**Latest Condition of Century???

[DeRon]

My wife is cautious about Century because of the recent bad report, and her age. Can anyone tell me what kind of condition she is in?

 

When we went on the Grand, we were disappointed in couch stains, carpet pulling up by the balcony door, etc. That kind of stuff bugs us, like deck chipping by the pool, etc.

 

Thanks!

[sammiedawg]

It just failed ithe CDC inspection for sanitation food and water. 2 weeks ago our cabin had stained dirty carpet and the open deck areas had filthy black carpeting at the front of the ship. Some furniture is quite shopworn , pick something else if you want a nice clean ship.

[joramrose]

I was on the Century last week, and she looked pretty good to me.

 

Granted, I am not picky, but I don't like dirt and old stains either. I did not notice any.

 

I think the room decor looks a little "lived in" but heck! so does my whole house.

 

At table, the cloths were white, the silverware gleamed, glasses sparkled, plates shined. If the food was unsanitary, you sure couldn't tell it.

 

As for age, hey, I am as old as dirt myself. I didn't stumble over frayed carpeting, nor tumble over spilled glunk not cleaned up.

 

I would gladly sail again on the Century. She may not be my favorite all-time ship, but I was pleased overall. Actually, more than pleased.

 

Don't hesitate.

 

love

joan

[apfra.]

I visited Century last summer in Ft. Lauderdale.

 

I can say that she is in need for a major refurbishment. Don't get me wrong, she is still a fine ship that delivers an excellent product, but she just needs some fairly extensive cleaning up here and there. The ship is almost 10 years old and has not had a major refurbishment other than the standard dry-docks every couple of years. It is pretty basic stuff like stained carpets, torn walls, dirty corners, lack of decoration is some stairway landings (common in the mid-90s), rusty brass, you know, the basics.

 

The food is still excellent, the service is top-notch, and the ship is still very pretty and unique.

 

For a standard Caribbean cruise, I'd choose the Millennium over her any day.

[DeRon]

Man! Thanks, guys! This really helped me. I think I am going to stick with the newer ships. I got the same response on the Princess site, concerning the Sun.

[tbelian]

Hurry up and sail Century in the Carribean. This ship moves to Europe next srping!

 

Century is very nice, Despite the 'report'. I suspect it has all been cleaned up since then.

 

We have sailed Century 4(5?) times over 7 years. Always would welcome an opportunity to sail that ship again. Bigger is not better. Although we did like Infinity.

 

Century was our 'first' ... so, a favorite. Dont' let anyone convince you otherwise, a fine ship, first in her class ("C" class), and a very popular ship among most CC members who have sailed it.

[StephenJohnson]

Shhhh...let people think the older ships aren't a good choice - they can pay the premium prices, we can enjoy the better rates - I'm all for letting those who don't know better subsidize my sailings, as on the Sun Princess last may ;)

[DeRon]

StephenJohnson... you have been on a lot of cruises! Which ship and line is your favorite?

[StephenJohnson]

My personal stack - WARNING highly idionsyncratic, use at your own risk ;)

1) Celebrity Century.

1a) Celebrity (any other ship)

1b) Princess - I only have experience of the Sun class, which I like a lot

2) Royal Carribean toothpaste class (Radiance, Brilliance, etc.)

3) HAL Rotterdam/Amsterdam

4) HAL other

5) Royal Caribbean Voyager class

 

Good cruising to you!

[SeaGams]

Hi DeRon,

I was on Century Thanksgiving week, the first sailing after the poor CDC report. I am an experienced cruiser (22 and counting), and usually try to stick with the newer ships, but decided to try Century after reading so many positive reviews on these boards. The cruise was great, the food was good, the staff was friendly, but the ship was not in the best condition. I will give you my observations, and you can decide for yourself if Century is right for you.

 

We were in a SS on deck 12. The plumbing did not work on three occasions that we were aware of. :( I know plumbing lines have problems on cruise ships from time to time, but I felt three times in one week was unreasonable. The last time we went to call about the plumbing we discovered our phone did not work. Since it was the last morning of our cruise I don't know how or when it was repaired. My key card would no longer unlock our door the last two days of the cruise. The photo printer broke mid cruise, and all pictures had to be ordered on-line.

