Just off the new Century!!!!

[Sparkle 123]

Hi everyone

We just returned today from a 3 day mini cruise on the New Century. I feel I had to post a report as some of the comments from the previous cruise seemed quite negative and while I can appreciate there are bound to be teething problems I would like to reassure anyone booked on this ship that it is in fantastic shape.

This is our 3rd time on Century and we were very impressed with the staff and the new cabins. The new bedding is very nice and we found the ship to be more stable than on previous trips. The food was very good. We ate in Muranos and some of the staff from the Olympic were there, Stan the assistant Maitre D', Dominique was the Maitre D' both extremely professional. The food was as good as the Olympic although the restuarant is smaller. The Grand restuarant food as still good quality. Allan King is the CD, Nicholas Pagonis is the Captain.

Wil try to answer any questions you may have.

One point to note: the sunset balcony cabins are not very private as they overlook the Sunset grill and the bar and all the noise is directly under the balconies.

[Sparkle 123]

Heres the link to the photos I took this weekend.I will add more when I get time.

enjoy....http://www.cruisemates.com/gallery/view.php?id=2881

Lisa

[tarheelmjfan]

Captain Pagonis was the most visible cpt. we've experienced. His visibility results in a ship that everything seems to click on. I can understand why the 1st cruise after drydock had problems, but I fully expect Century to be back to normal very soon.

 

Thanks for the report on the SV cabins. We have one booked for a b2b in Feb. We may look into changing, if we can get the same cabin for both cruises. How was the other AFT balconies?

[C 2 C]

Thanks for sharing. The pictures look great. Who was the Maitre'd in the main dining room?

 

Captain Pagonis was the most visible cpt. we've experienced.

 

We think he's great too.

[mari10]

Captain Pagonis was the most visible cpt. we've experienced. His visibility results in a ship that everything seems to click on. I can understand why the 1st cruise after drydock had problems, but I fully expect Century to be back to normal very soon.

 

Thanks for the report on the SV cabins. We have one booked for a b2b in Feb. We may look into changing, if we can get the same cabin for both cruises. How was the other AFT balconies?

 

We're also booked for b2b in one of the larger veranda Sv cabins.

We're use to the AFT CC cabins on the M Class. It doesn't look like these will be as private.

Hopefully we'll get some feed back from someone who has stayed in one of these cabins.

Mari

[Lisa63]

For anyone who has been on the "new" Century: What is on the menu at Muranos? Is it similar to the menus in the M-class specialty restaurants?

[caviargal]

She looks beautiful!:D

[Mattsudds]

Well - I suppose my headline would be elegance unfisnished. The ship was not ready for passengers IMHO and all over were signs of this. Dirty windows, broken blinds, Carpet on the Promenade deck, and unheated pool (surely its supposed to be heated?) non-functioning satellite equipment (missed the England game that was made a fuss of in the programme), giant dryers in the forward upper hallways drying carpets, wires trailing across the Hemispheres lounge taped to the carpet, pictures unhung but with their little explanatory cards still in place, decking not finished - some taped off other piled up, paint on the windows ofd Rendez vous square, scratched tables (they are frosted glass) in same area. In general there was a surprising amount of stuff that could have been sorted out by just a quick but thorough clean - I dread to think what the passengers who boarded in Barcelona thought.

 

And yet, if you could see past all that (one shouldn't have to I know), then I would say that this is clearly a quality cruise line and ship. The little signs like staff everywhere waiting to help you with buffet trays, the good quality (although surprisingly basic - at least to me) food. However the absolute highlight to me was the Murano restaurant - the newly added speciality restaurant. The food was superb and was exactly like the Roux brothers restaurants on land - far and away the best premium dining experience I had.

 

The most priceless thing of all - the celebrity wine auction which my dad (a wine merchant) had been looking forward to. On this UK sailing to Guernsey the auction was on but the only people allowed to buy are US residents!

 

What did I make overall - well underneath it all I rather liked the ship, particularly the dining room. I found the decoration much more restrained than I expected given Celebrity's modern art . In a few cruises time, when the ship has been thoroughtly cleaned and finished, I suspect she will be a nice operation, but I'm not thrilled about sailing a building site.

