Embarkation from Singapore was a little slow, arrived at the pier at 12 noon and didn't board until 145pm. Cabin was ready straight away and luggage was waiting for us at our door. Cabin D307 Dolphin Deck 9. We met our cabin steward straight away James, he was wonderful. Cabin was a Mini Suite Balcony. Loverly cabin well worth the extra $$$. It was spacious and a great layout the balcony was large. Then it was Full steam ahead at 5pm. Went dinner at the international restaurant. Food was good quality and well presented never cold. We also ate breakfast in the restaurant as we didnt like the noise in the Buffet Horrizon Buffet. Entertainment was great and the shows well Choreographed. Ports of call Kota Kinabalu,Phu My. Nga Trang, Sihanoukville, Bangkok and unfortunately KO Samui was missed due to Tender Issues. All ports were good but remember it is Asia and its hot and most places are under developed and still very new to cruising. You'll be jumped on by touts as soon as you get off the ship. Make sure you barter for everything, especially taxi and tour fares. Back to the ship... There was plenty of things to keep you occupied whilst on board. From bingo, trivia, shopping, casino or just relaxing by the pool close to you favourite Bar (plentyof them). Cocktail prices were 7-12 US$ but in the wheelhouse bar between 3-4pm it is happy hour. By one drink get the 2nd for $1. Overall it was a good trip but very packed as it was christmas and to many Kids. Read Less

This was our third cruise on Sun Princess. After touring the South Pacific in Dec. 2013, and New Zealand in Dec. 2014, Xmas and the new year 2016 seemed like a good choice. Boarding was not a problem, having been warned of later boarding times due to necessary cleaning regarding norovirus presence. The same happened for the previous two trips, so no surprises there. Once aboard, we went straight to our cabin to ready for dinner. The Marquis dining room was as expected, and after some negotiation, we had a table for the two of us; very accommodating Maitre De, many thanks. All our main meals were had there; excellent cuisine, and excellent waiter and his assistant. For breakfast and lunch, Horizons was our choice; select your own food combinations for your pleasure. Most serving staff were of good nature, but several seemed rather tired and a little snappy at times. Understandable, and easier to ignore. During the first few days at sea, there was an ever present odor in the passageway of deck 11, Aloha between the forward elevators and our cabin. The cabin staff appologised for the problem, which took nearly three days to rectify. I'm afraid urea is not a pleasant experience for any person. A short time after that, My wife and I came down with what was 'diagnosed' as norovirus by the duty nurse. Neither of us was seen by this 'nurse'. We were confined to our cabin for 24 hours, a necessary precaution. A package of capsules was sent to each of us to help plug each end, so to speak. Gastro Stop is still Gastro Stop even by any other name.Since my wife was still feeling 'off' afterward, we were confined for another 24 hours. Fair enough, we did not wish to be responsible for other passengers discomfort. At this stage, we had to utilize room service for our meals. The selection is a little restricted compared to the main dining, but quite adequate particularly under the circumstance. After another day and a bit passed, we had not been contacted by the duty 'nurse', so I rang the medical rooms to confirm we were feeling good again. We were allowed out once more. Good cheer. With that episode behind us, it was time to enjoy the rest of the journey. Most of our evenings were spent at Crooners after dinner. Maurizzio is the main attraction for entertainment there. One can join in with the songs, dancing and chit-chat with other passengers. The majority of bar staff we found to be accommodating. The International Cafe we found to be crowded at the best of times, unless very late into the night. Not an overly important issue since there are other places to have a coffee. Could not say much for the shore excursions; Komodo Island was fully booked before we boarded the ship - limited visitors allowed on the island at any given time. Fair enough. Bali (Benoa) was the fun stop. It allowed my wife to buy some presents for the rellies after our return. She also enjoyed a full body massage, bless her little cotton socks. The only other stop we went shore-bound was Macassa. Since it was raining mostly, we spent about one hour walking near the port. Missed the markets due to poor information, but no loss, didn't spend anything there. Overall, we found the cost of excursions via Princess to be overpriced. On our NZ trip, we arranged tours on shore, most costing better than 50% less. Since the main reason for this cruise was to unwind after a heavy working year, (yes, not all of us oldies are retirees) we didn't need to rush around with activities so much. We met with several couples to share our and their stories and experiences. Back in Fremantle, disembarking was the easiest part; straight through from ship to shore. Uber took a little bit longer. Overall, we will travel again, but will try other lines as well to get a better feel for them in all fairness. Read Less

We have previously completed HAL cruises to Myanmar and Hong Kong from Singapore. This Indonesia cruise was the missing link. We have been to Singapore many, many times. Stayed at Sofitel So. The only highlights were the Telok Ayer Food Market next door to the hotel. and the Botanic Gardens. Most ports of call were forgettable with heavy traffic. Shuttles only went to shopping malls. Lombok was the highlight. Komodo Island lizards are not much bigger than our large monitor lizards and much smaller than our crocodiles. We highly recommend Putu Supartana, a private driver in Bali (putusupartana@yahoo.com). He intimately knows the island, will recommend places to visit and can bypass the horrible traffic congestion. Overall an average cruise. HAL service is becoming less customer focussed but the ship staff were still excellent. Port information was minimal but port transfers were good. We did not do any ship excursions as they are too expensive and poor value. Other passenger statements reflected a lot of time in traffic on shore excursions. Main dining room food was good but the Pinnacle Grill needs to change its menu as it is still the same from 3 cruises ago. The lack of a cocktail of the day was a disappointment. Oceanview cabin better than other cruise lines and cabin staff excellent. Nightly entertainment was average. Two local culture shows were poor. Being a christmas/new year cruise the number of children was relatively low, unobtrusive and well behaved. A typical mid-60's HAL crowd. We would not do this cruise again as the ports of call are poor. However Indonesia is our nearest neighbour and we have been to more interesting, less tourist orientated places. Read Less

Party of four left on 19 December for 7 day cruise aroiund Arabian Cost, visiting Dubai, Qatar, Abu Dhadi, Oman. This sis a noisy boneshaker of a ship. We had to change cabins as the engine noise kept us awake all night, the heavy vibrations didnt help either. bWe finished up in a small cabin down in the bilges, but at least it was quiet. Meals in the Meridian Restaurant were small portions, and not very good. One meal my Beef Wellington was red raw and my wife's was overcooked. Most evenings we had our meal then went to the buffet restaurant for a top up. Itinery for Xmas Day was changed and we visited a Village with no shops, no beach, no places to visit. We all immediately returned on the bus to the ship. Xmas day entertrainment was a silly sketch related stint lasting about 30 minutes. Xmas dinner was no different to any other night. The day befor our return we started to get sore throats and chests. All four of us have had to have medical treatment and have been really poorly for over a week. A lot of passengers were feeling the same. This ship needs retiring, it is years past its best. Will never use Thomson againb. Read Less

1. Twenty three days were enough to gauge the skills of the Crew of the Diamond Princess - some shone and some only just glittered, some just faded. The first "port of call" for most passengers on a Cruise liner is the Customer Services Desk - some passengers with major issues to iron out and some minor administrative questions. Unfortunately the Trainee Staff on our Cruise were at times poorly supervised or assisted by the senior staff and this led to passenger frustration on a major scale with several of our fellow passengers expressing frustration trying to sort our their accounts. Obviously there is no excuse for verbal or any other abuse of Staff by either Senior Staff or Passengers but at times Trainee Staff were left to fend for them selves trying to solve issues which were beyond their limited expertise and there were either no senior staff to support them (the senior staff seemed to miraculously appear from behind the walled enclosure when the heat was turned on) or the Trainees were left floundering. Princess Cruises needs to address this issue of Supervision and Training as a matter of urgency. Many passengers were affected detrimentially and left very frustrated on this one cruise alone and their decision not to cruise with the Princess group again may be made on the perceived calibre of the advice and assistance they received at the Customer Services Desk. After all without Customer satisfaction the Company may be sailing with quite a few empty cabins. Lift your game Princess and provide "real" support for your trainees and up-skill your senior staff on a regular basis or not only will you have no Trainees but no Passengers to pay their wages. On this Cruise the Administrative skills of the Customer Service Team appeared, at times, to be found wanting. 2.The destinations and shore excursions were adequate for those who have not visited South East Asia but were a little mundane for those who have travelled this region extensively by other means. 3. The entertainment onboard was first class and varied - equal to many similar shows ashore - entertainment through-out the Ship was plentiful with something for just about everyone although the "in-betweens" (those between 14 and 18 seemed to be a little short-changed with regard to entertainment - perhaps more challenging activities might be considered ie.character building. 4. Embarkation and disembarkation were streamlined and carried out with military precision with full marks to all staff who participated - tendr operations were also carried out with minimial inconvenience to passengers. In summary, the Cruise was very enjoyable and value for money - we will cruise again. Read Less

