Just returned from 2/18 Millennium sailing

I just returned from the 2/18 Millennium sailing today. It was a great cruise!

Millennium is in excellent shape, the staff is constantly cleaning, painting, etc. No bad smells anywhere. My cabin (CC 8154) was fine, no comments whatsoever. All cabins have the new beds. The cabin attendant was very attentive and available... I didn't even have to open my own cabin door, he was *always* in the hallway opening doors for everybody!

The quality of food is still Celebrity's strong point in my opinion, but I understand that tastes vary and opinions on this subject differ. There seem to be many long-term cruisers taking the position that everything was better in the past. (My parents say the exact same thing about almost everything by the way.) I always take into consideration that serving 1,000 people on 1 hour obviously is going to make a difference compared to any 5-star restaurant.

Service in the main dining room was as good as ever. Our waiter was very friendly. After the first night, he remembered all your requests and you never had to ask for the same thing again. The menu was 80% the same as in November, but some new dishes have been added. There was a 'guest chef' on this cruise. He gave cooking classes on both sea days and on most nights there would be one dish prepared by the guest chef on the main menu... A very nice touch!

I liked the buffet as well. There were always 25 dishes to choose from and the menu was different every day. The sushi café is expanded (compared to November). I did not try the Olympic this time, but in November it was great.

All Celebrity touches were in place… champagne upon arrival, escorts to the cabins (after 1 pm), cold towels upon return to the ship, sorbet-on-parade, etc.

The Captain was Zisis Taramas, the Cruise Director was Derek Habraken (he apparently stays on until April 2).

I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the entertainment. Millennium is very fortunate to have a very, very strong cast of Singers and Dancers. They did a great job on all four production shows. The party band Frontliners is also better then what I’ve come to expect of party bands on Celebrity. There were the usual aerial acrobats, a guitarist who mostly played in Cova and on deck 10 aft, comedian Thien-Fu (he is hilarious!) and pianist Antonio Salci (not my thing, but most people seemed to enjoy it).

Apart from the shows there were 2 deck parties (Mardi Gras on Tuesday and Caribbean Night on Thursday), a Tropical Buffet, the Grand Buffet, and midnight snacks on all other nights.

I estimate about 95% observed the dress code on Formal Nights. Those who didn’t comply where *not* refused at the restaurant. Still, I was happy to notice that most people have the decency to follow the rules, even on a Caribbean itinerary with lots of young people and kids. Speaking of kids, they were the only annoyance for me during this cruise. Kids pushing all 12 buttons in the elevator, kids running and screaming in the hallways (also in the middle of the night), kids dropping sorbets in the hot tub, and (disgusting) kids trying to spit on passengers boarding while bending over the railing of deck 11. Yuck. I know most parents will immediately say ‘my kids are not like that’, but that is what all parents say. The fact is… you don’t know what your kids are like when you are not around! Celebrity security staff did what they could to prevent these things from happening, and also addressed the parents, but with 250+ kids, they were outnumbered.

What else can I say… there was no librarian (the Activities Staff managed the library), there were no bridge lessons. Although the Celebrity Today said you couldn’t bring alcohol on board, they didn’t act on this rule and you could bring as many bottles as you wanted to your cabin.

Funniest conversation overhead all week:

- Guest “Excuse me, Sir, what is starboard?”

- Waiter “This side of the ship is called starboard madam.”

- Guest “Thank you! And tomorrow morning at 8 am, where do I find starboard then?” :D

Anyway, any day on a cruise ship still beats any day in the real world!

Questions? Let me know!

Floris

Floris,

Thanks for the nice review. :) BTW, how were the waffles?

Floris: Thank you for your well-writen review. Covered all major points of at least my interest, with a nice bit of humor. Look forward to meeting you on our TA!

so sorry to hear about the rotten kids. That is surprising to me. Glad your cruise was great in other aspects.

Hello! We also just returned from this sailing. The food was hands down the highlight for us. Service in the dining room was as good as ever. We also went to Olympic one evening and it was excellent--as good as the first time we dined there back in 2003. Oh, and based on the postings here, we tried the waffles (several times) and they were as good as promised :)

I agree that there were alot of "tweens" running unsupervised. I guess I had somewhat prepared myself for that knowing it was a school break week.

