Not the Millennium Transpacific Review ... Luminae, Suite Class, etc. ...

[Project_gal]

Welcome back

I am interested, did you manage to find additional wines within the premium package or did you pay extra for some even better offering

 

Yes and no! There as nothing that interested us on the Luminae wine menu.

 

We were told by Suni, the sommelier, that we could have any wine by the glass provided it was sold by the glass anywhere on the ship. The first night he found a Chateauneuf de Pape in Cellar Masters which we enjoyed so much that we stuck with it all cruise. However the price did not fall within the limit for the Premium package and we paid a surcharge - just not sure how much because it was topped up frequently and we also drank desert wines most evenings. We paid an average of about US$30 per night for the two of us. Suni ensured that sufficient bottles were reserved for us so that they did not sell out.

 

We were very happy with this arrangement.

Edited May 20, 2015 by Project_gal

[Project_gal]

Thanks for posting the menus....we LOVED Luminae on TA on Eclipse just a few weeks ago. Perhaps I am misunderstanding something but we had tablecloths on the tables every evening, or were you just referring to brunch?

 

No, there were no tablecloths at dinner.

 

As frequent AQ guests in the past, mostly on S class ships I do disagree that the tables in Luminae are closer together than in Blu. We ate once in Blu this cruise and remarked to each other that Blu's tables, the ones in lines by the windows, are closer together. I DO agree that the positioning is difficult for servers to serve from the correct side in Luminae but that was more about them trying to stand BETWEEN tables lined up which they've never done in Blu, always serving from behind you. Luminae offered just a bit more privacy for those tables but you could still enjoy chatting with the table next to you if you desired. In Blu the tables were SO close together that we always opted for the one or two tables that are in the middle of the room, not next to others.

 

I think that the tables must be closer together on Millennium. It was almost impossible to squeeze between the tables against the banquets without tablecloths.

[Project_gal]

There was a great deal of discussion about OBC before we left for this cruise and it was one of the things I promised to report back about.

 

We started the cruise with a large amount of OBC [non-refundable] from Celebrity and even more purchased OBC [refundable] so, on embarkation, I did not register a credit card. I really did not want any refundable surplus to go onto our credit card and take an exchange rate hit as we could always use it on another cruise. We did, however, want to get access to some of the OBC as cash during the cruise for our additional gratuities and to use in the Casino.

 

Early on, my husband checked with the Casino that [in a PH] we could draw out cash without paying the surcharge. We could but, as there was no letter about this in our suite, I am not sure which suites receive this concession.

 

My husband withdrew the first amount without any problem. The next time he tried, he was told that he could not unless a credit card was registered to the account. We asked the Michael's Club to clarify this as it did not seem reasonable with the amount of OBC we had.

 

The clarification was: if you still have unused non-refundable OBC, you cannot withdraw cash from the Casino without registering a credit card. We still had roughly US$150 non-refundable OBC. The original cashier had made an error. We registered our credit card and were then able to continue withdrawing cash.

 

We had credit left at the end of the cruise and I was able to withdraw that, in cash, at Guest Relations on the final day.

 

Here is the important part: the total withdrawn from the Casino plus refunded at the end of the cruise exceeded the refundable OBC.

[elkay68]

Thank you for the information regarding the fact that there is no surcharge in casino if you are in PH. Any other "perks" for PH that are not written anywhere? September will be first time in PH ( have done RS before) and do t want to miss out on anything

[Project_gal]

Thank you for the information regarding the fact that there is no surcharge in casino if you are in PH. Any other "perks" for PH that are not written anywhere? September will be first time in PH ( have done RS before) and do t want to miss out on anything

 

For our second cruise [in a PH] in a row, we were not charged for any laundry. We specifically asked the Michael's Club concierge about laundry and were told that it was NOT free for PH guests. So I am unclear.

 

On each cruise, most of our laundry was using Captain's Club vouchers [and you will receive Elite vouchers if not already at least Elite - we are Elite+] MIXED with paid laundry. [i use the free wash & fold with paid pressing] and the laundry crew MAY have been confused - but on two different ships?

 

Our butler took one pair of trousers because I was drenched by a bus going through a deep puddle in freezing cold Petropavlovsk. He was showing concern and MAY have put this through a special, complimentary item.

