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Celebrity Millennium June 5, 2021


steverk

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10 minutes ago, JLMoran said:

@monorailmedic and his wife are on your sailing as well, and he's blogging over on cruisehabit.com. He said the ship is way below the desired 50% capacity, something like only 26%. So a lot of the ship looks like a ghost town at times.

Maybe you'll bump into him. Just look for the guy sitting at the sunset bar trying all the whiskey options. ? 

I'll keep an eye out for him. And he's right, we are at 580 people on a ship with a capacity of over 2000.

Great for us. Not so great for celebrity 

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I would wager that Celebrity absolutely wanted as close to 50% as they could get. Hard to say if only having about 25% on board is enough to make her profitable, but I'd wager not. The ship is fully crewed, so no savings there. And Royal said they needed about 30% on a newer (generally interpreted as O-class) ship; Celebrity may not need as high a percentage to be profitable since sailings are more expensive to start; but Millie is neither newer nor big, and she probably still needs closer to 50% to turn a profit.

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I'm guessing that they wanted 50% like for AOS. It's harder to travel to St Martin and I suspect that is part of the issue. I also wonder whether they lost a few people with the last minute PCR test reqirment.

I wouldn't be surprised if they canceled some of these cruises and move the ship back to a US port.

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I'm pretty sure celebrity is disappointed with the number of passengers,  but they're making the best of it. My impression is that celebrity figures lots of people want to go, but not many want to be first.

On board, nobody is discussing that elephant in the room. 

One other thing to consider:  summit will replace mille in a few weeks so mille can go to Alaska. 

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2 hours ago, wordell1 said:

I'm guessing that they wanted 50% like for AOS. It's harder to travel to St Martin and I suspect that is part of the issue. I also wonder whether they lost a few people with the last minute PCR test reqirment.

I wouldn't be surprised if they canceled some of these cruises and move the ship back to a US port.

That's the thread I'm pulling.  A little more inconvenient (and cost) embarking from SM, including the health visa with testing adds complexity many would not wish to deal with ( affects AOS from Nassau also).  Still hard to move back to US, but if the non-US embarkations  doesn't support a  business case, no other choice but to play the test cruise game and slog through the CSO process until it expires.  (or work the Med and Asian markets)

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Has the carpet, tables, decor and area around Murano Tuscan been updated?   Hadn't been after Revolution upgrade when we sailed her (and looked pretty tired)  so hoping they did it over the downtime.

Edited by cruisellama
senior moment - wrong restaurant reference
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2 hours ago, cruisellama said:

Has the carpet, tables, decor and area around Murano been updated?   Hadn't been after Revolution upgrade when we sailed her (and looked pretty tired)  so hoping they did it over the downtime.

I thought I remembered reading that Murano had been removed from all of the M-class ships during Revolution upgrades, so only Solstice class has it now. For sure Summit doesn't have Murano.

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35 minutes ago, JLMoran said:

I thought I remembered reading that Murano had been removed from all of the M-class ships during Revolution upgrades, so only Solstice class has it now. For sure Summit doesn't have Murano.

We sailed M after the Revolution upgrade and we dined in it.  But we were very disappointed in the state of the room and furnishings.  Seemed the corridors leading to it was left "undone".  One of the reasons we were soured on that ship.

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9 minutes ago, cruisellama said:

We sailed M after the Revolution upgrade and we dined in it.  But we were very disappointed in the state of the room and furnishings.  Seemed the corridors leading to it was left "undone".  One of the reasons we were soured on that ship.

It was an Alaskan sailing and we participated in the "King Crab Feast" which was also disappointing (quality and service).  As part of the Revolution upgrade, Michaels club  was converted to the Retreat. The area was very nice but the service model changed to be more self service.   Staff would just ensure the small buffet was stocked , and didn't provide table service for drinks etc.   We asked the Retreat concierge, and were told that was the "new" approach - self service.  Still thought the bar staff was great, they just didn't provide service anymore.   They also installed a self serve beverage cooler with both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages (open 24 hrs).   When we sailed the Edge, the service was more to our liking from a traditional expectation - no not sure if it was just a crew issue on that ship.  The ship also had issues with some of the spas - wouldn't hold temps and ran them cold (on an Alaskan cruise).  Needless to say, it was reflected in our review.  Lots of other nits, not up to our usual experience on a Celebrity ship.

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12 minutes ago, cruisellama said:

It was an Alaskan sailing and we participated in the "King Crab Feast" which was also disappointing (quality and service).  As part of the Revolution upgrade, Michaels club  was converted to the Retreat. The area was very nice but the service model changed to be more self service.   Staff would just ensure the small buffet was stocked , and didn't provide table service for drinks etc.   We asked the Retreat concierge, and were told that was the "new" approach - self service.  Still thought the bar staff was great, they just didn't provide service anymore.   They also installed a self serve beverage cooler with both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages (open 24 hrs).   When we sailed the Edge, the service was more to our liking from a traditional expectation - no not sure if it was just a crew issue on that ship.  The ship also had issues with some of the spas - wouldn't hold temps and ran them cold (on an Alaskan cruise).  Needless to say, it was reflected in our review.  Lots of other nits, not up to our usual experience on a Celebrity ship.

It is gone! Maybe why the area was in disrepair.  

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3 hours ago, cruisellama said:

Has the carpet, tables, decor and area around Murano Tuscan been updated?   Hadn't been after Revolution upgrade when we sailed her (and looked pretty tired)  so hoping they did it over the downtime.

