Century review: Hawaiian cruise - october 7

[mikjr]

Hawaiian Cruise, Round Trip San Diego

Celebrity Century

October 7 to 22, 2013

 

Cruise Background: This was our 20th cruise, 8th cruise to Hawaii. We have cruised three times previously on Celebrity… this was the first since 2008, and first time on the Century. For the past several years, we have cruised with Princess and were anxious to come back to Celebrity to compare.

 

We chose this cruise for a few reasons:

1) “Choose One” Special – we chose prepaid gratuities

2) The Itinerary: The extended day on Maui, and the visit to Kona

3) And the opportunity to try Celebrity again!

4) A Concierge Cabin for the price of a standard balcony

 

EMBARKATION:

 

We live in Orange County… a short two hour drive from San Diego. We drove to San Diego on Sunday, Oct 6 and spent the night at the Wyndham Bayside. We also took advantage of the Wyndham’s parking deal of $9.00/night.

 

On Monday morning we easily walked across to the ship and left our bags with the porter at the dock and proceeded to check in, which was quick and efficient.

 

We had a Concierge Class cabin was on Deck nine. We were onboard by 12 noon, but couldn’t access our rooms until after 1:30. We went to Island Buffet for lunch and explored the ship until we could get into our cabin.

 

THE SHIP

 

Although the ship was in super clean condition, there were a few areas that were worn and tired looking, especially the public, deck, and cabin furniture.

 

I found it interesting that for the first 3 or 4 days of the cruise, there was a bathroom attendant IN the bathroom every time I went in and they stayed in the bathroom… handed out towels and opened the door for the guests… same with the lady’s bathroom. I figured there must have been a virus outbreak at some point during the previous cruise?? It ended about the 5th day. Everyone joked that the bathrooms now seemed a bit empty!!

 

We are used to a bit larger class ship, but all things considered, we enjoyed the Century.

 

The first few days out of San Diego were a bit rough, to the point where several passengers were sick. But it settled down quickly and was fine for the rest of the cruise.

 

After the 3rd day, it warmed nicely and we spent most of our time on the outside decks, either around the pool or the Sunset Bar area.

 

OUR CABIN

 

We had a Concierge Class balcony cabin, mid-ship on deck nine. The cabin was a good size, but the balcony was a bit small. I’m used to the larger balconies on Princess. I enjoyed the larger shower in comparison to the “tube” showers on Princess.

 

As mentioned, we got the Concierge for the same price as a standard, but I’m not sure I’d pay the extra fee for Concierge service otherwise. The furniture in the cabin was a bit dirty and worn. And I was surprised to see some spots on some of the extra bedding that we pulled out from the cabinets. You’d think housekeeping would bleach them and get the stains out!!

 

Our cabin attendant was Norma. She did a nice job. Bed was a bit lumpy, we asked for a pad and it was put on the first night. Also, I needed an extra hard pillow, which she quickly supplied.

 

I missed a laundry room… and the option of doing my own ironing.

 

THE FOOD

 

Of course this is always the most subjective topic of any review… but, to me, food is either good or it’s bad. I have simple tastes… I don’t eat a bunch of fancy food with fancy names, and being Italian… I could eat pasta every meal! And for this cruise, I almost did!

 

Islands Breakfast / Lunch Buffet

 

We normally eat in the buffet for breakfast and lunch, so we did not try the dining room for those meals. Also… we did NOT try the Murano specialty restaurant.

 

Breakfast: I’m a toast and coffee guy in the morning… so that’s all I had to eat for breakfast each morning. My wife on the other hand is a breakfast eater. Said the breakfast food was good but not great. We both found the coffee to be much better than the syrup stuff they serve on Princess. We brought Starbuck VIA… but never used them.

 

Lunch: I loved the Pasta and Pizza Bars, and got most of my lunch items there for the two weeks. I tried both, the Hamburger and Panini Grills, and found them to be good. I personally did not eat food from the Islands Buffet. My wife ate at the buffet line most days and found the food to be good, but not as good as Princess.