 

On batch of laundry on our previous cruise went astray because the laundry [and not me] wrote the wrong room number on it and that MAY have been complimentary because of that.

 

It may just be a butler discretionary perk, a ship/sailing discretionary perk or we have just been lucky. I just do not know. However, we save US$100 and US$90+ over the two cruises.

[Project_gal]

Yet again, we did not receive an email from the Michael's Club concierge but as we were leaving fairly early for this cruise and I emailed him myself, I may just have got in too early. However, we did not get another pre-cruise email received by others nor the post-cruise survey, it may be more to do with Celebrity's computer systems.

 

My email explained: what we like to drink in Michael's Club, the bar and other setup we would like in our suite and about booking other items, such as the Chef's Table. Not only was everything done as requested but the usual welcome bottle of sparkling wine had been changed for the "proper" champagne I had requested for Michael's Club. The later, I thought, was a very nice touch.

 

Our butler explained that it really helped him and our stateroom attendants to know our preferences in advance as it made their job so much easier. In Michael's Club, our preferences were always available immediately while other guests' personal preferences were always met but the bar staff had to go out to other bars each time to collect it. However, I did find it difficult to pop into Michael's Club to have a quick word with the concierge without carrying out a glass of champagne. Such a hardship!

 

As our bar setup, we requested all chargeable items to be removed [because we had the awkward situation of guests assuming that everything was free on a previous cruise]. This was done and we noted that no wine was left. Our assumption that wine is NOT included in the RS & PH bar setup was confirmed on the final day when we overheard another guest querying his charges.

 

Before our cruise, there was a post on Cruise Critic about reduced bar hours in Michael's Club. On this cruise, we had two permanent bar staff - the wonderful Helen and Mark - one of whom was always present and both were present at really busy times. While not told the hours the bar was manned, there was never a time we visited MC when the bar was not open.

 

A number of special events were organised in MC - from Captain and Officers cocktails on first formal night and live music each formal night to a "special presentation" by the Future Cruise manager. Surprisingly, a number of people did attend the later. I thought that it was an unnecessary sales plug as was the piece of "art work" in our suite with a label about asking about buying it from the art auction people. That piece of art really rankled!

 

Overall, we were really pleased with our first "Suite Class" experience. The only two annoyances were the art auction plug and the expectation that the MC concierge, Luminae hostess and butler would all know our plans for dining each day. According to the Luminae hostess; "my people will work with your people" and we would only need to tell one of them. This did not always work but all three wanted to know. We had hoped that we could be more spontaneous!

[Gracie115]

Before our cruise, there was a post on Cruise Critic about reduced bar hours in Michael's Club. On this cruise, we had two permanent bar staff - the wonderful Helen and Mark - one of whom was always present and both were present at really busy times. While not told the hours the bar was manned, there was never a time we visited MC when the bar was not open. !

 

We found the same at Michael's on Eclipse...there was always someone there for bar service.......

[Wickets]

Wished they would standardize service. We had great service and people were using michaels on the Summit last December. We just got of May cruise on Solstice and bar hours were very short and bartenders had very limited choices at that bar and were chasing over the ship to try meet requests. We had upgraded drink packages so it was not costing them extra for drinks.

[elkay68]

Sue-

Being in the PH did you receive an escort on the ship for embarkation? When we did a TA back in 2013 we were in a RS and when checking in they did not even mention that we could go to Michael's until our cabin was ready. I on,y knew about the because my mom had a PH on a previous cruise.

 

Thank you again for your answers.

[Project_gal]

Sue-

Being in the PH did you receive an escort on the ship for embarkation? When we did a TA back in 2013 we were in a RS and when checking in they did not even mention that we could go to Michael's until our cabin was ready. I on,y knew about the because my mom had a PH on a previous cruise.

 

Thank you again for your answers.

 

Thanks for giving me the topic of the day!

 

There was huge value on this cruise being in a high-end suite. Embarkation at Shanghai was "difficult". We were prepared for this and ready to go with the flow.

