Celebrity Millennium October 31

Celebrity VS Holland America Line

Wow. I just re-read this “mini review” that I wrote and realize that it is more of a “major review and comparison”. I seemed to have gone on forever, however I just wanted to put everything out there for everyone’s consideration. I didn’t write this to be flamed by anyone, but rather to share my opinions that could hopefully help someone with a future cruise decision.

We just cruised a 5-night sailing on Celebrity Millennium. We had a very nice time and if the right deal comes along we will probably cruise Celebrity again, but we still love Holland America Line. Here is some information from our sailing and a basic comparison of some items.

Embarkation:

This was by far the worse embarkation experience we’ve had. We loved the facility in Miami and feel that it is much nicer than the facility in Port Everglades. Port Everglades always feels like a warehouse to me and this facility seemed like a regular terminal. When we arrived at 10:30 we went directly to check in on the Suite line. The person handling the check in seemed very unfamiliar with what to do. After we checked in we were escorted through a passageway to a waiting room to be seated. At whatever time (it was either 11:00 or 11:30) we were told that the ship was ready and we were to come back to the other room to take the escalators to the boarding area…but get this…in the order in which we were seated. Imagine how that worked…it didn’t. I feel that the number system that HAL uses works much better and allows for a much more orderly way to get on the ship.

Ship:

There are many things that we liked about the ship; however there were many things that we did not like. I’m not sure what all is going to be done when this ship is “Solsticized” in a few months, but there are some things that really didn’t work for us while there are other things that we really did like. Here are some comments:

• The pool area is poorly designed. The “small” pool is very small and is the only place on the ship with the shallow area around the pool where you can sit in the water. The “large” pool is too deep to stand in…you must be able to swim to even get into this pool.
  
• It is nice that the Thassolotherapy Pool is free in the AquaSpa; however this pool was very hot, in fact hotter than the hot tubs. We realized that we prefer the T-pool on HAL ships because they are pay-only and are a bit more private.
  
• The Persian Garden (thermal suite) was strange to us. While they didn’t have the heated tiled loungers that HAL has, they did have three or four different rooms with heated tiled benches, etc. What was strange to us was that other than the main room, all of the side rooms were very dark…it was a little creepy.
  
• While the Celebrity Theatre is a nice venue, we found the small fixed tables to really limit how the seating works. The placement of these tables made it awkward for many as we noticed people trying to squeeze people into small spaces created by these tables.
  
• The Cova Café is a great location and venue. We enjoyed sitting hear every evening after dinner and before the show.
  

Stateroom:

We were in a Celebrity Suite and were very unsure how we would feel about not having a balcony, but I can say that we did not miss it. We very much enjoyed our stateroom, and here are some comments regarding it:

• We loved having a suite that had “rooms”. There was a living/dining room and separate bedroom with walk-in closet (both rooms having large flat-screen televisions). We have not experienced anything like this on HAL and do believe that aside from the Penthouse Suites all of the HAL suites are still one room (bathroom/dressing area excluded).
  
• The bathroom was the smallest suite bathroom we have seen. There was barely room to turn around.
  
• The tub/shower in the bathroom was very hard to get into or out of due to the height of the tub. My mother (who is 75) could not get into the tub/shower and had to shower in the Spa locker room. I’m a 42-year-old healthy male and had trouble getting out of the tub/shower.
  
• The tub/shower had a window out into the living room of the suite. There were mini blinds inside the window, however there was no way to control them and they were not closed the whole way. Considering that the living room was my Mother’s bedroom, we always had to ask her to stay over on the sofa while we showered.
  
• The back of the bathroom door was rusted and I’m not just saying a spot or two. The area from about 18 inches from the floor down to the floor was thoroughly covered in rust.
  
• The bedroom walls did not seem like they were finished. There were measurements written in marker on them in several places throughout the bedroom.
  

