Review of Celebrity Century Baltic and Russia cruise July 08

[Dellarose]

I posted this in the review section OVER a week ago but CC doesn't seem to be updating that section, so I thought I'd share here...........

 

Celebrity Century, July 16th - July 28th, 12-Night Scandanavian & Russian Cruise.

 

Because I found the information on Cruise Critic very helpful, I wanted to share our experience and hope that other people find it helpful. We are a 50-something American married couple, who have cruised twice before this trip - once in Egypt when we cruised the Nile for five days, and once two years ago, we did a 7-day cruise of the Mexican Riviera with Holland America leaving out of San Diego, which we found to be quite enjoyable. We are seasoned travelers who have lived in 7 US States, lived in Germany for 12 years until 5 years ago and are now back living in Germany. We have traveled to many European countries, mostly on our own.

 

I think the first thing you should know about this cruise - is that as wonderful as it is to spend two days in St. Petersburg, you must plan on spending hundreds more dollars to be able to do this. You can not enter Russia without a VISA. Since it is expensive and difficult to get a VISA on your own, your only other option is to sign up for a tour or for excursions. Celebrity offers excursions and some time after you book the cruise, you will receive a book called Shore Excursion Guide. You can book shore excursions for any of the ports through Celebrity. But, there is another option and this I learned through Cruise Critic. There are three major tour companies - DenRus, Red October, and Alla. We chose to book a two day tour with DenRus (you can go to their website and read about their tour choices and then book on-line. We booked The Complete St. Petersburg tour - 2 full days of touring). I did a lot of research and compared Celebrity and the three tour companies and felt that with DenRus you got the best deal and the most for your money. We were very pleased with our decision. It cost us $590 for the two of us to join this tour. I know, also, that other people were pleased with their tours with Alla, Red October, and with their Celebrity excursions. I will talk about our Russian tour more later.

 

We currently live in the Stuttgart area of Germany, so on July 16th, we left our home at 3:00 AM and drove to Amsterdam, Holland. We parked our car at Schipol airport in long-term parking for about 6.50 euro per day, which is a heck of a lot cheaper than parking it at the dock for around 30 euro per day. We grabbed a shuttle bus to Terminal 3, where we caught a train to Central Station. I will admit that this was not easy dragging suitcases. We walked outside of the train station and were told by a Tram attendant that we needed to hop on to Tram 25 to go to the ship terminal, and he pointed to the tram that he said we should take. We hopped on only to find that Tram 25 runs in both directions and not in a circle. To catch the tram to the terminal we would have to be across the street, facing Central Station. We boarded tram 25 as recommended by the ever so helpful information guide but this one was going the wrong way! The correct one would have been a short ride to the ship but since we were on the wrong one, we rode the tram a half hour in the wrong direction and then another half hour in the right direction and finally made it to the ship at about 1:00 PM. My husband wanted to walk to the ship terminal from the train station, which would have been about a 20 minute walk. I thought it would be difficult dragging suitcases, but in retrospect, it might have been best.

 

When we finally reached the terminal, we handed over our luggage, then stood in a line, filled out a health form, our number was called, we stood in another line, went through security, another line, then we checked in,and fnally we were on the ship. It sounds like a lot but it took about half an hour. (Do your registration on-line or it will take longer). We checked out our inner cabin on Deck 9 and we were immediately greeted by name by Isabelo, our stateroom attendant. He welcomed us and gave us a quick tour of our tiny cabin and offered his assistance with anything we might need. (Isabelo and his assistant were terrific throughout the cruise. They always seemed to know when we were out of the cabin and we came back to a nice clean cabin twice a day). We then headed to Deck 11 to grab some lunch. Unfortunately, we were not impressed with our first meal on the boat - they were slicing up some beef that was pretty much inedible. But, I did have some "no sugar added" ice-cream. We wandered a bit and then went back to our cabin and at 3:30 PM, we had the Emergency and Lifeboat Drill. At 4:30 PM, we left Amsterdam - we found some lounge chairs by the pool facing the windows to look at the scenery as we embarked on our journey. I was surprised that there were people smoking in an area by the pool and later realized, much to my disappointment, that this was an allowed smoking area. We wandered around the boat a bit and then realized that it was close to our 6 PM dinner time. We quickly freshened up and headed to the Grand Restaurant. Our first night was Casual.

 

I had originally requested a table for 4, but we were put at a table for 8. We first met a nice couple around our age from Pennsylvania. Then, a family of four from Albania joined us - mom, dad, 18-year old daughter and 13 year old son. Lovely family. We truly enjoyed our meals throughout the cruise with these 6 people. Our first meal was decent and I really appreciated the "no sugar added" dessert choices every evening. Our waiter, Oky, and his assistant, were terrific and always smiling.

 

Apparently, there was a Welcome Aboard Show called "A Taste of Things to Come" in the theater at 7:50 PM, but we missed it.

We unpacked and went to bed. Although the cabin is quite small, there are many cuboards, drawers and shelves, as well as three closets to hang clothes. I would also like to mention that the shower is a good size, has great water pressure and very hot water. There is a flat panel TV on the wall, and a large mirror behind the bed to make the space feel bigger.

 

The next day (July 17th) was an "At Sea" day. Because we had an inner cabin and it was totally dark, we were quite surprised to find that it was 10:30 AM when we woke up. We went to breakfast at the Islands Cafe on Deck 11. It was just okay. The fresh fruit was good (throughout the cruise). We explored the ship, relaxed, had a nice lunch in the Grand Restaurant, wandered around more. I went to the Cinema in the afternoon to see "Dream Girls". My husband attended a piano concert. We met back at our cabin, dressed for our first formal night. Dinner was good. Every night was a five course meal. We then went to the Captain's toast in the theater and the first show by the Celebrity Singers and Dancers, "A Taste of Broadway".