 

We had Celebrity transport from Shanghai and this, on its own was well worthwhile as we arrived at the port to see a long line snaking out from a tent. People with luggage had clearly been waiting a very long time. It became clear that these were people what had private transfers to the ship and had been dropped off by their transport as they arrived. Although others on the coach had already started to complain, it was clearly better to say sitting on the vehicle than standing in the sun. After a relatively short wait, the coach was driven to the rear of the tent and our luggage removed and then we were drive to the front of the terminal building.

 

We entered the building and walk through a huge hall. At the far end we found a huge mass of humanity that we quickly realised was a very, very long queue to check-in. Whilst I held our place in the queue., my husband went up to what looked like [and turned out to be] an information desk. There was a couple trying to resolve an issue at the desk. My husband recognised a Celebrity uniform [Rati, the Captain's Club hostess] and just showed her our luggage tag on our carry on. [it was far too noisy and busy for anything else and one reason for tagging your carry-on!] We were immediately called over to the desk and checked in by someone who clearly did not do this.

 

Once we had checked-in, Rati escorted us through the crowd to a separate security line without a queue. [The couple with a query were firmly told that they had to join the back of the queue to check-in!]. Rati then apologised, explaining that she was not allowed by the Chinese authorities to go beyond security and Celebrity were unable to provide a fast track through Immigrations.

 

Passed security, there was a long line - but nowhere near the huge crowd waiting to check-in - which moved quickly and it was probably only about 10 minutes before we were through Immigration and boarding the ship. This was a little difficult for my husband because the gangway was extremely long - presumably to absorb the crowds if the check-in and immigration process suddenly sped up.

 

Once on the ship, although rooms were ready, an officer spoke to us and suggested that we may like to head to Michael's Club [close by because we boarded on deck 4 mid-ships] for refreshments to recover. Once in Michael's Club we were welcomed and my champagne and my husband's beverage of choice [see earlier post] were waiting! Unfortunately, no food. That had been ready for early embarkation at 11:00 - something the authorities had made impossible.

 

All through the process, Celebrity personnel apologies to us for not being able to provide a better embarkation experience. As I said we understood it was not going to be easy - reading Cruise Critic had prepared us. As far as we were concerned Celebrity had clearly made every effort to make it as easy as possible for us. We were given a 12:00noon check-out and departure from our hotel. Coaches had been leaving from 9:00am. These people would not have boarded much earlier than us - after 1:30pm.

 

After relaxing for a while, Sebastian, our butler, collected us from Michael's Club and escorted us to our suite. We dropped off our bags and headed to Bistro on Five for lunch. It was now 2:30pm.

 

At check-in, the only Millennium staff member we saw was Rati. The authorities had allowed very few to cross Immigration. It may well have taken some time for any one to recognise our priority status so it really does pay to speak up for yourselves. Shanghai it totally unlike Southampton but Celebrity cannot be blamed for this. It would have been unacceptable to make the wait for the majority much longer by removing local staff from check-in to provide someone to filter out suite guests. I am sure that Roman would have collected us from the gangway and escorted us to Michael's Club but it was close by and we clearly knew where it was. I think that the answer is that you need to make yourself known to people if you have priority [in a way that feels very un-British] especially if the local circumstances are difficult.

[need2bespoiled]

Sue-

Being in the PH did you receive an escort on the ship for embarkation? When we did a TA back in 2013 we were in a RS and when checking in they did not even mention that we could go to Michael's until our cabin was ready. I on,y knew about the because my mom had a PH on a previous cruise.

 

Thank you again for your answers.

 

Michaels Club only opened as a suite lounge last year, about April 2014.

 

Sue, thanks for all the info, updates and menus.

 

Happy sailing,

Jenna

[Project_gal]

Michaels Club only opened as a suite lounge last year, about April 2014.

 

Sue, thanks for all the info, updates and menus.

 

Happy sailing,

Jenna

 

But they were using Michael's Club as an embarkation lounge for Elites and higher-end suites from 2012. On some ships you were recognised and escorted to MC but, on others, you only knew about it because of Cruise Critic!

 

Jenna

 

I apologise for not being able to post the breakfast [1], brunch [4] and desert [14] menus but I had camera problems on board. The photographs I took are unreadable. [The camera finally died during the crossing the International Dateline party.] Our butler gave us a full set of menus [in two batches - one at the start of the cruise and the other after Russia] and I scanned them at home.

