Celebrity Millennium Cruise Review
< Continued from page 3
There are two robes in the ample-sized closet. The shower is unusually large for a ship, with a shampoo dispenser on the wall. The head in general is typical in size and layout for a shipboard facility on a new ship. There is a hand lotion dispenser and a hair dryer, the latter a wand-type on a flexible hose.
There were notices warning not to use an iron in the cabin. However, the electrical system could handle 1500 watts; a typical travel iron uses 700 watts.
My understanding is that there was no laundromat on board. My wife asked me to mention that she doesn't travel to Europe to do laundry.
Next day dry cleaning service is available. The following are some examples of costs:
Dress $5.50
Trousers $3.00
Shirt $2.50
Suit (M/L) $6.50
Suit (pressing only) $3.25
Same day service is available at a 50% premium.
Dining:
The first thing we did when we got into the cabin was to call the upscale Olympic Restaurant and make reservations for dinner. We chose the third formal night, which happened to be our wedding anniversary. (See more on the Olympic further on in the review.)
In order to accommodate everyone, the reservations staff will allow an initial reservation for only one night, but they will accept a waitlist reservation for any additional nights. They forewarn you that the special dining is 3 hours in duration and the cost is $12 per person. We walked by the place on the second day, and there was a large line waiting to make reservations. magine the Olympic was a pretty hot ticket.
The next thing we sought out the maitre d' for the main dining room. Although we knew we had the late (second) seating, only some of the passengers had been given a table assignment. We didn't have one on indicated on our cruise card.
We had to go to the dining room, wait in a short line, and request a table. Since there was just the two of us, we requested a large table by a window. No problem getting it. We were there early, before hardly any passengers were on board and knew what they had to do. There were notices around that the second seating was already filled.
If you have a choice, ask for a table at the center rear of the room on deck level 4 or 5. There is a very large panoramic window there which provides a beautiful view of the sea while dining. The dining room also has large and very attractive window shades that are raised and lowered electrically depending on the sun streaming into the room.
This main dining room, called the Metropolitan Restaurant, is 2-tiered, really quite beautiful and well arranged. A string quintet plays soft music through most of the dinner, and the music is piped to all parts of the large room.
The galley is on the 3rddeck of the ship, the main floor of the dining room on the 4thdeck, and a "balcony" floor on the 5th, the latter of which is about 2/3 the size of the main floor. The waiters hustle their trays to and from the galley on fast-moving escalators. All works smoothly until one of the waiters drops a tray on the escalator, an event which supposedly happens with some regularity. They then have to shut down the escalator to clean it, this takes about 15 minutes, and causes some chaos in traffic flow.
Last year we sailed on Renaissance, and we enjoyed the cruise very much. However, all meals on Renaissance are open seating. Thus, you never have an opportunity to build a relationship with the serving staff. On this ship, our non-open seating dinners added a lot to our enjoyment of the cruise.
Whenever there is open seating, you run a high risk of spending your dinner with some serious stiffs. There were some open seating breakfasts and lunches on the Millennium.For us, a few of these were totally unrewarding encounters with fellow passengers who were too old, too young, too boorish, etc. We just ate fast and got out of there.
Most of the dining room staff seemed to have originated in Eastern Europe. Meals are open seating when the ship is in port, usually only breakfast and lunch. We found the open seating dining room service?usually marginal on other ships?to be first-rate on the Millennium.
The dress code for this 14-day cruise were three formal nights; four informal (jacket and tie), and the balance of the nights casual. On the first formal night, we eyeballed the crowd. I would say that approximately 50% of the men wore tuxedos; 25% wore dark suits and ties; the balance free-wheeled it including the guy in the red windbreaker over a tee-shirt and the fellow wearing khakis with hush puppies. On one of the informal nights, we saw a tee shirt and jeans, but no windbreaker. The guy evidently didn't want to overdress.
There is "alternative" casual dining in the Ocean Café on deck 10 for those wanting to skip the main dining room. Reservations are required. We never tried this out, however. It is in the same room where the breakfast and luncheon buffet is usually served.
