Review of Celebrity CENTURY Cruise<br>June 17, 2000<br>George in NY<br><br>437 , 3/4 occupancy cabins. 1758 Double occupancy cabins. 2972 Coast guard passengers limit. 105 Feet Ship beam. 21.5knot Cruising speed. 70,606 Tons. 815 Feet Ship Length. Inaugurated on 20-Dec-1995. Registry : Liberia Greek Officer's/Intl Crew. 1080 dining capacity. One Dining Room. 25 draft. 909 crew. God Mother: MRS.MARIA CHRISTINA CHANDRIS 9 passenger elevators. 875 total rooms.<br><br>Sat. Fort Lauderdale, Florida dep. 4:30 PM<br>Sun.At Sea<br>Mon.San Juan, Puerto Rico arr.4:30 PM<br>Tue.San Juan, Puerto Rico dep.12:30 AM<br>Tue. Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas arr.8:00 AM dep.6:00 PM<br>Wed.Philipsburg, St. Maarten arr. 8:00 AM dep.3:30 PM<br>Thu.At Sea<br>Fri.Nassau, Bahamas arr.1:30 PM dep. 7:00 PM<br>Sat.Fort Lauderdale, Florida arr.7:00 AM<br><br>Our traveling group, left to right, Tom, Laurie, Linda, and George as we have a nightcap in the Embassy Suites Hotel Bar. We are known cruiseaholics that claim well over 30 cruises between us. We actually all met in 1992 while cruising. We prefer our one night pre-stay at Embassy Suites for Fort Lauderdale Sailings for several reasons. Two room suite equipped with two color TV's, microwave, refrigerator, iron and board, and coffee maker. They also offer complimentary cocktail hour in evening and complimentary buffet breakfast in morning. All for a room rate of $114 plus tax. Staff is friendly and helpful. Embassy Suites Fort Lauderdale It is also located 1.7 miles from FLL airport and about 1 mile from pier and offers FREE shuttle service from and to both. Come on what more could you ask for. They also offer an onsite restaurant, " Salut'e " which is reasonable and has great food. <br><br>The hotel shuttle to the pier commences at 12:15 P.M. which is a perfect time. Since the pier is but moments away we arrived within a reasonable time for the start of embarkation. When we arrived Celebrity representatives were issuing number 7 tickets in conjunction with their embarkation system. Being Captains Club members ( $35 one time family fee to join after having cruised Celebrity at least once ) we were given priority embarkation which allows us to by pass the number system and simply enter through a side door and go right through to the document station. Credit card handling for the sign on program is done right there eliminating later presentation of credit card to establish an account. We had to wait a few minutes upstairs before boarding as embarkation had not yet actually started but soon we were heading up the gangway.<br><br> <br><br>Linda and I had cabin 1092 on the Penthouse deck. This is a standard ocean view cabin 172 sq feet. Beds can be set up as king or two Twins. A table and two chairs ( one chair too many for most ) are also contained in cabin. Cabin features all the expected amenities, such as TV, phone and the like and also includes Celebrity robes for use, lotion, shampoo, stocked mini-bar, hairdryer ( ladies bring your own you won't be satisfied with the small handheld ) and safe. The safe is electronic code issued by self programming. All cabins have same. <br> <br> <br> <br><br><br> DINING - We were blessed with both excellent wait staff in Antonio and William who remembered and provided our personal wants from ice tea to cheese plates routinely without reminder. We were also fortunate in also being blessed with tablemates that enhanced our dining pleasure each evening. Living in England Gary and Lorraine, Terry and Pat, added an extra flair to our evenings allowing us to share experiences and viewpoints between oceans. I would hope to someday have the pleasure of sailing with them again. Of course we also had our good traveling companions and best friends Tom and Laurie joining us. We met them while sailing the Zenith in 1992 and subsequently stood up for them as they were married in St. Thomas. Since then we have sailed together at least once per year and always having a remarkably good time. <br><br>The Dining room is two tiered and we were fortunate in that we had table 511 one the 5th deck level and located in the far aft portion of the dining room. Being that the dining room is also in the stern and fully windowed it makes for a fantastic view of our wake from out the windows during the day. In evening the windows are generally covered by large tapestry type drapes which differ on some evenings by the theme being presented. You get some small amount of vibration being so far aft but nothing that was notably a problem. We all managed to eat our fair shares without any difficulty. Food was excellent and consistent with previous years, pre-RCL quality.<br><br>Besides the dining room chow downs food was readily available at various locations and hours. Breakfast and Lunch buffets was tasty and varied featuring assorted hot and cold dishes, carving board, and numerous fattening ( and some sugar free offerings ) desserts and ice creams. The outdoor grills varied, always including hamburger and hotdogs and at times build your own tacos, ribs, sausage, and the like. Naturally the pizza ovens also fire up at 3:00 pm followed by the afternoon tea and finger sandwiches at 4:00. Still hungry? The remaining options are the room service which features a small menu AND pizza delivered 24 hours a day. Great munchies for parties in your room with friends. At midnight you can always rush to the midnight buffet, held on deck as Tex-Mex and themed parties a couple of evenings, a grand buffet in the Dining Room one night, and as floating buffet via servers walking throughout the lounges and casino. If you are still hungry you are probably too big to fit in a cabin anyway so you might not bother trying