12/24/05 Century Chistmas Cruise

[boomboom51]

My wife and I, mid 50?s, just returned from a wonderful Christmas Cruise on Celebrity Century. About us: 18 cruises, 6 cruise lines, we love to dance, enjoy the shows and the dining experience. My wife is a teacher and I work for Homeland Security.

 

Pre cruise stay at Amerisuites (just adequate), shuttle to pier with driver who needed help getting to correct pier! There were at least 5 ships in port and Fort Lauderdale was a madhouse.

 

Embarkation was a breeze, (although while we stood in the Select Member line, which seemed to move a little slow, friends who entered at the same time and were in the regular line processed before us! Onboard by Noon, stateroom was ready, we had lunch and held down a lounge chair for the afternoon. (more on those later!)

 

We had set up a Cruise critic meeting and it was poorly attended. For those that went we enjoyed meeting each other and also had a very interesting discussion with the Cruise Director, Allan King.

 

The ship in my opinion is not in need of a refit, but they didn?t ask so it will get one anyway! It is in wonderful shape and we loved it. Our only complaint about the ship is that because we love to dance we found the dance floors less than adequate, and the dance music overall below par. Speaking of which, the Mediterranean Duo were great to dance to, but they played at the smallest dance floor, which often was very crowded. If your listening cruise lines, people are now dancing more than in the past and you should take that into consideration when refitting ships and building new ones. Enough on that subject! We found the other group on board, ?Phoenix?, to be entertaining at times, but very difficult to dance to. Also, I think most ships have at least one additional group to which one could dance too. Phoenix was really there pool band so I think Century was missing a musical group.

 

The stage entertainment I thought to be overall very good. Excellent singers and dancers, three good stage shows, a very good combination juggler, comedian, ?ladder guy? (you?ll have to see the show to understand!) a below average comedian, a decent singer, an excellent ventriloquist with mediocre material, and a good stage band. The highlight was a couple that did aerial moves to music, (sorry I can?t explain it better), but they were outstanding.

 

The service was above par and our table waiter ARLISS was great. We found the food only good, and the selection to be a bit below par. I certainly did not starve but have had better quality food on other ships. The buffet was your run of the mill buffet, no better, no worse. They did have good burgers and fries for lunch. We ate all breakfasts and all but two lunches at the buffet. We had wonderful dinner companions (table for 8), which helped to make the trip memorable.

 

Casino is average with friendly staff, which is one thing we found throughout the ship. Friendly, helpful staff. We spent a good deal of time topside on afternoons and if you like to sit by the pool, which we actually prefer to be a deck above the pool away from the hustle, you will need to get there early; the chair hogs were out in force early. It really does get to be a bore watching the game of reserving deck chairs but oh well!

 

The cabin was decent size with tons of storage. We didn?t need it all, which is VERY unusual!!! Our room steward did an excellent job. No problems with the room at all.

 

Debarkation was very simple, although the Fort Lauderdale airport with 5 ships in port and bad weather in Atlanta made for getting home a chore. (Certainly not Celebrity?s fault!!)

 

Overall, as I said the cruise was exceptional. I will try and answer any specific questions if I can. :):)

[casavaha]

I have to second BoomBoom' comments. We thought this cruise to

be one our most enjoyable. We were worried about the children but

Celebrity handled that well.

 

We do not go to shows but the Duo in the lounge was great to dance to.

 

Our cabin steward Flavio was the best ever and our Servers Edith and

Carlos were great.

 

I agree the food was so so. I think Celebrity really needs to work on this.

The retrofit will be nice but the food is more important.

 

We are booking the Mercury next Christmas because that is the only

one that has both holidays and the fact that it arrives in San Diego.

[drk]

Thanks for an up to date review of the Century. We will be doing a 9 night itinerary on her 2/18...2 sea days, 4 ports and 2 sea days. If your itinerary was the same how many formal nights were there and which nights were they?

