Just back from the Century - Western

Let me start by saying what a wonderful time I had on the Century. This was a truly relaxing vacation and a true departure as they advertise. I may write a loong review later but I wanted to hit the highlights while they were still fresh and answer any questions as I know I wanted all the info I could get when I was waiting for my sail date to arrive.

Ship:

I felt this ship was just the right size. It never felt crowded or overwhelming. Yes - she is showing her age in spots, but aren't we all ;) and she just sparkles from the constant attention to detail that the crew provides. No matter what time or day you always saw someone (unobtrusively) cleaning or picking up after us lazy vacationers. We did notice a smell of what can only be described as throw-up near the doors out to the pool area from the elevators/aqua spa area. I'm not sure what it was or where it came from but it was just always a whiff as you went thru that area and it was on both sides - very odd.

Overall I give the ship an A-

Cabin:

We were in a cat 4 (ov) on Vista deck (9) The cabin was laid out nicely to maximize the space and there was storage galore!! We even had empty shelves and such left over. Our room was kept spotless by Pedro, our steward who seemed to me to be an invisible cleaning machine. I would step out of the room for 10 minutes, come back and the bed would be made, towels changed and a clean smell to the whole room - Amazing! I loved the roomy shower but as others have said there was some serious mildew and mold in there. This wasn't a deal breaker for me in any way but others have mentioned it and others have said they haven't seen it so I thought I would mention that I have. As quick as they turn these rooms around plus the fact that the ventilation has to be terrible with nowhere for the moisture to go I think I would have been surprised if there wasn't.

Overall I give the cabin an A-

Food:

I have to say that first of all...this was the BEST buffet I have ever, ever seen. We ate breakfast and lunch there everyday (almost) and the food was always good...sometimes it was warmer than others but still always yummy. The white golved waiters who carried your tray and brought around refills were heaven!

The pizza/burger/hotdog/pasta area in the pool was awesome. The pizza of the day always was interesting and good. The fries and burgers yummy on July 4th as the little kids all painted in red/white and blue made a parade around the pool waving their flags to the song "We're the kids in America" :)

I never made it to the sandwich area on the other side of the pool but everyone I saw who had a sandwich from there devoured it.

The dining room...my favorite place on earth I think. We had Christian for a waiter and oh my....he just could not do enough. He had 2 tables of 8 for the early seating and yet we felt we were the only ones he was waiting on. Always checking to make sure everything was done to our liking, that we had water, that we were eating, etc. *TIME FOR ME TO GET ON MY SOAPBOX AND SCREAM* :mad: Ok people I was so totally disgusted on the last night....as I said before Christian had 2 tables of 8....our table of 4, doubles and another table with a family of 8 across from us next to the window. They had Thomas (asst waiter) and Christian RUNNING the whole week. They had ice tea waiting for them every night.....many times they all had many entrees and deserts and coffee and everthing you can possibly think of then....last night....NO SHOW....tip night of course...all night long I saw Christian glance at the empty table...once I saw him grab one of the chairs and give it the tiniest of shakes (and only b/c I knew what was going on and as is in my nature I felt so bad for him and was sort of keeping my eye on him) The other waiters kept coming up to him and tossing an arm around his shoulder and talking quietly to him.....I want all of you to think of this no matter how you feel about tipping...The reccomened amount to tip worked out to 24.50 per person for the entire week...the entire week!! If you guys could have seen his face....it brings tears to my eyes to remember it even now....he busts his butt for us so that he can send a bit home to his family in Romania....and 1/4 of what he usually makes for the week was gone...what is so easily tossed away on a couple of drinks makes a huge difference to all these people who make it so easy to relax and forget about the day to day so please, please, please don't do what that family did....*ok off soapbox now*

Dining room rates an A

Food an A- ........and only b/c I had a couple of questionable entrees - rubber chicken and fish...but I just ordered another and all was well

Ok - I need to scoot...this takes awhile to write so I will write about the ports and entertainment in detail tomorrow.....

