My Final Live Update from Millennium

[NJ Fred]

This will my last capsule update from Millennium. We are scheduled to berth in Vancouver early Friday morning. I will take to my keyboard a day or so later to author a comprehensive review of our voyage that originated in Yokohama on May 10.

 

For those scheduled to board Millennium on May 23, please know that Cruise Director Steve Gayda (one of “X’s” best) is going on a two month sabbatical. In his place will be the talented Ben Powney. Steve returns to Millennium after a well-deserved vacation.

 

Please allow me to preface my next remark with the caveat that this is my opinion. It is foreseeable that the opinion(s) of others who sailed the same cruise might differ.

 

I read, with some trepidation, comments alleging that Millennium was in lackluster shape aesthetically. I now consider those comments to either be unsupported by fact or, if it be the case, that substantial repair work was accomplished on board this vessel while she was at sea over the three weeks prior to our May 10 boarding.

 

Did I see some rust spots? Did I see some wood railing in need of refinishing? The answer to both questions is “yes.” But Millennium is a seagoing ship. She sails in a corrosive, salt-air environment. Such signs of her labors are normal and understandable.

What impressed me was the ceaseless maintenance. Rust was chipped away and fresh paint timely applied. Carpets in both our stateroom and high-traffic common areas was clean and did not manifest signs of extraordinary wear.

I

did see a good number of chairs and lounges whose cushions are exhausted from use and need replacing. But to infer Millennium has been allowed to drift off course into a hulk of what Celebrity represents her to be is not true.

 

Celebrity Millennium caries a happy, motivated crew. These young people broke their buns for more than seven straight days combating the dreaded Norovirus. And the number of reported cases fell dramatically. Even so, modified “Code Red” cleaning continues to this, the next-to-last day of the cruise.

 

One Office I must tell you about is Hotel Director Jean-Paul Lamb. This man impresses me. If you are familiar with the legendary James Overing who sails with an “X” competitor, you know what a Hotel Director should be. Jean-Paul is all of that and more. Two days ago, each cabin received a form signed by him titled “Attention to Detail.” Theron, Mr. Lamb made it clear that his office wanted to know if any guest felt all was not as advertised. He made it diplomatically clear that it is his mission to address issues as they happen and not leave a paying customer with a bad taste in their mouth as they depart the ship. Now that’s what I call assertive, responsive management!

 

I will be back with an all-inclusive review in a few days. I will expand (now that the full story has been told) on Millennium’s annoying encounter with Russian authorities in Petropovlovsk and tons more.

 

Again, if you are boarding Millennium to cruise up to Alaska this Friday, do so with confidence. The Noro has been bridled and this ship is crewed by a remarkable group of young people eager to please.

 

Straight Ahead!

[TMLAalum]

We were on the Millennium's 4/13 sailing and had an excellent voyage, despite Code Red (BiL got the dreaded noro, but his wife was fine and we were, too). Our cabin was well-maintained (7003, one of those humungous OVs), food in the MDR was very good and included the best steak I've had over all our Celebrity cruises and trout prepared as it should be (I was hesitant to try it after not liking it at all on our 1st Silhouette cruise). We had an excellent cabin attendant-Martin.

 

Although we prefer the S-class ships, we found no significant fault with the Millie.

[Phxazzcruisers]

Thank you for your comments. They are a breath of fresh air. Yes, we notice rust stains and some wood in need of refinishing, but unlike some others we do not expect the ship to be in absolutely perfect condition. It is constantly in use and repairs are made along the way. We have never found fault with any of the Celebrity ships we have sailed. The ships and the crew have always presented us with fantastic cruise adventures.

[terigo]

Thanks for the encouraging words. We sail on her in 2 weeks and between the noro and the griping, we were getting worried.

I couldn't care less about a little rust and wear. My concern is cleanliness, food, and service. If those 3 things are good, then I am good.

Looking forward to our Alaska sailing from Vancouver!

[NLH Arizona]

 

One Office I must tell you about is Hotel Director Jean-Paul Lamb. This man impresses me. If you are familiar with the legendary James Overing who sails with an “X” competitor, you know what a Hotel Director should be. Jean-Paul is all of that and more. Two days ago, each cabin received a form signed by him titled “Attention to Detail.” Theron, Mr. Lamb made it clear that his office wanted to know if any guest felt all was not as advertised. He made it diplomatically clear that it is his mission to address issues as they happen and not leave a paying customer with a bad taste in their mouth as they depart the ship. Now that’s what I call assertive, responsive management!

 

I'm totally impressed, thanks for sharing this with everyone.

[rebeccalouiseagain]

Glad to hear a good review. The Millenium has been good to me and I have fond memories of my two voyages on her.

[CHEZMARYLOU]

Thanks for sharing the good news. We sail in 2 months and can't wait to board Millennium again.

