Millenium - This is disconcerting....

[caviargal]

here is an extremely positive review of the Mille which says she is in great shape and spotless....

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=423442

 

I think that beauty is in the eyes of beholder and that the truth is somewhere between rust bucket and grande dame:D.

[cabo de hornos]

Y'all must be one steel magnolia!! Just tellin it like it is.

 

Well said.

 

Cabo

[dkjretired]

I think that beauty is in the eyes of beholder and that the truth is somewhere between rust bucket and grande dame:D.

 

My feelings also....

[kaiemiascott2]

She is far from a rust bucket and far from a grande dame. Perhaps right in the lower middle.

 

Everyone who cruises has different expectations. I never expect everything to be perfect, but I certainly do not expect to stay in a stateroom that has dirty carpets with many large stains, a toilet seat that had chips and cracks on it, mold in my shower, the smell of sewage everyday off and on, and toilets who sometimes would not flush. We had 8 other couples cruising with us and we were located next to each other. These couples were experiencing the same conditions in their stateroom, so it was not just me.

 

This was not a cheap cruise and I do not have much respect for Celebrity, who would put their clients on a ship in this condition and still say they are an upper level cruise line.

 

Just maybe if people would stop cruising with them, and they start to feel it in their pocketbooks, they would see to it that there ships are well maintained.

 

Yes, we were told they were going into dry dock in late March, but what about all of the poor folks who have spent their hard earned money on this cruise and have to put up with these conditions.

 

However, I would like to say I enjoyed my trip, liked the excursions, and the food and service was very good. Just maybe some people do not mind conditions that I mentioned above. As far as I am concerned they were unacceptable.

 

Sandy

[Texed]

We have been on Millennium 4 times and a total of 6 cruises. It has been very good each time.

[popsec]

In fact, I have reluctantly booked Celebrity again for next summer on a Baltic cruise. It is on the Constellation which I am hoping is in better shape than the Millennium. It doesn't appear to get as many compliants as other ships. If I could find a comparable itinerary on another cruise line, I would not hesistate to book it. I would not have said this a year or so ago. Oceania has a great Baltic itinerary but we travel with our children ages 10 and 12 and wasn't confident that Oceania is the right choice for families.

 

Unless things drastically improve, I think next year on the Constellation may be our last time with Celebrity. I just get the impression that management doesn't care and there is no plan in place to address some of the serious mantainence issue that need attention.

 

Nancy

 

I think you'll be pleased with the Constellation. We were on her in April and the ship was gorgeous and clean, staff was excellent and it was one of the nicest cruises we'd been on.

[Stelladoro]

Given all these negative comments, I wonder if we were on the Millenium in September, or some other ship:confused: We didn't have a fancy cabin, an inside Mid ship on the Vista deck (#7101). The cabin and bathroom were clean and kept tidy. I didn't notice any stains, not did I trip over any holes in the hallway carpet. The showercurtain had one ring missing and toilet didn't flush once or twice. But that's hardly anything to compain about.

Food and service were great. We were blessed with perfect weather in the Med - not one drop of rain!

This was our first cruise and we were quite pleased to have chosen the Millie. But that's just our opinion.

[Ma Bell]

There were no stains, cracks of any kind or any obvious wear and tear in our cabin on the Sept. 23 cruise. The upholstery on the sofa looked new. The mattress and bedding was new. We both commented on how clean and tidy our cabin was. Just for info, we have been on 28 Celebrity cruises and have sailed all of the M-Class ships beginning when they were new.

[Pisces11]

This is my observation of a lot of these threads. There are those of us pretty new to cruising who are still in wonder that we are lucky enough to take a vacation on these beautiful ships. Then there are the people who have been on multiple cruises and people who are TAs who have been on too many cruises who are extremely critical of everything. They see things that newbies never see. They also act like they have a certain entitlement (I'm not sure from whom). I honestly could not believe that I was on the same ship as a certain TA who seemingly spends his/her life cruising. The ship he/she was describing was one in need of repair and comparable to a cheap hotel. My husband and I saw the ship as a beautiful ship with almost everything perfect. I just didn't get it but now I see that we are all looking at these cruises through different levels of experience. There are those of us also who look at life as a big adventure and wouldn't spend a second obssessing over a scratch on a chair.

