On Millennium. A few thoughts

[frostedthreads]

I see that a lot of posters are upset about the bathrooms and plugs in the rooms.  My family has cruised on other cruise lines and we have had open shelves.  A number of years ago, everyone in our family switched to a Vera Bradley hanging toiletry bag after a cramped Walt Disney World hotel room and a messy counter of toiletries.  They have a hook and can hang from a closet rod, towel rack or shelf in the bathroom. We found on our cruise that hanging them off a shelf in the bathroom saves a ton of space.

 

We also travel with a four USB port charger for all of the electronics.  With two teen daughters, someone always needs a charger.  We are split into two cabins for our upcoming cruise, but we will still travel the same way.  We have our travel supplies in bags.  Multi-USB chargers and cords for traveling, packing cubes, and our hanging toiletry bags. All these things are used whether we travel on a cruise or a quick weekend trip.  Some of these things are just worth investing in.

 

We try not to sweat the small stuff on vacation.  We are going to Alaska to enjoy the view. Excited for the balconies.  Work has been so stressful that if the ship sailed in circles, I would probably still enjoy the cruise! 

[late2cruisin]

38 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

 

A popular site that shows cruise deck plans state -  Starboard rooms 3112 - 3142 have the large windows while the cabins on Port side do not.  Picture below is prior to revolution

 

And how do we know that "cabins on port side do not"?

[STLCRUISIN]

We were on the 2 week Millennium Asian cruise that ended March 2 and had a great time. We stayed in one of the "sweet sixteen" cabins. According to my wife the refurbished cabin looked like a dorm but to me it was just fine. However, it grew on her with a few days. Even though they took out one of the wardrobes it had plenty of storage space and shelves, including in the bathroom. Celebrity did a nice job updating the bathroom although they used a fake marble laminate around the shower stall which they could have picked a better material but I'm not complaining, only an observation.

We never ran out of new tissues as another poster mentioned earlier so didn't have to switch to an old tissue holder. Also our trash can lid closed at all times.

Our a/c worked fine but whoever came up with the idea of hanging a bedside lamp from the ceiling so you have to get out of bed to turn it off must have lost their mind!!

There were a few minor items that workmen still need to complete and our stateroom attendant had a list of what they were. We found out later that some items ran out and were ordered and being shipped from the States.

I noticed that the teak railing on the balcony was replaced with aluminum or similar material. The public decks are still the teak material.

We love the changes to the MDR. It is so much brighter. We don't think it is drab at all. We sat in the high chairs maybe 5 times during the cruise and found them to be comfortable. Those chairs have a small pillow for your lower back. The regular chairs were also comfortable. Food was also very good. It was hot most nights. I would say 2 nights it arrived warm. We sailed a past cruise on Milly where we could not get a hot meal no matter what we did so we were pleasantly surprised. Service was excellent too.

Rendezvous Lounge is a huge improvement from its former self. Bright and stylish.

We were disappointed no changes were made to Cellar Master or Café Al Bacio. We both enjoy wine and have enjoyed sitting at the bar in the past but it just looks so dreary now. And while sitting at the Café drinking coffee I noticed the bottom of one of the hightop yellow chairs was hanging down to the floor. And I said to my wife "now why couldn't they just fix that if they weren't going to replace the furniture." Now that was a complaint AND an observation!

Martini bar still also looks the same but you become so mesmerized by the bartenders doing their juggling tricks (plus the buzz from a martini or two) that you don't notice the same old décor 

Lastly, the production shows are the same as on the other ships....nothing new. We've seen them before so we didn't care to repeat it. There were a few good guest entertainers but that's about it.

All in all we had a wonderful time, met some great people from all over, saw some great places and have a lot of great memories.

[Wine-O]

10 hours ago, Happy Cruiser 6143 said:

They have whatever kind of windows they had prior to the revolution.  The windows did not change.  Only the interior of the ships is changing.  3112-3144 have always had the large circular windows since they were added in the former conference room area.  One would assume that the cabins on the port side would have the same size windows since they're in the same area on the opposite side of the ship.

 

You are correct.  I distinctly remember the area where 3115-3127 is now located used to be a sitting area with the huge windows all the way back to where the Tuscan Grill is now located.  So, those staterooms should have the exact same windows as 3112-3114.

[hcat]

STL CRUISIN

 

Thanks for your review....appreciate all the details and  your overall  impressions.

 

It  thows things off when they update  most areas of a ship but leave the others looking old or tired.  Kind of a disconnect.Sometimes the same thing happens when you update a room at home!   

[villauk]

4 hours ago, hcat said:

STL CRUISIN

 

Thanks for your review....appreciate all the details and  your overall  impressions.

 

It  thows things off when they update  most areas of a ship but leave the others looking old or tired.  Kind of a disconnect.Sometimes the same thing happens when you update a room at home!   

 

 

We don’t call our redecoration a ‘revolution’, though 😆.

