Back from Millennium TP- a few random thoughts and photos

[late2cruisin]

We returned from our transpacific cruise on the Millennium last week and I thought I'd add a little information (and some opinions) to supplement what is already posted here about the "revolutionized" Millie. I'd be happy to answer any questions you may have; note that we didn't continue on to Alaska, so can't comment on that. Also, since we weren't in a suite, I have no info on the Retreat, Luminae, etc. (Although we did participate in the cabin crawl on our roll call, so we got to see all categories of staterooms except Penthouse.)

CABIN: We were in 3119, one of the newly added cabins on the port side near the midship elevators. There had been much discussion on these boards about whether these cabins would be smaller than other OV cabins, whether they would have the extra-large windows or the regular windows, whether they would be noisy from the foot traffic going to or from Tuscan Grill. I'm happy to report that the cabins are the same size as the other OV cabins (and, in fact, the same size as the veranda cabins) and they do have the extra large windows. Since this was a cold weather cruise with mostly sea days and not much scenery, we were completely satisfied with our huge window instead of a balcony. As for the location, it was perfect- very convenient to the elevators/stairs, near Guest Relations, etc. It was in a closed-off hallway so there was NO foot traffic from any other venue, therefore very quiet and private.

[late2cruisin]

CABIN:  I found the bed very comfortable, but it didn't look or feel any bigger than the old ones (I thought they were supposed to have replaced the queen beds with king) The chair that has replaced the old loveseat/sofa in all the cabins below Sky Suites was OK; it was big enough for the two of us to sit on, but we're pretty small. For most cruisers, it would not be big enough for 2. The storage in the cabin wasn't too bad. There were drawers in the desk (and some shelves above it) and drawers and shelves next to the closet. Like most people, I didn't care for the glass-door shelves and didn't use them much. (There were also drawers in the nightstands.) The safe is indeed smaller than the old ones were; we used to be able to fit an iPad in it, now you can't. (So passports and wallets were the only things we kept there.) The newly added cabins had a new digital thermostat,which I like better than the old ones. (All the other cabins still have the old one.)

[late2cruisin]

BATHROOM:  The shower was an improvement over the old one. It seemed a little bigger to me, but that was probably due to the glass door instead of the old shower curtain. There was a hand-held shower (the water pressure was not great though). The clothesline was still there. There were large pump bottles of shampoo, conditioner, and shower gel attached to the wall, as well as one of body lotion on the sink (which my DH initially thought was hand soap and tried to wash his hands with it!) There is also a small bar of oatmeal soap on the sink.  The storage is not great in the bathroom- no drawers, only open shelves. Most of the cabins had much larger shelves than ours (about twice the size) I would not have known this if I hadn't been on the cabin crawl. The small shelves (and smaller vanity space around the sink) were really the only drawbacks to our specific cabin.  I forgot to mention that cloth laundry bags have replaced the old paper ones- much easier to stuff!

[late2cruisin]

PERSIAN GARDENS:  We only visited once (as Elite) but even if we were Aqua I doubt if I'd spend much time there. It's not as dark and cave-like as it used to be, but it still has the same long tile bench, no natural light, and the various showers weren't working properly. One of the steam rooms got way too hot, another was not hot enough. There's still a small sauna in the changing room (I didn't try it). The S-class Persian Gardens wins hands down.

 

On a brighter note, the T-pool in the solarium is still there, still with the same water features. 

[late2cruisin]

AQUA SPA CAFE: As most of you probably know, this is a little area hidden in the solarium that is open for breakfast and lunch, free for anyone (except for the fresh juices and smoothies) I'm posting one of the menus (the other photo came out too blurry to read). We had lunch there one day, and it was a nice change from the heavier food we usually eat. Here are a few photos of the lunch choices, as well as what I ended up with. All very tasty.

[Louhut1]

Thanks for the info.  We were on the Millie last December  

before the revolution. We were in Aqua. Class then.   Picked an Alaska cruise this June and will be in Oceanview.   Thanks for the pictures.  Feeling good about our choice.   Looking forward to seeing all the upgrades.  

[nimiq]

Did u like the new Millie ?

 

sea ya 

eric

[Smeecanada]

Thanks for info.  We are looking at doing the TP to Tokyo in September.  How did you find the noise from the floor above in your cabin?  Having trouble finding 3119 on the deck plans - can someone direct to where about it is?

