Review of Millenium 12/7-12/21

[Verity]

Australia and New Zealand met our expectations of wonderful places to cruise. This was our fourth Celebrity cruise and my comments are just my opinion based on past cruises. The Millenium is showing wear and tear issues. Our waiter tripped on a torn piece of carpet in the main dining room carrying all our dinners. When we entered our concierge room suite, the smell of mold was stifling. The shower curtain reeked and there was a pool of water on the bathroom floor. The supervisor came down to our room and commented on the mold smell as soon as she walked in. We received a new shower curtain within minutes. They replaced and regrouted our entire bathroom floor the first time we left for an excursion since the floor needed 6 hours to dry. We were impressed by how quickly they responded. This is one of the reasons we like Celebrity. Some problems you can't control, it's the response that counts.

 

Everyone we ran into was grumbling about the food. It was mediocre at best and at times, downright awful. The cuts of the meats were bad. Our prime rib was so chewy it was like stew meat. The downward spiral of the food was the topic of discussion on all the excursions we went on. Many people who have sailed Celebrity before were convinced that all our money was being spent on Solstice. The food was inconsistent. A couple of evenings it was great but usually the food was without much taste and mediocre. We had 2 brunch buffets but the food was the same as on the 10th floor buffet except for the shrimp. At the second brunch, no waiters at all appeared to give us coffee or tea or even tell us where to go to help ourselves. My husband went in the kitchen to track down a waiter so we could get something to drink. We were sitting downstairs in front of the captain's table for dinner. By the end of the cruise, most of the people at the 8 seat tables where we were sitting, had stopped coming to the dining room because of the food. Our waiter was apologizing to people about the food even though we never complained to him. He was a wonderful waiter and our concerns were never with the service.

 

The staff was spread way too thin. We asked our waiter about that and he just rolled his eyes. He whispered that the staffing was bad . They rarely carried trays for elderly people who had problems walking in the buffet. They never came around with coffee pots. Instead they were trying to sell Bloody Mary's for breakfast. The staff was never obnoxious and never bothered you if you said "no" but it was obvious that management decided selling drinks for breakfast and lunch was more important than the small touches (like carrying trays).

 

My husband and I don't cruise to eat. We were more concerned about staff apathy if they keep overworking the crew. We still like Celebrity because of all of you. We really like the people who choose to cruise on Celebrity. We are comfortable with the age group. The Australians and New Zealanders we met on the cruise were so friendly and so much fun to cruise with. The cosmetic things will be fixed at some point. Honestly, I have never heard so much griping on a cruise and it was mostly about the food. My husband and I sat quietly on the excursion buses listening to people joke and complain about the food.

 

This was the cruise we took for our 35th Anniversary and we would take it again. We had a wonderful time. I just hope that Celebrity listens about the food issue or they will start losing cruisers. The same thing with the staffing. There was such a huge difference between this cruise and our cruise a year ago on the Constellation (with the old chef). It really is the little things you notice when they are gone like the box of candy they used to give us from the Cova Cafe in the Concierge class.

[cruiseyguy]

I was on the same cruise and also really enjoyed it. I addressed the condition of the Millennium on another thread. Whatever problems exist (and I thought they were relatively minor) will soon be fixed. In any event, the condition of the ship didn't affect my enjoyment of the cruise. I agree that the dining room and buffet food were mediocre but certainly not inedible. We found alternatives--mainly the wonderful Olympic Restaurant and the surprisingly good Waterfall Cafe, the evening tablecloth but casual alternative restaurant. My stateroom attendant was great as were many other crew and staff. I don't think the ship was understaffed; the problem was inexperience as many of the more experienced staff went to Solstice and Azamara. Hopefully, Celebrity management will turn its attention to its "M" class ships in 2010, which are my favorite class (having been on the Solstice for two nights) and are the classic and most comfortable Celebrity ships.

[benbess]

Thanks for the review. I agree with you that Celebrity needs to fix the inconsistent quality of the food in the MDRs of all of its ships. Elizabeth Blau needs to do her job a bit better. She needs to say that if her name is going to be associated with it every meal needs to be very good, with good quality cuts of meat. Maybe we should email her with some comments? We could praise what we like, since sometimes the MDR is good and the speciality restaurants seems great, but criticize what needs to be improved. The emails should, of course, be polite and specific. I just found her site and email address:

 

http://www.elizabethblau.com

 

elizabeth@elizabethblau.com

[cruiseyguy]

I'm afraid Ms. Blau is in way over her head with her Celebrity contract and that, ultimately, it is the responsibility of Celebrity management to fix the food.

[notl342]

The MDR on Summitt (T/A Dec 08) was excellent. Apart from one dish, leg of lamb, the mains were all first rate.

 

The Waterfall buffet was OK. The Waterfall Bistro alternative dining was good, as was the Aquaspa Cafe. By the way, there is a minimum age of 16 in the Aquaspa Cafe which didn't seem to apply to an officer and his wife!

 

I agree that the M class ships are a great design.

[stereo]

Verity--Thank you for your review.My wife and I plan to sail in M arch--The solution to mediocre food in the MDR cannot be--go toe the alt --special dining room and spend $60 A NIGHT FOR 14 NIGHTS. Was the ship full? Were passengers enjoying themselves or constantly complaining? Did anyone ever smile?Did anyone consider suing and asking for a refund since Celeb brags about its great food?