Sad to be back but if you have any questions ask away....

Dawn

Great start to what sounds like will be a very fair review. I'm so sorry that those people did that to your waiter. It breaks my heart!! Anyway, I can't wait to hear the rest of it. As to the smell, I have no clue what it could be but I'll say it's been there the last three times I have been on her. I wish there was a way they could get rid of it but I guess that's easier said then done. I'm sure they would if they could.

Dawnp;

Thanks very much for the quick review. Please continue as soon as you get settled back into your home routine. We are sailing the Century next Saturday (7/17) also doing the Western Carib. We would like to hear about your experiences at each port. I'ts very sad to hear that the waiter was so poorly treated. As a rule we tip according to the suggested amounts if the service is average. If the service is above average, we always tip extra. Great service should be rewarded. Fortunately, we have never encountered bad service nor have we ever witnessed someone "Stiffing" anyone.

Looking forward to hearing more about your cruise.

Hi Dawn !

I am happy to hear you had a great time on Century. I am sailing on Century, the Western Caribbean itinerary next Saturday. I hope our experiences will be as great as yours were.

I am sorry to hear what happened to your waiter. It always upsets me, when the waiter gives you great service for a whole week, and people have the nerve to stiff these people out of money they SO MUCH DESERVE. I also agree with your comments that perhaps, the cruiselines should do something about it, but I really wouldnt hold your breath on that. I totally appreciate everything they do for us all week, and when the service is great, I tip MUCH more than the recommended tip.

Can you tell me a little more about your waiter, Christian ? We had an Excellent waiter onboard Summit a few months ago. I am wondering if it is the same person. It would be great to meet up with him again. Do you have a photo of him ? If you do, perhaps you can post it on here.

Thanks for the excellent Review !

Regards,

Andy

Dawnp;

 

Thanks very much for the quick review. Please continue as soon as you get settled back into your home routine. We are sailing the Century next Saturday (7/17) also doing the Western Carib. We would like to hear about your experiences at each port. I'ts very sad to hear that the waiter was so poorly treated. As a rule we tip according to the suggested amounts if the service is average. If the service is above average, we always tip extra. Great service should be rewarded. Fortunately, we have never encountered bad service nor have we ever witnessed someone "Stiffing" anyone.

 

Looking forward to hearing more about your cruise.

Hi PBK !

I am on your Cruise next week too ! Did you register for the Cruise Critic Party ? I dont know if they are having one yet or not on this sailing, as you need 25 people registered in order to have one, and as of the other day, we were close.

If we do have one, I look forward to seeing you at the party !

Regards,

Andy

Hi Dawn !

A few quick questions..... Is Allan King currently the Cruise Director ?

Also, can you tell us who the featured entertainers were on the ship ? Is the Ladder Guy onboard ? I have seen him a few times, and he was hysterical.

Regards,

Andy

If you do have the CC party I would be interested in how it is handled. On the 6/5 cruise we had no one attend from the ship and the photographer did not show. The SH came late and said this was how they did it on Century. I talked to Alan King and he said no, he should have been there and others from the ship. That it was a scheduling snafu that wouldn't happen again. Just curious if that was true. Would appreciate an update if you get your 25.

Hi Andy - Yes Allan is still the CD...He was great! I even found myself looking forward to his groaning jokes every evening :D We had 41 signed up for the cc party and 9 showed up...ok, I admit it I was napping by the pool and didn't go - BAD DAWN....but they scheduled it for 11 am on our first "real" day and I had only gotten a few hours of sleep the night before the cruise...I was whipped! I met up with ppl from here all over the ship though and my traveling companion did go to the party...we all wished they would have scheduled a second party mid-way throough the cruise. I bet more people would have shown up then but that first morning you are still in discover mode and there is so much you want to do......

I have pics of Christian (of course!) and will post as soon as I transfer from the other computer in a bit. We were at table 644, upper level.....

and onto the entertainment.....

