I, too, just got home from Millenium

[kellyteach]

The travel at the end is exhausting. We left the ship yesterday morning at 7 am and I got to my house at 5:30pm today. Wow.

 

Anyway, I'd love to answer any questions that I might have the answers! I had an absolutely wonderful time. I think I spent too much time on Cruisecritic prior to the cruise because there were some things I was dreading that didn't materialize!!! LOL!! No one tried to sell me anything. They took my pic maybe ten times at the most.

 

I really had a super wonderful time and met the nicest people ever!!!

[TeaBag]

Wow, that is a long journey. So glad you enjoyed your cruise. We are really looking forward to ours on Millennium in Sept and there will be no flight for us.

[nativetexan]

I'm curious about the weather - both outside and aboard ship. I'm from Houston so it's hot and humid here. I'm curious if shorts are okay or will I need pants/jeans. Sweater or just rain jacket? The weather is predicted to be at 70 for the highs and 50s for the lows but it's hard to even remember what that's like!! LOL!!!

 

Anything you can offer would be great.

 

Thank you!!

[kellyteach]

Hey Native Texan. As far as the weather, it was different from minute to minute but mostly I was cold. There was not one time that I would have been comfortable in a tshirt. I never would have worn shorts but there were several men on board with shorts. (They were probably Canadians, though. :-) )

 

 

When we were at the Hubbard Glacier, it was very cold. On board was comfortable, leaning towards cool for me. We sat up in the Cosmos lounge most of the time, watching the scenery. I wrapped in a blanket at night. In Juneau, it was cool and rainy. I wore a long sleeved shirt and fleece vest and I was comfortable walking around.

 

I saw a very few people in the hot tubs, never saw anyone in the pool. There are blankets laid around everywhere.

 

Does this answer your question?????

[kellyteach]

Wow, that is a long journey. So glad you enjoyed your cruise. We are really looking forward to ours on Millennium in Sept and there will be no flight for us.

 

Yeah, I think that will be my only Alaskan cruise simply for that reason. It was so beautiful and so enjoyable but the two days out and two days back adds a lot to it!

[nativetexan]

Kelly Teach - exactly what I wanted to know!! I have accumulated everything tonight and started packing. We leave on Wednesday for Vancouver - wow!!

 

I skipped shorts altogether. For the active land based stuff, I have packed capri length active pants for me with short sleeve shirts but long sleeve to wear over along with a vest and a gortex rain jacket. I hope I'm going to be warm enough. I do not like to be cold!! I have sweats for days at sea with long sleeve shirts. I've got my fingers crossed!!! I assure my husabnd and nutty teenage sons will wear shorts!! Go figure!!

 

We have a corner aft cabin and hope to watch Hubbard Glacier from there. What do you think? Ordering breakfast with hot chocolate just sounds marvelous to me!!

 

I know the long trip home was miserable but we can't wait to get there!! Thanks so much for your time and info!!

[kellyteach]

Hey Native. I think you'll have fun watching the glacier from your balcony but let me tell you: It was so much fun being up on deck and being caught up in the excitement with everyone.

 

The Glacier is truly a spectacular work of God and it's so fun when it starts to calve==people go crazy!!!

 

Plus, they have servers walking around with hot chocolate and coffee. Photographers are out in force.

 

Oh yeah, in the Cosmos on Deck 11, they have coffee, hot chocolate, juice, and pastries set up. Nice.

[dcguy9]

Hi Kelly,

 

How was the food in the MDR? Also, did you go to the specialty restaurant? If so, how was it? We're going to Alaska in late July on the Infinity out of Seattle. Hopefully, the weather will be just a tad warmer because of the time of year we are going.

[Larainerenee]

We were also on the Millennium fron June 12-19. It was our first cruise and I was blown away by the level of service. I don't know how they do it - the staff is always smiling and willing to do whatever they need to to make you happy and comfortable.

