celebrity-century12

Note - this page contains multiple reviews.

Name: Jim & Jaime Hegedusich
Email: jjhege@aol.com
Age: 40 & 38
Occupation: Computer Network Engineer & Mom
NumberOfCruises: 2
TravelAgent: No
Ship: AmericanHawaii-Independence
SailingDate: February 26, 2000
Itinerary: Eastern Caribbean
Cabin: 1206/ Sky Suite
FoodDiningRoom: 92
CruiseDirector: 92
CabinComfort: 90
FoodRoomService: 90
CruiseStaff: 90
CabinAmenities: 92
FoodLidoDeck: 79
DiningRoomService: 95
CabinQuietness: 80
FoodMidnightBuffets: 91
CabinSteward: 98
ShoreExcVariety:
FoodVariety: 89
DeckService: 94
ShoreExcValue:
GoodForHoneymoon:
CasinoStaff: 91
PrivateIsland:
GoodForFamilies:
LoungeService: 94
TenderService: 92
GoodForSeniors:
BeautySalonStaff:
EntertainmentLounges: 90
WheelchairAccess:
ExerciseFacilities:
EntertShowLounge: 93
OverallPortsofCall: 92
BeautySalon:
EntertainmentPoolside: 91
CruiseActivities: 90
Casino: 89
AirSeaProgram:
MedicalFacilities:
ShipCleanliness: 98
EmbarkDisembark: 95
DiscoNightclubs: 93
DeckSpace: 90
Stabilization: 85
ShopsOnBoard: 90
SpaceRatio: 90
OverallCruiseValue: 89
Submit: Submit Review
Date: 10 Mar 2000
Time: 14:23:18
Remote Name: spider-wi043.proxy.aol.com
Remote User:

Comments

Eastern Caribbean 2/26/2000-3/4/2000 This was our second sailing with Celebrity, our first being on the
Mercury in 1998, so we will be using the Mercury as a comparison when we need to.

We booked this cruise in January 1999. We wanted to do another Celebrity cruise, after enjoying the
Mercury so much, and we decided we liked the islands that the Century would be stopping at on the
Eastern itinerary. My brother and sister in law would once again be sailing with us (Scott & Melissa Roe,
Century October 1997), and they really enjoyed the Century in 1997, so we decided to give it a try.

We booked this cruise through a local travel agent in Martinsburg, WV, after some research on the
Internet about how much we should be paying. We wanted a room with a balcony again, after being spoilt
for life on the Mercury, so we decided to book a category 2 on the back of deck 10. Since they only have
9 of these rooms on the Century, we had to book early to reserve one of these. So from this point on, we
had 13 months to get ready, and anticipate our next cruise! We made our final payment in August,
instead of waiting until the last minute, and our TA decided to call Celebrity and see if there was any
chance of us getting an upgrade. She let them know how early we had booked, and the fact that we had
made our final payment so far out, and it didn’t hurt to mention that we were Captain’s Club members
either! They told her to get our names off the category 2 cabin she had assigned us, that they still had
some slots left for category 2 guarantees, and to make our final payment under that. This guaranteed us
at least a category 2 room, and maybe higher. Since the Century only has the 9 category 2 rooms, and
the will make 9 guarantees, at least 9 people will be upgraded! We got our documents on February 7th,
and were very happy and excited to find out that we had been upgraded to a Sky Suite!

We booked our own air through U.S. Airways, because we had so many miles that we were able to fly first
class for the price of coach tickets, with our upgrades, for only $400.00. It was great starting off our
vacation being pampered in first class, on the way to a beautiful ship! We also had frequent stay points
through the Best Western Hotel, because Jim has to stay there on business so much, so we went against
everyone’s advice and booked a night at the Best Western Marina and Yacht Harbor. With the discount
we received, we only paid $35.00, and all of the rooms have recently been renovated. It was a really nice
room. It would have even been worth it at full price. The only bad thing about it is that they are doing
construction on the 17th street causeway, and you have to make a hairpin U-Turn into the Hyatt parking
lot to get to the Best Western. It was quite a feat on a Friday night!! It was really great waking up the next
morning to see the Sea Princess out our window, no further than 2 football fields away. We got dressed,
had our complimentary breakfast, and then went to see the Century. We couldn’t see the Celebrity dock
from our room there. But we could from the pier right next to the hotel. We were anxious to board from
that minute on!

Embarkation Embarkation was run very smooth this time around. We entered a circus just 15 months
before when we went to board the Mercury (Jim & Jaime Hegedusich Mercury 10/17/98), and this was
quite different to be entering into a calm atmosphere, with everything being handled in an orderly
fashion. As soon as we walked in at 11:30, we were sent into the processing lines, and we were checked
in, our birth certificates looked at, and our credit card imprinted. We were then sent upstairs to another
waiting area that had these huge windows that looked right out on the Century. We waited there no more
than 20 minutes, and we were walking down the passageway, having our pictures taken, and then onto
the ship that would be home for the next 7 days!

