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GTS ''Celebrity Millennium'' (formerly ''Millennium'') is a
cruise ship Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, cruise ships typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports of call, where passengers may go on Tourism, tours k ...
operated by
Celebrity Cruises Celebrity Cruises is a cruise line headquartered in Miami, Florida, and a wholly owned subsidiary of Royal Caribbean Group. Celebrity Cruises was founded in 1988 by the Greece-based Chandris Group, and merged with Royal Caribbean Cruise Line in ...
. She is the
lead ship The lead ship, name ship, or class leader is the first of a series or class of ships that are all constructed according to the same general design. The term is applicable to naval ships and large civilian vessels. Large ships are very comple ...
of her namesake class, whose ships are powered by
gas turbine A gas turbine or gas turbine engine is a type of Internal combustion engine#Continuous combustion, continuous flow internal combustion engine. The main parts common to all gas turbine engines form the power-producing part (known as the gas gene ...
s. Delivered in 2000, she is the oldest operating ship in Celebrity's fleet.


History


Planning and construction

In February 1998, Royal Caribbean signed a letter of intent with
Chantiers de l'Atlantique Chantiers de l'Atlantique is a shipyard in Saint-Nazaire, Saint-Nazaire, France. It is one of the world's largest shipyards, constructing a wide range of commercial, naval, and passenger ships. It is located near Nantes, at the mouth of the Loire, ...
to build two new ships, with an option for two more, that would make up a new class of ships, dubbed the ''Millennium'' class. Designed to be an evolution from Celebrity's ''Century''-class ships, these new ships were originally planned to measure and have a guest capacity of approximately 1,900, and be delivered in June 2000 and January 2001, respectively. The ship was the first new-build vessel for Celebrity following the merger between it and Royal Caribbean, and also Celebrity's first new-build not built by German shipyard
Meyer Werft Meyer Werft (; ) is a German shipbuilding company, headquartered in Papenburg at the river Ems. It was founded in 1795, as a builder of small wooden vessels. It has been owned and managed by the Meyer family for seven generations. Since ...
. She was launched on 7 November 1999 from the shipyard. She set out for her first set of
sea trial A sea trial or trial trip is the testing phase of a watercraft (including boats, ships, and submarines). It is also referred to as a "shakedown cruise" by many naval personnel. It is usually the last phase of construction and takes place on op ...
s on 7 April 2000 and her second set on 21 April 2000. She was initially scheduled to be delivered on 31 May 2000, but her delivery was delayed to 22 June 2000. She was christened in
Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...
on 26 June 2000 by Robyn Roux, wife of French celebrity chef Michel Roux. Her first port of registry was
Monrovia Monrovia () is the administrative capital city, capital and largest city of Liberia. Founded in 1822, it is located on Cape Mesurado on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast and as of the 2022 census had 1,761,032 residents, home to 33.5% of Liber ...
,
Liberia Liberia, officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to Guinea–Liberia border, its north, Ivory Coast to Ivory Coast–Lib ...
.


Operational career

Following her christening, ''Millennium'' sailed her maiden voyage on 1 July 2000 from
Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...
to Baltic ports. Following an inaugural
Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
season, she debuted in
North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...
in New York in November 2000 before re-positioning in December to Port Everglades in
Fort Lauderdale, Florida Fort Lauderdale ( ) is a coastal city located in the U.S. state of Florida, north of Miami along the Atlantic Ocean. It is the county seat of and most populous city in Broward County, Florida, Broward County with a population of 182,760 at the ...
to sail cruises in the
Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...
through the winter. She sailed in the
Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...
the following summer. Since 2001, the ship has sailed extensively throughout Europe,
Australasia Australasia is a subregion of Oceania, comprising Australia, New Zealand (overlapping with Polynesia), and sometimes including New Guinea and surrounding islands (overlapping with Melanesia). The term is used in a number of different context ...
, and the Caribbean. In May 2011, a female passenger in her sixties was declared missing when she failed to disembark at a port call in
San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...
. Security cameras on the ship showed that she had jumped off the ship into the waters between
Cabo San Lucas Cabo San Lucas (, "Luke the Evangelist, Saint Luke Cape (geography), Cape"), also known simply as Cabo, is a Resort town, resort city at the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula, in the Mexican Political divisions of Mexico, state of Baja ...
and San Diego. In December 2012, the ship debuted in
Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...
after arriving at her homeport of Singapore, where the ship has been primarily deployed through the winter; in the summer, she has primarily sailed in
Alaska Alaska ( ) is a non-contiguous U.S. state on the northwest extremity of North America. Part of the Western United States region, it is one of the two non-contiguous U.S. states, alongside Hawaii. Alaska is also considered to be the north ...
. Because of the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
, in February 2020, Celebrity cancelled all Asia cruises on ''Celebrity Millennium'' and re-deployed her to
Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
to sail complimentary cruises in March and April 2020 for
first responder A first responder is a person with specialized training who is among the first to arrive and provide assistance or incident resolution at the scene of an emergency. First responders typically include Law enforcement, law enforcement officers (co ...
s and military personnel. However, all sailings were cancelled after the company halted operations on 13 March 2020. The ship was berthed or anchored offshore near San Diego throughout much of the pandemic; after months of difficulty repatriating crew members, up to 480 crew members still remained on board the ship in May 2020. In summer 2021, ''Celebrity Millennium'' joined Celebrity Edge in becoming the second ship in its fleet to re-start North American Operations, offering few sailings out of St. Maarten prior to being repositioned to Seattle were in July 23 she became the 2nd ship worldwide to resume Alaska sailings.


