LIVE FROM THE DECKS OF THE MILLIE - 5 night 10/17/11 to 10/22/11 (Tuggers)

[tuggers]

No Dancing With The Stripes (someone said it was because Nancy Grace couldn't come) on 5 nights. They are having the Brunch today which I didn't expect.

The Blue Dot is what got us that first $450 spin!!!

[Andy]

Hi Gail,

 

As always - thank you for your wonderful posts. Enjoy the rest of your Cruise !

[jspirit]

Very throrough review; very helpful . Thanks for taking the time to post.

If you could tell me when the very latest time they allow you to disembark, I would really appreciate it!

[judygund]

Sounds like fun...we did one short cruise and Joe loved it. Again, your review is making bme look forward to our upcoming cruise....

 

Enjoy your last day...Judy

[Dave's Florida Girl]

:) ROFL Gail! So great to be able to read your posts and have a few laughs. (And drool with envy for your oh so short trip that I wish I could have been on!!!!) I can only imagine how funny it had to have been for Tuggers to get a knock on your door from Kangaroo Tony. We all need a little heart pounding humor to keep us human and laughing. ;)

Hopefully I'll be picking you and Judy up early enough tomorrow so we can have a great lunch at Ernie's before you board your FLL flight back home!

Call me when you know better when and where to pick you both up!

CHEERS, dear friend! See you soon!

[tuggers]

Diana,

Our shuttle is picking us up at Port of Miami at 10. If all goes well we should be at FLL by 11. Now for the bad news. They did not have enough people sign up for the luggage valet to offer it in FLL. So we are each going to be carting a bag. Our flight leaves at 3:40 and I believe it has to be 3 hours prior to flight to check it in.

I'll call you from the shuttle.

Love ya!

[tuggers]

Millennium October 21, 2011 It’s All But Over!

We overslept today. Wake-up call just didn’t cut it! Finally drug ourselves out of bed a little before 9 and headed for Michaels Club. Only had time for a couple of cappuccinos before 9:45. Judy wanted pictures of the brunch buffet so I was off to the dining room.

It is so funny to watch some of these people! Every couple of minutes it was announced to ‘please keep the line moving’ yet people would stop, chat, try to touch everything and generally clog up the works. The worst were the ones, are you ready for this one?, who HAD NO CAMERA!!!! They just wanted to come in early to be lookie lous! How funny is that?

Brunch was from 10:15 to 1. We went about 11:30 and it wasn’t too busy. Pretty

standard fare for this deal. I had some sushi and a small amount of stir fry. Crepes were too sweet for me so skipped the dessert. Nothing I wanted enough to overeat. BTW, there was cream cheese! YEA! Someone must have gone to the grocery store in Cozumel. J

We went to the 7 PM show. A juggler. Now I’m not wild about a whole act of juggling and Mike Price was pretty silly. I didn’t feel it was very appropriate for X’s demographic base. We stuck it out for 20 minutes and then escaped! Note to Rich: lose the juggler!

I’m going to gloss right over most of the day. We had fun (shopping, Elite HH, snacks, movie, etc) but it was nothing really exciting so on to the dinner menu:

Fresh fruit

Marinated Red Snapper Escabeche

Antipasti Platter

Roasted Vegetables and Goat Cheese Crostini

Market Vegetables w/noodles Soup

Cream of Cauliflower

Spicy Tropical Gazpacho

Mesclun Greens, Tomatoes, Grapes and Raisin Salad

Romaine, Radicchio and Cucumber Salad

Rigatoni Prosciutto Crudo

Corvina Souffle

Shrimp Scampi

Chicken Chiquita

Glazed Pork Loin

Mediterranean Phyllo Tart

This menu really didn’t appeal to me so I had a Shrimp Cocktail, Escargot and the Scampi (only four shrimp). Although it sounds like a lot it was fairly light. J

We did all the normal last night things: tipped our servers some extra bucks, took pictures of our tablemates and waiters, tried to stuff everything we wanted to say and do into our last hour onboard while rushing back to our cabin to get our suitcases packed and in the hall by 11 PM. Whew!

