By: Jack Lee
Chongqing, China, 21 September 2026 – The brand new Yangtze flagship of Century Cruises, Century Vision, held its maiden-voyage ceremony at Chongqing Chaotianmen. The vessel officially joins the Century Premier fleet and embarks on its maiden-voyage season. Concurrent with the ceremony, Century Cruises unveiled its new Century Premier Brand Experience, bringing global guests a river-cruise holiday built around “Culinary Excellence & Bespoke Service”. This new offering will roll out across the entire Century Premier fleet, covering the classic Three Gorges Chongqing-Yichang itinerary (4 days / 3 nights) and the reverse Yichang-Chongqing route (5 days / 4 nights).
The press conference for the Century Premier Brand & Century Vision Maiden Voyage delivered a series of brand-first announcements. Century Cruises’ Yangtze inland fleet will adopt a three-tier product portfolio: Century Select, Century Premier and Century Ultra-Luxury. Boasting clearly differentiated positioning and custom-tailored holiday experiences, the brand aims to meet diverse travel demands from guests across the globe.
At the global launch segment, the Global Gastronomy Star-Chef Advisory Panel, composed of six Chinese and international celebrity chefs, appeared on stage alongside the Century Concierge team. Together with distinguished guests, they unveiled the Century Premier Brand Experience. Three flagship brand offerings made their debut: Global Gastronomy, Dedicated Concierge Service and Hassle-Free Travel. They merge world-class culinary expertise with time-honoured Oriental hospitality for Yangtze River cruise holidays.
During the maiden-voyage celebration, the 100,000th inbound visitor to Yangtze River cruises in 2026 (verified by the Chongqing Shipping Exchange) and Century Cruises’ Premier Brand Honored Guest No. 001 jointly took part in the opening ceremony to witness Century Vision’s grand departure. Overseas guests selecting Century Cruises to discover the Yangtze’s natural scenery and premium Chinese-style service vividly demonstrate the brand’s steady progress in developing international source markets. Honored Guest No. 001, a repeat patron, recognises the brand and its service standards and stands as a long-term witness to Century Cruises’ growth and experience upgrades. Their joint appearance united the brand’s international-market expansion and long-term guest trust at the landmark maiden voyage of its new flagship.
Century Vision, Century Cruises’ brand-new flagship, marks a key milestone in the brand’s commitment to upgrading the Yangtze inland-cruise market and represents an important chapter in its global-development journey. Its successful maiden voyage embodies the brand’s global-development philosophy: Rooted in China, Connected to the World. The newly launched Century Premier Brand Experience draws upon more than 30 years of the brand’s well-regarded service and culinary know-how, re-interpreted through a global perspective to deliver exceptional inland-cruise holiday experiences for guests. This launch underscores Century Cruises’ resolve to build the Yangtze’s first-of-its-kind premier brand experience, and its commitment to continuously elevate premium holiday offerings and hospitality benchmarks.
As a flagship vessel of the Century Premier series, Century Vision measures 149.99 metres in length and 21.2 metres in beam, with a gross tonnage of 15 000 tonnes. Spread across seven decks, the ship houses 236 guest cabins for a maximum passenger capacity of 650 guests. Comprehensive public amenities include the Century Grand Theatre, a top-deck observation terrace, the Jinmeng Court Lounge and the Riverside Library. The overall design follows the brand-refresh concept of Peony as Emblem, drawing inspiration from light-luxury slow-travel aesthetics and motifs of natural river landscapes. Its dining and leisure concepts blend globally-loved international flavours with innovative ideas. An original roaming-stage immersive show, Tales of the Yangtze, features NPC-style interactive performances. Passengers may take part in live-action exchanges with historical characters and immerse themselves in dramatic stories from the Yangtze River.
Exclusive Premier Dining Experience: Celebrity Chefs Present a Feast of East-West Cuisine
As the cornerstone of the brand’s product-portfolio revamp, the Century Premier fleet led by Century Vision will be the first to roll out the Century Premier Brand Experience for global guests. Rooted in Century Cruises’ refreshed international brand identity and widely-praised reputation for food and hospitality, this experience delivers an exclusive East-meets-West offering for visitors worldwide. At its core sit East-West Culinary Mastery and thoughtful, dedicated concierge service. Under the culinary theme Tastes of the World, for Chinese Palates, the brand has created a signature dining proposition built around the Century Star-Chef Team, three signature dining themes and 50 premier signature dishes.
For its cross-cultural culinary programme, Century Cruises has assembled the Global Gastronomy Star-Chef Advisory Panel comprising six distinguished international culinary professionals. The panel curates signature dishes inspired by culinary traditions from Austria, Germany, Italy, Japan, Southeast Asia, Hong Kong SAR, China, and the Sichuan-Chongqing region. Collectively they have developed the exclusive menu of 50 premier signature dishes, alongside three flagship global-gastronomy dining concepts that bring together European flavours, Asian specialities and local Yangtze-region cuisine: Global Theme Nights, River-Sourced Fresh-Feast Banquets and the Local-Flavour Discovery Series. Guests can sample world-class flavours in one destination, enjoying more than 50 signature star-chef creations, premium-grade ingredients and Sichuan-Chongqing delicacies shaped by intangible-cultural-heritage traditions within this exceptional East-meets-West gastronomic journey.
For over three decades, Century Cruises has adhered to stringent quality-and-safety standards. It consistently enforces an Open-Kitchen policy that allows guests to watch food preparation live. Backed by the SGS-certified FSSC 22000 international food-safety-management system, quality-control requirements apply end-to-end across ingredient sourcing, food preparation and dining-service workflows. Craftsmanship is on display, and peace of mind is assured. Guests can savour both global cuisines and authentic Yangtze-region fare with total confidence.
Century Cruises has also partnered with legendary Austrian star-chef Alfred Pichler and creative Italian star-chef Ilario Turri to deliver the Star-Chef European Premier Collection. Working with premium-grade ingredients, the collaboration re-imagines traditional Bavarian recipes and classic Italian dishes to bring a rich European culinary journey onboard.
End-to-End Century Concierge Service: Honoring the Brand’s Guest-First Promise
As the first Yangtze inland-cruise brand to introduce a premium, standardized concierge-service system, Century Cruises formally unveils its Dedicated Concierge service brand. Grounded in the Oriental hospitality ethos of thoughtful attention and refined moderation, the full-cycle, end-to-end standardized Dedicated Concierge offering makes its debut aboard Century Voyage and Century Vision. The Century Dedicated Concierge programme covers five core modules: Premier Service, Dedicated Welcome, Concierge Escort, Hassle-Free Transfers and Smooth Embarkation & Disembarkation. Guests receive holistic, systematic concierge support throughout their full travel life-cycle: pre-trip, on-trip and post-trip; online and offline; onboard and onshore. Effective 14 September 2026, guests sailing the Chongqing-Yichang route with the Century Premier fleet will enjoy complimentary transfer services to and from major transport hubs in Chongqing and Yichang.
About Century Cruises：
Owned by Chongqing Guanda Group, Century Cruises operates three core inland river cruise lines: China’s Yangtze River, Europe’s Rhine & Danube Rivers, and Egypt’s Nile River. A pre-eminent luxury inland river cruise brand with over 30-year heritage on the Yangtze, Century Cruises adheres to its brand ethos “Deliver Elegance and Joys of Life”. Signature Eastern hospitality is embedded across all guest touch points and product offerings. The brand is dedicated to delivering world class great river destination exploration and exceptional inland river cruise holidays for global guests.