 

Mary Lou

[Cruising89143]

Another breath of fresh air.

[maitlandmom]

Thank you for the update. We board Millie on Friday and are really looking forward to our first M Class experience.

[MontiD]

Thank you for the great news! We sail at the end of June.

[tomcruiser1234]

Thats great news

 

Were on her in January for 28 days

[Aussiepair]

Thanks for taking the time to post your views Fred.

 

We board the Millennium this morning for a return cruise to Seward and are very confident the ship will be all we expect. Friends who have sailed on her have all been more than impressed.

 

I take very little notice of reports claiming everything was doom and gloom on a cruise ship. Some people manage to find negatives for the most trivial of reasons, we have seen this on every cruise we have been on.

 

If you want a true review of a cruise ship you need to read the reviews of first time cruisers not the reviews of people that have cruised many times and compare the cruise to previous cruises that may have better memories for reasons other than the condition of the ship.

[shipfriend_max]

Sometimes the reviews of Millennium are rather negative, especially those from Asia cruises...

But the Alaska reviews all were positive.

What can you say about Millennium? Is the in a good shape? How are service and food?

Because for Alaska 2015, we consider X Millennium, Radiance of the Seas or Coral Princess...

Edited June 1, 2014 by celebrity_fan

[C 2 C]

NJ Fred:

 

We were fortunate to meet JP Lamb on Solstice a few years back.. as you said, we very impressed.

 

Could you also post the name of the Captain's Club host(ess)?

 

We will be on the reverse itinerary in September. All advice will be greatly appreciated.

[Gradelady]

Sometimes the reviews of Millennium are rather negative, especially those from Asia cruises...

But the Alaska reviews all were positive.

What can you say about Millennium? Is the in a good shape? How are service and food?

Because for Alaska 2015, we consider X Millennium, Radiance of the Seas or Coral Princess...

 

Hello! We have booked X Millennium for June 2015 in Alaska and are eager to hear current reviews of those who are cruising on her this summer. We cruised on the Coral Princess 2 years ago in Alaska, but really love Celebrity and Royal Caribbean, so we decided to do Alaskacruise #2 on Celebrity. There have been many bad reviews of this ship recently, but this thread contains a positive, but realistic review.

[shipfriend_max]

Hi,

 

As I just had positive experiences on Summit, I doubt to have a bad time on Millennium.

When booking the Millennium-Class it should be clear that the ship was not built in 2011. :D

And I think in different cruise destinations, the crew might differ.

And from nearly every ship you also read something negative...

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[Cassicruiser]

I am truly dumbfounded by the slew of bad reviews about the Millennium. We were on her in January and loved everything. She is a beautiful ship, with a lovely crew. Then again we didn't have Noro on our cruise, but that is not the fault of the cruiseline or the staff, and can spoil a vacation, but shouldn't impact on a review of the actual ship. My only negative comment is that I really didn't like the set up of the Oceanview cafe compared to other ship buffets, but the openair area at the back of the buffet made up for this. Everything else was wonderful.

[CreativeJourney]

We just returned from the May 30th sailing from Seward to Vancouver on the Millennium.

 

I have nothing bad to say about the majority of the crew - most were friendly and bent over backwards to help make our cruise enjoyable. We felt well taken care of.

 

I can't even find anything bad to say about the ship. This was our first time on the Millennium and yes - there is some wear in places, mainly from the corrosive salt water and air. But nothing unexpected and it didn't really bother me. Overall, the ship is beautiful.

 

We encountered the infamous shower door design flaw in our AquaClass cabin, but found a way around that easily enough.

 

I understand there were some people who were ill on our sailing, but that info came from other passengers and not the crew, and I'm not sure if it was a result of seasickness, noro or something else. We did notice more vigilance in handing out sanitizer to everyone, but that may have been a precaution left over from the previous noro outbreak. We never saw the "Code Red" precautions in the buffet or anywhere else during our cruise.

 

This was our first Celebrity cruise (we sailed Royal Caribbean before) and we enjoyed it so much we booked another one while on board. :)

[shipfriend_max]

We just returned from the May 30th sailing from Seward to Vancouver on the Millennium.

 

 

 

I have nothing bad to say about the majority of the crew - most were friendly and bent over backwards to help make our cruise enjoyable. We felt well taken care of.

 

 

 

I can't even find anything bad to say about the ship. This was our first time on the Millennium and yes - there is some wear in places, mainly from the corrosive salt water and air. But nothing unexpected and it didn't really bother me. Overall, the ship is beautiful.

 

 

This was our first Celebrity cruise (we sailed Royal Caribbean before) and we enjoyed it so much we booked another one while on board. :)

 

 

Great to read that you had a great time!!!

We had nice cruises on sister Summit and did not really find anything to complain about.

Millennium was built in 2000 so you cannot expect the same conditions as from a ship built in 2010.