Afterwards we went to the casino to use up those damn paper tickets that accumulate. I used mine up but Judy came out with $20. One day I’m going to be lucky! Maybe! J

Thoughts on this cruise:

Five nights is really not long enough, even for a first cruise. You don’t have time to really appreciate or take everything in before it’s time to go.

Food, which is always subjective, IMO suffered more from the choice of menus than the way things were prepared. Celebrity has some wonderful menus but I didn’t think we got the good ones. Menu choice for formal night was a case in point. No Filets, Sea Bass or Lobster on any menu. Was it because this cruise (and 4, 5 night ones in general) don’t produce enough revenue? Or just poor choices by the Executive Chef???

Buffet was generally good. Was never there for breakfast, only lunch. The pizza varied from very good to good to should have been thrown out because it sat too long. Didn’t have the burgers but they looked good. I noted that they came with steak fries in place of the skinny ones I’m used to on X.

Michaels Club Elite Breakfast suffered in the service department. Maybe too few servers? Or lack of organization? It does need to be addressed. Elite cocktail hour was in the Cosmos. It was never full, some nights not well attended. There was no shortage of hot or cold canapés and servers kept up with drink orders for everyone.

Deck 8 midship near elevators was very, very warm. One day it was nice and cool, then back to the heat. I found most of the ship to be overly warm but others may not. The casino was also quite warm even when not busy.

The movie in the cinema today lost sound about an hour in and it took an inordinate amount of time to get someone to come and fix it. I know some people walked out. We were standing, on our way out when someone finally came. Not major but seemed they could have sent help a little faster.

Once again I found Melissa Snow to be a lovely and attentive Captain’s Club Hostess.

Andrew Harris, Hotel Director is personable, open to new ideas concerning his guests and very dedicated to taking care of both his passengers and his staff. He was a delight!

Captain Emmanouil Alevropoulos at 38 has been with X for over 18 years. He has a great sense of humor and the ability to laugh at himself. We could not have asked for a better Captain or Liar’s Club panelist! And he’s pretty cute, too!

I liked Rich, the CD. He was out and about, talking to passengers. Very approachable. With only two sea days there were not a lot of activities. Enough to keep busy but not so many that you felt you had to give up one to go to another. I would have liked a late night, adult, comedy show or another show featuring ballroom dancing. The Liar’s Club was fun as was the Newlywed/ Not So Newlywed Game Show and they were both on at 10:45 so there was something late night/

I’m going to sign off and hope they haven’t cut the Internet.! If so, I’ll post this from the airport. Will update one last time once I’m home.

Bye For Now!

[dmwnc1959]

Again, THANKS a million for the great reviews and tips! I agree five nights is way too short. It will be interesting doing my first ever B2B to see how it feels NOT to be getting off the ship with everyone else... ;)

 

Watching AIS now to see when Celebrity Millennium shows up off of Miami. She's usually the first in entering the ship channel just before 5am. Carnival Liberty is already there just finishing a shipyard period in Freeport yesterday. Carnival Destiny will be there too coming in behind you.

[Dave's Florida Girl]

:)Great review as always, Gail! Thank you!

Call me with the details. Can't wait!! . I'll meet you both at the airport and don't fret - the SUV will more than handle your two pieces of luggage.And lucky for all of us - It's not supposed to rain, so I'm sure you and Judy will be fine on the roof. :eek:

ONLY KIDDING.:p:):cool:

I can't wait to hear more about your fun time and I'm so looking forward to having lunch with you both!

Love and See You Soon!

Diana

[judygund]

Enjoyed reading everything you wrote.

Safe trip home!

Judy

[Cruisin Kay D]

I have appreciated your daily postings -- we are taking family of 16 on 12/17-22.

 

Been very disappointed in reading the menus you have included -- I chose Celebrity Millie over a Carnival ship specifically because I thought Millie would be better ship and Celebrity is "noted" for having better food!!! I am guessing the menus are the choice of the cruise line in order to save money & force people to go to the Specialty steak restaurant!! And MAYBE the cruise line thinks people who take these shorter ones aren't that experienced at cruising so do not expect great food....