A couple of downsides (nothing that ruined my cruise, but just giving the experience for anyone interested). I didn't find that the staff was enforcing the pool rules. The reserving of deck chairs, in my opinion, was not being addressed. We looked for chairs after breakfast on one sea day and found many had a random magazine or book thrown on them for holding. When we did another round later in the morning and even around lunch time, some of those same chairs seemed to be unused, but still with a magazine on them. Also, I noticed some kids with muster station wristbands (which means they were under 12) in the thallasotherapy pool (sure I'm spelling that wrong).

Our group had 3 cabins (actually 2 cc cabins and a suite) and all three cabins had off and on problems with the toilets flushing for the first half of the cruise. We also noticed some sewer smells in the bathroom and right outside our cabins. We were told by guest services that it was a system problem but I'm not sure how widespread it was because we never heard others complaining of the problem. Our group joked that when we make it to the next level in the Captains Club, one of the perks will be flushing toilets. Luckily everyone in the group took it in stride.

Happy cruising to all going on Millie soon!

Hi Cruising2007! Yes I agree, people 'reserving' chairs at the pool by throwing a book on them without showing up for hours was a problem indeed. The pool staff didn't do anyting to prevent this.

And Texed, the waffles were as good as ever :D

Best Regards,

Floris

Hello! We also just returned from this sailing. The food was hands down the highlight for us. Service in the dining room was as good as ever. We also went to Olympic one evening and it was excellent--as good as the first time we dined there back in 2003. Oh, and based on the postings here, we tried the waffles (several times) and they were as good as promised :)

 

I agree that there were alot of "tweens" running unsupervised. I guess I had somewhat prepared myself for that knowing it was a school break week.

 

A couple of downsides (nothing that ruined my cruise, but just giving the experience for anyone interested). I didn't find that the staff was enforcing the pool rules. The reserving of deck chairs, in my opinion, was not being addressed. We looked for chairs after breakfast on one sea day and found many had a random magazine or book thrown on them for holding. When we did another round later in the morning and even around lunch time, some of those same chairs seemed to be unused, but still with a magazine on them. Also, I noticed some kids with muster station wristbands (which means they were under 12) in the thallasotherapy pool (sure I'm spelling that wrong).

 

Our group had 3 cabins (actually 2 cc cabins and a suite) and all three cabins had off and on problems with the toilets flushing for the first half of the cruise. We also noticed some sewer smells in the bathroom and right outside our cabins. We were told by guest services that it was a system problem but I'm not sure how widespread it was because we never heard others complaining of the problem. Our group joked that when we make it to the next level in the Captains Club, one of the perks will be flushing toilets. Luckily everyone in the group took it in stride.

 

Happy cruising to all going on Millie soon!

We are sailing in two weeks, can you tell me where your cabins where? We are deck 9 Aft.

What did you do at your ports? Still trying to decide for my up and coming Millie cruise!

Floris,

Thanks very much for your excellent review. The kids sounded like the only real downside. :( Will be on Millie for the March ta and am really looking forward to it.

Look forward to meeting you.

Anne

My mom and I were also on this sailing. It was only our second cruise so I don't have as much to compare it to as some other posters. Overall we had a great time and I felt we more than got our money worth. Here are a few of my thoughts about the cruise.

We were in cabin cc 9038. It had a beautiful balcony which is slightly larger than normal becuase of a bump in the ship. We had breakfast delivered nearly every morning which was wonderful. Sidney was our cabin attendant and I can't say enough good things about him. The bed was comfortable and there were no problems with the room. I did smell the sewer gas that some mention from time to time. It was worst on the day we boarded. It was not a major problem.

The food was good and there was plenty of it. There was ice cream available all day everyday and it was very good. We tried the Olympic. I thought it was a nice experence but was not worth the money b/c it was not significantly better than what was served in the dining room. I'm glad we did it but I would not do it again. The buffet had many options and the pool side grill was also good.

I agree with the other posters that getting a chair by the pool was a not easy. On sea days there was really nothing available quite early in the morning. It was not a huge problem for me but it you like to lay by the pool you would have to get up quite early.