Food/Food Service/Beverages:

We enjoyed the food throughout the cruise. Here are some thoughts on it:

• The MDR was a very nice experience. We had a lovely table for 4 (three of us) in the back corner of the room at a window (411A). Our server Toshe and assistant Lorenzo were wonderful. I commented a few times that the service seemed much less rushed than on HAL. On our last few HAL cruises it seemed much more rushed and impersonal than the first few times. The HAL servers didn’t seem like they had the time to add that little bit of personal experience that they did previously. Here, each night during service the maitre d’ (or some sort of maitre d’) came to our table and asked how everything was going. As well, after the main course was served, Toshe came around and asked each of us how the dinner tasted. When we told Toshe that we would be going to the Olympic on Thursday evening he told us that he would make a call down there to one of his friends to be sure that we were taken care of very well.
  
• There was a brunch served on the last sea day in the MDR. This was quite the affair and was very well attended. I would not, however, have wanted to be seated on the upper level of the MDR, as you would have to carry your food up all those stairs to your table. This to me was the equivalent of the Dessert Extravaganza on HAL ships only this is a much more productive use of time/food than the Dessert Extravaganza. The set up was quite elaborate and the food was okay. I didn’t see anything that seemed extraordinary but rather pretty much just the regular food served around the ship served in a very nice setting with a great presentation. They did have a chocolate fountain and white chocolate fountain which I found much better than those on HAL. The chocolate fountains on HAL always seem to have watered-down chocolate whereas the chocolate in these fountains seemed to be the real stuff at regular strength.
  
• We only went to the Ocean Café/Grill a few times for breakfast. The service there was fine and we were very glad to see that they had trays. I know that there were other options in the Ocean Café/Grill for lunch and a sushi bar pre-dinner, but we never seemed to make it there for that.
  
• The AquaSpa Café was a great alternate option for lunch. The food there was on the healthy side with salads and grilled meats/seafoods. There was a wonderful poached fruit bar that I loved…had some of them every day. I wish there was an option like this on HAL ships.
  
• The options for late-night food were not that great. We went to the buffet a few late evenings and there was not much of a selection. Unless you wanted pasta or pizza (which the pizza was not very good at all to us) you were pretty much out of luck. What was being served looked to us like leftovers from lunch. We did room service a few times and it was very good (except for the mini-pizza served from there).
  
• The Olympic was ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL!! This was far and above the best meal and service that we have ever received on a cruise. We found out that Toshe’s friend in the Olympic is the maitre d’ there. She took very good care of us even recognizing us as soon as we entered the room. The service there is amazing…providing simultaneous service for every plate sat on the table with domed main courses that were presented simultaneously. It was great to have the open kitchen to see things happening. My Mother was fascinated by this. She said she knew the gist of it all by the time we were done. The food in the Olympic was amazing. From decomposed appetizers and salads to fork-tender filet mignons to a dessert sampler served in a six-shot glass circular holder it got better and better as the courses moved on. This was clearly a meal that we would have paid $400-$500 for (for three of us) in our area…and at $40 per person was the best bargain on the ship. This experience far surpassed HAL’s Pinnacle Grill for us. To us PG is a steakhouse providing a steakhouse experience but the Olympic was fine dining at its best.
  
• My partner had the Soda Package and I had the Classic Non-Alcoholic Package. My partner drinks soda all of the time and we feel that he really got his money’s worth. For me, however, we felt that the package’s value was not used to its fullest extent. These packages disclose that they are for “unlimited” of these beverages, however it should more be listed as “unlimited, one at a time”. At breakfast in the Ocean Café I would get fresh-squeezed orange juice, however I could not get more than one glass at a time (although I like to drink two). In the evenings my partner likes to take two cans of soda back to the stateroom for the night and morning, however in order to do this he always had to go to two separate bars to get them. While I perhaps understand the “why” of why they do this, if you are advertising something as unlimited then it should be unlimited. We much prefer the beverage services on HAL (the new debit-card-like system) because you are not as limited as to what you can get with them and it just seems much more convenient.
  