[teedee]

Once again a great review, and I totally enjoyed reading it. Hopefully I'll be along with you for the next one!

I have to agree with your opinion of the menus, they seem a bit lacking to me. Usually there is something I like, but on a few days I would have had to go with the shrimp cocktail (ok, no hardship there as I love the stuff!) and one of the everyday choices. Not that that's bad, but one of the reasons I cruise is for the types of food I don't always get at home.

It does seem like you had a great cruise though. I haven't sailed on the Millie but would love to. A btbtb sounds like heaven right now!

Terri

[Cinzia]

Hey Tugger, glad you are enjoying the cruise despite the food. Thanks for all the info - as usual - a good job. Don't forget to look for us when you depart the Silhouette on Nov 6th, as we are boarding, and don't forget to let us know your web site so you can give us an update before we go.

Thanks, Fran and Tony:):)

[tuggers]

It's Monday and I am home. Started feeling bad on the plane and have been sick ever since. It's been a while since I have come home from a cruise with an upper respiratory thing but I've sure got it good. Lots of coughing onboard but I thought I used enough antibacterial stuff to kill anything! This is the first I've even turned on the computer so you know I'm feeling bad!

 

Millennium 10/22/2011 It IS Over! :(

 

We had breakfast in the dining room. It was good and we were not rushed. From there we picked up our carry ons from our cabin and went to the Olympic. They kept announcing that there was no wait to get off and by 8:45 they were up to number 23.

 

When we went to get off wouldn't ya know, there was a line. :rolleyes: Miami has that super LONG glass corridor which was full, then the line for the immigration and customs, then the line past the drug dogs (young woman in front of me got pulled :eek:), lines, lines, lines.

 

We made it outside by 9:55 and called for our shuttle. The driver was there in minutes, calling our name and took the luggage from us. This time it was a larger vehicle but the driver had the forethought to load from the rear so when we got on the last two seats were up front. We made good time and were dropped off at Southwest close to 11. I would use GLS again. They were polite, on time and the vehicles were clean. $26 per person, round trip, FLL to Port of Miami was the best price I found.

 

Left our luggage with the outside SW check-in then waited on my friends Dave and Diana to pick us up for lunch. Poor Dave was not only surrounded by women but he just had rotator cuff surgery! Don't know which pain was worse!:eek:

 

We went to one of my favorite places for lunch: Ernie's on Federal Highway (near 17th Street Causeway) in Fort Lauderdale. I grew up in Pompano Beach and Ernie's is a place I remember going to from the time I was in elementary school. They still have the best Conch Chowder and Bimini Bread of any place I've been to. I had a cup of the chowder with a half pork sandwich on Bimini Bread. I love their bbq sauce because it is like you get in the Caribbean. Chunky and slightly spicy. They still have the bottles of sherry on the table to pour in the chowder! And the portions are gigantic! Diana's Monte Cristo sandwich looked great. I always say I'm going to try something else but by the time the waitress comes my regular order just pops out of my mouth! Except for

Diana we all had the pork. I was the only one who had the chowder. Boy did they miss out!

 

We chatted and had a good visit, looked at Dave's 'wounds' and bought the t-shirts. Well, I bought the t-shirts! I wanted to buy a loaf of the bread to bring home but I resisted! Now kind of wish I hadn't! Sliced thick and toasted, dripping with butter... Wait, I'm making myself hungry!!!

 

We were back at the airport by 1:30. Made good time through security although I really do wish FLL had the scanners like Jax so I wouldn't have to do the pat downs. Judy LOVES the scanners so I know she was disappointed! It's always funny to me that my knee almost never sets off the alarms on the ships!

 

LOVE Southwest! We were boarded and pushed back from the gate 5 minutes early. Very nice flight, no turbulence at all. We were in Jax and had our luggage by the time the plane was due in. And they don't charge for luggage! They are truly a cruisers friend!

 

For years I have parked at Park EZ Fly in Jax for cruises of 7 to 10 nights. This time there were new owners and I really felt like I was overcharged for the number of days I parked. Next cruise I am going to stay at Jacksonville Plaza again (very minimalistic but clean, free internet, free light breakfast, free 14 night parking and shuttle to airport) for $66. I won't have to leave home so early and I will enjoy my first afternoon onboard the ship and not be falling asleep as soon as I get on.