Edited May 22, 2015 by Project_gal

[vtcruising]

Thanks, Sue, for taking the time to answer all the questions!

[Chonga]

Isn't the Bristro available to all passengers and some staff members? :confused:

 

 

 

happy cruising [emoji305][emoji568][emoji631][emoji274]

 

 

I know I'm slow to reply, but my considerably unclear post meant eat there for free, not just eat there [emoji4]. Sorry was typing in a hurry before dashing off!

[Project_gal]

I think that I am just about at the end of the list of things noted while on Millennium and just have another day or two's work in the garden before being able to think about writing my proper review. In the meantime, here are the last few odds and ends:

• 
  Our toiletries were all Bulgari

• We received the "amenity pack" containing a few cottonwool balls and cotton buds [but these were removed when it was noted that I bring my own container of balls and buds now. I really liked the way our stateroom attendants noticed and responded to such things.]

• Our towels were all fluffy Egyptian cotton, appeared brand new and definitely not frayed

• There was no card wallet in the suite [i bring our own and did not notice until the last day so did not ask if they have stopped them]

• We received the usual lightweight and heavy weight totes

 

No doubt I will remember something else ...

Edited May 23, 2015 by Project_gal

[Gracie115]

• There was no card wallet in the suite [i bring our own and did not notice until the last day so did not ask if they have stopped them]

...

 

We did have the card wallet in our CS on Eclipse this month....so perhaps just an oversight...or another "ship to ship" thing....

[Project_gal]

We did have the card wallet in our CS on Eclipse this month....so perhaps just an oversight...or another "ship to ship" thing....

 

Or, perhaps, just some ships have stock remaining whilst others have run out. As I say, it was not until the final day that I remembered them - and we really do not need any more!

 

However, I am reminded that we received chocolates [one each] each evening - no nasty flavours this time, just milk or plain chocolate. The exception was final formal night when we received to Oreos - last of the old stock, perhaps? This pleased my husband as he enjoyed to Oreos.

 

We also received our record number of towel animals - four: a pair of swans, a snake [with chocolates for eyes], and, then on final formal night, a frog [with chocolates for eyes] and an elephant. It always surprises me when I read that "Celebrity have stopped towel animals". We never had any until 2012 and have had increasing numbers since then.

[Gracie115]

We also received our record number of towel animals - four: a pair of swans, a snake [with chocolates for eyes], and, then on final formal night, a frog [with chocolates for eyes] and an elephant. It always surprises me when I read that "Celebrity have stopped towel animals". We never had any until 2012 and have had increasing numbers since then.

 

and on Eclipse we never received a single towel animal over our 16 nights....I hadn't even thought about it until your post.......we do enjoy them though, they're fun, so perhaps I will mention it early in the cruise next time and see what happens!!!:)

Edited May 24, 2015 by Gracie115

[Project_gal]

I have just submitted my review. Much of it is a repeat of what I have said previously on this thread but I shall post it here for anyone who is interested.:

 

Millennium Shanghai to Vancouver – Our Suite Class Experience

To put this review into perspective, we originally booked the 2104 sailing of this cruise [two years in advance] but Celebrity charted the ship and we re-booked for this year. It was our 10th Celebrity cruise [13th overall] and would complete our “World Cruise”. All but our first cruise have been in higher-end suites and after our 40th wedding anniversary cruise in 2014 when we booked a Penthouse, we have been hooked. We are not rich but our cruise insurance is so expensive, we cannot afford to cruise as often as others so choose to do it in style when we do. After our cruise in 2013, we had started to feel jaded about cruising and think that our money could be better spent elsewhere. Just at the right time, Celebrity announced their new Suite Class Experience. Although we had experienced Michael’s Club and priority boarding on our 2014 cruise, this was our first cruise with the full Monty. Our pre-cruise experience for this cruise was far from perfect so we were hopeful that our experience on board would be better.

Pre-cruise

We took an airport taxi to the Heathrow Renaissance Hotel the day before our flight. The hotel has undergone continues upgrades in the eight years we have stay there pre-cruise. It is a real pleasure staying there and is highly recommended by us. Although we usually use the Hoppa bus to get to the terminal, this year we tried a taxi. Because of the amount of luggage we cruise with, a taxi was much easier and quicker but, also, considerably more expensive. The jury is out on what we will choose in future.