 

Our experience with X in general mirrors yours. The ships we've been on really could use more lounge music and musical variety for our tastes. Food is of course a matter of personal preference and while we have enjoyed our X cruises food it sometimes lacks variety also. However, they do beef/steaks better than any of the other comparable lines we've sailed.

 

Thanks again.

[boomboom51]

We had the same type of itinerary but because of the Holidays the formal nights may be different, although I believe there will be 3. Ours was on Christmas night (night 2), New Years Eve (night 8) and I can't remember when the 3rd one was, but it was in the middle somewhere.

 

I will agree of the meals, any beef served seemed to be the hit of the evening, except for lobster night which everyone raved about. Very nice sized lobster tails and very good.

[judyfssw]

I understand your concern about the dancing. We were on the Summit in July and then again in October. "The Party Band" was in the Rendevoux Lounge in July and they always had a packed house. Celebrity moved them to the Bar at the End of the Earth in October and it took people a couple of nights to find them but they are a great dance group. Hope you are able to enjoy them sometime in the future.

[wiselindag]

Hi to the BoomBooms and Casahava! Thanks for your review, Mr. BoomBoom -- you beat me by half a day so I'll add mine to yours. I think we agree on almost everything except the food, which I liked more than you did. Perhaps I had more beef and ate lunch in the dining room more often, so that might be the reason.

 

The middle formal night was on the 28th (our second port day) when we were in Dominica. Maybe the BoomBooms remember Mike R. saying he couldn't put his fancy clothes on for another night and would try alternative dining?

 

We lucked out on the way home. We left later in the day from Miami (after a nice visit to the Port shops and restaurants in Miami) and had no delays Miami to LaGuardia. Left Miami at 4:30 and we were home by 9 p.m.

 

Anyway, since my review is pretty long, I will divide it up into sections and try to get it all in starting with the next post.

[donnaw]

We will board her Thursday for a 2 night pre-cruise to our Opera cruise. I don't know which I am more excited about - Back on Century or a new cruise line!

[wiselindag]

Since this review is fairly long, I'll do it in parts. Here is Part I:

 

Our family recently returned from the Century Christmas/Hanukkah/New Years Cruise. I'm 57, my husband is 66 and our son is 16). This was my 16th cruise (six on Celebrity) and the third cruise for my husband and son. This was our first holiday cruise. I loved it and so did my family.

 

Embarkation

This was a breeze. Went to the Captain's Club Line, gave them my xpress pass and the passports and credit card, and was on the ship in no time. We planned to be on the ship around noon, but due to very slow shuttle service from Tri-County, got there more like one o'clock (after the guy tried to drop us off at the Millie!) Love the personal touch of an escort to the cabin... I miss that on some other cruise lines where you have to figure out your cabin location on your own. Our cabin was ready and our luggage was delivered nice and early, while we were at lunch up in the buffet.

 

Staff and Crew (Dining Room staff under Dining:

 

We received exemplary service for the nine days we were on the ship from the moment we came aboard and were escorted to our cabin to the last good-bye as we exited. In my opinion Celebrity does an extraordinarily good job of hiring and training its staff. Service is a hallmark of their ships and throughout the Century crew members greet you and make you feel welcome. On the last sea day a fellow cleaning the stairway said “hello,” and when I said, “Happy New Year” to him, he told me he hoped our family had a happy, healthy new year and a good trip home. I don’t know where this young man came from and I know English wasn’t his first language, but that kind of warm and friendly greeting from a stairway cleaner says it all to me.

 

Our cabin attendant, Iwayan, did a fine job of keeping our cabin clean and always greeted us with a smile.

 

My interactions with the Captains Club Hostess Kim, were very positive. We had not been moved up to Select from Classic (it turned out that the computer had “lost” my first two cruises), but she took care of the problem and made sure we were invited to all the activities set up for select members.