We played in the casino quite a bit. For those who are interested the Blackjack rules are not too bad. They have mostly 8 deck games, they hit soft 17, you can split up to 4 and can double on any hand. Overall I lost for the trip but had a great time doing it. The dealers are very nice and helpful if you happen to be a beginner.

We did the Dolphin encounter in the Bahamas. It was great. When we got there you had the option to upgrade to a full dolphin swim for $80. The name of the place is "blue lagoon island." I would highly recommend this. It sold out before the cruise so book on line if you are interested. We took the Ultimate Island Tour in St. Thomas. They drove us to some overlook areas for pictures than to Maegan's Bay for 2 hours. They took us to Blackbeards castle then we walked into town for shopping. Maegan's bay is beautiful but it is also VERY crowded. THe Blackbeards resort had nice pools and a beautiful pool. If I had known I would have just gone there and then to town. We did some shopping here and got some great deals. We stayed on the boat in the DR. In San Juan we took a self tour of Old San Juan. It is easy to get to from the pier.

Getting on and off the boat was painless. They said we could come at 1 but we were on the boat and eatting by 11:30. I thought the boat was in good condition.

As far as kids go. I heard there were about 200 on board and I didn't see any of th bad behavior that was mentioned above. Maybe I was just lucky. We had two 13 yo at our dinner table and as far as I could tell they were very well behaved. I was expecting a lot more kid problems on a vacation week cruise.

Sorry this got so long. Hope it might be helpful.

Did you happen to notice how the internet or computer training services are operating now that Celebrity has ended its contract with High Seas?

I didn't use the computer area myself. I noticed the per minute charge was pretty steep, I think 0.70 cents per minute but you could buy bulk minutes cheaper. There were a couple of free classes. One on basic computer use, on on basics of digital photography. There were also a few classes on digital photography and photography software which I think were $20.

Thanks you all for the reviews and especially Floris as I will be on the T/A Millennium. Good to know that the ship is in good shape. I am wondering about the problems with sun loungers. Was it by the pool or was it impossible to get chairs in general? I like to go aft on a high deck and normally I found it fairly easy to find a seat there. I don't go on deck until I am ready to take that seat and remain on it for a considerable time.

Mind you first you need the weather to be able to sit in the sun but hopefully in the early part of the voyage we hopefully should be OK.

Just over 2 weeks now!

Sue

we had a great time our aft cabin was wonderful jeanne was concerned at first, thinking there would be a lot more motion. she was very happy with it, especially the 3 chaise lounges. sure eliminates the chair hog situation.

our highlights were the special cooking classes with chef robert trevino in the kitchen of the olympic. we were lucky enough to get into both of his classes. we also thought dining in the olympic was well worth the extra cost. we did the wine pairing and the total tab was $120.00 which was for the cover charge and the wine. we are not wine experts, but enjoy wine. having all 6 courses paired was very interesting and fun. they do not stint on pouring. somehow we managed to walk out on our own power. we met some nice people as usual, but how they assign seating baffles me. i think it is totally at random.

we did not hate casa de campo as we went to a fairly nice resort beach although the drink was the worst i ever had we also did the extended visit to barcardi the 5 hrs was too long but doing the rum tasting was fun

we thought the food was good the beef was better than the fish which was somewhat dried out. food is so subjective, but i think anyone can tell when fish is too dry.

we found the entire crew to be friendly and helpful. of course there were areas around the ship that showed its age, but so do we all. fortunately, the ship can go into dry dock for a refurbishment.

we booked this same cruise for next year while on board because i was able to snare another aft cabin. they are partially shaded by an overhang. you can be seen from above if you are within a few feet of the railing, but the rest is private.

the casino now has one table of texas hold-em, but sparsley attended a couple of days. i think partially due to the very high rake of 10% up to $10.00 way too high

we had a very nice cruise and look forward to the next :)

I was on that cruise last week. Had a wonderful time. Noticed the teens, they were atrocious. Thank goodness I hadn't seen any of them spitting of I would have raised hell. What's wrong with parents these days? I'll make sure my next cruise is not during a week when they all have school vacation.

We were also on the 2/18 sailing. My wife, I, and two teen daughters

It was our thrid cruise on Celebrity and we again were in a FV aft cabin, 8181. These cabins are perfect for us with the extra space to get some private time and not get on each other's nerves.

