Just returned from Century

My wife and I just returned from the 6/17 Century cruise to Hubbard Glacier. This was only our second cruise, with the first being on the Eclipse when it was only 6 months old, so our comparisons are based on that. I know it's a bit unfair, but it's all we have to go on.

To start, boarding was quick and painless. Vancouver airport was a different story, as the wait at customs was over an hour. Once on board, we checked out the ship, figuring out where everything was. The common spaces were all very nice, and we liked the number of lounges compared to Eclipse. We then proceeded to the buffet for lunch. This was a big disappointment for us. There were essentially 4 lines, all serving the same thing. On the Eclipse, there were numerous stations serving a huge variety of items. There wasn't even a salad bar or sandwiches. The food was fine. Drink service was non-existent unless you wanted the specialty sail away cocktails. After the first day, the selection got better, but the line setup was terrible, as people were jumping in front of people and the cook stations were very slow. In the entire week, we only saw 1 drink waiter.

At 1pm, the announcement was made that the rooms were ready. We had 1247, a sky suite on the 12th deck, at the very back port side. The only reason we booked it was because of the special we received that let us book it for the same cost as a balcony. The room was a decent size, being about 25% bigger than the concierge class cabin we had on Eclipse. The balcony was enormous, about 3-4 times bigger than what we had before. It had a table w/2 chairs and 2 loungers. That was about all that was good with the room. It was definitely showing it's age. The carpet and furniture was worn/stained and in need of being replaced. The bed was sagging, but we didn't have any issues sleeping on it. The bathroom was really disappointing. We did not care for the tub, as we always just use the shower. The real issue was the ceiling height. In the shower, I had to duck as my head was hitting the ceiling, and I'm only 6'3". The balcony had lots of rust and the drainage system was not working on it. Our butler was Albino, who was fine, but we didn't really use on services from him except breakfast. The room had more than enough storage for us.

We had the Select dining plan, as we did on the prior cruise. On the Eclipse, most of the tables were set up for groups of 8, with a few tables for 2,4 or 6. On Century, most of the tables were for 2. So every night, we ate by ourselves. We really missed being seated with new people every night, as it's a great way to meet people. Don't get me wrong, we enjoy the occasional table for 2, but we didn't like not having an option. On the plus side, the only time we had to wait for a table was when we asked for a table at the back window to watch the sunset as we were sailing from Ketchikan. Even then, the wait was only 5 minutes. We dined any where from 6:30-9pm.

We went to the shows every night except one. Even though we had never seen these acts, we felt like we had as all of the acts were essentially copies of what was on Eclipse. It was very evident to us the night of the magician, as his act was nearly identical to the one on Eclipse, right up to him also being a finalist on America's Got Talent, same dancing, etc, even though it was clearly a different person. The comedian Lewis Johnson, was great. We didn't enjoy the production shows as much. I think the smaller stage size really limits them.

We did have a couple nice surprises. On the first formal night, we were invited to the captain's table. Had a great time there, which is why we ended up missing the show that night. The second surprise was being invited for a bridge tour as we got to Hubbard Glacier. Talk about a great view! We also had the naturalist Milos there as a personal tour guide. We were able to get within half a mile of the glacier, but had to leave early as the tide shifted and the ice started to block the bay.

We did tours in each stop. Bear walk in ISP where we saw 4 brown bears, including a mother with 2 cubs. Our tour guide was a Tlinket native (Minnie Dalton), and was wonderful. In Juneau, we did a dog mushing camp, and this was probably the best tour we did. Had a great time there. We also took the shuttle to Mendenhall, where we encountered rain. In Ketchikan, we got there during a heat wave. Was 73 and sunny. We did a nature preserve walk, and saw lots of birds - eagles, owls, etc. Was a decent tour.

Overall, we really enjoyed the cruise. We were turned off on the Century for it's overall condition, even the crew was wonderful. We would sail it again given the right itinerary, but much prefer the S class ships, at least until Century gets its rumored dry dock.

If you have any questions, let me know.

Thanks for the information, we are sailing in

the Century on July 1 on the same cruise. Our cabin is 1243, an inside cabin in the same area as yours.

Were there many families on the cruise, meaning kids or teens?

Thanks,

I heard them say there were 47 teens on board. Not sure how many kids overall. Wasn't really an issue except for the few kids that had parents that thought everyone on the ship should be watching their kids except for them. On the first day, one kid was doing dives off the handicap assistance chair at the pool, until a X employee asked him to stop. Then he decided he needed to dive off the railing by the pool. Another kid was at the Sunset bar and climbed up on the outside railing to throw garbage into the ocean, while his parents sat there and laughed.

Our area of the ship was rather quiet, except our next door neighbors (1245) who had a kid that yelled all the time, and liked their TV at full volume while they sat on the balcony.

Thanks for the quick reply...I can assure all that my teens will be well behaved or there will be some severe consequences. ;)

Looking forward to the cruise and hope that we get some good weather, the weather so far this year in Vancouver has been very unpredictable to say the least.