[usmcmom3]

17 hours ago, STLCRUISIN said:

We were on the 2 week Millennium Asian cruise that ended March 2 and had a great time. We stayed in one of the "sweet sixteen" cabins. According to my wife the refurbished cabin looked like a dorm but to me it was just fine. However, it grew on her with a few days. Even though they took out one of the wardrobes it had plenty of storage space and shelves, including in the bathroom. Celebrity did a nice job updating the bathroom although they used a fake marble laminate around the shower stall which they could have picked a better material but I'm not complaining, only an observation.

We never ran out of new tissues as another poster mentioned earlier so didn't have to switch to an old tissue holder. Also our trash can lid closed at all times.

Our a/c worked fine but whoever came up with the idea of hanging a bedside lamp from the ceiling so you have to get out of bed to turn it off must have lost their mind!!

There were a few minor items that workmen still need to complete and our stateroom attendant had a list of what they were. We found out later that some items ran out and were ordered and being shipped from the States.

I noticed that the teak railing on the balcony was replaced with aluminum or similar material. The public decks are still the teak material.

We love the changes to the MDR. It is so much brighter. We don't think it is drab at all. We sat in the high chairs maybe 5 times during the cruise and found them to be comfortable. Those chairs have a small pillow for your lower back. The regular chairs were also comfortable. Food was also very good. It was hot most nights. I would say 2 nights it arrived warm. We sailed a past cruise on Milly where we could not get a hot meal no matter what we did so we were pleasantly surprised. Service was excellent too.

Rendezvous Lounge is a huge improvement from its former self. Bright and stylish.

We were disappointed no changes were made to Cellar Master or Café Al Bacio. We both enjoy wine and have enjoyed sitting at the bar in the past but it just looks so dreary now. And while sitting at the Café drinking coffee I noticed the bottom of one of the hightop yellow chairs was hanging down to the floor. And I said to my wife "now why couldn't they just fix that if they weren't going to replace the furniture." Now that was a complaint AND an observation!

Martini bar still also looks the same but you become so mesmerized by the bartenders doing their juggling tricks (plus the buzz from a martini or two) that you don't notice the same old décor 

Lastly, the production shows are the same as on the other ships....nothing new. We've seen them before so we didn't care to repeat it. There were a few good guest entertainers but that's about it.

All in all we had a wonderful time, met some great people from all over, saw some great places and have a lot of great memories.

We booked a sweet sixteen for Alaska- I am assuming the balcony is still the same?

[Jim_Iain]

23 hours ago, late2cruisin said:

And how do we know that "cabins on port side do not"?

The site indicated that only the Starboard have the larger windows.   Don't shoot the messenger.

 

[late2cruisin]

2 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

The site indicated that only the Starboard have the larger windows.   Don't shoot the messenger.

 

Ha ha! Not trying to shoot the messenger, just wondering what "site" you got that from?

[STLCRUISIN]

16 hours ago, usmcmom3 said:

We booked a sweet sixteen for Alaska- I am assuming the balcony is still the same?

Yes, the balcony is still the same size. We loved having the extra space. Now only if there was a bigger table and foot stools that would have made it perfect and still have provided us with plenty of space. 

[wwcruisers]

What about the beautiful forward lounge on Deck 11? I had heard that they were going to take away significant space from the lounge, to put additional cabins/suites up there.

[Jim_Iain]

3 minutes ago, wwcruisers said:

What about the beautiful forward lounge on Deck 11? I had heard that they were going to take away significant space from the lounge, to put additional cabins/suites up there.

Not on the M-Class.    There has been no change to the size of the Cosmos Lounge.    They will be taking a chunk out of the lounge on the S-Class ships but hardly noticeable.  On the S-Class they will be adding the Reflection Suite and about 6 Signature suites and will be similar to the layout of Reflection.  

 

The major change is one deck above where the rarely used sun deck Sports Deck Forward was transformed into the Suites only Retreat and Lounge.

[richsea]

9 minutes ago, wwcruisers said:

What about the beautiful forward lounge on Deck 11? I had heard that they were going to take away significant space from the lounge, to put additional cabins/suites up there.

Hi Suzanne. I’m pretty sure they left that beautiful lounge intact They did add rooms to the starboard sdie of the spa though.

[wwcruisers]

11 minutes ago, Jim_Iain said:

Not on the M-Class.    There has been no change to the size of the Cosmos Lounge.    They will be taking a chunk out of the lounge on the S-Class ships but hardly noticeable.  On the S-Class they will be adding the Reflection Suite and about 6 Signature suites and will be similar to the layout of Reflection.  

 

The major change is one deck above where the rarely used sun deck Sports Deck Forward was transformed into the Suites only Retreat and Lounge.

 

9 minutes ago, richsea said:

Hi Suzanne. I’m pretty sure they left that beautiful lounge intact They did add rooms to the starboard sdie of the spa though.

