Our Century Odyssey, 10-25-10: The Saga Continues

We will soon be on our way to Barcelona to begin our cruising Odyssey for the next two months. Originally we were booked on the ill-fated Century October 13th sailing from Barcelona to Venice. I detest uncertainty and when Icelandic volcanic activity disrupted flights across Europe, I cancelled that wonderful itinerary in May. We suddenly felt so lucky when we read the following thread:

century 10/13 cruise cancelled in Nice

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1292056

was posted October 14th, 2010, 07:26 PM

As we followed the details of Celebrity's handling of the situation, we began, and are still worried about the state of our Transatlantic slated to sail on Monday the 25th.

As a result of the outcry here on Cruise Critic, Celebrity finally posted some information on their website and on facebook. Without this website and the community of cruisers who posted their plight and put Celebrity in the spotlight for their bungling, I truly believe that Celebrity would have posted nothing. I wish to thanks all those cruisers on the October 13th sailing for posting their experience. I again wish to thank Cruise Critic for having set up this site for the best source of information available to cruisers.

It took Celebrity several days to provide any official information for families of those affected on their website. The following is Celebrity's post 4 days later:

Celebrity Century® Update - (October 20, 2010) - Repairs to Celebrity Century's rudders continue to progress as planned. Divers from the United States, Canada and France have completed the planned work in preparation for entering the drydock. Tug boats are scheduled to shift Celebrity Century from the pier to dry dock at 2:00 a.m. The Chantier Naval de Marseille shipyard in Marseilles has been preparing for Celebrity Century's arrival and will begin repairs as soon as ship is dry tomorrow morning. We continue to be pleased and satisfied with the progress that has been made. We are on schedule to complete the repairs in time for Celebrity Century's next scheduled sailing from Barcelona on October 25. Nevertheless, we would like to reassure our guests that should anything unforeseen occur, and the ship’s departure from Barcelona is delayed, Celebrity Cruises will provide guests with accommodations in Barcelona, as well as a credit to cover any incidental costs.

 

We encourage guests on the October 25 sailing of Celebrity Century to monitor Celebrity Cruises' website for additional updates on the repairs.

 

October 18, 2010

Repairs to Celebrity Century's rudders continue while the ship is alongside in Marseilles. Divers from the United States, Canada and France have been working continuously on steps that must be completed before the dry dock work can begin. From our frequent communications with the shipyard and French port authorities, we feel confident that the ship will be able to enter dry dock as scheduled later this week.

 

We continue to be pleased with the progress that has been made in wet dock and are on schedule to complete the repairs before Celebrity Century's next scheduled sailing from Barcelona on October 25. We encourage guests on the October 25 sailing of Celebrity Century to monitor Celebrity Cruises' website for additional updates on the repairs.

 

October 18, 2010

Celebrity Cruises continues to work on repairs to Celebrity Century's rudders. The ship sailed as planned from Villefranche to Marseilles, where she is currently in wet dock. While the ship has been alongside in Marseilles, divers from the United States, Canada and France have been working tirelessly on steps that must be completed before the dry dock work can begin. We have been working closely with the shipyard and French port authorities and feel confident that the ship will be able to enter a dry dock as scheduled later this week.

 

We are pleased with the progress that has been made in wet dock and are on schedule to complete the repairs before Celebrity Century's next scheduled sailing from Barcelona on October 25. We encourage guests on the October 25 sailing of Celebrity Century to monitor Celebrity Cruises' website for additional updates on the repairs.

Hi,

Yes it is good news that Century has finally moved into dry dock. However, as you know Celebrity UK specifically told me that the ship was being fully repaired where she was berthed and repairs in dry dock were NOT going to take place.

From the latest posting on the Celebrity website reading between the lines I deduce that our cruise will be sailing late and we will be held in Barcelona until it is ready to go. I am going to attempt to get them to admit this when I call them again later today (I think it will be a forlorn attempt but nothing ventured....................)

While I would enjoy a few days in the beautiful city of Barcelona I am travelling with my elderly mother whose mobility is not good. A curtailed cruise with one or no port stops is not what I purchased and while I in no way blame Celebrity for the mechanical issues, I do blame them for not being more open about the true situation.

All this said, I truly hope that we will all be laughing about this in the Sunset Bar on Monday afternoon.

Safe travels across the pond.

Ciao

Hazel

One of the problems that may delay our cruise is the situation in France where strikes are affecting flights, fuel availability and port closure.

In the southern port-city of Marseille, there is no public transport, trains have been delayed or cancelled and the ports blockaded, and the nine-day rubbish collectors' strike means several thousand tonnes of refuse is piling up on the city's streets.

