The ship that started it, twice
Every Celebrity ship built since 2000 exists because of what this one proved. She was the first cruise ship in the world built around gas turbines rather than conventional diesels — a turbo-electric system called COGAS, Combined Gas And Steam, that captures waste heat to generate additional power. It was a genuinely forward-looking choice, and it is why she runs quieter and smoother than a 2000-built ship has any right to.
She was named Millennium for the year she arrived, christened at Southampton by Robyn Roux, wife of the chef Michel Roux, and sent off on a fourteen-night Baltic season before crossing to Fort Lauderdale for her first Caribbean winter. Three sisters followed over the next two years, and a class was born.
Then, in 2021, she did something no ship in this fleet had ever been asked to do. She restarted cruising in North America after the pandemic shutdown — the full story is a few sections down, because it deserves the room.
She is now the oldest ship Celebrity operates, still working, still refitted, and still doing the thing this class does best: going places the larger ships cannot follow.
There is a piece of her history worth knowing even though you cannot experience it anymore. She used to carry a restaurant called The Olympic, panelled in genuine walnut salvaged from RMS Olympic — the Titanic’s sister ship — when Olympic was broken up in the 1930s. It was removed around 2016 and replaced by Tuscan Grille. We mention it because older reviews still describe it, and it is a real piece of maritime history that sailed on this ship for over a decade. It is not there now, and no current guide should tell you otherwise.
Is she your ship?
Three questions, one honest answer — including “book her sister instead” if that’s the truth.
Should you book Celebrity Millennium?
We’ll tell you yes, yes-with-an-asterisk, or point you at a sister — which is the answer nobody else’s website will give you.
Where she actually sails
The widest-ranging map in the class, and the reason to book her over her sisters.
Her working pattern today is Asia and the Pacific — departures from Singapore and Hong Kong, calling at ports across Japan and Southeast Asia that the larger Celebrity ships simply cannot enter. Summer takes her to Alaska, sailing between Vancouver and Seward, with transpacific repositioning crossings linking the two hemispheres and calling at Hawaii along the way.
That has not always been her map. Her first season was European — Baltic ports out of Amsterdam — before she crossed to Fort Lauderdale for Caribbean winters. Over two decades she has added Alaska, Australia and the US West Coast to that original pattern, gradually becoming the itinerary generalist of the class.
Celebrity reshuffles this class every season, so treat any single year’s schedule as perishable. The durable pattern is the range itself: if a Millennium ship is doing something a long way from Florida, it is often this one. The class guide covers where all four are working.
Millennium vs. her three sisters
Close sisters, and the map is what separates them.
1. Where is she? Millennium ranges furthest — Asia, Alaska, transpacific. Infinity works South America and the Mediterranean. Summit and Constellation stay closer to the Caribbean.
2. Which refit has she had? All four went through Celebrity Revolution. Millennium’s came in 2019, with further refresh work in late 2024. Summit went earliest, in March 2019. Confirm the most recent dry dock for whichever ship you are considering — on hulls this age it matters more than the launch year.
3. How big? All four sit within a rounding error of 91,000 tons and around 2,170–2,220 guests. This is the closest-matched class in the fleet; the differences that actually decide a booking are deployment and refit date, not size.
The other three: Celebrity Infinity · Celebrity Summit · Celebrity Constellation
All four side by side, with a ship matcher, in the full Millennium Series guide.
The voyage that restarted an industry
The most significant thing this ship has ever done, told properly.
Cruising in North America stopped in March 2020 and stayed stopped for fifteen months. It started again on 5 June 2021, when Celebrity Millennium sailed from Philipsburg, St. Maarten — the first big-ship departure anywhere in the hemisphere since the shutdown. Around five to six hundred guests, a fully vaccinated crew, seven nights to Aruba, Barbados and Curaçao.
Then-CEO Lisa Lutoff-Perlo marked it in four words: “Today, we sail, again!” It was the first time Celebrity had ever homeported a ship in St. Maarten, and those guests were also the first anywhere to sail on Celebrity’s “Always Included” fare — Wi-Fi, drinks and gratuities bundled into the price, which is now the line’s standard structure. It launched on a twenty-one-year-old ship in the Caribbean.
