Comments
Introduction
We cruised aboard
Celebrity's new Millennium on 1/7/01 on their Eastern Caribbean
itinerary, which
included San Juan, Santa Catalina (their private
island/beach), St. Thomas (Charlotte Amalie), and
Nassau, in that
order. We had two at-sea days.
This was my husband's
second cruise and my sixth cruise. All our previous cruises were no
more than
four days - and all on the west coast. Once on the
long-dead Admiral Lines, three on RCCL's Viking
Serenade, and one
Pacific Coastal on Crown Princess. I personally was not happy with
Princess
because it was almost exclusively the social security
set, and I'm not the 'Carnival type', so I choose to
cruise on
Royal Caribbean. I've figured for a while now that Celebrity was
probably more to my taste,
and I was right on the mark.
The
Ship
In a word, ELEGANT. I did my homework, and the ship
didn't let me down. It's my kind of ship - the
woods, the colors,
the attention to detail, the space - were all fabulous. My most
favorite public room
was the Platinum Lounge, which is a martini
and champagne bar. What a beautiful room - such rich
hues of
purple and steel grey, accented with huge, marvelous crystal light
fixtures.
You don't feel crowded aboard because they
have a high space-to-passenger ratio, and it shows.
Really, the
amount of space is almost sinful. Crowds developed around the lunch
buffets in the Ocean
Cafe and Grill, around the pool, and of
course, outside the dining room just before the Le Grande
Buffet,
but I doubt anyone would find any different on other ships. The deck
chairs would get scarce in
the pool area fast - more than in the
thalassotherapy pool area. If you just want to read a book on
deck
in peace, there are plenty of comfy deck chairs on the wide Promenade
Deck (Deck 4 or 5, I can't
remember). There are lots of quiet
places at any time of day or night, from the 'Books' library to
the
ladies' sauna, which surprisingly had it's own huge porthole.
There were places for activity and places
for quiet any time of
day.
I also found the ship well laid out. Our cabin was
close to the Forward Elevator Lobby, which made it
extremely
convenient for getting to most areas quickly. There are plenty of
elevators, and they all run
fast and hold lots of people.
We
kept bumping into a 30-ish couple where the wife used a wheelchair,
and we never heard either
complain about restrictions on her
mobility. She said that their handicap cabin had room enough to
move
around in her chair. We also met a couple several times where the
husband utilized a portable
oxygen tank, who also never made
mention of any difficulties.
There is very little
'stepping up to do on board, and there were many times where I
stepped over a
nonexistent threshold. Considering how big the ship
is, I would say that people who have a hard time
walking or walk
slow would probably find it a bit difficult, even overwhelming. My
mother fits into this
category, and if she were going, I would
highly recommend utilizing a wheelchair to get the best
mobility
and cruise satisfaction.
Vibration is brought up often
with this ship, because I guess the vibrations are supposed to be
less on
Millennium due to its gas turbine, rather than diesel,
engines. Well, we did feel vibration, distracting
every once in a
while, when we were at the stern. I noticed it most when we were in
the Metropolitan
Restaurant and in the Ocean Grill area during
meals. Never really noticed it elsewhere.
There was a
nice mix of people on board -- American, European, Asian -- as well
as a large mix of
ages. This particular cruise had only 70
children aboard. Apparently the previous cruise had
400
children.
The Cabin/The Stewardess
Our
2C category cabin on Deck 6 was of just the right size for us and all
our luggage. After this cruise,
I think having a suite would be
overkill, and would probably forego the extra expense. However, I
must
say that now that I've had a balcony - a nice-sized balcony -
I would have a harder time not having one
on a future
cruise.
Our Croatian Cabin Stewardess, Vesna, and her
assistant, were always very friendly, polite and
hard-working. We
didn't find out until half-way through the cruise that it is actually
the stewards who
bring room service to the cabins. We made sure we
gave both of them a generous gratuity for all their
service at the
end of the cruise.
The Metropolitan Restaurant/The
Food/TheWait Staff
First, I'd like to say that I think I
have some of the worst luck in the world when it comes to
dining
aboard a ship. I always request a table for 10, because I
wanted to get to know other people, and I
always request first
seating. Neither of us smoke, but the entire dining room is
nonsmoking. Neither of
us mind sitting with smokers.
