garyl62

1 hour ago, JUST TRIPPIN' said:

Falmouth is a docked port.  We just found out that is where we are going now too a month earlier.

Thanks, I realized I had mis-read the notice from Celebrity.  The new itinerary listed each day and included the information that Grand Cayman was a tender port.  I just skipped over "Grand Cayman" and assumed all the information included was about Falmouth.  

On our March 23, 2024 Ascent sailing Labadee was changed to Falmouth, Jamaica.  We've never been there so will look into options on land, although the port times are 7:00 - 3:00 and it's a tender port.  This is already a "stay on board" trip as we have 3 sea days, Grand Cayman and Nassau as the other ports.  

Can the AARP cards be used for final payment if you go through a TA?  The charge on my CC always shows as "Celebrity Cruises" and not the TA so wondering if that's possible.

Glad to learn this, @NorthStarStateCruiser we're also on this sailing and I've been looking to book some specialty dining times too. Glad you asked the question.

6 hours ago, Cruise till you drop said:

I’m from a school of thought that says nothing in life is free.

 

So for me, large obc means I’m probably paying for it myself somewhere in the price.

 

So the lower the obc, the better I feel about what I paid for the cruise to start with.

 

Completely agree.  One of the differences is the non-refundable vs the refundable.  I look at the Non-R as just a credit for my overpayment and that's what I try to spend.  The refundable goes back to my CC or I get it in cash out on the last night of the cruise.  So that's just money I let them borrow for a while.  I guess it cost me a little, but at least I knew it was coming back to me and I wasn't forced to spend it with the cruise line someway.

We typically have sailed in suites and many times there is 2-300 OBC per person as part of that package so that OBC, coupled with OBC we receive from our TA we always have over $1,000 OBC for a 7 day cruise. I think the most we've had is about 2,300.  Our next trip is in March on the Ascent and we are in a Sky Suite. Our OBC break down is 300 for booking onboard, 50 bonus, 600 Retreat Guests, and 1000 from our TA so 1,950 total.

7 hours ago, Shami said:

 

Maybe there is a chance to contact the cab company and pay to have your backpack mailed back to you if they have it.

I'm hopeful something like this will be possible. Unfortunately lost and found for the cab company is currently closed and won't reopen until Tuesday so I'll have a few days of waiting to see if it was turned in. Really hope it works out to get it back as there's a few items in there that are important to me, but not of value to someone else. It's really put a negative ending on the trip but there's nothing else I can do about it right now. 

We made it home safe and sound.  Unfortunately I left my backpack in the back seat of the cab when we got out at Vancouver airport.  I had my camera in that bag with the SD card that contained all my wildlife photos. So unfortunately I will not be able to add any additional photos to this thread. At least I have the memories of those images in my mind and a few that I had taken with my cell phone.  Once again I hope you all enjoyed following along.

53 minutes ago, Barwick Cruiser said:

We’re torn between adding a cruise line land tour or just flying in and doing it on our own before embarking the ship. Would you do it the same if you were to repeat or do you think you’d see more and have more flexibility doing the land portion on your own?

 I have been wondering about that same question if we were to ever come back and do it again. For the first time I am glad we did it with a cruise line and may even do it that way again if we ever come back. We saw so many small out of the way places that really gave us a local feel for the area that I'm not sure we'd get if we did it ourselves. We also learned a lot from the narrative our tour guide provided as we drove through different areas.  

6 minutes ago, SoloAlaska said:

How where the shows? 

We only went to a few, magician and comedy were fine, not always our favorite shows so I'm a bad judge. The aerialists were very good and we liked the new Broadway production show. 

Last day on the cruise today. It's been a wonderful 2 weeks and as I've repeatedly said the weather could not have been any better. Every crew member has said this has been the best weather they've seen all season and we should be thankful which we are. 

This morning started out with breakfast and Blu and then a behind the scenes tour in the theater.  After that we just enjoyed being on board and looking at the scenery as we sailed down through the inside passage.

We chatted with many friends and crewmembers to say goodbyes throughout the day. I will say the production show On Broadway tonight was very good. It is a new show for Celebrity and it's just being rolled out on the Millennium now.

Bags are due out in 90 minutes so we've started to pack which is always bittersweet but with this view out our balcony door it's a little more enjoyable. 

Hope you've all enjoyed following along. I'll try to get some of the wildlife photos from Denali and the whale watching excursion off my DSLR in the next few days so keep your eyes out for some future posts on the thread.

Yesterday was another beautiful sunny day in Alaska while we visited Ketchikan. It was 70° and sunny all day while we were in port. We walked around town for a couple hours before taking our excursion. Looking back at my pictures I realized I didn't get many from town so I apologize. We did walk the Harbor and were able to see a crew filleting salmon that they brought in that morning. We continued past the donut shop and several gift shops before stopping for lunch at Annabelle's Keg & Chowder House. 

After lunch we headed out on the Bearing Sea Crab Tour. It was really interesting and we are so happy we went on this excursion.  They had set some long lines and crab pots earlier in the day so we were able to travel around and recover both of those as well as an example of a king crab pot that they have set In a bay. They caught a couple different types of crab and a few fish so we were able to see some live fishing.

