Ultimate Dining on the Millennium...deal of the century!

[terigo]

We just got off the Millennium, northbound Alaska.

 

First let me say that tales of a shabby ship are incorrect. Sure, she shows a bit of age in places, but she is immaculate, and the staff is friendly, helpful and earnest.

 

Now, maybe I shouldn't rave about the ultimate dining too much, for fear it will not be available on our next Celebrity cruise, but we spent an extra $203.00 per person for a week, to be able to dine in each of the two specialty restaurants and unlimited times at Bistro on 5. This also included the special Olympic luncheon on the last sea day.

 

Why would we do this? Well, Celebrity is pretty much a mainstream cruise line, and the dining in the main dining room is good banquet food, but definitely not luxury dining. To sail on a more upscale line is way more than 200.00 a week more.

It is also more than $200 a week to book aqua class over a veranda cabin, but when we ate in Blu last year, we just thought it was ok.

 

Since the Celebrity staff, service and accommodations are as good as most of the upscale lines, the only major difference is the cuisine.

 

We only ate once at Qsine. It was quirky, but the food was fairly pedestrian.

 

Now, there are several choices on the dinner menu at the Olympic. We had 2 of them out of the 6 nights we ate there. Once they knew we would be eating there every night, they gave us "our" table at the window, with the same 3 attentive waiters each evening. They offered us special items which were not on the menu, and asked each and every time if there was anything else they could do to please us.

Escargot? Not on the menu...specially prepared for us each evening.

Steak Diane? Not on the menu, but they suggested doing it for us tableside one night, and we said "sure!".

We didn't like the idea of lobster cooked the way they do it normally. We just wanted broiled lobster tails. No problem. We had this one night, and the following night, the chef suggested a seafood platter, with lobster, mussels and shrimp. It was insanely good!

They said one night they would surprise us with a special dessert. What was it? Tableside prepared bananas foster, the likes of which I have only had in New Orleans.

 

This was 5-star dining with michelin grade service, every night.

If you really want to feel special and have extraordinary food and service, this is the way to go!

 

Postscript on this, we ran into quite a few fellow passengers who were not enchanted with the MDR food and service. We certainly did not have the same experience.

Teri

[cbringdrvr]

Thanks for this post! We sailed Reflection in April and ate in Murano, Tuscan Grille and Lawn Club (lunch and dinner) and we were thrilled with all three. Service and cuisine were wonderful in all three. Based upon your review, we will definitely consider the ultimate package next time.

[rkacruiser]

I appreciate knowing your opinion. My sole experience has been on Celebrity Eclipse and we dined at Tuscan Grille and Murano's on two nights. My experience mirrors yours. I felt that these two dinners were the best specialty restaurant dinners I have had aboard any ship.

 

When I book another Celebrity cruise, I will keep your views in mind. Thanks!

[boogs]

Do I understand that this allows you to dine in the specialty restaurants every evening, or is there a set number of times you can dine at each?

[terigo]

Do I understand that this allows you to dine in the specialty restaurants every evening, or is there a set number of times you can dine at each?

Every evening, at the venue of your choice. We ate once at Qsine, 6 dinners at Olympic, 2 brunches and embarkation lunch at Bistro, and the special lunch at Olympic.

[shipfriend_max]

Hi and welcome back!!

 

Since we also plan to sail on Millennium to Alaska in 2015, it is great to hear that you had a nice time on Millennium, and that some horror stories are not true! :)

Althugh you have been at the extra-restaurants, did you also eat in MDR?

 

Sadly there is one mediocre, chinese-german cruise blogger who has been on Millie in 2014 and discriminates against the ship whereever he can!! :mad:

He says just people who usually eat in the canteen will like the Celebrity food.

I did not believe in the tales of such an assh**e...

 

We also loved Summit in 2013 and 2014!

[terigo]

Hi and welcome back!!

