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Name: Julie FREDRICKSON
Email: FREDRICKSONS@WORLDNET.ATT.NET
Age: 42
Occupation: REALTOR
NumberOfCruises: 2
TravelAgent: No
Ship: Celebrity-Century
SailingDate: 9/19/98-9/26/98
Itinerary: WESTERN CARRIBEAN
FoodDiningRoom: 100
CruiseDirector: 100
CabinComfort: 100
FoodRoomService: 85
CruiseStaff: 100
CabinAmenities: 95
FoodLidoDeck: 95
DiningRoomService: 100
CabinQuietness: 95
FoodMidnightBuffets: 100
CabinSteward: 100
ShoreExcVariety:
FoodVariety: 100
DeckService: 95
ShoreExcValue:
GoodForHoneymoon:
CasinoStaff: 90
PrivateIsland:
GoodForFamilies: 100
LoungeService: 95
TenderService: 90
GoodForSeniors:
BeautySalonStaff: 100
EntertainmentLounges: 90
WheelchairAccess:
ExerciseFacilities:
EntertShowLounge: 100
OverallPortsofCall: 75
BeautySalon: 95
EntertainmentPoolside: 95
CruiseActivities: 100
Casino: 75
AirSeaProgram: 90
MedicalFacilities:
ShipCleanliness: 100
EmbarkDisembark: 60
DiscoNightclubs: 100
DeckSpace: 100
Stabilization: 100
ShopsOnBoard: 100
SpaceRatio: 100
OverallCruiseValue: 95
Submit: Submit Review
Date: 28 Sep 1998
Time: 02:10:22
Remote Name: 204.26.91.15
Remote User:
Comments
WOW, I Don't know where to begin. We were a family of five, My husband and I and our three
daughters ages 16, 13,and 12. We also traveled
with another couple who are close friends of ours. We had been concerned about wheather
our daughters would get bored for 7 days on a ship.
But, there was always something for them to do so they did'nt at all. we chose the western
carribean because my husband and I sailed on Royal
Caribbeans' Enchantment of the seas just last November. We had actually been planning to
sail aboard the same ship, however, there was no way
to have all five of us in the same room with RCCL. We were in room 9245 on the Century
which was on deck 9 and on the corner of the back of the
ship. Actually it worked out great. We were directly 2 floors down from the Island Cafe
which is where we ate all of our meals (with the exception of
dinner.) I will tell you we are so glad that we chose early seating. After dining, going
to the shows and activities each evening, (including the
midnight buffets) none of us got to bed untill at least 1am and that's really late for my
girls...The things that we all agreed on that we enjoyed the
most on this trip was unamiously, the service. We had read so much about the food so our
expections were rather high. We usually stay at the
Hyatt Class Hotels, as we are Regency Club members so, I would say that having stayed all
over the U.S we are very particular. We all agreed that
this is one of the areas that set it apart from the other cruise lines. My daughters and I
actually cried when we had to say goodbye to our dining
room staff. Eduard was our waiter. He was extremely efficient, polite and seemed to always
be in control. We honestly can say that we did'nt ever
see one mistake all week. He entertained my daughters by doing a few magic tricks, cut
their meet for them when he noticed them struggling with
their food, and seemed to be able to anticipate our every need. Our busboys name was
Gerard, and again was extremly pleasant and efficient at
the same time. Always smiling, nodding good evening and pulling back the chairs, and
laying the napkins in all our laps, it was easy to get spoiled!
Mario, our head waiter was delightful, he made it a point to make himself available for
questions or special requests and is a whiz at advice on wine
to accompany meals. all in all, when it comes to the dining room, they truly did exceed
our expectations! Our table was 507 right next to the
captains table next to the windows on the main floor, a gorgeous view of the ocean.
