Celebrity Cruise Lines Century

[Trent Pheifer]

Has anyone taken this ship before? I just got back from a week on it. It was my first "BIG" ship experience. I couldn't help but to think of the Titanic the whole trip, which was good.....and bad. Dinner felt like the Titanic, but we went through some bad weather the last night and the creaking of the whole ship sort of freaked me out lol...too much Titanic on the brain. I was just thinking, a ship like Titanic must have rolled a lot. I guess I never had really taken into consideration "Big" ships rolling too much, but after being on one, I now know they do, I didn't get sick which is good. Did they have anything in 1912, to help with seasickness? Just curious, I am sure many of you have been on big ships, got any adventures to tell about?

-Trent

 

[Jerry Nuovo]

Hello Trent, I have this book called The Cruise Ship Phenomenon in North America which does have information on all the ships in service today and the Celebrity Century is listed at 70,606 gross tons, 815 feet long and 105 feet wide. Of the times that I have been aboard Queen Elizabeth 2, I have always attended the Captain's Cocktail Party which is always formal attire and Cunard World Club Party which is sometimes formal and sometimes casual. When ever I've been aboard the QE2,I have felt the motion of the ship that never makes me feel sick,the ship's motion never bothered me. On this cruise aboard the Celebrity Century, Did you go to the Captain's Cocktail Party? Does the Century have formal nights as the Queen Elizabeth 2 does? I'm curious about if the Century has formal nights because formal nights is a tradition. I guess you've seen the Titanic movies and saw that the first class passengers were dressed in formal attire in the dining room. As to the question about remedies for seasickness available in 1912? I am really not sure. Sincerely,Jerry Nuovo

 

[Erik Wood]

The Century throughout her career has been known to be a good an reliable ship. Sorry to hear of the nasty weather Trent, but the creaking is normal and hopefully you didn't get sick. I have been aboard her, but never sailed her/or on her as a passenger.

I don't get seasick, I get other people sea sick.

 

[James Doyle]

HAhaha Erik, captains pun! Just wondering, since the QM2 is soon to make her debut, even though she will be the biggest ship in the world, will some people still feel the motion of the ship and get sick?

 

[Jim Kalafus]

Hi, Jerry: I have used Celebrity on a yearly or twice yearly basis since 1992, and the evenings are formal. They use the now standard two evenings "dressy" two evenings "formal" and two evenings (first and last at sea) "casual" formula but my experience has been that one only sees the "casual" clothing on the first night out where everyone is too tired from the flight and embarkation process to make the effort at dressing. Within the line I would say that the Horizon, which is on the NYC/Bermuda run is the friendliest ship.

The one Celebrity ship I have not been on but want to is the Millenium, with its specialty restaurant trimmed with panelling from the Olympic's restaurant. For some reason they consistently schedule it to lame ports, so I have not been aboard yet

As for Adventures in Seasickness- last September we were on the Horizon, and the voyage down to Bermuda although far from the roughest I have been on was certainly the most "lethal" in terms of passenger sickness. The first night out our table of 8 thinned out one person at a time until only myself and Mike were left, and the following day the 'cleanup' chores were prodigious. I'll spare the details. The roughest was a September NY/LeHavre crossing on the Norway- the combination of rolling and a disgusting 90 square foot inside cabin (which as a single traveller I had no choice but to book) was an experience not soon forgotten.

 

[Jerry Nuovo]

Concerning the wood panelling from Titanic's sister ship Olympic, I feel that Cunard committed a big goof by not trying to buy Olympic's wood panelling to install aboard Queen Mary 2. Sincerely,Jerry Nuovo

 

[Michael H. Standart]

Trent, don't be freaked out by the creaking. As Erik explained, that's quite normal. Especially in heavy seas. Now if you're in heavy seas, and you don't hear any creaking or other noises...uh...worry.

Ships are designed to bend and flex to a degree...to give some with the sea. Those things that don't give have a nasty habit of breaking. I learned early on not to take any real notice of the noises a ship made. It was all in the background and I took it for granted as normal. I gaurantee you however that when the normal background noises stopped, it got my attention real quick! Often to the point of waking me out of a sound sleep.

