My Cruise Adventures

Millennium - The Ship

I've been interested in this ship ever since she followed us into St. Thomas in 2001. She was gorgeous then and (thanks to a refurbishment earlier this year) is still gorgeous. However, I miss the original royal blue hull paint she had then.

This ship was the first gas turbine cruise ship, with the turbines mounted vertically in the stack. This means the ship is much quieter, needs less space for the engines, and uses less fuel. She has two azipod propellers and has had several technical problems with them in her history. Fortunately, everything seemed to work fine.

Our cabin was spacious, with a shower actually large enough for two. There was enough storage, with six drawers in the closet and two more in each nightstand. In addition, the desk had four rather large shelves behind doors. There were also some narrow bookshelves that I used to keep all my purchased items. The soundproofing was very good, although in the middle of the night we could hear a vibrating noise go on and off that occasionally woke us.

There was no public sauna, but the spa had an extra-cost option called the Persian Gardens ($99 for the entire cruise) that included both a Turkish sauna (very hot and steamy) and a herbarium, a steam room with aroma therapy. There was also a large tile bench that curves to fit the back and is heated - very relaxing.

The ship's theater ws very nice, with good lines of sight. Sadly, the shows were not great compared to other ships. In fact, the whole ship was missing the fun element that Princess, Carnival, and even Holland America have. I'm not sure if this is because Celebrity is more "upscale", or because it's a port-intensive cruise, or what.

One fun item they have is a paper airplane contest - I won second place and got a visor hat (that shows off my bald spot). The ship has a nice cinema but the movies were at least a year old. I was hoping they would have more recent moves, but no luck with that.

I asked numerous staff if the ship is full, and they all claimed it was. However, it always looked as though it is not completely booked. The pool party had maybe 200 attendees, and the dining room had numerous empty tables. The bars were never full, and there was seldom a line at the breakfast buffet. I have heard this is because the ship has a high ratio of public space to passengers, but I find it hard to believe the ship is full. If it really is, then the ship's designers deserve a lot of credit for the public space layout.

The buffet was a slight exception - the access was not as easy as others I've used. The drink machines always seemed to be down wherever I sat, requiring a long walk in search of drinks. The pizza was available until 11 PM, but the crust was neither thick nor thin and crispy. Filling, but not satisfying.

One benefit over other ships - milk and juice was available 24 hours a day, which was nice as I enjoy a glass of milk before bed to help me sleep.

The galley tour showed the galley to be more extensive than other ships I've seen. They make all of their own ice cream and bread (except for bagels). A feature I've not noticed elsewhere was a wall containing pictures and descriptions of every menu item, helping the wait staff make sure they get the right items. Unfortunately, the menus are the same fleet-wide, and do not take into account passenger origins or local cuisine. Despite having a large number of both Germans and Puerto Ricans, we had no dishes from those countries.

The passenger makeup, based on nothing but impressions from those I met, included large numbers of Germans, Canadians, Puerto Ricans, and English/Irish/Welch. The few announcements were in English, Spanish, and German.