Our very first cruise was on the Millennium back in 2006. We loved everything about it and became fans of Celebrity Cruises, recommending them to our friends and travelling with the company several times. Our most recent cruises have been with Princess and P&O. We enjoyed these very much but looked forward to coming back to Celebrity and the lovely Millennium. Oh dear - we were in for a big disappointment.

Now I understand that the face of cruising has changed in recent years - becoming more competitive and having to reduce standards to some extent. However, we expected more from a cruise line that advertises itself as 5 star. Sadly, it struggled to reach 3 star and fell far short of the standards on so called 'lesser' cruise lines.

I'll start with the positives, and there were some. Despite the ship's age (and lots of rusty bits) the ship is generally well maintained, clean and possessing a certain amount of class. Our stateroom was clean and comfortable, entertainment was, on the whole, good, staff mostly helpful and friendly and buffet food acceptable. Food in the Tuscan Grill was excellent but then so it should be at an additional $45 each. OK, I guess, for a 3 star cruise. Read more