A very late Millie 01-06-08 review

[StewieGriffin]

My wife and I have done 3 cruises, all with Celebrity. We thought about trying a different cruise line this time, but we decided that since our previous 2 cruises with Celebrity (Panama Canal on Mercury and Bermuda on Zenith) were so enjoyable, we would sail on Celebrity again.

 

 

I found this website about 2 weeks prior to sailing and I was apprehensive about this cruise because of some of the reviews posted about recent cruises on Millennium. However, we are very happy that we stayed with Celebrity!:)

 

 

EMBARKATION:

 

 

Embarkation took us 1.5 hours from when we got out of the hotel shuttle until we arrived at the pool bar. Not an unreasonable amount of time in my opinion, however, Celebrity could initiate several measures to improve things in this area. Much of the delay was caused by fellow passengers who apparently thought they should not read any of their cruise documents prior to sailing. These geniuses arrived at the checkout counter with none of their forms filled out and took 15-20 minutes to check in.

 

 

Additionally, I have to comment that I was shocked at the rude and hostile behavior exhibited by many of my fellow passengers. People were pushing other passengers and were verbally abusive. These people saved their nastiest behavior for the Celebrity employees in the terminal. Despite a constant barrage of rude comments and harassment, not one Celebrity employee lost their cool. One group of rotten ladies started out in front of us on line. However, they cut the line so many times they ended up way behind us. Thankfully, most (but not all) of this horrible behavior seemed to disappear on the ship.

 

 

When we reached the front of the line and were waiting for the next agent, one of the Celebrity employees that was directing people to the check in desks told us that prior to entering the line, an employee should have checked our forms. We told him that was not being done and everyone standing near us agreed that prior to entering the check in line, employees were only checking identification. Celebrity needs to fix this. They also should not let people stand at the check in counter and fill out forms. Unprepared passengers should be moved off to the side and told to come back when they complete the forms. Because we had all our forms completed, the actual check in took us under 3 minutes. We presented out passports, completed forms and credit card, the agent checked everything and gave us our sea passes. We proceeded upstairs, waited 1 minute for our photo to be taken and walked on board to the usual warm and friendly Celebrity greeting.

 

 

CABIN:

 

 

We booked a cabin with a balcony because that's what we had on Mercury and we liked it very much. Our cabin was on the 7th deck forward. It was spotless and no visible wear. The bed was comfortable. We've learned from our 2 previous cruises and this time we didn't over pack. Also, we brought suitcases that fit under the bed which made life a little easier. The bathroom was spotless but the shower did show some signs of age. One minor complaint that my wife had was that sometimes we received towels that were clean but had makeup stains on them.

 

 

Our cabin steward Neve was excellent. He was very attentive to our needs. The morning after the second formal night, he even packed up my tuxedo and returned it for me without being asked.

 

 

PUBLIC AREAS OF THE SHIP:

 

 

We found the ship to be in excellent condition. Everything was clean and well maintained. It seemed that wherever I went on the ship, I always saw someone cleaning or performing maintenance.

 

 

DINING:

 

 

We were seated (late seating) at a 6 top with one other couple who only showed up on the first night. We met them a few times later in the week and they seemed to be having a bad time. I guess cruising isn't for everyone.

 

 

The food at dinner was good. Our waiter Bonifacio (Boni) was outstanding. Our assistant waiter, whose name I can't recall was also excellent. Our wine steward Ronald was very knowledgeable and a pleasure to deal with.

 

 

On a side note, other reviews have mentioned pushy wine stewards who were constantly upselling. This was not the case with Ronald. He made suggestions when asked and seemed to tailor these suggestions to the price range ($50-$75) of the wines we ordered earlier in the cruise. When I asked him about upcoming wine tastings he explained about the food and wine pairing that would be given on the last day of the cruise and told us it was very worthwhile. He was right! We are wine novices, but some of the people at our table on the day of the tasting were clearly very experienced and they also enjoyed the tasting and said they learned from it. I recommend the wine and food pairing regardless of your level of expertise. We actually walked away from the wine tasting table set up outside the Ocean Buffet on the first day of the cruise due to an extremely pushy wine steward who was trying to sell the Reidell glass wine tasting. This came up in conversation at the wine and food pairing and 2 other couples reported that they also had the same experience.

 

 

The food at breakfast at the Ocean Cafe was good. They cater to all tastes from healthy to heart attack.

 

 

We found the hot food at the lunch buffet at the Ocean Cafe to be mostly unexceptional. However, this was not a problem given the availability of other options at the buffet including salads, pizza, specialty sandwiches, etc.

 

 

Be forewarned that the Ocean Cafe is ground zero for rude passenger behavior as well as shocking displays of gluttony.

 

 

We ate at the Olympic restaurant on one of the formal nights. We chose the menu exceptional. The service was impeccable and the wines really complemented the food perfectly. The detailed explanations given by the wine steward were very helpful to us. My favorite dish was the goat cheese souffle, but overall neither my wife or I were blown away by the food.

 

 

I was also annoyed when a four top next to us was seated after us. The two men in the group arrived at the restaurant entrance wearing a t shirt and a plaid sport shirt. They were made to put on blazers which they immediately removed once they reached their table. I don't think it's unreasonable to expect Celebrity to enforce the dress code in the Olympic restaurant, especially when it's such a flagrant violation. It seemed as if these 2 couples had eaten in the Olympic previously by how the staff greeted them. These 2 men were also loud and obnoxious. The staff that were serving this table seemed to find these 2 clowns very amusing. We were not the only nearby table looking on in disgust. I am far from a snob, but this marred an otherwise nice evening.

