Our stewardess, Firuta, and the butler, Hiriberto, were pleasant and efficient. They appeared to be happy with their jobs and always had a cheerful greeting for us. Both were from Colombia.

The Food and Dining

The Grand Restaurant
The Grand Restaurant is located on Decks 5 and 6, in the aft part of the ship. It has sweeping views of the sea, with floor to ceiling windows that look out the aft end of the ship. We had second seating on the lower level, with a table next to one of the aft windows. A great location, with less noise than in the other parts of the dining room. It was really a table for eight, but they squeezed in a ninth chair, apparently to give us a table with my sister and her husband. There was also a family of four seated with us. This made table space tight, even though the ninth person was our small son.

Soups were the strong point, and I particularly liked the gumbo they served on the first formal night. Appetizers and salads were just average, and some appetizers had very skimpy servings. Sweetbreads were an appetizer on one night; an unusual offering for a cruise ship. However, the serving had but three very tiny breaded slices, with each slice the size of a quarter. The escargot was superb. The conch fritters were over-peppered and almost painful to eat.

Entrées were only average in taste and presentation. Steaks were cooked to order quite nicely, but they were a tad tough. Fish dishes were a little dry. My sister ordered the lamb one night, and her serving had three tiny chops that provided only three forkfuls of meat total. The lobster tails were good-sized though, and quite tasty. The Prime Rib was tender and juicy, and you got it just the way you ordered it. In my case, that is medium-rare. Desserts were good, and the ice cream and sherbet are made on the ship.

Overall, I was not impressed by the dinners, mostly because Celebrity makes such a big deal over their cuisine. It was certainly better when we cruised on the Century back in 1996. Since then, things have gone downhill. With few exceptions, the food was very bland in taste; the kitchen seems to have a problem with using seasonings. I hardly ever reach for the salt and pepper, but on this cruise I had to do so at every dinner. So did everyone else at our table. Let me be clear: the dining room food is good, but is not the haute cuisine Celebrity crows about. I find it no better than the food found on the other mainstream cruise lines, and in some cases it is not as good. Consistency of portion size is a problem. Vegetables served with the entrées were little more than decoration.

Our waiter and assistant waiter were truly outstanding -- easily the best team we have encountered on a cruise. The waiter, Ibrahim, is from Turkey, as is his assistant, Ugur. They worked great together and both had outgoing personalities. Ibrahim had been promoted to waiter a month earlier, but you wouldn't have known it. He handled the job like a seasoned veteran (he was only 22 years old). He entertained us every night with various puzzles he devised with toothpicks. Both of these fellows received generous tips from everyone, along with individual praise on the comment cards.

The assistant Maitre d' for our section was a gregarious Polish man who had been at sea for 34 years! He said he needed one more year in order to retire with a full pension from the Polish Seaman's Union. He did the usual glad-handing (in hopes of a tip) every night, and seemed to relish singing at birthday and anniversary cake presentations. Although I usually advise against it, I did tip this man, even though he did nothing special for us. I guess I felt some respect for his many years at sea.

We never ate lunch in the Grand Restaurant, and only had breakfast there once. The breakfast we attended was open seating, which meant we did not have our usual table or wait staff. My wife ordered the Eggs Benedict, and the poached eggs were cooked rock-hard. I ordered poached eggs on toast, and was served eggs over-easy (sigh).

Islands Café
This is the buffet restaurant. It is quite large, taking up almost half the Resort Deck. Seating was never a problem. Tables are promptly cleared, and waiters are standing by to carry your tray for you. Bar service in the Islands Café was almost non-existent after the first day, when they prowled the room hawking "welcome aboard" drinks in the souvenir glasses.

Breakfast was okay, but expect the same buffet menu every day. They had the typical breakfast buffet items. They also had cooked-to-order omelets, but no cooked-to-order fried eggs. Omelets were cooked too long, and as a result were very dry. (Salmonella paranoia, I guess.) They also had cheese and cold-cuts for the European passengers. The food was always at the appropriate temperature. It was good, and quick to eat and go, but that is all. The coffee, made from a syrup, is horrid.