The Ship When we entered the Century we boarded on Deck 5, starboard (right) side, into the Grand
Foyer. A member of the Celebrity staff, who carried our hand held items, and escorted us directly to our
room, greeted us. It was quite an experience to walk into our room for the first time. They had the patio
door wide open to allow the breezes in, and there was champagne on ice waiting for us. The balcony was
huge! Almost as big as our cabin was on the Mercury! We checked out the whole room, even the
bathroom was big! The bathrooms in the suites are all marble, and it even has a whirlpool tub. There
aren’t any of the dispensers in these bathrooms like in the other rooms, but they do furnish little bottles of
Shampoo/Conditioner, lotion, mouthwash, cotton balls, loopha sponges, and shower caps. They furnish
the bathrooms in the suites with big, thick oversized towels. We were going to be quite spoiled for the
next week we could see! We went down Scott & Melissa’s room after that. They were in a Category 4
room on deck 8, and their room was even nice. The decided to forego the balcony on this cruise, and go
for the extra space instead. They had the regular room layout, with the 2 beds made into one under the
big window. They had more than enough storage room for everything, and liked the shelves behind the
mirror for all of Melissa’s cosmetics, and other extras they didn’t want lying around. With the way the
furniture is set up in the room, there was plenty of room for walking around. Even though we had plenty
of room for all 4 of us in their room, we did tend to stay in our room on deck 12 more!

We went to the luncheon buffet at the Islands café for lunch, knowing that our next meal wouldn’t be until
8:30. We learned this lesson the hard way on the Mercury, when we decided to wait until dinner, and
were ready to eat anything we could find by 7:00! The food on the welcome aboard buffet was tasty, and
plentiful, but not up to the quality we’d had on the Mercury. It seemed to be leftovers with sauces. Like I
said before though, it was tasty and filling!

