We booked this cruise that would take us from Barcelona to Venice, May 2005 with an Embarkation date of October 29, 2006.

We reserved stateroom 9160 upon Celebrity's Millennium. This is a Concierge Class aft cabin, which is approximately 251 square foot and a large 200 square foot veranda.

Boarding this ship had never been easier, once our taxis dropped us off at the Pier in Barcelona, a porter was very eager to accept our luggage and guide us to the entrance to the embarkation lobby.

We were immediately asked to sanitize our hands before entering a ship controlled area and would later discover that this is now SOP aboard Celebrity, we were also offered a cool fruit punch while we stood in the proper line.

The line moved quickly and was thru security and champagne in hand by 12:00noon. As with so many cruises that allow early embarkation our Cabin was not "ready" until 1:00 by we just could not resist stopping by and "dropping " off things. Once there we met Gregorio and Tailer our stateroom tag team that did a pretty good one two punch in Stateroom cleanliness and attentiveness. Any concern we had through out the cruise was always met quickly and efficiently.

October 29 Night one shortly after our sailing from Barcelona while getting ready for dinner I became aware of Mediterranean Fruit Flies that had infested our cabin. I was distraught and after expressing our displeasure firmly, with the staff at guest relations we were moved to another cabin while they attempted to correct the problem.

After expressing my displeasure to The Guest Relations Office.
The entire staff of the Millennium did their best to turn a negative into a positive the Lead Guest relations Officer Ms. Jann Ramos could not have been more understanding of the situation and her performance in this situation reminded me of just why we chose Celebrity.

It took a little over 36 hours before we could get back into the cabin we had purchased for this adventure. When things at the start of an Adventure begin to turn negative, and you see all of you dreams go up in a mist. It can become very scary and disappointing to say the least.

Ms. Ramos not only coordinated the cleanup effort between the various departments, she made an effort to keep in touch with us every step of the way! I must applaud the entire staff for a Job well done!
AND we are back in our stateroom where on David's Birthday October 31, we were able to wake up and have breakfast on the veranda. SUCESS!

The Millennium as a whole is in fine condition, all carpets appear to be in good repair, and it show little signs of age. The support staffs have done a wonderful job with maintenance.

We opted for late dining a table for two we received table 552, which is at the top of the staircase in the Dining Room located adjacent to the Jan Martini Quartet so our meals were always filled with music. Nice touch.
Our Wait Staff, the team of (Glenn) Joseph and Richard; a nice combination that did their best to please. However At times, they seemed to be a bit overwhelmed.

Sebastian our Sommelier was attentive and supportive. He accepted our boycott of first night no wine sales with real grace and on night two made an effort to find a specific vintage that we asked for... He was outstanding and very personable.

The food was Just as we remembered the cold soups were just as remarkable while the roast beef was just as tender and the Escargot which are now part of the regular standby menu were outstanding.

With this being a very port intensive cruise, we did not see much of the late night activities?. So the entertainment; we really cannot comment on.
The exception was for a review for a fantasy type show that the "Singers and Dancers" "entertained" for the passengers ? ( I personally didn?t care for it.)

On November 4th a formal night we had reservations for the Olympic Restaurant. Once again, a table for two and this time a great duce by the Harpist. The meal was outstanding and the service exceptional Thumbs up to Stanislaw Stoyanov, Maitre D'Hotel he runs a fine restaurant, Our only exception was for the Sommelier who was unhappy that we chose not to buy wine and refused our request to purchase a second sparkling water.

We were planning a small gathering in our stateroom to samples some wines Gregorio had anticipated the tasting and offered to provide cheese, crackers, and things before we had to ask.
He was amazing.

The Casino when open had a nice selection of slots and our favorites Little Green men , Texas Tea, where I was able to pick up a few hundred on this cruise so that?s a nice feeling.

Over all we felt we did in fact receive our moneys worth! Got our Bang for the buck as they say.
The Millennium is a fine ship with an outstanding crew, and would not hesitate to sail it again if the Itinerary would present itself.

We cruised on the Zenith July 22 to Bermuda from NY. The cruise was very good. We liked the size of the ship about 50,00 tons, we didn't spend all day trying to locate other members of our family group of 17. My only complaint would be the limited hours of food service. From 2p to 4p there was nothing really available except from 3p to 7p there were cookies availble from the coffee cafe. Lemonade and ice tea hours were limited to meal times. And the soft serve ice cream was available for only 1 hour a day. After being on the Triumph were there seemed to be food available 24/7 my kids were dissapointed. You could always order room service, which was prompt, tho. Anyway we stayed in a bunk cabin for 4 and had plenty of storage room--18 drawers and 2 big closets. The safe was very large-held our camcorder and money. We loved Bermuda and highly recommend it. We did the Kayak and helmet diving excursions. Husband golfed twice ( cost about $90 )Entertainment was so s! o, we didn't really go to many shows ( at days at port they would have the audience participation shows at 7:45 pm and we were always just starting coffee ( first seating. Didn't see much of the childrens program, our kids ages 11 and 14 just hung out with us or other family members. They do have a teen disco scheduled just about every nite, and did have scheduled activities foe 3 different age groups. The food was very good in the dining room and the lido deck food was well like lido deck food. Our waiter and room steward were very good. Service was much better on this ship than the Triumph. You won't be dissapointed on a cruise to Bermuda on the Zenith.

Wednesday 9 January ? Well we arrived at the Quality Inn at Edinburgh Airport. The plan ? to have a peaceful sleep and get to the check in desk in plenty of time after a lovely breakfast.

Thursday 10 January ? Didn?t really sleep too well ? too much going through my mind and the room was a bit hot. When I came out of the shower I was aware of a loud noise coming from the main room ? it was the fire alarm! Dressed very quickly, and damply, before standing outside for 15 minutes in the cold waiting for the fire brigade to arrive and confirm it was a false alarm! Needless to say we didn?t have time for breakfast and arrived at the airport a bit frazzled ? the thing we were trying to avoid by spending the night at the hotel!!

The check in desk was deserted and we got a lovely guy who thought our tale of woe was very funny ? he laughed even more when he realised Steven had ordered me a ?lactose free vegetarian meal? which he confirmed would be ?cardboard on a plate?. This was duly cancelled. He must have felt very sorry for us and after a phone call confirmed we had been upgraded to World Traveller Plus ? Business class seats but with the normal meals etc. It was a great flight out with loads of legroom ? I also had on my new flight socks and was glad to arrive in Miami with ankles that didn?t resemble an elephants!

We picked up our Alamo hire car at the airport and drove up to Amerisuites in Fort Lauderdale. We had booked the hotel a year before and had been quoted a special introductory rate which they seemed to think was impossible. After some lengthy gentle persuasion from Steven we checked in after they confirmed out booking at the lower rate ? was this a taste of things to come I wonder! We freshened up, but as it was after 9pm only managed to do some shopping at Publix (like Safeway!). The guy at my check out recognized my accent and asked if I was Scottish ? he then shook my hand and said ?welcome to Florida? ? you just don?t get that in Glenrothes! By now we have stayed awake as long as we can (remembering the 5 hour time difference) and head for bed!!

Friday 11 January ? Wake up early ? breakfast in the hotel. By 9am we have located a salon which stocks Aveda skincare and I part with a few dollars. By 10 am we are waiting outside the Fashion Show Mall waiting for the shops to open. A few more purchases follow. We then drive on the Costco ? where we get our radios, underwater camera etc and generally manage to spend a few hundred dollars. We then head off to the Broward Mall ? stopping for a sub at lunchtime ? quite a few more purchases made in the afternoon! We arrive back at the hotel in time to unpack, freshen up etc in time for Gail, Mitch and Zack?s arrival ? we met for the first time on our cruise to Alaska in May 2001 ? Steven and Gail continued to e-mail each other ? and when they found out we were going to be in Florida for a few days ? it was arranged they would book into the same hotel for a few days! It was really great to arrive in America and for the first time meet up with people we had met on a previous holiday!

They arrive around 7pm and Gail is at our hotel door before Mitch and Zack have parked the car! It was really great to see them again - we then went out to dinner ? a lovely Italian Restaurant? and Steven tasted his first Cosmopolitan!! Gail is such a bad influence! Zack ? age 16 ? enjoyed himself drawing lovely colourful shapes on the paper tablecloth with the crayons provided by the restaurant! Back at the hotel we spend some time in the Nass?s suite ? Zack went to bed and fell asleep ? we looked at his Bar Mitzvah photo?s.

Saturday 12 January ? Mitch took Zack to play in a table tennis tournament ? we hit the Sawgrass Outlets Mall ? I set off with my radio ? and Steven sets off with his personal shopper Gail! We meet up for lunch and try Nathan?s chips for the first time ? not bad! We then visited Game Works where Steven and Zack had a great time! Green Tomato buffet for dinner ? before going to Jai Alai ? basically a ball game where grown men catch the ball in a strange scooped bat and have to through the ball on the wall and the other team have to do the same thing without the ball bouncing twice ? at least I think that was it. Anyway you have to bet on who is going to win ? I did this very scientifically and managed to pick 3 winners in a row! I looked at who was playing in each game and picked the best looking one!!! Mitch and I had an early night (not together!) ? and Steven and Gail chatted and had a few drinks by the pool.

Sunday 13 January ? Bagels for breakfast ? another first! Steven has a bit of a cold! Went to watch Zack play table tennis. We then drove up to West Palm Beach ? one radio in each car. We told each other Scottish and Floridian jokes all the way there ? most of the jokes terrible ? and Zack struggling with our accents! The shopping in West Palm Beach was very exclusive looking ? but we managed to find a few bargains. We had a late lunch in The Cheesecake Factory ? funnily enough for sweet we all had ? cheesecake! It was then time to say a sad farewell to the Nass?s. There were a few tears ? but we had had a fantastic weekend.

Monday 14 January ? Packed our many bags and drove to the port. As we had joined the Captain?s Club we had preferential boarding. Amanda ? the social hostess ? met up with us and hoped we had a great Cruise! Steven had spent quite a bit of time prior to the holiday on the internet and had been corresponding with a number of people. We had sent a picture and this had been posted on Sandie Fitzell?s Summit web page.

We had our buffet lunch in the Waterfall Café and then went to check out our inside Stateroom (8089). To our surprise we had been given complimentary Champagne and fruit. Lifeboat drill followed! When we got back to our stateroom Steven realised they had us on the wrong seating for dinner so spent the next hour running all over the ship trying to sort things out, this proved to be more difficult that it sounds. Steevn was sent to three different locations on the ship to speak to different people before ending up where he began!! Unfortunately this made us rather late for the sail away party in the Penthouse ? George and Mary Beth were also on the web page and had invited everyone along. A web cam had been set up and for the whole of the cruise so friends etc at home could log on and see where we were! We managed to meet most of the people on the web page although I have to admit I had a problem remembering all their names! The penthouse suite was unbelievable!

Dinner was casual ? we met Karen, Vince (father and daughter), Suzie and Ken who were also at our table. We also met Reginald (Reggie our waiter) and Daniel (Danny the waiter?s assistant). The show in the theatre was a ?Taste of Things to Come? ? I hope not ? it wasn?t very exciting! Met Taz and Mary Anne from Canada at the Trivia. Lost a quick $10 on the slots in the Casino.

Tuesday 15 January ? Arrived in Key West. Hired bikes and cycled to the southernmost point (in America). Visited Ernest Hemmingway?s house (he wasn?t in!) ? met most of the 61 6-clawed cats however ? my favourite was Charlie Chaplin with his little black moustache!

Spent a little more time cycling round in circles trying to find a shop where Steven could buy some underwear! No luck! Handed back the bikes and tried one more stop across from the ship ? no underwear so Steven will have to go short (remember this story for later!) Met Dan and Sandie in the shop and went back to the ship for lunch. After lunch we got to know each other a little bit better and Steven handed over some ?Scottish? gifts! He gave Dan a Police chief?s hat ? who would have believed Dan collected hats!! I always moan when I have to find room for the hats in the suitcases!

In the afternoon I had a game of bingo ? only needed 2 numbers for the jackpot, so close yet so far! Haven?t a clue what Steven did because I didn?t write it in my diary but it probably involved him creating a nice pile of dirty washing! The evening show included Acrobats who were breathtaking and a Pianist/Comedian ? jokes a bit old but still quite funny. We were both shattered so had an early night ? asleep by 10.30pm. This cruising is exhausting work.