 

Since we also plan to sail on Millennium to Alaska in 2015, it is great to hear that you had a nice time on Millennium, and that some horror stories are not true! :)

Althugh you have been at the extra-restaurants, did you also eat in MDR?

 

 

 

We ate one breakfast in the MDR. Honestly, it was not great. Service was slow and the food was lukewarm. We ate the rest of our breakfasts at either Bistro or Oceanview, and they were great.

We ate no dinners in the MDR

[shipfriend_max]

Thanks for the information!

Since we mostly eat our breakfast at the Oceanview, it is no problem that the breakfast service in MDR sucked.

Our breakfast experience on Summit in MDR was quite good. :)

[4774Papa]

We have only eaten once at a specialty restaurant (not counting Bistro on 5) on 7 cruises. We like the MDR food and would miss our table mates to eat alone in the specialty restaurants.

[flyingv4me]

Thank you for your review. We may be looking at this on our upcoming cruises!

 

As I recall, this package cannot be booked in advance and must be booked onboard. I assume this must be done on embarkation. Where do you sign up? I also understand that there are a limited number of bookings offered. Do you know how many and if they regularly sell out?

 

Thanks, again, for your review!

 

Bruce

[terigo]

Thank you for your review. We may be looking at this on our upcoming cruises!

 

As I recall, this package cannot be booked in advance and must be booked onboard. I assume this must be done on embarkation. Where do you sign up? I also understand that there are a limited number of bookings offered. Do you know how many and if they regularly sell out?

 

Thanks, again, for your review!

 

Bruce

There is a table set-up for dining packages, including this one, before you even get on the ship...right after you get your sea pass. I don't know how many they allow, but on our cruise we were informed there were only 8 couples that booked it.

 

As for the person who liked the MDR food and would miss their tablemates, that is good for them. It is why there are so many choices!

We met plenty of people to hang with at various venues and excursions, and felt we missed nothing.

[KirkNC]

That is an interesting deal, I would have to think about it but would certainly consider it. I disagree with your assessment of Qsine but recognize some don't like it.

[terigo]

That is an interesting deal, I would have to think about it but would certainly consider it. I disagree with your assessment of Qsine but recognize some don't like it.

 

It isn't that we didn't like it, we just didn't think the cuisine was nearly as "wow" as what we had gotten at Olympic. Plus, they didn't have the lobster escargot available, and that was one of the main things we had wanted to try.

[Chunky2219]

We have only eaten once at a specialty restaurant (not counting Bistro on 5) on 7 cruises. We like the MDR food and would miss our table mates to eat alone in the specialty restaurants.

Each to his/her own.

 

Presonally, I find that the MDR food and (sometimes) service are the only things that let Celebrity down. On the other hand, the speciality restaurants are very good and if they were not there, I doubt we'd bother with X.

 

.

[Number34]

There is a table set-up for dining packages, including this one, before you even get on the ship...right after you get your sea pass.l

 

I have booked the 5 dinner package, do you know if you can upgrade once on board?

[pantoot]

I have booked the 5 dinner package, do you know if you can upgrade once on board?

 

Yes, I did exactly that. They automatically credited me back for the 5 night package and charged me the additional $50 per person (or whatever it was.)

 

In retrospect, I shouldn't have upgraded, as I would have received a free night for being in a suite and we attended the captains table another night, and didn't eat at bistro enough to justify the extra $50, but oh well.

 

[edit: this was a 7 night cruise]

Edited June 18, 2014 by pantoot

[Number34]

Yes, I did exactly that. They automatically credited me back for the 5 night package and charged me the additional $50 per person (or whatever it was.)

 

In retrospect, I shouldn't have upgraded, as I would have received a free night for being in a suite and we attended the captains table another night, and didn't eat at bistro enough to justify the extra $50, but oh well.

 

[edit: this was a 7 night cruise]

 

That is a good point, we are in a suite and get 2 free dinners because it is an 11 night cruise. Wonder if they would do a deal based on 9 nights?