BigB0882

Thanks for the tinypics recommendation! Got a few to upload, they lose some quality in the process but better than nothing.

Someone asked about the air on the ship, we were comfortable the whole time. We like to sleep with it cold so we kept the air all the way down and I did get a little chilly at night. The rest of the ship was always fine.

Unfortunately the gorgeous photos I have while in Juneau are not uploading, maybe they are too large? I will eventually try another photo sharing site and see if that will work.

I will attach a few pictures but since there is a limit and they are often too big I don't know how this will work either. These are some of my absolute favorites but I have tons more:

ClaudiaB,

It would be amazing to meet someday! Right now my husband and I are both working in education so unfortunately for us we do all of our cruising during peak months. When we retire (not nearly soon enough) we will definitely switch to cruising during the off months so we can enjoy less kids and different itineraries.

We will look into flying to FLL but that is quite cost-prohibitive for us when we can drive to New Orleans. We do have to pay for parking but we often cruise with another couple so we split that cost. Certainly can't fly anywhere for that price.

Carnival isn't bad, don't get me wrong, it is just no Celebrity. If you really like Celebrity then I don't think Carnival would be a good fit. They are really quite different and appeal to different types of cruisers. It is fine for a cheap and quick get away but if I want a real vacation where I feel taken care of then Celebrity it will continue to be.

It sucks that the site I am using to host photos is prohibited. Either that or it doesn't allow hotlinking which I doubt.

Can anyone tell me where they host photos so I can post them here? I have some great ones.

As for the catamaran excursion. Our tickets for the excursion were in our room when we got on the ship since we had pre-booked it. They had instructions on the time to meet and where. I can't remember exactly now but it was something like 7:30 in the Dining Room. Then we were all escorted down to the gangway where the catamaran was waiting for us. This happened in Endicott near the glacier. I think the cruise ship gets as far as it is going to go and then they let everyone off on the excursion. The ship stays around a little while longer and then goes back. You hardly get any time at the glacier if you stay on the ship.

Ok I am stopping here because I can't figure out how to make my photos appear. Anyone know what I am doing wrong? I am copying the link and pasting it when I click the picture icon. For some reason it is just showing the tags and the link is *ed out. I have them hosted on Imgur.

Some eagles in Ketchikan:

Hello everyone. This will not be a very in-depth review as there are plenty of reviews out there that cover the specifics of the ship and what-not but I will hit on the high-lights for us and, if we had any, the low-lights.

This was our 6th cruise but our previous 5 had all been on Carnival. We were bringing my in-laws and it was their first cruise ever. None of us really knew what to expect. I had a general idea about cruising and was the one who did all the planning and booking but I kept telling them that once we were on the ship we were all in the same boat (pun intended) as I had never been on a Celebrity cruise.

First of all, I have never experienced an easier embarkation. The wait in traffic was a bit long BUT I would much rather sit in the comfort of a vehicle than stand in long lines inside the terminal. So once we got dropped off we found someone to take our luggage and then we walked in the terminal. We were directed up some escalators and then through a very quick security screening WITH NO LINES. I couldn't believe it. We got there about or shortly after 11. Then we went to the check-in lines and passed the specially designated lines for suite guests and aqua class, etc. The lines for us normal folk didn't exist! Again, NO LINES. I couldn't believe it. We walked right up to the counter. Took a few minutes to check in and then I thought that surely we would have to wait to board the ship. Nope. Walked right onto the ship. I was just completely amazed. Embarkation beat Carnival by a mile, there really is no competition. I don't know if it is always like this or just in Seattle but they really know what they are doing.

The ship itself was amazing. Again, I will be comparing a lot to Carnival but it is my only comparison. The ship was very clean and must nicer inside. No over the top colors or decorations. Very elegant. I loved that there were sitting areas everywhere. The elevators were gorgeous and very big and had great views. I went into one of the public bathrooms since our room wasn't ready and I couldn't believe it. First of all, their public bathrooms are 5x as big as Carnival's and secondly it was the cleanest bathroom I have ever seen. They even had a person in there cleaning all the time. And actual cloth hand-towels. Just amazing. The solarium was so nice, we never used it on this cruise but how nice to have a covered pool area and one that is adult only most of the time. The lawn area on one of the upper decks was so neat to see as well, never thought I would see an actual lawn on a cruise ship.

