Celebrity Cruises Millennium: setting the stage for 21st century cruising - Ship of the Month

Cruise Travel, March-April, 2002 by Laurence Miller

Celebrity Cruises' Millennium is the of a new general cruise-ship design that is shaping a fleet of vessels just entering service or under construction for several companies. The ships are a new variation of "Panamax"--as large as cruise liners can be and still transit the Panama Canal.

The demand for cabins with balconies, however, has given new meaning to the "max" part of the designation. The vessels also provide the maximum number of cabins with balconies that can be provided in a ship of this size. The two factors--the Panama Canal and balconies--impose a distinctive shape on these ships. They are narrower, longer, and have higher profiles than earlier modern cruise ships of the same size.

Why? The limitations the canal imposes are mainly those of width, "The beam of the Millennium is right at the Panamax limitation: 105.6 feet: length is, in this case, an impressive 964.6 feet. The narrower superstructure decks that boost the percentage of balcony cabins save weight and make it possible to have more decks and a higher ship.

The overall visual impact, not always evident in photographs, is to make these ships longer and sleeker than they would otherwise be--especially in their topside structure. While the Millennium and her successors bear no resemblance to the Normandie and other superliners of yore, they do hold in check the tendency for ships to be wider in proportion to their length.

Sisters of the Millennium (identical excepting interior decor) include the Infinity and Summit, now in service, and Constellation, the final unit in the quartet due this spring. Other ships that reflect the Millennium's general design configuration--although they are not sisters--include Costa's CostaAtlantica (which made her maiden voyage two weeks after the Millennium's), Carnival's Carnival Spirit, Royal Caribbean's Radiance of the Seas. and the five new Holland America Vista Class ships. starting with the Zuiderdam, scheduled to be delivered in September.

The Millennium has a number of innovations, none more significant than being the first cruise ship to use gas turbine engines for propulsion. Used by navies throughout the world for years, gas turbines are highly dependable, efficient at high speeds, and require less space and weight--important currencies in ship design--than diesel engines. The fuel gas-turbine engines consume is more expensive than that for diesels, but their advantages-savings in weight and space for more cabins--tend to outweigh the extra fuel cost. For these reasons, this "new" propulsion system is being employed in many ships now being built, including the giant Queen Mary 2.

In her interiors, the Millennium represents a refinement in the decorative vocabulary of her Century Class running mates--Century, Galaxy, and Mercury. However, the art plus a few special eye-catching features provide accents that set the Millennium apart.

Greeting the arriving passenger just inside the entrance is an internally lit gold-onyx staircase--focal point of the atrium, which embraces just three decks (less a monument than an enhancement of the surrounding cafe and lounge areas). Two signature features of the Century Class ships, a two-deck-high dining room and an especially striking observation lounge, are onboard as well.

Completely new, and a Millennium innovation, are the glass elevators facing the sea. Like gas turbine engines, the sea-view elevators are becoming a standard feature of cruise-ship design. All this proves that cruise-ship designers and building yards are not above copying good ideas from each other. As one leading shipowner put it, "First one yard mentions an idea, like glass elevators, and then you find yourself talking about the same feature with all the other shipbuilders."

All new cruise ships feature multi-million-dollar investments in art, but the collection on the Millennium, to this observer, makes a very special impact on the shipboard ambiance. Bright oils and graphics by a galaxy of international artists, illuminated by perfect lighting, are the centerpiece of many public rooms. Perhaps the contrast with the somewhat subdued contemporary surroundings creates this impression. There is sculpture everywhere, both monumental and so small that it escapes notice when one walks past the first time. In many ways, a cruise aboard the Millennium is an ongoing voyage of artistic discovery.

The Olympic Restaurant, just behind the onyx staircase on the entrance level, is a formal a-la-carte alternative dining venue, Celebrity's first. It features paneling and artifacts from the Olympic of White Star Line, a sister of the Titanic. At its entrance, one can view a video narrative by well-known marine author John Maxtone-Graham. The musicians in the Olympic sport authentic copies of White Star uniforms. Surroundings, service, and cuisine are highly sophisticated and the equal of fine, upscale restaurants ashore. This dining experience was available at a $25 per person surcharge. While a host of pricey wines by the glass from the special Olympic cellar are recommended, one can also choose from the more typically priced vintages offered in the wine list of the Metropolitan Restaurant. As a dining experience, the Olympic is quieter than others onboard, and a total stylistic change of pace--almost like leaving the ship for a few hours only to return at the close of the evening.