Having cruised Carnival, Holland America, NCL, Princess, and Royal Caribbean, my sailing on the Millennium was my very first cruise on Celebrity. And, I mean, I’ve never hated a single cruise I’ve ever taken on any other line, so instead of booking a short Celebrity sailing to wet a toe, I belly flopped right in with a 14-day b2b.
After completing the first seven days and taunting those disembarking as I settled into a most comfortable cushioned lounger for another week, “neener neener neener,” I jotted down some of my first impressions of Celebrity for anyone who might be considering trying her out.
“Let’s start from the very beginning, a very good place to start…”
This is totally off topic, but I recently discovered that my husband, Mr. Cruise, has never seen The Sound of Music. As someone who spent the summer after my high school graduation stalking every Sound of Music site in Austria (what makes you think I’m a nerd?), I found this shocking and honestly considered divorce for “irreconcilable differences.” So if he’s reading this right now, he’ll neither get the above quote nor will he launch into the full soundtrack of numbers like I’m doing (and hopefully you’re doing) right now. “Climb every mountain…”
In any case, let’s start from the very beginning. When it comes to first impressions, clearly the fat cats (fat from free cruises, I can only assume) at Celebrity understand that they count and nothing leads to a better first impression than free booze.
For the first time ever, I was greeted upon embarkation with a complimentary glass of champagne. A sly first move, indeed. Time to step it up, Carnival, Holland, NCL, Princess, and Royal.
Let me be crystal about one thing, I am not a fitness buff/gym rat nor am I vain or even the least bit concerned about my appearance. I came to terms with my short stature, face full of freckles, lack of visible eyebrows, and butt dimples somewhere around age 25 when I realized the time it was taking to battle genetics was cutting too far into my busy eating, reading, and television watching schedule. And now that I’m a full-time cruiser, forget it. Mascara be damned – I need to be first in the buffet line!
However, I do maintain a very strict 1-hour per day gym regimen on every cruise for one reason and one reason only. Because if I didn’t, those lifters you see loading up the ship with cases of beer and frozen shrimp on embarkation day would first have to disembark me off of an open deck where I lay unable to move from my lounger or fit through the double wide sliding doors after 14 consecutive days of desserts numbering in the double digits. I love to eat. I mean, I really love to eat.
So the gym is a necessary evil. Trust me, I hate it just as much as you do and didn’t show up at 4:30am on the Celebrity Millennium out of eagerness, but a desire to get it over with. I crossed the threshold each morning with a profanity laced greeting, the gist being: “you again!”
I was, however, very appreciative of the facility being open 24 hours, Celebrity being the only line I’ve ever sailed on with a 24-hour gym. Mr. Cruise and I were both able to get our dreaded workouts in before our son woke up each morning. Also, going early allowed me to use a spin bike in the aerobics room before any programming started. Spinning is my least hated form of exercise and I’ve never been able to do it on any other line as I’m banned from taking an organized class due to the risk of drowning other passengers with my overactive sweat glands.
I honestly hate myself for saying this and will totally understand if you hate me for saying this, “well she’s just lost all credibility,” but I would book Celebrity again just for the 24-hour gym.
I’m not a picky eater in the slightest and have found many (too many) foods I love on every line I’ve sailed, but as a vegetarian some lines stand out as being easier for those with special diets. And when it comes to the buffet, Celebrity is the clear winner and is second only to Holland America for catering to special diets in the main dining rooms.
The buffet on the Millennium had items clearly labeled as vegetarian, gluten free, lactose free, and sugar free. There was also a separate area for vegetarian and gluten free selections and soy and almond milk was out and available at breakfast for anyone (no need to track someone down to fetch it from the back like on other lines).
In the main dining room, items were clearly labeled on the regular menu for those with special diets and there was a separate vegetarian menu available each night offering multiple appetizer and entrée items from which to select. Holland America edges out Celebrity here for their much more extensive vegetarian menu and vegetarian breakfast items (like vegetarian sausage patties), but Celebrity still scores very high for me in this area.
I have literally never paid for something I can get for free and have been known to stuff hotel Kleenex boxes and rolls of toilet paper into my suitcase (Oh, don’t pretend like you’ve never done it! Wait, no one else does this?). So when it comes to bath products on cruises, I always rely on the free shampoo, conditioner, lotion, and soap and generally have the elephant skin and split ends to prove it.
But on Celebrity, Mr. Cruise actually accused me of visiting the spa for a hair treatment when he felt how silky smooth and soft my generally unruly locks were. And the soap had little specks of something, I dunno, fancy in it making it feel very opulent.
