Need some Advice - Millenium

[cruisejunkey]

Hi All - We are about to embarck on our first Celebrity Cruise. We are newbies to Celebrity but not to Cruising. We have over 17 cruises with Princess so we are veterans.

 

So here are my questions: We are traveling with our 82yr old father and he just loves the option of having anytime dining and the 24 hour buffet on Princess...sometimes you just do not feel like getting dressed for dinner! So what are our options? Is it only room service if you just want a casual meal in the evening? Actually on the last 3 cruises we never went to the dining room on Princess so we are not sure what we have available on the Millenium.

 

Also when you board can you go to your cabin or do you have to wait? We are in a FV suite so we are sure that it will be fantastic.

 

We are excited about trying a new cruise line! Just want to get as much information as we can.

 

Thanks for all your help

[nps001]

Hi there....You might want to take a look at my review I just did this week on the Millie. One of our table mates was an 85 year old that goes on a crusie a week. She previously was on HAL 700 nights. Recently, she has sailed with RCCL 38 cruises, and on Princess about 10. Celebrity was her first. She raved about Princess as many do. However, she said the food, service and especially the shows were the best on Celebrity.

 

Most people are able to get to the staterooms early, but I believe the time to officially get checked in to your room is 1pm. I know you can board the ship and hit the buffets if your room in not ready.

 

There is seated dining at dinner time in the rear section of the buffet restaurant. I didnt dine there, but I heard it is quite good. You order from a menu, and the wait staff is staff in training. There is a suggest 2 pp gratuity.

 

I know there are late hours for pasta and pizza, but I dont believe it is 24 hours. I will tell you that I have never heard anything bad about the room service on Celebrity. For us, it was quick, and great quality, and of course, no charge. It is an extensive menu at all times.

 

Happy Cruising.

[GloBug]

Celebrity service is wonderful, but we did have a glitch once with room service.

 

My DD was having problems with mal de mer, so she stayed in one evening, and ordered room service later. All she wanted was a sandwich, but it took almost 3 hours, 4 phone calls, and almost as many excuses before it showed up.

[phoenix_dream]

Cruisejunkey, as an experienced cruiser I am sure you know not to worry because someone had a room service problem once. It is usually very good and very prompt.

 

You got input on the alternate dining already. I would like to go a bit off topic and just tell you that you will absolutely love your FV cabin. They are so spacious and they have great balconies (especially if you lucked into a corner one)

[rebeccalouise]

Every night there is made to order pasta, pizza and sushi served in the buffet. Sushi ends about 9 or 10 PM but pasta and pizza continues into the wee hours.

 

There is dining in the buffet (reservations are still recommended) where part of the buffet is cordoned off- it is still "fine dining" . They serve the same menu every night and the waiters are trainees. So the service is sometimes not that great but you can go at the time you like (doesn't have to be either 6:15 or 8:00 (like in the diningroom).

 

So you can do without the main diningroom from time to time but still go there. I really enjoy the diningroom on Celebrity. You meet really great people and it is fun to have the same nice wait staff each night.

 

Also- the Olympic was fantastic!!!! I did it with my parents twice on our 12 night Med cruise and loved it. Well worth the $ 30 per person surcharge.

[cruisejunkey]

Thanks so much for the information. We are excited about going on Celebrity we have heard so many good things we decided it was time to take the plunge..LOL.

 

I am glad that thier are alternatives to the dining room. When you are traveling with an elderly parent they sometimes just want to get a bite to eat in less formal type settings. We have traveled Princess so much and have become so used to the opportunities to eat whenever and wherever you sort of become spoiled. We have not done traditional dining in many many years but when we did we liked it.

 

Well one thing for sure no matter what we are going to have a wonderful time and just go with the flow. When people ask me what is your favorite cruise I tell them the one that I am on!

 

Again...Thanks and Happy Cruising

[GloBug]

Yup, one bad room service glitch is just a glitch. Hey, it happens in the best of places! Overall, Celebrity is the best we've sailed so far.