Lunch in the Islands Cafe was good. The salad bar seemed light on traditional salad items, and instead had a lot of space taken up by trays of cold cuts and pasta salads. The steam table always had a pasta dish, some sort of fish, a casserole type dish (great moussaka), potatoes, and a couple of vegetables. They always had a carving board with ham, turkey, pork, or roast beef. We ate lunch there on most days. Iced tea and fruit punches were available during meal times only.

Out behind the pools, the Century has two grill lines. These serve burgers, hot dogs, and fries. Boca burgers, and turkey burgers are available, too. They also had something else every day, such as gyros, grilled chicken, or tacos. They served the pasta of the day. The food was always hot and really of good quality. The burgers were juicy and the hot dogs were also very good; the fries were good and crisp, not greasy or limp. The grill on the port side re-opens at 3PM everyday to serve freshly baked pizzas. The pizzas were pretty good, but not as good as the ones served on Princess ships. There were sometimes some fairly long lines when the pizza service commenced. The pizzas are made and baked at the grill.

Room Service
The room service menu is very limited, with a couple of cold sandwiches and salads. To me, this is not acceptable for a cruise line trying to be "upscale." Then again, considering the letdown we experienced with the dining room cuisine, maybe the room service menu is right on par. Breakfast from room service was also available.

Bars and Lounges

Tastings
Situated in the Grand Foyer, Tastings is a European-style coffee bar. It has a sidewalk café charm to it, and served up great coffee, coffee/liquor drinks, as well as all other bar drinks. The espresso was perfect.

Rendez-Vous Square
A nice room with plenty of seating for pre-dinner drinks, it is located just forward of the dining room. The pianist/singer was about average for a lounge act.

Michael's Club
This is the cigar bar. When the Century first hit the oceans, Michael's was quite popular, riding the then-popular cigar craze. The craze is over, though, and Michael's was never even close to being crowded on this cruise. I wonder how long Celebrity will stay with this.

Images
Immediately behind Michael's, Images is a sports bar. Huge video screens showed ESPN all the time. I noticed that Images never seemed more than a third full of patrons, and usually had maybe 6 people sitting there. It seemed that most people just stopped and stood for a minute to look at the video screens, then moved on.

The Crystal Room
The main dance lounge, the Crystal Room is dark and sometimes loud. They have a martini bar there, with several variations on this classic cocktail.

Hemisphere
This is the observation lounge on Deck 12. During the day, the view was nice. They have telescopes mounted along the outboard seating area, but most of them are broken or missing their lenses. They had the Captain's Club and Repeaters cocktail parties here. At night, Hemisphere becomes a disco, but it was never crowded. After 9PM, they allegedly enforce an age limit of 18 and older only.

Sky Bar
Also on Deck 12, the Sky Bar is all the way aft, above the Islands Café. There are staircases to access the bar from the restaurant. When we first cruised on the Century, this was an operating bar, and I noted it was hardly used and was a waste. On this cruise, I found that they had converted the Sky Bar into the alternative restaurant. The area behind the bar now houses ovens and a grill, and there is a food serving line along the front. We had a bad experience with the alternative dining on the Mercury, so we didn't try it on the Century. It is not what I would consider an alternative restaurant. You reserve a table earlier in the day, then have a combination of table service and self-service. You go through a cafeteria line for your soup and salad, and a waiter brings your entrée. For this you have to make a reservation, and they suggest you tip them too!

Pool Bar and Mast Bar
These two bars serve the pool area, with the Mast Bar being on the deck above the main pool area. Both bars were usually efficient, although sometimes there was only one bartender on duty, which slowed things up. Waiters were always present, but never pressed you to order. Frozen, tropical-style drinks were uneven in quality. For some reason, the Jamaican bartenders were better at it than the European bartenders. Beer was always cold. American beer was $2.95 a can, and mixed drinks were $4.50. Foreign beer was $3.50.

A 15% tip is added to all drink orders. For $4.50 a day, paid in full up front for the entire cruise, children can get a sticker on their cruise card that allows them to get unlimited soft drinks at designated bars. These are fountain drinks, and not cans. So, we paid $36.23 on the first day (remember, the 15% tip) and our son got soda whenever he wanted just by flashing his cruise card. (For some strange reason, the soda sticker can only be purchased at the Tastings coffee bar). Considering a small glass of soda costs $1.44 including tip, the drink sticker equates to 25 glasses for the whole cruise; we certainly exceeded that number.

