Century to Alaska Review and Pics Aug 11-18

Just returned from an amazing Alaskan adventure on the Century! I will be posting day by day with pics and am happy to answer questions if I can - everyone here was SO helpful for me!!

Sunday August 11th:

My husband and I and our 4 kids ages 10, 13, 14, and 17 ( yes, we are crazy!) departed from our home in Victoria, BC on the ferry to Vancouver's Canada Place for our Alaskan Adventure. I have wanted to go for many years and we finally had the opportunity this year. The kids are excited, and I am, well, beyond excited!! My DH is patient, and ready for Alaska. He has cruised before with his mom - for the rest of us it is our first cruise.

We easily catch the bus and sky train from the ferry terminal - doable even with what some have called an excess of luggage (next time I will take the half the clothes twice the money advice!!)

Canada Place is fairly easy to navigate and the process is smooth with the exception of US customs, which seems to take a while. Still, we arrive at 11am and are onboard by noon with little difficulty ( except of course the wrangling of three teens and a tween and their luggage, questions, and running commentary) It is lovely to be welcomed aboard with a glass of bubbly!

Hungry, we easily find the Islands Cafe on Deck 11 and have our first "taste" of cruise life - too many choices and so much food! We enjoy a great lunch poolside in the sun and check out the view!

Our cabins are ready promptly at one so we head to deck 5 to check them out. We had an ocean view for my DH and I and a quad inside for the kids across the hall. Both are more spacious than we expect and even the kids approve! I wonder if the novelty of bunk beds will wear off.. . Right now, though, we are eager to explore this beautiful ship that I have been reading about all year!

The wood and sparkling brass and glass make for a grand entrance up the staircase by Guest Services. It is a beautiful ship and everywhere there are friendly crew members and officers who welcome us and help us to find our way around. The crew are exceptional, as we are just beginning to discover.

Our luggage arrives and we get organized and head up to the sail away party with the officers and the wonderful departure under the Lion's Gate Bridge.

We are underway. . .

I'm enjoying your review so far. I did the exact same cruise on the amazing Century 3 years ago and it was definitely a trip of a lifetime!

It is wonderful to read such a positive review. I look forward to the rest. Your pictures are wonderful too.

We leave in 3 weeks on the same cruise, so anxious to read and see the rest. :)

Our first sea day brings slight seas and partly cloudy skies. We have had a great sleep in our cabin:

I was surprised by the amount of space in the cabins - polenty of storage, and even the quad shared by my four kids had enough room for them and all their stuff. I, however, failed to get a photo of the quad room with the beds down - let's just say our fabulous cabin steward, Urban, earned his money and our kids learned the importance of tipping for excellent service!!!

We had signed up for our Cruise Critic connections party, but unfortunately it was scheduled for the exact time of the Galley Tour, so we missed it. Disappointing, but I loved the galley tour!

The number of meals prepared here - 8 000- 10 000 per day!!

Everything was so well organized and spotless - the crew were friendly, even though they were busy prepping for lunch.

My downfall. . . .

My advice about the tour - get there early, and enjoy your complimentary "champagne"- sparkling wine- but who am I to complain?? We were tour number 9 and there were several more after us - some of the crew guides were better than others, ours was excellent. We ended in Murano with an up sell for the specialty restaurant - looked great, but we never did get ourselves organized enough to get there!!

The rest of the day is spent at a variety of activities - there really is so much to do, without feeling as though you must do any of it. I went to a fun lecture - 30,000 years of Art History in 30 minutes - it was funny, informative, and guess what? More "champagne! My husband thinks I am attending only for that but I enjoyed the lecture! The art collection on board was fantastic! Matisse, Picasso, Peter Max - in every space was some exceptional work. An unexpected surprise for me, as I love art museums, and the ship felt like one! Good variety of pieces - this guy was my 10 year old's favourite:

Next up - a bit more exploring and some entertainment. . . and quite possibly some more champagne ;)

I am enjoying your review and re-living our June cruise on Century!;)

Thanks!

