Random thoughts on Century 2/15-3/3

[jgnova]

We were on the Century for the 2/15 and 2/23 B2B and are finally beginning to catch up with life. Our trip was unexpectedly extended by two days each at the beginning and end thanks to DC area snow. We left two days early to beat the storm predicted on our planned 2/13 travel date - and then our 3/3 return flight was canceled with nothing available until 3/5. Interestingly, I learned that Choice Air is not linked too well to Celebrity – our original flight time from Miami was moved up to before noon and we were never contacted about that being too early for their transfer service. Guest Services told me that Choice Air is not part of RCCI and I shouldn't expect much help.

 

I'll write up a review later but thought I'd post these random notes (whines?). I have not had time yet to read anything here yet so please accept my apologies if I've overlapped other comments.

 

The ship and weather were lovely, it was great to put some faces to many familiar CC names, and the embarkation/disembarkation process at piers 2 and 25 were VERY smooth.

 

The ship was clean and the only signs of wear were some carpets and some of the lounge upholstery, which was very worn on the edges. Our cabin carpet was faded although we heard reports that some cabins did have new carpeting. I guess the carpeting in the buffet at the edges of the serving area had worn so they installed a 3-foot wide strip of a strange brown carpet, which looked out of place, as it really didn't match any existing colors.

 

This was our first cruise with a child (our 8 year old grandson) and the MDR seating seems completely random. We expected to have been assigned a table with another family with kids instead of at a table with nine adults.

 

During our second cruise, we found that they still don't seem to have figured out how to handle select seating. We always told them we'd be happy to share but usually wound up at our own table, albeit between two other two-tops - with our orders being taken at the same time as the other tables. It wasted so much time when the waiter had to walk back and forth around the row of tables to take each table’s order separately. If we had been treated as one table, it would have been much easier, taking all of the women's orders first.

 

They do handle special dietary needs VERY well. We spoke to two passengers with major food restrictions (dairy, gluten, etc.) and both said they met daily with a maître d' to discuss their options for the day. They were very happy with the food options they had.

 

And the meal flavors, quality, and selection in both the MDR and the buffet were as good as I remember - no complaints there. The staff were fabulous about trying to help, offering to go from the buffet to the main kitchen or from the MDR to the buffet upstairs if we asked for something not available in that venue!

 

The sound level in the MDR was usually way too noisy, but it was even worse as someone kept piping music through the speakers for about 30 seconds every 10 minutes. Don't they get it that the MDR is not a performance venue, that people will be talking, and that playing any music will only increase the overall sound level in the room?

Sound levels elsewhere were also too high, especially the ship-wide announcements (captain's daily chat, port disembarkation announcements, CD announcements), which were WAY too loud - about 85-90 db according to my iPhone app. That was painful, unhealthy, and unnecessary.

 

The captain (Captain George) and the CD (Rich) were highly visible all over the ship. Captain George was at both CC meet and mingles, and instead of isolating himself with the other officers, he dropped into a seat between two passengers and started chatting with them. He was also at the Celebrity Life lecture on ship navigation and recycling and took over the Q&A part.

 

We asked why a group of officers was in a lounge and were told that the captain hosts a dinner for the employee of the month with the senior officers to recognize the employee performance.

 

I learned that the vibration on the last night during dinner (felt very strongly at the rear of the MDR) was because they are required to test the manual controls when entering U.S. territory.

 

They have what look like newer “no touch” icemakers in the buffet (which passengers can’t really figure out how to operate), but they still can't keep up with demand. Fast food places seem to have higher capacity ice dispensers - can't =X= buy those or put two of their existing icemakers in the high-traffic areas?

 

Not sure why, but there seemed to be some randomness in silverware / napkins in the buffet, especially near the end of the first sailing. Some meals had forks and knives stacked under a napkin next to a pile of paper napkins. The second sailing was more consistent with the "normal" knife and fork wrapped in a cloth napkin. They often ran out of napkins when using paper – passengers had to request them – and getting small cocktail napkins for lunch didn’t really work very well.

 

Embarkation day lunch in the buffet was served by the staff, probably to reduce the chance of infectious disease problems. Every announcement from the captain included a reminder about the importance of hand washing.

 

I recall other sailings having more flavor options for the buffet stir-fry. This ship had only soy, teriyaki, and oyster sauce. I thought they used to have some other Chinese and Indian flavors.

 

The water coming out of the cold water taps in the cabin (sink and shower) was cool only for one day - the rest of the time it was so warm I could take a shower with only cold water - and I like hot showers!