 

We both felt the deserts served in the Islands buffet were not as good as those served on Princess.

 

Also the salad dressings were not very good. Strong vinegar based, even the blue cheese was way to vinegar tasting!

 

I enjoyed having the option of ice tea, punch, or lemonade for lunch! We also enjoyed the ice cream bar. That’s one thing I always liked about Celebrity… their great ice cream and sorbets.

 

Grand Dining Room: We had early dining with a table for two on the lower floor. Our servers were Putu and Daniel, and they were wonderful. They did everything possible to make our dinners great. Food was served promptly and hot!

 

We both found the food to be very good; especially the beef entrees, which were very tender and better than Princess. I’m not much of a red meat eater, but find myself eating more beef on a two week cruise than I do all year!

 

I did miss some of the items I’d gotten used to on the Princess menu, especially the “every night” option of the Fettuccini Alfredo in the Parmesan bowl, and their “home style” menu options like Chili, Meatloaf or ground steak. Also, they did not serve enough Pasta dishes to suit my tastes, but… these are obviously my food preferences, not everyone’s. I’m sure had I asked, they would have probably fixed anything they had available!

 

Some of our favorite entrée’s: Beef Wellington, Chateaubriand, Spinach Ravioli, Grilled Chicken Breast, Blue Cheese Soufflé (appetizer).

 

We both found the deserts in the dining room to be very good.

 

One thing that was a bit disappointing was missing the “Grand Buffet”. It was on the back page of the Celebrity Daily and hardly noticeable, instead of being in the daily line up. Our Maître de came by that night and asked how we liked it… I said: “LIKE IT… we didn’t even KNOW about it”! I guess it was his duty to come by each table and let us know… but he missed us. He apologized… It was his first job on a ship!!

 

One food venue that we miss was Princess’s International Café. Always located in the ships Piazza, they served hot and cold sandwiches, salads, and the best deserts we’ve had on any ship! We tried the deserts at the Coffee Cove, but no comparison. I had a piece of lemon meringue pie that looked great… but it was all meringue and a sliver of lemon pie!! Very disappointing!! I understand that the larger Celebrity ships have something similar to the International.

 

Bottom line… the food was very good and enjoyable!

 

ENTERTAINMENT/ACTIVITIES

 

In my book… this is where Celebrity really shined! The production shows were great. The singers and dancers were fabulous… and we didn’t have to sit through another “Piano Man” Show!!

 

The cruise director, John Grantham and his staff were great! All of the “themed parties”… 60s Night, Disco Night, etc… were great, and well attended by the cruise staff, ship’s officers, and PAXs.

 

The individual music acts were also exceptional. I’ve been a musician for 50 years and know the difference between good and fair talent, and this group of entertainers was great:

 

5 O’clock Somewhere – Husband/Wife team – singers/piano/guitar

Martin Andales – singer/guitarist (sounded like James Taylor!)

Twist of Eight – Party and Dance band

Estrada Trio – Jazz Group

Peter Rossetti – Piano/singer

 

Although we did not participate in the “Hawaiian Themed” classes… Ukulele, Hula, etc… we did hear they were very good and people really seemed to enjoy the Hawaiian Ambassador, “June” and the Ukulele Masters.

 

We did not attend any of the Destination and Special lectures. We did attend a few movies in the theater. Not the most comfortable venue, but OK. I missed the outdoor MUTS movie option on Princess.

 

HAWAIIAN PORTS

 

This was our 8th cruise to Hawaii… we rented a car in three of the four ports. We took no, ship sponsored excursions.

 

We chose this itinerary because of the late stay on Maui and stop in Kona. For some reason, Princess no longer stops at Kona, and the late stay in Maui allowed us to drive to Hana.

 

We cruised by the Kiluea Volcano at night… but no lava flow. The Captain joked about it the next day during the daily report!

 

We felt sorry for the passengers that had never been to Hawaii before and were looking forward to visiting the Arizona Memorial, and Mt Kiluea. Both were closed due to the government shutdown!

