Millennium in Ketchikan

[RJ2002]

Millennium leaving Ketchikan on Mother’s Day. 

[cruisestitch]

So much better than August 2013, when Ketchikan became Ketch-again as we woke over and over to the same view with the ship unable to leave.  A trip I will never forget…..

[mahdnc]

Nice photo!

[Spurs Fans]

Takes me back 23 years when my wife and I were booked on Millennium’s inaugural cruise - a 14 day Baltic cruise out of Amsterdam.  Cruise was cancelled because the ship had not been finished.  Got our money back plus a free cruise the next year which we took on Infinity to Alaska. 

[mahdnc]

19 minutes ago, Spurs Fans said:

Takes me back 23 years when my wife and I were booked on Millennium’s inaugural cruise - a 14 day Baltic cruise out of Amsterdam.  Cruise was cancelled because the ship had not been finished.  Got our money back plus a free cruise the next year which we took on Infinity to Alaska. 

 

Although I was not on the sailing, I do remember reading about the delay in her inaugural voyage in this forum.  Of course there were more problems in store later for Millennium and her next two sisters with the Azipod thrust bearings.

 

You probably remember when Millennium first came out, her hull was painted blue with gold highlights and the words GAS TURBINE painted in red near the stern (like she was a sports car).  To me the blue hull was ok but I didn't care for the garish GAS TURBINE words.  But I guess Celebrity decided it didn't either one, so Millennium and her sisters were soon repainted in the classic blue and white livery like Century class and Horizon class.  And now we are back to blue.

 

Infinity in her original blue livery, Feb 2002, St. Croix USVI

 

 

Edited May 15, 2023 by mahdnc

[Spurs Fans]

37 minutes ago, mahdnc said:

 

Although I was not on the sailing, I do remember reading about the delay in her inaugural voyage in this forum.  Of course there were more problems in store later for Millennium and her next two sisters with the Azipod thrust bearings.

 

You probably remember when Millennium first came out, her hull was painted blue with the words GAS TURBINES painted in red near the stern.

 

Infinity in her original blue livery, Feb 2002, St. Croix USVI

 

 

I do remember that.  One interesting side note is that the cancellation and subsequent replanned 2.5 weeks on our first trip to Europe made us fall in love with Amsterdam.  I believe we have visited 15 times over those 23 years and have good friends we’ve met there. We’ve become like family to two sets of friends - they’ve been in our house here in Texas and us in theirs.  Funny how things work out. 

[Fly and Sail]

She was docked right behind us (I believe on Berth 2), and nice to see her again so soon after I got off Millennium on May 6 in San Pedro.

[Sigyn]

On 5/14/2023 at 7:13 PM, cruisestitch said:

So much better than August 2013, when Ketchikan became Ketch-again as we woke over and over to the same view with the ship unable to leave.  A trip I will never forget…..

what happened???

[mahdnc]

36 minutes ago, njsmom said:

what happened???

Forget that, I want to know why you keep changing avatars. I was just getting used to the penguin and now it's a soup can? Are we talking about multiple personalities here?

[russianmom]

Nice to see her. Was on her in November and March out of San Juan and booked for Bali in January!

[Mauidiver]

My avatar is of her sister ship, Infinity in Haines in August 2002 after we hit a storm and couldn’t get into Skagway. Looking forward to sailing on Millennium and actually seeing Skagway!

[Tinknock50]

On 5/14/2023 at 6:45 PM, mahdnc said:

 

Although I was not on the sailing, I do remember reading about the delay in her inaugural voyage in this forum.  Of course there were more problems in store later for Millennium and her next two sisters with the Azipod thrust bearings.

 

You probably remember when Millennium first came out, her hull was painted blue with gold highlights and the words GAS TURBINE painted in red near the stern (like she was a sports car).  To me the blue hull was ok but I didn't care for the garish GAS TURBINE words.  But I guess Celebrity decided it didn't either one, so Millennium and her sisters were soon repainted in the classic blue and white livery like Century class and Horizon class.  And now we are back to blue.

 

Infinity in her original blue livery, Feb 2002, St. Croix USVI

 

 

I really did like the gold though. Sorry to se that go but maybe that color was hard to keep looking good.

[cruisestitch]

6 hours ago, njsmom said:

what happened???

On the cruise prior to ours, an azipod broke.  Engineers from France flew in to “Fix” it.  Eventually the ship left Seward and came to Vancouver where we boarded. Our first stop was icy Strait point. and there was no problem. Then Ketchikan. About an hour out of that Port there was a  large “boom” and the ship came to a halt.  The captain came on the PA system and said we were returning to Ketchikan but not to worry because the French engineers were still on board and we would be on our way again shortly. The next day, we got the same announcement. Ketchikan became “ketch-again”.  
 

