SEMI LIVE REVIEW- Millenium 21st Feb

[anniedave]

The ups and downs ...and ups again of cruise booking  - my pre cruise report!!!
So in a weeks  time 🤞we are hopefully embarking on a 3 week holiday including a 10 night Carribean Cruise on the Celeb Millenium - there are so many plot twists to this I though I would start early with the planning story!  So for those of you who like to hear about the planning this part is for you

We are Dave & Anne from Essex in the UK. I'm in my 50s , Dave was 60 in Sept & this is a kind of belated celebration trip. Between us we have 4 grown up kids ...lots of grandkids and  we have a 20yr old daughter together - ( she has no wish to or interest in cruising) . I'm the planner...Dave is the go with flow ...occasionally take an interest ....eventually realise we are going on a holiday .....person !!

In Jan 2020 we had our very first cruise on Celeb reflection to the carribean as part of a holiday for my 50th birthday.
- the trip also included a post cruise week in Mexico.  We had spent 2 years saving , planning every detail of it. I say we....I planned..my husband Dave took a very vague interest that we were going on a holiday !!!  It was amazing ....beyond expectations... ( if you want to read about it I wrote a detailed review whilst in lockdown - ('Review of a newbie')

[anniedave]

We had such a great time and got the cruise bug ( no luckily not that one!!) we decided we would give ourselves 2 years to save for and plan ( well me plan)another one. We came back from hols early Feb 2020 .... and booked the next one for Feb 2022..Originally we began with choosing the date, itinerary & ship and found a good deal with a TA. Less than a month later we discovered Celeb were offering a much better deal with a/i - premium drinks , WiFi, tips & OBC. We contacted our TA and even cancelling & losing the deposit and rebooking we still saved ourselves several hundred £££ 🙂


...then covid arrived !!! We said ' it's fine....its 2 years away. ..it will be a long forgotten memory by then ' 🤦‍♀️🤣. Little did we know!!!

Those of you who read my last review know I booked the whole holiday through the TA & then proceeded to do my own research into flights and hotels and ended up totally changing the trip and telling the TA which flights , post cruise hotel, transfers etc I wanted and even contacted the hotel directly myself to get a much better deal than the TA could get us. So this time round we just booked the cruise through the TA and I have done the rest myself ...including contacting Celeb direct for the add ons . That way I can get the trip to be exactly how I want it ( it's how Dave wants it too....he just doesn't know it yet !!)

Our plan was another 3 week holiday - similar to the previous one , fly to US & spend a couple of days visiting family who live near Fort Lauderdale  , a 10 night Carribean cruise ( different part of the Caibbean this time ) on the Millenium , then maybe a few more days with family and a few days somewhere else in Florida. However we then discovered that inadvertently our post cruise week clashed with my  cousin being away for her sons wedding .. it didn't matter- we decided to use the opportunity to go to the Bahamas for a week post cruise . The plan became:
1 night in hotel UK
2 nights with family in Pembroke Pines
10 night cruise
Straight off ship & fly to Bahamas
7 nights in the  Bahamas
Fly back to Miami - 1 day/ night in Miami so we could see some sights of Miami
Fly home

[anniedave]

So last time round I immersed myself in planning - read guide books , booked excursions , researched what to pack....etc etc . This time as covid went on & the no sail order continued I became less optimistic about going and tried to stop thinking about it... my guide books I had optimistically ordered when I knew I was going again...began to gather dust !!


The uncertainty dampened my enthusiasm & I felt it was waste of time to research & plan excursions or plan the post cruise part of the holiday. We focused on clapping for the NHS & doorstep visits with the grandkids. I changed jobs twice but with vague hope let my new employer know of my plans for 2022.


Then....in the summer , when cruises began again I became more optimistic.  I began looking at excursions, booked flights to the US & booked flights & hotel ( although made sure the hotel was pay on arrival) for the post cruise week in the Bahamas. .....a small Island called Stocking Island...looked idyllic....and after the enjoyment of swimming with stingrays in 2020...this time we were going to swim  with pigs....I could get excited...it was on !!! I reminded Dave we had a holiday booked and dreamed about sunshine.

