Century 5 nighter, Jan 26-31

It was our first X cruise and we arrived with very little wait to a nice friendly ship with a glass of champagna not mimosa. After being given ours we saw another waiter with the ones with the OJ. Each staff member was lined up welcoming us, but no one took us to our cabins. We tried to get to the cabins early, it was about 12:30 and we were told when we were right in front of the cabin to leave since it was not 1 pm. This was our first small ship and we did not mind it at all. It was nice getting around so fast since it took only about a minute to go from one end to another. The ship is very nice and does not look its age at all. The cabin, inside, 8025 was fine and the bed was comfortable, with ample storage space. We hardly saw our cabin steward, Norma, who proved to be just fair. We would leave our cabin and 2 hours later then bed was still unmade. The shows were very poor with very little to do after dinner(late seating). The quality of the shows I thought were better on RCI by a long shot. The singing was close to horrible with us cringing when the one singer opened her mouth. She either shouted or sang through her nose. The choice of sets were ridiculous to say the least.... a stove, refrigerator as a set? The put robes on the 2 singers and give them stuffed animals???

The teaser comedian on the frst n ight was very good but we were told that he would have another show during the week. We waited but on the last night he again only teased us with about 10 minutes. The juggler/comedian was nothing special and very full of himself. He told us to say hi to him and his family when we see him. The next day I did and he grumbled at me, after I nicely said I would not take up much of his family time but wanted to say hi and that we liked his show..... to this he snarled and his wife said thanks and he turned away. They paraded around like celebrities.... he was not all that at all! Seen it all before! Our dining room service was pretty bad. Shocked that X does not served the bread, which we loved on each RCI cruise. Every day it was something else and hand served. On X they put a basket down with sliced bread and 2 rolls for a entire table to fight over, and touch. I passed! We never got our water glasses filled and each night I had to ask over and over again for iced tea with lemon. He even could not remember my husbands nighly order of tea with honey. Each night he asked.... we even told him every night....but every night he asked. Only once did he use the crumb butler to sweep the crumbs away. The food was not very good either, nothing mouth watering.

On the last night we decided to join another couple we met from our table and go to Muranos. They were given free meals for certain issues they had. They were also sent a wonderful bottle of wine which we all shared. Since they were not paying we all could not complain much. They also said the were sharing the free meal so they split it with us. So we paid for one person and so did they , plus a tip since we knew that they were not getting the full tip since 2 of the 4 meals were free. None of us thought that meal was anything special. Portofinos last year was much better. I had nothing that was wonderful.

The goat cheese soufle was good and different but nothing wonderful, and that was the only thing that was different. The lobster and scallops ( and he put in some shrimp) was all over cooked. When the waiter asked how is everything I told him that the scallops had sand in it....and showed him the part I spit out with all the grit and he just shrugged. I could not make an issue out of it because one of our meals were free because of the other couple and did not want them to feel uncomfortable. The other couple also did not like the dish and did not even eat it, and gave it to my husband who will eat any shellfish! At the end the chef came out and asked how it was, and looked at the clean plates and said then that is my answer.... we just ate it because we were hungry and we had no other choice at that point. The dessert was nothing special either.

I was really disappointed in the service and the food and the shows. Other than that, it was a relaxing cruise because there really was not much to do. We loved meeting some wonderful people, fellow cruisers, and some staff. We loved playing the trivia games( won 3 of them) and taking home some cruise junk, as we call it. Would I return? Yes, but only if the price was low. I would not pay more to go on a X cruise VS RCI. The cruise that we did right after was spectacular.... put all of our other cruises to shame. Now that was a feast of the senses....food was melt in your mouth wonderful, ship was gorgous, shows were a work of art, unlike anything we ever experienced at sea. That Cruise line I will return to.

Odd, not one person commented?

