Century review 4/2/09 4 night

[JCJR]

I just got off the Century. I tried to put as much detail as I could without trying to bore you to death.

Embarkation

Since we are from Miami we had no pre cruise experiences. We had a relative drop us off at the pier around 11:50am. We checked in and there were 5 separate lines. All had 4-5 families in each except ours. We had no one ahead of us except all the counter agents were busy, we waited 5 min and they called us next. 2 weeks before the cruise we had the option to upgrade from a window view to Concierge Class for $80pp. We did not take it hoping the price will drop but it didn’t. At the port I asked to speak to the port manager to see if I can upgrade and they said that the ship was full and I would have to inquire on the ship for upgrades. We made the line at the Pursers desk but no upgrades available. nd went to lunch. We knew that we were early for the rooms but we went any way and found the room open. We dropped off our bags in a corner neatly just incase the Room Attendant had to finish up. We went to the Buffet.

Ship

Ship is well maintained and very clean. The theme was very classic and formal with a lot of Dark wood, brass and marble. All the furniture looked new and rugs were clean. The elevators were very small and only held 6 people comfortably and usually there were 8 people crammed in when there were activities going on. A lot of people were frustrated and used the stairs a lot. I usually get accustomed to the ships layout and know the fastest way to anywhere on the ship, but I did not get a hang of the Century’s layout until the 3rd day. I kept making wrong turns. I did not find the cinema and card room until the 3rd day.

Room 5044

Our room was very small with a window. The beds were pulled together to create a Queen bed with two nightstands on each end. There was no room to walk around in front of the bed. Since we did not bring the kids, we had enough space for ourselves. The morning of debarkation, the room attendant (Jose) set up the room for two singles while we were at breakfast and there was much more space to move around in this configuration. We should have moved the beds adjacent to one wall so we would have more space but hindsight is 20/20. My wife is a storage freak and she was amazed with all of the storage. There were two full closets; another closet had 4 drawers and 4 shelves. The desk had 4 drawers on both sides and the safe was behind the mirror with more storage. The bathroom had a rectangular shower stall with a curved shower rod that gave me more space. The shower head had great pressure and flow, it was amazing. The hot water must have come straight from the boiler room because there was plenty of hot water and you had to be careful not to burn yourself. There was more space in the shower than other ships I have been on. I read on another post that there were no outlets in the bathroom so I did a quick search and could not find one. My wife had a water pik that needed power so we had to use an extension cord (tip that I read on these boards as well as duct tape, which was used to prevent the shower head from swiveling around). After almost tripping on the extension cord a couple of times I took a closer look for an outlet and found a small looking junction box under the vanity lighting. I looked closely and saw a hinge and flipped it open to reveal the outlet.

Food

Buffet- Had a good selection, the food was good. Breakfast was good as well. I prefer to eat breakfast in the main dining room. I enjoy being served, not having to get up from your seat for more water or what not. There was a Pizza station that served Cheese, Pepperoni and Vegetarian. Ice cream station that served 5-6 flavors daily also had soft serve. The famous waffles along with pancakes were served at the Pizza station. Even though a lot of posters stated that it was located at the back of the ship. There was stir fry throughout the day and sushi at night.

Main Dining Room- We ate there nightly. We had 2 couples at our table that made dinner very enjoyable. We looked forward to their company every night, to hear their stories of the day. The food was very good to excellent. There was no lobster which I always look forward too. Seafood dominated the menus. All the pasta had seafood and multiple fish dishes daily. My wife is allergic to fish so she had very little to choose from but even the daily chicken dish was excellent. The Crème Brulee was the hit of the cruise. Also, there were no Soufflés on the menu. I posted more about the Century menu in another recent post.

Entertainment

This was the weak point of this cruise IMHO. I enjoy the nightly shows, but the first two shows were less than average. People walked out on those shows and those who didn’t, fell asleep. The third and fourth shows were on par with other ships. The magician was very funny and the “Liverpool Nights” production show was good. There were plenty of acts through out the ship. There was an Acapella group that was real good and the Show band (orchestra) was very good.