I agree.

And unfortunately for us, Marseilles is one of the worst affected cities. They are extremely militant down there. Again, the situation in France is not Celebrity's fault it is just adding to a 'perfect storm' scenario.

However, I am aghast that the company clearly has no crisis manual and plans in readiness for situations of this nature.

It is good that they are monitoring these boards and can see how unimpressed we are with the way they have handled things particularly for the unfortunate passengers on the Oct 13 cruise. To think that they were still charging people for drinks and tours after announcing that the cruise had been cancelled beggars belief.

If we do experience delays let us hope that they will be treating us a little better.

Ciao

Hazel

I fully concur regarding the wonderful benefits of this CRUISE CRITIC site! It is our first resource for the good and the bad on cruising. In the past, Celebrity has been our first choise for cruises. For the future ???

Although we are world travelers and have lived overseas in several locations, we are now 71 and 72. Mobility is getting less and the luggage heavier. How would we have handled Century 10/13 situation. Don't want to even think about it. However, we will be better prepared for contingencies for our next cruise to Europe.

For now, we will think about having breakfast in Michael's Club on 5 Dec 2010. Arno and Joanne, hope to see you there.

Jerry and Cecelia

I wonder if any of them have thought about calling the national news media, all of them? If all of them would call, I am sure it would be on the news. That would have been the first thing I would have done. We are elite with Celebrity and diamond with rcl. and have always loved them. We have cruised with them for 17 years and always tell everyone they are the best. I would have thought this of some cruise lines, not them. They should step up and take care of their passengers and then they would report that. When you are taken care of "right" you will be loyal and stay. We are looking at going back over next year for two weeks, I will be watching to see how this ends up.:confused:

Arno,

I hope that you & everyone on this sailing are able to leave on time & have a great trip...

Lookng forward to your posts!

we would like to reassure our guests that should anything unforeseen occur, and the ship’s departure from Barcelona is delayed, Celebrity Cruises will provide guests with accommodations in Barcelona, as well as a credit to cover any incidental costs.

 

We encourage guests on the October 25 sailing of Celebrity Century to monitor Celebrity Cruises' website for additional updates on the repairs.

I just called Celebrity Customer Relations at 1-800-280-3423 to get a Spanish contact number. It may be very difficult for "guests" to monitor X's website once we have commenced travelling. I was given the Miami corporate number of 305-539-6000. She was unaware of any Barcelona port agent that we could contact for timely information.

I just googled and guess where I found the information..

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1174367

I remember that thread--

does anyone know if all lines use the same ports agents? If so I'll just copy the info form the port agent listed in the link..

when our ship docked in Marseille on our medit cruise, we took a ship's excursions & never spent any time in Marseille itself--by choice..

We were extremely impressed with the way the crew handled the whole crisis in those 48 or so hours after the damaged rudder and the cancellation was announced. Every time we turned around, the Hotel Manager was front and center, talk to guests, working the line of cruise guests, working behind the counter, etc.

SADLY, the corporate staff apparently missed the training the ships' crews received. We remained in Europe and are now traveling in Italy. We have called Celebrity corporate daily to inquire as to when our cruise credit will hit our credit card and when our onboard credits will hit. As anyone can calculate, we are racking up expenses left and right on credit cards that have already been hit with substantial charges.

This would have been our fourth cruise on Celebrity - and even as we left the ship Saturday, we planned to take another cruise with the company that handled this situation so well. NOT anymore. Tonight, when we called their corporate offices and asked to speak to a supervisor, we were told to leave our name and number and we would hear from someone within 5 days. Daisy, the name of the very pleasant guest relations manager, said she could not find a supervisor to talk to us any sooner.

Besides the fact that Celebrity is operating with our money - and we had two Concierge Class cabins for a total of nearly $11,000 - the most appalling moment in all of this is being told we have to wait 5 days to talk to someone in authority. Now, if only on principle, we will NEVER sail with Celebrity again and we will tell not only our family not to, but the two couples we travel with annually. Nevertheless, a company that can't get a supervisor to return a call in less than 5 days probably doesn't care.

Here's hoping that your transatlantic cruise goes off without a hitch, Arno! Thanks for keeping us all posted on what's going on with Century. I have to admit, I've been shamelessly lurking on your roll-call thread, to see how Celebrity is handling all of this. We have an X cruise booked to Europe (Equinox) next October, and a round-trip SD-Hawaii cruise on Century in the spring of 2012. So far, I must say that I'm underwhelmed with Celebrity's response to what seems to be an ongoing catastrophe! If you have internet access once you leave for Spain, please keep us updated on how things are going. Thanks again, and best of luck in your travels!