 

Oh and the big fuss Martini bar, think white leather chairs with butchers counter and disco lights!

 

Oh and one intriguing thing, the comment card was pre refit with the dining options not matching those available onboard.

[dmk]

abbafan,

Did you stay in an SV? If so which one? If not, was it just your opinion that it would be noisy because of the location? :cool:

[cechase]

Heres the link to the photos I took this weekend.I will add more when I get time.

enjoy....http://www.cruisemates.com/gallery/view.php?id=2881

Lisa

 

What great pictures Lisa! We are great Century fans even before her overhaul, but this 10 year old lady looks even better. Realize that they are still getting the kinks out and still finishing some things [according to other posts]; but we will most likely cruise on her again in the near future - like 2007!

[tarheelmjfan]

Thanks for sharing the pics. :) Do you have any idea, which SV cabin #'s the balcony pics are of?

 

I have to admit to being a bit disappointed with the changes to some of the common areas. We thought Century had a beautiful, classic design. It looks like many of the changes were by the same person who decorated Mercury. :eek: What's with all the circles? I know many people like the retro look, but I think it's tacky & cheap looking. I really wish they would have continued on with the design as it was. Hopefully, it's not exactly as it appears. :o

[cirpi]

Heres the link to the photos I took this weekend.I will add more when I get time.

enjoy....http://www.cruisemates.com/gallery/view.php?id=2881

Lisa

 

Superb pictures, Lisa. May I ask what camera you used? All the exposures seemed to be spot on.

[slotaddict]

Thank you so much for the pictures, I having been going crazy waiting for the first posts. The Century looks great and now I can;t wait until November.

[Sparkle 123]

Lisa 63

I have a scanned copy of the new Muranos menu. They still have the same menu as the other speciality restaurants in the fleet with the $30 per person cover charge, but the wine paring menu is different as its $100 per person to include the cover charge and fine wines with each course. If anyone would like a copy, click on my username to e mail me and I will send you an attachment, the file is too large to post on the boards.

dmk

We didn't have a sunset veranda just a regular inside cabin. The SV cabins in my picures are 1246 and 1244 right above the sunset bar and 1242 is sideways on to the deck of the sunset bar. It was just our opinion that they didn't look very private as they look directly on to the outside seating area at the aft of the ship along with all the noise from the bar activity such as a singer/guitarist most evenings plus people can look straight up to the balconies from the seating area.

mattsudds

We quite liked the Martini bar I thought the way the lights changed all different colours was very effective in the evenings.

cirpi

We just have a fuji finepix 2 megapixel camera, quite dated by todays standards but we ran the pictures through adobe photoshop autoclean before we posted them, glad you liked them! We took over 100 will add some more by tomorrow.

[DC2OC]

Thank You Abbafan for the FANTASTIC pictures of the new Century.Can't wait to sail her

Frank:):):)

[Lisa63]

Thank you, abbafan. I still have a year to go, but this gives me something else to look forward to. :)

[tarheelmjfan]

Lisa,

I tried to email you for a copy of the menu, but there's no contact info. Thanks for the info on the SV cabins. It's very helpful. We have 1242 booked. I think we'll try to change.

[Sparkle 123]

Hi tarheelmjfan

My e mail address is lisahubball1969@aol.com. The cabin you have booked is the one with the sideways balcony, personally, if you want a quiet cruise I would think about changing, plus the balcony didn't have as much furniture as the others.

Lisa

[gwrod]

Hello Lisa,

 

Is that door that I see on the small balcony 1244 or 1242, if you know? We too are booked in 1242 and am now having second thoughts.

 

Thanks,

 

Bill

[dmk]

Lisa,

I tried to email you for a copy of the menu, but there's no contact info. Thanks for the info on the SV cabins. It's very helpful. We have 1242 booked. I think we'll try to change.

 

We are also doing a B2B in January. I'm in 1253 SV and I think we'll stay put. I know how you both feel re noise. However, I have had an aft cabin on the Summit under the outdoor grill and it really wasn't bad re noise. Only when you were out on your balcony at meal times did you hear anything. Also, there was a lovely guitar singer in the aft grill. I hope they have that on the Century.

