cachouonacruise

That is a good question and ... I am not sure I know the answer... Depending on the Daily Agenda, these are options I will definitely consider: Morning coffee on the balcony, Either a light breakfast snack and coffee at Al Bacio or a full breakfast in the main dining room ( at least once every cruise) Morning activities can include: browsing in the shop, trivia or other games, casino or Deal or no Deal. Lunch: Depending on the ship or feeling of the moment, it could be in the MDR, Sushi on Five, The Porch etc, Afternoon: more games, walking on deck, taking a dip in the pool or hot tub, or enjoying a drink in the Sky Lounge. A martini, at the Martini Bar is a must before dinner. We also try to attend the daily show at the main theatre Then , dinner in the MDR, A night walk on the top deck Then listening to music in a bar, prior to retreat, and enjoy a last beverage on our balcony. In short, sea days are really enjoyable moments on Celebrity!

French Onion Soup, Salmon, Escargots etc.

Thank-you very much Perfectly Perth, for providing us clear guidelines. I am really glad to learn that employees in Australia and New-Zealand are well paid and well treated by their employers. In Canada, sadly, the tipping culture is getting fuzzier by the minute.... Years ago, a tip of about 15% on the before tax amount, was typical in full service restaurants. A smaller tip could be provided to taxi drivers, food delivery drivers, hair dressers....Now machines are programmed to give 15%, 18%, ( more and more the standard or 20% on the total amount, including taxes.... And now, these machines are available even in places where a tip did not used to be required: a counter at a pastry store (where the only service provided, consisted in putting donuts in a box), in hot-dog joints or any other food joints not providing any table service, in taxis, in food delivery cars etc....and you may receive a look, if you don't tip in a place...where we did not use to tip. The same is happening in the cruise industry....We used to be provided tipping guidelines. Now, we prepay them...only to be submitted to discussions about "extra" tipping....to whom and how much? Officially, we're told we don't have to...but a culture is developing, where the staff has come to expecting it... In my opinion, that culture of tipping extra or more, is based on richer people wishing to receive extra or better service, or to feel extra special....Which leaves other people wondering, what is expected from them. Technically, as an employee, if I choose to do a job, I should be compensated by my employer and be happy to do the best I can in my job! ( tipping, should not influence my performance) So, I applaud Australia and New-Zealand, for treating all employees really well and I encourage you to continue with your "no tip" culture.

We've only sailed on M and S class ships and always found the beds very comfortable. We also have reached an age where arthritis is beginning to be a factor. Good luck!

Thank-you so much Jim for taking the time to share with us, your travel discoveries, your expertise, and your photos....It's so much fun to follow you and always enriching. I wish you and Lain, a safe travel home. Thanks again!

I am very glad, your experience with a crew member seems to have been more meaningful than ours. In one specialty restaurant, where we thought we had made a special connection with a waiter, to the point where he gave us his email address. When we tried to write to thank him...We received a reply that the email address was inexistant. ( It was not a typo on the address). This was not a big deal fo us, just an eye opener situation.

Watching the show Below Deck, has been very instructive for me. On that show, very rich people rent a super yacht for a fabulous amount of money. The staff will smile and caters to the guests every wishes, but only, for the purpose of getting a good tip. Difficult guests who tip generously are more appreciated at the end, then friendly guests that are tighter on the tip. When the guests leave the ship, the crew take a deep breath and begin preparing for the next group and the hope of a new tip! At the end of the day, and the same can be said of us on cruise ships. It does not matter how rich, or who we are. It does not matter if it is our first cruise or our 100th with an extremely high loyalty status. It does not matter if we're polite, friendly or not. It's only about money... Money we bring to the cruise line and money we bring to the crew. So, despite the staff's incredible ability and performance, leading us to believe that we really mean something to them while on board, nothing beats new money for the line or the staff, certainly not loyalty!

Just to make sure, I do not mi-apply the no-tipping policy in Australia and New-Zealand, does the no-tipping apply also to: serving staff in a sit-down restaurant? tour guides, on excursions? bus drivers on tour excursions? Thank-you so much for confirming! Tipping has always been one of my main concerns when travelling. Never know when or how much to tip to meet correct expectations.

On our last cruise on Millenium, one of our table mates requested his escargot to be "au gratin" ( toped with cheese) and it was accepted. Others, requested two appetizers ( including one as a main course). Others have requested two main entries combined together. In short, special requests may not necessarily be accommodated, but as described above, some requests are granted. In addition, the MDR is also very careful to respect food allergies, and diet styles. If you make your request, with your head waiter, I would be very surprised, if having fish without sauce would not be accepted. Good luck and enjoy your cruise!