 

 

PORTS OF CALL:

 

 

My wife and I chose this cruise because it fit into our work schedules and because we wanted to cruise Celebrity again, so ports were not a major factor in our decision. We did the old and new San Juan tour which was new San Juan by bus and Fort San Cristobal on foot. We enjoyed this tour and our tour guide Angel was both informative and funny.

 

 

I did the trap shooting excursion in Caso De Campo and it was excellent. I've shot trap before, but they also cater to beginners, so if you're doing this cruise in the future and you've never shot trap, don't be intimidated and book this great excursion. 3 of the passengers on this excursion had never handled a shotgun before and they also loved it. The sporting clays and skeet excursions were canceled due to lack of participants and if you are a novice, you should know that skeet and sporting clays are more difficult than trap.

 

 

We walked around in Tortola which is a beautiful island. After talking to other passengers, we regret that we didn't do an excursion on Tortola.

 

 

We also just walked around and relaxed on Labadee which was nice. We were turned off by how pushy the vendors were. After 30 seconds in the flea market, we left because of the constant harassment. We really wanted to buy gifts for family and friends back home, but chose not to deal with this behavior. The consensus from other passengers we spoke to was that the vendors were too aggressive. I think they ruined a lot of sales because of their tactics.

 

 

SHIPBOARD LIFE:

 

 

We enjoyed ourselves on board. Our focus on this cruise was relaxing and we definitely succeeded. We noticed the chair hogs, but always managed to get chairs. My wife did several spa treatments and was very pleased.

 

 

The pool bar was one of our favorite spots. Luka the bartender is great. We had a drink or 2 every afternoon and always enjoyed his banter.

 

 

I visited Cosmos Nightclub a couple of nights. TJ the bartender is not to be missed. One night I even saw a young passenger (19 or so)get dragged out of the club by his mother. She literally twisted his ear and marched him out. She was wearing a bathrobe which I'm sure only added to his embarrassment. Cosmos seemed to have a cross section of passengers tending towards 20's to 30's. The underwear ladies were always well represented in Cosmos.

 

 

We saw both comics perform and also attended the farewell show. As usual Celebrity provided first class entertainment. I even met a passenger who told me that after over 70 cruises on various lines including the first Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth in the early 1950's, he has never seen better entertainment than on Celebrity. After seeing the acrobats perform for 10 minutes at the farewell show, we were really disappointed that we missed their show earlier in the week. (The CD announced that after this cruise they were going on vacation).

 

 

We met lots of great people on this cruise including NPS001. It came up in conversation that I'd been lurking on these boards and lo and behold it turned out I was talking to NPS001. I promised a review, and here it is albeit a little late.

[JWJs]

Great review. Very funny regarding you and NPS001. The Millie is my favorite ship.

[mattR]

After seeing the acrobats perform for 10 minutes at the farewell show, we were really disappointed that we missed their show earlier in the week. (The CD announced that after this cruise they were going on vacation).

 

Hopefully they only vacation for a couple weeks and are back for the Feb 3rd sailing:)

[Dande1]

Thanks for the encouraging review.

 

What time did you arrive at the pier to begin your 90 minute check in?

[Cruisenouvelle]

Who (or what) are "the underwear ladies"?? :) Great review... we're sailing Millie on 3 Feb. also, looking forward to a fun, relaxing week! Thanks for sharing your observations.

[nps001]

It was so good to see your review. I am back to my old ways of "early to bed, early to rise" Boy how I miss those late nights at Cosmos chatting and being "over-served" by TJ until 4am.

 

I'm glad you and your wife made it home safely. We are planning another cruise. If nothing before (we are trying to see if we can get in a MED cruise) we are seriously looking at the Solstice in January.

 

Joe

[RealDeal]

Excellent review!!! Very excited to board in just...FOUR DAYS!!! You've really pumped me up...thank you for that! And thx for saying you weren't blown away by the Olympic...I'm leaning towards skipping it!

[StewieGriffin]

Dande1: We arrived at 12 noon. We met a large family later in the week who said they arrived at 3:30 p.m. And walked right on. Apparently Millie docked 1.5 hours late that morning. Also, we were told that there were over 700 foreign nationals disembarking that morning which greatly slowed down disembarkation/immigration-customs inspections. Passengers were still disembarking when we arrived at the terminal.

 

 

Cruisenouvelle: The underwear ladies were a group of about 75 women who work for a company that puts on in-home lingerie and “adult novelty”;) parties, kind of like Tupperware parties. These women were the top sales producers in a 6 month period ($50k sales minimum) and received the cruise as a sales incentive. The owner was on board also and had one of the penthouse suites. We had great fun one day at the pool bar watching some single guys try to wrangle an invite to a pre-dinner cocktail party in the penthouse suite.

 

 

NPS001: Glad to see you guys are home safe too. If you're not driving a car how can you be overserved?:D Never done a Med cruise, but been to Italy twice. DW's stepfather lives in Italy and she's been a lot more. I love Italy and would love to see other parts of the Med too. Do you think they'll have all the kinks worked out of Solstice by January?

 

 

RealDeal: Glad to hear you're psyched! I'm sure you'll have a great time. My first rule of vacationing is don't feel obligated to do what others say you must. If you want to skip Olympic, do so.

[Dande1]

Dande1: We arrived at 12 noon. We met a large family later in the week who said they arrived at 3:30 p.m. And walked right on. Apparently Millie docked 1.5 hours late that morning. Also, we were told that there were over 700 foreign nationals disembarking that morning which greatly slowed down disembarkation/immigration-customs inspections. Passengers were still disembarking when we arrived at the terminal.

 

Thanks Stewie.

I just now read a review from a poster who was on the cruise after you.

They also arrived at noon for their cruise but were aboard in 20 minutes.

Either way I will be prepared to enjoy some warmth away from the snow.

We are off and away now:)

Thanks again