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Name: Spencer Bomar
Email: bomaryousee@sprintmail.com
Age: 37
Occupation: Small Business Owner
NumberOfCruises: 3
TravelAgent: No
Ship: Celebrity-Century
SailingDate: 8/8/98
Itinerary: Western Caribbean
FoodDiningRoom: 85
CruiseDirector: 83
CabinComfort: 85
FoodRoomService:
CruiseStaff: 86
CabinAmenities: 88
FoodLidoDeck:
DiningRoomService: 85
CabinQuietness: 92
FoodMidnightBuffets:
CabinSteward: 97
ShoreExcVariety: 90
FoodVariety: 90
DeckService: 94
ShoreExcValue: 70
GoodForHoneymoon:
CasinoStaff: 84
PrivateIsland:
GoodForFamilies: 89
LoungeService:
TenderService: 90
GoodForSeniors:
BeautySalonStaff:
EntertainmentLounges: 80
WheelchairAccess:
ExerciseFacilities: 90
EntertShowLounge: 75
OverallPortsofCall: 86
BeautySalon:
EntertainmentPoolside: 90
CruiseActivities: 80
Casino:
AirSeaProgram:
MedicalFacilities:
ShipCleanliness: 94
EmbarkDisembark: 80
DiscoNightclubs:
DeckSpace: 82
Stabilization: 94
ShopsOnBoard: 86
SpaceRatio: 94
OverallCruiseValue: 88
Submit: Submit Review
Date: 18 Aug 1998
Time: 18:51:26
Remote Name: 153.36.124.36
Remote User:
Comments
Pre-Cruise. Wife, Myself, two boys age 8 & 4. We used free
mileage to get to Ft. Lauderdale. We flew in the on Friday and
stayed at the Marriot across
from the Port. Marriott is a good choice to stay before or post
cruise. It is about a $4 cab ride to or from the port. It does
not have airport shuttle as
others do (Embassy Suites, Best Western Marina) but you should be
able to get a good rate on weekends ($84/night inclusive of free
breakfast for 2).
We arrived at the port at approx. 1:35 and received the #10
boarding card. They were on number 8 at the time. You arrive in a
large outer lobby and
wait there until your number is called. Then you proceed through
a set of doors to another room/warehouse to wait in line to go
through security.
Negative: Only one security x-ray machine which leads to a big
bottle-neck. Very long as group 10 had approx. 180-190 people in
it. They did have ice
water and punch over at one end of the room but no one wanted to
get out of line to get it. I did for the boys and that helped
keep them occupied. After
proceeding through security you went to your particular check-in
"station" to receive boarding info/paperwork/keys. Each
station had a certain sequence
of cabins from the smallest cabin # to the highest (i.e. station
one cabin #'s 4000-4300, station #2 Cabin #'s 4301-4600, etc.).
There were two ship
staff per station. This was a slow process. If you happen to be
in a line behind someone who was unprepared to check-in (as we
were-no passport info
out, and some other slight problems, Visas I think), you were
made to wait. Note: other two cruises were on NCL (Norway &
Dreamward -now Norwegian
Dream). NCL's check-in was much smarter and less wait. Typical
Bank setup. One queue with next person going to the next
available agent. Statistically,
the wait times are much improved. We waited 10-15 minutes at the
Celebrity station because of the party in front of us. My wife
switched to the other
agent's line and we were able to just get up to the front of the
line behind two other parties before the 'problem' party was
done. Note: We are Latitudes
members on NCL-similar to Captain's club on Celebrity. Even with
Captain's club, I did not see a line just for them to go to after
bypassing the wait
associated with getting a boarding number. Captain's Club does
not have to wait to go in to the check-in stations. They bypass
this part of the ordeal of
embarkation. They are able to board at 11:30-12:00 ahead of
everyone else, BUT that is only if their flight gets them there
that early. If they arrived at
the same time as we did, they would only be able to avoid waiting
on to go in to the check-in station part. They would still have
to go to their respective
station to embark. I don't think they have their own stations.
NCL has its own stations just for latitudes members and we
arrived with the masses of people
on our last cruise, but went directly to one of several 'special'
latitudes stations to receive info. I believe NCL also had two
x-ray stations also. One other
point on embarkation with Celebrity. They issued boarding
cards/keys/charge cards before you went on board. This is nice in
theory. However, If the key
was not activated properly, as another party's was not, it is a
pain. Upon boarding, you are escorted to your cabin by a waiter.
On NCL, you are directed
to your cabin upon arrival. I prefer NCL's boarding procedure and
this is why. Your keys are already in your cabin and your door is
open for your arrival.