Thank-you so much Jim for taking the time to respond to my question. I really appreciate it! You see, in my position being offered a likely once in a life time opportunity, I really did not want to order from the Blu or MDR menus. I wanted to taste and see the Luminae experience. I really was hoping to be blown away, by the taste, colors and service like I have been on five star land restaurants... In my context as a guest, complaining or asking a different dish, was not an option in my mind. It would have been embarrassing as a privileged guess to do so! Your description of service, correspond to the service we received in the MDR second seating. Like you, we absolutely enjoy, taking our time and eat at a leisurely pace. Our sommelier and servers offered attentive and personalized service. So, my conclusion is that for me, the Suite experience is not necessarily a good match for us. Thank-you so much for helping me better understand the Luminae experience!

Hi Jim, I just have a quick question. If you have the time. Most people on these boards rave about the Luminae restaurant. I am not a Suite cruiser, but because of the restaurant's reputation and posted food pictures, I was dreaming about the possibility of eventually trying a Suite. My question is: Is the food served to non-suite Guests in Luminae ( as per an invite of a Suite guest) the same as if I had been a Suite Guest? The reason for asking is my recent experience on Millenium. Suite guests friends invited us to eat in Luminae with them. We had to pay extra and eat a bit earlier, but I was really excited to try this famous restaurant! Sadly for me, it was really an underwhelming experience. The menu offered fewer options than the main dining room. So, I unfortunately chose the poultry. ... Bad choice! It came in a dark brown sauce. The plating had no colors, no dimension, it was just two piece of chicken in a dark sauce.... It came with some kind of side so salty that I did not recognize what it was, and I love salty food.... To be honest, it has been one of my worst restaurant experience on Celebrity. (The other one was in a specialty restaurant, now replaced by Le Petit Chef.) My first course was a cold carrot soup, which was O.K. Not more. Service was good, but definitely not better then the Main Dining Room. By all accounts, on all levels, the MDR was surprisingly a much nicer experience for us. If I ever book a suite, would what I experienced in Luminae be different? Or does the level/quality of food and service just differs when you're an invited guest?

If you're looking for a cruise out of Southampton, we did one last year which we loved! A 14 night cruise on Silhouette, departing from Southampton, we went in Guernsey, Scotland, Northern and Southern Ireland, and also Iceland, prior to return in Southampton.

Hi Jim, If you have time, I would have a question for experienced cruisers such as you and Lain. When it comes to a transatlantic cruise, why did you choose a cruise line such as Celebrity which sails normal cruise ships, versus a line like Cunard specializing in transoceanic cruise, using ships ( transatlantic liners) especially designed for ocean crossings? In short, I am wondering if a transoceanic sailing on a Cunard "Queen..." is normally smoother than a similar crossing done a cruise line sailing normal cruise ships or if the ship design has no significant impact on the comfort on board during a crossing? Thank-you for your insight!

Thank you very much Jim for sharing with us your cruise experiences! I really look forward to reading your posts! Enjoy your cruises!

The Millenium was completely refurbished, just before the pandemic I believe. Our balcony stateroom and the ship were in excellent condition. We really had nothing to complain about!

We were on the Millenium in March as well and went to the Sky Lounge a few times. I believe I know, which employee NevadaCruiser20 is referring to. We met her. I may be wrong, but I am suspecting strongly that the employee did not intend to be rude, on the contrary. I believe she was trying to offer the guest a better service, by providing table service. The issue is, I believe, the way the server likely expressed her intent. I strongly believe that the employee's English is extremely limited, and I can understand well, why it could be perceived very negatively by a person, who's mother tongue is English, such as NevadaCruiser20. I also found my first contact with that server, a bit ... surprising. However, she was very kind in her own way, when she delivered the drinks. It is sad, that a communication barrier had a negative impact on a guest's cruise, but as guests, may be we tend to forget that ship's staff from all over the world, may not be completely competent in Shakespeare's language. Food for thought!

Thank-you for your review and for sharing your experience!