• Regarding beverages, why is Coke Zero at such a premium around the ship? I would think that every bar would carry the same canned soda, but this is not true. After about the second day my partner knew where to go for Coke Zero.
  
• We very much enjoyed the Cova Café. While we didn’t go there for the munchies (which looked very appetizing), each night I had a cup of tea from my Classic Package. This is a great venue with a great location.
  

Butler and Stateroom Attendant:

We very much looked forward to having a butler because this is not something that is offered on HAL, so we thought this would be a new experience for us. Here is some information about this:

• On embarkation day we had to call for our butler when we wanted him to come to our stateroom. He did not show up to introduce himself (and this was well into the afternoon). We expressed that we wanted him to make dinner reservations for us at the Olympic and a hair appointment for my Mother for formal night. We also wanted him to verify our dining assignment and table. He told us that he could make the reservation and appointment; however he couldn’t verify the dining assignment or table and we would have to do that ourselves.
  
• Our stateroom attendant delivered our luggage but after that we did not see him. Our stateroom was cleaned regularly, however he was nowhere to be seen and I commented that I rarely saw any stateroom attendants in the hallways, etc. We are used to having conversations with our stateroom attendants in the hallways, etc.
  
• We had issues with our butler because he really didn’t seem to offer to do anything for us. Perhaps our expectations were high, but we have had the Neptune Lounge experience on HAL and this would be the closest thing to compare this to for me. Well…the concierges in NL run circles around our butler experience. He did nothing to anticipate our needs. He did show up daily to deliver a fruit bowl, deliver tea service with sandwiches, sweets etc. and deliver canapés.
  
• When we arrived in Cozumel and were getting off the ship we were looking for beach towels as we are accustomed to them being by the gangway on HAL, but were told that they should have been in our stateroom. One of the ship’s personnel called to have beach towels brought to us, however after waiting for ten minutes I finally decided to just go up to the pool area and get them myself.
  
• When we got back on the ship in Cozumel we decided that we wanted to speak to guest services about our Butler. A very nice lady named Gladys (the housekeeping supervisor) came to our stateroom and explained what our Butler should have been doing for us. He basically was only doing the bare minimum and wasn’t offering to do anything above and beyond that. We found out that our stateroom attendant should have seen that we had beach towels in our stateroom in the beginning of the cruise, but our Butler should have also seen that they were not there and attended to that. We also found out that we should have had towel animals in our suite (at a minimum on formal night) and this did not happen once during the entire sailing.
  

Suite/Elite Benefits:

Because we were in a Celebrity Suite we were afforded the same benefits as those who are Elite cruisers. We were very appreciative of this generous benefit especially since this was our first Celebrity experience.

• The Captain’s Party was very nice; however to us it was a bit different because it was in the middle of the afternoon. On HAL, we have had the Captain’s Cocktail Party in the evening or the Mariner Brunch at lunchtime. The timing of this was just strange to us because it was in the middle of the afternoon on a sea day. This was a nice event in Cosmos with ice sculptures and lots of food including anything from carved beef tenderloin sliders, sushi, freshly made crepes and various salads. I believe it was pretty much an open bar as well.
  
• On a daily basis there was a cocktail party for Elite members. I believe it ran from 5-7 or something like that. There was a limited cocktail menu, however I think there was probably something on there for everyone. The servers there did not seem to be overly happy to be there. I usually ended up just taking what was on their tray rather than waiting for something because they seemed to get rather scarce when you ordered something they didn’t have. There were small nibbles (I won’t call them hors’doeuvres because they really weren’t) passed on trays as well. I was rather surprised of the quality of these nibbles as in the Neptune Lounge or at Mariner events on HAL it seems like the things that are passed are generally of a rather high quality with great presentation. These things were like a small chicken tender or cheese pizza bite. What really surprised me is that they served the same thing each evening (and one evening the hot items were cold). These are your best cruisers at this event; I would have thought the quality would have been a bit better.
  