[florisdekort]

I have been on Millennium 3 times and can't wait until I sail her again on November 24. She is Celebrity's flagship and truly deserves that title. The service is outstanding. Hotel Director Renato Chizzola and Cruise Director Simon Weir are the best Celebrity has to offer. No ship or hotel that handles 2000+ passengers a week is going to be completely free of wear and tear, but as any Celebrity ship Millennium is kept spotless.

 

From the T-Pool to the Martini Bar, from the Celebrity Theater to the Olympic restaurant... I truly can't think of a better spot to spend one's vacation!

 

Only 34 more nights for me!!!! :D :D :D

 

Best Regards,

Floris

[florisdekort]

There are those of us also who look at life as a big adventure and wouldn't spend a second obssessing over a scratch on a chair.

 

Amen. I am proud to be part of this group :D

[KingMe2]

I recently sailed on Millie in July 1, 2006 for a two week trip around the Mediterranean. I fell in love with the ship. It was beautiful, very clean and the service was absolutely the best I've ever had. I'm surprised that some of you chose to let the negative aspects of the ship ruin your vacation. I know that when I'm on a cruise, I don't worry about little things because I'm on vacation and I want to enjoy it. Most of my time was spent on shores or relaxing by the pool areas. I don't notice little things like holes in the carpet, or cracked toilet seats, etc... it has never happened to me. I can't wait until I sail on Constellation next year. I would definitely sail with Celebrity again and again in the future.

[AnthonyF]

but how do TA's get to travel so much. Senior executives at successful, yes... but seems everyone seems to travel 6-8 weeks a year from these posts.

 

We are discerning travelers and some of the responses are quite condescending. If it is as bad as in the OP we will have a problem, though what is quite silly is that the most important aspects of the Ship (food and service) were wondeful and other things that are also important, the Pools, Fitness area, entertainment on deck were not reviewed at all.

[katiebeth]

O.K. ....I don't mean to be crass, and normally I think it is inappropriate to discusss the amount of money one pays for a particular stateroom, however, I think it is important in terms of perspective. I really hesitate to mention this because frankly no matter what you pay for a stateroom I believe you should expect it to be clean, tidy, and generally free of extensive wear and tear. We have sailed in all categories of staterooms (Disney, Royal Caribbean, Carnival, and Celebrity ...Infinity, Constellation and Millennium). We had a CC class stateroom on the Constellation (July of 2003) and a Sky Suite on the Infinity. Both the CC class and the Sky Suite were in excellent condition. Of all the cruiselines we have sailed on and all the staterooms we have been in, we were most disappointed with the Royal Suite on the Millennium. I won't say exactly what we paid for the suite, but there were four of us (two adults and two children) on a 12 night Med. cruise. You can go to the Celebrity website and find out the price of these suites for a 12 night European cruise. It is very very very expensive.

 

Given what we paid, I did not expect to find soiled sofas, stained carpets and draperies, and extensive mold in the shower. In addition, the jacuzzi on the balcony was in total disrepair. It was quite frankly disgusting.

 

Believe me, I am grateful everyday that we are able to travel as much as we do and make the most of each and every trip. However, I don't think that it is being "overly picky" to expect our staterooms to be in good repair ....regardless of the overall service on the ship.

 

We have been Celebrity loyalists for several years and are giving them one more chance next year on a Baltic cruise. However, we are hoping that management will take some immediate action to resolve some of these ongoing maintenance issue (based on other comments on these boards) that seem to be plaguing this cruise line.

 

Nancy

[rebeccalouise]

Given what you have reported- I certainly hope that you have written to Celebrity and said exactly what you just relayed to us.

I agree that if I paid top dollar for a suite- I would have been very disappointed- especially with the hot tub not working.

That problem alone should have resulted in some sort of compensation.

Good luck with your complaint and I would think that Celebrity would want to retain you as a customer.

[Sky Sweet]

O.K. ....I don't mean to be crass, and normally I think it is inappropriate to discusss the amount of money one pays for a particular stateroom, however, I think it is important in terms of perspective. I really hesitate to mention this because frankly no matter what you pay for a stateroom I believe you should expect it to be clean, tidy, and generally free of extensive wear and tear. We have sailed in all categories of staterooms (Disney, Royal Caribbean, Carnival, and Celebrity ...Infinity, Constellation and Millennium). We had a CC class stateroom on the Constellation (July of 2003) and a Sky Suite on the Infinity. Both the CC class and the Sky Suite were in excellent condition. Of all the cruiselines we have sailed on and all the staterooms we have been in, we were most disappointed with the Royal Suite on the Millennium. I won't say exactly what we paid for the suite, but there were four of us (two adults and two children) on a 12 night Med. cruise. You can go to the Celebrity website and find out the price of these suites for a 12 night European cruise. It is very very very expensive.