 

The public areas we saw were in good condition, but the chairs in our cabin were in desperate need of new fabric. We noticed some pretty significant rust spots, and the glass on the balcony was almost opaque from varnish, sea salt, and weather related etching.

 

Based on my experience I will stick with M class ships until Century is overhauled. Let me know if you have any specific questions I may answer.

[bilgeboyPa]

I was just on the Century the beginning of the month, It was fine to me. I bet most of the people that complain about "stains" and "worn looking" have more of those problems in their own house and basically need something to complain about.PLEASE..go to Disney,stay at a hotel 6 and then complain.Geez oh Peats.

 

Have a nice Holiday anyway,

 

Jeff

[DeRon]

SeaGams..Thank you.

 

Jeff, it never ceases to amaze me that people get so personal when someone else tells what they saw or experienced on a ship. Why is that so personal to you? I am glad Seagams told me what they saw. That is very helpful.

 

Geez oh Peats!!!!!

[SeaGams]

Jeff,

DeRon is correct, I was not complaining, only telling him what I saw and experienced. Furthermore I did not mention any of these issues, or felt the need to complain on board (OK except the plumbing problem which I had to report). BTW I dined with the head of housekeeping one evening, so I could have taken these issues right to the top had I so desired. In my opinion Century was showing more than average signs of wear, especially compared to the M class ships, and was not up to Celebrity's standards.

 

I'm happy that you thought she was fine, but we obviously had different cabins and experiences.

 

DeRon, please don't give up on Celebrity. We're sailing again this February on Summit.

 

Geez oh Peats!

[greydog]

There's some give & take here on the Century but somehow, 7 places among the top 10 large ship rankings went to Celebrity from among 32,000 cruisers' ratings. Century scored topmost in the food quality score.

 

We prefer the value, ambiance of the C-class ships over the newer M-class and the current ship poll on this board has Century close to Summit in the ratings. We'll be on Century for 3d time from Jan 02 and will report back if there's been a significant change in overall quality. However, I will not be on the lookout for rust or wear/tear.

 

Good luck with finding a ship that meets your standards.

[bilgeboyPa]

HI DeROn,

I'm not trying to "sound angry", but it seems like everyone focuses on the nit picky things. Granted, nobody wants to stay in a filth laden cabin with stuff falling down around their ears. I went on the Explorer of the Seas last May. The ship was absolutly beautiful. The service and the food were absolutly abysmal.That's what I care about.Service and the dining.I can over look the minor things, but it just gets fustrating reading page after page about some rust, a worn carpet by the corner, a chip on the deck, etc. I hope I clarified myself.

Happy Holidays everyone

 

Jeff

[SeaGams]

Hi Jeff,

I agree with your assessment of RCI. We were on Brilliance several years ago, and it was a most beautiful ship. But as you experienced, the food and service are not up to par. Our cabin steward left dirty wine glasses in our cabin for 3 days!! I guess she eventually got tired of trying to manuever around them. LOL!!

 

I was not trying to nit pick the condition of Century, and as I said we had a great time. But, I must admit I was not happy when the toilet did not flush. Were you by chance in a CC cabin? I was told that those cabins had recently been refurbished with the introduction of CC..

 

greydog, please let know how things are after your January cruise. I agree that the size of Century makes for a cozier ambiance. And the friendliness and service of the crew made up for everything else.

[DeRon]

Thanks guys for all your posts. i am sorry to all who were offended by this question.

[bilgeboyPa]

HI SeaGams

I know. But lately it has been bash, bash, bash the Century because of 1 bad report in 10 years.The toilet thing is a reasonable thing to be upset about.I would make a "stink" too :-).

I was Cat 3 in a family suite on deck 8.It is the row of cabins along the back of the ship. It is much bigger than the CC cabins, and my cabin attendant tended to all our needs. All we had to do was ask and he was more than happy to get it done. I asked for juice to delivered every night at 7pm and it was there. He picked up my laundry the first day and it was returned promtly.It was less costly and much more comfortable.

