Everyone remembers the Titanic. Of course, if you’re going on a cruise you might try very hard not to remember it, but the Hollywood blockbuster brought the story to life. It also brought back the old world glamour of sailing the high seas.
The Celebrity Century offers a glimpse into that way of life – white gloves, champagne flutes, French food, fine dining and of course, a fair bit of fun.
As the first of Celebrity’s Century Class, the Century has been in the fleet since 1995, with plenty of renovations and revamps to keep her up to date. In April next year the ship will retire, but she’ll spend time in the South Pacific and in Asia before then.
From this October she’ll be based in Sydney, with local itineraries around Australia, the South Pacific and New Zealand.
The Century is definitely not the biggest beast in the sea. With just 1,814 passengers, she’s not even close to the biggest ship in the world – Allure of the Seas, which can hold a whopping 6,400 passengers.
She doesn’t have all the whiz bang of bigger boats – there’s no water slide, ice rink, wave rider, zip line or glass blowing theatre – but unless you’re an adrenalin junkie, you won’t miss any of that once you’re on board. And she fits into spots the other ships won’t – under the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco and under the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
And you won’t miss out either. The Celebrity Century is unique for an older ship in that she was the testing ship for Celebrity’s new facilities. She had the first Martini Ice Bar at sea; still one of the ship’s hot spots for an after dinner drink and the famous mixologist cocktail show, she has the French specialty restaurant Murano, for decadent six course degustations, and her Aqua Spa is the first aboard Celebrity ships to feature Canyon Ranch Spa Club massage treatments.
When you arrive at the port, the Century certainly stands out. The cruise line’s signature navy blue and white colours are bright and fresh. Up the gangway and on board, this girl definitely doesn’t look her age.