Pools

There are two pools, both salt water. One is shallow, relatively speaking, going from 4 feet 3 inches to 4 feet 11 inches deep. The other pool is 5 feet 11 inches to 6 feet 7 inches deep. I wish they had a more shallow pool for the children, but when the Century was built Celebrity Cruises was not necessarily interested in having a lot of kids on board. It would also be nice if one of the pools was fresh water.

The pools were crowded during at-sea days, and getting a lounge chair required getting to the pool very early. As usual, the less-considerate passengers would run by and throw a beach bag or something on some chairs, then go off to have breakfast and come back at their leisure to take the chair. I don't know what can be done about keeping people from hoarding lounge chairs, but I wish someone would come up with a plan.

They had a lifeguard on duty every day. This is the first time I have noticed this on a cruise ship.

Entertainment

The main shows are in the Celebrity Theater. The shows were entertaining but nothing extraordinary. They use loud, flashy pyrotechnics at various points during the big shows, which has become very annoying to me. I don't like being startled to the point of spilling a drink. Please stop it, Celebrity.

The comedian (Noodles Levenstein) was a mix of Henny Youngman and Jerry Seinfeld. Sometimes he would pick on an audience member as the butt of a joke. I received this "honor" on the last night, when he gave me the moniker of "Buffet Bob." This annoys some people, but I am not afraid to laugh at myself, so I went along with him.

An a capella quartet, called Jump Start, wanders around the Grand Foyer at night interacting with the passengers and singing. They are absolutely superb.

Cruise Staff

Jim Cannon, the Cruise Director, was on the Mercury with us last fall. He emceed the nightly shows, and came around to all the tables at the special cocktail parties to talk to everyone. They held the usual activities, such as Bingo, pool games, dance classes, and so forth. Nothing special, though.

Casino

Fortunes is a good-sized casino with all the usual gaming. It was crowded at night, and there were not as many winners as I have seen on other cruises. An ATM is in the casino, but was out of order for the entire cruise. I wish to note that on our first cruise on the Century, in 1996, the ATM was also broken for the whole cruise; one wonders if it has ever worked. They also had two machines for getting large quantities of coins for the slot machines. As with the ATM, these change machines remained out of service for the whole cruise.

Childrens Programs

The ship has the "Fun Factory" on Deck 4. It is rather small, but seems brighter and larger in the brochures. They have programs for different age groups. There are SONY Playstations and one of those plastic ball pits. The staff was very pleasant and our son had a great time there. All the younger kids get a clear plastic Celebrity backpack on the last day of the cruise.

Exercise Program & Spa

I personally don't go on cruises to spend time in the gym. The Aqua Spa is a nice place, but their main concern is to relieve you of as much of your money as possible. Against my advice, my sister went to get a cellulite treatment that they claimed would make her thinner by inches. Once they had her covered in goo, wrapped up like a tamale, and hooked up to electrodes, they started a sales pitch about the home treatment items she would need to complete the treatment. Of course, this stuff added up to almost $500 dollars, on top of the $65 she spent for the initial treatment. She realized what was happening and didn't waste any more money.

My brother-in-law had a massage, and he said it was very relaxing. Of course, while he was having it they continued the sales barrage for various things.

Interactive TV

The Celebrity Network is the interactive program that you access from you cabin's TV. On it, you can do a lot of things. You can order wine for dinner, order excursions (you can also watch videos of the excursions to preview them), order room service, play video gambling, and review the dinner entrées. You can also review your onboard charges. I won a few bucks playing video blackjack; winnings are credited to your shipboard account. The Celebrity Network was off-line on several occasions.

Other Thoughts and Asides

Tenders were needed in Grand Cayman. They used the ship's tenders, and service was quite good. You didn't have to wait long at either end. A downside is that the tenders are enclosed with no ventilation, so it was a hot ride. Grand Cayman is famous for snorkeling and diving, neither of which interests me. As usual, we went to the Turtle Farm so my son could hold the baby turtles. We then loaded up with rum cakes (good stuff) and headed back to the ship.

