Century Feb.4-9

[marinearchit]

Arrived home in Philly at about 5 PM and back home at around 8. It began snowing the next day, and now it's a few inches of ice. Not fun.

First off, it was just me (15) and my mom on this cruise. It was my second cruise and my mom's third. We had a great time and will be on the Solstice sometime in the future. (Used Celebrity Passages so we haven't picked an exact date yet)

 

Embark/Debark and travel to/from the ship...

Originally, we thought Princess did this very well, but Celebrity beats them by far. We booked all of our travel through Celebrity, and they planned it out perfectly.

We flew out of Philly the day before the cruise, in fear of a delay because of weather. The flight arrived in Miami ahead of schedule, but our Celebrity transportation guy was already there. After getting our suitcases, we boarded the van/taxi hybrid to the Marriott Miami Dadeland. The hotel was really nice and had just been completely redone. The room had a 42" plasma, which was awesome to watch the Superbowl on...except I hadn't slept in two days so I ended up missing part of it. I'd definitely recommend that hotel!

Next day we were guided to a bus that took us to the port. Walked right off the bus and into the terminal, right up the stairs (which I tripped on and fell up...don't know how I did it), right to the check-in desk, and onto the ship. No lines at all!

Debarkation was just as quick and easy except I have no idea why we had to be driven to Ft.Lauderdale Intl. to wait for a few hours and than fly home.

 

Stateroom...

We booked a CC Balcony and thought it was great. The room's square footage was significantly less than our average balcony room on the Caribbean Princess, but overall it was much nicer and had better storage and an improved layout.

 

I don't think we ever used our Concierge, so I can't give any details, but our room steward Ramon was great. He was very friendly and always solved any issues we had right away. For example, they only delivered my suitcase and backpack to the room but my mom's never showed up. My mom asked Ramon what happened and he tracked down her suitcase and got it to our room in less than 10 minutes.

 

We had bathrobes in the cabin but my mom is the only one who used them. The flowers (not sure what they were) and the roses in the bathroom never wilted. Not sure if they just lasted long or if Ramon replaced them. The caviar hors'd ovreus came every day at 5, I don't eat them but my mom liked them.

We got around the cabin fine and didn't have any problems. Our neighbors were loud sometimes but they were entertaining so we had no complaints and you could only really hear them on the balcony.

Speaking of the balcony...

It seemed bigger than our balcony on the Caribbean Princess, but maybe the one on Princess seemed smaller because they have a little table and two big chairs. Our balcony on Century had a large table with two regular-sized chairs. Does that make sense?

 

Finally, the carpet had a few small stains in some of the corners, but it's not like I spend a lot of time on the floor so they didn't affect my mom or me.

 

The bathroom was the perfect size, and the shower was on the large side.

 

Food...

Grand Restaurant

We both were pretty lucky with our food choices since the food was always very good. Our waiter Limon was friendly, attentive, and overall very good at his job.

The wine steward, I can't remember his name at the moment, was equally awesome. He's from Dubai, and I'm pretty interested in Dubai, so we would talk about that and we exchanged emails so he can send me some pictures.

The maitre'd...did we have one? He came the last night but I don't know his name. That was one of the things that Princess did better, on the Caribbean Princess our maitre'd David came over every night and talked to all of the tables.

We ate breakfast here once, and it was very good. Although lunch had a small selection and wasn't anything special.

Murano

The food at Murano had to be some of the best I've ever eaten. I had truffle sauce , which was surprisingly good.

The service was perfect and so was everything else.

We sort of rolled out of Murano at the end.

Buffet

I didn't eat here much, but when I did it was pretty good.

 

Life...

This ship had none.

At first I thought I might be the only teen, since the first two times I went to the teen center there were just some women walking around inside who were looking for Hemispheres.

But when I went back at night there were some other teens, it turned out there were about a total of 8 of us.

The teen center itself actually seemed bigger than the one on Princess, except it just had less in it. (No pool table or air hockey)

The first night we were up on the forward top deck, over the bridge, and I guess security didn't like that because one security guard made a few walk-bys.

 

My mom and I would go to the Rendezvous lounge every night before dinner, and it would begin to get a crowd in between the two seatings. But after the late seating began it seemed that the room emptied out and became equally mature.

From what I saw, the Caribbean Party up on deck the one night looked pretty...uh...dead. But I only made a quick pass of it.

 

Most of the cruise followed in that manner...everything seemed to shut down after about 11:30PM. One night, as I was going to the teen center at about 10PM, I walked by empty-looking Hemispheres and saw a man with a walker heading in to party.

 

Overall, I didn't mind the relative empty feeling of the entire ship.

 

 

 

I won't set aside an entire section of this review for entertainment. I only saw one comedian (he was pretty funny), no shows, and only heard the onboard bands. The bands were pretty good, and the members of the pool band were pretty funny when you talked to them.

 

I never felt crowded at all, and didn't see any rowdy people or anything.

 

Excursions...

Key West

Parasailing! One of the best things we could have done. I loved it, but my mom was really scared and didn't enjoy it as much. I'd recommend this if you're in Key West.

