Millennium LIVE Suite Review w/ Kid (3/3-3/7)

[GenerationX]

Hello CC! Long time no see!

 

Ok fine, I know that’s a stretch given that I stepped off the Edge less than a month ago and Equinox only a couple months before that.  I guess 18 months of cruise deprivation put me on a binge!

 

Anyway, would anyone like to come along on my next cruising adventure?  This time it’s a ladies’ vacay cruise on Millennium!  

 

Making a return appearance on this trip will be my good girlfriend, Red (you may remember this queen of spa and casino from my Summit live review in October) who is sailing in a separate suite with one of her friends from Indy.

 

However that’s about where the familiar ends for me on this cruise.  

 

I’ve never sailed on Millennium before so I’m looking forward to experiencing yet another new (to me) Celebrity ship. Fun Fact:  After this cruise I will have officially sailed on every current Celebrity S and M class ship! Guess I better get on booking the rest of E class and Galapagos so I can sweep the fleet.

 

I also won a slightly over minimum move up bid (full post on that experience coming shortly) and will be sailing in a Celebrity Suite for the first time!

 

The biggest change and big event of this cruise:  I’ll also be cruising with a new cabin mate. Drum roll, please…

 

In an effort to secure Celebrity brand loyalty from the next generation early on, this cruise I will be bringing my 9 year old daughter with me for her very first cruise!

 

This is a momentous occasion in our cruise loving household. For years the poor girl (for purposes of the review, I’ll be referring to her as “Gen Z” or “Mini Me”) has been left home to be spoiled by Nana and Papa as Jeremy and I sailed off into the sunset and had been asking “when will I get to go on the ships with the big X  too???”  

 

We take a mommy-daughter trip each year and I decided that for this year’s trip she’s finally at an age where she’s ready to be introduced to mom and stepdad’s addiction.

 

At this point I want to take a quick sidebar:  I know the subject of children on Celebrity ships can be a touchy one on the boards.  I’d like to respectfully request at the outset that others refrain from “keyboard parenting” and using this as a forum to debate the issue.  

 

After 9 years together (almost 10 if you count the 9 months plus 10 long extra days  of continuous foot swelling and morning sickness…lovely times those were…), I know my daughter very well and have a very good sense of what experiences are and aren’t a good fit for her.  As noted above, I’m also very familiar with Celebrity’s ships and what they do and don’t offer in the way of kid-friendly diversion.  That being said, I’m also fully aware that one of the joys of parenthood is that your kids will on occasion prove you quite wrong.  Hence the choice to make this trial run on a short 4 night cruise. Worst case if it turns out she’s bored and miserable the whole time, we won’t be any worse off than the time when she had to suffer through a long weekend family wedding in Reno.

 

As a frequent Celebrity cruiser I’ve also had my fair share experiences with the good, bad and ugly of sailing with other people’s children onboard (and honestly I’ve witnessed more poor behavior from overserved and/or entailed adults than I have from the kids).  Rest assured I’ve raised Gen Z far better than to run wild through the ship doing cannon balls in the pool and screaming in the restaurants (and in the unlikely event she were to exhibit such behavior it would earn her the remainder of her day spent in the cabin with no tv real quick). In fact if she gets upset in a restaurant at all it would probably be because her calamari was chewy or her filet mignon was over done and really who among us wouldn’t be put out under those circumstances? 

 

Also, an important disclaimer for those following who are considering Celebrity with kids:  Our experience may vary from yours.  We all know every kid is different.  As I’m sure you’ve noticed Celebrity doesn’t offer most of the kid bells and whistles that other lines do.  There is a kids club and some family activities (which other cruisers with kids onboard I’ve asked over the years seemed to give good reviews).  But there are no water slides, go carts, carousels, roller coasters, laser tag arenas, etc.  If your child needs that level of stimulation to enjoy vacation, Celebrity is probably not the best fit.  

 

Full disclosure: Gen Z has a sensory condition and many of the things other lines offer for kids (e.g., bright/flashing lights and loud music everywhere, character parades/meals with people in huge masks and confetti falling from the ceiling, hundreds of other running screaming children) would be stimulus overload for her.

 

Our family vacations and mommy-daughter trips tend to trend more laidback and upscale. We typically stay at modern, 5-star resorts that are kid friendly but NOT kid focused. She also doesn’t need much in the way of activities and loves to spend an afternoon just working a puzzle, playing cards or coloring together on a veranda or by a pool in the sunshine.  