I can't speak for Princess Cruise Line, having never sailed on. Royal Caribbean, especially their mega ships, are more like amusement parks at sea and are very well suited for young families and younger crown. The choice of activities ranging from belly flops at the pool, to ice carving, to trampolining etc is more extensive than Celebrity. In my opinion, the magnitude of the show in the theatre, does not go with the cruise line so much but with the size of the ship. The bigger the ship, the more enhanced is the show. On Celebrity, we have sailed 5 times including once on Solstice. A new trend with this cruise line is to set aside portions of the ship to suite class people. They have their specific restaurant ( Luminae), their specific Lounge ( Michael's) and their specific reserved area on the top deck. Then the rest of the crowd share the rest of the ship and suite class people can join us too. Aqua Class cabins have a designated restaurant called Blue. Concierge Class cabins have a few perks but no designated areas. In my opinion, the main benefit of Luminae and Blue is that they are smaller venues. In the Main Dining Room, we do have a broader menu, and I have always had an excellent service, as good as Blue or Luminae ( this last restaurant, I went only once as a guest, and likely because of my choices, I was...underwhelmed). Besides the Main Dining Room, you also have access to the Ocean View Cafe (buffet), the Cafe Al Bacio (Coffees and pastries), the mast Grill Bar ( Hamburgers, hot dogs, French Fries) and the Spa Cafe, for more healthy choices. Bars options include the renowned Martini Bar, the Sunset bar, the pool bar, the World Class bar (for mixed drinks), and the Sky Lounge for the view and Zodiac signs drinks. The entertainment on Celebrity and Solstice, include an evening show at the theatre, typically at 7 and 9 PM. The shows vary from O.k to good to excellent, depending on your personal taste. In addition, you have access to a variety of music related activities in the main foyer, the Sky Lounge, the Rendez-vous Lounge etc. Sometimes, just for listening, sometimes to karaoke and other times for dancing, for example the silent disco, line dancing class, etc. Activities also have included in the past casino or gambling games and the new trend is the Deal or no Deal game replacing the Bingo. Across the ships, you will also have access to trivia games, paper planes throwing, archery with inflated targets and funny arrows, etc. On Solstice, you may even be able to sign up for Hot Glass Blowing classes. I forgot to mention Art auctions, if that is in your interest and various shopping sales and contests. In conclusion my wife and I began sailing Celebrity in our mid 50s, and we have not been bored yet. Good luck in choosing your cruise and enjoy your vacation!

My experience with FBC is that they deal with some airlines, which offer what they call "risk free", which means you can book the flights, change or cancel them until final payment date. However, FBC also deals with airlines not offering the "risk free" program. Then the condition of your ticket are based on the airline's policy regarding your fare. In short, not all flights provided by FBC include the "risk free" option. For some reasons, and it may be my imagination, but I believe American carriers are more likely to be included in the risk free program, versus international carriers, like Air Canada, which offers it on some flights, but not all.

The world is small sometimes, we may have been booked on the same cancelled Millenium sailing in March 2020. We were booked on the sailing initially from Hong-Kong to Shanghaï....then it was changed, because of Covid, to sail from Tokyo to Singapore....and then cancelled!

We sailed 5 times on Celebrity including twice post pandemic: Silhouette, June 2022 and Millenium during our March Break ( 4-11, 2023). I do not normally spend a lot of time in the pool area, this said, on our last cruise, the last day was a sea day and we enjoyed the pool and its area for a while. We really had a good time! I must be very lucky because, the Celebrity Staff I wet were all very courteous and professional, no exceptions.... And I have to say, that the passengers we met, were also all very, very nice and friendly. I did not witness any impolite, or otherwise unacceptable behaviour by anyone. Mind you, I don't spend much time observing other people. The offensive behaviour would have to be very loud or directly directed at me for me to notice! In conclusion, some shorter sailings, or times of the year, e.g. March Break may be more at risk to involve discourteous people, but I really doubt that this phenomenon would only impact Celebrity.

I wish you to enjoy the prefect weather we had! Enjoy your cruise!

On our cruise on Millenium, any time dining was set on Deck 4, while traditional set time dining was on Deck 5. We were on the second seating at 08h30 PM, Second seating, Table 459, which was a table for 4. ( My wife and I were travelling with my SIL and BIL. Our table location was fantastic! ( the only minor issue was underneath one of our chair, under the carpet, there seems to have been a funny plate of metal. Upon arrival, we could hear a "bong" when we initially walked on it...every night).

The shows at the theatre are at 7 and 9 PM. Sadly, I just disposed a few days ago, all my daily planner copies, so I no longer have them. Sorry!

We just ended a cruise on Millenium on March 11. During that cruise, one or more persons at our table ordered either two appetizers or two entries. It seems to me, that the second appetizer, for example, could be served "as requested" either one after the other or both at the same time! And on lobster night, giving the relatively small size of the lobster tail, I personally ordered a mushroom risotto ( second entree) to be served at the same time of the lobster. None of us had any problems with our additional or special requests. No additional costs for any of us. Celebrity Millenium provided an excellent, professional, courteous service in the MDR. We were all extremely pleased! Bravo Celebrity!