BettyCruiser

If you have time, can you explain to me how to post nice big pictures like yours?

The pictures have to exist somewhere online already. I loaded my pictures to a snapfish account, other photo hosting sites should work too. Then I just have to copy and paste.

Boarding Connie in 8 days and looking forward to some of my favorite breakfast indulgences - corned beef hash and Eggs Benedict. We're booked in AQ but I didn't see either on the Blu breakfast menu. Does anyone know if either or both are served regularly in the MDR or buffet? Thanks!

Both are available in the buffet, not sure about MDR.

Friday February 21 Grand Turk

This morning was a lazy morning; we weren’t due to arrive at Grand Turk until noon. The water here is beautiful. There was another ship in port with us that had arrived an hour earlier, so it was already really busy at Margaritaville and the beach right next to the pier. We’ve been to Grand Turk twice before and we always do the same thing. We walk down to Jack’s Shack where we try various dinks and snack on jerk chicken, this visit was the same except this time I also got in the water a couple times too. The beach there is really nice. Jack’s goldendoodle, Topher, is always there digging holes in the sand and playing with the kids. It’s always a fun relaxing beach bar day. There’s always a place about half way back to the pier along the beach to stop for a local beer. Once we made the mistake of ordering a local beer and what was a very small vodka diet at Margaritaville and it cost us $16, that’s outrageous we won’t do that again. We were in port until 8:00PM. We went back to the ship when t got dark. Tonight we ate in the buffet. I love the pasta bar in the buffet.

Thursday February 20 San Juan, Puerto Rico

We arrived bright and early at 7:00AM. San Juan isn’t a favorite port; we will stay onboard and enjoy some pool time with fewer passengers onboard. I took some pictures of San Juan from the ship. We were parked next to Independence of the Seas, we’ll be sailing that ship for New Years Eve this year. We were dwarfed next to it.

I expected my laundry to be delivered when our room was made up in the morning, but nothing. After checking with the cabin attendant we got some of it back. Since the bag was marked one of two I knew there should be more somewhere, we finally got the second bag later than evening.

An unfortunate accident occurred while in port that required our friend’s parents to stay in San Juan to receive medical attention that wasn’t available on the ship. After their hospital visit they spent the night in San Juan and then flew straight home. Our friends were appreciative of the help they received from guest services during this stressful time.

Tonight was our second formal night. Our friends had two open seats at their table, so tonight we ate with them at early traditional dining. The service was slow to start, but then fell into a good pace. The lobster was yummy. After dinner we went to the martini bar for dessert martinis.

Some pictures of San Juan taken from the ship

Hi Beth. I am enjoying our review. Kaye here from cabin 1219. I didn't not get off in St Barts so it was nice to see some pictures. I would not go back there either. In St Croix, I thought the water at Rainbow Beach was a little high when getting off the cat. Some of our elderly had a hard time. And the rocks were terrible walking in. FYI- bring water shoes!!! Beach was beautiful and that restaurant very pleasant!!! I look forward to reliving our cruise thru your review!! Very nice to meet you and Tommy. Blue skies and calm seas!!! Kaye Hall

Hi neighbor;) Thanks for following. I also remember both beach in St. Bart's and St. Croix had steep drops just in the water that made getting out of the water difficult. Or maybe I'm just getting old:o

Wednesday February 19 St. Croix USVI

We docked at 8:00AM this morning. We’ve been to St. Croix once before a dozen years ago. That time we booked a snorkel trip to Buck Island, which stranded us on the other side of the island without a ride back. We were ready to give St. Croix another chance. This morning when we left for our excursion I left a couple laundry bags. This time we booked the Half Day Frederiksted Sail & Beach Break.

While checking our account we noticed that we had been charged for a drink, since we both have the premium drink package we shouldn’t be charged for any drinks. On the way to the excursion meeting place in the theater, we stopped at Guest Services to break up some bills and ask them to adjust our bill. They printed our bill highlighted the incorrect charge and said it would be taken care of. In the theater each different excursion was assigned a colored number that was called when they were ready for us to disembark for the excursion.

