First Ever Cruise On Century Reviewed

[AJD]

Though much traveled, this is a report of the first cruise my wife and I have ever taken, five days in the Caribbean on the Celebrity Century. We have a 14 day cruise to Hawaii on the Celebrity Summit booked for September and having done so we decided to do this five day cruise as a winter break and trial run to ensure we liked it and that days at sea would not be a problem. Well, we loved it, preferred being at sea to in port and booked on board for another Caribbean cruise next January on the Constellation!

 

We sailed from Miami on January 22 to Key West, Grand Cayman and back. As we were coming from New York in winter we decide to arrive a day early, as it happens, our so far non event winter caused us no problems and arrival in Miami was uneventfully on time. The hotel we chose was at the airport and a brand we had no experience of, Summerfield Suites. The accommodation turned out to be excellent with two large bedrooms a living room and kitchen and complimentary hot breakfast. This would be a good choice for a family although somewhat excessive for the two of us. A taxi to the ship was about $30 and to South Beach about $40.

 

We were amazed by the ease of boarding, arriving at the rather ugly terminal just before noon, there was an abundance of helpful, pleasant staff and almost no other passengers, allowing us to dispose of our luggage, complete formalities and be on board with a glass of Champagne in hand in about ten minutes. At this point we became somewhat baffled, having been politely guided every step of the way we were now left to our own devices with no idea where we could go or where we should go. However we quickly found our way to the pool area where there were already many more experienced souls sunning themselves or availing themselves of food and beverages.

 

Promptly at 1:00 P.M. as promised we were advised that all the accommodation was available and we set off to find our Concierge Class Stateroom which proved to be no problem. Throughout the voyage however we found that unless we could see the sea we went forward when we should have been going aft and port instead of starboard. More signs would help people like me who have no sense of direction. The cabin, although small compared to our huge hotel suite, exceeded our expectations and provided more than adequate storage for all the gear we brought for this trip (too much) and would have been fine for a much longer trip. Our bed was large and comfortable and the shower, small by US standards was not cramped and probably almost generous by European standards. The veranda was a real benefit on this trip where the weather was warm with little wind on all but one day, it proved a nice space to have lunch or read. For us the benefits of Concierge service is still up for debate, the Champagne we could have purchased, the canapés we sometimes ate simply because they were there, we never dined using room service and made little other use of the steward.

 

Based on good pre-cruise advice from friends we booked a table at the Murano restaurant as soon as it opened for bookings, and also selected books from the library right away. Life boat drill was not as much of a chore or as time consuming as expected and it showed us new parts of the ship and its facilities. We sailed out of Miami just a little later than planned due to harbor traffic and while doing so enjoyed meeting other Cruise Critic members in the Sunset Bar at the back of the ship on deck 11.

 

The ship is beautiful, the facilities excellent and everything in perfect working order. The Celebrity Theater, the Grand Restaurant, Grand staircase and Hemisphere Lounge are all quite spectacular. Bridge players are very well catered for with three very comfortable card rooms. Beautiful fresh flower displays were everywhere, including the bathrooms and, more practically hand sanitizers were distributed plentifully throughout the ship.

 

The Grand Restaurant, where we ate on four evenings is on two floors and provides a much higher standard than we expected, certainly much higher than at any functions we have attended in good hotels. The escargot, lobster, prime rib and filet de boeuf forrestier were all outstanding. Service was excellent, very pleasant, attentive without being obtrusive and accommodating special requests promptly with good grace. Wine selection was wide ranging and I was happy to find a good selection at reasonable cost. We chose late seating, 8:30, and a table for 8, this worked well for us and our group sociable, entertaining and for us newbie’s informative with no uncomfortable lulls in conversation. We usually vacation as a couple and enjoy our dinners for two, so we were nervous of being with the same large, new group every evening but it was an altogether good experience and contributed to enjoyment of our vacation, thanks to our tablemates we would do it again the same way. There was one formal night on this short cruise and we were pleasantly surprised to find people did dress for the occasion, I was glad I had taken the trouble to pack my tux.

 

Sticking with restaurants, our Murano experience was most enjoyable and the food superb. We chose the Menu Especial, (amuse-bouche, soup, appetizer, sorbet, main course, cheese, dessert and coffee with petit fours) with wine pairing at $145 each. There were two choices for each course and we each chose differently so we both got to try them all. Our favorites were the goat cheese soufflé, foie gras, rack of lamb in pastry and the Grand Marnier soufflé. We enjoyed the wine pairings, but would probably have enjoyed the meal even more with a couple of bottles of our own favorites. The Champagne and sweet wines, while exactly “correct” for the paired course were not really to our taste. And, to be brutally honest, while the Château Lafitte Rothschild was superb; my palate can’t really discern a $400 from a $40 bottle of wine! It was interesting that all of the couples from our main restaurant table went to Murano and without exception enjoyed it, however while one couple found the service too slow, for us it was rather too fast. Good service, and it is good at Murano, is all a matter of taste, but we actually prefer expensive restaurants with the attentive service with less flourish and pomp. That said, don’t miss the Murano experience and try to get a table in the wine room if you can, we sat close to the kitchen and I faced it which was interesting but not all that pleasing to the eye.

