Just back from the Century

[RDangerIII]

Hi Everyone,

 

This board has been such an amazing help that felt compelled to post soon as I got back. I hope to write an indepth review soon but until then I hope this helps anyone going on. REMEMBER opinions are like ****, everyone has one. I will try and give my honest impression of MY experience, someone else might have experience a whole different take on the same cruise. So here I go.

 

Embarkation: These people have it down to a science. Got to the dock about 11:30 with my preboard pass in hand, we were on the ship by 11:45. I have been on many a cruise, even had Captains Club Status on the Carnival Conquest and have never been on the ship so smoothly.

 

Got on the ship, which is beautiful in every way, had my comp champagne

and although our cabin wasn't ready they said it was OK for us to drop off our carry ons.

 

I have to say that this was the only day that I found the ship crowded, not too crowded just there were a lot of people on the decks since they couldn't bet to their cabins.

 

Buffet was good, as it was the whole trip, and the Hamburgers were great. One thing they don't tell you is that at the grill on deck 11 by the pool they also have specials each day such as German Sausage with Saurkraut, one day they had Steak en brouchete (sp.) a/k/a steak and onions on a stick, the last day Turkey en brouchete. Just ask them or have them lift the lids on the heating tray next to the hot dogs and hamburgers.

 

We had a CC class Cabin 1092 on the 10th floor. Very small with a lot of storage, but the balcony made it seem larger. Small bathroom with a large shower. Big enough for two if you know what I mean! Wink Wink!!!

 

Ok, back to the clean version! I promise to get more detailed when I write my review, but here are my observations.

 

First off I have to give a big SHOUT OUT to my travel agent, Ms. Sasha Velaka. We were with a big group and she came with us to ensure a good cruise. Everytime Celebrity said they couldn't do something, Sasha got it done. Thanks Sasha, I won't go on another vacation without using you!

 

Example, and this is for all you people wondering about alcohol. I brought the allowable two bottles of wine, but since we flew in, I had it packed in my suitcase. Well when my luggage arrived the wine had been confiscated leaving me a nice little orange card saying I could have it back at the end of the Cruise. I called Sasha and explained that you are allowed two bottles which she confirmed. Well Sasha contacted Claudio, (manager of groups) who immediately went to find out what happened. Well bad news was they weren't suppose to take the wine, the worse news was it was left at the port in Miami. Even worse they don't sell the type of wine I brought on the ship. BUT Sasha was nice enough to buy two bottles of wine and have them sent to my cabin. Celebrity wound up keeping my bottles and not doing anything to correct the mix up. Thank God for Sasha!

 

Also, for those thinking about Murano. By all means DO IT!!! The food there is a huge improvement over the food in the dining room. Not that the food in the main dining room is bad, it's actually just OK, on par with Carnival which I expected, but definitely not as good as they use to have on the old Commodore Line. (damn I miss them!) At Murano they even surprised us with Creme Brulee for dessert when I mentioned while ordering that I didnt' like the two deserts on the menu. I was told they couldn't get me Creme Brulee but they surprised us with it anyway. ALSO, DO GO TO MURANO's and get the Goat Cheese Souffle and enjoy the elegance and great food. If I have one complaint about Murano is that they had a wine (St. Francis) on theri list which is not the cheapest but definitely not the most expensive that I enjoy at home. Well when I went to order it, the Sommelier (sp) a/k/a wine expert, told me Oh you don't want that one, so I took his word for it and ordered something else. Later I could have kicked myself, I should have stuck with the wine I wanted! Hint to Celebrity, if you don't want to sell a certain wine then TAKE IT OFF THE WINE LIST! We also had a kind of bad experience with the Asst. Sommelier the next night in the dining room.

Let me preface this as quickly as possible. On our first night the company my wife works for rented out the entire Muranos and spent even more on wine for all the tables. Nice chunk of change.

The next night my wife and I were asked to sit at the table with the owners of the company and their wives and mother. Well when one of the owners wives asked for the wine list, she picked three bottle of the one that I had originally ordered the night before at Murano's and she asked for the large wine glasses. I guess it's because the wine gets to breath easier but I enjoy a good glass of red wine in a large wine glass. When they brought the wine, she was told that the wine wasn't expensive enough for them to bring the big wine glasses. WHAT! These people where spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on this cruise and can't get a decent wine glass. (Enter Sasha our tour manager) Needless to say that after much discussion between the Restaurant manager and the sommelier's we were given our wine glasses. Stupid yes but I thought the biggest thing about Celebrity is suppose to be it's service.

 

Ok, Ok, I know I should save all my stories for the review, so I'll try and be brief.

 

Good points: The Ship and my cabin really nice! MURANO's!!! The Aft Bar when Jimmy Taylor from Honduras or Marc from South Africa is waiting and particullarly when Brian Lavelle is playing acoustic guitar and it's not raining. (which it did the first day at sea, but more on that later). Patrick and Matilda the Jamaican Puppet. The part of the Best of Ocho Rios that started with the garden tour. We didn't enjoy the falls and didn't make it to the Reggae Museum, (we were hungry and thirsty) but the garden and it's tour guide were great. Richard the card dealer in the Fortune's Lounge, nice guy even when he's taking all your money. (Sorry for all the good natured grief Richard!)

