Best of Japan - Millennium 5/2 - 5/15

[hcat]

Great Collaborative Review with You as the Mainstay.. Thanks again.

[Pushka]

17 minutes ago, DaKahuna said:

We’ve been sitting in the Retreat Lounge since around 0650.  The ship was cleared and suit passengers were told their bags were ready around 0722.

 

it’s going pretty fast and they are up to bags number 11 and 12 which are airport transfers. 
 

So it seems things are progressing smoothly.  We are going to try and wait it out until around 0900-0915 and then grab a taxi to our hotel. 
 

Disembarkation day is loathsome! I take it that Suite guests can wait in the retreat and leave when they like? We depart the same night but think we will book a day room at the airport and leave from ship around 8.30am. Currently Celebrity aren't offering transfers. 

 

Enjoy Yokohama. 

 

[rinshin]

Arigatou Dakahuna.  Enjoyed your photos on food and drinks.  Safe journey home.

[Jim_Iain]

1 hour ago, DaKahuna said:

We’ve been sitting in the Retreat Lounge since around 0650.  The ship was cleared and suit passengers were told their bags were ready around 0722.

 

it’s going pretty fast and they are up to bags number 11 and 12 which are airport transfers. 
 

So it seems things are progressing smoothly.  We are going to try and wait it out until around 0900-0915 and then grab a taxi to our hotel. 
 

Safe travel home.    Really enjoyed following along with your travels.   I grabbed a virtual Lemon Tart yesterday.... just wasn't the same. 

[Alan2504]

1 hour ago, Pushka said:

Disembarkation day is loathsome! I take it that Suite guests can wait in the retreat and leave when they like? We depart the same night but think we will book a day room at the airport and leave from ship around 8.30am. Currently Celebrity aren't offering transfers. 

 

Enjoy Yokohama. 

 

Yes, you can wait in the retreat lounge until you are asked to leave, we got off around 9:15, still queues at customs but the concierge escorted us to the head of the queue and we're through in no time 

[monkey@cruise]

    ありがとう  DaKahuna. Thank you for your patience allow me hijacking your thread.

    Safe Travel. I didn't know your Osaka Dotonbori tour is on your own, otherwise

    will tell you the  hidden gems location. You must re-visit Japan to pick up the missing pieces.

[Alan2504]

@DaKahuna was a pleasure meeting you and your wife and sailing with you! Safe travels home 🏡 

A n T 

[DaKahuna]

7 hours ago, debfed65 said:

Is your hotel in Yokohama or Tokyo ?  I’m still undecided where to stay pre-cruise….

 

Both our Pre and post cruise hotels are in Yokohama.   We stayed at the InterContinental Yokohama Grand Hotel pre cruise and are currently in The Westin in Yokohama. 

 

This is the InternContinental as seen from the ship

 

 

This is The Westin as seen from ground level (across the street). 

 

 

 

[DaKahuna]

We disembarked this morning walking off the ship around 0922 when the announcement was made about all bag tag numbers having been called.

 

Due to a bathroom break we missed being escorted by the Retreat Concierge but there was no crowd until we got our bags and got into line for customs.  As I have a nasty habit of doing, we picked the wrong line to queue in.  One couple about 10 groups in front of us ended up opening their bags and undergoing a very thorough inspection by customs.  That held our line up considerably.

 

That being said we managed to get through in a timely manner only to be caught up in the taxi queue.  This was more problematic as most Japanese cannot accommodate all the luggage that a family can bring on a 13 day cruise.  Most couples had two large or three bags.  Many multi-family groups had even more.  So they were doing their best to pull larger taxi’s around to accommodate those with more passengers or luggage.

 

We got our taxi, told him our hotel, and arrived here shortly after 1000.  The bellman that took our bags to us to proceed to the 23rd floor registration, then looked at his list again and told us to go to 22 and then he got on the phone.  We got off on the 22nd floor, the Club Level and went into the Club Lounge were a young lady was waiting with our paperwork and rooms keys.  We spent a few minutes checking in with her and then proceeded to our room on the 14th floor.  I sent pictures of the view from our room to out kids at 1040, by which time I had been back down to the lounge to grab my first Pepsi (Pepsi Zero) since leaving home on April 28th.  