Then the dreaded  omicron arrived & it changed the game again.... We considered cancelling,  but decided to accept it for what it was & to  go with the flow.
One of my biggest concerns was the minefield of testing ....when .. where...which type . The post cruise section of the holiday was the most stressing... Miami to Bahamas ....Bahamas back to Miami....Miami to UK - so much testing....so much money!!


Then I received an email to say that the flights to Bahamas had changed ...the new earlier times didn't work with disembarking and there were no easy alternatives. I got in touch with the airline and although I wasn't able to get a refund ( flight times changed by less than 4 hours) I could look at other options for alternative flights.

[anniedave]

We decided  to use the opportunity and make it easier on ourselves ,   and stay in the US post cruise - main reason... less covid testing needed!!

About 15 years ago  we had enjoyed a week in Vegas in a budget hotel - Dave often spoke about going back- our favourite hotel when looking round them all had been the Venetian and I said that if I ever went back I wanted to stay there  ...now we had the chance! Although the Vegas flight options didn't really fit with disembarking times either ..... it would mean a touch & go airport dash or wasting a day at the airport.....

However I did want a day in Miami as all we had really seen last time was the airport & Hard Rock  I want to visit South beach. So I decided to start again with the post cruise plan!

At the same time our pre cruise plans were changing, I also discovered...by chance.... that our pre flight hotel in the UK was closed as it was currently being used for housing asylum seekers. So I had some more organising to do...again I say me ....I just keep Dave updated with what's going on....not sure if he listens!!

I cancelled our Bahamas hotel, cancelled the night at Miami Beach at the end of the holiday  , cancelled the booked transfer from the ship to airport & cancelled our UK Heathrow Hotel. As well as cancelling I also did some rebooking...I  booked 1 night post cruise in Miami - (so after disembarking we could spend a day/eve in Miami and see some sights  and go to South Beach. )I booked flights to Vegas , I booked 6 nights at the Venetian ( a luxury king suite at a much cheaper price than I expected)  , I booked a hotel in Miami for the evening before we flew back to UK. I also found &  booked a new airport hotel close to Heathrow.


We had a new plan !!!.....well it mean I had a new plan...Dave would be told he had a new plan!!

Day 1 night in hotel at Thistle Hotel Heathrow ( package includes parking for the duration of the holiday & dinner)
Day 2 Go to Heathrow- covid tests booked, check in, airport lounge booked ( Aspire), fly to Miami, stay with my cousin & family who live near Port Everglades.
Day 3 Day out with family ( believe we are doing Island Queen  tour - Millionaires Row) & last minute shopping
Day 4 -13 Eastern Carribean Cruise ( ever evolving itinerary, hopefully some Port stops!!!) - Millenium - Aqua Class - Aft veranda
Day 14 Disembark cab to hotel - drop off luggage  - day sightseeing in Miami
1 night Best Western Plus near Miami airport
Day 15 fly to Vegas with American Airlines cab to the Venetian
Day 15 - 21 'Las Vegas Baby '
Day 21 Fly back to Miami - 1 night in Best Western Plus
Day 22 Fly home
Day 23 arrive home

[barneyboy]

Looking forward to reading about your trip. Your planning sounds much like mine - hubby just goes along with me!

[anniedave]

Whilst I was rebooking things i also kept getting notifications that excursions were being cancelled.  I know this is no one's fault...I know we may end up at different ports ....I know prob more ports will change ...thats fine. But we ( well I ) want to get off at ports if we can so I have booked Celeb excursions for all ports ... if there are options to explore alone we may cancel some excursions & do this instead in some places ...but at least we have options. The most recent change was a port change - didn't have a prob with that but the fact that it took Celeb 2 weeks to show excursions for the new port was a bit annoying!! ....especially to a planner like myself !!

