Millenium Singapore

[sweetred61]

Hi all,my husband and I are considering the Millenium for Singapore 2014 for our next cruise.We have sailed on Royal Caribbean(Voyager and Radiance) twice before and were very happy,any thoughts on the Millenium anyone.Anything to look out for or to avoid.

Thanks Sharon

[GaryfmCol]

We just returned from the Millennium in early April.

WeLOVED the cruise.

 

We had ZERO issues.

 

Our cruise started in Hong Kong, and,ended in Singapore.

Whatever you do find someextra time before the cruise to spend in Singapore. It is a MAGNIFICIENT city..

And,be sure to take some extra spending $$$ there..it is expensive..

 

That aside, you will love the ship, and, the cruise.

 

The ONLY complaint, was it was pretty warm, and, humid and, I don't do heat and, humidity well.. :o

[Gig103]

Millennium was great in Alaska last August, it was my first X experience and she left me wanting MORE!

 

And I agree that Singapore is a beautiful and easy to navigate city. Considering the flight time there, spend 2 or 3 nights pre cruise. pm me if you want some advice even though it's a year out.

[benjoon]

If the dates fitted we would jump at a chance to do a cruise so close to home. We did one from Shanghai but that was still a long flight.

 

We have done a bit of travel around Asia and one day I hope to do it on a cruise. We have to work around school holidays still.

 

We are doing our first Celebrity cruise in 3 weeks. From this cruise we will see if we like it and will book another cruise with Celebrity.

[We're The Groupnors]

We did the Singapore to Hong Kong route in March and loved it. I will concur with the previous poster that it was very hot and humid there, but I suspect it doesn't vary much regardless of the time of year. That was really the only negative for us. We loved every port, and were glad we did a few extra days in Singapore and Hong Kong at either end, as there is so much to see!

[ghstudio]

Agree..the singapore to HK cruise is terrific...we did it this year. If that's the cruise you are considering, my recommendation is that you plan to stay in a hotel when the ship overnights in Saigon, Hanoi and Bangkok. All are 2 or more hours from the ship so trying to see the sights on a day trip can be grueling...especially in Hanoi which is closer to 4 hours from the port.

[Skyrules]

Agree..the singapore to HK cruise is terrific...we did it this year. If that's the cruise you are considering, my recommendation is that you plan to stay in a hotel when the ship overnights in Saigon, Hanoi and Bangkok. All are 2 or more hours from the ship so trying to see the sights on a day trip can be grueling...especially in Hanoi which is closer to 4 hours from the port.

 

I agree.

 

The trip to Hanoi is particulary tiring. It's only about 120 kilometres, but most of it at 40 km/hr through built up areas, so it's a long trip. We left the ship at about 7am and didn't getb back til after 9.30pm.

 

If you're going to stay off ship, make use of the transport-only transfers offered by the ship, these take you into town to a designated place, and pick you up from the same place the following day. By doing this you're guarnateed to make it back to the ship. On the cruise prior to the one we did, which was the first cruise on this itinerary, the Celebrity tour buses got a police escort back to the ship, as there were major traffic problems on the trip back to the port.

[Sparkle 123]

The Millie SE Asia cruise is definitely on our bucket list! The only concern I have is the fact that some of ports are a long distance from the points of interest as has been discussed on here.

Are the cruise transfers expensive, for example into Bangkok?

It does seem like an added expense to have to pay extra to get to the points of interest and also pay out for an overnight stay.Not to mention the time involved.

Ideally we would like to go with Azamara as they do dock nearer to the centre of these places but they are over our budget right now.

Would be interested to hear from previous Millie Asia cruisers to get an idea of costs involved.

Thanks:)

[GaryfmCol]

The Millie SE Asia cruise is definitely on our bucket list! The only concern I have is the fact that some of ports are a long distance from the points of interest as has been discussed on here.

Are the cruise transfers expensive, for example into Bangkok?

