Grandmaanne7

Complaints come from un-met expectations. My expectation for a cruise is a safe, clean ship that gets me where it is supposed to go. I expect decent service, decent food, the chance to get away from the stress of home, the cold weather, and maybe meet some interesting people. I DO NOT expect to be waited on hand and foot as though I was some king. I do not expect very busy workers to stop and chat with me, just as I would not expect this from workers in any other retail business. Trust me, there were a lot of days I did not smile at people with whom I interacted at work. But I tried to do my "job" which is all I expect of the crew. I figure I am on the ship, on the ocean, being served by others. If the music is too loud, then I can put on my earphones, or go sit somewhere else. If I am bothered by pool games, then I will go sit in a quiet spot on the upper deck. I also do not expect "banquet" type food, being prepared to serve over 2,000 people in a relatively short amount of time, to be of gourmet quality. But I did not have to shop for it, prepare it, serve it, and clean it up. So, what are your expectations. if they are consistently NOT MET, then perhaps you should spend your money somewhere else. That is my rant. Happy Easter.

 

Ditto!

We, too, loved the Cova Cafe. Service, music and beverages were all amazing! Many happy hours spent there. Enjoy!

I, too, was on Century recently (Jan. 20 - Feb. 4) and absolutely loved it! It was our first Celebrity cruise and we have already booked another as we so truly enjoyed our first experience.

 

We were blown away with the excellent level of service in all areas. Yes, there were minor issues and the cruise was not perfect but we are able to overlook imperfection as we, too, are not perfect. The crew, food, service and entertainment were delightful.

 

Of course, I heard complaints while we were on board (one woman's tea cup was not heated prior to the tea being poured into it!!!!!) so I believe that no matter how great a job the crew does, someone will always find something not to their liking. I would say go and make the best of it. Leave the complainers to their complaints and ignore them!

I also got email comfirmation of the Classic Bev, but cannot see it as yet on My Cruise info.

 

This sometimes takes a few days or even weeks. On our last cruise, it was about 3 weeks before anything appeared but we booked 9 months out so there was no panic.

I will echo the opinions of those who think the Century is a lovely ship. We were on her in January/February of this year just before drydock and loved the experience. We saw very little of what people complained about. As a matter of fact, the carpet in our cabin looked brand new. By day 10 or so, we made it a mission to find some worn furniture and did actually see some but realized that we hadn't noticed when we weren't looking for it. The ship is comfortable! The crew is incredibly amazing! The food and drinks are never ending (we had the complimentary 123Go beverage package). What more could you want???

They were checking bags and had dogs about in Cabo San Lucas last month. Lots of stuff was being tossed out. Not worth the risk of a fine or introducing a dangerous organism as previously mentioned.

We were on Century 3 weeks ago and DH enjoyed a Crown Royal every evening on the Classic Package. In 15 days, we were only refused 2 items on the package (one was a martini and I can't remember what the other was) and it was very easy to find something else to enjoy that was included. We would be challenged to cruise without this package in the future as it allowed us to relax and not worry about additional costs and gave us the freedom to have anything we wanted anytime. I especially enjoyed the fresh squeezed grapefruit juice at breakfast - yum yum!

Good enough for me.

Thanks everyone.

 

Sparkling wine is good enough for me too! It's a lovely gesture that says "Welcome aboard. Here's to a great cruise!" I'll drink to that any day! :D

[quote name='davekathy']One of our Cruises on the last evening I put the last piece of luggage outside of our cabin. The next sound I heard was the cabin door close and latch. No card to open the cabin door, the wife taking a shower and I was standing there wearing only my boxers. Lucky for me the next person I saw in the hallway was the guy collecting the luggage. I asked him to call down to guest relations and have someone come up and let me in. That was the longest few minutes I’ve ever spent waiting for someone. To top it off others Cruisers were heading back to their cabins. Yikes! The guy from security assured me this wasn’t the first time he has seen this and I told him it probably wouldn’t be his last. When disembarking the next morning he saw me as we were leaving the ship and he gave me thumbs up and a big smile.[/quote]

[quote name='Despegue']This happened to me ...only WITHOUT the boxers:eek::o
During the night, I had to go to the bathroom, was like a zombie and took the wrong door. Before I knew it, Despegue was locked in the hallway as God created him...luckily my wife is a very light sleeper and I managed a quick escape back in:D[/quote]

Oh my!:eek: Thanks so much! I really needed a laugh this morning :D I will take heed and carry my card at ALL times.