 

July 18th, Warnemunde. Many people went to Berlin. But, we had decided we did not want to spend 6 hours on a train. We had both previously been to Berlin and currently live in Germany. We took our time - got up around 9:00, went to the Islands Cafe again for breakfast - had omeletes that were okay. We then walked to Warnemunde, which was a nice 10 minute walk. It was a mostly overcast day and even sprinkled a little, but we enjoyed walking all around the town. It's quite pretty. We walked out by the water, sat on the rocks for a while - just lovely. We did a little shopping. My husband climbed up the lighthouse in town. He said the place was like spending a day on Cape Cod. We went back to the ship around 3:00 PM for a late lunch at the Burger Bar near the pool. Some other people who did not go to Berlin opted to go to Rostock - either by renting a car or by train, and really enjoyed it, so that's also an option. In fact, it would not be difficult to spend time in both Rostock and Warnemunde, since it's a long day - departure isn't until 11:59 PM. We enjoyed a relaxing afternoon on the ship. We headed to dinner at 6:00 PM, only to find that it was actually 6:30 that night, for some reason (read your Celebrity Today!). It was quiet in the Grand Restaurant because so many people had gone to Berlin. It was a Casual night. Dinner was good. The show this evening was a comedian magician and it did not start until 10:45 PM. He was pretty lame but somewhat entertaining.

 

July 19th - At Sea. There was only brunch in the Grand Restaurant from 10 to 1, if you wanted breakfast earlier you had to go to the Islands Cafe. Lots of good food at the brunch. Later, we sat out on outer Deck 6 and read for a while. It was beautiful and so relaxing. My husband atttended two art lectures today and we both went to the cinema to see "The Pianist" in the afternoon. (I can't help but compare this cruise with Holland America - it would have been nice to have popcorn with the movies as HA did). It was an Informal Night and it was obvious right from the start that people were confused by what that meant - even though it was explained several times. But, still we saw people in jeans and casual clothes on those nights. My husband attended another Piano concert tonight.

 

July 20th, Stockholm, Sweden. We actually made it to breakfast in the Grand Restaurant this morning. You could order anything for breakfast. The menu seemed to offer everything from fresh fruit to omeletes the way you like them. My husband was fond of the eggs benedict. The food was a bit better than the Islands Cafe. We docked around 10 and we were off the boat at 10:30. We did not sign up for an excursion but decided to go off on our own. We did not take the shuttle offered by Celebrity for $12 per person. We decided to take the "Hop-On Hop-Off" boat. We took it 2 stops to the Old Towne. We went to the Royal Palace Complex. We toured the Royal apartments. We saw the Changing of the Guard. It seemed to be more of a ceremony, maybe because it was Sunday. They played instruments on horse back and did a bit of a concert. We walked around and did some shopping. We had planned to take the "Hop On and Hop Off" boat back but we were told that it would take an hour to get back to the ship because of all the tour stops - we didn't realize that it only goes in one direction and takes about an hour to make a full circle.

We had hoped to go to the Vasa Museum. Our table mates told us it is well worth seeing but the hop-on hop-off schedule prevented us from getting to the museum and still make it back on time. So, at 4:00 PM, we started to walk back. It took about 30 minutes and we were back on the ship by 4:30 or so. It was good to walk with all that we'd been eating. We stood on the deck and watched as we left Stockholm. it was beautiful - there are many little islands. We went to Hemispheres Lounge on Deck 12, that is all the way to the front of the ship with huge windows and enjoyed the view and the quiet. It seems that only a handful of people discovered this wonderful spot during the day with comfortable chairs and couches and an incredible view. We never went at night when I'm sure it was hopping with the late night crowd, but we definitely enjoyed sitting in there several times during the day - to read or just look out at the view. This was our second formal night. Some people really dress up. Others don't. There was another show by the Celebrity Singers and Dancers called "Shout". My husband wasn't impressed. I thought it was okay. Afterwards, we went to Deck 11 for a late night snack (bad! bad!). Clocks one hour forward as we sail to Helsinki.

 

July 21st, Helsinki, Finland. Up early. Down to breakfast in the Grand Restaurant. All I could bring myself to eat was fruit and a bowl of cereal. Overeating was catching up with me! We docked at 10 AM and we were off the boat soon after. Again, we did not sign up for an excursion and just went off on our own. This is the one port that we did use the ship's shuttle for $12 per person because it was a good distance and further than we wanted to walk, plus we only had 5 hours in the city. We walked almost constantly while we were there. From the drop off point, we walked down the Esplanadi which leads right to the harbor and the outdoor market. There was both food and souvenirs at the market. From there you can see the Orthodox cathedral. We saw two interesting churches: the Uspensky Orthodox Catheral and the very imposing (but very plain on the inside) Lutheran Cathedral. We took a walk to the train station because my husband wanted to see it. We caught the shuttle back at 3:00 PM. Once again, had a late lunch. Then, went to Hemispheres and found a comfy spot to watch as we sailed away. Had a delicious Peach Daquiri. The cruise out of Helsinki is nearly as nice as the cruise out of Stockholm, worth a look. Soon after, we headed to dinner, it was a casual evening. We skipped the entertainment that night because we had an early morning in St. Petersburg. Clocks ahead one hour again.

