Editorial coordinator Laura Dennis spent a night aboard
Celebrity Cruises' Millennium during its U.S. debut in New York.
Her report follows:
NEW YORK -- The must-have accessory of the night was a cell
phone.
And creating much of the buzz was the 1,950-passenger
Millennium, Celebrity's latest ship.
The sleek vessel finally made its U.S. debut here following an
inaugural season sailing in Europe.
The Millennium marks a series of firsts for the line.
It is the first ship in the fleet to have a specialty
restaurant, cyber cafe and music library.
Also, causing Celebrity to boast is the ship's
accommodations.
Out of the 975 rooms aboard the Millennium, 780 of them offer
ocean views.
Jerry Roth of Cruise Supermarket in Plantation, Fla., called
Millennium "the biggest small ship in the world."
"Wherever you went, [it] didn't feel like a large environment
that some ships have," he said.
Celebrity excels in creating cozy and comfortable venues for
passengers such as the line's signature hot spots -- the cafe, the
martini and caviar bar and cigar lounge.
The Olympic, Millennium's specialty restaurant, is another
intimate venue.
The eatery, named after Titanic's sister ship, can accommodate
up to 134 passengers and has wood paneling from the Olympic's
dining room.
Cuisine has always been one of Celebrity's strongest features,
and the Olympic continues that tradition.
Under the guidance of Michel Roux, the Olympic presents a
four-course, three-hour feast with many of the items prepared
tableside.
The cost to eat at Olympic is $12, and reservations are
required.
Another recent cruise trend that Celebrity is providing its
guests with is a 24-hour cyber cafe called Online@CelebrityCruises.
Browsers can send digital postcards, access e-mail and surf the
Web.
The cost to go on line is 95 cents a minute, and digital
postcards, which can be sent to two e-mail addressess, cost
$6.95.
Guests staying in suites have Internet access as well.
Making its debut on the Millennium is Notes, the two-floor music
library.
Individual stations are set up with headphones so patrons can
sit back and listen to tunes that range from classic to celtic to
country music.
Baby boomers can stop by and hear Mamas & the Papas, while
their Gen-X kids can listen to Metallica.
Words is the two-tier library that offers Oprah Book Club
selections, popular fiction, recent bestsellers and
Spanish-language books. Black-and-white photos of famous authors
adorn the walls, and comfortable recliners beckon bookworms.
The Millennium's spa facility is rather large at 25,000 feet
with an expanded program of treatments and a good-size gym equipped
with treadmills, step machines and more.
The line also is touting its shopping emporium that features
such upscale desingers as Coach, Fendi, Versache and DKNY.
The Millennium will offer eastern and western Caribbean sailings
through April 22 and then will head to the Mediterranean.
This ship is the first in Celebrity's Millennium class, and its
three siblings are under construction in France.
Infinity and Summit are scheduled to debut in 2001, and the
fourth vessel is set to launch in 2002.
For more information, call Celebrity at (800) 437-3111. The Web
site is www.celebritycruises.com.