[Verity]

Verity--Thank you for your review.My wife and I plan to sail in M arch--The solution to mediocre food in the MDR cannot be--go toe the alt --special dining room and spend $60 A NIGHT FOR 14 NIGHTS. Was the ship full? Were passengers enjoying themselves or constantly complaining? Did anyone ever smile?Did anyone consider suing and asking for a refund since Celeb brags about its great food?

 

Most of the complaining was confined to the excursion buses which we sat on for hours and at the airport waiting in lines. The ship was at 100% capacity. I wish to keep this all in perspective. We had a great time and would certainly take the cruise again. However, my expectations of Celebrity have been lowered. We did eat in the Alternate dining whenever the menu looked unappetizing in the MDR especially after the salmon I ordered from the anytime menu. It was the driest thing I have had in a long, long time without any taste. The advantage of alternate dining is that the service is quick, you have great views on the 10th floor and the food tasted better to us maybe because it was served at the correct temperature. We did eat at the Olympus one night but the food was so rich (and very, very good) that we decided that one night was enough. I don't sit around complaining. We chose to eat lunch in the dining room when it was opened and met the most delightful people at our tables. Between the economy, the cheap prices that people got for this cruise and Solstice opening with Equinox on the horizon, it was not surprising that a lot of the things on this cruise were not the same. If people expect bargain cruise prices they most certainly will get bargain food as well. Just my humble opinion.

 

There actually would be nothing to sue over. After all, food is so subjective and we were fed all the food we could possibly want. This was a pretty port intensive cruise. People did smile and looked like they were enjoying themselves. My comments were made as someone who has cruised Celebrity before and understands the difference between the past product and what they are offering at the present. I would certainly start out by hiring a different person to be in charge of the food and menus. Elizabeth Blau was a gigantic mistake.

[Veronica13]

Australia and New Zealand met our expectations of wonderful places to cruise. This was our fourth Celebrity cruise and my comments are just my opinion based on past cruises. The Millenium is showing wear and tear issues. Our waiter tripped on a torn piece of carpet in the main dining room carrying all our dinners. When we entered our concierge room suite, the smell of mold was stifling. The shower curtain reeked and there was a pool of water on the bathroom floor. The supervisor came down to our room and commented on the mold smell as soon as she walked in. We received a new shower curtain within minutes. They replaced and regrouted our entire bathroom floor the first time we left for an excursion since the floor needed 6 hours to dry. We were impressed by how quickly they responded. This is one of the reasons we like Celebrity. Some problems you can't control, it's the response that counts.

 

Everyone we ran into was grumbling about the food. It was mediocre at best and at times, downright awful. The cuts of the meats were bad. Our prime rib was so chewy it was like stew meat. The downward spiral of the food was the topic of discussion on all the excursions we went on. Many people who have sailed Celebrity before were convinced that all our money was being spent on Solstice. The food was inconsistent. A couple of evenings it was great but usually the food was without much taste and mediocre. We had 2 brunch buffets but the food was the same as on the 10th floor buffet except for the shrimp. At the second brunch, no waiters at all appeared to give us coffee or tea or even tell us where to go to help ourselves. My husband went in the kitchen to track down a waiter so we could get something to drink. We were sitting downstairs in front of the captain's table for dinner. By the end of the cruise, most of the people at the 8 seat tables where we were sitting, had stopped coming to the dining room because of the food. Our waiter was apologizing to people about the food even though we never complained to him. He was a wonderful waiter and our concerns were never with the service.

 

The staff was spread way too thin. We asked our waiter about that and he just rolled his eyes. He whispered that the staffing was bad . They rarely carried trays for elderly people who had problems walking in the buffet. They never came around with coffee pots. Instead they were trying to sell Bloody Mary's for breakfast. The staff was never obnoxious and never bothered you if you said "no" but it was obvious that management decided selling drinks for breakfast and lunch was more important than the small touches (like carrying trays).

 

My husband and I don't cruise to eat. We were more concerned about staff apathy if they keep overworking the crew. We still like Celebrity because of all of you. We really like the people who choose to cruise on Celebrity. We are comfortable with the age group. The Australians and New Zealanders we met on the cruise were so friendly and so much fun to cruise with. The cosmetic things will be fixed at some point. Honestly, I have never heard so much griping on a cruise and it was mostly about the food. My husband and I sat quietly on the excursion buses listening to people joke and complain about the food.

 

This was the cruise we took for our 35th Anniversary and we would take it again. We had a wonderful time. I just hope that Celebrity listens about the food issue or they will start losing cruisers. The same thing with the staffing. There was such a huge difference between this cruise and our cruise a year ago on the Constellation (with the old chef). It really is the little things you notice when they are gone like the box of candy they used to give us from the Cova Cafe in the Concierge class.

 

Sad, isn't it? Many of us have said goodbye to our "used to be" favorite line. Poor management and poor decisions. Having said that, the other lines are only WORSE. I just tried Princess Ruby and it was Denny's all the way. No more good mass market cruise lines. All gone. I'm sad for the staff too. Have known many for decades. All the people who "poo poo" my warnings have no idea, since they have no real history with X, and haven't been on a M Class within the last 8-10 months...you can't imagine how quickly it fell from grace. Like a very, very large boulder.:(