It does seem like an added expense to have to pay extra to get to the points of interest and also pay out for an overnight stay.Not to mention the time involved.

Ideally we would like to go with Azamara as they do dock nearer to the centre of these places but they are over our budget right now.

Would be interested to hear from previous Millie Asia cruisers to get an idea of costs involved.

Thanks:)

 

We had hotel over-nights in Hong Kong

pre-cruise 2 days..

The Park Hotel, Chatham Rd. South, Kowloon.

 

Saigon 1 night..GRAND HOTEL, $150.00 US.

I have stayed in alot of nice hotels, but, this hotel was a favorite. A fantastic hotel in Saigon.

Plus, nice places to go for dinner nearby... a safe area.

 

Bangkok..nice hotel, and, recommend a hotel for sure as

the port is a long way from Bangkok itself...

and, when you go there be sure to put Elephant Village on your list of things to do. Riding an elephant, and, the elephant walking down a river with us atop, is one of our greatest cruises experiences yet... ;)

 

We stayed at the Singapore Hilton in Singapore,

2 days post cruise, plus one night on the ship.

An excellent hotel and, we paid for that with Hilton Hotel points... A great facility, right in the heart of everything on Orchard Rd.

[ricethief]

Hi for those who have been on this itinerary I am wondering how long it takes to get off the ship at Laemchabang? Thank you.

[Skyrules]

Hi for those who have been on this itinerary I am wondering how long it takes to get off the ship at Laemchabang? Thank you.

 

That depends on what mood the Thai Authorities are in. When we were there, they were supposed to be on board at 7.00am to commence passenger clearance, but the didn't get on until after 8am, and then re-arragned everything that the onboard tour staff had set up to ensure smooth processing. So, it took awhile. But this was only Celebrity's second visit to Bangkok, hopefully by now they've sorted it out.

[Skyrules]

The Millie SE Asia cruise is definitely on our bucket list! The only concern I have is the fact that some of ports are a long distance from the points of interest as has been discussed on here.

Are the cruise transfers expensive, for example into Bangkok?

It does seem like an added expense to have to pay extra to get to the points of interest and also pay out for an overnight stay.Not to mention the time involved.

Ideally we would like to go with Azamara as they do dock nearer to the centre of these places but they are over our budget right now.

Would be interested to hear from previous Millie Asia cruisers to get an idea of costs involved.

Thanks:)

 

There two options for transfers; transport & accomodation or just transport.

 

The only one we used was in Bangkok, and it was only the transport. We went with friends who were experienced Bangkok visitors and selected our hotel for us, etc. I can't remember exactly how much it was, I'd need to go digging through our paperwork, but I think it was less than US$50 each, which we thought was reasonable for the security of knowing we'd be delivered back to the ship prior to departure.

 

In the other overnight ports (Saigon & Hanoi) we did ship shore tours on each day, and stayed on ship overnight.

[Skyrules]

There two options for transfers; transport & accomodation or just transport.

 

The only one we used was in Bangkok, and it was only the transport. We went with friends who were experienced Bangkok visitors and selected our hotel for us, etc. I can't remember exactly how much it was, I'd need to go digging through our paperwork, but I think it was less than US$50 each, which we thought was reasonable for the security of knowing we'd be delivered back to the ship prior to departure.

 

In the other overnight ports (Saigon & Hanoi) we did ship shore tours on each day, and stayed on ship overnight.

 

I just looked up our receipts. The Laemchabang/Bangkok/Laemchabang transfer cost us AU$62.50 per person (at that point about US$60 pp). I think the ones for the other ports were about the same.

 

The transfer & accomodation prices varied depending on your hotel selection.

[harz99]

Agree..the singapore to HK cruise is terrific...we did it this year. If that's the cruise you are considering, my recommendation is that you plan to stay in a hotel when the ship overnights in Saigon, Hanoi and Bangkok. All are 2 or more hours from the ship so trying to see the sights on a day trip can be grueling...especially in Hanoi which is closer to 4 hours from the port.

