Alaska Cruise Review on Celebrity Century

Celebrity Century
Concierge Class, #9065

Embarkation - We were told to arrive at noon instead of 10:30 am, and as a result, everyone seemed to arrive at once.  Everyone was packed into the terminal waiting.    We got in what looked like the shortest line, but learned it wasn’t when it began to switch back and forth.   We finally got or seapass cards, then were directed to another long line for security.   It didn’t help that they delayed embarkation two hours due to immigration the ship before us.  They tried to fixe this in Astoria, by bringing the customs aboard and making us go through customs before leaving for the day.  So, we actually had this problem with long lines twice due to customs.  Once with the arrival of the ship prior to our cruise, and once at a port of call.

We prefer Voyager Class Junior suites on Royal Caribbean, so this was very small.  So, strange, the bed was too short for my husband, and the safe was too high for me at 5'5" tall. The safe was on a shelf so high , that I couldn’t reach all the way inside it.    There was a very steep step (8-10")  into the bathroom.  While there was a grab bar next to the toilet, there was no grab bar outside the bathroom for stepping into the bathroom.  Very tiny room, bed was so small, my husband’s feet stuck about a foot off the edge of the bed.  We had a good sized shower!  And there were two small towel bars for hanging socks, but no towel bars inside the shower area.  If Celebrity wasn’t selling this ship soon, we wouldn’t book this class room again on this ship.   Nice view out the balcony from our sofa, which made it wonderful when exploring Tracy Arm Fjord.   In this respect, the Concierge Class is actually better than the Sky Suite where we couldn’t see out the balcony from the sofa.   Some of the walls took our magnets, but the door didn’t.   The cabin is an excellent location, and easy to find right off the elevator bank.  We were across from the cabin steward station.   Regarding storage, our room was very well designed (except for the desk again too small).  Lots of shelves, and drawers and they held our packing envelopes!  I mention this, because the drawers on the Royal Caribbean Vision Class ships (JS) are too small to hold our 15" packing envelopes.  We had two small closets, so I put my things in one closet, while my husband used the other.   The night table “stands” were way too small.  We usually use our night table stands for our sleepware, but no room.  Mine was covered with the telephone, and the cord wasn’t long enough to reach the sofa next to it.    The desk was way too small.  We had two US electrical outlets on the desk, and two on the first shelf above the minifridge.

Excellent service throughout the cruise with the exception of beverage service in the Island Café and the Elite Coffeehouse Breakfast.   In the Island Café they would not serve us free drinks like they used to on Royal Caribbean.  Since Celebrity is supposed to be a step up, this surprised and disappointed us.    After I sent in my mid-cruise evaluation, they had a traveling free coffee service on day, then that stopped.  In the Elite Breakfast we ate there only three times.  The service was terrible the first two times.  We got our food with no drinks, and both times they seemed to forget our specialty coffee orders.   Both times, we were the last people seated at the table.   I also wrote about this experience in the mid-cruise evaluation form, and got a personal phone call from the C & A representative.   She actually admitted to visiting our table during the time we waited for our forgotten our specialty coffees.  The service was better the third time, but honestly we didn’t really trust them after that.   We were treated to welcome aboard Champagne, Mimosas and also some non-alcoholic drinks.  After each shore excursion we were treated to refreshments right after visiting security.               


Cabin Steward - Fatkul - Excellent!  He personally brought our breakfast room service!   I gave him our list of needs on day one, and he handled them well.  We seldom had to open our door while he was around.   We got a red rose on the first formal night!.   Due to being on antibiotics, we had to wait until day 6 for our bubbly.    I asked about storing the wine, and the very first night we found the minibar cleared and our bubbly inside!

Aqua café was o.k., but not much variety.  We ate there maybe half the time.  We’d been planning to eat there each morning, but to be honest, we weren’t drawn to the place.  There were always open tables.


Dining Room - Stanley - Another excellent worker!  He read through my list of needs on day two (we had Murano’s on day 1).  We had requested a quiet table near a wall, and they stuck us in the middle of the room.

Obvious signs of cutbacks between this cruise and the one last year.  No flowers on the tables in the main dining room.  No turndown chocolates.  We were promised personalized stationary in our room as a stateroom perk, nothing with our name on it, and only one sheet with the name of the ship on it.  We did get one chocolate dipped oreo cookie on the first formal night, but none on the second formal night.

Next cruise office - We had a wonderful offer! $300 onboard credit to use on the current cruise, and $300 on a future booking!  Amount varied depending on booking.  So, we used the onboard credit to upgrade one of our shore excursions.

Excursions - 15 Minutes Between All Aboard deadline and Sail Away.  A bit tight since they told us if we missed the ship they wouldn’t let us back on the ship in future ports due to the Passenger Vessel Services act.

San Francisco - Pre-Cruise Day, Dylan’s Famous Tours.  Wonderful and as advertised.  Several stops at the Golden Gate.  If you shoot pictures on the manual setting, we didn’t have quite enough time to shoot pictures and make it to Cathedral Grove in Muir Woods.   Having spent the last 30+ years in West Texas, I’d forgotten just how breathtaking Muir Woods is.     

Ketchikan - Duck Tour - NO LEG ROOM, I have short legs, but my knees were jammed into the seat in front of me.  So, glad this was only 90 minutes.   The guide was funny and informative!  This excursion has scared us off of any future duck tours.

Juneau - Gold Creek Salmon Bake.   We had only 30 minutes between the end of the excursion and sail away.   Loved the setting, loved the food, loved the falls.  Too rushed to find dessert and to roast marshmallows.   If you have a choice, do the waterfall!             

Icy Strait Point - Went into one of the shops containing Alaska souvenirs and saw a “Made in China” sticker.   In Alaska’s Wildest Kitchen - Got half a dozen recipes and samples, but this was mainly a vehicle for them to promote their canned salmon.  Personally, I found her story of how she made it to Alaska and lived on a boat home  more interesting.

Skagway - Ultimate Alaska Experience ??? - We had Summit Drive, Followed by the White Pass Train, followed by Lunch and Gold Panning.  Loved the summit drive, and our guide was kind enough to take photos of us at several stops.  We also got a nice stop at Bridal Veil Falls as the Train went past!  The lunch was wonderful, the Gold Panning was hokey.   As I’ve read elsewhere, they add some gold flakes to the water to let you believe you’re getting gold.   We got about $8 worth of Gold (others panned as much as $20).  The offer to make it into a necklace would have cost more than the gold.  No offer to sell the gold back.

Astoria - Ultimate Oregon Adventure - Get the passenger side of the bus on the way up!  We missed a lot of views because we were on the left-hand side of the bus, and the views were across from us, still breathtaking.   The WWII Air Hanger museum was a let down.  Lunch was a bag of chips and a half of a sandwich, rice krispy treats and brownies.  We’ve had bigger snacks on shore excursions than this “lunch.”   The Tillamook stop was a crowded tangle.  They had about six cheese samples.  But the ice cream promised in the Celebrity brochure was at our cost!  Even so, we’re glad we didn’t cheap out.  The scoops were huge, and the ice cream delicious.  In fact, we had a couple on our tour that had booked this tour specifically for the Ice Cream!  Cannon Beach was beautiful with lots of shops to browse.

Victoria - Non-Celebrity - Victoria Pedicab - Our second time we booked this, and we had a blast!  Wonderful weather and wonderful guide.  Be sure to visit Roger’s Chocolate, rivals Belgium Chocolate!  We should know, because I insisted in getting some chocolate in Belgium last spring.