Soccerfan

Copied my post from the Carnival section.

We got off Celebrity Century yesterday. This was our first cruise with a line other than Carnival (8 cruises) so just wanted to put my 2 cents worth in :D

Red writing is another cc members comments :)

Embarkation:

Celebrity: We just walked in no lines, no waiting it was great. (we got there at 11:45am the ship didn’t sail till 10:00pm.) Was offered a glass of champagne or OJ when we got on board. This was the easiest boarding we ever had. Celebrity wins hands down.

Carnival: we have always waited in line and when you thought you were ready to board there would be another line it seemed.

Definately agree with this, sometimes our Embarkation with Carnival has been close to resembling a warehouse where everyone is herded in. Not a fun way to start the cruise. No stress with Celebrity here

The room:

Celebrity: While the rooms are smaller than Carnival, the mirrors on one wall made it seem larger and the décor was slightly better. The bathroom only had 2 sets of OK towels. :(

I agree with this as well, the Celebrity rooms appeared to be warm, cosy and inviting. I really liked them and did not miss the extra space as they were well designed. Carnival wins on the bathroom issue though, I didn't like the towels or the above counter small sink that was pretty useless except for brushing your teeth in. Washing your face resulted in water everywhere on Celebrity.

Carnival: much more storage and the beds are softer and more comfortable. Carnival gives you a big basket of shampoos, razors and lotions etc (never the same each time.) We always had 4 – 6 sets of nice white fluffy towels in the bathroom and the shampoo and body wash in the shower seemed to be better (just my opinion, the shampoo on Celebrity dried my hair out, I should have brought my own, always did but Carnivals was a good quality and worked well for me.)

Our Celebrity pillows were lumpy and the bedding wasn't that nice, give me Carnival here!

The food:

Both cruise lines are comparable with quality; Pizza on both lines is really excellent. Celebrity has homemade ice cream YUMM. Waffles are the best. And in the deli they have Potato chips. We did not find the spa restaurant I probably would have like it. The buffet was never crowded and we were always able to find a table. True

Carnival had soft serve that is available 24 hours a day. Carnival has a wider variety of food, there was always several different nationalities represented in their food. I like the WOK station where you can pick and choose your ingredients, sauces etc and they cook it for you. The Deli is much better also. We missed the warm rolls and bread at dinner time also.

We tried Muranos, the speciality restaurant on Celebrity Century. You could chose 1 starter, 1 Entree, some cheese and a dessert, BUT if you are prepared to pay $145 per person instead :eek: you will get a 5 or 6 course meal with a sample of wine at each course. We stuck with the peasant menu of $30 each. It was nice but not enough, Harry's on the Carnival Liberty puts Muranos to shame. A big point for Carnival, Celebrity should take a few lessons from Harry's here.

The dining room on the Century was very quiet and I found that I missed the personalization of the service, our waiter was professional but we never felt we knew him because of this.

Ambience of the Ship

Celebrity's ship was beautiful, very elegant and soothing. Carnival's decor is pretty loud. Depends what you like.

Celebrity was pretty quiet in general, this was nice depending on what you wanted.

I have to say that the ship's crew on the Century was always very very pleasant, so many times staff wished us a good cruise and welcomed us and it appeared genuine. Although Carnival has good staff for the most part Celebrity does take the award on superior customer service.

What I did not appreciate about Century;

- No irons! I was looking for a laundry room to do a quick iron over my dress before dinner, there was none. Had to be sent out to be pressed instead.

- Soda Card included a large insulated mug in the cost, this was great and Carnival should do the same but no Pineapple juice etc at the bar with a soda card. You had to pay.

- No water fountains on pool deck that I could locate.

- Beautiful bar aft ship on deck 11. Don't warn you about flying soot! My friend ended up with a black face and I found the the inside of my beach bag was black due to soot falling into it. Staff said sometimes that happens :eek:

My Biggest beef on Celebrity was not with the cruiseline or the staff but rather the arrogance and snottiness of some of the passengers, for example;

There was a medical emergency at sea the day before we arrived back into Miami. Not certain, but someone said a pregnant woman had an appendicitis and needed medical aid immediately. The Coast Guard was called and they flew in to airlift this passenger and a nurse off the ship. All the deck chairs on one side had to be pushed back from the pool area to the covered deck area for safety reasons due to high wind that would be caused by the helicopter. The people in the covered deck area on our side just sat there and wouldn't move their chair back to assist in what the staff were trying to achieve. They did not want to be disturbed even for a medical emergency! My friends lounger was put close to another lady's lounger and the woman lifted her leg and kicked the lounger out of the way. People would just not budge to help out in this situation.

When we were leaving the ship there was a major delay due to the Immigration computers going down resulting in people standing in line for well over an hour and for some even 2 hours. This caused back logs in the hall and elevator area. The elevators were near the doors, one young couple got off the elevator with their butler and proceeded to stay right there even though they were told many times that the line up was way behind us. They just blanked everyone. Some people just ignored the fact that other people had been waiting in line and they just cut in front of other people and ignored passengers comments.

Would I cruise Celebrity again? Yes, as overall it was a lovely cruise bar a few idiots, but that had nothing to do with Celebrity, these people came on with their nose up in the air and no class and left the same way.

I like this cruise for a romantic getaway just the 2 of us or maybe 1 other couple with us but;

Before I went on a Celebrity cruise I did not realize that the Dancing waiters are fun and really do add a party atmosphere to dinner:D , I missed the fun atmosphere of Carnival. We often go cruising with a large group and I'll stick with Carnival for this aspect. I found the entertainment on Carnival better than Celebrity especially the singers on the pool deck during the day, the Celebrity ones were fine as long as they kept the entertainment as instrumental only and did not try to sing, they were so off key it was embarrasing.

Both are great cruise lines for different reasons. Enjoy

Does anyone know how long from FLL to MIA? And whats the last pickup from Carnival?

Friend has a 2:00 flight landing in FLL, ship leaves outa Miami. Will she make it? What are your experiances?

 

Thanks, thought it was ok to post this question here as it related to the OPs.:o

MAO

I am worried about our flight which is due to land at FLL at 12.10pm for a Mia cruise leaving at 4pm after what I have read on these boards.

I tried to find an earlier same day flight as we cannot travel the day before due to a family engagement, but couldn't get in earlier than this.

I hope your friend makes it but I have heard Mia is a Zoo for luggage etc.

I doubt very much that she would make a 4pm cruise. I hope her cruise leaves later than ours.

Sorry to be pessimistic but I just don't see this happening.

p.s I emailed my pvp at Carnival to ask about this issue. She sent me some company literature outlining Carnival's policy for their transfers.

It advised that transfers can be purchased at FL for transfer to Miami port for guests arriving before 1.30pm. The cost is put on the sail and sign card, no cash accepted.

(regular shuttle transportation is available for $18 per person, she may want to look at a private car or taxi due to time constraints)

Hi,

I checked out the Shuttle service from Tampa Bay to the airport at www.tampabayshuttle.com. It averages out to about $10 - $11 per person. If there are more than 2 people it appears it would be cheaper to take a taxi.

Thank you for your hotel recommendations, very helpful. I booked the Holiday Inn Express at $104 per night for 2 adults and 2 kids age 16 for August 27th. This inc. complimentary p/u from the airport and breakfast the next morning. Shuttle to the port is available at the hotel for $5 pp.

Thanks:)