Celebrity Millennium

Celebrity Millennium was conceived as the lead ship of an ambitious new class that would carry Celebrity Cruises into the twenty-first century, and she was built by Chantiers de l'Atlantique at Saint-Nazaire, France, entering service in 2000 as the name-giver of the Millennium class. Her most consequential distinction was technical: she was the world's first cruise ship to be propelled by a turbo-electric COGES plant, a combined gas turbine and steam turbine arrangement that promised cleaner running and smoother, quieter cruising than the diesel engines that dominated the industry. Christened by godmother Robyn Roux, she set the template for three sister ships that followed over the next two years.

The ship measured on the order of 90,000 gross tons and carried roughly 2,150 to 2,200 guests across her decks, a scale that placed her among the larger premium ships of her generation without sacrificing the refined, understated aesthetic that defined the Celebrity brand. Interior designers gave her a strong sense of maritime heritage, most memorably in the Olympic Restaurant, the ship's flagship specialty venue, which is panelled with original hand-carved French walnut woodwork salvaged from the first-class dining saloon of the RMS Olympic, the elder sister of the Titanic. That authentic Edwardian ocean-liner detailing became one of the most celebrated dining rooms afloat.

Like her sisters, Millennium relied on azimuthing propulsion pods, and the class as a whole endured propulsion troubles in its early years that occasionally forced itinerary changes and dry-dock repairs. Over time she was modernized through Celebrity's fleetwide refit programs, which refreshed her staterooms, dining, and public spaces to keep her competitive with newer tonnage.

Now the oldest ship in the Celebrity fleet, Celebrity Millennium remains in active service, registered at Valletta, Malta, and homeported at Singapore for part of the year. She has become a fixture of the line's seasonal repositioning, sailing Alaska in the northern summer and shifting to Asia for the winter months, carrying the class name into its third decade.