to cruise. ( just kidding ). <br> <br> <br><br><br>Entertainment was just satisfactory for us and we elected not to go but to a few shows simply because most were the standard song and dance numbers by Celebrity Dancers. It is not that these performers don't do an excellent job or that the productions are not done well. It is really simply because as frequent cruisers we are tainted by simply having seen too many similar type shows. There were some evenings where variety entertainment was in the form of balancing/comedy act and another act which was a violinist. Not being into violin music we attended anyway and were pleasantly surprised to find the act fairly entertaining. It was quite an varied performance and the violinist was personable and astounding in his ability to play a variety of music. I would still hope that Celebrity, and other lines as well, would continue to look for more varied acts to provide continued entertainment for those that are repeat cruisers. Three song and dance shows which are really the same acts with different theme and costumes are just not making it for us.<br><br> <br><br> <br><br> The show lounge itself is very large yet provides decent views from almost any location. Video taping and flash photography is prohibited as always. ( This shot was taken without a flash ) All the lounges were very nice and you should make every attempt to make it to the Crystal Lounge for the Sock Hop on the evening it is held. This again is a fairly regular event by many lines now but provides different entertainment each time since it utilizes the passengers in the Elvis look alike and the twist contest etc. That always makes for some funny times. You know the older couple wearing Mickey Mouse hats or the toupee wearing older gentlemen traveling with the younger, well endowed lady attempting to win the twist off. " Oh a business trip, " chides the emcee when announcing them to the audience. The Newly Wed, not so Newly Wed game is always a must attend as well, again, the passengers often provide better entertainment value than the performers.<br><br>Casino, a sore spot for me this trip. The first evening Linda hit a quarter machine for $400, it was all downhill from there. Me, I couldn't do ANYTHING right. Be it Caribbean poker, I get 2 pair, dealer 3 of a kind. I get full house, dealer doesn't qualify, and so forth. Slots, well my slot tournament experience typifies the luck I was having. The slot tournament is held on two days while at sea. First day you enter for $20. Each entrant gets a five minute turn on a slot machine against 5 other entrants. These machines are on a special computer mode and jackpots are frequent ( of course no money comes out ). The top 6 scores for that day are the finalists.<br><br>The second round again entrants compete against each other the second event day looking to replace finalists from first round by obtaining higher scores. On the first round I found myself second place. On the second round I remained a finalists which allowed me to compete against the other five highest scores for another 5 minute round. So 6 of us are hitting that spin button as fast as we can. I note that I am in a good solid second place with seconds to go. It would appear my luck has changed. With ONE SECOND, yes ONE SECOND, on the clock, another player hits a jackpot on his machine and replaces me as second place. I come in third, naturally only first and second get a MONEY prize. Prize is determined by the number of paid entrants and varies each week. In this case winner received $500 plus dollars. Second place ( tears dropping on keyboard ) was $337. I was THIRD place, want to see my t-shirt and genuine Celebrity key chain? I'm thinking of putting it up for auction on Ebay and trying to recoup my losses ;)<br><br>In general quarter machine paid off for some, dollar machine appeared to be simply a direct donation to the Casino. I can't say that people didn't win because they did. Our traveling partners Tom and Laurie dis very well during many of the evenings often being up quite a bit. They advise they did leave the ship UP although they did give much back during last day or two, must have been guilt of taking poor casinos cash.<br><br> Ports are not that important for us since we go for the ship and consider that our destination. We always enjoy the Eastern Caribbean since it provides more time at sea than Western and Southern. It is also generally less expensive itinerary to book for those on a budget. San Juan we merely got off to take a photo and stop by Wyndam Hotel and Casino located across the street from the ship terminal. It has been good to me in the past and continued this time actually allowing me to leave UP $60 after some amount of time playing. Okay wasn't much but it was UP! A pleasant change from what the ship was doing to me.<br><br>St. Thomas is a big stop for us since Tom and Laurie married there and we stood up for them. Traditionally we go to Magens Bay for a swim and then return to take Tram ride up the mountain to Paradise Point which was the scene of the crime, uh marriage. Note in this shot that I am fearlessly riding said Tram up the mountain. The strong attachment of my hind quarters to the gondola seat and the white knuckled grip on the chair are merely safety precautions I exert as a reasonable person. Actually, even though I am not real big on heights I do find the Gondola ride up and down the mountain rather nice as the views afforded are spectacular. Sometimes I even open my eyes and get to see them. The Tram is located within easy walking distance from the ship and Paradise Point can also be arrived at via cab and a ride up the steep windy road for those that are Tram challenged. The Tram ride cost has gone up consistently each year and now costs $12 pp EACH way. A bit steep, no pun intended, yet we find it worth the money in that it provides some of the best shots you can take of your ship in harbor. You will find a nice bar up top to sooth your Tram ride nerves. The Mudlsinger drink should make the down ride go much easier on your mind, have a couple and you probably won't even remember the ride down. You will also find a couple of shops and a lady with numerous tropical birds. She will be happy to put them on your shoulders and take a photo of you for $10.