This was a second cruise on the Millennium and third overall on Celebrity. Ship itself was well maintained. We had a handicapped cabin, which meant there was a lot of extra space and we had a rear facing balcony which was great. Cabin crew was efficient and friendly. Entertainment was good, lots of local performers from Australia. We had room service breakfast several times on the balcony. Good, but sometimes an item or two was left out. Waiter in the main dining room was useless, his assistant tried as best she could to make up for his deficiencies, she was outstanding. Food was very uneven. Last cruise on this ship it was outstanding, This time not so much. I had four meals that I would rate as outstanding (out of 17 nights), 6 more were excellent, and 7 times the main entrees were only fair at best. Several of the dishes were overcooked, one I sent back which I never do. Fish dishes were overdone and tasteless. To make up for the shortcomings, several dishes were oversauced to cover up the overcooking. Pastry chef was inadequate. A "lava cake" was the size of a tiny hockey puck. Best desserts were from the everyday menu, when they tried to make something else, it was a failure.
However the ports were great. Ship arranged tours tended to be too rushed and they got back to the dock way too early. A little better planning is in order. We arranged one tour and one city visit on our own and had a much better time, not to mention we saw more and even saved a couple of dollars. An unexpected highlight was a couple of talks by the Great Barrier Reef pilot who was on the ship for several days. He is an old mariner and has lots of stories about the people and culture of the area. He was the best speaker on the trip. We picked this trip for the itinerary and were not disappointed in that but the ship did not live up to expectations. An above average itinerary on a very average ship.