 

As you’ll probably also see while following along, Gen Z very much is a Mini Me.  She’s on a first name basis with most of the sales associates at our local Nordstrom and Saks (wait till you guys see the dress and shoes that SHE picked for evening chic night!) Last year for her birthday she wanted to skip having a party with her class at the children’s museum and asked to check into the Four Seasons or the Ritz for the weekend instead.  While like every kid she’ll devour a plate of chicken fingers and fries, her favorite appetizer is escargot and she loves going to the Caribbean because “the grilled fish and ceviche are sooo much better there”. 

 

Anyway, I think that sets enough context on our travel party.  Pics of the soon to be most fun ladies on the Millennium below!

 

Next post I’ll share a little bit more about the cruise itinerary and our plans while ashore and onboard.

 

As always, please feel free to jump in to ask questions and let me know if there’s anything in particular that you’d like photos of and/or reports on.  Posting on this trip will likely be a bit slower and in fits and starts as I’ll be spending my days with the ladies and doing most of my writing with a glass of wine in my living room (omg I’m going to have a stateroom with a LIVING ROOM!) or on the veranda after Gen Z goes to bed.

 

Looking forward to taking everyone along on another cruise!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[NCHPcruiser]

Looking forward to another of your great reviews.  Your daughter is a cutie and hopefully she will love cruising as much as you do!  I’m betting she will.    This thread will help tide me over until our cruise in less than three weeks!  

Edited February 26, 2022 by NCHPcruiser
Addition

[KyleDefends]

Looking forward to following along.  Have a blast!

[GenerationX]

14 minutes ago, NCHPcruiser said:

Looking forward to another of your great reviews.  Your daughter is a cutie and hopefully she will love cruising as much as you do!  I’m betting she will.    This thread will help tide me over until our cruise in less than three weeks!  

Thank you!  I hope the next few weeks fly by for you! To me the final countdown to cruise time seems to drag on the worst.  Remind me, which cruise are you doing?

[Jim_Iain]

Hope you have a wonderful cruise.   Looks like you have already gotten into the cruise mood.   Hmmm.. I wonder whether your daughter got her fashion sense from you or vice versa.   She definitely has those model poses down.

[Gaynors]

Congratulations on yet another cruise and bringing your daughter.  It sounds like she will love it!!

Glad to hear you're not listening to all those negative people about kids and celebrity.  You know your child best.

We started sailing on celebrity with our kids when they were very young and they always loved it.  If you ask them now they'll say celebrity is their favorite cruise line, and they've been on a variety of different lines.

 

Have a great trip!

[GenerationX]

1 hour ago, Jim_Iain said:

Hope you have a wonderful cruise.   Looks like you have already gotten into the cruise mood.   Hmmm.. I wonder whether your daughter got her fashion sense from you or vice versa.   She definitely has those model poses down.

Thank you! I think we very much inspire each other’s fashion sense.  She’s quite a harsh little style critic.  In fact, the first full sentence she ever spoke was “No, not those shoes!”  True story.

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

Your daughter sounds like a good fit for Celebrity.  Hope you have a wonderful cruise and that this thread does not get hijacked like your last one.

 

[jcpc]

Kudos to you for going on another cruise.  I know you will have a blast.  Your daughter definitely looks like your mini-me.  She's a cutie, for sure.

 

Charla, I'm wondering if I could be so bold as to ask you to do me a personal favor.  There is a crew member currently onboard Millennium who I have grown very close to over the years.  She, sadly, is from Ukraine.  I have been in touch with her via personal messenger since the war in Ukraine started.  She is heartbroken, to say the least.  My ask is a simple one -- only involving a great, big tight hug.  I'd rather not give her personal information on a public message board.  Would you be able to reach out to me via my email address of  jconlon04 at yahoo.com.  I will then elaborate the request to you.  Thank you so much for considering this request.

[GenerationX]

Our ports for this cruise will be Key West (like actually…I kept waiting for Celebrity to change that one like it had on so many other itineraries, but never happened) and Nassau.

 

We’ve all been to Key West countless times so will likely stay onboard other than maybe a quick run to the spice shop to stock up for the coming grilling season and a stop to get Gen Z some conch fritters…But that’s ONLY if we don’t have to go through a gauntlet of cruise protestors to get there.  (I’ve actually seen YouTube videos of people on the island protesting as the few ships that are visiting come in.)

