Century poor reviews - what gives?

[TacomaJ]

We were on the Century last week for the 7 day Pacific coast cruise as well as last year for the 5 day Pacific coast cruise. There were 26 in our group of friends. We love the ship's layout and it's awesome for a party type cruise. They closed down one of our favorite bars, Michael's, and made it private, which was disappointing. Trust me, Celebrity made some good money off of our group, these people can drink.

 

Going out of LA instead of San Diego wasn't as difficult as I expected. The ports were a big draw for us. I did get tired of tendering though. San Francisco and Catalina were my favorite ports.

 

We never made it to the dining room. We ate (and drank) in the ports and weren't that hungry in the evening. I'd say you could easily get tired of the food in the buffet and thought it had a much better selection and service last year. The omelets, pasta bar and pizza were good. The price of their specialty restaurant went up and we didn't make it there this year either, but it was awesome last year. The people in our group that did eat in the dining room seemed to really like their meals. They also have a very good sandwich bar out by the pool. (Busy with overworked staff) One side is sandwich, Panini's, salads, the other is hamburgers/hot dogs.

 

Overall, staff is very friendly and never encountered any rudeness. I heard they were training new staff on this ship and not sure if that is true. You could tell things were just "different" from last year.

 

Went to the show the first night and it was so bad, I never went back. There are plenty other things I like to do and never am bored. The TV in the room had absolutely nothing on it and I tried to order a movie for $12.95 but it never worked. The night activities really appealed to me, but I don't stay up late enough. On the last night we discovered hidden outlets. Just open the side panel of the desk and voila.

 

No cruise is a bad cruise in my opinion. You can tell, sadly, that the Century is on her way out. They seem to be doing the bare minimum, and I did expect as much. But, really, the cruise was just as good as any cruise I've been on. (Granted, I've never cruise a luxury line)

[happy cruzer]

Thanks for the updates. Some of the negatives listed are things we enjoy. Just goes to show something for everyone. We love the theme parties. We love being served at the buffet.

 

Great details and good balance to set expectations. Thanks very much.

[juggledude]

Mark, thanks so much for returning and giving your review here. It actually makes us feel even better looking forward to our own Century cruise coming up! Ours is a whole-ship charter, so the activities/entertainment will be different from the standard Celebrity fare. Since those seemed to be some of the key low points of your review, sounds very promising for a great cruise!

 

We'll report back after our cruise also...

 

My wife and I were aboard the Century for our honeymoon in November of 2012. It was a delightful cruise aboard a wonderful ship. We did notice (for the first time in our extensive cruising history) that the soundproofing on the cabins was much less than we had ever experienced before... but this being our honeymoon, I imagine this caused much more distress (or delight) to our neighbors that it did for us. I also believe that this was due to our being upgraded to a suite on deck 12... suites that were added on to the ship in drydock a few years back and not originally part of her design.

 

Sad, but inevitable news that she'll be sold next year. I'm glad to be consummating our marriage aboard again, this time in a slightly wilder style.

 

;-)

[charleskrueger]

I read those reviews and have the identical concerns for our upcoming trip. Look forward to your comments after yours!

 

 

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[VegasMark]

I read those reviews and have the identical concerns for our upcoming trip. Look forward to your comments after yours!

 

 

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See post #44.

[Swansforever]

We just got off B2B Pacific Coastal cruises on the Century.

She is a great ship - smaller, friendly, great food and entertainment. We saw no more wear and tear than what we have seen on other Celebrity ships.

Her size is a real advantage as we rarely had to queue for anything and we kept seeing people we had met regularly.

The ports were fantastic and I really couldn't fault the cruise or ship.

I would not hesitate to sail on her again.

[LeftcoastBC]

With no disrespect to the OP. ( who actually may be the first "Negative review reader" to return to his/her thread after their cruise)

I think in the future when ANYONE posts a similar question it should be the duty of the next person to ask the question..

Where did you read those reviews?

 

No one else should carry on any further until that question is answered.

 

Would save some time for a lot of people I think.

 

Or perhaps we should just have a stock answer eg:

 

"Ship" happens sometimes but X ships almost always are in great shape and all those negative reviews are usually wrong. If something is really wrong you will have read about it here in this forum.....

 

I bet posts about all the X ships that are about to leave the fleet sooner or later end up like this one. 4 of the ships I have cruised have gone...they were all in great shape when X finished with them and continue to sail today. There were others also that I did not make it on. The one final cruise I was on did have some issues but not as many as the previously retired one. The issues were as a result of Inventory handling. But the ship was just fine as we all knew it would be.

