Millennium Review 1/07-1/13/2008

Overall, a fantastic cruise! I don’t know where all the reviews are coming from that say that Millie is old and tired. I am in the hotel business (won’t say what chain, but it is a luxury chain) and the ship looks fantastic for being 8 years old. I actually looked for stained carpets and worn upholstery and I can honestly say, if you look VERY hard, you will find some, but you have to look very hard and it is very sparse. See below for details.

I definitely believe a cruise is made by meeting fellow passengers and by the service provided by the staff. This was surpassed. I apologize for the LONG review, but I wanted to let you know as much as I could.

EMBARKATION:

We arrived at 12:45 pm and the line outside the terminal went all the way down and around the back. Traffic was a mess, too. There were many ships in port. Although the line moved quickly, people seemed aggravated. I can see why. I learned that the ship came in an hour late from the previous cruise and the terminal took a LONG time to get cleared before anyone was allowed in to the terminal building. I have to say, the lines to the port security were long, and the lines to the x-ray and metal detectors were long. However, these are controlled by the port, and not by Celebrity. Once we entered the registration area, we were in our cabin within 10-15 minutes max.

PUBLIC ROOMS:

Beautiful. If there was any worn furniture, it has been replaced in a short time since all of the negative comments. I took many pictures and will try to post them in the near future on the Celebrity discussion board. The Grand Foyer is stunning with the white onyx staircase. The Glass elevators afforded a fantastic view. The dining room is typical Celebrity with the large windows at the rear. The artwork throughout the ship is great and very eclectic. All of the public rooms looked great. I can say that I looked for stained carpeting and found one on my corridor (it was a bleach stain and short of replacing the entire area, it couldn’t be avoided) and one in the buffet area on deck 10. As I was noticing it, a porter got down on his knees and cleaned up those stains! I did notice one chair of the 3 that were outside of the elevators on Deck 6 that wasn’t as new as the other two. Shabby? No, but compared to the 2 that had been re-upholstered, it was noticeable. For being 8 years old, the ship looked great. It wasn’t new, but I didn’t expect it to be.

CABIN:

Both the sofa and the deck chair had been reupholstered. There was no mildew or mold in the bathroom, and the room was clean. There were plenty of hangers and everything in the room functioned. The TV seemed to have plenty of channels for viewing (not that I watched a lot of TV). Because of previously posted comments, I inspected the drapes. Yes there were a few marks on the white black out portion of the back of the drapes. Honestly, I don’t know why anyone would look. The front that appears to the cabin was fine. Being in a SS, we had personalized stationery and cards. There was also a fresh fruit bowl (delivered every day) and the usual champagne. The water pressure and temperature in the shower was great. To answer a question that was posted recently: We had large bottles on Elemis products in the room. The Butler did indeed try to assist with unpacking but we had already done so. He was fantastic (Nelson) as was the Attendant, Salome. More on their service below, but I will say, we asked for cheese and crackers and we received them every day.

FITNESS/RECREATION:

The fitness center had great equipment. It was very busy but kept clean. We did purchase the Persian Gardens package and only used it once. I wouldn’t purchase this again. This is purely my opinion (I know many love this amenity), but I felt it was expensive for the product. The T-pool was a great change from the other pools as the pool water was a bit chilly in the main pools. We had no issue finding deck chairs, but we were on the deck quite early every day. We signed up for 3 massages each. My partner used to get weekly massages and he said it was one of the best masseurs he had had.

DINING:

This is the one area that I felt fell short versus my previous cruise on Celebrity. It was not bad by any means, but not nearly as crisp as I had experienced on Century. The food was excellent. One of the cruisers at my table had sailed on HAL for 700 nights, and on RCCL for, I think, 52 cruises, as well as several on Princess. She commented that the overall ship service, food and shows were the best she had seen ever. She ordered hot water and milk the first night, and it was placed ahead of our arrival every night after that! More on her later. Don’t miss the midnight buffet if only to take pictures! The display of Garde Manger was worth the visit. Be sure to bring your football pads, however. I have never seen such pushing by people. You would think it was the last bit of food available on the ship for the rest of the cruise. The buffets that we had for breakfast and lunch were the typical. While they weren’t spectacular, everything you could possibly want was available. And yes, I tried the waffles. I don’t even like waffles, and they were great! We convinced someone at our diner table to try them the next day, and she raved about them. One comment: it appeared that many of the coffee machines were out of service and not working. We saw several maintenance men working on them. They did put out urns of coffee in these areas.

The Olympic is not to be missed! The food was incredible. Don’t visit without ordering the Goat Cheese Soufflé. The same can be said of the Chocolate Soufflé. The Steak Dianne was prepared table side. I can’t honestly find fault with anything during that dinner. The service was outstanding. Yes, it does take every bit of 2.5 hours and we are fast eaters! There was a harpist to entertain. If you are lucky enough, you might get a waiter called Muhammad. He was very personable and very attentive. Marius, the Sommelier had a great personality and great knowledge of wines.