 

July 22nd and 23rd, St. Petersburg. Just as we were warned by DenRus, we were left a note in our cabin the night before telling us to report to Hemisphere's Lounge at 7:15 AM to be escorted off the ship by a crew member. It was totally unnecessary and almost seemed to be a punishment of sorts for signing up with an independent tour company. We ignored this as recommended by DenRus and as soon as we could we headed out of the ship and walked right off to the Russian customs. We got through fairly quickly and got to our DenRus bus before 8 AM. We had 22 people in our tour group and a delightful Russian tour guide named Ludmilla. We had two very full and wonderful days in St. Petersburg and out of the city to Peterhof. We saw many sights and were always on the go. Included in our tour was lunch at 2 different Russian restaurants. We made two quick stops at souvenir shops. I was shocked at how expensive souvenirs were in these shops and really, even though you are told you can "bargain" for souvenirs, I didn't see any opportunity to do that. We did purchase some things and spent quite a bit of money. You will have two other opportunities to buy Russian souvenirs. Right at the dock, before you go through Russian customs, is a souvenir shop and you will have time when you return at the end of the day, And on one of the "At Sea" days, there will be a Russian Bazaar on the ship. The only "cheap" souvenirs are from the street vendors who will approach you at the various sights. We bought some stacking dolls from them and they're decent but not the best quality. Of course, if you want the best quality, you will spend hundreds of dollars. If you're just looking for little souvenirs to give to your co-workers and friends, the stacking dolls from the street vendors are fine. We got five small stacking dolls for $20.

 

July 22nd was a casual night. We made it back for dinner. They were offering a Big Screen Popcorn movie "Nicholas and Alexandria" that night but it started at 9:00 PM and was a 3 hour and 15 minute movie, so we did not go, since we were fairly exhausted and had another big day of touring ahead. (This was in addition to the regular daily movie in the Cinema).

 

July 23rd was an informal night. We attended the show that night. Jordan Bennett - a Broadway star, and the Metro Group - an acapella singing group that performed often on the ship. Very good show. We hit the casino that night, also, and made our contribution!

 

July 24th, Talinn, Estonia. Got up around 7:00 AM, Breakfast at 8:00. Headed out by 9:00. Again, we chose to explore on our own and did not take the ship's shuttle. It was about a 20 minute walk in to town. We walked around town for 4 hours straight. We went up to the top of the Old Towne first and worked our way down. What a lovely little walled city. Wonderful, beautiful churches and buildings. We definitely underestimated this city. Thought we'd see it all and be back to the ship in a couple of hours. You could spend a full day here. It's delightful and "quaint" describes it well. Many souvenir shops and although we were told ahead of time that we would have to exchange money, they took euro and dollars everywhere.

 

We had to be back to the ship at 2:00. I had scheduled a "Spa Taster" for 3:00 PM, which included a 25 minute facial and a 25 minute massage (back, shoulders, neck). This was the perfect day for it. The only thing that would have made it better would have been a foot massage! After 5 days straight of touring, my feet were definitely hurting! About the spa, I had read things about people being pressured to buy products and about them skimping on the services. I had a wonderful experience at the spa. The young lady was delightful and she worked on me every minute of the 50 minutes. She also asked me if I needed any products only once and that was it.

 

It was an informal night. We always enjoyed talking to our new friends at dinner and comparing notes on our day. We decided not to attend the entertainment tonight because we were tired and very happy that the next day was an At Sea day. Clocks back one hour tonight.

 

July 25th, At Sea. Breakfast in the Grand Restaurant. Then, we went to the Russian Bazaar. Bought some candle holders for $16 each. They had a decent selection and a range of prices, some things were reasonable and some things were very expensive. Had lunch in the Grand Restaurant today, as well, but I was disappointed with the choices. After that, we spent some time on the outer deck 6, relaxing in the lounge chairs and reading. When I got chilly, we went up to Hemispheres and relaxed in one of the nice couches. Later, my husband went to an art auction and to play trivia. I went to the cinema to see "Calendar Girls". (By the way, I've only mentioned the movies I chose to go to, but there was a movie every day, shown at 3 or 4 different times.) Tonight, was our last formal night. The staff did the March of the Flaming Baked Alaska! which is corny, entertaining, and fun. We went to see the Celebrity Singers and Dancers perform "Dance Around the World", which we thought was quite good.

 

July 26, Copenhagen, Denmark. We went to breakfast on Deck 11 and then left the ship around 10. Walked to see the Little Mermaid Statue. It was quite warm out - in the mid-80's and I made a decision at that point to go back to the ship. I realized I wasn't up for a lot of walking that day. Since we had spent 3 or 4 days in Copenhagen at another time, I didn't feel the urgency to go back. I returned to the comfort of the ship and my husband walked in to Copenhagen and spent a few hours there. I enjoyed my time on the ship. It was very peaceful and we were docked in a beautiful spot where there were lots of sailboats. I read, relaxed, ate, enjoyed the view, and had a very nice afternoon. My husband enjoyed his time walking around Copenhagen, taking pictures and recognizing things from our last visit there. He returned to the ship aroaund 3:00 PM. It was a warm day, so we put our bathing suits on and enjoyed the hot tub for a while. I noticed the spa was offering massages for $1.50 per minute, which was a good deal, but they brought the massage table out by the pool. I would have taken advantage of the deal if it wasn't being offered in the midst of hundreds of people. I didn't want to be on display. We left port at 4:00 PM. We changed and went to outer Deck 6 to enjoy the beautiful scenery. Then to Deck 11 for afternoon snacks - fruit for me, pastries for my husband. Dinner at 6:00. Casual night. Pretty good meal. Planned to go to the entertainment at 9:00, but just too tired and went to bed early. They had the Dessert Lovers Buffet tonight, but it was at 11:30 - way too late for me! We heard that there was lots of chocolate and ice sculptures. Clocks back one hour tonight.

July 27th, At Sea. Our last day. Sad to see this fabulous cruise end. I went to the Life at Sea discussion in the theater - the captain and some of his senior officers answered some interesting questions. After that, the Cruise Director did a disembarkation talk and there was a crewmember farewell presentation. Many of the crew were up on the stage with lots of clapping and cheering. Lunch in The Grand Restaurant. Again, I wasn't blown away by the choices. We were packing as well as relaxing. My husband went to the last art auction and played trivia. Went to dinner in the Grand Restaurant. Final night was casual. Went to play BINGO - the final jackpot was over $2600. We did not win. We then went to the final show - a second performance by a violinist and then an excellent singer, a British West End star, Lindsey Hamilton. These were two of the performers we had missed, so that worked out well for us. We finished our packing and put our suitcases out in the hallway. Made one final visit to Deck 11 where some of our new friends had gathered for final snacks. Finally, to bed around midnight.