 

Grand Cayman

We were supposed to swim with the stingrays, but the room service breakfast gave my mom a really bad migraine so we missed it.

We ended up taking a bus tour. Stopped at the Rum factory, Hell, and the Turtle Farm/Sanctuary. I held a baby turtle, which was pretty cool.

The bus tour was actually entertaining, and our guide was very informative and funny.

 

That's about all I can think of right now,

In the end, this cruise was great. I had no big complaints and my mom really didn't either (Except the food thing in GC).

Like I said at the beginning of this review, we enjoyed ourselves so much that we used Celebrity Passages to book a cruise on the Solstice. We would really love to do the Inaugural, but it's to close so we won't have time to save up. Most likely we'll be sailing next year over New Years. Bring in 2010 on the Solstice!

[Sea Island Lady]

We had bathrobes in the cabin but my mom is the only one who used them. The flowers (not sure what they were) and the roses in the bathroom never wilted. Not sure if they just lasted long or if Ramon replaced them.

Roses in the bathroom! :eek: We didn't get any flowers in our bathroom. Just the Alstroemerias on the dressing table.

The caviar hors'd ovreus came every day at 5, I don't eat them but my mom liked them.

We happened to be in our cabin (actually on the balcony) when there was a knock on the balcony door. There stood the concierge with our appetizers. It was funny! :D They were always in our room when we came back to get ready around 4:00-4:30 and were stale. We ate them the first day, but after that, I began to scrape the caviar off and onto the cream cheese based appetizer, and ate it that way. DH ate the salami.

We got around the cabin fine and didn't have any problems. The bathroom was the perfect size, and the shower was on the large side.

I am sure that you and your mother were not getting ready at the same time and didn't have the problems that a married couple, getting ready together, would have. :rolleyes:

Our neighbors were loud sometimes but they were entertaining so we had no complaints and you could only really hear them on the balcony.

Ours were very entertaining! :D

 

Speaking of the balcony...

It seemed bigger than our balcony on the Caribbean Princess, but maybe the one on Princess seemed smaller because they have a little table and two big chairs. Our balcony on Century had a large table with two regular-sized chairs. Does that make sense?

 

What type of accommodations did you have on Princess? We had a mini-suite and had a good sized balcony.

 

Finally, the carpet had a few small stains in some of the corners, but it's not like I spend a lot of time on the floor so they didn't affect my mom or me.

 

 

Glad you had a good time and I am sorry I didn't speak up when I suspected who you were. ;)

[marinearchit]

No problem!

 

On Princess we just had a regular balcony on Aloha Deck, I think the mini suites had balconies 2x the size.

You're right, we weren't getting dressed at the same time.

[Sea Island Lady]

Like I said at the beginning of this review, we enjoyed ourselves so much that we used Celebrity Passages to book a cruise on the Solstice. We would really love to do the Inaugural, but it's to close so we won't have time to save up. Most likely we'll be sailing next year over New Years. Bring in 2010 on the Solstice!

 

Could you explain to me what you received for the booking? I showed my husband a special for the Solstice next year and he said we should put a deposit down on it.

 

Anyone know what Celebrity's pp deposit amount is for a 7 day cruise?

[Jade13]

Really nice review! You are only 15? I am impressed.

 

Which CC deck were you on? Did you get the tote(s) and or fanny pack? Different cabins seem to get different things, and members here can't figure out if it was because they were in a CC cabin, paid the fuel surcharge or are a Captain Clubs member. Also, whether or not you went, did you get any invites to tea or tours? Most say you have to be Elite on Celebrity but another poster said it was their first cruise on Celebrity and invite said it was because they were in a CC stateroom.

 

We can't ever go to the turtle farm. They are raised for food and we have pet tortoises :(

[browneyedpete]

Hey good review. The girls and I got home safe and sound. Sorry we never met but you did meet my daughter she said. She said you were a lot of fun. We really enjoyed our cruise as well. I want to book another cruise for next year. Can't decide if I want to go with Celebrity or a different cruise line.

Anyway glad you made it home safe.

[marinearchit]

Sea Island Lady,

I don't know it off of the top of my head but I'll ask my mom for the paper.

 

Jade13,

Thanks for the compliment.

We were on Vista. Not sure what a tote bad is, but we got a large blue bag and I think we did also get a fanny pack. We also got the blue mesh bag. And no, we didn't get invitations to anything.

Are you sure they eat the turtles? The guide told us they release them back into the ocean.

 

browneyedpete,

You probably saw me with Kayla but I didn't know who you were.:) Could you tell her I said hi?

[browneyedpete]

Yes I will tell Kayla you said hi. I'm sure I did see you too but also didn't know who you were at the time. Kayla has a picture of you and all the other teens from the group. Remember Johnathon? He calls Kayla every night and wants me and his parents to plan our cruises together next year. He seemed like a nice boy.

[Lois R]

Hi,:) I am impressed as well...15? Have you thought about

going into the writing field?

