MississippiMom

We will be sticking with Marriott or Hilton properties. When your husband’s employer focuses on those two brands for business travel, you stick with points accumulation and/or points payments.

Thank you so much! We shouldn't need a grocery store or a liquor store, but you never know. 🙃 The prices are SO high in downtown Vancouver that I feel confident that we will go with the lowest cost (points and/or cash) option, but we also want to be an area we will enjoy.

We will be on the Summit in August 2025. First time on Celebrity and first time to Alaska. Excited to try and see something different. This Mississippi girl does not know what a Salmon Bake really means. Guess I’m about to Google that. 😜

Very helpful. Thank you!

We are planning to rent a car in Juneau (long port day) just to have the freedom to go at our own pace. We think we can get to Mendenhall Glacier before the bulk of the cruise tours, visit Douglas Island, and, maybe, eat away from the masses. Plus, it doesn’t look like we can really get lost driving, and my husband will be able to tell people he drove in Alaska.

The “need to get my act together” comment explains where I am at right now. We have a little more time than you, since we are cruising August 2025, but I would like to put excursion deposits down just as soon as that’s an option. ISP is probably going to be our whale watching port, so I’m excited to go read a bit about the tour you have selected. I will most definitely be following along on this thread. Thanks for posting it!

Thanks for the tip to follow Ade Roberts. Never heard of him, but I found his FB page, and he appears to be sailing away from Seward.

I understand that we can’t control the whales, but which whale watching was better, Juneau or Icy Strait Point! We will only be able to afford one, and were leaning toward Icy Strait Point. We are planning to go to Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau.

What if we don't need to stay near Canada Place, what area of downtown is recommended? We do tend to lean toward Marriott or Hilton properties (it's a reward points thing), so the Metropolitan Hotel Vancouver is at the top of our list currently. It appears to be near lots of retail and restaurants. However, I have seen various posts that reference staying west in downtown, so is The Westin Bayshore or the Marriott Pinnacle going to be a better location? We really don't need to have a water view or be within walking distance of the cruise port, but we do want to stay downtown and not near the airport. It is just for one night, but we would have time to walk to dinner and to breakfast the following day. I'm not sure how early Celebrity Summit boards, but we aren't scheduled to depart until 5 p.m. on a Friday.

@Margin Walker, I do love CC for cruise research and planning. However, I found the opinions about Alaska overwhelming. I read and read and read on CC, then watched a whole lot of YouTube reviews to determine what ports, excursions and/or cruise lines & ships might need to be listed in order of priorities. Then, my husband and I discussed, knowing that it would be highly unlikely that we would get everything we both wanted, but we are happy with our compromised selection. I will probably forget some of the items we considered, but this will give you an idea. - Less formal - No mega-ships - Some nightlife - Kids okay, in case additional family decides to join - Younger cruisers, in case additional family join - An indoor pool - An adults area - No assigned dining time - Vancouver, departure or arrival port - Sitka or Haines, since they are less common ports - Glacier Bay not required (some CCers probably passed out reading that) - Tender ports or far away berth did not matter - Ports with excursions to glaciers and/or fjords We put our deposits down on a Celebrity Summit cruise that leaves from Vancouver and ends in Seward. We will visit Ketchikan, Sitka, Juneau, Icy Strait Point and cruise by Hubbard Glacier. Will it be perfect? Of course not, but it is as close as we could get to our wish list.

My husband would LOVE that!

Oatmeal is my typical breakfast of choice at home. Younger me always wondered “Who?” was eating oatmeal on a cruise ship. Well, here I am.

That looks lovely for an early morning small breakfast, while most of the cruisers are sleeping.

In summer 2023, on my 6th cruise on a different cruise line, I discovered the “deli window” for the first time ever. Why? Because I was traveling with 19 other family members, so I studied the deck plans to help answer questions, especially from the first time cruisers. I had just never walked down that particular walkway, especially, when, my kids were little and all they wanted in the general area was pizza or ice cream.

Since I am new to Celebrity, I have no idea if Spa Cafe is a buffet or not. To me, a buffet is where you grab a completely empty plate and walk around a bunch of food options and serve yourself whatever you want to eat. I have zero interest in standing in typical buffet lines or in having everyone use all of the same serving utensils and breathe on all of the food, while they try to decide what to pick. Pre-plated food in a small venue should be fine, especially since it does not sound like it will be noisy & crowded in the early morning hours.

Thank you for your honesty! I realize that the easiest would be Pan Pacific or one of the nearby Fairmonts, but I don’t think we can justify that price point.

For Carnival, there’s an online form you fill, advising them of your medical equipment. In theory, your cabin steward will have an extension cord in the room for you. My husband pre-ordered the distilled water and it was already in our cabin, when we arrived.

What did you think about the area around Delta Hotel (a Marriott property)? I have come across some mixed reviews. The rooms look nice, and we like sticking with Marriott or Hilton properties when we vacation due to accumulated points from my husband’s business travel.

My understanding is that the fresh pressed juices and the smoothies are included on the Premium Drink Package. I had not even considered Spa Cafe for lunch options, but those salads you listed sure sound delicious.

@Giraffes, thank you for that pdf! Oatmeal, granola bowl, açaí bowl, yogurt bowls, fruit plates and zucchini muffins would definitely work for me for an early morning breakfast. Although I might treat myself to a fresh fruit juice or a smoothie at some point during the cruise, the selections aren’t tempting me enough to upgrade from the Classic Drink Package to the Premium Drink Package.

This is EXACTLY why we wanted anytime dining on this particular cruise. First, how “off” will our meal times feel in Alaska, when we live in the U.S. Central time zone? How exhausted will we be from our port excursions? Will we need a short nap before dinner? A shower? Will we have eaten at a port restaurant, but might like a little extra at the MDR, shortly before closing? We wait for a table at our local restaurants, so we won’t mind waiting for a table on a cruise ship. Nearby lounges are a bonus.

New to Celebrity and busy researching our currently booked August 2025 Alaskan northbound cruise on Summit. I HATE buffets and LOVE wandering around the ship in the very early mornings, enjoying the quiet. It looks like Cafe Al Bacio (sp?) will definitely be an option to grab a morning tea & pastry, and I have found tons of posts and photos about that food venue. I have found very little about Spa Cafe, except that their fresh fruit juices and smoothies are not covered under the Classic Drink Package (which is all we have purchased). Does anyone have a Spa Cafe menu? Do their food options rotate? Will I be able to sit in the area or is it grab & go? Thank you for anything you can share.

So glad you asked for recommendations on how to dress for an Alaskan cruise, @stvntra. Like you, we know how to pack for the hot weather cruises, but that’s it. I definitely do not have waterproof shoes, so I ordered several to try. My husband owns a pair of waterproof ON sneakers, but I’m not convinced they would be very warm. For certain, neither one of us has a true waterproof jacket. We are sailing in late August 2025, so there’s still plenty of shopping time. Oh, I also ordered myself a waterproof sling bag and a small waterproof backpack to see if either might work to wear on port days.

I’m confused. New to Celebrity. If it’s “anytime dining,” why do I need to pick a time in advance? We will be on a port intensive Northbound Alaskan cruise and we definitely have no idea what dinner time would make any sense for us. We had expected it to be like NCL anytime, and we just walk up to MDR when we are hungry. Is that not the case?

Happy to read this. I would hate to waste our limited luggage space on unnecessary formal clothing.