Celebrity Millennium: Millennium ship report PART 4 last one

[MinnesotaMouseketeers]

Previous posts: Part 1 - Transportation Anchorage to Seward. Part 2 - Stateroom. Part 3 - Dining.

Part 4 - entertainment in the theater (and more). It was a seven night cruise but my wife and I made it to only three evenings of entertainment in the theater. I will put in what was showing for each night and will put in bold the shows we went to.
First night - Vocalist Jesse Hamilton (never heard of him). And Aerialists Yulia and Alan Reva.
Second night - Ballroom dance spectacular starring the Celebrity Production Singers and Dancers. It was a very nice show. They mixed up the dance styles along with costume changes to fit the dance they were performing.
Third night - Lou Gazzara: the youngest contestant to ever become a finalist on the TV show "American Idol"
Fourth night - The West End's hit 70's musical by the original producers especially for Celebrity Millennium.
Fifth night - Yulia & Alan Reva: Dancing, flying through the air, and incredible acrobatic skills. Yulia won the gold medal in the last Olympics in Rhythmic gymnastics. It was a very good show, I love watching this type of show.
Sixth night - Dave Burleigh: comedy and impressions. He was very fun; great comedy, impressions and a little piano playing.
Seventh night - Broadway hits presented in a slick fast moving contemporary style by the Millennium Production Singers and Dancers. Wife and I did not attend but the two other couples we sailed with did and they enjoyed it very much.

We all enjoyed the entertainment they had in the theater. But for my wife and me, it doesn't compare to the two or more Broadway style shows that DCL presents on each of their ships. DCL wins big time in this category.

They also had a Science educator and naturalist on board, Milos Radakovich. He had some great presentations in the theater split up over several nights talking about, Alaska of course. From Flora and Fauna to Geology. He also set up camp in Cosmo; with binoculars and a laptop showing our exact location and a microphone in hand to point out what we were seeing as we sailed along. He was fantastic, a great find by Celebrity. And I hope it is okay for me to plug his to books that were being sold on-board, '90 seconds'. 50 bite-size SCIENCE snacks just for fun!

And of course they do have a Casino (non-smoking) on board and I will come right out and say that for us it is a waste of space. None of us gamble and I do not miss the fact that they do not have one on the DCL ships. I would rather they have more dining, bar, lounge, or space devoted for family and/or kids. And while I think of it, it was very strange how few youth there was on board. Almost non-existent.

My wife and I are still Disneyholics, we prefer DCL. But, we did have a very fun time on this cruise!!! And I would highly recommend it to anyone that is on the fence-line on whether they should stick with DCL or take a chance on Celebrity. We really loved the fact that this was a one-way cruise: Seward to Vancouver (or the other direction of course) and not a round-trip cruise: Vancouver to Vancouver which is DCL's only choice.

The ship was clean, they are always busy with the painting, varnishing (and carpet replacement), the food was as good as what we had on DCL, the staff did a great job!

Hope this helps someone out there wondering which cruise line they should choose for an Alaska cruise.

Cheers!!!!

 

[BigredNole]

Taking Disney out of the equation, is this cruise better at about 50% of the cost?

 

[MinnesotaMouseketeers]

Taking Disney out of the equation, is this cruise better at about 50% of the cost?

If a person can take or leave the Disney theme this was well worth the cost; and the savings is a bonus. Spend it on that excursion you thought you would never take because of the cost, put it towards another cruise, eat at one (or two or more) of the upscale restaurants on board, buy that expensive made in Alaska souvenir while in port (great locally owned businesses in each port).

Both cruise lines are equal in: food quality, menu choices, crew members were outstanding, lounge settings etc. Those that did partake in a Spa activity loved it. The one that partook in the workout room liked it. The one thing that my wife and I missed was the rotational dining that you get on board DCL, but this is not a deal breaker.

What we were not excited about was the decor of the ship. It's a ship!!!! Stick with the theme. You could just as well be in any land based hotel by the way the ship is decorated. I stated this in a previous post. I hated the sculptures. I hated the artwork, and I do mean hate. It is Art Deco? New age art? Pop art? I don't know! But it was strange shaped pottery and statutes, strange busts of Ancient Chinese heads, strange pictures hanging on the walls. I want Mariner themed artwork and sculptures; I am on a cruise for crying out loud!!!

If you are really into gambling, there is no contest: Celebrity wins because DCL has no gambling except for BINGO. But none of us gamble so for us that was a very large waste of space. Not so much as a quarter was lost between the six of us for the entire seven night cruise.

And unless DCL introduces the one way cruise between Alaska and Canada, this is a big winner for Celebrity Cruise Line.

The two things that I believe DCL has Celebrity Millennium beat at (by a long shot) is their Broadway style shows and the staterooms because of the split baths on DCL and they are slightly bigger. My wife and I love DCL and we are willing to spend the additional cost to continue sailing on them, and we are. We have a WDW/DCL vacation booked for later this year and we will be signing up for a future cruise while on board.

But for those of you that are on the fence line between Disney Wonder vs. Celebrity Millennium for an Alaska cruise. And you choose Celebrity; I don't think you will regret it at all. We didn't?

If you want details on the excursions we chose let me know, I will be happy to type something up for each of them.

 

[cmph]

Thank you for posting your review. We're starting to look into Alaska for my family of 4. I'm the only one who has been on an Alaskan cruise, northbound, and that was Princess when I was a young teenager. There were very, very few kids my age on that cruise, but I at least had my sister with me. I appreciate your observation that there were few kids on board. We're not gamblers either - since I've cruised as an adult, it's sort of a one-and-done one night thing for me. So that's never a draw for me. However, I'd much prefer a one-way for Alaska. Southbound would be new to me, and the train sounded nice, although a bit long with kids!