[Jade13]

Are you sure they eat the turtles? The guide told us they release them back into the ocean.

quote]

 

A "Farm" is to raise food product. A small percentage are released back into the wild. There is info on this on the Grand Cayman ports page. I had a feeling they would not discuss this with those on a tour. I eat meat but just could never consume reptiles. I understand if you go to the airboat tours in the everglades they show you their pet alligators as well as the ones in the swamp and then sell gator food in the resturants.

[Xcruiser]

A "Farm" is to raise food product. A small percentage are released back into the wild. There is info on this on the Grand Cayman ports page. I had a feeling they would not discuss this with those on a tour. I eat meat but just could never consume reptiles. I understand if you go to the airboat tours in the everglades they show you their pet alligators as well as the ones in the swamp and then sell gator food in the resturants.

The turtle farm on GC is for conservation of endangered sea turtles and not human consumption. This applies to the butterfly farm as well on GC. You can get more info on this at the GC site link: http://www.caymanislands.ky/general_information/default.aspx

[jdr93]

Production

At the end of 2006, Cayman Turtle Farm had approximately 10,100 turtles at its facility.

 

During the past year Cayman Turtle Farm processed 1,607 turtles, producing 101,391 lb. of meat for the local market.

see the whole page. the farm has always been a 'farm' as well as release point for hatchlings.

http://turtle.ky/history.htm

the purpose of the nearly worldwide ban on the import of turtle meat is to prevent the decimation of turtle populations around the whole planet. whether the turtle farm is an ethical method of acquiring turtle meat is another question.

[Xcruiser]

see the whole page. the farm has always been a 'farm' as well as release point for hatchlings.

http://turtle.ky/history.htm

the purpose of the nearly worldwide ban on the import of turtle meat is to prevent the decimation of turtle populations around the whole planet. whether the turtle farm is an ethical method of acquiring turtle meat is another question.

I used the official Island site as the source and it list conservation as the use and didn’t contain any reference to meat processing. Thanks for updating me on that although I question the practice of processing turtle meat.

 

Still with 10,100 turtles at the farm and only 1,607 processed for meat would tend to show the primary use of the farm as conservational.

[barbarah33]

Thank you for the review. I enjoy reading reviews from different age groups; everyone can see the same thing quite differently you know.

[marinearchit]

Lois R,

No, never really considered it. I would like to do something with naval and civil engineering, though.

 

 

Jade and Xcruiser,

Seems like info differs from the place you get it from.

Those turles were cool, it's sad they sell them for food. Personally, I don't think they would be very good.

[LIBRARY]

Would you possibly have any of the DAILY SHIPS NEWSPAPERS from the February 2008 cruise on the Century that you were on. Our friends were on that cruise to celebrate their 25th anniversary and lost their house to a fire recently. They had such a great time on that cruise and we would like to get some copies so that we can have them framed to give them on their next anniversary. If you do have any we would pay any cost involved to get some copies. If you could E-Mail me at COMMISHGOLF@MSN.COM and let me know I would appreciate it. Any help you can give us would be greatly appreciated. We live in the Scranton PA area.Thank you Library

[jdr93]

we might have some of them, we'll look around.

[elena7seas]

I always enjoy any of your posts here on Cruise Critic. You have an exceptionally mature writing style and provide a fresh point of view. You also have a great knack for being analytical without losing your positive outlook.

 

Good luck with your career aspirations...I am sure you will be a great success in whatever field you select.

 

You can always pursue travel writing as a hobby!

 

Happy Sailing!

[Lois R]

Would you possibly have any of the DAILY SHIPS NEWSPAPERS from the February 2008 cruise on the Century that you were on. Our friends were on that cruise to celebrate their 25th anniversary and lost their house to a fire recently. They had such a great time on that cruise and we would like to get some copies so that we can have them framed to give them on their next anniversary. If you do have any we would pay any cost involved to get some copies. If you could E-Mail me at COMMISHGOLF@MSN.COM and let me know I would appreciate it. Any help you can give us would be greatly appreciated. We live in the Scranton PA area.Thank you Library

 

Hi, not sure if you received my email this morning:)

But I was in Miami today for a sneak peek at Celebrity's

Solstice (new ship). I actually asked one of the folks at HQ

if they had a daily on hand from that week.

I was told the ship's keep them for 2 years but HQ does not.

I tried to find one for you...sorry, had no luck.

I hope you are able to find one for your friends.

[jdr93]

libray, we're still looking for a copy or two of the daily's from the century trip.

 

also, lois r, we would be interested in any photos or descriptions of the solstice demo you went to. we're booked on the solstice in march and equinox in november 09

[Lois R]

libray, we're still looking for a copy or two of the daily's from the century trip.

 

also, lois r, we would be interested in any photos or descriptions of the solstice demo you went to. we're booked on the solstice in march and equinox in november 09

 

Hi:) if you check Host Anne's thread over on the Celebrity

board you will find all kinds of information and photos:)

I did not bring a camera but 2 folks (Mike and Carol) took

lots of pictures and there is alot of stuff on that thread

about it all.