 

For Nassau, planning our day was a bit of a fiasco.  I usually don’t get off the ship there either, but Mini Me has never been.  I thought in honor of her first trip there I would splurge a little and look into trying Celebrity’s Private Journeys program where they market that for a (not cheap) price, a consultant puts together a private personalized excursion just for your travel party.  I filled out the inquiry form on the website a few weeks before the cruise (indicating we were looking for something with maybe an animal experience, sight seeing, a good local food lunch and beach time) and got a pop up saying my inquiry was received and a celebrity rep would be reaching out to me soon.  I never heard a peep from Celebrity.

 

When we got to 10 days out from the cruise still with radio silence, I decided to go ahead and just use some of our OBC to book the ship’s Pearl Island excursion.  2 days later I got an email saying that excursion was canceled and I had been refunded.  Grrr!

 

Finally, Red helped me do some research and I decided to independently book Cami and I day passes to the Baha Mar resort and water park and reserve us a VIP cabana there for the day.  Based on what I’ve heard, I’ve probably paid about the same amount for that as I would have for Celebrity’s private journey program.  Oh well Celebrity, someone else got my money, that’s what happens when you don’t check/respond to your email.

 

We’ll also be flying in a day before the cruise and staying at the Hilton Ft. Lauderdale Marina and staying for a day after the cruise in Dania Beach at the Hyatt Place Airport & Cruise Port (where I stayed pre-cruise last month on Edge).  Depending on how exhausted Gen Z is from our cruising adventures, that day we may go check out the Museum of Science and Discovery.

 

As far as specialty dinning, the first night onboard we’re taking advantage of the first night booking discount that was offered in the cruise planner and having dinner at Tuscan Grille (calamari, charcuterie and steak? My child is going to want to eat there every night).  Then night 2 I’m introducing Mini Me to Le Petit Chef.  At some point we’ll also all go to Sushi on 5 for lunch so that Red and I can introduce Gen Z to our much loved pork ramen.  Other than that, we’ll be taking our meals in Luminae or room service.

 

While I have no special dietary needs, Mini Me has a moderate nut allergy (direct consumption/contact triggered, mild swelling and rash reaction, fortunately never anaphylaxis), so I’ll be paying close attention to and will report back on how well Celebrity handles accommodations for her.

 

Well, I guess I better get back to making a dent in my pre-cruise to-do list.  Our flight out on Wednesday is quite early and Monday and Tuesday at work will be hectic since I’ll be out the rest of the week (and I’ll be getting in the office late on Tuesday due to morning pre-cruise COVID test appointments), so I really only have this weekend to get us ready.

 

Next post: all about my first successful move up bid ever.

 

Less than 5 days to go till all aboard!

 

 

 

 

[raudacruise]

Oh boy! Another treat! Woo hoo! 🍸

 

I’ll be very interested in what you think of your Celebrity Suite. (Got a peek at one years ago before the balcony was added.) I’ll be in a CS on Millie this December for the Panama Canal, Christmas and New Year. Think the huge windows will provide a fabulous view. And lots of sunshine. Skinny but tolerable balcony.

 

In the meantime I have my very first BTB coming up next week on Silhouette. And I have a Globe Dress! 😎

 

BTW seems to me your daughter is a perfect fit for Celebrity.

[GenerationX]

8 minutes ago, jcpc said:

Kudos to you for going on another cruise.  I know you will have a blast.  Your daughter definitely looks like your mini-me.  She's a cutie, for sure.

 

Charla, I'm wondering if I could be so bold as to ask you to do me a personal favor.  There is a crew member currently onboard Millennium who I have grown very close to over the years.  She, sadly, is from Ukraine.  I have been in touch with her via personal messenger since the war in Ukraine started.  She is heartbroken, to say the least.  My ask is a simple one -- only involving a great, big tight hug.  I'd rather not give her personal information on a public message board.  Would you be able to reach out to me via my email address of  jconlon04 at yahoo.com.  I will then elaborate the request to you.  Thank you so much for considering this request.