We boarded the catamaran right from the pier we were docked at, an easy walk from the ship. My first impression was there were a lot of people boarding this catamaran, but there was plenty of room for all of us. The crew of three raised the sails and served us rum punch or pop if you preferred. After sailing for awhile we stopped at Rainbow Beach and had plenty of time to enjoy the water, beach and a drink at the beach bar. After a couple hours at the beach we were back on the sail boat back to the pier. We enjoyed this excursion so much that we’ve already booked it when we return to St. Croix on a cruise in November.

We walked around the shops near the end of the pier a bit but I didn’t see anything that interested me, so we went back to the ship. After the sun and the sand and the water this morning I was ready for a nap in the afternoon. Tonight we ate in the dining room, just the two of us this time. The wait wasn’t bad this time for the two of us. After dinner we stopped at the martini bar for dessert martinis, and then later stopped in the Crystal Room to check out the interactive theme party.

The beach was nice; it was made of tiny and crushed shells instead of sand. We spent some time in the water. When we had enough of the water, we decided to get something to eat at the restaurant at the beach, Du Brazil. It was kind of like we were invisible here, it took a long time to get seated and then even more time for someone to take our order. The food was good when we were finally served. We were on vacation so we weren’t in a hurry, but it was pretty obvious that we weren’t wanted or welcome. As we were eating the weather was getting cloudy and raining off and on, so when we finished eating we decide to head back toward the ship.

On the way back we stopped at a store and got a Christmas ornament for 5EU and stopped for a couple more beers at Le Select. I’m glad we went to St. Bart’s, but I don’t need to ever go back. Shortly after we were back on board it started to downpour, so we made it back to the ship just in time.

Tonight we ate dinner in the buffet. I like the pasta bar. There are a variety of items to pick from that they will cook and add to your choice of pasta and sauce.

I think it was between 11:00 and 12:00 when we tendered over. We had read about a bar there called Le Select, that is said to be the inspiration for Jimmy Buffet’s song Cheeseburger in Paradise, so that was our first stop. We had a couple Presidentes, the bartender was nice, they took US dollars and the restrooms were in fine working order when needed. After our stop at Le Select we continued through town in search of Shell Beach on the edge of town.

On the way to Le Select

Le Select

On the way to the beach

Tuesday February 18 Gustavia, St. Bart’s

We were scheduled to arrive at St. Bart’s at 10:00AM, tendering started about this time. We didn’t have a tour booked so we weren’t in a hurry. We had a leisurely breakfast in the buffet, more made to order eggs benedict. Shortly after tending began, it was announced on the ship that public restrooms on shore would not be available. This is a French island and I had heard that they don’t like Americans and/or cruise ship passengers. So I guess the absence of restrooms was thought that it would discourage passengers from disembarking to the island. We had never been to this island before and I was determined to check it out.

Pictures of St Bart's from the ship.

That sink may be "upscale" but it's a pain in the you know where. The water goes all over the place. Give me functional over upscale any day.

 

I never had any issues with the sink, but I remember many had the same complaint about a similar sink on NCL Epic.

Monday February 17 day at sea

Another day at sea, again we spent time at the pool in the morning. While we were at the pool during the morning they brought the repaired mirror back and installed it. For the remainder of the cruise our mirror operated properly. We spent the afternoon enjoying the ship and the Sunset Bar.

We always ate breakfast and lunch from the buffet and grill. My favorite breakfast item was the made to order eggs benedict; I also liked the hash browns, sausage and bacon. At lunch I usually had cheese and bread from the buffet, sometimes a cheeseburger from the grill. I used to find cheese in the buffet for a mid-afternoon snack, but now there isn’t any cheese out then, but I found I could steal cheese from the salad bar.