So I have also  updated our premium drinks to drinks & more as we enjoyed having cold drinks & snacks in the cabin last time, and enjoyed the wine tasting ( must remember this time....sip not gulp🤪)  - not to mention by the time we have used the casino credit the cost is negligible.  ( I believe they have now withdrawn drinks & more - but if we had already booked it we will get it🤷‍♀️.... I will let you know) I have also booked   first night discount in the Tuscan grill( didn't do any speciality dining last time around so wanted to give it a try) I also phoned Celeb & upgraded the WiFi so we could facetime family and upload pics whilst aboard the ship.

[anniedave]

I also needed to do the boring bits ... got our ESTAs and our paper proof of vaccines.( Celeb app doesn't accept the UK electronic covid pass!)  Booked covid tests at the airport( sat morning means we can use same test result to get into US & board ship - less testing- less money 🙂)

Also got a good deal to upgrade our outgoing flights to Worldclass traveller plus (premium economy ) with BA. I Planned to check in online 24 hrs pre flight & choose our seats for free - however checking 2 weeks before I discovered there were hardly any of the 2 , 2-3-2 seats left - didn't want to risk it so paid to choose our seats. One of the main reasons I upgraded was to just have our 2 seats together to hopefully reduce the risk of catching covid sat next to strangers for 10hrs. Pre covid we usually fly once or twice a year and have never flown anything other than economy so it will be good to find out if its a different experience for the extra money!!

 

So we are now a week out, omicron seems to be losing momentum so hopefully we will get our holiday. Last weekend I got our  new suitcases out ( the old ones  had become very battered and were the type you tried to grab quickly from the carousel  & pretend they werent yours!) did the ironing - anyone else hate ironing & try to avoid unless necessary???? ....and start to pack !!! .....its starting to feel real.

Under usual circumstances I would have every detail of our Vegas stay planned ... as it is ...last week I began a little planning for our post cruise time in  Vegas . We ( well I ) booked a couple of shows - the Blue Man Group & Cirque de Soleil - 'Love'  the beatles show - tbh I just wanted to see Cirque de Soleil - until I started looking I didn't realise there were several shows - so the choice of which one was based on  best value for money/ tickets . I have begun looking at  restaurant selections  - husband quite allergic to fish - which can narrow down our choices - although I have found an amazing burger/ milkshake bar - in our hotel that does cake shakes .... combining a milkshake with cake....can't wait to try.  !

 

 

Edited February 11, 2022 by anniedave

[jimbri]

Looking forward to your review.  Have a great time!

[vickykay]

Sounds like this will be a wonderful trip.

[Bugsy1966]

We did the Beatles 'Love' the last time we were in Vegas. Of the four shows we did that trip it was easily our favourite - you won't be disappointed.

[Jim_Iain]

Thanks for posting your live report.   I pulled up a chair and look forward to reading of your adventures.  I chuckled at your planning.  

 

I think in every couple there is the planner and the one who does little planning and I can see like me it is something you enjoy.  To me it is part of the excitement of a cruise.

[NBliving]

I too am the planner and can relate to this statement of yours!  

 

“So I had some more organising to do...again I say me ....I just keep Dave updated with what's going on....not sure if he listens!! “

[anniedave]

Excursions

So I had a working from home day today and once Dave had woken up from his night shift sleep we went through our excursion choices & he actually had an input and we amended a couple. They now read ( all Celeb excursions)

Puerto Plata - monkey Island ( originally it was river tubing but it got cancelled )

Charlotte Amalie - (our port that got changed from the original San Juan )- originally was looking at Magens Bay beach break- but all the reviews I read said it was busy & noisy - so instead we have gone for St John Half day  champagne cat sail beach & snorkel.

St Croix is Buck Island snorkeling & beach break.

St John's is a 4x4 off road safari.

Basseterre - we swapped to the scenic railway & in our final port St Maarten we decided we really weren't bothered by the bus tour I had booked ....nothing else took our fancy and actually by the 6th port in 6 days we may prefer just to have a rest aboard !!... so didn't rebook anything. 

