Millennium: Back from Great Feb 18-25 Caribbean

[BarryOtt]

Hi:

 

We just returned from a Caribbean cruise on the Millennium from Feb 18-25. Our group was myself, my wife, and two sons in their 20's.

 

We went the day before (Saturday) and stayed at Comfort Suites in Ft. Lauderdale. It is practically 1/2 way between the airport and the cruise port. Their shuttle was so slow getting to the airport (after we called) that we took a taxi. The place was plain, but Ok for a night's sleep. I would look into the nearby Embassy Suites next time.

 

There is a drug store near the hotel (about 4 blocks away) and many liquor stores.

 

 

 

We bought 4 bottles (one bottle was 1.5 litres) of wine.

 

ASIDE: Celebrity permits 2 bottles of wine per stateroom at the beginning of the cruise. (We has 2 staterooms.) They had wine glasses in the stateroom, (I had brought some plastic ones...but never used them). We asked the steward to empty the mini-bar. We could easily store the white wine in there. You can slide the shelf out of the refrigerator.

 

We took a taxi from the hotel to the cruise ship.

 

The ship was identical to the Infinity that my wife and sailed on in Feb, 2006.

 

People mentioned here about the food budget being lowered. I found only a few minor differences between this trip and the one in 2006. Here they are:

1. The drink dispensers (punch, iced tea, etc) dispensers seemed to be off more.

2. Non-dairy creamer....we simply used milk for our coffee.

3. This is the freakiest. Our waiter was Jose and assistant was Christopher. They were great and we had a super (supper) time with them. However I was only used to seeing them in the dining room...a class act. I was taken aback when I saw them waiting on some of the outside functions and in the buffet line. I wonder if on the 2006 trip I did not notice this, or this is a new personnel $ saving situation.

 

The service was always great...one time there were "no" towels, but I was easily able to find a pile of them.

 

Don't miss the saunas (separate men's & women's). They are free, and have a large porthole looking out over the sea.

 

YOU MISSED A GOODIE! The CruiseCritic party. Not the party, but later...read on. Over 40 people signed up for the CC party. I did not, but it turned out my son did.

I went to the party (the lone representative from my family). There were only about 6 or 7 people there! And Derek, the Entertainment Director. We all chatted (I got there late) and that was that. Almost....

A few days later there was a letter on my stateroom door asking me (and my wife) to meet with someone from the ship on deck 9. We were told NOT to tell other passengers about this. So if you're ever on a cruise that I am on, pretend you don't know me.;)

We got a tour of the N__________l B____e (I'm not supposed to say.) It was quite interesting. I don't know if this will be repeated, or happened because only a few (out of the more than 40) signees for the CC party appeared, but it was nice. I thanked Derek for it next time I saw him. I also told him about the Caves (see below) as I had promised.

 

Our steward, Edwin, was wonderful.

 

I recommend taking a night light. The electrical outlet in the bathroom is NOT polarized (that means that the prongs of any device you plug in must be the same size...not one wider than the other). Most night lights have polarized plugs (one blade wider than the other) and will not fit. I recommend finding one with both blades the same. I used one of the dollar store electroluminescent panels (it has a greenish glow and uses very little power). Leaving the bathroom door open, the night light provide plenty of light for the trip from bed to head.

 

We had great times with the family who shared our dinner table. Dinners were fun!

 

In an earlier post I said that I preferred having breakfast and lunch in the main dining room, as opposed to the buffets. It was because you got to meet interesting people. Due to the random seating by the staff....in the buffet each group takes its own table.

 

However this cruise was the opposite. We had 2 breakfasts in the dining room, but then swithched breakfasts and luches to the buffets. Could be because we had our sons with us, and they are usually away at school (across the country).

 

Sushi was good and plentiful. The entertainment was very good. Thien Fu, the action comedian, was very entertaining. I think that he entertains for several cruise lines.

 

I've posted about our excursions in the "Ports of Call" board. Here are the links:

 

Casa de Campo- Cueva de las Maravillas - Excellent

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=504063

 

St. Thomas, Ike Witt Charters

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=506635

 

Nassau, Dolphin Encounters

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=506696

 

All in all it was a great trip.

 

Terminal 4 of the Ft. Lauderdale airport is REALLY busy when cruise come and especially leave. Couldn't anyone come up with an idea to make this end of the journey more pleasant?:rolleyes:

 

Barry

[cruiseacecat]

Barry,

 

Thanks very much for your detailed review. I will be on the ta in March so your info is timely.

 

Re waiters serving in other venues, this has been pretty standard since I began sailing with Celebrity in 06. I agree, it's a little surprising to run into your very professional waiter handing out trays in the buffet.

 

Anne

[florisdekort]

Hello,

 

I was on the same cruise! I did not attend the CC party, but also got an invitation for a bridge tour. It is not that big of a secret; this was my 4th bridge tour on Celebrity...

 

Waiters have always been working multiple shifts, like breakfast + dinner or lunch + dinner. The waiters from Olympic also work the morning shift in the Aqua Spa!

 

Cheers -

Floris

[rebeccalouise]

I dated a crew waiter on Millenium in 2005 and I can tell you their schedule. The crew works everyday- breakfast, lunch and dinner. They stagger the shifts - either they work in the formal diningroom or the buffet at breakfast and lunch and they work two hours at breakfast, two hours at lunch and then until eleven in the formal dining room. They take naps inbetween their shifts. They sleep for about 5 hours each night. They get one AFTERNOON 10-4 off every seven days. That's it. They have a crew bar but in my friends case he didn't go there. He said drinking made him too tired to work.