The prices on rum and liquor, right at the dock in Jamaica. Don't worry about buying it in town or in the Cayman's, it's cheapest in the last little store on the dock right before you get back on the ship. Example, Cuban Club rum in the Village Mall was 8 dollars more expensive then on the dock. Live and learn.

 

Bad Points: My room attendant, Antonio. Everytime I've been on a cruise before, I've tipped my room stewart, $20.00 on the first day with one instruction. "I WANT ICE IN MY ROOM 24 HOURS A DAY!" Guess what, never got it once and even brought my own little colapsible ice chest.

My luck at 3 card poker and everything else in the casino!

Hustlers and merchants in Jamaica, they are very pushy particularly the drug dealers. No one is exempt. You just have to be firm and SAY NO THANK YOU!

The crowded streets of Grand Cayman, it was very windy so we cut short out snorkeling trip at Eden Rock and headed into town. WOW with 7 - 9 cruise ships in port the main streets looked like DisneyWorld on a full day. MOO!!! YUCK! No relaxing here!

There is much much more to write about and I will but if you have any questions before I write my reveiw please leave them here and I'll be checking back.

[hcat]

Great review--thanks for the info.. We will be on Century in a few weeks & again in Sept. Already have MURANO's booked for two nights. Did you use any of the spa services? How was the party band? Was it reggae or just rock in roll & pop? Did they have any special events like wine tasting, chefs tours etc? Which nights had the best diing room menu? on Sea days was the pool area crowded? We can;t wait to get on board! Want to check out the Martini bar ...

[RDangerIII]

Bands were OK, but I'm a musician and my expections might be a little higher. The jazz band that played one night by the Cova Caffe were great. The three piece band that played around and at our cocktail party on the first night were awful, sorry but they were. The band by the pool could play most anything so they were good. Didn't make the wine tasting but they did have it, unfortunately I was busy at a cocktail party or something like that.

The best night in the restaurant was the night we left Grand Cayman, (second to last night), lobster night, I had two, and baked Alaska. Both were very good.

[katscruise]

My husband and I were on the March 19th sailing. We loved sitting at the sunset bar on 11 in the back of the ship. The Martini bar was alot of fun. They had a sampler platter so you could try different ones(small glasses). :) The food on the boat was fantastic. One night was lobster tails, I had two and they were great. The other dinner i really liked was the lamb shank. The service on the board was wonderfull I do not have one complaint about this cruise.

[Smartcookie]

So what's the real story, are you allowed 2 bottles of wine or not? Does anyone have the bottomline on this?

[C 2 C]

This is the second post (and thread) about wine being removed from checked luggage.

 

Since we'll be boarding in three weeks we'll be making a transfer of valuable fragile items to a carry on as soon as we get our luggage at the airport.

We never had this problem in boarding Century in January and February.

 

It must be another "enhancement" policy by Celebrity to prevent breakage while throwing our luggage around. :rolleyes:

[hcat]

we will buy our wine in Florida pre-cruise & then carry it on--bought a new carry pack just for that job--hope it arrives mail order before we leave NY!

Liquids that can stain in packed luggage (no matter how much plastic wrap is used) makes me nervous...Sadly we will no longer buy any liquor on board or at ports other than what we consume--not worth the hassle to bubble wrap it to take home...a big revenue loss for the on board store!

[cristaljoy]

This is the second post (and thread) about wine being removed from checked luggage.

 

Since we'll be boarding in three weeks we'll be making a transfer of valuable fragile items to a carry on as soon as we get our luggage at the airport.

We never had this problem in boarding Century in January and February.

 

It must be another "enhancement" policy by Celebrity to prevent breakage while throwing our luggage around. :rolleyes:

 

 

i'll be on the april 12th sailing on the century and i'm wondering the same thing... guess i'll be lugging my two bottles in my carry on-- how fun is that?:rolleyes:

[katscruise]

They allow you to carry on 2 bottles of wine per stateroom. I carried on 2 and my mom carried on 2 and we had no problems. If you put it in your suitcase they think you carried 2 on and put 2 in the suitcase.

[RDangerIII]

Looks like they are defnitely looking harder for liqour in the suitcases. But I checked and you are allowed two bottles of wine. I just got burned on that one. Thank goodness my Travel Agent was on board because I WILL NEVER PAY a 300% mark up for a bottle of wine.

[ghstudio]

We heard about the wine glass incident.... Celebrity has very few "good" wine glasses for the dining rooms and they reserve them for wines that cost over $80 a bottle. While you may not agree with this, it is not right to berate the wine steward (we happened to have the same wine steward) about the policy. I don't care how much you spend on the cruise...I don't care how important you think you are...live with the celebrity policy or complain to an officer on board, not the person at the bottom who is just doing what they are told. I'm sorry...but I don't like pushy people who feel they are owed something special.