We did our tour of the ship then, starting at the Grand Foyer, and working our way up. We looked into
the little shops on deck 5. It contained the fine jewelry, and the duty free liquor and cigarettes. Beware
buying cigarettes out of the country now. The ATF started enforcing the new law on March 1st, that
states no duty free tobacco products can be brought back into the United States, so that meant on our
cruise, we were informed on the last day, and everyone that had been buying them were not happy! The
law was made to try and control the tobacco coming into the country over the Mexican borders, but it
affects cruise ships too. On deck 6 we found the Celebrity Theater, which is done in a deep blue, and
always had a great seat. The card room, library, and meeting room are also on deck 6. Small groups
having private meetings, and couples playing board games used these rooms. The cinema is found in
the middle of this same area, and we never saw anyone going in there. I’m sure people were using it
though, because the selection of movies being shown on the cabin TV’s left a lot to be desired (more on
that later!) One of our favorite places is on deck 6. Tastings is a coffee bar, where the best hot chocolate
can be found, and according to Scott, a wonderful Italian Coffee. Now, in October 1997, when he ordered
an Italian coffee on the Century, they had a cart they would bring out to your table and show how it was
made, with quite a show of lighting the liquors and such. They even did this on the Mercury in 1998. They
no longer do this. They make it totally behind the bar. It was a neat show to watch, and yet another thing
Celebrity changed. Also, Tastings is where we could find a Danish in the morning after 10:00 if we slept in
late! In the middle of deck 6 are some more Celebrity gift shops. They have fine jewelry, where they have
a weekly contest called spot the fake (look for the biggest, brightest, stone), the Celebrity Logo shop for
T-Shirts, and a Fossils watch shop. This shop used to be a Sony shop, but it’s changed to Fossil
Watches in the last year. Going aft, or towards the rear of the ship, on the port side, we found the photo
studio. This is where all the pictures taken during the week will be displayed. Now we found out not all of
the pictures are displayed there! If you can’t find one, and you know they took a picture of you say
embarking, and it can’t be found, it just might be behind the counter. We found out the really funny, and
embarrassing ones are kept there. And when the people running the cash registered are bored, the take
them out for a look and a laugh! We personally felt that all the photos should be displayed, and if
someone felt their photo was embarrassing, then they had the option to put it in the bins provided, to get
rid of it. At the end of the photo gallery is Rendez-Vous Square. This is where before dinner dancing can
be found, along with after dinner Karaoke, and trivia. This is also where the Art Auctions are set up
during the day. Paula did a great job with the auctions, and made them quite fun. We walked away
owning three new prints, we paid $285.00 total for, valued at over $3000.00. There are bargains to be
found. Passing through Rendez-Vous Square we came to the Grand Dining Room. It is a beautiful place.
We had wonderful meals there, and our Waiter, Duman, and our Busboy, Sabu, were fabulous. They
always showed up smiling and joking, and entertained us for over 30 minutes one night after dinner with
card tricks, and napkin animals. They loved playing jokes on us, putting rubber animal on our covered
plates, and serving them as main courses! Melissa loved her rubber shark, instead of a Lobster tail! Also
on deck 6 is the promenade deck where a quiet, shaded, lounge chair can be found under the lifeboats.
We spent our afternoon here, waiting for the tenders to bring back the rest of the passengers from St.
Maarten. On deck 7 starting aft we found the Crystal room. This is a lounge that for the most part was
empty, except for 50’s sock hop night. This is a fun party, and not to be missed. Next walking forward we
came to Fortunes casino. The first couple of days the slots were paying off. Then on days 3, 4, and 5, we
called it making a contribution to Celebrity cruises! No one was winning! Then the day before we got back
to Florida, they were paying off in $20-50 increments. We feel like we broke even overall for the week.
The minimum to play at any table this time was $10.00. On our last cruise, the limit was $2.00, so we
found this to be a little steep. In the foyer area we found the last shops that had clothes, and costume
jewelry. This is the place that has the name brand watch sale on the last day. We bought a nice Seiko
with a $350.00 price tag on it for $65.00. Going past the shops we came to images. We only saw people
there once, and that was the last morning, U.S. Airways was pre-checking passengers, and giving them
luggage tags, and boarding passes! Across from images is Michael’s Club, a cigar bar. This is a room
that stayed full when it was open. The only time we would go in for Jim to have a cigar was right before
closing. When more than 3 or 4 people got in there at once, the ventilation couldn’t keep up with the
smoke. You could smell it in the passageways outside the club then. All the way forward is the top level of
the Celebrity Theater. Decks 8,9, and 10 were cabin decks. Deck 11 is the deck where we found the
Islands Café. We had a couple of lunches from the buffet line from there, but the food wasn’t any better
than the first day, so we usually went to the grill by the pool, and got a burger, or hot dog. They were
really good. The pasta that was made fresh daily on the Mercury wasn’t to be found on the Century. In it’s
place was boxed pasta like you could find at home being boiled out at the grill, and a sauce that tasted
very store bought being thrown on it. What a disappointment! In the middle of deck 11 is the swimming
area. This place looked like a tornado had hit it by 5PM everyday! The guys that had to clean up this
mess everyday could have it back in order in about 30 minutes. All the way forward on deck 11 is the
Aquaspa. Melissa went there the first day to be a model for a complimentary facial. She said it was really
nice, and would have been worth paying for! Deck 12 all the way forward is the Hemisphere. This was a
nice disco late ant night, and this is where you actually got some really good food! On the nights when
there was no midnight buffet, they served gourmet bites there, and they were quite yummy. The little
cakes were still warm. They were so fresh! Our rule of thumb though was No Toothpicks! We liked the
yummy, sweet stuff in the cupcake papers! They played a good mix of dance music, and it stayed lively
all week. There was always a good seat. In the middle of deck 12 is where we could find a lounge chair to
catch a few rays on our way back to our room, which was aft deck 12. All the way aft was a small video
arcade, and the Sky Bar, which is closed to construction, to make it the Alternative dining room. Deck 13,
aft, was an observation deck of sorts, but there were still people using it as a jogging track in the
morning, forgetting that rooms were directly under them! Believe us! You can hear the tromping! Deck 13
forward is the jogging track!!

Entertainment The entertainment that was provided at night was quite good. The entertainment staff had
something for everyone. The shows in the Celebrity Theater were worth going to after dinner. The ‘On
Broadway’ show they featured was one that we had already seen on the Mercury, but we still enjoyed it.
Scott Peterson, the cruise director could be seen all over the ship, and talking to everyone. He was highly
visible, and very funny. We attended the art auction one afternoon when he was the auctioneer. He wore
us out just listening to him!

Food As I stated before, the food in the Islands Café was tasty, even what would be considered good. But
it just wasn’t the same quality we had 15 months before on the Mercury. Now the food in the Dining room
was quite good. We only had one problem, and that was the night of the Filet Mignon, the waiter had to
take one of them back 3 times, because the medium well piece of meat was bleeding! On the 4th try, it
was wonderful. We always felt like we could ask for an extra dessert, or entrée, and in some cases, they
were just given. On the lobster night, we had 3 extra lobster tails on the table, and never asked for them!
We crawled out of the dining room that night! We had breakfast in our room each morning, and the room
service breakfast was really good. So overall, the only place that wasn’t really quite up to Celebrity
standards was the Islands Café.

