Just booked Celebrity Century- info appreciated

[crazy-dog-lady]

Happy Sunday everyone! My husband and I just booked our very first cruise together, the Celebrity Century sailing the Western Caribbean out of Miami on 2/28/09. We are super excited, and all the posts on this board are soooo helpful. We saw on the Celebrity website that there are formal, informal and casual nights- what exactly constitutes as casual onboard?

 

Also we are big on drinking, especially on vacation! How much are drinks, beer, and daquiries on the ship? I just like to mentally prepare myself for our final bill to avoid my heart skipping a beat once we leave the ship. :)

 

Any "must-do's" at Ocho Rios and Grand Cayman, which are the 2 ports?? We love being in the water and especially snorkeling, and plan to do excursions at both but noticed that they still leave you several hours at each port. Are there beaches, snorkeling sites, restaurants and/or bars right off the docks???

 

Any other suggestions, recommendations are welcome!

[tdk1938]

Happy Sunday everyone! My husband and I just booked our very first cruise together, the Celebrity Century sailing the Western Caribbean out of Miami on 2/28/09. We are super excited, and all the posts on this board are soooo helpful. We saw on the Celebrity website that there are formal, informal and casual nights- what exactly constitutes as casual onboard?

 

Also we are big on drinking, especially on vacation! How much are drinks, beer, and daquiries on the ship? I just like to mentally prepare myself for our final bill to avoid my heart skipping a beat once we leave the ship. :)

 

Any "must-do's" at Ocho Rios and Grand Cayman, which are the 2 ports?? We love being in the water and especially snorkeling, and plan to do excursions at both but noticed that they still leave you several hours at each port. Are there beaches, snorkeling sites, restaurants and/or bars right off the docks???

 

Any other suggestions, recommendations are welcome!

 

 

Hi CDL,

Welcome to Cruise Critics Board. We just got back from the same Western Caribbean cruise that you're going to enjoy. Since I can't drink alcholic beverages, I let someone answer that question.

 

This is the exact quote from the X website.

 

Smart Casual and Above

Ladies: Skirt or pants (no holes, rips or tears) complemented by sweater or blouse.

 

Gentlemen: Pants (no holes, rips or tears) with sports shirt or sweater. Shirts must have sleeves.

 

Note: T-shirts, swimsuits, robes, bare feet, tank tops, baseball caps and pool wear are not allowed in the main restaurant or specialty restaurant at any time. Shorts and flip flops are not allowed in the evening hours. Additionally, guests are asked to follow the "Smart Casual and Above" dress code in the Celebrity Theater for all evening performances.

 

Formal

Ladies: Cocktail dress, gown or dressy pantsuit

Gentlemen: Tuxedo, suit or dinner jacket with slacks

 

BTW, they have the formal dinner on second night.

 

For Ocho Rios excursion, we used Marva Shaw's and they are great. We had our own family's private tour.You can customize your excursion. We did Dunn River Fall and Island tour. Their web site is http://www.knowjamaica.com/.

 

For Grand Cayman, we went with Native Way water sports http://www.nativewaywatersports.com/. We did stingray and Island tour. They are very good also, I'll go with again them in a heart beat. We did While we had nine people on our boat at Stingray sandbar, I noticed many boats had 30 to 40 people on each boat. We got better service. If you like to snokel, you might like to do Rays Reef and Rum Point tour.

 

They have many resturants and bars near the port. Here is the list of places you can have your lunch and drink.

http://www.caymangoodtaste.com/

 

Cheers

[willysgrandma]

The Century was my very first cruise and it spoiled me for all future cruises because we loved the ship so much. We went to Dunns River Falls in Jamaica and swam with the stingrays in Grand Cayman. For your first cruise, I'd recommend doing excursions through the ship - if you take a private excursions and don't make it back to the ship in time, you are on your own. We didn't start doing excursions on our own until we had a few cruises under our belts and we felt more comfortable.

 

Drinks start at $5.00 and up, beers I think about $4.00. Be careful - your onboard bill can end uop being more than your cruise.

[ottawapuppy]

Happy Sunday everyone! My husband and I just booked our very first cruise together, the Celebrity Century sailing the Western Caribbean out of Miami on 2/28/09. We are super excited, and all the posts on this board are soooo helpful.

 

Any other suggestions, recommendations are welcome!

 

We have a bunch of Century information (pictures, daily newsletter etc...) posted on our web site (link in my signature). We cruised on Century last April. LOVED IT!!

 

Mike

[wannuhcruise]

crazy-dog-lady,

 

My sisters, mom and I are on that cruise, too!! It's the first for three of the four of us. We're hoping to do the Sky Explorer excursion in Ocho Rios then adding on the zipline when we get there. We've already book the Rays, Reef and Rum Point tour through Native Way Tours on Grand Cayman.