Ports of Call

Key West- We rented a couple of bikes for $10 a piece for 4 hours. Our bike had the foot breaks which were hard to get used, if I would of known we would of looked around for bikes with hand breaks. We rode around the island. Stopped at the Blonde Giraffe and had the choc covered Key lime pie on a stick and a regular slice with meringue. Both were excellent ($4.95 each). We rode to the Southern Most point, to the beaches and through the neighborhood. We parked our bikes on Duval and walked up and down shopping and checking out the Bars. It was very hot and every one looked exhausted.

Cozumel- We rented a car for $34 (booked online) at the pier the same car was going for $60 at the pier. We went to the Money Bar and Corona beach due to the reviews for good snorkeling from shore. I rate these spots as average. Actually the NCL private island I went last summer on the Sky had excellent snorkeling from shore. We drove around the island and was planning on going to the lighthouse and San Gervasio ruins. We did not find the lighthouse but once we got on the west side and saw those waves we had to stop. We swam for about 30 minutes. The water was fresh, clean and invigorating. We then kept driving and stopped at Mezcalito were we had Sol beers with Chicken nachos. We were running late and skipped the Ruins because we wanted to check out downtown and we running out of time. We walked around downtown and hit some bars.

Debarkation

We arrived early in Miami and we decided to leave out our luggage the night before. We were not in a hurry. We had breakfast in the main dining room before 8am and at 9:15 got our belongings and headed for the meeting place for our colored tags. We waited about 20 minutes (we were the last group called). Took us 30 minutes from the time we got in line to leave the shop until we got our bags and went through customs. This time would have been cut in half if we would have kept all our luggage and walked off the ship.

If you have any questions I will try to answer.

Thanks

[Spooklady]

JCJR,

Thanks for the nice review. We're sailing in early June for 12 nights. I'm so excited. I'm trying to read everything I can find on the Century. Thanks again.

[nps001]

Thanks for the review. Interesting that you found Century hard to navigate..some areas you can't get to from the floor is on from one end of the ship. You have to go up or down one floor, over, and then back up/down. That can be frustrating

[sandravb79]

Thank you for the review.

I'll be on the same itinerary on April 16 :)

[librarylady19]

Good review! I was on same itinerary in early March and had the same observations re. layout, entertainment and room size. I also enjoyed the food, particularly at Islands bistro (which you may not have tried). Buffet was ok, but like you I prefer a sit down meal. Is Franklin the guitarist from Chicago still onboard?

[alicam]

Thankyou for your review...we are looking forward to our Century sailing next March and enjoy reading anything about this ship

[darylsldy]

I will be on the Century Saturday. Two of the guys in our group are planning on skipping the MDR because of the dress code. Can you tell me from first hand experience what was worn in the MDR? Will dress pants and shirt be ok for formal night or do they really have to wear a jacket and tie? Also, on other nights, what were most men wearing? I really think this is part of the overall experience of cruising and don't want to miss it but I don't want to miss dinner with my BF and his son either. Thanks.

[tortugas]

We were on this same sailing, and after reading a lot of stuff about dress on board, I was paying CLOSE attention. This is what I observed: on formal night, I saw a few tuxes sprinkled here and there. Jackets and ties were most common, but I DEF saw a number of men in just dress shirts and slacks. My husband forgot to pack his tie, so he went with just jacket and shirt, and we saw others do the same. Overall, my impression was that even if the "letter of the law" of the dress code was not strictly adhered to, the "spirit of the law" was. Meaning, everyone looked nice... I did not see any one mucking about in a tourist tank top and cargo pants. I did observe a fair number of jeans in the evening as well... on both men and women, and again, nicely dressed up. The first night in the dining room my husband wore dark jeans, dress shoes and a sport coat, and he did not look out of place at all. Please note... not commenting on what anyone should do... these are just what I observed firsthand! I do think the shorter caribbean itineraries are a bit more casual, again, based strictly on what I have observed.

 

And yes, Franklin is still on board. We chatted with him quite a bit... what a nice guy. If I remember correctly, he said he is on thru the April 16 sailing, which I believe is the last one??

 

and to the OP... cracking up about the duct tape in the shower. I was sprayed in the face not once but twice by that rogue shower head!!

[meow!]

