nannyvan Posted February 15, 2005 #1 Share Posted February 15, 2005 Just got back from my week long cruise in the Eastern Caribbean and thought I'd give a quick review of my experience. My background - 31 years old, married, 4th cruise (RC, Carnival, now twice on Celebrity). Traveled with 2 other couples, all of us about the same age. Flew in on Sunday morning and arrived in FLL around 10:15am. Grabbed our luggage, a cab and were at the Pier around 11:30am. Gave our luggage to the porters, walked in, were sent to the CC section as that is what we were booked in - basically checked-in in about 5 minutes and were on the ship shortly afterwards. Smoothest and quickest embarkation ever. We did the usual things when we first got on - quickly checked out our room (they were finishing up last minute touches), confirmed our reservations for the Olympic Room, confirmed our 6 top for late seating and checked out the rest of the ship. Had a quick lunch at the buffet and walked back up to the rooms around 1:00pm. Bonus - luggage was already waiting outside the room. Food - all 6 of us were not impressed with the buffet. In fact, after that first day - we never went back again, except for breakfast one morning. The salad bar had slim pickings, no sandwiches (at least not that day), and the hot stuff wasn't all that impressive either. Maybe it got better - I don't know, but we found other alternatives. The AquaSpa Cafe - great chicken selections, veggies, fruits, etc. for when you felt like being healthy and the Ocean grill for burger and fries (awesome) when you didn't. Pizza and hot dogs also offered at the grill. Main Dining Room - we had late seating. Waiters name was Alen and assistant was Daniella. Both were great and very accomodating. Sometimes we'd ask for Caeser salads that weren't on the menu, or an extra appetizer replacing a salad or soup and they always served it up with a smile. Soups were awesome, main dishes great too. Would have liked to see some better pasta selections, but was told it was hard to cook pasta for so many people and still be good. The Olympic Room - one of my best dining experiences ever and HIGHLY recommend it. We had the wine cellar room reserved - pretty cool to be seated in there - but the room was a bit warm. Service was AMAZING. We had 3 waiters, so all 6 of us were always served exactly at the same time. MUST get the goat cheese souffle - best thing I had all week. You can pay $28 extra per person (on top of the $30 a person) and get a different wine selection with each course. The whole table has to agree to it though. We opted to do it - unless you are a big wine drinker, not sure that it's worth it. You do end up getting 5 or 6 different wines, but some were better than others. Concierge Class - some nice perks. Flowers, robes, fresh fruit, the breakfast ordered to the room everyday and then eating on the balcony, etc. Wouldn't pay more than $100 extra per person though. Our room attendant, Julio was fantastic though. Always very attentive. Ports - I'm probably not the best person to talk about these. We didn't even get off the ship in Dominican Republic - I take that back . . . my husband and one of the other guys got off the ship and were back in about 30 minutes. Said there was nothing in the town. I think unless you went to Catalina Island or on an excursion - there was nothing else to do. In San Juan, we walked around Old San Juan for awhile, then ended up in Senor Frogs for the rest of the afternoon. St. Thomas - we parasailed, which was fun. It was free with the booking of our cruise, but I don't think I'd pay $70 for it - which I believe was the cost. We then went into town. The haggling was too much for us - have been before and I think it has gotten extremely worse. We went to Sapphire Beach for the rest of the day - which was a resort. It was nice - good ammenities. Bahamas was actually a pleasant surprise. It was about 70 degrees, so we decided against the beaches. Since you can't get into the Atlantis pool area (you can get into the Aquarium and other areas for like $25 a person) we opted not to do that. But downtown Nassau was actually pretty cool. Great shops and a nice straw market (really bad hagglers here though too). Again, we ended up at Senor Frogs (you can probably get the idea what the theme for our group was :-) ) Our favorite lounge was The Platinum Club - this is where the Martini Bar was. They were expensive - $8.95 each, but large and VERY good. Lots to choose from. We usually met for cocktails here before dinner. We went to one Comedy Show (it was decent) and one Production Show - it was HORRIBLE. After that show - we didn't adventure to anymore. They did Karoake twice, which is always amusing to watch. We hit the casino a few nights. Two late night buffets - the gala one and then one by the pool. Other nights waiters would walk around with nibblers - I liked that better. Went to Cosmos night club the first night - it was dead. Maybe we went too early. It was on the first night of the cruise, maybe it had been a long day for people. Played Bingo a couple times. The assistant Cruise Director always conducted these - he should have been the Cruise Director. Great personality. He would make us laugh with his bingo calling . . . "Get your kicks on O-66". I don't even remember the Cruise Directors name, but I didn't like him. Needed a personality make-over. Overall, a pretty good cruise experience. I think the actual food quality has gone down a bit from my first Celebrity cruise experience 4 years ago, but it was still good. They could use a few more pool activities to get the crowd into it and maybe more options after dinner in the evenings. The average age of passengers was probably 50s-70. I did notice quite a few kids - not sure if I noticed it more than normal as I now have two of my own (they stayed home though). All were well behaved though - don't remember any incidents. Oh - the gym and Spa. Spa was awesome - got a deep tissue massage and it was fantastic. Didn't like the gym. I worked out 4-5 times when I was on the Century, but I worked out the first day on the Millenium and never went back. Not sure what it was. My girlfriend felt the same way - and she is a work out addict. I just wasn't thrilled with it. Maybe I was just lazy and using that as an excuse. Hope this helps - I guess my quick review, turned out longer than I thought. Let