Lois

I am planning on taking a Med cruise next summer. The Brilliance has a great itinerary but many people say that RCCL does not hold a candle to Princess or Celebrity. Princess does not have an itinerary I am interested in, so I am considering Celebrity's Millenium.<BR><BR>I sailed on the Galaxy a couple of years ago and had a nice cruise. I did not feel that it was significantly better than RCCL, but I had not sailed on RCCL for a few years. Has RCCL declined in the last few years? The Brilliance is supposed to be a beautiful new ship but passengers are complaining about poor food and service.<BR><BR>The problem is that I have read sooooo many poor reviews regarding Celebrity's Millenium. The same negatives as I have been reading about RCCL ships -food that isn't up to snuff, and less than gracious staff. And, in addition to those complaints, people also state that they have experienced terrible vibrations and lots of rolling. The rolling of the ship definitely does not sound like fun.<BR><BR>I would stick with Celebrity's Century class ships but none of them have a Med itinerary that I am interested in. So the question is: Should I sail with Celebrity on the Millenium or with RCCL on the new Brilliance?<BR><BR>I would love any and all suggestions and opinions on these 2 ships. Thanks to all!

Paul Therault

Hi Lois,<BR><BR>Royal Caribbean is a mass-market cruise line therefore the service is average i.e you may get an incompetent steward, waiter or busboy. The food is not quite up to par with other cruise lines but you will not go hungry. It is rated average.<BR><BR>Celebrity is a class above RCCL. 99% of the complaints are unfounded.<BR><BR>I have sailed the Infinity and the Millennium and found the serious vibration is in the aft restaurants and only when pulling into and out of ports. <BR><BR>The stabilizers are those that are used on many other ships and do prevent rolling except in high seas.<BR>All ships roll in high seas. <BR><BR>Hope this helps.<BR><BR>Paul

Dee

My experience on the Infinity was so bad I will never sail Celebrity again. As for the food, one of our table mates said it all when he said the food at the Cracker Barrel restaurants was better. I have sailed RCCl 8 times and while the food is not the quality of the 5 star restaurants around the world, it was good. Food on Legend was not hot when it arrived the first year, but that seemed to have been fixed.<BR><BR>Also, we love the openess of the RCCL ships, and the glass walls so you can see the ocean. We felt enclosed on the Infinity.

Art

Lois,<BR><BR>We are going through the same scenario as you. We deposited for the Millenium for next summer but changed it to the Brilliance. The Itinerary is what won us over. We were on the Constellation last June and loved it. But were going to give the Brilliance a try. It looks like a great ship.<BR>If the Golden or Grand Princess would have had Rome & Santorini, we would have chosen them. <BR>We've been on the Grand, Constellation, and Voyager over the Past 14 months.<BR>All were great ships and some were better than the others in certain areas.<BR>

parrot mom

We have ALWAYS chosen ships for their destinations..We chose the Brilliance because it was a repositioning and going from Harwich to Boston....if you read my comments on further post you will note my opinion of the ship...gorgeous....food mediocre....but the ship did what I wanted to do....7 days at sea arriving in Boston. Because of unique destiations we have taken the old SeaBreeze twice and the Dolphin...to us it's the destinations and ports that counts.. Would be delighted to send you pictures of ship.

Rick

I've cruised the Millenium and am booked on the Brilliance March 2003. I would cruise the Millenium again and hope that my Brilliance experience leaves me wanting more as well. I agree with Paul that many of the complaints you read are based on incorrect expectations rather than real problems.<BR><BR>Pick the itinerary you like best and chose the ship that way. Have fun, a Med cruise is lots of fun although you will be run off your feet with all the things you need to see.

xx

Royal Caribbean owns Celebrity so it seems a little weird to say that Celebrity is a class above RCI.<BR><BR>I've been on both abnd found them very equal in food, service, shows, etc. I like the layout of the RCI ships better than Celebrity ships.

Peter

How, on earth, would anyone know for sure that 99% of the Celebrity complaints are unfounded? Has to be another one of those "facts" we see so often.