I
have a girlfriend who says always choose second seating/smoking and
you'll meet more interesting
people, but I chicken out every time
and request first seating/nonsmoking, and inevitably, I end
up
sitting with some of the most boring, least memorable people in
the world. This time around, we sat at a
table for 10, but on the
first night, our table included one 40-ish couple, and a 30-ish
couple with a
two-year-old daughter that they doted over
constantly. That's it. And the 40-ish couple never showed
up to
the table after the first night, so there were four adults and one
kid at a table for 10 the entire
time.
We met a
couple of very pleasant English gals and tried to move to their table
on Day Four, but the
Matre‘d, George, said he had just sat a
couple there that morning, so we figured we might as well just
stay
where we are. I mention this for two reasons: 1) one of the gals
smoked, and they were at second
seating, so I think my girlfriend
is right and I shouldn't ever back down on her advice in the future,
and
2) because George the matre'd conveyed a pissy, arrogant
attitude when I approached him and made
my request. He was the
only staff member on board whom I have anything bad to say about. I
met a
gentleman who said he also caught the same attitude from
this person, and that he was going to make
mention of it in the
survey, and I did the same thing.
The food was
wonderful, particularly the prime rib, creme brulee and pork chops. A
trend we thought
was occurring, however, was that, because the
waiters have to take more time to bring up the food
from the
galley two decks below, the food seems to still cook while on the
plate. I suggest ordering any
meat medium at most if you like it
pink, just to make sure you don't get something more well done
than
you want. On lobster tail night, my husband and the couple
all mentioned that the lobster seemed
overcooked. Obviously, this
is not a concern with chicken or pork chops.
We had
breakfast twice in the dining room. Everything was good except the
scrambled eggs and
bacon. The eggs benedict was wonderful.
The
Buffets/Ocean Cafe/Ocean Grill
Simply put, I was quite
disappointed with the breakfast buffets. I thought the eggs and bacon
were
terrible. Go for more continental fare, or have breakfast in
the dining room.
Lunch buffets were much better than
breakfast. The carved roast beef was particularly good.
We
enjoyed the Afternoon Tea buffets. Mostly finger sandwiches and
desserts. Made for a nice light
meal/snack.
We didn't
eat anything from the Le Grande (Midnight) Buffet, but we did take
lots of pictures and video.
You have to at least stay up the one
night and see it.
The Olympic
Beautiful
place. Superb service. Everyone should experience it once. The food
was excellent, but I
ordered the wrong things. I should have stuck
to my guns and ordered the chicken, but the waiter
suggested the
sole, because the chicken was more like a stew. Unfortunately, I
don't like olives and the
other herbs they used, so I didn't like
the entree at all. Nor did I like the Caesar Salad, but ONLY
because
it was made the traditional way, and discovered I don't like it the
traditional way, expecially
with those horrid anchovies. Guess
that's just the 'peasant' in me, and I don't blame anyone for
that.
(As a sidenote, ALL the other, simpler caesar salads I had
on the cruise were excellent!) I enjoyed the
cheese and fruit
course, and had an absolutely wonderful chocolate souffle. The water
glasses and
bread plates were always refilled. At the end of the
meal, our Portuguese waiter, Victor, walked us to
the exit and bid
us good night. Very nice, classy touch.
The
Entertainment
We ended up going to about 1-1/2 of the
shows, but from what LITTLE we saw, the Celebrity Singers
and
Dancers were all professional and multi-talented. The stage in the
Celebrity Theater was
something straight out of any fine theater
on land, and there were good sightlines. From talking with
people
on board who saw many more shows than we did, they had nothing but
very positive
comments. Professional; fabulous costumes. One of
the singers, Bobby Black, had a marvelous voice,
like he was
classically trained. He sang opera just as great as he sang
'Unchained Melody.' This guy is
going places. They do not
broadcast the stage shows on the ship televisions due to copyrights,
so you
have to go to the theater or you'll miss them. They did
televise the 'newlywed' game and the other
game show, Dream
Ticket.
The Cruise Director, Jim Cannon, was the
best-dressed man I have ever met in my life and was friendly
and
helpful to the n'th degree. A consummate Cruise Director.
The
AquaSpa
Loved it. My husband enjoyed a swedish full-body
massage - $109 plus 10% gratuity. Most every type
of massage was
$109. All the wraps and more exotic treatments were nearing the $200
mark and over.
