from Millennium

[Linda-E]

Hi all,

We are in an intenet cafe in Montevideo Uruguay, just off Millennium. Why? Because we missed both Falkland Islands and Puerto Madryn, Argentina. Weather in Port Stanley was rough, but PM was just a disaster. It got windy and the captain sped away - claimed the port was closing, but from what we gathered from Whales Patagonia via e-mail, that may not have been the case. They said if we had waited a little while we would have had a lovely day. To ¨make up¨for it, we sped here to arrive early. We were going so fast yesterday, that you couldn´t even sit by the pool due to wind.

 

Ship is not in good shape. Needs cosmetic work. Service leaves much to be desired. And, as previously reported, there is often a terrible odor of sewage in the hallways. After we complained about it for 10 days, they started to spray air freshener. One of the tenders is out and there were waits of 1.5-2 hours to get back to the ship from the tender ports.

 

We´ll do S. America again to get back to the ports we missed, but NOT on this ship!!!

 

More complete review when we get home.....

 

Linda

[kannna]

That's sad. We just were on Millie for the repositioning. There wasn't any odor that i could smell. The paint job did get a little beat up while we were docked in manta Due to the wind and current it seamed the poor ship was always moving against the dock. But othe than that she was lovely. And all the crew we met were friendly and courteous. It's like we were on 2 different ships. I hope it gets better for you.

[florisdekort]

I am starting to notice something interesting: if something happens to the itinerary of a cruise, like with the Transatlantic late December or now with the missed ports on this Cape Horn cruise, passengers suddenly start complaining about lots of other things as well: bad smells, lousy service, and so on. Yet the feedback from all other cruises (like the Carribean cruise immediately after the Transatlatic, or the respositioning right before this Cape Horn cruise) is all very positive. Weird. I guess when people are in a bad mood because of missed ports, they are more easily irritated!

 

I do feel sorry for your mist ports though... but that will always be part of cruising. Nobody controls the weather, not even Celebrity. Is it possible that the Captain made a wrong call by sailing away from Puerto Madryn? Yes - he is only human. But better safe then sorry!

 

Just today Conde Nast named Millennium the second best large cruise ship in the world. I am sure it isn't all that bad!

[pamkev]

Linda,

Sorry your not having a good time! Hope to hear more when you get back!

 

Pam

[dileep]

Sorry to hear that. We noticed on the ship´s camera that you were not docked in Puerto Madryn.

 

We board the Millie on Sunday in Buenos Aires.

[wv4891]

Hi Linda,

 

Sorry that you are having not so good of a time on this cruise. We are looking forward to your review, as we will be on the Millie in April. Say hello to Mark for us. Are you two still planning to go to Tahiti with us??

[Linda-E]

The problems with this ship started long before we missed any ports! They started on embarkation day. And I have been on 20+ cruises, 12 on X, so I have something to compare this with. It will be interesting to see what others post. Do you really think that waiting 1.5-2 hours for a tender, in the hot sun with no water or anything, is reasonable? Not my idea of second best!

 

Hi Pam and Bill and Marilynn,

 

Will e-mail more when we get back.

 

Linda

[wlbox]

We just booked the March 5 Millie cruise.. Now I am wondering if we made the right decision. so many port stops missed.. smells of sewage ??

 

Is this how I want to spend my hard earned money?????

[SunshineCity]

Like Kanna, we were on the repositioning cruise, getting off as you got on.

The ship, the crew and service were all excellent! The only smell in the hallways was the garlic streaming down from the pasta bar and I heard no complaints about that!

 

I agree that it is only human nature that when one thing goes wrong, people usually start picking at issues that would not normally bother them.

 

As disappointing it is to miss ports, your safety is the Captains responsibility. He just doesn't miss ports on purpose. It seems like from what you have described, there are 2 millenniums!

 

I hope that the last days of your cruise go much better for you.

[tbelian]

I guess it's probably better than being on the NCL ship that got hit with something like a 40-50 foot wave.

[Lvteks]

I don't think this was the ship that got the big wave, but in all honesty I have to say that our B.A. to Santiago Dec 4-18th was absolutely beyong expextations. And remember I started the South America cruise idea by booking the cruise Linda-E is on. ( when it was the Infinity). In fact I boarded the Crown still regretting that we had to cancel on Celebrity. Well every day was nearly perfect weather, absolutely no problems. a great CC group of 7 made it a lot of fun. Service was great, food ok and the ship was tip-top.

 

So I am truly sorry this one hasn't gone as well. We really enjoyed the penguins at the Falklands and the Whales Patagonia trip as well. In fact the penguins were the big deal that attracted us to the cruise.