I agree.

 

And unfortunately for us, Marseilles is one of the worst affected cities. They are extremely militant down there. Again, the situation in France is not Celebrity's fault it is just adding to a 'perfect storm' scenario.

 

However, I am aghast that the company clearly has no crisis manual and plans in readiness for situations of this nature.

 

It is good that they are monitoring these boards and can see how unimpressed we are with the way they have handled things particularly for the unfortunate passengers on the Oct 13 cruise. To think that they were still charging people for drinks and tours after announcing that the cruise had been cancelled beggars belief.

 

If we do experience delays let us hope that they will be treating us a little better.

 

Ciao

 

Hazel

And how. I've been watching the news and Marseillas looks out of control.....:(:(:(

Bob

At this time I believe Celebrity is really trying to keep us informed as a direct consequence of the Oct 13 cruise cancellation fiasco. There were enough of us posting on the Transatlantic rollcall questioning whether this sailing will really take place as scheduled. I even received an email from my TA that her agency had been contacted by the corporate office that the cruise was a go!

Celebrity Century® Update - (October 21, 2010) - Repairs to Celebrity Century's rudders continue to progress as planned. The ship arrived at the Chantier Naval de Marseille shipyard in Marseilles early this morning and the dry dock process was immediately started. We continue to be pleased and satisfied with the progress that has been made. We continue to be on schedule to complete the repairs in time for Celebrity Century's next scheduled sailing from Barcelona on October 25.

 

Nevertheless, we would like to reassure our guests that should anything unforeseen occur, and the ship's departure from Barcelona is delayed, Celebrity Cruises will provide guests with accommodations in Barcelona, as well as a credit to cover any incidental costs.

 

We encourage guests on the October 25 sailing of Celebrity Century to monitor Celebrity Cruises' website for additional updates on the repairs.

Celebrity's Website news for today:

Celebrity Century® Update - (October 22, 2010) - Since arriving at the Chantier Naval de Marseille shipyard in Marseilles early yesterday morning, repairs to Celebrity Century's rudders continue to progress as planned. Both rudders have been removed and we remain pleased and satisfied with the progress that has been made. We continue to be on schedule to complete the repairs in time for Celebrity Century's next scheduled sailing from Barcelona on October 25.

 

Nevertheless, we would like to reassure our guests that should anything unforeseen occur, and the ship's departure from Barcelona is delayed, Celebrity Cruises will provide guests with accommodations in Barcelona, as well as a credit to cover any incidental costs.

 

We encourage guests on the October 25 sailing of Celebrity Century to monitor Celebrity Cruises' website for additional updates on the repairs.

We were extremely impressed with the way the crew handled the whole crisis in those 48 or so hours after the damaged rudder and the cancellation was announced. Every time we turned around, the Hotel Manager was front and center, talk to guests, working the line of cruise guests, working behind the counter, etc.

 

SADLY, the corporate staff apparently missed the training the ships' crews received. We remained in Europe and are now traveling in Italy. We have called Celebrity corporate daily to inquire as to when our cruise credit will hit our credit card and when our onboard credits will hit. As anyone can calculate, we are racking up expenses left and right on credit cards that have already been hit with substantial charges.

 

This would have been our fourth cruise on Celebrity - and even as we left the ship Saturday, we planned to take another cruise with the company that handled this situation so well. NOT anymore. Tonight, when we called their corporate offices and asked to speak to a supervisor, we were told to leave our name and number and we would hear from someone within 5 days. Daisy, the name of the very pleasant guest relations manager, said she could not find a supervisor to talk to us any sooner.

Besides the fact that Celebrity is operating with our money - and we had two Concierge Class cabins for a total of nearly $11,000 - the most appalling moment in all of this is being told we have to wait 5 days to talk to someone in authority. Now, if only on principle, we will NEVER sail with Celebrity again and we will tell not only our family not to, but the two couples we travel with annually. Nevertheless, a company that can't get a supervisor to return a call in less than 5 days probably doesn't care.

Unbelievable! I am wondering if they are going out of business-- they have large dep. from us for two future cruise...

We were extremely impressed with the way the crew handled the whole crisis in those 48 or so hours after the damaged rudder and the cancellation was announced. Every time we turned around, the Hotel Manager was front and center, talk to guests, working the line of cruise guests, working behind the counter, etc.

Amazingly you have something good to say. Everyone else so far has nothing good to say about the way the onboard staff handled the problem. You were very lucky indeed.

Unbelievable! I am wondering if they are going out of business-- they have large dep. from us for two future cruise...

