Thoughts on Celebrity Millennium for a Japan cruise?

[JJK2008]

For those interested, EXPO 2025 is happening in Osaka Japan next year. It runs from April 13, 2025 - October 13, 2025. There is a website with lots of info.

[zitsky]

32 minutes ago, JJK2008 said:

For those interested, EXPO 2025 is happening in Osaka Japan next year. It runs from April 13, 2025 - October 13, 2025. There is a website with lots of info.

Is this a good thing or are you warning about crowds and delays?

[mickeysgal]

10 hours ago, tbop said:

It’s a better time for us too and festivals are that month.

What festivals? 

[JJK2008]

1 hour ago, zitsky said:

Is this a good thing or are you warning about crowds and delays?

It is NOT a warning. It is just FYI. Is it a good thing??? That depends on your point of view. 

[zitsky]

1 hour ago, JJK2008 said:

It is NOT a warning. It is just FYI. Is it a good thing??? That depends on your point of view. 

I’ve never been to Japan so I can only guess what that event is like.  Maybe someone should make a web page about it that I could easily find using a search engine?

 

(whoops)

[DaKahuna]

1 hour ago, zitsky said:

I’ve never been to Japan so I can only guess what that event is like.  Maybe someone should make a web page about it that I could easily find using a search engine?

 

You mean like this 

 

 

https://google.gprivate.com/search.php?search?q=Expo+2025+Osaka+Japan

 

 

[zitsky]

1 hour ago, DaKahuna said:

 

You mean like this 

 

 

https://google.gprivate.com/search.php?search?q=Expo+2025+Osaka+Japan

 

 

Well if web pages were a thing and someone had invented a way to search them, then my answer would be “yes”.

[Niavlys Ruofud]

On 10/17/2023 at 3:31 AM, hawkesbaynz said:

Have heard good things about the Millennium Japan cruises. Am booked in April 2024. Most of our tours are booked privately with Tourswithlocals & https://gowithguide.com/japan/guides. Private tours can be more difficult to arrange as the guide cannot drive too so there is a reliance on separate taxis and the excellent public transport. Did find a helpful company in Busan too. 
 

A lady has arranged a tranche of tours on our cruise and I have booked a few small groups. Otherwise seems most folk are using Celebrity or DIY with the public transport. 
 

There are some good trip reports on cruises. Miaminices come to mind.

We will be doing the same cruise in april 2025.  Would you mind sharing the excursions you took with gowithguide to give us an idea as to what to do/expect.  Tks in advance 

[librarylady19]

3 minutes ago, Niavlys Ruofud said:

We will be doing the same cruise in april 2025.  Would you mind sharing the excursions you took with gowithguide to give us an idea as to what to do/expect.  Tks in advance 

same here! Have booked some Celebrity tours with OBC a but need a few more tours. 

[maggielou362]

We have returned from a twelve-night cruise on Celebrity Millenium around Japan. Great itinerary, good way to see a lot of Japan in a short time. The ship is comfortable, the staff are professional and attentive, but I was a little disappointed. Cabin # 7001 was fine, very spacious and comfortable. I can only compare with Cunard, as that's the only other line that I have experienced. The bar and wine menu on Celebrity fell short when compared with Cunard. I think the staff worked very hard but were extremely busy and there were not enough of them. We sailed in regular old "steerage", main dining room, no extra or exclusive eating venues. I found the menu in MDR limited, very bland and unadventurous, wine list also quite unimaginative. Not an awful cruise, but not anything to write home about. Not sure why Celebrity has a reputation for their food and beverages, I found it very ordinary.

 

[villauk]

21 hours ago, Niavlys Ruofud said:

We will be doing the same cruise in april 2025.  Would you mind sharing the excursions you took with gowithguide to give us an idea as to what to do/expect.  Tks in advance 

 

21 hours ago, librarylady19 said:

same here! Have booked some Celebrity tours with OBC a but need a few more tours. 

 

Lots of information here:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/3023729-liveish-millennium-japan-19th-aug-review/
 

Also look at @Miaminice and @DaKahuna reviews in their signatures. 

[zitsky]

1 hour ago, maggielou362 said:

We have returned from a twelve-night cruise on Celebrity Millenium around Japan. Great itinerary, good way to see a lot of Japan in a short time. The ship is comfortable, the staff are professional and attentive, but I was a little disappointed. Cabin # 7001 was fine, very spacious and comfortable. I can only compare with Cunard, as that's the only other line that I have experienced. The bar and wine menu on Celebrity fell short when compared with Cunard. I think the staff worked very hard but were extremely busy and there were not enough of them. We sailed in regular old "steerage", main dining room, no extra or exclusive eating venues. I found the menu in MDR limited, very bland and unadventurous, wine list also quite unimaginative. Not an awful cruise, but not anything to write home about. Not sure why Celebrity has a reputation for their food and beverages, I found it very ordinary.

 

Thanks for that, but I think you are comparing apples to oranges.  You are disappointed that your Toyota Camry isn’t as nice as your Rolls Royce?  Celebrity and Cunard aren’t even in the same league.  