Sorry you had such a disappointing cruise:(

It was our first X cruise and we arrived with very little wait to a nice friendly ship with a glass of champagna not mimosa. After being given ours we saw another waiter with the ones with the OJ. Each staff member was lined up welcoming us, but no one took us to our cabins. We tried to get to the cabins early, it was about 12:30 and we were told when we were right in front of the cabin to leave since it was not 1 pm. This was our first small ship and we did not mind it at all. It was nice getting around so fast since it took only about a minute to go from one end to another. The ship is very nice and does not look its age at all. The cabin, inside, 8025 was fine and the bed was comfortable, with ample storage space. We hardly saw our cabin steward, Norma, who proved to be just fair. We would leave our cabin and 2 hours later then bed was still unmade. The shows were very poor with very little to do after dinner(late seating). The quality of the shows I thought were better on RCI by a long shot. The singing was close to horrible with us cringing when the one singer opened her mouth. She either shouted or sang through her nose. The choice of sets were ridiculous to say the least.... a stove, refrigerator as a set? The put robes on the 2 singers and give them stuffed animals???

The teaser comedian on the frst n ight was very good but we were told that he would have another show during the week. We waited but on the last night he again only teased us with about 10 minutes. The juggler/comedian was nothing special and very full of himself. He told us to say hi to him and his family when we see him. The next day I did and he grumbled at me, after I nicely said I would not take up much of his family time but wanted to say hi and that we liked his show..... to this he snarled and his wife said thanks and he turned away. They paraded around like celebrities.... he was not all that at all! Seen it all before! Our dining room service was pretty bad. Shocked that X does not served the bread, which we loved on each RCI cruise. Every day it was something else and hand served. On X they put a basket down with sliced bread and 2 rolls for a entire table to fight over, and touch. I passed! We never got our water glasses filled and each night I had to ask over and over again for iced tea with lemon. He even could not remember my husbands nighly order of tea with honey. Each night he asked.... we even told him every night....but every night he asked. Only once did he use the crumb butler to sweep the crumbs away. The food was not very good either, nothing mouth watering.

On the last night we decided to join another couple we met from our table and go to Muranos. They were given free meals for certain issues they had. They were also sent a wonderful bottle of wine which we all shared. Since they were not paying we all could not complain much. They also said the were sharing the free meal so they split it with us. So we paid for one person and so did they , plus a tip since we knew that they were not getting the full tip since 2 of the 4 meals were free. None of us thought that meal was anything special. Portofinos last year was much better. I had nothing that was wonderful.

The goat cheese soufle was good and different but nothing wonderful, and that was the only thing that was different. The lobster and scallops ( and he put in some shrimp) was all over cooked. When the waiter asked how is everything I told him that the scallops had sand in it....and showed him the part I spit out with all the grit and he just shrugged. I could not make an issue out of it because one of our meals were free because of the other couple and did not want them to feel uncomfortable. The other couple also did not like the dish and did not even eat it, and gave it to my husband who will eat any shellfish! At the end the chef came out and asked how it was, and looked at the clean plates and said then that is my answer.... we just ate it because we were hungry and we had no other choice at that point. The dessert was nothing special either.

I was really disappointed in the service and the food and the shows. Other than that, it was a relaxing cruise because there really was not much to do. We loved meeting some wonderful people, fellow cruisers, and some staff. We loved playing the trivia games( won 3 of them) and taking home some cruise junk, as we call it. Would I return? Yes, but only if the price was low. I would not pay more to go on a X cruise VS RCI. The cruise that we did right after was spectacular.... put all of our other cruises to shame. Now that was a feast of the senses....food was melt in your mouth wonderful, ship was gorgous, shows were a work of art, unlike anything we ever experienced at sea. That Cruise line I will return to.

Sorry you had bad cruise while we had wonderful cruise on a same ship a few weeks before you did. We had basket full of bread (different kinds) at our table everynight and even at lunch time in MDR.

Sorry you didn't enjoy your cruise. We love Celebrity. No complaints from us. Some people you just can't please. Maybe you have too high expectations.

We just returned from a 5 night Century Cruise. We are relatively novice cruisers (this was our fourth) but frequent travelers. Previously we had sailed with NCL and Princess on 4-7 night itineraries). I was greatly looking forward to the Celebrity experience and had convinced my wife that this should be a level above NCL and Princess. We booked a CC cabin which I thought would enhance the experience. I have to concur with many of your comments. We booked two nights at Murano's and I did have very high expectations after reading the boards. It is a pretty room and service was exemplary. I had lobster bisque which tasted like dishwater (we noted another diner had returned his also).They promptly made a very nice Ceaser to replace. My wife had table prepared Dover Sole which was beautiful. I had the lobster scallops dish and found it overcooked also. Overall, a very nice restaurant but not in my opinion worth the 60 per couple (much more than other lines' specialties I believe) which we enjoyed just as much). We didn't use our second reservation.

