Celebrity Millennium Dining

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Foodies love Celebrity for its care and attention to cuisine throughout its free dining venues as well as in its for-fee, specialty restaurants. If you don't mind the busy nature of the main dining room, buffet and pool grill, you can eat for free for the duration of your cruise and keep your taste buds pretty happy. Or if you want to splurge, the for-fee restaurants are worth every penny.

Service across the board, whether in a free or extra-fee dining venue, is excellent, with attentive and friendly wait staff.

The ship does an excellent job of catering to different dietary requirements, and waiters will always ask if you have any allergies the first time they serve you, but you'll get the best results by alerting the cruise line to your needs before sailing. Once onboard, see the restaurant manager or assistant maitre d', who will outline your options and take any special requests.

Celebrity Millennium Restaurants Included in the Basic Cruise Fare

Metropolitan Restaurant (Decks 4 and 5): Celebrity Millennium has one large main dining room spanning two decks. Passengers can either select an early or late dinner seating or the flexible Select Dining program.

Breakfast every day, and lunch on sea days (there is no lunch most port days), are open seating. Dinner features an eclectic menu of appetizers, entrees, sides and desserts. You'll always find fish, poultry, beef and pork dishes, along with vegetarian options. Each day the menu changes with the exception of four "timeless" starters and three "timeless" entrees.

We found the service to be excellent, even if the food was sometimes just OK.

Oceanview Café (Deck 10): The Celebrity Millennium buffet has an open layout with multiple food stations spread around the space. It's open for breakfast, lunch and dinner and is closed in between meals. Some food stations are duplicated on each side of the buffet, so it's always best to do a complete circuit (especially for lunch and dinner) if you don't want to miss out on anything.

The dishes ranged from really good to just OK. We consistently found the Indian station to be our favorite, offering tame takes on Indian standards.

Mast Grill (Deck 10): This poolside grill is the spot onboard to get hamburgers and hot dogs, as well as turkey and veggie burgers, and, of course, crispy French fries. There's also a small toppings bar. The grill is just open for lunch and late afternoon snacks.

Spa Café (Deck 10): For a selection of small-plate, light fare items, you can head to the adult-only Solarium, where healthier breakfasts and lunches are served every day. The lunch menu is divided into sections with names like "energize," "balance" and "recovery," and features a variety of premade salads (typically using low-fat mayonnaise or yogurt), fresh fruit plates and other healthy offerings.

Blu (Deck 5): Celebrity Millennium’s Blu Restaurant is a small, exclusive spot reserved for passengers staying in Celebrity Millennium’s AquaClass cabins only. Breakfast is, like everywhere else, a usual blend of morning favorites, but also includes a variety of healthy starters such as a low-fat yogurt parfaits or bowls of muesli.

Dinner offers spa-style cuisine that is typically lighter than what is served in the main dining room, with fewer rich sauces and sauteed items on the menu and more natural reductions and herbs. In addition to the rotating menu, there is a three-option Timeless Classics section with fish, chicken and beef choices.

Luminae (Deck 4): Located to the side of Metropolitan, Luminae is a small restaurant open only to suite passengers. it serves as a quiet alternative to the main dining room and buffet.

At dinner, diners can choose from an exclusive Luminae menu or the main dining room menu. The Luminae menu is smaller than what you'll find in the main dining room. It also features a handful of items created by Michelin-starred chef Daniel Boulud. The menu is primarily Pan-American, with vegan or vegetarian, fish and meat dishes available each night.

Dishes range from edible to excellent, and service is impeccable and proactive.

Room service: Continental breakfast is free and can be ordered via a door-hung card put out the night before. All other orders have a hefty per-order charge, plus gratuity. Room service is available 24/7.

Celebrity Millennium Specialty and For-Fee Dining

Tuscan Grille (Deck 3); prix fixe: One of two date-night venues onboard, Tuscan Grille offers delicious Italian fare, along with steaks and seafood, all tucked away in a quiet, somewhat hard-to-find spot on Deck 3.

The menu is divided into starters, salads, soups, homemade pastas, seafood, butcher cuts and sides. Devour the branzino, meat lasagna and fillet mignon, but skip the gnocchi. Come with an empty stomach.

Sushi on Five (Deck 5); a la carte: Not enough passengers discover Sushi on Five, tucked behind Cellar Masters on Deck 5, but this restaurant is a gem. On the menu you'll find a variety of starters, sushi rolls and sashimi. Standout items are the ramens, and the tempura rolls.

If you're not a seafood lover, you'll want to forgo this one; you'll have a hard time finding something that will appeal.

Cafe al Bacio & Gelateria (Deck 5); a la carte: Cafe al Bacio and the Gelateria are located across from each other on Deck 5. At the cafe itself, you'll find a selection of decadent pastries, all available for free. What you will pay for are the gelato, specialty coffees and teas.

Juice Bar (Deck 10); a la carte: The Juice Bar is tucked into the Solarium and shares space with the Spa Cafe. A variety of freshly pressed juices, including mixed juices and smoothies, are available here.

Le Petite Chef at Qsine (Deck 11); prix fixe: Le Petite Chef combines entertainment and spectacular food. It's a once-per-cruise kind of meal, which uses table-top animation to tell the story of a chef cooking competition. Each of the four courses comes with its own creation story, which ends with servers delivering you a real-life version of the dish.

You'll love this whether you're 10 or 100. The only caveat: The fixed menu is the one paired with the animation. If you have allergies or preferences that take you off menu, you won't have exactly the same experience as everyone else. It's still fun, but that final "wow" isn't quite the same.

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