Century review, 4/14 (a little late)

[nicole9s]

a little late, but I just wanted to post a quick review of our HM cruise on the Century on 4/14.

We arrived in Miami the night prior, having flown into FLL, and rented a limo from Holland Limo. Quick ride to our hotel, the Hyatt, by Bayside Marketplace. We checked our luggage w/a bellman and went to the front desk. When we got there, the desk clerk took our name and said that the manager would like to speak to us, just a moment. We were like, cool, we're going to get an upgrade b/c they know it's our honeymoon. Basically the manager comes out and says that they're overbooked (in nicer terms than that though) and would we mind being moved to the Intercontinental, on them? Would we mind? If you're footing the bill, move us away! They paid for a cab to get us to the Intercontinental and one night's room stay ($220). The Intercontinental was fabulous. We walked to CVS to get cruise supplies, including wine, and had drinks in the IC's bar before going to our dinner reservation at the Prime Blue Grille, which was around the corner from our hotel. Our dinner was so delicious, and I highly recommend it to anyone staying in the area - great grain fed beef and line caught fish.

The next morning we got up, grabbed some Starbucks from the shop in the lobby, packed up our stuff and got a cab to the port. When we got there we checked our bags and proceeded inside (I think we were in a NCL terminal though). Embarkation went very smoothly, and we were on the ship in no time, glasses of champagne in hand. We went directly to our cabin, RS 1041. I loved our cabin. It was so spacious and had some great amenities. We spent a lot of time in our cabin on this trip, so it was really worth it to us.

Our butler Richard and our cabin steward Thelma were both great to us. Richard was able to help us with just about everything, except the one night we wanted to dine in the suite. We wanted to eat at our regular late dining time and he said that he wouldn't be able to do that, since he went off duty at 9. If we wanted to eat en-suite we would have to eat at 5:30 or 6. Well, we did not want to do this, and DH had not brought a jacket and this was informal night, so we decided to eat at the Casual dining option upstairs. This worked out well, the food was very good, and it was very quiet, and romantic even!

Food in general was very good. The buffet had some strange things at times, and the grill can use improvement, the hot dogs were ok but the hamburgers were pretty gross. For some reason, we love cruise pizza, and indulged often, LOL. The salad bar was good, I had that most days. Sushi was not bad, we did enjoy it one night. Breakfasts at the buffet were very good, lots of variety, and loved the waffles, well worth the wait! I also liked that they had an Asian section set up for breakfast, yummy stuff there. We had room service breakfast 2 times and it was good. We didn't order anything too crazy. We did not eat in the dining room for breakfast or lunch. Dining room was very good for dinner. Food was always hot, and we had very prompt service. Our head waiter was a little odd though...more on that later. Our ass't waiter was fantastic (Roberto), and his tip reflected it. Cova almond croissants are SO yummy.

We had the honor to be asked to dine at the Captain's table on Formal night. Actually it was at the Hotel Director's table in the early seating. What a wonderful experience, and both the HD, Fabrizio, and the Social Hostess, Sue, were delightful. We also met some wonderful people at that table, so we were in great company. We then were asked to take a bridge tour on the last at sea day, another highlight that really made our trip.

So, as I was saying about our head waiter. We didn't dine at our table on the 2nd night b/c we were at the Captain's table, and on the 3rd night we ate in the Casual dining area. So when we went to the Grand Restaurant on the 4th night, our waiter looked at us like we had 3 heads and didn't believe us that it was our table. He kind of grilled us about it, and then told us some story about on the 2nd night a different couple had sat at our table, and he thought they were in the wrong place, but they said it was their table...IDK, it was just weird. He was kind of odd the whole time we were there, on the 1st, 4th and last nights.

We weren't that impressed w/the entertainment options. We saw the comedian one night, he was good, but didn't go to the other stage shows. We enjoyed the guitar player at the Sunset bar. We went to Michael's one night to hear the pianist, however, passengers kept getting up to sing along with him and it was really annoying. We went to the casino every night, and amazingly won every night at roulette. I was so happy about that and now my husband thinks I'm some gambling wizard, LOL. Bingo was fun, no wins though. Although we didn't go to a lot of the scheduled activities, we kept busy and were never bored once. We needed relaxation after all the wedding stuff, and we got it.