I bought a weekly pass to the Persian Garden, which
is quiet, has dimmed lighting, soft music and
gentle water sounds
from several fountains. There is a main area to begin your
relaxation, then you
can work your way through several 'grottos' -
a turkish bath (hot, heavy steamy with eucalyptus
aroma), a
laconium (warm, drier air with orange blossom scent), and a couple of
showers that sprayed
all sorts of wonderful jets from above and
around. My favorites were the cool mint-scented mist and the
tropical
rainshower that poured down from the ceiling, scented with papaya. I
think everyone should do
this once, because it was perfect therapy
for a stressed-out person. The nicest part about it was that I
had
the place all to myself for much of the time I spent in there (which
goes back to the spaciousness
of the ship). Price is $17 per hour,
which is pretty darn reasonable compared to all the other
treatments
and beauty parlor items. I think I figured you have to spend 7 hours
in the Persian Garden
to get any value out of the weekly pass. If
I were to do it over, I would have just paid by the hour.
We
also went in the thalassotherapy pool, which was relaxing -- many
people enjoyed the two spas
that flanked it. Honestly, I enjoyed
the sloshing swimming pool more (we had one choppy afternoon),
but
it was still nice. I sunburn easily, so I prefered being 'under
glass.'
The Ports
San Juan - I've read too
many negative and indifferent comments about San Juan, so we didn't
bother
getting off the ship. Several people we met afterwards said
we didn't miss anything.
Santa Catalina - Nice, clean
private beach, but bring the sunblock!!! They will set up umbrellas
for you
if you ask, if they haven't already set one up where you
park yourself. Also, if you're looking to snorkel
there, you have
to do it by the wall to the left of the dock. There were no fish in
the marked swimming
areas. There were plenty of tenders and people
moved efficiently between ship and dock.
St. Thomas
(Charlotte Amalie) - Yeah, lots of ships and lots of people. We took
a taxi to Coki Point on
the other side of the island for some
snorkeling. My goodness, what a beautiful area and we never saw
such
blue water before... the 500 other people there seemed to appreciate
it, too. The snorkeling was
good, but I've had better at Poipu
Beach on Kauai. I think we would have had a better time if
fewer
people were there to snorkel too. After a while, you
couldn't turn around without bumping into
someone. We didn't do
any shopping.
Nassau, Bahamas - Again, lots of ships and
lots of people, but it wasn't too bad for us. This was our
favorite
island, and we're considering a future trip to the Bahamas to check
it out more thoroughly. We
did the more touristy thing - shopped -
but didn't buy much. We didn't go over to the Atlantis Resort
on
Paradise Island, but our tablemates did and said it was worth
the 1-2 mile walk. (They have cheap
water taxis over, too.) We
found a cafe (Parliament Cafe) a block off of the main drag and
enjoyed a
lovely al fresco lunch of local cuisine. My husband had
conch for the first time and liked it. I had
chicken with a
bbq-type sauce on it with rice and black beans, which was good. The
owner is a
pleasant gentleman, who I think was either German or
Dutch and was happy to talk about Nassau from
a local's
perspective. He also told us where to buy the best
cigars.
Embarkation/Debarkation/Customs
We
couldn't believe how fast it was to embark. We arrived at Port
Everglades at about 11:15, and were
given a Number 2 card. 15 or
20 minutes later, they called Captain's Club and Suite people
(Number
0). About 5-10 minutes later, they called Number 1 people,
and 5-10 minutes after that, they called
Number 2 people. The
representative was friendly and got us on our way quickly, and we
were on the
ship between Noon and 12:15. Our cabin was ready at
12:30.
On board, they made customs (Bahamas and re-entry
into Ft. Lauderdale) very easy and efficient.
You filled out the
forms at your leisure and gave them to your cabin steward or guest
relations prior to
you leaving the ship. Non-US citizens were
given 15-minute windows where they could show up and get
their
papers processed. Our English acquaintances found this convenient.
All we needed to do was
leave the ship when we reached
port.
Debarkation went quickly and smoothly. I heard no
grumbling at all. We were toward the end of the
color list, but we
were off the ship by about 9:15/9:30 a.m.
The Art
Collection Aboard
Certain comments and sayings come to
mind: 'Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.' 'The things some
people
call art, I call junk.' 'My five-year-old could have done this.' Some
of it was very nice, some
clever, and some absolutely ridiculous.
Enough said.
Summary
I'm ready to book
again! We could have stayed on another week with no problems. I am
also looking
forward to Infinity and Summit's launches. We found
our cruise line.
Please feel free to contact me
regarding this review at marcmarc2@yahoo.com
Happy
Cruising!
--------------------------
~Posted 1.7.2004~ Originally posted at the pretty-much defunct www.cruiseopinion.com
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Thanks,
-Cella