Century Review 9/2/06-9/15/06

[uktog]

So glad you had a good cruise. I heard from MaryAnne they loved it as well. We must get back on the Century soon

[VPGPH]

The port is about 15 miles from the airport. Without trafficdelay it can be done within 30 minutes. However on weekdays expect rushhour delay. It also will depend what time you can leave the ship.

Any (Europe) flight after 1100 or 1200 noon, it is no problem.

 

 

Thank you very much. I should be able to make it then. I am very excited.... Can't wait:D :D

[GramaFran]

All the new CC cabins have balconys as well as all Suites. If you can get a Sky Suite on Deck 12 you will get the larger balcony, I loved the size.

It held a regular square table with 2 chairs, 2 lounge chairs and 1 small table between them. I have pictures on Kodak - if I can figure out how to link them I will.

 

http://www.kodakgallery.com/BrowsePhotos.jsp?&collid=35271263505.374129931405.1159045353589&page=2&sort_order=1&navfolderid=0&folderid=0&ownerid=0

See if that will work - copy and paste.

Francine

[4 cruisers]

Hi again, Fran! It says we need user name and password to see your album! I'd really love to see your pictures! Thanks!

 

Nanette

[GramaFran]

On the day of embarkation, Peter, Audrey, Pat and I stopped by Muranos and asked about our dinner reservations (made in advance for 6) on the 5th of Sept. our 1st at sea day. We inquired if we could be seated in the Wine Room. Luckily we could. The room is extra special, red velvet chairs, round table surrounded by the wine vault.

 

We had a 6:30 reservation and we all showed up on time. Peter, Audrey, Joscelyne, KC, Pat and myself. Since I had informed Peter of a lower price for his SS and saved him a lot, so he treated our table to champagne. Pat and I treated everyone to white wine. We all tried to have something different, but that did not work out. We had Dover Sole, Rack of Lamb, Monk fish, Veal and Steak Diane. Of course we had the goat cheese soufflé for our appetizer and the selection of desert bites. All of the meals were excellent and the service was the best I have ever encountered anywhere, and I live in San Francisco. Every time a dish was served 3 waiters served everyone at the same exact time, same thing for picking up the dishes. Fantastic. Yes sleepy head fell asleep even in Muranos. I took pictures of all of us and Pat sleeping. Lol.

 

After the great meal all we wanted to do was go to sleep as we had a busy day on board. The next day we would not get to Vigo until 1pm so we had time to sleep in and have breakfast in the Dinning Room.

 

We had booked a ships tour for Vigo and Bayona and it was very disappointing. We met in Celebrity Theatre at 12:50 pm and off we went – bus loads – I think about 12 buses in all. We were on bus # 2. Drove through Vigo – Stopped at the Fortaleza del Castro (the Citadel) for a view over the city. We then drove to Bayona and had a chance to walking around. Our friends, Patty & Michael, stopped and ordered a plate of cold shell fish. We joined them as they could not eat it all. Plate about 14” across and loaded with shrimp, crabs, yabbies, clams, mussels etc. We had to rush back to the bus as we were about 5 min late. But the bus was waiting for us. I was not impressed with Vigo or Bayona. If I ever go back I will just wander around the port and take no tours.

 

We got back on board and joined our table mates for dinner. Yes she was still there. I had warned our friendly table mates that we might change tables and we did. We asked for the Asst. Maitre d and asked if we could move – there was an empty table just 1 table over. A table for 10 with no one seated at it and this was the supposedly sold out late seating. Yes we could move, so we had a great table sat in the corner between the back window and the side window – great views. Of course this caused our waiter some trouble but he knew the reason and kind of agreed with us. (At end of cruise he definitely agreed with us and said he wished he could have moved. lol ) We loved our new table only complaint was we had to talk to each other and after 34 yrs, we had to find things to talk about (that was a joke) we spend 24/7 together as Pat works from home, so we have lots to talk about daily. Our waiter Charles (Charlie) was fantastic and we shared 2 different assist. waiters, Tovar and Michael. We got to know the wine sommelier, Danniella as we had time to talk about wine. We were able to get her input about the different wines and enjoy many of them. Every meal was fantastic lots of choices and of course you can always get Caesar salad, steak and baked potato. I leaned toward the Caesar salad most nights.