Good morning....where does the line for the buffet start??? :rolleyes:

Entertainment:

It was with a small amount of trepidation that I approached the Century Theater that first night for the first show. The reviews on Celebrity's entertaiment have been so mixed on here...

Now I don't know about the other Celebrity ships, but the Century has got it together!! There were 3 entertainers this week: Janine Gardner, Comediene (funny, funny, funny!) Steven Sorrentino, singing impressionist/comediene - (Hillarious and soooo good!) and the infamous Michael James (the ladder guy!)..he is an "OMG I laughed so hard I couldn't breathe!" entertainer. They were all so good and I can't believe, still, that I saw them all as part of the cruise fare....I would pay to see all of them again for sure.

The Celebrity singers and dancers did 3 shows: Vegas then and now, The Beat goes on and a Tribute to Broadway...all of them excellent but the last one (Broadway) was just spectacular! When they did Lion King at the end I had goose bumps and there was nothng half done about any of these shows...they were done to the hilt as far as lights, special effects and costumes!

Daily entertainment...Ok I admit to spending most of my day time on the ship by the pool so I can only speak to what they did there but it was fun! They always had something fun to do...I even got to be a judge for the cannonball contest :) They had trivia, ice carving and veggie carving demos, Mr. Century competition, volleyball tourneys, Vibz the reggae band (very good and lost of fun in the Crystal Room in the evenings....ask them to to teach you the Reggae dancing - wax on, wax off - lol) pillow pole competition (big pvc pole over the pool - 2 ppl climb on and beat each other with beach balls in pillow cases - lol) They even played bingo by the pool the last sea day. They gave out fun prizes for everything - t-shirts, luggage straps and what the staff calls Dom Perignon'ISH champagne - made me giggle everytime (hey, drink it up...that stuff has an expiration date you know...lol) ...I got a sunglasses strap for being a judge and got to be on cruise ship video...love that - lol

The did Karaoke most evenings later in the Crystal Room - I never saw it but it seemed very popular. The Two Hot Duo played in the RondeVouz lounge most evenings (the lounge right outside the dining room on deck 6) They were good - lots of show tunes and stuff. One evening the Celebrity Orchestra played there (they also played in most shows) they were spectacular! I could have listened to them all night long - the trumpet player is also the band leader and he really knows how to read a crowd and switch gears or keep something going if the crowd is into it. He had a really fun personality and it showed!

I had planned to spend time in the casino but the shows and the ship itself was so much fun that I barely went in there at all...a few nights I made a small contribution and left onto other fun things - there was just so much to do...

For Entertainment Century gets and A plus, plus.... if you were bored it was because you didn't look :)

Welcome home. It sounds like a great cruise. I do hope they did the right thing and even though they did not come for dinner left him a tip anyways. Maybe they put it on their credit card or something. I hope they did him right. deb

Hi Andy - Here is a pic of Myself (left) Christian (middle) and JaneMV (right)

Hi deb - I hope so too....you do have the option of putting your tips on your seapass, but they give you cards that you have to put in the envelopes to hand to your servers so they can redeem them (as Alan explained it) All I can hope is that they went to breakfast the next morning to give it to him......

Welcome home. It sounds like a great cruise. I do hope they did the right thing and even though they did not come for dinner left him a tip anyways. Maybe they put it on their credit card or something. I hope they did him right. deb

dawn, I was glad to hear your review of the entertainment. I travelled on 6/26 - 7/3 eastern Carib. In my previous cruises I rarely would see the shows. This time we were with a large group and with the other guys I had to go. I was enthusiastic after the first show. Allan King is GREAT. all the shows were GREAT. Thanks Celebrity. BTW the story of the stiffing was disheartening. On Carnival they add the std amounts to your room charge and if you want it removed you have to say something about why you were disappointed. I am sure this is because, IMO, they seem to have a lot more potential stiffers on the "FUN" Ships!!!