 

OTHER VENUES

 

We did not use the Spa, Casino, or Children’s Facilities

 

DISEMBARKATION

 

If there was a major issue… this was it. And it wasn’t the ship’s fault, it was the PORT of San Diego. I couldn’t believe how unorganized they were with our luggage. It was all packed into one room… and there was only ONE door into the room. So you had people coming IN AND OUT of the same door! As new disembark numbers off the ship, the port hands would have to move these LARGE barriers away. BUT, there was no place to move them but into the crowd of people trying to pick up their luggage. What a madhouse!

 

And then to add more craziness… some passengers did not wait until their color/number was called… they got off early and waited off ship, outside the luggage room, in everyone else’s way!! As people walked up, they would ask what number they had. We were number 6… and there were people waiting down there that were numbers 8 and 9!! While it’s not really the ship’s fault for other people’s rudeness, I do think they need to check numbers BEFORE letting you off the ship!

 

I was surprised Immigration didn’t check Passports as we left… we just handed them our Declaration sheet as we left the building. The Port of LA always checks…

 

SUMMARY

 

We found the officers very visible and friendly, as well as all the staff and servers. The whole crew seemed to work very hard to make the passengers happy.

 

Ship, cabin, food, and entertainment were all good, making for a very enjoyable and relaxing time.

 

Bottom line… we really enjoyed the cruise and were very pleased with Celebrity. We had heard how Celebrity had changed and about “certain issues”. But we found it no different that any other cruise line trying to keep costs in check!

 

Although there were things we had gotten used to on Princess, we would cruise Celebrity again in a minute! The only difference would be to choose one of the larger ships… maybe Infinity, Summit, or???

 

 

[Keith1010]

Thanks for taking the time to write and share your very balanced review.

 

Glad to hear that overall you enjoyed your cruise and would sail with Celebrity in a minute.

 

Keith

[portofrome]

Thanks for your review.

[SoBe2010]

Thanks for your review. We are going on the exact same cruise in three weeks.

[woody14h]

Thank you. We are leaving in one week on our third Century cruise. First one to Hawaii. We have always flown and stayed in condos before. As we are celebrating my Bro and SIL 50th, they wanted to cruise. Glad to hear the ship is as we remembered. Hope the lava flows.

[DiamondDiva]

We were on the cruise immediately before mikjr and agree with almost all of his review. The disembarkation at SD was difficult with the one huge area for luggage, as he stated. We stayed in the same area of Concierge on 9 as mikjr did (same steward) and liked the placement of the cabin very much.

 

I also encountered a bathroom attendant for most of the cruise, but usually only in the bathrooms just outside the MDR. To our knowledge there was no virus outbreak or concerns on our cruise (ended immediately before yours) and there were no restrictions, talk of illness, etc. I finally decided that bathroom was a very popular one, being between the MDR and the largest bar area, so she was there to "move things along" or something.

 

The crew was helpful and friendly, tho we had a change of captains mid-cruise and several major officers, head pastry chef and others left for their vacations when we got off in SD. In many ways the crew's attitude makes or breaks a cruise for me.

 

We loved the lamb shanks and the pasta carbonara in the MDR, and like you, my spouse often eats more beef on a cruise than at home. The Grand Buffet is rarely publicized, but is usually on the last sea day now and well-worth attending. We were on several Celebrity cruises without noticing it till reading about it here!

 

We were on a Princess Panama Canal cruise in March this year after many years away from that cruise line and also agree with your comments about

their food...we were generally very pleased with it.

 

Despite a few small things (wear and tear on some furniture, etc) we completely enjoyed our Pacific coastal on the Century and our Millennium cruise to Hawaii last fall. I hope all of you have a super time on your cruises to come as well! Enjoy..