Having read the reviews of this cruise/ship I was a little nervous about our cruise, but I need not have worried. This was our first Celebrity cruise (Princess and P & O are our favourites) and I was pleasantly surprised. Embarkation was a breeze and our cabin was ready for us, again, having read that the ship was tired and in need of updating i wondered what our cabin would be like. It was lovely, very modern and the furnishings were nice. The balcony could have done with a little renovation but there was nothing that stopped us enjoying the room facilities. Our cabin steward, Rufina, was amazing and nothing was too much trouble. We ate in Blu, which we thoroughly enjoyed, the food was of a high standard and the staff always friendly and obliging to any requests for something different. On a couple of sea days, we ate in the Metropolitan at lunchtime and that also was of a good standard. The service wasn't always quick but we were in no rush and where else could we go on a sea day? We did use the Oceanview cafe on a couple of occasions and from what we could see the choice and quality was excellent. Unfortunately, because of bad weather we were unable to stop in Danang but these things happen and you have to make the most of them. The other ports were great and the overnight stays were brilliant, allowing you to experience the nightlife of these places. We did some ship's tours and then used the port guides for wandering on our own. I have to say I thought the port guides were poor, and lacked information and decent maps. The ship's tours we did were good value for money and just right for us. We have a couple of moans, the drinks prices are extortionate. We like a drink when we are away but i refuse to pay stupid prices and whilst we enjoyed wine with dinner etc and cocktails I did feel like Celebrity were taking the Mickey! We enjoy the ambiance of formal nights but felt that there was no sense of occasion on this ship. I don't know if it was just this ship or Celebrity in general. When you make an effort to dress up I feel slightly annoyed when people are still permitted to enter the main dining rooms in shorts and trainers. On other cruises we have always felt pulled to the atrium which is where things always seem to be going on and it is a great place to people watch but on this ship the atrium was nearly always empty, it was beautfiully decorated but there was nothing going on there. Some of the entertainment was poor, especially in the Rendez Vous lounge. The singer playing the piano was great but the band with the male singer were dire. The music was so loud that you couldn't hold a conversation but thankfully it drowned out his terrible voice. We tried the Cosmos lounge a few times but always felt it lacked atmosphere. I don't think I ever saw the Captain, we heard from him every morning at 10am but the senior crew were not often seen around the ship. Hygiene was excellent and they were always dishing out hand gel and wiping bannisters in public areas. Our disembarkation in Hong Kong was quick but it was hard to get away from the terminal. In fairness, Celebrity did warn us about lack of taxis and we could have booked a shuttle but we decided not to and paid the price. The taxi queue was huge so we ended up taking the free shuttle to the Hollywood Plaza mall and then picked up a taxi from there. All in all, we had a fantastic holiday and I would quite happily cruise Celebrity again, especially if they reduce their drink prices!!!! Read Less

Cruising out of Singapore Dec. 29th with my wife over the new year's eve to Kuala Lumpur for 5 nights. Having cruised with RCL before on board of the Allure, Oasis, Independence & Serenade, I was eagerly looking forward to this sailing & didn't mind paying extra for it, hoping for a memorable experience. Check in process & the cruise terminal are all good & efficient. Once on board, we moved up to Windjammer for lunch. I like the way they manage the drink stations by keeping the fellow guests away from the equipment. They also have staff manning all the food stations inside & out to keep things orderly at all time. The place could get busy at times throughout the cruise as is the case with any other cruise lines, but nothing too unbearable in my opinion. Breakfast is the same every morning, so it can get a bit boring after a few days. The rest of the food in the buffet is the usual RCL standard. Considering the age of the ship, the design is quite good & it definitely has been properly maintained. I love the free sauna/steam bath/huge hot tube in the gym area. The only thing that shows the age is all the older gym equipment with several treadmills making some weird noise/not working & the seat rollers seizing up on the leg press, just to name a few. One thing that caught me by surprise was the permitted smoking up on the pool deck, a HUGE turn off for me. The luggage was already waiting for us when we got to the cabin just after 1 pm. The cabin is good except for the mattress which is a bit too thin or just worn out. I overheard other cabins nearby were having constant issues with plumbing & hvac system. The cabin steward Magaldo did a good job for us. Main dinning room experience is mixed. The assistance waitress FanFei (table 462 first seating) really went out of her way to please us & that is the only bright spot. We waited 45 minutes for a glass of iced tea one evening, she kept apologizing for it but still no drink, bizarre. She even brought us fruit plates later on & the next few evenings to try to make up for it. New year's eve dinner was open sitting at the main dinning room. They served half a lobster tail with shrimps, when I ordered 2 servings, I found out they only allowed 1 serving for each guest (is that a new trend with the industry or just RCL?). When the food arrived, there were 2 half lobster tails, I cannot be sure if the waiter did something extra for us behind the scene or what. In the end, the lobster was quite forgettable (small & dry), as is the rest of the service (not even a refill of iced tea), I went up to Windjammer to get one after the meal. Once or twice, food arrived & appeared to have been sitting out for a bit too long. We joined 3 shore excursions & the lineup was LONG in the morning to get our tickets at the meeting place, as there"s only one line with 2 people handling the task, why why why? Shows are quite ordinary, to the point that I am starting to think it's somewhat boring. Is it just me?? No comment on wifi as I stayed offline purposely. Didn't buy any photos this sailing, may be | am biased but I still think Disney is doing a much better job in the whole photo segment within the industry. The casino didn't seem to be all that busy. Disembarkation is as good as it gets, no issue there. All in all, the whole cruise is ok, and that is the problem, as I was looking for something more. I am not even comparing it to the cruise in Sep/2014 on Disney Wonder to Alaska, nor the one in Feb/2014 on NCL Breakaway to Bahamas. My observation is that much of the crew didn't seem to be too enthusiastic & it really shows. Read Less

Having just returned from spending Christmas and New Year onboard Celebrity Millenium I have to say this is the worse cruise ship I have ever been on. Having sailed with several other companies I was persuaded by family and friends to try Celebrity. From the minute we arrived at the Departure Lounge we felt let down. We booked concierge class and the brochure quite clearly states early boarding, however we were put into group 6 and were last onboard. Our cabin was "tired" and with that Im being kind, we had torn bedding, a dirty balcony, with furniture and handrail splattered with paint, and a bathroom desperately in need of redecorating and updating. The biggest disappointment was the food, the resteraunt was ok, however I had to remember not to trip over the torn carpet, however the Buffet was dreadful. Breakfasts were a nightmare, bacon swimming in water, diluted baked beans, and everything cold. However if you wanted cold fruit or continental breakfast the plates were to hot to hold. I opted for omlettes however this meant queing for at least 20mins and on one occassion over half an hour. Both myself and my friend were taken ill with chest infections and while I appreciate the need to pay,we paid $121 dollars for our first visit to see the doctor and a further $105 for medicines and treatment I was however appalled to find we were both charged $42 dollars for a second visit (suggested by the Doctor) for just reporting to the office, and a further 95 dollars for the treatment. We literally said our names and for this we were charged $42. I have written to celebrity to complain with photos, however i am not sure i will get a response. Read Less

We did the 11 night "New Year Celebration" cruise departing 22 December '14. We booked this cruise in January '14 as "Gorges of the Far North" but due to low water levels experienced in December '13 and the problems Orient Express (now Belmond) had with that cruise it was changed in September '14 to the "New Year Celebration Cruise" and we went from Mandalay to Bagan. The Orcaella is very well run boat, the crew and staff are all happy and well organised and the Logistic team are excellent. From the moment you arrive till the day you depart the staff are caring for you 24/7. The boat takes a max of 50 passengers but on our cruise we had only 36. We were divided into groups and there was 10 in our group and we had Soe as our guide. He was a friendly knowledgeable young man who spoke excellent English, you could ask him anything, he was a delight and we enjoyed travelling with him. There was a constant supply of bottled water and wet wipes on our bus for our excursions. Our room (507) was a state cabin on the main deck. It was a spacious room with a sitting area as well as a desk, double floor to ceiling glass sliding doors ( great for taking photos of the river action) and a walkin robe. The bathroom had a large shower and double hand basins. There was always plenty of bottled water in the bathroom, the desk and on the bedside tables at night. The AC worked very well. The room was serviced three times a day. There was always a little gift on the bed every night, - including a folding sun hat, a traditional carry bag, a longyi, prayer beads, suncream to name a few. The food was exceptional ! The chef Ban is fantastic, breakfast and lunch are buffet style. At breakfast you can get your eggs cooked anyway you like including poached with truffle oil ! Lunch usually had a theme, eg seafood, local curries, pizza, but there were always cold meats and cheese, a choice of 4 salads and soup. Dinner was always superb, from fois gras to rack of NZ lamb, venison, seafood, fresh pasta, great desserts. Local wine was included with meals. We had a BBQ dinner in a fort and a seafood dinner on a sandbank ! All meals were great, and the food of such good quality, served in wonderful surrounds. Any dietary problems are catered for. The chef made a cake for my husbands birthday and all the staff sang him Happy Birthday Burmese style! Chef Ban is definitely a treasure. Excursions were well planned and very well organised. From horse and cart rides to gondolas at U Bein bridge, a elephant camp to market walks to temples, pagodas and stupas, sunset tours, craft and village tours. You see all facets of Burmese life ! There is some local entertainment organised a couple of nights during the cruise. The staff give lectures on Burma, and there is a recap and a briefing on the next days activities every afternoon. There is a nice lounge area on the top deck, as well as a great outdoor lounge area, both have a bar. There is also a small pool on the top deck as well as the spa and gym. There is a doctor on board and he organises a school visit while you are on the cruise so if you have space in your luggage please bring pencils, crayons etc suitable for young children. Belmond also run a medical clinic in Bagan. If only the Belmond Head Office sent out an email to all its upcoming passengers to bring some school/medical supplies this would make the visit so much more worthwhile ! Bagan is something special. We did the "Balloons Over Bagan" trip on our last day and I think this is a must do. It was the first time in a balloon for us and I think it was the best thing we did in all of Burma. We booked it at the time of booking the cruise, don't leave it till the last minute or you could miss out. It is a fantastic experience. There are quite a few high end cruise operators now in Burma, so there is a lot to choose from. We certainly would do another cruise on Orcaella.   Read Less