I just got off the Century. I tried to put as much detail as I could without trying to bore you to death.

Thank you for your report. A four night voyage is too short to get the full rhythm of the cruise. The Century is a nice ship, we liked its being not too large. We still savour our British Isles experience on board her last May. Celebrity is a nice "gentle mass market" line, and offer some very good deals if you catch them in time.

[Lois R]

We were on this same sailing, and after reading a lot of stuff about dress on board, I was paying CLOSE attention. This is what I observed: on formal night, I saw a few tuxes sprinkled here and there. Jackets and ties were most common, but I DEF saw a number of men in just dress shirts and slacks. My husband forgot to pack his tie, so he went with just jacket and shirt, and we saw others do the same. Overall, my impression was that even if the "letter of the law" of the dress code was not strictly adhered to, the "spirit of the law" was. Meaning, everyone looked nice... I did not see any one mucking about in a tourist tank top and cargo pants. I did observe a fair number of jeans in the evening as well... on both men and women, and again, nicely dressed up. The first night in the dining room my husband wore dark jeans, dress shoes and a sport coat, and he did not look out of place at all. Please note... not commenting on what anyone should do... these are just what I observed firsthand! I do think the shorter caribbean itineraries are a bit more casual, again, based strictly on what I have observed.

 

And yes, Franklin is still on board. We chatted with him quite a bit... what a nice guy. If I remember correctly, he said he is on thru the April 16 sailing, which I believe is the last one??

 

and to the OP... cracking up about the duct tape in the shower. I was sprayed in the face not once but twice by that rogue shower head!!

 

Hi,:) the last Caribbean Sailing is April 20-25..then she goes

to Europe for the summer/fall/early winter.

[librarylady19]

Hey Lois,

Say hi to Franklin from Scott & Sandi from Crest Hill! I think you were the one who recommended him as a "not to be missed" act. Glad you'll get to enjoy his music. Enjoy your cruise, whether you get an upgrade or not and don't forget to try Islands Bistro!!

[geoherb]

Thanks for the detailed review. We did this same itinerary in December. The only real problem was that it's not long enough. I did not want to leave.

[JCJR]

I will be on the Century Saturday. Two of the guys in our group are planning on skipping the MDR because of the dress code. Can you tell me from first hand experience what was worn in the MDR? Will dress pants and shirt be ok for formal night or do they really have to wear a jacket and tie? Also, on other nights, what were most men wearing?

 

Slacks and any shirt with sleeves are OK for causual nights. There were a lot of men wearing long sleeve shirts on formal night. Most men wore suits and I saw a couple of tuxedos. I wore a suit and the second I sat down for dinner I removed my jacket. By the end of dinner the other two men at my table took theirs off as well.

[Lois R]

Hey Lois,

Say hi to Franklin from Scott & Sandi from Crest Hill! I think you were the one who recommended him as a "not to be missed" act. Glad you'll get to enjoy his music. Enjoy your cruise, whether you get an upgrade or not and don't forget to try Islands Bistro!!

 

Hi Sandi:) I keep thinking next week at this time

I will be sailing away:D...Drink in hand.......oh...I can already

feel it.

[librarylady19]

Sorry you will miss Franklin. I just received his email that he'll be back performing in the Chicago area on the 17th. We definitely plan to go see him!

[SUN2006]

JCJR- Sounds like you have the info I am looking for. We are going to be on the Century later this week.(Apr. 16-20) I want to set up our car rental before we get there but I need to know the pier info, as I understand there are 3 different pier locations in Coz. I'm hoping to be able to get off the ship and walk to the car rental.

Thanks for any info you can provide.

SUN2006

[cuppy]

Thanks for the info, we set sail in 2 days and I can't wait to just get away for a bit. On our December cruise on the Infinity we found a lot of people walking out of the shows, talking, and a few sleeping. While I agree some were better than others, I felt bad for those performing seeing people right up front getting up and leaving.

[roborama]

We just returned from the April 6th 5-night on the Century. One pleasant surprise for me was the "party band" The Stingrays that played at the pool, at the sock hop and was the backing band for the last show of the cruise. It was nice not having a band that just played reggae all set.