Shows/Entertainment:

We always enjoy going to the showroom each night on a cruise as well as enjoy listening to the music around the ship. We were very happy to see live music in many different venues around the ship pretty much all evening long, whether in the Rendezvous Lounge, Michaels, Cosmos or the Cova Café.

• The production shows were not of a very good quality. Often this is an issue on cruise ships; however we tend to think that the shows on HAL are rather good. The first show “iBroadway” seemed like we were watching a dress rehearsal. We were told that this troupe has only been together for four weeks; however they are still performing for the ship. There seemed to be a few production errors during the show and we actually wondered if the production manager of the show had actually seen the Broadway shows that they were representing on the stage. There was a selection from Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (which in case you don’t know is based on Biblical themes) and there were, for lack of a better word, “hootchies” dancing around the stage in skimpy costumes during this number. The second production show was a seventies-themed show. This show had a very thin storyline and the singers seemed to be rather uncomfortable singing and were rather weak. We discussed the shows with a few others during the Elite events and we were not alone in our opinions of these shows.
  
• We enjoyed to comedian and the juggler, however the juggler seemed to be telling stories for way too long between his “acts”.
  
• The entertainers around the ship were rather good. There was a band of three or four gentleman that played in the Rendezvous Lounge every night. There was also a guitar player/singer who was generally in the Cova Café every night. Both of these sets of artists were very good.
  

Disembarkation:

While the actual process of getting off the ship was rather painless, the process leading up to it was rather a mess. We received a letter telling us to expect luggage tags and instructions. We had three luggage tags delivered to us for our six pieces of luggage. We had to order more tags. There were no instructions with the luggage tags. There were no instructions in the daily paper other than a note saying that there are absolutely no announcements made during disembarkation. On the last night we basically had to call down to guest services to find out what to do. We were told that we were supposed to be out of our room and in the Olympic by 7:00. We have never been told do go that early on any cruise before. The guest services representative then told us anytime up until 9:00. We do not like the fact that you cannot get room service breakfast on the last morning as this is something that we always enjoy on HAL (hint to Celebrity: this is a great way to allow your guests to end their sailing). We also enjoy being able to stay in our stateroom until we walk off the ship on HAL. We got up at 7:00, got ready and went to breakfast in the Ocean Café. When we finished breakfast we came back to the stateroom, cleared out and left the ship.

Overall:

Honestly, we had a very good time on this cruise. We were very happy to see the Captain and officers of the ship being very involved around the ship. The Captain was always being mentioned and he was seen very often (which we don’t always see on HAL). Other than the little things that I mentioned, we found the ship very enjoyable. Nothing that happened ruined our cruise…it would really take a lot to do that. We would certainly enjoy sailing on Celebrity again, but I would really like to try an “S” class ship for the next sailing on Celebrity. All in all, however, our hearts still belong to Holland America Line.

:) :)

THANK YOU for taking the time to share such a detailed review and comparison. I too have sailed Holland-America and several other mass market lines and found little things here and there that each cruise line does better or different than each other but as you said, nothing that would come close to ruining a cruise.

I tend not to go on any cruise with too many expectations or comparisons to avoid frustrations or being disappointed, and since my last cruise was a near perfect '10' will have to go on Celebrity Millennium with my mind as a clean slate.

However, I already feel that my 10-nights on her will be a wonderful vacation...17 days and a wake-up! :)

I don't understand what you mean about the drink packages not being unlimited. Why didn't you just order a second juice after you finished your first? No one was telling you that you could not have 2 glasses of juice, they just wanted to make sure you were the one actually drinking them.

Glad you enjoyed your cruise.

I don't understand what you mean about the drink packages not being unlimited. Why didn't you just order a second juice after you finished your first? No one was telling you that you could not have 2 glasses of juice, they just wanted to make sure you were the one actually drinking them.

 

Glad you enjoyed your cruise.