We did not do any excursions through the ship. At Key West we got off and took the Trolley tour, then walked around a bit. We went to KW after the cruise for 3 nights so we used the stop on the ship to get a 'lay of the land' and find places we were going to go later in the week. We had lunch at BO's Fish Wagon, which we enjoyed.

We had a bit of an issue on Grand Cayman day. Apparently the tenders were having problems lining up with the ship and with our priority embarkation passes we still had to wait 45 minutes to get onto a tender. Are they always the life boats? Getting on and off of it was awful. Luckily they used a ferry to get us back into the ship when we left GC. We just took a shuttle while in GC to 7 Mile Beach, relaxed there for awhile, then took a shuttle back ($5/person each way) and went shopping a bit and had lunch at Breezes, which was pretty good. Caybrew is a great beer, LOL.

I'm sure I'm forgetting some details. All in all we had a wonderful cruise and we cannot wait to go on another one! Any questions, please feel free to ask!

[caazcruzin]

We were on the Century right after you for a 5-night and had a great time! We loved all the music going on around the ship in the evening - it felt "adult" but not stuffy. From some of the reviews on this board, I was beginning to second guess our choice, but we were really thrilled all the way around. In Grand Cayman,we were ferried both ways - not in the lifeboats. Not sure which is the typical way to get ashore, but for us tendering was a breeze - walked right on both coming and going to shore. Happy Wedding!!!

[AZjohn]

Thank you for your review nicole9s,

We are getting excited about our cruise next week on Century and like you, we will be experiencing a Royal Suite for the first time also. So I have a couple of questions in that area. First, I am kind of freaking out your butler Richard told you that the only time you can have dinner in your suite is between 5:30 and 6:00? I have no problem with someone’s shift ending at 9:00, but there is no way we would want to eat dinner that early mostly on the European itineraries we will be on. Just sounds really strange to me..:confused:

Can you go into details about the furnishings of your suite and the balcony, tub, and stuff like that? How was the noise from the deck above? What time could you get your breakfast in your suite in the morning? How was the espresso (if you had any there)?

I have more questions probably, but these are some of the more important ones that I can think of now:o .

Thanks,

John

[nicole9s]

Thank you for your review nicole9s,

We are getting excited about our cruise next week on Century and like you, we will be experiencing a Royal Suite for the first time also. So I have a couple of questions in that area. First, I am kind of freaking out your butler Richard told you that the only time you can have dinner in your suite is between 5:30 and 6:00? I have no problem with someone’s shift ending at 9:00, but there is no way we would want to eat dinner that early mostly on the European itineraries we will be on. Just sounds really strange to me..:confused:

Can you go into details about the furnishings of your suite and the balcony, tub, and stuff like that? How was the noise from the deck above? What time could you get your breakfast in your suite in the morning? How was the espresso (if you had any there)?

I have more questions probably, but these are some of the more important ones that I can think of now:o .

Thanks,

John

 

Hey John,

 

I thought it was odd too. I was wondering why someone other than the butler could not serve us dinner, but I didn't feel like 'fighting' it really. We just took his 'no' at face value and found another alternative, which did turn out to be quite nice. We were looking forward to dining in the cabin though, and maybe should have pressed harder. Kinda sucks for him too, b/c there was going to be a nice tip in it for him (beyond what we tipped him at the beginning...and the end). DH actually had the tip in his hand t give to him when we made the request, and when he said no, he quickly put it in his pocket, LOL.

I took a ton of pics of the suite and the balcony, I will try to post them shortly. The one issue we had was the stand up shower is totally enclosed, and I guess as a result smelled horribly of mildew. We found this out the 1st day on board, and I left a note for the cabin steward. She must have sprayed it b/c when we got back that night it did not smell however after using it, it smelled again.

I believe you could start having continental b'fast delivered from 6:30 on, and full b'fast from 7:00 to 11 (I think). I would recommend you take a copy of the CC b'fast options with you b/c we only had 'suite' breakfast door hangers, and I wrote in other stuff I knew was available to CC pax, and had no problem getting anything we requested (except you can't request specific types of danish, it's whatever they are making that day I guess).

We heard some noise from above a couple of mornings at either 6 or 7 (the time change on board confused us for awhile, LOL) which sounded like chairs being dragged across the floor. It was minimal and not really a disturbance, to me at least.

I had cappucino once in the suite. It was okay. I've had better, and I've had far worse. I'm not really a coffee snob so I guess it's going to depend on your expectations...

