BettyCruiser Posted May 22, 2012 #1 Share Posted May 22, 2012 We’re in our mid-40’s and have been on 30 cruises on 6 different cruise lines ranging from 4 to 15 days. This was our third time on the Century, we already know we love the ship, and were super excited for this itinerary, as all the ports were new for us. We flew to San Diego Thursday May 3rd on United from Minneapolis via Chicago. We’ve been flying Delta mostly since they devoured NWA, but I have been increasingly unsatisfied with their service. When my airfare watchdog search turned up a good price on United I decided to give them a try. We had a quick flight on a smaller plane to Chicago O’Hare, then an Airbus 320 from Chicago to San Diego. Since the flight from Chicago to San Diego was 4 hours so I decided to buy us a cheap upgrade to their enhanced economy which offers 5 additional inches of leg room, well worth the comfort for a longer flight. I enjoyed the service on United, they provide headphones to watch he movie free of charge, while Delta sells them for $2-$3. At O’Hare I was initially disappointed that there wasn’t a sit down restaurant to have breakfast at in our concourse, so we stopped at the little Goose Island bar and ordered a breakfast sandwich that was surprisingly tasty. We arrived in San Diego about 2:30, it was sunny and 70, we collected our bags and called the hotel to pick us up. We are staying at the Holiday Inn Downtown, booked for less than $100 a night on Hotwire. We were given a room on the 15th floor overlooking the city. The room was clean, a bit small, but fine for our two night stay. our room our view After settling in, we decided to walk down by the water; it was about a 4-5 block walk. The Sapphire Princess was docked there; we walked a bit further and saw the Midway. It was almost time to meet friends at Old Town for dinner; we deciphered the San Diego light rail system and caught a train from downtown to Old Town. We explored a bit before heading to the Old Town Mexican Café to meet friends. The food was good and conversation better. After dinner we went back down by the water and the patio at the pub of the Holiday Inn On The Bay, before heading back to our hotel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jensue1 Posted May 22, 2012 #2 Share Posted May 22, 2012 Have a cruise booked on Century and really looking forward to reading your review :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BettyCruiser Posted May 22, 2012 Author #3 Share Posted May 22, 2012 Friday we decided to ride the hop on hop off bus to check out the area. Our first stop was the Gas Lamp District and found Petco Park, where we will return later for a baseball game. Next was Coronado, where explored Hotel Del Coronado and stopped in at McP’s. Today started out cloudy, but all the clouds burned off while we were in Coronado and we had another sunny day. Then we went back up to Old Town, which was gearing up for a big Cinco de Mayo celebration. We had yummy margaritas and nachos, before heading back to Gas Lamp and the baseball game. We like visiting ballparks, but find the game more interesting when one of our favorite teams is playing. I had a very yummy pretzel at the game; it wasn’t a typical pretzel but more like a cheesy, garlicy breadstick in the shape of a pretzel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jensue1 Posted May 23, 2012 #4 Share Posted May 23, 2012 Keep it coming :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjwcruising Posted May 23, 2012 #5 Share Posted May 23, 2012 We will be doing San Diego to Hawaii in the fall of 2013. We will be staying in San Diego a few days so it is nice hearing about your time there and also looking forward to hearing about all aspects of the ship if you don't mind sharing. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sarahc78 Posted May 23, 2012 #6 Share Posted May 23, 2012 Gorgeous photos! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
librarylady19 Posted May 23, 2012 #7 Share Posted May 23, 2012 I will enjoy following along with your journey - love photo reviews. I have my eye on the 9 night wine cruise for 9/2013 Vancouver to SD so am particularly interested in your itinerary. We love visiting ballparks too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WINEMANVISALIA Posted May 23, 2012 #8 Share Posted May 23, 2012 Took repositioning cruise May 5 from San Diego to Vancouver BC. Weather in the ports was fantastic but the waves off shore were impressive. Here is my love wowing at the waves off Northern California just past Fort Bragg... