Northern Aurora

Luminae also offers a smaller size filet mignon on some lunch menus.

We have stayed at the McKinley Chalets a number of times both when they were owned by Aramark and now owned by HAL. The complex is large with multiple dining options. Most of the hotel rooms are located in two story lodges distributed throughout the looping road through the grounds. There is a good chance you will be separated from the rest of your party.

In contrast to the post by @ldtr this is the cruise line chartered Alaska Railroad run from the Seward cruise terminal directly to the Anchorage airport. This chartered run can only be purchased from the cruise line and does not end at the ARR downtown station.

This is the "regular" Alaska Railroad scheduled run from Seward to Anchorage.

We book Sky Suites (and periodically Celebrity Suites) and generally are contacted by shoreside two to three weeks before boarding. But I suspect that our Zenith tier Captain's Club level is why we are contacted.

This woman has done six full transits and have thoroughly enjoyed each one. The history of the Panama Canal, both in terms of the engineering problems which had to be overcome and the impact on geopolitics, is fascinating. Also a nice combination of sea days and ports. PS: My husband also has throughly enjoyed the transits as well.

Hello Don: Don and I have actually met. Best wishes to Carol. There are snow dumps in a number of communities. The snow dumps in Fairbanks have membranes so that chemicals in anti-freeze can mot contaminate runoff into rivers. The snow cannot be dumped directly onto the ice of the Chena River. The membranes are comparable to those used in landfills.

Concierge Class offers an embarkation lunch in the MDR. It is a limited menu, but also nice to not have to deal with first day busy ness of the Ocean View Cafe. There should be information in your stateroom regarding the MDR location (which floor and which side of the ship). If for some reason there is not an info sheet in your stateroom then go to Guest Relations (or just check the MDR decks). Post covid Celebrity has really streamlined their boarding process. You will not receive your sea pass cards in the cruise terminal. They will be in the mail slot outside of your stateroom. After you board you can go directly to your stateroom, put valuables in your safe and drop off the carryon bags. If the stateroom is not totally ready there will be a sign on the door with wording something to the effect of "perfection in progress." But still leave the carryons and put valuables in the safe. I am a frequent Celebrity cruiser, and am not aware of comments that folks on Celebrity don't like kids.

Folks interested in the aurora may want to use google to find the University of Alaska's Geophysical Institute website regarding the aurora. Very informative and will predict probabilities/possibilities of viewing all over the world. Fairbanks is a winter destination for serious aurora viewers. Our aurora season (if my memory is correct) extends from August 21st to April 21st. Prime viewing is October through March. Otherwise we are just too light to see an existent aurora. We generally go to Chena Hot Springs Resort for Christmas. The resort is always sold out for the holidays and this past Christmas there were incredible displays from the resort grounds.

If docking downtown (not Ward Cove) there are large and clearly marked public facilities right at the dock in Ketchikan. Juneau has public facilities at the base of the Mt. Roberts (Goldbelt) Tramway. And Sitka has public facilities in the Harrigan Centennial Center. Both the Mendenhall Visitor's Center and the Sitka Raptor Center have facilities, but neither are downtown.

I was actually on the Solstice when a couple were married on the bridge! The couple (and their respective adult children) had staterooms on the same floor as ours and I remember speaking to the bride. I have no idea how large the wedding party actually was but it had to be 6 or 8 folks. The ship was rocking enough that the bride was laughing that she was concerned about falling down and her new husband was joking that their marriage was "off to a rocky start." But I also remember that the bride told me she was pleased with how Celebrity handled the event and thought that the captain did a very good job conducting the ceremony. If my memory is correct that happened in 2016 and it was Captain Zisis.

