Good Service But Less Quality & More Nickel and Diming

Celebrity Millennium Cruise Review to Transpacific

VaCavalier

Contributor Level: Cruise Director

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Reviews: 5

Helpful Votes: 214

Overall rating:

3 out of 5

Bering Sea & Japan

Sail date: September 02, 2016

Ship: Celebrity Millennium

Cabin type: Balcony

Traveled as: Singles/Friends

Reviewed: 7 years ago

Review summary

First let me say that the ship is in excellent condition: my stateroom (a Concierge Balcony) was impeccably clean and more than adequate and the public areas look great. I initially chose this cruise because of its highly rated, gourmet specialty restaurant, the Olympic, where in the past I enjoyed the best means of any cruise line, better than the Queen's Grill on Cunard or Deluxe Category ships. While disappointed that this venue was changed to Tuscan Grill before I sailed, I decided not to cancel my booking: in terms of restaurant quality, that was a mistake. Tuscan Grill is far from gourmet, and lacked professional service; After experiencing 3 dinners there, I cancelled my future reservations and dined at the main restaurant, which was adequate, but due to size alone, not my preferred atmosphere. I lunched at their new Sushi on 5 venue, which was quite good but terribly overpriced (a la carte with no set menu option) as well as located off a busy corridor. Qsine is more for show than for food and I found my server and the maitre d'hotel to overplay their roles, bordering on rudeness (I went once & never again). My favorite daytime venue was Cafe al Bacio, for excellent specialty coffees and friendly service.

In booking Celebrity one needs to keep in mind that they do not claim to be more than a Premium Cruise Line, but clearly they are paying more attention to RCCL accountants than the marketing department or their guests. My advice would be to compare their pricing with that for Azamara and if at all possible book the latter as Celebrity has become little more than Royal Caribbean with a better veneer.