And that is why I said I understand the "why" of it...but unlimited means unlimited, it doesn't mean "one at a time". I know I could have gone back but it is just the idea to me.

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Douglas

Thanks you for a thorough review. We always appreciate such comparisons with other cruise lines because it helps in our decision making.

 

There are many things that we liked about the ship; however there were many things that we did not like. I’m not sure what all is going to be done when this ship is “Solsticized” in a few months, but there are some things that really didn’t work for us while there are other things that we really did like.

 

The pool area is poorly designed. The “small” pool is very small and is the only place on the ship with the shallow area around the pool where you can sit in the water. The “large” pool is too deep to stand in…you must be able to swim to even get into this pool.

From our experience on Constellation, there will be no changes to the pool areas when Millennium is Solsticized.

The bathroom was the smallest suite bathroom we have seen. There was barely room to turn around.

• The tub/shower in the bathroom was very hard to get into or out of due to the height of the tub. My mother (who is 75) could not get into the tub/shower and had to shower in the Spa locker room. I’m a 42-year-old healthy male and had trouble getting out of the tub/shower.
  
• The tub/shower had a window out into the living room of the suite. There were mini blinds inside the window, however there was no way to control them and they were not closed the whole way. Considering that the living room was my Mother’s bedroom, we always had to ask her to stay over on the sofa while we showered.
  
• The back of the bathroom door was rusted and I’m not just saying a spot or two. The area from about 18 inches from the floor down to the floor was thoroughly covered in rust.
  
• The bedroom walls did not seem like they were finished. There were measurements written in marker on them in several places throughout the bedroom.

There were no changes to the CS bathrooms when Constellation was Solsticized but the suite was completely redecorated.

Butler and Stateroom Attendant:

 

 

 

 

We very much looked forward to having a butler because this is not something that is offered on HAL, so we thought this would be a new experience for us. Here is some information about this:

• On embarkation day we had to call for our butler when we wanted him to come to our stateroom. He did not show up to introduce himself (and this was well into the afternoon). We expressed that we wanted him to make dinner reservations for us at the Olympic and a hair appointment for my Mother for formal night. We also wanted him to verify our dining assignment and table. He told us that he could make the reservation and appointment; however he couldn’t verify the dining assignment or table and we would have to do that ourselves.

If your butler is to introduce himself properly to every one of his guests on emabrkation day, it is impossible for everyone to be visited early in the day. Perhaps some of the "what can my butler do for me" posts on this board gave you unrealistic expectations.

We would always make our speciality restaurant reservations and hairdressing appointments ourselves on embarkation day. The butlers are so busy that day that it is unrealistic to expect them to be able to make these appointments in a timely manner. If you want particular dates and times, he may be too late for these. It is also good to start your relationship with these venues early on in the cruise and, until your luggage arrives, there is not much else to do but get to know your ship.

Overall:

 

Honestly, we had a very good time on this cruise. We were very happy to see the Captain and officers of the ship being very involved around the ship. The Captain was always being mentioned and he was seen very often (which we don’t always see on HAL). Other than the little things that I mentioned, we found the ship very enjoyable. Nothing that happened ruined our cruise…it would really take a lot to do that. We would certainly enjoy sailing on Celebrity again, but I would really like to try an “S” class ship for the next sailing on Celebrity. All in all, however, our hearts still belong to Holland America Line.

 

:) :)

It does make a huge difference when the Captain and officers are visible around a ship. It always seems to impact positively on the overall level of service. Glad that you enjoyed your first experience of Celebrity.

Sue

Thanks for your review. We were also on the same cruise, but just in an 'ordinary' balcony room.

We found embarkation and disembarkation the smoothest of all the cruises we've had... although I agree the check-in people were very nice, but didn't seem fully trained!

But... we were on the ship within 15 minutes of arriving. at midday.

Our biggest problem was finding a seat in the buffet for the 4 of us.... we were walking around with trays of food and hand-luggage for about 15 minutes, before the 4 of us squeezed onto a table for 2.