 

sorry about the Kodak site send me your email address and I will send invite to see pictures. francinecoffey2@aol.com

[Offtune Angel]

Francine, you excel at the art of creating word pictures. I can see that platter of seafood (having had a similar one in Madiera in 1987). I wasn't keen on going to Portugal in 2003, but, after our day in Lisbon (& up to the castle) I loved it. We were part of a group of six who had hired a minivan and driver and I think that was contributory to our enjoyment. We saw so much and I could actually hear the driver -- something very difficult for me on a bus.

 

I'm glad you were able to switch tables. One rude, overloud person can make it so very uncomfortable for everyone else.

 

I'm looking forward to the next installment.

 

Terry

[GramaFran]

Lisbon, Portugal

We were awakened by Cliff with our breakfast at 6:30am as our tour was scheduled for 8:30 am. We met with Geri and Tom and off we were to meet our tour leader/driver with Tours for You, Nuno Correia. He was waiting for us and off we went. Nuno is a very knowledgeable guide with a BA in tourism and almost finished with his Masters also. He is licensed and spoke fantastic English.

 

He drove across the 25th April Bridge headed south toward the Arrabida Mountains. We stopped at the wine cellars of Jose Maria da Fonseca for a tour and tasting. Loved the 20 yr old Muscatel and of course bought a bottle (no problem taking it back on the ship). After the winery we drove all over the Arrabida Mountains, it is a nature reserve with a cement plant right in the middle of it. We ended our drive in Setubal, a town on the bay of Setubal. From the Mountains we could see the new area being developed in to a resort community, Troia. It looked like a sandbar being developed.

 

We took the freeway back to Lisbon again crossing The 25th April Bridge. With a little bit of touring we stopped at the Parc don Pedro for lunch. We parked under the Pc de Figueira and walk the 2 blocks to the restaurant. Café Nicola. We invited Nuno to join us for lunch and it was great. Geri and Tom left us there and we toured Lisbon with Nuno. We went to the Castelo de Sao Jorge after driving through the Alfama area. What narrow winding street. Since I can not walk up stairs very well we went to overlook at Miradouro da Graca to see Lisbon. We took lots of pictures and then went driving going past St. Patriarcal, Lisbon’s Cathedral. Many other churches, St. Luzia, St. Miguel, Santo Antonio. We then proceeded to the top of Park Marques de Pombal looking down on Pc dos Restauradores. We drove around through the Embassy area seeing the many embassies.

 

It was on to the Mosteir dos Jeronimos in Belem. We parked and wandered inside. How beautiful it is inside and out, the Manueline architectural style is extravagant. We then drove by the Belem Tower and the Monument to the Discoveries on our way back to the ship.

 

Once back on board, Cliff had tea waiting for us. It was good to rest and I proceeded to take a nap before dinner. It was Formal night so we got all dressed up, tux for Pat & cocktail dress for me. We had dinner at our table for 10 (just the 2 of us). We did ask our nice table mates from our original table to join us but being proper English persons they did not think they could move without making a scene. BYW – the rude lady explained our departure on us facing the ocean at the table and it was causing me to get sea sick, HA! After dinner (Yes Pat stayed awake) we proceeded to the Sunset Bar for after dinner drinks and a cigar for Pat. Then it was to the Martini Bar to meet up with fellow TOTCers.

Since the next day was Gibraltar and a late docking we were able to party a little later than normal.

Francine

[plasnewydd]

Hi Francine,

We have just read your review and look forward to the next instalment. Your vivid description of our wonderful night at Murano's brought it all back to us.

We had a rather unexpectedly long stay in Barcelona as EasyJet cancelled our Sunday night flight. They put us up in a hotel for two nights and we got back on Wednesday.

WE enjoyed viewing your pictures on the Kodak web pages.

Peter and Audrey

[GramaFran]

Peter and Audrey - glad you got back safely and yes I dream of Murano's fantastic food. Please add comments about our cruise to this as everyone has a different point of view.

good to have met you - lets cruise together again,

Francine

[GramaFran]

Gibraltar and Malaga:

I had emailed Gibraltar Taxi in advance and got prices and information about tours.

They do not take reservations and just said get off and go to the taxi quay. HA!

