Cruised before, but never on Celebrity...considering the Century. Thoughts?

[boobear]

We will be traveling in April as a family for spring break, with our 3 kids, (19,16,12). We've cruised on Carnival and Norwegian but are considering Celebrity but don't know much about them other than what we've read. Our destinations are Ocho Rios and Grand Cayman. We love the water and adventure :) Any inside thoughts, comments or inside tips on the ship that we should know? Thanks!

[dkjretired]

We will be traveling in April as a family for spring break, with our 3 kids, (19,16,12). We've cruised on Carnival and Norwegian but are considering Celebrity but don't know much about them other than what we've read. Our destinations are Ocho Rios and Grand Cayman. We love the water and adventure :) Any inside thoughts, comments or inside tips on the ship that we should know? Thanks!

 

I have traveled on the Century with my kids over Easter. Celebrity has great childrens programs and the 12 yr. old would have a lot of other kids on board. The teenagers will also have a lot of company but I have found they don't usually follow the groups but meet up with others and do their own thing. 19yr can gamble in the casino but cant drink...

 

Ocho Rios and Grand Cayman have great shore excursions with water and adventure. I would definitely look into doing StingRay City in Grand Cayman and the falls are a nice adventure in Ocho Rios. We did a combo falls trip and snorkeling which was fun.

 

Celebrity will be a little more sedate than Carnival or Norwegian but there is still a lot for everyone to do.

[eandj]

Celebrity wouldn't be the line of my choice for a family of your ages. There may be some kids on the Century during spring break, but it is an older ship with none of the bells and whistles of the other lines. Even the newer Celebrity ships, altho they have all have kids' programs, aren't like the family lines like Royal Carib. I'd look there for some fun ships with many choice activities for the families on board. We've done 3 fun packed family cruises on RCL, but when travleing with just my husband, we head to Celebrity as we aren't interested in the rock climbing, ice skating, pool activites etc. that RCL can offer.

 

By the way, knowing you have done Carnival and NCL, also tells me your kids will be totally disappointed in what's offered on the Century for them. Don't do it.

[Hermitage1]

I agree with eandj. Though I love the Century it is a bit more sedate than any RCCL or Carnival cruise ship. There is very little for the teenagers to do except sit by the pool, play simulated golf, play WII for a specific hour each day or basketball. It may be fine if you do not have many at sea days but apart from that ..... Century does tend to draw an older clientele

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

My TA just returned from a cruise on the Century in Europe. She reported that her 12-year-old grandson had a blast.

[youngcruiserFL]

Celebrity is an excellent cruise line, but its target customers aren't kids. With that in mind, you will probably be very impressed with =X= award-winning services and commitment to providing a luxurious experience. Your kids, however, most likely will not.

[pumpkin 11]

We did a 5-night on century during spring break. there were 500 KIDS!!!

They all seemed like they were having fun from what i saw! you don't need all the bells and whisles to have a good time. even though they would be nice.:)

[jackdiamond]

Our first Celebrity cruise was on the Century before the advent of the M class; and, we were pleased. However, since then we have never again cruised the Century class, but have often cruised the M class; and, we are more pleased with the M class.

[Host Anne]

It doesn't matter what ship or line you sail over spring break - you will find lots of others the age of your children, including on Century. It all depends what you want. Century is one of our favorite ships (sailed her with our daughter when she was 16 and 20). They don't have the rock climbing walls, skating rinks, etc that the Royal Caribbean ships have but then neither does Carnival nor NCL.

 

If you enjoy a nice environment, good food, great service and staff, I think your family will enjoy Century. Your 16 and 19 year olds are too old for formal kid activities but your 12-year-old would probably enjoy meeting others their age in the formal programs offered. I've sailed both other lines (Carnival and NCL) and we prefer Celebrity all the way around but it's just what we enjoy. Unless you are on one of the mega Royal Caribbean ships, I find the onboard activities on ships to be similar. Have you thought about the Voyager or Freedom class ships of RCI?