I also agree I've seen better shows on other lines... but hey, the entertainment is the only part of any cruise that brings the cruiseline no extra revenue.

I loved the warmth of the thalassotherapy pool... the first sea day wasn't particularly nice weather for sunbathing....I spent some quality time just wallowing in the thalaso pool and hot-tubs, chatting with my daughter, while DH and DSIL exhausted themselves on the basketball court!

Our room steward, EZ, was mostly invisible, which was perfect.... but was always there when we needed him.... just a phone call, and he was there in minutes... perfect!

I'm not sure what I'd do with a butler anyway!!

I agree the brunch was not to be missed.... and the chocolate fountains were to die for.... the best way ever to eat fruit!

We were seated upstairs, but, unless you find stairs difficult, it's really no problem going up the 12 or so steps.... we did the trip several times during brunch!

We were on Select dining.... but our waiters , Jorge and Luis were so good on the first night.... we booked them every night. The somelier was also fantastic... very knowledgeable, and full of great tips!!

Although we've never cruised HAL, we've cruised 4 other cruise lines on many cruises, we rate this cruise as definitely one of our favourites!!

Thanks for your review and comparison.

If your butler is to introduce himself properly to every one of his guests on emabrkation day, it is impossible for everyone to be visited early in the day. Perhaps some of the "what can my butler do for me" posts on this board gave you unrealistic expectations.

 

We would always make our speciality restaurant reservations and hairdressing appointments ourselves on embarkation day. The butlers are so busy that day that it is unrealistic to expect them to be able to make these appointments in a timely manner.

I don't think we had unrealistic expectations. According to our butler's supervisor our expectations were nothing out of the ordinary. To quote the supervisor "He is here to take care of any need you have."

More specifically, it is written in the description on the website, etc that the butler will help you with unpacking and packing. If I wasn't to be introduced to him on embarkation day when is he supposed to unpack for me? We did not ask him for help with unpacking, but the two phone calls that we asked him to make for reservations should have taken much less time than it would have for him to help with unpacking as he is supposed to do.

It is a nice touch with the tea service, etc but other than that he really served no purpose for us.

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Oh...there was one other thing that I forgot to add...

I'm sure this is going to be addressed during the Solsticization of our suite, but the window washing mechanism was housed directly outside one of the windows of the suite and the blind was permanently pulled over that window. That meant that of the four windows in the room we could only see out through three. I know I shouldn't be complaining but if I'm paying for a suite with four large windows I expect to be able to look through them. We had a great view from this suite but it would have been nice to know this prior to booking. When we booked our suite the one next to it was also available, so if I would have known this I would have booked the adjacent suite.

As I said, I'm almost certain this will be addressed during the updates because I believe this window in question will be the door to the new balcony that will be added to this suite. At least that is how it appears on the schematics that we saw.

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Thanks for your review! :)

The Millennium is one of my all time favorite ships. I absolutely loved the Thassolotherapy Pool in the AquaSpa. And, it's so WONDERFUL that there is no charge and it's free! :):):)

I was on the Millie in September and the Millie dancers are not new! They were brought on board in Alaska and should be there until January, we dined at the next table to them one night. They've been doing IBroadway for quite some time and yes I would say it WAS like watching a dress rehearsal. I didn't care for my Millie cruise, but I LOVED the 14 night Constellation cruise we did. We are 3 star Mariners and we're Elite Captains club so I've done both.

I would suggest you try a longer cruise on a different Celebrity ship. The M class ships on Celebrity are very nice, but for some reason I didn't like Millie either. The decor on X is much better then the newer ships that HAL has .(sorry, just my opinion).

I was on the Millie in September and the Millie dancers are not new! They were brought on board in Alaska and should be there until January, we dined at the next table to them one night. They've been doing IBroadway for quite some time and yes I would say it WAS like watching a dress rehearsal. I didn't care for my Millie cruise, but I LOVED the 14 night Constellation cruise we did. We are 3 star Mariners and we're Elite Captains club so I've done both.