 

We grabbed a couple of snacks in the Lounge and then headed for China Town.  It’s a long three block walk from the Hotel to the Minatomirai train station and that line takes you to China Town.  My DW had done the research and had a specific restaurant in mind for our lunch.  We looked around a bit and then asked for direction - found it!  Lunch there was good.  Nothing spectacular in my opinion.  Although the shaman, spring rolls, and my char shu bun were good.

 

We bought a few things after lunch and came back to the hotel, where I am going to crash and burn here in just a few minutes;

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Where we ate 

 

 

What we ate 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[villauk]

8 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

We’ve been sitting in the Retreat Lounge since around 0650.  The ship was cleared and suit passengers were told their bags were ready around 0722.

 

it’s going pretty fast and they are up to bags number 11 and 12 which are airport transfers. 
 

So it seems things are progressing smoothly.  We are going to try and wait it out until around 0900-0915 and then grab a taxi to our hotel. 
 

 

Thanks so much for your wonderful review. May I ask if 7.22 was the first time for disembarkation, even for those with self-disembarkation?

[DaKahuna]

3 hours ago, villauk said:

 

Thanks so much for your wonderful review. May I ask if 7.22 was the first time for disembarkation, even for those with self-disembarkation?

 

If memory serves me correct, 0722 was when it was announced that the ship had been cleared.  No one is allowed to disembark until the ship is cleared for passengers to disembark.  So, yes, 0722 would have been the earliest anyone would have been allowed to leave the ship. 

 

 

[DaKahuna]

For any of you who might be Marriott Bonvoy Platinum Elite, Titanium Elite, or Ambassador Elite and are looking for a hotel for a few nights in Yokohama, the Westin is amazing.  

 

The Club Lounge has breakfast 0700-0930; Day Snacks 1000-1700 and Cocktail time 1700-1830, 1930 - 2100.  

 

The cocktail time you can only attend once and if you get there at 1815, you will be told it closes at 1830 so you either eat / drink quickly or you wait until 1930 and come back. 

 

Drinks are served at a make shift bar - beer, wine, mixed drinks, juices, soda’s, etc.  

Food is a buffet and tonight included chicken curry, steamed rice, penne pasta, ravioli, salad bar, inari sushi, cheeses, cold cut, and breads.  I am sure I missed something but it was rather quite nice.  

 

If I had to complain about anything, it would be the bed.  The bed is very low to the ground so it took a little getting use to but I managed to grab a three hour nap this afternoon and woke up very refreshed.  

 

[abbydancer2003]

Thanks again.  My plan is to review this again when our trip gets closer.  It seems a bit overwhelming right now. 

 

[DaKahuna]

2 hours ago, abbydancer2003 said:

Thanks again.  My plan is to review this again when our trip gets closer.  It seems a bit overwhelming right now.

 

 

There are some other reviews, especially the on prior to our cruise by @Northern Aurora and @Miaminice that are well done and would be great references as well, especially if doing your own excursions.

 

@monkey@cruise made a lot of very valid observations as well.  
 

Have a great cruise.  I know we thoroughly enjoyed ours.

 

[DaKahuna]

 Before we start packing for our flight home tomorrow I wanted to just give a short summary of our cruise experience. 

 

Ship:  Millennium is the oldest of Celebrity’s current fleet and in some ways her age shows but you do have to look rather carefully to note it.  There were a couple of chairs in common areas where the seat coverse  were wrong or frayed but they were very few and far between.   Areas on the hull/balconies show signs of wear and are no longer perfectly smooth as when they were new. The maintenance crew does an amazing job of chipping, sanding, and painting and we saw very few signs of rust anywhere. 

 

Food:  What can I say - Luminae continues to deliver great food and beverages.  The sommelier there must be one of the busiest on the ship but he does his job very well and his recommendations were spot on.  He always managed to find a wine to please me as well as remembered what I had been served before so he could offer that or an alternative.   Fernando, who was also our Maitre’d for our last Millennium sailing, runs a very smooth operation and the who Luminae team works as just that - a team.  Both the waiters and assistant waiters cover for each other as needed and it was no unusual to be attended by different waiters and assistant waiters during a single meal.  I cannot sing their praises high enough. 

 

Our stateroom.  We loved having the separate shower and tub.  The tub seemed deeper than the shower/tub combinations but maybe it just looks that way.  I did not take advantage of the tub but I spent my share of time in the large full glass shower.  Our “Retreat Host” was amazing.  He paid extremely close attention to detail and took care of every little detail for us.  He even noticed the faucet in one of the sinks was loose and reported it to maintenance before we had a chance to tell him about it.  He emptied , the refrigerator upon request, provided ice twice a day, and replenished our water supply with every visit.  I do not think any time, except the last night, we came into the room and found less than four bottles of water waiting for us.  We came back one time to the room and he was vacuuming up paint chips on our balcony where they had fallen as a result of maintenance taking pace on decks above ours (there is no balcony covering on this suite).

