Just back from the Century 4/7-4/12 :)

[bunduo]

Just got back from the best cruise that my wife and I have been on. This was our eighth cruise but our first with Celebrity. We have cruised NCL, RCCL, HAL, and Carnival. We cruised with my three sisters. We are all in our early to mid 40's. Here is the review:

 

 

Flight:

We arrived in Miami a day early. Of course, our American Airlines flight out of Cinci was running late because of delays out of Chicago. The FAA has to do something about Chicago. Even the captain was at a loss to explain the delay since the plane arrived from Miami and was returning to Miami. It was only about a 30 minute delay. We are not business elite fliers but we fly a few times a year and I can't tell you the last time I have had a trip that did not encounter some type of problem. The worst was when the cockpit on an American flight filled with smoke and we had to make an emergency landing in Costa Rica. Flying is a monumental hassle. Thank you 9/11. Grade: C-

 

Pre cruise hotel:

We checked into the Hyatt and were given one of the best hotel rooms we have ever had. If you are staying at the Hyatt, request a room ending in 01. We had 1601, it had a balcony on one corner and floor to ceiling windows on the other wall. The room had king size bed, a sofa and two chairs. It was huge. My sisters came down and we had pleasant evening looking out on the city and the water. To top it all, we got the room for $90 through Priceline. There is a perception that if you bid through Priceline, that you will get a second rate room. Not true, at least in this case. My sisters room was not as nice and we have stayed at this Hyatt a couple of times before and those rooms were not as good. AGAIN, if you have a reservation at this Hyatt, request a room that ends with an 01...the higher the floor, the better it will be. The only negative is that the elevator only works with your room key. You have to slide it in and out before selecting the floor. For whatever reason, everyone getting on had a difficult time with the whole concept. Apparently, it is for security and keeps the riff raff out.

We strolled over to Bayside Marketplace for dinner. In the morning, I worked out in Hyatt fitness center which is adequate. Later, we grabbed a Starbucks (which is located about a block away from the hotel), walked over to the water and soaked in the sun in some adirondack chairs. We checked out about 11am and headed over to the pier. Grade: A+

 

Embarkation:

We pack light so we only had to drop off one bag to the porters. I think the porter did stand up comedy at night because he was pretty hilarious. We headed toward the terminal. From previous reviews, I was expecting to walk into the cruise terminal and see piles of dead rats and old rusting 55 gallon drums of toxic waste oozing green liquid. The terminal was not that bad. We had the express pass filled out and printed which made things go even faster. We grabbed our room keys, got our picture taken and were on the ship in minutes. We noted that most of the Celebrity representatives working in the terminal were in their 50s and 60s. In my opinion, generally, they are much better at customer service that younger people. For some reason, it gives Celebrity an added touch of class. Grade: A

 

On board/rooms:

Once onboard, we were greeted with champagne and mimosas. Both rooms were located near the elevators mid-ship on decks 8 and 9. Fortunately, both rooms were done. We introduced ourselves to the room attendant and asked if it was ok to drop off our bags. Rudy said it was no problem. We were in room 8136 and my sisters had CC room 9144. Both rooms were part of the 55 million dollar refurbishment. As far as space, the rooms are tight. They could have dropped one closet which would have helped ease the congestion. The flat screen Samsung TV is nice. It is set up so that you can keep track of your onboard account which is really convenient and cuts down on lines at guest relations. To make it perfect, they need a channel that gives all the pertinent weather information, ocean depth etc. Since the TV is LCD, why can't they set up the internet in every room? The TV would double as a monitor. The beds were extremely comfortable as was the little couch. The balcony has a table and two chairs. My only criticism about the balcony was the chair height. When sitting, the railing is at eye level and blocks the horizon. It sounds petty but it is really annoying. We ended up sitting on the table and leaning on the railing. The stars at night were spectacular. We also saw five dolphins and a ton of flying fish which was cool. The bathroom was decent size but had some mildew. The rooms, including the bathroom, never get a thorough cleaning. The caulking around the raised sinks in the back between the mirror and the sink was particularly bad.