Lois

Art, what made you decide to switch to the Brilliance when the Millenium goes to both Santorini and Rome? And the Millenium is approx. $500/person less expensive for the same category stateroom -balcony stateroom. Also, the Millenium is 13 nights vs the Brilliance's 12, which makes the value even better. I would truly love to know if you had other reasons, besides the itinerary, that caused you to change your booking. This is a difficult decision since I don't want to be very dissappointed with whichever cruise I select. Thanks.<BR><BR>Paul, maybe you can address this observation that I have made through hours and hours of research. It seems like whichever cruise line I read about, there are many passengers who comment: I loved this cruise line during my previous 6 cruises with them, but after this most recent cruise, I will never sail with them again! I have read this type of statement about Princess, Celebrity, and Royal Caribbean. I don't think I have ever read so many negative comments about ALL the cruise lines as I have while researching for this next cruise. It almost makes me feel like whichever cruise I choose, I will most likely be disappointed. And, I have never really been very disappointed before.<BR><BR>I can say, however, that I did not feel that Princess and Celebrity were much better than RCCL. I found the staff on Princess to be indifferent and I did not find the food to be very creative at all. Their 24 hour buffet, however was one of the best casual dining experiences I have had on a cruise. And the pizza at their little cafe was quite good also. Celebrity's Galaxy was a beautiful, refined ship with lots of rich wood and nice art work, but the shore excursion staff was not particularly helpful and the food was not spectacular, as I expected it to be based on all of their rave reviews. Our cabin steward, however, was very good on the Galaxy. The Galaxy also seemed a bit quiet. We are not wild partiers by any stretch of the imagination, but on sea only days, it's nice to have a selection of activities to choose from.I also did not see any difference on any of my cruises regarding the entertainment. All of the big production numbers and other staged entertainment seemed about the same -some nights okay, and some nights not. I did enjoy Princess' smaller entertainment venues better -such as piano music in the lounges.<BR><BR>All-in-all, I enjoyed all of my cruises, though. I think that I was most disappointed with Celebrity, however, since I was expecting it to be a step above the others. <BR><BR>So, if nothing's perfect, and we all realize that, why are so many people so unhappy with ther recent cruise experiences? Has cruising really changed that much in the last couple of years? Has RCCL come down a few notches in the past 4 years?

TimesTheyAre

Lois<BR><BR>Let me jump in here and say that a lot of people are now repeat cruisers whereas before it was a new experience to them.<BR><BR>I have enjoyed all 13 cruises I have been on but find that I am more critical of my cruising experience as I have more information by which to judge it. I personally have always loved RCI but am ready to move up to something a little more elegant, after 10 cruises with them. I have been on Princess, Celebrity and HAL too. What I'm looking at now is Radisson or Crystal.<BR><BR>It's a normal evolution I think you are seeing in the increased criticisms and in the changes that folks like myself are making.

cruiser

The problem is that not only are lines like Radisson, Crystal, and Seabourn more elegant and upscale, they have very high fares to match. Most people cannot plan a trip like that very often, if ever. The rates on these lines are about three times as costly as RCI, Princess, and Celebrity.<BR><BR>

Art

Lois,<BR><BR>We chose the Brilliance because Mykonos and Ephesus were also in the Intinerary.<BR>The Millenium only has one "13 night" sailing next summer, but it's in August. I've heard from numerous people and books that it's very Hot and crowded during August. Don't get me wrong, the Millenium is the twin of the Constellation and we "LOVED" the Constellation. As I said earlier we were on the Constellation (Northern Europe)in June and the Voyager (Western Carribean)in August. The Voyager was a great ship, but there were a few other areas that it was lacking in. We want to give RCCL another shot and take a cruise on the Brilliance. I don't know why the Brilliance is more money. I thought the Millenium would be.<BR><BR>Also, have you seen the deals being offered on the Millenium with the reduce airfare ($650.00 from the West Coast). I wish they would offer that deal on the Brilliance.

stacy

We did NOT like the millenium. The quality of the food was good (better than Princess), however we over heard many people of various ages complaing of the ship lack of activities ,but worse was the rocking. We rocked even on the calmist of seas. Being avid cruisers we could not figure out WHY. Love RCCL and are doing our first HAL in 4 weeks for 10 days. Here's hoping the ship is ready for 2 forty year olds!