Our first sea day brings slight seas and partly cloudy skies. We have had a great sleep in our cabin:

 

 

I was surprised by the amount of space in the cabins - polenty of storage, and even the quad shared by my four kids had enough room for them and all their stuff. I, however, failed to get a photo of the quad room with the beds down - let's just say our fabulous cabin steward, Urban, earned his money and our kids learned the importance of tipping for excellent service!!!

 

We had signed up for our Cruise Critic connections party, but unfortunately it was scheduled for the exact time of the Galley Tour, so we missed it. Disappointing, but I loved the galley tour!

 

The number of meals prepared here - 8 000- 10 000 per day!!

 

 

Everything was so well organized and spotless - the crew were friendly, even though they were busy prepping for lunch.

 

 

My downfall. . . .

 

My advice about the tour - get there early, and enjoy your complimentary "champagne"- sparkling wine- but who am I to complain?? We were tour number 9 and there were several more after us - some of the crew guides were better than others, ours was excellent. We ended in Murano with an up sell for the specialty restaurant - looked great, but we never did get ourselves organized enough to get there!!

 

The rest of the day is spent at a variety of activities - there really is so much to do, without feeling as though you must do any of it. I went to a fun lecture - 30,000 years of Art History in 30 minutes - it was funny, informative, and guess what? More "champagne! My husband thinks I am attending only for that but I enjoyed the lecture! The art collection on board was fantastic! Matisse, Picasso, Peter Max - in every space was some exceptional work. An unexpected surprise for me, as I love art museums, and the ship felt like one! Good variety of pieces - this guy was my 10 year old's favourite:

 

 

Next up - a bit more exploring and some entertainment. . . and quite possibly some more champagne ;)

What was your cabin number, like the big window!

Joanne

Loving the review so far, thanks for sharing. We hope you continue to enjoy your cruise with us!

I am really enjoying your review and the accompanying photos. We were on the Century to Alaska on June 30-July 7th, and this is letting me live our wonderful cruise all over again!

Thanks for taking the time to do the review. I am enjoying your sense of humour.

Who was the Captain's Club Hostess on your cruise?

Joanne, our cabin was 5046. The large window was lovely!

Elena, I am not sure who the CC hostess was as this was our first cruise!

Part 3 coming soon!

Following our tour of the galley, we headed for lunch in the Islands Cafe. The variety of food was consistently good with a few exceptions. So many choices, so little time, but I gave it my best effort!! My super adventurous kids (NOT) ate a lot of very tasty pizza ( gotta love the barbeque chicken pizza!), stirfry and pasta. Oh and ice cream, - lots and lots of delicious, homemade ice cream, soft and hard! I may have had that once or twice myself.

I love the Century - she is the perfect size for a first time cruiser like me - easy to find my way around, but with all the amenities and beauty of the larger ships. My only disappointment was no rock climbing (hahahaha)!

Another view of the pool deck:

One of my favourite spots - Cova Cafe:

Finally it was time to get ready for our first formal night! There was a wide variety of dress -everything from tuxes to sport coats to well, not so classy, but each to their own!

A sample menu:

And a little taste of heaven for me!

Tomorrow - Icy Strait Point and Whale Watching!!!

Is that menu from Formal night? :eek:

Tuesday began as a another beautiful day - sunny and warm. Kids spent most of the am in the pool area swimming with some of the new friends they had made. The Jr and Sr teen programs were a great place for them to meet some other kids on the cruise and we often didn't see them until it was a port stop or meal! Their leader Oscar, was great with the kids and the activities were varied enough that each of the kids found something to enjoy. Our youngest son is on the Autism Spectrum and although the were happy to have him at the Fun Factory, he preferred to hang out with my husband or I or his older sibs.

Our stop at Icy Strait was at 3:30pm and we arrived a little early. Tendering has apparently been very slow this year and so we had checked in a day early to see if we could get Priority Tender passes as our private whale watching excursion began at 4pm. These were delivered to our cabin first thing in the morning, and made the tender process very easy for us. Others had a longer wait.

We had booked a whale watching excursion online through Glacier WInds Charters. Captain Shawn and his wife Teresa have been in Hoonah for many years, and Shawn grew up there. They were very organized and as we had a group of six, it was just us on the boat! Some photos:

Arriving at Icy Strait:

Town of Hoonah:

First Nations Cemetery on Island across from Marina:

Totem Pole in Icy Strait:

Next - Whales and Eagles Oh My!!

