Back from CELEBRITY MILLENNIUM - 12/3/2011 Sailing!

CELEBRITY MILLENNIUM

December 3, 2011

5-Day Western Caribbean

Miami, Falmouth Jamaica, Grand Cayman, Miami

Pictures Link:

http://gallery.mac.com/ekroller#100850

I just returned from a fantastic cruise on the CELEBRITY MILLENNIUM. Overall I could not have been happier with the experience. Usually I lower my expectations for a shorter cruise, as often they don't hold up to the longer ones, but that was not necessary for this sailing. The cruise was extra special as I sailed with one of my oldest friends from Los Angeles (going on 25 years!). Jim flew out early to Miami and we enjoyed a wonderful day on South Beach. That night we were joined by two of my newer friends, Frank & Chuck. After picking them up from the airport we had dinner at Il Mulino in Ft. Lauderdale which I highly recommend. It's one of mine and my partner's favorite Italian restaurants. That night was a full house at my apartment as we only have one extra bedroom. Jim was kind enough to sleep downstairs in the living room.

Embarkation day is aways exciting and this time was no different. We somehow managed to get the four of us and all our luggage into my car. Parking at the cruise terminal was a breeze but pricey at $20. At least it's covered and secure. Embarkation was quick, the day was beautiful, and in no time we were enjoying the beautiful MILLENNIUM. I thought the ship looked great! Considering she is going on 12 years old she still looks modern, relevant, and in excellent condition. The one exception might be the Extreme Sports Bar which is looking quite dated. This area will become the specialty restaurant Qsine when the MILLENNIUM is “Solsticized” in the Spring. It's been several years since I sailed on an M-Class ship, and I forgot just how elegant and lovely these ships are. We were in a Concierge Class cabin, and we had champagne, flowers, fruit, and robes waiting for us. Everything in the cabin was in great shape and the beds were very comfortable. Soon it was sail-away time and we met our friends Frank & Chuck in their cabin to enjoy the champagne. Afterward we headed up to the aft Ocean Bar to meet up with fellow Cruise Critic members and enjoyed a festive gathering with a beautiful Miami cityscape in our wake.

We had secured late sitting for dinner and I felt our meals and service in the dining room were very good. Our table was on the upper level, and the four of us were joined by another friend Tim, and new friends Deb and Chris. The seven of us along with our festive waiter and assistant really enjoyed some memorable times at dinner. One evening Jim, Frank, Chuck and myself enjoyed a truly amazing dining experience in the Olympic Dining Room. Honestly I can say it might have been my best shipboard meal ever, or if not the very best certainly within the top five. I can't say enough about how excellent the food, service, company, and atmosphere were that evening. The specialty restaurants on the M-Class ships are really about as good as it gets at sea. It was very comparable to a dinner I enjoyed recently at Gordon Ramsay at Claridges in London, which was over six times the price! I never had breakfast (rarely up that early!) and mostly had lunch in the Ocean Cafe which had a nice selection, and the best french fries I've had on any ship. They were the thick cut steak fries if you happen to like those like I do. It should be pretty obvious by now that any diet regime was out the window! As a group we enjoyed lunch in the main dining room twice. Once was a special brunch, which consisted of a lot of food stations that offered everything from sushi to waffles and omelets. It was quite a variety of food although a little chaotic.

I only saw one evening show on this cruise and it was quite good. Most nights consisted of the gym around 5pm, getting ready for dinner, then pre-dinner drinks in the Martini Bar followed by dinner and after dinner drinks or the show. We usually capped off the evening at Cosmos. One evening was the deck party which was way too much fun (from what I remember). Some of it was caught on video just in case I forgot! The Officers were out in full force and they ended up in the pool which is something I've never seen before. I'll say in general the Officers were far more visible and friendly in comparison to other cruise lines. Having them out and about around the ship is a really nice touch.

Our ports were Falmouth Jamaica and Grand Cayman. Jim and I strolled around the developed port area of Falmouth but didn't do much else. In Grand Cayman I didn't even get off the ship. I've been there many times in the past and with six ships anchored I thought a day by the pool was the best bet.

We had a spectacular final sea day returning to Miami, with almost a flat calm, sunny skies with no clouds, a gentle breeze, and the Northern coast of Cuba off our Starboard side. It's the type of sea day found in cruise ship brochures! Back in Miami the following morning, getting off the ship was as easy as boarding. There was a little line up for Customs and Immigration but nothing overly long or time consuming.