 

The trip home was easy except for the being sick part. We stopped for dinner at Cracker Barrel right outside Jacksonville and were home by 8. Judy was nice enough to help me get my bags in or they would probably still be in my car.

 

I would have loved to sleep in Sunday but remembered that we had a special meeting at church so I had to get up and go. I'm sure the sermon was great (we have a terrific pastor) but I'm not sure how much I absorbed.

 

My only stop on the way home after church was at a southern home style restaurant to get Tango (my blue and gold Macaw) homemade mac and cheese and sweet potato soufflé. Yes, he's spoiled rotten! He did share some of his mac and cheese with Elliott (my Schnauzer). The cat lost out! :D

 

To recap, I loved the cruise! But then for dedicated cruisers, we always love them! Five nights is way too short but if its all you can do, do it! The Officers, Staff and Crew were, in X style, warm, friendly and always going above and beyond! I would have loved to have had one of my favorite waiters onboard buy Jon was great and his assistant Saleh was top notch. The wine steward was helpful and always there to refill my glass. I do like the Elite coupon for 20% off any bottle of wine over $40.

 

As I said earlier, the food was good but the choice of menus was not X's best. However, if they had been much better I might have had to leave the ship wrapped in a sheet because none of my pants would have fit.

 

A few more things I may (or may not) have mentioned:

 

The robes in our cabin were the thin, waffle ones. I do prefer the heavy, terry ones I usually get.

 

I left a message in the jewelry store to be called about the LeMonde travel globes but the manager never did. The globes used to only be carried on HAL and I had always regretted not buying one. In a conversation with Eddie (Marketing Manager for the ship) he told me they were now being sold on X. When I went to look they were not on display so I asked to be called. (I know I could have gone back but I forgot! hey, it was a senior moment!) If you've never seen this line of jewelry go look next time you are on an X ship. They are 14k gold and you can have stones used to mark where you've traveled.

 

Ice cream was particularly good on this ship.

 

I really missed the Sea Bass! It has become one of my favorite entrées!

 

There are some new towels being used. They are currently phasing them in. If you get one you will know as soon as you touch them. VERY, very soft. Noticeably nicer than what they have been using.

 

I still had to ask for body wash. Shampoo, conditioner and lotion were there plus a shower cap but body wash seems to be available only when you ask for it. Had this same thing on our last, much longer Mercury cruise. Once I asked there was no problem in staying supplied.

 

Better library than I have seen since the Librarian positions were done away with. In this library they did not even have a sign out sheet. Guess they figured out the 'honor' system wasn't working so why bother. In spite of that there were many books, new (2010 & 2011) titles, too.

I did not go upstairs (deck 9) to look at nonfiction but assume it is well stocked too.

 

Although I heard complaints about the elevators, we never had to wait long for one. Our cabin was midship so we mostly used the glass elevators. Even on disembarkation day there was not much of a wait.

 

Was pleasantly surprised by the entertainment. I'm not much of a show goer but it was my friends first cruise so we went. I didn't care much for the juggler (Mike Price) but the other shows were quite good. I loved that they had incorporated ballroom dance (ala DWTS) into some of the production shows. Liar's Club was funny, wish we had gone to Newlywed game but we were busy donating in the casino.

 

Speaking of the casino, Brian was helpful in setting up our slot pull. Only down side was that they made me use the change machine to get small bills for our payout. Brian was busy with the casino slot tournament when we finished. I think if he would have helped us the cashier would have given us change. As it was he flatly refused. Seemed like it took forever to use the machine and there was a long line of not too happy people behind me when I finally finished! :rolleyes:

We almost doubled our $9 investment plus had an hour and a half of entertainment.

 

That's about it for this cruise. Next up, for me, is the two night Silhouette November 4 thru 6. Hope I'm feeling much better by then!

