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Celebrity Millennium Review

4.0 / 5.0
1,739 reviews

Millennium - Eastern Mediterranean

Review for the Eastern Mediterranean Cruise on Celebrity Millennium
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Bruin Steve
First Time Cruiser • Age 70s

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Sail Date: Jul 2003

Intro: To those who don't know me, by way of a little background, I am a 49 year old corporate real estate attorney from Calabasas, California (just northwest of Los Angeles). Accompanied on this cruise by my wife, Beth, a School Psychologist. For the first time in 10 years, we left the two teenaged daughters (17 and 19) at home.

Pre-Cruise/Venice: Flew from LAX to Venice with a 2:40 layover and change of planes at JFK. Only problem with JFK was that at 5-7 in the evening, all food services at the Delta terminal were closed with the exception of Burger King. Plane from JFK to Venice caught a tail wind and we were in Venice at 9:30 am on Thursday, over an hour ahead of schedule. Celebrity personnel met us at the luggage carousel and escorted us to a nearby waiting bus. The trip into Venice was quick and easy. Our luggage was taken to the hotel for us and we were led on a short easy walk from the bus parking to the hotel. We opted for the two-night pre-cruise stay at the Carlton Executive Hotel in Venice. The hotel was clean and nice, rooms were small but well appointed. Not really worth the $359 per person for the two-night stay, but the logistics of not dealing with our own luggage/transportation easily made up for that. The hotel was located right across the canal from the train station, making it convenient to the port and to the buses/trains, but a long walk to most of the sites of Venice…That was okay, because, for two days, we got very accustomed to walking everywhere. First day, we walked across the bridge to the Ghetto, toured the Synagogues and Ghetto (absolutely fascinating), then walked to Tintoretto’s church and to the Rialto Bridge. Had dinner on the Piazza Santa Margarita in the same outdoor café where we ate on our honeymoon 22 years earlier (very good, but overpriced and all ala carte). Friday, we took a "free ride� to Murano. BEWARE! Free rides are worth what you pay for them. The hotel clerk told us they would arrange such free rides, but, you are basically there as a guest of whichever glass blowing studio paid for your ride. The boat tenders to their private dock and they give you a personal guided "tour�, most of which is a trip through their showroom store where your one-on-one guide tries to sell you extremely high-priced pieces. We LITERALLY escaped and ran…there is no exit…You need to find your own way out. We found some other tourist family jimmying open a gate and followed them to freedom…Once outside the gates, Murano is charming, but everything is a glass-blowing gift shop…We took a "Vaporetti� (a public bus-boat) back to the main islands, walked to Piazza San Marco, toured the Doge’s Palace (a highlight is crossing the Bridge of Sighs on the INSIDE…to the prison)…For dinner, we crossed the bridge to near the train station where there are many nice little outdoor cafes with prix-fixe complete multi-course menus…We chose the Cafe "Brindisi� with a full menu for 13 Euros a person…Very good…

Next morning, on schedule, the ship’s land agent, Medov, came to take us to the ship…

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