According to Celebrity’s marketing department, in February 2019 the Millennium was “revolutionized” as part of a massive $500 million fleet-wide program. I, however, will refrain from using the term “revolution” in favor of “refurbishment” so as not to end up with a Tracy Chapman song stuck in my head for the next three days. “Don’t you know, they’re talkin’ about a revolution.” Crap, too late.
In any case, the Millennium re-emerged with redesigned cabins and 30 entirely new cabins (one of which I stayed in – go here for a complete review and tour of both a refurbished and new cabin), and fully re-imagined public spaces.
Here’s my admittedly low-quality, but thorough and hopefully better-than-nothing cell phone tour of the refurbished Millennium to get you oriented:
Upon being greeted warmly with a complimentary glass of champagne or sparkling wine (I’m not sophisticated enough to understand the difference) as I stepped over the threshold to board the Millennium for my first ever Celebrity cruise and my first b2b, I figured someone had alerted the crew as to my status as a Professor of Cruising and warned of the public review likely forthcoming.
I politely accepted and proceeded to walk back out and re-board three additional times, but felt it my ethical obligation to inform them that my cruising students (N=3) count on me for unbiased information and that I simply can’t be bought. Besides, if they really wanted to grease my pen, a private meeting with the captain and premium chocolates delivered to my stateroom would go a lot further.
But it turns out that every adult receives a complimentary glass of this delightfully carbonated and alcoholic mystery beverage (kids and those who don’t drink are offered orange juice), even inconsequential cruise bloggers booked in the cheapest cabin category who will disembark after 14 days with an account balance of less than $100.
In addition to the free booze, there was another embarkation procedure unique to Celebrity that didn’t leave me feeling pleasantly relaxed and euphoric. Instead of receiving my ship card at the check-in desk and proceeding to ding it in upon embarkation to officially signal the start of my cruise, I boarded with a paper boarding pass and later picked up my ship card from my cabin door. While I’d certainly take the sparkling wine (we’ll call it sparkling wine from now one, because that’s easier to spell) over the ding, the paper boarding pass didn’t seem very official and left me feeling a bit uneasy.
And when I woke early the next morning to take in the views from deck 11 and was greeted with these (that’s an abandoned ice cream cone, a stray slice of pizza, and a wine glass stashed in shrubbery) plus a public restroom with no toilet paper and overflowing trash cans, I thought maybe I’d boarded a spring break fun ship by mistake.
Thankfully, that was an anomaly (perhaps they were short-staffed the night before) and deck 11 was so clean and well attended to from that point forward that one day my “running” hat, stashed under the leg of a lounger (because it kept blowing off my head due to wind) while I barely managed a slow and labored jog around the track, was immediately snatched up by a crew member thinking it was garbage. In fairness, and as expressed in response to her copious apologies as I shouted from across the deck, “wait, that’s my hat!,” it’s covered in sweat stains and has a giant, conspicuous hole in the front panel and a shredded bill.
Now, in an attempt to salvage this review (“it’s not garbage!”) let’s move on to food, as it was meant to be eaten, not off the floor of deck 11 (although I have to admit I did consider it – that was a perfectly good slice of pizza!), but soaked in water and shoveled into my mouth like I’m trying to both win a year’s supply of free ketchup and prove that petite older women can eat way more than you think!
I should mention here that I’m a vegetarian, but also that I was joined on this sailing by Mr. Cruise and “H,” my 6 year-old teaching/travel assistant and son. So this section will include input from a true full-blooded, meat-eating American and a wee one with early onset cruise addiction.
While we didn’t eat at any specialty restaurants on this sailing, I’ll cover the buffet, main dining room for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, The Spa Cafe, the Al Bacio coffee bar, the Pool Grill, and room service. You can also find all menus for the specialty restaurants (as well as the complimentary restaurants and bars) here.
Let’s start in the Oceanview Cafe, since that’s likely the first place you’ll eat upon embarkation, unless you end up in the medical unit with a broken arm after being shoved out of the way by an overeager Prof. Cruise (my sincere apologies and wishes for a speedy recovery).
