Celebrity Cruises Millennium – Day Two
Day two. At sea.
8:30am. Time to check out Michael’s Club for the Continental Breakfast offered to the highest level (Elite) of the repeat passengers club, the Captain’s Club.
Melissa, the Captain’s Club hostess, greeted everyone as they arrived. Although she said that there were about 100 Elite level members on this cruise, there were only six of us enjoying a beautifully displayed light breakfast. Cappuccino is complimentary so I indulged in two, to accompany my lox and bagel(s).
The afternoon diversion would be a welcome aboard event for all past passengers. As with all the cruise lines at these events, waiters pass wine and pre-made cocktails. On Celebrity only the Captain makes a brief speech rather than two or three officers. The Celebrity 7-piece orchestra provided the music rather than canned Muzak. An interesting twist was included; there were short performances from the exquisite ballroom dancer couple, the amazing a Capella quartet and two of the lead singers of whom the male vocalist sounded like a combined Buble and Sinatra. Another nice touch…the drinks and light food didn’t disappear when the entertainment ended as is oh too common on other cruise lines.
The day went by in a blur. Before I knew it I was heading for the dining room. For this cruise I chose open dining, called “Select Dining”. A note in my stateroom suggested that those with Select Dining might want to make reservations so that their dining time preference can be accommodated. Strange but when I requested a 7pm dining time at a table for one, I was told that they would try but that I shouldn’t count on it.
Guess what. When I showed up at 7:00 I was promptly seated at the table of my request. I would have this table for two nights, until a group of women at the table nearby asked me to join them. The next night, we all met at 7PM and were promptly seated at a table for five. The dining room staff was very accommodating and always checking to be sure that everything was proceeding as it should.
Just to make life difficult, I prefer to travel on a no or low-salt diet. Every night towards the end of the meal, Daniel, our Maître d’, Daniel, would stop by and ask for my dinner selection for the following evening. With so many people cruising and so many varying dietary needs, you can do this on all of the cruise lines. Other requests can include gluten-free and vegetarian but kosher meals are generally not available.
Onto the evening’s gala production show in the Celebrity Theater, where it was yet another “Best of Broadway” productions. Unlike the many others that I’ve had to impatiently sit through, this show featured lively Broadway hits that almost everyone had once heard or seen. Pretty good when you consider the lack of intricate stage sets. I would recommend this show, especially on these shorter cruises because the rest of the time the entertainment is more like variety acts than production numbers.
