The Fortune's Casino aboard Celebrity's new, improved Century -- by and large a very tastefully updated cruise ship -- packs a lot of action into a compact, and thus often crowded, area.

Entering the casino from any direction, a player runs a gauntlet of slot machines before reaching the bank of 11 table games arrayed in the middle of the casino.

The centerpiece of the table games is a Texas Hold'em table, surrounded by two eight-deck blackjack tables and two single-deck blackjack tables, as well as one Caribbean stud poker, one three-card poker, one Ultimate Texas Hold 'em poker, one roulette and one craps table.

Ultimate Texas Hold 'em is a game we hadn't encountered in a cruise ship casino previously, featuring head-to-head play against the dealer rather than against the other players. While most cruisers needed a quick course in how the game is played, it appeared to be a quite popular addition.

Most of the table games had a $5 or $10 minimum. For those desiring a higher stakes game, there was a single blackjack table with a $25 minimum and $500 maximum. While Fortune's Casino stayed open a couple of nights past 3 a.m., most nights the crowd began to thin out considerably not long after 1 a.m.

Overall, this was a fun casino in which to gamble. Celebrity tends to have some of the most personable dealers at sea, and those on the Century were no exception. Comped drinks were quick to appear for higher-stakes players.

The big news with the new, improved Century, which spends its summers cruising in Europe, is that this is by far the most upmarket ship sailing the shorter four and five-day cruises this winter out of South Florida.

When more VIP players discover the Century, we are assured that higher-stakes tables will be available -- and the Century, in our view, will be an terrific winter alternative to flying to the Bahamas or St. Maarten.

--The Savvy Cruiser