 

Won't be possible to overnight in Ho Chi Minh from Phu My on the 30th March 2014 cruise as the itinerary has just been changed to only one day at Phu My.:( May affect other sailings on the same itinerary?

[Sparkle 123]

Thanks for the info so far. It's a great help:)

 

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[ghstudio]

Won't be possible to overnight in Ho Chi Minh from Phu My on the 30th March 2014 cruise as the itinerary has just been changed to only one day at Phu My.:( May affect other sailings on the same itinerary?

 

That's unfortunate because you certainly won't have enough time to do a sail on halong bay AND see Hanoi...you'll have to pick one. The ship does sail into halong bay, but it's not quite the same as being on a smaller local boat going between the rocks.

[Skyrules]

That's unfortunate because you certainly won't have enough time to do a sail on halong bay AND see Hanoi...you'll have to pick one. The ship does sail into halong bay, but it's not quite the same as being on a smaller local boat going between the rocks.

 

Phu My is the port for Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), not for Hanoi. Hanoi is reached from Halong Bay. As long as they are still over nighting in Halong Bay they'll be able to do both Hanoi and Halong Bay.

 

If you're going to loose a overnight stop, the stop at Phu My is certainly the one to loose, it would be a real shame not to get to see Hanoi & Halong Bay.

[ghstudio]

whoops.....I just remember the old names of the cities, not the ports. I agree if it's Saigon which is an easier drive from the ship than Hanoi, it's not a big miss....unless you are in Saigon on Tet (which is when we were there) and can stay at a hotel right in the middle of the Tet celebrations and fireworks. At other times, it's not as important.

[Skyrules]

whoops.....I just remember the old names of the cities, not the ports. I agree if it's Saigon which is an easier drive from the ship than Hanoi, it's not a big miss....unless you are in Saigon on Tet (which is when we were there) and can stay at a hotel right in the middle of the Tet celebrations and fireworks. At other times, it's not as important.

 

Even after being to both Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, I still get them confused.. I think it's because Ho Chi Minh's tomb, palace etc are actually in Hanoi....

[We're The Groupnors]

The Millie SE Asia cruise is definitely on our bucket list! The only concern I have is the fact that some of ports are a long distance from the points of interest as has been discussed on here.

Are the cruise transfers expensive, for example into Bangkok?

It does seem like an added expense to have to pay extra to get to the points of interest and also pay out for an overnight stay.Not to mention the time involved.

Ideally we would like to go with Azamara as they do dock nearer to the centre of these places but they are over our budget right now.

Would be interested to hear from previous Millie Asia cruisers to get an idea of costs involved.

Thanks:)

 

We did private tours in Bangkok and Ho Chi Mihn, then ship excursions in Danang (to Hoi An) and Halong Bay. BKK Tours in Bangkok picked us up and dropped us off at the port and toured us around for the two days, but we booked our own hotel. Stayed at the Lebua, which we found out when we arrived was the hotel in The Hangover II. It was beautiful, and Skybar and Sirocco restaurant on the roof are not to be missed. In HCMC we used Tiger Tours, and they were also excellent.

[sweetred61]

We just returned from the Millennium in early April.

WeLOVED the cruise.

 

We had ZERO issues.

 

Our cruise started in Hong Kong, and,ended in Singapore.

Whatever you do find someextra time before the cruise to spend in Singapore. It is a MAGNIFICIENT city..

And,be sure to take some extra spending $$$ there..it is expensive..

 

That aside, you will love the ship, and, the cruise.

 

The ONLY complaint, was it was pretty warm, and, humid and, I don't do heat and, humidity well.. :o

 

Thanks so much to you and others who have responded,we don't mind the heat just happy to be on the Millenium.

[Toronto Guy]

You should maybe consider Azamara for this cruise as the smaller ship will sail right up the river in Bangkok and dock in the city. Also does more overnights usually. It is well worth the extra money.

 

 

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