Millenium to Japan or Ruby Princess to New Zealand

[Boatharbour]

To celebrate our 40 th wedding anniversary we have planned a cruise to New Zealand departing from Sydney in November. Having travelled on the Solstice and Equinox before, we decided to try the Ruby Princess to experience an altogether different cruise line. 

 

Then I spotted a cruise from Yokohama to Hong Kong on the Millenium around the same time. Now I can’t decide which cruise to take!

 

We have visited the South Island of New Zealand before, but not the North Island. Have never been to Japan, Taiwan or South Korea.

 

On the Ruby Princess we have booked a Vista Suite. If we travelled on the Millenium we would be in an Aqua class cabin. The M class ship would be an interesting change from our S class experiences. 

 

However, reviews of the Millenium even since the refurbishment are mixed. Reviews of the Yokohama to Hong Kong route are also mixed. Reviews of Princess v Celebrity are fairly even.

 

it seems like we may have a better onboard experience on the Ruby, but the ports may be more interesting on Millenium. The ideal cruise would have both!

 

I know it all comes down to personal preferences, but I would really appreciate hearing from anyone who has travelled on both of these itineraries or on both of these ships. Thank you. 

 

[NantahalaCruiser]

Don't choose the Millennium based on going to S. Korea - ship is only there from 8pm to 10pm for a technical stop.  Effectively just adds another day at sea sailing north and then back south - probably because China does not allow them to go directly from Shanghai to Taiwan.

[Marylebone37]

Just off the Millennium today in Tokyo. Did the 14 night circle Japan itinerary.  Enjoyed one of the new AQ cabins on Deck 10. Loved the cabin and location, although to avoid late night noise, choose one of the 4-5 or so cabins that are NOT too close to Cosmos on the deck above. 

 

Everything about the cruise exceeded my expectations - with the one exception of waiting times to be seated in Blu. Some nights we were seated immediately. Some nights a 15-30 minute wait, but some nights a 45-60 minute wait.  One night was so bad (as our wait well exceeded 60 minutes) that they gave us a comp meal in Sushi on 5.  

 

The ships’s renovations are great all around.  Great crew and general outstanding service.  Happy to answer any other questions. 

[Boatharbour]

Great to hear about your experience Stines and happy to hear that the trip exceeded your expectations.

 

We haven’t  travelleled in AQ before, although we’ve stayed in a skysuite and in concierge. Having Blu as a dining option has a lot of appeal though. The AQ cabins currently available are both on deck 11, either near the elevator to Blu or near the stairs to a bar at the aft. I’m a little concerned about possible noise from the bar below. Are  you familiar with this area of the ship?

 

If you have the time, I’d love to hear your thoughts about some of the ports and the itinerary.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[4774Papa]

8 hours ago, Boatharbour said:

To celebrate our 40 th wedding anniversary we have planned a cruise to New Zealand departing from Sydney in November. Having travelled on the Solstice and Equinox before, we decided to try the Ruby Princess to experience an altogether different cruise line. 

 

Then I spotted a cruise from Yokohama to Hong Kong on the Millenium around the same time. Now I can’t decide which cruise to take!

 

We have visited the South Island of New Zealand before, but not the North Island. Have never been to Japan, Taiwan or South Korea.

 

On the Ruby Princess we have booked a Vista Suite. If we travelled on the Millenium we would be in an Aqua class cabin. The M class ship would be an interesting change from our S class experiences. 

 

However, reviews of the Millenium even since the refurbishment are mixed. Reviews of the Yokohama to Hong Kong route are also mixed. Reviews of Princess v Celebrity are fairly even.

 

it seems like we may have a better onboard experience on the Ruby, but the ports may be more interesting on Millenium. The ideal cruise would have both!

 

I know it all comes down to personal preferences, but I would really appreciate hearing from anyone who has travelled on both of these itineraries or on both of these ships. Thank you. 

 

We did the Japan and China cruise on Millie in 2015 and it was one of our favorite cruises.  Also, we did several days pre-cruise in Japan.   Japan is one of our favorite countries.  It is amazing and loved the people.  Here is my review of that trip and cruise.

 

Japan and a little bit of China

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=518503&et_cid=2531924&et_rid=17221689&et_referrer=Boards

 

Also, in 2018, we did a seven week trip, flying into Melbourne, spending a week there, then back to Sydney.  We had booked a Royal C cruise to NZ that was cancelled 3 days prior to the cruise for mechanical problems.  We found a land tour of the N. island of NZ that turned out great.  We missed the S. island, but we saw much more of the north island than we would have on the cancelled cruise.  Frankly, I would advise doing a land tour of NZ  or even consider renting a car and doing it yourself instead of a cruise that just visits 4-5 ports.  Still a NZ cruise would be fun.  Check out my review, which has details.

 

 

Melbourne, New Zealand and  Explorer of the Seas TransPacific cruise

https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=620702&et_cid=3065755&et_rid=17221689&et_referrer=Boards

[Boatharbour]

Sold! We’re off to Japan!!!

Thank you for sharing your experiences with us. The  more we read your reviews, the more we realised that visiting Japan, rather than NZ would be a better fit for us at this stage in our lives. 

 

I’ve just spent the morning booking the cruise (AQ1117 if anyone has any feedback on that cabin). Flights are also booked and now it’s the fun part of looking at shore excursions.

 

Thank you to those who gave us such helpful feedback. I know that my question was very open ended as it’s difficult to compare two such different destinations. 

New Zealand we will do another time, most likely by car. Trying another cruise line can also wait. Our Celebrity experiences have all been wonderful so far.

 

 

[Muffinz]

Well seeing as I am from the North Island in New Zealand I might be a bit biased and say do the Sydney - NZ Cruise

but it depends where it stops in NZ and what you want or like to do

most cruises into NZ stop at Wellington (our capital city) which is a lovely city, some stop at Napier - which is a great wine growing region in NZ and also the 'art deco' capital of NZ and most stop at Tauranga - which is also a lovely city with plenty to do - from Tauranga most cruisr liners offer excursions to Hobbiton (1 hour away) where they filmed Lord of the Rings or to Rotorua - Geothermal capital of NZ

 

but in saying that we have booked a cruise on Millennium in March 2021 that goes from Hong kong / Taiwan / Japan and we're really looking forward to it