 

I know this will not work but wouldn't it be nice if for once we got our act together in a common plan. :)

[VegasMark]

With no disrespect to the OP. ( who actually may be the first "Negative review reader" to return to his/her thread after their cruise)

I think in the future when ANYONE posts a similar question it should be the duty of the next person to ask the question..

Where did you read those reviews?

 

No one else should carry on any further until that question is answered.

 

Would save some time for a lot of people I think.

 

Or perhaps we should just have a stock answer eg:

 

"Ship" happens sometimes but X ships almost always are in great shape and all those negative reviews are usually wrong. If something is really wrong you will have read about it here in this forum.....

 

I bet posts about all the X ships that are about to leave the fleet sooner or later end up like this one. 4 of the ships I have cruised have gone...they were all in great shape when X finished with them and continue to sail today. There were others also that I did not make it on. The one final cruise I was on did have some issues but not as many as the previously retired one. The issues were as a result of Inventory handling. But the ship was just fine as we all knew it would be.

 

I know this will not work but wouldn't it be nice if for once we got our act together in a common plan. :)

 

Huh? You want to know where I read the negative reviews? ON CRUISE CRITIC! :) The reason I started the thread was due to the alarmingly high rate of negative reviews written about this ship, specifically in the past few months. The negative reviews of the Century continue to pour in as well. I personally disagree with most of the negative comments, but since this is Cruise CRITIC, everyone is entitled to their opinion. I was merely looking for some reaction to the negative reviews to see if people concurred. Also, there have been threads on the Celebrity forum that have mentioned various problems with the Century. I'm not sure I understand your post.

[sanjoseca]

OK Left Coast, here's another:

 

We (12 of us) just returned from the April 5 Pacific Coastal on Century and were really disappointed.

 

It was clear from the relatively poor condition of the ship that they are investing little money in her upkeep. The door to our balcony kept unlocking itself and partially opened at night when underway. The shower had mildew and missing grout and the woodwork was scratched and warn. The balcony deck was squishy and when you walked on it dirty water came up through the cracks. The balcony furniture was dirty and not very inviting. The bed was comfortable though.

 

I thought that the food in the main dining room was just average and found myself struggling to pick something each night. The food presentation was good, but the selection of items, with the exception of a couple, seemed to be low cost options. I found the wait staff to be just "phoning it in", no friendly conversation or attempts to use passenger names. The only interaction from the staff was with our eight month old grand daughter. The head waiter was cold and quite sullen and was just going through the motions. I always try hard to build a positive relationship with the wait staff early on in the cruise, but it didn't work this time.

 

We had preordered food for the eight month old ahead of time as specified in pre boarding information, but it didn't show up even after multiple enquiries until the third day. (Yes, I had to pay the full third person rate for her).

 

You often hear that Century Crew is extremely outgoing and friendly..... Almost as an excuse for other short comings on the ship. However, I never saw anything better than I had seen on other ships of the line. I would see groups of officers in Islands Cafe, but they never seemed to make any attempts to interact with passengers. The stuck to themselves as far as I could tell.

 

We have three more cruises booked with Celebrity, but for the first time, I will have to consider using other cruise lines if reports on Solstice begin to sound like the many that I am now seeing on Century.

 

You can take this all with a grain of salt if you wish, it's merely a synopsis of what I saw and felt on Century and it matters to me.

 

I should have paid closer attention to what host Andy was saying after the dry dock and lowered my expectations considerably.

Edited April 14, 2014 by sanjoseca

[CU64]

OK Left Coast, here's another:

 

We (12 of us) just returned from the April 5 Pacific Coastal on Century and were really disappointed.

 

It was clear from the relatively poor condition of the ship that they are investing little money in her upkeep. The door to our balcony kept unlocking itself and partially opened at night when underway. The shower had mildew and missing grout and the woodwork was scratched and warn. The balcony deck was squishy and when you walked on it dirty water came up through the cracks. The balcony furniture was dirty and not very inviting. The bed was comfortable though.

 

I thought that the food in the main dining room was just average and found myself struggling to pick something each night. The food presentation was good, but the selection of items, with the exception of a couple, seemed to be low cost options. I found the wait staff to be just "phoning it in", no friendly conversation or attempts to use passenger names. The only interaction from the staff was with our eight month old grand daughter. The head waiter was cold and quite sullen and was just going through the motions. I always try hard to build a positive relationship with the wait staff early on in the cruise, but it didn't work this time.

 

We had preordered food for the eight month old ahead of time as specified in pre boarding information, but it didn't show up even after multiple enquiries until the third day. (Yes, I had to pay the full third person rate for her).