 

Lots of fun water activities in both Grand Cayman and Ocho Rios (altho Ocho Rios is not my favorite port of call).

 

Best of luck with your decision!

[minimartha]

We were on the Century last year for spring break with a 12, 14 & 16YO boys and a 15 yo girl. We had cruised RCCL and Carnival before but never Celebrity. We chose the 5 nt cruise because of price and I wanted to take the kids to Dunns River Falls. My kids LOVED IT! They loved that there wasn't the constant party atmosphere and loved the class of Celebrity. We were considering and longer 7nt cruise on RCCL or Carnival for this years spring break and the kids all begged for Celebrity. We are leaning towards booking the same ship, same itinerary again..(the one you are looking at) The above posters are correct in that there definitely isn't the same atmosphere as some of the other cruise lines but that is the reason we loved it. We actually already booked Solistice for our anniversary too in March..We all loved the service for our rooms, in the dining room, around the pool and even when getting back on board when being in port. Our kids said it made them feel special.. now... I WILL SAY.. my kids did not take part of teen parties etc onboard.. but there were some. There were ALOT of teenagers that we would see getting pizza, in the arcade etc. in the evenings. It depends on your kids, and what you like but we loved it!:)

[boobear]

Thank you so much for all the great replies! I don't think my kids will mind that there aren't all the "bells and whistles" of the bigger ships. They love just hanging out by the pool and hitting the ice cream bar and buffet! When we did the first cruise they met up with a couple of kids their age and would hang with them alittle (we even did a beach excursion with one family), but our kids are really close, especially the 2 older ones and they enjoy hanging out togather. Not really big into the scheduled day activities for the kids. Plus we just found out their aunt from another state who they don't get to see very often is going to join us! So we are just looking for a nice cruise, with good service and food that we can have a relaxing but fun family vacation. And hopefully the kids can meet some others their age so they can hang with them in the evening to make it even better for them!

[tdk1938]

We will be traveling in April as a family for spring break, with our 3 kids, (19,16,12). We've cruised on Carnival and Norwegian but are considering Celebrity but don't know much about them other than what we've read. Our destinations are Ocho Rios and Grand Cayman. We love the water and adventure :) Any inside thoughts, comments or inside tips on the ship that we should know? Thanks!

 

 

Hi boobear,

 

We had our first cruise with X Century during winter break. We loved our first cruise and I'm planning to book next our cruise. We did the same itinerary that you that you're taking. We went there with our 3 kids, (21,19,16). Our youngest son hanged out with us on the ship and my two older kids hanged out together. I saw many children in kids club and they seems to be having a ball.

 

If you have any questions regarding the two ports, just ask.

[Learning to swim]

Hello,

New to the site, and also to cruising. While this site seems to be for seasoned cruisers, this will be our first cruise. My husband, his best friend, and I, all in our early 40's. Since the two of them have left the planning to me, I figured I better do some research, which led me here.

We are flying from the North, our friend from Nashville. I have narrowed it down to two possible ships. Out of Tampa, on Royal Caribbean's Grandeur of the Seas or out of Miami on Celebrity's Century (flying into Fort Lauderdale). If the two were both out of Tampa, then I would decide on Century without hesitation. The two things positive things for us deciding on Grandeur of the Sea is it is more conveint as we could catch a direct flight and the airport and port are close. From what I've read here, Century seems to be better for non smokers and may be more relaxing/quiet, both real pluses for us. Is it true that RC has more announcements and that Celebrity limits them? Not to sound terrible, but we are also hoping to have as few children on board as possible, which leads me to another question from you seasoned travellers. We have a choice of either a four night cruise, which begins on Thursday February 11th or a five night cruise that begins on Sunday February 14th. This is true of both ships/both ports. I beleive a lot of kids school break begins on the 12th, so we thought the four night cruises would be less likely to have kids, but the five night cruises seem to be a better deal, with on ship bonuses and price. Any thoughts? I see someone had taken this same 5 night cruise on Century last February and mentioned lots of children. Sorry so many questions. Thanks.