 

Overall, the ship's public areas are elegant and tastefully decorated. The ship has some amazing pieces of art, too. Warhol, Lichtenstien etc. The pool, hot tubs were nice. The padded pool chairs are quite comfortable. The fitness center/spa area is modern and inviting. The jogging track could be little bigger and the ship lacks a promenade deck that wraps completely around so that the walkers could get exercise their food off. The casino was nice but I don't recall seeing anyone actually win anything. Seriously. Grade: B+

 

Food:

We ate at Murano's the first night. My wife has talked about it every day since. It was simply the best meal we ever had. We both ordered the steak Diane. It was the best steak ever. In fact, most all the food was delicious. The waffles, pancakes, eggs, pizza, hamburgers, wraps, and desserts in the Island Cafe were artery hardening excellent. The food in the main dining rooms was extraordinary. It was simply the best food of any cruise. We sailed on NCL last summer and the food was so bad that it almost ruined the cruise. On Celebrity, the food was so good, it made the cruise. The only negatives were the ice cream/gelato they serve in the Island Cafe and the coffee. Both were inedible. The vanilla ice cream tasted so bad, my wife through it away...and she has never thrown away ice cream in her life. The coffee was swill. Regardless of the ice cream and coffee, the food was the best part of the cruise. Grade: A++

 

Service:

Simply, the best. From the Captain to the CD on down, it was great. Our room steward, Rudy, was good and our waiter, Fliorani, was superb. He will be a maitre 'd very soon. His assistant, Oscar, was good and jolly fellow. Our glasses were never empty and are table never had a crumb. The first day while making reservations at Murano's, it was discovered that my sisters and my wife and I were sitting at separate tables in the main dining room. We went and spoke with the maitre 'd (he is easy to spot at close to 7 feet tall). We were given table 559 at the base of the staircase. It was a superb location.

 

Every contact with guest relations was positive. The crew running the tenders were awesome. The crew running the trivia games need some work but they were not bad. Overall, the crew smiled and were nice but were not phony saccharine sweet. Grade: A

 

Debarkation: Quick and painless. Our flight did not leave until 8pm so we hired Wall Street Limo to give us a tour of the city. When I made the reservation, I talked with the owner, Vito. He is a great guy. We reserved a 7 passenger SUV but he upgraded us to a stretch limo. It was raining, so we headed west to take an airboat ride in the Everglades. The rain stopped and we had a great tour. From there, we headed back to South Beach. It was so much fun climbing out of a stretch limo on Ocean Drive in South Beach. The looks on people's faces was priceless. The weather was near perfect. Howard, our driver, dropped us off at the airport around 6pm. If you looking into transportation in South Beach, look up Wall Street Limo. You will not be disappointed. Grade: A

 

Flight home:

Miami International is always in a state of utter chaos. If you acheive any sort of relaxed state while on vacation, it will be gone within minutes upon entering the terminal. Again, flying is a monumental hassle nowadays. Grade: C-.

 

Overall:

I can understand why Celebrity rates so high with Conde Nast and other travel publications. They do a great job. They do things the right way. For example, you can elect to have the gratuities for the room steward, waiter, etc, put on your onboard account. On other lines, they automatically put the gratuities on your account. I don't know how many times I have stood at guest relations listen to people complain about it. Celebrity does it the right way. I don't I will ever cruise another line. Celebrity was that good. Grade: A+

[Lois R]

Hi, thanks for the review and glad you had such a good time:)

I just returned from #11 on Celebrity and most of your review

states why I continue to sail with them.

As a new pax to the line I am happy to see you enjoyed

their product.

I swear, I don't work for them;) but I also keep coming

back because my experiences are always good.

[Cruisenouvelle]

We're leaving Mon. 04/16 for our 1st cruise on Century - your review is most timely and much appreciated. Glad you enjoyed!

[cruiseacecat]

Glad you enjoyed Century. :) She is my favorite of Celebrity's ships. Great service and very nice people. They truly cannot do enough for you. Have never had a bad cruise on Celebrity.

 

Anne

[patchen777]

I also just returned this evening from the Celebrity Century cruise and unfortunately did not have the same results as my fellow passenger.

 

I do agree that the porters, the port of miami (hadn't been there in a decade), the service of most of the staff and most of the food was A-B grades. Oh Yes and the entertainment really was excellent. Great shows with very nice performers.

 

Unacceptable was the attitudes at the spa (twice no less). First day went in and asked if I could set appointment for steam room, was first told had to do a couple's massage to use it and when I agreed to that was then told that steam room was broke anyway and not complete from renovations and that if it had been important to me (which I had said it was) then I should of called prior and asked specifically that everything that was listed as amenties was in working order. :( Not very nice.... last day at sea decided to try once again with a pedicure. Was not greeted and when I finally was, I was shuffled off to a chair and told no further infomation. After about 10 minutes, I decided this was ridiculous (still had not been confirmed for anything), I decided to leave.