Wednesday 16 January ? We are now in Mexico! Steven went to breakfast, I had a tracker in the cabin ? sorry stateroom! Set off by taxi to Chankanab State Park in Cozumel. Had a great day lying under our little palm trees ? lovely white beach ? Steven went snorkelling ? I thought I would try snorkelling again ? my first attempt in Turkey a few years ago did not go well ? Steven had to swim out and lifesave me!!! So there I was in the water mask cleared, snorkel cleared, life jacket on just in case, hanging on to a rope attached to the shore bobbing about on the waves ? trying to convince myself I was nice and relaxed, put my head under the water ? inhaled in half the ocean ? saw about 6 lovely little colourful fish before spluttering and choking back to dry land! Hmmmm! Walked back through the park on our way back to the exit ? lovely lake with lots of plants, iguanas etc. Taxi back to the ship ? too late for lunch so had pizza instead!

Back out again ? took a taxi in to the town ? very hot and busy ? a lot of building work/road works going on so a bit noisy. No purchases! Stopped off at a bar across from the ship on the way back ? lovely white/grey cat with blue eyes lying sleeping on one of the tables. Steven had 2 margueritas and predictably I had a diet coke! Dinner casual ? show was comedian Noodles Levenstein ? some jokes quite funny! Visited ?Notes? and listened to some music ? 2 ?delightful? teenagers who were quite like Beavis and Butthead were playing Chess ? thank goodness I don?t have children!

Thursday 17 January ? Breakfast in our stateroom ? At sea today. I have quite a sore throat ? probably the snorkelling! Steven played table tennis (met Tom for the first time, a minister from Henderson, near Las Vegas, ? same age as Steven although I have to say looked considerably younger ? and just as mad about competitive sports), shuffle board and volleyball (which had to be abandoned as it was a bit windy and 2 balls were lost of the back of the ship not before one of then nearly gave a sunbathing passenger on a lower deck a black eye!)

Steven and Tom played basketball while I bought my postcards (all 21 of them!) ? Ordered a Darjeeling and wrote my postcards ? remember to stick my little pinkie in the air when drinking my tea.

We were invited to Afternoon Tea in the Fitzell?s Stateroom (Dan and Sandie) at 4pm ? this was served to us by Xavier ? their butler ? the sandwiches and cakes were delightful although I have to say I was more impressed by the fact their stateroom had a bath!! We had a lovely time together which was made perfect by watching the sunset over the ocean from the balcony! A memory to last forever!

Afterwards we went with Dan and Sandie to the Normandie for dinner ? the speciality restaurant on the ship that offers 5 star cuisine and service ? our whole dining experience took 3 hours!! Thank you Michel Roux for my fantastic pudding! We met William the waiter (who reminded me of Richard E Grant) and had a truly memorable meal! William was English and a little ?upset? Dan had placed Scottish flags in a champagne glass on our table! The show tonight was songs from famous artists ? Cher, Bee Gees, Elton John etc.

Friday 18 January ? Hello Costa Rica ? Steven was adamant we were getting a taxi in to town ? the guy organising the transport was adamant we were getting the shuttle. After a bit of debating ? we got the shuttle (after missing the first one!). Spent 1 hour walking around Porto Limon ? they really don?t have much but were exceptionally friendly. It was very hot to start with but then unfortunately came on very heavy rain. Shuttle finally arrived to take us back to the ship! We bought some wooden boxes etc from the stalls set up beside the ship ? for some reason Steven bought a large wooden parrot!!

Back n board we had lovely pasta for lunch ? met Taz and Mary Anne again. My sore throat was getting the better of me so I went for a lie down ? although I couldn?t really rest due to a constant sound of running water coming from the back wall of the stateroom! Steven went back off the ship and walked quite a bit taking photo?s and talking to the locals. When he returned he played basketball and volleyball yet again with Tom. Informal for dinner ? only Vince and Karen. I really didn?t feel very great so had an early night. Steven danced in Revelations nightclub I believe.

Woken at 3am with Steven talking on the phone asking for the noise of running water to by switched off. Ended up with someone visited the room and Steven going off to another stateroom to try to get some sleep ? I was ok due to my earplugs!

Thursday 19 January ? Steven return to have breakfast in the stateroom a bit tired and grumpy (how did I know the difference I hear you ask ? good point!!!) Arrive in Colon, Panama ? leave by bus for a trip to the Panama Canal ? watch the Sea Princess go through the Gatun Locks. Message from Guest Relations saying we could move to another Stateroom due to the noise of water ? told Steven he could move if he wanted but I was not spending hours packing up all our stuff! Went to see the stateroom anyway ? number 6111 ? beautiful room with a balcony! Went back to original room and packed and moved within the hour!

Went on deck to watch us leave Colon! Formal night ? Steven took about 1 hour to put on his kilt ? I wore my new gold outfit ? I left sparkle everywhere I went ? literally! Dinner at Captain?s table with George (Assistant Hotel Manager). I was seated at the top of the table but Steven was seated next to Yancy (yes that?s right ? Nancy with a Y) who was a model/dancer from Miami. Needless to say she was very pretty so Steven spent the rest of the night with a stupid grin on his face ? you would think someone would have mentioned to Yancy that her dress didn?t fit! Lets just say she wasn?t wearing any underwear and nothing was let to the imagination. Ask Steven where I was that night and what I wore and I bet he hasn?t got a clue ? although I was in some photographs that were taken ? Steven at the top of the stairs with Yancy. Me? ? yes you?ve guessed it at the bottom! Anyway the meal was lovely ? I had a pork and pasta dish - the best yet (apart from the Normandie). We were presented with a red rose and photograph to mark the occasion. Met Dan and Sandy afterwards (who were at the Captain?s table for the late seating so we could meet and thank Danny! Steven was still grinning! The show was ?Encore?. Steven fell asleep on the balcony in his Celebrity robe!

Sunday 20 January ? Woke up with daylight flooding through the curtains ? will we ever be able to return to an inside cabin ? I doubt it! Steven out on the balcony at 7am taking photographs. Met Gregario ? our new stateroom attendant ? he delivered our breakfast. Docked in Cartagena, Columbia. Took Deluxe tour with Dan and Sandie ? visiting the Monestary, Fort and many emerald shops. The street traders were a little numerous and over enthusiastic! It was very hot but a very interesting trip! Bought some coffee from a street trader ? at least I hope it was Columbian coffee!

Back to the ship for 1pm ? very lengthy queue to board. Lifts too busy so took the stairs. Went to the Waterside Grill for the obligatory pasta (I also had a lovely toffee apple!) The restaurant was so busy we could hardly get a seat! Visited William in the Normandie to book our next visit. Rushed up to the Penthouse ? George and Mary Beth had invited all the web page people for a drinks party ? Lee threw his white wine over Steven ? an accident I believe ? unfortunately it was the first time he had put on his new Ron Jon T shirt! Back to the Stateroom for a very quick change in order to meet the Captain for cocktail?s in the Celebrity Theatre! Ran along for dinner at 6pm followed by a blether with Norman, Be, Daryl and Tenise (who were also at the Captain?s table. Visited the Emporium to purchase a few amber pendants. Returned to the Stateroom to find Steven asleep with his mouth open with Country and Western music playing from the TV ? lets just say it?s not going to go down as one of my more pleasant experiences from the Cruise! Guess we?re not going to the show!

Monday 21 January ? Arrive in Aruba. Steven gets up early and goes to the gym. Breakfast at the Waterside Grill. Meet up with Dan and Sandie and pick up our hired car. Not the best hired car we have ever had. It is only a small island and our car has accumulated 64,000 miles. Dan navigated ? which I was glad about. Unfortunately there are about 2 road signs in the whole of Aruba ? by some miracle (or Dan?s enviable navigational skills) we find the Natural Bridge. Very beautiful ? but very windy. We then drive on to a lighthouse (stopping on the way to take photographs of the cactus) ? we find a quiet little beach ? Steven goes snorkelling, Sandie and I chat and watch the numerous iguanas right beside us while Dan had a little snooze ? I thought I heard some snoring but maybe it was distant thunder. Steven arrived back and a short panic follows when we think the car keys are at the bottom of the ocean. Thankfully they were not because suddenly it came on very heavy rain and we all made a dash back to the car ? rather wet and sandy!

Drive back to the main town and drop off the car and have a very civilised ?Afternoon Tea? in the Waterside Grill. Casual night at dinner. Lost another $20 on the slots while Steven had a little nap. Show at 9pm saw the return of Rob Long the Pianist/Comedian together with the Celebrity Band. The sea was quite rough at one point but eventually calmed down. Steven once again ends the day on the balcony ? lovely night ? the moon is on her back in a very starry sky.

Tuesday 22 January ? Straight down at 9am for the fantastic watch sale. Bought a gold watch. Vince from our dinner table bought 6! Joined Dan and Sandie in the Waterside Grill for breakfast. I tried again at the bingo ? nothing! Steven took part in the shuffleboard tournament ? won ? I said he was competitive!! Picked up the menu from the Penthouse ? we have been invited to dinner. Steven had a quick 10 minutes in ?Notes?. Quite a few of the web page met up at the Captain?s Club Cocktail Party in Revelations. (Dan not there as he was feeling a little under the weather.)
Afterwards we all went to lunch together in the Cosmopolitan Restaurant. Steven then plays basketball with Tom. I say ta ta to another £20 on the slots. (Lasted quite a while though!)

Dropped off Vince?s birthday card and present (he was 75!) then headed up to the Penthouse for dinner. Had a great meal with Mary Beth, George, Mary, Bob, Anne & Jim served by Carlton the butler. Swapped Scottish gifts for some buckeye beads! A little late for the show so missed a bit of the soul singer however we heard all of Noodles. One joke ?What do you call a Jewish dilemma ? Free Ham!?. Chatted to Karen and Vince who appeared to be buying more watches. We then met Tom, Robyn, Daryl and Tenise. Went to Revelations for a little while with Dan and Sandie ? Steven was having water to drink until Jim Carroll (The Cruise Director) very kindly bought our round of drinks ? it then changed to a Pina Colada. (True Scotsman!)

Wednesday 23 January ? Early start in George Town, Grand Cayman (6 other ships in port with us today!). Alarm set for 6.15am followed by breakfast in our stateroom at 6.30am. On the first tender boat with Dan and Sandie (after walking half way round the ship) ? a little surprised they were playing the Titanic song as we boarded! Found Captain Marvins and take the minibus to the boat. With 14 people on board we travel for around ½ hour ? Most people get of the boat to snorkel ? needless to say Man from Atlantis, Steven, is the first person off the boat and I decide not to bother!

Sandie and Dan both had a go ? Sandie received some personal tuition from one of the guys on the boat and managed some pretty impressive snorkelling. Dan reminded me of myself in Turkey ? but at least Dan can swim! Moved on to the sand bank at Stingray City and I did get out of the boat in to the sea because my feet could touch the sand! I wouldn?t say I swam with the Stingray?s exactly ? just bobbed about beside them. I did manage to snorkel for about a minute by holding my breath under the water! We all took a turn to hold a Stingray! Steven gave them some food and we did manage to get some good photographs with the underwater camera ? one stingray decided to sit on Steven?s head!

Back to the ship for a quick shower (definitely a bad hair day!) and lunch in the Waterside Grill. I caught the tender back to George Town and did a little shopping ? fudge! Very hot! Back to the ship for a little rest ? Steven stayed on board to play volleyball, basketball and shuffleboard with Tom (it later transpired all Steven?s underwear needed to be laundered so he had on my knickers ? I?m glad he didn?t have an accident that required medical attention!)

Went to the Fitzell?s stateroom at 6.30pm for champagne and canapés served by Xavier the butler. The Caesar salad was tossed freshly at the side of the table ? delicious! I had the lamb to follow but didn?t enjoy it quite as much as the Chateaubriand ? had my fantastic pudding again though! Sadly William had flown home from Grand Cayman due to a family emergency! Took some photographs at the ?official spots? ourselves! Met Andrea and Mark (web page) for some more photos. Went to Broadway show with Dan and Sandie ? we are all extremely tired after our long day ? we all sat looking rather dazed and every so often realised a song had ended and clapped like 4 performing seals!

Thursday 24 January ? Attended breakfast in the Waterside Grill at 9.30am. Met Sandie and went to the disembarkation seminar in the Celebrity Theatre. Everybody is a little sad today because you know the cruise is nearly over ? back to reality. Did a little last minute shopping and lost another $10 in the casino. Steven learnt how to throw an American football.

Lunch with Dan and Sandie in the Waterside Grill followed by our first game of shuffleboard. Go back to the stateroom to do a little packing ? depressed! Steven and Tom are playing basketball etc followed by Steven putting Tom through his paces in the gym! I did a bit more packing - I met Dan and Sandie in the Library for a game of Scrabble ? I managed to win by getting a ?q? word on a triple word score ? first and last time for everything I suppose. Last dinner with Reggie, Danny, Karen, Vince, Susie and Ken. This is the night when you hand out the ?tips?! I did a little more packing ? bags need to be outside the door for 12. Went to the final show ? Metro, Bob Long etc followed by the Cruise video!