CC provided some nice extras including a bottle of champagne and canapes. An expanded room service breakfast which was really appreciated and the table on the balcony was very welcome. In short I would want definitely want CC but wouldn't pay a large premium for it.

I did notice that on NCL cruise last year (balcony room) we received a personal tour of the ship and to our room from a very pleasant hostess which really was a nice start. I thought that CC might have included this touch also.

The ship was well maintained but showed its age. Plasma TV was nice touch in room.

Cons:

Pool chairs a daily struggle to secure

Entertainment Shows very lame (juggler- dance show-comedian-weak pool band)

Assigned dining- we had our requested table for two but I am (personal preference) a convert to open dining and I am sure Celebrity will have to move in this direction.

MDR Food- was good but not any better (my opinion of course) than NCL or Princess

Pros:

Martini Bar and nightclub great

Jazz band, guitarist, string quartet, piano entertainment very nice

A more laid back environment than other lines

Aqua Cafe-great fresh food -couldn't believe it was not crowded all the time

Overall, we had a great time and I would not hesitate to go on Celebrity again. I have come to the conclusion that all of the mainline cruise companies (NCL, Princess, RCCL, Celebrity- I won't include Carnival since I am still leery from their rep) have a very similar product and ship, ports, room and of course price would be the primary decision makers for me. Still waiting to find a "bad" cruise and hope that we don't.

I appreciate your honest, balanced report. Hard to believe a cruise can be a totally negative experience as portrayed by OP. Why don't you post your review as a separate thread - I think most people have been pretty turned off by OP's review, hence the small number of replies to the thread.

Go Sox!

Thanks Sandi for your kind comments. I was a bit reluctant to post my critique because everyone's cruise experience is so subjective (one person is upset if the towel bar in their Royal Suite is tarnished and another can dine on cold pizza for seven days and be content). However, I did learn a great deal from the board prioir to our cruise so I thought it my duty to chime in with some opinions. With your encouragement I will expand my comments and post.

Always glad to hear from another Sox fan and South Sider.

Way to go - I am a very "discerning" person - (my family would say "complainer") so I certainly understand how some people are more forgiving than others of lapses in service, room problems, etc. than others. We all have our pet peeves too - mine are noisy kids and smoking (not in combination obviously)!!

Looking forward to your review -

Did I portray it to be totally negative? I think not. I said the ship was beautiful and we still had a nice relaxing time. The lounge singer outside of the dining room was excellent and we went to dance there every night before dinner. But, a bread basket in the middle of the table when sharing with all unknown people at the table is not my idea of sanitation. Serve it like RCI does and so many others. Put it on the bread plate before hand...anything but having all strangers putting their hands on every piece of bread to find something they want. Our service was not very good, but I also acknowledged it was just our unfortunate luck of a less than great waiter. When trying Murano, NOTHING was special at all, as the other poster did agree with. When you pay for a specialty restaurant and get the same dessert there as I did in the MDR on RCI any night, then something is not right. It was nothing like Portofino where the appetizers were fantastic and mouth watering as were the desserts. The entertainment was the worst ever on a ship, as was the pool side band. No caribbean music with steel drums but old rock and roll music like on prom night with a C grade band..... At best. The cabin was beautiful and very good storage, the nicest we have had since we downgraded from doing balcony to inside cabins to save some money. The staff when we walked around was always nice and everything was very clean. But X sets itself apart from RCI by saying they are a step up in service and fine dining. I did not see that at all. Oh remember I also noted that our cabin steward took forever to make up the room....did I care...not at all. But it was a noticeable difference when on other cruises we would leave and come back and it was done. I meet some great people and had some very nice relaxing time since there was not much to do...which was perfect and we expected that since we tried and LOVED the smaller ship. No complaints on the size of the ship or how the ship looked.