 

I'm leaving the kids and DH at home for this trip, so I'm looking forward to sampling what the martini bar has to offer. ;-)

 

Come just the few of us that are over on the roll call for this cruise... http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=905382

 

Only 40 days to go!!

[YVRCruiser]

Hello!

 

I just got off the Century yesterday and I have photos of a bar menu and the room service drink list. I do not know how to post the photos, but I can send them to you. Let me know if you would like me to send them to you, or where to post them.

 

I will be posting a review when I get home next week, but we are still in transit and vacationing, so my time to do so is limited. In the meantime, let me know if you have any questions.

 

Rob

[barmills]

We were on the Century in late 2007 (Europe)... what a great ship & crew. We're not drinkers, at least we weren't until we grouped-up with some folks at the Martini Bar. Ships drinks are no cheap, but remember the bartenders earn & keep their tips... they belong to them. If you want good service and larger drinks show the bartender some respect, it's your tip money that keeps him going and he'll work hard to give a good tipper something "extra". :rolleyes:

[CathyCruises]

We saw on the Celebrity website that there are formal, informal and casual nights- what exactly constitutes as casual onboard?

 

!

 

That is extremely surprising as Celebrity as far as I know has gone to a two tier dress code effective last Octovber IIRC. They USED to have casual, informal and formal, but so many people didn't understand that "informal" is more formal than "Casual" and there were lots of issues. It sounds like you may be on a 5 day cruise so you will have one 'formal' night; the others will be 'smart casual' as explained above.

 

Just to clear up any misunderstandings!

 

Cathy

[Conrycol]

The Century is a great ship and one of my favorites too!!! Cayman islands are beautiful. I have to disagree with a previous poster and I say book your own excursions. You can usually get them cheaper and probably better. Look under the port of calls threads for some ideas. You're going to love the Century:).

[raudacruise]

Haven't been on Celebrity for a year (going back - on Century - next December). We have been on them 4 times in the past.

 

As for beer. Its more like $5 plus after the gratuity. They did have 5 for 4 specials which obviously helped.

 

As for drinks in general. Yes, you can spend a lot on them as previously said ;). But its your cruise.

 

As far as ship vs. private excursions. We've cruised enough to know when to take a ship excursion vs. private excursion - and the prices are drastically different. Almost 2x on ship excursions (at least in the Caribean, not so much in places like Canary Islands) and a lot of times not as interesting for almost the "same" excursion.

 

But when we first started cruising we did the same thing in booking ships excursions. If you do private excursions, look at the ports of call board. And for piece of mind book only those that do 2 things:

 

1. No payment up front or a minimum deposit.

2. Returns you to the ship or port area at least 2 hours before sail time.

 

Keep in mind also that the ship excursions are with Independent Operators and the cruise line is only making arrangements for you. Read the disclaimer carefully before you sign up. While they probably will hold the ship if you are running late, I'm guessing that they are not legally bound to it. They certainly are not if you use the cruise line to arrange air fare anymore. Its a convinince according to the contract.

[geoherb]

We were on Century last month. Be sure to eat at least once in the Aqua Spa Cafe. I loved the lunch we had there.

 

As far as keeping your bar bill down, you can preorder packages of liquor on Celebrity's website so you can enjoy a drink in your cabin. The cabernet sauvignon wine that's in the "collectors bottle" is a bargain at $23. You can have it delivered to your cabin or to the dining room. You are also allowed to bring on two bottles of wine per cabin.

[crazy-dog-lady]

All your replies are so great and helpful- thank you! I may just end up spending my day off researching cruise stuff. :D

 

I do have one more question - do you all use the country's currency to shop, eat, tip, etc or dollars? If you do use the country's currency, can we exchange dollars onboard, or is that something that should be done beforehand?

 

Can't wait! My husband and I actually live in an apartment on the Bay in Miami and have a great view of the port, so we are constantly seeing the cruise ships coming and going. After we finalized our reservation yesterday, we just watched them all day, talking and planning about our own sailing!!!

[Janet987]

The US dollar is the preferred currency throughout the Caribbean. Using the port of call boards and the search/advanced search functions in them, will help make your planning more efficient & you can then go out on your day off. One suggestion is to search for X's policy for bringing alcohol on board…it's always a hot topic. I love the Century…enjoy your first cruise.

[scapel]

All your replies are so great and helpful- thank you! I may just end up spending my day off researching cruise stuff. :D

 

I do have one more question - do you all use the country's currency to shop, eat, tip, etc or dollars? If you do use the country's currency, can we exchange dollars onboard, or is that something that should be done beforehand?

 

Can't wait! My husband and I actually live in an apartment on the Bay in Miami and have a great view of the port, so we are constantly seeing the cruise ships coming and going. After we finalized our reservation yesterday, we just watched them all day, talking and planning about our own sailing!!!

