Millennium or Radiance?

[Bob_KY]

Thinking about cruising Alaska again.

Locked in to do the land tour (Anchorage start and ending at Seward), primarily for Anchorage,  Talkeetna and Alyeska..   What is up in the air is the ship.  Same itinerary for the Celebrity Millennium and Radiance of the Seas.   

Which ship would you choose and why?

We've never cruised with Celebrity.   We have sailed on the Radiance twice (Hawaii repositioning and Alaska).

Thanks in advance.

[JLMoran]

Pinging @twangster. If I remember correctly, he has sailed on both Millennium and Radiance and could give the best comparison.

One thing that Millennium has going for her is that she was refurbished late last year / early this year, so she has all-new furnishings and other decor. I can tell you that Celebrity is more up-scale than Royal, and is less about the on-ship bells and whistles than the itinerary and onboard level of service provided. And one of her key features is the Sunset Bar all the way aft, up on deck 10. By all accounts a great place to sit and enjoy the scenery going by on any itinerary, Alaskan or otherwise.

[twangster]

I have cruised both from Seward to Vancouver.  Millie in 2017 and Radiance in 2019.

Millie:

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php?/topic/5211-alaska-recap-celebrity-millennium-june-2017/

Radiance:

https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/boards/index.php?/topic/9160-radiance-of-the-seas-alaska-southbound-83118/

Millie was before her revolutionization.  

Both are great ships and similar in size as both were built to the original Panamax standard.  I cruised Celebrity because on that occasion I was booking a suite.  On Celebrity (or X as some refer to it) a suite comes with better perks compared to Radiance suites.  All things being close to equal and since I had never sailed X I picked Millie.  The only disadvantage was not earning Crown and Anchor points. 

On Millie suites have a dedicated restaurant and access to a lounge, plus it came with 4 perks, OBC, gratuity, beverage package and internet.  Put it all together and Millie represented better value dollar for dollar, suite to suite.  

I can't think of much to complain about on either ship.  In both cases I booked the train from Anchorage direct and the itinerary was identical.  

Mille was a bit more refined.  No need to sign out towels, slightly better food in the buffet, suite restaurant on Millie (Luminae) was excellent, like Coastal Kitchen on the bigger Royal ships but better.  Radiance helipad was public where it isn't (or wasn't) on Millie.   

Unless the CAS points are a big factor for you I suggest checking out Millie since she has been refreshed now and it will give you an opportunity to try X, to see what you like or dislike.  I had a great cruise on her and I'd go back for the same reasons anytime all things are close to equal.

[krhardy]

Is this trip adults only, or will you have kids in tow? If you're going kid free, this might be a great time to try out Celebrity (Celebrity does have kid's programming, it's just not as robust as RCCL)

[Bob_KY]

Kids free.  @twangster posts were awesome, convincing us to try Celebrity.  That opened us to a Eclipse or Millennium choice.   Because   I was stationed at Fort Richardson (now JBER) for 2 years,  the land tour was less important.  Maybe shifting those funds to a suite.  Just have to decide which ship again.