ENTERTAINMENT:

Fantastic! The shows were absolutely great! We met several of the performers in Labadee and they said they had been working together for quite some time. Don’t miss “Classique” Incredible costumes, a tenor that will give you goose bumps, and great dancing. There was a standing ovation after the show that lasted quite some time.

There were several other performing groups on board as well as two comedians. All were great, especially the comedians and the acapella group. The quartet at dinner was also quite good.

SERVICE:

Here is where I give huge kudos. I had nothing but friendly smiles and great attitude. Almost everyone we visited more than one time remembered our names. They truly tried to anticipate all of our needs. I don’t think I opened my own door more than 2 times during the cruise. Melanie (Assistant CD married to Drew) as well as one security guard remembered us BY NAME from a year ago when we sailed Century. If you sail, be sure to look for Milos (server in the Rendezvous Lounge), Togy and Luca (Pool Bartenders), Teapot TJ (Cosmos Bartender). If you go to Togy or TJ, ask them to make you a “Momma’s on the phone” TJ also did great tricks with bottles and ice.

I also had the pleasure to chatting for a long time with the Human Resources Director, Paul. What a nice guy, and such energy. He had just arrived on the ship. It was interesting to compare hotel and ship stories. What a wonderful ambassador he is for Celebrity!

I firmly believe that if you treat employees with kindness, they will do anything you ask. I observed one very rude passenger yell at the grill attendant after she has asked for “lots of grilled onions” on her burger. By the way, that was after she demanded it be cooked medium well. She became so angry when some of the onions spilled over onto her French fries. I really wanted to say something, but I just winked and smiled at the poor employee she had just yelled at. There was only one time that a crew member passed us (of many) that we were not treated “famously” –he was the only one all week that didn’t greet us.

SHORE EXCURSIONS:

We did a 4x4 wheel ride into the rain forest in SJ; Swam with the dolphins in Tortola; Caves in Dominican Republic (not as exciting as the rest) and the zip line in Labadee. We heard many negative comments about DR: from dead dogs in the streets to getting surrounded by over zealous vendors in the market. The zip line is not to be missed. I thought it would be a dead drop as soon as you start. It really is not scary at all, and we even saw many elderly passengers try it. You won’t regret it.

FELLOW CRUISERS:

Our table of 6 at dinner could not have been better. We had great table mates. One of them (mentioned above) books a cruise a month. Because of her experience, she has decided to book the Solstice. Another person at our table stated the first night that she didn’t think cruising was for her. This was her first cruise. Imagine the table’s reaction, when on the final night, she asked about the future booking credits for booking while on board! It was so interesting to hear all of our table mate’s tales and backgrounds. We made several friends at the FOD meetings. The ages of passengers were very broad. There were as many elderly as there were young adults on the cruise. We found people everywhere we went that talked to us about our shore excursions, our plans for the day, or to comment on the shows from the previous night.

There were 75 people that had signed up for the CC party. Unfortunately, there were only 10-15 of us that showed up. That was disappointing, but I did get to meet Bill from the CC board, as well as Host Star. I know the weather was great during this time, but it was a shame that more didn’t show up so that we could get to know each other.

DISEMBARKATION:

A snap and very quick! We opted for the service where they take your luggage and check it straight through to your destination after you take it through customs. I was a bit leery of arriving home and not having my luggage. But, there it was. It was worth the $20 charge since we had extra time before our flight and we didn’t have to lug it around with us.

OVERALL:

I’m ready to book another cruise. We have been told the Mediterranean is a wonderful cruise to take, and we are looking forward to using our future cruise credit to do so. My suggestions: Don’t expect problems and don’t look for fault. Surely you will find it. Go and relax. Get to know the staff. They want to please and will do all they can. If they know your likes and dislikes, they will remember them, and treat you “famously”.

Great job NPS001! This gives me renewed faith in Celebrity and Millennium! We are looking forward to our cruise on the Millennium in a little over 2 months. A positive attitude also goes a long way in ones enjoyment, too bad you were not on our trip, I would love to have had you for a table mate!

KC

Hi, thanks for sharing your experience with us:)

Sorry so few folks showed up at your CC gathering, 75 signed up

with only 15 attending? That is disappointing.

Sounds like you had a wonderful time though:)

Which Solstice cruise did you book?

Thanks again:)

NPS - We sailed Millie in October to the Med. It was AWESOME!!!! We did the 14 night Classical Med cruise with two days in Rome and Istanbul. We had a very port intensive cruise and it was the best!!!

I will tell you that we booked Oct 7th and the only bad weather we had was when we were coming into Venice on the 21st. the rain started and the weather got chilly. I wouldn't book any later because of that. I felt sorry for the people getting on the cruise after us because they hit alot of rain.

Charlie

Thanks so much for the review. It's so nice to hear positive comments and to know you really enjoyed yourselves. We're on Millie in 5 days...I know we'll have a fabulous time!

nps001: THANK YOU! Finally a positive review regarding the food & ship! I'll be boarding on 1/27!!! How early would you suggest I arrive at the ship? Also, I was considering the caves...should I pass? Oh, lastly, is the midnight buffet (just one?) worth checking out, or not really? Thanks again!!!

