We enjoyed our 8 day Southern Caribbean cruise from Ft. Lauderdale to San Juan aboard the Celebrity Millennium. It was our first experience with Celebrity. The ship is the oldest and smallest we have sailed on. The Millennium proves that great things do come in small packages. Would definitely sail on her again.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
First cruise post COVID. The process was streamlined. We had a 1:00-1:30pm window to board, and we were onboard by 1:05. We were able to access our room immediately. We didn't have to carry around our carry on bags. This was a departure from pre-Covid cruising.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
5 out of 5
The quality of the food on the Metropolitan, the main dining room, was a huge step above what we have experienced on other cruise lines. We had a party of four with different tastes and likes. All of us were more than satisfied with the variety of choices, the quality of the food, and the portion size. The buffet was pretty much the same as we have experienced on other lines. It's a buffet. You pretty much know what to expect. Food stays warm only so long. The selections were decent, and the menu didn't change much day to day. We didn't eat in any of the specialty restaurants.
Metropolitan Restaurant
5 out of 5
Food quality was a cut above our experience elsewhere. For the most part, the portions were more than adequate. On the one evening the portions were lacking, our wait staff told us they would bring us another portion if we needed it. That evening, I ordered a second entree after finishing the first. Our wait staff was top notch. Our head waiter, Vaibhav, assistant waiter, Melboy, and sommelier, Sage, went above and beyond to make sure we were satisfied with our dining experience. The one complaint our party of four had was that the eggs were occasionally and ever so slightly undercooked. This was true both in the Metropolitan and with the buffet breakfast. Not a big deal when all else is considered.
Oceanview Café
3 out of 5
Typical cruise buffet. No better or worse than any of the others we have experienced. The selections have enough variety to suit most tastes. Temperature is always a challenge with food that is kept warm by heat lamps. It depends on how long it has been there. The one complaint was that the eggs trended toward undercooked at breakfast.
Rendezvous Lounge
4 out of 5
A nice place to meet up before dinner. There was a good mix of music and usually plenty of seating available. The one exception was the second formal night. The venue was packed and grade schoolers in adult bodies were shamelessly saving large blocks of seats for invisible companions.
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
On sea days, we enjoyed the adult only solarium area. We also went to a couple of the game shows. Unlike other lines, bingo - and the card sales that go along with it - wasn't pushed down the throat. We did sit in on one session of Deal or No Deal, Celebrity's answer to the bingo card. We did spend $24.99 on a card.
Our daughter in law made use of the fitness center every morning. I used the walking track on sea days.
If you are looking for rock climbing, water slides, children's splash pool, or similar bells and whistles you will find on the larger ships, the Millennium is not for you. We booked this itinerary on this ship specifically because we were adulting.
Solarium
5 out of 5
Seating was a challenge if you didn't arrive early on sea days. Aside from that, it was a peaceful retreat. The therapy pool and pair of hot tubs were relaxing and usually not overcrowded.
Entertainment
4 out of 5
The stage shows were not what we have experienced on other lines. Good - not great. It wasn't the entertainers, but the length and creative content of the shows that were lacking. Boogie Wonderland was the best of the shows. It tried to combine music and storyline - and almost succeeded. The cruise director, Ernest, had his own Vegas style show, which was pretty good. The acrobats, Anna and Vlad, were incredible.
The show times of 7pm and 9pm left a lot to be desired. If you ate dinner immediately upon the opening of the main dining room at 5:45pm you would be hardpressed to make the 7pm show. We ended up filling the time void between the time void between the two shows with alternate entertainment venues that were overcrowded at that point... As everyone else had the same game plan.
The DJ and various musical groups that played around the ship were about what they have been on our other cruises... Good enough to sing along with and dance to. The silent disco concept was unique and fun to watch.
Celebrity Theater
3 out of 5
The theater had enough seats to accommodate those that wanted to see the show. It wasn't spectacular in design or decor.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Our wait staff in the main dining room was awesome. They went above and beyond to make sure we were satisfied and that we weren't walking away hungry or thirsty.
Our room steward kept our cabin clean and well stocked.
The service staff at guest relations, the excursion desk, and future cruise were helpful and friendly.
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
We are used to sailing the newer and larger ships. There was not the "wow" factor with the massive and elegant atrium or foyer. The ship was clean. It was easy to find your way around. Unlike many ships, you didn't have to walk up a deck and over just to go down again to your destination. On average, according to my for but, I walked about 4000 less steps per day than a usual cruise.
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
Typical ocean view cabin. It was clean and fresh. The bed was comfortable, as were the pillows.
First time visiting St. Thomas. We absolutely love the island and will return. We were blessed with an extra 6 hours on the island due to Nassau being cancelled. We weren't supposed to dock until 2pm, which limited the potential for any type of water activity. We had a Celebrity island tour excursion scheduled in the afternoon. With the 8am arrival, our island tour was moved up to 10:45. Our tour guide, David, gave a wonderful tour of the island. He also was gracious enough to take about half of our tour group to Magan's Bay Beach after the tour. We spent three hours there. We could see why this beach is rated in the top ten in the world. It was beautiful and not overcrowded.
Would be higher if we had selected a different excursion. We took the island tour by land. Our son and daughter-in-law took it by sea by catamaran. Their experience was a 5. Our experience was a 3. The island itself is beautiful. Unfortunately, our tour offered one stop... An overlook with an obstructed view of Marigot Bay. We couldn't get a glimpse, much less a photo of the Pitons. We will go back... And will absolutely not select the same excursion.
St. Maarten/St. Martin is a beautiful island. We had a nice tour of both the Dutch side and French side. This was not a Celebrity excursion, but we purchased ours through Viator as Celebrity's island tour excursion was sold out well in advance of the cruise.
We stopped at a couple of wonderful overlooks and a beach on each side of the island. The group was given the option on whether we preferred to spend more time at Bikini Beach on the French side or the tourist trap Sunset Beach on the Dutch side. The group chose Sunset Beach, watching the aircraft fly directly overhead. In the 90 minutes we were there, we saw three of them fly past. Our group of four would have preferred Bikini Beach. It wasn't crowded and we could have enjoyed a refreshing swim.
Have never seen a port so disorganized. I am not sure whether to blame customs or the tour groups for the chaotic mess that was the meeting area for tours. It was an absolute free for all getting on the tour busses.
We had a Celebrity booked beach day excursion operated by Foster and Ince. They were the worst tour company I have ever had the displeasure of using. As mentioned, there was no organization getting on the busses. Anywhere else, the tour company asked for orderly lines prior to boarding. These yahoos didn't - and it was a stampede for the bus door. The line was horizontal instead of vertical. Would never use them again.
The beach was okay. It was like any other beach. We got chairs and an umbrella, a welcome drink, and free use of the rest room.
Barbados... I can say I have been there but I wouldn't go back.
Beautiful port area. Disembarkation was handled efficiently. We didn't have time to take a tour with an early afternoon flight. Would love to go back and start a cruise from San Juan so we could experience the area for a day before embarkation.
Compared to pre-Covid cruising, disembarkation was a breeze. We waited for maybe 10 minutes for our group to be called and waited maybe another 20 minutes to get through customs. We were then directly by Celebrity staff seamlessly to our waiting Celebrity airport transfer.
kdlady - it really was disappointing, given the seamless experience we have had in really every port we have been to - whether Caribbean or Mediterranean.
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