I hate to burden you with another grainy video, but well, here:
Prof. Cruise Extra Credit Pro Tip
If you don’t plan on ordering anything from the bar, turn the plastic drink menu sitting on the table onto its side. This indicates that you don’t need bar service and the servers won’t come around and ask you.
While I wasn’t that impressed with the breakfast selections in the main dining room (I find the breakfast menus on Holland America and NCL so much better) and found it impossible to ever get ketchup (I know, I know), it was nice to enjoy a more relaxed pace.
Prof. Cruise Extra Credit Pro Tip
If you’re looking for an egg dish, I’d skip the frittata and go with the classic french omelette.
Lunch was only offered from noon-1:30pm in the main dining room on sea days (and was not open on embarkation day), but provided a nice alternative to the buffet. While the menu is limited, the selections I tried were quite good and Mr. Cruise particularly enjoyed the cheeseburger.
We had Celebrity select dining, meaning we didn’t have a set dinner time and could show up to eat at the Metropolitan Dining Room on deck 4 anytime between 5:30pm-9pm. We stopped by the podium on the first night and made a standing reservation for 5:30pm because Mr. Cruise and I are old, both chronologically and at heart and first assist each other in removing our orthopedic shoes before retiring by 9pm to dream of finally winning at bingo: “BINGO!” However, we publicly assign the blame for our early bedtime to our 6 year-old who has, truth be told, been out-partying us since the cord was cut after he popped out proclaiming: “finally, she’s so boring!”
You can also make a dinner reservation using the Celebrity App or you can just show up without a reservation and stand in line (there are separate lines for those with a reservation and those without).
Prof. Cruise Extra Credit Pro Tip:
The meTROPOLITAN DINING ROOM GENERALLY OPENED 15-20 MINUTES prior to the printed time of 5:30pm. arrive by 5:15pm for prompt seating and to avoid crowds.
We were seated at the same table by a window each evening with the same wait team: Chonwarich, Pavlo, and Andre. While they were professional and friendly and worked extremely hard, service was slow, with most dinners lasting two hours or more with a particularly long wait between the main course and dessert. Once we mentioned to Chonwarich that we were trying to make the early show each night, he tried very hard to speed things up as much as possible. We appreciated this and expressed our understanding and patience when things took a bit longer. Still though, it was a long time for “H,” our 6 year-old to keep Mr. Cruise and I entertained.
Besides a clear shortage of wait and kitchen staff leading to the long waits, these high-backed dining chairs, while very chic looking, were a terrible design choice as they were extremely difficult and awkward to move and made serving to the person sitting in them almost impossible. Celebrity would be wise to ditch them in favor of something more practical. I can only imagine the colorful language probably used to describe these chairs down in staff quarters each night.
But now that we have a few negatives out of the way, there was so much I loved about dinner in the Metropolitan Dining Room (main dining room). Two things stood out that really set Celebrity apart from other lines for me. First, each night the bread basket (standard on all lines) was served with three delicious butters – one was always regular whipped butter and the other two were rotating flavors. Trying “tonight’s butters” always made for a fun start to the meal and is a good topic of conversation if you’ve been married too long (“Is that a new dress, honey?” “No, I’ve been wearing it regularly since 1995.”) or are seated at a table with strangers who are wearing plush cat ears and tails and sporting diamond studded collars for elegant night: “We’re furries!” “Okay….so, how about this garlic butter?”
Second, I appreciated having a separate vegetarian menu available. While there were vegetarian items on the regular menu and I was fully prepared and happy to order from them, once Chonwarich discovered that I was a vegetarian, he provided me with a vegetarian menu each night. The unique thing about the vegetarian menu on Celebrity is that it’s available to anyone (just ask for it), is different every evening, and you do not have to place your order the night before, like on Holland America.
This cemented my impression of Celebrity as being the most vegetarian friendly cruise line I’ve sailed.
Overall, Mr. Cruise, “H,” and I enjoyed the quality and flavor of the food at dinner in the MDR. While it wasn’t hugely better compared to other lines and should still be described as cruise food, I’d rate it slightly higher than any other line I’ve sailed (Carnival, NCL, Holland America, Princess, and Royal Caribbean). Mr. Cruise particularly enjoyed the soups and ordered at least three each night (jeez, no wonder dinner service took so long!), “H” recommends anything with cheese as the main ingredient, and I loved the chocolate lava cake so much, it actually replaced this as one of my favorite cruise desserts.