 

Also unacceptable was the hour and 40 minute wait on the dock for tender back to ship in Jamacia and when you finally did reach the life boat (yes, life boat! they did not know that this port did not offer tendering services) you had to step down over 3 feet into the boat. Luckily, I caught my mother in law as she fell into the boat. Then to top it off, they shoved 4 coolers, a large trash can and 3 containers in front of us. It only got better as we were all soaked in diesel fumes puttering back to the ship as the staff driving the boat barked at other staff that he was in charge!

 

I had booked 4 rooms and they had the charges all in a disarray. Was told matter of factly that most of the time if you take care of items like this online as suggested prior to cruising that it does not work 50% of the time, hence the 3 surprise cash bills I received! ( I had put 9 people on my account and was continuing to check the account as we cruised, little did I know that 3 of them were not working properly until they sent notice the night before we arrived home setting off yet another interesting series of events with the guest relations desk)

 

Believe it or not, :) I am normally not a complainer but really just found to many nuances to ever travel with Celebrity again. The engines rumbled louder than expected and you could feel them constantly, the carpet was dingy (guess it didn't make it in the 55 million renovation), a lot of the staff at the guest relations desk were confused and inconsistent in how things worked (like our charge accounts) and to top it all off the morning we were getting off the ship, I handed our attendant his tip envelopes, (I had 3 rooms booked side by side), he took them and walked to one of the other doors and asked me where their envelope was, I told him I had combined all of the rooms into one since I had financed the trip. He nodded, took out a small knife from his pocket, opened the envelope in front of me and after he flipped through the money, finally said thank you have a nice journey home. :rolleyes: Not a big deal but I couldn't believe he sat there and did that in front of me and obviously only after seeing that tipping was to his satisfaction (I tipped over the suggested and at that moment felt like grabbing the envelope back and taking out the extra) then greeted me good bye. Very unprofessional in my opinion.

 

Needless, to say I will stick with Royal Caribbean even though they are related to Celebrity.

Happy Cruising!

[d&a Delaware]

Allen and I have just returned from the same cruise, and our experience on board was much more like bunduo's than patchen777. While I stayed on board in Jamaica, Allen went ashore and was caught up in the long lines waiting for the tenders when he returned. He doesn't do lines, so he just lay down and relaxed on the pier and when the line was gone he took the quite uncrowded last tender to the ship. Century usually gets a spot at the pier in Jamaica, and the tendering there was unusual and not well planned. We thought the dining room food was very good, as was the Aqua Spa Cafe (never crowded), the sushi bar, and for the most part the rest of the Islands Cafe. I liked the ice cream, and especially the sorbet a lot -- very tasty. We were in a sky suite on deck 12, very good service from room attendant (Michelle) and butler (Alwi). Allen had a massage on the first sea day which he pronounced ok but nothing to write home about. I tried acupuncture for the first time, and was pleased with the experience. Murano on the last night was a fine experience, both food and service. Favorite bar was Michael's, before late seating and after dinner too. Piano player/singer Norman can be very good, and bar tender Roberto was always excellent -- makes the best manhattans on the ship. Embarkation and disembarkation both very smooth and quick. Pleased enough with Celebrity to book another cruise for next spring while we were on board. So, you see, no two passengers have exactly the same experience.

 

David

[bunduo]

Patchen has every right to be frustrated with Celebrity. I would be, too, if I had the same experience. It just goes to show how two people could be on the same cruise and have vastly different experiences.

 

For example, my sister chipped the polish on her toes an hour prior to dinner. She walked up to the spa and asked if it was possible to have it repaired. The girl said, "No problem," removed the old polish and repainted her toes. God knows my sister is high maintenance but even she was quite happy with the service and results.

 

When I first heard we had to tender into Jamaica, I was extremely disappointed. Fortunately, the captain managed to get the ship to Ochos Rios an hour ahead of schedule so that we could dock. He secured the dock location for two hours. The Jamaican port authority made a mistake and gave the MSC Lirica our dock spot. Unfortunately, the mistake was at our ship's expense. Anyway, the day greatly improved when it was announced we were able to dock. It was great being able to walk off the ship. At least we didn't have to tender both ways. We had booked a private parasailing excursion that was time sensitive. We got back on the ship about 245pm after a short wait for a tender. Celebrity provides cold drinks and cold towels for those waiting in line. The line moved so fast, I barely had time to wipe my face and neck. An hour and forty minutes seems like awfully long time. The tender crews were very careful, almost overly careful that no one got hurt getting on or off the tenders. Nobody wants anyone to get hurt. The tenders they used in Jamaica are catamarans that, in an emergency, are used as life boats. In Grand Cayman, Celebrity contracts with a company that provides the 300 passenger tenders. While in Grand Cayman, I noticed some cruiselines used their own tenders to ferry passengers back and forth so it could have been worse.