July 28th. Disembarkation in Amsterdam. We went to breakfast in the Grand Restaurant. We were told to report to the theater at 8:10 AM. When we got there, we were told that we could go. Reluctantly left the ship! Inside the terminal, we found our luggage and we were on our way.......

Additional comments:

With the cruise being quite costly to begin with, I didn't like the fact that some things were ridiculously expensive. Drinks were VERY expensive on the ship. Water, lemonade, orange juice, fruit punch and coffee were always available on Deck 11. At dinner, you could get water or iced tea, but anything else cost extra. The first night, they tried to sell me bottled water, which was quite costly, but I told them table water would be fine. Mixed drinks, wine, and beer were costly.

Dinner was always a five course meal with four to five choices in each category.

In the cabin, the refrigerator is fully stocked, but we never touched anything in it. Honestly, I'm not even sure what was in there. They left a bottle of wine and a bottle of water on the desk, but we never touched those either. They did alway leave a pitcher of water and a bucket of ice on the desk, which was nice.

A photographer took pictures at the table during formal nights and on some other occasions. If you were single in the picture, it was $10 and if it was two of you in the picture, it was $20, which is kind of ridiculous. We bought a single picture of me and picture of the two of us, but we saw others we would have liked, but didn't want to spend that much on pictures.

I was glad we chose the first dinner sitting at 6:00 PM. Dinner always seemed to take about 2 hours, so we finished at around 8:00 - sometimes later. I spoke to people who had the 8:30 sitting and they said they often got done with dinner at 10:30 or 11:00. That's so late!

We had planned to make a hotel reservation in Amsterdam for the night we disembarked, but with everything else going on, we never got around to it. My husband went to see if the concierge could help us out. She was very helpful and called the Krasnopolsky (one of the nicest hotels in Amsterdam, right off of Dam Square) and negotiated a very good price for us. We paid around 130 euro.

We often mention outer Deck 6 and Hemispheres Lounge. Great places to go if you are looking to get away from the crowds. I loved sitting on outer Deck 6 and just looking at and listening to the water. Hemispheres was nice if it was chilly or really breezy. People typically hung out by the pool, even on cool days. So, it is always crowded and noisy by the pool. Besides the noise of people talking, there is constantly loud music playing.

We never ate at the Murano Restaurant for dinner. There's a $30 cover charge per person to eat there but I did talk to people who ate there and said it was well worth it. We also never ate at the Aqua Spa Cafe. I guess we just never thought of it. And we never ate at the Islands Bistro. So, I don't really feel as though I can comment on these places. We enjoyed eating in the Grand Restaurant and looked forward to seeing our table mates every evening.

I mentioned the smoking by the pool. There was also a smoking area on Deck 6 right by the shops, which seemed like an odd place because so many people walked through that area. There was also an area of the ship called Rendezvous Square. They had a group called Kathleen and the Saints playing in there every day. Often you would see people dancing and it looked like fun. We always walked through on our way to and from dinner. But, it was a smoking area and always very, very smokey, so we never stopped. All the bars and lounges were smoking areas, as well as the casino. People could also smoke in their cabins and on their balconys. I never smelled smoked in our cabin or hallway, though.

I can't really comment on the late night activities but there seemed to be plenty going on for the late night crowd. Karaoke, Dance parties, live music, a martini bar. I believe there are 9 bars on the ship and most were open until 1:00 AM, according to the Celebrity Today.

Every evening a "newspaper" called the Celebrity Today was left on your bed. It had information on all the activities going on the next day and information on the different ports we were visiting. I missed some things because I didn't always read it good.

We had a medical emergency after a couple of days on the ship. We were never told the specifics but a helicopter flew to the ship and the gentleman was flown to the nearest port for treatment. We were given updates on his condition and told that the quick response on the part of the medical staff saved his life. I was watching a movie and had no clue all of this was going on but my husband got some pictures of the helicopter flying away from the ship. Good to know that you will be well cared for if there is a medical emergency.

 

The main language on the ship is English. However, announcements would also be made in Spanish, French, German, Dutch and possibly another language. Announcements weren't made often and weren't intrusive, if you were in your room. The captain made a long announcement most days around noon and if you were in your room and you wanted to hear it, you just needed to turn to one of the TV stations.

 

I don't think there are as many shops on this ship as some others and I didn't see any place to buy practical items you might forget or need, like a toothbrush or toothpaste or make-up. My husband was looking to buy nail clippers, but there were none to be had. The currency used on the ship is US Dollars.

 

There are no laundry facilities on this ship, which would be helpful on a 12-night cruise. Your only choice is to pay a lot of money to have them do your laundry.

 

All in all, I highly recommend this ship and this cruise. We had a wonderful time and have wonderful memories.

[crazy canuck]

Great review. Thank you for posting it.

[ItaliaBella]

I posted this in the review section OVER a week ago but CC doesn't seem to be updating that section, so I thought I'd share here...........

 

Celebrity Century, July 16th - July 28th, 12-Night Scandanavian & Russian Cruise.

 

Because I found the information on Cruise Critic very helpful, I wanted to share our experience and hope that other people find it helpful. We are a 50-something American married couple, who have cruised twice before this trip - once in Egypt when we cruised the Nile for five days, and once two years ago, we did a 7-day cruise of the Mexican Riviera with Holland America leaving out of San Diego, which we found to be quite enjoyable. We are seasoned travelers who have lived in 7 US States, lived in Germany for 12 years until 5 years ago and are now back living in Germany. We have traveled to many European countries, mostly on our own.