Request it once you get on board. I am getting choked up just
thinking about them, I think all of us girls got a little too attached!!! Oh and lets not
forget Leo, he was our favorite drink sever and seemed to be
wherever we needed him. He made it a point to smile when my daughters ordered drinks with
cherries and never once seemed annoyed, even
when we just asked for water. Remember, you can get extra envelopes ath the end of the
week and tip anyone who you feel has gone above and
beyond. We did'nt forget Leo and his extra attentiveness at the end of the week. The
midnight Buffets were excellent to see and enjoy. I would
reccommend that you stay up to see them. The Island dining area was good too, good varity
of food, great hot cereal for breakfast, I had creme of
wheat every am. My dauhters ordered room service once, and said it left alot to be
desired. We did't try it after that.
Now, a brief short note on the room stewart we had. His name was Joseph and again, was
always smiling and willing to go above and beyond to
accomodate our family of five. I was really amazed, we usually took two showers day for
each of us, and we never had to ask for extra soap,
towels, he always made sure we had adequate supplies of all ammenities. I forgot my travel
iron, however, fortunetly, our friends brought theirs, so
I was able to iron al and hang them back up till we wore them. Can you believe we had
three teenage girls and we still had enough storage space.
There were two good size areas for hanging clothes, two huge sets of shelves, and drawrs
all over the place. Our room was what I considered to
be a mini-suite. It had a full size bed for my husband and I on the side closest to the
bathroom, than a sliding door with frosted glass for privacy.
beyond that door were two single size couches that doubled as twin beds and a bunk style
single from the ceiling. Belive it or not we had plenty of
mirror space and ample shelf space for tolitries in the bathroom. However the one outlet
in the room which is in the living area was definetly not
enough. Please to maintain your sanity take a surge protector type extra plug in. We
constantly fought over the plug in for blow driers, curling
irons, hot rollers and so on. Get a clue guys, that one dinly outlet in the bathroom just
dosn't cut it. Also, there is a shampoo dispencer in the
shower, and a lotion dispencer on the wall in the bath room so don't bother to drag
bottles of those along.
The entertainment staff were great. We laughed so hard at them out by the pool doing
various activites. Don't miss the vaious games such as the
liars club, scavenger hunt and the not so newlywed games. Jason, one of the staff was
hilarious at Kareoke and bingo. Karen the associate cruise
director was very nice and seemed really set on making sure everyone was enjoying
themselves. Jim Cannon the cruise director seemed to be
allover the ship doing a thousand different activities at once, and went out of this way
to make everyone feel part of the fun. Very talented too, he
shocked us by singing on the last night of the cruise. We could'nt understand why he
waited so long to sing. We enjoyed his wife to Tamera, she
was the Park West art auctioneer, we went to the first auction to observe, making it a
point to tell each other we were'nt going to purchase any art
work. By the end of the cruise, we had purchased three pieces of incredible art. One peice
was a framed peice that we got to carry off the ship.
It's gorgeous. The other two are being shipped to us. I can't wait. Remember you don't
need oodles of money, just good credit ie credit cards...We
sincerely hope that Celebrity continues carring the auction, it may swing us to them if we
find out other lines don't participate in the Park West
Auctions. We were also fortute enough to have really good entertainment the week were on
our cruise. Michael James aka the ladder guy
performed twice during the week. he was incredible. We could have seen him every night. He
was a side splitter. We laughed till we cried. Mark
Preston (formally of the Letterman) also performed and was very good. Of the dancers, we
liked Mikaela Allen the best. She was a great
performer. She also guarded the door for embarkation, so we stood and visited with her
while waiting for our turn to enter. Embarkation was a
nightmare. Hurry up and wait, wait, wait. When we got to the dock at appox one pm we did't
see alot of people outside, inside looked like a mob.
They issued numbers to board, we were 8 which seemed ok till we realized there were
hundreds of passengers who had 1-7 ugh...