 

Given what we paid, I did not expect to find soiled sofas, stained carpets and draperies, and extensive mold in the shower. In addition, the jacuzzi on the balcony was in total disrepair. It was quite frankly disgusting.

 

Believe me, I am grateful everyday that we are able to travel as much as we do and make the most of each and every trip. However, I don't think that it is being "overly picky" to expect our staterooms to be in good repair ....regardless of the overall service on the ship.

 

We have been Celebrity loyalists for several years and are giving them one more chance next year on a Baltic cruise. However, we are hoping that management will take some immediate action to resolve some of these ongoing maintenance issue (based on other comments on these boards) that seem to be plaguing this cruise line.

 

Nancy

 

Hi KateBeth :)

 

Under the circumstances, it is understandable why you were upset about the condition of your suite on the Millennium. I would like to reassure you that Celebrity has done a much better job of maintaining the Constellation. The Constellation was in very good condition when my husband and I took a Baltic Cruise on it a few months, and we will be on it again next month. When we get home from that cruise, I will post a report about it.

[katiebeth]

Dear Rebeccalouise,

 

Thank you for your post. I did write Celebrity and never heard back. (rather disheartening) As far as compensation, I did not ask for anything and truthfully don't expect anything.

 

I think what I would like to hear most from Celebrity is that they value their passengers and want to retain a loyal client base and are working to address the overall maintenance issues. Truthfully, it would not have taken much to freshen up our suite. (replace the draperies and sofas and shampoo the carpet). In addition, the shower needed to be extensively cleaned and/or re-grouted and the jacuzzi on the deck probably needed to be totally replaced. However, in the scheme of things, it could all be done in a day or less and really wouldn't cost that much money (given the amount of money the suites are generating per cruise).

 

We really would like to continue to cruise with Celebrity as we do think the service is generally a step above other mass market lines. However, it does appear that they are having a difficult time competing with other lines in terms of overall maintenance of staterooms. I have heard from friends of ours who think Holland America and Princess are superior in terms of ship maintenance and suite amenties.

 

Here's hoping Celebrity is listening .....

 

Nancy

[katiebeth]

Dear Sky Sweet,

 

We too loved the Constellation. We sailed on her in July of 2003 and she was in perfect condition (only 10 months old). The cruise itself was absolutely terrific (British Isles and Norweign Fjords). I would love to do the itinerary again. The service and crew were the best we have ever experienced.

 

From what I have read on these boards, it seems that the Constellation continues to get very favorable reviews.

 

Glad to know you had a great cruise on the Constellation. Hope your upcoming cruise is fantastic. Looking forward to reading your review.

 

Happy Sailings,

 

Nancy

[Ma Bell]

Nancy,

 

I'm sorry to hear that your suite was in such bad shape. I hope you took the time to contact the hotel manager while you were on board to show him the suite. If there was mold in the shower it certainly could have been cleaned up with a little bleach. The carpets and furniture probably needed replacing, but I'm sure they could have been shampooed while you were in port one day.

 

Please let us know if you get a response from the office.

[AnthonyF]

I'd be at the front desk immediately and expect a response. I am shocked that anyone that upset would do nothing until they returned.

 

Nice to know some people get to travel cheap....

[rebeccalouise]

If you just wrote your letter last week- it may take a few days to get a response. Hang in there.

I assume you used snail mail not e-mail. An e-mail is not going to be taken as seriously as a letter.

I also assume you mailed it to the head of customer relations. You should have gotten a name of an individual and mailed it to that person.

I did this with Princess- I got a lame letter but at least they responded. It did take over a week.

If you mailed your letter on Tuesday or Wednesday of last week. It wouldn't have been received until Friday at the earliest. Probably won't even be in the hands of someone until today. So that explains why you haven't heard anything yet.

[katiebeth]

To Ma Bell and Anthony F,

 

In hindsight, I should have gone to the hotel manager while we were on the Millennium. However, we were traveling with my parents who are in the late seventies and were in the connecting CC cabin. My mother is not in good health and we surprised them last Christmas with this cruise as a gift to them. They were so happy and excited to be traveling with us and their grandkids and going on a Med. cruise that I didn't want to do anything that would take away from their experience. Frankly, I did not mention my disappointment to anyone. We had a wonderful time together visiting exciting and breathtaking ports. The suite was not filthy dirty by any means. However, given the amount of money we spent, I thought that things should have been fresher and in better repair.