I would recommend "The Path Between the Seas" by David McCullough. It has a lot of facts and figures, and may be difficult to read, but I took notes and outlined it.

A few Pictures from Panama Canal trip on Millennium.

 

https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=f6fe23a6e5a9ec3f&id=F6FE23A6E5A9EC3F%211905

 

I also recommend this book. I read it prior to and during the first few days of our first Panama cruise and found that it truly enhanced the journey through the canal. Admittedly, some parts are a little dry but it definitely is well worth the effort.

Thanks for posting. We board in 12 days and are looking forward to it. We are deck 4 port side. I will try to remember to post regarding the AC quality.

Thank you all for your reassuring responses. I'm sure we'll be just fine. We have often struck up cruise-long friendships with people who dined in close proximity.

How accurate are the MDRs on the deck plans? I count a total of 10 tables for 2 on the Century. Is that really all there are? How difficult will it be for us to get a table for 2? We are on Select dining (I think that's the term, this is our first Celebrity cruise). Will this be an issue? It won't completely ruin our cruise but we do like to dine alone as vacation time is reconnect time for us.

You're right. A lot of us do feel entitled. Hopefully your post will actually make people think twice and at least treat the people they complain to with a little patience and respect. They definitely deserve that.

If you make full use of the trolley and set aside a full day it's an OK deal. You will see a lot of the city and can preselect a few spots that you want to briefly see. But things like the Zoo require a full day so I wouldn't use the hoho trolley for that. If you have less than a full day it probably isn't a good value either.

 

Thanks Kenish. We have one and a half days and plan to use the trolley for the full day exactly as you have suggested and explore on foot for the half day. The zoo is not on our to-do list for this visit. I feel better about our decision. Thanks. :)

Nobody has mentioned the hop on-hop off trolley for getting around town. We are spending 2 days in San Diego pre cruise. Are we silly to be considering this as a way to see a lot of the city?

Thanks for the suggestion. Sounds great!

I would also be interested in this information. Any input is appreciated.

Thank you for your review. I'm anxiously approaching my first Celebrity cruise on Century and soaking up any info I can get. Much appreciated.

Thanks so much for posting. We will be on Century for 15 days in January for our first Celebrity cruise. Glad to hear you are enjoying the ship. I've heard many good things about her and we are really looking forward to experiencing it ourselves.

I'll pass along a tip it took us a few days to figure out....If your cabin is mid-ship and you're on the Lido, take the glass stairwell by the stage. It will bring you down to the Promenade. Go to the right and around the first corner and you can catch an elevator. Before we discovered the glass stairwell, we were going all the way forward to the atrium elevators and then doubling back on our deck.

 

Hope it helps!

 

Happy Cruising!

 

 

 

Far From Over is a really good show, especially if you like 80s music. It will be on the last night, so get seats early. Also, the waterslides are great, even if you are not a kid.

Thanks a bunch! These are definitely the kinds of tips I was hoping for :)

I am so excited, we leave on Thursday, Halloween. I will try and post my review at the beginning of next week for you. If I see something interesting, I will try and remember to tell you.

 

So Excited to go....

 

Kathy

Thanks Kathy. Have a fabulous cruise!

Thanks all! You've given us lots to look forward to. I'm sure we will find lots of great, fun things to fill our 4 days aboard.

We board the Sensation in just 2 weeks. Since it is such a short cruise (4 days), and 2 in our party of 6 are first time cruisers, I would hate for them to miss out on something simply because we didn't know about it soon enough. Usually we cruise 7 days or longer and often learn something new or interesting about the ship each day. Is there anything that we just shouldn't miss, such as shows, special areas, secrets, freebies, warm cookies at 3:00, etc. on the Sensation?

Tenerifesharon and Zoncom thank you both for your comments. I hadn't considered that it might be a bus station. That makes perfect sense. I am still looking forward to our 15 days aboard and will deal with any issues, should they arise, if and when they happen. We both tend to sleep very well at sea and hope this will work in our favour. From what I have read about Celebrity and the Century, we should be more than pleased with the overall experience.