Millenium worst embarkation ever

[Germancruiser]

Just back from the Asian- Delight´s Cruise on board Millenium. I started out very very bad. The worst embarkation experience I ever had- in 20 years of cruising- and in one of the newest, if not the newest Cruise terminals!

Nothing to do with Kai Tak Terminal in Hongkong , X failed BIG TIME!

They know how to do it properly so I just could not get it.

I took 5 hours from arriving at the pier until the Moment one could step on board! The departure was 4 hours late as well!

No organisaton , nothing. No lines, just a felt thousand people congreating in front of 14 counters- usually it´s about 25 or someting like that. And what an angy congregation that was, fights, agruments, grim, sad, stressed and tired passenger. No happy smiles, no happy happy cruise passenger!

We were told ít all had to do with the Vietnam Visas- stuff and nonsense! They were understuffed and unorganised.

I have never heard so many complains- so many unhappy passengers- and the mood did not really improve during the cruise!

I loved the rest of the cruise, Millenium is overall in great shape- here and there you can find things that show her 15 years in service. The public restrooms are a disgrace for X- spotless clean- as usual with X- but the doors the door handle´s all the seperation wood work was in such a bad shape and one fears they fall apart, with you inside! ! Shabby very very shabby!

Prommenade Deck starboard side closed because of maintenance during the duration of the cruise! They started to built Luminae, which despite the noise did not bother me at all- I just thought, well, when they can built a whole new restaurant, why let the public restrooms fall apart....? Beyond me!

I enjoyed the destinations and the Millenium, one of my favorite ships- dinning in the Olympic was outstanding good as usual! Service and friendlyness could not have been better! Is it the same cruise experience as it was 15 years ago ( when I first sailed Millenium) NO and one can not expect that, with the cruises getting cheaper and cheaper and all the " inclusive" " 1,2,3 go nonsense- one get´s what one pays for! Is it still a premium cruise line- YES that it is, because of some little things- such a nice cold towel when comeing back from shore or when you sun bathe on deck...- that sets them apart from the other mass markt cruise lines ! Modern Luxury- hm hm, nice public relation slogan- if you prepared to pay extra- then maybe- yes!

I do hope they bring back Millenium to the US or Europe some day!

Edited March 17, 2015 by Germancruiser

[Cassicruiser]

SOunds like embarkation was a zoo - we embarked on our Millennium cruise last year in Singapore and it couldnt have gone smoother - through security and check in and onboard in around 30 minutes. Glad the cruise improved for you - I love the Millennium, after cruising on Royal Caribbean, which was lovely too, although on their older ships, I definitely felt that Celebrity was a step above.

 

What did you mean by a new restaurant, Lumina? We will be on the Millennium in May so was wondering what you were referring to. Thanks...

[Germancruiser]

Celebirty Cruises is installing a new dinning venue- exclusively for Suite passengers- the " cut " it out of the old Dinning Room- this is fleetwide- in case of Millenium and I suppose all of the other Millienium Class of ships this new restaurant , called Luminae, take the port side of the Main Dinning Room, well part of it - on deck four!

[Nachosdelux]

I was there also, and I agree the Embarkation process was a huge mess.

 

That said, based on hearing the other side of the story (from the ship's Hotel Director) I do not believe it was entirely Celebrity's fault.

 

The ship arrived a few hours later than normal in HKG, so the dis-embarkation for the previous cruise ended a couple hours later than normal.

 

Embarkation normally starts by 11am, but was pushed back at least 2 hours.

 

Many people arrived in Hong Kong on the day of departure, and came straight from the airport to the pier, and the lines for embarkation started at 8 am.

 

So when the lines opened up after 1pm, they were long already - and these people had been sitting there 5+ hours

 

The Vietnam Visa paperwork slowed the processing time for each person by a couple of minutes, which added to the backlog. Almost everyone required a Vietnam Visa form and Taiwan entry form, but the staff could not even pass those out to all passengers in any sort of organized manner - they kept wandering around, not saying anything. So some people got to the check-in counter without the forms, so they had to fill them out at the counter (5+ minutes), when they could have filled them out while waiting in the (long) lines.

 

Only about 1/2 of the check-in counters were staffed (by port personnel-contractors) which was the major issue.

 

The ship's staff recognized this right away, and had enough ship staff and computers on board, ready to move to the terminal, to open all the counters.

 

Hong Kong Immigration refused to let the staff off the ship to supplement the check-in staff.

 

Supposedly the process has been fixed. I have a family member on the next sailing (March 15 HKG-SIN) so we will see if it has improved.

 

The contractor supervisors were clueless and disorganized. The small ship's staff that was in the terminal seemed overwhelmed, and no-one seemed to be in charge.

 

We waited in line almost 2 hours. Most people were aggravated, but realized that everyone was in the same boat, so made the best of it. A few people got pretty angry and there were some raised voices.

 

Other than that, we had a great cruise.

 

Staff was excellent, so was food in Blu.

 

Only negative was the buffet, which I thought had lesser quality and quantity than the S class ships, and of course the layout is not so great. It was packed at meal times, and we gave up after a couple tries.

Edited March 17, 2015 by Nachosdelux
clarity

[Germancruiser]

Thanks Nachos Deluxe- I thought as much- the staff from the ship saw the mess- and left at once! LOL!

I agree also you observation of the buffet- what disturbed me most was that it was basicly the same food every day- with little changes! Also Bistro on fice- usually great food, was very dissappointing both times I went there!

The best Luncheon I had on board was in the Main Dinning room- lesson learned!