[sunsfan]

Great review. We are on the Century next week and I was wondering if the shows for late seating were before or after dinner? Thanks

[wwcruisers]

MikeJr -- thanks for the great review. We did the Century round-trip to Hawaii a couple of years ago, and had a great time. We'll be sailing on her again as soon as she comes out of dry-dock, next February. :cool:

 

You pointed out something that has been bothering me for over a year now: the fact that X seems to no longer be promoting the Gala Brunch Buffet, in the daily bulletins of any of their ships. It wasn't prominently featured on either of our last two cruises (Millie and Equinox). If we had not asked our waiter, we would have missed it. Maybe they are counting on the MDR waitstaff to get the word out about the buffet, but in your case at least, that didn't work. As you pointed out, the Gala is listed on the back of the daily bulletin -- in (tiny print) the middle of the dining schedule. :rolleyes:

 

Of course -- if they had a paragraph about the Gala Buffet on the front page of "Celebrity Today", it would take up valuable space advertising the Midnight Jewelry Sale, whatever the Spa special of the day is, or the new and improved art auction. So, you know something, Celebrity? One of the great things about your ships is the fact that you don't inundate the passengers with a constant flow of dribble from the ships' PA systems. But, the flip side of that coin is that you need to do a better job of using your daily bulletin to inform your guests -- not just to market to them! :mad:

[Goofyisme]

We agree with you about debarkation in San Diego. Our Panama Canal cruise ending in San Diego was the worst, by a large margin, debarkation we have ever experienced.

[Northern Aurora]

We left the Century on October 6th following B2B cruises -- the last Alaska cruise of the season and followed by the Pacific Coastal wine cruise (which Diamond Diva also on). We had been on Century two prior times (November 2011 Honolulu to Sydney and then in October 2012 RT to Hawaii from San Diego).

 

We actually thought that the meals in the MDR were better on this last pair of cruises than when we were on Century in 2012, but we thought that the entertainment was actually better in both 2011 and 2012 than this set of B2B.

 

mikjr speculates that the public restroom attendants may have been in response to an outbreak of some illness (such as noro). I have been on a ship during a noro outbreak, and it is very obvious. When salt and pepper shakers are removed from tables and you can't even serve yourself a glass of water in the buffet it is clear as to what is happening. We have been doing three or four Celebrity cruises annually for several years now, and restroom attendants in high usage public restroom have been standard. I have never asked but have wondered if the presence of an attendant applies some social pressure to wash hands.

 

We found Century to be extremely clean. While in Catalina the Century underwent an unannounced sanitation inspection, and scored 98 out of 100.

 

We were in a Concierge Class stateroom on deck 9 and also had the lovely Norma for our stateroom attendant. The stateroom was incredibly clean, but the closet doors definitely needed to be replaced. And we thought that we saw more wear and tear in the Crystal Room than we remembered from last year. The Crystal Room was the location of the elite evening social gathering in 2012 as it was during the recent B2B, and I just don't remember those chairs looking that rough in 2012.

[Northern Aurora]

Great review. We are on the Century next week and I was wondering if the shows for late seating were before or after dinner? Thanks

 

There will be two shows. Generally the late seating finds it convenient to attend the first show.

[sunsfan]

Thanks. That is how it was the last 2 times we did this cruise, but last month on the Solstice the late seating shows were after dinner and they were not well attended at all.

[mikjr]

Great review. We are on the Century next week and I was wondering if the shows for late seating were before or after dinner? Thanks

 

Fixed seating dinner times were 5:30 and 8:00. We had 5:30 dining.

 

Showtimes were normally 6:30 and 8:30. So, the early diners went to the 8:30 show... and the late diners went to the early show.

 

A couple of times, we caught the last part of the early show... just to see if we wanted to wait for the 8:30 show... there was actually a couple of times, after hearing the show, we didn't wait.

 

One issue I didn't mention was the access to the Celebrity Theater. The theater didn't open until 1/2 hour prior to the show. Princess always kept their theater open after the first show... so you could go right in after dinner and just sit there and wait, thereby avoiding the mad rush for seats! A much more desirable way to do it in my opinion.

 

BUT... I did discover why Celebrity closed the theater after the first show... they had an employee with a power sprayer... spraying ALL the seats with something after each show!! He was wearing a mask... so I assume it was some kind of disinfectant.

[franksandy]

We leave Dec. 6th....Were there and Comedy shows?