Page 5 > > More on the Celebrity Millennium Baltic Cruise > >
There are two robes in the ample-sized closet. The shower is unusually large for a ship, with a shampoo dispenser on the wall. The head in general is typical in size and layout for a shipboard facility on a new ship. There is a hand lotion dispenser and a hair dryer, the latter a wand-type on a flexible hose.
There were notices warning not to use an iron in the cabin. However, the electrical system could handle 1500 watts; a typical travel iron uses 700 watts.
My understanding is that there was no laundromat on board. My wife asked me to mention that she doesn't travel to Europe to do laundry.
Next day dry cleaning service is available. The following are some examples of costs:
Dress $5.50
Trousers $3.00
Shirt $2.50
Suit (M/L) $6.50
Suit (pressing only) $3.25
Same day service is available at a 50% premium.
Dining:
The first thing we did when we got into the cabin was to call the upscale Olympic Restaurant and make reservations for dinner. We chose the third formal night, which happened to be our wedding anniversary. (See more on the Olympic further on in the review.)
In order to accommodate everyone, the reservations staff will allow an initial reservation for only one night, but they will accept a waitlist reservation for any additional nights. They forewarn you that the special dining is 3 hours in duration and the cost is $12 per person. We walked by the place on the second day, and there was a large line waiting to make reservations. magine the Olympic was a pretty hot ticket.
The next thing we sought out the maitre d' for the main dining room. Although we knew we had the late (second) seating, only some of the passengers had been given a table assignment. We didn't have one on indicated on our cruise card.
We had to go to the dining room, wait in a short line, and request a table. Since there was just the two of us, we requested a large table by a window. No problem getting it. We were there early, before hardly any passengers were on board and knew what they had to do. There were notices around that the second seating was already filled.
If you have a choice, ask for a table at the center rear of the room on deck level 4 or 5. There is a very large panoramic window there which provides a beautiful view of the sea while dining. The dining room also has large and very attractive window shades that are raised and lowered electrically depending on the sun streaming into the room.
This main dining room, called the Metropolitan Restaurant, is 2-tiered, really quite beautiful and well arranged. A string quintet plays soft music through most of the dinner, and the music is piped to all parts of the large room.
The galley is on the 3rddeck of the ship, the main floor of the dining room on the 4thdeck, and a "balcony" floor on the 5th, the latter of which is about 2/3 the size of the main floor. The waiters hustle their trays to and from the galley on fast-moving escalators. All works smoothly until one of the waiters drops a tray on the escalator, an event which supposedly happens with some regularity. They then have to shut down the escalator to clean it, this takes about 15 minutes, and causes some chaos in traffic flow.
Last year we sailed on Renaissance, and we enjoyed the cruise very much. However, all meals on Renaissance are open seating. Thus, you never have an opportunity to build a relationship with the serving staff. On this ship, our non-open seating dinners added a lot to our enjoyment of the cruise.
Whenever there is open seating, you run a high risk of spending your dinner with some serious stiffs. There were some open seating breakfasts and lunches on the Millennium.For us, a few of these were totally unrewarding encounters with fellow passengers who were too old, too young, too boorish, etc. We just ate fast and got out of there.
Most of the dining room staff seemed to have originated in Eastern Europe. Meals are open seating when the ship is in port, usually only breakfast and lunch. We found the open seating dining room service?usually marginal on other ships?to be first-rate on the Millennium.
The dress code for this 14-day cruise were three formal nights; four informal (jacket and tie), and the balance of the nights casual. On the first formal night, we eyeballed the crowd. I would say that approximately 50% of the men wore tuxedos; 25% wore dark suits and ties; the balance free-wheeled it including the guy in the red windbreaker over a tee-shirt and the fellow wearing khakis with hush puppies. On one of the informal nights, we saw a tee shirt and jeans, but no windbreaker. The guy evidently didn't want to overdress.
There is "alternative" casual dining in the Ocean Café on deck 10 for those wanting to skip the main dining room. Reservations are required. We never tried this out, however. It is in the same room where the breakfast and luncheon buffet is usually served.
Page 5 > > More on the Celebrity Millennium Baltic Cruise > >
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