Saturngrl

Millenium is smaller than my fave, Reflection. Our on February 2023 cruise, those with Select Dining and no reservations, were provided buzzers to notify them when a table was ready. Many of them repeatedly complained about one-hour or longer waits, some until after 9:00 p.m. Conversely, we had advanced reservations and almost never had to wait for a table. I recommend going ahead and making reservations in CruisePlanner.

Florida gal here. September is the height of hurricane season. When sailing anywhere in the Caribbean, it's a gamble if your sail dates coincide with a tropical storm or hurricane. The ship will navigate around the storm, but you are in for some very rocky seas regardless. I hope this helps a bit.

Yes, the additional 20% gratuity will be added to your upgrade, because the Classic Beverage Package came with the Always Included bundle. Your determination as to whether the upgrade is value-added for you is determined by what liquors you desire. For example, my DH likes Jack Daniels and it is not on the Classic package menu. We also like going to the Martini Bar and World Class Bar, which host more expensive drinks than the Classic package limit.

I've posted before and will post again, there are numerous opportunities for Royal and Celebrity to eliminate waste without eliminating jobs or quaility of service. I was asked if I worked for the cruise line on our last Reflection cruise, because I openly observed expensive waste. The lines won't get ahead by cutting crew, by cutting items from the buffet or raising drink prices. Oh, how I wish they had a certified Lean professional working for them, like me!

Small power strip with no surge protector.

We did the Elite breakfast on Reflection last February. We both did the Ultimate platter, which was still a very light breakfast. I grabbed a snack in Cafe Al Bacio a few hours later. We did enjoy the quiet ambiance with great ocean view. My DH discovered Lattes on this cruise, so he was quite happy with the lox and bagels to accompany his latte.

We consistently sail Concierge and love the benefits. We sail out of Ft. Lauderdale, so Reflection has consistently done the Embarkation luncheon on Embarkation day. It's not great, but certainly beats fighting the crowds in the buffet. We enjoy the Concierge invitation events, such as helipad sailaway. Before we became Elite, we also found the Concierge disembarkation waiting area a big plus. Now that we are Elite, we may try Aqua class for our next booking. Until then, we will enjoy Concierge on this next cruise!

We sailed Reflection in February 2022 and February 2023. She was in great condition when we sailed both before and after dry dock. We will do the A,B,C cruise this February and are very excited to return to her!

I've sailed Carnival, Royal and Celebrity. Celebrity is my favorite for several reasons: Cloth towels in the public restrooms Calmer atmosphere Fewer children No smoking in the casinos Better-behaved passengers (not meaning to insult anyone, but this is purely my experience after 13 cruises) Craft cocktails in the Martini Bar and World Class Bar No free style soda machines Ability to drop luggage off immediately upon boarding--no hauling your carry-ons with you to the buffet while waiting for staterooms to open. Hope this helps.

No priority for anyone but suites and "assisted" guests on our Reflection cruise this past February. It's okay, because the assigned arrival times spaces out everyone to decrease the wait in the terminal.

One hack for cruise ship cabins with shower curtains: attach a few clothespins at the bottom of the curtain to keep it from flying out and letting water spill onto the bathroom floor.

We are on the Reflection the first week in February 2024. It's a beautiful ship and February is an ideal time to cruise the Caribbean! Very few children on board at that time of year. The majority of those who do cruise Celebrity are very well-behaved. We love Celebrity!

Hideaway Beach, the adults-only area of CoCo Cay, will open next year in time for Icon of the Seas and Celebrity's arrivals. I don't know if they will charge extra for this area, like they do for the Beach Club and Thrill Waterpark, but we will see. My DH and I live in Central Florida, so the "beach" thing is not for us. As I previously posted, the Oasis Lagoon and Beach Club were great experiences for which we are "one and done".

Nassau's beautiful new port area is open and looks great! I would tolerate a port day there, once.