Why her, and not a flagship? Because the rules allowed it. US departures were still blocked; St. Maarten was open. A mid-sized ship could sail at reduced capacity without overwhelming a small island port. The same flexibility that gets this class into unusual ports made her the only sensible choice for the restart — the case for the whole class, proven at the moment it mattered most.
Seven more ships followed that summer. She went first.
What she’s like onboard
What you’ll actually use.
The best cabins to book
A conventional veranda throughout — a real balcony, with a door.
The honest downsides
What we tell clients before they book her.
She is the oldest ship in the fleet, and refits do not change a hull. Cabin bathrooms, corridors and the fundamental layout are of their era — a quarter century old. The finishes are recent; the bones are not.
The historic dining room is gone. If you read an older review describing The Olympic and its genuine Titanic-sister-ship panelling, know that it is history now — removed around 2016. Tuscan Grille sits in that space today.
Far fewer venues than the newer classes. Three specialty restaurants against thirty-two on an Edge ship. On a long sailing that is either cosy or repetitive, and which one you are is worth being honest with yourself about before booking.
Her best itineraries are a long way from most of North America. Asia and transpacific routes need real annual leave and a real flight budget on top of the cruise fare.
No waterslides or water park. True across Celebrity. If that is the point of the trip, book a Royal Caribbean Icon-class ship instead. But the line that usually follows — that families should look elsewhere — is not one we will write: our own four children have sailed this line across three generations and loved it. The full account is in Is Celebrity Cruises Good for Families?
When to book
Her long Asia and transpacific itineraries behave differently from a Caribbean week. They sell to a small, committed audience who book early — often a year or more out. By the time one of these looks appealing on a booking site, the good cabins on the good dates are already gone.
Specialty dining is more forgiving here than on the newer ships, but the three restaurants aboard still fill on a full sailing — book them the day your cruise planner opens rather than waiting until you board.
On fare: Celebrity’s MoveUp bidding programme can lift you a category for less than the outright difference — worth understanding before you pay to upgrade at booking. And if you are choosing between Millennium and a closer-to-home sister, remember the trade is not really about the ship: it is about how far you are willing to fly for the itinerary.
The verdict
The ship with the widest map, and a real place in cruising history.
Celebrity Millennium started this class in 2000 and, twenty-one years later, restarted the industry itself. She is the oldest hull Celebrity operates and also the one that goes furthest — Asia, Alaska, transpacific crossings that her sisters rarely attempt.
Book her for the itinerary — if Japan, Southeast Asia or Alaska by way of Hawaii is what you want, she is usually the ship doing it. Book Summit or Constellation instead if you want to stay closer to home. Book the Solstice Series if newer interiors matter more than the map.
And price the flight before you fall in love with the itinerary.
Quick answers
When did Celebrity Millennium launch?
She was launched in November 1999 at Chantiers de l'Atlantique in Saint-Nazaire, France, and christened at Southampton on 26 June 2000 by godmother Robyn Roux, wife of chef Michel Roux. Her maiden voyage left Amsterdam on 1 July 2000 for a fourteen-night Baltic season.
Did Celebrity Millennium have a restaurant with panelling from the Titanic's sister ship?
Yes, historically. The Olympic Restaurant carried genuine walnut panelling salvaged from RMS Olympic, the Titanic's sister ship, when Olympic was scrapped in the 1930s. It was removed around 2016 and replaced by Tuscan Grille, which remains aboard today.
What is COGAS propulsion?
Combined Gas And Steam — a turbo-electric system using gas turbines with waste heat captured to raise additional steam power. Celebrity Millennium was the first cruise ship in the world built with it.
Where does Celebrity Millennium sail?
Primarily Asia and the Pacific, with departures from Singapore and Hong Kong, plus summer Alaska sailings from Vancouver and Seward and transpacific repositioning crossings calling at Hawaii.
Which ship restarted cruising after the pandemic?
Celebrity Millennium. She sailed from Philipsburg, St. Maarten on 5 June 2021 — the first big-ship cruise anywhere in North America after the fifteen-month shutdown.
Considering Celebrity Millennium?
Tell us where you want to go.
Your dates, your crew and how much time you have — and we’ll tell you whether she’s the right ship, what to book first, and how far you’ll actually be flying.
Tap a question or the button and an advisor will answer against current pricing before you book.