 

Our butler (sky suite on 12) was wonderful although we had little for him to do. We always had ice...at least when I wanted ice. We also had some wonderful towel animals to greet us when we returned to our rooms made, I presume, by our cabin attendant.

 

The Murano is a wonderful meal which we much enjoyed served with a rare ambience for a ship. Well worth the extra $30 per person. Best embarcation I've ever had on a cruise....15 minutes from arrival at the pier (11:30) to on the ship.

 

A very good cruise....a very happy/smiling crew...reasonable, not great,entertainment....reasonable food (try the very mild smoked salmon at breakfast)....a smokey casino (I wish they would just ban smokiing completely in public rooms. Deck chairs seem to free up on at sea days, contrary to what others have said. We never had a problem.

 

If you like Sushi, you might want to book the late seating and have a sushi snack at 5 when the sushi bar opens. Four types of rolls and 4 types of fish (tuna/eel/yellowtail?/shrimp) plus miso soup if you want it. My other food hint is that if you see any small fruit tarts, you won't be able to eat only one...they are just outstanding.

[joeinsb]

RDangerIII, we were right next door (1094) so are all too familiar with Antonio, who served us well. Like you, we tipped him 20 bucks at the start of each cruise (we were B2B2B) and also gave him a few bucks more in addition to the amount they charge to your card, on the last day. We'd do our morning walk about 7:30, come back and shower for breakfast, then do other things 'til lunch. He'd have the room made up, towels changed, etc by the time we were back from breakfast. And we had ice, judging by the clinking sound in the pitcher (we never used it). So Antonio gets an OK from us.

 

What puzzled us was why he didn't use the Do Not Disturb/Make Up Cabin sign that we saw further along deck 10. Instead, he used the folded paper wad system, which was OK.

 

One thing he did do for us on several occasions: go into the next cabin (not yours) and turn off the dang vernadah light. They put that thing next to the dressing table, people come in, flip it on and off and think it doesn't do anything. But it does and I hate sleeping with the lights on, as I am one of those weirdos that likes to sleep with the drapes open so I can see what's going on outside. BTW, during the infamous Star Princess fire, a lot of people would have had a heads-up about the fire, which was cooking right along, if only they had their curtains open. As it was, I read one post by a cruiser that said he was "surprised" when he opened the drapes and was confronted by a wall of flames.

 

As all have said, Murano (not Murano's--it ain't named after some guy) was great. We went there twice and the fois gras, which would get you picketed by PETA in the U.S. was fan-tastic! I didn't notice the wine glass size, but I guess we got the small ones as we never ordered anything over $60. No problem: we have a restaurant near home that has the same policy.

 

There was one persistant problem involving a sort-of bait & switch involving our favorite sparkling wine, Mumm's. After three incidents I finally cornered the food & beverage boss, Gianni Dotti, after the Capt's cocktail party where the table card advertised Mumm's, but they served some cheap substitute. He was surprised, wrote down our cabin number and name and said he would "take care of it," but the only thing we noticed is that for the remainder of the cruise, everytime we ordered Mumm's or anything else by the glass, the waiter or whoever was sure we saw him pour from the right bottle. More about this when I come down from my post-cruise mellow.

 

All in all, a pleasurable 14 days topped off by a once-in-a-lifetime experience--rescuing 12 Cubans who had spent a week adrift in their small boat.

[camella]

Thanks so much for your post! You just saved me a lot of trouble. I just UNPACKED my wine from my suitcase. I will carry on my 2 bottles myself. It really bugs me though cause I'm on vacation and I like to drink what wine I like to drink. I don't mind paying the corkage fee but would like to be able to bring on more. Two bottles on an 11 day cruise is hardly worth it.

[bigwally]

So what's the real story, are you allowed 2 bottles of wine or not? Does anyone have the bottomline on this?

 

Yes, you are totally allowed 2 bottles of wine. It's in a written X policy dated from February. I can email a copy in .pdf format anyone needs it?

 

We're going to take our two on board at the beginning of the cruise and then try to replenish with local offerings from port. We'll either make it to the stateroom with it, or it'll be held for us. I don't see any downside to giving it a shot.

[katscruise]

If each person in the room carried on 2 bottles I do not think that they would notice. I carried on 2 and my husband carried on 2 for my Moms room and they did not question why 1 stateroom had 4 bottles.

[PurpleCow]

I'm not carrying aboard any wine on the 26th. Be more than happy to carry someone's two extra bottles.

[bigwally]

That's very nice of you Ann.

[RDangerIII]

Some one commented on my report about the wine glasses. Well there really are 3 different style that they use in the main dining room. the regular, the large and the extra large, so I don't think they are limited, but like I said, I'm just giving my honest opinion. A lot of people on this board feel they either have to carry a torch for Celebrity or use that same torch to burn it down. I'm not pushy, I don't feel like they owed me a thing, but I did think they could have been nicer to the people at my table, I mean, come on it's just a wine glass. Oh and GHstudio I don't think I'm important, but I do think the people I was sitting with were important, but they don't think they are important enough to have a butler. Enough said. Had fun thought it could have been better. End of Story!

 

Oh I can't seem to figure out how to leave my full review, any help?