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BettyCruiser Posted May 23, 2012 Author #9 Share Posted May 23, 2012 Saturday, it was finally time to board the ship. The hotel shuttle brought us to the ship about 10:00AM. Check in was easy, dropped our bags first then right up to the desk to get our key card, then I think we waited less than an hour and were on board before noon. After lunch we went to the Sunset Bar to meet up with folks from our roll call. We had an active roll call and a good turnout for our informal meet and greet on embarkation day. Muster drill was pretty easy; our muster station was in the casino. After muster we went back to the Sunset Bar for sail away. Some pictures from the ship... Looking toward the Midway Downtown San Diego Navy ships After sail away we unpacked and changed for dinner. I wasn’t going to go back to Murano, but when I got the 20% off for the first night I decided to try it again. I had prepaid for a reservation for 8:00. We stopped at the martini bar for the first of many before dinner martinis throughout the week. I honestly don’t remember much from dinner, when we finally got our entrees three hours after arriving I was so bored and tired I took a couple bites of my steak and left to go to bed. I should have stuck with my first instinct. Then it took a couple trips to guest services to get my 20% credited to my on board account. Sailaway pictures... helicopters Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BettyCruiser Posted May 24, 2012 Author #10 Share Posted May 24, 2012 We will be doing San Diego to Hawaii in the fall of 2013. We will be staying in San Diego a few days so it is nice hearing about your time there and also looking forward to hearing about all aspects of the ship if you don't mind sharing. :) If you have any questions about the ship, please ask. This was our third time on the ship, so this trip I wasn't real focused on the ship, but I can post photos from earlier cruises on the Century. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BettyCruiser Posted May 24, 2012 Author #11 Share Posted May 24, 2012 I will enjoy following along with your journey - love photo reviews. I have my eye on the 9 night wine cruise for 9/2013 Vancouver to SD so am particularly interested in your itinerary. We love visiting ballparks too! After most of my past cruises being Caribbean itineraries I really enjoyed exploring new ports of call on the this trip:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Azulann Posted May 24, 2012 #12 Share Posted May 24, 2012 Betty, My first cruise was on the Century in 2008. Will be doing a 15 Panama cruise on the Century in Dec over the holidays. We have a SV. :) Looking forward to going back to her after the S class ships. I like to feel like I am on a ship with a little movement now and then. Looking forward to the rest of your review. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BettyCruiser Posted May 25, 2012 Author #13 Share Posted May 25, 2012 We were in an inside room on deck 12. We had stayed in this area on this ship before and enjoyed the convenience to the buffet, pool area and sunset bar. These rooms are designed very efficiently, the rooms aren’t very big but have plenty of room to move about and plenty of storage, we used maybe half the available storage. The showers on the ship are some of the biggest I have seen, with very good water pressure, although sometimes hard to get the desired temperature, sometimes it was too cold other times too hot. I like that they provide shampoo, conditioner, lotion and body wash. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Azulann Posted May 25, 2012 #14 Share Posted May 25, 2012 i love the Sport Deck or deck 12. for the same reasons. First time we had an inside too, upcoming cruise we will be in a SV. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BettyCruiser Posted May 25, 2012 Author #15 Share Posted May 25, 2012 i love the Sport Deck or deck 12. for the same reasons. First time we had an inside too, upcoming cruise we will be in a SV. I love the Sunset Bar, but I wouldn't want a balcony overlooking it's tarp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BettyCruiser Posted May 25, 2012 Author #16 Share Posted May 25, 2012 Our first stop was Catalina Island. We had reserved a four person golf cart for 11:00 to 2:00 and split the cost with another couple from our roll call. The golf cart place gave us a map to use to drive back to the botanical gardens and around the hills behind the casino building. There were some great vistas along our route. The Casino building up close Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BettyCruiser Posted May 25, 2012 Author #17 Share Posted May 25, 2012 I think you could normally explore roads out the other side of town too, but the folks at the cart rental place said there was a rock slide blocking the road. We stopped at a place by the water and had pizza and