 

Ratings aren't everything, CC gives me more clues than any other source.

 

Blessings to all,

 

Gail

[EGG]

I know it is probably ancient history now, but we were on the Mille out of Venice Oct. 25th. The service was excellent and everything went like clockwork. I am sure it helps when you travel in the shoulder season. There were few ships in port and the weather was perfect. We had an inside cabin on the 8th deck so I have no comment about the sewer smell since I never experienced it nor did I hear anyone complaining about it.

 

I have a girlfriend who always went on cruises, but after her cruise around South America about 6 years ago, she never cruised again. The weather was horrible and they missed several ports. I wonder if this is a common problem for this itinerary.

 

I would also have been extremely annoyed if I had to wait an hour and a half in the hot sun to tender. I hope ALL the cruise lines read this and understand that we expect them all to have a back up plan if a tender is out of commission.

 

Hope your trip home is smooth and uneventful.

Ellen

[mill creek cruisers]

We just booked the March 5 Millie cruise.. Now I am wondering if we made the right decision. so many port stops missed.. smells of sewage ??

 

Is this how I want to spend my hard earned money?????

 

Just a few thoughts on this intermitant complaint. DH and I were a bit concerned after reading similar complaints on an earlier Millie thread, so we paid close attention to any "off" odors. [i have a very sensitive nose, btw.]

 

During our 12-24-05 to 1-08-06 cruise on Millie, I did notice an occasional offensive whiff while passing certain rooms on my way to the treadmills. it was rarely noticeable at any other time. It did not come from carpet, etc. My suspicion is that some cabins chose not to flush while their family is sleeping--let's face it, the flusher is quite noisy and light sleepers will awake at least momentarily. Apparently keeping the bathroom door closed contains any odors for the cabin.

 

I believe if the odors were a problem Celebrity could solve, they would do so immediately. One night around 11:30 my husband flushed and it didn't stop. I went out in the hallway and a steward came in less than 2 minutes to see what he could do. The plumber was there in about 10 minutes and fixed it. Wow!

 

About complaints on previous threads re public toilets with problems. I suspect that occasionally Celebrity has a few passengers with a track record of flushing the same items that cause problems at sports facilities, schools, dormitories, etc.

 

Celebrity is the most meticulous cruiseline we've sailed and we find little or no fault with their onboard standards. I wish sometimes we could kidnap a few of our favourite staff and features:

 

our midnight plumber

Anthony the omelet maker

cooks at the Aqua cafe

Mayu the wine steward at Ocean Grill

the Persian Gardens

 

any so many others...

 

Well, DH is off to S Dakota for a 4 week assignment tomorrow, but we are seriously mulling over a last minute booking on the Millie's 3-05-06 BA to Valapariso just for the adventure.

 

We miss all our CC friends!

 

Micky

[jjssitters]

Hi Linda,

Sorry to hear that your cruise on the millie isnt going well especially after just getting off the connie and it was so wonderful.I hope they iron out the problems before we board her in oct.Let us know when you get back, all the details.Say hello to mark for us

 

jane and jim

[Vistadeck]

When I did this trip on Zenith a few years backwe missed the Falklands as well. I am so glad we did this trip on the smaller ship, less tendering and a very intimate feel - wish Celebrity would use the Zenith again for some of the more exotic routes.

 

Docking in those ports can be unpredictable and I just look at it as a reason to do the route again someday :)

 

Tina

[c-legs]

so many port stops missed.. ?

:confused: ''So many ports'' ???? Only two I know of, and due to the same adverse weather conditions ( and Regal Princess had to go thru the same thing )... Hardly the type of circumstances warranting the outright condemnation of a ship....If you go back to the archives on the webcam, and check what it was like on the days inquestion, you'll answer the question really quick for yourself: '' would I want to get off here and tender into port ??? "".

 

Happy sailings, with things in their proper perpsective.

 

Cheers

CG

;)

[Linda-E]

We definitely understood why we didn't tender into the Falklands.

 

The second port we missed was NOT a tender port. We were supposed to dock. We've missed ports before but never one with a large dock. Rumors were all over the ship, including the fact that X had not filed appropriate paperwork, etc.

 

As far as the odor, it is intermittent in certain forward areas of the ship. We experienced it on deck 6 and our tablemates had a similar experience on deck 8. Our cabin attendant says it happens whenever seas are rough and the ship rolls side-to-side. Staff said it is worse in crew areas. Friends in aft cabins never smelled odor at all. Consider this when choosing a cabin.

 

We had a very good time. We had a great waiter, tablemates, bar service, food, etc. Olympic restaurant was great - we are there twice! However, Millennium can't compare to Constellation!