Then things really went South, so to speak. It was determined that the Azipod could not be fixed.  The only place available for a dry dock was the Bahamas. All passengers and most of the crew had to leave the ship. 
 

they began to collect information from each of us as to what our onward plans were—some people were headed home after the cruise, some were going on land extensions, some had independent plans.  We all put our information on yellow sticky notes which were arranged around the walls of one of the conference rooms, where phones and computers were set up so people could rearrange hotels and flights.

 

Then a crew of Gold-jacketed personnel from Miami arrived. They were called the “go team”.  The first thing they did was throw all the sticky notes away and start over.

 

The cruise should have ended in Seward, with most people going on from there to Anchorage and flights home.  But we were told that it would be impossible for that to happen because there were no hotel rooms available in Anchorage.    Since we were in Ketchikan and our cellphones worked, it was pretty easy to find out that this was a lie. There were plenty of hotel rooms available. 
 

All available commercial flights from Ketchikan quickly sold out, And then we learned that several chartered airplanes would come to Ketchikan for us. However, since the “go team” didn’t really know where we were all going, manifests began to be posted that had some people who were on the land extensions being flown to Vancouver and people who had requested to go to Vancouver would be flown to Anchorage.  

 

It was a complete mess.  Parties traveling together were put on different flights. 
 

Passengers began lining up at Guest Relations asking to be put on different flights. The “go team” lost patience and made an announcement that no manifest could be changed. You had to go on the flight you were scheduled for.
 

One of the most absurd consequences was that a mother was scheduled to go on one flight and her five-year-old child on a different flight. As you can imagine, she went ballistic.  She reached over the Guest relations desk, grabbed one of the go team members by his gold lapels, and forcefully  explained why that WOULD NOT HAPPEN.

 

The line to speak it to “go team” members reached up the stairs, around deck four and up the stairs to deck five. As the hours dragged on, people in line began to get pushy and it seemed like a fight would break out.

 

Someone actually called 911 in Ketchikan and the local sheriff showed up and told the crew that if they didn’t get a handle on the situation, they would seize the ship!!!!!

As Ketchikan once again became   Ketch-again, buses finally began arriving to take passengers to the ferry to go to the airport.  But not to the terminal, but to an unheated building where we waited in line until the wee hours of the morning for the chartered planes, long-delayed by rain, to come get us and take us wherever.  In my case, Vancouver.   There was no sign of anyone from the “go team” or anyone else to tell us what was going on.  No water, no restrooms, no place to sit down. We were cranky and anxious, as you might imagine.
 

I had a voucher for a lovely hotel in Vancouver, the only bright spot in the mess, although I didn’t reach it until 4 AM. And a voucher for a lovely hotel in Vancouver, the only bright spot in the mess, although I didn’t reach it until 4 AM, and a Voucher for a cab to the airport.  My travel agent had re-arranged my flights and Celebrity promised to pay the change fee, which they eventually did.

We all got most of the cost of the cruise refunded, and an FCC for that amount again.

 

Celebrity had to cancel several upcoming cruises while the ship hobbled its way down to the Panama Canal, over to the Bahamas and back again to Alaska to finish the season.
 

 

 

 

 

[mahdnc]

2 hours ago, cruisestitch said:

On the cruise prior to ours, an azipod broke.  Engineers from France flew in to “Fix” it.  Eventually the ship left Seward and came to Vancouver where we boarded. Our first stop was icy Strait point. and there was no problem. Then Ketchikan. About an hour out of that Port there was a  large “boom” and the ship came to a halt.  The captain came on the PA system and said we were returning to Ketchikan but not to worry because the French engineers were still on board and we would be on our way again shortly. The next day, we got the same announcement. Ketchikan became “ketch-again”.  
 

Then things really went South, so to speak. It was determined that the Azipod could not be fixed.  The only place available for a dry dock was the Bahamas. All passengers and most of the crew had to leave the ship. 
 

they began to collect information from each of us as to what our onward plans were—some people were headed home after the cruise, some were going on land extensions, some had independent plans.  We all put our information on yellow sticky notes which were arranged around the walls of one of the conference rooms, where phones and computers were set up so people could rearrange hotels and flights.

 

Then a crew of Gold-jacketed personnel from Miami arrived. They were called the “go team”.  The first thing they did was throw all the sticky notes away and start over.