tacos for lunch before returning the golf cart. After returning the golf cart we explored town on foot for a bit before stopping for margaritas and happened to catch the end of the race. Why do I seem to always book a cruise during the Talladega race? Walking around Avalon... Back on the ship we spent some time in the comfy chairs by the Mast Bar, the weather was fantastic, sunny and 70’s. Later we got ready for our first night in the dining room, after a visit to the martini bar of course. We booked Select Dining so that we didn’t have to adhere to any schedule. We were seated at table 65 in Constantine’s section and really enjoyed his service, so we requested his section for the rest of the trip when going to dinner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Lois R Posted May 25, 2012 #18 Share Posted May 25, 2012 Hi Beth, great photos!:D:):D Sandi, you and Scott are thinking of sailing her in Sept 2013? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjwcruising Posted May 25, 2012 #19 Share Posted May 25, 2012 Great photos BettyCruiser; it looks like you had georgeous weather. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BettyCruiser Posted May 25, 2012 Author #20 Share Posted May 25, 2012 Great photos BettyCruiser; it looks like you had georgeous weather. thanks, We really lucked out with the weather for the entire trip. I brought a rain jacket and umbrella along with a jacket expecting it to get cooler and wetter as we traveled north, but I never needed them. We had blue skies and sunshine the whole time:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BettyCruiser Posted May 25, 2012 Author #21 Share Posted May 25, 2012 Hi Beth, great photos!:D:):D Sandi, you and Scott are thinking of sailing her in Sept 2013? Hi Lois, Thanks, I can't wait to hear more about your cruise too:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BettyCruiser Posted May 26, 2012 Author #22 Share Posted May 26, 2012 Monday was our first sea day; I started with a visit to the fitness center, which was busy, but not too busy to find an available ellipse machine right away. Then to breakfast in the buffet where I found the eggs benedict bar and for the rest of the cruise enjoyed one traditional and one hash benedict freshly prepared for me each morning. My first stop after breakfast was to book future cruises. Today we had a busy day ahead of us, first the Cruise Critic Celebrity Connections party, then a bridge tour, then the Captains Club reception. On a Caribbean itinerary I might have elected to skip these activities in favor for pool time, but I’m glad I attended this time. Our Connections party was at 11:00AM in the Hemisphere Lounge, it was well attended by senior officers and the cruise director. They provided pastries and coffee, but I was still full from breakfast. After visiting with the roll call folks it was time to go get our ID’s for our bridge tour. I had never been invited for a bridge tour before and was very excited to check it out. We were given a very detailed review of the procedures and instruments on the bridge. It was amazing! After the bridge tour it was time or the Captains Club party. They were offering several different kinds of complementary drinks, I chose sangria. There was also sushi, fruit with chocolate and a carving station, entertainment by a couple of the groups on board and a toast with the captain. We got ready for formal night kind of early, we took some pictures, but they didn’t turn out good, so we didn’t buy any. We went to the martini bar but couldn’t stay because there was a private party there. This is the first time I’ve been on a cruise with so many private parties that affected my plans, perhaps since it was a small ship. Since we couldn’t spend time at the martini bar, we went to dinner early and were able to sit at our favorite table. I was able to have a dessert martini after dinner, but I didn’t stay up late since I wanted to be up early to be on deck when we sailed under the Golden Gate Bridge on the way into San Francisco. I didn't take any pictures today, but if anyone has requests I can find pictures from previous cruises on the Century. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jensue1 Posted May 26, 2012 #23 Share Posted May 26, 2012 I would love to see some photos of Century if it wasn't too much trouble. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BettyCruiser Posted May 26, 2012 Author #24 Share Posted May 26, 2012 Hemishpere Lounge Martini Bar Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BettyCruiser Posted May 26, 2012 Author #25 Share Posted May 26, 2012 Michael's Bar Theater Casino Crystal Lounge Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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