We were not impressed by the quality of the food in the MDR. The steaks were tough and barely edible. That said, when we complained, our waiter was quick to bring something else. And, if we didn't finish something, he asked if it was OK.

We had one meal in the Olympic and it was fantastic!

And, our room service breakfasts were delivered hot and right on time. The lines in the Ocean Cafe became tedious and annoying - possibly due to the fact that guests could not help themselves to anything, including sugar packets for coffee, and that really slowed things down.

[dcguy9]

Thanks Larainerenee,

 

It seems that most of the complaints about the cuisine is about the steaks. fortunately, we don't eat red meat so this won't affect us at all! Did you get a chance to order the fish at all? Also, how was all the other food like vegetables, desserts etc...?

 

Thanks!

[Larainerenee]

We did not think the food in the MDR was up to par or equal to everything else we experienced on the ship. I guess when you are serving hundreds at once it is dfficult to provide excellence - I felt like it was banquest food. Everything that we specially ordered was cooked to order and quite good. The salads and vegies were OK, and the desserts were fine, too.

[sealover155]

Do take at least one turtleneck. We've done this cruise twice and I never have enough. I'd suggest at least one cotton one and one cashmere or warmer one. You won't need them all day everyday but there are times....... Also, the souvenier shops close to the pier have amazing prices on jackets and other cold weather gear, if the short-wearers in your family change their mind. My kids refused to believe it would really be cold. The first port changed their minds!

[nativetexan]

thanks for the info. I will take a couple of cotton mock turtlenecks and one cashmere turtlenecks. My kids have long sleeve outer shirts, sport pants and jeans. They will wear the shorts - if nothing else to play basketball and hang out on the ship. They seem imune to the cold!!

 

thanks everyone for the info!!

[ellbon]

next summer will be my second time in Alaska. I was lucky when we went thru Glacier bay as it was very sunny and I was using the hot tub when not taking pictures.

 

i wore flannel lined pants or jeans a lot but with flannel shirt or fleese. we had sunny days which made everythign warmer. i would take shorts as you never know.

[kellyteach]

As for the MDR food, I loved it. We ate there every night and also the two days it was open for lunch. I didn't expect five star restaurant food (it is a cruise line and they are cooking nine thousand meals per day) and I have to say that the food was wonderful.

 

I kept a journal and wrote down what I ate but I seem to have misplaced it. :-) The soups and salads were great. The appetizers were just wonderful. I had the crab louis, a pastry shell stuffed with mushrooms and sauce, pan seared scallops. Great. One of our tablemates had escargot every night so she must've liked it.

 

I had blackened drum, seared tuna steak, the lobster melange as entrees. They were very good and I would recommend them to anyone.

 

The desserts were out of this world. We had Alvan and Joseph as waiters and they were awesome. I can't say enough about how wonderful the food was and how great the service was.

[kellyteach]

Oh, and my mom is very picky so she ate a steak every night. She loved them. Also, one night was blackened ribeye and it was so tasty and tender, I didn't need a knife. I can't imagine how anyone would have thought that the food was dismal.

[wheretocruise]

Hi Kelly, do you know if they served Alaskan King Crab legs? I know on Princess they did when I went to Alaska a few years ago. Was just wondering. Thanks in advance.

[S'porecruiser]

Hi we will be sailing on the Millie this August, northbound. As this is our 1st cruise and coming so far away (from Singapore), would like to make the most of it. Not sure which cabin is best, eg, mid-ship or aft? Which deck? (we're booked on CC catogory). Any help you can offer would be greatly appreciated. Tks.

[kellyteach]

I never saw any crab legs but some of our tablemates ate crab legs in Juneau. I'm sorry I can't remember the name of the restaurant.

[amsp]

glad you had a good time. did any of the roll call people end up meeting on board? we were sorry to have missed this cruise, but have been able to rebook for august.

 

any idea of how long the norovirus precautions will be in effect? was there any sickness on your cruise?

 

ann