me know if you have any further questions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Texed Posted February 15, 2005 #2 Share Posted February 15, 2005 Nannyvan, Thanks for the review. We will be on Millennium starting March 6th. :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mari10 Posted February 15, 2005 #3 Share Posted February 15, 2005 Thanks for the informative review. We leave in 12 days with 3 other couples. Sounds like you had a good time. Mari Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tiger the teacher Posted February 15, 2005 #4 Share Posted February 15, 2005 Thanks for the review. How did the wine "special" operate in the Olympic Restaurant? Was it one bottle for each course for the six of you or did they serve by the glass per person? I am sailing with my parents and was wondering how it would work for the three of us. Tiger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike & Sue Posted February 15, 2005 #5 Share Posted February 15, 2005 We're doing the same cruise at the end of the month. Can't wait, flying into FLL on Friday and spending the weekend first, so we are 10 days out and counting!! Glad you enjoyed your time, your positive feedback puts us at ease. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nannyvan Posted February 15, 2005 Author #6 Share Posted February 15, 2005 Thanks for the review. How did the wine "special" operate in the Olympic Restaurant? Was it one bottle for each course for the six of you or did they serve by the glass per person? I am sailing with my parents and was wondering how it would work for the three of us. Tiger Tiger - Everyone gets a glass of the selected wine with each course - there are no refills. The menu will tell you which wines have been selected for each course. And it also depends on what you chose within a course. So if you and your parents pick different main dishes, you might get a different wine. That being said, I don't understand why the whole table needs to agree to it in order for them to do it. I guess probably because it basically sucks in the 1 or 2 stragglers who don't want to, but don't want to ruin it for the others at the table (essentially my situation). We ended up with 3 white wines, a red, a port and a dessert wine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tiger the teacher Posted February 15, 2005 #7 Share Posted February 15, 2005 Thank you Nannyvan for your comprehensive reply. Now I can spend the next four and a half months contemplating a night of feasting in the Olympic! Tiger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FUELCELLTRAINER Posted February 18, 2005 #8 Share Posted February 18, 2005 Anyone else sailing on march 6th on Millenium? My wife and I are celebrating our 20th anniversary on that cruise (on March 9th). I'd love to hear from some cruisemates!:) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weemo Posted February 18, 2005 #9 Share Posted February 18, 2005 Nannyvan Thanks for a wonderful review - we are on the 13th March sailing and countdown has really started!!!.....just waiting to do the doc dance!!!! What cabin were you in? We are CC too and I keep asking people which one they were in to see if it's the same one as us. I too love to have breakfast on the balcony in the morning......so civilised!!! Is there a decent menu choice for the cabin service? Happy cruising everyone :-)) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nannyvan Posted February 18, 2005 Author #10 Share Posted February 18, 2005 Nannyvan Thanks for a wonderful review - we are on the 13th March sailing and countdown has really started!!!.....just waiting to do the doc dance!!!! What cabin were you in? We are CC too and I keep asking people which one they were in to see if it's the same one as us. I too love to have breakfast on the balcony in the morning......so civilised!!! Is there a decent menu choice for the cabin service? Happy cruising everyone :-)) We were in cabin 8137 on the port side - which was nice as we would either get to wake up with a beautiful view had we already docked, or else got to sit on the balcony and take in the beautiful view as we pulled in. The breakfast choice for cabin service is great. You can basically get anything you want - and if it isn't on there, you can write it in and they will bring it for you. I would write in strawberries and blueberries under fruit - and always get it. My friend next door wanted eggs benedict - and she'd get it. But on the menu is everything from omelets, to pancakes, to cereal. They even have 5 or 6 "signature" CC breakfast choices. My only advice would be to stay away from the CC breakfast smoothies - they were terrible. Have fun on your cruise!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robandpam Posted February 18, 2005 #11 Share Posted February 18, 2005 Hi, Nannyvan, great review, thks!!! Hey weemo, looks like we had the same idea!! Pam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chessbriar Posted February 18, 2005 #12 Share Posted February 18, 2005 Thanks for the great review. Do you remember the Assitant Cruise Directors name? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
starsjohn Posted February 18, 2005 #13 Share Posted February 18, 2005 Our Feb 6 sailing on this fine ship also hosted a one week showing of some of the great art masters of the world's fine art. Park West Gallery held a special one week viewing of these formerly archived master works dating back to the 17 th century. What a real treat! The Bon Appetit food program got great reviews on the special food presentations in the ports, but the tours themselves bombed badly with people asking for refunds. The musicians aboard the Millie, in my opinion are much better than on the Summit last Summer. Olympic dining is great, especially some of the wine holdings. One night, our group had a custom menu served with great wines. I went scuba diving with independent dive operators, and got the usual great diving. While in the Dominican Republic, do not miss the evening show that is offered through the ship excursion desk. This large Vegas style show will blow you away with color, lights, sound, fireworks, dancing, etc. I would like to do a longer review but have to pack for the Xpedition Galapagos trip. Adios John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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