[yvrdave]

1 hour ago, Smeecanada said:

Thanks for info.  We are looking at doing the TP to Tokyo in September.  How did you find the noise from the floor above in your cabin?  Having trouble finding 3119 on the deck plans - can someone direct to where about it is?

 

Google “cruise deck plans” or go to cruisedeckplans.com to see the new cabins recently installed.  3119 is midship near the mid elevators.  They are similar to the ones on the starboard side. 

[late2cruisin]

4 hours ago, Smeecanada said:

Thanks for info.  We are looking at doing the TP to Tokyo in September.  How did you find the noise from the floor above in your cabin?  Having trouble finding 3119 on the deck plans - can someone direct to where about it is?

There was no noise at all from above. If you're not seeing 3119 on the deck plans, it's an older deck plan. The 7 new cabins are between the elevators and Tuscan Grill, but you cannot get to Tuscan Grill by going past them- the area is closed off and you have to go around starboard side to get there. The TP in September sounds nice- warmer weather than we had, and you gain hours instead of losing them (we lost an hour of sleep on 8 days on our cruise, and I hated that part of it.)

[late2cruisin]

7 hours ago, nimiq said:

Did u like the new Millie ?

 

sea ya 

eric

Yes, in general I did. The dining room looks much better (and I liked those really high-backed chairs, especially the two-tops along the windows) Rendez-vous lounge also looks great. I wish they had redone the Al Bacio area though; the chairs and carpet are ugly IMO.

[Member123]

12 hours ago, late2cruisin said:

CABIN:  I found the bed very comfortable, but it didn't look or feel any bigger than the old ones (I thought they were supposed to have replaced the queen beds with king) The chair that has replaced the old loveseat/sofa in all the cabins below Sky Suites was OK; it was big enough for the two of us to sit on, but we're pretty small. For most cruisers, it would not be big enough for 2. The storage in the cabin wasn't too bad. There were drawers in the desk (and some shelves above it) and drawers and shelves next to the closet. Like most people, I didn't care for the glass-door shelves and didn't use them much. (There were also drawers in the nightstands.) The safe is indeed smaller than the old ones were; we used to be able to fit an iPad in it, now you can't. (So passports and wallets were the only things we kept there.) The newly added cabins had a new digital thermostat,which I like better than the old ones. (All the other cabins still have the old one.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Were you correcting a rattle coming from the mirrored shelving unit by stuffing a towel to control the vibration?

[cruisingnewtoit]

12 hours ago, late2cruisin said:

AQUA SPA CAFE: As most of you probably know, this is a little area hidden in the solarium that is open for breakfast and lunch, free for anyone (except for the fresh juices and smoothies) I'm posting one of the menus (the other photo came out too blurry to read). We had lunch there one day, and it was a nice change from the heavier food we usually eat. Here are a few photos of the lunch choices, as well as what I ended up with. All very tasty.

Are the juices covered under the beverage package?

 

Thanks

[micheleata]

Thanks for the pictures.

[waggie]

OP - Thank you so much - the description and pictures are excellent. We have 3132 in November.

The UK Celebrity site still has the old deck plan - so googling this is good advice too - thanks yvrdave!

[Smeecanada]

7 hours ago, late2cruisin said:

There was no noise at all from above. If you're not seeing 3119 on the deck plans, it's an older deck plan. The 7 new cabins are between the elevators and Tuscan Grill, but you cannot get to Tuscan Grill by going past them- the area is closed off and you have to go around starboard side to get there. The TP in September sounds nice- warmer weather than we had, and you gain hours instead of losing them (we lost an hour of sleep on 8 days on our cruise, and I hated that part of it.)

 

Thanks.  I was able to find the location by going to cruisedeckplans - suggested by yvrdave.  Strange that when you are on Celebrity's site trying to book the cruise those cabins are not on the deck plans.  Might be because I'm on the Cdn site and it is not updated yet.  Maybe - I'll try the US site too see what is available.

Edited May 22, 2019 by Smeecanada

[late2cruisin]

8 hours ago, Member123 said:

Were you correcting a rattle coming from the mirrored shelving unit by stuffing a towel to control the vibration?

No, there were no rattling or vibration noises in the cabin at all. What you're seeing in the photo is extra laundry bags that our cabin attendant put up there. Don't know why they got caught in the glass door...

[late2cruisin]

7 hours ago, cruisingnewtoit said:

Are the juices covered under the beverage package?

 

Thanks

I'm not sure, since we didn't have a beverage package. Maybe others can answer this.