This means all the other cabins doors are open until their
occupants have arrived. This is a perfect opportunity to look at
the size of the other cabins to
'shop' if you will for your next cruise. Some people may have a
hard time finding their cabin without a guide, but I am not one
of those people. One of the
joys of boarding a new ship (a ship you have never been on
before) is to explore the ship from aft to stern, top to
bottom.....
Everyone raves about Celebrity's
food....wonderful....exquisite....heavenly....marvelous..... I
was looking forward to this. I was very disappointed. My family
and I travel extensively. My wife and I love to eat good and yes,
even exceptional food. I am sorry to tell all those who have
submitted opinions before
and raved about the food-you must not have eaten very well before
boarding these ships-therefore not having a good barometer from
which to
compare. Celebrity tries to position themselves as a five-star
hotel up there with the likes of Seabourn, Radisson, etc. If the
food is an indicator, they are
merely marketing themselves as such. No doubt, I had some very
good meals-specifically- the salmon one night- a steak another.
But, the prime rib was
fatty and tough as well as being overcooked to my specifications.
The lobster was very hard and without taste-inedible. I have had
better at Red
Lobster....yes Red Lobster as lowly and picked on of a restaurant
chain that it is was better. The turkey entree selection was dry
and unfulfilling. The
pasta shrimp dish on the last night was
totally.....disgusting....in fact. Other table mates made the
same comment about several dishes....they were overtly
salty. Too much in fact.
Was the food on NCL better? No, I have come to the conclusion
that all ships that serve upwards of 1500 dinners/day will not be
consistently excellent or
even good every meal. Each will be hit or miss from dish to dish,
from meal to meal. We did not make it to any sitdown breakfast.
We ate at the Cafe on
Deck 11 every morning. The food was poor-fair for a cafeteria
buffet line. The scrambled eggs were far too runny and
undercooked-I went to the omelet
maker and had them scramble done eggs. The omelets were
uninspired-very basic- 3-4 items each morning-1 cheese. One ray
of sunshine with the food.
We were able to eat at the sit-down lunch twice. It was very good
both times. In fact, if I were to compare lunch to dinner-lunch
would win. Very few
cruisers came to this. Maybe the cooks were able to spend more
time on the dish preparations and thus we the cruisers were
rewarded with better
quality.
One other bright spot, the pizza which is served from 3-7P.M. and
again from 10:00p.m.-1:00a.m. was consistently good. Also,
hamburgers, hot dogs,
chicken sandwiches, fries on deck 12:00-2:00p.m. were also
good-kinda hard to screw these up.
Excursions Pretty similar to all cruise ships. Anywhere from
$8-$20 more expensive than ones you can book yourself on shore.
Note: Some excursions
are more difficult to book on shore. Ex: Tours from Cozumel to
the Mayan ruins -difficult- versus Grand Cayman almost anything
from Bus tours to
swimming with stingrays-easy and less expensive. It is wise to
book the ship's excursions on limited occasions. Others on line
will be able to help: try
rec.travel.cruises for more info -newsgroup.
Ship
Very beautiful- We as well others commented about not having an
outside deck that runs the complete outside of the ship. Except
for the very hot and
unprotected deck 14.
Activities
Not very many for a ship of this size. Very limited in nature.
Very different style compared to NCL we have been on.
Waiter/Busboys
Dressed very eloquently and formal all nights. Pretty boring and
not much personality. NCL is not Carnival i.e. 'fun ships', but
we were disappointed that
Celebrity did not seem nearly as fun as NCL. Maybe a little too
pretentious i.e. 'boring'. We can be very formal and eloquent but
this is a vacation for
goodness sake. Lighten up a little. The waiter 'Robert' was
engaging and had a trick for the kids every night.....but
something was lacking....spontaneity
maybe.
I enjoy spending money on vacation. My motto is in fact 'I only
work so I can go on vacation'. We vacation 3-6 times a year....In
fact as I write this I am at
Disney World for the next 10 days with the kids. Coronado Springs
this time. DVC for the last 4 1/2 years. We do not mind spending
them money but must
insist on receiving value when we do spend. Overall, this was not
a value cruise. Note: I said value not Premier Cruise lines. When
you spend 4-5
thousand dollars for a week's cruise on Celebrity and only 2-3
thousand dollars on NCL and enjoyed NCL as well or better, that
is receiving value.
We are booked on NCL Dream January 03 to the South. Carrib in a
Penthouse Suite (2nd highest category), and will have spent about
the same for that
as we did for Celebrity Century Outside Cat. 5. The point is NCL
is a better value than this past cruise. If you have any
questions- e-mail. My family wants
to go to a pool to swim now.
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