Overall, the cruise was good and I would definitely go on Celebrity again.

Some of our thoughts:

- We would stick with the southern Crib itineraries we have taken in the past, instead of the eastern or western. The ports on the southern have much greater appeal to us.

- The ship is definitely in need of a refurbishment. The carpet, fabrics, and furniture are all showing a great deal of wear and tear. There appeared to be some minor maintenance occuring, but not enough to keep up with the aging that is occuring.

- While there appeared to be greater adherence to the dress code in the dining room, we were disappointed in the lack of effort by Celebrity to enforce their standards. When I see someone in the dining room on a formal night wearing a sleeveless Harley t-shirt, shorts, tennis shoes, and a baseball cap, I definitely feel that my trip has somehow been diminished.

- The also did not enforce the chair hogging policy. After working out in the fitness center at 7 am, most of the chairs poolside and on the upper deck had towels on them, but no bodies. Also, most of the chairs had multiple towels, which left none for those who chose to abide by the rules.

- The poolside service, both the pool butlers and the waiters, was below standard. My wife and I enjoy laying on the upper deck and having a number of drinks. However, in most cases, we had to go to the bar to get our own drinks because no one would wait on us. I even tried tipping above the standard 15% and could get no one motivated to return for additional orders.

- The wait staff in the dining rooms and buffet areas were excellent. However, most of the other staff seem to have lowered the standards we have come to expect. In one of the restrooms near the Metropolitan dining room, the attendant spent all of his time listening too his i-pod and leaning against the wall. He seemed to be hiding from his supervisor and did nothing to accomodate any of the guests.

- While we were traveling with teens, they do not generally choose to participate in any group activities on board. Based on that as a norm for us, we did notice that many other teens were running rampant, day and night. In fact, the sports bar, Extreme, was generally overrun with teens and most adults appeared to avoid this bar.

- In general, we were disappointed in what appeared to be an overall lowering of service and class on the ship. There were many things to made us think Celebrity has lowered their standards and are attempting to appeal to a wider audience. Things like not enforcing the dress code, lack of poolside service, allowing teens to run rampant, and the overall condition of the ship were unsettling. In addition to these things, the entertainment staff poolside was disgusting. I felt like I was on spring break in Ft Lauderdale with all of the attempts to get people on stage to swill shots of tequila and dance, while forcing us to listen to rap and hiphop music. This was definitely a step down for Celebrity. However, I was proud of the fact that despite their efforts to stoop to new levels, they could never get enough people to participate in their idea of fun. Perhaps this is an indication of what type of people cruise on Celebrity and they should pay attention to the response.

Despite what may seem like a lot of negative comments, we had an excellent time and enjoyed ourselves. We would definitely give Celebrity another try. If many of the same issues appeared on a future cruise, I would then definitely consider another cruise line.

What did you do at your ports? Still trying to decide for my up and coming Millie cruise!

Casa de Campo truly means stay on the ship (unless you play golf or like other activities like shooting clay pigeons). The marina is a dump and thus a complete waste of time. Hardly any shopping. If you want to do anything, take a ship's excursion to one of the resort hotels and be pampered on the beach or poolside all afternoon!

In San Juan I just walked around the old town, visited the fort, did some shopping, etc. The city is very easy to navigate, no need for guides. On a previous cruise, I did the rainforest tour, but that turned out to be 4 hours in a buss in order to walk in the rain for 50 minutes...

St. Thomas is beautiful. Just take a taxi to any of the beaches!

Nassau is a tourist trap. Lots of jewelry stores. Good for shopping I guess. I did the glass bottom boat tour via Celebrity and it was OK.

In addition to these things, the entertainment staff poolside was disgusting.

The staff? Disgusting? :confused: I assume you mean the entertainment? With 250+ kids and lots of teenagers and people in their twenties and thirties on the ship (it was Spring Break after all), the entertainment poolside was indeed targeted towards the younger crowd with music from the 90s as opposed to from the 60s and 70s. Is it really so hard to accept that Celebrity tries to cater to everybody on the ship? The entertainment during the evenings was all targeted towards older people, and you don't hear me complaining about that...

I am wondering about the problems with sun loungers. Was it by the pool or was it impossible to get chairs in general?