For years, despite repeatedly signing up for their e-mails, I didn't receive any e-mails at all. Absolutely nothing. I would only know about specials and so forth because I read about them on Cruise Critic. I called the Captain's Club a number of times, talked to Captain's Club host/hostess while on board, talked to Michael's Club concierges -- and still nothing. Nothing in the inbox and nothing in the junk folder either. Finally I started receiving them for a year or two. Suddenly stopped prior to Covid-19. Have no idea why they ceased, but quite frankly if any thing of any importance is announced then I read it on this forum. The only e-mails we receive from X deal with issues such a an itinerary change on a specific booked cruise. We also do receive any e-mails sent to Zeniths. Always was a mystery to me.

Well -- the Sapphire Princess has had quite the day. The Anchorage Daily News website is now reporting that someone had to be medi-evaced from the Sapphire Princess today -- totally unrelated to the UnCruise situation.

The Anchorage Daily News website posted an article less than an hour ago. The fire was reported about 7:30 AM. The 51 passengers and 16 crew were transferred to the Sapphire Princess, and the UnCruise vessel is being towed to Ketchikan.

Someone was hiding ducks on the Eclipse this past April. I enjoyed searching for them.

Our loyalty status gives us free unlimited laundry, but the Eclipse this past April did a "laundry challenge" offer for all items stuffed into one laundry bag for a flat price.

In 2018 the Millennium docked in Kobe.

Even though we live in Alaska we have done at least six (or seven?) Alaska itineraries. I prefer the aft staterooms, but really have no preference as to port or starboard side. And the best places to be on the Eclipse will be the Sky Lounge, outer decks and the Ocean View buffet (not during peak meal times). You want to be out of your stateroom with the ability to move from one side of the ship to the other.

Why did you ask the question? When we have been there, most recently in 2021 (not in 2022), the shops were open. And as far as I know the Huna Totem investment is successful, hence the recent expansion. The expansion reflects a significant amount of investment. Why do you speculate that ISP is not successful?

I live in Alaska so I am absolutely terrible about physical distances from one community to another. We fly every where here -- except to Seward. When folks ask me how far it is from Fairbanks, where we live, to Anchorage my answer is "about 50 minutes if the plane doesn't have to de-ice". The drive from downtown Juneau to the Juneau airport is less than ten miles. But it would most likely take about 35 minutes by the Juneau bus system.

There are staterooms on deck 9 so you would have a stateroom above #8185. The Sunset Bar is located aft on deck 10. Bands do not play there. The Sunset Bar music is generally something rather soft (no drum sets). Sometimes a singer playing their own guitar or possibly two folks.

I just checked another article about the situation. According to Dan Bross (reporter for our NPR station KUAC) work is scheduled to start in July so possibly the camp for the construction workers will be done by then. It is a 50 employee camp so I suspect we are talking about pre-fab ATCO units. Bross's reporting indicates that thermosiphons will be installed. Originally it was thought that 30 thousand cubic yards of clay would be removed, but now it appears that 80 thousand cubic yards will need to be removed. I have no idea how long they will be able to work. I do know that there is a minimum temperature for applying road paving. Does anyone know if there is a minimum temperature for working with concrete? @wolfie11 had suggested a CC pool be started in one of her posts several months ago. At that time the NPS was still projecting a 2025 completion date. The NPS website has quietly updated a completion date of 2026 on their website. Even though our local Fairbanks newspaper has a full time reporter in the Denali area we are hearing/reading very little about the issue.

My recollection is that the shops in the old cannery structure do stay open as long as there is a ship docked. But the last time I was there was in September, 2021 on one of the limited cruises which were allowed due to the Alaska Tourism Recovery Act legislation.

I have flown both in and out of Juneau. The airport is not a 45 minute drive from downtown.

Don: This was reported several weeks ago (possibly a month?) on CC. Tonight's Alaska News Nightly radio program was interesting -- apparently the company which was awarded the contract had planned to build their construction camp in May and now won't even build their camp for their workers until July. They are planning to construct a 50 worker camp at mile 27 (a gravel pit). And more clay soils have been discovered on the west side of the project. I am starting to wonder when this project will be completed. The single park road beyond the Pretty Rocks area has had no maintenance since the road was closed at Pretty Rocks in 2021. After several years of no maintenance one can only speculate about the condition.