In the words of Steve Martin I don't tip I OVERTIP!!!:)

Ports of Call:

I will admit to knowing nothing about Celebrity when I booked this trip. In fact I knew nothing about CC...I booked this trip because the dates were perfect, the ports were all new to me and the price was cheap....then I found CC...

Ft. Lauderdale - We flew in the morning of the cruise and it was a 10 minute cab ride from FLL to Port Everglades. It was worth the 10 dollar cab ride to leave all the others in the airport waiting around for the transfer bus to fill up. Word of warning - there are a couple of guys at the cab line and they will INSIST on putting your luggage in the cab and then want a tip for moving your suitcases a foot from the curb into the trunk...

Ocho Rios, Jamaica - Beautiful! We took the Dunns River Falls/Dolphin Cove excursion. The bus ride was an adventure but our driver talked the whole way about all we were seeing and about the people and culture so it was very fun (even as we were hanging on hoping not to die - lol) The climb up the falls was soooooo much fun - it looked intimidating at first but just put one foot in front of the other and go - you'll be glad you did! Dophin Cove was dissapointing...we didn't have to the touch package so we could only look from afar and the teeny, tiny strip of rocky beach with a few crowded beach chairs around it....well we looked for a minute and hopped back on the complimetary shuttle (which ran every 10 minutes back to the port) and checked out the shopping area around Margaritaville. If you have something to eat at Margaritaville you can use the beach area without hassle there and it was georgous! Otherwise there is a small charge to use the beach, rent chairs, umbrellas etc. They also have parasailing and stuff there if your interested.

Grand Cayman - Very beautiful! We did a stingray city, snorkeling, beach break package here. This was a great package. You must see the stingrays if you haven't - they are HUGE! the snorkeling was awesome its so shallow you can see everything and the amount of sealife is just amazing. The boat they took us out on had a glass bottom so it was a lot of fun to see everything on the trip back to the dock. Its not very deep so you really can see a lot! Then back on the bus to go to seven mile beach for lunch and swimming. The beach was spectacular and a must see.....the place we went...well....lets just say they were very short with all of us - we just ignored and enjoyed the beautiful sun, sand and water ;) When we got back to the port we had just enough time to run into a few shops and pick up a few souveniers before it was time to go so time there was too short but that is the same for all the ports of course....

Cozumel, Mexico - we docked about 3 miles from town here and as our excursion wasn't until 1 we hopped in a cab to go into to town. Cabs are 6 bucks each way per trip not per person so don't feel like you will save anything by sharing one. The shopping was nice, there were a few bargains to be found (sliver bangle bracelets for a buck a piece!, big bottle of pure vanilla for 46 pesos) but some things were quite expensive...all I can say is do your homework on jewelry prices before you go as I think you could really get taken if you aren't careful. A lot of stuff wasn't marked so you could almost see them sizing you up as they gave you a price....say no....they will keep coming down to the "real" price....lol

We did the catamaran (party boat), snorkeling, private beach break excursion here. Oh my what fun! The snorkeling wasn't as impressive as Grand Cayman and it was quite a bit deeper but they had a photographer taking pics and attracting fish and the catamaran was fun! The beach was wonderful and many beers and margarita's were had by all - btw...there were about 6 ships in town that day and we alllll met up at the private beach. It was fun to talk to everyone from all the diiferent lines and hear what they thought about them! We got back to the dock at about 3:30 and hopped a cab for the requisite trip to Carlos and Charlies and a yard (or 2) of Margarita's - lets just say that we made it back to the ship before it left port and I went straight to bed (what happens at C&C's stays there... thank god ;) )

Key West - Feeling HOT, HOT, HOT! It was about 100 degrees and 110% humidity here - yikes! but.....First of all....to the people in cabin 4110 who never made it to immigration at 7:30 and had to be called a million times until we finally got off the ship at 9:00 after we waited and waited and waited for you.....THANKS :p

Yes - the ship clears immigration here (makes getting off the next day a breeze) but it may take some time so if you are booking your own excursions don't plan on being off the ship too early as every single person on the ship HAS to go and clear before even one single person moves from the ship - this includes all the kids - everyone MUST show up in person.