I've done an Oasis Lagoon Cabana and a day at the Beach Club on CoCo Cay. Both were great experiences, but I am no longer craving to go there again, anytime soon. I agree the vibe on Celebrity is more adult and a bit more refined and love Celebrity accordingly. What makes me sad is that my beloved Reflection is going to do 3 and 4-night cruises to Nassau and CoCo Cay. Such a beautiful ship with so many wonderful experiences. Short cruises will never do that ship justice. Glad we are sailing her to A,B,C in February, before the CoCo Cay business starts!

Muster 2.0 Cloth towels in public restrooms Murano, Lawn Club Grill and Tuscan The amazing crew World Class Bar and Martini Bar Bocce on Deck 15 Wake view from the Sunset Bar Hideaway

I did the Alcoves on Equinox and on Reflection. BOOORRRINGG. Yes, we had the bottled water and our servers brought us fruit skewers. We had to walk to the Sunset bar for beverages. I brought travel-sized games to play, but we were still very bored just sitting there and looking across the lawn at the other Alcoves. I learned that it's not worth the extra money to sit on a ship when so much else is happening.

I always pre-book Select Dining times in Cruise Planner. It saved us from long waits to be seated in the MDR on Reflection. Others without reservations were provided beepers because the waits were well over an hour for many of them.

On our February 2023 Reflection cruise, Concierge and Suites were invited to the helipad while sailing out of Nassau. We were up there for almost an hour, due to a medical emergency on the ship. That cruise, they called "Starcode, Starcode, Starcode" almost every day for medical emergencies. Pulling into Nassau, we heard "Oscar, Oscar, Oscar" then "Coast Guard, Coast Guard, Coast Guard" because there was a body floating in the water as we docked. Not a boring cruise, lol!

In Lean, we do NOT cut jobs! We work to balance the workload among all team members. If a team member is not needed as a result of improvements (again, based upon the Voice of the Customer), the team member is re-assigned to another task. In my decades of work in this field, NO team member has ever lost his/her job.

Hi Kevin, I have not worked in manufacturing, just healthcare. I LOVE to 5 S things, especially since DH and I married a few years ago. I live by "there's a place for everything, and everything in its place", especially in a small cruise ship cabin, lol!

Lean Six Sigma is a method of process improvement focusing on elimination of errors/defects in a process. Lean Certification is from the Society of Mechanical Engineers and Lean focuses on elimination of waste (known as Muda) in processes. Those certifications mean I specialize in growing efficiency, reduce costs, improve satisfaction, based on the Voice of the Customer (us, in this case!).

I posted this on my review from February 2023 on Reflection. I am Lean Six Sigma Black Belt and Lean Certified. Six Sigma focuses on eliminating errors. Lean focuses on reducing/eliminating waste. On my February 2023 Reflection cruise, I observed considerable amount of waste which leads to cost savings. Example: MDR seating for meals. It's a manual process, involving three crew members and walkie talkies. The waits at dinner amounted to HOURs for passengers without reservations. They were handed buzzers and I heard many of them upset about waiting until 9:30 or 10:00 p.m. for dinner. A more modern tech for this process would help re-assign one of the crew members elsewhere, where be put to better use. Another example: at breakfast, the coffee servers were hard to find, yet the pastry servers were often idle, wandering around with trays of pastries. No balanced workload for the servers. Cost savings could occur with a better process leading to less waste of pastries, crew time, etc. I wish I could work for Celebrity. It would be so great to evaluate other services to help them save money.

Personally, I would walk as soon as you disembark the ship. We had to do the shuttles because my DH has ambulation challenges, which slowed us down. We had to wait for one shuttle to take us to the end of the pier, then board another shuttle that had several stops before the Beach Club. Upon arrival, I sent my DH to get in line for our lunch reservations while I snagged the beach bed. Once that was done, I was able to join my DH in the reservation line and secure 11:30 reservations for us and our friends.

We are also Elite on Celebrity. In addition to the above-mentioned perks, Elite members are invited to special Captain's Club events, including a mixology class and backstage tour. The Elite breakfast is nice to do, if you enjoy a light breakfast. We prefer Celebrity over RC for the quality of the food, fewer children, non-smoking casino, towels in the public restrooms and the specialty restaurants. If you sail either the Reflection or Silhouette, the Lawn Club Grill is a MUST to do!