[anniedave]

11 hours ago, barneyboy said:

Looking forward to reading about your trip. Your planning sounds much like mine - hubby just goes along with me!

Its good to have a free reign... but does get frustrating sometimes when I want him to have an input....especially when he moans about something I have organised...then he gets reminded its his own fault for not paying attention !! 🤣

[anniedave]

5 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

Thanks for posting your live report.   I pulled up a chair and look forward to reading of your adventures.  I chuckled at your planning.  

 

I think in every couple there is the planner and the one who does little planning and I can see like me it is something you enjoy.  To me it is part of the excitement of a cruise.

Thanks - I've been reading your most recent Millenium review to get a feel for the ship 🙂 I love the planning almost as much as the holiday 😀 

Edited February 11, 2022 by anniedave

[anniedave]

5 hours ago, Bugsy1966 said:

We did the Beatles 'Love' the last time we were in Vegas. Of the four shows we did that trip it was easily our favourite - you won't be disappointed.

When we went to Vegas 15 years ago we did Penn & Teller ( which was amazing ), and the drifters , coasters & platters show. Cirque de Soleil  was on my list but we never did it  so looking forward to it 🙂

[anniedave]

3 hours ago, NBliving said:

I too am the planner and can relate to this statement of yours!  

 

“So I had some more organising to do...again I say me ....I just keep Dave updated with what's going on....not sure if he listens!! “

He just told me he thought Puerto Plata had been cancelled and wanted to know how many ports we were visiting !!! 🙄

[DUTRAVEL]

The Beatles "Love" show in Vegas is fantastic. You will love it.

[Jim_Iain]

3 hours ago, anniedave said:

Thanks - I've been reading your most recent Millenium review to get a feel for the ship 🙂 I love the planning almost as much as the holiday 😀 

Millie is in beautiful condition and the staff are superb.   I do agree.   I get a kick out of the planning unless I screw something up, which I have done.

[mchell810]

Looking forward to following your trip; I remember reading your last one. 

 

Cirque du Soleil is fabulous!  I have seen 2 of the Vegas shows and about 5 others before that.  I think you will love it.

[daydreamer16]

16 hours ago, barneyboy said:

Looking forward to reading about your trip. Your planning sounds much like mine - hubby just goes along with me!

Me too!

[daydreamer16]

2 hours ago, DUTRAVEL said:

The Beatles "Love" show in Vegas is fantastic. You will love it.

Agree! That's coming from a Beatlemanic!

[miched]

For a great place to have good food fairly reasonable for Vegas go to The Yard House.  It is in the court yard near the Big Wheel.  They have a happy hour with 1/2  off the appetizers that are very good and good enough to be the dinner.   They have a large selections of drafts and will give you a few samples to try before ordering. I like the Poke Nachos, and Lettuce wraps. If you look on the regular menu there is a description of what the appetizers are.  You can also see their beer menu 

 

Their regular menu prices aren’t bad either for Vegas.  

 

They have locations all around the USA 

 

https://www.yardhouse.com/happy-hour

 

Happy cruising 🌊🚢🇺🇸🌅

[HazeyT]

@anniedaveI've enjoyed reading your plans, particularly as, all things being well, I should be on board Millenium with you next week. John and I are also from the UK (Manchester area but now in Hertfordshire) and will be celebrating John's birthday. Like you, we've booked a few excursions through celebrity but, unlike you, not started packing yet - although will probably start this weekend. The cruise is getting tantalizingly close! 😁

[anniedave]

10 hours ago, mchell810 said:

Looking forward to following your trip; I remember reading your last one. 

 

Cirque du Soleil is fabulous!  I have seen 2 of the Vegas shows and about 5 others before that.  I think you will love it.

Thanks ... trying to remember all the details of the last trip to write a review 6 months after it happened was tricky so I decided to do this one as I go along.  Glad to hear such positive things about the Cirque du Soleil shows 🙌