I havn't mentioned the teenager group entertainment because it seemed to be 2 or 3 on a
priority list of 1=10 My advise is to designate that to
one of the entertainment staff like julie or Karen, who can effectively round the
teenagers up and act like they want to spend time with them. I
insisted that we attend the childrens orientation and they spoke non-stop about the
programs for the younger kids. Really nothing about the teen
program. Finally one of the parents, (who like myself had dragged their teens to the
meeting felt let down when it seemed for irrelevant. So we
reluctantly allowd them to come to all of the late night activities with us at the
different lounges. -
Ports and excursions, Personally, I enjoyed this itenerary, better than the Eastern
Carribean on RCCL last year. It seemed like there was more of a
varity of things to do for less money. Thank goodness since there were five us this time.
In Ocho Rios we went to Dunns River Falls. Tip, wear your
bathing suit and tie on tennis shoes. also, take a change of clothing, they do have
changing rooms and lockers. They lead you up with a guide,
and at the same time video tape your climb. The tape was 29.95 but really good quality
with lead in of a tour of jaimaka. We did not book our
excursion thru the cruise lines, we waited till were at the dock and found a really
likeable cab drive with a 8 passenger van to take us all over the
Island for a set fee per person per day. I believe it was 20-25 per person. His name was
Howard Frances and he turned out to be wonderful. We
even convinced him to go horse back riding with us. We got his card at the end of the day
so you can call ahead and tell him when you will be
arriving and I'm sure he would agree to meet you at the dock. his no is 974-9752. Sorry
his card dos't have an area code on it. We would call him
again though. He deserves the referrels. In Grand Cayman we all (our family of 5) and our
two friends) and went to the dock to search for boat
rides to sting ray city. I had heard this was a must see from alot of my co=-workers and
friends. The funny part was, when they decribed it to me I
thought I would be in shallow water where I could touch bottom and leisurely walk among
the stingray. Ha, the boat driver took us out to the middle
the water and said, 'jump overboard'. I said, 'wait a minute I can't touch bottom here,
where's the shore? He than explained to me the difference
between Stingray City and Stingray Beach. I guess it was better after I figured out how to
breathe through my snorling gear. We got to see
amazing fish, coral and sting ray. He did have enough life jackets for everyone. I was
amazed at how good I can swim with a life jacket on. Tip,
take lots and lots of sun tan lotion or sun screen, our boat did't have shade on it. We
felt like we were at a barbque and we were to main course.
Also, major tip, we negotiated with all of the excursion people and found they all would
negotiate five or ten dollars down per person. We offered
them a five of ten dollar tip, apprarantly, they work for someone else. i thing our
bargaining power was greater because we were in a group of
seven.
Cozamel turned out to be the best place to shop. We left the ship hailed a cab and sent
downtown. The best place to shop was called LaFiesta,
bargain city but no air conditioning. I remember at one pint my husband telling me I was
getting carried away because we were worried about
carrying it back to the ship. Wow, I got beautiful Mexican blankets for four dollars, huge
conch shells for three, lace tableclothes for fifteen dollars,
lots and lots of little grabable gifts under three or four dollars a piece. tip, if you go
to Carlos and Charlies go at eleven before the noon rush gets
there. Great margarittas!
ok, now what I was dissapointed in on the ship. Prodigy the poolside band was good,
however, they need to expand their repretou to include
songs like Don't worry be happy and Kokomo, to me there are obvious cruise necessities.
also, they made this beatiful cruise review which they let
us see at the farewell party, than did't allow us to buy it. My husband thought maybe they
would send it to all of us, free of charge. wishfull thinking,
i'm afraid, although, it's a great idea is'nt it? Also, on our last cruise with RCCL we
encountered bad weather and had to forego our visit to their
private island of Coco Ca to Nassau instead. On this trip we encountered Hurricane andrew
and missed our last port of Key West. WE were all
dissapointed and felt we should have been allowd to port somewhere else.
I can't immagine being able to top the food and service on Celebrity's Century and can't
wait to sail on her agiain. I feel like we really have a goal
to work for, another cruise!!!
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