Chillaxed In The Caribbean!
Chillaxed in the Caribbean! |
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Reviewed By: Vockings, Bristol on 16th Mar 2010
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| Cruise Line: Celebrity Cruises |
Times cruised before: 6-10 |
| Cruise Ship: Millenium |
Sailed:
February,
2010 |
| Destination:
Caribbean
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Age: 36-45 |
| Cabin: Outside |
Occasion: Annual/regular holiday |
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My husband and I were first time cruisers with Celebrity, having cruised 8 times before, and it was quite different from what we had experienced on other lines.
Embarkation:v efficient,with a (free!!) welcome glass of champagne, our luggage was delivered v quickly too.Best embarkation we have had.
Cabin:I picked a great one!On the deckplan it looked bigger although when I phoned I was told that it wasn't-it was "artistic interpretation and not to scale"- but it was a third larger than its neighbours,v well appointed with a double sofa with huge cushions,as well as another easy chair that two people could squeeze into,the usual dressing table, and a smaller movable table.The decor was light and airy but not bland.It was kept spotless except for the window which was small and was caked in salt even though we were on a high deck.
Service:great at all times and in all areas except in the buffet behind the counter where the staff didn't understand English very well, were often not very polite at all, and sometimes totally ignored you.All other staff were excellent and the officers and senior staff often mingled with passengers and checked if everything was ok.
Entertainment:glad we were on a Caribbean cruise as there wasn't much going on during the day so at least we had sunbathing! The shows were ok but not as good as Carnival/Princess and they were sometimes on before dinner if you had late sitting so you had to get ready a lot earlier,we missed some as we liked to chill out after a long days sightseeing. The Cruise Director was very good-funny but not cheesy, and the entertainment staff really joined in with everything including the dance parties set in 40's 50's and 60's styles on different nights.
Food: The service in the formal dining rooms was really efficient-soooo much better than Princess but the food was not as good! We were really disappointed at the lack of king crab legs/lobster/tiger prawns as we really enjoy these normally, because they are a luxury to us and something we usually only get to eat when on a cruise. When we finally got some lobster on the penultimate day it was small and really chewy-such a disappointment. The frogs legs were tiny too, as were most of the starters-almost like nouvelle cuisine! There was no way that I would have paid out $35 per person to eat in the Olympic restaurant even if they did lobster every day!
The buffet food seemed to be the same all the time, although the burger bar was good as was the pizzeria(best pizza at sea) and the ice cream bar was varied and free. The custom-cooked pasta section was a good idea but the staff didn't really listen to what you actually wanted-ditto the salad bar.Breakfast in the formal dining room was really slow-unless you went early and asked for a table for two.
Overall: A very laid back experience- I have never known a cruise like it! There were no 'in-your-face' announcements all the time, no attempts to keep pushing services/goods at you to increase revenue, just peace and quiet. The ship seemed to be empty all the time-there was so much space, and it was all spotless. It just felt a bit wierd, as if we were missing something! And it seemed a bit strange having the formal nights when they did,not doing at least one on a sea day when they had the chance. We did have a couple of problems with a duff excursion and someone else's drinks on our bill but these were dealt with swiftly and we were refunded very quickly.
I would cruise with them again but only to somewhere that didn't need many sea days. Maybe being in our 30s and 40s this was a bit 'old' for us?
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| Quality of Food |  |
| Good quality but not always varied or very exotic. Ice cream bar was free which was a nice change. | | Entertainment | |
| Ok but could be better, and put on at better times | | Shore Excursions |  |
| River tubing in Dominica was excellent as was the guide, all other tours were very good except for Grenada which was a disappointment as the tour guides there hardly tell you anything and the tour of the spices plantation was totally disorganised. We did mention this when asked and got a partial refund from Celebrity which was fair. | | Staff | |
| I would have rated this as excellent if it were not for the buffet staff! | | Children's Facilities | n/a |
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| Really not much going on. | | Cabins |  |
| Exceeded my expectations | | Overall Rating | |
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