 

You often hear that Century Crew is extremely outgoing and friendly..... Almost as an excuse for other short comings on the ship. However, I never saw anything better than I had seen on other ships of the line. I would see groups of officers in Islands Cafe, but they never seemed to make any attempts to interact with passengers. The stuck to themselves as far as I could tell.

 

We have three more cruises booked with Celebrity, but for the first time, I will have to consider using other cruise lines if reports on Solstice begin to sound like the many that I am now seeing on Century.

 

You can take this all with a grain of salt if you wish, it's merely a synopsis of what I saw and felt on Century and it matters to me.

 

I should have paid closer attention to what host Andy was saying after the dry dock and lowered my expectations considerably.

 

Maybe it is because you had a group of 12 and a baby onboard, which can create stress on all of you. That being said, I noticed all the things you outlined in my CC balcony, Deck 9 and it did not bother us one bit; we were too busy appreciating the beautiful calm ocean at night + the perfect weather + scenery! I only care about bed (great) storage (great) cleanliness (great)...we do not look around to see the wear and tear on furniture and carpets unless it is something out of the ordinary/and or dangerous. We can always find good salads, made to order dishes at buffet, and often in MDR, esp from left side of menu. The Aqua Spa Café was excellent as was Murano!

 

I would recommend that you might try other Celebrity ships & venues that are

larger, newer, maybe more to your liking. Also, I think groups are always difficult to satisfy everyone. Good luck!

[C 2 C]

I'm sorry to hear that you had such a negative experience. Would you be able to post the names of senior officers? I wonder if there has a change in staff that may have caused a decline from the experience we had in February. :confused:

[sanjoseca]

Maybe it is because you had a group of 12 and a baby onboard, which can create stress on all of you. That being said, I noticed all the things you outlined in my CC balcony, Deck 9 and it did not bother us one bit; we were too busy appreciating the beautiful calm ocean at night + the perfect weather + scenery! I only care about bed (great) storage (great) cleanliness (great)...we do not look around to see the wear and tear on furniture and carpets unless it is something out of the ordinary/and or dangerous. We can always find good salads, made to order dishes at buffet, and often in MDR, esp from left side of menu. The Aqua Spa Café was excellent as was Murano!

 

I would recommend that you might try other Celebrity ships & venues that are

larger, newer, maybe more to your liking. Also, I think groups are always difficult to satisfy everyone. Good luck!

 

Well, I'm very happy for you and I'm sure that you will continue to sail Century. I obviously have higher standards than you..... Set by my experiences on many other of Celebrity's ships (We are Elite Plus)

 

Go ahead and try to chalk it up to our group's size if you like, the group and the little baby had nothing to do with what I observed and what I felt while on board. You're only fooling yourself. In the end, how I am treated and how I feel about a product determines whether or not I will continue to purchase.

 

Cruisenut, I would give you the officers names, however I think the tone had been set by headquarters when they decided to severely shorten the ship yard work. It was almost like the crew has given up on Century and I think that a year from now she will be in really sad shape. I kind of resent CEL selling me a cruise on what, in my opinion, has become sub standard.

[juggledude]

... I obviously have higher standards than you.....

 

Higher standards and piss poor manners!

 

I've had great cruises on shoddy ships, and poor cruises on brand new ships...

 

The only common denominator I can find is my attitude.

 

I imagine your experience may have been negative wherever you went.

[cruzsnooze]

I just got off the Century last week. The service was "slow" to be kind. The buffet ran out of things and it took forever for someone to clear the dirty dishes so you could go back for something else. The service in the bars was way to slow, I waited 20 minutes on one occasion. I personally would not sail on the Century again. I will try another Celebrity ship in the distant future but not for a while.

[sanjoseca]

Higher standards and piss poor manners!

 

 

Does that make you feel better? My comment was no worse than yours. And no worse than someone telling me that my opinion is stress related based on our group of twelve and having an eight month baby with us. That's just rediculous and has no bearing on what I observed.

 

I noticed that you have not been aboard Century since 2011. I was aboard last year and had no complaints.

 

I gave my honest opinion regarding my sailing experience and I am perfectly free to do so. It happens all the time on here...... Someone posts their experience that doesn't fit the positive tone that some expect and others will always look for reasons why the person is wrong when they have no idea what that person really experiences.

 

Feel free to ignore my posts if you don't want to hear it. I posted my feelings as my opinion and that's what counts to me in the end.