We decided to do the caves because we didnt want to snorkel or do water excursions. The caves were beautiful, and if you like that kind of excursion I would do it. It certainly wasnt like the other excursions we did, however--they were action packed. Definitely do the zip line!

I definitely recommend visiting the Midnight Buffet. Even being in this type of business, I was in awe. At least go to look, during the preview (when no one can eat, only look and take pictures).

I would arrive around 12-1pm. The issues with the long lines were due to the port authority not being able to clear the terminal as early as usual due to the large number of foreign passengers on the previous cruise.

I'm sure you'll love your cruise. I loved the Century a year ago, and this surpassed it.

Thanks for the review:)

Did you dock in Tortola or tender?

We have the Caves tour booked in the Dom Rep would you recommend canceling or is it ok if you don't have your hopes up to high? We don't really want to go to the beach that day.

nps001 - Thanks for sharing your cruise experience with us. It sounds like you had a wonderful time! Your cruise attitude is PERFECT! I read your review aloud to my DH and he got all 'dreamy' - then he asked when our Millie cruise to the Carib is - when I said, "April", he used a very nasty expletive (:eek:) and informed me that was too far away!;):D Thanks for your review and for bringing a smile of anticipation to our hearts!

Happy cruising!

Denise

Thx for the responses nps001....counting the days til my first X cruise after four on Princess! So nice to hear your positive review.

Millennium is absolutely wonderful and in excellent shape ever since the 3 week dry dock this past April. She's my favorite Celebrity ship :D I have started ignoring all whining and complaining on Cruise Critic, as every time I board a Celebrity ship, my personal experience is the exact opposite of what I read on these boards.

Cheers -

Floris

I was on the same cruise and want to add that the weather was beautiful and Labadee is NOT TO BE MISSED! I feel sorry for the folks on the previous cruise that missed Labadee (you have to tender and the weather was to0 rough on their specified day). I must have been right there with you when the lady got mad about the onions... I don't understand why folks can't be happy on cruises, I had a few confrontations with folks that were just mean...how can you be unhappy with warm sun and beautiful scenery? Oh, BTW, I won the shopping raffle at the end of the cruise, so that just topped off my experience!!!

Great review!!!

Thanks for your review.

It was most thoughtful of you to take the time neccesary to write such a meaningful overview. We plan to use your experiences for our own benefit very shortly.

Thanks again

nps001 or quiltstitcher:

This will be our first short (7 night) cruise on x so we are trying to figure out the dress schedule for dinners.

We assume nights 1 and 7 are casual and likely night 2 will be formal as it is a sea day.

Can you recall what was requested for nights 3, 4, 5 and 6 please?:confused:

Many thanks

We're sailing Millie in June. We can't wait! Sailed Infinity in 4/06 and just loved it. Thanks for reminding us of the service to come. It was just as awesome on Inifinity, along with everything else.

Dandy... someone else posted this for the Millie 7 night Carb. intinerary:

1 - casual

2 - formal

3 - casual

4 - informal (semi-formal)

5 - casual

6 - formal

7 - casual

So... 4 casual, 2 formal, 1 informal. Just remember that on X informal means semi-formal, not resort casual.

Hope this helps.

Thank you so much for taking the time to post your review! Kevin & I just received our docs (we're doing the dance!) yesterday for our 2.24.08 sailing on the Millennium. We'd been a bit worried, having read so many negative reviews recently, however, we always board with a positive attitude and always have a wonderful cruise, so we were ready to ignore all the negativity! We're so happy you enjoyed your cruise and were able to report back so positively!

Dave and Joe,

Thank you for posting your review. My partner and I were getting a little worried about the previous comments about the Millennium. Your review put a smile on our faces this morning.

We sail out on Feb. 3rd and are also in a SS! I'm forwarding your review to 2 other couples joining us. I'm sure they will be just as excited as we are.

Thanks again!

Thanks for the detailed review! We're returning to Millennium next week. Your experience sounds very similar to what we enjoyed last February.

As promised, here is the link to the pictures from our cruise last week. I had hoped to get them into albums that were separated by categories. I apologize, but you'll have to sift through pictures of the ship, public areas, lots of artwork on the ship, ports, us, etc.

If any of you have any specific questions, I will be glad to answer them.

Joe/Dave

http://community.webshots.com/user/nps001?vhost=community

Great shots, Joe. You were obviously much more diligent at taking pictures than me! The review is great--I think most people had a fantastic time on this cruise.

I only wish I had taken pictures of everyone we met. It was great to meet both of you. Perhaps we will sail together soon. We were planning on a Med cruise, but they are quite a bit more expensive than the one we just took. :mad:

We would like to do a cruise this summer, but if not, we will be on the Solstice early next year.

Joe and Dave

You should check out the Constellation we're doing next January, it looks like a great itinerary. I posted another review of this cruise--take a look.

Tell Dave we miss him! (OK, really we miss the ship and the sun and everybody!)

Thanks for the great review Joe and Dave, really looking forward to our turn onboard in a few days, glad you enjoyed it.:)

NPS Very nice review. I can't wait to get back to the Sea!