Cathygh

What a pain, but necessary I suppose

Yes the the push to upgrade is annoying. I am sure the speciality dining would be full if they dropped the price. The basic wifi is exactly that, but we could access it anywhere on the ship quite easily. As it was our first Celebrity cruise we had no loyaty status. It is over a year since I was last on Princess. IMHO the MDR on Millenium is better than Princess but I prefer the Princess drinks package. I would happily cruise wth either at the right price. Next year we are on Holland America, so it will be interesting to see how that compares.

There are a few Arcadia cruises to Norwegain ports that interest me, and Aurora to Istanbul. I was hoping Azura could nip over to Istanbul too. I am not sure that we will book as we are concentrating on long haul holidays for the next few years, but I can always fit in a late deal.

They aren't as dressy as P&O but most people were smart. A few men had DJs but most were smart casual. I did not see anyone scruffy in the evenings. For evening chic I usaully wore a cocktail dress, or sequined top and black trousers. I hope you have a good time

I agree wholeheartedly. I had forgotten you could watch the muster drill online before hand, and just scan your card at the Muster point. It is shame P&O don't do more indepth voyages across the world. I am not keen to try a world cruise or a segment, too many sea days for us.

Sorry I should have said we were on Millenium. The drinks are priced in so that you ugrade to the premium package, so no martinis for us either. FYI Campari was $17!

Sorry for the confusion I have severe jet lag. The Princess cruise was a partial Panama transit.

Yes you are right. I only chose Iona and Apex as comparisons are they are both doing similar itineraries at th same time. I haven't done the Maths but I think Millenium prices are about the same as Arcadia. I was on Arcadia last year and I would choose Millenium over Arcadia at present

Following on from Jean's report about P&O vs Fred, I thought I would give an overvie of my experience on my first Celebrity cruise. This was a much delayed cruise- 12 nights Best of Japan. We chose Celebrity for the itinerary, and because P&O don't go there for this type of thing. The following is just my opinion. Checking in/embarkation. Done online. 2 ladies waiting at the terminal, just before we got on the ship, mainly checking our ID on a tablet. 2 people in the queue before us. We could choose our own boarding time. Very efficient. Passenger mix 900 Brits although it felt like more. The rest were from the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South America and Europe. Most made an effort in the evening.I had expected it to be like the cruise we did on Princess in January 2023 where scruffy passengers were the norm Condition of the ship/cabin. Very good for a 24 year old ship. No leaks anywhere and no broken toilets. Had a $60m refurb in 2019. Cabins and public areas are very modern, but patio doors had a bit of rust. The first night was very windy and we could hear wind and the sea in the cabin. I thought maybe the door wasn't shut properly even though it was locked. I opened and found I couldn't close it so my husband did and the door partly came off. We could still lock it! Maintenance arrived in about 2 minutes and fixed it back on. It happens a lot on this ship, and hearing the sea is also quite common. The next refit is this year and may be the doors will be replaced then. The P&O bed is more comfortable IMHO Hardly saw our steward but there is an evening turn down service. The chocolates were not nice. Air con- I am not sure it worked well, but we didn't need it as we were never too cold/hot. Dining. We had freedom dining in Metropolitan. We ate there for all but 2 breakfasts and 1 dinner and also on port days. Breakfast. Waiters come round with juice, water, tea, coffee and pastries while you wait. Wide choice and always hot. The quality of the eggs, sausage and bacon are superior to P&O. Lunch - similar to P&O, but one day it was very bad and we sent it back, hot chicken was served luke warm with rubbery chips Dinner. Usually a good choice and I only ate from the always available menu once. Always hot and tasty. Freedom dining was over subscribed so sometimes we were given a buzzer - the maximum wait was 20 minutes if you wanted to share Buffet - manic as you would expect, but food was ok. Drinks package We had the classic package, which included drinks up to $10. Alcohol wise the only drinks under $10 were 330ml cans of beer/lager. I drink white wine and there was a choice of 2-3 for $10. They were ok. Cocktails were all $12+. There were cocktails under $10 but there was no list so you had to suggest something and then find out if it was included or not. Baileys was $11 and I thought it was mean not to include it in the package and I was too stingy to pay the $1 and 20% service charge on top. Wine service at dinner was slow one night. The waiter can take a drinks order, but not for wine, the sommelier does that, and they had a lot of tables to cover. I think the drinks are unlimited and I was not aware of any drunken behaviour. Speciality dining. $60 per head plus 20% service charge. They were constantly trying to sell the speciality restaurants. Towards the end of the cruise they dropped the price of the Indian to $45 so we did that. Food was good but the service was terrible. The waiter got our order wrong 4 times. Note regarding eating in Blu, for which you pay a whole lot more for an Aquaclass cabin, people were complaining that they had to wait to get in, rather than walking in when they wanted and it wasn't worth the extra. Little extras, sometimes they came round with free prosecco or canapes, as a gift from an officer Captain/ officers Captain Pierre was quite shy, I think, but he did do the daily update himself and & an info session in the Theatre. The hotel director was very visible, she was always there when we left and returned to the ship. Ents Director was also very visible Entertainment Good and varied but we rarely got to the evening shows which were at 7 and 9. We heard good reports. We did go to the Skylounge every night where the Ents Director would have a bit of fun and created a great atmoshere. eg on Beatles night there would be a quick quiz which involved most of the audience followed by dancing. He is one of the best ets directors I have come across. The App. Useful for checking in beforehand. The drinks, menus for each restaurant and the entertainment for the whole cruise was listed before we arrived, You could book dining and shore excursions on it. What surprised me was that they still use pen and paper to take orders, not tablets. It worked well. Shore Excursions Very expensive. You got up to 15% off if you prebook. We did our own thing. Food and transport was cheap in Japan and the metro system was easy to use, once you got the hang of it. Price On one TA website a week to the fjords in an inside cabin on June 8th is £660 on Iona, Celebrity Apex is £1007 plus gratuities. Is Celebrity worth the extra? Not really TBF but Celebrity is meant to be a 5* line, not a 4* line, so perhaps a better comparison would be Cunard.

I think these sales are only avaiable in the US? In the UK we didn't have a leap year sale or St Patrick's Day sale

OMG gratuity is added? Not sure I'll bother

I've just seen a posting from a TA saying the new itineraries will be released in April

Thanks everyone, that has eased my mind

We are sailing soon on Millie and I can't find the white wines that cost $10 in most of the bar menus that I have seen on the app. Will they have them, say in Cellar Masters? Also cocktails up to $10 are included but I can't find any for that price. Can someone tell me which bars serve them or do I need to become a beer drinker? 🤣

I would like to do this but I can't see what day it is on. How do I find out please? I'm going to be in Millenium soon