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Name: Wendy R.
Email: wendysue@mags.net
Age: 33
Occupation: Systems Manager
NumberOfCruises: 1
TravelAgent: No
Ship: Celebrity-Century
SailingDate: 5/9/98
Itinerary: Eastern Caribbean
FoodDiningRoom: 90
CruiseDirector: 95
CabinComfort: 90
FoodRoomService:
CruiseStaff: 90
CabinAmenities: 90
FoodLidoDeck: 90
DiningRoomService: 90
CabinQuietness: 90
FoodMidnightBuffets:
CabinSteward: 90
ShoreExcVariety:
FoodVariety: 90
DeckService: 90
ShoreExcValue:
GoodForHoneymoon:
CasinoStaff: 90
PrivateIsland:
GoodForFamilies:
LoungeService: 90
TenderService: 80
GoodForSeniors:
BeautySalonStaff: 80
EntertainmentLounges:
WheelchairAccess:
ExerciseFacilities:
EntertShowLounge: 85
OverallPortsofCall: 80
BeautySalon: 80
EntertainmentPoolside: 85
CruiseActivities: 90
Casino: 95
AirSeaProgram:
MedicalFacilities: 80
ShipCleanliness: 100
EmbarkDisembark: 80
DiscoNightclubs:
DeckSpace: 90
Stabilization: 85
ShopsOnBoard: 80
SpaceRatio: 95
OverallCruiseValue: 90
Submit: Submit Review
Date: 24 May 1998
Time: 22:43:13
Remote Name: 209.140.80.231
Remote User:
Comments
Cruise Review - Celebrity Century, 5/9/98, Eastern Caribbean itinerary
This was the first cruise (but definitely not the last) for my husband and I.
Pre-cruise:
We decided to book our own air and fly to Florida on Thursday night. The Century was to
depart from Port Everglades on Saturday. We stayed at the Amerisuites
hotel just off of S.E. 17th St. Causeway. It was very reasonably priced ($79/Thu nite,
$59/Fri nite). The rooms were large (with kitchenette, sofa, and oversized
chair). The hotel is tucked away behind Outback Steakhouse, next door to the Embassy
Suites. I would recommend this hotel to anyone due to the central
location and well-kept property.
In addition, we had rented a car from Avis. If you would like Avis to take you to Port
Everglades, they advertise hourly service to the Port starting at 10 a.m. We
dropped off our luggage prior to returning the car, at about 11:30 a.m. The Port employee
we handed our bags to said he would 'personally deliver the luggage
to our cabin' so we tipped him generously. We should have picked up embarkation numbers
then but didn't know any better. By the time we arrived back at the
Port, it was 12:15 or so. We were given #12.
Embarkation:
Went rather smoothly. Of course, the anticipation was killing me so I was pretty fidgety.
At 1:00 they started with the Captain's Club and physically challenged
passengers. They called the numbers in two's and we were called at approximately 1:45. The
inner hall has a ship employee serving free fruit punch if you're
interested. They also post copies of the day's 'Century Daily' so that you can review the
Saturday schedule.
The First Day:
We were in our room by 2:00 or so. Despite the assurances to the contrary by the Port
employees, we did not have our luggage waiting for us. In fact, we didn't
see our luggage until after 5:00 p.m. Our cabin was #9083, an outside cabin on the Vista
Deck, only about 6 rooms in from the Forward elevators.
We went immediately to the Islands Cafe at the rear of the ship on the 11th deck and
enjoyed the buffet lunch. The welcome cocktails ($6.25 plus tip, but hey
you get to keep the glass) were what I expected from reading other reviews.
The lifeboat drill took place about 4:00. You don your lifejackets and report to your
muster station. In our case, it was the Theater. After a demonstration of the
lifejacket they take you out on the deck to line up under your assigned lifeboat.
We returned our lifejackets and headed up to the 14th deck forward (above Hemispheres) to
watch our departure from Port Everglades. It was a lot of fun to
wave to folks in pleasure boats as well as those on shore.
Dining:
We chose to dine at the Late Seating, which was a blessing in disguise because we never
ate at the midnight buffets. We often checked them out, but never
indulged. I think that's why we didn't see a weight gain after our week aboard.
We sat at a table for 8, upstairs. As it turns out, there were only 6 people assigned to
the table. The other 4 were delightful people - a Michigan couple
celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary and a mother-daughter pair from Louisiana. As
the week went on we did more and more activities together and
referred to ourselves as the 'gang of six'.
The food was excellent, as was the service. Nightly one of our tablemates would order an
after-dinner coffee drink, and what a show that is! The liqueurs are set
on fire to 'caramelize the sugars' and then added to the coffee - topped with fresh cream.
Despite what the brochures said, for our cruise, lunch and breakfast in the main dining
room were open seating, except for the Saturday of our disembarkation.
We met several nice couples at the breakfast table. I think I ate Eggs Benedict for 5 of
the 7 mornings!
