Yet another Century 1/2/06 review

Celebrity Air: Fly in the day before, even if it means spending an extra night, and paying for custom air from Celebrity, just do it. Celebrity booked us from Dulles to Atlanta to FLL. There are 20 direct flight a day into FLL from Dulles. But NOOOOO, they booked us through Atlanta. The weather in Atlanta was horrific, airport shut down for 2 hours which stacked up traffic all over the eastern seaboard. Suffice it to say we were at the airport ready for an 8am flight. Sat on the tarmac forever, and finally got to the ship at 4pm (during the muster drill). We had had nothing to eat or drink because the flights were too rough for the airlines to do so. I am still shocked and amazed our luggage made it. This wasn't Delta's fault, they have no control over the weather. It's not really Celebrity's fault, because I should have piped up and gotten our flights changed the instant I saw what they had done. My lesson was learned. We got the flight home changed with the guest relations staff with no quibble, and it was the best $100 I ever spent, not to go through that again. My experiences with Guest Relations onboard was really outstanding. Unlike the phone experiences, I really felt they cared.

Embarkation: Doesn't really count, they literally ran us though it and sprinted with us up to the room to put on our jackets for the muster drill. Disembarcation was a breeze. Really really painless.

Had a SS 1210. Carpet frayed, but that is the only quibble. Really see no point in having a butler, they feel superflusous. We actually found it inhibiting, because if we wanted room service lunch we didn't order it, after finding out that even though our butler Kevin was supposed to be off from 12-3, he ends up serving your lunch if you order it whether he's supposed to be off or not. That made me feel guilty.

After reading the reviews here, I am in the minority when I say that I actually LIKE the hors o’dervres that were served in the early evening in our suite, and liked the tea sandwiches the few times we were in the room when Kevin came to serve tea. The baked goods we did not enjoy.

Entertainment: Holy Cow, the Celebrity Orchestra was bad. Phoenix, the party band was quite good, if VERY LOUD. The noise kept us off the pool deck. Did not catch the Mediterranean duo. The piano guy in Michael’s Club was quite good. I never felt that he was channeling Bill Murray. I think the CD, Allen King, is an acquired taste.

I developed an unfortunate addiction to Martinis on this trip. Which brings me to service, in general.

With the sole exception of several of the staff behind the Café buffet lines, the service was matchless. Really outstanding. From our butler and stateroom attendant, to the regular waiter in the Martini bar, to our waiter and sommelier, We have nothing negative to say. In particular, we enjoyed the company of Hendrick, the Chief Wine Steward. If you are on the Century, please attend his wine-tastings, or wine-blendings. It’s been a long time since I’ve run into someone who, with no ego involved, loves his subject and wants nothing more than for you to love it too. Everyone was allowed to have an opinion, he was a fountain of knowledge, and his professionalism was without peer. He frequently visited our table in the evenings to say hello and answer questions or make suggestions.

Food: Food is very subjective, and I feel that our opinions are in the minority. Dinign room: It was okay, but not what we were expecting. We quickly learned to listen to our waiter, Andrei. If he didn’t recommend it, we learned not to order it. Fish was usually enjoyable, as was the beef. X must have learned that people on cruises do not eat their vegetables, because there were very small portions in this regard with the entrée. I did not care for the soups, again, I’m in the minority. Loved the salad dressings. If it was a custard based dessert, I learned to order it. Crème Brulee, Pavlova, flan – all good. Presentation was marginal. Breakfast buffets were quite good. It’s hard to get decent eggs in any buffet line, but they always managed it. If you like poached eggs, as I do, the dining room did them very well. The lunch buffets were really not okay, particularly the “theme” buffet. In particular, if you are into Indian food, step away from the curry…I can’t be in the minority in this case. After a couple of days, I stuck with the sandwich and Wrap bar, and the Caesar salad, and once I adopted this habit, was well-pleased.

Unlike the other post on this particular cruise, I found everyone to be quite friendly and if I smiled nad said hello, I always got a smile back, with a word or two. I met few Americans on this cruise, many, many Canadians, and was impressed by the diversity in nationalities I both met and heard, and I don’t mean the ship’s staff. Lots of Italian being spoken, along with a surprising amount of Slavic languages among the passengers. Met several folks from Venezula, and a ton of Brits, Irish, and Scots. As a matter of fact, our table of 8 for the late seating included the two of us, and 6 Scots from Gretna. We had a blast. The multi-national aspect was one of my favorite parts of this cruise. I don’t know if it was because we were late seating, downstairs, but I made a point of looking for “dress code violations” and found almost none. At our table it was tuxes and kilts, with the braid-covered dress jackets.

In asking around among the staff, the consensus was that our cruise was a good group. And the infamous “Century pre-Christmas cruise” that was discussed at length on this board will live in the employee’s memories for a long time to come. Our butler just put his face in his hands and groaned when asked about it. Our stateroom attendant had a lot to say. In particular, is that it either seems to be feast or famine when it comes to happy guests. Either everyone is kind and pleasant on his floor, or everyone is, well, not that way. He particularly remembers the way the “other” cruise involved guests that flung food all over their rooms. He said he’s never seen anything like it in 15 years.

All our port days were wonderful, tendering staff was very, very good in GC (which had EIGHT ships in port).

Great cruise!!!!!!!!! I’d sail on Century again in a heartbeat, even without the dry-dock.