This was at the pool only, plenty of sun loungers available on deck 11. I did notice a lack of towels on some occasions, but in all fairness, on both sea days, we experienced a sudden tropical down poor around noon, resulting in everybody running away from their loungers, leaving their towels behind to get soaked. The staff would pick up all the towels to get them washed and dried, but with the rain stopping just 30 minutes later, 1,500+ people would come back, immediately wanting fresh new towels...

Did you happen to notice how the internet or computer training services are operating now that Celebrity has ended its contract with High Seas?

High Seas is still servicing Millennium, but I read in a different thread that on Constellation now has Internet services offered by Celebrity, resulting in slightly lower fees ($0.65 as opposed to $0.75).

Floris

We were in cabin cc 9038. It had a beautiful balcony which is slightly larger than normal becuase of a bump in the ship. We had breakfast delivered nearly every morning which was wonderful. Sidney was our cabin attendant and I can't say enough good things about him. The bed was comfortable and there were no problems with the room. I did smell the sewer gas that some mention from time to time. It was worst on the day we boarded. It was not a major problem.

lolakat, glad to hear you enjoyed your cruise/cabin. We are in 9038 in Sept. I have a couple questions if you don't mind. There has been some discussion on this forum about a loud/disturbing noise coming from the 'utility room' across the hall. And there has been some discussion about a 'window washer' that is stored outside/adjacent to the 9038 deck. Did you experience either of these issues? Just curious....

Thanks

Steve

Have never been on this ship but are considering at transatlantic in Dec. We are curious about alternative dining - anywhere else on the ship have table service for dinner besides main dining room and extra $ alternative room (forget its name)? Any trouble getting tables for two? We aren't anti-social, just cannot sit for hours to eat. If we are alone we can control our own pace. But we also want to be able to eat other places on the ship without going through buffet lines. Thanx.

Your dinner options on Millennium...

• The dining room.
  
• The Olympic specialty restaurant ($30 surcharge plus wine).
  
• The "casual dining" room. The aft portion of the buffet area is converted into a white tablecloth dining room with waiter service and a simpler menu. I believe there's a $3 surcharge.
  
• Made-to-order pizzas, pasta, and salads from the buffet area.
  
• Sushi from the buffet area (if you're an early diner ... the sushi is only available until early evening).
  
• Room service.

Your dinner options on Millennium...

 

• The dining room.
  
• The Olympic specialty restaurant ($30 surcharge plus wine).
  
• The "casual dining" room. The aft portion of the buffet area is converted into a white tablecloth dining room with waiter service and a simpler menu. I believe there's a $3 surcharge.
  
• Made-to-order pizzas, pasta, and salads from the buffet area.
  
• Sushi from the buffet area (if you're an early diner ... the sushi is only available until early evening).
  
• Room service.

In addition, the Aqua Spa Buffet (a mini-buffet with low-calory stuff) and the pool bar (hamburgers, hot dogs and fries) are open until 8 pm.

The new sushi bar is open until 10 pm daily.

Floris

Floris, your cruise sounds great...minus about 250 passengers!;) Glad you had a good experience...seems to match what we have on Celebrity most times...

Andrew

In addition, the Aqua Spa Buffet (a mini-buffet with low-calory stuff) and the pool bar (hamburgers, hot dogs and fries) are open until 8 pm.

 

The new sushi bar is open until 10 pm daily.

 

Floris

We had a great time on Millie. I'm slowly, slowly working on a detailed review that I'll get around to posting one of these days.

As a bonus, we have dinner for two at Specialty Restaurant on the 3 May Med Cruise on Millennium.

Is there more than one specialty restaurant? If so, which is recommended?

I think I saw a post stating no formal dress in the specialty restaurant(s) on formal nights. Again, is this correct?

Muchas gracias.

M

As a bonus, we have dinner for two at Specialty Restaurant on the 3 May Med Cruise on Millennium.

Is there more than one specialty restaurant? If so, which is recommended?

The only specialty restaurant is the Olympic. There is a casual dining 'restaurant', which is just part of the buffet area dressed with tablecloths and china. Olympic is definitely recommended as an exceptional meal and experience.

I think I saw a post stating no formal dress in the specialty restaurant(s) on formal nights. Again, is this correct?

No, that's not correct.