The food was GREAT. Again putting Carnival to shame. The food in the dining room was always a notch above anything we ever had on Carnival. The only thing Carnival does better is dessert. Service was top notch with the exception of one night where we got a server we just did not care for and it seemed he didn't want to be there. Didn't ruin anything and we just made sure to request our favorite server, Sebastian, the rest of the trip. The buffet was also great, I love how there are a lot of different stations so you don't have to get in one long line when you only wanted to grab one thing. It did make it a bit confusing as to which way the line should move but most of the time each station only had one or two people at it so it wasn't a big deal. The one negative was that they don't have enough seating up at the buffet. We would go during peak lunch hours or even a little later and it was almost impossible to find a table. I am sure during other cruises more people take their food outside but it was a bit chilly for that.

One of the high-lights was the Hot Glass show. I never thought I would sit for 2 hours in the cold and wind to watch people blow glass but it was incredible. The seats were full when it started but by the end a lot of people had left and only about 15-20 of us remained. They decided to raffle off three of the pieces they had sitting out and my husband won a gorgeous bowl. We were so excited and somehow got it all the way home without breaking it. If you go on a ship with this show you must attend, they have it every day so you have plenty of chances and maybe you will get lucky and be there when they give away a piece or two. They also do an auction on the last day but we weren't rich enough for that!

Our stateroom was great, we were in 7245 which is on the hump. The balcony was humongous. I loved the shower having a sliding glass door as opposed to a curtain. The stateroom itself was very comparable in size to Carnival but the decor and the bathroom just blew Carnival away. So much nicer looking and updated. We had a room next to the in-laws and they opened the partition between our balconies which was really nice and convenient.

The ports were all amazing. Ketchikan did not have much to do on your own and this happened to be a port where we had no excursions planned. So in the future I will make sure to have an excursion booked for this stop. We did get off and walked around just a few minutes. It was a tender port because the Infinity had hit the pier a few weeks before. We just waited a few hours to get off so that didn't bother us at all. We saw tons of eagles, they were everywhere in Ketchikan.

Juneau was absolutely gorgeous. Had amazing weather with clear skies. We couldn't go into Tracy Arm so we went to Endicott instead. We did the catamaran excursion and it was amazing. The calving of the glacier and all the wildlife was so exciting to see and so beautiful. I got my very favorite pictures on this day. We met back up with the ship in Juneau and did an evening whale watching quest. Both of our excursions were with Allen Marine and I can't recommend them enough. They do an amazing job. However, in the future I might would recommend for people to skip the whale watching since we saw quite a few whales on our earlier excursion but that is no guarantee. I got much better photo opportunities on the whale watching excursion anyway since it was less packed and we did see more whales.

Skagway was nice and quaint, neat little town to walk around in. We took the train ride up the White Pass and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I think the rest of my group was a little less into than I was but I was all about the photo opportunities. Unfortunately I only got a handful of great photos because I tried taking too many through the windows. They were very clean but the glare shows up anyway. I would go stand out on the little deck area (what do you call it?) and take pictures as often as I could but I did not want to be the person who hogged it the whole time, it is very small.

Our last stop was in Victoria and we almost did not bother getting off the ship. I had it in my head that they only stopped there because they had to stop at a foreign port. My in-laws didn't get off at all but finally my husband and I decided to. We got off and then realized there was really nothing there. You had to either take a shuttle into town or walk. The walk was about 40 minutes and we decided to go for it. It was a gorgeous day and it was so nice. The walk is very well marked and once we got into town we were in love. I have never seen a more beautiful city and SO CLEAN! Wow. I would love to go back some time. The people were all so friendly and willing to talk to us about their city. Don't miss it if you stop here.

