Century Photo Review, 12/11/10, 5 day

Reviewer

DH and I have cruised seven times. This was our second Celebrity cruise. We live NW of Baltimore. We’re in our 40’s but have two little ones that we left at home this trip.

Photos

I am including only a few photos in the review. Many more are here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/cyntil8ing/CelebrityCenturyDecember2010#

Pre-cruise

A threat of snow in the forecast made us question our decision to travel the day of departure, but my parents were coming to our house to stay with our kids and they couldn’t arrive before Friday evening. So, we stayed at a hotel near the airport the night before our 6:45am flight Saturday morning.

At the airport, we were directed to the regular metal detector so my junk was left unpeered at and ungroped. Whew!

Our flight was on time and uneventful.

We booked transportation from FLL to POM with SAS Transportation. This is the second time we have used them and are very happy with their service. We will continue to use and recommend them. We collected our luggage from baggage claim and called to tell them we were ready. They directed us outside where Cesar and the van were waiting for us. It was a full van with passengers going to all the ships departing that day.

Embarkation

After arriving at the port just before 11:00, we were told there was an inspection going on and that boarding would be delayed. We waited outside of security for about an hour before being allowed to check in. Check-in was a breeze and we waited just a few minutes in the chairs to be able to board. We were onboard the ship before noon. The elevators were not in service because of a generator test, so we hoofed it up 5 flights with our carryons. A little exercise to start the cruise. We were told our cabin would be ready by 1:00, but it ended up being just after 2:00.

Our check-in greeters:

The Ship

This was our first time on Century. It's a beautiful ship. It had none of the frills of newer ships, but that's fine by me. It can carry 2,100 passengers but the cruise director said there were only 1,600 on board. It certainly never felt crowded and I can't really remember waiting in any lines.

Cabin

We had Sky Suite 1221. This was a great cabin. Back in September, Celebrity had a buy one get one half off sale and we got a great deal on this cabin. We couldn’t have been more pleased. Huge balcony. Part was covered and part open.

The only downside was the people that couldn’t read and decided to jog on the sports deck above us. There were about half a dozen signs directing them to the forward jogging track. It usually stopped after two or three laps, so I assume they were eventually directed to the right place.

Our butler was great. He took good care of us arranging for snacks the night we hosted our table mates for the start of a cabin crawl. We also really enjoyed the afternoon tea (well, coffee for us) being brought to our door.

Main Dining Room

We had late seating dinner. We requested a medium size table and were seated at the very back of the dining room at a table for eight. It would have been a lovely view if it hadn’t been dark.

For the first time ever, we were seated with people that actually came to dinner and that we really enjoyed eating with. On our last cruise, we were the only people that ever showed up to our table for 12. We had a wonderful time with our new friends and look forward to cruising with them again.

The food was good but not great. I am currently doing Weight Watchers, so I stuck with the healthier options (on the menu with a heart). It was mostly fish and some chicken. There was always a broth soup and a salad and I usually had both. I skipped the appetizer course. I tried a few of the no sugar added desserts and enjoyed them. There was an angel food cake with custard that was very good.

Our serving team Jeronimo and Michelle were fantastic. Our wine steward was great too. We ordered wine every night and he was always there with a recommendation and to never let our glass get empty.

Breakfast in the dining room was ok. My choices were limited, but I always found something to eat.

Buffet

Food was not a big thing for me on this cruise. I always found something to eat and was never hungry. I enjoyed the low-fat frozen yogurt and the sushi. The sushi was not the best I’ve ever had, but it is much better than Carnival’s.

Other food

I ate most breakfasts and lunches from the Spa Café. I would usually get my food from there but then take it over to the café to eat with my husband.

Entertainment

I didn’t care for the shows for the late diners being scheduled before dinner. I didn’t like having to get ready “early” so we skipped nearly everything.

I wasn’t all that crazy about the cruise director or the activities director. At the welcome aboard show, they had the audience screaming and shouting to win “prizes” that were really just discounts on something you then had to purchase. People screaming and jumping up and down to “win” these things was just ridiculously loud and really off-putting.

We did enjoy the wine and food pairing event. It was $15 per person to sample five different types of wines.

Another event we tried was the Chief Navigator talk about navigation. After a 10 minute delay in starting because of technical difficulties, he ended up just reading the slides of a Powerpoint presentation. At the end, he did answer questions so it got a bit more interesting. However, when he was asked a question about the fire on the Carnival Splendor last month, he went on about how that could never happen on the Century and then literally said that Carnival had “crappy ships”. Now, I’m not a Carnival defender and would have been just as bugged had he been talking about any other line. It just seemed very unprofessional.

We went to the dance club nearly every night. It didn’t usually get going until nearly midnight. There were a lot of younger people on this cruise and I think it made a big difference. On our last Celebrity cruise, the dance club was dead every night. This one was a lot of fun.

Ports

Ocho Rios, Jamaica

We booked a Celebrity excursion to Mystic Mountain with the bobsled add-on. This was a really fun day. The ride up in the ski lift is beautiful and peaceful. Once at the top, there are some exhibits to look through, some dancers to dance with, a gift shop, a restaurant and a pool with a slide. The views are fantastic. The food at the restaurant was good. My husband had the Jamaican beef patty and pronounced it just like he used to get for lunch every day when he lived in Miami. I had a turkey sandwich.