 

I use credit cards whenever possible for shopping in ports. Most credit card companies are now making a currency exchange fee. I found a Capital one credit card that does not, so I use it in Caribbean and in Europe.

Ship usually has local currency aboard if you want some. For conveince you pay premium. Always remember if you give cash on shore to locals you will get change in local currency at an exchange rate markedly in their favor, so have small US bills if you do that.

[bsfstire1]

My wife and I are going on the same cruise, (our second) can't wait, we booked our excusions ourselves, hey ottawapuppy, how did you get into the capatins helm area? Also, the some of your pictures show a pool all the way forward in the ship, is this area for passangers?

[Norm174]

Hello:

We cruised on the century January 3rd. Celebrity is now our number 1 favorite cruise line! Beer on ship was $5.00 plus $1.50 gratuity for 2. The martinis will you $9.50. In Ocho Rio we took the ship's tour OR58A - Chukka River Tubing Safari and absolutely loved it!!! It was at 12:00 for $72 each. I highly recommend this adventure. There were a few rapids, but nothing dangerous. No tropical animals - just a wonderful relaxing time on the river. The escorts were very professional and we felt safe the whole time. We were able to purchase pictures they took along the way which meant no waterproof cameras were needed. In Grand Cayman we had lunch at Margaritaville - really fun. On another cruise we went parasailing and went to Sting Ray City. I recommend the parasailing. Not scary in the least. run Hope this is helpful.:D

[train]

Can anyone give us an idea of the price of wine by the glass? (Chardonnay, Merlot).

 

Thanks!

[scapel]

can anyone give us an idea of the price of wine by the glass? (chardonnay, merlot).

 

Thanks!

 

$7.00

[San Diego Ellie]

I was on the Mercury (sister ship to Century) last month. I note that Century, which I am going on Feb. 19, has a Cova Cafe which Mercury had. I assume they have the same wonderful pastries for a few hours morning and afternoon. Though they charge for coffee drinks in the Cova Cafe, the pastries are free and awesome. Do not miss the chocolate croissants in the morning.

[crazy-dog-lady]

thanks for the tip! i absolutely looove chocolate croissants!!!

 

besides the coffee in cova cafe and alcohol, and of course Murano's, what else has an extra charge onboard??

[raudacruise]

thanks for the tip! i absolutely looove chocolate croissants!!!

 

besides the coffee in cova cafe and alcohol, and of course Murano's, what else has an extra charge onboard??

 

Probably obvious but:

 

Spa

Casino

Shopping

 

Not obvious is tipping. I think there is a service charge if you want to eat at the casual sit down in the buffet are in the evening if you skip the main dining room. Also, most folks generally tip for room service.

[jpurdy]

We followed CC advice and walked from tender drop off to Eden Roc. Very close, just follow the water (on the right, shops on the left) around the bend and Eden Roc is a dive place with a big apple on the sign. We rented snorkeling equipment right there, stored our stuff in the lockers and had a wonderful time snorkeling right off shore. HUGE tarpon, etc. Very little current and water sparkling clear. Ships right in front of you. It is nice if you don't want to take a tour. We snorkeled for close to an hour and loved it. Very reasonably priced and you can stop whenever you want and just swim back to shore!

Hope this helps!

[beebell]

As someone who has been known to have an occasional drink on a cruise ship :D ... try the daily specials (3 different drinks each day), try the martini samplers (6 different martinis) for the cost of one martini bar martini. (there are 2 sizes of martinis: 4 oz martini bar and 2 oz regular martini). Ask for non-premium liquors (often save $1 a drink). There are wine flights in Cova that are reasonable ... make sure to attend the Captain's Toast (free drinks), glasses of wine vary with type.

 

I also like to find one bar (usually martini bar) the first afternoon. I meet the bartender when it opens (around 5), make sure to tip a little extra the first few days (why wait until the end?) by adding a dollar or two to the charge. I get really great service, they sometimes have a little sample extra, they will mix your drink exactly the way you like it ...

 

There are other drink samplers, just watch in your daily newspaper. And, watch for the beer specials by the pool or in the Sunset bar. We love the Century, just finished a TA in December.

 

Once you have an X cruise done, you are a captain's club member. You will then get invited to an extra cocktail party (free drinks!) or two. Also, sign up for Cruise Critic Connections, last cruise the Captain gave us a special party, again with free drinks. Normally, it is pastries and juices so we were quite surprised!

 

Can't advise on excursions ... we tend to stay on the ship because it is so nice when there are only a few people aboard ... Hope you really enjoy your cruise on Century!

[tffknee3]

Does the daily special drink (3 ) also have a special price?

[crazy-dog-lady]

beebell- as the previous post asks, are there "price specials" that come along with the "drink specials"? ;)