As far as I know, there wasn't any real remedy for seasickness in 1912...none that actually worked anyway. I could be wrong on that. I suppose generous helpings of good scotch or brandy might help, but if you get enough of it to make a difference, you no longer care.

 

[Dave Gittins]

Seasickness was the scourge of passengers in the old, unstabilised liners. In the 19th century, it was considered an advance when separate seats were introduced to the dining rooms. They enabled a speedier emergency departure. On some ships, the carpets were taken up when on the open sea, for obvious reasons. There were some Canadian Pacific Line advertisements that proudly boasted that the line's ships spent less time on the open ocean than those that went to the USA. Only four days of misery!

As to a cure, here's one from Sir James Bissett, Second Officer of Carpathia and later Cunard Commodore.

Take one seasick and miserable apprentice and one muscular Mate.
Collect large pannikin of seawater from scuppers.
Have Mate pour contents into apprentice and stand well clear!

As Master of the Cunard Queens, Sir James was never game to recommend this to his wealthy passengers, though he swore it worked for him.

In spite of wild claims, there is still no certain remedy, except terra firma. The more firma the less terra.

 

[Jason D. Tiller]

When I was on the QE2 last July, it was calm up until the second last day. We were sitting at breakfast and the ship was heavily listing to port. After we experienced that for awhile, it was just a gentle roll. I didn't get sick from it, but you could definitely feel it.

Best regards,

Jason

 

[Erik Wood]

To some extent I believe that seasickness is a frame of mind. I have several tricks to get JO's to throw up, they usually feel better for up to an hour or so, then I repeat the process. A sea sick officer is dangerous to have on the bridge alone. Sometimes you need to be inventive. I knew a Third Mate that used to carry garbage bags in there back pocket.

I also knew a firemen (who didn't stay with the job long) that got sick in after steering, while the ship was docked.

 

[Trent Pheifer]

Hey Everyone,

Jerry--Yes there were two formal nights..the days in which we spent the whole time at sea. I wish we would have had to wear tuxes, that would have been cool. Then there casual nights was a polo shirt with a suit-coat and informal was a polo shirt. I caught the end of the Captain's Cocktail Party.

The Century was an awesome ship, many rooms were elegant. I didn't get a sick at all, I actually found the rocking to be fun. The port to starboard rolling rocked me to sleep lol. Once I found out we were taking a Celebrity Cruise ship, I was a little disappointed that we were not on the Millennium, I really would have loved eating in Olympic's old restaurant

Mike- I thought that the creaking might be the hull flexing..since the rolling motion was more or a bow to aft rather than a port to starboard....I have a question is that was the expansion joints on the Titanic were for? To give it some flexibility? Thanks for all the info everyone!

-Trent

 

[Michael H. Standart]

Yep, that's exactly what the exapansion joints were for.

 

[Barbara Personett]

Erik--I agree with you that sea-sickness is mostly a frame of mind. The worst problem I usually experience is getting my sea legs back when I get back on land.

 

[Jamil Sepulveda]

Ive always wondered what it was like to be on a ship... The motion of the ship and all. could u give me an idea of what its like. Is it like a vibration, like on a train? Or is it more like rocking back and forth only enough to make the plates shudder a little bit..? well thanks

jm

 

[Michael H. Standart]

Jamil, I don't think there's any way to really describe it. The motion of the ship depends a lot on the seastate and also how stable the ship is. The flat bottomed LST's operated by the U.S. Navy were not noted for being especially good seaboats whereas some smaller ships were. You can get anything from a gentle rolling motion to some ferocious banging around in heavy seas.

Vibration can range from virtually non-existant to deafening depending on how fast the ship is going. Cavitation is the culprit here and the vibration as well as the noise can be bad enough in some places that you'll end up needing hearing protection.

Since my experience is with warships, you should take into account that some civilian vessels...particularly cruise ships...will be designed and operated in a manner to produce less of a tooth rattling ride. Combat capability takes pride of place in a warship's design, with creature comforts for the crew being lower on the totum pole. The requirements differ for merchent marine ships...for obvious reasons.