Is that menu from Formal night? :eek:

No! Don't panic!! We had lobster one of the Formal nights - and champagne! Have I mentioned I love champagne?

It was the only menu I remembered to take a photo of! :D

Seems that the new SPE Certified Dishes have been introduced into the MDR!

A major change in the menu, and a welcome one it seems!

Great review, can not wait for more...

It's nice to read a positive review of the Century. Our first 2 cruises with Celebrity were on the Century and we loved it.

Great start.

Looking forward to the rest.

We have been to Icy Straight 4 times and loved each visit there.

No! Don't panic!! We had lobster one of the Formal nights - and champagne! Have I mentioned I love champagne?

 

It was the only menu I remembered to take a photo of! :D

Haha...not in a panic, but thought that the menu looked strange for a Formal night.

Seems that the new SPE Certified Dishes have been introduced into the MDR!

A major change in the menu, and a welcome one it seems!

 

Great review, can not wait for more...

The menu looks the same as we had on our Constellation cruise last Winter. However, I don't remember having this on our Silhouette cruise, but perhaps we were in a Specialty restaurant that evening.

Prime Rib is typically offered in the MDR on the first night of Celebrity cruises. My DH loves that tradition.:)

Haha...not in a panic, but thought that the menu looked strange for a Formal night.

 

 

 

The menu looks the same as we had on our Constellation cruise last Winter. However, I don't remember having this on our Silhouette cruise, but perhaps we were in a Specialty restaurant that evening.

Ah...we were in Venice the first overnight on the Sillie.

Our whale watch experience in Icy Strait was a real highlight of the trip. Captain Shawn from Glacier Winds and his wife Teresa were really easy to work with and booking online a simple process. We booked in February after looking at a number of options. With six in the family it made sense to use a small private charter.

They picked us up at Icy Strait and drove us to the marina in Hoonah, providing us with info about the town on the short trip. Shawn grew up there, and they have spent summers doing charters for over 25 years. They have a great sense of place, and were very informative and friendly. Also, both were excellent with our kids - they are former elementary and high school teachers.

Our boat, the Kohola:

We did not see any breeching whales, but we did get up close and personal with several humpbacks:

Two here:

We also saw a great eagles nest and eagles.

All in all a fantastic tour - 3.5 hours and it included snacks (yummy smoked salmon spread!!)and drinks(sadly, no champagne here!) on the boat, which also had a great space to sit inside and a washroom(necessity for kids and mother of said four kids!). There were also activities (drawing materials, field guides, sudoku) for the kids as the trip to Point Adolphus takes about 45 min. My kids were so interested in Capt Shawn they were very engaged for the whole 3.5 hours. It got a little rough on the water at the point, but everyone managed to do well, even with some bumps!!

I highly recommend whale watching at Icy Strait - there is not a whole lot of action there outside of the gigantic zipline that made me feel ill just looking at it. We chose whale watching here, as there are many other options in Juneau, and I am so glad we did.

Hello,

Thanks for such a great review and pics so far. My hubby and his Mom are taking this cruise Sept. 8th and was wondering if you had a copy of the daily activity sheet you could share.

:)tcbenz

Hello,

Thanks for such a great review and pics so far. My hubby and his Mom are taking this cruise Sept. 8th and was wondering if you had a copy of the daily activity sheet you could share.

:)tcbenz

I have all of them ! :) I am scanning them tonight and will post a link tomorrow so you can have a look! So many fun choices!

No! Don't panic!! We had lobster one of the Formal nights - and champagne! Have I mentioned I love champagne?

 

It was the only menu I remembered to take a photo of! :D

We have a lot in common

We both went on Century to Alaska this year and

We both love champagne!

Our sommelier was so awesome, as soon as he would see us at our dinner table he brought our glass of pre dinner bubbly :D...

Thank you for posting. We will be doing our 2nd Alaska cruise Sept 15th on Century. Your photos are awesome! Anxiously waiting for further posts.