What a joke that was. Prices were all wrong – this is the reply I got to my inquiry:

“Your best choice on arrival in Gibraltar on the 8 Sept. is to pick one up when you get off the ship, as for there are plenty of taxis at the port plying for hire which will be more than willing to take you on a sight seeing tour.

Eric Hammond”

Well it was not the 7GPB per person as described on web site and all the taxis would only take you to center of town no tours available as Celebrity had booked are the tour taxis.

The cost to Center was 1 Euro each. We talked with a driver and he agreed to meet us at 3:30 at the Pizza Hut in town and take the 8 of us for a tour. Of course the price was higher. It did include the entrance fees for St. Michaels Cave – It was 24 GPB pp for the tour and admission.

A lot different than I was quoted by Gibraltar Taxi – but ok we wanted to see it so off we went with Stuart Mason our driver/guide He was very knowledgeable and gave us a great tour. After see everything, St. Michael’s Cave, the Barbary apes, and lots of views of the town, he dropped us off at his favorite pub “the angry Friar” we had a few pints and walked back to the center of town to take a shuttle back to the ship. The walk was right down the main shopping street – shop after shop selling the same things. Needless to say we did not stop or shop.

 

When we got back on board I mentioned to Cliff that I was hungry as I had missed lunch. He showed up very quickly with fantastic sandwiches of all kinds and a cup of tea – How Wonderful!

We rested and got ready for dinner. Since our friends missed the early seating they were joining us for dinner at our “private table for 2”. We met for martinis of course at 8pm and visited with more of our TOTCers. Dinner was great out side the window the moon was shinning brightly making it a special night. Our waiter, Charlie, out did him self as with 2 extra at our table he had to work extra hard. But the asst. waiters helped out and we had another excellent meal.

 

Off for an after dinner drink and then to bed as Malaga was next and we had a driver scheduled at 9 am. Cliff woke us up right on time at 7:30am with breakfast – I ordered the same thing most days – poached eggs on toast with either bacon, ham or sausage, tomato juice, lots of coffee, and sliced bananas. Pat chose smoked salmon with all the trimming with his coffee and juice.

 

We met up with Joscelyne and KC for our tour with Pete. One of the CCers arranged our tour with Pete as he is a retired tour guide and will occasionally take cruisers on tours. We arranged for 4 hours and he took us everywhere. From the Castillo de Gibralfaro, the English cemetery, the Malaga Cathedral (which is very beautiful), the house of Picasso, the Alcazaba with its Roman ruins, and the Mercdo Central. We also stopped a various place around the city for pictures. He dropped us off at the top of the shopping street. We stopped for a drink and proceeded to walk back to the Plaza da la Marina where we could get the shuttle back to the ship. We opted instead to take a taxi. In Malaga there are horse drawn carriages you can take for tours also, some of our fellow TOTCers did it and said it was great. Not cheap.

We got back on board about 2pm and called for room service – Cliff brought our food and reminded us that we should be calling him. Ok we were chastised but who knew. Again after resting we got ready for dinner and met others for martinis at the (of course) the Martini Ice Bar.

It was great fun having so many other TOTCers to visit with at the bar.

 

Dinner was just the 2 of us but since we are great conversationalist we had a good time and stayed up late as the next 2 days were at sea.

[GramaFran]

We woke up late and went to the Islands Café for breakfast as I wanted to try the waffles. Yum! They were great. Do not miss them. After breakfast it was time for my 2nd massage, this time a well being one. Again it was great and since I had requested no sale pitch, I was not nickeled and dimed. Afterward I got my hair washed and blown dry as it was greasy from the massage. We joined our TOTC friends for the Trivia Game, lunch and Battle of the Sexes. Lots of fun and more time to visit. On our way back to our suite they were playing the name that tune game by the pool. We did not play per se but we knew the tunes and artists and watched the game from the 12 deck. Afterward on to our suite to rest and get ready for dinner at Muranos.

 

Our 2nd time there and it was as great as the first. This time I asked if we could try 2 appetizers both the soup and the goat cheese soufflé. Yes, we had both plus Lamb, Steak Diane & Dover sole. There were 4 of us this time seated next to a window.

