CENTURY, comments from disembarking passengerss

I work at the airport and on this day, the 7th of Oct., I was working the line going into security. I noticed the cruise tag on someone's luggage and inquired about their cruise. Just returning from a 10 day Century cruise and disembarking in San Diego, I now noticed several passengers and starting taking a little poll of my own. I asked several (about 20) people 3 questions. How was the cruise? How was the service? How was the food?

Everyone answered that the cruise was great so I'll post responses to service and food.

"Food was good, service was terrible"

"food and service was great"

"food was horrible service was great"

"food and service was fabulous!"

"food and service was great but there were a lot of rude passengers belittling the crew. Several had such an air of superiority and acted like they should be waited on hand and foot" She overheard one passenger tell a crew member "Since you don't speak perfect English, you shouldn't be working on this ship".

One gentleman who was on his 108th cruise (he was elderly) said he had been on better.

Anyway, I was just having a little fun with it and I wanted to hear the differences of opinion but we all know this to be true anyway.

Also, the head chef and Pastry chef came though and I chatted with them for awhile. They were very nice. The head chef said he was headed to the Infinity in a couple of months.

Interesting. Thanks for the info!

I work at the airport and on this day, the 7th of Oct., I was working the line going into security. I noticed the cruise tag on someone's luggage and inquired about their cruise. Just returning from a 10 day Century cruise and disembarking in San Diego, I now noticed several passengers and starting taking a little poll of my own. I asked several (about 20) people 3 questions. How was the cruise? How was the service? How was the food?

Everyone answered that the cruise was great so I'll post responses to service and food.

 

"Food was good, service was terrible"

"food and service was great"

"food was horrible service was great"

"food and service was fabulous!"

"food and service was great but there were a lot of rude passengers belittling the crew. Several had such an air of superiority and acted like they should be waited on hand and foot" She overheard one passenger tell a crew member "Since you don't speak perfect English, you shouldn't be working on this ship".

 

One gentleman who was on his 108th cruise (he was elderly) said he had been on better.

 

Anyway, I was just having a little fun with it and I wanted to hear the differences of opinion but we all know this to be true anyway.

 

Also, the head chef and Pastry chef came though and I chatted with them for awhile. They were very nice. The head chef said he was headed to the Infinity in a couple of months.

that pretty much sums up a day on the life of a person reading reviews on cruisecritic........

Sometimes I wonder if these people are even on the same ship when I read the various reviews....

that pretty much sums up a day on the life of a person reading reviews on cruisecritic........

 

 

Sometimes I wonder if these people are even on the same ship when I read the various reviews....

Differences in expectations equals a different outcome.

...

 

 

Sometimes I wonder if these people are even on the same ship when I read the various reviews....

Talk to people that are brothers and sisters. You wonder if they were from the same family. My mother in law grew up in the south and were dirt poor, she is now 90. Sometimes they didn't have a house to stay in so they just camped our under a tree. She had 3 sisters and many times when toghether they will mention something and how great it was and she will ask how did they have that when she never did.

.:D

.

This is why some people ask " with all the bad reviews I read on such and such a ship should I go ahead and book it?" It's so difficult to comment because it's just not the same experience for everyone.

Talk to people that are brothers and sisters. You wonder if they were from the same family.

 

 

.:D

 

 

.

I know my brother and I can't be from the same family. My mother must have taken the wrong kid home. :)

Not sure about food, but service can vary depending on particular waiters and stewards.

Not sure about food, but service can vary depending on particular waiters and stewards.

... or, and I think just as likely, the customer.

Sue

Not sure about food, but service can vary depending on particular waiters and stewards.

The others at our table all ordered 2 lobster tails on formal night, so I did also.

When my plate was placed in front of me, it had only one lobster tail on it.

I thought the waiter had forgotten the second one, and figured I would remind him about it the next time he came around.

I started to eat the lobster tail on my plate.

It was so tough and rubbery that I decided I didn't want a second one after all.

About 10 minutes later, the waiter came up behind me and dropped another lobster tail on my plate. I almost didn't bother to taste it, but decided to take a bite just to see.

The second one was tender and delicious!

Now I find it easy to understand how two people can have very different opinions of the same meal.

If I had only been served the first lobster tail, or only the second one, when somebody asked how I liked the lobster tail on Celebrity, I would have had two totally opposite opinions. :D

Since then I have ordered lobster tail on cruises again that have ranged somewhere in between those two. There have been a lot of differences in steaks and prime rib and fish as well.

I started to eat the lobster tail on my plate.

It was so tough and rubbery that I decided I didn't want a second one after all.

 

About 10 minutes later, the waiter came up behind me and dropped another lobster tail on my plate. I almost didn't bother to taste it, but decided to take a bite just to see.

The second one was tender and delicious!

Curious why though you did not just send the first one back? I am not one to complain for no reason, but I did politely have to point out that a lobster tail I had once was as tough as shoe leather. It was replaced with, like your second one, a delicious plump and juicy tail.

