Millenium vs Infinity

[zebra]

Has anyone done both of these ships?

We did the Century which we absolutely loved and then did the Infinity to Hawaii last year and although she is a gorgeous ship, we felt that the food quality had definitely gone down. I realize that they are both the same class ship, but very often the first one built in the class is superior...... just wondered???

As you can see we are on the Millie in September.

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Until Alaska 5/8/2004 Diamond Princess


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Until Millenium 9/6/2004 to Europe!

[rwb]

Been on both multiple times. They are identical in layout and functionality except for some minor areas (On Infinity, the music library, second card room, and conservatory are the Millennium's conservatory, music library and sports bar, respectively). Colors and fabrics are different in a few of the public areas and, of course, the artwork is different (I prefer the Millie's, personally). The tenants of the shops are also slightly different. The casino on the Infinity is definitely on the more garish side with the Eqyptian theme.

I didn't see any significant difference in the service or food. The cruise directors who are normally on the ships (Edward Rojas and Nick Weir) are quite different in personality but that's a minor thing. The cruise staffs and ship's officers do rotate, so who you get is largely a matter of timing. The production shows are likely to be identical.

I have not noticed a decline in food quality through late last year. But on my first cruise this year (Infinity South America) it did seem to have been a notch below expectations. I'm not sure what to attribute that to. In part, the food quality often depends on what part of the world the ship is acquiring the food from. For instance, the beef was sometimes unusually tough, but that might be that it was South American beef, I don't know.

[superjerryw]

We sailed on both ships in 2002 and saw no difference between them and had a great time on both. Food, service, upkeep, etc. were very good on both ships.

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Donuts, is there anything they can't do....

[lysolqn]

Have sailed Infinity, Constellation and Summit and found little, if any, difference between those M-class ships. Haven't yet sailed Millenium, but can't imagine it differs very much from its sister ships.

[zebra]

RWB, Thanks.... well written. Our sentiments exactly - Infinity's a great ship - but - every steak either I or my husband had was tough and we travelled 10 days from Honolulu to Vancouver, so one would expect that they were stocked with US grade beef. In fact everyone at our table commented - and they were all returning Celebrity cruisers.

Oh yes - I almost forgot about the artwork...enough said!

If we hadn't had such an outstanding experience on the Century, we would maybe have had reservations about booking another Celebrity cruise. Not that the cruise was all bad, in fact, by no means, we loved the ship and the service. But nowadays with each cruise line vying for "top honors" I think they need to make sure that their quality doesn't decline.

We are really looking forward to our cruise of the Med on the Millenium - I'm sure they'll redeem themselves in our books..... there have been nothing but good reviews of this ship.

[img]http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=0000ff&cdt=2004;5;8;16;0;00&timezone=GMT-0800[/img]
Until Alaska 5/8/2004 Diamond Princess


[img]http://escati.linkopp.net/cgi-bin/countdown.cgi?trgb=000000&srgb=00ff00&prgb=ff00ff&cdt=2004;9;6;19;0;00&timezone=GMT+0100[/img]
Until Millenium 9/6/2004 to Europe!

[rwb]

Zebra, we're on the Constellation June 5 (Baltic) and I plan to pay special attention to the dinners. I should say that I don't eat beef, so my own choices were just fine. But my wife and others at the table had the same comments as yours.

Bottom line is the ships vary so little that the experience should be roughly the same. As crews rotate and Celebrity rolls out elements of its brand transformation, the experience can vary slightly even on the same ship. As I implied before, I think the slight differences in ships are probably overwhelmed by the differences that are ship-independent (like your relationship with the waiter and other individuals.)

FYI, Celebrity has dramatically improved its internal self-assessment programs since expansion. As a stockholder and a frequent customer, I have a lot of faith in its willingness and ability to fix systemic problems.