My husband requires wheelchair assistance because of the distances you are required to walk at Heathrow but, this time, the Special Assistance department was far from its usual pleasant and efficient operation. By the time he arrived at the gate, the flight had almost completed boarding and both of us were quite stressed by the experience but that was the only issue we had.

We chose not to upgrade our flights because it is hard to justify to costs these days for such a relatively short time, although we do pay for additional bags and to choose our seats in advance – one of the pairs of seats at the rear of the ‘plane. For the first time in years, our flight was not full and the two seats in the row in front of us was empty and we ended up with two seats each and both on the aisle. Both pairs of seats had really great leg-room and we were more comfortable than if we had upgraded top premium economy. Immigration was, contrary to reports and reviews I had read, quick and easy. There were toilet facilities available before Immigration and the experience was considerably less painful than arriving in Miami.

Once we set off landed in Shanghai, the Celebrity experience immediately started to improve. We exited Customs to be greeted by our driver holding a sign with our names on it. He spoke little English but had no problem communicating with us and we were whisked off to the Hyatt in on the Bund where there was a letter from Celebrity awaiting us with the details needed for our transport to the port on Sunday.

About a fortnight before leaving home, I had contacted to hotel to upgrade our room to a Bund Club Suite with river view. It was expensive but considerably less expensive than upgrading our flights to Club Class and for considerably longer time. The suite is spectacular with arguably the best views in Shanghai. Let’s say that our first lunch in the hotel buffet was an experience and one that sent us scurrying to Trip Advisor for the reviews of the hotel’s Chinese restaurant and decided us against risking it for dinner. Instead we asked the Bund Club’s [executive lounge] concierge to make us a reservation for the Lost Heaven on the Bund for the following evening planning on ordering room service for our first night in Shanghai. We stayed at the Bund Club for a pre-dinner drink but were enticed by the complimentary treats available with the evening cocktails and had no need of room service once we had finished. It is well worth upgrading to a room with Bund Club access if staying at this hotel for the breakfast as well as the evening cocktails.

Embarkation

Embarkation at Shanghai was "difficult". We were prepared for this and ready to go with the flow. We had Celebrity transport from Shanghai and this, on its own was well worthwhile as we arrived at the port to see a long line snaking out from a tent. People with luggage had clearly been waiting a very long time. It became clear that these were people what had private transfers to the ship and had been dropped off by their transport as they arrived. Although others on the coach had already started to complain, it was clearly better to say sitting on the vehicle than standing in the sun. After a relatively short wait, the coach was driven to the rear of the tent and our luggage removed and then we were drive to the front of the terminal building.

We entered the building and walk through a huge hall. At the far end we found a huge mass of humanity that we quickly realised was a very, very long queue to check-in. Whilst I held our place in the queue., my husband went up to what looked like [and turned out to be] an information desk. There was a couple trying to resolve an issue at the desk. My husband recognised a Celebrity uniform [the Captain's Club hostess] and just showed her our luggage tag on our carry on. [it was far too noisy and busy for anything else and one reason for tagging your carry-on!] We were immediately called over to the desk and checked in by someone who clearly did not do this.

Once we had checked-in, we were escorted through the crowd to a separate security line without a queue. Passed security, there was a long line [but nowhere near the huge crowd waiting to check-in] which moved quickly and it was probably only about 10 minutes before we were through Immigration and boarding the ship. This was a little difficult for my husband because the gangway was extremely long - presumably to absorb the crowds if the check-in and immigration process suddenly sped up. Once on the ship, although rooms were ready, an officer spoke to us and suggested that we may like to head to Michael's Club for refreshments to recover. Once in Michael's Club we were welcomed and our beverages of choice were waiting! All through the process, Celebrity personnel apologies to us for not being able to provide a better embarkation experience. As I said we understood it was not going to be easy - reading Cruise Critic had prepared us. As far as we were concerned Celebrity had clearly made every effort to make it as easy as possible for us. We were given a 12:00noon check-out and departure from our hotel. Coaches had been leaving from 9:00am. These people would not have boarded much earlier than us. After relaxing for a while, our butler collected us from Michael's Club and escorted us to our suite. We dropped off our bags and headed to Bistro on Five for lunch. It was now 2:30pm.