 

Butler Service:  Millennium has not resumed the old butler service to the Sky Suites.  Our “Head Butler” introduced himself the first day and we occasionally saw him in the passage way or the retreat lounge but not very often.  We did see other butlers, of course being next door to the penthouse suite, and down the hall from half the royal suites but with our stateroom attendant, we never had need to bother any of them for anything.  

 

Retreat Concierge:  Connor and Eliza were amazing.  They did everything they could for all of their guest and kept us very informed.  I do not think we’ve ever gotten as many port information notices, maps, or just general suggestions on where to go on any previous cruise.  Anything that was brought to their attention was swiftly taken care of, based on reports from others as well was our own experience.  

 

Alcohol:  The only upcharge I paid was for two glasses of Conondrum in Luminae.  The Ron Zacapa 23 and up graded wines in the Retreat Lounge were never changed.  In fact, as I believe others have point out, there is no point of sales machine in the Retreat Lounge.  If they ever have to do an upcharge, they must go to the casino bar. 

 

[villauk]

35 minutes ago, DaKahuna said:

 Before we start packing for our flight home tomorrow I wanted to just give a short summary of our cruise experience. 

 

Ship:  Millennium is the oldest of Celebrity’s current fleet and in some ways her age shows but you do have to look rather carefully to note it.  There were a couple of chairs in common areas where the seat coverse  were wrong or frayed but they were very few and far between.   Areas on the hull/balconies show signs of wear and are no longer perfectly smooth as when they were new. The maintenance crew does an amazing job of chipping, sanding, and painting and we saw very few signs of rust anywhere. 

 

Food:  What can I say - Luminae continues to deliver great food and beverages.  The sommelier there must be one of the busiest on the ship but he does his job very well and his recommendations were spot on.  He always managed to find a wine to please me as well as remembered what I had been served before so he could offer that or an alternative.   Fernando, who was also our Maitre’d for our last Millennium sailing, runs a very smooth operation and the who Luminae team works as just that - a team.  Both the waiters and assistant waiters cover for each other as needed and it was no unusual to be attended by different waiters and assistant waiters during a single meal.  I cannot sing their praises high enough. 

 

Our stateroom.  We loved having the separate shower and tub.  The tub seemed deeper than the shower/tub combinations but maybe it just looks that way.  I did not take advantage of the tub but I spent my share of time in the large full glass shower.  Our “Retreat Host” was amazing.  He paid extremely close attention to detail and took care of every little detail for us.  He even noticed the faucet in one of the sinks was loose and reported it to maintenance before we had a chance to tell him about it.  He emptied , the refrigerator upon request, provided ice twice a day, and replenished our water supply with every visit.  I do not think any time, except the last night, we came into the room and found less than four bottles of water waiting for us.  We came back one time to the room and he was vacuuming up paint chips on our balcony where they had fallen as a result of maintenance taking pace on decks above ours (there is no balcony covering on this suite).

 

Butler Service:  Millennium has not resumed the old butler service to the Sky Suites.  Our “Head Butler” introduced himself the first day and we occasionally saw him in the passage way or the retreat lounge but not very often.  We did see other butlers, of course being next door to the penthouse suite, and down the hall from half the royal suites but with our stateroom attendant, we never had need to bother any of them for anything.  

 

Retreat Concierge:  Connor and Eliza were amazing.  They did everything they could for all of their guest and kept us very informed.  I do not think we’ve ever gotten as many port information notices, maps, or just general suggestions on where to go on any previous cruise.  Anything that was brought to their attention was swiftly taken care of, based on reports from others as well was our own experience.  

 

Alcohol:  The only upcharge I paid was for two glasses of Conondrum in Luminae.  The Ron Zacapa 23 and up graded wines in the Retreat Lounge were never changed.  In fact, as I believe others have point out, there is no point of sales machine in the Retreat Lounge.  If they ever have to do an upcharge, they must go to the casino bar. 

 

Thanks for the summary, @DaKahuna. I would love it if others on the sailing e.g. @scorfman, who were not in a suite, could perhaps also do a brief summary similar to yours on Millie - it would be great to get their perspective 👍.

