Millennium
by Davd L. Lee
Southern Caribbean
January 24, 2011
This was our 14th cruise, but the first on Celebrity. Previous cruise lines have included mostly Princess and the defunct Delta Queen & Orient Lines. It is convenient to compare Celebrity Millennium (1950 Passengers) against Princess since we had followed nearly the same itinerary on Grand Princess (2,600 Pax) the year before.
Also, we just wanted to relax on the ship and nearby shore points. Unlike all previous cruises, Itinerary and Shore Excursions were of very little interest. Climate on the Veranda really was top priority.
We went to the San Juan PR departure port a day early. The Sheraton Old San Juan Hotel has a superb location -- and a staff that can turn over a full house quickly & easily on cruise days (which is nearly every day in San Juan.) But their food service should be avoided due to poor materials. The Ti-juana Restaurant across the street provided an excellent Mexican Dinner and Four-Piece Mariachi Band.
Celebrity�s highly-regarded food and service came through superbly � except for the frustrating inadequacy and errors of their verbal communications:
The ship itself is beautifully designed with many striking, beautiful, and/or functional features. For example superior use of sculpture, shape and color, no sense of crowding, and reliably-fast elevators. (Not the 2009, always-broken elevators on Grand Princess.)
Food: Over 90% of both complex and ordinary dishes were unusually delicious.
Buffet and Dining Room Staff were plentiful and immediately helpfully-attentive to Wife Christine who walked slowly with a cane.
Purser / �Guest Relations� Staff were uncharacteristically friendly and helpful.
The Director of Food & Beverage fixed diluted Manhattan Cocktails � immediately.
Entertainers were brilliant: Amy Abler (Piano) played 50% more notes than I have ever heard in the �Pennsylvania & Beer Barrel Polkas� � lying with her back on the floor ! Kathleen and her Four Saints impressively covered Patsy Cline, Peggy Lee, and many other girl singers during Happy Hour.
Happily the Maitre�de gave us Dinner-Table Companions who were exceptional: Three veteran Commercial Pilots and their excellent wives who were all a lot of fun, very interesting, and quite accepting of us.
All of the above were at least 1½ Stars above Princess.
The following Information Services were Two Stars below Princess:
Pre-Cruise, Easy-to-Read, Shore-Tour Information was difficult to get. Mail requests were not honored, and internet downloads were bewildering in format and length.
Upon boarding you are given a MICROSCOPIC Deck Plan. An ordinary, hand-held, Magnifying Glasses is not enough.
Guest Relations managed to print out an 11 X 14 inch Deck Plan which showed Buffet Deck 10 pathways which were actually walled off.
�Conservatory� sign pointing the wrong way on Deck 11.
The daily paper described one island as: �20 miles wide and 6 miles long� (a Third-Grader�s view of a map).
Loudspeaker announcements gave wrong times for events.
The Cabin TV set could not be tuned to a specific channel � you have to step through all 25. Nor does it display an adequate �Menu for Interactive-Ordering of Room-Service Food�.
The Concierge Class promise of a Daily Room-Service Menu was denied by the Cabin Attendant (who was just returning from a �Honeymoon in Tunisia�).
In the middle of the Cruise, a tired Bath Mat appeared: Woven Lettering �Celebrity Cruises X Concierge Class�, faded four shades, a hole worn in it, and three bites out of the edge.
The Final Insult was the usual detailed Statement of On-Board Charges, slipped under the cabin door on the final night: Three pages, covering some 80 items, in miniature, 6-point type, printed with a minimum of ink.
SUMMARY: Overall, we very much enjoyed our trip and thought it was worthwhile. Celebrity is a great value. We just wish they had an old-fashioned, AT&T-Type Service Observer on their Public Information Channels.