I could prattle on a bit more about our wait at the airport follow by our seats on the return flight at the emergency exit, the woman behind me pinching all my magazines, a delightful flight attendant etc etc etc but I won?t ? my fingers hurt and Steven is getting hungry.

That?s all folks!! Except ?

My conclusions ? We both had a fantastic holiday ? before and during the Cruise. Deepening existing friendships and making friends with people I hope we will meet again in the not too distant future! I am a little upset however that after spending an afternoon writing 21 postcards none arrived at their destinations!

Just returned from a 12 day Mediterranean cruise on Celebrity?s Millennium ship. Wow! What a vacation! My husband and I took our 15 year-old son and had a fantastic time. We met some great people and thoroughly enjoyed each port city. I am still amazed at the itinerary for this cruise: Istanbul, Kusadasi (Ephesus), Limassol, Alexandria (Cairo), Piraeus (Athens), Naples (Pompeii), Civitavecchia (Rome), Villafranche (Nice, Monaco), and Barcelona. We have always taken our vacations in the U.S., Canada, or Caribbean. Europe seemed too far away when Hawaii and the Caribbean were so easily accessible. Not anymore! We are already planning next year?s vacation to Europe, only next time we will travel on our own (minus the cruise) to England, France, and Italy. If you are the kind of person (like us) who is a bit uncomfortable about traveling abroad, I would highly recommend this cruise.
My husband (a CPA), son, and I (teacher) have been on six cruises in the past ten years (two to Alaska, two to the Caribbean, one from Hawaii to Vancouver, and this Mediterranean cruise). Actually, my husband has gone on four other cruises with his family (Caribbean and Mexico). We did not like the repositioning cruise from Hawaii (Pacific Princess, ten years ago) but the other cruises were wonderful and hooked us on cruising (with Celebrity and Royal Caribbean). They were fun and had lots of activities going on at all hours of the day. This Mediterranean cruise was fun too, but it did not have the same type of activity-filled days, perhaps because everyone is so busy seeing the sights. However, on the Millennium, even the evenings and sea days are more laid back with less to do. We spent the majority of our ?spare? time up by the pool. Like most of the other cruises we have been on, it is pretty much ?dog eat dog? regarding the poolside lounge chairs. There is a big problem with people saving chairs hours before they plan to use them. This was the only problem area we encountered on the ship. We had one obnoxious woman get in my husband?s face about moving her towels from 3 chairs. She didn?t see anything wrong with having 3 chairs in the sun and 3 chairs reserved in the shade for when they got too hot. They would lie in the sun for hours and then sit in the shady chairs for a few minutes to cool off.
You might need to remind people there is no reserving and it is written up in the ship?s brochures of do?s and don?ts. You will see a lot of chairs laying empty for hours and hours without a soul in sight. We?re not talking about people who are swimming or grabbing a bite to eat in the buffet line. Nope, we are talking about people who see nothing wrong with putting down 10 towels on 10 chairs at 8:30 in the morning so that they will have a place to sit at 12:30 in the afternoon.
Regarding the ship, the Millennium is absolutely beautiful: very elegant, clean, and comfortable. It was hard to believe 2,000 people were aboard. None of the lounges, restaurants, or public areas ever got that crowded. We heard the tenders in Villafranche were a bit crowded at 7:00 am but they were no problem an hour later. The ship is very well maintained and the cleaning crew is constantly working around the clock to make sure everything is shipshape. Our balcony was washed off every few days, which was great because the sea spray really built up on the railing, windows, and chairs. If you plan to have 3 people in your veranda room, try to book early and get a cabin with an overhead bunk. We were unable to book a room with a bunk for our son so we had a fold out chair. It worked fine and was comfortable (according to him) but he didn?t appreciate my husband and I climbing over him each morning in port cities to take photographs or movies from the balcony. The cabin was very comfortable because it was designed well. We had an excellent cabin stewardess who took good care of us.
One thing I really took advantage of on this cruise was the ship?s laundry/dry cleaning service. On previous cruises I remember being appalled at the cost of laundering a pair of pants. The Millennium?s prices were the same or even cheaper in some cases than my neighborhood drycleaner. I laundered and dry-cleaned about 12 items (pants, dresses, shirts) because we went through clothes like crazy and I got tired of hand washing stuff in the sink. It is hard to pack for a 2-week cruise for 3 people and not have to take 10 suitcases.
The food was fabulous; we have no complaints. A few of the people we talked to complained about a few items on the menu (New York steaks said to be on the tough side) but we thought everything was great. Sometimes the dining room?s lunch menu looked less than appetizing because they had a number of foods we simply do not enjoy (rabbit, veal, etc.) On those few occasions we would head to the lunch buffet, which was fine but not as good as the dining room.
No matter where or when we ate our meals my husband and I tried to select the leaner menu items and they were excellent. The sherbets were always outstanding. We also really liked the spa menu up by the pool. They usually served excellent dishes that our son even enjoyed, such as salads, sushi, and fruit plates (and he is very much a pizza and hamburger kind of guy).
Many people ate at the Olympic Dining Room, but we opted not to go. Everyone we spoke to who ate at the Olympic said the experience was fantastic: they had never had such incredible service before. Also, everyone we spoke with said the food was comparable or even slightly less wonderful than the meals served in the main dining room. I wasn?t that thrilled about eating there but I wanted to see the Olympic Dining Room so we asked if we could go in and look around. It is very nice looking inside but very different looking from the dining room.
Something interesting about the main dining room on this particular cruise was the abundance of empty tables, especially the first two nights. We were at a table for 8 and our tablemates never showed up once. According to the Matre?d they never made it on the cruise. The ship was sold out but there were many tables near us that were ½ empty. Eventually, we moved to another table with a couple and their son (same age as our son). They were wonderful dinner companions and we only wished we had hooked up with them earlier. The dining room staff tried very hard to make us happy and we were impressed with the service they provided. Our waiter, Georgie, and assistant waiter, Jose, were the best. Very professional and personable.
The entertainment on board ranged from excellent (the production numbers with the ship?s singers and dancers) to mediocre. There were a few solo entertainers who seemed to have been booked with a much older crowd in mind. We love classic music and show tunes as well as contemporary ones, but one guy in particular sang dull songs from the earlier part of the last century in a very silly manner. He had an excellent voice but his presentation and style grated our nerves. We were also unimpressed with the magician who looked about 16 years old. He was very talented but his act was very tedious. He would do the same tricks over and over again. The lighting on stage was turned down so low you could barely see the guy at times. I guess the stagehands were trying to hide the little tricks of the trade (wires, etc.) by eliminating most of the lighting. Another thing: he didn?t say a single word during the entire performance. Drove me nuts.
Now, getting down to the good stuff: the ports. Well, I think this itinerary is the best I have ever seen for a cruise. Three days after our cruise, I am still in awe of what we did on our vacation. The good thing about the itinerary is it let you see places you might not have selected if you were traveling on your own (like Egypt or Turkey). The bad thing is you really do not have time to see everything you want to see. In fact, it gets frustrating at times because you feel so rushed. Let?s face it: it is crazy to think you can see Rome or Cairo in a day! So, we approached this cruise like a ?sampler? vacation. We got a reasonable taste of 8 different ports and now we plan to go back in future years and visit these places in leisure. We used the ship?s tours for each city except Istanbul, Limassol, Monte Carlo, and Barcelona. Yes, the ship?s tours are very whirlwind and you do feel a bit like cattle. However, our excursions were well organized, comfortable and informative. The tour guides ranged from good to excellent. The buses were clean and in excellent shape (most had a toilet). You do run into huge crowds of people, particularly in Rome, Cairo, Istanbul, and Pompeii, but you will not be able to avoid crowds of people in Europe in summer, even if you do your own private tours.
The people we talked to who did their own tours varied in their experiences. Those who paid exorbitant fees for a private, small tour seemed to have a better time. They all had booked months ahead of time with well-known tour companies and were pleased with their choices, even though they paid double the price that we did. They were able to see more things than we did because they didn?t have to wait for 40 other people taking a potty break (like we did). However, those doing private tours had to pay for their own entrance fees (usually under $10 each) and cost of lunch.
The people we talked to who took less expensive private tours or took advantage of a taxi driver offering to take them on a private tour were not that happy. One friend said that in Rome her guide barely spoke English and did not tell her all of the interesting info we got going on a ship?s tour. She paid quite a bit of money as well (for 5 people). Taxi driver tours seem to be bad news. You are almost guaranteed of being ripped off and hassled if you choice this type of tour in Istanbul or Athens. They always have a rug shop or restaurant of some friend or relative they insist you go to. You protest, they want more money or they will call the police.
In Athens, the cab drivers are notoriously rude. Everyone we talked to on board seemed to have a similar story regarding an obnoxious cab driver. Make sure you talk to the cab drivers BEFORE you get in the car. Tell them you want them to use the meter. They will protest, but insist before you get inside of the cab. Taxi drivers can be major rip-off artists in Athens, and they will yell at you as well. The favorite thing taxi drivers seem to say in Athens is, ?What is your problem?????
Starting from the beginning, we flew to Istanbul on Turkish Air via Chicago (on American) a day early, which was terrific. We had no problems with the plane trip. We felt pretty good (not very tired despite the fact that we had not slept at all) when we arrived in Istanbul and set out right away to see the Hagia Sophia and Blue Mosque. (We got the best advice on avoiding jet lag from Rick Steve?s book Europe Through the Back Door that recommends being completely ready for your trip two days before you go and spending those two remaining days resting up.) The cab drivers in Istanbul drive like the proverbial bats out of Hades. Man, we saw our lives flash before our eyes a number of times in two days! As soon as I stuck my foot out of the cab in front of the Hagia Sophia I had a guy bugging me. He greeted me and started rattling off ?helpful? tips and advice. He latched onto me like an ant on a marshmallow. I tried to be polite at first but grew considerably cooler when he would not leave me alone. We had been warned about Turks looking for American tourists to make money off of.
Well, the guy finally got tired of me and went after my husband, who was Mr. Friendly. I tried warning hubby that this guy was not a member of the Welcome Wagon, but he just kept on chatting away. So, the pesky man started steering us to the Blue Mosque because he said the Sophia closed later (he lied). We tried to lose him (no chance!) and I began to get annoyed. We couldn?t take pictures or even have a conversation with this parasite right in the middle of us. This guy kept saying he didn?t want anything from us but he would not leave us alone. He kept pointing out things like, ?Here is where Muslims wash their feet before going into the mosque. Here is a very old tree. Here is a very old door?? Finally, he told us he had a carpet store nearby and wanted us to come by and look since he was being so nice to us. We said maybe. No, he said. We must come to his store after the Blue Mosque. He would wait for us. I told him our time was limited and if we had time after Hagia we might go by his store. No, he said. He would personally escort us. He became more and more pushy and aggressive. Finally, after about 15 ? 20 minutes of his aggressive pestering I told him we would not be going to his store. He became very angry and I told him he was harassing us. Well, he finally stormed off and we were left to see the Blue Mosque and St. Sophia in peace.
Be warned! These guys are crawling all over the place. We watched at least a dozen of these pests harassing tourists near the mosques with the exact same strategy and technique. They come on friendly (?Hi, where are you from? Oh really? My cousin lives there too!?) and they won?t let go of you. Different guys approached us at least more ten times. My husband finally started telling them we were from Mexico although we do not look Hispanic and do not speak Spanish. Surprisingly, they left us alone when he said that. The cab drivers at the tourist sights will try to rip you off. Our cab rides around the city always cost less than $6 but they will initially ask you for $20. Just walk away and say ?too much? and they will lower their price. Also, the vendors and cab drivers love American dollars in the tourist areas but will often say they won?t take them if you are at a sight wanting a ride back to your hotel or to the ship. So, have Turkish money on hand. One American dollar pretty much equals $1,000,000 in Turkey. The money is confusing because the zeros are close together and are not separated by commas. They will try to take advantage of the fact that you are confused and will offer to ?help? you with the money. Don?t let them. Also, be prepared to bargain for goods, but do not counter-offer on their price if you do not plan on buying the item. This is culturally very wrong and rude and they will yell at you.
Istanbul is a fascinating city with a remarkable history. Besides the Hagia Sophia and Blue Mosque we visited the Topkapi Palace and toured the harem (go early and buy tickets for the harem as this is the most popular sight at the palace). We did a lot of walking around and visited a couple of parks where the locals had picnics with their families. The Turks are very curious about foreigners, which made me uncomfortable, at first, because they openly stare. My husband and son wore long pants and I wore conservative dresses in order to ?blend? (hah!), but the people gawk at you.
We boarded the ship before 10:30 on Sunday, which was great, but weren?t allowed to go to our cabin until 1:00 pm. This is a new policy of Celebrity that has been in effect for a couple of months. We explored the ship, ate lunch, and went back to Istanbul for the afternoon. The next morning we could have gone off the ship until noon, but our jet lag finally caught up with us and we slept late. Most people we talked to went to the Grand Bazaar and said it was an interesting and (rather obnoxious) experience. I am talking very aggressive salesmen who are all over you if you even look at any item for more than a few seconds. A number of people ended up buying Turkish rugs and mailing them home to the states, but they all seemed to wonder if they would actually receive the rugs once they got to the U.S. After the ship left Istanbul we had an afternoon at sea and used it to take a nap. Our advice: take naps whenever you can because they really help. (By the end of the cruise you will be exhausted if you don?t rest up along the way.) The next morning we arrived in Kusadasi and took the ship?s excursion to Ephesus, which is about 30 minutes away by bus. This place is incredible! We weren?t expecting much from the pictures we had seen but you really have to experience walking through the old city ruins to appreciate it. Ephesus used to be a seaport, but is now 6 miles inland from the coast (sand filled up the coastland). When Constantinople became the capital city, Ephesus slowly died. They are now actively excavating the city and have uncovered quite a bit. The communal city toilets are not to be missed! You can buy picture guidebooks going into or leaving the ruins for about $5. Our next day was a sea day and we hung out by the pool, which was not very crowded. People were still sleeping off their jet lag. We met a number of people who actually boarded the ship in Kusadasi because they missed embarkation in Istanbul due to plane problems. Following the sea day we arrived in Limassol, Cyprus. If you want to do any shopping there, be advised the shops are closed from about 1:00 to 4:00 in the afternoon. We took a cab to town and walked around. This was our least favorite port. The city was fine, but it really can?t compete with the fantastic sights of the other port cities. Our cab driver was quite a character who chatted nonstop and had studied American history. He was thrilled to find out that I?m a teacher. For 15 minutes I was quizzed on obscure facts about the U.S. (?Do you know what the word Alaska means? Do you know where Rhode Island got its name? No? And you call yourself a teacher? Bah!?) We heard the ship?s tours were very average, mostly because the sights were not that exciting.
The following morning we arrived in Alexandria. You can still see the giant marble blocks that used to be the foundation of the Alexandria Lighthouse, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. They are still lying around the breakwater. Strangely enough, there are a number of rusty, abandoned, half-sunken ships poking out of the water. You would have thought the city had just survived a war. Indeed, Alexandria is very dirty, poor, and looks war-torn. In my mind I had imagined a romantic city with beautiful buildings that hinted of a rich history. Hardly! There was no sign that Cleopatra had ever ruled this city. Cairo looked much the same.
Police boats surrounded the ship and remained stationed close at hand until we left port in the evening. Armed policemen (they looked about 18 years old) surrounded the debarkation area near the ship. In fact, armed policemen escorted the eighteen or more tour buses that left the port area. We traveled in a tight pack on the road and parked close together in tourist areas as well.
An interesting situation happened during our tour in Rome. As we were walking around the city we came across a beggar woman who looked just like a hag you would see in an old fairy tale book. She looked very ?Old World? and I was looking at her to see if she really had a baby cuddled up next to her since she was holding a bundle in her arms the way mothers cradle their infants. Well, about the time our tour guide yelled out (and I mean YELLED) ?Gypsy! Look out! She?s a gypsy!? the woman had picked the pockets of two men in our tour group. She lifted one man?s wallet from his front pocket and even stole another man?s wallet from his fanny pack that he had zipped up in front of him. Both men felt the pressure of her taking the wallets but she was so quick they barely had time to respond. Well, they soon started chasing her and she threw down one guy?s wallet. We never really heard if the other guy got his wallet or money back.
The coliseum is massive and impressive despite the missing floor. You can see where the wild animals were caged before they were forced into the arena to fight the gladiators. By the way, we found out that Christians were never fed to the lions at the Coliseum, despite what we have heard over the years. Christians were killed at other areas around the city, but never at the coliseum. The coliseum was strictly an arena for gladiators. It was sickening hearing about all of the thousands of wild animals that were slaughtered there. Bull fighting is basically a remnant of the ancient gladiator games.
Our next port day was in Villafranche, where many of our fellow cruisers had planned to go it alone into Nice or Monte Carlo (us included) via the local train. Guess what? Train strike, so we took the bus into Monte Carlo. This area of France is very beautiful, like the Amalfi Coast. There really wasn?t much for us to do so we walked around and looked into the windows of stores like Prada, Gucci, and designer jewelry stores. My husband laughed while I pointed out some very fine ?souvenirs? I would have enjoyed taking home with me. There were very few typical gift shops around and the few we found seemed to carry mostly racing gear aimed at toddler-aged boys and garish gold-trimmed ladies handbags. When we walked around the little shops by the ship I did find some nice (and very inexpensive) lavender sachets and French milled soaps. There really wasn?t much more than that, unfortunately.
I mention the shopping because I really came on this trip prepared to buy some great gifts to take home: pottery, linens, etc. Honestly, we barely had anything to declare when coming back into the U.S. There simply wasn?t enough time to properly shop and the places you go to on the arranged tours do not have great items. Okay, if you are in the market for a plastic statue of Michelangelo?s ?David? or ?Pieta? you will be in luck. But, if you would like a beautiful Italian bowl to take home or a lovely hand-knit sweater ? good luck. I certainly didn?t find any. My husband is very happy about this, I might add. We arrived in Barcelona and disembarked the ship at 8:30 in the morning. The entire process was smooth and hassle-free. My parents (who live in Spain) met us at the port. We spent an extra 3 days in Barcelona and I am so glad we did. Not only did we love the time we had with my parents, but also enjoyed walking around the city, seeing all of the major sights without all of the rush, rush, rush. Barcelona is a dynamic city that seems to love people. Las Ramblas is an incredible area of pedestrian boulevards that are a people watcher?s paradise. Montserrat, an exquisite monastery high up in the mountains near Barcelona, was probably the highlight of our time in Spain. We went hiking in the hills nearby and then enjoyed the church. The statue of the Black Virgin is housed there. She is the patron saint of Barcelona.
We also enjoyed Gaudi?s La Segrada Familia, but you really have the best view of his work walking around the outside of the church. The church is a weird mix of the fantastic and the bizarre. Guell Park is another Gaudi creation that is worth seeing, despite the hike up the steep incline. We had lunch nearby at a marvelous restaurant. In fact, all of the food we ate in Barcelona was exceptional, once you get past the fact that locals prefer their fish with the head, tail, and skin still on. At least they gut the fish for you! The prawns we had were excellent but they came with all of the crustacean trimmings still intact. So, you have to work in order to eat your food. It was always delicious.
Well, that about wraps it up. I can?t believe I wrote so much about our trip. It seems as if there was a lot more to say. If any of you have booked this cruise for the near future I envy you. Have a wonderful time! I know we certainly did! You will come home tired and in need of another vacation (a quiet, relaxing one) but you will be amazed at how much you saw and experienced. I know that our experience changed the way we view our world. It was truly a vacation of a lifetime.