Great service as usual and the view was great out the window as we ate at 7pm and it was still dusk. Loved the Desert bites – they really are larger than just 1 bite.

Then it was off to the Martini Ice Bar for a few drinks and visits with more friends.

 

The next morning we just wanted to rest in late but had arranged to meet friends for breakfast at 9am at the Grand dinning room. So up and at them. HA! Again we played the trivia game, visited and then played Battle of the Sexes. This was to be the formal night with Lobster and the baked Alaska on parade. Because it was 9/11/06 we still had the Formal night but the held the Lobsters and parade to the next night. This upset our plans as we had planned to go to Muranos that night.

So we canceled Muranos to enjoy the lobster.

The Formal night was lots of fun, martinis first, dinner and drinks after. Since we had a tour planned for the next day we did not stay up to late. Again at dinner we had a chance to visit with our sommelier, Danniella and she also had the sommelier from Muranos, Dan, visit too. We selected a bottle of wine from Muranos list for our Lobster night. A Barron d L a great white wine.

 

We had breakfast delivered and met up with our friends. Off the ship at 7:45 to meet Stefano Costantino for our tour of Tarquinia and Tuscania. We had a wonderful tour with Stefano of Romecabs. He met us at the dock in a really nice van. He explained where we would be going and the history. At Tarquinia we went to the Pian de Civita, where they are still excavating the Etruscan tombs. Yes the tombs them selves are a hole in the ground but the frescos were beautiful inside of them, considering how old they are. We then went into Tarquinia to the Archeologica Etruria Museum. Wow! What the Etruscans did with gold well before 700 BC. We spent about 1 hr looking at all the artifacts.

 

Then we were off to Tuscania and visited the 2 medieval churches, St. Maria Maggiore and St. Pietro. You do not have to be a history major to enjoy the architecture of both churches. We then went into the walled town of Tuscania and walked the main street to see the square and do a little shopping. We stopped for a non-alcoholic aperitif and then went to lunch at a trattoria - La Torro di Lavello. Cost was 90 euros for 5 of us - we treated Stefano. Wonderful lunch of antipasto and Wild Boar Pasta. Of course with a carafe of white wine. After lunch we visited the farm, Fattorie Valle del Marta to taste wine, Liqueurs (Lemocello and Rose) and olive oil. Stefano drove us back to Civitavechia to shop for coffee. We got back to the ship around 5pm.

All four of us thought the tour was fantastic and I loved walking around Tuscania as I love hill towns of Italy. Stefano would stop anywhere we wanted to take a picture, which we did many times, and he was so knowledgeable about every thing we saw. You could tell he also enjoyed the day not driving in the traffic of Rome.

I would recommend the tour as an alternate to going to Rome and I would highly recommend Stefano.

[BarbaraB2]

Hi Fran, I have until 5:00 today to make a final decision about next month's cruise and need info regarding plane connections. Do you know if SS passengers can carry off their luggage earlier than others? I may have to make a 9:30 flight out of Barcelona and Celebrity recommends a 10:30 departure time. I may have read something about this on another thread but can't seem to find it.

Thanks for your help!

[GramaFran]

the 10:30 rule is for ships transfers to the airport. the airport is about 30 min away and I believe they allowed passengers off as early as 6:30am so you should have no problem making the flight. Just request the earliest off. Also if you take your own luggage off they had a plan for that too. Just check once on board. Maybe someelse has more information as we were staying over in BCN and wanted off late which we did.

[BarbaraB2]

GREAT!! Thank you so very much!

[GramaFran]

South of France: Villefranche Port

We had booked a tour with Dream tours, highly recommended on the boards. We (6 of us) got off the ship by tender, had to use 2 different ones, and wandered outside the Port Building. We met up with Jean Mark and started our tour. I had arranged a schedule for our tour but Jean Mark suggested some different ideas and places. We went with his plan and off we went. St. Jean Cap-Farrat was the first stop, great views, then off to Eze.

It is well worth the stop, being in a van we were dropped right off at the start of the walled town. Lots of shops and places to enjoy an espresso. We spent about 1 ½ hr and met up with JM and off to Nice to the flower market – a waste of time as far as I was concerned. The market in Malaga was better. Although it was good for pictures.

