AGSLC5

The food on Celebrity is much much better than Royal's food in my opinion. As on Royal you can order as much food as you want on Celebrity. The entertainment is good especially on the new edge class ships but it is not as good as on Royal Oasis class ships. I prefer the atmosphere on Celebrity better, the food, the non smoking casino, the bars, and overall the whole celebrity experience. I think if you go on the new edge class ships which would be Edge, Apex, and now Beyond you would enjoy it. 

I especially like the comment about less kids running around pushing elevator buttons, knocking on cabin doors and running, double dipping in the buffet/taste testing, and son on.  AND, yes, not all kids misbehave.  I don't blame the kids anyway, I blame the parents.  Just like bad dogs, I blame the parents/owners.

I didn't use the words upscale lol. What I like about celebrity is the following: The food in the MDR is much better than Royal's food in the MDR. I like that they have a sommelier come over and make wine suggestions for you and then take your order. I like the design of the ships and the artwork. I like that there are much less children around and the children that are on the ships are much more well behaved in my opinion than on Royal. They dont run around pressing elevator buttons and being loud and annoying. Not saying all children on Royal are like that but I find it even less on Celebrity. I like the ambience and atmosphere at the bars and I like that the Casino is Non smoking. 

The food on Celebrity is much much better than Royal's food in my opinion. As on Royal you can order as much food as you want on Celebrity. The entertainment is good especially on the new edge class ships but it is not as good as on Royal Oasis class ships. I prefer the atmosphere on Celebrity better, the food, the non smoking casino, the bars, and overall the whole celebrity experience. I think if you go on the new edge class ships which would be Edge, Apex, and now Beyond you would enjoy it. 

That is good to know. I am fairly new to being prime, so that might be the case and I play decently. I'm hoping to get some balcony and Jr.suite offers in the future

Sometimes it seems like each ship is its own "Sovereign" Country.  For the most part, I'm guessing that is a good thing.  But, it's the items/policies like this that are a bit frustrating.  One ship should not dictate what goes on on another ship.
JMHO

That is crazy they did not issue you a new certificate. On Wonder a few weeks ago they issued me a new one. When I got on I had one but at the end of the cruise I had many more points then what it was worth so they issued me a new one. I have no idea why one ship would do this and not the other. Very frustrating that they are so inconsistent. 

I have been Prime for years and they have never limited the amount of drinks I get while playing.. I do make sure to tip the waiters $5 every time they bring me a drink. not sure if that makes a difference but they come around alot to check on me and I always get free drinks. 

one more thing about Genie +. It is true you can only book one after you use one. This is how the old fast pass system was about 20 years ago when they had paper tickets. I am hoping they will go back to letting you pick 3 at a time in advance and then pick 1 after you use one that would be easier. 

I also use a scooter and is the main reason I stay on property. So I have stayed at the contemporary and Beach Club which in my opinion is nicer than boardwalk.. If you are looking for ease of accessibility do the monorail hotels. The monorails are very easy to use with the scooter... The buses are also easy. I never have a problem getting my scooter on the bus. The bus drivers are very helpful and accommodating. The other reason I would get Genie + is using it with the scooter is much easier.. And it includes all the rides except the two big headliners at each park. At Magic Kingdom that would be 7 dwarfs mine train which I cant fit on anyway its made for very thin people lol and then space mountain.. At Hollywood studios its Rise of the Resistance and Mickey and Minnie runway railroad. Then at Epcot I believe its the new remy ride and I think frozen. Then animal kingdom I think its flight of passage and one other but all other rides are included with regular Genie +. Back to the Hotel the concierge level does not include a full sit down breakfast. Its exactly what you said a lounge where they have grab and go options. I did it once and for me it was a one and done. The price was way too much more for what you get. Let me know what other questions you may have. I am happy to help. - Steph 

Happy to help. I can also recommend some good restaurants if you need. If you need any other tips feel free to ask. - Steph 

Thanks for that info, Steph.  With that information I think I’ll skip the Concierge thing.  Sounds like $$ for nothing.
 
