Millennium Cruise Oct 14, 2003
Written: Dec 27 '03
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Quietly elegant ship with a friendly and professional staff
Cons: Food did not meet expectations. Wine (so-so) was more expensive than usual.
The Bottom Line: Celebrity has a fine product which I recommend without reservations.
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| Brahmama's Full Review: Celebrity Millennium |
This was a 12 night cruise leaving Venice on 10/14 and arriving in Barcelona on 10/26.
Ah Celebrity! It tied for favorite with the Golden Princess from last fall.
What we especially liked:
No announcements!! Only the captain once a day with weather, and captain stuff.
No in your face BINGO! Nothing piled under your door announcing the next day's junk on sale!
There WAS bingo, but you had to find it on the daily news and it was done in an out of the way location that you had to want to find. We never even saw it. We loved the quietness of the ship.
Disembarkation was a dream. We were issued tickets (which we traded for an earlier time off). And believe it or not, there were NO ANNOUNCEMENTS. No pleading with cabins ___ to come for passport control or to pay bills. Nothing at all. At the time listed, we left our cabin and went to the theatre and sat for 10-15 minutes and then escorted off the ship to get our luggage. That was it. We were even able to have room service in our room that morning (a first on our 13 cruises) and just relaxed until time to go to the theatre. It was a dream.
We had a great pleasant, friendly helpful staff. Everyone spoke, captain on down - everytime you saw them. And luckily enough, there was a great mix of pleasant passengers - (like I said this was pure luck.) I'm sure there were complainers but we didn't see them, hear them or even hear about them!
We were in Concierge Class - as that was all that was available when we booked .It was very nice. Special room service menu in the morning. Padded balcony chairs, Very nice linens, towels, special pillows (you had a choice) Comfortable bed without the infamous gap. Canapes every day if you were in your cabin -( they were too perishable to leave) - flowers in bath and in room, binoculars, shoe-shining service, umbrellas, and we also lucked out with a really great steward. the best on any of our cruises. We booked two more cruises with Celebrity while on this cruise and booked them in the CC class again.
There were 4 elevators in the mid section where we were located. They were always fast and always in service. We rarely waited more than a minute or two.
Muster drill was better than on MOST ships. Fast and to the point with no waiting for roll call.
Nice comfortable sailing - not noisy.
Oh yes, champagne when you arrived on board and an escort to your stateroom and then our steward came right in. He had our name on a list and made notes immediately of dining preferences and brought in things we requested - extra wine glasses, champagne glasses, unlocked the mini-bar. Of course our ice bucket was full - but there is also a large stainless pitcher with fresh water supplied at least twice a day. We didn't have to buy a single bottle of water - except as we chose on shore.
What we weren't impressed with:
The food - especially after all that Celebrity hype! But to be honest, it may just be us. We are foodies and love to cook, watch the food channel, try new recipes and all stuff. Also, we eat (at home) very healthy - we just like it better. Lots of really good salads and fresh veggies cooked the way we like them, fresh fruit, lots of light pastas, not meat every meal. At home we have light breakfasts - mainly wonderful coffee, juice - and MAYBE a piece of toast. On the ship we had room service and usually had a cheese and mushroom omelet which we split. 2 fresh-squeezed OJ, prunes, and breads. I hate to say it but sometimes breakfast was our favorite food of the day! Lunch was ok but there was very limited choice in the dining room where we have always gone for lunch. On the Millie we went to the so-so buffet. You have to hunt for it, but there is a fresh pasta station, sometimes a fresh curry station, and at the very end, a deli sort of thing where you can get fresh sandwiches made to order. The salads were not great - but sometimes we could build our own, and that was better. Veggies were almost non-existent! Lots of fish, meats, chicken, something always on a rotisserie. Breads were so-so - usually hard. But I bake my own, so probably couldn't have been pleased. Deserts were - well - boring fluffy things that looked good. Never found ANY that I liked except maybe a flan. But Ice cream and sherbet were always available and they were very good.
After a couple of lunch buffets if we were on ship, (sometimes in port for lunch) we usually got the pasta and split it, tried to build a salad and were happy with that.
Nighttime! Lots of very good meat and fish. I ate more beef than I eat in a year. It was always excellent. The salmon was very good and also some of the fish. I did try to order stuff without the sauce. Also I starting begging the waiter for veggies so 3 different nights he bought whole platters of veggies and the whole table shared them. Then I would have a cup of soup and tried a few (boring) deserts. Oh, you can ALWAYS order: shrimp cocktail, Caesar salad, baked potato, sirloin, salmon and chicken breast. I did have several shrimp cocktails and one Caesar salad. I do like having that option, as I get tired of the fancy rich food. We drink wine with our food - noontime and dinner - and it was very expensive for very mediocre wines. Mark-up seemed to be about 300%!
We had an excellent wait staff - overworked a bit -
I prefer Personal Choice which we had on the Princess. But we had a nice table. We were with two nice agreeable ladies, and another couple whose wife was ok, but he was way up in the running for obnoxious as he knew everything about - well - EVERYTHING!
We ate in the specialty rest one night with another couple - it was $$$ ($25 per) but very very nice and fun - most food prepared at tableside. It was worth a splurge.
We did have an opportunity to charge all the tips, but Will prefers to "do it himself" and we tipped the main 3 (steward, water and busgirl) MORE than recommended but none to the Maitre D who was always somewhere else or the chief housekeeper, whoever she may be!
The drinks were expensive and the drinks of the day were just so-so. However one night we had good champagne cocktails and margueritas one night! OLE!
We didn't think that the music was as good as it was on the Princess. but then, I like chamber music and we didn't have as good a selection. The piano bar was good, but the man was boring with no personality and couldn't hold a crowd. There were 4 young men - acapella - who were around the ship - and they were excellent. They did lots of things from the 50's and 60's. The shows were ok, but loud.....
Our Cruisecritic party was wonderful! We had a Pre-party where about 25 turned up and then 45 at the real party. It was fun to have people to chat with, gamble with, have tea with, or a drink at the bar. We became friends with about 10 of them. Especially 6 of them. so we shared tours, cabs and even rented a car with one other couple from England.
We enjoyed our balcony room. It was not as large as the equivalent mini-suite rooms on HAL, Princess, RCL or even NCL. But the next step up on Celebrity is a suite and that is not in our budget. I did miss the bathtub and the extra room on the balcony.
However all in all, it was great and we're going again on Celebrity in August 04 and can't wait.
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Couples
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Epinions.com ID:
Brahmama
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Reviews written: 9
Trusted by: 2 members
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