Historic Touches Grace Celebrity’s New Millennium

The 1,950-passenger Millennium, the first of a new series of cruise ships for Celebrity Cruises, sails into history this month with classic decor and new amenities.

The original walnut paneling from the Olympic, the Titanic’s sister ship, was installed in a luxury restaurant that highlights the cuisine of three-star Michelin chef Michel Roux. The 134-seat Olympic Room was created to showcase the paneling that lined the first-class dining room on the 1911 White Star vessel. Designers for the new ship bought the rare wood at auction at Sotheby’s; it had been in a private residence in England after the Olympic was dismantled for scrap in the mid-1930s.

A glass-walled kitchen allows diners to watch the chefs at work and will also be used in the daytime for cooking demonstrations. Adjacent to the main dining room is a small private wine cellar room decorated with a Baccarat chandelier from the Olympic’s first-class lounge. The room is earmarked for special meals and small parties.

The 91,000-ton Millennium, previewed for the cruise media in late March at the Chantier d’Atlantique shipyard in St.-Nazaire, France, introduces several new design elements, including four ocean-view glass elevators, the first ever at sea; a two-deck music library, called Notes, with 15 cushy listening station seats; and a 25,000-square-foot spa.

New gas turbine technology also reduces exhaust emissions, noise and vibration, said Richard D. Fain, chairman and CEO of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., Celebrity’s parent company.

Spa aficionados, already accustomed to services unique to Celebrity’s ships, will find indoor and outdoor pools, therapy and treatment rooms in the Aqua Dome and Aqua Spa, operated by Steiner of London in association with Elemis. A solarium, a hydrotherapy pool with a glass dome and countercurrent, wrap and massage treatments, a bath with sequential water massages, shady pergolas to relax in and a terrace room serving fresh juices and light, healthful food should please even the most demanding passenger.

The Etruscan chamber with mud steam treatments and a thermal suite with Turkish steam room, Sahara dry heat, fog shower, cascades of crushed ice, a rain body jet, relaxation bench and heated footstools are available at a surcharge.

In Notes, 1,500 CDs are grouped by genre and period for easy browsing. Just above is Words, a two-deck library. Both rooms will have rolling library ladders to allow access to the collections.

The decor throughout the ship is rich and sophisticated, with classic ornamentation. A glittery new martini and champagne bar called the Platinum Club, in silver with accents of purple, is open to the Rendez Vous Lounge below, and the Michaels Club cigar lounge is even bigger and more sumptuous than on the line’s earlier Century-class ships.

Fortunes Casino, designed by Louis Pereira and Associates of Newport Beach, is typical of the ship’s lush style, evoking the casino of Monte Carlo, with thick knotted gold cords, gilded picture frames, structural pillars of double columns with elaborate Corinthian capitals and classic statuary.

Standard inside- and outside-facing cabins are 170 square feet with two lower beds and a sitting area with sofa. Almost three-fourths of the outside cabins have private verandas and measure from 208 to 513 square feet. Suites range from 308 square feet with veranda to a pair of 2,500-square-foot penthouse suites with veranda whirlpool tubs, baby grand pianos, 24-hour butler service and Internet hookups.

A Fun Zone for kids 3 to 12 and a teen lounge, video game room and broadcast room make the vessel a good family vacation escape.

The Millennium is scheduled to make its maiden voyage June 17 into Russia and the Baltic Sea on a 14-night cruise round trip from Amsterdam, calling in Oslo; Stockholm; Helsinki, Finland; St. Petersburg, Russia; Tallinn, Estonia; Gdansk, Poland; Rostock, Germany (for Berlin); and Copenhagen. Sailings for July 1, 15 and 29 and Aug. 12 and 26 also follow this itinerary.

Other European and Mediterranean sailings are scheduled through Nov. 3, when the Millennium sails from Genoa, Italy, to New York. The ship then repositions for the winter season with seven-night Caribbean cruises beginning Nov. 26 from Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Alternate western and eastern Caribbean itineraries are offered. The western route visits Key West, Fla.; Cozumel, Mexico; and Grand Cayman; the eastern route calls in Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, St. Thomas of the U.S. Virgin Islands and Nassau, Bahamas.

Brochure fares for 14-day European cruises start at $1,399 per person, double, and Caribbean cruises begin at $1,199 per person, double. Early booking discounts are available. Air fare is extra.

Three other ships in the Millennium class will follow: the Infinity in 2001, the Constellation, due in 2002, and an unnamed third ship for 2003. For a brochure, see a travel agent or call (800) CELEBRITY (235-3274).

Shirley Slater and Harry Basch travel as guests of the cruise lines. Cruise Views appears the first and third week of every month.