Millennium and the Penthouse Suite

Having stayed in the PH on Constellation, there were no surprises on Millennium. My husband really appreciates having a kettle and microwave and it is useful to have a full size fridge as well as a wine chiller. We had arranged our suite [including bar] set up in advance through the Michael’s Club concierge and everything was in place when we boarded.

There were many threads about the condition of Millennium before we cruised, in particular the question of how well she had been maintained. Quite honestly, I do not think that there has been any skimping on maintenance. I saw one member of crew sanding the railings whilst we were docked in Petropavlovsk where it was really cold. They were painting the whole of the back of the ship in another port. However, the ship is now very dated and was clearly not built originally to the same high specification as Eclipse. Just because we were looking for maintenance issues [so that I could report back on Cruise Critic], we noticed that the original design and finish were just not as good. There were many annoying design features in the PH and the PH bathroom fittings are clearly very dated now. Even my husband, who really does not care much about these things, noticed how dated the whole ship looks. I do not intend to list all the things we noticed because, most of the time, they are unimportant and, at others, were just humorous. Nothing stopped us having yet another great cruise.

We were looked after incredibly well by our butler and stateroom attendants who were clearly noticed what we used and liked and proactively responded.

Entertainment, Activities and Dining

The food is an important element of our cruise. We do not attend shows nor take part in most of the on board activities. Having given up eating in the Main Dining Room in 2009, we were really looking forward to having the opportunity to eat in Luminae. Overall, we enjoyed the experience but it required some adjustment, on our part, having eaten in the specialty restaurants for so long. Luminae does not have the “special” feel to it that the specialty restaurants do and this is primarily because of the lack of space. Although the restaurant was never totally full, it often felt crowded. Ideally, the tables would not be so close to the window wall or to each other. It is difficult to see how it can be otherwise when Luminae has been carved out of existing space on board but we, personally, prefer larger tables and sufficient room to allow the staff to serve correctly without the struggle they currently have.

We were disappoint, initially, to learn that Luminae was only serving brunch and dinner on sea days and days when we arrived late in port, and breakfast and dinner on other days when the marketing had promised breakfast, brunch and dinner every day. However, as we lost 9 hours in 17 nights, brunch and dinner turned out to be perfect as we could “survive” on just two meals per day but just two brunch menus for half the cruise with just two more added, the brunch menus were very repetitive. We still feel that, on normal cruises, breakfast, lunch and dinner would be preferable.

Where Celebrity have not compromised is the staff in Luminae. Everyone from the maître d’ and hostess to the wait staff and sommelier were clearly recruited from the best in the fleet and well trained. The chef was very visible and the quality of the food of the highest quality. It was a huge pleasure to have a changing menu in Luminae as opposed to the fixed menus in the specialty restaurants. Obviously, there were some menus we preferred more than others but alternatives were available on request. Some of the highlights, we must mention, were: the chicken liver custard, the duck liver pate amuse bouche, the duck consume, the vegetable curries, braised short rib, beef and veal cheeks, beef and tuna tartar, meat balls starter and, surprisingly, the pizzette starter! The pain de champagne was the best bread we have ever had on board - just a shame it was only available at dinner.

It was early days for the new restaurant but it did not completely meet expectations. The marketing promises that “the Suite Class chef can provide a tailor made experience to suite guests and prepare a dish to their liking” yet, for example, we were told that granola can only be served with compote and parfait as they are prepared in advance. This was resolved by making the granola from Blu [in my opinion, actually a nicer granola] on its own but, in view of the marketing, it was surprising that the Blu experience could be more “tailor-made” than Luminae.

We attended the Chef’s Table – our fifth – and this time, on Millennium, we were served by far the best food so far. We enjoyed both the menu and the quality of the food served. It was a totally enjoyable evening.

