Wednesday 17 December 2014

Celebrity Century - December 2014 - Post 3

My very comfortable cabin

The pool deck at sunset.

Some cruising companions

Above and below, two of the great bar waiters

Ahmet from Istanbul is an excellent waiter and a great character



A delicious ice cream flambe

At Sydney airport for the flight home

Celebrity Century - December 2014 - Post 2

At Lifou



Arriving at Noumea
 




The ship used to be called Century before the company gave all their ship a 'Celebrity' prefix and re-registered them in Valletta, Malta.

Sailing from Noumea.
 

At anchor off the Isle of Pines

Celebrity Century - December 2014 - Post 1

After spending six days aboard Celebrity Century performing a compass adjustment (photos at: http://timscompassships.blogspot.com.au/) I decided to book aboard as a passenger for a 14 night South Pacific cruise from Sydney on December 1st to 14th. This is a very comfortable medium size ship which unfortunately will be converted to a casino ship for a Chinese travel company next April.
While the service in some lounges seemed slow (Princess ships still use more staff) the service in most lounges, dining rooms and especially the after deck bar I used was excellent.
The passenger mix was mostly very amiable middle-aged Australians and no yobbos to be seen.
One of the impressive things on this cruise was that some of the officers, including deck officers, were regularly seen about the passenger accommodation unlike most other ships I've been in where they are rarely seen.

Celebrity Century in Sydney on 1/12/14

Sailing from Sydney




Pacific Dawn in Garden Island dry dock



At anchor off Airley Beach


Arriving at Cairns





At Port Vila



Wednesday 5 November 2014

Dawn Princess - October 2014 - Post 2

Departure Melbourne (again)


Auckland

Rainy morning arrival - from my cabin


Sailing from Auckland

Tauranga




Sailing from Tauranga

Mt Manganui

The pilot heading back in

 Napier

The windswept nature of this port can be appreciated here. It's a relatively small port for a ship of Dawn Princess' size





Napier is a lovely town which has cleverly capitilised on its art-deco architecture (created after the town was razed by an earthquake in the 1930's) to create a thriving tourist industry.








The theme continues on the wharf at sailing time



Port Chalmers





Milford Sound

A typically rainy day at the entrance to the sound




A few of the wonderful ship's staff

Bar waiter Melody

Barman Lito
 
Bar staff JoJo, Melody and Dio dressed up for Halloween
A lovely gift from the wonderful Maitre 'D Jacques