Also appreciate the intel on using the scooter and transportation. That’s really helpful.  Thanks for confirming that staying on the monorail is a good way to go.

I also use a scooter and is the main reason I stay on property. So I have stayed at the contemporary and Beach Club which in my opinion is nicer than boardwalk.. If you are looking for ease of accessibility do the monorail hotels. The monorails are very easy to use with the scooter... The buses are also easy. I never have a problem getting my scooter on the bus. The bus drivers are very helpful and accommodating. The other reason I would get Genie + is using it with the scooter is much easier.. And it includes all the rides except the two big headliners at each park. At Magic Kingdom that would be 7 dwarfs mine train which I cant fit on anyway its made for very thin people lol and then space mountain.. At Hollywood studios its Rise of the Resistance and Mickey and Minnie runway railroad. Then at Epcot I believe its the new remy ride and I think frozen. Then animal kingdom I think its flight of passage and one other but all other rides are included with regular Genie +. Back to the Hotel the concierge level does not include a full sit down breakfast. Its exactly what you said a lounge where they have grab and go options. I did it once and for me it was a one and done. The price was way too much more for what you get. Let me know what other questions you may have. I am happy to help. - Steph 

It is a step up in all those areas.. I love the new Edge Class Ships. They are designed beautifully, there are less children, there is no smoking in the casino which I like because I don't smoke, the food is better, and its just a much nicer experience all around. I highly recommend it. 

It is a step up in all those areas.. I love the new Edge Class Ships. They are designed beautifully, there are less children, there is no smoking in the casino which I like because I don't smoke, the food is better, and its just a much nicer experience all around. I highly recommend it. 

Ok, thx. At least we are at an Emerald status. Im going to try with a private host and give it a go. As much as I like Royal, the consensus seems to be that Celebrity is a notch up in overall quality/luxury  from state rooms  to food and entertainment. Further.. less kids.   So I am going to give it a go.  

I am probably on the same cruise as you on Symphony. I am not worried at all. The only way Royal would cancel is if the CDC forced them to cancel and I think they got it under control. All 48 people got off the ship and they did a huge deep clean of the ship on Saturday before the next cruise departed. That combined with the new mask policy I don't think they will have a problem.. There are going to be Covid cases on a cruise. Just like on land people have Covid but they have the proper protocols in place to deal with it. So no I am quite sure this cruise will be happening. 

I am probably on the same cruise as you on Symphony. I am not worried at all. The only way Royal would cancel is if the CDC forced them to cancel and I think they got it under control. All 48 people got off the ship and they did a huge deep clean of the ship on Saturday before the next cruise departed. That combined with the new mask policy I don't think they will have a problem.. There are going to be Covid cases on a cruise. Just like on land people have Covid but they have the proper protocols in place to deal with it. So no I am quite sure this cruise will be happening. 

I am probably on the same cruise as you on Symphony. I am not worried at all. The only way Royal would cancel is if the CDC forced them to cancel and I think they got it under control. All 48 people got off the ship and they did a huge deep clean of the ship on Saturday before the next cruise departed. That combined with the new mask policy I don't think they will have a problem.. There are going to be Covid cases on a cruise. Just like on land people have Covid but they have the proper protocols in place to deal with it. So no I am quite sure this cruise will be happening. 

I went to CVS and it was the easiest thing possible.. It was also Free.. I signed up two weeks in advance for a rapid antigen test. Showed up on my assigned day and time and 29 min later had my results. I strongly recommend using CVS 

I did find the F&B manager and his assistant outside the entrance to the theater. When I asked (careful not to complain) about circulating bar staff I did not get the line, "we are trending to self service." In fact, they were very forthright about working out staffing issues as Celebrity gets back up to hosting ship's at capacity. There is no intention to not have circulating bar servers. In the interim wait staff are being instructed to ask if the guest would like a beverage from the bar. It seems that message may not be getting through to wait staff. Was told, "we will fix this" ..... and I got a bottle of Champagne in my room thanking us for letting them know. Classic Celebrity.