Land and cruise package- Nairobi to Singapore. 19th December 2014 to 24th January 2015. Our holiday started with 4 nights in Kenya with three being in game lodges. The hotels and game lodges here and in Singapore, at end of cruise, were of a high standard. The transfers to and from airports, hotels and ships were well organised. The safari started well but ended up a disorganised mess. The last full day was a drive from Amboseli to Tsavo. 5-6 hours became 11. Instead of driving to our lodge for a late lunch followed by a game drive we detoured an hour each way to another lodge. We then got lost. We arrived at dusk and that was the day. Salt Lick Lodge looked as if it would have been a great place to stay- built on stilts overlooking a waterhole. The animals had gone to bed when we got there. We left next day at 8am for a 3-4 hour drive to Mombasa airport where the company had chartered a plane to fly us to Zanzibar. The drive was nearly 6 hours. This was just one of those things. A massive traffic jam. However this meant the 4 flights of the chartered plane were delayed. The one ship representative we could see was just wondering around looking as lost as we did even though he was in communication with the ship! Fortunately we were the second group for a flight so arrived at the ship about 5.45. The 4th group arrived at 9pm and the restaurants had closed! These two days showed that the forward planning and organisation of the shore parts of the trip were just not up to any sort of acceptable standard. The ship advertises itself as a destination ship. This is why we travelled on her. Far too many times we were late arriving at our port of call. This meant the excursions were cut short and never did the captain extend the stay to accommodate the late arrivals. Overall the standard of the shore excursions were poor. Most of the guides were very inexperienced and their English was limited. Unfortunately the ship seems to operate a two class system. Balcony class and the rest. Now, this was the most expensive cruise we have ever been on and to be treated as not important and second rate was very poor. The "balcony "class always left the ship first on shore excursions. This wouldn't have mattered so much except that when you arrive late shore time is precious. It seemed to take the ship and age to disembark the small number of passengers on board ( 304 first leg and 279 second ). The balcony class got the best buses and the most experienced guides. We paid for one shore excursion that wasn't included and we were with mostly balcony class people. What a difference. A bus with air conditioning that worked and a very good guide. All this was so disappointing. If we had wanted to spend out time sitting in a deck chair looking at the sea we could have done it on a much more luxurious ship at a cheaper price. Our cabin was an outside one on deck 4. This was the smallest cabin we have ever been in. We adapted to the lack of wardrobe and drawer space ( we used under the beds).But the only flat surface we has to put anything on was the top of the chest of drawers between the beds. We became very tidy Kiwis! The TV was a very small one high on the wall above a bed. I don't think you could have watched it comfortably from any place but there was nothing to see anyway- a few very old films- they put on Christmas ones for the first leg and they stayed on until the end of that leg ( 7th Jan). The news was African for the whole trip or at least that was what they advertised. You could only see it for the first couple of days and none was in English. I think the ship was short staffed. Our cabin steward was not up to scratch. After 11 days I asked if we could have our linen changed. He said he had too much to do and couldn't do everything ( this latter was because I asked if he could vacuum the cabin as it hadn't been done for days).He changed the linen but people we were friendly with a few cabins down never got their's changed! On the second leg he changed it twice ( I think he had fewer) cabins. THE WATER I see from a review from someone who was on the second leg that they talked about the water. It wasn't just on that part of the cruise. It was a deep orange from the time we boarded in Zanzibar. ( This was the hot water). No logical explanation was ever given. In fact no official mention was ever made about it. They did no clothes washing for passengers for most of that leg. It was horrible water, stained everything and left your hair feeling like straw. From Colombo to Singapore it improved slightly in colour. Unless you travel balcony class you get poor toiletries ( and no body lotion), old discoloured towels and very dubious face cloths ( frayed and stained). Chocolate on pillows about one night out of three. Not the be all and end all but just another example of being treated as not worth bothering about. We enjoyed the meals and felt they were perfectly acceptable with plenty of changes of menu ( was that because everyone ate in the same restaurants?). The 24 hour tea and coffee on the Lido deck needs to be serviced more regularly. Being very hot weather the milk was often sour and there was often an awful smell of rotten milk.The urns of hot water and coffee were left too long and often there was only luke warm water/ coffee coming out. The lecturers were very good overall and some outstanding. The entertainment was quite good. We found Christmas day not what we had thought it would be. Nothing different from an ordinary day except for a very nice dinner with crackers ( The ship was nicely decorated). In our cabin we found 6 uninspiring small biscuits on a plate as a Christmas present! New Year's Eve they went to more of an effort and it was fun. Someone/people came on board in Colombo with a very bad coughing bug and it spread like wildfire round the ship. The ship was the slackest we have travelled on in regard to hygiene so no wonder it spread like it did. There were a lot of very sick people. The hand sanitisers were at the entrance to the restaurants and in a fairly out of the way position beside where your cards get swiped on return to the ship but there was no encouragement to use them and a lot of people didn't. Sometime afternoon tea was in the Charleston Lounge and there was never even a small bottle of sanitiser there. Overall we were very disappointed with this cruise. We travel to see different places and people and we were very let down with this ship and its organisation. Would we travel with her again? No we wouldn't Read Less

I have been on Voyager 4 times as it is my favourite ship but this cruise was not the best. We went to Singapore as we wanted to check out the revitalisation. We got down at the pier just after 10 and I did expect the wow factor after the dry dock. Sadly for the second time, boarding in Singapore , was delayed by about 3 hours or more and in my view a publicity disaster . I could not believe this could happen and I now believe Royal Caribbean have no idea on how to make an impact. You spend Millions making changes and before 1 person gets on board you get them all off side. I heard many reasons why it was late but bottom line it was a disaster. No wow factor and what surprised me no Xmas decorations I did like the changes but some were not done as advertised, My bathroom had not been made over nor were my sheets crisp and new and I was in a suite. We had my time dining and we found the changes to the dining room were not to our liking. We thought the food was boring in most venue's and the service was not what I expect from RCCL We were amazed that a glass of wine was $11 US , that is just getting stupid in my view All in all our favourite ship after having Millions spent on revitalisation did not excite me Read Less

We recently went on a 14 day cruise in East Asia - it was OK but overall we were somewhat disappointed. Our cabin was good, the cabin attendant, and the dining room waiter were good, and the itinerary was good. But we did not find the actual cruise as enjoyable as a previous one we had done on the Celebrity Infinity along the Inland Passage in Alaska. Although the on board facilities were pretty much the same, but in general we did not get the same degree of enjoyment or satisfaction as the earlier cruise - in particular we thought the quality and standard of food in the cafe and main dining room was generally poor and below the standard of the previous cruise. We took shore excursions at every Port - which were rather tiring, because they left early in the morning and you didn't have time at each place to really absorb the place and to do it at your own pace. That was a lesson we learnt, and no fault of the cruise. We were also concerned about safety drill on board, and how successful an evacuation of the ship would be int the event of such an occurrence - certainly getting passengers getting ashore for excursions, did not always go smoothly, and this should have been routine practice. Except for the food, i could not recommend against Celebrity Millennium, but we would certainly think carefully before going on another such cruise. Two Grey Gypsies. P.S. My opinion was not helped, because I lost my digital camera on board, it must have been found by another passenger or crew member, and they never handed it into the lost property office, but I guess that reflects modern society   Read Less