Unfortunately, our other experiences in Olympic were not so enjoyable. Had Luminae not been available, we would have had a very different experience on Millennium. We had one dinner and on lunch in Olympic and both were disappointing. We know the menu and usual standard of food and service extremely well after eating in the equivalent restaurants for years. [in all our years of cruising with Celebrity, we have never before eaten in the specialty restaurants less than four times per cruise.] The food at both dinner and lunch fell a long way short of the usual standard and the service was not as good as in Luminae. We actually witnessed two members of the wait staff arguing in the middle of the restaurant during lunch.

Michael’s Club

We had experienced Michael’s Club [in its present incarnation] once before and so contacted the concierge, by email in advance, requesting our choice of beverages to be available. The bar staff, provided exceptional service. In fact, it was difficult to pop into the room to speak to the concierge or another guest without leaving with our favourite beverage in hand – not that we are complaining! Both servers quickly learned our routines and we able to recognise whether or not we required a refill without interrupting the flow of conversation.

The only disappointment in Michael’s Club was the snacks provided. Although available at lunch time and in the evenings, they were the same as the mediocre canapés served in suite. Celebrity is capable of making good canapés. Those served at the Chef’s Table were wonderful. We do feel that better evening canapés and more suitable day-times snacks would be a great improvement.

Ports

We chose not to take excursions [ship or private] in most ports and, for this cruise, had only made a lunch reservation at a Kobe beef restaurant in Kobe. Our lunch at Wakkoqu in Shinkobe, like saki, is an experience that we are glad we had but would not necessarily choose to repeat.

Disembarkation and Post-cruise

For us, disembarkation went like a dream. There were only 10 guests who had booked post-cruise hotels through Celebrity [staying in two different hotels]. We had the latest disembarkation time and stayed in Michael’s Club until 10 minutes before our time when the concierge escorted us to our designated lounge. When our number was called, he returned to escort us off the ship – via a different gangway to the majority of the guests and as far as Immigration. This, for us, is another really valuable aspect of the new Celebrity Suite Class experience. The remaining part of disembarkation demonstrates the value of booking post-cruise arrangements through Celebrity as well as what a wonderful port Vancouver is. As the concierge said goodbye, a porter approached us! Everyone, both Celebrity and port staff, were wonderful although I am not so sure those waiting in the taxi queues were so impressed by us being taken to the front of the line. From leaving Michael’s Club until sitting in our room at the Four Seasons Hotel having had our luggage and tea making facilities delivered was less than two hours!

Although my brother lives in North Vancouver, it had been over 20 years since I last spent any time in Vancouver itself. It is a stunningly beautiful port and city. The weather forecast [although not the weather itself] was not too promising so we purchased a two day ticket for the HOHO Vancouver Trolley. Using this, we got to see much of the city and Stanley Park as is an easy way to get around the main sights.

[Texed]

I have just submitted my review.

 

Thanks for the New, Sue, Review. :)

[Mermen]

We are sailing from Vancouver to Shanghai on the Millie in September, as she repositions to the Far East. Fun to read about your experience. Thanks for posting. We are looking forward to eating in Luminae. Two meals a day will be plenty for us too! :)

[elkay68]

On the diagram for the verandah on the penthouse there appears to be stairs...where do they lead to?

[Project_gal]

On the diagram for the verandah on the penthouse there appears to be stairs...where do they lead to?

 

They are the crew emergency exit. The route then goes through the side divider to the Sky Suite next door. I believe that the crew may occasionally use it to access the balcony for maintenance but they usually get access through the same divider.

 

The only time we have seen anyone down the stairs was going through the Panama Canal when you can see crew members and, possibly, the second pilot. We were lucky enough to be invited by the Captain to be on the Bridge for the Canal and my husband had a long chat with the pilot who explained that they have two on board; one on the Bridge and the other aty the aft controls.

[elkay68]

Thank you. We are doing the sept 2015 transpacific in the PH and really looking forward to it. Have done the RS before, transatlantic in 2013 on the Connie, but looking forward to the extra space and the new suite perks.

[tarheelmjm]

Project Gal, so appreciate your review and communication in this thread!

 

Since you had the all-in dining package that will have soon (!!!) in an RS on the Millie, I wanted to ask:

 

What food, if any, is available on board that is NOT covered by the dining package?

 

How are the buy-up items in Olympic handled? Are they included? Is that a price+gratuity situation?

 

Thanks!