Good For Families, Seniors, and Honeymooners This cruise had a good mixture of people on it,
particularly seniors! We had so many assisted seniors getting on the ship at once, that it took almost 15
minutes for them to get down the passageway for pre-boarding. Now a few of those same seniors could
be seen pushing those wheelchairs around the island as shopping carts a few days later! It was really a
good show to watch some of them! These same people could also be seen on the last morning, sitting on
deck 5 in the same wheelchair, waiting for a crewman to push them back down the passageway, and get
their luggage for them!! Now don’t get me wrong, these people were the minority, and we did have quite a
few older passengers that did need help, and they were very gracious about getting it, but these people
that use the system to their benefit, was unbelievable! Because of the time of year we sailed, we didn’t
have very many children on board. In the afternoons we would see a few children with the children’s
counselor in the Island’s Café getting ice cream and snacks. The kids seemed genuinely happy to be with
them, and seemed to enjoy themselves. We had a few honeymooners on board, and there were more
than enough quiet, private places for them to go! We even had one couple that had just gotten married
in Ft. Lauderdale on the ship, before we departed, and the whole wedding party, including families, went
on the honeymoon with them!

Ship Cleanliness This is one thing we could never criticize on Celebrity. If anything they clean too much.
There is always someone that can be seen cleaning something somewhere! Everything was always being
picked up, tables cleaned quickly, spills cleaned quickly, and chairs put back in order quickly! Very rarely
did we find anything where it shouldn’t be!

Cabin We were fortunate enough to be upgraded to a Sky Suite for this cruise, so we found the cabin
space to unbelievable. We loved having the extra drawers and cabinets to store stuff. We loved the extra
space to entertain. The balcony had 2 lounge chairs, and 2 regular chairs with a table for eating on, plus
additional space in the sun, if we wanted to lie out there to catch rays. We had an unbelievable Butler
that served us all week, named Lawrence. He came in every morning with our breakfast, showed up
precisely at 4 with tea and snacks, and always seemed to catch us as we were going to dinner to wish us
good night. Because we had the bigger room, Scott & Melissa spent time when we were in port, there,
and Lawrence came to see us as a party of 4. When we went shopping on the first day in St. Thomas, we
had 2 nice Celebrity canvas bags to keep. When we got seasick, he brought in medication for 4, and
afternoon tea, was always for 4! At the end of the cruise, we made sure Lawrence was tipped for 4!

The only problem that we had that could be connected to the cabin was the Celebrity Network, which is
the interactive TV. Over 6 days we watched CNN World News, the Discovery Channel, and 2 movies a
day that played over and over. On the first 2 days at sea, instead of watching ‘Runaway Bride’ and
‘Mickey Blue Eyes’ over and over, it would have been nice while we were rocking and rolling if we could
have ordered a pay per view movie, or even played some in room casino games. It would have been nice
to see what our account was. None of this was available to us until late Friday night!

Stabilization I don’t know if this particular complaint we can put here, or under acts of God, but we put this
under stabilization. We were excited to be going to San Juan by way of cruising from Ft. Lauderdale. Not
anymore! According to the Captain, the ship does a really nice rock and roll, followed by a huge pitch, for
2 straight days, because we don’t get to the Caribbean until we hit San Juan. For the first 2 days we were
in the Atlantic, which is very deep, and the ocean currents are very strong, and go in the opposite
direction of the ship. We felt sick for 2 days! From now on we cruise from San Juan! From the time we left
San Juan, it was smooth sailing!

Islands San Juan: As far as we were concerned, Celebrity stops at San Juan to pick up fuel! They have a
couple of excursions you can go on, like see San Juan at night, but if you do these, you miss dinner, and
get room service! We took a quick walking trip to the Hard Rock Café, and picked up some souvenirs,
just to get our feet on solid ground! When we left San Juan at 12:30 AM, it was to the sound of the band
Vibz, out on deck, and our island Night Party. St. Thomas: This is the island for snorkeling, swimming and
SHOPPING! On St. Thomas our duty free allowance was $1200.00 each, so this is where we did our main
shopping. We took an open air taxi to the main part of town for $2.50 each/one way, and shopped until
early afternoon. Then we stopped at the Hard Rock Café to eat, and pick up the local Hard Rock
souvenirs (we left teenagers at home that love this stuff!) We picked up another taxi in town to take us
back towards the ship, and had him let us off at the tramway that took us up to one of the highest points
in St. Thomas to get some unbelievable harbor shots of the ships! It was $12.00 per person for the tram
ride, but when you include everything we did, we were only out $34.00, and the excursion that included
the island site seeing, shopping, and the tram, was $38.00 each! St. Maarten: Another good snorkeling
spot, and shopping haven. There were a lot more places for shopping in St. Thomas, but if there was
something you forgot, you could probably find it in St. Maarten. They were still doing some repairs, and
construction because of the Hurricane, but overall it was pretty nice. Stop in at the little place where they
sell the Guavaberry Rum! They give free samples of the slush they make with it. Very, very, yummy on a
hot day! St. Maarten is the only stop where we had to tender in, but they use local tenders, and at one
point they had 4 going, so by 9:45, we could go to deck 3 and get on a tender, and get to shore quickly.
St. Maarten is another picturesque place. The pictures we took from the ship, looking towards shore look
like postcard! The different colors of blue in the water were beautiful. Nassau: If you haven’t remembered
to get everyone a souvenir, then this is the souvenir spot! We were able to get T-Shirts, 4 for $10.00
here. We brought back enough so no one would be left out, and our kids have plenty to get through the
summer. Most of the people getting off the ship there were heading to Paradise Island. From talking to
the people around the ship, the favorite spots were St. Thomas and Nassau! We had an NCL, Disney,
and Carnival ships in port with us in Nassau, so when we left at 7:30, it was beautiful leaving the harbor
with the 3 ships lit up against the sparkling lights of Nassau.