Plenty of people moaning on that cruise about the food going downhill, which if true meant the food 10 years ago must have been something unreal as I generally found the food to be superb. I remember one woman's particular complaint was that they did not have a venison dish on the menu every night...

I know my brother and I can't be from the same family. My mother must have taken the wrong kid home. :)

ah! YOU ?

sorry couldn't resist.

She overheard one passenger tell a crew member "Since you don't speak perfect English, you shouldn't be working on this ship".

That hag should be grateful I wasn't there. To treat people that way simply because you know they won't talk back is nasty, common behavior and quite cowardly.

That hag should be grateful I wasn't there. To treat people that way simply because you know they won't talk back is nasty, common behavior and quite cowardly.

Unfortunetly, some folks are plain idiots.....:mad:.....that woman has

no brains either.

Rude people are a fact of life and those on a cruise ship are just a

small % of life.

ah! YOU ?

 

sorry couldn't resist.

Yes, me :o

We had a waiter on one cruise that gave a recommendation on the food when we asked for it, which we quickly learned to do.

One nite he said "I recommend anything but the fish).:(

We didn't order fish, and noticed the only plates with much food left on them were the fish dinners.

He had done his research before dinner, and very well. I wish we had more waiters like that around here. :cool:

Talk to people that are brothers and sisters. You wonder if they were from the same family. :D

My brother swears that I am an only child! :D

I loved the food on my RCI cruises, but others on the same cruises, on their reviews said that the food was terrible! I love Osso Buco since I tried it on the EOS (lamb one night; veal another). Others saw those on the menus and asked why they couldn't serve 'normal' food! So - different strokes for different folks!

I know my brother and I can't be from the same family. My mother must have taken the wrong kid home. :)

Sometimes I wonder if my sisters and I even have the same parents ;) We look alike but boy are the personalities different!

It is all subjective - not just food but all of it. I still love the food, the service, all of it.

It's a vacation, folks. Not your excuse to be rude and snarky.

This is why some people ask " with all the bad reviews I read on such and such a ship should I go ahead and book it?" It's so difficult to comment because it's just not the same experience for everyone.

Well, when X added a month of Caribbean/Bahamas cruises for Century (Feb/Mar 2014), one of those 8-nighters booked up in less than three weeks! Many of the folks on board are long-time Celebrity cruisers, who have sailed on Century before (many times, for some of them). :cool:

I just returned from the 11 night Century sailing on October 7th.

My observations: the service was outstanding and the ship was in good condition considering her age. Most of the food was good with a few exceptions. The quality of the meat (beef, veal and lamb) was not up to Celebrity's standards and was very tough.

The ship closed up by midnight. None of the lounges/bars were opened late.

 

 

My observations: The quality of the meat (beef, veal and lamb) was not up to Celebrity's standards and was very tough.

I wish I could tell you that this was an isolated incident, but (IMHO) the quality of X's meat and seafood fleet-wide has considerably slipped, in the last year. There's no more escargot, tough cuts of meat have replaced filet -- and you see hake on the menu, where halibut used to be. :(

I wish I could tell you that this was an isolated incident, but (IMHO) the quality of X's meat and seafood fleet-wide has considerably slipped, in the last year. There's no more escargot, tough cuts of meat have replaced filet -- and you see hake on the menu, where halibut used to be. :(

Well... my friend has just returned from a cruise on Summit to Canada and they did have escargots every night. We also had them on Brilliance (RCCL) every night two weeks ago. So inconsistency might be an issue here.

We got off the Century on 10/7. Escargot was on the "everyday" menu-my husband had it 3 times and others at our table more often. Lamb shanks were huge and delicious. but one night's prime rib was very thin and had no flavor, while a second night's offering was very nice! In general, food was inconsistent, especially the dinner entrees and desserts. Fresh fruit was scarce the last 2 days, as was coffee in the buffet and sometimes the MDR at the end. Captains were changed in mid sail and CDC inspection held in Catalina. Weather bad on first half of sailing, and gorgeous for the second half. But none of these things should completely overshadow the fact that you are on a cruise.....and not at work!!

Yes, the Century is old and creaks in heavy seas, with wear evident in some furnishings (such as in the Crystal room as described), but the wood décor has a beauty of its own to us. We saw lots of cleaning going on every day, our bedding was in fine order, pasta carbonara was excellent, and a friendly staff was helping us enjoy our time.

Things have changed on all lines and ships, as has life and society in general. But cruising, tho not perfect every time, is still a great way to travel.

Although Celebrity would have you believe that all their food comes from one place, they really appear to purchase food worldwide and much of the food quality on a specific cruise depends on what the meat/fish/vegetable vendor at the port provides. I'd agree that the food quality has trended downwards, but I think we're still a long way from celebrity intentionally serving tough steaks and poor fish.

Well... my friend has just returned from a cruise on Summit to Canada and they did have escargots every night. We also had them on Brilliance (RCCL) every night two weeks ago. So inconsistency might be an issue here.

Well, last March on Equinox, we couldn't get them anywhere (including the specialty restaurants). Your report is very encouraging -- maybe the snails are (slowly) coming back to X! ;):cool: