Better late than never October 9th Century cruise review

[misha1]

As many of you have mentioned, the Century is a beautiful girl. Minor repairs here and there are required but overall she performed her duties well. The hubby and I flew in a day early and stayed at the Renassaince Hotel which is near the pier. I used Priceline about 3 months ago and booked out at 75 dollars. We did eat at Bravo which, again, as posters have mentioned, totally lived up to it's reputation. DELICIOUS!!! The next morning we arranged a shuttle through the hotel for 4 dollars each to take us to the ships. A taxi would have been cheaper I suppose but this was a nice ride. We arrived at 10:30 am and we were on board by around 11:15. After a welcoming glass of champagne we went to our sky suite to check out the digs. Our cabin was about the size of a catagory 1A on the larger ships but the balcony was larger and the bathroom had marble floors, walls and a tub/shower combo. Except for a bit of a musty odor in the halls, our cabin was neat and tidy and quite comfortable. Arvind, our butler made his appearance right away. Pleasant enough fellow. Brought us snadwiches every afternoon and gourmet bites before dinner. We also went to the sushi cafe everynight. Our first sea day we spent much time at the pool. We really did not see alot of chair saving which is a good thing. A Bloody Mary trolley came about around 9 am but there were not many offerings for drinks until closer to the noon hour. You had to go to the bar if you were parched. The pool side burgers, hot dogs and pizza were good as usual. We did not try the breakfast offered at the pool. In fact, we rarely ate at the buffets this trip. The dining room was a preferred retreat for us. The first day I tried that French Potato Pie...Oh My Gawd!!!. Really yummy. I am going to e-mail Celebrity to see if they will give out the recipe. We were traveling with 10 other people and Celebrity accomodated us with a table for 12 right along the railing overlooking the lower dining room and near the musical entertainment. Very nice! Food through out the trip was outstanding and I did not have a single item not up to my taste. The hubby did have a lobster tail that was mushy but it was instantly replaced with a better model. We spent an evening in the Sports bar...I think it was Images, watching our poor Green Bay packers take a beating. But our favorite bar was the the Crystal Room where Ora from Thailand served up our Martinis with flair and interesting conversation. In fact, we quickly made this bar a nightly (and sometimes afternoon) watering hole. Karaoke (sp) was a hoot, this is a must see when on board. There are alot of talented people out there. Some of our table mates did well in the casino and some didn't. The hubby stuck to the tournaments and did not win more than a t-shirt this year. Interestingly though, he did sit next to Harry Casey...the lead singer and band leader of KC and the Sunshine band. He and his entourage were sailing with us (well, not us personally although their cabins were on each side of ours.) . Kind of fun. (Do you remember him from disco days?)

Our ports consisted of Ocho Rios, Jamaica. Very hot...95 plus degrees. I think we sweated out gallons here. We took a boat ride to Dunn's River Falls and did the obligatory climb but then planted our butts in the Caribbean for the rest of the excursion because of the heat. Shopped a little in town where we did not find the locals at all bothersome. Next, we stopped at Cozumel. We hoofed it several blocks into the center of the shopping areas and captured some local flavors...open air markets for food, sauces and herbs. We only bought the bottled stuff cuz we did not need any customs problems upon embarkation. We took an afternoon catarmaran ride to a snorkel and beach site again. Our Grand Caymen stop was cancelled and we had an additional sea day. Key West was our last port and we shopped here for our gifts for the family. Ate some Conch and oysters at Alonzos and stopped in for our Key Lime fix at the Key Lime Shoppe. Arrival occurred about 5:30 am and before you knew it, we were at the airport beginning the task of ending our vacation. All I can say is thank goodness we already have the next cruise booked.

[Lois R]

Misha:) Hi, glad you had such a good time! She is a marvelous ship....I will be going in May...hope I don't go crazy having to wait that long LOL

 

So, what cruise have you booked next?

[patti2297]

Misha:) Hi, glad you had such a good time! She is a marvelous ship....I will be going in May...hope I don't go crazy having to wait that long LOL

Lois,

 

To me May seems right around the corner. I have to wait til 10/01/05! :eek:

[lookingforward]

Thanks for the review! Which sky suite did you have? We are booked in 1208 in April. We have previously saild on the Millenium and I am anxious to observe the differences. I think we prefer a slightly smaller ship. Did you use the spa at all? Or do any in suite dining?

[illusion]

Glad to hear you had a great trip and enjoyed the Century. We are going on Jan 29th and enjoy reading all the reviews from fellow cruisers. When you ate poolside did you just take your food from the buffet or was there a poolside breakfast buffet?

 

How was the entertainment? Is the ladder guy and Mark Preston still performing?

 

Thanks in advance.

[Texed]

Misha,

 

Good to hear from you, and I am glad you had a great cruise. We are on Century again March 5, 2005. We have always loved Century. :)

[vanclan]

We're on the Nov 6th Century-Western sailing. Your review just excites me even more than I already am....is that possible? Two weeks can't go by quickly enough. We've read a lot on the Grand Cayman boards about when it might be opened again....any news on board about that? Any hints about must do- or must see....this is our first cruise.

[rtroeh]

We just got off the Century eastern itinerary this morning. Here are a few things that we would recommend not missing: Belgian waffles and made-to-order omelettes at the poolside grill in the mornings. The thallasotherapy pool in the Aquaspa. Well worth the $60 for the week. Don't miss Roger Carr in Michael's Club. Even if a piano bar doesn't seem like it would be your thing, check Roger out, he's very entertaining. We ended up closing out every night in Michael's club.

[misha1]

We did not eat in our suite at all...we had 1070...but the butler did set up a nice array of snacks for an in-room party we had for our traveling companions. The poolside food was good as a poster mentioned. We took our food right to our chairs and ate on sea days (so we would not appear to be chair hogs.) You just are not allowed to eat right wihtin the pool confines. The ladder guy is always funny (saw him on the Mercury too) There was a violinist on board who played an interesting rendition of pop music. Texed...I kept the ship neat for you just like I said. Once your are on the ship...if you have sailed any of the larger class ships, I don't think you will see much differnce other than the minor repairs that could be done. I REALLY like the speciality restaurants on the Millie class so this was really the only differnce I noted. If future cruisers are going to go to Grand caymen the Stingray City was always my favorite excursion...even if your a bit skittish with these magnificent creatures swimming about you, the adrenalin rush is worth it.