 

Ogla, the Future Cruise Consultant, with whom we booked a cruise was charming and helpful all three of the times we spoke. The Spa staff was also excellent. I had the pleasure of receiving some spa treatments from Katerina and found her to be especially nice. I also enjoyed my encounters with the Spa manager. Tanushka, the librarian, was a delight and I enjoyed the daily crossword puzzles (set out in the library along with the daily quiz).

 

I always try to sample something new on each cruise. On this cruise I tried out acupuncture for the first time. The resident doctor, Ahuva Gamliel, was both helpful and informative. I don’t think you can evaluate acupuncture’s effectiveness based on one treatment for a chronic condition, but I can say that the experience was interesting.

 

Cabin:

We were in an outside Continental deck cabin (including a bunk for son) and a queen for us, and that worked well. He didn't mind climbing up (not too much anyway) and his bed wasn't in our way (except for the ladder and my husband was a good sport about that!) Storage space on the Century was plentiful for the three of us. There are so many shelves that we didn’t even use all of them. The bathroom on the C-class ships is roomy with plenty of storage space. The shower is a good size – bigger than the ones I have had on my last two cruises, anyway. You can see signs of wear in the bathroom. Our sink was chipped and discolored. No problems with water of any kind, however. This cabin was the farthest forward I have ever been, and I was a bit concerned about that. As it turned out, the seas were very calm, motion was never a problem, and it was convenient to be right by the forward stairs and elevators. I was a little concerned about the possibility of noise on port visits as people exited the ship, but we were forward of the gangway area and never had a problem with that.

 

 

I'll continue on the next post with more from the Century....

[wiselindag]

Following up on Part I, here is more on our Century 12/24 cruise:

 

Dining

The food on Century last month was as good as any I have had on any cruise ship. The dining room was outstanding. I have to admit that I enjoy the entire dinner menu, but I was particularly pleased with the quality of the beef on this trip. It was so good, that I ended up eating the beef entrée almost every evening, whether it was Prime Rib, Beef Tenderloin, Beef Wellington, or Tournedos of Beef, it was all wonderful. I ordered rare beef and that’s what I got every night …very consistent. My son sampled the fish entrée several nights and especially enjoyed the duck. My husband and son enjoyed everything they ate. As for me, highlights were mushrooms in puff pastry, escargot, chilled soups such as Pear and Honey and Melon and Mint, cream soups such as Mushroom Bisque and Cream of Asparagas, the above-mentioned entrees, excellent and creative salads, and desserts like Tart Tatin, Tiramisu, Crème Brulee. With four appetizers, two hot and one cold soups, two salads, five entrees and four desserts plus one no-sugar dessert and ice cream and sherbet, it’s easy to find delicious things to eat. They also offer Caesar salad, steak, chicken, and baked potato even though they aren’t on the menu, and as has been reported, shrimp cocktail was available every night if requested. (On our cruise they didn’t run out, although there was no non-fat syrup in the buffet by the last day).

 

Service in the dining room was outstanding. We had the pleasure of dining with a fun family from Vancouver and we all enjoyed chatting with our waiter, Ketut, and his assistant, Boedi. They were always attentive to our varied requests and did a great job. I have never before thought to mention the service of the dining room bar waiter, but in this case, I would be remiss to leave him out. We were fortunate to be served by Victor from Mauritius. Victor supplied our table with non-stop soda (we all had cards) and after the first round, had our orders down pat and never missed -- he even remembered to leave the straw out of my husband’s glass!

 

My husband and I frequently ate lunch in the dining room. This is usually my preference because I like to feel as if I’m dining out at a restaurant (as opposed to grabbing a tray on a line) and because I enjoy meeting new people at the table each day. Lunch menus were good, but not great on this trip. With so much variety, it’s always possible to find several good things to eat, and for lunch, two or three courses should suffice. Our best lunch experience took place on our last day at sea. In addition to the lovely family we met, we were served by two terrific wait-staff personnel, Marjan from Croatia and his assistant. Marjan epitomizes Celebrity service. When I expressed dismay with the dessert selections, none of which contained chocolate, Marjan said, “Madam, I will scour the ship to find you a chocolate dessert.” Sure enough, he returned with my first selection (cherry strudel) and a hunk of chocolate marquise (which was a layered chocolate concoction which satisfied my craving for at least several hours!).

