Century - 11/17/05 Sailing (Quick Review)

[Andy]

Hi Everyone !

 

I just returned home, from my 9 night Caribbean sailing on Century. I wanted to do a quick review. I will try my best to write something more detailed in the next few days.

 

To sum up, this was one of my best Cruises ever on Celebrity. The Captain (Captain Pagonis) was outstanding, and his positive attitude was reflected all over the ship.

 

The Crew was extremely friendly, and always smiling. They always tried their very best to make the passengers happy. We were very fortunate to have a great table. Restaurant Manager (Radu), Assistant Maitre'd (Daniel), Waiter (Martin from India), and Assistant Waiter (Yusef from South Africa) were incredible. Our cabin attendant (Avlon), and his assistant were outstanding as well.

 

The food was outstanding. Meals were delicious, and always came out as ordered. As many of you know, I have not been a big fan of Celebrity's Lunch Buffet. I can tell you that there was a HUGE improvement. I was very happy to see this welcome improvement.

 

The entertainment was excellent. Allan King was the Cruise Director, and he is one of the best in the entire Cruise industry.

 

The Cruise Critic Party was very well attended. It was a pleasure to meet Gail (Tuggers), Ed (TexEd), and many other of our Cruise Critic Friends !

 

One last comment for now.... we have seen a few comments about Century not being in great shape. Let me assure you, that the ship is in excellent condition. Please do not worry about the ship not being in great shape. I looked very hard for problem areas, and there was nothing severe to report.

 

Now comes the sadness of what I call "CWS", which stands for Cruise Withdrawal Syndrome <smile>. I was so happy with Century and the entire cruise, that I booked Century again (same itinerary) for 3/9/06. This is a fantastic itinerary (Jamaica, Grand Cayman, Aruba, Curacao and several sea days). Celebrity should definately look into keeping it on the schedule for 2006 and 2007.

 

I hope you enjoyed my review !

[Char]

Welcome back, Andy :D

It's good to hear that the cruise went smoothly. I looked at the bridge cam a few times and saw a lot of rain! Or was that just the cleaners hosing down everything ;)

Did you find out anything new about the drydock plans? Celebrity posted the new deck plans a few days ago and I have a BIG question for you!! The revamped Aquaspa does not show a T-pool!! Is this just an oversight on the part of the diagramers? I certainly hope so!

The Sunset Verandas WILL be aft facing!! But all balconies are not equal. And the 2 center ones are quads. What's with that? I have questions--do you have answers?

Hope to get a more detailed account soon. :)

[chessbriar]

Welcome back Andy,

 

That's quick turn around on the review. I told you she was great. You really should look into booking the Connie April 13 2007. Same itinerary as the Summit. We'll be there.

[hdawson]

Andy. Didn't I tell you, you would enjoy Century? Great size and staff. Glad you're back.

[tarheelmjfan]

Welcome back, Andy :D

 

It's good to hear that the cruise went smoothly. I looked at the bridge cam a few times and saw a lot of rain! Or was that just the cleaners hosing down everything ;)

 

Did you find out anything new about the drydock plans? Celebrity posted the new deck plans a few days ago and I have a BIG question for you!! The revamped Aquaspa does not show a T-pool!! Is this just an oversight on the part of the diagramers? I certainly hope so!

 

The Sunset Verandas WILL be aft facing!! But all balconies are not equal. And the 2 center ones are quads. What's with that? I have questions--do you have answers?

 

Hope to get a more detailed account soon. :)

 

Char,

I forgot to answer the rain question for you earlier. We only had rain on one of the latter sea days that I can remember. It rained pretty hard earlier in the day, then cleared up. I love being on the open ocean, when it's raining. There's just something magical about it. :) We did have a couple windy & chilly (for us Floridians) sea days, but it was great for lying in the sun. Our port days were beautiful. The day we arrived in Curacao we were told it had poured the rain the enitre day before. We got very few sprinkles there, but not enough to really take note of.

[lysolqn]

Glad you enjoued your cruise.

We'll be sailing Century (for the fifth time) in a few weeks and really appreciate the review, especially the assurance that the ship is in good shape - not that we thought it would be otherwise, despite some less than flattering recent reviews.

Did the evening dress code follow the typical Celebrity nine-day routine (three formal, two informal, four casual) or were there some changes?

Thanks!

[tarheelmjfan]

Glad you enjoued your cruise.

We'll be sailing Century (for the fifth time) in a few weeks and really appreciate the review, especially the assurance that the ship is in good shape - not that we thought it would be otherwise, despite some less than flattering recent reviews.

Did the evening dress code follow the typical Celebrity nine-day routine (three formal, two informal, four casual) or were there some changes?

Thanks!

 

We were on the same sailing. There were 2 Formal, 1 Informal/ Formal (optional), 2 Informal, & 4 casual evenings.

[cruisintogether]

Andy can't wait for your full review, we will again be sailing on her at end of Dec. I agreee the crew is outstanding - what happened to Mario the Restaurant Manager, and is Ogla Future cruise sales on board, also who is current Capt. Club hostess?

