My Millenium Transpacific Review

[HokiePoq]

Hopefully, I have linked this correctly. In a nutshell: the ship is fine and the crew is great. Too many sea days for my DH but seeing Petropavlosk made the trip worthwhile. I believe it's one of the most beautiful places on earth...one I'd never have seen if not for this cruise.

 

 

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=503932&et_cid=2183449&et_rid=85290901&et_referrer=Boards_Million_Member_Newsub

[portofrome]

Thanks for your review.

[chemmo]

Sincere thanks for your review. It was useful to hear about the weather on the trip and the affect on the general space.

 

I do fancy the destinations but I think I agree with your husband I would find 7 consecutive sea days too much of a good thing!

[ClaudiaB]

Thank you for your review. Yeah, all those sea days and not a lot of port days - that's the very nature of a repositioning cruise and there are fans and there are those who would never do it. We've done two westbound Atlantic TAs and found plenty to do on the 7 or 8 consecutive sea days, but I too was concerned my DH would be antsy. I needn't have worried!

Edited May 21, 2015 by ClaudiaB

[HokiePoq]

Thanks, everyone. Something about the two times we've been in the Pacific seems a lot more desolate than the Transatlantic cruises we've been on....Maybe it's that you see many more ships in the shipping lanes across the Atlantic. At least this time no naval disasters took place while we were at sea....Costa ship disaster when we were in the South Pacific and everyone was out counting the life boat capacity...

[camarodrivenrs]

I was hoping you could shed some light on the visa requirements for the Russian stop. I've read that if you are on a Celebrity tour, the visa isn't required, but if on your own a visa would be required?

[vms]

Thanks for an even-handed review! I'm looking forward to sailing on the Millennium in November but I've been a little apprehensive because of so many negative reviews. Glad to hear that you had a positive experience overall.

[HokiePoq]

I was hoping you could shed some light on the visa requirements for the Russian stop. I've read that if you are on a Celebrity tour, the visa isn't required, but if on your own a visa would be required?

 

We had no special visa. We were on a Celebrity tour. Conflicting info was put out about this. It seems that the local folks wanted all the tours to sell out....which they did...and then they would allow people to get off the ship and just walk around. No visas. I do recommend taking a tour that takes you away from the dock area....just not much there. There are some monuments, a pretty Orthodox cathedral, and a museum in town but the real beauty is in the countryside and the coming in and going out of the ship into the harbor area.

[HokiePoq]

Thanks for an even-handed review! I'm looking forward to sailing on the Millennium in November but I've been a little apprehensive because of so many negative reviews. Glad to hear that you had a positive experience overall.

 

Yes! No complaints about the Millennium itself or its crew at all. I had read the reviews (and those of the Infinity before we went in January) and was also apprehensive. I can only think that people expect the same as on the S class ships. We found both the Millennium and the Infinity to be great ships and would not hesitate to sail either of them again.

[SFCAcruiser]

I was hoping you could shed some light on the visa requirements for the Russian stop. I've read that if you are on a Celebrity tour, the visa isn't required, but if on your own a visa would be required?

We did this trip last year, and the visa issue seems to come up frequently in Roll Call forums on the various cruise lines that call in Petropavlosk or Vladivostock. The visa requirements for the these eastern Russian ports are not the same as they are for St. Petersburg, which is why passengers get conflicting information. Some people assume that the visa requirement is the same throughout Russia, and this is not so. No visa required for US citizens (and presumably for most other countries) in Petropavlosk.

 

As a side note, this review is the first one I have seen that stated positive things about this Russian port. We did not take a ship tour, and wandered in downtown; we were not impressed at all. Friends on board who took a ship tour (I do not remember which one) were equally unimpressed. So, this review is a reminder that we are all different and bring varying life experiences with us when we travel.

 

A quick comment about the northern Pacific weather. On our 2014 ruise we experienced the coldest weather we have ever had on a cruise; colder than in Alaska in May. The temperatures were often in the low 30s F (~1 C).

Edited May 22, 2015 by SFCAcruiser
added information

[HokiePoq]

We did this trip last year, and the visa issue seems to come up frequently in Roll Call forums on the various cruise lines that call in Petropavlosk or Vladivostock. The visa requirements for the these eastern Russian ports are not the same as they are for St. Petersburg, which is why passengers get conflicting information. Some people assume that the visa requirement is the same throughout Russia, and this is not so. No visa required for US citizens (and presumably for most other countries) in Petropavlosk.

 

As a side note, this review is the first one I have seen that stated positive things about this Russian port. We did not take a ship tour, and wandered in downtown; we were not impressed at all. Friends on board who took a ship tour (I do not remember which one) were equally unimpressed. So, this review is a reminder that we are all different and bring varying life experiences with us when we travel.

 

A quick comment about the northern Pacific weather. On our 2014 ruise we experienced the coldest weather we have ever had on a cruise; colder than in Alaska in May. The temperatures were often in the low 30s F (~1 C).

 

Maybe it was the free flowing vodka at our Russian Picnic, lol! DH enjoyed mine as well as his so he had a great time. The food and music and vodka made for a delightful time out in the countryside. Friends who went on the indigenous excursion also enjoyed it as well as the dacha one. Those folks had taken this cruise twice. We met some who did a private excursion by helicopter out to the thermal area....breathtaking we heard but we were not brave enough to do a private one there. If you missed the ship, it would have been a rough trip back to Vancouver. Performer we spoke with flew to Nashville via Moscow from there....and that is probably how one would get back to Vancouver as I think Aeroflot is the only airline going there.

Edited May 22, 2015 by HokiePoq