Design and specifications

''Millennium'''s original hull livery featured a predominantly dark blue paint with yellow and white bands lining the vessel. Upon delivery, she became the world's first cruise ship to use a turbo-electric COGES power plant. The COGES plant consists of gas and steam turbines, with the latter being driven by steam generated using the heat from the exhaust of the gas turbines. In this way, some of the otherwise lost energy is reclaimed and the specific fuel consumption of the plant is decreased. Propulsion is provided by two "Mermaid" azimuth pod-propulsion units from Kamewa and Cegelec (now
Alstom Alstom SA () is a French multinational rolling stock manufacturer which operates worldwide in rail transport markets. It is active in the fields of passenger transportation, signaling, and locomotives, producing high-speed, suburban, regional ...
). The ship was also built featuring the Olympic Restaurant, a specialty restaurant that contained walnut wood panels that were used on (sister ship to and ) and removed and preserved when the ship was sold for scrap in 1935. In early 2019, the ship was refurbished during a 35-day dry dock in
Singapore Singapore, officially the Republic of Singapore, is an island country and city-state in Southeast Asia. The country's territory comprises one main island, 63 satellite islands and islets, and one outlying islet. It is about one degree ...
at the
Sembcorp Marine Seatrium Limited provides innovative engineering solutions to the global offshore, marine and energy industries. Headquartered in Singapore, the Group has over 60 years of track record in the design and construction of rigs, floaters, offshore p ...
shipyard in
Sembawang Sembawang ( ) is a Planning Areas of Singapore, planning area and New towns of Singapore, residential town located in the North Region, Singapore, North Region of Singapore. Sembawang planning area is bordered by Simpang to the east, Mandai to t ...
. Among the changes were 30 new passenger cabins.


Recurring pod propulsion issues

Months following her delivery, ''Millennium'' encountered problems with the bearings of her pod-propulsion system, which resulted in cancelled sailings for an emergency dry dock in December 2000 for repairs in
Newport News Shipbuilding Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS), a division of Huntington Ingalls Industries, is the sole designer, builder, and refueler of aircraft carriers and one of two providers of submarines for the United States Navy. Founded as the Chesapeake Dry Dock ...
in
Newport News, Virginia Newport News () is an Independent city (United States), independent city in southeastern Virginia, United States. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 186,247. Located in the Hampton Roads region, it is the List of c ...
. In July 2007, the ship's propellers were damaged after striking a submerged rock during an electrical malfunction near
Villefranche-sur-Mer Villefranche-sur-Mer (, ; ; ) is a resort town in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region on the French Riviera and is located southwest of the Principality of Monaco, which is just west of the French-Italian ...
, forcing the cancellation of numerous
Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...
sailings. The damage was expected to negatively impact the earnings of Royal Caribbean by approximately $0.14 per share. In August 2013, the ship encountered problems with the electrical parts of the pods' motors that caused the cancellation of her remaining Alaskan sailings and forced an emergency dry dock for repairs in September 2013. The problem reportedly cost Celebrity approximately $13 million in lost ticket revenue and an estimated total of $31 million with all incurred expenses combined. Numerous repairs that proved unsuccessful led Royal Caribbean to file a lawsuit against
Rolls-Royce Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to: * Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1906, now defunct Automobiles * Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the current car manufacturing company incorporated in ...
and
Alstom Alstom SA () is a French multinational rolling stock manufacturer which operates worldwide in rail transport markets. It is active in the fields of passenger transportation, signaling, and locomotives, producing high-speed, suburban, regional ...
in August 2003 for $300 million to recover lost revenue and the costs associated with the pods. Royal Caribbean later settled the lawsuit in January 2010.


Gallery

File:Millennium Pool Deck.jpg, File:Millennium Directory.jpg, File:Millennium Whirlpool.jpg,


References


External links


Official website
{{Celebrity Ships
Millennium A millennium () is a period of one thousand years, one hundred decades, or ten centuries, sometimes called a kiloannum (ka), or kiloyear (ky). Normally, the word is used specifically for periods of a thousand years that begin at the starting ...
Buildings and structures celebrating the third millennium Ships built by Chantiers de l'Atlantique 1999 ships