We had 2 ocean view room , located right on top of the Bridges. During the nite, we will get calls if the curtains are left opened bec the light in the room will affect the Bridges viewing. This is a Christmas cruise- 23 Dec -26 Dec from Singapore to Port Klang to Penang to Phuket and back to Singapore. This is our second RCL trip . The Mariner of Sea is much bigger than the Legend of Seas. It has Dreamwork character and ice skating show. My kids enjoy the fun in the Ocean Adventure and we enjoyed the fine dining. On Chris eve, they served lobster! we went down the penang port and walk around the surrounding. we could find our favourite local food like fried kway teow and chedol . In Phuket,we went down to the beach and enjoy the Thai food at Bansan Market ( next to J celyon shopping center). Our friends went for Thai massage and sightseeing The staff and crew are very efficient in managing 3500+ passenger on board. their efforts are recommendable Surprisingly,the cabin only provided soap and shampoo. So we are wise to bring cotton bud, comb, toothbrush etc The night show are entertaining.... but I am a bore with English singing. love to have Chinese songs too! The Marina Cruise Center has no duty free shop like Changi Airport ( disappointing for me!) the taxi q is v long and poor management of taxi to passengers. Really hope the cruise center can catch Up to maintain a good impression for Singapore foreign guest! esp the cab fare already very expensive compare to Phuket and Penang Read Less

We sailed on 18th December visiting Malaysia and Indonesia. After reading some reviews we were apprehensive about this our first cruise with Costa. My advice; ignore the reviews judge for yourself when you try it. The ship was lovely, the staff were fantastic, the entertainment especially Janos Olha Duo was excellent. Our cabin was kept sparkling clean by our ever helpful steward. The restaurant waiters couldn't have tried harder to provide for our different needs. The itinerary was varied and, here is my only criticism, it would have been nicer if a little more time could have been spent on shore, particularly in Bali. The thing we didn't like was the way in which some guests treated the staff. I realise that on occasions there were problems with language but how many cruisers could cope with so many languages and dialects? We witnessed some appallingly rude treatment of staff by a variety of nationalities. To these people I say try being polite and quieter with your requests, shouting is non productive. Also try reading the information sheets in your cabin, you could prevent many of the problems if you showed a little more care and consideration for the environment. Read Less

We chose this cruise because of the ports of call and wanted to try our luck with Celebrity. Plus we liked that the ship stayed in ports for multiple days. This was our 7th cruise (first with Celebrity) and we have traveled extensively. Staff on the ship was friendly, courteous and very attentive! Our state room attendant Schubert and his assistant were excellent and seemed like genuinely good guys! Embarkation and disembarkation was a breeze. This was a Christmas cruise and the ship did a very good job providing for the kids. Both our Kids 5 and 9 years old had a fun vacation. Ship layout was easy to navigate and possessed the usual cruise ship flair. The ship is bit old and shows its age. Our room was 9156, a family veranda with an extended balcony. It was spacious with a separate sleeping area for our 2 children which included an extra television. We would have been quite happy. However, the room was infested with bed bugs. Many of them were mature and we were all badly bitten. We were immediately removed from the room. All of our luggage and clothing was put in plastic and taken away to be cleaned. We were moved to a much smaller room. We were told our original room would be ready in a few hours. A day later, our clothes were delivered to the smaller room without an explanation. After several calls to guest services, we were informed our room would not be ready. Then only after complaining, we were offered 2 rooms side by side but not connecting. I would have preferred that our family be together in the same room but at least we were comfortable. The new rooms were clean and serviceable. Our new rooms were 6027 & 6029. 9156 was offered back to us after a few days but we elected to stay as packing up again didn't appeal to us. We essentially missed a day and a half. The ports of call were amazing cities! We had prepared for the long distance 2 - 3 hours bus or car rides each way but many were complaining. More time to compensate could have solved the problem. The ship was in port overnight on many of these occasions. We spent 2 nights in a private hotel in Bangkok. We wished we had done the same thing in Saigon. Hanoi needs an extra day. We missed the port at Da Nang because of inclement weather. The food at the restaurant was generally OK. There were some disappointments. The food at the buffet was not good. Snack food was terrible. Everyone at our dinner table liked our head waiter Alberto. His assistant Nadan was also extremely nice and should be recognized for giving outstanding service! We didn't eat at any of the specialty restaurants. The shows and entertainment are exactly what you should expect on a cruise ship. The lounge acts were marginal at best with the exception of the one man guitarist/singer who plays in the main foyer. He was exceptional! We had our issues. None which we didn't overcome. We met some very nice people and had a nice time. Somehow we expected more...   Read Less

Celebrity Millennium – Holiday Cruise- Dec 21, 2013- Hong Kong- Singapore (SE Asia) I wanted to share our experiences on the Celebrity Millennium Dec 21- Hong Kong- Singapore Holiday cruise. This is an honest assessment; the good, the bad and the ugly. This was my second Celebrity Cruise after sailing on Celeb Reflections this past summer on a Med Cruise. After our Reflections sailing, we felt we had finally found our cruise line and booked this cruise along with another Celeb Med cruise in June 2014. Our port was the new Kai Tak cruise terminal in Hong Kong. It’s brand new and they don’t have their operations down yet. Suffice it to say we did not get our luggage until nearly 10pm. By which time, we were too tired to do anything but eat at buffet and go to bed. Not off to a good start and Celebrity seriously needs to get with port authorities to figure out how to expedite luggage to the cabins. Many fellow pax groused about the same thing so already they got off on the wrong foot with their customers. If you sail in our out of this port, be advised there are not many taxis around. Try to pre-arrange if possible. I found a great online private transfer service- www.blacklane.com who specializes in Asia. They act as a broker with private drivers in many, many cities. I booked them for Hong Kong airport pickup to Kai Tak port while at my airline club in Shanghai waiting to board fight to HKK and 3 hrs later when I landed, I had a text that my driver was waiting. They were flawless and prices very competitive. For example, a 9 pax van from Singapore port to airport was $45; ship quoted me $160. First impressions when walking on board, the ship was definitely showing its age but the public places were still clean, if dated. Cabin- Our cabin 1140, an Aqua Class on Deck 11 was small but had an awesome balcony. It was an aft cabin with by far the largest balcony of the Aqua Class cabins. I highly recommend this cabin if you sail her and balcony size is important. It was right over the deck 10 aft bar (never did find out its name- we called it the Sad Café), but we were never bothered by noise. Probably because the staff at that bar was so disinterested, that no one really cared to sit out there for any length of time other than smokers. More on this later. Cabin was small and unlike Reflections which has overhead storage over bed, this cabin was egregiously lacking in storage. You have to bring a lot of clothes on a 15 day cruise; not sure where we’re supposed to put them. Bad layout to say the least. Not sure when these cabins last had a makeover but if it was recently, they did a lousy job. Our cabin steward was nice and perfectly competent and unobtrusive. As someone else also mentioned in their review, the thermostat never really worked properly in our cabin either. Dining- We obviously were entitled to eat at Blu and did so only 3 nights for a variety of reasons. Some days we got back from tours so tired and late, that we didn’t have it in us to clean up in a hurry and those days we ate at buffet. Other days we spent off the ship (total 4 nights overnighting in Bangkok, HCMC and Halong) The food at Blu while good, was not up to the standards that had been set on Reflections. It was good, not great and IMHO, certainly not worth the extra charges for an Aqua Class cabin. The service was awfully sloooow. Again, an entirely different experience than the one I had on Reflections. Maitre’ D was very nice as were all staff. It just took forever to get service and once we placed our orders, the dishes were brought at record speed so that you could finish your meal in less than 30 min. Just in time for that glass of wine you ordered an hr earlier. ‘Nuff said. QSine and Olympic however were stellar. QSine’s staff was phenomenal and service excellent. Sommelier was great. Food was very good, not quite up to Reflections, but very good nonetheless. We ate here twice Olympic- Food was phenomenal and service was STELLAR. What you would expect in a 2 star Michelin restaurant in Paris. Whoever trained that staff needs to be walked around the ship and give refresher courses to staff at other dining venues. We ate here twice. Il Bacio Coffee Bar- great coffees and excellent service. I think barista’s name was Annie, make sure SHE makes your coffee concoction. Service phenomenal here as well. Buffet- Food selection was fantastic and for most part, all dishes were excellent and very tasty. Best pizza I’ve ever had on a cruise ship. Great omelets as well. Good choices of salads and sides, gourmet sandwiches…etc. No complaints here. Great alternative to formal sit-down dining. Entertainment- Didn’t go to a single show but was told by other cruisers the entertainment was very good. Can’t help you here. Bars and Lounges- Generally speaking, most bars seemed understaffed or they just weren’t making an effort to ask pax if they wanted to place a beverage/drink order. Many pax I spoke to felt that was because so many of us were on Bev packs, that Celeb may have issued an edict not to offer up drinks to pax that have bev pckgs and to let us work for them. We were all just scratching our heads because it certainly was a recurring theme in most bars/lounges and egregious at the Deck 10 Sad Café. Cellar Masters, their wine bar was our meeting place for pre-dinner drinks. Service was good when you mosey up to bar and ordered a drink, otherwise pretty nonexistent if sitting at a table. We learned quickly that we needed to go to bar to place orders and then, they would bring drinks to table. Wine choices were terrible. Just really pedestrian wine at inflated prices but we made do. Reflections had a much more extensive and robust wines-by-the-glass list. Michael’s Pub- Supposedly a “craft beer” bar. Pretty pedestrian choices here as well, but since I’m not much of a beer drinker, it didn’t really matter. Sad Café- Deck 10 Aft- And then there was this bar. Don’t even know where to begin but this bar needs an overhaul. Most days you could find the staff joking amongst themselves while their pax died of thirst and neglect. Not sure what the problem is here but if there was one thing that turned off almost every single fellow pax I spoke to, was the absolute lack of service and overall staff demeanor at this bar. Dirty dishes would sit on tables for hrs at a time, no one would pick them up, things would get blown around and I would see the same French fry for 3 days on the deck. One day it was raining and dirty breakfast dishes were overflowing with toast, egg yolks, pancakes- you name it- on to the tables and eventually the deck. And those dishes sat there accumulating rain for HOURS. It was disgusting and provided a hell of a view from my cabin directly overhead. This is one major reason why I will rethink future Celebrity bookings. I expect that of maybe an MSC, but certainly not a line that prides itself on being a “premiere” liner. I can’t quite figure out if it was just a poorly run ship, if this is standard for Celebrity, or if Reflections was just an exceptionally run ship. Guest Services- Staff was very congenial and professional but seemed incapable of responding to major issues. More on that later. I do want to recognize Raul and Sandra who were both very responsive to any of my needs or inquiries. Itinerary- PERFECT!!!!!!!! I cannot say enough about what an ideal itinerary it was. It was the perfect amount of time in port for a “taster” of that given city. We booked an overnight junk through a private operator in Halong Bay and it was the highlight of our trip. Fellow pax that went to Hanoi regretted it because roads were so bad and trip took too long. We had an amazing overnight cruise on the Victory Star, which I highly recommend. Our ship skipped Chan May Port (Hue/Danang/HoiAn) because of weather and we ended up spending 2.5 days in HCMC/Saigon. We had originally planned on a 1.5 day overnight in Saigon and used the extra day to go to Vung Tua which was a great little beach city about an hr from Phu My port. Bangkok we overnighted 2 nights (NYE/NYD) and that was a treat. Laem Chabang is 2.5 hrs from Bangkok so make sure you arrange your tours before you arrive. I cannot tell you how many pax were stranded on the ship because the ship’s tours were sold out and all private tours were sold out. We used Oriental Escape (www.orientalescape.com) for our transfers and arranged private tours with them and could not have been happier with their services. Anyone on future sailings that has private tour questions, feel free to PM me. Happy to help. I am hooked on sailing and exploring this part of the world. I would actually take this cruise again in Dec 2014 were it not for the ship. I won’t sail Millennium again. Too bad Celebrity can’t substitute a different ship for this itinerary. You can do this sailing 4 years in a row and always have new things to do. If you’re contemplating a SE Asia trip, don’t think it through any more, just do it; you’ll be thrilled beyond your wildest dreams. Lastly, I do want to warn anyone sailing on this ship in a balcony veranda cabin, that my friend traveling as a single in a dbl occupancy cabin on Deck 7, got locked out of her balcony at night when the ship was swaying in rough seas. The sliding glass door slid shut and the handle popped into the locked position leaving her stranded on her balcony for 30 minutes until her cries for help were eventually heard by the people in the cabin next door. We reenacted the situation several times and each time the balcony door would pop into the locked position. Although she made Celebrity aware of the issue, they seemingly downplayed it. A warning should be on each and every door that the handle needs to be in the down position if you step outside. The response from Celebrity was simply unacceptable. My friend was traumatized. She asked to speak to the Hotel Mngr who never called, asked to get a copy of the incident report- nope- Celebrity wouldn’t do it. Just deplorable customer care. Her hand was swollen to three times the size because she banged on the door so hard trying to be heard. She eventually went to get acupuncture onboard and asked Celebrity to at least pay for that. Nope. Not even a future cruise credit for her nightmare. Shame on Celebrity. Parents and fellow travelers consider yourselves warned... In closing, I boarded this ship as a Celebrity loyalist with intentions of sailing Celebrity whenever possible. I leave still in search of a cruise line I can call my own.   Read Less