Once again Celebrity Cruises exceeded my expectations. They have long been my favorite large ship cruise line, and I'm happy to say they continue to be after this latest sailing. As an Elite member of the Captain's Club, I honestly feel Celebrity offers more value and tangible benefits to this tier of past passenger compared to any other line. Complimentary drinks every night from 5-7pm, complimentary laundry service (one bag), complimentary wine tasting, complimentary elegant afternoon tea, two complimentary tote bags, complimentary backstage tour, Officer's party, and 90 minutes of free internet. What more could you ask for, especially on a five day cruise? On this note my only negative experience on the MILLENNIUM was with the Captain's Club Host. He handled a situation at the Elite afternoon tea very poorly, and I noted this in the guest questionnaire. In any case it was a minor blemish on an otherwise exceptional cruise.

Like all cruises, it's really the people that make all the difference. The staff and crew of MILLENNIUM were a delight (especially Dragana in the Martini Bar!), but even more so were the old and new friends I had the pleasure of sailing with! Jim, Frank, Chuck, Tim, David, Chris, Deb, Oren, Ray, Jean, Robert & Jake … thank you all for making this cruise one of the best! My apologies if I left anyone out.

All good things must come to an end, but we were not quite ready to give up so easily. We headed up to West Palm Beach the day we disembarked to enjoy a post-cruise dinner with my lovely friend M-L at Rhythm Cafe. It was wonderful seeing her beautiful new home, and dinner was superb! In a way it was a pre-cruise dinner as well, since we will all meet up on QM2 in just a few weeks time. Good times ahead!

Ernie

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Some preview pics:

Glad you had a wonderful adventure at sea!

I remember seeing you and your friends on Dave's 'sort of Live' report, particularly the Sail-away images:

Some of our Cruise Critic group

 

 

 

 

Jim, Tim, Ernie, Frank

 

 

Cheers to many more wonderful photos and great memories!

I can think of only one word to describe the cruise and Ernie's narrative: FABULOUS!!! ;)

Thanks so much for your review.

Ernie, Thank you for your review and all of the photos. You are the first reviewer who I have found to post pictures of the fitness center. That will be one of the spots I will be visiting every day this week as I will be sailing on the Millenium tomorrow. I don't want to gain weight on the cruise! Also, we have the same tastes in wonderful places to eat. Il Miluno and and Rhythm Cafe are two of our favorites. Mark

Ernie, Thank you for your review and all of the photos. You are the first reviewer who I have found to post pictures of the fitness center. That will be one of the spots I will be visiting every day this week as I will be sailing on the Millenium tomorrow. I don't want to gain weight on the cruise! Also, we have the same tastes in wonderful places to eat. Il Miluno and and Rhythm Cafe are two of our favorites. Mark

Hi Mark,

You do have excellent taste in cuisine! We love Il Mulino and Rhythm Cafe! I wish Rhythm Cafe were a little closer. We are in Aventura, so the Northern end of Miami-Dade which makes it a little easier getting up to FLL and West Palm.

I'm glad you enjoyed the review and found the pictures helpful. The gym on the MILLENNIUM is quite nice. Perhaps not as swank as the newest ships, but pretty good for an 11 year old ship. There were about three pieces of equipment that were out of order, including two ellipticals which is what I use. Hopefully they will be fixed by the time you sail. I'm not a morning person, so I usually go to the gym around 5pm and it was almost always empty. I think a lot of people skip the gym on these shorter cruises. Not me! I only gained .4 lbs which was great considering how much I ate and drank. Using the stairs helps too. The MILLENNIUM also has a pretty cool sauna, with a large window looking out over the ocean. There is also the Persian Garden (coed) that includes a few different steam rooms. Although I had a free pass to the Persian Garden, I only used it once. The set up is a little odd (changing rooms across the hall), and there are no windows.

Back to great food, I highly recommend the Olympic. The setting is stunning as the paneling is original from the OLYMPIC, which was a sister ship to TITANIC. The service, presentation, and food are equally fantastic. I've dined in the specialty restaurants on most ships (HAL, Carnival, NCL, Princess, Cunard, Solstice Class, Royal Caribbean, etc) but none quite compared to the Millennium Class ships.

Any other questions please feel free to ask ... and Bon Voyage!

Ernie

Hi Ernie,

Great commentary. Do you have photos of the food served in Olympic? We are on the Millie for 14 days in late January and plan to eat there quite often.

Thanks, Larry

Hi Ernie,

Great commentary. Do you have photos of the food served in Olympic? We are on the Millie for 14 days in late January and plan to eat there quite often.