 

The Aqua Spa café quickly became our favorite breakfast and lunch place with its wide choice of lighter fare, the salmon tartare was a big hit with me. The Casual Dining Boulevard buffet did not get much business from us although when we did go there the lines were short, the hot food hot and the cold food cold. Personally we would have preferred less enthusiasm from waiters there to carry our trays in exchange for getting a glass of wine faster. The pasta and pizza bar was great we loved both, the ravioli was very good. While noting that they looked good; we can’t report on waffles, omelets, hamburgers or fries as we did not try any of them. However a group we sat next to at the pool one morning after breakfast were positively drooling over the very thought of their 11:00 AM burger from the moment they arrived. The Sushi bar was a nice facility and very good for an early evening snack

 

I think we managed to get to all the bars and enjoyed all of them. A word of caution, be very specific with drink orders and read the bar tariff, there is a tendency to supply the more expensive brands unless you state precisely what you want. For instance we were invariably served the $9 Sauvignon Blanc instead of the $6 variety unless we ordered the specific label. The same was true for a gin and tonic, unlike when I have a martini; I don’t care about the brand of gin when it is drowned in tonic. With that proviso, we considered drink prices very reasonable, compared to hotel/ bar prices at home, considering the ambiance and level of service. The Sunset Bar with its guitarist, singer was a great place to meet in the early evening and at sail away. A glass of wine or cup of coffee at the Cova café listening to a string quartet was another afternoon delight. The Martini bar with its ultra modern lighting and furnishing was a popular and fun place in the evening and the five martini sampler for $10 a bargain, the light drinkers might want to share! A favorite pre dinner drink spot with us, unnoticed by many was the wood paneled Michael’s Club with its pianist/singer, located right next door to the Martini bar. Those were the smaller, more intimate bars; we enjoyed dancing after dinner in the Rendezvous Square to a very good three piece band and singer. For disco the Hemisphere Lounge offered a wide variety of music not nearly at the volume of some similar. During the day this became a wonderful quiet spot with panoramic views to the front of the ship, especially pleasant on the one windy day we experienced when it was less desirable to be outside. Crystals, with its booths and a nightclub type atmosphere offered a variety of entertainment in very comfortable surroundings.

 

The cinema looked very comfortable, but with so much on offer watching movies was not a priority for us. We were very impressed by the Century’s theater which was quite spectacular with great views of the stage from everywhere; a nice touch was little tables for your drinks. I won’t talk about the Casino as it was consistently unkind to me!!

 

Key West was fun, as we had visited before we did not do any trips but simply wandered around, did a little shopping and watched the world go by from one of the many bars. Probably the best feature of this port is that the ship docks within a few steps of the center of town in a really pretty setting. On Grand Cayman which we had not visited before we chose Celebrity’s “Best of Cayman” tour, the highlight of which was playing with the Stingrays on the Stingray City sand bar. A good way to experience Cayman, but instead of the advertised 5 hours it took 7 ½ ship to ship which was a longer time away from the amenities of the ship than we would have liked. Tendering from the Century was not a problem very well organized with little waiting and only a slight swell making boarding a breeze for all but the very timid. Although we did watch one elderly, wheel chair bound lady being loaded on the tender, it looked very precarious and I suspect she won’t do it again.

 

One of our biggest surprises was how few night owls there were on the ship, by the time we finished dinner at 10:30ish everywhere was quite quiet and by midnight deserted.

 

Debarkation was just as efficient and speedy as boarding with plenty of cabs alongside the ship.

 

Overall this first cruise was a wonderful experience our biggest complaint being it was too short

[gregg4]

Great review. We have been thinking of taking a short cruise and the prospect of the revamped Century is intriguing. Your review may just push us to do it. Thank You

[bunduo]

Thanks for the excellent review. Did most people abide by the dress code in the dining rooms? Overall, were your fellow passengers a good looking crowd or did you picture something different for a Celebrity Cruise? Were the pool attendents removing items left too long on chairs by the chair swine? Was it an older or younger crowd?

[cruzinwchris]

Thank you for the great review... I'm going on this ship in 2 weeks and can't wait to see it!

