Random thoughts while onboard the Millenium Christmas / NYE cruise

[kk20]

Since our $9.99 premium internet voucher is valid for our entire cruise, I figured I’d share our experience while we’re onboard the Millenium.

 

We barely made it out of Toronto Pearson before the weather bomb exploded on December 23rd, so we’re extremely grateful to even be onboard (we have friends who weren’t so lucky with their flight, but they flew to st maarten on the 25th and are boarding the shop today)

 

Embarkation:

we expected the terminal to be packed, and were shocked at how quickly we made it onboard around 11:15am! We only had a few people in front of us at given checkpoint and walked directly onto the ship 

 

Children onboard:

Yes!! There are a lot of children onboard, but the teenagers/young adults outnumber them. 
So far, they have all been well behaved and we hardly notice when they’re around (with the exception of  one family…see dining experience for one experience with them 😏)

The solarium has signs up indicating that family hour is from 4-7pm. We walked though a couple of times during this timeframe last night and it wasn’t a zoo! Just families enjoying their time in the pool

 

Our hiccups along the way:

We travel with Multiple Sclerosis medication that requires refrigeration until use so getting it into the fridge in our cabin is always a priority. When we arrived to our cabin we found that the fridge was locked! After checking to see if our cabin attendant was in the hallway (he wasn’t) I called guest services and explained why we needed the fridge to be opened asap. They assured me they’d send someone right away. 
in the mean time, a cabin attendant arrived to get some paperwork we mistakenly put in the wrong cabin and we asked him too to have our fridge opened. He said he tried, but couldn’t open it earlier and he had also asked for maintenance to come open it. We left the room for some adult beverages and didn’t return for several hours. Our mistake, as when we returned the fridge was still locked and the meds were barley cold in their travel bag. I ran down to the guest relations desk in a panic and was told to bring the meds to them and they would keep them in their fridge.
Crisis averted! And on our next cruise, we will just take the meds to them for storage as soon as we board.

 

Dining experience:

We are in a regular balcony cabin, so we are eating most diners in the mdr. There is always a lineup to get into the dining room for dinner. Doesn’t matter if you’re in the reservations line (we prebooked a 6pm reservation for each night ahead of time) or the non-res line. Apparently the lineups are much longer, the later it gets as well.

 

I ordered the crispy beef spring roll our first evening and it wasn’t even close to being properly cooked. I took a couple of bites before discovering this though, so my evening wasn’t spent as I had originally planned…..🤮. Everything else has been good though!

 

Christmas dinner was very chaotic in the mdr! I felt sooooo bad for all the staff. They were trying their best, but they were just overwhelmed with so many people and I think the extra menu items added for that night were also causing service disruptions. Some of our fellow passengers apparently forgot their manners and patience that evening as well. A table seated close to us had a couple of children who were not taught to use their inside voices and were allowed to scream out at the servers expecting them to drop everything to cater to their every whim. Not once, did we observe either of their parents trying to control the situation either. The son was demanding to be brought two french onion soups at a time and then only eating the top crust before trying to get two more brought over to him. There were many death stares from the other tables around them, but again, the parents did nothing about it….smh

 

As expected, there are often lineups at the buffet and el baccio as well, but the staff and their supervisors are busting their butts off to get us all served as fast as possible. 
 

Excursions:

We just arrived at our first port today (st maarten) but as there are 7 ships in port today, we opted to stay onboard instead of dealing with the 23000+ other pax who are also here. 
We have booked the chef’s market discovery tour and dinner for st lucia and a snorkeling excursion in st kitts. I will report back on them later this week.

 

Entertainment:

We do not go to any of the main theatre shows, so I can’t comment on them.

We enjoy listening to the different bands while enjoying adult beverages and so far, all of the bands have been great! We are also really enjoying their solo guitarist Jorge! He’s super talented and has an amazing voice.

 

That was a lot longer than I expected! 😂

 

if you have any questions, please ask! (But I have no idea who the cruise director is 😉)

 

 

 

 

Edited December 27, 2022 by kk20

[BeachTunes]

Hello Fellow Canadians! 

 

How fortunate that you escaped YYZ in the nick of time! Pearson is still a mess. The local news is reporting that the baggage conveyor belts broke due to the cold temperatures leaving thousands of bags stuck in terminal 3. I feel terrible for everyone affected by lost luggage, delays and cancellations.