 

Lastly, I am sorry that I missed the sailaway our roll call had planned! Judy and I both were so tired that we wanted to take a nap (we set the wakeup call for an hour and a half, slept through it, and didn't wake up until 6 PM) then get up for muster and go party! Obviously, that didn't work out quite as we had planned! Thank you to Marie for graciously making the name tags and to everyone who helped with the slot pull. Be sure and join the roll call once you book a cruise. Then participate! If nothing is going on, suggest something! On longer cruises book exchanges, cabin crawls, gift exchanges and even scavenger hunts are fun and not much work. Any group activity will add to the enjoyment of your cruise and facilitate getting to know your fellow cruisers! I've made many, many friends this way!

 

Bye For Now!

[judygund]

Feel better soon. Really enjoyed reading your posts.

 

Judy

[JWJs]

Sorry you are feeling so bad...get better soon.

Thanks for all of your reports. Enjoyed reading them as always.:)

[onepug]

Does it really take an hour AFTER you get off the ship to get thru immigration in Miami??? Our flight leaves at 10 AM... are we gonna make it?

 

Really enjoyed all your writting, such a lot of useful info! thanks

[Happy Cruiser 6143]

Loved your live from thread!

 

Sorry to hear you're ill--hope you have a quick recovery.

 

Are you going to join us on the Connie December 3? Two weeks in the southern Caribbean ought to cure whatever ails you!

[tuggers]

I think if you get off with the first couple of groups you'll be fine. We knew our shuttle wouldn't be there until 10 so we procrastinated getting off. hey kept announcing that there were no lines and that immigration was moving quickly. When we decided to get off we were in the first group they held back to let the lines go down. Just my luck! :rolleyes:

 

Go to guest relations when you get on and tell them that your flight is early. Or you can do the self carry and get off first. If you don't have a lot of luggage that might be your best bet.

Have fun!

[tuggers]

Linda, we had really thought about it but I found out when I got home that the lady who owns the kennel where I leave my dogs is going to have to have surgery in the next week. I'll have to get more info about how long she will be out before I can make up my mind. Would really love to go!

It's been a long time since I've come home from a cruise sick. I'd forgotten how crappy it is to come home with a suitcase full of dirty clothes and no energy! :( My house sitter is also my cleaning lady so at least I came home to a clean house!!

[Andy]

Hi Gail,

 

Thank you for another wonderful "Live From" thread. I'm sorry to hear you aren't feeling well, and I wish you a speedy recovery. I look forward to your Live from Silhouette thread !

[jcpc]

:(

 

I left a message in the jewelry store to be called about the LeMonde travel globes but the manager never did. The globes used to only be carried on HAL and I had always regretted not buying one. In a conversation with Eddie (Marketing Manager for the ship) he told me they were now being sold on X. When I went to look they were not on display so I asked to be called. (I know I could have gone back but I forgot! hey, it was a senior moment!) If you've never seen this line of jewelry go look next time you are on an X ship. They are 14k gold and you can have stones used to mark where you've traveled.

 

Gail - Celebrity always sold LeMonde Travel Globes.....although I haven't seen them in Celebrity shops in quite a while. I bought mine on Century years ago.

[tuggers]

While admitting I don't spend a lot of time onboard in the jewelry shops I did not remember seeing them there. Eddie seemed to infer it was a new thing but he could have been humoring me!:rolleyes:

In any case, the lack of a phone call saved me enough money for another cruise so I guess that was a good thing, huh???:D

[Idahobaker]

Does it really take an hour AFTER you get off the ship to get thru immigration in Miami??? Our flight leaves at 10 AM... are we gonna make it?

 

Really enjoyed all your writting, such a lot of useful info! thanks

 

Actually, if you use the checked luggage service or are willing to take your own luggage off with you, you can leave the ship around 6:45am. We didn't know this, but we weren't in a hurry since our flight didn't leave FLL until 4:30pm.

 

Have fun!:D

[tuggers]

Just a note, we tried to use the luggage valet service but they notified us on Friday morning that they did not have enough participation to make it viable. I always use it when I can so I was disappointed when it didn't work out.

I thought they could have done a little more to let people know about the service, what it was and how much it cost. I only found one small notation in the daily about it and if I hadn't known what it was I would have overlooked it myself.

It's a great service when you can use it!