Here are menus and food pics from our first 7 day sailing (the menus were repeated on the second leg of our b2b):
While the Spa Cafe alone can’t replace the International Cafe on Princess as my favorite complimentary fast casual dining spot, combined with Cafe Al Bacio (up next) it would, despite the necessary long walk between deck 10 and deck 5 (I really am as lazy as I sound).
The Spa Cafe is located on deck 10 in the solarium and is open for breakfast (7am-10am) and lunch (noon-2pm). It offers freshly prepared juices and smoothies for an extra charge and complimentary healthy and delicious food options. Most items are served buffet style, but a few are ordered (oatmeal, acai bowl, soup, and vegetable wrap).
Cafe Al Bacio, open from 6am-midnight, is a combined coffee bar and bakery with a large selection of espresso drinks, coffee cocktails, and teas for an extra charge and complimentary (even if you don’t order coffee) breakfast pastries and desserts (including several gluten free options) available to eat there or “to-go.” Everything we tried was delicious with the exception of the iced popcorn frappe which was disappointing. I especially liked the almond croissants, coconut macaroons, and German chocolate cake. One day while I was waiting to order, I was introduced to the head pastry chef and momentarily considered how I might kidnap her. But prison has notoriously bad food and a felony conviction would severely limit my ability to cruise, so I thought better of it.
Hidden in a corner near the main pool and easily missed, the Pool Grill is open from 11:30am-6pm and is a great place to grab a quick burger or hot dog with a variety of toppings. There is also a vegetarian burger available, but it takes about 10 minutes to cook.
We’re all known for something. For me, it’s my equally disturbing and disgusting ability to sweat out all the water in my body (the average adult human body is 60% h2o) in a single one hour gym session and still survive to cuss out my rusting spin bike (“see you tomorrow *******”). And for Celebrity it’s her ability to remain resolute in the face of crushing pressure from her peers to smoke in a ditch behind the school while feasting on stolen cafeteria pizzas. Oh wait, that was also me. But Celebrity has managed to resist peer pressure too, from other lines determined to nickel and dime their way to increasing profits by, for one, charging for room service.
Room service, including hot breakfast items, remains complimentary on Celebrity. And while the selection is fairly limited, the items we tried were delivered hot and fresh and within the specified time frame and were delicious. Take my advice and pick a night to stay in, deadbolting your cabin-mate(s) outside. Wrap yourself in a soft complimentary robe, turn on a complimentary on-demand movie (for which there were 5 or 6 to choose from), and feast on a complimentary room service dinner in bed. Then send me some cruise credit to thank me for the idea.
I lost count after visiting seven bars on the Millennium, with my favorites being the Crush Martini Bar with its ice-covered surfaces, the Al Bacio coffee bar, and the Rendezvous Lounge. And while we didn’t purchase a beverage package for this sailing, we did try a variety of different cocktails.
I loved all the martinis and would highly recommend the martini flight ($26) and also enjoyed the Elderflower Blush that can be ordered in the main dining room or the Rendezvous Lounge.
Mr. Cruise liked the Mexican Firing Squad and Caribbean Cobbler.
The only drink I didn’t like was the Pomegranate Mojito which was very watery.
See below for information about beverage packages and go here to see menus from all the bars on the Millennium.
And by “relax” I mean places I go to hide from my family to read in peace: “aww, quiet!”
With comfortable padded loungers and couches, great views, and no children allowed in the pool and hot tubs outside of designated “family hours” from 4pm-7pm, this is the perfect place to sprint to after dropping your kids off at camp. Plus it’s covered and stays warm if you’re cruising to Alaska where it can get quite chilly on outside decks.
While many activities take place here, it’s also a great spot to sit and enjoy beautiful views from the front and side of the ship. It’s located on deck 11 forward.
This well equipped gym was open 24 hours (a first for any ship I’ve ever sailed on) and offered no excuse for missing my dreaded daily workout.
Not so much a library, but a few shelves with books on them disguised as part of the Rendezvous Lounge. As the daughter of two librarians, I prefer a large, quiet, well stocked library.