We did not book any tours with the ship. For us, just picking up a taxi at the pier is cheaper and easier. The tours are the standard ones that all the ships sell. We stayed aboard ship in Ocho Rios. I have had my fill of Jamaica and like having the ship to myself (well, almost) on in-port days. This is a secret amongst us experienced cruisers, so don't tell anyone else, okay? :-)

Cozumel is our favorite port on the western itinerary. There is a really nice little beach called Playa del Sol. It has a sand beach, watercraft rentals, an open-air bar, a swimming pool, and a nice open-air restaurant with good food. There are also shops and a little zoo. All of this is just $5 per person, or you can pay $19 and have unlimited bar drinks, or $29 and add a lunch buffet. The $5 basic fee is the best deal. Mexican beer is only $2 a bottle, and soda is $1 a bottle. The taxi is $12 from International Pier. Playa del Sol is a great place to spend the day. The restrooms are immaculate, too.

To my thinking, Key West isn't a good choice for a cruise stop. Nothing really happens in Key West in the morning or afternoon, so other than making a pilgrimage to Margaritaville or to Sloppy Joe's, there just isn't much to do. You could rent watercraft, or participate in a sailboat race, if that excites you. I would like to see them eliminate Ocho Rios, and maybe go to Key West for an overnight stop so we could sample the night life. Be advised that if you dock at the Navy Annex you cannot walk to town. New Navy rules require you to use the Conch Train or bus -- no exceptions. Even taxis are forbidden.

On previous cruises with Celebrity, I found the lifeboat drill to be very long - annoyingly so. On this cruise it went quicker, although they still do a poor job out on the deck. Passengers were directed to stand very close together, pushed up very close to the bulkhead. We had a girl faint next to us. I realize it is a necessary drill, and don't wish to minimize the need for it, but the crew acted like they couldn't have cared less about passenger comfort. This time they reviewed everything in two languages. On our previous cruises with this company all the instructions were done in four languages.

The captain apparently is not one to mingle with the passengers. We went to both the Repeater's and the Captain's Club cocktail parties. In both cases the Hotel Manager was the only "officer" present. Funny, a Captain's Club meeting with no captain, or staff captain, for that matter. Another note about the repeat passengers -- a note appeared in the daily paper stating that if you were a repeater, please leave your name with Guest Relations. I find it hard to believe they didn't know who had cruised with them before. Invitations to the cocktail party were sent out based on your telling Guest Relations that you were a repeater. This is very tacky. About 120 people were at the repeater party, and maybe 50 people at the Captain's Club party.

All cabins are spacious and beautiful. The ship is kept spotlessly clean, although some wear and tear is evident. The beautiful chrome panels in some elevators have been defaced, apparently by some hoodlums who "keyed" them. Also, some of the "You are Here" signs are faded and you can't read them.

Debarkation

Debarkation went very smoothly. We found out that suite passengers had a higher debarkation priority than Captain's Club members did, so we left with the first group. We were off the ship and in a taxi in less than 10 minutes.

Summary

The Century is a nice ship, and Celebrity is a good cruise line. The dining room food has slipped over the past few years though, and I no longer consider it to be "better than all the rest" (to use Celebrity's words). The cabins are some of the best you will find, both in size and comfort.

We will cruise with Celebrity again, but our expectations will not be any higher than they would be with Royal Caribbean or some other mainstream line. By the way, as many of you know, Royal Caribbean now owns Celebrity Cruises. The differences between the two lines are quickly fading.

Dave Beers is the head administrator for the SeaLetter Cruise Forum and lives in Alabama with his wife, Vanessa, and young son Jacob. Dave served in both the Marines and the Navy, and spent a great deal of time in several far east and Mediterranean countries. He took his first "civilian" cruise in 1992 and cruising has been a primary interest for him ever since. He has written numerous reviews and articles about cruising. Dave and his family are also veteran SeaLetter Cruise Bashers.

In his professional life, Dave works for the federal government as a supervisor with the Tennessee Valley Authority. He may be reached for questions or comment at: david@sealetter.com.