Celebrity Millennium Alaska Cruise - Great Ship and Wonderful Experience

Item: Celebrity Millennium
Rating: 4
Author: rwkoehler

Celebrity Millennium Cruise Review to Alaska - Inside Passage

rwkoehler

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 1 cruise (first)

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 8

Overall rating:

4 out of 5

Southbound Glacier

Sail date: September 08, 2023

Ship: Celebrity Millennium

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 9057

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 8 months ago

Review summary

We enjoyed our cruise very much. The Millennium was likely nice to begin with and has relatively recently been renovated. Everything seemed very clean and new. The staff was great and there were multiple options for eating, drinking and entertainment every day.

Embarkation

5 out of 5

Very smooth, quick and well organized

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5

The Blu restaurant in particular was a significant extra perk. The main buffet was also large, clean and had lots of great options. We mainly used it for breakfast.

Blu

5 out of 5

This was in an area called QSine. This was recommended by our friends. It was lots of fun. There were four courses, and two options for each course. Your table was completely white and, before each course, an animated, very French, “petite chef” and various other characters were shown on our table as they talked about each course and often demonstrated how the course was being prepared and delivered to our plates. It is all very colorful and quite fun. The fee for us was $60/person but I understand it might have been less had we booked before boarding. We found out that there are five other Le Petite Chef restaurants around the world and that the one in Toronto goes for about $150/person.

Le Petit Chef

5 out of 5

This was in an area called QSine. Once again, this was recommended by our friends. It was lots of fun. There were four courses, and two options for each course. Your table was completely white and, before each course, an animated, very French, “petite chef” and various other characters were shown on our table as they talked about each course and often demonstrated how the course was being prepared and delivered to our plates. It is all very colorful and quite fun. The fee for us was $60/person but I understand it might have been less had we booked before boarding. We found out that there are five other Le Petite Chef restaurants around the world and that the one in Toronto goes for about $150/person.

Oceanview Café

4 out of 5

Wonderful assortment, excellent breakfast options including fresh French bread each morning which was my favorite. We only went here for breakfast but I'm sure other meals were good as well. Only mild complaint was that some of the breakfast items were not as warm when we got them back to our table, but that is to be expected.

Onboard Activities

4 out of 5

We chose not to use a lot of the offered activities, but there was a large assortment of them.

Entertainment

4 out of 5

We enjoyed the main theater and saw a naturalist presentation, a comedian, a magician and some Cirque-du-Soleil style gymnasts. There were other things like Broadway shows that we chose not to see.

Children's Programs

3 out of 5

N/A. We are a retired couple.

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

All staff we encountered were professional, well dressed and pleasant.

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

The Millennium was probably in very good shape to begin with, but it was also recently rennovated. It was extremely clean and new looking.

Cabin / Stateroom

4 out of 5

We upgraded to Aqua Class. Not sure how much different these rooms were than others, but perks, especially access to the Blu restaurant, was definitely worthwhile.

Ship tip

Don't worry about booking a room on the side facing Alaska as you cruise. It would not have made that big a difference in the end. Also, avoid the 9th deck if you want to have a balcony without an extended roof overhead.

Thumbs up

Ports of call

Seward (Anchorage), Alaska Did not visit port

We arrived from train from Anchorage and went right thru check-in to the ship.

Thumbs Up 0

Cruise Hubbard Glacier Did not visit port

This was on our itinerary but it was completely fogged over. Would have liked to have seen it.

Thumbs Up 0

Juneau, Alaska

4 out of 5

Gorgeous day when we visited. That probably made it a highlight.

Thumbs Up 0

Skagway, Alaska

3 out of 5

We chose to rent a car and drive up the highway into BC and the Yukon. However, we did not see the wildlife we had hoped to see. The town itself is very small.

Thumbs Up 0

Icy Strait Point (Hoonah), Alaska

5 out of 5

The absolute best whale watch tour we took. We used Hoonah Travel Adventures.

Thumbs Up 0

Ketchikan, Alaska

2 out of 5

The whale watch tour I took was an absolute waste. The town was bigger than Skagway and much more interesting which is why I even gave it 2 stars.

Thumbs Up 0

Cruise Inside Passage, Alaska

1 out of 5

Would have been great to see it, but we entered the Inside Passage after dark so we slept right through it.