Century review - the good, the bad, the ugly!

[chrismch]

Will try to make this as short & concise as possible. Just returned from our 7 night Eastern Caribbean cruise on the Century. This was our 2nd cruise with Celebrity and 15th cruise overall. Got to port around 12:30 and were onboard in 10 min. Upon entering they offered us champagne or o.j. They had 10 cabin stewards just standing there, none directed us anywhere but said we could go up to the buffet. No escort. We were told our rooms would be ready by 1pm. We went to our room anyway and it was ready.

Had the lunch buffet, nothing spectacular. Only 1 or 2 past cruises were "wow" in that aspect. My favorite "buffet foods" were the omelets & sandwich stations but not the "hot sandwich of the day" which they never seemed to grill long enough to make it hot - too rushed. Best meals were in the dining rooms. They have excellent pastry & bread chefs who excel over other major cruise lines except Crystal. They also have great frozen yogurt and ice cream. Great appetizer choices! Main entrees were hit & miss esp. fish which I usually order. Beef as others had mentioned was much better. Our dining room staff was great and accommodating for special orders.

Our cabin was a basic inside with more drawer & cabinet space than we needed. However, I wish the bed was just a few inches higher so we could put our big bags under it , instead of inside one of the closets. Did ask for a mattress pad as the bed really needed it. Bathrooms need work as the "chrome" mirror stripping had peeled off to some odd looking plaster gunk. Rehab needed in public areas for sofas & chairs - gym could also use updated equipment. It will look wonderful after the May dry-dock.

Great activities staff w/lots to do which made it hard to decide what to miss. Always love the production shows with singers and dancers who put their hearts into the show. With the choppy seas we were having, I'm surprised that we only had one dancer fall and she was on roller skates! Guest performers were Antonio Salci - pop/classical pianist who was too schmaltzy for me and Joe Mulligan a comedian/guitar player who was definitely different & made everyone laugh inc. me. Allan King is a great cruise director and "Bingo" Bruce is a great assstant.

Now to the problems - getting to port!! Our first port was San Juan which was supposed to be an evening port but was totally cancelled. Had wanted to see it as I had never been there before. Next port was St. Thomas which now had extended hours till 10 pm - however, excursions ended by 4 pm & stores closed by 5 pm. Unless you wanted to eat or drink off ship it was unnecessary time. Next port was St. Martin - had to tender in on rough seas with the boats knocking up to the dock & back at the ship (bouncing passengers around as they entered & exited) causing a busted window on at least 1 tender (ours) which poured wave water on anyone who had the misfortune of sitting near that window (not us). As a result there were waits up to 1 1/2 hours to catch a tender to return to ship since it was so hard to position the boats. There was a confirmed injury from a person who fell trying to get off the tender and broke an ankle or part of her leg - this I know from a passenger who saw it. Rumors of course were abounding that someone fell to their death.

We had an early morning dive excursion on St. Martin that was cancelled halfway through by the passengers due to poor visibility & rough waters which should have been cancelled in advance by the crew. I am waiting to see if there will be some credit for that by the excursion desk. One other time we had a water excursion cancelled due to water conditions and this one should have been as well.

Since there was such a delay in getting everyone aboard due to water conditions in St. Martin, that delayed our next port of Nassau. We got in at 4:45 and had to be back by 6:30 - all excursions were cancelled and again shops were closing around 5pm. Lots of unhappy passengers re: ports!

What I learned on this ship - always carry Bonine or the equivalent as you don't know what the seas will be like. Bring ear plugs as theshipand its engines can be noisy and creaky when you are trying to sleep. Never pre-pay an excursion that is not part of the ship's list because you can't guarantee if and when you will get to port! Don't expect great cuisine on the buffets, it's really all about quantity. Bring your own books as the library is laughable. TV programs are so limited & repeated so often that you will just turn the TV off . Always count on spending more either for shopping, excursions for gambling. However, just remember you are on vacation and it's always better than work!! :p

[C 2 C]

Double post hang up again.... Century is our favorite X ship but this board is no better after the latest fix:(

[C 2 C]

Nice review. It seems you made the best of a poor situation. If this had been your first cruise you probably would have been upset, missing all those ports you had paid to visit.

 

We enjoyed Alan's groaners last year and loved Century.. poor bedding and all.

 

Happy cruising

[NanaNancy]

We will take the last cruise on the Century prior to drydock (TransAtlantic in April) and we appreciate your honest and informitive opinions as to her contidion. Sorry the weather was so uncooperative but as one of the others have already said, it sounds like you made the best of the situation. We are hoping that the seas will not be too rough as you experienced but are really looking forward to our 2nd sailing on the Century. We sailed on Century her first year out and loved the ship. We will have a good supply of Bonine. Good review!

[shavdog]

The cruise on jan 21st was our 10th overall and 3rd on century...we knew we were guaranteed a perfect cruise on century...not...no one told us we would miss three days because of high winds..oh well, we had two fabulous days in st thomas and st martin...the food in the dining room was very good, the buffets both breakfast and lunch fair. I agree alan king was funny and the singers and dancers were the best we have seen in all our cruises...The tendering fiasco in st martin happened to us on this identical cruise two yrs ago so celebrity hasnt learned from their mistakes...i dont know why they dont use five tenders instead of three...i looked at that line and went straight to the bar and got on the second to last tender...overall, i dont like complaining about much...celebrity really does try to give you a good vacation and they dont have any control over the weather...it wasnt perfect but it was fun to go....and we saw two pods of whales and some baby dolphins....have fun...craig