Let me begin by saying that these are my own personal observations. Every person comes aboard with different expectations of a cruise. On any cruise one person can have a totally horrible experience and another can have the time of their life. But I know I benefit from a wide range of opinions when I?m trying to pick a cruise so I feel it can?t hurt to report my experience for others to compare. I have previously cruised on Royal Caribbean and Princess so that is what I am comparing things to. As Celebrity?s slogan is ?exceeding expectations?, I was anticipating a pretty high quality experience. So that said, here?s my take on the Galaxy...

Overall, this was a pleasant, relaxing cruise. But Celebrity did not exceed my expectations. I was surprised at how standard most things were, instead of above average as they claim. Lets start with the food, since they claim to have the best cuisine. It was good, but not great. Examples: runny scrambled eggs, soggy French toast, fatty veal, dry tenderloin. The breakfast buffet had essentially the same choices every single day. Usually there was one different selection. The buffet itself was presented very simply. One thing I noticed right away was how they were obviously trying to improve the buffet experience by having trays lined with linens, a server who hands you a tray and utensils, and waiters to carry your tray to your table. But what I found myself thinking was ?This doesn?t really do anything for me. I?d rather have better food choices and carry my tray myself!?. The lunch buffet seemed to always have very heavy dinner foods. Only once was I able to get a sandwich,! and they also had a salad bar (and a meager one, at that) only once. I sorely missed the daily salad bar aboard Princess. It was extensive and available all afternoon long, great for late lunches! On the Galaxy, if you wanted something to eat after 2pm, you were pretty much left with having a hamburger or pizza. (The only late-afternoon food available.) There was an ?afternoon tea? from 4pm ? 5pm, which had a few finger sandwiches and tons of sweets. (Note: We never tried the room service. But our tablemates told us that the selection was less than stellar. The only sandwich they were able to get was PB&J.) Another thing I missed from Princess was having the beverages available. The Galaxy provided lemonade, punch and iced tea during meals. But right after the buffet ended, they were promptly closed. Princess always had at least one drink station open where you could get a glass of iced tea. As such, we ended up spending quite a bit more on bar drinks (soda, wine, and a fe! w cocktails) than we ever have. ($400+ total bar bill) The dining room. Again, so-so. We had the late seating, which was supposed to be at 8:30pm. Several nights they opened late. We would see people from the early seating still coming out at 8:15pm! They would open the doors for our seating usually about 5 to 10 minutes late. If you had lunch at 1:00, you?re pretty hungry by 8:30pm, you want to eat! We were at a table for 4 with one other couple. I was a little disappointed with our table. I realize we all can?t have window seats, but we were way over on the far side, along the emergency exit wall, near the front. What I stared at for 7 days was a blank white wall with a red exit sign above the door. The dining room was supposed to be very elegant and beautiful, I wouldn?t know. I had my back to the whole thing. (Actually, I did get up one night and took a little stroll. It was very pretty. A lovely staircase led down to the lower level. The ceilings could?ve been a little taller, though. ) Now, the service. Definitely nothing! spectacular. Our waiters were VERY slow the first night. (They did improve as the cruise went on.) When we were eating our salad, most of the tables around us were already on dessert. Our head waiter never remembered the menu choices. When he would bring out the dessert platter, he had a cheat-sheet so he could tell us what the choices were. He also never remembered our names. (We played a little joke on him and wore nametags one night.) The others were better. The assistant waiter always remembered that I don?t drink coffee. And the wine steward was very friendly and chatty, delightful company! Our thought is that the head waiter is really the leader (after all, he gets the biggest tip). So if anyone should exceed expectations, it should be him. So... he should surely remember what deserts are offered, and he would probably remember our names (as they always have on our other cruises). The service was also very slow when we ate breakfast in the dining room. We only went ! once, then decided we?d stick with the buffet. We were seated at a long table with 9 others. They took our order quickly, but then people who arrived after us got their food first. I was pleasantly surprised when they remembered the 2 glasses of juice I?d ordered. The meal? Well, I?ve had better eggs benedict at IHOP.
The dinner food was also so-so. One of their salads was simply a chunk of iceberg lettuce with a few tomato slices on the side. My tenderloin was a little overcooked and pretty dry. One night, my veal was terribly fatty. The next time I had veal it was a little better. Positives: the Celebrity dressing gets an A+, yummy! (It has 20+ top-secret ingredients, so I?m told...) Some good sauces, and tasty desserts. The first midnight buffet we ate since we boarded pretty late. Pretty mediocre. Very greasy fried chicken, so-so ribs, good rice. We never had any of the other midnight buffets. Another thing I wanted to mention ? they had one ?Grand Buffet?. It was beautiful. Tons of intricately carved food sculptures, lots of ice sculptures and lovely presentation. But what I was thinking as I was walking through was why didn?t they put a little more effort into the daily buffets instead of all of this just once? It would?ve made the other buffets a little more classy (and went along ! better with the white-gloved waiters) to have had a few of those ice/food sculptures around those, too. And the viewing processional that they had for the Grand Buffet was ridiculous. It took WAY too long for all the passengers to go through the line to ?view? the buffet before it was eaten. If they wanted it to be seen before it was consumed, then it should?ve just been an open invitation instead of this incredibly long line. (Both Princess and Royal Caribbean had lovely buffets every night. We were able to get plenty of pictures as people were wandering around them. No line necessary. )