 

I would suggest you try a longer cruise on a different Celebrity ship. The M class ships on Celebrity are very nice, but for some reason I didn't like Millie either. The decor on X is much better then the newer ships that HAL has .(sorry, just my opinion).

Yes, I would definitely suggest the Solstice class ships. I have been on Holland America and Celebrity. I also agree that the decor on X is much better than HAL. The advantage you have with HAL is that the ships are smaller and have a much lower density factor.

Not necessarily the case - the M Class - Millennium eg space ratio is 46.6

as opposed to

Nieuw Amsterdam = 40.8

Eurodam = 42.7

Noordam = 42.6

Zuiderdam = 44.3

The S Class are really deceiving as the ratio on the Equinox is 42.8 but the ship is designed so well it feels very spacious.

I hope the figures are accurate:D please correct if I did it wrong!

I sent a copy of my review to Celebrity Customer Service as well and am very impressed that I got a very detailed response from them. I am glad that they at least take the time to read the feedback that they receive and reply to it.

:) :)

Dear Mr...

I am glad to hear that despite of the concerns mentioned in your Cruise Critic review, you were able enjoy your overall cruise. We thank you for the positive feedback including your positive accounts of the Olympic Restaurant and main dining room, along with the services provided by the Maitre d’ and your waiter, Toshe. Also, thank you for sharing your enjoyment of both Cova Café and Aqua Spa Café. We also appreciate reading your additional satisfactions which include the Suite benefits and the Captain’s Party, the pleasant entertainment provided by the onboard musicians and performers, and the level of interaction the Captain and officers had with their guests.

However, I regret to learn of the difficulty you experienced while boarding and departing the ship. I can understand how frustrating it must have been for you to encounter delays at the beginning of your sailing and also be inconvenienced by the lack of sufficient luggage tags necessary for your departure. We are continuously seeking ways to improve and are sorry that these processes for your sailing were unorganized and time consuming. We want to make certain our guests get on and off the ship in an organized and efficient manner, and I am sorry this was not the case for you.

We are concerned to read the lack of service that was provided to by your Butler as well as your stateroom attendant. We understand your disappointment and appreciate you bringing these matters to the attention of the Guest Services Desk. I truly hope that after speaking with the housekeeping Supervisor, your concerns were addressed. We never want our guests to have any difficulties during their sailing, and we sincerely apologize as our stateroom staff should have done a better job assisting you.

Furthermore, I am glad you were happy with the layout of your Suite. However, we apologize the small size of the bathroom presented an inconvenience. Additionally, we truly regret that you and your mother faced difficulties while getting in and out of the bath tub. Also, we understand how important it is to provide a clean and inviting stateroom, and I am sorry to read of the rust in the bathroom and the condition of the bedroom walls.

In addition, I am sorry you were disappointed with the design of our pools, the temperature of the Thalassotherapy Pool, and the layout of the Persian Gardens and Celebrity Theater. As we wish to have offered you a most positive experience with these venues, we thank you for sharing you honest feedback as it is very important to us. We believe listening to our guests is the best possible way to make improvements in the areas they feel are necessary.

Rest assured, the observations you mentioned regarding the lack of selection with our nightly buffet, the unclear verbiage regarding our beverage packages, the limited availability of Coke Zero, the hours of our Captain’s Club party, and the quality of our productions shows are very important to us. In our continuing efforts to improve our products and services, a copy of your correspondence has been forwarded to the appropriate onboard management personnel for further review.

Again, Mr. Hartzel, we hope that all the other aspects of your cruise fulfilled your expectations and that these positive experiences are not overshadowed by the disappointments you described. We look forward to having another opportunity to welcome you back onboard in the future.

Sincerely,

Tanji Smith

Corporate Guest Relations Advocate

Celebrity Cruises