 

We've experienced anytime dining on two different lines, and while we like it a alot, and like meeting so many different people each evening, we kind of missed meeting the same people for dinner each night, and getting to know our wait staff.

 

The FV corner aft cabins are wonderful. There are pics on the net. I believe they are pretty much the same on all the M class ships..

 

http://69.63.134.90/gallery/view.php?id=294

[nps001]

I can say we ordered room service several times and had NO issues at all. However, we did not call. We used the Television ordering system. It was accurate and quick. Perhaps it wasn't available at the time this person sailed?

[GloBug]

Celebrity Infinity, June of 2005. Don't remember it being available. I'll look forward to it in May! :D

[Pat.bz]

My teenager occasionally opted for room service and we would go down, check the dinner menu, take notes and give them to our cabin stewart. He would then deliver a complete dining room meal to DS as long as it ws during the period encompassed by the 2 seatings. We tipped acordingly.

[Amlee]

One thing I have learned is if I want something and it's not on the menu, ask!

 

I wasn't feeling up to par on the Connie and wanted something simple to eat. I called down and asked for a grill cheese. The lady told me they couldn't make one. HUH? You can't make a grill cheese? I asked the girl to ask the chef if it was possible. Sure enough I was told it would be no problem.

[Dande1]

Hi All - We are traveling with our 82yr old father ...

We are in a FV suite so we are sure that it will be fantastic.

 

We would like to do somethig similar on our Australia cruises next year.

Do you mind me asking - will you be three people sharing the FV?

[cruisejunkey]

Actually there will be 4 of us....3 women..my sister,my niece,myself and my Dad. Thats why we took the FV suite. I think it will work for us! I do not think my Dad will be fighting for bathroom time!!!

[Dande1]

Actually there will be 4 of us....3 women..my sister,my niece,myself and my Dad. Thats why we took the FV suite. I think it will work for us! I do not think my Dad will be fighting for bathroom time!!!

 

Thanks for the information.

It apparently is next to impossible to reserve an FV for only three but they appear to be the only reasonably priced alternative instead of a third person travelling alone and paying the full single rate to occupy a second verandah cabin.

 

Every time I look on the Celebrity site the FV class is "not available".

 

We hope the four of you have a wonderful cruise.

[Lsimon]

...Every time I look on the Celebrity site the FV class is "not available"...

 

Try calling direct or better yet try a good travel agent. I've heard that sometimes they pull these off the web site to hold for larger groups - but they do let them go to smaller groups and even for two people on many cruises.

[cruisejunkey]

We actually saw this FV by accident. We were just cruisin the net looking for a cruise to take at the end of Jan and this came up. This was mid novemeber. My sister did some research and realized what a great deal this was and we decided to book. We have an incredible TA but it was a Sat and we decided not to wait until Mon to reserve so we called Celebrity directly and did it.

 

We actually had a choice between the corner unit and the one next to it and decided to take the non corner unit. We are travelling with my elderly Father and since he enjoys sitting on the balcony we decided the steel wall on the oneside would not be great for sitting on the balcony. Actually Celebrity brought it to our attention.

 

We are excited about this cabin. We are veteran cruisers and have stayed in every category from inside to penthouse suites. No matter where we stay on the ship we enjoy.

 

So my advice is call Celebrity directly and see what they have open. Can't hurt to inquire.

 

Happy Cruising!

[GloBug]

It's true, the corner aft cabin FV does have the solid railing at the back, but the sides are not solid. Not clear, like the middle aft cabins have, but they have horizontal bars instead.

 

What the corner aft cabins do have is a MUCH larger verandah, and a private hallway from the main hallway to your cabin door. Both doors lock, and the main hallway door has a doorbell so you know when someone is "knocking" on your door.

 

We love that private hallway for luggage storage and to store all those bags of goodies you buy when you contribute to the local economies! ;)