Just when I thought I couldn’t love anything as much as the International Café on Princess, it moves to the number 3 spot pushing my family even further back behind Celebrity’s Café al Bacio at number 1 and the Spa Café at number 2.
Café al Bacio for its delicious and complimentary breakfast pastries and desserts and boozy coffee drinks…
…and the Spa Café (coming in at number 2 behind Café al Bacio for being the healthier option) for its fresh, tasty, and again, free breakfast and lunch selections.
File this one under “different.” Not better or worse really, just different than anything I’ve ever experienced on any other line. While I’m used to collecting my ship card at the check-in desk and always relish that first “ding” when it’s time to board, a paper document is used to board Celebrity ships and plastic cards are collected later from the outside of each cabin door (at least that’s how it worked on the two sailings I was on).
Celebrity’s kid’s club is unique in one way that really benefited us on our b2b cruise – the schedule changes every sailing. Activities fall into the general categories of art, recreation, culinary, and S.T.E.M., but the specific schedule is tailored to the interests of each new group of kids. My son didn’t repeat a single activity from his first week on board during his second week. If that last sentence didn’t make him seem spoiled enough, this one surely would: “I don’t want to go on another pirate treasure hunt!”
My phone is so old I’d probably get better results with a rotary. As such, the Celebrity app crashed frequently and made my other apps act wonky. But on any smart phone purchased after 2012, the Celebrity App would be great! You can text others on your sailing for free, can refer to and schedule entertainment and activities, and can reserve dining. It’s the best cruise app currently available, in my opinion.
With the exception of its Indian entrée offerings, which I still think NCL does the best, the quality and flavor of the food at the Oceanview Café (Celebrity’s buffet), was excellent. There was good variety, with several cook-to-order stations that were particularly strong.
I especially loved the international desserts, with the Indian ones coming in at #1 for me. If it’s not obvious by now, I love me some Indian food! My BFF, before the worst day of my life when she moved from Seattle back to Delhi, used to cook me the best Indian food. I’m always chasing it and Celebrity’s desserts came pretty darn close. I also loved the whipped butters and fresh cream at the breakfast buffet.
I also found the quality of the buffet coffee and hard ice cream superior to other lines (although Holland America is competitive on the ice cream front). One thing I missed was a self-serve soft serve (try saying that 5 times fast) machine available 24/7. There was a soft-serve machine behind the ice cream counter, but it was “resting” upon my approach during both of my sailings. I guess I can be a bit intimidating to desserts: “she’s coming, hide your women and children!”
I noticed and enjoyed the extra little touches that made Celebrity feel like a step up from many other lines I’ve sailed. For example, nicely folded beach towels on every lounger (on most other lines you get one towel per person in your room and you have to exchange it for a clean one), life vests available for kids by the pools, cloth towels in the restrooms to dry your hands, robes provided to everyone in staterooms, and three different flavored butters on the tables each evening in the MDR.
I’m not sure who appreciated the free room service more, myself or the other passengers on the Millennium who didn’t have to see me at breakfast after a long night of taste testing every martini or my 6-year-old at dinner, hyped up on sugar and from a spirited game of dodge ball at Camp at Sea. Room service to the rescue!
I found Celebrity’s enrichment and entertainment offerings comparable to Princess and Holland America, but overall better than Carnival, NCL (although the full-length Broadway shows on NCL are hard to beat), and Royal Caribbean (but…ice skating!) I did miss having a book club, available on both Holland America and Princess and the “library” on the Millennium was very weak (again, what makes you think I’m a nerd?).
Nothing stood out as being particularly outstanding as compared to other lines. Main dining room service at dinner was painfully slow and I found it impossible to ever get ketchup (American here!), but otherwise the service was generally good and comparable to other lines.
There were a wide variety of activities, appealing to many different interests and demographics. But again, nothing to really distinguish Celebrity from other lines.
I’ve always been confused by the giant X. I mean, should I interpret it as 1/3 a porn, marking the spot, or eliminating something from contention?
Based on my experience, I can rule out options one (although we were in Alaska, so I might have to book a warmer itinerary to reevaluate) and three. Clearly X is meant to mark the spot – there’s a lot to love about Celebrity! I’m glad I tried it and, for the right price and itinerary, wouldn’t hesitate in recommending you do too!
And with that…
Class Dismissed.
Stay tuned for my complete review of the Celebrity Millennium, but in the meantime check out all my Alaska port posts here. And don’t forget to subscribe to the blog (scroll up to the top right if on a computer or keep scrolling down if on a mobile device) and don’t forget to follow Prof. Cruise on social media:
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