 

The cruise should have ended in Seward, with most people going on from there to Anchorage and flights home.  But we were told that it would be impossible for that to happen because there were no hotel rooms available in Anchorage.    Since we were in Ketchikan and our cellphones worked, it was pretty easy to find out that this was a lie. There were plenty of hotel rooms available. 
 

All available commercial flights from Ketchikan quickly sold out, And then we learned that several chartered airplanes would come to Ketchikan for us. However, since the “go team” didn’t really know where we were all going, manifests began to be posted that had some people who were on the land extensions being flown to Vancouver and people who had requested to go to Vancouver would be flown to Anchorage.  

 

It was a complete mess.  Parties traveling together were put on different flights. 
 

Passengers began lining up at Guest Relations asking to be put on different flights. The “go team” lost patience and made an announcement that no manifest could be changed. You had to go on the flight you were scheduled for.
 

One of the most absurd consequences was that a mother was scheduled to go on one flight and her five-year-old child on a different flight. As you can imagine, she went ballistic.  She reached over the Guest relations desk, grabbed one of the go team members by his gold lapels, and forcefully  explained why that WOULD NOT HAPPEN.

 

The line to speak it to “go team” members reached up the stairs, around deck four and up the stairs to deck five. As the hours dragged on, people in line began to get pushy and it seemed like a fight would break out.

 

Someone actually called 911 in Ketchikan and the local sheriff showed up and told the crew that if they didn’t get a handle on the situation, they would seize the ship!!!!!

As Ketchikan once again became   Ketch-again, buses finally began arriving to take passengers to the ferry to go to the airport.  But not to the terminal, but to an unheated building where we waited in line until the wee hours of the morning for the chartered planes, long-delayed by rain, to come get us and take us wherever.  In my case, Vancouver.   There was no sign of anyone from the “go team” or anyone else to tell us what was going on.  No water, no restrooms, no place to sit down. We were cranky and anxious, as you might imagine.
 

I had a voucher for a lovely hotel in Vancouver, the only bright spot in the mess, although I didn’t reach it until 4 AM. And a voucher for a lovely hotel in Vancouver, the only bright spot in the mess, although I didn’t reach it until 4 AM, and a Voucher for a cab to the airport.  My travel agent had re-arranged my flights and Celebrity promised to pay the change fee, which they eventually did.

We all got most of the cost of the cruise refunded, and an FCC for that amount again.

 

Celebrity had to cancel several upcoming cruises while the ship hobbled its way down to the Panama Canal, over to the Bahamas and back again to Alaska to finish the season.
 

 

 

 

 

 

That sounded like quite the adventure. Those azipods, actually I think they were Mermaid pods (different manufacturer than azipod), caused Celebrity a lot of nightmares on Millennium, Infinity and Summit.

 

The bulk of the problems happened immediately after the three ships were inaugurated and I think they were finally fixed around 2008 although your sailing was an outlier.

 

Infinity suffered more pod failures than any other ship--about a dozen times over 5-6 years (I used to track all the failures on a spreadsheet). Some members on this board were understandably afraid of booking a cruise on her because when a pod failed, it was not pretty with yours being a good example. 

 

Our first cruise on Millennium was on a Mediterranean sailing in June 2007 and I was a bit nervous because she suffered two separate pod failures 12 months prior which required emergency drydocking. Fortunately our sailing went without a hitch but the during the sailing after ours, Millennium's propeller struck a rock while calling on Villefranche which screwed up that sailing and then she was taken out of service for emergency drydock to be repaired which forced more sailing cancellations. 

 

Those were the days. 

 

Edited May 16, 2023 by mahdnc

[Sigyn]

22 hours ago, mahdnc said:

Forget that, I want to know why you keep changing avatars. I was just getting used to the penguin and now it's a soup can? Are we talking about multiple personalities here?

LOL. I dunno, I can't figure out what I like. 

 

edited: I changed it to my cat's picture. well, one of them. I have several cats. 

Edited May 17, 2023 by njsmom

[Sigyn]

15 hours ago, cruisestitch said:

On the cruise prior to ours, an azipod broke.  Engineers from France flew in to “Fix” it.  Eventually the ship left Seward and came to Vancouver where we boarded. Our first stop was icy Strait point. and there was no problem. Then Ketchikan. About an hour out of that Port there was a  large “boom” and the ship came to a halt.  The captain came on the PA system and said we were returning to Ketchikan but not to worry because the French engineers were still on board and we would be on our way again shortly. The next day, we got the same announcement. Ketchikan became “ketch-again”.  
 