We have sailed on Costa before and promised that we would not do so again, but the dates and the length of the cruise and the ports to be visited made us get excited again, and it was a different ship this time, so we thought, why not? Great views from the balcony, but on the wrong side of the ship, we were always on the water side never got to watch the port from ours. Very small room, don't let the photos on the web pages fool you, just enough room to walk between the wall and the bed. the balcony itself is only 1m x 2m with 2 chairs and a very low table, the door is extremely heavy as you would expect, however, my wife struggled to open it most times. The bathroom is exactly the same size as every other stateroom, so no extra space, and for a person who is 6ft tall and weighs 220 pounds that does not leave a lot of room for anything! let alone getting in the shower. Sadly, the airconditioning unit in the hallway burst a pipe and flooded our cabin and six others around it, we were disappointed with Costa's compensation offer ( a bottle of wine and a bowl of fruit ) to put up with an industrial dryer in our room for the next 3 days of the cruise and one outside the door for 4 days, not to mention the smell of wet carpet for 4 days. Bad, Bad, Bad! The ports that we visited were Semarang, Benoa, Lombok, Singapore, Penang, Langkawi, Phuket (Patong) and back to Singapore. I would pass on Semarang, Lombok and possibly Benoa, but the other stops where terrific. The Costa entertainment crew, they call them the "Animation Team" now, were a bit of a let down compared to the entertainment team on the Costa Romantica that took us to similar ports just 2 years before. Being the Christmas and New Year cruise the staff had made pretty red bows to go on all of the cabin doors and there were a few tinsel pieces around the place, the atrium had a lovely decorated Christmas tree but that was about all. For NYE the crew let go of a net full of balloons on the strike of midnight, but because of the layout of the ship, there was not really many people in the area to enjoy this. I think that the deck layout on the Victoria made for a difficult time for them, there is not just one spot to be entertained in but many small areas, but we made our own fun. the good thing is that Costa has stopped people smoking anywhere on the ship that is inside, you have to go to the outdoor areas. Given that we have now had two cruises through Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia, I think maybe the next one will be to the Phillipines, Cambodia, Vietnam and Japan etc. Just next time won't be a Costa cruise. Read Less

having just today returned from our 19 day cruise on the Diamond Princess, I could not have been happier with my experience. The staff are probably the best I have experienced and were very personable and willing to please. We started our journey flying Singapore Airlines on an A380 in the Upper Deck Economy class and it was also terrific. Only 80 people in this area and a 2 4 2 configuration make it a reasonably pleasurable experience. When then had three nights at the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore in their Club Class suite which was absolutely work the money. If you are looking for a treat, I can highly recommend it. Our cabin was a mini-suite and again, worth the extra to get the large balcony and additional cabin space, not to mention a bathroom that you can actually swing a cat in. Very comfortable lounge, chairs and bed. We made our own way to the ship using a cab which is very affordable in Singapore (less than S$10) and the cruise terminal is new and very functional. Boarding was a breeze and cabin was ready and bags followed soon after. We mostly ate breakfast in the Horizon Buffet which had a good selection of fresh fruit, yoghurt, baked goods, eggs, bacon, sausages etc. Lunch we tended to eat usually something light - sandwich or slice of pizza, small hamburger which were all good quality. Dinner we utilised Anytime Dining which we really enjoyed, meeting new people every night was a lot of fun. Food in the dining rooms was really terrific and the wine list was interesting and reasonably priced. Entertainment was Ok but not really anything outstanding. Loved the Lotus Pool - quite and secluded with plenty of sun and shade. Lotus Spa was great as well - enjoyed a lovely day of pampering in their facilities. Disembarkation in Sydney was simple and ran really easily. All in all we were very happy with this cruise. It gave us a lot of time to relax and recharge in a very pleasant atmosphere.   Read Less

We have just returned from a thirty day cruise from Tianjin China to Sydney. Back to back. Loved the cruise, especially the ports of call on the first cruise,, Nagasaki, Fukoka , Okinawa, all in Japan, then Hong Kong ,Vietnam , Thailand and Singapore, 2 Nd cruise was to Malaysia then to Darwin , Brisbane & Sydney. A wonderful cruise , ships staff all very helpful and friendly . The panorama coffee shop was a hit with everyone where you could go make a drink any time of the day or night, on board shops a disaster, don't cater for Australians at all and all items were very expensive. The alcohol twice and more of what you would pay in Australia. Entertainment ok except some of the magician acts a bit weak. Loved Rhonda Burchmore, she got a standing ovation, think they need more entertainers like her to suit the age group cruising. We did several ships tours which were good. The cruise directors terrible , started off with someone called Fang, he was replaced and we ended up with Luke what a rude person so full of himself, do hope our next cruise he is not on board. Read Less

