Century 11/30 Australia & New Zealand Review

[shorefolks]

(The port visits for this cruise will be briefly reviewed in the Ports of Call forum.)

 

Reviewers: Retired, in our 60s. Cruise priorities are itinerary and perceived value in terms of food & cabin. Entertainment and, especially, onboard activities are much less important. We have sailed three times with NCL (twice penthouse suite, once balcony) and twice with Princess (balcony). This was our first Celebrity cruise. Where appropriate, we will try to compare the three lines based on this limited experience, but readily admit that sample size is small, and the Century is distinct from other Celebrity ships in many ways.

 

Century: Lovely ship, tastefully decorated without garish colors. Very well-maintained. Rarely did we see even a fingerprint on the elevator button plates. This was the smallest of the ships we have sailed, and we would have liked a bigger choice of restaurants but, still, the Century was very nice. As we like bow cabins and dining rooms are usually aft, it was nice not to have to walk to the next county for dinner.

 

Passengers: In twelve days I saw a total of six children, only two more than once and none older than age eight. At 60ish, we were probably just below median age.

 

Concierge Class: Although the value of the perks is much-discussed, for us it was worth it. It got us a much shorter line at embarkation, which really helped. A bottle of sparkling wine in our cabin at embarkation helped start the voyage on a good note. The nightly hors d’oeuvres were mostly good, although quite small, and changed regularly. The fruit plate was fresh daily. The flowers were a nice touch. A disaster, however, was the expanded room service breakfast menu (see below).

 

Room Service: As mentioned above, simply a mess. Not ONCE on the entire cruise was an order more complicated than coffee ever delivered correctly. Order two? Get one, or four, or none. Like eggs over easy? You will get Frisbees. As well, on our first morning my wife got a lecture over the phone (and a subsequent forty-minute delay) for calling in an order instead of using the doorknob card. If we wanted to commit to a time, especially on a sea day, we wouldn’t use room service! This compares to Princess where, regardless of the time delay apologetically quoted, every order came within 10-12 minutes.

Rank: (1) Princess; (2) NCL (even the limited, non-suite menu); (3) Century.

 

Cabin: Adequate space, plenty of storage. Shower comfortable. Sofa and chair upholstery had some small stains; some woodwork had minor nicks. Carpet and drapes seemed new. Balcony completely covered; big enough for functionality but certainly could have been larger. In all, quite pleasant.

Rank: Obviously, the NCL suites come in first, but the balconies of the three lines were roughly even otherwise.

 

Service in general: Outstanding in almost all categories. This is where the Century really shines. The staff is a very mixed group, with Filipinos, Eastern Europeans, Central & South Americans, and Indians being the largest groups. Most all of them seem to be happy and genuinely eager to please, but without becoming obsequious and fawning. There was a noticeably good feeling which carried through from the captain (a friendly, rotund Greek) to the officers and staff members.

Rank: (1) Century; (2) Princess; (3) NCL. (NCL butlers were super, however.)

 

Cabin service: The stewards did their jobs very well without being a constant presence in the halls. There was no all-day obstacle course of carts, such as on Princess. Our steward (Terrence from Grenada) was the best we have ever had. For the first time, I did not get the eyes-glazing-over, not-my-job evasion or argument when I made my usual first-meeting request: two wine glasses for the cabin, please. And those glasses were clean and the cabin in perfect order after every visit, not as with some prior cruises. His perception was also amazing. After falling while ashore and hurting her knee, my wife used a zip-lock bag to ice it down. Seeing the wet bag drying on the sink fixture, Terrence guessed what had happened and kept the bag filled with ice without ever being asked.

Rank: (1) Century; (2) Princess & NCL (tie).

 

Formal nights: Mostly because of the packing involved, these are not our favorite aspects of cruising. The food was certainly not special those nights, either. For those who care, the percentage of men in tuxes was about 20%. (This was calculated from a sample size of about 120 photo gallery pictures of men from the first formal night.) Women were mostly in short dresses. I did not personally see anybody in the dining room dressed improperly.

Rank: (1) NCL (of course, with Freestyle); (2) Century & Princess (tie).

 

Main Dining Room Service: Almost uniformly attentive, professional, and pleasant. (The one exception to that last quality would be the Indians who always seemed preoccupied with personal disputes with other staff members. Still, they provided the same high level of service.) Course delivery was timed perfectly with neither excessive delay nor any feeling of being rushed. One special note: a lovely Brazilian maitre d’ (Mila) who understood perfectly our desire to sit by ourselves at a table for two and took care to keep us out of those awful line-ups of five, barely-separated two-tops. I was happy to reward her personally at the end of the cruise.