Edited May 17 by villauk

[DaKahuna]

2 minutes ago, villauk said:

I would love it if others on the sailing

 

 There were a number of people on our roll call who were not in suites that I would also love to hear from.  I spoke with a couple of them and encouraged to them comment but they were always amazed at how I found time to do the comments that I did do.  

 

 As you might have noticed this was a very port intensive cruise and my wife and I were just commenting about how great it was we planned a couple of days in a hotel before flying home.  We are still recovering form having to get up early most mornings of the cruise to get ready for our day ashore. 

 

[villauk]

29 minutes ago, DaKahuna said:

 

 There were a number of people on our roll call who were not in suites that I would also love to hear from.  I spoke with a couple of them and encouraged to them comment but they were always amazed at how I found time to do the comments that I did do.  

 

 As you might have noticed this was a very port intensive cruise and my wife and I were just commenting about how great it was we planned a couple of days in a hotel before flying home.  We are still recovering form having to get up early most mornings of the cruise to get ready for our day ashore. 

 

You need a vacation after a port-intensive cruise 😁. We’ve actually planned that after our August Japan cruise: a relaxing 10 days on Connie six weeks after we return from Millie 😉. Thanks again for the wonderful review; I, too, am amazed at how you managed to post as often as you did with such full days - bravo!

[abbydancer2003]

10 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

 

 There were a number of people on our roll call who were not in suites that I would also love to hear from.  I spoke with a couple of them and encouraged to them comment but they were always amazed at how I found time to do the comments that I did do.  

 

 As you might have noticed this was a very port intensive cruise and my wife and I were just commenting about how great it was we planned a couple of days in a hotel before flying home.  We are still recovering form having to get up early most mornings of the cruise to get ready for our day ashore. 

 

 

9 hours ago, villauk said:

You need a vacation after a port-intensive cruise 😁. We’ve actually planned that after our August Japan cruise: a relaxing 10 days on Connie six weeks after we return from Millie 😉. Thanks again for the wonderful review; I, too, am amazed at how you managed to post as often as you did with such full days - bravo!

 

Our first Celebrity cruise was an Eastern Med cruise, with 2 sea days out of 10.  I told DH we needed a vacation from our vacation.

 

We had Conner on the Summit last year - he was great.  Maybe Eliza on the Apex, not sure it was same, but if so, she was great also.

 

[debfed65]

16 hours ago, DaKahuna said:

 

 

There are some other reviews, especially the on prior to our cruise by @Northern Aurora and @Miaminice that are well done and would be great references as well, especially if doing your own excursions.

 

@monkey@cruise made a lot of very valid observations as well.  
 

Have a great cruise.  I know we thoroughly enjoyed ours.

 

I have found the review by Miaminice but cannot locate a review from Northern Aurora.  Do you have a link or the name of her review so I can try to locate it? 

 

Thanks 🙂 

[scorfman]

14 hours ago, villauk said:

Thanks for the summary, @DaKahuna. I would love it if others on the sailing e.g. @scorfman, who were not in a suite, could perhaps also do a brief summary similar to yours on Millie - it would be great to get their perspective 👍.

Definitely will, along with completing my dailies. We’re in Tokyo since debarkation and crazy busy so putting it off. I have a business trip to leave on (ugh) the day after we return on Sunday but that will give me some hotel room down time.

[Northern Aurora]

27 minutes ago, debfed65 said:

I have found the review by Miaminice but cannot locate a review from Northern Aurora.  Do you have a link or the name of her review so I can try to locate it? 

 

Thanks 🙂 

 

 

@debfed65:  I didn't do a review.  But after we boarded on March 28th @DaKahuna asked some questions for those actually on the ship and we exchanged a number of comments on Cruise Critic.

 

We did B2B cruises (embarking March 28th and April 9).  We also did B2B Japan cruises in 2018.  Given the distance from our home in Fairbanks, Alaska B2B or longer cruises work well for us.  While our itineraries were not identical for each leg there were some repeat ports.  And there are enough attractions in the ports that repeat visits are not an issue.  The B2B pair also gave us more "wiggle room" regarding cherry blossoms, and we hit the jack pot on that March 28th cruise.  Great cherry blossoms.

 

Just to offer some general comments -- we thought the Millennium was well organized.  Hotel Director Andrea Muegge is one of our favorites.  She is very "hands on" and it shows.  We had two different "retreat hosts" and both were excellent.  We saw the butler frequently.