 

There were lots of little cutbacks - no Port Compass or maps were provided except in Montevideo. No books on South America in the ship's library. There are no weather forecasts in the pillow card each night. No printed schedule of TV movies.

 

More later.... there are huge stacks of laundry waiting for me and I need a nap!

 

Linda

[pamkev]

Welcome Back Linda! can't wait for your full report!

 

Pam

[Newshound]

Hi all,

We are in an intenet cafe in Montevideo Uruguay, just off Millennium. Why? Because we missed both Falkland Islands and Puerto Madryn, Argentina. Weather in Port Stanley was rough, but PM was just a disaster. It got windy and the captain sped away - claimed the port was closing, but from what we gathered from Whales Patagonia via e-mail, that may not have been the case. They said if we had waited a little while we would have had a lovely day. To ¨make up¨for it, we sped here to arrive early. We were going so fast yesterday, that you couldn´t even sit by the pool due to wind.

 

Ship is not in good shape. Needs cosmetic work. Service leaves much to be desired. And, as previously reported, there is often a terrible odor of sewage in the hallways. After we complained about it for 10 days, they started to spray air freshener. One of the tenders is out and there were waits of 1.5-2 hours to get back to the ship from the tender ports.

 

We´ll do S. America again to get back to the ports we missed, but NOT on this ship!!!

 

More complete review when we get home.....

 

Linda

We are on the March 2 sailing from BA to Valpariso. I was looking forward to this great ship and now am having second thoughts. Hope things improve. Do we need to book ships shore excursions or use local operators in the ports??

Sorry you missed those two ports. Are there any shore excursions you would feel are a must??

[SDBarb]

Linda,

Thanks for the cruise reports. It certainly gives me pause about a South American itinerary on X. We enjoyed meeting you on the wonderful TA in September and know that all other cruises will suffer in comparison to that fabulous one.

 

Barb

[Linda-E]

Hi all,

 

Missed all our Constellation Transatlantic friends. Millennium can't compare to Constellation in so many ways.

 

MY advice to future cruisers is if you want to see penguins, book them in every port. (If you do X excursions, you can cancel up to 2 days ahead, so when you've had your fill you can do something else.) Make sure that you bring a tour book and maps with you - Celebrity had no Port Compasses or maps for any ports except Montevideo. There are no South America tour books in the ship's library either.

 

Santiago:

Enjoyed the Ritz Carlton. Good location, walking distance to restaurants, etc. in nice safe neighborhood. Had hotel arrange transfer from airport and private tour of wine country - both drivers were excellent.

 

Excursions:

Puerto Montt: Toured with GVtours. They seem to have overbooked themselves here. There was a group of 8 expecting a private tour who ended up on a bus of 20+. Our group of 6 did get a private tour with Gail. Unfortunately, he is from the US, speaks no Spanish, and knows nothing of Chilean history or culture except for when he reads from his notes. Veronica, his wife, and their daughter Anna seemed much more knowledgeable. We got underway late due to the number of people and some confusion but we did have a nice day and enjoyed the sights we saw. Weather was nice and warm; waited 90 minutes out in the sun for a tender back to the ship.

 

Punta Arenas: Did the city on our own. Great king crab for lunch at a restaurant called Puerto Viejo (walking distance from ship). Sorry that we didn't do the penguin excursion. Those who returned to the ship in late afternoon waited up to two hours for a tender back to the ship.

 

Ushuaia: Did Beagle Channel by catamaran and Tierra del Fuego national park on Celebrity excursion. Enjoyed the tour immensely, but if we had to do it over, we would take the catamaran tour that went all the way to see penguins.

 

Port Stanley: Worst weather of the cruise. Didn't get to tender into port.

 

Puerto Madryn: Biggest disappointment of the cruise. Ship circled harbor three times and sailed off at full speed. Never made any real attempt to dock the ship. By sailing full speed all day, we had an awful sea day - too windy to sit on veranda or by the pool. Not much to do except spend money - bingo, casino, art auction, shops.

 

Montevideo: The reason for full speed from Puerto Madryn was to "compensate" by getting into Montevideo a day early in the late afternoon. However, another ship was late in leaving and instead of arriving about 6, the ship wasn't cleared until after 8 pm. After dinner, we hopped in a taxi and saw the city by night. Very pretty. Took and enjoyed the ship's Jewish Heritage Tour the next day.