 

Breakfast in the dining room is also a pleasure on Celebrity and I usually eat there if I don’t have to rush off the ship. On Century, however, our family followed the recommendation of many on this website and sampled the waffles at the back of the breakfast buffet. They were so good that we ended up in the buffet on most of the mornings and my son, after very few hours of sleep, was eager to get up in order to get to the buffet before the waffle service ended. He made it a habit to order three waffles with mixed berries and whipped cream, while I preferred to use the butter and (low fat, of course) syrup on my one waffle.

 

I also enjoyed the new Caesar Salad Bar, the Pasta Bar, and the addition of items such as ribs and onion rings to the outside barbeque on the pool deck. On several days I sampled the Indian tiffin lunch. I love this idea, but the Indian cuisine on Century needs work. They had several curries, rice, and Indian bread, but none of it came up to the level of our local Indian restaurant, much less the great Indian restaurants in New York City. It was good to see that they are experimenting with different flavors and tastes to improve the variety offered in the buffet, so I’m not really complaining.

 

Teen Facilities:

Celebrity is not known for its children's facilities and they are lacking on the Century. There is a room for younger cruisers and some space set aside for older teens, but it's not not adequate in the case of the teens. My son reports that the Arcade on the Century is awful. Of course, the plus side of that is that I saved a fortune in tokens. Maybe that will change when the renovations are done. He used the Teen program as a meeting place on most days and sometimes engaged in the scheduled activities. In particular, he liked the sushi making and the DDR competition. The staff seemed to be quite nice and although I don’t have first-hand experience, the younger children seemed to enjoy the daily activities. As for teens on the ship, our son was able to find many companions and enjoyed meeting lots of new friends.

 

Entertainment and Activities:

I would say entertainment was the weakest aspect of our nine day cruise. Last year we were on the Constellation and I thought that entertainment was excellent. Maybe it’s just that by six cruises you’re seeing some repeat shows and as much as I like the ladder man, I have seen him three times. On the plus side, my husband really enjoyed his act (it might be the first time he had seen him) and I still thought he was funny. The aerialists, David Lange and Esther were excellent. When Bingo Bruce (the Cruise staff Bingo guy) is funnier than the comedian, you know the comedian is weak (ok, Bingo Bruce does have a very good, dry sense of humor). We enjoyed various musical offerings including the Rendezvous Café duet and the string quartet as well as Phoenix, the band and the Celebrity Orchestra could not be faulted. They’re always good, every cruise, every ship. Most of all, I enjoyed our Cruise Director, Alan King. Many Celebrity fans call him the best Cruise Director in the business, and I don’t disagree with that. I especially liked his personal touch. I got to chat with him several times during the week and found him to be personable and friendly on every occasion. His groaner jokes were good and in demand. I’m sorry I didn’t get to Michael’s Club to hear him sing the one evening he was there – too much to do and so little time!

 

Most evenings we had a pre-dinner show for late seating. I want to make a point of stating that I don’t like pre-dinner shows (in the hopes that someone from Celebrity is reading this) and I know I am not alone. The whole point of late seating is to have a block of time after the port visit (and/or after the first seating has gone to dinner and the ship is half-empty) to relax on deck, use the hot tubs and t-pool when they are less crowded, maybe have a taste of sushi and a pre-dinner cocktail, stop by the photo gallery or the internet stations or the casino, listen to some music, and have lots of time to dress and get ready for the evening without having to rush. With pre-dinner shows you end up gaining only one hour, not nearly enough time to much of anything. We were constantly rushing and that’s the one thing you don’t want to do on what is supposed to be a relaxing holiday. In October I was on a ship that had the show for late seating after dinner every night. On that ship dinner began at 9:15, the show started at 11:15, and even that was better than 7:00 shows for 8:30 dinner seatings.

