). Only thing I didn't like was that the midnight buffet has been replaced with "gormet bites". I liked that they brought stuff around but I never liked what they brought as i'm not big on pates.( Too full to eat at the midnight buffet they did have anyway so not that big a deal really.. And I didn't gain a pound...YAHOO!!!!)

To those going next week: get your scolapine patches now. Going from ft luad to san juan is rough. Half the ship was seasick , including my husband and had to go to the dr. to get a shot. All he could do is throw up and sleep all day. Many employees said that leg is always rough.

The first port sa juan was great but the time stinks. Everything shuts down by five or six except a few retaurants. And there was a taxi strike..(We did find one willing to take us to the caribe hilton...said after we were halfway there that he'd get beat up by even his friends if they caught him working but he had five kids, a mortgage etc, and had to work. He gave us his cell and he came and got us later. Walked a little around the city but most of that short porttime we stayed on the ship. Too bad really as we really like San Juan and would have liked earlier arrival ttime to really appreciate the city.

St. Thomas, as always is beautiful. It was windy and both my husbands scuba dive and my snorkel had only afew fish. Worst snorkwl and scuba ever for both but that was due to the weather and is unusal for those islands. Magaens bay beautiful...trip there hairraisisng I wish I was there right now infact.

Got to go..ore to come. But I will say t those I met online before the pleasure of meeting all was great!!!DannyB (who enjoyed the fishless snorkel with us) and thenow "mr &mrs"May-Cartern to meet to you, dine with the chief-enginer, shoot craps, and continueally run into you guys it was fun and congradulations..Janineo

Century 5/1/04 DESTINY 4/03

Janineo - Welcome Back! Glad you had such a good time. I just love reading the reviews of people as they come back from my favorite ship! Who was your waiter? On our last cruise it was Dorin and he was wonderful!

Terri

Skyward - 1989

Carnivale - 1991

Holiday - 1994

Fantasy - 1998

Century - 2002

Century - 2003

Jubilee - 7/04

Century - 9/04

Coral Princess - 3/05

Valor - 10/05

Days til Valor Vampires Cruise

Thanks for the nice review. My DH and I are doing the Western Caribbean in less than 4 weeks. We're very excited about sailing on the Century.

Garry

Century Western Caribbean - 6/5/2004

Galaxy Transatlantic - 9/3/2004

click <a href="mailto:gkm278@comcast.net">here</a href> to send me an email

Thank you for the review. can't wait for more. deb

Hi Janineo,

I was hoping you would have better news about the rough seas, as we are one of the ones who you spoke about..... leaving next week on the Eastern route. Did you take any medication at all a few days before, try Ginger, or did you have a patch? We would like to be prepared but because of medication we are taking, we can not use the patch. I would think that it would certainly ruin the first formal night, with so many people sick. I am not too worried about myself, but my husband tends to get sea sick at times when the waters are fairly calm.Did the shot help your husband or did he have to wait till the rough waters were gone.. I guess you just grin and bear it and look forward to the next few days when the waters are calm.

Who was the socail hostess on the ship, and also the Cruise Director? Where did you sit in the dining room, and is there any place we should avoid sitting if possible?

Thanks for your nice preview of what we have to look forward to on the Century.. (even the rough part)... I have been thinking of you all week, knowing that we would soon be on board and enjoying all she has to offer.

Bob and Jacque

May 15, 2004..... Century

Janineo glad you had a nice time. The Century is my favorite ship. We will be doing the same cruise but not until early February, 2005. I have us booked for a 2 night stay prior to the cruise and a 1 night post cruise at the Renaissance, can you tell me what you thought of it?

I'm sailing on the Century, May 29th.The reason it's rough is because of the prevailing Easterlies.

Thank you for the review.

THanks for the review. We'll be taking the same route on 6/12 and cannot wait. Let us know more about the ports. Thanks for the info about the rough seas from Ft Lauderdale to San Juan. We'll be sure and come prepared. Looking forward to hearing more.

Johnnita

I also returned yesterday from this cruise. To read my review, please go to page 14 of "Tell Me About Century" on this page.

By the way, we didn't get sick at all, neither did any of our tablemates or the people in cabins nearby.

Carol

Janineno,

How was the Renissance in FLL. I'm booked ther in July. I heard it wasn't that great but I stayed at Pier 66 last year and didn't think it was so great. Do you mind if I ask what you paid through Priceline.

