Teddy and I just came back from our Alaska trip with Celebrity Millennium. Being the first trip we’ve ever taken to Alaska, and the first time we’ve ever been on a Celebrity ship, we didn’t quite know what to expect. But in the end, I can definitely say that this has become my new favorite cruise line.
What I like about Celebrity (Millennium):
- The food. Compare to the cruises I’ve been on at a similar price point, I thought Celebrity Millennium’s dining menu was a cut above the rest, somewhat on par with Disney Cruise Line. This could be partly due to my love for escargot, which is a “Timeless Starters” item, meaning it’s available every single night. But they even had a lobster night on our cruise, and we were allowed to get multiple lobster tails if we wished.
2. The service. On any cruise ship, you will see people that are tired, struggling to squeeze out a smile, etc. For Celebrity, I thought a bigger portion of the service team was friendly and courteous. The only hiccup we encountered was that, even though they advertised “half off” during happy hour on one of the days, our drinks were still charged full price. When we tried to get the price adjusted on the last day (this happened the night before, after guest services was already closed), it took quite a long time and the front desk lady got a little short with us. I’m sure it had to do with the craziness of it being the last day.
3. There was a different show every night, with an emphasis on acrobatics. We were not able to catch all the shows but the ones we went to, we definitely did enjoy them.
4. Having the choice of Main Dining Room for breakfast was so wonderful. We ate in our stateroom on most days, tried the buffet one day which was absolutely chaotic, and tried the Main Dining Room another day. Many cruise lines don’t have the main dining room as an option for breakfast, so you are left with the options of eating in your room (limited menu, space, and servicing yourself) or battle it out in the buffet. Next time on Celebrity, I plan to be less lazy and enjoy breakfast in the MDR everyday. (I know I’ll feel differently once I’m on the ship.)
5. The Solarium. It is an area with a retractable roof (during our cruise, the roof was extended all the way the entire time, making this area very warm and comfortable). There’s a Thalassotherapy pool, loungers and hot tubs. During the entire time, I never saw anyone in this area, despite the fact it’s free.
6. There’s blankets and HUGE towels available on the pool deck. This is good because majority of the cruise was pretty cold.
What I didn’t like about Celebrity:
- They would not honor the advertisement they had sent to each room of half off all cocktails on the entire ship. I didn’t bring the ad with me when we tried to order some cocktails in the specialty restaurant. They refused to honor it when I told them about it. When I went to the Guest Services desk to inquire, they seemed to have no idea what I was talking about. First said the happy hour was over, then they said it wouldn’t work in Specialty restaurants. I had to locate the ad in my room (which clearly said ALL COCKTAILS, THE WHOLE SHIP). I showed it to them next day, then it still took them quite a while to figure out how to adjust the price.
- On our ship, they must have had few people booking the specialty restaurant, as we were bombarded with people up-selling us the entire trip. We ended up dining in the Qsine and Sushi On Five. Both restaurants were good but as usual, we just don’t really feel it’s worth the cost to dine in specialty restaurants.
- The internet would randomly cut off, and persistently cut off every night. Although this is pretty common among all the cruise lines I’ve been on.
Please comment below if you have anything to share about Celebrity Cruise Line! We have already booked our next Celebrity trip on Celebrity Infinity as we are quite impressed with Celebrity overall!