We mostly ate lunch in the Islands Cafe buffet. The waiters carry your tray to the table
for you, which is a nice touch.
Don't be embarrassed to order more than one selection off the menu, if you are truly
curious to try two different appetizers or two different soups. They are
most accommodating.
Casino: Most commentaries I read about cruise ship gambling prior to taking our cruise led
me to believe that the slots would be extremely tight. In the case of
the dollar slots, I found that to be true. However, the quarter slots were paying jackpots
left and right. I told the casino attendant about their bad reputation and
he thought that was quite humorous. He also added that the casino follows Nevada gaming
laws even though it's not necessary for them to do so. The table
minimum for blackjack was $5 and $1 for roulette.
Ports:
We did not purchase any of the shore excursions. Our 4 tablemates did purchase the tour of
San Juan. They weren't impressed. 2 of our tablemates did opt to
go on the snorkeling trip at St. Thomas. They did enjoy that. By the time we hit St.
Maarten we decided to take one of the local taxis on an island tour. We spent
over 2 hours touring St. Maarten for $20/each. That's the way we'll do it next time we
cruise.
While our trip was supposed to include Nassau, the port call had to be cancelled.
Apparently one of our fellow passengers had suffered a near fatal (and rumor
has it, eventually fatal) heart attack and had to be evacuated from the ship in the middle
of the night on Thursday. In order to meet up with the evac helicopters
we had to veer off course and were unable to make our Nassau port time. We heard (not
confirmed, but rumored) that the Nassau authorities are very strict
about the times and we had to make it there by 1:30 p.m. or lose our spot (which we did).
I heard many disgruntled passengers complaining to the guest services personnel. All were
directed to the text in the cruise brochures and our tickets regarding
the cruise line's option to cancel any ports. The moral of the story is, don't expect to
see every port and if one is cancelled, roll with it - we had a great day at
sea on Friday (the casino was very generous to us in particular that day). I know I was
disappointed but put that aside. Also, the other moral is, buy your
souvenirs for the folks back home early - we were planning to buy t-shirts, etc. for the
family and didn't get that chance.
Other tips & tidbits:
My husband chose to rent the tuxedo from the organization whose brochures are including
with your tickets. A vinyl garment bag appeared in our cabin on
Sunday, and included two shirts, the jacket, pants, bow tie, cummerbund and
studs/cufflinks. He found the shirts to be too short in arm length, although the rest
of the ensemble worked out fine. The tuxedo bag disappeared from our cabin on Friday. I
believe the cost was $79 for the week.
There are no irons for guest use. I had brought a linen dress that was terribly wrinkled
in transit. I had to pay $3.50 for the next day pressing service.
There is a duty-free shop in the port building in San Juan where you can purchase liquor
and soda, among other things. We purchased a 6 pack of Diet Pepsi
(those $1.25 sodas add up) and chilled it in our mini-bar. We also purchased a bottle of
Kahlua. Since it was packaged in a plastic bag, they didn't ask us for it
upon re-entering the ship (although we saw lots of cardboard containers full of liquor
lined up) and we didn't volunteer it.
The entertainment was very enjoyable. There were several production shows with the
Celebrity singers and dancers. There was also a comedian as well as Mark
Preston - formerly of the Lettermen.
Our cruise happened to be during the week of the Seinfeld finale. The cruise director,
Rob, announced to us on Wednesday that they were going to try and
capture the satellite feed & show it in the Celebrity Theater on Thursday at midnight.
They were almost successful (we got about 2/3 of the show and all of the
highlight show prior to the final episode) but it was also nice that they made the effort.
Bring your own over the counter medicines! I developed a cold on Sunday morning, and had
to spend $12 buying Dayquil cough medicine from the ship's
hospital!!! I later bought another bottle in Old San Juan at Walgreen's for $6. I also had
to cough up $8 for a box of Efidac later in the week.
Join the Captain's Club on Saturday!! After reading online about the benefits the Club
includes I signed us up the first day. We were subsequently invited to 2
different cocktail parties (translation: free drinks) and we got the priority
disembarkation number of 3. It's only $35 for a lifetime membership.
Disembarkation:
Being part of the late dinner seating meant our breakfast in the main dining room was at
8. We had to vacate our cabin by 8 so we brought our carry-on
luggage to the dining room. While we were finishing up breakfast they announced the first
numbers for disembarking. We proceeded directly to the exit after
breakfast and left the ship (since we had those priority #3's). Don't forget that the aft
elevators don't take you to the lobby on 5 - only the midships & forward
ones do.
Overall:
We are hooked on cruising. We have never had such a great vacation. It was both relaxing
and active at the same time. We also love Celebrity! The Century is a
wonderful boat. The service is great. I am amazed at how much the employees seemed to
truly enjoy themselves despite the long hours they put in. My husband
and I have already started to pick out our next cruise. Next time, we'll probably save a
few dollars and choose an inside cabin - we found we really weren't in
the cabin except to sleep!
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