Edited April 14, 2014 by sanjoseca

[koolforkatz]

I obviously have higher standards than you..... Set by my experiences on many other of Celebrity's ships (We are Elite Plus)

 

Ouch.... I guess you have higher standards than I as well. But then I'm only Elite, not Elite Plus. I was on a the Century in March and had a great time. No, it didn't have all the bells and whistles of the S or even M class ships. Yes, it is an older ship and is not in pristine, perfect condition. But she is clean, the crew were some of the friendliest we'd ever encountered, we were lucky to have amazing table mates who we stayed up late dancing with every night and just had a fantastic time. I was happier being on the Century than I would have been at my desk working....

 

I'm looking forward to sailing with her again in June.

[wwcruisers]

Not discounting anyone's personal opinion's or experience, here. But, like Arno, I'm surprised about the ships' officers/crew comments. We were also on two of the Century Bahamas/Caribbean cruises, this past February. We found Captain George and his staff to be very personable, and out-going. And, since we were on the very first cruise, post dry-dock, there was quite a turn-over in staff. We noticed a few hiccups in service on the first 3-nighter. But, by the second leg of our b2b, everyone seemed to be settling in nicely -- overall service was noticeably improved. :cool:

Edited April 14, 2014 by wwcruisers

[sanjoseca]

My Elite Plus comment was a response to someone suggesting that I try other Celebrity ships when they didn't know my sailing history. Elite Plus has never been in my signature like so many others do, or use it as an avatar. Had I said how many cruises I have taken, I would have been criticized for that......it really has no bearing on what I thought of Century on our recent voyage.

 

Look, for all of you that enjoyed your recent Century cruise I really am happy for you and I believe you. However, Century is no longer a ship that I will book again and believe it or not I get to make that decision regardless of how positive some of you are.

 

Had I read more of the comments regarding Century I would either have gone with lowered expectations or changed to another ship. Sounds fishy to me.

 

It's really interesting to me that Celebrity is giving cabins away at drastically discounted prices and the ship was not fully booked on last weeks cruise.

Edited April 14, 2014 by sanjoseca

[sanjoseca]

Ouch.... I guess you have higher standards than I as well. I was happier being on the Century than I would have been at my desk working

 

Interesting that your comparison is about being at work versus sailing on Century.

[kc320]

I am also just back from sailing on the Century last week...and yes...it was my 1st cruise on Celebrity so I have nothing to compare it to, other than my prior cruises on Royal, Carnival, HAL...and a bunch of other lines who are no longer sailing...and for me I found the service to be very sadly lacking! My cabin was fine..a bit small..but I knew that going in...cabin steward was great...but when I sit for 20 mins. in the special "elite" morning breakfast event & have waiters walking by without so much as a glance in my direction that upsets me...so much so that I left...only to have the same thing happen in the evening cocktail event...I travel solo and do not need to be fussed & fawned over...but when I make eye contact with a waiter...raise my hand for service & then get ignored I don't consider that to be an enjoyable cruise experience at all!

[LetsGetWet!]

I obviously have higher standards than you..... Set by my experiences on many other of Celebrity's ships (We are Elite Plus)

 

You're only fooling yourself.

Does that make you feel better?

 

I gave my honest opinion regarding my sailing experience and I am perfectly free to do so. It happens all the time on here...... Someone posts their experience that doesn't fit the positive tone that some expect and others will always look for reasons why the person is wrong when they have no idea what that person really experiences.

You're right - everyone is entitled to their opinions. What he was commenting on wasn't your opinions, but your snotty, snobby, elitist comments towards another poster which I quoted above. You're NOT entitled to that, and it's not out of line to call you on that!

 

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[koolforkatz]

Interesting that your comparison is about being at work versus sailing on Century.

 

You don't know, maybe I LOVE my job and that's how much I loved being on the Century ;)

[C 2 C]

I was happier being on the Century than I would have been at my desk working....

 

I'm looking forward to sailing with her again in June.

 

But I would also like to know if I would be as happy sailing on Century as any other Celebrity ship.. Work is a four letter word I no longer use when thinking about a cruise. ;)

 

I value every cruiser's opinion of how they feel about their personal cruise experience. Every frequent cruiser knows that there are a lot of options from which to pick. When someone notices a deterioration compared to a former cruise onboard the same ship, we should all take notice.

[sanjoseca]

You don't know, maybe I LOVE my job and that's how much I loved being on the Century ;)

 

Great answer, I never thought of that:)

[C 2 C]

when I sit for 20 mins. in the special "elite" morning breakfast event & have waiters walking by without so much as a glance in my direction that upsets me...so much so that I left...only to have the same thing happen in the evening cocktail event...I travel solo and do not need to be fussed & fawned over...but when I make eye contact with a waiter...raise my hand for service & then get ignored I don't consider that to be an enjoyable cruise experience at all!

 

Not acceptable at all..