 

I think the first thing you should know about this cruise - is that as wonderful as it is to spend two days in St. Petersburg, you must plan on spending hundreds more dollars to be able to do this. You can not enter Russia without a VISA. Since it is expensive and difficult to get a VISA on your own, your only other option is to sign up for a tour or for excursions. Celebrity offers excursions and some time after you book the cruise, you will receive a book called Shore Excursion Guide. You can book shore excursions for any of the ports through Celebrity. But, there is another option and this I learned through Cruise Critic. There are three major tour companies - DenRus, Red October, and Alla. We chose to book a two day tour with DenRus (you can go to their website and read about their tour choices and then book on-line. We booked The Complete St. Petersburg tour - 2 full days of touring). I did a lot of research and compared Celebrity and the three tour companies and felt that with DenRus you got the best deal and the most for your money. We were very pleased with our decision. It cost us $590 for the two of us to join this tour. I know, also, that other people were pleased with their tours with Alla, Red October, and with their Celebrity excursions. I will talk about our Russian tour more later.

 

We currently live in the Stuttgart area of Germany, so on July 16th, we left our home at 3:00 AM and drove to Amsterdam, Holland. We parked our car at Schipol airport in long-term parking for about 6.50 euro per day, which is a heck of a lot cheaper than parking it at the dock for around 30 euro per day. We grabbed a shuttle bus to Terminal 3, where we caught a train to Central Station. I will admit that this was not easy dragging suitcases. We walked outside of the train station and were told by a Tram attendant that we needed to hop on to Tram 25 to go to the ship terminal, and he pointed to the tram that he said we should take. We hopped on only to find that Tram 25 runs in both directions and not in a circle. To catch the tram to the terminal we would have to be across the street, facing Central Station. We boarded tram 25 as recommended by the ever so helpful information guide but this one was going the wrong way! The correct one would have been a short ride to the ship but since we were on the wrong one, we rode the tram a half hour in the wrong direction and then another half hour in the right direction and finally made it to the ship at about 1:00 PM. My husband wanted to walk to the ship terminal from the train station, which would have been about a 20 minute walk. I thought it would be difficult dragging suitcases, but in retrospect, it might have been best.

 

When we finally reached the terminal, we handed over our luggage, then stood in a line, filled out a health form, our number was called, we stood in another line, went through security, another line, then we checked in,and fnally we were on the ship. It sounds like a lot but it took about half an hour. (Do your registration on-line or it will take longer). We checked out our inner cabin on Deck 9 and we were immediately greeted by name by Isabelo, our stateroom attendant. He welcomed us and gave us a quick tour of our tiny cabin and offered his assistance with anything we might need. (Isabelo and his assistant were terrific throughout the cruise. They always seemed to know when we were out of the cabin and we came back to a nice clean cabin twice a day). We then headed to Deck 11 to grab some lunch. Unfortunately, we were not impressed with our first meal on the boat - they were slicing up some beef that was pretty much inedible. But, I did have some "no sugar added" ice-cream. We wandered a bit and then went back to our cabin and at 3:30 PM, we had the Emergency and Lifeboat Drill. At 4:30 PM, we left Amsterdam - we found some lounge chairs by the pool facing the windows to look at the scenery as we embarked on our journey. I was surprised that there were people smoking in an area by the pool and later realized, much to my disappointment, that this was an allowed smoking area. We wandered around the boat a bit and then realized that it was close to our 6 PM dinner time. We quickly freshened up and headed to the Grand Restaurant. Our first night was Casual.

 

I had originally requested a table for 4, but we were put at a table for 8. We first met a nice couple around our age from Pennsylvania. Then, a family of four from Albania joined us - mom, dad, 18-year old daughter and 13 year old son. Lovely family. We truly enjoyed our meals throughout the cruise with these 6 people. Our first meal was decent and I really appreciated the "no sugar added" dessert choices every evening. Our waiter, Oky, and his assistant, were terrific and always smiling.

 

Apparently, there was a Welcome Aboard Show called "A Taste of Things to Come" in the theater at 7:50 PM, but we missed it.

We unpacked and went to bed. Although the cabin is quite small, there are many cuboards, drawers and shelves, as well as three closets to hang clothes. I would also like to mention that the shower is a good size, has great water pressure and very hot water. There is a flat panel TV on the wall, and a large mirror behind the bed to make the space feel bigger.

 

The next day (July 17th) was an "At Sea" day. Because we had an inner cabin and it was totally dark, we were quite surprised to find that it was 10:30 AM when we woke up. We went to breakfast at the Islands Cafe on Deck 11. It was just okay. The fresh fruit was good (throughout the cruise). We explored the ship, relaxed, had a nice lunch in the Grand Restaurant, wandered around more. I went to the Cinema in the afternoon to see "Dream Girls". My husband attended a piano concert. We met back at our cabin, dressed for our first formal night. Dinner was good. Every night was a five course meal. We then went to the Captain's toast in the theater and the first show by the Celebrity Singers and Dancers, "A Taste of Broadway".

 

July 18th, Warnemunde. Many people went to Berlin. But, we had decided we did not want to spend 6 hours on a train. We had both previously been to Berlin and currently live in Germany. We took our time - got up around 9:00, went to the Islands Cafe again for breakfast - had omeletes that were okay. We then walked to Warnemunde, which was a nice 10 minute walk. It was a mostly overcast day and even sprinkled a little, but we enjoyed walking all around the town. It's quite pretty. We walked out by the water, sat on the rocks for a while - just lovely. We did a little shopping. My husband climbed up the lighthouse in town. He said the place was like spending a day on Cape Cod. We went back to the ship around 3:00 PM for a late lunch at the Burger Bar near the pool. Some other people who did not go to Berlin opted to go to Rostock - either by renting a car or by train, and really enjoyed it, so that's also an option. In fact, it would not be difficult to spend time in both Rostock and Warnemunde, since it's a long day - departure isn't until 11:59 PM. We enjoyed a relaxing afternoon on the ship. We headed to dinner at 6:00 PM, only to find that it was actually 6:30 that night, for some reason (read your Celebrity Today!). It was quiet in the Grand Restaurant because so many people had gone to Berlin. It was a Casual night. Dinner was good. The show this evening was a comedian magician and it did not start until 10:45 PM. He was pretty lame but somewhat entertaining.

