Celebrity Century Review

3.5 / 5.0
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Concierge class on Celebrity Century

Review for the Eastern Mediterranean Cruise on Celebrity Century

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Sail Date: Jul 2010
Cabin: Concierge Class

We arrived in Barcelona the day before the cruise began, arriving late afternoon in the 'Spa Senator Hotel'. It was about 30 Euros from the airport to the hotel, which is situated in the middle of a housing estate of high-rise flats. You could see the sea from the rooftop, which also had a rather small swimming pool - not the cleanest pool I've been in, though, so that turned out to be a quick dip rather than a long soak in the early evening sun! The hotel was a fair bit out of the centre of the city, but public transport was reasonably close by if you wanted to go into Barcelona itself. The hotel was very clean, and the staff relaxed and friendly. They recommended a local place just around the corner for dinner, which was cheap'n'cheerful and very good food. Breakfast at the hotel was 16 Euros per person, which was a little pricey for essentially just a continental style breakfast, but with an omelette station if you wanted something hot. For a one night stay it was fine, and it does have a spa complex to check out if you were staying longer, but I think if I was staying longer I'd opt for something with a bit more charm and a better location.

Taxi to the port was about 35 Euros. From arriving to sitting down in the Islands Cafe was about 30 minutes, which was incredible! The Xpress pass speeds things up, and at the port itself you just find the designated lane for your class of cabin and check in. We arrived at 11.30am, and there were no queues. Complimentary fruit juice and water were available, which was a nice touch, as was the 'welcome aboard' drink. Overall, embarking was very fast and efficient. Announcements kept you informed about when the staterooms would be ready, and, as promised, at 1pm they were. We had lunch in the Islands Cafe, before going to check out the staterooms. First impression of the stateroom was that it was surprisingly small, immaculately clean and tidy, but a bit run down - lots of chipped edges around the wardrobes where years of suitcases banging against them had left their mark. Our luggage arrived around 3pm, and we had time to get unpacked and ready for the early dinner sitting, and our 'Cruise Critic Roll Call' sail-away get-together at the Mast Bar at 5.30pm. This was our first chance to meet in person the people from the roll call, and to meet the other families we would be going on excursions with. We chatted as the ship pulled out from the dock, the end of '1812 overture' being played as the D.J. at the pool tried to drum up a sense of excitement.

The lifeboat drill was a bit of a shambles: we were repeatedly warned that it was about to happen, and that we had to be in the designated place by 5pm, and everyone dutifully turned up, to the 'Fortunes' Casino in our case. The PA announcements were delivered in an appropriately grave and no-nonsense tone of voice, however, in between the announcements the PA system reverted back to the music that had been playing, George Michael/Wham! I seem to remember, which rather undermined the gravity of the situation. When the time came for the person in charge of the muster station to introduce themselves, they were halfway through it when the PA system cut in again to deliver the concluding advice, making whatever the muster station person was saying completely inaudible. The whole thing dissolved into laughter, and we all just drifted away. You'd think they'd simply swap the sequence of announcements at the end to avoid this, and let the muster station person say whatever they have to say and then they dismiss everyone. It didn't exactly look very professional.

Cabin Review

Concierge Class

Cabin C2

Our cabin, 1094, was in a good location, with very little vibration. Enough wardrobe space for two people, although a third person in there would be a bit of a squeeze.

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