 

That being said, I don't think the responsibility of making sure things are up to par should fall on the paying passengers. I would think that a good hotel manager would routinely inspect staterooms and suites to make sure they are in good repair. It is possible that the rooms and suites are routinely inspected by management but they don't have the authority to order new draperies, sofas, carpeting, etc. without Miami's approval.

 

I think that Celebrity needs to be more pro-active and not wait for passengers to complain......it's not the passengers responsibility to make sure the suite/staterooms are in good repair.

 

I did write to Celebrity when we got home from our cruise in June of this year and to date have not heard anything. At this point, I am not expecting a response.

 

To Anthony F ...I am not sure what the comment "nice to know that some people get to travel cheap means" but this is the first time we have traveled in a Royal Suite. It was a real splurge for us and the only reason we did so is because we were a family of six traveling together. My husband and myself, our two children ages 10 and 12 and my elderly parents. My parents had the connecting CC cabin and we thought it would be nice for us to open it up and have a common sitting area in the Royal Suite particularly since my mother was not physically able to tour everyday. There were a couple of days that she sat in the living area of the Royal Suite and enjoyed the views of the port. Frankly, the reason I posted on this thread to begin with was to be supportive of your original post and share that we had a similar experience on the Millennium. I felt that there would be those who would doubt your version of the facts. There are those on these boards who think that if you had a bad or less than desirable experience somehow it must be your fault and you are just incapable of making lemonade or of lemons.

 

Well enough said on this particular topic. I am a positive person who very much enjoys cruising and have had mostly fantastic experiences. I really do love Celebrity and I think that is why I was so disappointed with the condition of the suite. It was not what we had come to expect from Celebrity.

 

Happy Sailing!

 

Nancy

[AnthonyF]

My comments about travelling cheap (i.e. deeply discounted prices) was about another post.

 

Problem is that there are almost 1,000 room and when there are problems, one needs to bring it to the managements attention immediately. It is there response afterwards that speaks volumes.

 

My spouse is probably a lot like you and notices details. I may in the past have notices mold (been a long long time), but only now do i actual look for it, particularly knowing how my spouse will respond.

 

Some of the problems could be the result of a recent cruise with more rowdy guests and attendents may be a little hesitant to report problems as they may think it is a reflection of them.

 

Trust me I am far from an apologist or Celebrity shill....

[katiebeth]

Dear Anthony F.

 

No need to apologize. I thought the comment was in response to one of my posts.

 

I admittedly am a "stickler for detail" and do notice things that many people may not (including my husband).!!!

 

I do agree I should have reported the problems while onboard. I must admit that one of the reason I decided not to report is that I was concerned that I would get our cabin attendant in trouble (particularly with regard to the mold). She was so sweet and they work so hard from dawn until well into the evening. I read somewhere on these boards that they have more staterooms to clean than they use to be assigned as RCCl/Celebrity has implemented "cost saving measures". I don't know if that is true or not but it does seem they have responsibility for more staterooms than appear humanly managable.

 

Anyway, if the situation arises again, I do agree it needs to be reported right away. Particularly, since I have heard nothing from Miami since writing to them in June.

 

Nancy

[cechase]

If I can just interject here our experience on Infinity this September for a 10 night cruise to Alaska. We had a Royal Suite, the one with a the connecting door to an adjacent CC cabin on the starboard side [there is a duplicate of that on the port side]. The suite was immaculate, and we did not experience any of the conditions which katiebeth mentioned. We thoroughly enjoyed this suite, and thought it was superior to the Royal Suites which we have had on C-class vessels.

 

However, the first night, my DW went to take a bath and felt that the huge jacuzzi tub in the bathroom did not work and was most likely broke. I looked at the complicated controls and could not figure it out. We related this to our butler the next morning, and shortly thereafter a crew member came, examined the tub controls, and voila! it worked. He showed us how to operate it, and thereafter my DW enjoyed her baths :D.

 

If we ever ran into a condition such as katiebeth experienced, we would immediately have our butler contact the Asst. Housekeeper in charge of our area and have him or her respond immediately. We think that the Hotel Manager would be the one to contact, if we did not get action.