[chessbriar]

Is Ogla Future cruise sales on board, also who is current Capt. Club hostess?

 

Yes, Ogla is still there. And the Capt Club Hostess is Kim Minix.

[cruiseorbust]

Andy,

 

Thanks for the great post. We are going on the Century over the holidays and can't wait. We will be going Eastern, but excited about going on the Century once again.

 

We love Celebrity and are also looking at the Mercury round trip Seattle to Alaska this May. We love Alaska and are taking someone with us this time that has never been; I know she will love Alaska.

 

Thanks again for adding extra excitement to our up coming cruise!!

[lysolqn]

tarheelmjfan,

 

Have sailed Celebrity 20+ times and never had an optional informal/formal evening dress code. Would you mind elaborating on that please?

Thanks!

[tarheelmjfan]

tarheelmjfan,

 

Have sailed Celebrity 20+ times and never had an optional informal/formal evening dress code. Would you mind elaborating on that please?

Thanks!

 

We thought that was quite unusual as well. The night that should have been the 2nd of 3 formal nights was listed in the embarkation day "Celebrity Today" as informal. When we received the daily for that particular day, the dress code was listed as Informal/ Formal (optional). This meant that you could dress in either attire. My DH & I opted for formal clothing, since that's what we had brought for that evening. The Asst. Maitre D' seemed pleased with those who went in the formal direction. He made a special point of stopping us to let us know "he liked our style" (his words). Most went in the Informal direction though.

 

This was only our 2nd X cruise, but so far we're 2 for 2 with them changing the number of formal, informal, & casual nights from what is listed on the website & in our docs. On Infinity they dropped an Informal night in favor of another Casual evening. IMHO, it would make things much easier, if they would have the same amount of formal, informal, & casual nights as are listed on sources prior to the cruise. Surely, I'm not the only one who packs by those sources.

[Andy]

tarheelmjfan,

 

Have sailed Celebrity 20+ times and never had an optional informal/formal evening dress code. Would you mind elaborating on that please?

Thanks!

 

Hi Lysolqn !

 

Tammy hit the nail on the head... but I also agree, that is the first time I recall seeing "Informal/Formal Optional" as a dress code. It must be something new they are trying.

 

Personally, I liked that they only had 2 of the formal evenings as mandatory, and the 3rd was optional. I feel it made great sense for a 9 night sailing. Had it been 10 nights, I do think it would have simply been 3 formal nights.

 

Nice move by Celebrity IMHO.

[Andy]

Welcome back Andy,

 

That's quick turn around on the review. I told you she was great. You really should look into booking the Connie April 13 2007. Same itinerary as the Summit. We'll be there.

 

Hi Rick !

 

Thanks for the nice comments. I was extremely happy with the entire cruise, in all areas.

 

I am seriously looking into the Connie 4/13/07 sailing. I did book Connie for the 11/20/06 sailing (which is the 7 night sailing). However, looking at my calendar, that may not work for me. I may very well move the booking to the 4/13/07 sailing. As you know, the 10 night Ultimate Caribbean is my very favorite Celebrity itinerary. I am glad we will have it back in late 2006.

 

I will try my best to make it happen, as we just have to be on the same ship one of these days :) !

[Andy]

Andy. Didn't I tell you, you would enjoy Century? Great size and staff. Glad you're back.

 

Hi HD !

 

So nice to hear from you !

 

I always enjoy Century, but let me tell you, this Cruise was my best on Century. Seriously, I was very confident it would be excellent, but they totally exceeded my expectations. I liked Century so much, that I booked 2 more sailings on her for 2006 :).

 

Please stay in touch HD !

[Andy]

Andy can't wait for your full review, we will again be sailing on her at end of Dec. I agreee the crew is outstanding - what happened to Mario the Restaurant Manager, and is Ogla Future cruise sales on board, also who is current Capt. Club hostess?

 

Hi Cruisintogether !

 

Mario (so I heard) just left for vacation. The current Restaurant Manager is Radu, who was excellent !

 

I thought the crew was outstanding, probably due to the fact that Captain Pagonis is very well liked and respected.

 

As Rick mentioned, Ogla is the Future Cruise sales person, and she did a very nice job, and Kim Minix is the Captains Club Hostess. Kim did an excellent job as well.

[Texed]

The Cruise Critic Party was very well attended. It was a pleasure to meet Gail (Tuggers), Ed (TexEd), and many other of our Cruise Critic Friends !

I hope you enjoyed my review !

 

Andy,

 

We enjoyed meeting you and the other Cruise Critics as well. We enjoyed your mini-review, and concur with everything you said. :)

[Andy]

Welcome back, Andy :D

It's good to hear that the cruise went smoothly. I looked at the bridge cam a few times and saw a lot of rain! Or was that just the cleaners hosing down everything ;)

 

Hi Char !

 

I did notice the appearance of Rain on the Webcam, but there was only 1 day that we had some scattered showers, and while they were big, and we saw/heard some "incredible" lightning and thunder, it did not last very long. Overall, the weather was excellent for about 95 % of the cruise.