 

July 19th - At Sea. There was only brunch in the Grand Restaurant from 10 to 1, if you wanted breakfast earlier you had to go to the Islands Cafe. Lots of good food at the brunch. Later, we sat out on outer Deck 6 and read for a while. It was beautiful and so relaxing. My husband atttended two art lectures today and we both went to the cinema to see "The Pianist" in the afternoon. (I can't help but compare this cruise with Holland America - it would have been nice to have popcorn with the movies as HA did). It was an Informal Night and it was obvious right from the start that people were confused by what that meant - even though it was explained several times. But, still we saw people in jeans and casual clothes on those nights. My husband attended another Piano concert tonight.

 

July 20th, Stockholm, Sweden. We actually made it to breakfast in the Grand Restaurant this morning. You could order anything for breakfast. The menu seemed to offer everything from fresh fruit to omeletes the way you like them. My husband was fond of the eggs benedict. The food was a bit better than the Islands Cafe. We docked around 10 and we were off the boat at 10:30. We did not sign up for an excursion but decided to go off on our own. We did not take the shuttle offered by Celebrity for $12 per person. We decided to take the "Hop-On Hop-Off" boat. We took it 2 stops to the Old Towne. We went to the Royal Palace Complex. We toured the Royal apartments. We saw the Changing of the Guard. It seemed to be more of a ceremony, maybe because it was Sunday. They played instruments on horse back and did a bit of a concert. We walked around and did some shopping. We had planned to take the "Hop On and Hop Off" boat back but we were told that it would take an hour to get back to the ship because of all the tour stops - we didn't realize that it only goes in one direction and takes about an hour to make a full circle.

We had hoped to go to the Vasa Museum. Our table mates told us it is well worth seeing but the hop-on hop-off schedule prevented us from getting to the museum and still make it back on time. So, at 4:00 PM, we started to walk back. It took about 30 minutes and we were back on the ship by 4:30 or so. It was good to walk with all that we'd been eating. We stood on the deck and watched as we left Stockholm. it was beautiful - there are many little islands. We went to Hemispheres Lounge on Deck 12, that is all the way to the front of the ship with huge windows and enjoyed the view and the quiet. It seems that only a handful of people discovered this wonderful spot during the day with comfortable chairs and couches and an incredible view. We never went at night when I'm sure it was hopping with the late night crowd, but we definitely enjoyed sitting in there several times during the day - to read or just look out at the view. This was our second formal night. Some people really dress up. Others don't. There was another show by the Celebrity Singers and Dancers called "Shout". My husband wasn't impressed. I thought it was okay. Afterwards, we went to Deck 11 for a late night snack (bad! bad!). Clocks one hour forward as we sail to Helsinki.

 

July 21st, Helsinki, Finland. Up early. Down to breakfast in the Grand Restaurant. All I could bring myself to eat was fruit and a bowl of cereal. Overeating was catching up with me! We docked at 10 AM and we were off the boat soon after. Again, we did not sign up for an excursion and just went off on our own. This is the one port that we did use the ship's shuttle for $12 per person because it was a good distance and further than we wanted to walk, plus we only had 5 hours in the city. We walked almost constantly while we were there. From the drop off point, we walked down the Esplanadi which leads right to the harbor and the outdoor market. There was both food and souvenirs at the market. From there you can see the Orthodox cathedral. We saw two interesting churches: the Uspensky Orthodox Catheral and the very imposing (but very plain on the inside) Lutheran Cathedral. We took a walk to the train station because my husband wanted to see it. We caught the shuttle back at 3:00 PM. Once again, had a late lunch. Then, went to Hemispheres and found a comfy spot to watch as we sailed away. Had a delicious Peach Daquiri. The cruise out of Helsinki is nearly as nice as the cruise out of Stockholm, worth a look. Soon after, we headed to dinner, it was a casual evening. We skipped the entertainment that night because we had an early morning in St. Petersburg. Clocks ahead one hour again.

 

July 22nd and 23rd, St. Petersburg. Just as we were warned by DenRus, we were left a note in our cabin the night before telling us to report to Hemisphere's Lounge at 7:15 AM to be escorted off the ship by a crew member. It was totally unnecessary and almost seemed to be a punishment of sorts for signing up with an independent tour company. We ignored this as recommended by DenRus and as soon as we could we headed out of the ship and walked right off to the Russian customs. We got through fairly quickly and got to our DenRus bus before 8 AM. We had 22 people in our tour group and a delightful Russian tour guide named Ludmilla. We had two very full and wonderful days in St. Petersburg and out of the city to Peterhof. We saw many sights and were always on the go. Included in our tour was lunch at 2 different Russian restaurants. We made two quick stops at souvenir shops. I was shocked at how expensive souvenirs were in these shops and really, even though you are told you can "bargain" for souvenirs, I didn't see any opportunity to do that. We did purchase some things and spent quite a bit of money. You will have two other opportunities to buy Russian souvenirs. Right at the dock, before you go through Russian customs, is a souvenir shop and you will have time when you return at the end of the day, And on one of the "At Sea" days, there will be a Russian Bazaar on the ship. The only "cheap" souvenirs are from the street vendors who will approach you at the various sights. We bought some stacking dolls from them and they're decent but not the best quality. Of course, if you want the best quality, you will spend hundreds of dollars. If you're just looking for little souvenirs to give to your co-workers and friends, the stacking dolls from the street vendors are fine. We got five small stacking dolls for $20.