Okay, on to other service. Right off the bat, the service we received was definitely not on the same level as Princess. One thing in particular annoyed us. We arranged our own air, but purchased Celebrity?s transfers. The baggage tags specifically stated that if we purchased our own air, not to put the tags on our luggage. Our travel agent had told us that we needed to claim our own luggage, and then meet the representatives down in the baggage claim. Fine, we have no problem with that. So when we arrive at the airport, there are representatives there to meet us at the gate. They are asking everyone if they put the tags on their bags. We tell them we didn?t, as instructed. We tell them that we were told to go to baggage claim first. They have no idea what we?re talking about. Eventually another representative comes along who does seem to know whats going on. She tells us where to go to get down to the baggage claim, and that they?ll be someone down there. Well, there isn?t a! nyone down there, not right away. After about 15 minutes, we see someone from Celebrity. At this point we have gotten our luggage off the carousel. So he tells us to put the Celebrity tags on the luggage, and then put the bags back on the carousel! We couldn?t believe it! All this hoopla and then the luggage just goes back into the system where their people will pick it up anyway! We were expecting that we would have to take our luggage to a holding area or to a bus or something, which is fine. But to have us go all the way down there, meanwhile they?re holding the bus for us, to just put the stupid Celebrity tags on them and come back up was ridiculous. I have no doubt that if we would?ve just put the tags on before we left, our bags would?ve been picked up with everyone else?s and none of them would?ve cared that we weren?t forced to go down to tag the bags. Ok, that?s my piece about that. Moving on... When we were at embarkation, the agent was very short with us when we ! didn?t have one of the forms filled out. It had not been in the packet with the others so that?s why we had missed it. Then we get to our stateroom and our keys are not there as indicated. Also, our stateroom steward is nowhere to be found. On all of our other cruises, the steward has always been there to introduce himself and offer any assistance. We found another steward and told him that we didn?t get our keys. He told us to go down to Guest Relations and ask them to get us new ones. Now I?m not saying it was a horrible inconvenience or it upset us, but the standard service is that your keys are waiting for you in the room. In my opinion, above-average service would?ve been if that steward had gone and gotten our keys and brought them to us, not just told us to go get them ourselves. In regards to our cabin steward, he did his job. But didn?t ?exceed expectations?. Throughout the entire cruise, I never once met him. Each day the bed would be made, but he never really cle! aned the bathroom very well and never did any tidying up. On a positive note, he always had our pitcher filled with fresh water and our ice bucket full. The bed was always made promptly, and the laundry service was always returned promptly as well.

Now, entertainment. The shows were okay. I would agree with what I have read in other reviews ? it was as if the performers weren?t quite up to the level that the costumes and sets were. There were glitzy costumes and lots of music, but the dancers weren?t in synch and some couldn?t keep up. The acrobats took 3 tries to complete one of their stunts, and they didn?t close the curtains to change over some of the sets. The singers in the lounges were all very pleasant. When they didn?t have production shows in the theatre, the entertainers were better. They had a violinist one night who was excellent. They also had a juggler/comedian/magician. Although kind of a hodge-podge of jokes, stunts, and tricks, it was still somewhat entertaining. The theatre itself was very beautiful and well designed with good views and comfortable seats. Ok, a few comments about everything else. One of the reasons we picked Celebrity was all the activities they claimed to have on board. The volleyball and basketball courts were great to have, and the spa was very nice, as indicated. But I was expecting my spa services to be explained to me before they just jumped right in and started applying the treatment. The tv had a system to book shore excursions on it, but when I tried to book both of ours, I was unable to and had to go to the desk anyway. ( However, it was still very easy as I just had to drop my requests in a box. We got everything we requested. ) I would?ve liked to see better descriptions of the shore excursions, and some type of description for the movies playing in the cinema. Not even a poster around to give us an idea of the movie. They also re-played the same movies most days. They also replayed the same movies over and over again on tv. The only regular channels we got were CNN (from Europe) and TBS. Again,! these things were all better on Princess and RCCL. Another really nice feature on Princess was the re-entry procedure when in port. They had room cards that were scanned. You just had to swipe your card when you came on board. With the Galaxy, you had to present your card, as well as a photo-id to a crewmember when you came back on. Just by showing your card, they still have no idea if everyone?s back or not. And it was a little slower and less efficient than how it was on Princess. (No one ever had their picture-id ready.) With the scanning on Princess, it moved very quickly and the computer could tell them instantly if it had counted everyone or not. And for security, the computer would take a picture of your face at the same time that you scanned your card. So it was a really fast, efficient system. As far as other amenities/activities on Galaxy ? pathetic library. Maybe a total of 50 books, many empty shelves. A very nice computer room ? with no computers!! Just empty ! desks. A nice video-arcade for the kids, first time I?ve seen that. And finishing on a positive note, things I really liked -- TONS of deck space. I could always find a quiet place to go, and there were plenty of deck chairs to go around, even when we were at sea! Loved having the v-ball and b-ball courts, definitely going to look for that in the future! (Weren?t available on our past cruises.) Several fun activities planned, I wish there had been a better turnout by my fellow cruisers! We enjoyed all the fresh fruit in the morning, and the cookies in the afternoon.
So there you have it. As I said, overall a very nice, relaxing vacation. But the impressions made upon my husband and myself were not of superior service and food. We would probably take Celebrity again, but it wouldn?t be our first choice. (I am actually looking forward to taking another RCCL cruise now that they have some newer ships with more amenities and services! ) I?m sure if you ask someone else that was aboard with us, they?d say it was the best cruise of their life. So there you go. Just another opinion? :>

The Ship:
Connie is our favorite ship, this is our 3rd time on her. She is as lovely as last year, very comfortable and we know our way on her. The public areas are magnificent, the San Marco restaurant is as wonderful as ever.

The Cabin:
We booked our 8054 last year?s cabin. It seemed like we left it 2 weeks before. The beds were comfortable, the balcony was great, even though it was a little chilly this time to sit in it a lot. The wardrobe was large enough for the too many cloths we packed. The shower was big and the water pressure was good. The TV had a selection of movies to buy plus a few Celebrity channels but there was no list of programs.

The Itinerary
Dover, Oslo, St. Petersburg, Helsinki, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Dover.

Oslo
In Oslo we took a shore excursion called: ?Fjord Cruise & Norwegian Folk Museum ?. The boat was a very beautiful and old sailing boat. There were tables and chairs and people could get free coffee and tea. Most of the seats were on deck but there were some inside. As it was very cold and windy we preferred to sit inside. The scenery was beautiful. After the cruise, we visited the Norwegian Folk Museum. It has very interesting old houses, some of them we entered. It was very dark inside and difficult to enter and exit and we were told it was built that way in order to protect the house from uninvited guests. Afterwards the bus took us to see the ski jump. We enjoyed this shore excursion, the guide was very good.

St. Petresburg
We booked with Red October 2 half-day tours after reading so much about them on the Internet. The first day to the Hermitage and the second day to Catharine Palace in Pushkin. Upon arrival to the Constellation, there was a letter from Celebrity regarding disembarking in St. Petersburg for passengers who did not take a Celebrity shore excursion. It said to inform them in advance about our plans and to come to Reflections Nightclub before our own tour, in order to receive a number for disembarkation. We did inform them about our tours but we did not go to Reflections because we saw that we can leave the ship. When we exited there were two lines to the immigration offices. It took 20 minutes to pass it. Afterwards we searched for Red October sign and found the guide and driver. The car was a Mercedes. We drove to St. Petersburg and saw most of the famous landmarks of the city. We arrived at the Hermitage. The guide let us in without any lines (we paid for early entrance). We wanted to see the middle floor. The Hermitage is very beautiful but we felt we could have enjoyed it a lot more if we did not have to be dragged after the guide who kept us standing sometimes for 10 minutes near a single picture or statue, that sometimes we were not very interested in and talking too much about it. On our correspondence with Red October we asked for 1 hour in the Hermitage, he was not informed about it and after a very tiring hour, we told him that. He was offended, and asked us why didn?t we tell him that at the start. Afterwards he showed us some much more interesting rooms (what we wanted to see from the start). As we paid $5 for 1 camera, we thought it was allowed to take photos. It supposed to be allowed but after a few photos, in most rooms the guards kept shouting not Flash and even when we took photos without flash they kept shouting. So eventually we gave it up. The tour was an hour and a half or something. We felt that if we went alone we could have seen what we wanted a lot better. After the Hermitage, we went to pay for the day at the Red October shop, which took a lot of time, and they wanted us to buy things.

On the second day we drove to Pushkin. We arrived at Catherine Palace. The building is beautiful. We also had an early entrance, so did most of the people from Costa Cruise (2 ships in the port). The palace is magnificent! Since it is not as large as the Hermitage, an hour there was adequate to enjoy the place in spite of our guide. Here it was easier to take photos. Afterwards we saw the gardens and drove back to St. Petersburg in order to pay for this day.

St. Petersburg is a beautiful city, we thought that Red October would make it easier for us but they didn?t because we didn?t have the freedom to choose exactly what we wanted to see.

Helsinki
We didn?t go to any shore excursion in Helsinki, since we were too tired from St. Petersburg.

Stockholm
We took the Waterways Of Stockholm. It was a lovely 2-hour cruise. We saw how beautiful Stockholm is from the sea. The boat was a closed one and the guide was very good.

Copenhagen
We booked our limo (the same one as last year) and drove outside Copenhagen to Frederiksborg slot. The countryside is lovely and different from the city of Copenhagen. Our driver was wonderful. The castle is lovely. Now we appreciated the fact that we were on our own. We saw the beautiful rooms at our pace and skipped the uninteresting ones. We enjoyed the castle very much and bought some lovely souvenirs there.

The Food
We had a table in a great location at the San Marco. Since we knew most of the dishes it was very easy to decide what to eat. Today there is the fantastic Mocha cake, or today is the Calvados apple and so on. The food is so wonderful that just thinking about it makes us want to come back. Our waiters were wonderful and we almost never waited for the next course.

The Seaside café was good but not half as good as the San Marco.

We ordered Pizza a few times, which was great.

At the Cova Café we drank cappuccino that was excellent. I wish Celebrity would eventually make the Cova a smoke free environment next time we?re there.

The Entertainment
The Celebrity Dancers and Singers gave 4 shows. We saw 3 of them that were very good. Amongst others there were: Classic Pianist Brooks Aehron, comedy impressionist Scott Record who was great. The Celebrity Theatre is magnificent and we always sat at the same place.

We won $ 14 at the casino. It was very crowded and we saw people lose hundreds of dollars there. We sometimes play the Slots and go after we win.

It was a wonderful cruise and it went by too fast. We will surely return to the Constellation in the future.

This is what I hope will be an informative review. Probably kind of long, but I?ve got lots to share; some good, some bad and some general information which you may find helpful.

We (my husband and another couple) booked our cruise approximately 9 months in advance. We thought the idea of spending Christmas away from home at the tip of South America sounded like a good way to spend the holidays. I?m 45 and my husband is 52.

Originally we booked cabin 6142. We thought having a balcony would be the way to go, especially if it was cold outside and we didn?t want to brave the upper decks. First of all, you have to understand, that I?m like a dog with a bone, when I can find a better deal, I will search, and search and search until I?ve driven everyone nuts. Everyday, I would get on the Celebrity website to check our prices, I?d heard they will occasionally have a special, and the only way to take advantage of it is to see it being advertised and to call your travel agent and have it adjusted. Please note, that travel agents don?t have time to look everyday, but if you do, you may save yourselves hundreds of dollars. One day, I noticed the price had dropped $500 per person on the CC or Concierge level. I thought what the heck, for only $200 more, we can have all the amenities that come along with it?.you know, the pre-embarkation, the luxury robes, etc. We instantly decided this would be a good thing, so we jumped at the opportunity.

I still continued to check the prices on a daily basis, and there was another $200 per person drop a few weeks later. So, now we had saved $800 each and to top it off, I noticed an aft cabin come available so we snagged it as well. As if things couldn?t get any better, a couple of weeks before we sailed another aft cabin became empty so our friends got that one! In case you?ve never been in an aft cabin, the balconies are HUGE??.something 10? by 20? (I may be off on my measurements, but not by much).

Prior to leaving, we had to pack for cold weather, being that we live on the beach in So. California, we didn?t have anything much warmer than a windbreaker. Then came the luggage packing; since you can?t have any pieces of luggage that weigh over 50 lbs, it makes packing a little tricky. We wanted to have only 3 bags plus 2 carry-ons. We always pack an extra duffle bag for dirty laundry for the trip home.
My husband would step on the scale, I?d hand him a full suitcase, and then we would make some adjustments?..It?s so exciting getting ready for a trip!

Now, on to the trip??.