 

As for the cam, I did mention to the Computer Class folks... that the camera needed to be adjusted and cleaned from time to time. I hope they take care of it.

[lysolqn]

Just a quick note with respect to one evening's optional Informal/Formal dress code -

 

On a recent X cruise, our embarkation day "daily" listed a particular evening as Informal but when that day rolled around, its daily listed the dress code as Casual. It turned out to be a printing error and either mode of dress was considered appropriate for the evening. Wonder if that was what happened on your cruise too, because "optional" evenings are not the norm on X.

 

While we like X because it's a traditional line and still offers formal evenings, IMHO, I do think three formal evenings on a nine-nighter is one too many.

[chessbriar]

Andy,

 

I have to believe, I have a little something to do with the optional Formal/Informal night.

 

When were reading the daily upon boarding, it read 2 Formal, 3 Informal, and 4 Casual. Know we had talked about the dress code on the CC boards and checked with X's site which listed 3/2/4, I knew things were a little screwy.

 

I had talked with Kim prior to sailing and stop down once a day to say Hi, she was great. In one of my conversations with her, I mentioned the change in dress codes. Wouldn't you know it, but one of the Informals suddenly changed to a Formal.

 

If you hate dressing up sorry, if you love it your welcome. I didn't think a change would be made, I did it more to harrass her.

 

Had a great cruise and look forward to our next cruise.

[EMS8]

Andy, glad you had a great cruise on Century. We are sailing her in February and hope things as just as good. Can't wait to read your full review.

[Sparkle 123]

Hi Rick

So its you I have to thank for enabling me to get the wear out of my formal dresses!

Seriously though, I noticed they changed the informal to formal on the Century daily I was pleased as I had packed for 3 formal nights as stated in the brochure.

I did notice that on the 2nd formal night not so many were in formal attire so that is maybe why they decided to make it an Infomal/formal option instead.

 

We had a great cruise on the 10/29 Century and would agree that anyone booked on her needn't worry too much about recent negative comments. The food, service and crew were all excellent.

 

Lisa

[tarheelmjfan]

Andy,

 

I have to believe, I have a little something to do with the optional Formal/Informal night.

 

When were reading the daily upon boarding, it read 2 Formal, 3 Informal, and 4 Casual. Know we had talked about the dress code on the CC boards and checked with X's site which listed 3/2/4, I knew things were a little screwy.

 

I had talked with Kim prior to sailing and stop down once a day to say Hi, she was great. In one of my conversations with her, I mentioned the change in dress codes. Wouldn't you know it, but one of the Informals suddenly changed to a Formal.

 

If you hate dressing up sorry, if you love it your welcome. I didn't think a change would be made, I did it more to harrass her.

 

Had a great cruise and look forward to our next cruise.

 

Hi Rick,

I'm with you!!! We choose Celebrity for 2 reasons. Better food & dressier attire. I was disappointed to see them drop a Formal night in favor of Informal, & even more unhappy that they dropped 1 of the 2 Informal nights on our 10 night Infinity cruise for yet another Casual evening. I, for one, hope this isn't a sign of things to come. If it was you, thanks for making them consider the Informal/Formal option. At least we could still wear the clothes we had packed for that evening.

[Andy]

Andy,

 

I have to believe, I have a little something to do with the optional Formal/Informal night.

 

When were reading the daily upon boarding, it read 2 Formal, 3 Informal, and 4 Casual. Know we had talked about the dress code on the CC boards and checked with X's site which listed 3/2/4, I knew things were a little screwy.

 

I had talked with Kim prior to sailing and stop down once a day to say Hi, she was great. In one of my conversations with her, I mentioned the change in dress codes. Wouldn't you know it, but one of the Informals suddenly changed to a Formal.

 

If you hate dressing up sorry, if you love it your welcome. I didn't think a change would be made, I did it more to harrass her.

 

Had a great cruise and look forward to our next cruise.

 

Hi Rick !

 

I do not hate dressing up at all. I do it for work every day, so it is pretty much the course for me. One of the many reasons I like Celebrity, is the elegance that comes with their Cruise experience.

 

With that said, I do like the idea to give passengers the choice of "Formal/Informal" option, for 1 of the 3 formal nights. I would not be in favor of that option, for all three formal nights though.

 

Kim is a very sweet person, and is an excellent Captains Club Hostess. I hope we get to sail with her again in the future.

[chessbriar]

Hi Rick

So its you I have to thank for enabling me to get the wear out of my formal dresses!

Seriously though, I noticed they changed the informal to formal on the Century daily I was pleased as I had packed for 3 formal nights as stated in the brochure.

I did notice that on the 2nd formal night not so many were in formal attire so that is maybe why they decided to make it an Infomal/formal option instead.

 

We had a great cruise on the 10/29 Century and would agree that anyone booked on her needn't worry too much about recent negative comments. The food, service and crew were all excellent.

 

Lisa

 

Lisa,

 

Have been able to talk Denise into the TransAtlantic to come see you yet.

 

I thought it was great she popped out she wanted a TA from NY to England and there just happened to be one.

 

Hope to sail with you again in the future.