 

On the subject of too much to do, I enjoyed the Bingo all week, but preferred not to rush to Bingo between dinner seatings on the port days! Two bingo sessions on each of four sea days was a bit much (didn’t leave much time for anything else when you factor in the three meals!), but we did end up with healthy bingo “pots,” so that was fun. Bruce and the other cruise staff were excellent in the bingo games and around the ship.

[wiselindag]

Here's the last part of the review. I'll be glad to respond to any comments and/or questions.

 

Itinerary:

This cruise had a great itinerary because we left from Florida, had two full sea days to relax, then visited four ports – St. Maarten, Dominica, Barbados, and Antigua, and then two full sea days back to Florida. We were disappointed at the change from St. Lucia to Dominica (made someone cynically pointed out after the date when final payments were due,) but on the whole we enjoyed each of our stops. We went to the beach on the three beach islands, (our son snorkled at two of the three and actually found lots of fish), and we did an island tour on Dominica. No tender stops, so easy on and off in every port.

 

Fellow Cruisers

We traveled with an extremely nice group of fellow cruisers from many different locations including Canada, Mexico, Venezuela, Peru, and all over the U.S. There was a full range of ages, as you would expect on a holiday cruise, with many families and groups of friends traveling together. When our Cruise Critics group met with Alan King he said intimated that some holiday cruises are "trying" for the staff, but that he thought we had all lucked out with ours.

It was disappointing that lots of people from our Cruise Critics group didn't attend the gathering, but I did enjoy meeting the folks with whom we had been exchanging pre-cruise thoughts. Thanks to all of them for helping make this cruise so pleasant!

 

Was everyone on the ship perfect? Far from it! Is every child I have seen on a cruise well-behaved? Of course not, but the majority of the people on our cruise were very well behaved and I didn't observe any problems with young cruisers or old cruisers on our recent trip. For the record, I did see one young woman reach into a plate of melon and grab a piece with her hands (Needless to say, I didn't take any melon), reports of elliptical trainer and treadmill “hoggers” (more than half an hour) and some children playing in an elevator one evening. Considering the large number of children on this cruise I have to say that the combination of parental supervision and Century security made the “kids issue” a non-issue for us. As with the BoomBooms I find the chair situation annoying. Why is it I never see this phenomenon on cruises with a large proportion of non-American cruisers? To their credit, I did see pool attendants go around and remove towels when chairs hadn't been occupied for a while, but I wish fellow cruisers would not "reserve" pool lounges for long stretches when they are not present at the pool.

 

The Condition of the Century

Much has been written on the condition of the ship, so I’ll just say that I love this ship. I had been on her in 1997, and it was a pleasure to return. The ship looks beautiful in port, is filled with what I consider to be classy details – lovely art and wood paneling and attractive carpets. The arrangement of public space makes it easy to get around, the signage is good, and there are many beautiful lounges and spaces in which to relax around the ship. I especially like the placement of comfortable deck chairs on the promenade deck (frequented by nappers and readers every time I went by). If the carpet is worn and some of the upholstery needs replacing, I didn’t really notice any of that. As mentioned, the only place I saw wear and tear was in the bathroom sink in our cabin. It will be interesting to return to the Century after her overhaul. I hope she looks even better and I suspect she will, but on this trip she still looked great to me.

 

Holiday Festivities

This was a special cruise encompassing Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, all eight nights of Hanukkah, and New Years Eve and New Years Day. This must have been a logistical nightmare for the cruise staff, and yet, they pulled it off as if they do this all the time. I’m sure some of that smooth operation is credited to Alan King’s experience and skill, some to Captain Pagonis, who seems as if he was born to be a Celebrity captain (42, movie star handsome, with lots of charm thrown in!), and some to Celebrity’s classy operation, but it was impressive. We had a special Christmas eve show with holiday tunes, midnight mass was celebrated, there was a Protestant Christmas service, and I was told there were over 200 people at the opening Hanukkah service, complete with latkes. Alas, I missed that and never did sample the latkes, but that’s about the only food I missed all week. For Christmas all the guests received presents. We got some cake, a Celebrity notepad with space for a few photographs in the front, and children got their own special presents from Santa, who (we were told) landed on the top of the ship and was escorted around the pool deck by a parade of staff and children, and the Celebrity Orchestra (turned into the Celebrity band for the occasion).

