Back from the Millenium Venice to Barcelona

[genmasjoy]

Arrived home last night, jet lagged but happy. We had a wonderful cruise, Oct. 17 to 29, on the Millenium. The ports of call were varied and there was a nice variety of shore excursions offered by Celebrity at each port. We stuck to the ship tours having had a bad experience in the Caribbean on a private tour several years ago. We flew in early for a pre cruise night at the Sofitel which I recommend because it gave us a day to rest and start exploring Venice. One of the tours I really enjoyed was the Angels and Demons tour in Rome. The transportation was by a private train car so it only took about an hour each way, then a bus met the group in Rome. We visited the sites noted in the book, which I had reread on the plane over, so it was fresh in my mind. The ship is in fine condition and the staff friendly and willing to go the extra step to accommodate guest requests. There was a strong emphasis on "sanitizing your hands", i.e., they had stations outside dining areas and in port as you returned to the ship. I wasn't aware of any virus outbreak but clearly, they are taking precautions. I'd be happy to answer any questions.

[lucky white heather]

Arrived home last night, jet lagged but happy. We had a wonderful cruise, Oct. 17 to 29, on the Millenium. The ports of call were varied and there was a nice variety of shore excursions offered by Celebrity at each port. We stuck to the ship tours having had a bad experience in the Caribbean on a private tour several years ago. We flew in early for a pre cruise night at the Sofitel which I recommend because it gave us a day to rest and start exploring Venice. One of the tours I really enjoyed was the Angels and Demons tour in Rome. The transportation was by a private train car so it only took about an hour each way, then a bus met the group in Rome. We visited the sites noted in the book, which I had reread on the plane over, so it was fresh in my mind. The ship is in fine condition and the staff friendly and willing to go the extra step to accommodate guest requests. There was a strong emphasis on "sanitizing your hands", i.e., they had stations outside dining areas and in port as you returned to the ship. I wasn't aware of any virus outbreak but clearly, they are taking precautions. I'd be happy to answer any questions.

 

Many of us on the 10th Nov sailing are wondering if the indoor pool in the aqua spa is fixed and working???Apparently on previous sailings it has been closed for whatever reason.... we would like to know so we can include swimwear in the packing, please?

[mahdnc]

Glad to hear that you had a great cruise. We will be taking this trip next June.

 

Do you remember which nights were formal nights?

 

Also I had read that on the prior Venice-Barcelona cruise there were two nights where dinner was open seating. One was the first night. Was this the case for your sailing? If so, when was the 2nd open seating night?

[flyfish37]

Thanks for offering. I have a few questions. We are taking this cruise next September 23.

 

1. How did you get from the airport to the hotel in Venice and then to the ship. I am still a little fuzzy on the options.

2. What did you see in Venice before boarding?

3. What cabin did you have? Did you notice any sewage smells?

4. Is there anything that you would take or do differently in preparation or during the cruise.

5. There has been significant discussion recently about the condition of the cabins (bedding, bathrooms, furnishings. etc.) Any insight on this issue?

 

Thanks again for the info.

[Muushka]

Welcome home! We are going on our first cruise with X, on the Millennium so I pulled up the webcam of your cruise every day! Beautiful ports and one day the seas looked pretty rough. Looking forward to hearing more about your cruise. Barb

[genmasjoy]

Yes, the pool at the Aqua spa is working. We took advantage of it several times after doing lots of walking on our port tours. It was a great way to stretch our weary muscles. There are also two hot tubs on the open part of deck 10 which people used at times, but I don't think anyone went into the outdoor pools. I didn't stick a toe in the water, but I imagine it's cold.

There are three formal nights, the first was after Dubrovnik, the second was during the second day at sea, and the third was the night before the final night of the cruise. I guess they assume everyone will be packing and want to be casual the final night, so the night before they had lobster and the captain's farewell toast. People did dress up for the formal nights, with black being the primary color of most formal outfits, men and women both.

There is an open seating just the first night, in Venice. Otherwise, we had our assigned table every night except one night when we went to the Olympic, the specialty restaurant.

We used the Celebrity pre-cruise arrangements from the airport to the hotel. Someone met us at the airport and we were driven to the parking lot outside Venice. From there, our luggage was picked up by porters and we were escorted to the Sofitel. It was about a five minute walk. Our first day, we walked around and explored on our own. The hotel desk gave us a map and offered to call a taxi for us. I said no thanks, just tell me where I can find the number 1 vaporetto. That's the one which is like a public bus, only it's a boat, that travels the length of the grand canal. The stop was a short walk from the hotel, so we used it for our transportation. The second day, we were collected from our hotel, as was our luggage. After we boarded the ship and had lunch at the buffet, we left our luggage in the stateroom, and used the celebrity boat shuttle service from the pier to St. Mark's Square ($10 pp for one day unlimited use of the shuttle). At St. Mark's, we visited the Doge's palace, the cathedral and the Comer museum which is across the square. The next day (sailing day) we took a morning tour which visited two of the islands in the lagoon, San Giorgio and Murano, and also included a gondola ride. The three full days gave us a really comprehensive opportunity to enjoy Venice, which is a place like no other.