 

The ship was tastefully decorated with some boughs of silk cherry blossoms and empty (I assume) sake casks in Cellar Masters and the Ocean View.  During the second Zenith luncheon, when I told Andrea that I found the ship to be nicely decorated, she told us that she had the pastry chefs create pastry cranes shaped like origami cranes to decorate the dessert section in the Ocean View.  We checked, and sure enough -- there were the pastry cranes with large signs regarding their significance.

 

Our Beyond the Podium speakers were clearly different than those on DaKahuna's itinerary.  We did have the same taiko drum group when we overnighted at Osaka (on both itineraries).  We did have some Japanese food food on board, but folks did have to look for it.  We also had more than usual events in the Retreat Lounge on each leg with special martini nights and the event to sample Japanese tea on both legs.

 

We were also in a suite, and thought that Mr. Fernando runs a great Luminae.  We have been with him on prior cruises.  The Luminae sommelier on our cruises was Mark, and he did a great job.  We found one of the Retreat Concierges to be stronger than the other but we were also privy to some information which needs to be kept discrete so will not comment.

 

We have visited over 70 countries and find Japan to be one of our favorites.  A very clean, safe and well organized country.  Their public transport is easy to use.  For example, we had no issues going to visit the deer of Nara on our own out of Osaka using the metro and train system.

 

I expect we will return again in the future.

[debfed65]

9 minutes ago, Northern Aurora said:

 

 

@debfed65:  I didn't do a review.  But after we boarded on March 28th @DaKahuna asked some questions for those actually on the ship and we exchanged a number of comments on Cruise Critic.

 

We did B2B cruises (embarking March 28th and April 9).  We also did B2B Japan cruises in 2018.  Given the distance from our home in Fairbanks, Alaska B2B or longer cruises work well for us.  While our itineraries were not identical for each leg there were some repeat ports.  And there are enough attractions in the ports that repeat visits are not an issue.  The B2B pair also gave us more "wiggle room" regarding cherry blossoms, and we hit the jack pot on that March 28th cruise.  Great cherry blossoms.

 

Just to offer some general comments -- we thought the Millennium was well organized.  Hotel Director Andrea Muegge is one of our favorites.  She is very "hands on" and it shows.  We had two different "retreat hosts" and both were excellent.  We saw the butler frequently.

 

The ship was tastefully decorated with some boughs of silk cherry blossoms and empty (I assume) sake casks in Cellar Masters and the Ocean View.  During the second Zenith luncheon, when I told Andrea that I found the ship to be nicely decorated, she told us that she had the pastry chefs create pastry cranes shaped like origami cranes to decorate the dessert section in the Ocean View.  We checked, and sure enough -- there were the pastry cranes with large signs regarding their significance.

 

Our Beyond the Podium speakers were clearly different than those on DaKahuna's itinerary.  We did have the same taiko drum group when we overnighted at Osaka (on both itineraries).  We did have some Japanese food food on board, but folks did have to look for it.  We also had more than usual events in the Retreat Lounge on each leg with special martini nights and the event to sample Japanese tea on both legs.

 

We were also in a suite, and thought that Mr. Fernando runs a great Luminae.  We have been with him on prior cruises.  The Luminae sommelier on our cruises was Mark, and he did a great job.  We found one of the Retreat Concierges to be stronger than the other but we were also privy to some information which needs to be kept discrete so will not comment.

 

We have visited over 70 countries and find Japan to be one of our favorites.  A very clean, safe and well organized country.  Their public transport is easy to use.  For example, we had no issues going to visit the deer of Nara on our own out of Osaka using the metro and train system.

 

I expect we will return again in the future.

 

No wonder I couldn't find your review 😉, but I did see your comments on DaKahuna's review.  The review as a whole was all very helpful as we have not been to Japan before.  I am happy to hear the public transit is easy to use as we like to do things on our own.  We are also doing a b2b with Best of Japan followed by North East Asia this coming October.  So much research & planning to do, but these boards help immensely!

 

Thanks again...Debbie & Ron   

[rinshin]

20 hours ago, abbydancer2003 said:

Thanks again.  My plan is to review this again when our trip gets closer.  It seems a bit overwhelming right now. 

 

When is your cruise to Japan?  

[abbydancer2003]

5 minutes ago, rinshin said:

When is your cruise to Japan?  

March 16 2026.