 

July 22nd was a casual night. We made it back for dinner. They were offering a Big Screen Popcorn movie "Nicholas and Alexandria" that night but it started at 9:00 PM and was a 3 hour and 15 minute movie, so we did not go, since we were fairly exhausted and had another big day of touring ahead. (This was in addition to the regular daily movie in the Cinema).

 

July 23rd was an informal night. We attended the show that night. Jordan Bennett - a Broadway star, and the Metro Group - an acapella singing group that performed often on the ship. Very good show. We hit the casino that night, also, and made our contribution!

 

July 24th, Talinn, Estonia. Got up around 7:00 AM, Breakfast at 8:00. Headed out by 9:00. Again, we chose to explore on our own and did not take the ship's shuttle. It was about a 20 minute walk in to town. We walked around town for 4 hours straight. We went up to the top of the Old Towne first and worked our way down. What a lovely little walled city. Wonderful, beautiful churches and buildings. We definitely underestimated this city. Thought we'd see it all and be back to the ship in a couple of hours. You could spend a full day here. It's delightful and "quaint" describes it well. Many souvenir shops and although we were told ahead of time that we would have to exchange money, they took euro and dollars everywhere.

 

We had to be back to the ship at 2:00. I had scheduled a "Spa Taster" for 3:00 PM, which included a 25 minute facial and a 25 minute massage (back, shoulders, neck). This was the perfect day for it. The only thing that would have made it better would have been a foot massage! After 5 days straight of touring, my feet were definitely hurting! About the spa, I had read things about people being pressured to buy products and about them skimping on the services. I had a wonderful experience at the spa. The young lady was delightful and she worked on me every minute of the 50 minutes. She also asked me if I needed any products only once and that was it.

 

It was an informal night. We always enjoyed talking to our new friends at dinner and comparing notes on our day. We decided not to attend the entertainment tonight because we were tired and very happy that the next day was an At Sea day. Clocks back one hour tonight.

 

July 25th, At Sea. Breakfast in the Grand Restaurant. Then, we went to the Russian Bazaar. Bought some candle holders for $16 each. They had a decent selection and a range of prices, some things were reasonable and some things were very expensive. Had lunch in the Grand Restaurant today, as well, but I was disappointed with the choices. After that, we spent some time on the outer deck 6, relaxing in the lounge chairs and reading. When I got chilly, we went up to Hemispheres and relaxed in one of the nice couches. Later, my husband went to an art auction and to play trivia. I went to the cinema to see "Calendar Girls". (By the way, I've only mentioned the movies I chose to go to, but there was a movie every day, shown at 3 or 4 different times.) Tonight, was our last formal night. The staff did the March of the Flaming Baked Alaska! which is corny, entertaining, and fun. We went to see the Celebrity Singers and Dancers perform "Dance Around the World", which we thought was quite good.

 

July 26, Copenhagen, Denmark. We went to breakfast on Deck 11 and then left the ship around 10. Walked to see the Little Mermaid Statue. It was quite warm out - in the mid-80's and I made a decision at that point to go back to the ship. I realized I wasn't up for a lot of walking that day. Since we had spent 3 or 4 days in Copenhagen at another time, I didn't feel the urgency to go back. I returned to the comfort of the ship and my husband walked in to Copenhagen and spent a few hours there. I enjoyed my time on the ship. It was very peaceful and we were docked in a beautiful spot where there were lots of sailboats. I read, relaxed, ate, enjoyed the view, and had a very nice afternoon. My husband enjoyed his time walking around Copenhagen, taking pictures and recognizing things from our last visit there. He returned to the ship aroaund 3:00 PM. It was a warm day, so we put our bathing suits on and enjoyed the hot tub for a while. I noticed the spa was offering massages for $1.50 per minute, which was a good deal, but they brought the massage table out by the pool. I would have taken advantage of the deal if it wasn't being offered in the midst of hundreds of people. I didn't want to be on display. We left port at 4:00 PM. We changed and went to outer Deck 6 to enjoy the beautiful scenery. Then to Deck 11 for afternoon snacks - fruit for me, pastries for my husband. Dinner at 6:00. Casual night. Pretty good meal. Planned to go to the entertainment at 9:00, but just too tired and went to bed early. They had the Dessert Lovers Buffet tonight, but it was at 11:30 - way too late for me! We heard that there was lots of chocolate and ice sculptures. Clocks back one hour tonight.

July 27th, At Sea. Our last day. Sad to see this fabulous cruise end. I went to the Life at Sea discussion in the theater - the captain and some of his senior officers answered some interesting questions. After that, the Cruise Director did a disembarkation talk and there was a crewmember farewell presentation. Many of the crew were up on the stage with lots of clapping and cheering. Lunch in The Grand Restaurant. Again, I wasn't blown away by the choices. We were packing as well as relaxing. My husband went to the last art auction and played trivia. Went to dinner in the Grand Restaurant. Final night was casual. Went to play BINGO - the final jackpot was over $2600. We did not win. We then went to the final show - a second performance by a violinist and then an excellent singer, a British West End star, Lindsey Hamilton. These were two of the performers we had missed, so that worked out well for us. We finished our packing and put our suitcases out in the hallway. Made one final visit to Deck 11 where some of our new friends had gathered for final snacks. Finally, to bed around midnight.

July 28th. Disembarkation in Amsterdam. We went to breakfast in the Grand Restaurant. We were told to report to the theater at 8:10 AM. When we got there, we were told that we could go. Reluctantly left the ship! Inside the terminal, we found our luggage and we were on our way.......

Additional comments:

With the cruise being quite costly to begin with, I didn't like the fact that some things were ridiculously expensive. Drinks were VERY expensive on the ship. Water, lemonade, orange juice, fruit punch and coffee were always available on Deck 11. At dinner, you could get water or iced tea, but anything else cost extra. The first night, they tried to sell me bottled water, which was quite costly, but I told them table water would be fine. Mixed drinks, wine, and beer were costly.