Thanks for your review.

Also forgot to mention a couple of things about the MDR that I've seen asked here.

For dress code, it seemed that almost anything was acceptable. Lots of jeans and flip flops every night. I'd say at least 10-20% of the people were in jeans.

On formal nights, jackets were not required. They had them hanging at the entrance as usual, but they did not request any one to wear one. In fact, at the captain's table, one of the guests had no jacket or tie.

Drink service in the MDR was odd too. On the Eclipse, we always had a bar waiter, to get any drinks other than wine or water. No such thing here. They had 1 or 2 people on the entire floor that the head waiter would give the drink order to. Drinks were always slow. As for wine, always had great service for that even though I had a drink package.

Thanks for your review. My favorite deck on the Century is the Sport deck, deck 12. It has been very quiet and with easy access to pool area and above the buffet.

The setup for the buffet on Century is more old fashioned and not like the S class with all the stations. That being said ,I will keep this in mind when I am on the Century later this year.

I have yet no desire to do select dinning. I love late seating with a table for eight. Will continue this arrangement.

Did you like a ship with less passengers? Did you try the Aqua Spa Restaruant?

I loved the S class, but still looking forward to the Century cruise.

We loved the select dining on this cruise. With the port times being rather late (3-10, 8-8, etc) it allowed us time to do whatever excursions we had and have dinner whenever we were ready. Sometimes we wanted earlier meals due to other plans on the ship. It just allowed us the flexibility to eat when we wanted, and not have our evening dictated by dinner.

We never ate at the Aqua Cafe, so I can't comment on it.

The ship never felt like it had fewer people than Eclipse. We always seemed to be waiting in a line, whether it was at the buffet or for elevators (similar lines compared to Eclipse). The worst was reboarding the ship at the port. On Eclipse there was never a line because they always had multiple screeners. On Century, they had 1 line and every time there was someone in front of us that had issues (card didn't work, they wouldn't empty metal from their pockets, etc), so the line always backed up. So in general I'd say it felt the same. In our opinion, we much prefer S Class, but we'll go with whatever ship has the itinerary we want.

The one thing we did notice on Century was the amount of vibration from the engines. I don't recall feeling it on Eclipse, but was very noticeable from just about anywhere on board.

I have one further question, what time did you disembark in Vancouver? We have someone picking us up and I'm not sure what time to tell them to be waiting for us? Since we're on the same deck as you were perhaps we'd be at a similar time? Is that how it works?

Thanks,

Thank you so much for the review. We will be in the same cabin in 117 days. Was the shower part of the tub or was it separate? Did you have a flat screen tv in the room or was it the old fashion tv? Thanks.

We used the express disembarkment because we had an early flight from YVR. We gathered at 7:15 in the Rendez-Vous lounge, started leaving the ship at 7:30, jumped on the train and were at YVR by 8:30. The train is definitely a great way to go, as it's only $2.50 per person and takes about 30 minutes, much cheaper and faster than a shuttle or taxi.

I think regular disembarkment works based on your flight time or excursion times, not on the deck you are on.

As for the shower, it's part of the tub and the tub has a very high side. It was not easy to get into because of this, and could be dangerous for anyone with mobility issues. The first morning was really bad because the ocean was so rough, and I kept hitting my head on the ceiling every time the ship tilted. Lots of sea sick people that morning. They couldn't keep up with the motion sickness pills and bags on the ship. The shower head is detachable. There is a curtain for the shower. Definitely preferred the Eclipse walk in shower with a door, and the bathroom in the Eclipse was much larger overall. For example, the bathroom door hits the toilet when you open it, and only 1 person can really be in the bathroom at a time, unless 1 is in the shower.

The TV is a flat screen, 32" I think. The bad part of it is that they mounted it over the couch, so you can only watch it from the bed, and the TV does not have a swivel mount so you can't adjust the angle at all. There were very few channels (maybe 8 actual channels plus about 6 about the ship, excursions, shopping, etc), plus some pay per view channels. No free on demand movies like on Eclipse.

I have one further question, what time did you disembark in Vancouver? We have someone picking us up and I'm not sure what time to tell them to be waiting for us? Since we're on the same deck as you were perhaps we'd be at a similar time? Is that how it works?

 

Thanks,

Hi,

( I'm from our roll-call...)

you can decide when you want to get off, and coordinate with the folks who are picking you up . When you get your disembarkation forms midway thru the voyage, write diagonally accross '' independent, request last off '' ( or whatever time you wish upon coordinating with your ride ).

If it suits your ride provider to show up around 10;00am or so, then request ''last off''; if on the other hand, he/she wants to be there ~~ 08;00 because of later commitment in the day, the request '' first off''...and so on.

My maxim is '' you pay the money, max out your stay'' which is why we always request ''last off'' which means ~~09;45. At that time, it's a breeze to locate your bags on the luggage floor and the Canada border services Agency lines have already thinned out.

Cheers

Thanks for the nice review of your cruise. Glad you had a good time.