We ate in the dining room again tonight. This time we planned to meet our friends and again it seemed like we were seated sooner as a party of four than other parties of two waiting. Tonight there was a comedian in the theater, we don’t care to go to the usual shows, but we enjoy a good comedian. Unfortunately this was not a good comedian.

I had an inside on the 3 nighter too....:)...yes, the cabin has a lot

of storage space.

Hi Lois, I was amazed at all the storage, the first time we sailed the Century and thought we could easily sail a long itinerary in that cabin.

You'll love both. Do not miss the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

Thanks Linda, isn't this sunshine and warm temps great! We can finally melt some of this snow and ice:)

Thanks so much for sharing your detailed review and great pictures. I just booked the Century for April and can't wait..hard to believe it's been 18 years since I last sailed on her!

 

 

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We're also sailing on 4/26, we have a fairly active roll call if you care to join. See you on the Century:)

This review is fantastic! Thanks so much BettyCruiser, great photographs too. I'm cruising Century on 4/12 but I haven't seen you on our roll call so I'm guessing you are on a different sailing. Too bad, you seem like a lot of fun to cruise with!

Thanks, we're sailing 4/26. I can't wait, I've never been to Santa Barbara and Monterey before:)

Sunday February 16 day at sea

We started the day at the pool. On sea days we’re usually out at the pool by 8AM. Sometimes we take turns going to the buffet for breakfast, today I didn’t eat until lunch time when I went to the grill for a cheese burger. The cheese burger tasted really good. I’m sure part of my enjoyment was due to the length of time since I had my last burger, since I normally only eat burgers off the grill at home and it had long been too cold and snowy at home to grill a burger.

Shortly after the pool games began at 1PM we decided we’d had enough sun for the first day and decided to get cleaned up spend some time in other parts of the ship. As I was dressing after my shower I encountered a problem. The hinged mirror at the desk area was coming apart. I called guest services and told them the problem and asked them to send maintenance. Calling guest services entailed at about 5 minutes in a phone queue. Then instead of sending maintenance, they sent our assistant cabin attendant, about 15 minutes later. I showed the cabin attendant the mirror and he assured me it would be fixed and I didn’t have to sit in my room waiting. It was the middle of the afternoon of our first sea day and I didn’t want to spend it in my inside room. During the afternoon we spent time at the Sunset Bar, the Cova Café and other areas of the ship. After realizing that still nothing had been done to remedy the mirror issue in our room we stopped at guest services.

We had talked to friends who had gone to dinner earlier than us the first night and found no wait, so we decided to give earlier a try. A few hours later it was time to get ready for our first formal night and still nothing had been done to fix our mirror, very frustrating. We got ready for formal night as best we could. It was too difficult to access the jewelry I had brought that matched my formal dress since it was in the safe behind the mirror. Every time we moved the mirror it seemed to get worse and I didn’t want it to come all the way off the wall. It was very heavy and a mirror that would’ve broken and gotten glass all over our room. Before leaving for drinks and dinner we once again stressed to the room attendant that something needed to be done.

We stopped at the martini bar before going to dinner. The frosty bar is cool and the bartenders there are always friendly and fun. When we arrived at the dining room, earlier tonight about 7PM, we were discouraged to find lines again for both those with reservations and those without reservations. It turns out we were in line behind a couple we knew from the roll call and when we decided to eat together it seemed to help us get seated sooner as a party of four, we were seated before other parties of two in front of us. Service in dining room tonight was slow to start. It seemed to take a long time before they took our orders. But once they took our orders our service improved to a nice pace. After dinner we stopped back at the martini bar for a dessert drink, and then made our way back to the Crystal Room to hear the orchestra play Big Band music. When we decided to call it a night we were relieved to find the mirror in our room had been removed.

The muster drill was held at 3:30. Our muster station was the casino. During the drill we listened to the safety information and watched a crew member demonstrate the proper way to wear a life jacket. We did not have to bring our life jackets to the drill.

