Miaminice

12 hours ago, ClarP said:

Have found your posts very interesting and helpful. We are going on Millennium to Japan next year and are not seasoned cruisers. We are looking at tour options. If we book privately or do our own thing, will we be delayed getting off the ship as the ship tours get priority to disembark?

Since there is no tender port, the delay is minimal - if there’s one at all. 
as soon as the ship is cleared, you are good to go.

Sometimes a different exit as the booked tours but at the same time.

On 2/24/2024 at 8:37 AM, kathys235 said:

I really am trying to keep an open mind- I just don’t understand why people are okay with no outlets on the bed side- it just doesn’t make sense to me on a ship that was recently “completely renovated “ just a few years ago. Do any Celebrity ships have outlets by the bed?

renovated means new carpets, furniture, curtains and such. They can’t rewire staterooms. Nowadays when a ship is built, the staterooms are fixed containers prepared off site by suppliers of the shipyards. They are then delivered with all wiring and pipes. The container is then placed into the hull and the wires and pipes are connected. 
So the wires are where they are.

Some of the newer ships have bed lights with USB and some with a 110v outlet. 
there are plenty of outlets in the state room. I’m asking them to bring an extension cord which they are happy to do is really not a problem.

To be honest, the moment I start worrying about where the outlets are to evaluate the overall pleasure of a cruise is the moment well stop cruising.

Maybe you are better off cruising with HAL in the future. We did and we certainly prefer Celebrity. Granted, the placement of outlets was a factor we definitely missed in our decision process.

On Silhouette I“d recommend Murano and the Lawn Club Grille over Tuscan. On other ships where they are not available, Tuscan is okay.

We just booked our fourth cruise to Japan - on Millennium.

Two of the previous cruises were on Millennium, one on HAL Westerdam. We wouldn’t do HAL again. Didn’t like the layout and we were pretty disappointed by the food.

Our last cruise to Japan was in October 2023 on Millennium and we really enjoyed the refreshed ship. Yes, she’s still a M class ship - but they did a great job. She feels fresh and modern.

Review can be found here: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2970853-celebrity-millennium-japan-10242023-liveish-report/

For our fourth Japan cruise we were looking at different itineraries and looked into NCL and Princess. Further investigating the different ports of their itineraries soon brought us back to Millennium. Celebrity’s ports of call offer many different opportunities - even though we have been to all of them before more than once. Some of the smaller ports visited by NCL and Princess just don’t offer a lot - with some I’d even say nothing.

So in a nutshell: even though we were open to alternatives we gladly chose Millennium again. And we also prefer E class or S class - but think M class is a perfect size for the Japan cruises.

Japan is always worth a visit and cruise 👍

Maybe our reviews help...
 

Japan Millennium 2023
https://boards.cruisecritic.co.uk/topic/2970853-celebrity-millennium-japan-10242023-liveish-report/

Japan Cherry Blossom Cruise HAL Westerdam 2019
https://www.travelandcruise.net/travellove_en/Our-Trips/HAL-Westerdam-Japan-01/hal-westerdam-japan-01.html

Japan Millennium 2017
https://www.travelandcruise.net/travellove_en/Our-Trips/Celebrity-Millennium-Japan/celebrity-millennium-japan.html

23 minutes ago, Mimiwade said:

That would be great if the Apex re-instituted the set early & late seating dining option! 
Can anyone tell me if it is hard to get a table for 2 ?

no, not a problem at all. 

We always do. 

1 hour ago, LB_NJ said:

On Constellation Blu is narrow and long so you are closer to a window then likely in the MDR.

 

Also, don’t forget breakfast and the nice smoothies.  More likely to get a window table.

Yep! Which is why the comparison to Apex is irrelevant 🤷🏻 And the question was about Constellation.

1 hour ago, bizeemom4 said:

We hated Blu on Apex. There is NO view and it's very loud. We spent most of our 9-night cruise trying all the other free dining options. The maitre'd gave us a very hard sell on how great Blu is and turned himself inside out trying to please us on the one night we came back for dinner. They really take it personally when you don't dine in Blu if you're AC.

Since the question was about Constellation, your dislike of Blu on Apex does not really relate to the topic and shouldn´t unsettle the OP. 
That being said, we enjoyed Blu on 4 cruises on Apex. We go for service and food and not for the view. When we go to dinner it´s dark anyway. The noise in Blu is relative - since it´s always more quiet than any MDR, I can live with it.