We left out of San Diego for Buenos Aires. We flew American Airlines from San Diego to Dallas, and Dallas to Buenos Aires. The travel time took about 16 hours, of which 14 hours were on the plane. My husband is 6?2?, and I?m 5?11?, so we were might uncomfortable. We took the red-eye flight so we arrived in BA somewhere around 9:30 a.m.

Buenos Aires: It is summer in Buenos Aires in December, so it was HOT. Hot and very muggy, it was somewhere around 97 degrees. When we got thru customs, there was a woman waiting for us with a large ?CELEBRITY? sign. She told us we would be transferred by bus to the Sheraton. We seemed to wait for what seemed like an eternity for another couple of passengers, but probably we were just tired and wanted to get the show on the road.

We arrived at the Sheraton around 11:00 a.m??.we proceeded to check in easily and then went to the room and crashed. We got up around 3:00 and decided to see some sights. We headed for La Boca district, and did some street vendor shopping and watched some tango dancers that danced right on the streets. We were so hot; we stopped and had a beer with some local empanadas. If you?ve never had an empanada, I recommend you try one. They are a pastry filled with meat (carne) and they look somewhat like a calzone. We found some handmade scarves, leather wallets and sweaters made from Alpaca wool.

For those of you that have never been to Buenos Aires, I highly recommend visiting the city. The exchange rate makes things very affordable. We took a taxi from the Hotel to the pier and it was something like $3.00. Dinner was equally inexpensive, but very good. We went to a BBQ?.in Argentina they are known for their BBQ?s. They BBQ over coals, everything from beef, lamb, pork, sausage, etc. The meat is wonderful. I recommend trying everything as long as it?s cooked. I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the beef. The vegetables are also ripe and tasty, nothing like our store bought pithy tomatoes we get. We also bought 4 bottles of wine from the restaurant, and the total came to $7 U.S. dollars!

That night, we took a cab (about $6) to the casino that we saw when we went to dinner. The casino was 2 paddle boats (something like you would envision going up the Mississippi). Exchanging pesos for dollars was interesting. We each took $100 U.S., and they would give us chips to play, but when were finished, they paid us the first hundred back in U.S. dollars, but the remaining balance in pesos.

We found that most places took U.S. dollars, but the cabs only took pesos.

The next morning, we wanted to get to the ship early (I?m one of the eager ones that likes to sign up for massages, etc). So we were prepared to take a cab to the port. However, there was a representative from Celebrity at the Hotel, and she said no one would be boarding before 2:00 p.m. Me, not being all that trusting, and hating to be shuttled anywhere still convinced my husband to take a cab. Our friends chose to wait at the hotel and do their pre-booking so they could get on the ship whenever it was ready. We took all of our luggage with us to the pier.

The representative was very evasive in my mind, but I figured they wanted to keep people together rather than have everyone wandering around. Celebrity had set up a huge conference room at the hotel with coffee & pastries for everyone (this also seemed odd to me, because they already fed us breakfast).

Anyway, we got to the pier around 11:00 a.m. and a porter took our bags and then we settled down at a little coffee shop to wait. We had a bird?s eye view of the embarkation area, and we were 1st in line to board the ship. A woman from X did stop by and informed us there was a bus that would take us to the Sheraton so we could be comfortable until the ship was ready??.ready for what????? I?ve never in my 10 cruises seen this happen before. We told her we just came from the Hotel and were happy just to wait until 2:00. After that, they pretty much kept people from coming into the terminal, they just boarded them up and took them to the hotel.

After a while, people with masks and what I call Haz Mat suits were seen coming and going. They were spraying and wiping down everything in sight. We couldn?t see the ship, only the embarkation area. This doesn?t look right to me, or smell right for that matter, but I keep thinking that at least the ship will be clean and possible this is a preventative type of maintenance. Still no one would answer any questions. Eventually, a woman got on a loudspeaker and announced something about making sure you ALWAYS wash your hands and to use the sanitation stations located almost everywhere. I don?t think anyone could understand what she was saying because of the acoustics in the terminal.

We finally got in line to get checked in when the bus loads of people from the Sheraton started to arrive. They allowed them to board about 30 minutes before everyone else?. (Oh well, I made the wrong call, we should have stayed at the hotel?). We were still first in line, and we finally got to board??It was weird when we got on the ship, I was anticipating that fun feeling when you first step onboard, but instead all I saw was people spraying, and spraying and spraying. It?s not real comforting seeing everyone with masks on either. No one offered us champagne; it was just sitting on a platter/table while people were spraying bleach on everything.

Trying to not let this damper my mood, we went to our room and checked it out. We were so fortunate to have this wonderful aft cabin I can?t even tell you!
My husband was beat, so he lay down to take a nap and I went exploring. I went to the spa area and took the tour, booked a couple of massages, signed up for the Persian Gardens ($99 pp) and confirmed our reservations at the specialty restaurant. My first impressions of the ship were so-so, not because of the spraying of bleach, but the lack of charm in my opinion. The art work was funky and I thought the Christmas decorations were tacky. They appeared to be pulled out of a box from storage, they were dusty and lacked luster. I?m not a big Christmas fanatic, so this really didn?t bother me, just an observation.

The ship is huge, but easy to navigate. There is some normal wear; none of this bothered me either. When I say normal, I mean there are some places that could use some paint, the bed spreads are wearing out, the railings around the deck need to be lacquered. The flooring looked good. The hardest part to overlook was the bleach marks. When the chrome railing on the stairs was sprayed, they were wiped down, but there was still a film leftover. This would run down the glass and leave streaks. In the elevators, and on the slot machines, they would spray and then there would be streak marks running down the chrome/metal/glass. The ship never had the ?ship shape? look. It was never in the 13 glitzy like one comes to expect.

When my husband woke up, we went to the Trellis Restaurant to find out where our table was. I know some people are excited about being seated with other people, and many look forward to it, but frankly when we found out we were seated at a table for 10, I was rather disappointed. We could have asked to be changed, I?ve done it before, but the late seating was full, and the maitre'd was being bombarded by others, so we just left. We ultimately decided to eat at the specialty restaurant for 4 nights and order room service for a few more, and eat sushi / pizza on the rest. We also were invited to share a table with some other cruisers we meet which was a lot of fun.

Let me talk about the food for a minute. Some things I really like, others I thought were pitiful. The escargot, breadsticks were wonderful, the lobster was the best I?ve ever eaten. The NY steaks were pathetic. I wasn?t keen on any of their salads, the buffet was an embarrassment. The sushi was better than expected but not what you would expect from a sushi restaurant. I would say it is better than store sushi. There was no sashimi, but I made my own. The rice was soft. The variety is your standard: eel, shrimp, tuna, salmon, and your basic rolls, tuna/cream cheese, vegetarian, spicy tuna & California. The pizza wasn?t bad and I ate it several times. The lunch menu was pretty basic and lacked flavor in my opinion. It seems like they used whatever was left over from the night before to make some kind of dish.

The alternate dining area wasn?t open on this cruise (I was told for a couple of reasons). I was told there were too many kids, and because of the norovirus breakout from the cruise before. This left the basic pasta bar, salad bar & buffet. The pasta bar tended to be the same thing everyday and wasn?t real good. The salad bar was ok, but it was also the same day in and day out. Everything was served by the crew. We couldn?t even get a packet of sugar for our coffee without having a crew member give it to us.

The U.S. Dining room (specialty restaurant) was acceptable, but I wouldn?t want to do it everyday, it was just too long of a meal. The service was great. I had the steak Diane, and my husband had lamb chops. Both were good, although I liked the steak better. The goat cheese soufflé was nice, but it was cold (maybe it was supposed to be). The desserts were a matter of taste, but I think they looked better than they tasted. The cheese tray was fun, and probably my most favorite part of the dinner. We did eat in the wine cellar one night, and that was nice??my favorite part of the U.S. Dining Restaurant is the fact that it is quieter than the main dining area. I enjoy being able to talk rather than hearing what I call ?white noise?.

This was a holiday cruise, and there were kids everywhere. I really never thought much about cruising during a holiday, but I will never do it again. There were over 100 kids on this cruise but it seemed like 500. I don?t understand why kids were allowed to play chase in the casino, or why a parent would put a baby in diapers in the Jacuzzi. Be that as it may, I now understand the frequent threads regarding taking children on cruises.

We signed up for the Persian Spa at a rate of $99 pp, and I went the first day and it was so hot, I couldn?t sit down, even when using a towel. My feet were almost blistered. I asked if this was normal, and they checked it out, and they agreed it was WAY too hot. My husband thoroughly loved the steam rooms, but I?m one of those that hates getting ready in the morning then getting all steamed up and having to re-do my make-up/hair. So, for me I don?t think I would do it again, but my husband says it?s worth it.

For my husband?s birthday, we did a Rasul Spa Treatment. This is a treatment for couples. You are given some salt scrub, mud and lots of different lotions to rub all over each other. Inside the area there is a steam room and a separate shower. What you do in the room is entirely up to you, as long as you are done in 60 minutes. This was fun, and we did have a ball smearing each other up. I think the cost was somewhere around $99.

I also booked 2 other massages, one my husband took, and the other I had. What more can I say, massages are wonderful. I had the mud treatment with a full body massage. I told my masseuse not to try and sell me products (I hate the sales pitch), and she didn?t so she got tipped better.

Casino action?..I love casinos, and I loved this casino. The dealers and waiters were the nicest people. Maybe I liked it because we actually won money. That never happens. I played a $1.00 slot machine the first night and won $3,000. After that, we played 3 card poker, roulette, black jack and Caribbean Stud Poker. It didn?t matter what we played, we won. We won enough to pay off our cruise tab and still take home $8,000. Something was wrong with this picture, and I?m still dumbfounded. My husband even won twice playing bingo, and he only played 3 times. People were even coming up to us and saying ?aren?t you the one who won??..?

As for the shows??..I can?t comment on them because we didn?t go. We never were tempted by the shows because they all seemed to be boring to me. I?m sure the Xylophone guy was good, but I was anticipating a much better variety. This goes for the musicians as well. They were good, but not great. There wasn?t a whole lot of types of music to choose from. They did play classical / harp/ piano but there weren?t different themes like blues, rock, new age, piano, etc. We were disappointed in the selections.

Ports of Call:

Montevideo: We didn?t take a tour, we just walked into town. There are a lot of cafes along one of the streets; they were serving BBQ beef, pork, lamb, etc. We ate at one of the little BBQ?s where everything is cooked over hot coals. I have to say, this was probably the best filet of beef I?ve ever eaten in all my life. I can?t even tell you how good it was. I had a salad, huge beer and the biggest filet ever and the total bill came to $17 U.S. dollars. Where we live, this same meal would have cost us $150. Simply amazing!!

Puerto Madryn: We took a private tour out to see the penguins at Punto Tombo. The Magellan penguins are amazing little creatures. There are literally thousands of them nesting on the beach. They aren?t afraid of humans, which is kind of sad. I?m so embarrassed about how people acted around the little guys. I saw people trying to pet them, they laid down and had their pictures taken right next to the nests, I even saw kids chasing them. The weather was beautiful; I wore a tank top and got sunburned. The 2 hour bus trip was a long one (each way) but our guide was wonderful and very knowledgeable about the area & the wildlife. Would I do this excursion again??? Yes!

Cape Horn: We were lucky enough to get close enough to see Cape Horn. It?s not much to look at, just an island, but at least I can say I saw it. The weather was rough for a couple of days, quite a few people got sick. I personally like it, but there were many that hated life for a few sea days.

Ushuaia: I loved this port; the mountains were beautiful and covered with snow. It was super windy and cold. Not piercing cold, just cold. We hired a cab driver for something $15 U.S. dollars to drive us around for a couple of hours. It was Christmas, so we tipped him $50??We toured the prison, and this was worth seeing. We also drove up the mountain to get a good view of the ship, city and mountains. Our driver also recommended a place to eat King Crab so we got a taste of some local cuisine. I had mussels and crab. We did a little shopping and then headed back to the ship. The views from our balcony were spectacular.
We had dinner at the U.S. Dining Room, and it wasn?t as good as the previous visit. I ordered my lamb med-rare, and it was very rare. I could have sent it back, but I wasn?t that hungry anyway due to eating in Ushuaia earlier in the day. My husband had some kind of lobster pasta, which he said was ?ok?.

After dinner we meet up with some friends and had a cocktail. I felt like I was starting to catch a cold, so I remember taking some Alka-Seltzer Cold medicine around 11:00 p.m. We had a cocktail and headed off to bed. Around 1:00 a.m. I got up and got sick??This continued every 30 minutes, and then I started to get diarrhea. Around 3:00 a.m. I was having both symptoms at the same time?..not real pleasant (sorry). This went on until 9:00 a.m. when we decided to head toward the medical facility on deck 1. Let me tell you, that is one long walk from deck 9 aft.

