06/02/04

One thing that you will not do on a cruise ship is starve.  The Century is a perfect example of this.  In addition to the Grand Restaurant, there are dozens of other places on the ship to get a bit to eat.  The major spot for a meal when one does not want the formality of the Grand Restaurant is Islands where the atmosphere is quite a bit more relaxed and the hours quite a bit longer.

Generally the food at Islands was a few steps down from the main dining room although a few of the special themes were interesting and things like the salad dressings were identical to the Grand.

Biggest pros.  No formal hours, formal seating, or dress code.  For example, breakfast was started before 7 AM, continued until 10, and had an abbreviated offering until noon.  Fare consisted of all the basics like scrambled eggs, breakfast meats, pancakes or similar main dish, bagels (with cream cheese and lox!), breakfast Danish, and the like.  Nothing caught my fancy as being unusually exotic.  Omelets were featured outside on the grill but we did not take the opportunity to sample them.

Lunch was a mixed bag.  Generally service stopped early in the afternoon when the whole restaurant shut down.  We ate lunch at Islands twice, on the second day of the cruise and one of the latter days when we were running around.  Several minor complaints.  First, few things were identified as to what they were.  After a few questions, I gave up and just selected things that were prominently identified.  Selection was a bit limited and the food was nowhere as good as in the Grand with a few notable exceptions.  During Mexican lunch selections included tacos, enchiladas, and (I think) flautas.  I thought the enchiladas were a bit too spicy and I was a bit worried about the tacos since they only came one way with all the fillings.  The tacos were delicious.

We never had supper at Islands although we were tempted to tackle the sushi several times.  It looked excellent.  Only problem was that it was available only during dinner hours!

I have made several references to hours of service.  One of the major disappointments about Islands was the limited hours.  Sure, frozen yogurt (2 flavors, only) was available most of the day, but it would have been nice to have at least a few desserts or other appetizers out where a person could grab a quick something.

Outside Islands by the pool were the sandwich, pizza, and hamburger areas.  Sandwiches were like everything else on board- large with lots of good stuff like fresh bread and carved ham.  I only got a few chances to pass by the sandwich line.  It seemed that the selection was limited to one or two items each day but the items they had really looked good.   The less said about the hamburgers the better.  They looked gorgeous coming off the grill but they were totally lacking in flavor.  While lettuce and tomatoes were pre-sliced and readily available mustard, ketchup, and relish were available only in packets.  After having salad dressing made from scratch, it would have been nice to at least have the appearance of non-bottled condiments (and only regular, yellow mustard????)

The pizza was everything the hamburgers weren't.  It was always fresh, hot, and delicious.

Sandwiches

Hamburgers & pizza

Another option for eating is the Sky Bar.  The sky bar offers a sit down setting with a limited version of the main dining menu.  It is perfect for those who want to skip the formality of formal night or who want to eat at an unusual time.

Every night additional foods were served after hours (in case people going to the shows got hungry, maybe?) Besides waiters coming to the lounges, several stations were set up for non-portable items.  This one waiter was carving roast beef for sandwiches around midnight.

While the Century does not have one, most of the Celebrity ships have a specialty restaurant.   The specialty restaurants are the ultimate in dining.  Check out the menu here.