We also made a stop along a area with several eagles nests. We saw several eagles flying around and feeding extremely close to the boat. There were also a couple juvenile eagles they estimated to be about 2 or 3 years old. 

On our return to the ship we were able to get a good view of the Millennium against the pristine sky we have experienced all week.

We later enjoyed dinner in Blu and I needed to share at least one food picture which was having Baked Alaska in Alaska. Sorry the quality of that photo is poor, the lighting was difficult to manage.  After dinner we went off to enjoy the show and the other activities on board for the evening and we were treated to a beautiful sunset as well.

Our final day on board will be Thursday when we will be at sea and sailing through the inside passage. It will be hard to come back to reality after such a great 13 days with Celebrity. 

6 hours ago, capsplace said:

We will be on board Millie is a couple weeks!  Who are the captain, cruise director, and expert speakers?

I'm sorry I didn't respond to this question earlier, but Captain Theocharis is in charge, Hotel Director is Andrea Muegge, she is all over the ship and very visible. Patrick is the cruise director and Celia Garland is naturalist currently on board. 

Good morning from Ketchikan!  It's a busy morning already as we sail into the dock, we've seen several boats and float planes taking off or landing and at times they come right down the channel directly at the back of the ship. It's made for some exciting times as we enjoy our coffee on our balcony.  Weather looks to be beautiful again today with a high of about 70 and only a 4% chance of rain.

We had our 1st rainy day of the trip yesterday in icy straight point.  We had no excursions planned so it was nice just to wander around the port area, learn the history of the area and the cannery before coming back to the ship to take an afternoon nap and just relax for the day.

 Hard to believe it was August 1st and the raspberries were just starting to ripen.

 Later today we have an excursion based off the TV show The Deadliest Catch. We will be going on a crab boat that has been modified to include bleacher style seating and we will venture out to see some demonstrations about crabbing and the other types of fishing in this area.

After that we'll wander around town and find a local spot or two to stop at. This is our last port so time to make sure we have all our souvenirs! 

We ended up having a beautiful sunny day yesterday in Skagway even though the day began with overcast skies.  We started out the day going to the Gold Rush Cemetery and Reid's falls.

The main activity of our day was renting bikes from the Klondike Bicycle Company and going on a 22 mile round trip self guided bike tour.  The total ride took us about 3 1/2 hours. It was out and back on the same route and we made several stops along the way.

The end of the ride took us to the town of Dyea which was once the jumping off point for the Chilkoot Trail however with the introduction of the railroad from Skagway town fell out of favor and is now a ghost town which consists of a forest and some gravel paths marking the former streets.  It's a picturesque spot that is a National Park today.

After exploring Dyea we started back to town but stopped at the Chilkoot Trail Outpost for an excellent homemade lunch that would have been worth the bike ride by itself! 

 From the outpost we headed back to town and still had a little bit of time to walk the streets and explore the shops before our departure time.  We stopped at the infamous Red Onion for a drink and a quick bite to eat. I had to take this photo that showed a lot of men lining up outside of the old brothel. Seems there's a few other places in town trying to capitalize on the historical red light reputation the town has.

The rain ended up coming after we boarded the ship and we sailed out of town around 8:30 PM. Off to Icy Straight Point next. I'll try to post again later today after we spend some time onshore. Nothing planned there so we'll just explore the port area and have a relaxing day. 

We've docked in Skagway and have a good view of town from our balcony. It's our first cloudy day and temperatures are expected to be in the high 60s and a chance of rain by 4:00 this afternoon.  Today we have booked a biking excursion on our own that uses electric bikes There is a 20 mile loop that takes us out of town to a lunch spot and then returns. It covers many of the historical sites from the gold rush area and is self guided at your own pace.  We plan to head out around 10 and should have plenty of time for exploring the town after we return as we don't depart until 8:00PM

Yesterday was another fabulous day, we were fortunate to see many whales during the whale watching portion of our excursion.  While we were not able to see any breaches, but we did see several examples of bubble feeding and many whales diving and showing off their tails.  Most of my photos are on my DSLR, however I did capture a couple with my phone that I can share now.

The second half of our excursion was doing a hike through the forest surrounding Mendenhall Glacier. 

After that we spent some time walking around town and later in the evening enjoy a beautiful sail away around 10:15 PM

5 hours ago, daddyslittle girl said:

Looking to book our first Alaska cruise,want a land and sea,but so many options,most are for on summit (2024)..did you book your land tour from celebrity? Loving your pictures and reviews...

Summit is replacing the Millennium next year. We booked through Celebrity and went on tour 10B if that helps 

Welcome to another beautiful sunny day in Alaska!  We are currently sailing around Douglas island and then we'll head up into Juneau.

We had a nice lunch at Sushi on 5 yesterday and then had a fantastic day for viewing at Hubbard's glacier. It actually was quite warm in the sun and out of the breeze, however for those that were on the Helipad or an upper deck a light coat was more the norm. The temperature in the sun on our balcony was shorts and T-Shirt weather and those outside by the Sunset Bar and Oceanview Cafe were really comfortable. 

