Celebrity Cruises
Century
7-Day Western Caribbean

Nancy


This was our honeymoon trip & we had a spectacular time! I had been on Royal Caribbean-Navigator of the Seas & my husband had been on Celebrity-Zenith. Prior to booking our cruise we did a comparison to see which line gave us more perks for sailing with them again & Celebrity’s Captain’s Club exceeded Royal Caribbean by far.
Let me also say that husband is a chef & he insisted on going on Celebrity for the food.

AIR: We flew on Spirit Air out of JFK to Fort Lauderdale for a mere $144 per person! GREAT experience with them! (A+)

HOTEL: We stayed at Wyndham Fort Lauderdale Hotel for 2 nights as a warm-up to our cruise & to get to enjoy Florida a bit, since my husband had never been to Florida. They provided shuttle service from the airport to the hotel & also from the hotel to the cruise ship port. This was very convenient (& free!), as we didn't have a rental car.
I highly recommend taking a few days below your cruise to enjoy your embarkation port.
We took a day trip to Miami on a tour bus, which was recommended by the hotel concierge. We decided the day before around 5pm, so you don't really need to make advance reservations. The tour guide was great, we visited: South Beach Art Deco district, Coconut Grove, Brickell Avenue, and Coral Gables are some of the highlights. Little Havana for a cuban coffee, and checked out the cubans playing dominoes, visited the famous Biltmore Hotel, then went for a water tour of the rich & famous of Miami, and ended up at Miami's Bayside Market Place for some strolling & eats. When we got back to our hotel, we relaxed in the whirpool hot tub under the palm trees.. very nice! The following day, we had an amazing breakfast & took a dip in the pool, before getting ready to head for the ship! :) A++ for the Wyndham!

Embarkation: This was a breeze with our captain's club perk of Priority Embarkation and Preferential Debarkation. We were actually the first to board the ship!

CABIN: Our cabin# 1085 was an ocean view on the Penthouse deck, concierge class, (One-category upgrade with our Captain’s Club perks!) It was very clean & storage space was abundant. 3 large closets, luggage fit under the bed & lots of cabinets, and drawers, even the mirror opened up to 3 large shelves & a safe. The bathroom had cabinets under the sink, with a full hair dryer & beautiful glass shelves for all your toiletries. The shower was a very nice size as well, and I liked the adjustable shower head.

SERVICE & FOOD: These are the 2 reasons we were on Celebrity-service & food. The Century did not disappoint our expectations! Dinner was so amazing every night, we always ordered every course, because we couldn’t bare to miss out on appetizers or dessert on account of being full. Our wait staff was great & since we had indicated we were on our honeymoon they brought out a cake one night & sang to us ‘Happy Honeymoon’. The cake was a very rich chocolate. Of course we shared with our table mates! We ordered wine bottles for dinner & they will re-cork it for you & save for the following night.

We ate mostly in the Islands Café for breakfast & lunch. The island café had certain themed lunches, like Sushi & Mexican, but we weren’t exactly sure what time those were served & always seemed to miss it. If you are interested in this, I’d suggest asking someone who works in the café, so you don’t miss it. Mid-week we decided to go to the Grand restaurant for lunch & it was so good that we wished we had gone there all along. Only thing is that the dress must be appropriate, so we had to go back to our room to change our pool clothes. Shorts & t-shirt were still acceptable however.

THE SHIP: The ship had such a refined elegance & the decor also reflected that. The rich wood & elegant trims were very impressive. I read on other reviews about a smoke smell, but in all honesty, we didn't notice & we are non-smokers.

ENTERTAINMENT: This was the only downfall about Celebrity in our opinion. The entertainment lacked in quality. Some nights we left early & towards the end of the cruise we stopped going altogether. We decided to go to the casino, or a bar instead.

EXCURSIONS: Although they were a bit pricey, we decided it was our best bet, since the guide/tour co. is backed by the cruise line. We wanted to stay away from the touristy destinations, so we avoided excursions like the dunns river falls, and sting ray city.

Jamaica-- We did the horse back riding on the beach in Jamaica, which was our absolute favorite! Also, the people in Jamaica were very friendly & accommodating. They also weren’t too pushy for tips in our opinion.

Grand Cayman-- We went snorkeling, and that was a lot of fun, and very relaxing. We saw lots of beautiful fish & even a sea turtle & a baby sea turtle!

Cozumel, Mexico-- Opted to just get off the ship & go to a beach by taxi. The beach was awesome!.. They provided everything free- beach chairs, umbrellas, snorkeling gear (for a deposit). Only you had to buy was drinks & food, if you wanted. We got an ice cold bucket of XX & had a great time!

Key West-- It was so hot when we got to Key West, that we headed straight for the first sign we saw that said Key Lime Pie on a stick! It was so refreshing & tasty. .You must get one of these when you visit this island. You don’t need an excursion for this port of call in my opinion. We spent our time sightseeing, Ernest Hemingway’s house & another sea man’s house, also went to the aquarium- not worth it unless you have kids.

When we were returning to the ship, they handed everyone cold towels as we boarded the ship. *Bonus points for Celebrity!