 

On a happier note, we booked a March cruise on the Millennium yesterday! So we will definitely be following along. We've cruised aboard the Reflection and the Summit and enjoyed both experiences. I was eyeing an Apex itinerary but the pricing on "Millie" in Aqua class for our particular sailing just couldn't be beat. It also includes two new ports/countries to cross off our bucket list.

 

I'm glad you got your medication situation sorted out! 🙂 I hope the dining situation improves for you. I laughed out loud - literally - reading your description of the French Onion Soup Kid. I would have been scolded (or removed from the premises) had I behaved like that as a kid. LOL!

 

Thanks for sharing your journey with us! Happy travels!

Edited December 27, 2022 by BeachTunes
Added a sentence that I forgot to include.

[kk20]

8 minutes ago, BeachTunes said:

Hello Fellow Canadians! 

 

How fortunate that you escaped YYZ in the nick of time! Pearson is still a mess. The local news is reporting that the baggage conveyor belts broke due to the cold temperatures leaving thousands of bags stuck in terminal 3. I feel terrible for everyone affected by lost luggage, delays and cancellations.

 

On a happier note, we booked a March cruise on the Millennium yesterday! So we will definitely be following along. We've cruised aboard the Reflection and the Summit and enjoyed both experiences. I was eyeing an Apex itinerary but the pricing on "Millie" in Aqua class for our particular sailing just couldn't be beat. It also includes two new ports/countries to cross off our bucket list.

 

I'm glad you got your medication situation sorted out! 🙂 I hope the dining situation improves for you. I laughed out loud - literally - reading your description of the French Onion Soup Kid. I would have been scolded (or removed from the premises) had I behaved like that as a kid. LOL!

 

Thanks for sharing your journey with us! Happy travels!

We were onboard the summit in the spring and have another cruise booked on her for the spring! We love the size and layout of the m class ships.

 

My mom would have silenced me with ‘the look’ or given me a very clear message under the table if I ever even dared to be rude in public (or at home!)

 

 

[Jim_Iain]

Thanks for your trip report.    I'm sure it must be a trying time for both guests and staff with ships at full capacity.   I hope things calm down and you have a wonderful cruise.   I"m sure the  Caribbean  weather is wonderful.

[Honolulu Blue]

2 hours ago, kk20 said:

(I have no idea who the cruise director is 😉)

I have a better idea than you do.  It's probably her:

 

 

Her name is Brittany.  She's friendly.  I saw her around the ship at least once in addition to hosting a couple of the evening shows when I was on the Millennium last month.  Tell her I said hi. 

 

Then again, she might have been replaced with someone else in the intervening weeks.  In which case I have no idea who your CD is. 

 

P.S.  Thanks for the trip report so far!  

[DaKahuna]

Reading this with interest as we will be on Millennium for the Panama Canal Transit in April - May and she appears to be fully booked.  Hopefully the staff will have adjusted to being at or near capacity by the time we sail. 

 

[Cruise Gopher]

@kk20 you mention the $9.99 internet voucher. So I assume you purchased that when they had the pricing error? I did too for my upcoming cruise in January. 
 

So how did this work out in reality? Was your internet just automatically upgraded to premium or did you have to do something special once onboard to “redeem” the voucher?

[jwlane]

57 minutes ago, Honolulu Blue said:

It's probably her:

She left a week or so ago.

[bEwAbG]

I hope that this 4-7pm thing isn't permanent as that is when I prefer to use the solarium.  Is it cool or raining during this cruise?  Or is it normal, nice weather?

[Honolulu Blue]

29 minutes ago, jwlane said:

She left a week or so ago.

Thanks.  Oh well, I tried.🤪

[kk20]

1 hour ago, Cruise Gopher said:

@kk20 you mention the $9.99 internet voucher. So I assume you purchased that when they had the pricing error? I did too for my upcoming cruise in January. 
 

So how did this work out in reality? Was your internet just automatically upgraded to premium or did you have to do something special once onboard to “redeem” the voucher?