We didn’t do any shore excursions on this cruise, but wandered off on our own. Because all of the ports
we stopped in were very crowded with tourists from other ships, we never felt unsafe.

Disembarkation We got back to Ft. Lauderdale around 5:55 Saturday morning. It looked like an airport
behind us with the ships backed up waiting to come into port. The Sea Princess went into port first, and
we followed her by 15 minutes. It was really sad to see the lights of Ft. Lauderdale come into view, and
see the partying condos that we had passed, just 7 days before, very quiet and still in the early morning
hours. We had to get up early on the final morning, because even though we booked our own air, we still
had to check in with U.S. Airways on the ship. Celebrity contacts the airlines that come on the ship at
disembarkation, with a passenger list, so they can pre-check them. The airlines that participate in this are
U.S. Airways, Delta, and Continental. Anyone flying out on anything else can sleep in! We had to check in
at 6:30, even though check out time in your cabin isn’t until 8:00. We waited on deck 6 at Tastings for
them to start calling out the color assignments they had given us the day before. Because we were
Captain’s Club (and Suite Passengers), we were given white tags, and we were off the Century by 8:45.

Overall we had a fabulous time on the Century, and we know we will go on Celebrity again. We know we
wouldn’t go to San Juan again on the Century, or another ship as small. It might be worth trying again on
the Millennium. We got home and started to look through our brochures, and travel sites, and we’re
looking for a cruise to do in 2002. Celebrity has been great to us, but if the right type of ship, and the
right itinerary, came along, we could be swayed to try something different!!!!!!!

Name: Kyle Cole
Email: kyle@ktcis.com
Age: 38
Occupation: Computer Services
NumberOfCruises: 2
TravelAgent: No
Ship: Celebrity-Century
SailingDate: 3/4/00
Itinerary: Western Carribean
Cabin: 4115/7
FoodDiningRoom: 85
CruiseDirector: 85
CabinComfort: 85
FoodRoomService:
CruiseStaff: 75
CabinAmenities: 80
FoodLidoDeck: 70
DiningRoomService: 90
CabinQuietness: 60
FoodMidnightBuffets: 70
CabinSteward: 90
ShoreExcVariety: 75
FoodVariety: 90
DeckService: 78
ShoreExcValue: 75
GoodForHoneymoon:
CasinoStaff: 75
PrivateIsland:
GoodForFamilies:
LoungeService: 90
TenderService: 90
GoodForSeniors:
BeautySalonStaff:
EntertainmentLounges: 85
WheelchairAccess:
ExerciseFacilities:
EntertShowLounge: 85
OverallPortsofCall: 75
BeautySalon:
EntertainmentPoolside: 80
CruiseActivities: 80
Casino: 90
AirSeaProgram:
MedicalFacilities:
ShipCleanliness: 85
EmbarkDisembark: 85
DiscoNightclubs: 85
DeckSpace: 75
Stabilization: 85
ShopsOnBoard: 85
SpaceRatio: 85
OverallCruiseValue: 88
Submit: Submit Review
Date: 12 Mar 2000
Time: 11:11:27
Remote Name: dt122n3e.tampabay.rr.com
Remote User:

Comments

This was our second cruise; we did Alaska on Holland America about 3 years ago. We found ourselves
routinely comparing the ittenierary and the cruise lines themselves.

In our opinion, the food on Century did not compare with Holland America. The dinners were always tasty,
but the presentation was lacking. The presentation seemed to get better as the week progressed. We
found the quality of the food during both breakfast and lunch to be well below the Holland America
experience.

The staff was not as polite and accomodating as the Holland America staff on our previous cruise. We
were more then pleased with our waiter and house keeper, but did experience a few situations with other
staff members during the cruise.