The only issue we had on the cruise, and it was small, was getting our room-service trays picked up. That may seem trivial but depending on the food you ordered it can really start to stink up your room. I had to call 5 times once and finally our room steward agreed to take the trays. I also found room-service to be unreliable in general, often not answering the phone or having a message saying they were closed in the middle of the day.

We had the Classic Drink Package on the cruise and upgraded to the Premium. We are all wine drinkers and particularly like Pinot Noir. I will say that if I knew ahead of time that they would be out of La Crema from Day 1 and only have one other premium Pinot Noir then I may have just stuck with the classic package. By Day 5 they were running out of the Kendall Jackson and the only way we could get it was to go from bar to bar or have a kind enough bartender who would go find it for us at a different bar. Our favorite place to hang out was in Cellar Masters, by the way.

Leaving the ship was almost as easy as getting on but we checked our bags that night and got one of the very last zones so we had a long wait until they called us but once they did it was a quick process off and customs was very quick as well. Much better than Carnival where the line backs way up. There was a long wait for a taxi, though.

In the end this was the most amazing cruise I have ever taken with the most amazing ports. You simply must go to Alaska at least once if your life. The Solstice is an amazing ship to do it on. I wish I could cruise with Celebrity from now on but we often cruise out of New Orleans since we live nearby and unfortunately our only options are Carnival or Norwegian. I am afraid the next time I get on a Carnival ship it will be quite the let down but a cruise on a lesser cruiseline is better than no cruise at all. We are going back to Alaska next year on Infinity out of Vancouver and I can not wait, hope it is just as great.

I will post some of my favorite photos soon.

Please let me know if you have any specific questions.

Next summer we will be heading back to Alaska with Celebrity and want to have picked out our next cruise so we can book on board and take advantage of their offers for doing so. My only concern is what happens if you do this and then have to cancel the cruise later? Do they charge you a cancellation fee to cover the OBC that they gave you on the cruise? If there is no penalty then what is stopping everyone from booking a cruise they never intend to take to get the extra OBC?

We just took our first Celebrity cruise after only having sailed on Carnival. It was the most expensive cruise we ever took, by far. It was also worth every single penny. Maybe the Alaskan itinerary had something to do with it but well worth it. You saw where the extra money went to. The friendly staff, the much nicer decor, the cleanliness everywhere, nicer bathrooms both public and stateroom. I could go on and on. I don't know if I would pay so much for a Caribbean cruise since I have hit all the ports but X will be our go-to line for more exotic locations.

I would just wait it out but isn't this the entire reason you get a good price on guarantee rooms? Seems like you knew the risk when you booked guarantee.

I was on the June 24th sailing to Alaska but was on the Solstice. It may be summer but there were very few children. Alaska isn't a hot spot for young families. I may have been in shock though as I always sail Carnival during school breaks (I am a teacher) so I am used to TONS of kids. I felt like this sailing was practically kid free. I just find it hard to believe the other ship was so much worse.

Loving the review! We will be on this trip June 24.

 

I noticed you upgraded to Premium. Did you drink much wine and if so, did you have issues finding wines available that weren't super cheap or way over priced? I read in another thread about people having problems. We prefer Pinot Noir but will try other wines, just don't want to upgrade and then find out they are out of everything except the expensive stuff priced higher than Premium covers.

For anyone else who is a wine drinker I would go around the ship and find out what kind of Premium wines they have that you like before upgrading your package. They attack you as you step on the ship to upgrade (which is not an entirely bad thing as you get it done quickly) but I would hold off next time.

We drink Pinot Noir and of the bars we went to they only had 3 available by the glass. 1 in the Classic and 2 in the Premium. From Day 1 they were out of La Crema. Claimed they didn't get it while in Seattle. That was very disappointing. Then by Day 4 they started running out of the Kendall Jackson at some of the bars. Certain bartenders would be nice enough to go find it but other times we were only offered the Classic pinot. There was one day where I did not have a single drink from the Premium package and so my money was completely wasted that day.