Yes I would be very happy and honored to assist. The situation in Ukraine is so sad and it seems like there is so little that we can do to help from the US.  You also give me an idea. We have an immigration attorney at our firm who is volunteering his time to answer legal questions for potential Ukrainian refugees to the US.  Perhaps I’ll see if I can get a few of his business cards before I leave to give to your friend and other crew members from Ukraine who may have friends/family that need advice. 
 

If there’s anything else you think she might like/need that I could bring along to give her I’m happy to do that as well.
 

I will email you shortly for details.

[jcpc]

12 minutes ago, GenerationX said:

Yes I would be very happy and honored to assist. The situation in Ukraine is so sad and it seems like there is so little that we can do to help from the US.  You also give me an idea. We have an immigration attorney at our firm who is volunteering his time to answer legal questions for potential Ukrainian refugees to the US.  Perhaps I’ll see if I can get a few of his business cards before I leave to give to your friend and other crew members from Ukraine who may have friends/family that need advice. 
 

If there’s anything else you think she might like/need that I could bring along to give her I’m happy to do that as well.
 

I will email you shortly for details.

Thank you so very much for your kindness.  I am beside myself as I don't know what to do to help her.  I know she's struggling with not being home with her family (although as she is on the ship at least I know she is safe from harm).  It's a very, very sad situation.

[NCHPcruiser]

I should have mentioned in my previous post that our favorite cabin has been the Celebrity Suite on the Millennium.   The space is great and unlike CS’s on S class ships there is an actual dining table which we made good use of.    It was definitely dated when we sailed in the CS on Millennium but from the YouTube video I just watched  it looks great now!   I hope you and your daughter love it!  She is going to be spoiled!    

 

I’ll also mention a thread I started on the RCCL forum asking for recommendations as to which ship/suite’s we should book when we take our granddaughter (who we are raising) on her first cruise.   I had assumed RC would be a better fit and was very surprised when overwhelmingly we were told to stick with Celebrity.   That will not be a problem to us!  

 

We are in a CS on our Apex cruise leaving FL March 19 and I can’t wait!  

[GenerationX]

Quick Update:

 

Red spoke to the shoreside concierge last night  and was told that our sailing is currently only booked at 22% of capacity!!!! 
 

Judging by the number of open cabins showing on the Celebrity site, that looks like it could be pretty close to accurate.  If that number holds, this will be the emptiest ship I’ve ever sailed on. My first post-shutdown cruise was at about 40% I think.

 

If you live in the south Florida area (or have the funds or miles to book some last minute airfare), you should take a long weekend and come on out and sail with Red and GenX on Thursday!  

 

Sky suites are still available and oceanviews and basic verandas will set you back less than $2K!

 

If you bring your daughter/granddaughter/niece age 7-10 with you so that Gen Z gets to make a friend, I’ll personally further sweeten the deal and buy your party a specialty dinner and invite you to Red and I’s night 3 champagne happy hour party in my Celebrity Suite!*

 

The Millennium crew have families to feed, let’s cruise y’all! 

 

*For a limited time. Quantities limited. Offer valid while supplies last.

[LGW59]

7 minutes ago, GenerationX said:

Quick Update:

 

Red spoke to the shoreside concierge last night  and was told that our sailing is currently only booked at 22% of capacity!!!! 
 

Judging by the number of open cabins showing on the Celebrity site, that looks like it could be pretty close to accurate.  If that number holds, this will be the emptiest ship I’ve ever sailed on. My first post-shutdown cruise was at about 40% I think.

 

If you live in the south Florida area (or have the funds or miles to book some last minute airfare), you should take a long weekend and come on out and sail with Red and GenX on Thursday!  

 

Sky suites are still available and oceanviews and basic verandas will set you back less than $2K!

 

If you bring your daughter/granddaughter/niece age 7-10 with you so that Gen Z gets to make a friend, I’ll personally further sweeten the deal and buy your party a specialty dinner and invite you to Red and I’s night 3 champagne happy hour party in my Celebrity Suite!*

 

The Millennium crew have families to feed, let’s cruise y’all! 

 

*For a limited time. Quantities limited. Offer valid while supplies last.

You would be a lot of fun to travel with!

[Cruise a holic]

following.  We will be on Reflection in two weeks!

[parrothead33]

Looking forward to hearing all about your latest adventure and I think your daughter will have the time of her life!

Cheers.

[ChrisNY2]

Wow - really look at 22%! I'll be on the sailing too - my first Celebrity Cruise and my first solo cruise! Can't wait - and what an interesting experience it will be with so few guests!