The medical staff & doctor were really nice. I figured I had the norovirus, and was prepared for quarantine. All I wanted was to quit throwing up. My husband had to fill out tons of forms asking what I had eaten in the last 7 days. This was tough, because I can?t remember what I ate yesterday. I really had no desire to fill out forms, so my husband did the best he could.

They hooked me up to an IV because I was very dehydrated. They also gave me some medicine to keep me from vomiting. (Thank God). I feel asleep until the IV was finished. At this time the doctor came and explained that I had to be in quarantine for 72 hours and my husband for 24 hours. At the time I wasn?t upset because we had 3 sea days coming up and I figured since we had an aft cabin I would be okay. They also took a blood sample and asked me for a stool sample. I complied with both. They also informed me if I was caught outside my room that they would put me off in the next port.

Life in quarantine for the 1st day wasn?t so bad; I was tired and slept most of the day. Day 2 & especially day 3 were horrible. I felt like a caged animal, I paced the floors, ordered room service at every opportunity, and pretty much was a grump. I understood the quarantine, and complied but I was going bonkers. The guest relations called me 2-3 times a day to check up on me (I think they were checking to see if I was still in my room). My cabin steward Ben came in and changed my sheets and disinfected my room with some kind of bleach.

We called the medical facility to find out the results of the tests, and they kept telling me they weren?t done yet. I asked if perhaps I was sick from eating the mussels and crab while in Ushuaia?..they told me it didn?t matter what I was sick from, I would still be in quarantine for 72 hours. The bottom line is, they never did tell me what the results were. Oh well.

The day I got out, was the day were docked in Puerto Montt. I missed Punta Arenas, but we were docked there on Christmas Day, so I was told I didn?t miss much. My quarantine was officially over at 9:00 a.m., and believe me, I was out of my room at 9:00 sharp. When we swiped our card to get off the ship, my card ?beeped?, and I must have had this pale look on my face, but the crew member pushed some buttons and let me get pass.

Puerto Montt: We got off the ship and did some tourist shopping. We also visited the local fish market. I was tempted to try some of their fish, but after getting sick I thought twice. One of our new found friends rented a van, so we all jumped in and headed to Puerto Vargas. This was a cute German town about 20 minutes drive from Puerto Montt. It was extremely windy that day, so we just walked around for a bit, then stopped and got a beer. We then went and had Mexican food. Pretty good Mexican food too! After that, we headed back to the ship.

Sea Day: Fairly rough this day, but I liked it?.my husband didn?t. This cruise was definitely rougher than most cruises I?ve been on. There were lots of people ill.

Disembarkation: This went very smoothly. Our flight wasn?t until late in the evening, so we chose to hang out on deck 10 until most of the people had already left. We also had our luggage taken directly to the airport, so we didn?t have to worry about finding all our bags. I give Celebrity a 5 star rating on this.

Valparaiso/Santiago: We took a taxi to Vina del Mar and went to the most beautiful casino. It would compare to Caesar?s Palace in Las Vegas. Afterwards, we headed to Santiago to catch our plane (11:30 p.m). When we got to the airport, we saw the flight was canceled, and the American Airlines line was full of people trying to get home. AA was re-routing some passengers and putting others up in a hotel. When we finally got to the counter (after standing in line for 4 hours), they told us we would be able to fly out the following night via LAN Chile Airlines. They also would put us up at the Sheraton, and gave us a dinner and free lunch??Not bad, right?

The Sheraton was beautiful and the meals exquisite. I?m not here to bash Celebrity, but they could sure take a lesson on some good food from the Sheraton!
We were treated wonderfully. The next day we took a private tour around Santiago which ended up at the airport. The LAN Chile Airlines was WONDERFUL. American is 2nd rate to them.

All in all, we had a nice trip. The itinerary was great. Would I do Celebrity again? I?m not sure. The excess amount of children on this cruise made this trip almost unbearable. The food was so-so. The crew was superb. I don?t hold Celebrity responsible for my illness. Things happen, and it just happened to be my turn to get sick. As far as the memories go, I met some terrific people and saw some places I doubt I will ever see again. Will I cruise again???? You bet.

We sailed on the Celebrity,Summit, Feb 17, for 14 days on the Panama Canal cruise.
We arrived in Miami the day before, stayed at the Hampton Inn. The hotel was clean and served our needs.

EMBARKATION:
We arrived at the pier at 12:30pm and very quickly went thru the line and boarded the Summit. As usual we were greeted with lovely music by the harpist and a glass of champagne. What a wonderful way to start a vacation!. For me, its the perfect beginning. A steward escorted us to our cabin. Our cabin was 7203. This was our first Concierge cabin as well as our first aft cabin. The room was very clean, the bathroom was spotless. After reading some negative reviews about the cleanliness of some cabins, I actually looked under the bed for "bunnies" and saw none. The only flaw i noticed was that our balcony floor was somewhat littered. When I pointed it out to out steward it was quickly taken care of. The room was well equipped , had plenty of space for all our needs. The champagne was well chilled and the fruit was fresh and the flowers in the cabin and bathroom were lovely. Every evening canapes were delivered. As stated by other posters, the canapes left much to be desired, so after the first day we requested the cheese and fruit plate to be delivered instead. The cheese was fabulous and for the first several days we made gluttons of ourselves enjoying it. Out steward was from Indonesia, his name was Vithal. He was excellent. He was so extremely polite, friendly and saw to our every request and need.

THE SHIP:
After we saw the room we went for lunch at the buffet-explored the ship. Took the tour of the spa area-always fun to do. Went to the mandatory life boat drill and then went to meet some of our friends that we met thru the boards. We met at the martini bar, many of us wearing mardi grais beads, in order to recognize one another. It was a wonderful first of many get togethers. And so nice to put a face with the people I have become friends with. Many of us tried the martini tasting sampler. Worth trying, very good and fun. Just a side note*** JOIN YOUR ROLL CALL-we have met some of the nicest people that way and have maintained many friendships. It always is a refreshing feeling to realize how many truly nice people their are in this world.
The ship itself is well maintained. Extremely clean. Yes, I saw some wear but the ship is lovely. It is a very understated ship, it is not a "WOW" factor decorated ship. The crew was very careful about cleanliness, with the possibility of the noro virus- there were soap dispensers everywhere. Everywhere you went there was a smiling pleasant face, wishing you a good day. A person could get truly used to this

CONCIERGE CLASS:
Decided to comment on this. I have read many a post "is it worth it?". All said and done it is a matter of personal opinion. I liked the slightly larger rooms. The perks for me are not worth it. The flowers were a nice touch. The linens though fine were not pretty or plush. The towels felt good and absorbed well. The bathrobes were very thick but actually harsh and heavy feeling. Not at all luxurious feeling. The canapes were awful- the cheese was great but you can order that every day from room service from a regular cabin. The chilled champagne was lovely. The aft cabin, NOW, that was worth everything to me.

DAYS AT SEA :
The sea days were filled with relaxation, sun, reading good books, swimming in the outdoor pools and enjoying the other friendly, chatty cruisers. I loved my sea days, and enjoyed the slow pace, yet it would have been nice to have more of a varied offering of activities, in regards to the activities themselves and the energy levels. In m y opinion Celebrity is very lacking in this category. An example of activites: bingo, napkin folding, bingo, flower arranging, bingo........
Every sea day we made sure to go to the lectures by the cruise guest speaker. If any of you have the opportunity to hear him speak, run don't walk quickly to get a front row seat. I am not a history buff but i absolutely enjoyed this speaker. The historian's name was John Maxtone Graham and he was a true pleasure to listen to. He was informative, intelligent and very witty. A wonderful combination indeed!
We purchased for $99 a pass for the two weeks to the Persian Gardens. I enjoyed this very much. Spent some time every day there-the warmth was wonderful for my aching muscles and the aromatherapy was so peaceful. Anyone with arthritis or fibromyalgia I would highly suggest this nice interlude. The changing rooms in the spa area are very clean and nice to use. Also spent an hour a day in the thallo pool and hot tubs. Nice way to relax. I like the fact that the thallo pool is for 18 years of age or older.
The shops were fun to browse thru and every day they offered certain specials out in the center of the shopping area. I purchased several pieces of fun jewelry . There was always a daily raffle to try your luck. I wasn't so lucky but others were.
Wanted to see a movie at the theater but never seemed to get the right time to do so. The choices seemed good.
Discover shopping guide-- talks given about the best places to shop were given by Ray. Sad waste of time. The same shops are mentioned every talk---not very helpful. Supposedly Celebrity guarantees some of these stores. There has been quite allot of discussion on the boards about this and the lack of help from Celebrity when and if you have a problem with the stores. Also, they sell a "shopping book" cost $20. A HUGE waste of money. Not enough coupons or freebies to be of any worth. Idle chatting with other woman on the ship---THEY ALL felt the same way. DO NOT bother, save your money or spend it on something else.The coupons and the freebies did not come close to the price of the book.* If you are interested, ask to see a book first and see what you will use. For example on this cruise several collector coins were offered, free pair of earrings ( the stones fell out almost immediately ), and a free bottle of vanilla ( cost of the vanilla at the store was 69 cents )

SPA:
The first day, as mentioned, we purchased the Persian Garden pass, the cost $99 for two weeks. Good value. Used it every day to just unwind and made the bones feel good. Also during the cruise I purchased a deep tissue massage and an aromatherapy hot stone massage. Both were very good and not a single sales pitch was given for me to buy anything else. (side note ) a very small girl gave me the deep tissue massage and my first reaction was "oh, NO !" I was so wrong-she did a great one and leaned her entire body into it. Some days when they are not busy you will see some of them at the opening to the spa offering massage for $1/minute. Great buy! I also bought a half hours worth. Wonderful !
I like the spa area. I like the look of it, the scents, and the changing rooms are very nice. More expensive then at home but- for me it was worth while.

EXERCISE AREA:
Every other day I used the tread mills. What a great way to exercise and look out at that beautiful ocean.

MEALS :
Room Service: Several days we ordered breakfast on our veranda. Every hot order came cool. Eggs, french toast, pancakes all too cool to enjoy. One day I even wrote on the menu to please make it hot. It wasn't. Cereal, granola parfait, fruit, pastries were all excellent. Lovely to have breakfast on the veranda, but suggest to stick with the cold options
The regular coffee on the ship was not very good. Juices and hot tea assortment very good. Iced tea unfortunately is not brewed. I usually drink allot of iced tea but abstained on the cruise.
Buffet: The buffet food was pretty good. It was buffet food... enough said . I thought the made to order options were very good- that included, for breakfast -waffles, made to order eggs, omelets. For lunch and dinner the made to order pizza, pasta and sandwiches are also very good. All the bread is homemade and excellent and the fresh fruit was a pleasure. The buffet area was always very clean-to the point of immaculate. The tables were always clean and I like the way the trays have linen cloths on them and the availability of waiters to carry your tray to the table. Nice touch.

DINING ROOM:
Never went to the dining room for breakfast. Much preferred eating at the far aft of the ship in the a.m. We had lunch three times in the dinning room, the first time we went the meal was wonderful the last two were good. *Check the menu at the door ahead of time and see if its to your liking ( before you commit )
We dined at the second seating, at a table for 10. Our table mates all became friends and the service was very good. Our waiter and assistant waiter seemed busier then on previous cruises and I wondered if it may be due to cut backs ( more cruisers/wait staff )?? We found most of the meals to be very good, some where excellent. I especially loved all the bread, bread sticks and pastries (throughout the ship it is excellent), the cold soups, shrimp cocktail, escargot, all the beef entries (except the rib eye ). The pastries on the ship were excellent but in my opinion the dessert after the evening meal were good but had no "wow" factor. The pasta was ordered several times by my table mates and every time it was cold ( so be forewarned )This was our first time at a table for ten, I prefer a table for 8-easier to hear everyone talk. Always a topic for discussion: "like or dislike assigned dining", I love it. I like getting to know my table mates beyond, "hi, I am from ......" and I like getting to know my waiter and assistant waiter. Adds so much to the ambiance of the cruise. Overall I think the dining room food is very good, presented very well and amazing to me that it all goes sooo smoothly.
COVA:
We went there every day about 4pm for a mocha, we ordered it either hot or frozen. It was always wonderful and always came with a piece of Cova chocolate. Then of course there are the pastries, nice selection and very tasty.
**the coffee you have to pay for but worth it, the pastries are free.