We didn't plan anything here...just hopped off the ship and wandered downtown - very touristy and expensive but I am glad we got to see it. We were back on the ship by lunch and enjoyed our final day by the pool......

Any questions?

Thanks for a thorough and enthusiastic report! Can't wait to do the same cruise in August. Wondering if you had any spa services and roughly what they cost. Any feedback on the fitness center? What do they have, is it crowded, any long waits for equiptment?

I walked through the spa the first day and that is the extent of my knowledge....the gym was in the spa and it looked nice....there just wasn't enough time this time though we have been discussing going back for the Eastern Route :)

What a great review. I'm ready to sail her again.:D (Of course, I'm always ready to sail her!);) Thanks for sharing your fun with us.

Garry

A great review of the Century.Glad to hear you had a great time.I saw Janine Gardener on my Horizon cruise back in 2002;she is very funny. I also enjoyed the Celebrity singers and dancers.I will never forget on our March 2004 cruise on the Century when they performed the Lion King number on the roughest sea night.It was amazing!CLSmith

Thanks guys - I've enjoyed reliving my trip this way. Got all my pics back today so I will be uploading them to webshots soon and will post the link. If anyone needs to know anything else just shout.

Dawn

Thanks guys - I've enjoyed reliving my trip this way. Got all my pics back today so I will be uploading them to webshots soon and will post the link. If anyone needs to know anything else just shout.

 

Dawn

Hi Dawn !

Again, thanks for all the information about your trip. I am also doing the Century Western this Saturday. After reading all your great comments, I am MORE excited (if that is even possible) about returning to Century this week !

By the way, your waiter Christian, was not the same waiter I had on Summit. I am glad he was a great waiter for you. I also thought about him being "stiffed", and MAYBE the folks at the other table put the tip on their room charge. At least We can hope so, right ?

Regards,

Andy

Dawn,

Thanks for the review of the Century we will be on her again in August-can't wait. I was just wondering if you remember any of the movies they showed in the cinema. My husband is a movie buff and if at all possible loves to take one or two in on the cruise. Thanks again for all of your details!

For Winediva,

When I answered your post on another board, I forgot to mention the T-pool! I don't know how I could forget that - I loved it!! It's like a hot tub on steroids! Just be sure and take an "old" bathing suit, because the T-pool will definitely ruin it.

Dawn:

Thanks for a great review. We are glad you had such a wonderful time. We read on the roll call board (they just came back) that some people were not happy with the food & condition of the ship. This was contrary to everything we had been reading. We saw the Ladder Guy on the Horizon a few years ago, he was the best entertainer on the ship.

Andy;

Nice to hear you're joining us. There's a post on the roll call board for our cruise. We have all agreed to meet at the Mast Bar on Saturday at 4:30, right after the life boat drill. I hope you'll join us.

Last year on the Millennium we had about 25-30 people at the CC party. The SH was there along with the photographer. Celebrity put out a nice little spread of sweets and we all had a really nice time.

Peter & Meryl

Dawn - thanks for tryin!

Shark - thanks for the tip on the fancy T-pool. I will check it out.

Anyone have any comments on the spa services or fitness center? Just wondering how they rate against NCL and RCCL lines.

Bremmerh - the had "The Triplets of Belleville" and animated film and some other historical documentary....nothing that interested me unfortunately....

pbk917 - you know...you make the trip what you want it to be...could I have sat around and found all kinds of fault all over the place? probably...but I was having too much fun and enjoying the pampering way too much - she is the age she is and she probably does need a refurb in areas - but so what...I had a wonderful glorious time and I wouldn't change a thing! I only added a few comments into my review that were less than stellar b/c 1) they were there and 2) it can't all be wine and roses or it isn't believable imo

Andy - Have a great time...I know you will enjoy yourself and will feel truly pampered!

Dawn