[jcpc]

On 2/26/2022 at 1:43 PM, GenerationX said:

I will email you shortly for details.

Hi Charla,

 

If you've sent me an email can you please re-send it as I have not received it (I checked Junk mail too!).  Again, email address is:  jconlon04 at yahoo.com

 

If you're just busy and haven't gotten around to it -- no problem!!!  

 

Thanks so much.

 

Janice

[GenerationX]

14 hours ago, jcpc said:

Hi Charla,

 

If you've sent me an email can you please re-send it as I have not received it (I checked Junk mail too!).  Again, email address is:  jconlon04 at yahoo.com

 

If you're just busy and haven't gotten around to it -- no problem!!!  

 

Thanks so much.

 

Janice

Hi Janice, thanks for letting I just re-sent the email. I think I may have typed your address wrong the last time.  Please let me know if you don’t receive it.

[GenerationX]

A report on check in and move up:

 

I originally booked this cruise in one of the hump sky suites with the larger balcony and completed our check in a couple of weeks ago in the Celebrity app.  

 

Mini Me has been fully vaccinated since last year, so Celebrity’s protocols for her are the same as for a vaccinated adult and the check in process went pretty much identical for her as for me.  I think I saw a post at one point saying that the app wouldn’t allow you to enter vaccination date information or upload vaccine card photos for children under 12, but I had no problem doing so.

 

After we were all checked in, I went on the Celebrity website and requested luggage tags be mailed to me.  While Red got hers shortly after requesting, mine never arrived (which is odd because I received them promptly for my Edge and Equinox cruises).  

 

I suppose it was a moot point through because on 2/18, I decided to take a chance and submit a move up bid to a Celebrity suite.  The minimum bid was $600 and I think the listed price difference between a sky suite and celebrity suite at that point was about $1400. I bid just above the minimum at $660.  Just a heads up: when you submit a move up bid, the minimum bid displayed and slider with the amount you bid are an amount per person.  So, for my cruise, the site showed the minimum as $300 and I moved the slider to $330.  If you’re sailing solo, the same still applies and you are still bidding double the amount shown.

 

On 2/23, I got an email saying that my bid had been accepted and my card had been charged!  The next day I received two emails, one with an updated final invoice for the cruise (showing zero balance due) with our new cabin number assignment and another with new vacation documents that had our new luggage tags to print out.

 

Red was already booked in a CS for this cruise and submitted a minimum move up bid to a royal suite.  As of this post she hasn’t received a reply, but move ups can come in anytime up to a couple days before boarding day, so we’ll see what happens today.

 

I looked online this morning and it appears that there is now only one sky suite still available on our cruise, so celebrity must have honored quite a few suite move up bids.  Seems like almost all of those 22% of capacity passengers will be in the Retreat!   I may look at the Blu dinner  menus for nights three and four to avoid crowds in Luminae. 

 

Congratulations to whoever just got bumped up to our premium sky suite!

 

[GenerationX]

20 hours ago, ChrisNY2 said:

Wow - really look at 22%! I'll be on the sailing too - my first Celebrity Cruise and my first solo cruise! Can't wait - and what an interesting experience it will be with so few guests!

Congratulations on your first solo cruise and first Celebrity sailing!  If you see us onboard please feel free to come say hi!  I’ve sailed solo on Celebrity several times and found it to be a wonderful experience. I agree it’s going to be very interesting having so few fellow passengers.  Looking forward to sailing with you!

[ChrisNY2]

5 hours ago, GenerationX said:

Congratulations on your first solo cruise and first Celebrity sailing!  If you see us onboard please feel free to come say hi!  I’ve sailed solo on Celebrity several times and found it to be a wonderful experience. I agree it’s going to be very interesting having so few fellow passengers.  Looking forward to sailing with you!

 

Thanks so much - and looking forward to sailing with you as well!! -Chris

[crusinthrough]

Congratulations on your Move Up bid.  Celebrity ships doesn't have slides and rock climbing walls but how many times can you do those things in a week?  I saw a YouTube video that talked about Celebrity's Camp at Sea. The video indicated the program focused on arts and crafts and STEM related activities.  Either are great alternatives to slides and rollercoasters.  You daughter will have a great time and parent/child trips create life long memories.  Enjoy your trip!