Back again to the new SV's. I think it is more private being above than below where people can hang over. As far as privacy, well I guess I won't suntan in the buff on the Century cruise.:rolleyes:

[gkm]

We have one of the SV cabins booked next spring, but find your pictures confusing. Could you explain them more in detail? Or do you have others of this area of the ship? Which cabin is which on the two pictures you have posted? We're in 1253 for our cruise.

 

Thanks!

 

Garry

[BaltiGator]

Well - I suppose my headline would be elegance unfisnished. The ship was not ready for passengers IMHO and all over were signs of this. Dirty windows, broken blinds, Carpet on the Promenade deck, and unheated pool (surely its supposed to be heated?) non-functioning satellite equipment (missed the England game that was made a fuss of in the programme), giant dryers in the forward upper hallways drying carpets, wires trailing across the Hemispheres lounge taped to the carpet, pictures unhung but with their little explanatory cards still in place, decking not finished - some taped off other piled up, paint on the windows ofd Rendez vous square, scratched tables (they are frosted glass) in same area. In general there was a surprising amount of stuff that could have been sorted out by just a quick but thorough clean - I dread to think what the passengers who boarded in Barcelona thought.

 

And yet, if you could see past all that (one shouldn't have to I know), then I would say that this is clearly a quality cruise line and ship. The little signs like staff everywhere waiting to help you with buffet trays, the good quality (although surprisingly basic - at least to me) food. However the absolute highlight to me was the Murano restaurant - the newly added speciality restaurant. The food was superb and was exactly like the Roux brothers restaurants on land - far and away the best premium dining experience I had.

 

The most priceless thing of all - the celebrity wine auction which my dad (a wine merchant) had been looking forward to. On this UK sailing to Guernsey the auction was on but the only people allowed to buy are US residents!

 

What did I make overall - well underneath it all I rather liked the ship, particularly the dining room. I found the decoration much more restrained than I expected given Celebrity's modern art . In a few cruises time, when the ship has been thoroughtly cleaned and finished, I suspect she will be a nice operation, but I'm not thrilled about sailing a building site.

 

Oh and the big fuss Martini bar, think white leather chairs with butchers counter and disco lights!

 

Oh and one intriguing thing, the comment card was pre refit with the dining options not matching those available onboard.

 

Thank you for your appropriate, realistic comments both positive and negative.

[tarheelmjfan]

We are also doing a B2B in January. I'm in 1253 SV and I think we'll stay put. I know how you both feel re noise. However, I have had an aft cabin on the Summit under the outdoor grill and it really wasn't bad re noise. Only when you were out on your balcony at meal times did you hear anything. Also, there was a lovely guitar singer in the aft grill. I hope they have that on the Century.

 

Back again to the new SV's. I think it is more private being above than below where people can hang over. As far as privacy, well I guess I won't suntan in the buff on the Century cruise.:rolleyes:

 

It's not the noise that concerns me. We're always up late anyway. Privacy isn't really an issue either, because we don't do anything on our balcony that I care for others to see. What I don't like from the pics is that your view is of the sunset bar, instead of looking into the water. Also, the balcony for the cabin we have booked looks very narrow. We too love AFT cabins. These just don't appear to be prime cabins like other AFT cabins we've had.

[Sparkle 123]

GKM,the cabins in my photos are taken off the back of the ship from the deck of the sunset grill looking up directly onto the verandas of cabins 1246 and 1244,these are in the middle overlooking the canopy above the bar of the sunset deck.However there is a gap of around 3 feet between the canopy and edge of your veranda so people can look up from thier seats at you.1242 has a side veranda with a small door and which looks directly onto the sunset deck with chairs and tables below it.Every evening had entertainment going on in this area upto 10.30pm and was very popular.Its your choice if you wish to stay in that area,however we would not do so after seeing this for ourselves.

Lisa

[Sparkle 123]

For all who have requested a copy of a menu of Muranos i am working on it but its a large file to upload so please be patient with me as i am only a Hairdresser not a pc expert.

Off to bed now as its been a long day,will be back on tomorrow with more pics.

Lisa