First, we found the Millenium completely satisfactory, much the same as it was on our first cruise in 2009 in Australia. One need not worry about the condition of the ship. If one looks, you can see some rust or cracks here or there, but it is generally well-maintained and clean.

Our overall rating for this cruise would be higher if it were not for a completely unsatisfactory embarkation experience. From talking to others ours may have been better than most at that. We were taken to the pier by our tour host from a ten day land tour in China. The tour host was aware of the emails received by the members of the tour and took us to the port at the time of the earliest person as dictated by Celebrity. One advantage of this is that we were able to sit on our tour bus as the men in the group took the luggage to the appropriate place as our guide found for us. (Ours was the first in the pile.....and mine, I think, turned out to be the last delivered to the stateroom, but at least it eventually got there, even if too late for dinner.) Others reported standing in long lines waiting in the heat to drop off luggage. We then checked in with X with a minimal wait. Then we proceeded to the immigration line which we then found out would not open until approx. 12:30. in spite of people being told to report long before then. This was blamed on local officials which might be correct. However, when we got to our cabins, there was a Noro letter on the bed. I am thinking the extra time was due to cleaning of the ship after the previous group got off. We were not told this but that has been the case on other ships when Noro occurs.

We had a very nice aqua cabin with access to Blu for dining. Other than the first night, we had excellent service in Blu. We enjoyed the tea and water that is provided to aqua class guests. We did not care for the canapés and only had them one time. The Persian Gardens area was nice but small. I would not book aqua class for that. Read more