Have a great day

 

Jeff

[sammiedawg]

First time Celebrity cruisers earlier this month. Our cabin carpet was worn, stained and seams frayed. Someone in the bathroom was very disgusting- I wont go into it. We reported all of this the first hour, nothing was done. Our phone also quit working on day 3, it was "repaired" but the wake up didnt work at all and message features were very difficult to use. The open decks foreward have filthy black carpet. I would not sail this ship again unless it was totally refurbished top to bottom. In addition to being shopworn the decor and layout did not impress me much. The food was very good as was the service. Those of us who are pointing out these problems should not be criticized, hopefully this company will get the message and clean this ship up. And the CDC issues are totally unacceptable and should not be minimized.

[DeRon]

Sammiedawg, thank you for helping. I agree with your conclusions.

[sammiedawg]

We have been happiest on the newer Princess/Hal ships. A clean and pleasant physical plant are very important to us. I'm mystified how anyone can defend the condition of the Century which clearly needs total refurbishment. I just read this ship has been redeployed to Europe and I can tell you with certainty why this has happened. There is no way this ship can compete with the brand new Caribbean Princess or the Vista class HAL ships that sail the Caribbean.

[Carol Anne]

Good Evening,

My husband and I were on Century (the hurricane cruise!) on September 18, Deck 8/CC Class. I have to say that we didn't experience any of these things. We usually do much newer ships so I think that I would have noticed some of these things. One of our Cruise Critics friends on that sailing had a great time also but she just came back after a second sailing the end of October and had all types of problems. I know that what she reports is accurate. I just wonder what happened over those weeks. She was our 28th sailing and I would have noticed holes, stains and certainly rust. Or maybe we were having such a great time that we didn't notice.

I wouldn't go now as I've heard that there is actual heavy duty repairs with lots of ripping up and repairing walls after sections have been removed. This is from my TA who has pictures being sent back by people onboard this week.

I have a co-worker sailing on her 1/11/05 in a Sky Suite.

When she told me what she paid I almost passed out. She books with a TA who doesn't specialize in cruise. She is under the 30 days and I don't know if I should even mention it to her. Not much she can do and I don't want to ruin her holiday on the chance that she might get onboard and everything is back as it should be. Quite a dilemma for me. I would want to know but I don't know her that well and can't decide what to do. Any thoughts on that?

[Lois R]

Hi Carol:)

 

I wouldn't say anything to her.....if you think about it.....what can she do? Inside 30 days....unless it is (God Forbid a death, illness, etc) she cannot cancel now....well, of course she can..but it would be a total loss of $$$.

 

When we sailed last week...omg..was it last week?:eek: .....I had a chat with Umberto (Cruise Consultant)...of course he had heard all about "THE NUMBER"......

A lot of that was fixed quicker than "that"...snap your fingers......

now, the big stuff....walls and things...well, I don't know anything about that part.

Hopefully she will have a good time!

 

Carol...last week at this time.....we were in the MARTINI BAR...OCEANLINERS was at 8:30...I miss everyone..........

[tbelian]

Shhhh...let people think the older ships aren't a good choice - they can pay the premium prices, we can enjoy the better rates - I'm all for letting those who don't know better subsidize my sailings, as on the Sun Princess last may ;)

 

I think Stephen has it right!

 

The Century is HORRIBLE. Terrible condition, I wouldn't sail on that ship at any price. Take a different ship, any different ship. Stay way from the Century at ALL COSTS!

[SeaGams]

Good Morning:)

 

What on earth would necessitate walls being ripped out? Carol, does your TA have any details?:eek:

 

Lois:) you're absolutely right! We were on the first sailing after the CDC report, and were totally unaware while onboard. I'll bet all the issues were addressed, and corrected immediately.

 

Good Morning Jeff :cool: I agree, the service on Century was great! Now I'm looking forward to our 10 night cruise on Summit in February:D