One of our biggest complaints was the Nickel and Dime inconvienences that collectively became a pain in
the butt. Soda's were an additional cost at all times, including during meals. They would shut down
beverage stations (juice, water, coffee - soda had to be purchased from a server) during various parts of
the day. This meant that you had to go here and there to locate a drink. Cups were the small juice size.

The casino was 4 times larger then the Holland America casino and the payout seemed reasonable.

The entertainment was better then Holland America.

The room seemed smaller then Holland America.

The elevators worked very well. On the Holland America shp the elevators were so slow we always took
the stairs.

The night clubs and bars were nice.

All in all a nice trip, but will will probably book Holland America again before Celebrity.

Name: Frank Tyburc
Email: tyburc@mediaone.net
Age: 55
Occupation: Educator
NumberOfCruises: 3
TravelAgent: No
Ship: Celebrity-Century
SailingDate: 02-19-00
Itinerary: Western Caribbean
Cabin: 5056
FoodDiningRoom: 95
CruiseDirector: 90
CabinComfort: 95
FoodRoomService:
CruiseStaff: 95
CabinAmenities: 90
FoodLidoDeck: 85
DiningRoomService: 95
CabinQuietness: 90
FoodMidnightBuffets: 85
CabinSteward: 95
ShoreExcVariety: 90
FoodVariety: 90
DeckService: 85
ShoreExcValue: 90
GoodForHoneymoon:
CasinoStaff: 85
PrivateIsland:
GoodForFamilies:
LoungeService: 85
TenderService: 80
GoodForSeniors:
BeautySalonStaff:
EntertainmentLounges: 90
WheelchairAccess:
ExerciseFacilities:
EntertShowLounge: 95
OverallPortsofCall: 95
BeautySalon:
EntertainmentPoolside: 80
CruiseActivities: 80
Casino: 90
AirSeaProgram: 90
MedicalFacilities:
ShipCleanliness: 95
EmbarkDisembark: 90
DiscoNightclubs: 90
DeckSpace: 80
Stabilization: 90
ShopsOnBoard: 80
SpaceRatio: 90
OverallCruiseValue: 95
Submit: Submit Review
Date: 25 Mar 2000
Time: 16:53:40
Remote Name: h002078133694.ne.mediaone.net
Remote User:

Comments

After booking the cruise on the Century fourteen months prior to the actual cruise, the day finally came.
We booked our air from Boston a day early just in case of inclement weather. We left on an 8:15 flight
and it snowed like crazy starting at around noon. A narrow escape!

We stayed at the Ft Lauderdale Airport Hotel (arranged by Celebrity) which was very nice and not, as
we feared, right next to the airport and noisy. The hotel restaurant had a nice supper buffet and a nice
breakfast buffet which were very reasonable.

The ship was beautiful. The weather in the Western Caribbean was PERFECT that week. The food was
wonderful as expected – always hot and delicious. The beef entrees and the soups were my favorites
(especially the cream of roasted tomato soup). Being from Massachusetts and being known for my
seafood chowders, I was hesitant to order the clam chowder, but it was pretty good.

The casino was more fun than on my two previous cruises on the Norwegian Majesty. We actually had a
few nice little hits on the slot machines. We eventually gave it all back, plus a tidy donation. But at least
we had fun and saw that it was possible to hit. The slots on the Majesty were real quarter gobblers by
comparison.

The entertainment was better that I was expecting and we enjoyed the nightly shows very much. The
theater was beautiful and not at difficult to get a good seat every night.

The service was excellent BUT…I was disappointed to be asked for that rating by the waiter. This wasn’t
done on the Norwegian Majesty, although it was done when it was the Royal Majesty (our first Bermuda
cruise). It took something away from the experience I thought. But that was the only negative and I was
very happy with everything else. Oops, not quite! I wish the promenade deck went all the way around.

I enjoyed all the islands and I was very happy with Ocho Rios, Jamaica. I was led to believe by most
people on-line that we would be grabbed at and hassled by venders. It never happened. The Dunns
River Falls were so beautiful!

Loved Xcaret and the underground river experience. We were very impressed with the whole place and
HIGHLY recommend it. I didn’t care for downtown Cozumel. I guess I’m too old for the Carlos and
Charlies experience. Too noisy and wild!

We met friends who were staying on Grand Cayman at the Westin Casuarina Hotel and spent a lovely
day at the beach.

My wife loved Key West. I just enjoyed it. Maybe it was just that I hated it being the last day of our cruise.

All, in all, we loved the week and would sail on the Century in a heartbeat.

Drop me a line if you want to know anything that I didn’t mention.

BON VOYAGE/BUEN VIAJE!