It's was and remains a beautiful ship. It sails from terminal 25 (at least it did for this sailing). If it continues to do so for your sailing, parking at the Palm Garage right across the street is a good value if you're on a 4d sailing. $15 per day amounts to $60 which is what Uber/Lyft cost from Coconut Creek area where we live. Drop your bags off first then U-Turn and head back to the Palm Garage on your right, get a ticket and find a place to park. There's construction going on within level 1 and it is closed off. We found a place on level 2. Palm Garage looked looked pretty full.
Celebrity and Port Everglades have this check in thing down. I hope the scheduled arrival times continues. It really eases the crowds - we rarely book Concierge but did this time we did because it was cheaper than a balcony. We also booked a GTY cabin on the advice of my TA. Part of my CC was $50 pp incentive to do that. The cabin assignment was fine because the COVID era and health and safety protocols limit guests making plenty of cabins available.  I did not know this but you get priority boarding by virtue of giving you the option of an 11:30 -12:00 arrival time (you also get priority departure - a QR code in your cabin scanned with your phone will take you to a web page to detail your departure preferences. 7:30 am was available - bags delivered to and picked up in terminal. 
Cabins aren't ready and Millennium doesn't have the same system as the Edge Class ships use where you can go straight to your cabin even if you board early. Sea Pass cards though are in an envelope on your cabin door. The check-in thing at a counter has been eliminated. It's all done with hand-held tablets as you go through the check-in process.  Cabins were announced ready a little before 1pm. Concierge also gets you baggage priority. Our luggage was at our cabin when we got to it at 1pm.
Your documents get checked several times. Check-in with the Celebrity App then print your boarding pass and test results. For us, it's easier to have paper copies even though they are also in digital form on our phones. I've found it frustrating to get your phone powered up after it shuts off automatically and locate the digital copies on your phone. YMMV. When you see other guests unprepared to present their boarding pass, passport and test results, fiddling around in their carry-on stuff or their phones, when you're prepared, you just walk right by them get through immigration and security checks and head to the gangway. Took us about 10 minutes from walking into the terminal to heading up the gangway.
I think what made me think there were more guests aboard than there actually were was that the Ocean View Cafe and Sunset bar area, both all the way aft, were busy when we went there immediately after boarding. Not such that you couldn't get what you wanted to eat and drink easily, just a lot of people milling around with bags. My advice is to check everything with the porters curb side.
Something else worth mentioning, short cruises over the weekends attract younger guests. Seems to me guests like the Everything Included packages. So, drinking starts right away and goes on all day every day. The pool bars (including Mast) are packed during the day. The Martini Bar is also mobbed from about 5pm until well after 9p. That there are less than 1000 guests makes me wonder how available service at a bar will be when Millennium class ships are full. We found two bars that were relatively calm and quiet - Rendevouz on deck 5 aft and the Sky Lounge on deck 11 all the way forward.  Cellar Masters bar is the old Martini Bar, replaced with an Ice Bar, is adjacent to Sushi on 5. It's small so fills up fast. Also of note there is no bar servers right now wandering about and taking drink orders in the Ocean View Cafe or the Metropolitan. I suspect that's a staffing issue as have always seen them prior to COVID and they were plentiful on both Edge and Apex as well as Equinox all of which we've sailed aboard since July.  There are some in the pool area I believe but we don't frequent the pool.
Hope this stuff is helpful for those of you sailing on the Millennium the remainder of this year.

Glad you give it such a positive review. I will be on her on Dec 9th and again on Dec 23rd. I love Celebrity and the refurb made me want to jump on these cruises since like you I live in Ft. Lauderdale area. 

Back of a car of a complete stranger.  That's the objectionable part!  I've done plenty of them from my own vehicle, but I'd just not want to explain to a stranger "really, I'm not sick, this is just pre-cruise protocol" when most of the time the communication is sketchy at best.

The one is use is semi drive through lol. a lady comes to the car and helps you do the test but I get it you would still have to be in back of car. I guess I am just lucky I live in Ft. Lauderdale area and can get the free CVS tests lol