<br><br>St. Thomas, once the Mecca of jewelry and booze bargains is no longer any competition to St. Marten which by far has better deals on both in my opinion. I would wait to make my purchases until you arrive there. Bargaining is a must and most shops provide you with a free cold beer or soft drink to soften your position as much as possible. As I always recommend, if you are thinking of making a purchase research your prices at home before you go so you have a decent idea on whether the buys are truly a bargain. Most times they really are, I have often paid half what I would have paid at home for an identical piece of jewelry.<br><br> St. Marten is a tendered port meaning that you must board a small tender to get from ship to shore. This again provides an opportunity to get some great ship shots. Tenders ran frequently and were numerous. Do remember that the last tender is, THE LAST TENDER. Miss it and get a really great shot as the ship sails off into the ocean. As is always the case while in ports. They are not kidding when they say that the ship sails at a certain time. Two minutes after that the ship is GONE! They do not know, nor care I am sure, whether you on board or not. One lady with her packages did manage to beg a tender which already had completed it's last trip to carry her to the ship as the anchor was being hauled up. Not all can be so fortunate.<br><br>We had intended to get off the ship in Nassau and take a look at the Atlantis Casino Hotel but at the last minute decided to stay aboard and enjoy the pools and whirlpools. As we often times do. Remaining onboard at a port provides the advantage of enjoying all the facilities almost alone while all the other passengers head to the island. It makes for a nice relaxing afternoon for us lounging in a whirlpool which is empty and having just about any lounge chair you desire all to yourself.<br><br>One advantage of the Nassau stop is getting to see several other ships which are docked there up and close. The New Disney Wonder was in port as were the RCCL Sovereign of The Seas and the Carnival Fantasy.<br><br> <br> <br> <br><br><br>Summing the cruise up is simple, it was GREAT! Calm seas, great ship, wonderful traveling companions and new friend tablemates. Sunny sky's and sunny dispositions, what more could you ask for. Disembarkation was smooth with one MAJOR annoying exception, something I have never seen before and hope not to again.<br><br>Normally for past cruises you picked up your bags on pier and transported them to the airline truck outside the door where they were tagged and checked in for the airline. This time passengers for, DELTA, CONTINENTAL, and AA domestic flights were directed to report to various lounges starting at the ungodly hour of 6:45 am. Much like non US citizens having to report to customs. This was a HORRIFIC experience and really ruined our morning. First each person traveling must report! Second the lines were huge and slow moving. We were advised that this was a convenience for US, the passenger, in that we would receive our airline luggage tagging and our boarding passes for our flights in the lounge and save us doing so at other locations. With only three and sometimes four airline reps for DELTA and a couple of hundred passengers waiting the line crawled. We waited an HOUR for our turn. Then we were given our luggage tags in a sealed envelope and told NOT to open it or we would have to recheck in at pier. Then we were advised that we would NOT receive our boarding passes ( we were Delta Express ) and would have to still check in at the airport for boarding. What a mess. Many missed breakfast, many had children ( required to be there to check in also ) in tow that were less than happy little campers at that hour. THIS HAS TO GO. Since your luggage tags must be affixed at the pier anyway the confusion at the airline trucks was no less a mob seen. Several Delta flights at different gates eases the congestion at the airport check in lines, this way all of us for every flight are in ONE line. I asked a representative when they started this and he claimed been doing it for a couple of years now for FLL. My past recent sailings have been from Miami and NY so it may be the case but I HATE it. It may save the airlines staff or time but this is NOT for passenger convenience no matter what they claim. It should be done away with or many more staff should be made available.<br><br>If you have any questions please feel free to email me at georgehny@fop54.org <br><br>Please note that although I post a copyright on this review it is not intended to prevent personal homepages from using all or part. Linking is always okay of course. I would like personal homepages to feel free to use any of the photos contained within this page, permission to do so without compensation is herein granted. However I would ask that photos with myself and friends not be used, rather the general photos of ship and sights. This review and my photos are provided one cruiseaholic to another.<br><br>George in NY<br><br>georgehny@fop54.org <br><br><br><br>Tony has my cruise links at:<br>http://www.bestweb.net/~travel1/<br>