Hi all back again. First to Terri.. Our waiter's name was Sebastian from Poland and waiter

franscisco. We sat in upper level kind of tucked in the corner. Thought it was great until after our dinner at the captains(chief engineers table) which visually was outstanding. High (two level ceiling, looking toward staircase..) The table isn't as important though as who is there with you. We were the old farts(mid forty's) with the other couples mid and early twenties)..It was fun and we were well excepted and glad we weren't at a table where we were the ones twnty years younger!

Regarding the seasickness... glad to hear Carol that you weren't sick..I wasn't either and usually I am but my husband was terribly ill as well as a few others at our table and nearby cabins. We were at the very back of the boat and maybe that made it worse for my husband. The shot worked overnight but I would recommend not letting it get to that point. I took decongestant a week before(helps me fly without ear pain) and keep drinking h20.

Bob and Jacque- The social hostess name is mahali from Holland..a young, pretty brown haired girl whose everywhere on the ship. The Cruise director is Allan King and also a very distinctive man.

Then for the questions about the renissance. It was nice for the short time we were there..Clean and upscale, surely more for business during the week than family travelers..But nice pool and excercise area. Within walking to water taxi distance which is a must for those who have time.

Went to the cruise critic party and meet many great people who became freindly faces as the crusie went on and you'd run into people here or there... One couple we meet at the cruise critic party we later saw at the honeymmoers/annivery party , then both got invited to the cheif enginners table, thanwe saw them again at the craps table, etc..and ran in to them all over...It was fun and they are great people. (If you read this you know who you are..The crazy cowells!!.. )

The best snorkle was the rainbow reef in nassau. It was a cheap shore excursion and my husband wasn't even going to go in at first because he thought it wasn't going to be good but it was great!! Teeming with fish , angels the size of dinnerplates, a few large parrot fish and huge mutton snapper, grouper, a ray, and a school of black angelfish. It goes to a marine sanctuary. I have snorkeled at St Thomas, St Johns, Aruba 3 places, Hawaii 3 places, mexico, barbados, Martinique and St. Martin and this snorkle was as good as hawaii and aruba....whoda thought!!!!!

Gee, I wish I had some creme bruele right now. Or feel that warm breeze on my arm holding a "bon voyage drink" sitting outise on deck twelve. Anyway more later as time to go to bed. Hope I helped. Ps. I love my tan..

Century 5/1/04 DESTINY 4/03

My daughter and I were also on the Century 5/1/04 Eastern. I've been on 15 plus cruises and don't get seasick, by Monday a.m. I took out my scopalamine patch and put it on as I was ready to vomit. Luckily the patch worked. The ship was really rocking.

We had a beautiful time but I must be candid about a few disappointments ==number one, The last Celebrity cruise was Summit, the Summit is simply a much more beautiful ship.

The good--service was impeccable--although the first time our steward came into our room his lingering body odor stayed and really stunk up our room. He must have showered after that because I was going to complain.

I will compare to the most recent cruises I've been on: The Golden Princess from Barcelona to Venice last summer and the Grand Princess last summer-western Carribbean.

The food was pretty much the same on both ships(Princess and Celebrity) I love sweets and the Century desserts were a little disappointing--I fell in love with the Princess's souffles but none on the Century. WAY tooo many creamy type stuff-by Thursday night I was ready to throw up if I ate one more creamy dessert.

The waffle bar/omlette bar for breakfast were outstanding.

They had a bridge program on board, I was the youngest participant==instructor not too enthusiastic to say the least.

They expected me to PaY for a capuccino after dinner-Princess was free

Pay-for-View movies in the stateroom!!! What a joke--also free on Princess.

$60 a week for the therapy pool--PLEASE!!! Just include it (my daughter was on the Millenium in Jan and it was free).

The biggest complaint I heard all week was about the ports--not enough time. We were late in San Juan ==docked at 6 pm instead of 4:30 and stayed until midnight. Wow-like I'm going to walk around San Juan at midnight. Even one of our dinner companions (native Puerto Rico) said that wouldn't be safe. So we were in San Juan from 6 pm to 8 pm to get back for dinner.

St. Thomas was insanely crowded and we were picked up by our relatives (who were renting a villa) the traffic was so bad we spent most of the day in their car and barely made it back to the ship.

In St. Martin --we had to leave at 3:30 ==would have preferred to spend the whole afternoon at the beach.