 

Thanks, Larry

Hi Larry,

No pictures of food. I guess I'm not into "food porn"! LOL Generally I don't carry my camera around with me. Most all the shots I took of the ship are from one morning. I pretty much take them all in about an hour, when most people are off the ship.

I had Dover Sole in the Olympic and it was beyond awesome! Deboned table side, and presented with a delicious sauce. There were enough fantastic choices on the menu that I could have eaten in the Olympic for 7 nights straight no problem. I don't know how my waste line would feel about that?? ;-)

Ernie

We enjoy the special brunch. On Solstice we had the place to ourselves (:D) but on Eclipse it was a madhouse (still :D though).

What time did you get there? and is there a time slot you'd recommend (I'm thinking first thing).

Enjoyed your review and the pictures! Awesome! Wanted to ask if you would suggest a specific night to go to the olympic resturaunt due to menue lacking in mdr?

We enjoy the special brunch. On Solstice we had the place to ourselves (:D) but on Eclipse it was a madhouse (still :D though).

 

What time did you get there? and is there a time slot you'd recommend (I'm thinking first thing).

I think we arrived around 12:30pm and honestly it wasn't bad. There were 8 or 9 of us and we got seated right away. The crazy part was just managing all the people and figuring out everything that was offered. Once you figured out what you wanted, there was no wait for any of the food. There were just a lot of people wandering around seeing what was there.

As you know, there is a great variety of food offered. I think it's the first time I've ever had pancakes and sushi on the same plate! LOL

Ernie

Enjoyed your review and the pictures! Awesome! Wanted to ask if you would suggest a specific night to go to the olympic resturaunt due to menue lacking in mdr?

We actually went on formal night, which was the second night out. I'm not sure what we missed on the MDR menu, but being in formal attire in such a formal setting as the Olympic seemed perfect.

Ernie

I can think of only one word to describe the cruise and Ernie's narrative: FABULOUS!!! ;)

I think you mean ... F A B U L O U S!!! LOL

Inside joke folks ... guess you had to be there. ;-)

I think we arrived around 12:30pm and honestly it wasn't bad. There were 8 or 9 of us and we got seated right away. The crazy part was just managing all the people and figuring out everything that was offered. Once you figured out what you wanted, there was no wait for any of the food. There were just a lot of people wandering around seeing what was there.

 

As you know, there is a great variety of food offered. I think it's the first time I've ever had pancakes and sushi on the same plate! LOL

 

Ernie

A few photos from our recent Infinity cruise. A great brunch.

I think you mean ... F A B U L O U S!!!

Yes, that's it...F A B U L O U S!!! And it truly was! ;)

A few photos from our recent Infinity cruise. A great brunch.

Thanks for the pics! The brunch on the MILLENNIUM looked almost exactly like this. It was very nice ... and perhaps a bit more crowded.

Ernie

Thanks for the pics! The brunch on the MILLENNIUM looked almost exactly like this. It was very nice ... and perhaps a bit more crowded.

 

Ernie

We went as soon as it opened so I could get some pics prior to all the "grazing". Therefor it would have been busier when you were there. A fun event. Glad we had skipped breakfast.

Larry

A fun event. Glad we had skipped breakfast.

 

Larry

I enjoyed it too Larry!

You're right, good thing I didn't have breakfast. As it was there was so much food and choice I could barely decide what to eat. That is how I ended up with the strange combination of pancakes and sushi on the same plate! LOL

Ernie

Glad that you guys had a great cruise.

Ernie, thanks for the recap. I was indeed the most fun cruise The Duck and I have been on. Still sorry I missed Jim doing something totally obnoxious! I will be looking for your future review of the Queen Mary.

Laurie

Thanks for the review--we are boarding on the same cruise this weekend. Is the ship decorated for Christmas yet?

Thanks for the review--we are boarding on the same cruise this weekend. Is the ship decorated for Christmas yet?

Celebrity had not put up Christmas decorations yet on our cruise. There were a lot of poinsettias out but my understanding was that those were paid for by a large wedding party that was onboard.

Ernie

Ernie, thanks for the recap. I was indeed the most fun cruise The Duck and I have been on. Still sorry I missed Jim doing something totally obnoxious! I will be looking for your future review of the Queen Mary.

 

Laurie

Hey Laurie,

Great meeting you!! Just hang around Jim long enough and you are certain to be entertained! LOL If I have just 1/2 as much fun on QM2 it will be a successful cruise.

Take care,

Ernie