I don't know what it looked like previously, so I don't know.  That said, every part of the ship looks like new.

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Well, a lot has happened since I last posted.  My wife and I checked out Le Petit Chef to celebrate our anniversary. Very interesting place.  For those that don't know what it is, search youtube.  It's definitely a place that is easier to see in video than explain.

Also, I found some pieces on display from the RMS Olympic.  Very cool!  Given the history of Olympic's two sisters, a superstiscious  person might be uncomfortable.

We arrived in Barbados this morning.  This was supposed to be our last stop, but was moved forward without explanation.  Rumor has it that Barbados required a test within 5 days and they moved it forward to reduce the number of tests everyone had to get.  

Anyway, the only way off the ship is with a ship based excursion.  We took a snorkeling trip and saw a bunch of endangered turtles and a couple ship wrecks.  I recommend this excursion if anyone is coming on a later cruise.

Well, time to get back to the fun! I hope everyone is looking forward to their next cruise!

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Today's a sea day and nothing unusual to report.  In fact, it's remarkable just how normal the cruise is.  They're doing the usual game shows. Having the usual entertainment.  

Tomorrow we'll be able to explore Aruba on our own.

The only odd things are that the crew wear masks and there are no lines for anything. 

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1 hour ago, steverk said:

Today's a sea day and nothing unusual to report.  In fact, it's remarkable just how normal the cruise is.  They're doing the usual game shows. Having the usual entertainment.  

Tomorrow we'll be able to explore Aruba on our own.

The only odd things are that the crew wear masks and there are no lines for anything. 

Better chance of winning with less people playing ?

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21 hours ago, steverk said:

Yes! We've already won 2 ship magnets and a drink mug

Did they change all the trivia questions and songs for the name-that-tune type games? We finally got to the point where we knew all the answers to everything when the shutdown happened, and we were looking to clean up on our next cruise.?

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Good morning everyone!  Sorry I didn't get to an entry yesterday.

Yesterday, we were in Aruba and took the half day off road adventure. It was a lot more fun than a typical bus tour, but didn't photograph very well.  However it was fun and I didn't realize just how much of Aruba is desert.

First, the 4 wheel vehicles were similar to army trucks.  They had bench seats and were not crowded,  They did have a lively ride and you did come back needing a shower.

Stops included a rock formation, two natural bridges, a lighthouse and a beach.  If you go on this excursion, keep in mind that bathrooms cost a $1 each.

I'm getting ready for a bus tour of Curacao, so I'm going to cut this a bit short.

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2 hours ago, steverk said:

Good morning everyone!  Sorry I didn't get to an entry yesterday.

Yesterday, we were in Aruba and took the half day off road adventure. It was a lot more fun than a typical bus tour, but didn't photograph very well.  However it was fun and I didn't realize just how much of Aruba is desert.

First, the 4 wheel vehicles were similar to army trucks.  They had bench seats and were not crowded,  They did have a lively ride and you did come back needing a shower.

Stops included a rock formation, two natural bridges, a lighthouse and a beach.  If you go on this excursion, keep in mind that bathrooms cost a $1 each.

I'm getting ready for a bus tour of Curacao, so I'm going to cut this a bit short.

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Been to the rock formation.  There's a narrow path you must climb through to make it to the top.  Tough for some people to handle.  The exit path has a set of stairs back down.

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4 hours ago, steverk said:

If you go on this excursion, keep in mind that bathrooms cost a $1 each.

Love Aruba. I was more than happy to pay the $1 to use the bathroom. Very clean and best of all NO line because most people don't want to part with a dollar to pee!

Believe me when I say a decent bathroom is a big deal to us members of the fairer sex and to my mind a dollar a go was a bargain! ?

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Good morning everyone! As most of you already know a lot has happened since my last real entry.

We visited Curacao and had a great time.  I've never been there before but found it very scenic and walkable.  It's now my favorite Caribbean port! I'm definitely going to have to come back.

Of course that was overshadowed by the 2 COVID cases on board. The only real information I've seen is from the Captain's announcement yesterday.  I'm going to assume that no news is good news.

The mood on board is hard to discern and even harder to describe. 

Last night was formal night.  My wife and I aren't really interested in formal night so we went to dinner in the buffet followed by the show.  Both were nearly empty.  However, it isn't clear if that's because of the announcement (which came out just before dinner) or because people really like the lobster.

This morning we went to the MDR for breakfast.  The staff were their usual joyful selves.  The passengers seemed mostly normal, but we had to be reseated as one of the passengers didn't want anyone nearby.  No problem. With so few people there were plenty of tables.

The crew is out scrubbing everything this morning.

At 10:30 the senior staff are scheduled for the usual meet the passengers and take questions session.  I'm sure it will be interesting.

Otherwise, I'm planning on enjoying my sea day and get ready for disembarkation tomorrow.

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We've docked in st. Maarten.  It's hard to believe we are at the end of the cruise.  ?

We fly out this afternoon. Unless something happens, this will be my final post on this topic.

It's been a great cruise and celebrity has worked especially hard to make it a success. I want to thank them for all of the hard work and bold step to be the first ones back.

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1 hour ago, steverk said:

We've docked in st. Maarten.  It's hard to believe we are at the end of the cruise.  ?

We fly out this afternoon. Unless something happens, this will be my final post on this topic.

It's been a great cruise and celebrity has worked especially hard to make it a success. I want to thank them for all of the hard work and bold step to be the first ones back.

Thank you! Have a safe trip home! 

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