 

Buenos Aires: Enjoyed a city tour the first day and a full day tour to San Telmo market and an estancia (ranch) with Defrantur tours before leaving for the airport. Ask for Ana as your guide - she was excellent. If you want to do Tango tour, do dinner at a steakhouse on your own and then the show with drinks. We did dinner show and found the steaks inedible - the only bad food we had in South America. I do wish we had stayed an extra day or two.

 

On the whole, we really enjoyed South America and plan to return in 2007 or 2008 (not on this ship though - will probably try Oceana or cruise Princess again).

 

Linda

[kc-cruiser]

Just returned from Jan 8 - Jan 22 Millenium cruise. Yes we did miss two ports, but I felt the weather was the only cause. We did feel the information flow was slow and inadequate. Didn't see it in person but was told that a group of irate passengers went to the observation lounge on 11 and had a rally of sorts. Apparently they began chanting and disrupted the bingo game and tried to take the microphone away from the hostess.

People were obviously upset with missing two successive ports, but that's just the nature of cruising in South America, you can't count on the weather cooperating!!

Linda's comment about the lack of weather and other information was right on target. We had noticed earlier communications with Celebrity were filled with comments such as, "We are having problems with the computers and I will make a note of your reservation". "We are unable to confirm anything right now due to computer problems"., etc., etc.. Result was our table for 4 was a table for 2 assigned twice, and reservation for Olympic restaurant was lost - but fortunately we were able to schedule on the ship.

Celebrity did refund port taxes and I can think of no logical reason they wouldn't have docked in Puerto Madryn if at all possible.

We did note the smell of sewage from time to time, but not too serious. Did have to have the plumber work on shower drain, and that seemed to be exascerbated by the side to side motion in high winds.

Food was outstanding as always, entertainment was the best we have seen in 9 cruises, but embarkation and disembarkation were less than smooth due to bus problems and unclear directions, probably just need a little training as this was the first cycle in So. Amer.

If anything I'm convinced that we will try to sail on smaller ships in the future, we just seem to enjoy it more. Also I would recommend going down a couple of days early, that flight is a killer!!!

[katiebeth]

Dear Linda,

 

You seem like a very reasonable person and certainly entitled to your opinion. I have read other posts regarding the condition of the Millennium and am rather concerned myself. We were on the Constellation in July of 2003 British Isles and Norweign Fjords and it was absolutely fantastic. The ship was 10 months old and the itinerary was exceptional. We also sailed the Infinity this summer San Francisco to Vancouver and had a great time. The Infinity was in fine shape, but we did notice a strong sewage smell in our hallway. We were aft Penthouse Deck. The smell was not the entire cruise but was for a large portion of it. I know some people on these boards believe that we are all making up this smell, but I can assure you it is VERY real. We never encountered this smell on the Constellation.

 

We are booked on the Millennium in June Barcelona to Venice and must admit that I am concerned based on several of the negative comments I have read about the Millennium. In particular, the sewage smell and the tired looking staterrooms. I do try to make the best of everyone situation and am so grateful that we are able to travel as much as we do. However, I do have high expections and expect things to be in good order. I am very particular at home as well.

 

I am a little worried that the cruise this summer may be disappointing based on what I have read about the Millennium. In addition, we had such an awesome experience on the Constellation (the ship and itinerary) that I am concerned that nothing can compare.

 

We love Celebrity and hope that they will resolve the problems with the Millennium. They need to be frequently replacing worn carpeting, bedding, furniture, etc. in order to keep the ship in good shape.

 

Linda ... Were your issues with the Millenium more service related or the general condition of the ship?? (or both)

 

Any comments would be appreciated.

 

Nancy

[Linda-E]

Kcruiser,

How did you get your port charges refunded? We received no such refund.

 

Hi Nancy,

We were on Constellation in September and have a cruise booked for this coming September as well. The carpeting and the chairs in our stateroom on Millennium need replacement; drapes look brand new. The condition of the ship was pretty good. Dining room food and service were excellent.

 

What really concerned us was other service issues. Guest relations and the concierge were totally unresponsive. Time and time again, one of them would say they would take care of something and call back, but rarely were calls ever returned. Cabin attendant was average -he and the assistant would stand in the hallway and watch us come and go, rarely moving to open a door for us. Waiters in buffet didn't help carry trays, even in really high seas off the Falklands. Tendering was awful - there were wait times of up to 90-120 minutes for tenders back to the ship, in part because only 3 of the 4 tenders are operational.

 

I think the Constellation staff was far superior, and I hope that continues through our September cruise. We were not treated famously!

 

Linda

[pamkev]

Linda,

I'm so sorry to here about your cruise. It sounds like Millie has some issues.

Hope you and Mark can join us for our get together in Feb. Did you get the email?

 

Pam