We were in cabin 6114, a standard balcony cabin. It was midship, very nice location, and our cabin attendant kept everything spotless. The only thing I noticed was that the carpet was somewhat faded, but there was no mildew or mold or anything truly objectionable. The bedding was very comfortable and the linens seemed new. I did catch a whiff of the infamous smell on deck 5 one evening as I was walking near the elevators, but it was brief and the only time I noticed anything.

We really had a wonderful time and no, I wouldn't do anything differently. We each had one hanging garment bag and a large suitcase, which seemed to be the average per passenger. To visit the many cathedrals, you can't wear skimpy outfits (including shorts) or you won't be allowed access, so dress is more formal than on a Caribbean cruise.

There was only one bad weather day the whole two weeks, and it was a sea day, so it didn't interfere with any of our tours.

[mahdnc]

Thanks for the information....

 

Did you take any organized tours at the other ports of call? Comments?

[lucky white heather]

thanks for the info on th einddor pool particularly...the roll call group will be pleased to hear it is all functioning again

[carol7353]

Great trip and a wonderful itinerary. In cities we had visited previously (Rome, Florence, Venice - we toured on our own to places we'd missed previously or wanted to see again). You don't really need a tour in Dubrovnik, where the main attraction is viewing the walled city from the top of the walls, easily done on your own. Spring for an acoustiguide when you buy your wall ticket, and take your time walking the walls and enjoying the spectacular views, especially on the sea side! I don't think any of the ship's guided tours take you up on the wall, at least not for any distance. It is physically demanding, however -- lots of stairs both up and down. We also opted not to take a tour on Santorini -- we rented a Smart car from Hertz and had a ball driving around the island on our own, stopping at the various beaches and wandering through the villages. It's so small you can't possibly get lost. We had plenty of time to see the entire island and return the car before dark, well before the last tender back to the ship. In ports we hadn't visited previously, we tried to select tours where we could see the most possible -- generally 7 - 9 hour itineraries. All were well done.

 

As for conditions and services on Millennium -- we were pleased with service over all, and the ship is in decent condition although beginning to show minor signs of wear, which is to be expected after 6 years of several thousand people every week. Our cabin furnishings were in good condition and the bed was extremely comfortable. Although kept spotlessly clean by our steward, the bathroom had a constant musty odor, although no visible mold. Also there was a plumbing problem the last night on board that affected a number of cabins on our deck (Vista Deck 7).

 

Our biggest complaint and that of a number of other repeat Celebrity passengers we spoke with was the food in the main dining room. It just wasn't up to par in either preparation or presentation. Maybe they're trying to push more business into the specialty dining room? -- Although it can't possibly accommodate everyone. We eat a lot of fish and didn't have a really good fish dish the entire trip. Even the lobster was on the tough side.

[excitedofharpenden]

Carol, I concur. Dubrovnik is a real gem of a place. I walked the city wall right around and whilst it is probably only a couple of miles, there are quite a few steps to negotiate and is therefore quite tiring. The views are worth it though. I walked down the main street too. Many shops to visit. I always feel the urge to go exploring up some of the side streets for a more 'typical' experience. Once again there was always a climb up a few steps, but it was well worthwhile and there looked to be some really nice cafes and eateries, although I didn't try them out.

 

Being someone who doesn't eat fish, I can't comment on those meals on the ship although a couple of our group said the Sole Merniere was awful. Like on previous cruises, the beef dishes were always good as was the veal.

 

Phil

[the2006Junket]

Hi, Thought I would weigh in on your questions too...we sailing the same itinerary on Millie departing Aug. 6, 2006.

 

 

1. How did you get from the airport to the hotel in Venice and then to the ship. I am still a little fuzzy on the options. We choose to take water taxis (we were a group of 17) from Marco Polo airport to our hotel, the Westin Regina & Europa. Couldn't have been easier and WHAT a way to see Venice for the first time! Expensive though, 90 euro each taxi and our group needed three. We also arranged, through our Concierge to take water taxis and land taxis to the ship as well (could not take water taxis all the way to the cruise port). Once again, expensive, but hassle free and the help with all the luggage was great.

2. What did you see in Venice before boarding? The location of the Westin was wonderful for walking the city. We explored St. Marks, took the Doge's Palace "Secret" Itineraries tour, shopped, eat, wandered and slept : )

3. What cabin did you have? Did you notice any sewage smells? We had two cabins for my family of 5 -- 7027 & 7060 and we did not encounter the dreaded sewage smell at all (and I was somewhat expecting it!).

4. Is there anything that you would take or do differently in preparation or during the cruise. Bring fewer clothes (me and my kids) and use the ships laundry service instead. Plenty of people wear the same clothes twice! And I definitely would do the private tours that we arranged once again in Naples, Rome and Livorno...made a huge difference to us. We saw what we wanted at the pace we wanted and had flexibility to adjust.

5. There has been significant discussion recently about the condition of the cabins (bedding, bathrooms, furnishings. etc.) Any insight on this issue? Both of ours seemed to have new mattresses and bed linens. The rest of the cabin's interior were fine-- clean, but you could tell it wasn't brand new. My friend (sailing in a FV on the 8th floor) had mildew on her shower curtain, mentioned it to the Steward and it was replaced when she got back from dinner the first night).

It's a wonderful itinerary (bring reallllly comfortable shoes!) with so much to see AND a wonderful ship and staff.

Enjoy!

Lynne