[C 2 C]

Did most people abide by the dress code in the dining rooms? Overall, were your fellow passengers a good looking crowd or did you picture something different for a Celebrity Cruise? Were the pool attendents removing items left too long on chairs by the chair swine? Was it an older or younger crowd?

 

We were on three cruise in a row starting Jan. 18th, 22nd and 27th.

We were pleasantly surprised at the experience with a shorter cruise. Each sailing had a character of its own. The first cruise fewer than 25% wore a tux or a suit on formal night. On the 22nd I'd guess over 80% adhered to the code. I believe there were quite a few company bookings on the middle cruise.

On the 18th there were no challenges to blue jeans and even shorts in the dining room.

These were different cruise than we have experienced in the past but they were worth doing and an unbelievable bargain.

On the final day of our cruise all the chairs had their towel deeds for claims with fewer than 25% actually filled in the morning. "I see nothing" is the new company mantra.

[Tagoladad]

Great review. What cabin did u stay in? Did u use the golf simulator or driving range?

[WooKeef]

Great Review and thanks for the time you put into doing it. I am booked on a cruise in September on Century and I was just reviewing the floor plans. Where is the T-pools? I didn't see them, as a matter of fact they should be where the persian gardens are???:confused: . Anyone have an answer to this question. It looks like a mirror image of Galaxy but they moved a few things around and it is definitely "a bute" as the Aussies would say.

[emcee207]

for the review. We board a week from today for a 5 niter with stops in Ochos Rios and Grand Cayman.

 

I don't think they have a "T-Pools" on this class of boat. I know they have a new Persian Garden which I've heard isn't as big or nice as those on the "Millenium" class of ships. No matter to us, we will partake of that. There is a strong chance we won't get off the ship the entire cruise.

Question; I beleive Monday nite is the "Tropical Island Party" around the deck. Do you know when it started and how long it ran? We're trying to get reservations at Murano and not doing too well. We can get a 9:00 on that night but by the time we finish we'll probably miss the party. Can you help on that.

BTW, you probably know this but a great thread of a recent cruise on Century is "Live From The Century" by "Radio" Look for it if you haven't seen it, great info and pics.

Thanks

[WooKeef]

I was on Galaxy this past Sept. and she is Century's sister ship along with the Mercury. It was my first cruise and I absolutely fell in love with the T-pools. They do have them on this class only it is smaller from what I understand and they charge for the use of it. I don't mind the charge, I love adding this as part of my routine for relaxing after a long day in port:D .

Anyone know if they got rid of them?

[dmk]

Thanks for the excellent review. Did most people abide by the dress code in the dining rooms? Overall, were your fellow passengers a good looking crowd or did you picture something different for a Celebrity Cruise? Were the pool attendents removing items left too long on chairs by the chair swine? Was it an older or younger crowd?

 

I was on the Jan. 22nd and 27th cruise.

I found the group much younger than the usual Celebrity Cruisers...many first time cruisers...the disco was crowded every nite...dress codes were not well adhered to...more of a party atmosphere around the pool.

[signman]

Century's T-Pool was removed during the refit.

[WooKeef]

Century's T-Pool was removed during the refit.

D@*#!!! this just came pretty close to ruining my expectations for this trip. I looked at the pics for the Persian Garden and it looks pretty lame!

:mad: :mad:

[AJD]

Thanks for all the kind words. We had cabin 9083, sorry did not try the golf simulator or driving range. The dress code, from what we saw was fairly well respected.

 

Anne & John.

[cruzinwchris]

I loved my cruise on the Century so much in February that we are going again this Saturday to Grand Cayman and Jamaica! What a great ship, service and all around good time. I was surprised that the age group was even younger then my 11 night in December on Royal Caribbean!

[Ma Bell]

Thanks for taking the time to post your review. I felt the same way about our April 2nd cruise.

[jerseygirl3]

I loved my cruise on the Century so much in February that we are going again this Saturday to Grand Cayman and Jamaica! What a great ship, service and all around good time. I was surprised that the age group was even younger then my 11 night in December on Royal Caribbean!

 

That's not too surprising. There will always be more families with kids on a 5 night cruise as opposed to an 11 night cruise, regardless of which cruiseline. We were on the 4/2/07 sailing of Century and absolutely loved it. Yes, there were a record number of kids onboard (525), but they were all extremely polite and well behaved and seemed like seasoned travelers.

[vickykay]

Century was our first cruise also (about 5 years ago, and have sailed on her again since) - and will remain very special to us! So glad that you enjoyed your cruise! We love Celebrity and have never been disappointed. Happy furture sailings! Vicky