April 9 - Millennium Review - Parts IX to XII: Everything Else

[CaribbeanBound]

Part IX - Tipping

The service personnel on Celebrity receive meager wages and rely on your tips for income. While Celebrity says it is customary to offer gratuities to the ship's personnel who service you on the voyage, it really is expected, and it's something you should figure into your cruise budget. I say it's expected, but the ship's personnel work long hours to service you and the other passengers. They genuinely do everything they can to service your needs. We generally tipped better than the Celebrity guidelines, which are as follows for a party of four on an 7-day cruise: Waiter $98, Waiter's Assistant $56, Stateroom Attendant $98, Assistant Maitre'd $21, Assistant Chief Housekeeper $21, and additional tips for room service, bartenders (even though a 15% gratuity is already included in all bar drinks) the Sommelier, Spa Personnel (note that they only tack on a 10% service charge) and any other personnel who you wish to tip. Early in the voyage, Celebrity gives you the option of charging all of the tips to your cruise account.

 

Part X - Captain's Club

If you have taken a previous voyage and are not a member of the Captain's Club, sign up. It's free. Benefits include a CC express line at Embarkation, priority Disembarkation, some small cabin welcome gifts, casino and spa discounts, cocktail parties, free entrance into the wine-tasting seminar, and a one cabin upgrade. Some exclusions apply.

 

Part XI - Disembarkation and Customs

A. Disembarkation

Breakfast was served in the Metropolitan Restaurant and Ocean Cafe. Disembarkation was going smoothly (though running 20-minutes behind schedule) until about 9:00am when an announcement was made releasing "all colors", wherein a free-for-all for the exit and major gridlock ensued. Earlier in the week everyone completed surveys which were used to prioritize passengers. Clearly those folks needing to catch plane and train connections or who were on escorted tours in Ft. Lauderdale had highest priority. Select and Elite members had good priority as well. Other Captain's Club members had priority within their color group. Color-coded Disembarkation luggage tags were issued to all cabins, and passengers were instructed to place the tags on their luggage, and tear off the stubs for bag retrieval. Disembarkation was scheduled to begin at 8:20 am. All passengers were instructed to sit in specific public areas until their group color was called. Once off the ship, you clocked out with your sea pass one last time, showed your ID to customs personnel, collected your bags from the terminal, declared your purchases and exited the terminal. Bags were arranged by color for easy retrieval in the terminal.

 

B. Customs

According to Celebrity, US citizens traveling to the Bahamas and Caribbean are permitted $800 worth of Duty Free goods including 1 liter of alcohol per person. In the Virgin Islands (i.e. St. Thomas), travelers are allowed an additional $400 Duty Free exemption including 4 liters of alcohol and 4 cartons of cigarettes per person. Since we traveled to both sets of islands on this cruise, we were permitted to take advantage of both allowances. All you needed to do was to declare the total value. Anything greater had to be itemized (declared) and a duty paid.

 

Part XII - Praises, Gripes and Your Questions

A. Praises

Millennium's personnel are very attentive, friendly and helpful. The food was very good to outstanding. The ship is very well laid out, clean and in good shape. The terminal's personnel are also very nice and helpful. The Captain's Club events were top notch. Of note, we have been to events on other ships were you were basically limited to a few selected drinks. The bars at the Millennium Captain's Club cocktail parties were open wide --- there wasn't a drink we couldn't order.

 

B. Gripes

We certainly didn't have much to gripe about, although if you got any group of folks together, similar themes emerged: 1. the drink prices were too high. (The "drink of the day" was $4.95. All other drinks were higher). Folks said they would drink more if the prices were more reasonable. The bar waiters would also make more in tips if they could sell more drinks. 2. The photos were very professional and creative. The price of the photos was outrageous. I really don't understand the mentality of taking tons of pictures of passengers and then expecting us to pay a mint for each. We won't. 3. While the entertainers (dancers, singers, performers) were very good, the productions rank as our least favorite of any Celebrity cruise we have been on. (This is in stark contrast to the Zenith Bermuda run we were on last October wherein the shows were all fantastic --- the best we have ever seen on any ship). 4. The Wine Auctioneer, and host of the Captain's Club Wine Seminar, was not very well prepared for the morning seminar. A total of six of us arrived on time, yet he made us wait 10 more minutes for late arrivals which never came. He served champagne, which one passenger drank. Had he been better prepared, and served wine instead of champagne, the event could have been a hit.

 

C. Your questions

Post them here. Either I or another helpful cruiser will answer them.

 

Complete review can be seen on one page at: http://www.lavasurfer.com/info/millennium.html

 

 

[Andy]

Hi Caribbean !

 

Thanks again for the awesome review. It is obvious you put a great deal of effort into this, and it is very much appreciated !

[mountainmare]

Thank you for your review. I liked the format because we are taking our first X cruise on the Millennium in October to the Med. I was able to go through and read those parts that answered my specific questions.

[mcjigs]

Thanks for the great reviews (I've read the others also). We are going on our first X cruise in Dec on Millennium and I've really enjoyed the inside scoop from your postings. :) thanks, ~m~

[GoBears7475]

Excellent information - I've copied many bits down as reminders for our Med cruise on the Millie in August.

[STXCruisers]

:) :) Wow! Thanks for the excellent travelogue. I almost feel like I went on that cruise. We are booked on the Millie in March and I find your postings very informative. I'm printing them and including them in our travel folder for this cruise.

[motherchic]

Excellent review. Thank you very much for taking so much of your time to write such a thourough review.

I have sailed on the M class ships many times and always enjoy reading a good review both postive and negative.

We arent cruising until Feb. but your review made me very excited.

Many thanks

Nadine