 

For New Years Eve there were hats and noisemakers in the dining room, music, ice sculptures, food, and free-flowing champagne on the pool deck. It was great to be out on the water with a crowd of cruisers celebrating the New Year and we really enjoyed the good feeling and joy that permeated the event.

 

All in all, this was a great cruise. My son (who had not cruised since he was 10) rediscovered the joy of cruising. He asked me to book another holiday cruise, but requested a big ship with more kids and more facilities designed for teens (we’re currently booked on the Navigator for next Christmas) and has been inquiring about summer cruise possibilities. My husband had an excellent vacation and enjoyed himself. He especially liked the Science lectures and the time spent in the hot tub. We all enjoyed the opportunities presented by cruising to spend time together as a family. I can’t wait for our next cruise!

[Coolcruise02]

boomboom51.....I agree with you about the size of the dance floor. On our cruise the dance floor was so crowded some were dancing on the carpet. Why bother to put in a dance floor and make it big enough for 2 or 3 couples?

[DancerOT]

Hello All -

First off, I am sorry I didnt make it to the Cruise critic party....I meant to. I did, I really did, but I kind of fell asleep by the pool. I have to agree with many of all of your comments. Overall, this was one of the best cruises I have been on. The food was not quite as good as I have had on Celebrity in the past, but otherwise the dining room experience was fantastic. Somehow (and who knows how this occurred), we had the same waiter we had 4 years ago on the Galaxy. Severino was excellent then and he was this time as well. Our assitant waiter, Savio was also excellent and is slated to become a waiter any day now. In regards to the shows that featured the Celebrity singers and dancers, the broadway show was the weakest. The Oldies show was very entertaining and featured some very good dance. The third show, which was showcasing dances and songs from around the world was excellent, technically. I have danced for 17 years and this show featured some excellent technique and style. On the other hand, many people I feel did not enjoy it as much because in some ways it was kind of "out there". The ladder guy was enjoyable and the 12 year old we were with absolutely loved his humor. New Years Eve was amazing and I was out until 5 am partying with all of the people I met on board. However, DJ Jason aka DJ Styles could use some work on his DJ skills. We often requested many songs that he did not want to play for fear that they would clear the dance floor - except he did that on his own and our songs actually got everyone out there. Onto the activities staff - they were excellent! Ross, Mark, Bingo Bruce (who we had on the Infinity) and the others (I'm sorry I am blanking on their names - when I remember I will post) really seemed to have a good time and in turn helped us to have a good time. The pool games were very fun and a few of us consistently participated (I was the one getting beat up with balloons while balancing on the pole). I will try and organize my thoughts and post more later. But overall, this was truly one of the best.

[drk]

Thanks again for your reviews!

 

One more question...was the captains club reception on the last formal night or another night? (might affect DW's formal night wardrobe decisions!)

 

Our itinerary is the same as yours except we are scheduled to go to St. Lucia instead of Dominica.

 

We agree that pre-dinner shows make no sense for us and would like to see them go away. We are looking forward to our turn on the Century!

[DancerOT]

One more question...was the captains club reception on the last formal night or another night? (might affect DW's formal night wardrobe decisions!)

 

Hate to burst your bubble....but they werent on any of the formal nights. The Captains club party was on the 1st informal night and the party for select and elite was the same day as Barbados....needless to say after the Jolly Roger, I didnt make it! Enjoy your cruise! You will love it.

[drk]

DancerOT...I feel your pain, we did the Jolly roger the last time we were in Barbados!! Thanks for the info.