Celebrity Millennium Review and Tips

I recently returned from a 5-night Caribbean Cruise on the Celebrity Millennium. This was my 3rd Celebrity Cruise in the last 2 years. I’m a huge Celebrity Cruise Line fan, and place high expectations on the cruise line for food and service.

I actually cruised in an inside stateroom for the first time. I’d say that I’m a balcony snob, but cruising in the inside cabin was not all that bad. We did not spend much time in the cabin, and I did miss not having a balcony when I woke up in the mornings, leaving port, and while my wife was getting ready for dinner.

Celebrity Millennium Conference Facilities

We were on the Celebrity Millennium for a Conference at Sea. The conference facilities on the Celebrity Millennium were by far the best I’ve seen on a ship that size. The Millennium boasts several conference rooms and a theater designed for presentations can hold about 250 people. With the Celebrity Millennium making 4 and 5 night runs out of Miami, she’s an excellent option for conferences or continuing education cruises.

Celebrity Millennium Active

The Celebrity Millennium is a medium sized ship that is very easy to maneuver. The Millennium offers 3 pools including one indoor therapeutic pool. Celebrity Cruisers seem to be serious about exercise taking full advantage of the running tracking on the top deck. My 3 mile run around the top of the ship is one of my best runs ever. Running surrounded by ocean on the top deck of a cruise ship is a unique experience. The gym was one of the smallest, I’ve seen on a cruise ship. But the day that we hit the gym we were able to get on the machines with little issue.

Celebrity Millennium Food

Highlight: On the Celebrity Millennium, they offer a full compliment of sushi every night at the buffet. We had late dining, so at 5 pm each night we got ourselves a plat of sushi. On the Solstice Class of ships, each night Celebrity only offers one type of sushi at the buffet due to them having a Sushi specialty restaurant. PRO TIP: On the last night, the Celebrity Solstice class ships offer a full selection of Sushi at the dinner buffet.

At the lunch buffet, I love Celebrity’s pasta bar. Their pizza isn’t as good as most of the other cruise lines like Princess, Carnival, & of course Costa. Overall, the Celebrity Millennium’s breakfast and lunch buffets are better than most of the other lines. Of course, the larger ships like the Oasis of the Seas offer more variety. I’m a big fan of how strict Celebrity is at the buffet about not allowing the passengers to serve themselves most items.

Dinner: At dinner, my entrees included NY Strip, salmon, some fancy meatballs, & snapper. Outside of the NY Strip which was a little over-cooked for me, the entrees were at the level I expect from Celebrity. The meatballs were surprisingly my favorite. PRO TIP: You can order multiple appetizers, soups, salads, or additional sides when you are on a cruise vacation. I ordered 2 appetizers each night at dinner because the portions are pretty small and I’m a fast eater.

Celebrity Millennium Cinema Room in Conference center

Celebrity Millennium Service

Highlight: Our cabin steward, Edwin was the best we’ve ever had on any cruise. Yep, I said it… “the best” – not comparing him to our butler on the Celebrity Solstice though [that wouldn't be fair].  Everytime Edwin saw us walking down the hall, he would stop doing whatever he was doing in order to get to our cabin before us to unlock our door. It was a little touch, but it made us feel important.

Service by the buffet attendants was not up to the Celebrity standard and it seemed due to language barriers. We actually expressed this on a comment card where we also raved about Edwin and a couple of the bar staff. Celebrity called me yesterday to thank me for turning in the card and to see if there was anything else from our onboard experience that I’d like to share. I turn in comment cards after every cruise, I was very impressed to get a phone call. Especially considering that my negative comment was only slightly negative. This is why Celebrity has such a high standard of service.

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All said and done, Celebrity’s service is a notch above the other contemporary cruise lines. I’m departing tomorrow on Holland America for the first time, so I’m looking forward to comparing the two experiences.

Entertainment: For our days at sea, we worked much of the day and with late dinner, we were too tired to go to the shows.  Celebrity offers the best alcohol drink packages which is a great way to know exactly what your bar bill will be.

Our cruise was supposed to go to Jamaica and Grand Cayman but due to Hurricane Rina our itinerary changed to Jamaica and Nassau, Bahamas.  The crew captain and crew handled the situation well and while Cayman is a more desirable stop than Nassau all the passengers were understanding.  I will write a separate post about our excursions.

Review Written by Rich Tucker, founder and editor of CruiseSource.us.  Rich has cruised on close to 20 ships in the last 4 years.  Leave any questions you have about cruising in the comments, he monitors CruiseSource daily.

Celebrity Millennium is going to be upgraded in May 2012 - here is list of enhancements:

Celebrity Millennium Solsticizing Upgrades

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