After reading some quite negative reviews my partner asked me to pen something in the hope that future cruisers may get some good feedback. We are a couple of older working people who looked forward to this cruise for 9 months from the time it was booked - they say anticipation is half the fun and it sure was. We spent a lot of time checking out the RCL site and lots of review and information sites so we could make our holiday a memorable one. We booked all our excursions, restaurant bookings and wine package so they were paid for before we left dry land. We spent a couple of days in Perth prior to the cruise and this was a really lovely wind-down from work time, we arrived at the terminal in Fremantle and were not surprised at having a wait - there were so many people all wanting to board so we sat and people watched - always a good pastime. After we boarded it was very easy to find our way to our stateroom (we had looked at the deck plans online) and after leaving our carry-on bags went to explore. The Promenade was a good place to start so we had a look around and settled in with a welcome drink. After that we went and explored then went back to our cabin - our luggage had arrived so we unpacked and as we had booked dinner in Portofino for the first night headed there and what a lovely experience to start the cruise with - beautiful food and wine, fantastic service - perfect. We then went back to our stateroom in time for departure and watched the farewell in the balmy night air. The whole of the trip up the east coast of Australia was so calm, you hardly knew you were afloat. Food in the Main Dining Room was very good, there were plenty of selections and things to try and if you couldn't decide on what you wanted our cheeky waiter bought both things. Our wait staff were fantastic and always ready for a chat about our day and how we were enjoying ourselves. We ate in the main dining room most nights and although we had asked for a small table found ourselves sitting with some really nice people - all around our ages so we had things in common to talk about. We ate in Johnny Rockets twice and the food was good and it was a lot of fun, the lip syncing/dancing staff are a treat to watch. We had breakfast and lunch at both Windjammer and the main dining room, every time the food was plentiful, staff attentive and the only concern was too many choices! On board every day there was so much to do if you wanted to, we were both unwell for a couple of days - nothing serious - and staying in the stateroom wasn't a hardship at all. The library was a great bolt hole for me - I curled up with a book on quite a few occasions - something I never have time for at home. We went to a lot of the shows and for the most part they were very good - good entertainers and plenty of variety as well. We went to a lot of other things like Trivia quizzes etc - these were a bit of fun. We sampled the Cocktail of the Day quite often and enjoyed them - we had bought a wine package and found plenty of selection on it to have a bottle of wine with our dinner - we had one bottle undrunk on the last night so took it with us and enjoyed it back on land in Singapore. The bars provided a really good selection of cocktails and spirits and were very generous with their serves. The land tours we booked online before the cruise and were all very well organised and managed - the only problem was there was always "that couple" who help everybody up by not being at the appointed place on time, no fault of the tour guides or organisation - that part was excellent, really well executed, no real hold ups and smooth on and off the ship for each tour. The cool cloths waiting when we got back to the ship were terrific - it was very hot and humid on land but that's Asia for you. We really enjoyed the Solarium (adults only) area with pool and hot tubs, we didn't go to swim at the main pools - we left them to the families to enjoy. We used the fitness centre as well and this was very well equipped - every type of machine you could want is provided. I went for a massage and this was probably the only disappointment for me, the masseuse was very ineffective and I really felt no benefit, I have had massages in Asia before and they always left you feeling relaxed and wonderfully calm. So all in all, one disappointment in 14 days - the weather was fantastic, the seas like a millpond and the facilities and staff on board always helpful and happy to accommodate our needs. Forget the whingers, I truly believe they would be unhappy in any situation they were in. Read Less

