Greetings from the sunny Bahamas!!

This is Sheldon, your Hotel Director from the beautiful Celebrity Millennium, bringing you the action as we go through the amazing Solsticizing process.

As I walked on board the ship, wonderful memories of fantastic friends that I have made here and all of the exciting places that we have been came flooding back to me. I have spent nearly 5 years of my career with Celebrity on Celebrity Millennium, starting in the year 2000 when I was a part of the opening team that brought the ship out of the yard in St Nazaire, France. I have done contracts here as an Assistant Maitre D’, Food and Beverage Manager, and Hotel Director, covering itineraries in Northern Europe, Mediterranean, Alaska, Caribbean, South America, New Zealand and Australia. This will be my fourth dry dock on this ship after having done previous ones in Palermo, Sicily, Sydney, Australia and Victoria, Canada. So as you can see, I am very happy to be here and to be a part of a new chapter in Celebrity Millennium’s life.

So far, Celebrity Millennium’s dry dock has been extremely successful. This has been achieved through our usual dedication to planning, communication and support for one another. It is really a great experience to be a part of the Celebrity family; everyone’s voice is heard and all feedback is considered so that we can move forward with positive momentum.

Recently I was telling one of my colleagues a wonderful story of how one crewmember’s keen eye for detail contributed to enhancing the beauty of Celebrity Summit during her Solsticizing: I was walking around, speaking with the crew on fire watch, and this particular crew member stopped me and asked if a portion of the ceiling was going to be painted, as it did not fit in with the new décor. I relayed that concern back to the design team, and the very next day scaffolding was being erected and the ceiling was painted. Amazing!

The ship left Miami on April 21st for the short trip to the Shipyard in the Bahamas. Captain Alevropoulos and his team of bridge officers did a great job of getting the ship into the dry dock under very challenging weather conditions. The lifeboats were lowered into the water and were taken away to be completely overhauled and repainted. The remaining water was then drained, leaving the ship high and dry on the blocks. Although some of the Solsticizing work began shortly after leaving Miami, this period is the time when the gangway is placed and the remaining contractors come on board, which means full steam ahead.

It is great to see that most of the people involved in this dry dock are the same from Celebrity Summit and Celebrity Infinity’s dry docks. Everyone is familiar with each other as well as the ship, and they are all absolute professionals. I am looking forward to keeping everyone updated over the next few weeks as we work through to completion and welcome our guests on board in Miami on May 12!

Best Regards

Sheldon Thompson
Hotel Director
Celebrity Millennium
Celebrity Cruises

• Tags
• celebrity cruises
• solstice
• celebrity millennium