Yes! We were one of the people who purchased the internet voucher while they had the pricing error happening.
When we got onboard and connected to the internet for the first time, it gave us the option to choose premium streaming for the whole length of our cruise with a $0 charge. We didn’t have to go to the lounge to redeem our voucher, as was stated on the webpage when we purchased

[kk20]

1 hour ago, bEwAbG said:

I hope that this 4-7pm thing isn't permanent as that is when I prefer to use the solarium.  Is it cool or raining during this cruise?  Or is it normal, nice weather?

I’m assuming it’s just for this cruise, as there are many families onboard. We had thought maybe it was just for inclement weather days (it was cold for florida when we left and yesterday they had some decks closed due to high winds) but the sign for family time is back up today in the solarium and the weather is glorius!

 

On our other two cruises this year (april and october) they didn’t have any family time signs in the solarium for either of them

Edited December 27, 2022 by kk20

[Chanbre]

With regard to keeping medicines cool, may I suggest going to any bar on the ship and asking for some ice cubes. Put them into a Ziploc plastic bag and put that into the medicines bag. Repeat as necessary until you have access to a fridge.

[bEwAbG]

3 hours ago, kk20 said:

I’m assuming it’s just for this cruise, as there are many families onboard. We had thought maybe it was just for inclement weather days (it was cold for florida when we left and yesterday they had some decks closed due to high winds) but the sign for family time is back up today in the solarium and the weather is glorius!

 

On our other two cruises this year (april and october) they didn’t have any family time signs in the solarium for either of them

 

Thanks for the data point.  I saw another recent trip report from December that said it was open on their ship as well, which is why I was wondering.  I'll have to find that again to see if it was the same ship.  I'm ok with family time when the weather turns but don't understand why they would continue to do it when it's nice outside.  

[Cruise Gopher]

4 hours ago, kk20 said:

Yes! We were one of the people who purchased the internet voucher while they had the pricing error happening.
When we got onboard and connected to the internet for the first time, it gave us the option to choose premium streaming for the whole length of our cruise with a $0 charge. We didn’t have to go to the lounge to redeem our voucher, as was stated on the webpage when we purchased

Woo hoo! Thanks for the update! I look forward to this on our January cruise. 

[DeacDawg]

Just off the Millennium to make way for your cruise and there was family time in the Solarium. 

[mahdnc]

11 hours ago, kk20 said:

Since our $9.99 premium internet voucher is valid for our entire cruise, I figured I’d share our experience while we’re onboard the Millenium.

 

We barely made it out of Toronto Pearson before the weather bomb exploded on December 23rd, so we’re extremely grateful to even be onboard (we have friends who weren’t so lucky with their flight, but they flew to st maarten on the 25th and are boarding the shop today)

 

Embarkation:

we expected the terminal to be packed, and were shocked at how quickly we made it onboard around 11:15am! We only had a few people in front of us at given checkpoint and walked directly onto the ship 

 

Children onboard:

Yes!! There are a lot of children onboard, but the teenagers/young adults outnumber them. 
So far, they have all been well behaved and we hardly notice when they’re around (with the exception of  one family…see dining experience for one experience with them 😏)

The solarium has signs up indicating that family hour is from 4-7pm. We walked though a couple of times during this timeframe last night and it wasn’t a zoo! Just families enjoying their time in the pool

 

Our hiccups along the way:

We travel with Multiple Sclerosis medication that requires refrigeration until use so getting it into the fridge in our cabin is always a priority. When we arrived to our cabin we found that the fridge was locked! After checking to see if our cabin attendant was in the hallway (he wasn’t) I called guest services and explained why we needed the fridge to be opened asap. They assured me they’d send someone right away. 
in the mean time, a cabin attendant arrived to get some paperwork we mistakenly put in the wrong cabin and we asked him too to have our fridge opened. He said he tried, but couldn’t open it earlier and he had also asked for maintenance to come open it. We left the room for some adult beverages and didn’t return for several hours. Our mistake, as when we returned the fridge was still locked and the meds were barley cold in their travel bag. I ran down to the guest relations desk in a panic and was told to bring the meds to them and they would keep them in their fridge.
Crisis averted! And on our next cruise, we will just take the meds to them for storage as soon as we board.