One of my favorite cruise activites is to walk laps on an outside deck while stalking wildlife and listening to an audio book. My favorite ships are the ones that have an outside shaded promenade deck that runs all the way around the ship and is fully open to guests. While deck 4 offered a great spot to sit and watch the scenery, much of it was closed off to guests making walking laps impossible. This was a huge negative of the Millennium for me.
Because we were onboard for a 14 day b2b, we were able to catch every show offered in the main theater (they repeated for the second week). Our favorites included:
There were many opportunities each evening to enjoy live music in a number of different venues. Our favorites were the house band, Jeam Beam (pictured above) and solo guitarist Kevin Wagner.
Naturalist Celia Garland and ship astronomer Dan Benedict presented regular enrichment programming on topics specific to Alaska and of general interest. I particularly enjoyed Celia’s sense of humor and learned a lot about Alaskan wildlife like that bald eagles can projectile poop as a defense mechanism if they feel threatened, annoyed, slighted, or betrayed. Can you imagine how covered in s**t every American politician would be if humans had that ability? I’ll never watch cable news again without imagining it.
There were numerous activities available on the Millennium appealing to a wide variety of different interests. Trivia, karaoke, spa treatments and presentations, dance classes, art auctions and talks, an archery challenge, casino competitions, sports, wine and liquor tastings, shopping, and board and card games.
The one thing I really missed on Celebrity was a book club, available on both Holland America and Princess, #nerdsunite, and cooking workshops (I love America’s Test Kitchen on Holland).
In addition to a small selection of free on-demand movies, rotating live movies, and on-demand paid movies available in staterooms, there were also at least two movies shown each day on a giant outdoor screen at the Rooftop Terrace on Deck 12 aft. I loved that this area was seperate from the crowded pool decks and enjoyed the comfy seating. Popcorn would have been a nice touch (I never saw any offered) and more blankets should have been provided (there were a few floating around, but I’m not sure where people found them originally), but otherwise this was one of my favorite activities.
Camp at Sea is easily, incontestably, hands down, without a doubt, unquestionably, (you get the picture, right?) my favorite place on the Millennium because it’s where I abandoned my kid for 3-6 hours per day in favor of “me time.” “Bye buddy, I’ll miss you” (not). Thankfully “H” also loved Camp at Sea, mostly because of the Xbox’s, but also for a variety of art, recreational, culinary, and S.T.E.M. activities. And lucky for us, each cruise sees a fresh schedule of activities geared to the interests of the specific group of kids, so the second leg of our b2b was an entirely new experience for “H.”
There were a number of family activities where parents could join their kids at camp. I elected to attend “Meet The Captain” because, as many of you know, my highest goal in life is to marry a cruise ship captain (for some reason Mr. Cruise doesn’t feel at all threatened by this). And while I kept my distance on this particular sailing out of respect for the Captain’s three young daughters who were onboard with him (what? I’m not a monster!), I still jumped at the chance to gaze upon his beautiful smile, learn of our shared love of cruise ship food, and fantasize about shacking up in his quarters for a lifetime of free cruises.
Club X is for teens 13-17 and, while many would argue that I act like a teenager (see above), we didn’t have anyone in our group of the appropriate age to step into Club X without being hauled down to the brig by security. So I took these photos through the closed door and grabbed a schedule from the first day to give you a sense of the kinds of activities offered.
Since I can’t punctulate this review with the trite, yet catchy tagline, “the Millennium, a once in a thousand year experience,” since this was a b2b and, as such, I technically sailed on her twice over the course of just two weeks, I’ll instead close with these Christina Perri lyrics (from “A Thousand Years”) in honor of the Millennium and my new favorite cruise line, Celebrity (although don’t hoist me up into a wobbly liberty stunt just yet, Celebrity cheerleaders, because this seems to change with every cruise, suggesting that my favorite ship/line is always the one I’m on):
And all along I believed, I would find you
Time has brought your heart to me, I have loved you for a thousand years
I’ll love you for a thousand more
And with that…
Class Dismissed.
Homework: Go here to see all Celebrity Millennium restaurant and bar menus, here for my first impressions of Celebrity, and here for my complete reviews of two staterooms on the Millennium.
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