Name: Donnie Reynolds
Email: donnier@mindspring.com
Age: 36
Occupation: Construction Management
NumberOfCruises: 6
TravelAgent: No
Ship: Celebrity-Century
SailingDate: 3/4/00
Itinerary: Western Caribbean
Cabin: Cat. 10 - Inside
FoodDiningRoom: 93
CruiseDirector: 89
CabinComfort: 92
FoodRoomService:
CruiseStaff: 89
CabinAmenities: 90
FoodLidoDeck: 90
DiningRoomService: 93
CabinQuietness: 92
FoodMidnightBuffets: 92
CabinSteward: 92
ShoreExcVariety: 87
FoodVariety: 89
DeckService: 89
ShoreExcValue: 87
GoodForHoneymoon: 92
CasinoStaff:
PrivateIsland:
GoodForFamilies: 91
LoungeService: 90
TenderService: 91
GoodForSeniors: 93
BeautySalonStaff:
EntertainmentLounges: 89
WheelchairAccess:
ExerciseFacilities: 79
EntertShowLounge: 89
OverallPortsofCall: 90
BeautySalon:
EntertainmentPoolside: 79
CruiseActivities: 79
Casino: 90
AirSeaProgram:
MedicalFacilities:
ShipCleanliness: 92
EmbarkDisembark: 90
DiscoNightclubs:
DeckSpace: 92
Stabilization: 94
ShopsOnBoard: 85
SpaceRatio: 92
OverallCruiseValue: 95
Submit: Submit Review
Date: 03 Apr 2000
Time: 18:48:24
Remote Name: user-38ld5ta.dialup.mindspring.com
Remote User:

Comments

This is a review of our March 4 – 11 cruise on the Celebrity Century. We sailed the Western Caribbean
route. I hope this information helps others in making a decision about a cruise.

First a little background. My wife and I are in our mid 30’s and do not consider ourselves “party people”.
We enjoy cruising because we like to sightsee, lay in the sun with a book, and be pampered with the
service. This was our 6th cruise. We have sailed on the Star Princess, Sun Princess, Norwegian
Windward (Wind), Sovereign of The Seas, and the Dawn Princess. We decided to try Celebrity because
of all the good things we had heard about the service and food. Now on to our opinion.

ARRIVAL / EMBARKATION

Not a lot of good news here. Our flight (I did not use Celebrity’s sea / air plan) was late getting out of
Atlanta and really late getting into Fort Lauderdale. We, along with 3 other couples arrived in Fort
Lauderdale an hour before sailing. The Celebrity rep met us at baggage claim. The baggage was slow
to show up, then the cruise line bus drove 5 mph to the port, then the driver and the security guard at
the pier decided to launch into a 5 minute comedy routine about the ship leaving us (they did not know
how true their gag was). By the time we signed in, we just barely made it on the ship. Celebrity gets
failing marks here. All of the ground crew knew we were cutting it close and no one made any effort to
speed us along. One bright point here, we did not have to wait in any lines to check in or have the
traditional Welcome Aboard photo taken.

Sail away was very nice. The Captain blows the horn as you sail past condos and the people in the
condos blow horns and sirens in turn.

SHIP FEATURES

At just over 70,000 tons, the ship is very big. However, it is laid out very nice and you never get the
feeling of the size when on board. Deck 5 has the main lobby, which is 3 stories tall and has the
customary shops and service desks. A pleasant underused area. The lower level of the Grand Dining
room is also on Deck 5.

Deck 6 has the Main entry and upper level of the Grand Dining room. This is truly a beautiful room. You
enter on Deck 6 and if your seats are on the lower level, you have to go down a very dramatic stairway.
The only problem with this is EVERYONE has to enter through two double doors on Deck 6. This causes
a massive traffic jam in the Rendez Vous lounge just outside the dining room. Deck 6 also has several
other lounges, some shops, and the lower level entry to the theater.

Deck 7 has the crystal room (lounge) where minor shows are held, the casino, Images (sports bar) which
is very nice with lots of TV’s showing ESPN, the cigar bar, and the upper level of the theater. This deck
also has an outside promenade deck with some chairs. However, the chairs are not very comfortable
and do not recline, which eliminated one of my favorite cruise activities – napping in the shade mid
afternoon.

Decks 8, 9, 10 are all cabins.

Deck 11 is the main pool deck. It has the Islands Café, which is the largest top side buffet area we have
seen on a ship. The health club and spa are also on this deck. The pool area is typical, lots of deck
chairs – some in sun – some in shade. A comment about the health club. Nice facility and equipment.
However, the staff led aerobic classes were very limited….at least the free ones were. They offered all
types of special classes for a NICE charge, of course. My wife was very disappointed in this aspect.