[stefndoug]

Thanks for posting about those oceanview cabins.  I am going to rebook our oceanview cabins to go into one of these since I love the fact that the windows are bigger.  We are doing the Transpacific in 2021

 

Stefani

[stefndoug]

On 5/21/2019 at 6:00 PM, late2cruisin said:

CABIN:  I found the bed very comfortable, but it didn't look or feel any bigger than the old ones (I thought they were supposed to have replaced the queen beds with king) The chair that has replaced the old loveseat/sofa in all the cabins below Sky Suites was OK; it was big enough for the two of us to sit on, but we're pretty small. For most cruisers, it would not be big enough for 2. The storage in the cabin wasn't too bad. There were drawers in the desk (and some shelves above it) and drawers and shelves next to the closet. Like most people, I didn't care for the glass-door shelves and didn't use them much. (There were also drawers in the nightstands.) The safe is indeed smaller than the old ones were; we used to be able to fit an iPad in it, now you can't. (So passports and wallets were the only things we kept there.) The newly added cabins had a new digital thermostat,which I like better than the old ones. (All the other cabins still have the old one.)

 

 

WE were just in cabin 6029 (balcony) and I felt the beds were bigger than they used to be.  But I always remember Celebrity called their beds "king" anyway so I could be wrong on it feeling bigger.  I know hubby and I don't fight for space on Celebrity beds like we do on normal Queen size beds (we are both chunky).  Do you think maybe they put a smaller bed into those new cabins?  I would doubt it, but just curious as I would like to book those cabins for our transpacific in 2021

[TommyD3]

I am currently onboard the Millennium in a C2 concierge cabin. Beds are VERY narrow. If anything they feel narrower than the concierge C2 cabins we were in last month onboard Eclipse.

10 minutes ago, stefndoug said:

 

 

WE were just in cabin 6029 (balcony) and I felt the beds were bigger than they used to be.  But I always remember Celebrity called their beds "king" anyway so I could be wrong on it feeling bigger.  I know hubby and I don't fight for space on Celebrity beds like we do on normal Queen size beds (we are both chunky).  Do you think maybe they put a smaller bed into those new cabins?  I would doubt it, but just curious as I would like to book those cabins for our transpacific in 2021

 

[stefndoug]

1 minute ago, TommyD3 said:

I am currently onboard the Millennium in a C2 concierge cabin. Beds are VERY narrow. If anything they feel narrower than the concierge C2 cabins we were in last month onboard Eclipse.

 

wonder if they are narrower than the normal balcony cabins...our bed was a decent size.  We loved it.

[late2cruisin]

I think the beds were always a little larger than standard queen beds, because that's what we have at home and the Celebrity beds seem a little wider. It's just that they don't seem any bigger than they did before, so I'm wondering why they had to swap out the loveseat for a chair. Maybe someone who's on board can measure them and we'll know for sure! BTW, on my cabin crawl, all the beds I saw in all cabin types looked the same size. Separating them made them look quite small though.

 

I think I forgot to talk about the elite events in my original post. The elite breakfast was served in the MDR (deck 5) because there were so many elites on the TP.  The previous and subsequent cruises had them in Tuscan as usual.  The OJ didn't taste any different from what you get in the buffet (though they still call it "fresh juice")  The cappuccino was weak and not as good as what you get at Al Bacio. The smoothies were better than I had remembered. The breakfast was served buffet-style. The evening happy hour event was held in the Cosmos Lounge (with passed hors d'oeuvres), but I found the cocktails to be not as well-made as in other bars. We usually availed ourselves of the unlimited drinks from the same menu that you could get at all the bars from 5 to 7. We had no trouble getting a glass of wine and taking it in to the MDR. We occasionally found a different wine than the usual ones, depending on which bar you went to. (If anyone is interested, I can tell you what the wines available were, but of course that can change at any time...)  The vouchers were good every day except the day of embarkation (even the day of the senior officers party when the Cosmos lounge wasn't holding the happy hour.) The MDR didn't accept the vouchers, but the Oceanview Cafe did. (same hours, same menu)

[Ken the cruiser]

How were the sea swales crossing the Pacific from Tokyo? Calm or full of vigor? We’re taking the same cruise in Apr 2022 and have always heard they can be quite adventurous at times. 

[late2cruisin]

5 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

How were the sea swales crossing the Pacific from Tokyo? Calm or full of vigor? We’re taking the same cruise in Apr 2022 and have always heard they can be quite adventurous at times. 

It was pretty calm. I was actually hoping for a little more movement...