Choose to Cruise
A Voyage on Celebrity's Millennium
Part 2
by Andy Vladimir
In "Choose to Cruise, Part 1"
(Quest, vol. 8, no. 1), we explored what cruises were all about and how to pick
one. I promised that in this second installment I'd take you along on an actual
cruise with me and my wife, Ute, from start to finish. My experience will show
you what I liked, what obstacles I faced as a scooter user with myotonic
muscular dystrophy, and how I handled them.
After shopping around we decided to take a seven-night western Caribbean cruise
on board the new flagship of Celebrity Cruises, the Millennium. Our choice was
based on several criteria. First of all Celebrity is the premium line of Royal
Caribbean, one of the three lines I find particularly sensitive to the needs of
travelers with disabilities.
Second, the Millennium is a brand new ship — her maiden voyage was in July of
last year. Third, she's a big ship, carrying almost 2,000 guests and 1,000 crew
members.
Fourth, she features 26 wheelchair-accessible cabins ranging in category from
deluxe suites to outside cabins with and without verandas, to inside cabins.
Fifth, she's one of the prettiest ships afloat with some unique features — like
the largest spa at sea and an unusual specialty restaurant of historic
interest. Our sailing date was Jan. 28, Super Bowl Sunday.
Departure
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| A wheelchair-accessible cabin on the Millennium |
Sunday morning we made the 45-minute drive north from our home in Miami to the
pier at Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale. We arrived around noon and, after
parking our car at the terminal garage, we checked in.
I was pleasantly surprised to see that there were no lines or crowds milling
around. That's unusual for a ship this size. Celebrity lets passengers start
embarking early, even before their staterooms are ready, so everyone doesn't
have to board at once.
The size of our cabin was a second pleasant surprise. The bathroom had a roll-in
shower with a seat and room enough to turn my Amigo scooter around. Even
better, our veranda was big enough for me to drive the scooter onto. Light
switches had been lowered, and the closet bar swung out and lowered for easy
access. There was closed-circuit TV with a remote control, and even a minibar.
When we'd booked the cruise I'd made two special requests — an extra mattress
for one of the beds (to raise the height) and a raised toilet seat. Soon after
we arrived, our room steward appeared, confirmed our order, and 30 minutes
later had everything in place.
Having checked out the room, it was on to lunch, which was a buffet at the Ocean
Grill. As soon as we approached the line a waiter stepped forward to take my
tray so that my wife didn't need to handle it.
I know I'm on a cruise when there are more items on the buffet than I can
possibly eat, and I want them all! I limited myself to freshly sliced turkey,
some pasta and roasted vegetables, ignoring the pastries and ice cream.
On-Board Luxuries
After lunch we explored the ship. The stories were true — this is absolutely one
of the most gorgeous vessels afloat. No one design style prevails — she's what
I would call modern European with a generous use of rich woods and elegant
textiles.
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| The author and his wife, Ute, on deck |
One room I really liked was Notes, a musical library, where you could listen on
headphones to any of more than 1,500 CDs.
The spa, which you enter through a glass-domed solarium, is the most luxurious
I've ever seen, and the priciest as well. A facial costs $109. It did have
something that I fancied, a Mediterranean float, for $239. This is a
combination of all kinds of treatments, seaweed, massage and more. You can
easily double the price of your cruise with just a few days in the spa!
From our tour of the ship we could see that everything we expected to find
accessible in fact was. There are numerous self-opening doors to the decks,
which is one of the things I look for on a cruise. Aisles are spacious in all
public rooms, the showroom and the cinema. Tables in the dining room are
accessible. Of course, I continue to be disappointed that there are no pool
lifts available on most ships but I'm told they're coming. The entire Royal
Caribbean brand fleet should have them by the end of this year.
We were due to sail at 5 p.m. but first we had a lifeboat drill mandated by the
Coast Guard. The procedure for the Millennium is much the same as for other
ships carrying people with disabilities. While other passengers don their life
vests and proceed to muster stations, in our case a crew member is sent
directly to the cabin to escort the passenger to safety.
Dinner that night was at 6 p.m. We had opted for the first sitting so we could
catch up on some overdue sleep. (When school is out, there's usually a high
demand for the later sitting since families with children almost always dine
early.) We found ourselves at a table for eight with three other couples
roughly our ages.
Only one of the couples had never cruised before, and we'd all been looking
forward to dinner. Celebrity is known for its excellent food; its menus are
designed by Michael Roux, who operates Le Gavroche, a world-famous, Michelin
three-star restaurant outside of London.
The chef exceeded our expectations! I loved having to choose between roasted
tomato bisque enhanced by a trace of cognac and whipped cream, Oriental
vegetable consommé, and chilled peach and honey soup; and then for an entrée
pick either king salmon, linguini with clams, roast chicken, honey-glazed pork
chop or roast aged prime rib of Nebraska beef. I haven't even mentioned the
five appetizers, two salads and eight desserts (including my favorite, crème
brûlée)!
When we awoke on Monday morning we were in Key West, Fla. I decided to stay on
the ship, have a breakfast of bagel and smoked salmon served on the veranda,
and read my Tom Clancy novel. Ute took the free Key West trolley from the pier
into town to mail a few postcards. By lunchtime she still hadn't returned so I
went up to the spa where I had an interesting concoction of roasted eggplant
and vegetables with a yogurt sauce, and tapioca pudding for dessert.
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| Ann Spolan of Delray Beach, Fla., exits the ship to go ashore
in Cozumel (a Carnival ship is in the background). |
That afternoon we sailed for Calica, Mexico. I'd boarded the ship with a bad
case of bronchitis and it didn't seem to be getting any better, so I decided to
visit the ship's medical center. The facility was very impressive. It had a
fully equipped emergency room, two hospital rooms and an isolation ward. Both
the doctor, from Paraguay, and the nurse, from Scotland, were very helpful.
They sent me back to my cabin with an antibiotic and cough syrup. They also
gave me a nebulizer treatment to stop my wheezing.
That evening was the captain's Welcome Aboard cocktail party where we met Capt.
Giorgos Panagiotakis and Hotel Manager Dimitrios Anagnostou. This was followed
by dinner and a really first-class show called "Spectacle of Broadway." I
counted a cast of 17 dancers and vocalists, plus a full-sized band. The
costumes and talent were equivalent to the best of Las Vegas.
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