 

WHEW -- Thanks, guys! Good to hear that -- but sad that they are carving-up the one big lounge, on the S-Class ships.

[STLCRUISIN]

2 hours ago, wwcruisers said:

 

 

WHEW -- Thanks, guys! Good to hear that -- but sad that they are carving-up the one big lounge, on the S-Class ships.

 

2 hours ago, Jim_Iain said:

Not on the M-Class.    There has been no change to the size of the Cosmos Lounge.    They will be taking a chunk out of the lounge on the S-Class ships but hardly noticeable.  On the S-Class they will be adding the Reflection Suite and about 6 Signature suites and will be similar to the layout of Reflection.  

 

The major change is one deck above where the rarely used sun deck Sports Deck Forward was transformed into the Suites only Retreat and Lounge.

Yes the Cosmos lounge on the Millennium was untouched by the changes. However, I think the taking a chunk out of the lounges of the S-Class ships will be quite noticeable since the Sky lounge on the Reflection is only about half the size of the other S-Class ships and without that full view with the added suites.

[Jim_Iain]

3 hours ago, wwcruisers said:

 

 

WHEW -- Thanks, guys! Good to hear that -- but sad that they are carving-up the one big lounge, on the S-Class ships.

There is still plenty of space in the lounge.   At least 1/2 the space for the new rooms is coming from the Conference Center on the port side  of the Lounge.  

[Xcelsior]

So it appears that Aquaclass Staterooms no longer have the upgraded shower.....wonder why Celebrity dropped that. Still listed on their website.  Also, I thought another amenity of Aquaclass was the footrests on the balcony.  Has that been dropped too?  What else have they gotten rid of - anybody know?

[hcat]

On 3/9/2019 at 2:28 PM, villauk said:

 

 

We don’t call our redecoration a ‘revolution’, though 😆.

 

True... we  don't have a p r  staff either!

[hcat]

56 minutes ago, Xcelsior said:

So it appears that Aquaclass Staterooms no longer have the upgraded shower.....wonder why Celebrity dropped that. Still listed on their website.  Also, I thought another amenity of Aquaclass was the footrests on the balcony.  Has that been dropped too?  What else have they gotten rid of - anybody know?

An upgraded shower is one of the   basic AQ Class amenities ( included in the fare)...how/why  is that deleted?

 

Does the Solarium pool still have the bench seats in the pool and shower sprays?  Any big changes to the Solarium area or cafe?

 

For our Summit cruise in 2020, we went with a standard  balcony room  due to high pricing and a port intensive itin..  

 

We won't have the shower, persian garden/ thermal suite  or BLU, or priority anything.. The itin is worth it..Bermuda, Newport and Charleston....

 

We will hopefully  return to AQ on our next S Class cruise.

[Aralim]

3 hours ago, hcat said:

For our Summit cruise in 2020, we went with a standard  balcony room  due to high pricing and a port intensive itin..  

 

Are you on the Aug 2 Iceland and Greenland sailing, by any chance?

[Alushar]

Was musing over the weekend, again, that I must do an Alaska cruise. Thinking about this it occurred to me that surely the front of the ship must be a popular vantage point went scenic cruising and as this is being closed off for The Retreat maybe I need to look at another line?

[FlorenceItaly]

47 minutes ago, Alushar said:

Was musing over the weekend, again, that I must do an Alaska cruise. Thinking about this it occurred to me that surely the front of the ship must be a popular vantage point went scenic cruising and as this is being closed off for The Retreat maybe I need to look at another line?

Princess and HAL are the known leaders in Alaska.  They have been in the market the longest.   I have done Alaska on both.  I give the edge to Princess, but, imo, you would not be disappointed with either.

[CHEZMARYLOU]

14 hours ago, hcat said:

 

Does the Solarium pool still have the bench seats in the pool and shower sprays?  Any big changes to the Solarium area or cafe?

 

 

I saw photos of the Solarium area on another site.  It looked like there were no loungers there, only tables & chairs and sofa type seating. Unless it was just a small area by the Spa Café.

[Laurab23]

I have a question about the shampoo in the cabins. Looks like there are dispensers on the wall of the shower now. I always worry that the guest before us might put stuff in it. Do those dispensers have some sort of lock that only the cabin stewards can access? 

I know,crazy to worry about something like this but it always crosses my mind.

 

Laura

[Jim_Iain]

2 hours ago, Laurab23 said:

I have a question about the shampoo in the cabins. Looks like there are dispensers on the wall of the shower now. I always worry that the guest before us might put stuff in it. Do those dispensers have some sort of lock that only the cabin stewards can access? 

I know,crazy to worry about something like this but it always crosses my mind.

 

Laura

If you look closely at the picture you will see that they have a 2 pin lock on it.   This may be put on to keep guests with taking them home but I'm sure it would also deter tampering.