Dinner was always a five course meal with four to five choices in each category.

In the cabin, the refrigerator is fully stocked, but we never touched anything in it. Honestly, I'm not even sure what was in there. They left a bottle of wine and a bottle of water on the desk, but we never touched those either. They did alway leave a pitcher of water and a bucket of ice on the desk, which was nice.

A photographer took pictures at the table during formal nights and on some other occasions. If you were single in the picture, it was $10 and if it was two of you in the picture, it was $20, which is kind of ridiculous. We bought a single picture of me and picture of the two of us, but we saw others we would have liked, but didn't want to spend that much on pictures.

I was glad we chose the first dinner sitting at 6:00 PM. Dinner always seemed to take about 2 hours, so we finished at around 8:00 - sometimes later. I spoke to people who had the 8:30 sitting and they said they often got done with dinner at 10:30 or 11:00. That's so late!

We had planned to make a hotel reservation in Amsterdam for the night we disembarked, but with everything else going on, we never got around to it. My husband went to see if the concierge could help us out. She was very helpful and called the Krasnopolsky (one of the nicest hotels in Amsterdam, right off of Dam Square) and negotiated a very good price for us. We paid around 130 euro.

We often mention outer Deck 6 and Hemispheres Lounge. Great places to go if you are looking to get away from the crowds. I loved sitting on outer Deck 6 and just looking at and listening to the water. Hemispheres was nice if it was chilly or really breezy. People typically hung out by the pool, even on cool days. So, it is always crowded and noisy by the pool. Besides the noise of people talking, there is constantly loud music playing.

We never ate at the Murano Restaurant for dinner. There's a $30 cover charge per person to eat there but I did talk to people who ate there and said it was well worth it. We also never ate at the Aqua Spa Cafe. I guess we just never thought of it. And we never ate at the Islands Bistro. So, I don't really feel as though I can comment on these places. We enjoyed eating in the Grand Restaurant and looked forward to seeing our table mates every evening.

I mentioned the smoking by the pool. There was also a smoking area on Deck 6 right by the shops, which seemed like an odd place because so many people walked through that area. There was also an area of the ship called Rendezvous Square. They had a group called Kathleen and the Saints playing in there every day. Often you would see people dancing and it looked like fun. We always walked through on our way to and from dinner. But, it was a smoking area and always very, very smokey, so we never stopped. All the bars and lounges were smoking areas, as well as the casino. People could also smoke in their cabins and on their balconys. I never smelled smoked in our cabin or hallway, though.

I can't really comment on the late night activities but there seemed to be plenty going on for the late night crowd. Karaoke, Dance parties, live music, a martini bar. I believe there are 9 bars on the ship and most were open until 1:00 AM, according to the Celebrity Today.

Every evening a "newspaper" called the Celebrity Today was left on your bed. It had information on all the activities going on the next day and information on the different ports we were visiting. I missed some things because I didn't always read it good.

We had a medical emergency after a couple of days on the ship. We were never told the specifics but a helicopter flew to the ship and the gentleman was flown to the nearest port for treatment. We were given updates on his condition and told that the quick response on the part of the medical staff saved his life. I was watching a movie and had no clue all of this was going on but my husband got some pictures of the helicopter flying away from the ship. Good to know that you will be well cared for if there is a medical emergency.

 

The main language on the ship is English. However, announcements would also be made in Spanish, French, German, Dutch and possibly another language. Announcements weren't made often and weren't intrusive, if you were in your room. The captain made a long announcement most days around noon and if you were in your room and you wanted to hear it, you just needed to turn to one of the TV stations.

 

I don't think there are as many shops on this ship as some others and I didn't see any place to buy practical items you might forget or need, like a toothbrush or toothpaste or make-up. My husband was looking to buy nail clippers, but there were none to be had. The currency used on the ship is US Dollars.

 

There are no laundry facilities on this ship, which would be helpful on a 12-night cruise. Your only choice is to pay a lot of money to have them do your laundry.

 

All in all, I highly recommend this ship and this cruise. We had a wonderful time and have wonderful memories.

 

Hi there! I was on your cruise and your DenRus tour.

 

Was this your first time with Celebrity? If you had sailed with Celebrity before, you would have gotten a coupon for laundry for $20! I had about 50 things that needed to be cleaned and got it all done for about $20.

 

Glad to know you had a great time on the cruise as well.

[Dellarose]

Thanks for responding, Italia Bella. Yeah, it was our first time on Celebrity. But, now we know for next time. Are you living in Italy? You were on our tour? Mind me asking who you are? I'm trying to picture everyone in our group. We're actually doing a Norwegian tour next - in October - of the Mediterranean - Italy, south of France, Malta - out of Barcelona. We'll see how that goes. Nice to hear from you!

[LongTimeTvlr]

Great Review Dellarose.

My wife and I took this same cruise last year on the Century and we loved it. We took the ship's excursions most ports including St. Pete and really enjoyed them. Too bad you missed the Wasa Museum in Stockholm, we thought it was very interesting. Also in Helsinki, the Rock Church and Sebilius Park.

We also had an inside cabin and found it suited us well. We often slept in until 9 or 10, sometimes unintentionally. I know what you mean about losing your sense of what time it is. We are dancers so we tended to stay up late each night.

We had a table for 10 in the early seating, right by the back window. We loved the location. We had a great view leaving Stockholm and Helsinki, and few other ports, as we tended to leave around 5 each port, and we were seated by 6. We were fond of our table mates as well. It added a special dimension to the trip to be able to share our exploits each day with our new friends and to compare notes.

We also never touched the stuff in the fridge or other offerings as we like to get value for our money, although we both drink wine so by the end of the cruise we had a hefty wine bill.

 

Thanks for taking the time to write this review. It brought back memories.