 

We then went up to St. Paul de Vence. We had a wonderful lunch of salads and pomme frittes right outside the walled city. Loved visiting all the galleries would have loved to purchase a few for home. Our last stop was Monaco and Monte Carlo. We left the tour there as my husband, Pat just had to place a few bets. Well he did while I had a drink in the bar at the Casino – 13 Euros for a drink. I nursed it and wrote post cards for about 1 hr. I found Pat and we headed back to Villefranche a winner. We stopped on the promenade at a restaurant for a drink before going back on board.

 

By now the storm was setting in and the water was very rough. After getting to our suite we both realized how tired we were and did not want to get cleaned up for dinner. I called Cliff and asked if he could deliver dinner. He said “Of Course” and showed up with the dinner menu immediately. We ordered and he sat up the table on the balcony for dinner. It was wonderful – a formal dinner outside overlooking Villefranche and Cap-Farrat. Cliff brought the food all at one time as I asked to let us serve ourselves. He came back about 1 hr later to clean it up and we showered and went to bed. The next 2 nights and day were rocking and rolling with rain, thunder and lighting.

 

The next day was our last on board. Packing and going to our trivia games was the plan for the day. We also met with the future Cruise lady and booked for Oz/NZ Feb. 17, 2008. We had been invited to tour the Galley (all the registered Cruise Connections cabins were invited) It was a great tour and I was surprised by all the food they prepare daily. A last chance to visit and take pictures.

 

Since this was our last night on board, I took my camera along and got pictures of as many new friends and ships crew that I could. We had made friends with so many and it was sad to say Goodbye. After another great dinner we made our way to the Martini Bar and then Pat wanted to go to the casino for awhile. I went back to our suite and got some sleep. Pat showed up much later, again a winner. Nice way to end a cruise.

 

We got up about 7am and went to the Dinning room for breakfast we took our hand carry luggage with us so after eating we could make our way off. We had arranged for Barcelona Taxi to meet us and take us to our hotel, Atrium Palace, and then on a tour. Well best laid plans went astray. They seemed to have canceled our pick up but will phone call back and forth they arrange for us to be picked up at our hotel about 11am.

 

We stood in line and got a taxi to our hotel. Got checked in but no room was available that early as we had requested a balcony. Meanwhile Pat was in contact with his cousin, Dawn, who lives in Barcelona. We arranged to meet up with her that night at a Tapas bar, D.O. after 8:30pm.

 

Our tour guide showed up on time and off we went. We saw everything there is to see in Barcelona in all of 4 ½ hrs. Not many stops to get out as I was tired of walking and just wanted to see everything. We did get out at Parc Gruell to walk inside. We also walked around the Gothic Quarter seeing the Cathedral of Santa Eulalia. We went up to the top of montjuic to the Castell de Montjuic for the views. Fantastic. We drove by with short stops for pictures at most of the Gaudi buildings: La Sagrada Familia, Casa Batllo, Casa Mila. It was a good tour and I would recommend Barcelona Taxi for a tour.

 

We went back to our hotel and our room was ready, a very nice room with a small balcony over looking Gran via de les Corts Catalanes. We took a taxi at 815pm to meet Dawn at the D.O. and had gourmet Tapas and a great bottle of red wine. We made arrangements to meet the next day for lunch of paella at El Rey de la Gamba in Barceloneta. We had both black and shell fish paella. Wonderful. After lunch we returned to our hotel to pick up our baggage and head to the airport. We had arranged for Mikel to pick us up and off we went. We got checked in with any problems and then waited forever, as BA was delayed.

 

We got to London after 10pm and took the Express train to Terminal 4 to get to our hotel, Hilton. What a trial with 4 pc. of baggage and me not walking very fast. But we made it and called the Hilton to pick us up as I knew I could not walk another 6 min, as the advertisement stated in Terminal 4. Needless to say we arranged transportation from Hilton to Terminal 3 for our return the next day on United to SF. With more delays we got home about 2 hrs late, but we were home. A long 4 week vacation for me and 2 ½ wks for Pat.

Now it was time to get over jet lag.

 

We both had an excellent time on Century and highly recommend it to all, especially a suite with a butler.

[bandit0000]

Great review, we set sail on 6th October and are really looking forward to it.

 

I have just been taking a look at Celebrity's virtual tour of the ship and was particularly interested in Murano's.