 

Dining experience:

We are in a regular balcony cabin, so we are eating most diners in the mdr. There is always a lineup to get into the dining room for dinner. Doesn’t matter if you’re in the reservations line (we prebooked a 6pm reservation for each night ahead of time) or the non-res line. Apparently the lineups are much longer, the later it gets as well.

 

I ordered the crispy beef spring roll our first evening and it wasn’t even close to being properly cooked. I took a couple of bites before discovering this though, so my evening wasn’t spent as I had originally planned…..🤮. Everything else has been good though!

 

Christmas dinner was very chaotic in the mdr! I felt sooooo bad for all the staff. They were trying their best, but they were just overwhelmed with so many people and I think the extra menu items added for that night were also causing service disruptions. Some of our fellow passengers apparently forgot their manners and patience that evening as well. A table seated close to us had a couple of children who were not taught to use their inside voices and were allowed to scream out at the servers expecting them to drop everything to cater to their every whim. Not once, did we observe either of their parents trying to control the situation either. The son was demanding to be brought two french onion soups at a time and then only eating the top crust before trying to get two more brought over to him. There were many death stares from the other tables around them, but again, the parents did nothing about it….smh

 

As expected, there are often lineups at the buffet and el baccio as well, but the staff and their supervisors are busting their butts off to get us all served as fast as possible. 
 

Excursions:

We just arrived at our first port today (st maarten) but as there are 7 ships in port today, we opted to stay onboard instead of dealing with the 23000+ other pax who are also here. 
We have booked the chef’s market discovery tour and dinner for st lucia and a snorkeling excursion in st kitts. I will report back on them later this week.

 

Entertainment:

We do not go to any of the main theatre shows, so I can’t comment on them.

We enjoy listening to the different bands while enjoying adult beverages and so far, all of the bands have been great! We are also really enjoying their solo guitarist Jorge! He’s super talented and has an amazing voice.

 

That was a lot longer than I expected! 😂

 

if you have any questions, please ask! (But I have no idea who the cruise director is 😉)

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you for posting.  Good to know you got out just in time and are enjoying your Christmas/NYE cruise.  Where does Millennium spend NYE?

[kk20]

45 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

Where does Millennium spend NYE?

We leave st kitts late in the afternoon and will be at sea to ring in the new year

[mahdnc]

32 minutes ago, kk20 said:

We leave st kitts late in the afternoon and will be at sea to ring in the new year

 

Very nice.

[upwarduk]

18 hours ago, kk20 said:

When we arrived to our cabin we found that the fridge was locked!

I have never ever experienced this and we are Elite Plus.

[Zigster]

21 hours ago, Honolulu Blue said:

I have a better idea than you do.  It's probably her:

 

 

Her name is Brittany.  She's friendly.  I saw her around the ship at least once in addition to hosting a couple of the evening shows when I was on the Millennium last month.  Tell her I said hi. 

 

Then again, she might have been replaced with someone else in the intervening weeks.  In which case I have no idea who your CD is. 

 

P.S.  Thanks for the trip report so far!  

That's not Brittany.  She's been posting on Instagram and it's not from the ship.

[jelayne]

7 hours ago, upwarduk said:

I have never ever experienced this and we are Elite Plus.

It could be that since passengers go directly to the cabin to get the sea pass and drop off carry ons that the OP (like many now) arrived at the cabin before the cabin preparation was completed.

[kk20]

15 minutes ago, jelayne said:

t could be that since passengers go directly to the cabin to get the sea pass and drop off carry ons that the OP (like many now) arrived at the cabin before the cabin preparation was completed.

Our cabin didn’t have the sign on the door that said the cabin was still being prepared for us (unlike our last cruise) when we arrived

[kk20]

We spent yesterday at the solarium pool enjoying the tranquility and constant beverage service 😉

 

To our surprise there was only two other couples waiting in line for dinner! And I’m happy to report that the food and service was exactly as expected from Celebrity

 

Today we are in St Croix and have decided to spend the day at fort frederick beach, which is basically beside the pier. It’s $40 for two loungers and an umbrella. 

[p18750]

Thank you for posting. For the MDR is the seating back to normal or are parties still seated by themselves. One of the things we liked about cruising was getting a large table and getting to meet a wide variety of people. On our last cruise with Celebrity they were seating everyone by themselves and larger tables were only for parties travelling together. .