Rank: (1) Century; (2) Princess; (3) NCL.

 

Main Dining Room Food: This was a major disappointment for us. Celebrity’s food had been recommended to us by two very different friends, and we were looking forward to it. The Century chef, an Australian, while producing some items of interest and flavor, mostly included dishes that were either tasteless or bizarrely spiced. His “Mediterranean”-titled dishes invariably involved saffron, ginger, and five-spice powder. (In what parallel universe does that Mediterranean reside?) He seemed never to have heard of garlic. I love escargot, but a first-night sampling was so bland that it was my last of the cruise. Similarly, the Hollandaise sauce would be unidentifiable in a blind test. Perhaps the menu was due to the large segment of Aussies and Kiwis aboard (ashore, their restaurant menus seemed rather similar to that on the ship). I do not blame Celebrity for targeting a perceived customer base, but this was a real downer for us.

Rank: (1) Princess; (2) NCL; (3) Century.

 

Specialty Restaurant: Murano is the only option on the Century, and it did provide the best meal of the cruise but, at the price, it should. We definitely missed having a variety of options, as on the other ships.

Rank: (1) NCL; (2) Princess; (3) Century.

 

Cova Café: A nice little place for either coffee and pastry or a plate of hors d’oeuvres to have in the cabin over wine. (The canapés and small sandwiches were much better than the so-called tapas.) Often, there would be musicians playing softly there. Still, it doesn’t come up to the level of the International Café on Princess.

Rank: (1) Princess; (2) Century; (3) NCL.

 

Pizza: Expectedly, this was just OK- not at all up to the level of Princess.

Rank: (1) Princess; (2) Century; (3) NCL.

 

Vines: There is none! (This is the wine bar with free sushi and appetizers on Princess. We really missed it.)

 

Naturalist Lecturer: Nice enough guy, but he had never been to this part of the world before. I was paying to learn on his time, not the other way around. Consequently, his talks were very general in nature. I had hoped for much more specific information.

Rank: (1) Princess (their Antarctic lecturer was superb); (2) Century; (3) NCL (do they have any?)

 

Communication: This is an across-the-board, glaring weakness with Celebrity: the clunky and often inoperative website that provides inaccurate or conflicting information, the Customer Service operators who do the same, the onboard “announcement” of events by word-of-mouth from staff members and, worst of all, the lack of announcements in cabins. I know that some Celebrity devotees love the lack of announcements in cabins, but there should be at least a designated channel on the TV so that those who wish to hear them can do so. Otherwise, you are left to hear (or not) the beginning bell signal from up on deck and then race to the hall so that the announcement itself can be heard. Usually, that meant that you heard only the closing platitudes while the actual content was already finished. For items like tender announcements or schedule changes, this is important. When you offer a generally good cruising product, why infuriate those who buy and use it?

Rank: (1) Princess & NCL (tie); (2) Century.

 

Tender Service: Fortunately, there were only two tender ports. In general, this did not go well at all. The crew almost seemed to be completely new at this game. From our balcony, I could see both the tender operation and the bridge, from which the captain was giving very aggravated orders over the phone. I saw a tender try to pull away while still tied to the ship. Passengers without Celebrity excursions waited hours to get ashore. At one port, two of the tenders broke down, leaving passengers waiting on the dock in the rain for two hours. (As “compensation” the whole ship was given a free cocktail hour the next night which included weak mixed drinks and unspeakable wine. If you ever attend one of these events, stick to beer so you know what you are getting.)

Rank: (1) Princess & NCL (tie); (2) Century.

 

Alcohol Policy: The supposed prohibition against bringing wine back at ports was completely and openly ignored. So why not state this as policy?

 

Entertainment: Not a big priority for me, but my wife likes some. There was an excellent piano player and also a very talented Australian female singer. (Although I doubt Petula Clark would expect to hear her hit song pronounced as “Oy know a plyce!”) A supposed “Broadway tunes” show was mostly focused on “Hairspray”- apparently solely for the purpose of wearing garishly-colored costumes.

Rank: (1) Century; (2) NCL; (3) Princess.

 

Summary: Century had some very impressive attributes, most notably service and overall style. However, the food was a real drawback, and the communication issue was very aggravating. Would we sail with Celebrity again? Yes, I guess so if the itinerary and price were right, just as with NCL. We both felt like we should try one of their bigger ships just to be fair, but we are in no hurry at all. At this point, Princess is our general favorite, and we are booked on a Baltic cruise with them for 2012.