Dawn Princess vs Millennium

[GoVolsTB]

We are trying to decide between these 2 ships for repositioning cruises in spring 2009. The Millennium will be 14 nt Sydney to Auckland and B2B with 14 nt Auckland to Hawaii. The Dawn Princess would be 31 nt Sydney to San Francisco. Bottom line would be that the Millennium would be about $500/couple more expensive for a balcony cabin. We are long time Celebrity cruisers and have never sailed on Princess. We do like the idea of cruising back to San Francisco and the Princess itinerary has a couple of exotic ports that Celebrity doesn't offer....Pago Pago, Fiji,Moorea....

 

 

Any help would be greatly appreciated........I have also posted this on the Celebrity site....

[willysgrandma]

If it were me, I'd do the Millenium. It's newer and bigger. I like the larger ships, there is not enough to do on a small ship for me.

 

The Dawn is a smaller ship, more intimate, but a few years older.

 

We will be on the Dawn next year and I am a little bit nervous about this ship, because it is small. I am hoping there is enough to do.

 

But for the food alone, I'd do Celebrity.

[GloriaF]

and not a good comparison. Dawn is much smaller and older than the Millenium, and while Princess keeps all the ships in her fleet in good condition, I don't think it is a fair comparison. I personally enjoy the Princess small ships. I have never cruised with Celebrity, so cannot compare point by point.

 

Both itineraries sound lovely ~~

[beaniele]

We are just off the Dawn and found her to be a beautiful ship. We also found the food wonderful. They fruit was to die for, sweet, ripe and I do not really like fruit. I know this probably does not help but after being on Regent we were nervous about being on Princess. The only thing we did not like was Princess has 2000 people and Regent 900. According to the Princess Platter there were all kinds of activities. Just my view.

[cacruiserjen]

We were on the Dawn in April for 11 nights - we are booked in July on the Daw for 10 nights to Alaska - we booked the 2nd one before we sailed the first or we would not be sailing the Dawn to Alaska. While the ship was in wonderful shape and the crew great, our family prefers a ship with more activities. Basketball wasn't enough....

[Cachecara]

Millenium has had some mechanical issues in the past. Have these been totally reconciled--ie the pod issues? That would be a major concern of mine.

I have not yet sailed Princess. We have Coral to Alaska scheduled in 90 days, so I am not that familiar with the Princess product. Celebrity--X--is a wonderful product, but--I would not be sailing on any M class(which Millie is an M class ship) unless that pod problem would be for once and all resolved. That is just me.

If you are not familiar with these issues do a search on here. They have been discussed quite a bit and led me to try Princess to Alaska this year vs going X again.

Good luck. Sounds like great itineraries either way! :)

[rebeccalouise]

millenium just came out of drydock (May 2007) and the mechanical issues have been addressed.

 

I have sailed only on the original Crown Princess and Sapphire Princess. If given the choice between Dawn and Millenium- I'd do Millenium. It is a beautiful ship. I did the Transatlantic on her and was never bored on six consecutive sea days. I highly recommend Celebrity Millenium.

[bdjam]

millenium just came out of drydock (May 2007) and the mechanical issues have been addressed.

If it's the azipod issues, they seem to be addressed again and again and again. :rolleyes: I wouldn't sail Celebrity anyway, but I'd kind of hate to be caught in the middle of the Pacific Ocean with an azipod that's unreliable.

 

As for Dawn Princess, she might be a smaller ship, but she's also more stable than the larger ones...something to think about when traveling across an open ocean. There is plenty to do on board - however that's really not a function of the size of the ship but of the abilities of the entertainment staff. I'm not quite sure how someone could be bored while sailing Dawn Princess - but I realize we all have our preferences...I would venture to say that a Celebrity ship isn't an RCI ship - you're not going to have a flow-rider as an activity.

[ldoc31]

If you are looking only at ship amenities I would go with The Millenium. You will not be as happy with the balcony and the bathrooms on The Dawn. If you like price and itinerary try Princess.

[Marque]

My wife and I did the Sydney to San Francisco in April 2006 on the Diamond. We had a balcony. Due to the heat and humidity once we got into the South Seas, we didn't use it too much after Australia. Nonetheless, I would get a balcony when we do that trip again.

 

We were on the Dawn this past April for an 11-day Mexican Riveria trip. The balcony was smaller and cut into the ship rather than extending out.

 

We base our trip choices on destination and price. The Princess Sydney to San Francisco was our choice, and we intend to do it again some day. Hope this helps.