 

Sandy

[Iamthesea]

We had restroom attendants on the Silhouette last May and again on the Century in September. I think it's a new thing and a nice touch.:)

[robtulipe]

BUT... I did discover why Celebrity closed the theater after the first show... they had an employee with a power sprayer... spraying ALL the seats with something after each show!! He was wearing a mask... so I assume it was some kind of disinfectant.

I guess I better pack my respirator for use in the theater during our Century cruise in three weeks time.:eek:

 

[woody14h]

I guess I better pack my respirator for use in the theater during our Century cruise in three weeks time.:eek:

 

 

" Who let the dogs out?"

[Grandmaanne7]

Mikjr - thanks so much for the balanced and detailed review. We will be sailing through the Panama Canal on Century in January just before drydock. It will be our first Celebrity cruise and I have a voracious appetite for anything Century or Celebrity as I am just that way:o I have been following this thread and it has been quite informative and reassuring. Our only apprehension is the placement of our cabin (4155 under the MDR). We are hoping that most of the noise will be during dining times when we are out of the cabin anyway.

 

As I said, thank you for the review and for adding to our excitement about this cruise and ship. We are definitely looking forward to sailing on this "classy lady".

[mikjr]

We leave Dec. 6th....Were there and Comedy shows?

 

Sandy

 

I think Fred Klett was the only comedian. very funny and clean.

 

there was also a magician, a couple of singers/instrumentalists, and an Elton John impersonator. Also a Hawaiian Show during one of the evening ports

[hasekmpp]

We are going on the exact same cruise in three weeks.

[Jenninhawaii]

MIKJR and Diamond Diva,

 

Can you tel me which cabin number you were in? We have booked 9153 and would like to know if it was a good choice!

[yukongold]

We are looking at a Hawaiians cruise so your review was most helpful. Thanks.

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

You pointed out something that has been bothering me for over a year now: the fact that X seems to no longer be promoting the Gala Brunch Buffet, in the daily bulletins of any of their ships. It wasn't prominently featured on either of our last two cruises (Millie and Equinox). If we had not asked our waiter, we would have missed it. Maybe they are counting on the MDR waitstaff to get the word out about the buffet, but in your case at least, that didn't work. As you pointed out, the Gala is listed on the back of the daily bulletin -- in (tiny print) the middle of the dining schedule. :rolleyes:

 

Of course -- if they had a paragraph about the Gala Buffet on the front page of "Celebrity Today", it would take up valuable space advertising the Midnight Jewelry Sale, whatever the Spa special of the day is, or the new and improved art auction. So, you know something, Celebrity? One of the great things about your ships is the fact that you don't inundate the passengers with a constant flow of dribble from the ships' PA systems. But, the flip side of that coin is that you need to do a better job of using your daily bulletin to inform your guests -- not just to market to them! :mad:

 

This has been the case for quite some time now. The waiters are supposed to tell you about it the night before, but I think the quality of the waiters and their training is slipping badly. So, here's the secret. It's listed in the hours the dining rooms are open section. Not something one would ordinarily read every day, but a necessity if you want to catch the buffet.

 

I absolutely agree with your comments in your last paragraph but apparently Celebrity doesn't.

[wwcruisers]

This has been the case for quite some time now. The waiters are supposed to tell you about it the night before, but I think the quality of the waiters and their training is slipping badly. So, here's the secret. It's listed in the hours the dining rooms are open section. Not something one would ordinarily read every day, but a necessity if you want to catch the buffet.

 

I absolutely agree with your comments in your last paragraph but apparently Celebrity doesn't.

 

That's where I finally looked, Linda -- so, I know to do that, now. But I have to say that it's not much fun, sitting in the cabin late at night, scouring the fine print in Celebrity Today -- just to find the things that are worth doing, the next day. LOL -- remind me to pack a magnifying glass for our Century cruise in February! ;)

[Honeybearhollow]

We missed the buffet on Solstice recently and we were watching for it. We dined in Blu and they don't always tell you. I was told that it is overcrowded and they don't want all the passengers to come because it would not hold everyone. I don't know if that is true.