Then things really went South, so to speak. It was determined that the Azipod could not be fixed.  The only place available for a dry dock was the Bahamas. All passengers and most of the crew had to leave the ship. 
 

they began to collect information from each of us as to what our onward plans were—some people were headed home after the cruise, some were going on land extensions, some had independent plans.  We all put our information on yellow sticky notes which were arranged around the walls of one of the conference rooms, where phones and computers were set up so people could rearrange hotels and flights.

 

Then a crew of Gold-jacketed personnel from Miami arrived. They were called the “go team”.  The first thing they did was throw all the sticky notes away and start over.

 

The cruise should have ended in Seward, with most people going on from there to Anchorage and flights home.  But we were told that it would be impossible for that to happen because there were no hotel rooms available in Anchorage.    Since we were in Ketchikan and our cellphones worked, it was pretty easy to find out that this was a lie. There were plenty of hotel rooms available. 
 

All available commercial flights from Ketchikan quickly sold out, And then we learned that several chartered airplanes would come to Ketchikan for us. However, since the “go team” didn’t really know where we were all going, manifests began to be posted that had some people who were on the land extensions being flown to Vancouver and people who had requested to go to Vancouver would be flown to Anchorage.  

 

It was a complete mess.  Parties traveling together were put on different flights. 
 

Passengers began lining up at Guest Relations asking to be put on different flights. The “go team” lost patience and made an announcement that no manifest could be changed. You had to go on the flight you were scheduled for.
 

One of the most absurd consequences was that a mother was scheduled to go on one flight and her five-year-old child on a different flight. As you can imagine, she went ballistic.  She reached over the Guest relations desk, grabbed one of the go team members by his gold lapels, and forcefully  explained why that WOULD NOT HAPPEN.

 

The line to speak it to “go team” members reached up the stairs, around deck four and up the stairs to deck five. As the hours dragged on, people in line began to get pushy and it seemed like a fight would break out.

 

Someone actually called 911 in Ketchikan and the local sheriff showed up and told the crew that if they didn’t get a handle on the situation, they would seize the ship!!!!!

As Ketchikan once again became   Ketch-again, buses finally began arriving to take passengers to the ferry to go to the airport.  But not to the terminal, but to an unheated building where we waited in line until the wee hours of the morning for the chartered planes, long-delayed by rain, to come get us and take us wherever.  In my case, Vancouver.   There was no sign of anyone from the “go team” or anyone else to tell us what was going on.  No water, no restrooms, no place to sit down. We were cranky and anxious, as you might imagine.
 

I had a voucher for a lovely hotel in Vancouver, the only bright spot in the mess, although I didn’t reach it until 4 AM. And a voucher for a lovely hotel in Vancouver, the only bright spot in the mess, although I didn’t reach it until 4 AM, and a Voucher for a cab to the airport.  My travel agent had re-arranged my flights and Celebrity promised to pay the change fee, which they eventually did.

We all got most of the cost of the cruise refunded, and an FCC for that amount again.

 

Celebrity had to cancel several upcoming cruises while the ship hobbled its way down to the Panama Canal, over to the Bahamas and back again to Alaska to finish the season.
 

 

 

 

 

What a nightmare!!!

[mahdnc]

14 minutes ago, njsmom said:

LOL. I dunno, I can't figure out what I like. 

 

edited: I changed it to my cat's picture. well, one of them. I have several cats. 

 

You are cracking me up.

[Sigyn]

Just now, mahdnc said:

 

You are cracking me up.

I should have just went with the multiple personality angle. I did have a boyfriend back in the day who told me I went through more emotions in five minutes than most people experienced all day. 

[mahdnc]

1 minute ago, njsmom said:

I did have a boyfriend back in the day who told me I went through more emotions in five minutes than most people experienced all day. 

 

Wow.  Did you dump him or marry him?

[Sigyn]

Just now, mahdnc said:

 

Wow.  Did you dump him or marry him?

Dumped him. 

[Sigyn]

For the record, I was 25 years old when that was said to me. I'm 55 now. My emotions have stabilized. Thank god. 

[mahdnc]

2 minutes ago, njsmom said:

Dumped him. 

 

[mahdnc]

Just now, njsmom said:

For the record, I was 25 years old when that was said to me. I'm 55 now. My emotions have stabilized. Thank god. 

 

and you have cats!

[mahdnc]

Congrats on winning the lottery tonight @Spurs Fans

[DaKahuna]

10 minutes ago, njsmom said:

For the record, I was 25 years old when that was said to me. I'm 55 now. My emotions have stabilized. Thank god. 

 

Honestly, I do not know if that is a good thing or a bad thing.  I kind of like keeping folks off guard and on their toes.