Celebrity Century, Transatlantic Crossing, May 20 - June 3, 2010 Miami to Barcelona

We arrived a day early in Miami and stayed at the Essex House Hotel, on Collins Avenue. Decent spot, clean and pleasant. Room was smartly furnished, the bed was comfortable. Staff was friendly and very helpful. The proximity to the Art Deco section of South Beach is very nice. We walked a fair bit in the neighbourhood. Might go back again. One word of caution: Among the toiletteries provided, the mouthwash should not be used. It tasted awful and left us feeling as if our throats were raw from having a bad cold. At least, that's how we felt. Perhaps someone else would feel it's the best product he or she has ever had.

Embarkation was pretty much a breeze. It was the first time we had to leave our passports at the registration desk and we were not comfortable with that. The lady at the counter should be very clear about the reasons for keeping it. She was not sure, "We just keep them, it's the policy" or something like that is not good enough. Don't be wishy-washy about this. Tell us clearly that it is to speed up custom procedures during the stops and that all passports are kept safely. We only managed to learn that afterward, during the cruise. Read more