Also-really short stay in Nassau and everyone I talked to would have preferred to have skipped it.

Entertainment pretty much sucked. Like one night we went to hemispheres disco (couldn't pop for live entertainment just a dj) it was supposed to be 70s and 80s music. Well it wasn't and I asked the only other people there why--they were Pissed off-they hated the music. I complained to the dj and said it was supposed to be 70s and 80s music-this SOB proceeded to argue with me and continued to play whatever he wanted and ignored the fact that he'd emptied out the club.

Bingo was for the mathmatically challenged=like pay $30 for the remote chance of winning $80-no thanks.

Also their pimping of certain stores was pretty sickening.

At the Nassau talk they said don't think of this as a "beach " port--they just wanted to send the lemmings shopping.

Their gem talk was a joke too==like telling me their rings had real rubies (impossible at those prices) I asked specifically are these lab created or natural? They said natural. They told another person lab-created. Big difference!!!

They had only one "high tea" the whole cruise-compared to daily on the Golden. The scones weren't good either.

One night they had a pool deck party and spread. Strangely I was hungry (around midnight) the only sweets they had were plates of cookies--now really--don't put yourself out.

I did like the lack of public announcements and the people we met were nice --gtg

Shappy, so sorry your week had more negatives than positives (that is the way your review came across to me).

I hope you had a decent vacation though, glad your tablemates were nice and quoting you,

"service was impeccable".

I have not been on the Summit, so I have nothing to compare to...(except the Mercury)but for me...the CENTURY will always be the most beauitful ship

Next up...HORIZON Sept 18th to Bermuda!

See My Century and Mercury Pictures at:

http://community.webshots.com/user/lovescruising

Shappy....Sounds to me that your a Princess sort of person! Maybe you should stay with your benchmark cruiseline. Your whole review is nothing but complaints. I would think after 15 cruises you would be a little more seasoned traveler.

Shappy

I,m sorry to hear your cruise sucked but you know what they say if you get lemons make lemonade,in other words if you had a bad time stay on the more expanse line where all the glitz is what you are paying for as for me I like the smaller ships that have a lot class and very little hype!!!!

Jim

SEABREEZ 98

OCEANBREEZ 99

MAJESTY 2000

SENSATION 2001

CENTURY 2003

CENTURY JULY 10 2004

Sorry Shappy was so disappointed with the desserts. Everyone at our table of ten was very enthusiastic about them and we couldn't wait to taste all the different desserts. The one thing that we liked was the fact that they were not so suggary and sweet. Oh well, different strokes for different folks. I just wanted to let everyone know that dessert was our favorite part of lunch and dinner.

Carol

Maybe you should take a train next time. I am glad you were'nt on my cruise. You get out of it what you put into it. Century 59 days.

ROyal Golden odyssey 1993.

Premier Sea Breeze.1998

Premier Island Breeze 1999.

Norwegian Majesty 2000.

Norwegian Sea 2002

Carnival Sensation 2001.

Celebrity Century 2003

[This message was edited by bitburg K9 Handler on 05-10-04 at 12:44 PM.]

mrsfanci asked 'How was the Renissance in FLL'? We stayed there last year and really enjoyed it. Big city type hotel with bellhops, nice size rooms with comfortable beds, full service bar, excellent location, grocery store next door, nice pool, plenty of places to eat with in a couple of blocks. We paid $99 on priceline last year.

fun,fun,fun,

the warmth of the sun,

JBrown

booked - Sun Princess (SC-10) Feb 27, 2005

Celebrity Century (EC-7)03/03

Sea Princess (MR-7) 03/02

Sea Princess (WC-7) 03/01

Grand Princess (EC-7) 03/99

Sun Princess (WC-7) 03/98

Celebrity Century (EC-7) 09/97

Star Princess (SC-7) 09/94

RCI SOS (EC-7) 03/92

Carnival SYJ (scrap yard junk) 09/89

I loved our cruise on Century...Great service, food for a good price(even in the summer).

It's laughable to read complains about "lack" of public announcements. It's Celebrity's policy and hating it equal to hating water because it's wet!

Century is not super new ship and probably lacks some modern additions (comparing to the new RCCL ships) but each person should decide for himself/herself what they prefer. Century is for more traditional cruisers.

------------------------------

Less than 2 weeks till my dream Med vacation!

