Millennium Live October 2014

We are presently cruising from Osaka Japan to Korea.

Japan has been an absolutely wonderful experience.

Internet connections have been challenging to say the least and pictures very difficult to upload. There is a typhoon behind us and we seem to be fortunate in getting out of Japan when we did.

Photobucket won't allow me to reduce the size of my uploads...

probably due to the slow connection:

The posts won't be in order but yesterday we visited Osaka castle by subway... a process that requires assistance for the first time user. The subway station is only a two block walk from the ship... and a $2.80 fee (yen is roughly like counting in cents... 280 yen). You can purchase a return ticket or an all day pass for multiple stops.

Very interesting post from a newbie (not:))

We loved Japan. First time we were there, the cherry blossoms were blooming and it was amazing. They were backlit at night and people were picnicking beneath them, everyone having a wonderful time.

Happy sailing. :)

I see Damir is the F&B Director? I'm shocked. He was the Bar Manager on Reflection, and you could never get him to smile. He had a very vindictive management style in the treatment of his bartenders. You could feel the morale drop, especially when he was around.

Arno great to see your posts on this cruise. Love the Millie, I was on the Connie for the TA last November, saw you and your wife in Bistro on 5 eating, just hated to disturb you.

How was the time change affecting people crossing the Pacific?

Happy cruising.

Norma

This is going to be fun! Thanks for thinking of us.

h20cruzer

How was the time change affecting people crossing the Pacific?

The time changes were wonderful.. an extra 8 hours of sleep in total even though we lost a day. It is now 9 am Saturday morning.

We arrived in Jeju Island South Korea this morning under cloudy skies.

There is a currency exchange opposite the gangway with many in line for this opportunity.

Passengers are having their temperature checked as they disembark. There are no passport requirements nor official immigration inspection.

upwarduk: Very interesting post from a newbie

There was a very interesting guest speaker on Buddhism, a wonderful perspective on how to remove the suffering from posting or reading the boards... My life begins anew.. ;)

Thank you for these posts. Very interesting. I will follow with interest. Enjoy your cruise

Inchon Korea:

A modern day city:

(Sorry I could not resize the photo)

The dock area has no terminal at present but lots of construction.

Thank you for posting a review of this area of the world. It's on our bucket list, possibly for 2016 :). Enjoy your cruise ;).

For anyone planning to visit Incheon in the future, a cruise terminal will be constructed on this site scheduled to open in 2016 which will allow cruise ships to embark and disembark in Incheon. The terminal will also have shops and restaurants and will hopefully attract more cruise ships to the port

It's 11 am Monday Morning onboard Millennium. We are presently sailing under sunny skies towards China. Chinese officials have boarded and will be inspecting passports during the day. However, last night we received the following notice:

Today onboard:

Agree with how challenging internet access was on the transpacific. Even in port it was often not possible to go online, which seems odd.

Hoping the seas are calm & the cruise pleasant for those currently on board.

Agree with how challenging internet access was on the transpacific. Even in port it was often not possible to go online, which seems odd.

 

Hoping the seas are calm & the cruise pleasant for those currently on board.

It would appear that whatever other strengths Celebrity have, their "IT" Department is run by a bunch of elderly men who think CDs are the next big thing...They seem to have no clue how to create a functioning website and the internet is just a enormous complicated distraction that they wish would go away.:rolleyes:

For anyone planning to visit Incheon in the future, a cruise terminal will be constructed on this site scheduled to open in 2016 which will allow cruise ships to embark and disembark in Incheon. The terminal will also have shops and restaurants and will hopefully attract more cruise ships to the port

That's interesting since the tides at Inchon can reach up to 30 feet. They must have to do a lot of dredging in that channel for a cruise ship to dock.

Arno thanks very informative I doing millenium jan4 ex singapore my first celebrity after quite a few princess cruuses got a fantastic deal and they threw in free booze

That's interesting since the tides at Inchon can reach up to 30 feet. They must have to do a lot of dredging in that channel for a cruise ship to dock.

And lots of fun for the deck crew trying to manage mooring lines & gangways as the tides ebb and flow.

MARK

I believe the lock gates at incheon port ensure that the water levels always remain the same inside the port area. From my earlier post, I have actually found out that the new cruise terminal will be where the international ferry terminals are in incheon and will have the two ferry terminals that are there currently along with an additional six ferry berths and a cruise ship pier for vessels up to 150000 tonnes. The larger ferry berths can handle cruise ships up to 80000 tonnes. The photograph I have seen of the new cruise port shows lots of new hotels, shops, restaurants and park areas to be built around the cruise terminal area. I believe the cruise pier will be ready in time for winter 2016 and the rest of the area will be developed over the next decade

Scratch one off the bucket list:

Note: Do not climb to the top tower if you wish to walk the next day...;)

Note: Do not climb to the top tower if you wish to walk the next day...

Love it!:)

Arno -- thank you for the great photos! I feel like we are right there with you and Joanne, on the Great Wall!

That is a beautiful picture Arno.

Day 3 in China:

We remained onboard today to rest up from our tour.

I spoke to a dozen different people who had taken the two day Celebrity overnight tour and all were very happy with their experience including the quality of their hotel. We took the one day excursion through the ship and were also happy with our choice. There were many who took private tours who were getting very upset that they could not get off the ship early.. despite frequent announcements that those taking Celebrity tours were able to get off first.

The view from our balcony today:

The smog is horrendous, the washroom facilities 3,000 years old.

Bring toilet paper and nose plugs.