Lois

Art, I received a reduced airfare from the east coast. I think the difference in airfare is the reason that the Millenium ended up costing so much less than the Brilliance. <BR><BR>I just picked up a Celebrity Europe brochure today and noticed a fabulous Aegean itinerary on the Century. Unfortunately, Celebrity re-routed the Century to the caribbean. This itinerary visited all the Greek ports that the Brilliance does, adding Istanbul for 2 nights and Rhodes. Hopefully they will reintroduce this itinerary.<BR><BR>Art, I am also wondering if you had any difficulty with the Constellation rolling. I have read so many complaints about this problem on the Millenium.<BR><BR>Thanks for answering my many questions.

Andy

Lois- there IS rocking and rolling on the Millennium- plus the food is prepared on the bottom level and the waiters have to take an escaltor to the 1st dining level and then steps to the 2nd dining level-- If you get the luck of being on the 2nd level of the dining room...good luck in getting hot food or a waiter willing to go down 3 flights to get your dinner done correctly...<BR><BR>I will never go on the Millenium again...<BR><BR>We however tried ( after 28 years of cruising) the WIndsurf in the Med 2 years ago- yes...it is slightly higher than RCL or Celebrity and the cruise is 7 days va 12 days- but WIndsurf was light years apart from the MASS MARKETED cruise lines-- they go into much smaller ports ( ie the same ones that Crystal and Seabourn go into) and they are cheaper than Crystal and Seabourn--- The FOOD is awesome,the ports are terrific.It is casual elegant-so no need to carry cocktail wear...<BR>That cruise line really converted us!<BR><BR>The only place I will do a huge mega ship is in the Carib.where I have been so many times- and would want a ship with tons of things going on at all time to keep boredom from settling in...<BR><BR>We have taken RCL but found their food intolerable and highly salted- like they emptied an entire container of salt in their soups etc--YICK...<BR>BUT RCL does have the best nightly entertainment we have ever seen on a cruise ship....<BR><BR>As for the excursion people --I have found that I need to do my own imvestigations on the ports and not depend on a sometimes new and not so travelled excursion person-

parrot mom

Andy..if you think RC has the best entertainment...I think you are living in another world.. We were shocked at the entertaiment on the RC Brilliance..the dancers and especially the singers wore outfits that looked like they were made from leftover upholstery material..the dancers needed rehearsel..The shows weren't even one hour long..moe like 30 minues plus.. I think Paul will agree that only Princess and NCL have their own entertainment troupes. On the NCL Sky we saw Jane L. Powell who charms everybody and has her own followers and NCL version of Cirque de Soleil.. From the Ryan Troupe there a singer, Steve Washington, was such a standout that he was given his own show during the week...

parrot mom

Just wanted to add that Parrot Pop and I are theatre buffs and perhaps we expect more...maybe that's where we are snobbish.. Oh yes... the Sky has Hey, Mr. Producer....with our favorite musicals from the Broadway and London Stage

Lois

parrotmom, have you sailed on Celebrity's Millenium? Which ship would you prefer for a Med sailing- Millie or Brilliance? Originally I was planning on taking the Brilliance, but the Millenium is a little less expensive and is one night longer. It also has an equally appealing itinerary. I have not read very positive reviews on either ship. I thought I was set on the Millie, but I keep reading about severe motion problems, and that would be very unpleasant for me. I was planning on booking this trip this weekend but don't know about the rocking on the Millenium. And, I'm unsure about the quality of the sailing on the Brilliance. If you can help, it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Sue

We just got off the Millenium last month. We never noticed any motion 'problems'. Yes, you occasionally feel some motion but -- hello -- you're a ship. If you don't like motion take a land vacation. Also, the service on the 2nd floor was fine. The escalators do go up to the 2nd floor - I know, I looked.

ParrotMom

For many reasons we have not sailed the Celebrity line.. Mainly we are spoiled by ships (several in the fall and summer) that cruise from or to Boston. My two experiences in Miami at the pier 15 years apart convinced me, call me lazy, but the treatment by pier personnel was the rudest and most ugly experience we have had... In Boston it's a whole different story coming or going.. We also do land trips so cruising is only part of our travel.