[maggielou362]

Perhaps you are right, @zitsky. The Celebrity cruise was fine, I didn't mean to sound overly critical. I thought that Cunard and Celebrity were comparable in that some websites seem to group them together as "luxury" (NOT premium). I appreciate your comments.

[zitsky]

44 minutes ago, maggielou362 said:

Perhaps you are right, @zitsky. The Celebrity cruise was fine, I didn't mean to sound overly critical. I thought that Cunard and Celebrity were comparable in that some websites seem to group them together as "luxury" (NOT premium). I appreciate your comments.

I think Celebrity is nice for what it is.  We’ve done NCL, Viking and Celebrity.

[Pushka]

We have cruised multiple times on all these lines, Princess, Cunard, RCL, Celebrity and Viking. And they are all completely different. If you want casual dining not upmarket, then it's Celebrity. We enjoy the buffets, upmarket it's Cunard, Viking has a good mix of both, their buffet is excellent but different, we didn't really enjoy their dining room food to be honest, very hit and miss on our trip. Nowadays their pricing is too high for us. Princess is probably the middle ground, never had a bad meal but not a Princess fan.   We would cruise again on all of them but know they are all different. 

Our next cruise is on Mille for Japan next year in April, then we have a Viking River cruise in Vietnam and Cambodia (booked a long time ago).  We are thinking Cunard Med in 2026 tied in with a Celebrity Med cruise. All different. All enjoyable. 

Edited Monday at 10:07 PM by Pushka

[zitsky]

39 minutes ago, Pushka said:

We have cruised multiple times on all these lines, Princess, Cunard, RCL, Celebrity and Viking. And they are all completely different. If you want casual dining not upmarket, then it's Celebrity. We enjoy the buffets, upmarket it's Cunard, Viking has a good mix of both, their buffet is excellent but different, we didn't really enjoy their dining room food to be honest, very hit and miss on our trip. Nowadays their pricing is too high for us. Princess is probably the middle ground, never had a bad meal but not a Princess fan.   We would cruise again on all of them but know they are all different. 

Our next cruise is on Mille for Japan next year in April, then we have a Viking River cruise in Vietnam and Cambodia (booked a long time ago).  We are thinking Cunard Med in 2026 tied in with a Celebrity Med cruise. All different. All enjoyable. 

Cunard Med cruise?  What sort of cabin did you pick?

[jabrown40]

I'm trying Holland Rotterdam for the Panama Canal in 2025, but will be on Millie for Japan in 2026.  I haven't been on a cruise since 2018, so I'm curious if things have declined across all lines.

[zitsky]

Can anyone comment on time of year?

 

April colder and more expensive 

May first two weeks is a local holiday, Golden Week?

June my husband says he did a business trip to Japan in June and it was too hot.

 

What about September or October?

[jabrown40]

I've read that September is typhoon season, lots of rain.

Edited yesterday at 02:13 AM by jabrown40

[Pushka]

4 hours ago, zitsky said:

Cunard Med cruise?  What sort of cabin did you pick?

I'm waiting on English relatives to work out the date. 😂. We always book balcony but don't think it's worth the upgrade to go any higher. They are huge Cunard fans. Can't get them to try celebrity. 😂

[Pushka]

2 hours ago, zitsky said:

Can anyone comment on time of year?

 

April colder and more expensive 

May first two weeks is a local holiday, Golden Week?

June my husband says he did a business trip to Japan in June and it was too hot.

 

What about September or October?

Not sure about October but this year Late August and September has been real typhoon season. And hot hot hot and humid  We are going in April so spring.  We just touch into Golden week. 

[debfed65]

11 hours ago, zitsky said:

Can anyone comment on time of year?

 

April colder and more expensive 

May first two weeks is a local holiday, Golden Week?

June my husband says he did a business trip to Japan in June and it was too hot.

 

What about September or October?

We will be on Millennium b2b from October 6-29 this year.  I have heard it is too early to enjoy the fall foliage in Japan, but October weather is supposed to be good 🤞  I can report back here on our weather experience when we return if you would like.

[debfed65]

11 hours ago, zitsky said:

Can anyone comment on time of year?

 

April colder and more expensive 

May first two weeks is a local holiday, Golden Week?

June my husband says he did a business trip to Japan in June and it was too hot.

 

What about September or October?

We will be on Millennium b2b from October 6-29 this year.  I have heard it is too early to enjoy the fall foliage in Japan, but October weather is supposed to be good 🤞  I can report back here on our weather experience when we return if you would like.

[villauk]

1 hour ago, debfed65 said:

We will be on Millennium b2b from October 6-29 this year.  I have heard it is too early to enjoy the fall foliage in Japan, but October weather is supposed to be good 🤞  I can report back here on our weather experience when we return if you would like.

 

All of our guides said that October was a good month to visit Japan, either that or the springtime 👍.

[zitsky]

28 minutes ago, villauk said:

 

All of our guides said that October was a good month to visit Japan, either that or the springtime 👍.

We were thinking to visit for my birthday in October.  I’ve always wanted to visit Japan because my dad lived there for a while in the early 60s.