Celebrity - M/V Century - April 16 - 29, 2006
Our first Transatlantic cruise started April 16, 2006 aboard Celebrity Cruise Lines M/V Century from Port Everglades, Fort Lauderdale, Florida to the Port of Barcelona, Spain.
The first 6 days were at sea arriving at Ponta Delgada, Azores on Sunday the 23rd. Another day at sea then we arrived at Lisbon, Portugal on Tuesday the 25th. The next day we arrived at Cadiz, Spain. Then another day at sea, passing through the Straits of Gibraltar into the Mediterranean Sea. On Friday the 28th we arrived at Barcelona, Spain which was the end of the cruise.
In future entries I will address each port of call. At the moment, I want to deal with the joys and horrors (pluses and deltas in the jargon of my former job) of the cruise itself. Unbeknownst to us, this was the last cruise of the M/V Century before it was to receive a major face lift - and it really needed it. In Fort Lauderdale, containers of supplies were loaded on the bow of the ship and stacks of plywood were strapped on one of the upper decks. Workers were taken on board along with the passengers. By the second day at sea it was obvious to everyone what was going on during this cruise.
Day and night workers were dismantling the ship from the inside out. Men were pulling cable through the ceilings in preparation for updated communications and Internet access. Many of our shipmates were complaining constantly of the noise day and night, and the ceilings which were open to the wiring and decking above. Most unsightly.
We usually book an inside stateroom. Finances certainly play a role in the decision as you can save several hundred dollars over a stateroom with a port hole looking out at the ocean. We feel that the cabin is the place to rest, relax and to sleep. Who needs a port hole to sleep? Actually, you can sleep sounder and longer without a port hole because you have no outside light to wake you up early or to disturb a mid-afternoon nap.
Unfortunately, the workmen started to bang, pound, slam and grind on the inside wall behind our stateroom. Sleep was not an option while this cacophony was going on. To the credit of the ship's staff, we complained and were relocated to an outside cabin within the hour.
We were a little dismayed though. We found out that we had to switch cabin stewards when we switched cabins. Franco was one of the better stewards that we have had on a cruise and, after the fiasco on the last cruise with Carnival, was a welcome change. One thing that surprised us though, a flipflop from a previous passenger was found under the bed. As a brief aside, one of the couples that we befriended told us that when they checked into their stateroom they found clothes on the messed up bed and a porn tape playing on the TV. They requested their beds be remade and were quickly accommodated.
Our new cabin was not without problems though. One of the robes was missing. We had problems getting the stateroom made up. After calling the Guest Relations Desk several times(we could not find our steward anywhere) we finally tracked down a steward and asked what we had to do to get the stateroom made up. After insisting we had a "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door all day - and they could not find such a sign on the door nor in our cabin, a couple stewards flew into action and took care of cleaning the room and making the beds - at about 4 PM. The next day our new steward, Antonio, offered many apologies and explained that it was his day off and his assistants had not handled the situation quite right. From that moment on, he appeared to be pandering to us, in fear of diminishing the almighty tip at the end of the cruise. Not a pretty sight. And to top all this off, I checked under the bed while packing the last night (as any good passenger should do) and was shocked to pull ladies underwear and outer clothing from under the bed! I guess it is no longer customary for stewards to clean under the beds when preparing the cabins for the next passengers.
Our new cabin was much quieter than the first one - they would have to be tearing off the outer hull to be making the same noise. However, we were on the 4th deck. The 3rd deck started the crew's quarters and storage areas. It would seem that the area under our new cabin had something stored that was not quite secured. There were some really peculiar noises that seemed to moan up from below day and night.
Not a day went by that groups of passengers were not complaining about noise, clutter, lack of cleaning or the state of disrepair. The only thing worse than having to complain is to listen to other people complaining.
The crew in general were really great. Our dining room waiter Reynald from the Phillipines, and his assistant waiter Wiwid from Indonesia, were great. In fact, Wiwid ran into us all over the ship and treated us with the best smile and service of anyone on any cruise. He earned a pumped up tip at the end of the cruise.
The Captain was most cordial, usually. We threw a Gibraltar party when we passed through he Straits at about 1 AM and he came and chatted about the passage and all sorts of history and trivia. I have never experienced a captain so personable. Somehow I think he just happened to be there to see Gibraltar and his presence had nothing to do with our "party", but I will give him the benefit. However, I must say that at a Captain's Q&A several days before, someone asked him when we would pass through he straits and he said that if he told us then we would not remember so he would wait until we were closer. It really was quite insulting - perhaps it was just a Greek custom - or probably it was his saving some face because he just did not know and could not bring himself to say so.
The highlights of the cruise were the passengers. We had a group of "Friends of Dorothy" that were just great and afforded interaction throughout the cruise. We are keeping in touch with many of them and invite those who wish to add comments - pro or con. The dining experience can be a grab bag of delights or horrors. We always ask for a table of 8 or 10. That way if there is a couple or two that are not compatible or just plain weird, you still have several couples that you can chat with. I pity the poor people that have a table of four and find that they are just not compatible in any way with the other couple. Makes for a very long meal, day after day. However, the other three couples at our table were just grand. Starting the first night we discovered that we watched "24" and had many other programs in common. From there we were never at a lose for anything to chat about. We even mixed up the seats day after day so we could sit next to everyone at least once to get to know each one better. And our interaction was not limited to the table, which is most common, but continued throughout the day and into many of the ship's activities. Midge & Ray, Carol & Dave, Barbie & John - we raise a toast to you!
The Century was going in for a revitalization that would only take 28 days and 18 hours. When we de barked at Barcelona, 900 more workmen were coming on board to continue the dismantling of the ship en route to Palermo where all the prefabricated new things would be attached and the face lift completed. Celebrity really fell down by not making this public knowledge to the 1860 passengers before booking. One passenger had heard that this was the last cruise before the face lift. He told us he specifically asked if dismantling and preperatory work was going to take place while passengers were on board because he heard about the revitalization. He said he was told emphatically by Celebrity that there would be no such activity!
On an up note - we did win 100 free Internet minutes valued at $70 US. Those poor people who were paying for Internet connection. The satellite service was so poor that we averaged 11 minutes ($7.70) to review our inbox for important email - just review, not read - and to compose and send one email. Just the sign on and off process took two to three minutes.
The Century really needed this face lift. It was obvious that the crew slacked off on the daily duties. Brass was not shined, windows not cleaned, stained upholstery everywhere and musty smells in some hallways and in the balcony seats in the theater.
In October, we are considering flying to Europe to take the new Century back to the United States to see all the changes. Many of the friends we met talked about doing the same. Would be grand seeing many of the friends we made, and cruising on the "new" Century with no noises and no one complaining.
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