But if Millie is in the same condition as Summit, I do not need to worry about anything.

Crew and food were also good, so IMHO there is no reason against this nice ship. :)

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[Happy2cruise]

Nice to hear you enjoyed your cruise:)...and booked again....even better!

[killineybay]

We had an amazing cruise (transatlantic) on Reflection ending in Rome on May 12. This was easily the best cruise we have ever taken. That said, we booked a roundtrip Japan cruise on Millenium for 2015 while on board. I am having second thoughts about this cruise due to the negative reviews of Millenium on cruise critic. Is it really that bad? We are not high maintenance and are mainly interested in the itinerary. Are these bad reviews really warranted?

[Aussiepair]

Just disembarked from the Millennium after a two week cruise from Vancouver to Seward and return with my wife.

 

We have cruised with Princess, RCL and may times with HAL.

 

Our experience on the Millennium was at least as good as any other cruise we have been on. It was our first cruise with Celebrity and right from the start it was obvious they did some things different from the other cruise lines.

 

Our pre cruise safety drill was carried out painlessly in the theater, not packed like sardines under a life boat on an open deck.

 

Our cabin was clean and in great condition. We had pre booked cabin 7008 at the front of the ship, it was the quietest cabin we have sailed in.

 

Cabin staff and waiters were the best we have had on a cruise. We have never seen bad staff on a cruise ship, just bad passengers, but these guys were exceptional.

 

The food was very good, maybe slightly below HAL but unlike HAL our meals were always very hot.

 

We did hear a few passengers complaining while on the ship but on every occasion it was for the most trivial reason. At breakfast in the MDR one morning a couple sitting with us became very upset and rude to the waiter because they had to wait a few minutes to get some milk for their coffee. It was obvious to us that the waiters were being run off their feet yet this couple still abused them.

 

The entertainment was excellent, a good variety and very entertaining. Overall probably equal to the best we have seen on a cruise ship.

 

We would not hesitate to cruise on the Millennium again.

[lovetotraveltx]

Just disembarked from the Millennium after a two week cruise from Vancouver to Seward and return with my wife.

 

We have cruised with Princess, RCL and may times with HAL.

 

Our experience on the Millennium was at least as good as any other cruise we have been on. It was our first cruise with Celebrity and right from the start it was obvious they did some things different from the other cruise lines.

 

Our pre cruise safety drill was carried out painlessly in the theater, not packed like sardines under a life boat on an open deck.

 

Our cabin was clean and in great condition. We had pre booked cabin 7008 at the front of the ship, it was the quietest cabin we have sailed in.

 

Cabin staff and waiters were the best we have had on a cruise. We have never seen bad staff on a cruise ship, just bad passengers, but these guys were exceptional.

 

The food was very good, maybe slightly below HAL but unlike HAL our meals were always very hot.

 

We did hear a few passengers complaining while on the ship but on every occasion it was for the most trivial reason. At breakfast in the MDR one morning a couple sitting with us became very upset and rude to the waiter because they had to wait a few minutes to get some milk for their coffee. It was obvious to us that the waiters were being run off their feet yet this couple still abused them.

 

The entertainment was excellent, a good variety and very entertaining. Overall probably equal to the best we have seen on a cruise ship.

 

We would not hesitate to cruise on the Millennium again.

 

We are on her next June in deck 7 too! Very glad to hear your positive comments :)

[shipfriend_max]

This all sounds very good!!! :) :)

 

We also think that Celebrity is better than Princess, also the latter one we really love too.

I think the size of Millennium class is perfect, and at least Summit was in a very good condition, and I think Millennium should be as well.

And whan you say, Millennium was in a great condition, although she is 14 years old, and you could compare to Princess, than it's no problem.

 

Some complanits are just ridiculous - waiting a few minutes for milk is a reason to complain???

There are also complaints, that, when you order cereals, the waiter also brings you the milk instead of asking you whether you would like to have milk at all... :rolleyes:

 

IMHO I would not worry about some negative Asia reviews. Lets say: In average, 2200 people where on board, and just 50 where not satisfied.

If the non-satisfied people write reviews and those who were satisfied not, than it is clear that Millennium might have some negative feedback...

BTW: When we booked Summit, also some reviews were negative - and for us, it was the best ship ever we sailed on!

Edited June 9, 2014 by celebrity_fan

[fleckle]

This will my last capsule update from Millennium. We are scheduled to berth in Vancouver early Friday morning. I will take to my keyboard a day or so later to author a comprehensive review of our voyage that originated in Yokohama on May 10.

 

For those scheduled to board Millennium on May 23, please know that Cruise Director Steve Gayda (one of “X’s” best) is going on a two month sabbatical.

Happy to report that Steve Gayda was still on the Millennium May 30th cruise that ended June 6.

 

He is one of the nicest and best cruise directors we have ever had.