Shortly after the drill it was time for sail away. Our favorite spot for sail away is the Sunset Bar; we also like the area with the “golf balls” one deck up and forward of the Mast Bar. After sail away it was time to unpack and clean up for dinner. Before dinner we like to stop at the Martini Bar, our second favorite bar onboard.

We have been choosing the Select Dining option for several years now. We find that we don’t always feel like eating dinner in the dining room. But when we have traditional dining I feel obligated to go and feel guilty if I don’t, so the Select Dining option works well for us and we have rarely had an issue on Celebrity or any other cruise line. Until tonight. We arrived at the Select Dining Room entrance between 8:00 and 8:30 and found two long lines. There was one line for those like us with no reservation and another line for those with reservations. We soon discovered that many people waiting in the reservation line had reservations for 7:30 and still weren’t seated. This was our third cruise on Century with Select Dining and the first time we’ve encountered a wait. We decided to skip dinner and call it a night early.

It was announced that rooms were ready between 1:00 and 1:30. Our home for the next eight nights was 1217, an inside room on deck 12. This was our third time staying in the same room. All the rooms on deck 12 were added during the big refurbish in 2006, so the cabin is newer, I think the hair dryer is nicer since it’s newer. We like the location because it has easy access to the pool area, buffet and the Sunset Bar. This room probably has the most storage of any room we have experienced. There are two large hanging closets and another closet with four large shelves and four shallow drawers, two bedside stands with two drawers each, a desk area with six drawers and a large storage area behind the large mirror at the desk. The bathroom also has a lot of storage and the shower had plenty of clearance to keep the curtain from attacking while showering.

Betty,

Thanks for the photos. We are on Century for Singapore to Dubai. Also, we are in one of the large Sunset Verandas (1246). We are excited about having an aft balcony.

 

What do you like so much about Century?

In addition to chessbriar's comment regarding vibration, the aft balconies aren't very private. The deck 12 balconys are above the Sunset Bar, so you are looking at the white tarp over the bar then out to the wake. People sitting at a table at the Sunset Bar will be able to see you on your balcony between the ship and the tarp, you will be able to hear music and talking from the bar below. If that is a concern for you, see if there are any deck 9 aft balconies available for the aft experience.

Although I love to sail the big new ships I tend to prefer the smaller older ships. On the Century there is less staff than the bigger ships so they seem to be a more connected team and family atmosphere. I also like the ease of getting from one point on the ship to another. On the Reflection our cabin was all the way forward and we like the Sunset Bar there too, but that walk between the two was a long one.

Your itinerary sounds amazing, I'm sure it will be the cruise of a lifetime:)

Favorite hang out spots on board are the Sunset Bar and the Martini Bar. For some reason I don't have much for pictures at the Sunset, here's one of me at the Sunset.

Next the orginal Martini Bar

I'll let you know when the formal nights are. I'm also wondering what activities are planned as every day is a port day. We were looking forward to Bingo.

 

The "Carnivalization" thing has taken off on the Cruise Critic boards. It seems that Celebrity is trying to attract a younger audience, as us Elites are not spending enough. It is mostly speculation, but any changes in what you experienced before on Celebrity might be of use.

 

I do however think that since Century is going the way of the dodo in a couple years, they may not make any changes to her in order to attract their younger demographic. There focus would probably be on the S-class ships.

The Century cruise was a very mature demographic. I can say it was very different from the 5 night cruise we took on the Constellation February 3rd. That cruise had a very young demographic, probably many first time cruisers and/or first time Celebrity cruisers and thanks to the 123 promo a 'booze cruise' mentality. Where I was surprised to see shorts in both the dining room and Tuscan Grill at dinner. I don't think there is much risk of seeing that on the Century. I guess the question is how much will it bleed over from the 5 day Caribbean itineraries to the 7 day Caribbean itineraries.

Shops onboard

looking down, more Cova tables one level below and guest services two levels down

Muranos

Hot tubs and pools

Hemisphere Lounge

These pictures are from a December cruise, that explains the tree;)