Splendour of the Seas May 15, 2004 (Europe!!!)

Century 07/12/03 Eastern Caribbean FFL-San Juan - St. Thomas - St.Maarten- Nassau -FFL

Komarno(Volga)07/91 Moscow - Astrahan' - Moscow (honeymoon)

Komarno(Volga)07/90 Moscow - Astrahan'- Moscow

Admiral Nachimov(or Nakhimov) (Black Sea)04/1986 Odessa - Batum

GO BRUINS!!!!

Wow...all of us can say at one time or another that something could have been a little better on each of our cruises however I can honestly say that on both of my cruises the good far out weighed the bad.

Too bad the ship wasn't to your liking.

Dan

CARRIBEAN PRINCESS JAN 2005

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CARNIVAL'S LEGEND JAN 2003

CELEBRITY'S CENTURY DEC 2003

We were also on this cruise. It was the best we've had in our nine cruises. Why? Service, attention to detail and food in that order. Interestingly one of the only minor irratations of the trip was an open sitting lunch tablemate, who complained about the motion and the fact that everthing on their last Princess cruise was better.

My response to her was the great thing about cruising is the number of options you have to find your match. Just as there are Hyatt and Marriott people, Ford and Chevy people, and over the roll and under the roll people; there are Celebrity and Princess people. It's great to have options and favorites. I hope Shappy has better luck next time.

We on the other hand, booked number ten to be a return to Century next January.

Sea Ya!

Happy sails to you!!

 Century - E-Carib

Okay I'll defend shappy as I understand what she was talking about. With every crusie we learn more about each ship and crusie line. Not liking things doesn't mean everyone should attack ...that's why I like these boards...so I can learn more. I learned how important the intineray is because the times in port we way too short..only St. Thomas had a normal length of time. We were always the last ship to arrive and the first ones to leave.

The deserts are the best I've had..but most were creamy..even the chocolate cake was layer sponge cake with chocolate mousse filling/frosting. There was no "heavy" tortes other than cheesecake which also was a lighter cheesecake. Thank goodness...I would have gained a ton with all the desserts I ate.

I would sail celebrity again for the service and attention to detail as already mentioned by someone else. That said, those factors are probably why so many on board were elderly. Carnival draws high percentage of rowdies, and this crusie draws in the more sedate. Although I LOVED every cruise I've done, I think I'm learning to find my fit. We will try Royal Carrib or Princess for a crusie with a higher percentage of more active people. JanineO PS. The dj was bad and we couldn't figure what he was trying do with how he chose his songs..The disco was pretty dead although we did hit it once for some good music but it only lasted a short while before the songs were bad again.(

Century 5/1/04 DESTINY 4/03

You guys are too funny. I've been taking cruises for 30 years. Just because someone points out the negative doesn't mean they didn't have a good time. I had a fantastic time. I've been on so many cruises one can't help but compare. For me service is number one and celebrity does a fabulous job. When I came home and told my husband they were charging for movies in the stateroom he couldn't believe it. Ditto for charging for the spa jacuzzi. That's really nickel and diming it. EVERYONE I talked to was pissed off about the short port time, I've been to those ports many times so it wasn't a make or break thing, I just don't like being rushed.

You guys need to chill. I travel a lot and always have a fantastic time. Is this just a "celebrity is the best" board or do you want to give people information?

Shappy, reviews are supposed to be the negative and the positive, I agree.

I re-read yours a couple of times and I can see where a few folks came across a bit harsh to your statements.

I was trying to give you an honest opinion back. Now you said you had a fantastic time. When reading through your review, I got the impression you and your husband had a "less than average" week.

I guess that is the downfall of the internet sometimes. We cannot "read tone" or see facial expressions.

Next up...HORIZON Sept 18th to Bermuda!

See My Century and Mercury Pictures at:

http://community.webshots.com/user/lovescruising

Shappy

First of all we are not all old !!!!

Next the spa pool is free if you are in a cc room or better as far as Pay per veiw movies yes you pay for them but there are free movies and tv but we are not that old that we sit around our room long enought for them as there is always something todo or just sleep!!!

I don't want you to think we are picking on you but this is a public forum you had your say and we have OURS!!!!

Jim

SEA BREEZE 98

OCEAN BREEZE 99

MAJESTY 2000

SENSATION 2001

CENTURY JULY 2003

CENTURY JULY 10 2004