I even tried and found a new wine I liked, a Rioja, and it was also gone within a day or so and the only other option was a cheaper version.

If you ONLY drink wine (and specific types at that) I would seriously consider checking all the bars for what kinds they have on hand and see if you like the classic options. They run out way too quickly.

It is my only gripe on an amazing cruise.

Thanks for the heads up! We board on Friday and will definitely attend. I hope this isn't the same night as we are in Juneau, though. That night we are doing a whale watching expedition in the evening and I think we return at 9. I guess we can still go but we have a very long day that day. We shall see!

Thanks!

The information about the excursion tickets and information being in our room is really handy. I have never done a ship excursion, even on all of our Carnival sailings, so I had no idea how this worked. That makes it very easy. I will not worry about printing out too much info, instead I will just save some screenshots on my phone of the various proofs of purchase and OBC and such. Thanks again!

Hi everyone! First I want to thank all of you for the endless amounts of information you share on this board. I have really appreciated it.

I will be leaving on Friday for my first cruise on X. I am a little nervous because I have only ever sailed on Carnival.

Can anyone tell me if there is anything important I need to know about X that differs from Carnival or other lines? We are taking my in-laws on their first cruise and I want it to be smooth sailing for them, plus they think I know all there is to know about cruising but the truth is that I am as much of a newbie on this cruise in many ways.

I do have a specific question about online check-in. I have received a few emails from X saying to do online check-in but I already did. When I log-in it says 2 out of 2 passengers complete. Is this just an automatic email X sends out to everyone? Is there something I am missing?

Our excursions are booked through X. Do I need to bring anything for them, such as print-outs of any kind? Or is that going to all be in their system and we will be good to go? Do I need to worry about tender tickets in Juneau if we are on an X excursion?

Anything at all that I need to know or that would be a good tip would be GREATLY appreciated. Thank you!!

Thanks everyone. Now I am not worried if we do miss TA and to be honest kind of excited at the prospects of Endicott. Sounds like either one has tons of potential.

I am also sailing in two weeks and it isn't looking good to make it into Tracy Arm. We paid for the catamaran excursion which is not cheap and I really wanted to see Tracy Arm as every person says it is absolutely amazing.

Is the catamaran in Endicott comparable? I don't want to just see a glacier. I want to see all the amazing things that you apparently get to see as you make your way into TA.

Will they allow you to cancel and get a refund on the excursion in this case? Not that I would but just curious.

Love this review. Will be on this cruise one week from today!! We are also spending a couple of days in Seattle before so I am enjoying every bit of this review.

We are getting a passport as we are sailing out of Vancouver next summer but this trip was kind of last minute and the cost to expedite a passport is just ridiculous.

ClaudiaB, do you ever sail out of New Orleans? We do a lot of Carnival cruises because of how convenient the port location is.

Read the descriptions for every excursion, every one that I saw said a passport is required. Don't go by what Celebrity tells you on the phone, you can call three people and get three answers, they have been that way for years and just about every regular on this board knows it.

 

From my understanding, the problem is not going into Canada but coming back into the US.

 

We did the bus up and the train back. We were required to present passports prior to getting on the train.

 

What's the excursion number..

I did read the description and it did not mention a passport. You are talking about a bus/train combo and I am only talking about the train ride.

I did the train ride and you definitely have to present your passport and we barely went into Canada although we did stop.

You did the 3 hour train ride? There is a longer one which definitely requires a passport.

If you were asked to present a passport then that differs from what we were told. Are you sure you weren't asked to present ID and you just used a passport? Either way, we haven't booked this excursion because we plan to book on the ship and use our OBC so we will ask the excursion desk once on board.

Thank you for all the information but so many people are posting false information. After calling and doing research I have found out that we do NOT need a Passport to board. We do NOT need a passport to disembark in Victoria and depending on which exact train tour you do in Skagway you do NOT need a passport for that. There is one ride that barley goes into Canada and it does not stop and let people off, anyone can do that excursion with or without a passport.

Thank you!