Deck 12 is the secondary sun deck area. It also has the Hemisphere lounge. This lounge is very nice
and also serves as the disco late nights. One feature of this room that I had read about and was looking
forward to is around the perimeter of the room there are telescope stations. Unfortunately, most of the
stations were missing the telescope or a part of the telescope. The ones that were complete were of so
poor quality, I had a better view with my cheap binoculars. Celebrity should either maintain this area or
remove the telescopes. This deck also has the Sky Bar. This area was closed the entire cruise. One
comment about the sun deck on Deck 12 and 14 (no 13th deck), there is plenty of room for chairs.
Celebrity only had about ½ of the chairs that would fit comfortable out for use in these areas. This
resulted in a severe shortage in chairs on sea days (even more so than you would normally expect).

DINING

We came expecting grand and great things in regards to food. Bottom line, very good. Head and
shoulder above the other lines we have sailed, I don’t think so. The service was very good I the dining
room. Our waiter Sasha took great pride in knowing all about the menu each night and freely gave
suggestions. Desserts were better on Princess (according to my wife). The usual “theme nights” in the
dining room were much less obvious. I still haven’t decided if this is a good or bad thing. I tend to like the
theme nights where you can select from an Italian menu one night, French one night, etc. Service was
also very timely except on formal nights. For some reason, service was very slow on both formal nights,
which resulted in our arriving late for the shows those nights.

We did lunch at the Islands café and the selection was good, but it seemed to repeat a lot of items. The
same goes for breakfast. Good food, just the same things repeatedly. We did eat a couple of times at
the Pool Grille. You get burgers and dogs here and pizza later in the day. All were good. Major complaint
about the casual dining areas. Beverages……between breakfast and lunch, no juice, tea, etc. AT 3:00,
no juice, tea, punch, etc. From mid afternoon, all you had to choose from was water or expensive bar
drinks. Very Low marks here.

The buffets were good, very nicely presented, just too close to our 2nd seating dinner to really enjoy.

STATEROOMS

We had an inside cabin on Deck 10, forward. We noticed very little motion and the room was fairly quiet.
The location was very good n relation to the pool deck and the health club. I have to say, the cabin was
the nicest inside cabin we have had. Plenty of room. Lots of storage space. Celebrity has done a very
good job of utilizing every area possible for storage. The bathroom was the roomiest we have seen yet.
The only down side here was the wall mounted hair dryer. Bring your own. The wall mount barely has
enough power to blow air, much less dry a full head of hair. Of course, the typical stateroom problem
was also found on the Century….only one outlet. Bring a power bar.

PORTS

Ocho Rios – We have done the Ocho Rios thing before, so we just ran the gauntlet into town and did
some shopping and returned to the ship for sunning. Our dinner tablemates expressed a not so great
experience on the tours they took, so we felt good about our decision.

Grand Cayman – you have to tender into town here which means you get a late start. Also, the last
tender to the ship leaves the dock at 3:30 so you have a short day. The ships’ staff will use this to
pressure you into taking a ships tour or hiring a taxi. We walked a couple of blocks from the dock, rented
a car ($47) and went out on our own. Loads of fun. If you get lost, just stop and ask directions. The
people on Grand Cayman are very nice and you feel safe everywhere.

Cozumel – This is the one place where we did a ships’ tour. We flew to Chichen Itza. Man, what a trip. If
you are into history, you really should take this tour. It is kind of pricey, but a lot better and a lot more to
see than at Tulum.

Key West – The ship offers lots of tours here, but we again went out on our own, by foot this time. Mainly
shopping and sight seeing in town. Very nice.

At sea days: Again, there is a shortage of deck chairs. If you want to sun, get up on deck before 10:00
am. Usually there is a lot activity around the pool, especially on sea days. Not on Celebrity. There were
some activities, but there were times in the middle of the day that the pool deck was basically dead.
Celebrity could turn it up a little in this department.

GENERAL COMMENTS

This is a very steady ship. As said before, very little motion noticed, even on the first night when we were
in the Atlantic. This is typically when my wife needs a Dramamine, but not this time.

The ship is very clean. In fact to some extent TOO clean. What I mean by that is the crew is ALWAYS
cleaning. Even during high traffic times there are people cleaning. There were several times when we
were going to dinner that we had to step over or around cleaning people. They need to do more during
off peak hours and be less intrusive.

Extra costs were more than expected. Exercise classes, lack of beverages during mid to late afternoon,
and no mini fridge. Oh sure there was a mini fridge in our room….with a lock. You have to pay to have
the fridge stocked and then you get the key. On other ships we have been able to stock our mini fridge
with soft drinks, etc., and offset our bar bill.

Overall, Celebrity does a good job. But some of the details are better on other lines. If we had to rank
the lines we have sailed with they would go….Princess, Norwegian, Celebrity, RCCL

Feel free to e-mail me with any questions on this cruise or our others.

Back to Celebrity Century