Just got home yesterday from another great cruise with Celebrity on the Millennium. I went with my best two friends. We had a blast!! Must say the highlight for me was being invited to sit with the captain and co-captain for dinner one night!! I would be happy to answer any questions.............Christine
could you tell me what time you were off the ship? or maybe what time the first group left?
Our travel plans involve trying to catch an early flight, (11:30) from MIA. is getting off the ship by 9:30 possible?
DId you have the shortened port stays that I heard about, due to the ship running at 50% power? Is any of this true? Celebrity says there is no problem, but they have changed the hours in port (it's on their website).
Was there any way to scuba dive while you were on Catalina Island?
We were the second to the last group to leave the ship and we were off by 9:30. When you check in they ask what time your flight is and where you fly out of so they know who needs to get off the ship first. We had a 5:45 pm flight home from Ft. Lauderdale and that is why we were one of the last groups to leave. I believe the first groups starting getting off around 8:30 or so.
The cost of the Olympic restaurant is still $25.00 but you need to make reservations as soon as you get on the ship as I believe they can only seat 100 people per evening.
I can't really recommend any shore excursions because we really just went to a beach when we at port. At St. Thomas they do offer an excursion to snorkle with stingrays. The cost was $39.00.
San Juan's port stay was shortened but no one really seemed to know why. Celebrity wasn't offering any shore excursions due to arriving so late. We were supposed to be there at around 5 p.m. but I had dinner with the captain the night before and he informed me we would be there earlier and we arrived at aproximately 2 p.m.. I have no idea about the ship running on 50% - probably another rumor. There are definite vibrations but not enough to ruin a great cruise as far as I was concerned!!
There were 3 or 4 excursions available from Catalina Island but I can't really remember what they were because we planned on just laying around at the beach all day. Sorry
I wish I could tell you the secret of sitting at the Captain's table but I still have no idea how we got invited!! I will say it was an awesome experience though!!! The captain and the co-captain eat in the dining room twice a week and this is on formal nights. Our table had 2 couples and 2 single men and then myself and my two best friends. Everyone was probably in their 30's & 40's. We noticed on the second formal night that is was all couples and they may have been a little bit older - maybe 50's. The captain and co-captain are both very nice and rather young I thought. We drank alot of good wine and had a great time and all the ladies got roses from the captain at the end of dinner. I do know that Sara - the social hostess - invited us so maybe you could make friends with her!
We sailed on the Century in June '98. Two single ladies in their 40's. We had been placed at a table for two on the first night on the cruise. We met the Social Hostess Sonja that night and there were alot of laughs etc., etc. The day we left we saw Sonja and found out that her job is to select individuals in the dining room from the first night of the cruise to invite to sit at the Captains table. I am not sure of the criteria but I am sure that personality, behavior, etc. place a roll in their selection process. We too had a wonderful time and were able to ask the Captain alot of interesting questions. It was an experience we will never forget and hope that on our Aprill 22 cruise on the Millinnium we get to do it again.
That is very interesting - thanks for the info. Sara is the name of the social hostess on the Millennium. She was very nice and very friendly. We met her at port while we were checking in. So you may want to look her up. Hope you have a great time on your cruise!!
was your captain a good conversationalist? i also had the good fortune to sit with the captain.several years ago....he was the captain of the majesty of the sea,and regailed us with all the newbuilds coming out....went for a cigarette with my husband,which just tickled him to death.dinner lasted 3 hrs,and we left when thewaiters ate their supper ...what a night!!.but, i have heard of some captains being less then attentive....glad you had a wonderful cruise!
Christine,
Sounds like the whole cruise was REALLY GREAT. We're doing the Med in May and have "hooked up" (thanks to Cruisemates) with about 5 other couples. The Carib. is a great place with such diverse destinations. Hey, the vibration story... just look at it as not having to put an extra quarter in the massage machine :-)
By the way.. co-captain... First Officer or Captian in waiting. Thanks for your report. Good Cruising!
Traveler
Glad to hear you had such a great trip. Do they charge for pop and is there ice machines available? What are the charges for drinks & is the ships store prices on liquor reasonable? Anything elce you think we should know would be appricated.
The Captain was great and was very friendly and talkative. He was much younger than I thought he would be though. He was probably around 40ish - maybe younger. It was a wonderful experience!
They do charge for pop but you can buy a card to use to purchase pop on the cruise for a one time fee. I can't remember how much the card is but I believe that it was around $2.00 for a can of pop so if you plan on drinking mostly pop or have kids it would probably be a bargain to purchase the pop card.
Alcoholic drinks seemed to be around $5.50 but we did note that they weren't skimping on the alcohol. It pays to be friendly with a bar server We used the same 2 or 3 bar servers all the time and then tipped them a little extra at the end of the cruise. Also, there are 2 alcholic drink specials and 1 non-alcoholic drink special everyday and they are around $2.95.
The ships prices on alcohol were very good and they guarantee they have the lowest prices. I'm not sure though if you buy alcohol on the ship if they give it to you right away or "hold" it until the end of the cruise. So if you are planning on drinking what you buy on the ship you may want to find out if you get the alcohol when you buy it from someone else. If you buy at port you can pick up what you ordered at 3:30 before the ship leaves port. I'm pretty sure that there are no ice machines but your cabin attendant fills up your ice container every day and if we ever needed more we just called him and he would bring some extra ice. Hope I haven't confused you with all that!! Please let me know if you need any clarifications. Have a great trip......
Just returned from Millenium cruise.....
We used the same 2 or 3 bar servers all the time and then tipped them a little extra at the end of the cruise. Also, there are 2 alcholic drink specials and 1 non-alcoholic drink special everyday and they are around $2.95. 
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