Millennium Shanghai to Vancouver – Our Suite Class Experience
To put this review into perspective, we originally booked the 2104 sailing of this cruise [two years in advance] but Celebrity charted the ship and we re-booked for this year. It was our 10th Celebrity cruise [13th overall] and would complete our “World Cruise”. All but our first cruise have been in higher-end suites and after our 40th wedding anniversary cruise in 2014 when we booked a Penthouse, we have been hooked. We are not rich but our cruise insurance is so expensive, we cannot afford to cruise as often as others so choose to do it in style when we do. After our cruise in 2013, we had started to feel jaded about cruising and think that our money could be better spent elsewhere. Just at the right time, Celebrity announced their new Suite Class Experience. Although we had experienced Michael’s Club and priority boarding on our 2014 cruise, this was our first cruise with the full Monty. Our pre-cruise experience for this cruise was far from perfect so we were hopeful that our experience on board would be better.
Pre-cruise
Of course, the Penthouse is always nice and the balcony on the Millennium class ships cannot be beaten but you cannot really gain the full benefit of the balcony on a cooler cruise. Having said that, you have much more chance of finding somewhere comfortable on this balcony.
Inside, the suite is not nearly as well designed as the PH on S-class ships and the poor flow keeps you very fit! However, that is all that you can say is "bad" about the suite. It is huge but not impersonal and is really comfortable. The beds have been upgraded and are as comfortable as those on the S-class ships. There is more storage than you would ever be able to fill. We do not travel light but came nowhere near using all the storage.
We can highly recommend the Hyatt on the Bund hotel. Do upgrade to the best room you can afford. If you can manage Bund Suite you will be rewarded with the best view in Shanghai and access to the Bund Club executive lounge.
We found most food [outside the Bund Club] to be disappointing but can highly recommend the Lost Heaven on the Bund.
We stayed in Yokohama and just took the free shuttle to the city centre and looked round the shops. We found the prices in the shops to be extremely high.