Photo: Quintin Soloviev — Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0)
Celebrity Century was the lead ship of Celebrity Cruises' Century class, built by Meyer Werft at Papenburg, Germany, and completed in 1995. Carrying about 1,814 guests, she was among the ships that established Celebrity's reputation for understated elegance and strong food and service in the premium segment, and for years she served as a co-flagship of the fleet. Her German construction reflected the shipbuilding pedigree of Meyer Werft, whose covered building halls turned out a trio of Century-class ships over the mid-1990s.
As the fleet modernized around her, Century's role gradually shifted. In 2015 she was chartered to SkySea Cruise Line, a joint venture serving the emerging Chinese market, and she sailed under that arrangement until 2019, bringing a Western-built premium ship to Asian waters.
Her story then moved definitively away from Celebrity. In 2019 the ship was sold to Germany's TUI Group, one of the world's largest travel and tourism companies, which allocated her to its British-focused Marella Cruises brand.
Renamed Marella Explorer 2, she now sails for Marella Cruises and no longer operates for Celebrity. Marella refitted the ship for the British market it serves, updating her interiors and dining while retaining the solid bones of her Meyer Werft construction. From that new home she runs Mediterranean, Adriatic, and Caribbean itineraries, and having been registered during her Celebrity years at Valletta, Malta, she continues an active career well beyond her original owner, a durable survivor of the influential Century class more than a quarter-century after her debut.
Specifications
| Status | Transferred |
|---|---|
| Entered service | 1995 |
| Retired | 2015 |
| Cruise line | Celebrity Cruises |
| Class | Century class |
| Gross tonnage | 71,545 GT |
| Guests (double occupancy) | 1,814 |
| Length | 248 m (814 ft) |
| Beam | 32 m (105 ft) moulded |
| Shipyard | Meyer Werft (Papenburg, Germany) |
| Port of registry | Valletta, Malta |
| IMO number | 9072446 |
| Call sign | 9HJI9 |
| Home port | Palma de Mallorca (seasonal) |
| Region | Mediterranean / Caribbean |
About the Century class class
Retired 1990s mid-size ships; two were transferred to TUI Cruises as the first Mein Schiff vessels.
Ownership & loyalty
Part of Royal Caribbean Group (NYSE: RCL).
Sister brands: Royal Caribbean International, Silversea Cruises, TUI Cruises, Hapag-Lloyd Cruises.
Loyalty status match - members keep an equivalent tier across the group's brands:
- Crown & Anchor Society (Royal Caribbean International) ↔ Captain's Club (Celebrity Cruises)
One-for-one tier status match across Royal Caribbean Group brands: Gold <-> Classic, Platinum/Emerald <-> Select, Diamond <-> Elite, Diamond Plus <-> Elite Plus, Pinnacle Club <-> Zenith. - Crown & Anchor Society (Royal Caribbean International) ↔ Venetian Society (Silversea Cruises)
One-for-one status match with Silversea Venetian Society: Gold <-> 1 day, Platinum/Emerald <-> 100 days, Diamond <-> 250 days, Diamond Plus <-> 350 days, Pinnacle Club <-> 500 days.
References
Descriptions on Cruise Ship Wiki are original write-ups paraphrased from public sources; facts are compiled from the references below and cross-checked. How we source our information.
- Photograph by Quintin Soloviev (CC BY 4.0), via Wikimedia Commons - Primary ship photograph