This was the first time Celebrity was done this route and it showed. The ports were all terrific with overnights in Singapore, Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), Hanoi, and Hong Kong, but Celebrity was comically disorganized at port calls in general, getting people ashore, running shore excursions, and handing out passports. Hotels: Fairmont Singapore-Nice, but pricey Renaissance Bangkok-dirt cheap, and incredibly nice hotel Caravelle Saigon-cheap, and nice, but not as nice as Renaissance Sheraton Hong Kong-Expensive, but a very nice hotel Ports In Singapore, we did some nice tours before we got on the ship, including a city tour, and a tour of the World War II sites (Kranji was very moving). But I will focus on what happened once we got on the ship. We had planned to go to this nice new aquarium on Sentosa, since our ship didn't leave until 2 PM the next day. Unfortunately, we would soon learn that we had to be on board at Noon, which was never told to us when we booked. It was very misleading, and the beginning of our discontent with Celebrity's port operations. Apparently, there are 2 different aquariums on Sentosa. We accidentally went to the old one, which like everything else on the island, didn't open until 10. Because we had to be on board at 12, we didn't have time to go to the new aquarium instead. To add insult to injury, the ship ended up leaving port 4 hours late because all passports needed to be turned in, but a group of Russians (if you believe the scuttlebutt) failed to turn their passports in and were lounging at the pool despite constant announcements and impassioned, angry pleas from the captain. So, we had rushed for nothing. In Bangkok, all 4 members of my party were booked on the "Essence of Old Bangkok tour, which left at 10:15 A.M. My youngest son and I planned to stay overnight in Bangkok and just have the bus leave us there at the conclusion of the tour instead of going back to the ship. We were worried about getting our passports in time (you needed to collect your passports in order to stay overnight ashore as the hotel asks for them) since they were set to be given out at 10:30 A.M. Thus, I talked to guest relations and they assured me that our passports would be the highest priority and we would be able to get them at 10:15. Still concerned, I went to the shore excursion desk and told them my situation, and they once again assured I would get the passports in time, and if not, they would book me on a different tour which was "Overnight Bangkok on your Own". Long story short, we did not get the passports in time because Celebrity was so slow and inefficient at distributing them. As time marched on, I returned to the guest relations desk to ask about my so called priority status. The woman at the desk (can't remember her name, but she was Peruvian) told me that they were in her supervisor hands and we would get them soon, and that we should wait by the desk to receive them. 20 minutes later no passports. We went back to the place where passports were being distributed and had to wait even more time to get them. The Peruvian had blatantly lied, a tactic we found was used often by our crew who could care less about our experience. When we finally got our passports, we rushed to the shore excursion desk to make sure we got on the "Overnight Bangkok on your Own" tour. There was now no room left, and without any aid from Celebrity we were forced to find our own transport to Bangkok. It was very expensive, but we did get to the city in time to see the Grand Palace< the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, and the Temple of the Reclining Buddha. The next day we went to Wat Arun, The National Museum, the Marble Temple, and the Sri Racha Tiger Zoo before returning to the ship. We would later learn that the tour we tried to get on was delayed so much due to passport issues that it did not arrive in Bangkok until 5 P.M. according to some of our fellow passengers. So, it was a blessing in disguise that Celebrity had failed to get us on that tour, as it saved us from further incompetency from them. The exception to the rule of bad shore excursion, passport and gangway issues was in Saigon. We had booked the Saigon Overnight tour (a bargain at 295 dollars) after enjoying staying overnight in Bangkok so much, no thanks to Celebrity. Our tour guide, Hoang, was just great. He was the best tour guide on the entire cruise. He spoke very good English, was kind, courteous, and gave lots of information and interesting anecdotes about his hometown. We saw all the usual sites on day 1 (Presidential Palace, History Museum, Water Puppet Show, Market, Church, etc.) and stayed at the Caravelle Hotel that night, which was great. My son had wanted to visit the highly touted War Remnants museum, which we didn't have time for the first day. However, it did open at 0730 the next day. We rushed there and thoroughly enjoyed our brief 45 minute visit. Next, we went to the Cu Chi Tunnels which was fascinating. It was incredible to see how the Viet Cong constructed this massive system with such little resources. The best part though was the shooting range they had where you could fire a wide range of weapons from the Vietnam War era, including AK47, M16, and M60s. We picked the AK47 and the M60 and it cost 68 dollars, not cheap, but incredibly fun. I had fired the M16 and M60 before, but never an AK, which was so unique since obviously I was not exposed to that as an American. There were no real issues with passports or disembarkation we experienced in Saigon, so that was a relief. After a day at sea, we arrived in Chan May, the port for Da Nang and Hue. We booked the Imperial Hue tour. This was the tour from hell! Our tour guide, Tran, had an absolutely incomprehensible accent and had an overall poor command of English. After paying hundreds of dollars for my whole family to go on this tour, I expected better from Celebrity. Could they really not have found a single guy in all the Central Highlands who spoke English better than this? If you listened hard, you would be able to make out about 30 percent of what he said. For example, "bla bla bla bla Heavenly lady Pagoda bla bla bla" So when he explained things anywhere that day, it was utterly useless. First went to the aforementioned Heavenly Lady pagoda, where I listened to another tour guide who actually spoke English. Next we went to the imperial palace. I hired four rickshaws to take us there from where the bus left us because my wife has a bad knee and cannot walk well. The rickshaw guides had quoted us two dollars each to go to the palace. Unfortunately, they lied. Instead of taking us to the palace, they take us on this one hour long wild goose chase around the streets of Hue despite my constant urgings to take us straight to the palace. When the tour finally ends, they want 1 million dong apiece, like 48 dollars. I am incensed. I did not want this whole long tour, I wanted to just be taken to the palace and pay my 2 dollars. I give them a million dong for all four of us, but they won't let us leave and attempt to physical restrain us. A poor plan since both my son and I have at least 7 inches and more than 80 pounds on all of them. My wife gives them 500k more dong and we leave. We only have 30 minutes left to see the Imperial Palace, and without a guide, no matter how bad, to show us around. Tran comes looking for us and he is not happy. We aren't actually late but he must just have had a bee in his bonnet about it. We get back to the bus roughly on time, but he still looks like we shot his water buffalo. We travel back across the Perfume River for lunch at a "4 Star Hotel", really a 2 star in my book. The food was of poor quality and little variety. The drinks were long passed expired and when we went down in the elevator we found ourselves stuck behind a buffet table. Oh my. After lunch we travel to the Thien Mu tomb to hear some more garbled explanations from Tran. We then return to the ship to recover from our trying day. The next day was much better. Although there were issues with tenders the next day and our excursion was delayed an hour, which was cut off from our tour, Ha Long Bay by Boat was simply stunning. All these little islands jutting out from the water were breathtaking. When we arrived at the island with the big cave, there was a 45 minute wait to get in, due to our late departure. It was worth it though. The cave was the largest and most spectacular I had ever seen, and different colored lights were put in it to further the mystique. We then visited a floating village where a local boat came up right next to ours and the kids from the village jumped on to our boat to essentially beg for money. It was heartbreaking, but at the same time fascinating. The next day we traveled to Hanoi (3.5 hours overland) which was great. We saw the Hanoi Hilton where John McCain was imprisoned, took an electric cart through the busy market, and saw Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum. We couldn't go inside as it is only open in the morning, and we couldn't visit his cottage because of some military exercise that was going on. In the words of our terrific guide Hung, "This is a communist country. They just tell me it is national security and I can't do anything about it". We did get to see the lake where John McCain took a "swim" according to Hung, which was cool. Afterwards we returned to the ship. Two days later we arrived in our final port, Hong Kong. We took a great tour the first day there (Highlights of the City with Dim Sum Lunch). The next day we disembarked and went to Ocean Park which was incredible, if a little expensive at 280 HKD. They had 4 different pandas which was mind boggling, a great aquarium, and a thrilling cable car ride. We didn't have time for much else there, since my wife wanted to go shopping for fake purses as Christmas gifts, but my sons really enjoyed shooting water cannons at people on the River Rafting ride, a bargain at 10 HKD per session. Next, we were on our way to lunch when we were approached by an Indian trying to sell Fake watches and purses. My wife couldn't resist. He led us into a seedy apartment building, up to the 6th floor. There were bars on all the doors and led us into his apartment where he had an impressive (read: frightening) surveillance system and 3 of his goons guarding the door. We bought a nice purse bargained down from 250 dollars to 180, which I still thought was too much. After a delicious late lunch of Pho at a Vietnamese restaurant, we journeyed on to buy even more crap at the Ladies Market. My two sons went to the Hong Kong Museum of History instead, which they said they thoroughly enjoyed, and only cost 20 HKD total, less than 3 bucks. The Ship and Cruise Experience Having previously cruised with Celebrity on the Century in 07, where the service was out of this world, I expected to be treated as a valued guest. Unfortunately, even though I was in a suite, I was treated more as cattle. The service was really no better than Royal Caribbean or Princess. But at least they make up for it with great activities and entertainment. On Celebrity, not only was the service underwhelming, the entertainment and activities were the worst I've ever seen. There was really nothing to do when the ship was not in port that was worthwhile. Just opportunities to give Celebrity more of my hard earned money. No good shows, no fun activities or game shows, not even the Newlywed game! A travesty, in my eyes. The comedian, Joel Osborne, was Fifty Shades of awful. He couldn't handle the crowd and was criminally unfunny. The other shows were similarly poor, except for Mario D'Andrea, a guitarist/vocalist who was great. The trivias, which my son loves, were almost exclusively during the day, when we were in port, and were not even that good when we were there. No real variety in subjects, no entertaining staff. Not even an exciting game show format. Worse yet, the food was not particularly good. The alternative restaurants were absurdly overpriced at 40 a person, though Qsine was an experience. The food outlets were not open frequently or long enough, with the Pool Grill closing at 6, the dinner buffet at 9:30, and Ice Cream at 10. The main dining room wasn't very good. The service wasn't as good as on other cruises and the variety was lacking. There was little for my vegetarian wife. The quality of the food wasn't overly good either. And overall, the staff didn't go out of their way to help you. You had to take the initiative to get them to act if you needed assistance after they made a mistake. Conclusion All in all, it was an enjoyable cruise, not because of the ship, the service, activities, or entertainment, but because of the ports. As much as I might complain about the onboard experience, I didn't take this cruise for the ship. I took it to see Southeast Asia. A cruise is a great way to see it, and the overnights really made the trip for me. It would be very difficult and expensive to see all those places on your own, and you would be stuck eating local food all the time which you may not like. I'd rather a bad steak on Celebrity than chicken feet in some random place in Vietnam! I do hope Celebrity learns from this. The service may never get better because they simply do not care enough, but they certainly should improve the tendering, passports, and port operations. Their problems with that were simply ridiculous. In the future, I will look to book Princess or Royal Caribbean, because Celebrity has simply lost its edge. It is no longer a "premium" line. Its service is average at best and the food is somewhere south of that. Celebrity never was good at entertainment or activities, but this cruise was truly awful in those categories. If you are considering taking this cruise, I would urge you to lower your expectations. And I would certainly avoid the Millennium if you are cruising more for the ship than the ports. Unfortunately, no other cruise line is doing a similar route (except for Holland America, yuck) so if you want to cruise Southeast Asia, at this point, you have to stomach the Millennium, to enjoy the rich experiences ashore. Read Less

We are experienced cruisers. Did this exotic itinerary with friends who we hook up with every two years. Embarkation good- no issues. Rooms were ready within an hour which is quicker than what we are accustomed to. Room Steward was ok but not overly attentive. Never called us by name. Had 2 day in most ports which was good considering the itinerary. Most excursions are a full day which means early mornings and most had a drive of around 1.5- 2.5 hours to get to each way which became tiresome. However if you wanted to see the cities you had no choice. Did not do Hanoi which I heard from some who did the trip that it took them 8 hours of traveling to get there and back. Glad we didn't do that one. All the cities are crowded and hot. Most had populations of 5-10 million. The hawkers are pretty aggressive in some areas and hang around the tourist visitation sites. Didn't take in any of the entertainment except for one night. The on site dancers and singers are very good and the one show we did take in was top notch. The food was very good, well presented and creative. We had anytime dining but found a good table with excellent wait staff so we ate there most nights. While we couldn't reserve a table they always kept this one for us. Friendly staff throughout the ship especially Dexter ( Mr. Washy Washy) who could make anyone's day. We had no issues and would sail again with Celebrity. Read Less

As with some people on this sight I do not normally feel the urge to write a review but (In my opinion) some small issues have been exaggerated regarding this cruise. Check In- We arrived at the check in around 2pm and did not experience the apparent chaos, chaos probably caused by a lot of passengers trying to board early. A passenger I met during check in told me that he arrived at the terminal at around 11am (earliest boarding time) and he thought Robbie Williams was at the front as there were that many people there. He simply went away and went back around 2pm as I did and virtually walked straight through. Stateroom- The stateroom was ready with fresh fruit, flowers and a ice cold bottle of the sparkly stuff and a hearty welcome from our cabin steward Batista and his assistant. Unlike other reviewers our stateroom was very clean with no nasties lurking. We did not need to ask for anything out of the ordinary but I did not feel that I could not ask Batista to resolve any issues. TALK TO THEM, IT HELPS. The crew who we dealt with we're very friendly and polite with quite a few greeting us on a first name basis. Thanks to Batista (room steward), Hasan, Avinash, Natalia (sommeliers), Rose,Jorge (pool bar), Natalia (Metropolitan concierge), Komang, Alin, Eka (Martini bar) the list goes on. We are not new to cruising and if we had been inclined to find something to complain about we probably could of but after all that's not the point of a holiday to me. Read Less