 

I noticed, that most tables were tables for 4 and wondered if there were any tables for 2.

 

Many thanks for your help,

Lisa

[SnowFlake8]

Great review, we set sail on 6th October and are really looking forward to it.

 

I have just been taking a look at Celebrity's virtual tour of the ship and was particularly interested in Murano's.

 

I noticed, that most tables were tables for 4 and wondered if there were any tables for 2.

 

Many thanks for your help,

Lisa

Yes, Murano has a few tables for 2. Enjoy!

[R&JKY]

Really enjoyed your review. Thank you for sharing your trip with us. We'll be on the Century for the TA in a Sky Suite in about four weeks and can hardly wait! Hope Cliff is our Butler.

 

Jean

[GramaFran]

thank you one and all for the nice compliments on my review.

 

Yes Snowflake 8 answered correctly as there are tables for 2 4 or 6. the tables for 2 were not next to the window maybe you can make friends and then get a table for 4 next to the window.

 

R&JKY - If your Sky Suite is from 1200 to about 1220 you should have Cliff.

you will love him say Hi from the Coffeys. I miss him so much, no one serves me breakfast daily, not even coffee, I have to make it, sobbbb

enjoy your cruise I wish I was going back on soon,

Francine

[R&JKY]

Gramafran,

 

I guess Cliff won't be our butler, we're in 1222. We'll make sure to say hi for you, though. It's always hard going back to reality after cruising -adding a butler must make it near impossible!

 

Jean

[GramaFran]

R&JKY: I would hope that your butler will be as good or even better than Cliff.

 

I have a few things I forgot to add. We went to a wine parring on one of the at sea days. It was interesting but they served Wente wines for the tasting. Uggggg. I would not ever buy Wente and even had a hard time tasting it to compare it with the different foods provided. Just mho.

 

Also on another sea day before arriving in Civit. the Lido buffet was Italian. It was very good and lots to choose from the sea food salad was excellant.

 

In the Grand Restaurant you can order wine off the Murano's list, just ask your sommelier. We did and loved the better selection of wine. You can also order wine for your cabin from that list too.

 

Also if you are in a Suite you can write extra items on your breakfast menu and get them too - like eggs benedict and of course espresso.

 

We were not fond of some of the appetizers Cliff brought nightly so asked for shrimp instead. "Of course my pleasure". I loved it....

 

If I think of anything else I might have left out I will add it later,

Francine

Ps Thanks to all of you for the kind remarks

[coolshop]

Hello

 

Can you let me know about the wireless Internet access that is supposed to now be in each cabin? I am having a hard time getting confirmation from Celebrity about this -- and the rep said a 'kit' is needed for in room access, and limited kits are available (making me think they were talking about the dial up kits). There should be no kit needed if wireless is truly available in the rooms.

[Andy]

Hello

 

Can you let me know about the wireless Internet access that is supposed to now be in each cabin? I am having a hard time getting confirmation from Celebrity about this -- and the rep said a 'kit' is needed for in room access, and limited kits are available (making me think they were talking about the dial up kits). There should be no kit needed if wireless is truly available in the rooms.

 

Hi Coolshop !

 

The kit that was being referred to, was a kit that is needed on the Millennium Class ships to get internet access in your cabin. I thought I read they were upgrading to wireless in all areas. Last I heard it was in limited areas. I am not sure if that project is complete yet.

 

I also asked about this, and was told that Century is fully wireless now. I hope I am right about that. If anyone can confirm this, that would be great !

 

By the way, unless something has changed, dont expect much more than dial-up speeds. I have always found all the connections on Celebrity's ships to be very slow.

 

I hope this helps a bit !

[GramaFran]

Yes the Century is wireless but you need a "kit" to connect to their wireless and it does not come free. You still pay for usage. Just like they are connected to Cingular AT&T, Sprint, or T-Mobil at sea, you have to sign up for the program and pay. I only used the computers on board to download my pictures from my camera (3 times) and burned 6 CD - gave 3 copies to a friend so we could share photos. It cost $15 a CD.

[Guri]

Host Andy,

 

If our personal computer is equipped with Wifi G Notebook adapter card, do we still need to obtain "the Kit" for the connection in our cabin? Thanks