47 minutes ago, At Sea At Peace said:

 

Agree with overall assessment.

 

Question? On the Edge Class, with the 4-MDR by theme, is there such a thing as Select Dining and Fixed Seating Dining?  For a B2B this upcoming December we are not in BLU and have 6PM 'Early' assigned; the "options for Select and Late" were "greyed out?"

No, my experience is that E-Class has no fixed dining times... although still a part of their IT system.

Blu is our main reason to always book Aqua.
Not because we think the food is that much better, but because we like the more personal service and less rushed ambiance. Especially breakfast is a treat. You can come to Blu any time you like and you can get your prefered service team if you let them know. IMHO Blu is much nicer than the MDR - especially the unrefurbished one of Constellation.

As Aqua guests you can also dine at the MDR any time you want - but in the Select Dining section, not in the fixed seating part.

You can find info on Kagoshima in our travelogues. It´s a port easy to do DIY.

Part 10 of this one 

http://www.travelandcruise.net/travellove_en/Our-Trips/Celebrity-Millennium-Japan/celebrity-millennium-japan.html

Beginning Post #136 of this recent one
https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2970853-celebrity-millennium-japan-10242023-liveish-report/

We have also done this cruise to Japan but Kagoshima wasn't a stop. However you might still find it interesting.

http://www.travelandcruise.net/travellove_en/Our-Trips/HAL-Westerdam-Japan-01/hal-westerdam-japan-01.html

We absolutely love Japan - so much that we just booked our 4th cruise to Japan :-) 
Millennium May 2025

9 hours ago, mcatmcat said:

thats why I dont really care about points with X, I am a cruise away to be diamond plys with royal , Although I love celebrity since I started sailing with them last year I dont think I will focus in points with them since they dont really have good perks tbh. 

We also started on Royal many many years back and jumped over the fence 3 points shy of being Diamond. So we worked our way up to Elite Plus on Celebrity - because we were never really tempted to go back to Royal. 
 

I don’t think the perks are bad but tbh we don’t care for them anyway. We cruise because we enjoy cruising and the destinations. THE perk of Celebrity for us is that they are (still) our favorite cruise line and still better than others - within the same  price range - which we tried. And certainly better or more grown up than Royal. 
 

Points are also not a factor for us. We are Elite Plus and we will never reach Zenith anyway in this lifetime. 🤣

17 hours ago, mcatmcat said:

For beyond I have a concierge room only because it was cheaper than the regular balcony.

 

I am a diamond in royal so I tranfered the points to celebrity so points dont matter much and the lunch is super limited on day 1. Nice location but you can save more in a deck below booking a regular balcony.  btw priority checkin is not enforced, anyone can come early and board early at least in FL.

you will be Elite on Celebrity but you can’t transfer the points! So you‘ll have to start your way to the next level - Elite Plus - with zero points.

3 minutes ago, zitsky said:

n general if I’m paying the high price for Aqua I would prefer to be in a quiet cabin a few decks below the pool instead of right below the pool.

M class A1s are quiet, S class A2s are quiet, the ones we had on E class were quiet. Even the A1 on M class - although I don’t like the overhang - were quiet. We have done over 20 cruises in Aqua.

17 hours ago, zitsky said:

Aqua cabins are in the worst part of the ship.  Under the pool for example.  They could choose to make it several decks below but they don’t.  Blu restaurant and Spa are the only perks.

not true! Some are, some aren’t… just like other staterooms.

M class A1s are fabulous - nothing above. S class A2s under Spa or Persian Garden. I can’t even list all the good ones on E class.
 

Maybe you are thinking about the A2s on M class under the overhang and pool deck. But that not all of Aqua 🤷🏻‍♂️

Enjoy your future cruises 👋 

Yes!

2 hours ago, Happy_Traveler_2008 said:

Really enjoyed your cruise report! I’m taking the NCL Jewel in March and will be visiting many of the same ports.

we booked Millennium again for 5/2025. We compared X, Princess and NCL and decided to go with Millennium again. Mostly because of the itinerary.