We really enjoyed tea time every day, but DH was very upset to learn that we could have gotten the same choices, plus more, if we had just gone up to the buffet at the same time. I thought it was a nice touch with them coming door to door.

[AZjohn]

Hey Nicole9s,

I will make sure and hold off on the tips until the end:p (lol). I have a feeling “Richard” will be our butler because I have heard his name mentioned a lot here on CC. Bummer about the mold smell in the shower. I have a feeling my wife would put up with that for about two seconds before calling the cabin steward. Not that we are picky or anything, but she likes a clean room with a comfortable bed, that’s all.

I already printed out a CC menu from this site, so we are ready to go in that department. I never got into the tea thing before, but might give it a try if we are in our cabin when they come around. Did you try and get shrimp cocktails instead of the cheese and crackers in the late afternoons? I’m thinking about writing a list out before we board of the little things we like and giving it to the butler and just asking if he could do a couple of those items that would be great, if not no big deal (like my wife loves popcorn but probably won’t be able to get it).

So, how was the bed, bathroom, TV, couch, etc?

Thanks again,

John

[nicole9s]

yeah, I am actually very very weird about showering in strange places. I let it air out before showering, took like a 3 minute shower (there was very good water pressure, thankfully) and wore flip flops, just like summer camp! LOL

My husband is allergic to shrimp so we didn't request that. We did request cheese and crackers and that was brought with the usual canapes. Some of the canapes were really yummy, like a blue cheese mousse in a piece of celery, some were nasty, like the caviar on the toast.

The TV's were great, too bad there is such limited programming, LOL. We saw a lot of 'How I Met Your Mother' reruns, and a lot of ESPN...Couches were firm, which was very good for my husband's bad back. We loved the balcony and spent a lot of time out there reading, having drinks, etc. The bed was very comfortable to us, it was firm if I recall correctly. The bathroom took some getting used to, with the step up and over, but it was nice, especially having 2 sinks, plenty of storage space, etc. The walk in closet was great, and especially the vanity in there, it was so great for getting ready, and now I want one at home! LOL

[HolstonRiverVOL]

Richard was our butler and we thought he was the best... took care of our every need. We never inquired about dinner in stateroom.

Nor did we experience any odor in shower stall ... Thought bathroom was great and large.

 

Here's link to my review.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=745101&highlight=HolstonRiverVOL

[AZjohn]

Richard was our butler and we thought he was the best... took care of our every need. We never inquired about dinner in stateroom.

Nor did we experience any odor in shower stall ... Thought bathroom was great and large.

 

Here's link to my review.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=745101&highlight=HolstonRiverVOL

 

Looks like Richard is the man for shrimp cocktails:D We will see about dinner in our suite at 7:30:rolleyes: .

Thanks,

John

[YOW]

Nicole, thank you for your review. I enjoyed reading your observations and experiences aboard and around Century. You've posted some valuable information here that others will be able to use.

 

Just a suggestion -- when going on to the next paragraph, you can use another return ("Enter"). This way, your ideas are clearly separated, and it's visually more appealing.

 

Thanks again for your informative and balanced observations. :D

[joenanna]

Nicole,

 

We will be on the Century in RS 1045. I thought your review was great, it sounds like you had a relaxing cruise. I would love to see some photo's of the room and balcony if you have them.

[HolstonRiverVOL]

If you want to see a virtual tour of a Century Royal suite do the following link ... (the virtual for the "Penthouse" suite is actually a video of a Royal Suite).... Looks "exactly" like the RS we stayed in on our 3/22 cruise.

 

go to http://www.cruisecheap.com/print_display.asp?PageID=345

 

and click on Royal Suite ... let the webpage load and then click on 'Live' and then on Penthouse... what you will see is a Royal Suite ... trust me on this. :cool:

 

Good idea of the stateroom and balcony/veranda

[joenanna]

If you want to see a virtual tour of a Century Royal suite do the following link ... (the virtual for the "Penthouse" suite is actually a video of a Royal Suite).... Looks "exactly" like the RS we stayed in on our 3/22 cruise.

 

go to http://www.cruisecheap.com/print_display.asp?PageID=345

 

and click on Royal Suite ... let the webpage load and then click on 'Live' and then on Penthouse... what you will see is a Royal Suite ... trust me on this. :cool:

 

Good idea of the stateroom and balcony/veranda

 

Thanks for the link, the room looks awesome and we are looking forward to enjoying it.