OTHER FOOD OPTIONS:
the Waterfall grill, pool side -- is good. Hamburger and hot dog when I tried them were fresh, fries good. The aqua spa cafe--excellent. Everything we tried was good. Dont over look this area. You will be missing out. Evening sushi-- I am not a sushi gourmet but i really enjoyed it very very much. Gourmet bites---the ones I tried were all very good. Never went to any of the evening buffets since we never left the dining room till almost 11pm each night. We enjoyed the slow dining, good conversation. Afternoon tea-- went only once-very good but instead we went to the cova cafe.

CASUAL DINING:
Never ever have I tried this on my previous cruises. But, this was the longest cruise I ever took so we tried it twice. Once went with friend from the roll call and once with our table mates. It was excellent. And even better service then at our regular table. The waiters were actually falling over us. Try it.

NORMANDIE:
I booked a table for 8 of us prior to sailing. It was a 5 star meal and service. Wonderful experience! Had the goat cheese souffle, chaetaubrian (sp?), and the chocolate mousse. The cheese selection looked sooo good but I could not do it! I was rolling out of there. Well worth the extra $30. * to me its a must do.

ENTERTAINMENT:
The Celebrity singer and dancers were excellent. They were given standing ovations. These kids were very talented. On previous cruises they were not as good. I was so glad we got to experience these excellent young singers and dancers. The other evenings varied with the entertainment. Some were good others so-so.
The pool side band, GREAT IDEAS, were very good. Wished they played more often. Singer and guitar player, Jefferson Ang, was excellent. Many times he played late at night on the 10th deck in the aft. We would lounge on our balcony, sipping a drink, looking out at the stars and enjoying his music. Does not get much better then that!
The string quartet , the Prelude Strings were excellent. Also very much enjoyed the A Cappella group, the Dischords. Cute group of boys. The only entertainer that I tried to restrain myself from bursting out laughing- he was sooo awful was the man who sang at the Rendez-Vous lounge. I am sorry, he reminded me of a cheesy lounge singer, with a dark black hair piece. UGH!!!! COME on Celebrity---you can do much-much better
Misc. shipboard entertainment, as mentioned before was --so-so....eg. napkin folding, flower arranging and allot of bingo. I would like to see more offered and much more variety. This was my 4th Celebrity cruise in a row and will have to try a different line just for a variation of on board entertainment. In some ways it was almost non existent. I dont really know who they were gearing it too. I am 52. Most of the cruisers were in their 40's to late 60's. My aunt is 77, and was dismayed by the lack of varying entertainment.

FORTUNES CASINO:
Went every evening after dinner and contributed to the Summit "charity". Actually I should not joke. I spent $20/night ( that was my limit )and I actually won twice on the quarter slots. I then donated the cash to the jewelry store on the ship.

POOLS:
Two pools outside. One deep, the other shallow. four hot tubs. Enjoyed them all. Wish the hot tubs would be still open late at night-lets say till 1a.m.-unfortunately that is not the case.
The thallo pool is under a glass dome, with two hot tubs. I love this pool and enjoyed it daily. Children under 18 not allowed. Very nice. It slightly heated, has jets for massaging- do not over look this area. Especially nice after the first dining group has left to prepare for dinner.

PORTS:

ARUBA-
prior to sailing I had booked a spa day at a local hotel. We have been to Aruba before and enjoyed the sites. The spa day was lovely, we then enjoyed a lunch at one of the local restaurants, and a bit of shopping. I bought two small sapphire, white gold rings for my daughters (for their souvenir )So glad I did. The other ports did not have near as good of buys.

PANAMA CANAL-
We decided not to leave the ship and just experience the canal from morning till evening. We got up early to go to the front of the boat to see the ship entering the first lock. What a phenomenal experience! Then we spent a good portion on the aft balcony-seeing where we have been and watching other boats enter the canal. We were very lucky as we had a lovely breeze all day. Gatun lake was lovely. I took dozens and dozens of photos. Attending the lectures by the ship historians was a great way to gain insight as to how many sacrificed and even died to accomplish the building of the Panama canal. What a wonder! I was so honored to be able to experience it all.

PUNTARENAS,COSTA RICA-
We booked pre cruise with Charlie Soto. Read many good recommendations about him. Several years ago we toured with Oscar Brown on the Limone side. We very much liked Oscar. Thought Charlie would be as good. Perhaps those who thought Charlie was great had no one to compare him to. He was ok. You could do as well with a taxi driver . Charlie had no micrphone set up, so those in back could hear nothing. Also Charlie did not give a "talk" while driving us around. I knew allot about CR because of Oscar but if I did not have previous knowledge I still would not. We saw cute monkeys, and a Chapel. Went on the Crocodile Man tour, This was very good. Saw tons of wild life-the men who took us on this tour gave a great talk and pointed out allot of things to see. Charlie did purchase and share with us some fruit. It was by far the best watermelon and mangoes any of us ever tasted.
We also went to a grocery store to buy coffee and vanilla. Ahead of time we told Charlie that we wanted to purchase bean coffee. When we got there, there was only ground coffee, Charlie knew this. So, that side trip was a waste of time because ALL of us wanted the bean coffee. We did purchase the whole beans at the pier.
An episode that occurred : Charlie passed a truck on a double line going up a blind grade. Scared the hell out of all of us. Being careless is not worth the five minutes of getting to Point A faster. OK tour but after talking with other passengers they did better with private taxi drivers that they met.

HUATALUCO-
This was a beautiful little island that i very much enjoyed seeing. We booked a bay tour with a man named Jesus. His little boat, 25 foot Panga boat was very clean. Had a tarp type cover to keep the sun from baking down too much. The boat holds 8 guests. Jesus and his co-sailor offered an iced cooler with water, beer and pop. He charged $150 for a 5 bay tour and $200 for a seven bay tour. The cost is the same for two or eight passengers. Very reasonable when we divided the cost between all of us. We were able to see his beautiful bays. He talked about the area. Very informative. We chose to also swim and snorkel and have lunch .The restaurant was on the beach, all the food was seafood, no other items where offered.( side note ) if someone on the tour cannot eat fish or does not like it, you should discuss this with Jesus ahead of time. We had cold beers and a wonderful shrimp salad . I bet there was at least a pound of shrimp on that plate. It was impressive enough that we had to take a picture. At that spot various vendors approached us attempting to sell there wares (silver bracelets, beads, food.) When we said we were not interested-they were respectful of that. The swimming was wonderful-the water was so warm and you could see to the very bottom. Lovely! Dont miss this opportunity !

ACAPULCO-
We booked a day with Rosie , the taxi driver, before the cruise. Per recommendation of the ports of call board. Our ship was not in this port that long so our tour was slightly shortened. Rosie gave us as much as she could fit in. She is very professional, her van is clean, air conditioned, and she has a microphone hook up so all could hear her talk. She was very knowledgeable and a very safe driver. We saw the beaches, the main strip, hotels, and where the affluent lived. We shopped for awhile, saw a beautiful chapel, and had a lovely lunch at a local restaurant on the beach. Best fajitas that I ever had. We were the ones that asked Rosie to take us shopping-I would skip this next time-the shop prices where high and I could tell that Rosie was trying to take us to reasonable places. ( the cost of silver---we can do better in the States ) Also saw the cliff divers. AWESOME !! * Good choice

CABO-
This is another tour that we booked ahead of time. It came with rave reviews and we agree, We boarded the Rissalena, a white catamaran. The cost was $50/person. The captain of the boat is Mr. Eduardo Padilla. He is very professional, as is his crew. The cat is pure white and in immaculate shape. We were treated to a lovely day of cruising, whale watching and a great homemade lunch, not to mention a fantastic homemade margarita. The best we ever had. They also offered beers, soda pop and juices. The lunch consisted of very tasty chicken, rice and pasta salad, fresh fruit and homemade guacamole and chips.
We were in Cabo during whale season. we were lucky to see some but what we also got to see was a large group of dolphins ( about 20 of them )that followed the boat. Very cool, indeed ! This tour I would highly recommend. * the boat holds about 20-22 people. ( Side note ) If your group does not use the entire boat, he will book others to sail with you. Cabo is a lovely area to view from the cat and also to take awhile and walk around, shop and have lunch. Lovely day.

This was my first 14 day cruise. The first week flew by so quickly. We were glad to have the extra days to enjoy and relax.
Little touches that Celebrity does that I love:
-iced wash cloths waiting for us, on silver trays, as we are coming back to the ship after a day in port
-on sea days, at the pool around 2pm, waiters in full dress carry on silver trays cups of homemade sherbet
-all cruise staff being so smily and polite and welcoming
-bed turn down and chocolates waiting for me on the pillow

DISEMBARKATION:
went very smoothly.We sat in the movie theater and coffee and pastries were available for us to cry over since we all have to go back to the real world. It amazes me that as we are leaving, in a short few hours, the Summit will be starting all over and welcoming their new guest with a smile and a glass of champagne and giving you that knowing feeling that you are the "only" and the "first and most important" cruiser they have ever had

IMPRESSIONS:
Excellent vacation. Money well spent, with excellent value. I want to try a different cruise line ( for more on board and varied entertainment )but I will eagerly look forward to my next Celebrity cruise in the future.
If you have any questions, please feel free to ask
Natalie

Reviews submitted by member:

On May 11, I left for Honolulu from Milwaukee via St. Louis on American Airlines - I ended up on a TWA plane which did not have the extra legroom in coach like American has. I arrived in Honolulu about 4:00pm (9:00pm at home) to find it was raining...this was to be a theme for most of my time in the islands. Took a taxi to my hotel in Waikiki where I met up with some friends. We walked down the street to a small local restraunt where we had a light supper - and our little group ran into some more friends....we did a little shopping then headed back to the hotel to crash for the night.

Sunday was spent driving around Oahu - we went up past Diamond Head up the coast to the North shore where we stopped at Sunset Beach and the Bonzai pipeline - the waves were not to spectacular that day, and it was starting to drizzle a little. We then drove down through the center of the island back to Honolulu and Waikiki. That night we went to the Hale Koa (a couple of friends were staying there) for their Sunday night buffet (which just happened to be on Mother's Day). After dinner we walked over to the Hilton Hawaiian Village where we surprised a couple of people - they had been planning this cruise for over 9 months and we had all said there was no way we could make it, but we decided about 6 months out to book the cruise and try to surprise them...and we sure did! As we were walking back to our respective hotels that night we got caught in a downpour....not a quick tropical shower, but this rain lasted all that night and til about noon on Monday.

Monday was the day we boarded the Summit - we got to the pier around 11:00AM - we had to wait in line til about 11:30 to be let into the building to begin checking in.....i can truly say my friends, April and her mom CeeCee, Doug, John, Pat and Don were within the first 30 people in line - we went through the check in process and were on board by 11:45am. April, CeeCee and I went to check out our cabin - we had a cat 1A (9154) on Sky Deck - it was the last cabin on the starboard side before the aft cabins. We were pleasantly surprised with the cabin - 191 sq feet - it had a king size bed and a double bed that pulled out from the sofa bed. There was ample closet space; two of the closets you were able to hang your clothes and store some stuff on the bottom of the closet. The third closet had shelfs and drawers in it - 6 pull out drawers, and three shelves - one of the shelves held the safe - you could operate the safe either by putting in a code or using a card with a magnetic stripe. Three bathrobes and three beach towels were in the cabin when we arrived along with two flower arrangements sent to us by some friends.

I guess now would be a good time to talk about food and dining options on the Summit. There were 15 in our little group within the larger group - two had chosen early seating, the rest of us chose late seating. Those of us on late seating (except for one couple) were at a table for 12 on the first floor of the Cosmpolitan dining room. Our waiter, Ronald and his assistant Christian, had to be the best servers I have had on seven cruises. Nothing was a problem for them - all special requests were met with a smile, and we never had to ask for anything a second time. One of my tablemates had requested mashed potatos on the first night we all sat at the table - they brought out two plates of them that night - we just kept getting more and more mashed potatos every night.

First night of this cruise, we did not sail til midnight, so it was open seating for both early and late seatings...as some people were still arriving at the ship during supper.

I found the food in the dining room for supper on the Summit to be better than the food we had on the Millennium in February 2001 - everything was done to perfection. Beef, fish, veal and chicken were all very good and the desserts (especially the chocolate ones and the ice creams) were to die for! AS for breakfast inthe dining room - all I can say is stick with the eggs and danish - the pancakes and french toast left something to be desired. I only ate one lunch in the dining room and it was ok - nothing really special. For breakfast I found the food in the Waterfall Cafe to be much better - a great selection of fruits, meats, potatoes, salads, desserts, breads. Also in the Waterfall, in the morning there was an omelet station, which at lunch turned into a pasta station. There was also an area that at lunch had a themed bu