20 hours ago, gordylad said:

Am I correct in saying a lot of people visit Pattaya from the Laemchabang port because its a much shorter taxi ride than Bangkok?

 

tx

We did one day in Bangkok and took a Grab (Asian Uber) to Pattaya on the second day.
Yes, the ride to Bangkok is far - but there´s a lot to see along the way and in Bangkok. 
So for us it was worth the drive.

4 hours ago, mahdnc said:

I did not keep multiple hard copies of our passport. Just one copy in addition to a photo of my passport that I took with my iPhone. 
 

Here is the Immigration and General Information sheet from Celebrity that was in our stateroom when we embarked. Note that it does not say that you should have multiple hard copies of your passport. 

David, we also received an information - I think it was before the cruise - mentioning one copy per port.

Hence the confusion. I printed a few - because it was easy - but expected to just need one single copy to show if required. It was good to have, but noone even wanted to see the single copy - except the hotel. 

19 minutes ago, thuyronald said:

Hi everyone,

Did you all had to bring a printed copy of your passport for all the ports?  I know Celebrity will keep our passport until the end of the cruise.

My travel agent gave me information that states "Bring your passport, a photo of the ID page on your phone, and one printed copy per port visited."

Does this mean I need to bring with me 7 printed copies of my passport since we will be visiting 7 ports?

 

Thanks for the assistance.

we had ONE in our pockets and it was enough for the entire cruise. Except for Hanoi, where we stayed overnight at a hotel, noone requested to see them.
 

Print a few spares and save a pic on your phone and you are fine.

We stayed at the Oakwood Suites for a very good rate. Fabulous hotel. 
 

1 hour ago, mahdnc said:

 

Good afternoon (from the USA), Oliver.  Have you tried to order from the MDR menu on Edge class ships (as an Aqua passenger)?

Yes, and that’s more confusing than on M and S class - where we never had a problem.
On one cruise on Apex we were told no - and staff blamed it on the Maitre of Blu. 2 months later on the same ship but different Maitre, the waiter (same as the cruise before) gave us a thumbs up. 
 

BTW, we enjoyed our Vietnam cruise so much that we booked a Mekong River cruise last week. 😁
 

On 1/25/2024 at 3:55 AM, mahdnc said:

We took a Dec-Jan cruise in Solstice. Every night that we were in Blu, I ordered at least one course from the MDR menu. Also the Blu staff made sure I got breadsticks in our bread basket which aren’t normally served there. 

Hi David,

I was just going to write the same and then saw that you answered. I ordered from the MDR menu as well - no problem. 

1 hour ago, kwokpot said:

Asia cruises are wonderful to explore different cultures. Having said that IMO this particular itinerary isn't the most exciting. I would highly recommend a Vietnam cruise, which either starts in Singapore and ends in Hong Kong or vice versa. You'll visit Vietnam, Singapore, Thailand, and Hong Kong with all ports worth visiting and you'll experience at least four different countries. I've been on 109 cruises and my Vietnam cruise with Celebrity ranks. among the top three cruises and top travel experience I've ever had 

3 hours ago, gordylad said:

Looks like we are turning our sights to Asia a destination

Fully agree to what kwokpot said! Bali is beautiful and we have been there twice on land vacations but the itinerary you mentioned would not be my choice for an Asia cruise. Yes, nice beaches - but why fly so far for a beach when Asia has soooooo much more to offer?

We just returned from our (2nd) Southeast Asia cruise. This was our report

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2980155-celebrity-solstice-12222023-thailand-vietnam-liveish-report/

We enjoyed it so much that we cancelled a cruise to NZ on Edge and booked a Mekong River cruise for 9/2024 instead.

We also love Japan and have done 3 Japan cruises. This is the report of the most recent one.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2970853-celebrity-millennium-japan-10242023-liveish-report/

And guess what? We just booked a 4th cruise to Japan for 2025. Actually the one shown above. Compared some of Princess but decided to do Millennium again.

As a first time in Asia I‘d probably recommend the Vietnam & Thailand cruise. Nice and diverse itinerary. Singapore is fabulous, Thailand and Vietnam are great and if you haven’t been to Hong Kong before, it’s also nice.

That being said, this is the view of a non-beach cruiser 😀
We love culture, history, local food… but would never spend time on a beach. Hence we never cruise in the Caribbean as well.