Ports (continued)

Grand Cayman

We were just in Grand Cayman in June on our family cruise, so we didn’t plan anything, intending just to go shore snorkeling. Unfortunately, weather scrapped our plans. We couldn’t tender at Georgetown, but had to take a shuttle bus into town instead. The wind and water was crazy so everything water-related was canceled. We really should have thought ahead and made alternate plans because we were carrying our gear and I only wore water shoes.

We walked around town for an hour and then returned to the ship. I went back to the cabin and spent a few hours reading and napping on the balcony. DH went ashore again to get some photos.

Debarkation

The time on our card was 7:20. However, our flight wasn't until 4:10, so I was uninterested in rushing off the ship. We waited until the last possible moment to go to breakfast in the dining room and finally cleared out of our room at 9:00. We waited until 9:30 to disembark the ship, hoping the mad rush was over. Unfortunately, the lines for immigration were very long, taking almost an hour to get through.

Once we were outside, our SAS van was right in front of us waiting. We were at the Ft. Lauderdale airport by 10:10. We couldn't check our bags until 12:10, so we went outside and enjoyed the warm Florida sun. It was snowing in Baltimore and our flight was delayed about 1.5 hours. It was nearly 11:00pm when we got home. A long day!

Overall

This was probably my favorite cruise. The ship was beautiful. I loved the wood floors everywhere. The holiday decorations were lovely. The size of the ship is just what we prefer. It never felt crowded and noisy. Fellow passengers were interesting and everyone was well behaved. If only it lasted longer. Five days was not long enough.

Thank you for the review and the pictures. We are leaving 2 weeks from today. We have Sky Suites 1204 and 1206 so we loved seeing the cabin pictures especially. We have also booked ground transportation through SAS so I'm glad to hear that they are so reliable.

We sail in April on the Century and enjoyed your comments on the ship. Enjoyed the way you tied in the pictures with your comments. Job well done.

Thank you for your excellent report. I had forgotten how much we enjoyed the beautiful Century. Great pics by the way!

hi Cindy-thanks for taking the time to write a balanced review. We're going to be on Century in a couple of weeks (4th time- shorter cruises work for us), so your pics were an especially nice preview. She's a great 'little' ship!!

I really loved the review and your great photos. Thank you.

Cindy

Thanks for the review.

My DW and I were on the Eclipse and saw the Century as we left port. We are on a 32 day Centry cruise from Perth to Honolulu in 2012 and we were very curious how the Century has held up over time.

The outside looked good to us and with your photos the inside is as we remembered her in 2004.

Glad you had a great time.

Was the temps cool like they was for us on the Eclipse? That darn cold front from Canada really messed things up.

I loved the photo album. I'm helping a coworker plan his honeymoon and they've been looking at the Century and the sky suites. These pics may well have sealed the deal!

:p

Was the temps cool like they was for us on the Eclipse? That darn cold front from Canada really messed things up.

The first two days were comfortable. I think we lucked out in Jamaica as we had a perfect warm sunny day while we were there, but it started getting cloudy and cool in the late afternoon. People we met that were staying there in an all-inclusive said the weather had been miserable the previous few days.

The last sea day was downright chilly. I felt sorry for the staff and passengers playing the volleyball game in the pool. If you look at the spectators, they're all in sweats and wrapped in towels.

I loved the photo album. I'm helping a coworker plan his honeymoon and they've been looking at the Century and the sky suites. These pics may well have sealed the deal!

Great! My husband is the photographer in the family. He's good, isn't he?

The first two days were comfortable. I think we lucked out in Jamaica as we had a perfect warm sunny day while we were there, but it started getting cloudy and cool in the late afternoon. People we met that were staying there in an all-inclusive said the weather had been miserable the previous few days.

 

The last sea day was downright chilly. I felt sorry for the staff and passengers playing the volleyball game in the pool. If you look at the spectators, they're all in sweats and wrapped in towels.

 

Your photos are fantastic ... with your blessing, we'd like to put them into a slideshow format and link them from Cruise Critic's Celebrity Century page (http://www.cruisecritic.com/reviews/review.cfm?ShipID=15).

Thanks,

Dan Askin

What great photos! Thanks for the awesome review.

My partner and I were on the next cruise following yours. Our experience was very similar to yours. The embarkation and disembarkation were quick and painless. The service was very good overall. There were a couple of minor exceptions, but nothing of any significance. The food was fine, in general. Murano was excellent and worthy of the extra service charge.

We found the entertainment to be better than most cruises we have done. Michael's Club was a nice spot to relax for the evening. The very talented pianist/vocalist, Will Foraker, was amazing. He was definitely the highlight of the trip.

The ship was in fine shape and I applaud Celebrity for keeping it so nice. It was tastefully decorated with Christmas trees, wreaths, and garland.

If any of you have fears about booking the Century, don't. No, it's not the newest or largest, but it was very nice. That's my two cents on the Celebrity Century. Hope everyone enjoys their holidays!

Your photos are fantastic ... with your blessing, we'd like to put them into a slideshow format and link them from Cruise Critic's Celebrity Century page (http://www.cruisecritic.com/reviews/review.cfm?ShipID=15).

 

Thanks,

 

Dan Askin

I doublechecked with my husband as he is the actual photographer of most of the photos, and he's happy to share them.

Thank you for the beautiful pictures of the Century. We were on her for the October 13 Mediterranean cruise which was abrubtly canceled second night out off the coast of France because of a broken rudder. Because passengers were told to leave the ship within 36 hours we never had the chance to see and appreciate what a beautiful ship the Century is.

Don't think I'll ever chance Celebrity again, but did appreciate your pictures.

Loved your format of pictures and review..

Thanks for you efforts

Srpilo