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Great call. We did the combo ticket last week and I loved the Chihuly Garden. This morning I was just looking over the Chihuly pics we took, and was impressed all over again! In case anyone has a child, there is a fantastic free playground next to the Space Needle and Chihuly Garden. My daughter loved it so much, we went before and after our cruise!

Thanks for sharing your experiences and thoughts! We were on the exact same cruise as you, although we are first time Celebrity cruisers (and haven't really cruised much in general). Overall, we really enjoyed the week. And like you, we found every employee friendly and engaging, and more than willing to solve any issue or problem that arose. I have a lot of respect for the crew who clearly work long hours for our enjoyment, and I never took it for granted. Some things I liked: - The comedian Monique Marvez was sensational. I went to all three shows, and her third show had the Solstice theater the most packed I had seen it all week. - The naturalist Dr. Gary Kramer, a retired Canadian professor, was also fantastic. I attended all of his many lectures about Alaska, the Alaskan gold rush, and climate change. He really increased my knowledge and enjoyment of the history of Alaska and put everything in perspective. - My daughter loved the Camp at Sea kids club - she insisted on going morning, noon and night whenever we let her. The staff really engaged the kids and had lots of fun activities for them. I was told there were 300 kids on this cruise! - Although the food at the MDR & buffet was good (I especially enjoyed all the Indian items at the buffet), I really enjoyed our Specialty Dining at Tuscan Grille & Le Petit Chef. It was nice to change it up, and have those two experiences (the views from the rear of the ship in Tuscan Grille are worth the $ alone). - I loved how many activities were offered throughout the day & evening - trivia was always a hit with our family. Some bumps in the road: - (Not Celebrity's fault at all): We weren't able to see or go to the Dawes glacier because there was too much ice in the water, which I assume had broken off from the glacier. It appeared the smaller boat that was supposed to take Solstice passengers for a close up of the glacier had trouble navigating the ice as well, so I would think they didn't get to see it either. I was told the two Solstice trips the previous two weeks were able to get to the Dawes glacier, so we got unlucky. It's a reminder that Mother Nature rules all! If glacier viewing is high on anyone's prerequisite list, perhaps a different cruise line that goes to Glacier Bay would be better. Glaciers were lower on our list, so it wasn't too big a deal for us. - Midway through the cruise, there was a problem with the stateroom phones. Anyone on the ship who tried calling Specialty Dining reservations had their phone call routed to our stateroom! So we were getting tons of phone calls from all different passengers, and our phone was ringing off the hook. We let Guest Services know, but the IT department wasn't able to fix the problem until the next day. It seemed like everything was fixed the middle of that next day, but then the same issue started happening again, and we were again getting phone calls from everyone on the ship! This time, the IT department was able to fix it within a few hours. We never asked for compensation or anything, but a few days later an employee called us and gave us $250 each in future cruise credit. That was a nice gesture, although I suspect it will go unused because we don't have any plans to cruise again in the next two years before it expires. All in all, we really enjoyed the cruise, and would recommend Celebrity to anyone interested! We're not typically cruise people, but had a good week and are glad we went.

Not to scare you, but we were on the Solstice this past week, and the ship wasn't able to go to the Dawes glacier because there was so much ice in the water that had broken off from the glacier. I saw the small boat that picked up passengers from the Solstice, and I highly doubt it was able to go to the glacier. There was so much ice in the water, that even small boats had trouble navigating it. I heard the previous two Solstice trips the prior two weeks were able to make it, and didn't have ice trouble. It was a bummer to miss it, but the Endicott Arm is beautiful and was our consolation prize. Mother nature rules all, so fingers crossed you will have better luck next week!

This makes sense. For disembarkation, I noticed the Uber/Lyft pick up areas involved a walk. We waited in the taxi line instead since it was right in front of the terminal. The taxi line was long and a bit chaotic - people were jumping the line and some taxi drivers were encouraging this. A good amount of taxi drivers only wanted to pick up airport fares, and actively engaged people in line who wanted a ride to the airport, and encouraged them to jump the line. The whole taxi area wasn't the smoothest of operations. That said, everyone made it to where they needed to go eventually.

Interesting. We just used Uber last week, and they dropped us off directly in front of the cruise terminal - no walk or shuttle needed. We did use UberXL, so maybe that made a difference?

I have a fear of heights, but I found the Space Needle doable for me last week. The outdoor area has very high glass walls which I found reassuring, and a solid floor. It was only on part of the indoor revolving area where there was some glass see through flooring. Needless to say, I didn’t stand or go near that part of the floor. My one big tip if you or anyone else ends up deciding to go - bring binoculars! They greatly enhanced my enjoyment of the view (and as an added bonus allowed me to stand back from the outer walls a bit).

We just used the Port Valet for 3 bags today and all 3 showed up at our final destination. I have to admit I was nervous about the whole process, but luckily it worked out fine for us. YMMV.

Yes, The Great Alone is a really good choice. I found the plot itself just ok, but the descriptions of life in rural Alaska made this such a memorable and worthwhile read for me.

If you make it to Solvang, I'd highly recommend the Danish pancakes from Paula's Pancake House.

I worked for a long time in Sausalito, and my favorite place to eat is a restaurant called Fish. It's a few blocks away from the main downtown, but worth the trip if you like seafood.

Oh, nice catch! I just looked at our Solstice cruise, and Tuscan Grille and Murano both have the $10 kids price, but just like you mentioned Le Petit Chef doesn't have a per adult or per child price, just a single per guest price. So I'm guessing kids will be charged full price for Le Petit Chef. But I will report back in a few weeks!

Oh, interesting! I'll let you know in a few weeks after we do Le Petit Chef. It says in the link above to prebook at full price, and they'll adjust it onboard. This dinner is how we're celebrating our daughter's 9th birthday, so I prebooked for all 6 of us so we wouldn't have any issues on her birthday.

Oh, that might make more sense. It is worded a little strange, so I must have interpreted it wrong. Thank you!

This is interesting. I am bringing my 8 year old to Le Petit Chef in a few weeks. I made a reservation for her for $60. Will I be charged $60 or $10 for her?

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