 

I set up all the onboard accounts online for my sister, my wife and I. We did not experience one mistake or have any difficulty with the accounting or guest relations.

 

 

Entertainment:

I forgot to mention the entertainment. The Cats Pajamas was the best cruise talent ever. They were really good. I think their contract was up on April 12th, unfortunately. The balding older gentleman that played the piano near the Cava Cafe and Michaels was also very good. Some of the other bands were not so good. I listened in on one set that was so bad, it was funny. Matilda the comic puppet or whatever was decent but predictable. For whatever reason, every time I see singers and dancers onboard, I think of a high school musical.

 

Ports:

Jamiaca was our first port of call. It isn't a very good port. We did Dunn's River Falls and Fern Gully on previous cruise so we decided to parasail. Parasailing was a blast and highly recommended. The fun stopped once we got back to shore. We rented some beach chairs and ordered lunch. We ordered curry chicken. I'm not sure what it was but I can tell you it was NOT chicken. There were more bones than meat and I did not recognize one bone as chicken. I'm pretty sure it was cat. The curried cat came with rice and cabbage and even that sucked.

 

The tension between the cruise passengers and the Jamaicans selling beads or whatever is palpable. It feels like being in the presence of couple who just went through a bitter divorce. One of these days, a Jamaican is going to just start beating on a cruise passenger for no reason. I suppose it is inevitable whenever you get those huge differences in wealth. Jamaica is just a bad port. Next time, I'm staying on the ship where they cook cat the way I like it.

 

Grand Cayman is the exact opposite. I love Grand Cayman. Seven Mile Beach is stunningly beautiful. We've done the stingray thing so we decided on another relaxing beach day. We grabbed a taxi over to the Hyatt and got day passes. At first, they weren't going to let us since the hotel was sold out but they relented. They wanted cash, too. I have nothing to back this up but I suspect they probably pocket the day pass cash for themselves. The hotel was gorgeous. We grabbed some great coffee, unlike the ship's coffee, from the lobby and headed out to the beach. The beach chairs have covers so it was quite comfortable. We got there about 8am and stayed until around noon. We snoozed, walk the beach, and watch the little kids attempt to dig holes to China. The Hyatt is located next to the public beach so we walked over there to grab a taxi. The taxi took us back to the pier. We decided to eat lunch on the island so we started looking for a restuarant. We thought Senor Frogs sounded good. Unfortunately, it so loud in the restuarant that my ears are still ringing. We walked out and found a nice quiet place up the street. We shopped but had difficulty finding a jewelry store. Just kidding. I think every cruise passengers from the 5 cruise ships in port that day could have bought a piece of jewelry and the shops still would have had enough to do it again the next day. No bling for us. We headed for the ship around 3pm. Before getting on the tender, we grabbed a cold lemonade and a cold towel. The tender crews are really very careful fellows. They make sure everyone gets on safely...if they like you. :)

 

-Matt :)

[hillgirl20]

Great review...LOL. Keep it going.

[HoneyDad]

:) My wife, 3 daughters, 1 son in law, and 1 boyfriend were on this cruise. First let me say the weather was wonderful, sunny skies warm temperatures and nice breezes.

The flight down and embarkation all went without any problems. The crew on the Century was great! Friendly, helpful and talkative we all enjoyed are interactions with them.

My wife, youngest daughter and I were lucky enough to stay in the penthouse suite #1048. What a way to cruise, so much space for the 3 of us.

I found the food to be very good. I will agree that the ice cream at the Island Café was well awful. At dinner the lobster, veal, NY strip were all very good.

We happened on the Captain’s reception and enjoyed two martinis’ that were compliments of the Captain. That was fun. LOL

The shows in the theater were very enjoyable. The show on the last night of the cruise was the best. I just can not remember the name.

As noted by others the tender line from Jamaica back to the ship was long and it was upsetting to see some people simply walking by so that they could cut in line further ahead.

We did the day pass at Shaw Park beach hotel in Jamaica. It was nice but not really worth the $99 per person. My wife and I went to Breezes resort the year before and felt that to food and service were better there.

The trip home was a little bit of a nightmare. We were delayed in Miami for 4 hours and then finally made it to Philly only to find out at around 9:00 PM that all of the flights to Columbus via US Air that day had been cancelled and we would be spending the night in Philly with no luggage and almost all of the hotels full. We found a hotel and booked flights on Southwest for 7:00 am the next day because US Air was splitting us up and telling us 11:00 AM and 1:00 PM. We decided that we did not want to wait.

We had a great time on Century!!!

:D :D :D