 

The bedtime chocolates are no longer random varied flavors but now are only milk chocolate from Belgium - no more occasional dark chocolate or flavored.

 

There were some lapses in communication with strange typos in the daily - and no real publicity (at least in Select dining) about the time changes or the last sea day brunch.

 

I am positive that Celebrity policy usually allowed smoking only on the port side of the pool and promenade decks. This ship had smoking on the starboard side of the promenade deck instead of port side. We did not smell anything on our balcony up on deck 8, however.

 

We were one of six ships in port in St. Martin (Century, Summit, Royal Princess, Eurodam, Freedom, Musica) for a total of over 16,000 passengers all crowding the pier areas at the same time - I felt as if we had docked in Times Square!

 

The only real disappointment was St. Barth's, which was one of the major reasons for booking the first sailing. Just as the tendering process began, we were told that the island "authorities" had announced that the water treatment plant was shut down and public restrooms would be closed. Then they said that restaurant and bar restrooms were also closed. Needless to say, this put a damper on our plans to taxi to St. Jean's beach so we instead walked around Gustavia and went back to the ship. We heard that this is typical of St. Barth's - they don't seem to like cruise ships. Oh well.

 

I know this seems like a laundry list of complaints – but they were really minor annoyances and did not stop us from having a great time. The ship was clean, the food was delicious, and we did not notice anything leading us to feel that Celebrity service and quality were declining. Our cabin attendants were phenomenal, seemingly always there to open our door for us and to resolve strange problems very rapidly (the slamming staff area door across from our cabin and the missing soundproofing strip on our cabin door). The dining room staff were equally great - getting our grandson's food first so he could eat and get to Fun Factory. And the Fun Factory staff kept him so happy he kept begging us to take him there.

 

More later.

 

j

Edited March 9, 2014 by jgnova
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[CruisinCindy]

Interesting that Guest Relations would say that. I just booked Choice Air from Celebrity's own website where they absolutely claim ownership:

 

Introducing our new Celebrity’s ChoiceAir® program

 

Celebrity's ChoiceAir® program has been enhanced with Premium Benefits that give you everything you want in airfare service: the best value, the assurance that you'll get to your ship, the flexibility to choose your favorite airline and flights, and the security in knowing you have round-the-clock support throughout your travels. Includes:

 

We guarantee the lowest airfare available**. If you find a lower fare within 24 hours of booking, we'll award you 110% of the difference to spend on board your cruise—a benefit no other cruise line offers.

 

We have experts on hand monitoring your flights, and if any delays or cancellations jeopardize your travel plans, we work quickly with the airline to get you on the next available flight to get you to your ship.

 

You have the flexibility to search different airlines and flights, so it's easy to find exactly what you want. And, we save you time by filtering out flights that won't work with your cruise.

 

We have Celebrity Air Agents available 24/7 to help ensure you air travel is as carefree as your cruise. Just call. They'll do whatever they can to help.

[oneputt18]

"The sound level in the MDR was usually way too noisy, but it was even worse as someone kept piping music through the speakers for about 30 seconds every 10 minutes. Don't they get it that the MDR is not a performance venue, that people will be talking, and that playing any music will only increase the overall sound level in the room?

Sound levels elsewhere were also too high, especially the ship-wide announcements (captain's daily chat, port disembarkation announcements, CD announcements), which were WAY too loud - about 85-90 db according to my iPhone app. That was painful, unhealthy, and unnecessary. "

 

We sailed the last three day out of Pt Everglades and fortunately the sound levels were not a problem,

Even in the Martini Bar we could hold a normal conversation.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[trabeler]

The sound level in the MDR was usually way too noisy, but it was even worse as someone kept piping music through the speakers for about 30 seconds every 10 minutes. Don't they get it that the MDR is not a performance venue, that people will be talking, and that playing any music will only increase the overall sound level in the room?

 

We agree that some areas of the Century MDR are just way too noisy. During our December sailing, our table was in the upper section, port side aft. We had a table for 8 and were easily able to have a conversation with folks across the table.

 

By contrast, on the 23 February sailing we had a 2-top on the lower level, starboard side aft (under the overhang). Conversation with DW across the 2-top was difficult and I measured 80-85 dB or so on average from my iphone app.

 

We met several others who complained of excessive noise in the MDR, especially those who were unfortunate enough to be seated between two serving stations (there are several rows of 2-tops in the select dining side near the entrance that have this setup).