We had dinner at the Chef's Table last night and it was very enjoyable. We had a table of 5 couples and everyone seemed to interact quite well. The entire evening lasted just over 3 hours and started with a glass of sparkling wine in Cellar Masters with a short introduction by the Chef. From there we had a galley tour before taking our seats in Tuscan. I didn't take any pictures of the food as no one else at the table was and my DW gave me that "look" when I started to take my camera out. Let's just say the presentation of everything was great. At the end of dinner they presented each couple with a signed copy of Daniel Boulud's cookbook, a group photo and copy of the menu. I'm glad we signed up for this. 

 Today we are taking a small group tour (14 people total) which includes hiking Mendenhall Glacier with a naturalist photographer to focus on photographic opportunities and from there we continue to a small whale watching boat. Total tour is about 5 hours. After that we plan to explore Juneau a little as we don't depart until 10:00PM. Hopefully I'll have some good things to share later tonight or tomorrow morning. 

WIFI is working fine so far. We have the premium package and I'm sitting on my balcony now with no connection issues. 

While I think about it, I'll add that dinner in Blu was nice last evening. We saw a few people from our Land Tour and were fortunate to be seated next to one couple which allowed for some good conversation. Ordering off the MDR menu was no problem which I did as Prime Rib was an entrée. When we returned to our cabin our bed had been turned down and we had chocolates on our pillows.  We opted in to the Go Green program so we'll see if there is any noticeable difference, but we've done that on our last 4 trips and never noticed a reduction in service. 

Tonight we go to the Chef's Table. The wine pairing adds $60 pp to the cost, but we have the premium beverage package so we don't plan to add that.

Sea day today with no plans other than to spend the morning relaxing and then enjoy Hubbard's Glacier this afternoon. Currently cruising in the Gulf of Alaska, right now between Katalla and Yakutat. Here's the view from our balcony as we enjoy our morning coffee.

We left Homer today with our final destination of Seward to board the Millennium. We made a short stop at the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge followed by a lunch stop in Soldotna again.

No market today but we did go down by the river and see some fisherman pulling in some salmon. 

A couple hours later we arrived and boarded the ship. Our Aqua Class room was ready so we dropped off our carry on bags, checked out the balcony and view, then headed off to check out the rest of the ship. 

Just as we had hoped this morning, the rain cleared and we were treated to another beautiful day in Alaska. We wandered the spit this morning enjoying the shops and the atmosphere. 

We had lunch at the Boardwalk Fish & Chips. I had a clam strip basket and DW had a traditional fish with coleslaw instead of the chips

After lunch we came across some folks getting their catch of halibut filleted. Then we ended up at Coal Point Processing where some other people were bringing in their salmon, some had been filleted, others just gutted. Everything was going to be vacuum sealed and frozen.

 We spent about 4 hours on the Spit and while I needed to take a break at times, we had another great day.

 After a little rest at our hotel we walked a few blocks and came across this stack of bouys on our way to dinner at AJ's Seakhouse.

AJ's  has a great menu that includes some handhelds and small plates, plus many local fish items, a fantastic selection of USDA prime Steaks and several daily specials. I opted for an entree of fresh Kodiak Scallops and DW shared part of her 12 oz NY strip. Both were great, but the scallops might have been the best I've ever had! This is another place you need to book in advance, so if you're planning to come to Homer be sure to make a reservation before you get here.

We walked back to our hotel, enjoyed the view and realized a week in Alaska probably doesn't get any better than this.

Tomorrow we head out to Seward to board the ship and begin the second half of our Alaskan adventure!

We are heading over to the islands and oceans visitor center this morning then plan to spend some time down on the spit before returning to the area around the hotel for dinner.

We are staying at the Aspen Hotels of Alaska and have a room with a kitchenette which was convenient after walking across the street to Safeway and picking up some things for breakfast and cold beverages. 

 Had a little rain overnight but it seems to be clearing now and looking forward to a nice day again!

Another beautiful day in Alaska. We started out by stopping at the wildlife conservation center with a lot of good photo opportunities ofwiild animals that are there for some type of rehabilitation, but are living in a very natural environment. I took all of those photos with my DSLR camera so I'll have to wait to transfer them to my computer before I can share them.

From there we traveled to Soldotna and stopped for lunch. There was an outdoor market going on with crafters, food trucks and other vendors all there selling their wares. We shopped a while and enjoyed lunch while listening to the live music. 

As we left Soldotna we crossed the Kenai River a few times and every time there were people fishing for salmon. They say today was the highest count of salmon all year.  Yes that is the color of the river, it has to do with the fresh water mixing with the glacial silt that turns it turquoise. 

From there we traveled to Homer and went to a Coastal Fisheries Dock Walk out on the Spit which was very interesting. Got a picture of an Otter just floating around. 

After that we checked in to the hotel, did a grocery run across the street to pick up some breakfast items, snacks and a carry out Asian dinner before calling it a day. Free day in Homer tomorrow, planning on some shopping and dining on the Spit. Should have more pictures to share after that I hope.