My wife and I decided to book the Legend of the Seas 5-Night Holiday Cruise (over New Year's Eve) as part of a Southeast Asia vacation. Our main reasons were that it seemed like a good way to visit several spots in the area without having to deal with crossing borders, it was port-intensive, and the opportunity to celebrate New Year's on the ocean was pretty appealing. Our only previous cruise was four nights on the Enchantment OTS out of Ft. Lauderdale, over Memorial Day weekend several years ago, so it was quite a party cruise and not our style. This cruise was much more our style. We left the U.S. on the day after Christmas, arriving on the 28th because of the date line. Because of weather in the States, we were delayed and missed a connection and we were told our bags would arrive the day after our cruise, so we spent most of our time shopping for cruise clothes. I therefore don't have much to say about Singapore. We stayed at the Conrad, which was fabulous and had extremely helpful and generous staff, we helped tremendously with our bag issue. I also recommend Oscar's Buffet for breakfast. Embarkation was easy for anyone with any kind of priority status: we are Gold C&A and had no wait once our forms were filled out. It was a very painless process. The new cruise terminal has a convenience store (7-11), I think, for any last minute needs. Note that as of December 2012, the new cruise terminal was new enough that our concierge made sure to tell the taxi driver very specifically to go the new terminal. The taxi ride was quick and easy. Ship was in decent shape considering its age but is currently being refurbished, so my comments aren't crucial. We went to three ports: Kuala Lumpur, Langkawi (Malaysia), and Phuket. The KL day was the low point of the cruise. We had signed up for the "Kuala Lumpur on Your Own" excursion, which is essentially a bus ride into the city from the port, as the other excursions did not appeal to us and we preferred to pick the sights we saw, rather than the choices on the excursions. Unfortunately, we were placed on the wrong bus by the RC staff and went on the "Kuala Lumpur Light and Easy" excursion. We informed the tour guide but they were not able to fix this until too late in the day for it to matter. I went to the excursions desk to complain and both the staff member at the desk and the excursions manager tried to argue with me and say I should have been happier on the Light and Easy excursion because it was more expensive. I asked for a refund, not expecting one, and I really only wanted a sincere apology and maybe some drink coupons. However, their suggested resolution was to not charge us for the more expensive excursion that their mistake put us on (which I believe would be illegal), so I was now furious. I spoke with the Loyalty Ambassador (the wonderful Hitomi) and she intervened, and I was granted a 50 percent refund in onboard credit. Lesson learned: double-check your bus assignment. In Langkawi, we opted to hire a taxi at the pier and we saw the mangroves, the Craft Cultural Complex (which has handicrafts from simply amazing batiks to very inexpensive items), the craft store De Zone, Black Sand Beach, and ate at a small place near the beach. We recommend all of these places. We went to the cable car but it was raining and the top of the mountain (where the cable car stops) was covered in clouds, so we did not go up. I wanted to note that the cruise had a $10 shuttle from the pier to Pantai Cenang (a developed beach resort area) that was not announced in the pre-cruise materials. In Phuket, we took the Sea Canoe excursion, which stops at a couple of different islands with caves that are only accessible at low tide and later at a small beach. This was a fantastic experience, highly recommended. We also noted that the organization of the excursions was much better this morning, perhaps because of our mishap. Also of note, we apparently were cleared early, so there was an announcement that people not on excursions could tender before the ship excursions (although only until the ship excursions started to tender). On most occasions where we embarked or disembarked, there was a picture opportunity (often with someone in a panda, tiger, or other costume). They did some very nice collages of the picture with, e.g., the Singapore skyline, which we didn't buy (because we looked terrible) but I wish we had had a good picture to go with one of the collages. We dined twice in the main dining room for dinner (using My Time Dining) and all other meals were in the Windjammer. We have found that we prefer the Windjammer food (although the food on this cruise was much better than our previous cruise). In my opinion, the main dinner room food tends to be overcooked, although I have had better luck with roasts and racks (that are cooked and then sliced) then single-serve portions such as fish (which I assume sit under a heat lamp). My wife has generally been disappointed with the MDR food. Although many passengers were Asian, the MDR menu was not heavily Asian-influenced and the Chinese menu appeared to be the same (as near as I could tell). As of our sailing, the Legend did not have the new menu. There appeared to be a special menu on New Year's Eve which was quite nice. The Windjammer has a much more eclectic selection of of western and eastern items. For example, at breakfast there would b: oatmeal, grits, sambal, and a congee station; a selection of pastries; two of pancakes, waffles, or french toast; a carving, fried egg, and omelet station; plain rice and stir fry; bacon and sausage (not American, more like a hot dog similar to other sausage found in Asia); a toast station; and plenty of fresh fruit. Lunch and dinner had a similar assortment. We always enjoyed our meals here. Older reviews complain that food was often not hot and served on Styrofoam. We experienced neither problem at any time on our cruise. There was also a late-night buffet and pool party on night 4 (after Phuket, before the Sea Day). The food was fine, probably of lower quality than other meals, but the food wasn't really the point. I love on-deck parties! All of the staff we dealt with were very nice and helpful (with the exception of the excursions staff, noted above). Special mention goes to the Loyalty Ambassador Hitomi, the Spa Manager Zurica, and one of her staffers, Maria, all of whom really helped get our vacation back on track after our luggage was lost and our KL excursion went awry. Going back to the spa was always a treat because the staff were so delightful, so I would just walk through there so they would say hi. A large number of the line staff are Chinese but language never appeared to be a problem and, in fact, the staff at the Guest Services desk were always very helpful. While the spa is not a choice to rate below, I would give it a 5+. We did not see any of the shows. We watched the bellyflop contest (fun), did Walk for Wishes (such a nice thing for RCI to do), and played bingo once (boring and a ripoff, but the drink of the day was 2-for-1). The Welcome Back party was well-attended and on New Year's Eve, so everyone was dressed up, even though it was the second formal night of the cruise. The free drinks on NYE made waiting until midnight a problem! The passengers on this cruise were from 49 countries (see a breakdown based on information provided by Hitomi at https://dl.dropbox.com/u/74281956/Legend%20of%20the%20Seas%20Passenger%20Nationalities%2012-29-2012.xls noting that the original printout I got listed Russia twice, which I have maintained). This list would, I guess, appear to understate the number of ethnic Chinese based on the number of Chinese staff, Chinese language excursions, and the fact that all announcements were in English and Chinese (and often Japanese). There was also a separate "cruise director" channel in Chinese. While other reviews complain about lack of proper queuing, we never experiences any abnormal problems with this (compared to, say, a trip to Disney). A staff member commented that Asian crowds tend to lack sun-worshipers, and we never had a problem getting a chair on deck. In summary, we had a fantastic time overall on this cruise. If I were ever near Singapore again, I would not hesitate to take another, similar trip and we are much more likely to cruise again then we were after our previous cruise. Read Less

My husband and I are seasoned cruises, however this was our first experience with Costa on the Costa Classica and it will definitely be our last. In comparison to other cruise lines this cruise did not measure up in terms of service, food or the ship. The only redeeming element of the cruise was we visited some fantastic destinations. The ship: was really tired, out of date and definitely in need of refurbishment, our cabin like many others was in need of new decor and soft furnishings, however the size of the cabin was really good. Ship TV: was an absolute joke and this is being kind, there were 7 films available to watch which initially sounds a lot, but the problem was 1 film per day played on a loop all day, the films in week 1 were then repeated in the same way throughout week 2. I have never experienced this on any other cruise. The food: well again unlike any other cruise line we had during the first 2 days 3 dinning options available to us, the pre booked formal restaurant, the self service restaurant and a pizza place that was open from 9pm to 1am. However, after the first couple of days the self service option was closed on an evening leaving only the formal and pizza option available. The food in the formal dining room was appalling, every evening we had 5 courses consisting of a starter, soup, pasta, main, and sweet. Sounds good doesn't it? But it definitely wasn't, the food during week 1 was marginally better than week 2, but every soup we had tasted the same and really had no taste at all, pasta was hit and miss, and at times swimming in oil, this rendered it uneatable. The main courses were often either not cooked enough and therefore tough, or overcooked and dry, but the worse was being served overcooked frozen, deep fried food which was absolutely disgusting and unacceptable. By the time we left the main course we didn't wait around for sweet because it probably wasn't worth it, it took too long to serve our table and we couldn't be bothered anymore. I have never been served frozen food which has been deep fried and burnt to add insult to injury. We both lost weight during this cruise and certainly didn't over eat. The food in self service during the day: breakfast wasn't worth getting up for, so we didn't bother most days, lunch: poor choice, practically no salad bar, in fact this consisted of lettuce 2 types, tomatoes, cucumber, peppers, so you can see why this was a shock and why we considered it to be beyond poor. Thank god for the afternoon tea, which we don't normally have, but this was the best thing available on board. If we hadn't eaten this then we wouldn't have eaten much at all. Service in the formal restaurant was really slow and often our dinner took 1.5 hrs to serve, during which time you were extremely lucky if you could get a drinks refill, therefore all our table started going to the bar before dinner and taking our drinks in with us to ensure we had a drink with our meal. Although all of this was really bad we had a fab holiday because of the people we met on board, but we will never go with Costa again and we wouldn't recommend Costa to anyone. Read Less