Huh? Why would you make a comment like that. Not sure if you are being sarcastic (and I missed it) or if it is just a misinformed comment. They are NOT anywhere near going out of business. That is just silly. :confused:

Huh? Why would you make a comment like that. Not sure if you are being sarcastic (and I missed it) or if it is just a misinformed comment. They are NOT anywhere near going out of business. That is just silly. :confused:

It was sarcastic comment based on the post it was replying to & a reaction to the latest levels of corp. customer care which they are now in the process of trying to rectify...thank goodness..

For those who like a good deal, it is tough to beat prices on most Transatlantic sailings. Two days prior to sailing and cabins are still available. Balcony and even Concierge group pricing was available months ago from a large agency for under $1,000 pp.

For those who like a good deal, it is tough to beat prices on most Transatlantic sailings. Two days prior to sailing and cabins are still available. Balcony and even Concierge group pricing was available months ago from a large agency for under $1,000 pp.

Wow, those are some great prices!

Hope the ship is ready in time and you have a great cruise. I did a TA on Century in '08 and had a blast.

For those who like a good deal, it is tough to beat prices on most Transatlantic sailings. Two days prior to sailing and cabins are still available. Balcony and even Concierge group pricing was available months ago from a large agency for under $1,000 pp.

Unreal. Someone can get on this ship for $599.00pp.

Unreal. Someone can get on this ship for $599.00pp.

And get a $250 OBC for owning stock... :D and probably $50 from a TA as well.

We are one of the dozen or so X-addicted couples, cruisers that are on board Celebrity ships for 10 to 20 weeks every year and have accumulated over 100 cruise credits with Celebrity. We have also cruised with HAL (16), Princess (11), RCL (6) and once with NCL. Not all of our cruises have been memorable but we do have our own way of rating them: It's either worse or better than others ranging from Xellent to mediocre. Please spare me your lemonade stories because some lemons just plain suck and no amount of sugar will make them palatable. :cool:

I have always loved to travel more for the sake of "going" than for the sake of getting anywhere. I also have found that some people have such a gift with words that I tend to quote them.

I must down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,

To the gull's way and the whale's way where the wind's like a whetted knife;

And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover

And quiet sleep and a sweet dream ...." By John Masefield (1878-1967).

A ship does not a cruise make. It's the people you meet, whether it's crew or passengers that will make your cruise memorable both in a negative and hopefully, in a positive way. While on Century a few years ago, I read:

Up Country by Nelson DeMille. He ends his book on Vietnam by writing:

"along the way we discover that the journey is more significant than the destination and that the people we meet along the way will be the traveling companions of our memories forever."

Whatever ship you're on, look past the less than perfect weather, the food, the missed ports, the less than perfect ship. Connect with the people you're sailing with. Few people can get along with everyone they meet and I'm sure I've ticked people off in the same way that I was not impressed by them. That's life on board as well as shoreside. On one thread I made a comment about how nice it was to travel with like-minded people and sharing a drink in Michael's Club and a person was offended and made a condescending reference to that post. Please, if you don't like my travel experiences and my opinions, book a cruise of your own and share your insights there. :cool: It is very difficult to make a comment on a board when there is no intention to offend and a person takes offense because one cannot judge the tone of the comment.

The roll call for this cruise has been wonderful and informative and I recognize quite a few familiar "handles" with whom we have had the pleasure to sail before. At a certain point in a person's cruising history there may come a time when you will or will not take a cruise because of other passengers or crew members on board.

For anyone who is just starting out on their passion for cruising I would suggest you find a ship you like and a cruise line of your preference. Over the years you will be treated better on some ships than on others only because you have travelled on them so often and get recognized by staff on board.

I believe that there is a standard letter that welcomes you to the cruise that you are on, stating.. "whether you have cruised once or 50 times you will be treated" can just as easily say "whether you have cruised 50 times or this is your first you will not be treated differently."

I believe that every person likes to be treated "special" for loyalty to a brand. X's Captain's Club has a three tier system that rewards those who cruise more frequently or in a higher category of stateroom. On some ships you will even be rewarded more because of the recognition factor.

Century used to be our favourite ship because we cruised on her frequently (20+ cruises) and we were treated as returning family members. It has now been several years and I don't recognize any of the names mentioned so far among senior staff. When we board the staff will be as new to us as to most other passengers.

.If time permits before I leave for the airport, I will post some comments about Century, the ship.

Spectacular images, best memories:

Stair wells more elegant than on any other X ship: Classy

The Spa Cafe:

Look forward to reading your future post. Have a safe flight, most of all enjoy all the new friends you will be meeting on the Century... Bon Voyage!!