Northern Aurora

Please be clear in your post. Is that CD dollars?

I so agree. The Rendezvous Lounge is so much better designed than the Ensemble on the S-class ships. The Ensemble has an "afterthought" feel to me. But the Rendezvous has the bar in the rear, a nice dance floor, elevated side seating (so you can watch whatever is happening on the dance floor), and a recessed area for live music. The Millennium is a "revolutionized" ship, so has an interesting buffet area. The newly designed Ocean View has increased seating, interesting islands and we find it an improvement over the prior design.

Good point. In any event, I am looking at my invoices for an upcoming B2B2B2B series. All four legs are in suites and none are bookings through BlueChip. In our case the numbers after the "TC__" and "YV__" codes are different numbers than @DaKahuna's invoice, but they are indeed listed. These were bookings made onboard a Celebrity ship using a future cruise salesperson.

The B2B discount (not additional OBC) is not a great amount of money. Really short cruises don't qualify. Check your invoice. If it has been applied you will see something like "B2BSAV" with the dollar amount. If you booked directly with Celebrity then contact them. If you booked with a travel agent then contact the agent. Sometimes the B2B discounts are not automatically applied until you ask. I have a B2B2B2B series in March. The first is a five night and we have a $50 discount. The second and third legs are eleven nights and we have a $100 discount for each leg.

We rarely do single cruises, but generally at least B2B with more commonly more legs. We have never had any issues and do not feel that Celebrity doesn't "get it." Our OP will not be the first person to ever change cabins and will not be the only one on the cruise to do so. There will most likely be a B2B meeting which will outline the process and answer questions. A succinct instruction letter will be delivered outlining the process. Items in drawers and the safe contents will be need to be packed by the OP. The stateroom attendants have trolleys like those which hotel bellmen use to deliver luggage to hotel rooms; that trolley will be used to move clothing on hangers. The stateroom attendants from the first leg with coordinate with the stateroom attendant for the second leg to coordinate the move. A "transit" pass will be included in the information packet which contains the instruction letter so that if folks want to leave the ship on turnaround day they can bypass lines in the cruise terminal. Also B2B passengers are invited to the Concierge Class embarkation day sit-down lunch in the MDR. And don't forget to get your B2B discount. There is a small discount for B2B legs which is determined by the length of the legs.

I am not aware of any Celebrity ship which lacks a bar in Michael's Club/Retreat Lounge.

The Sophie Station in Fairbanks, pre-covid, ran a trolley type vehicle on a scheduled loop around various Fairbanks attractions. Sophie Station is owned by Fountainhead Development, and so that loop included the Fountainhead Antique Auto Museum, in addition to the Museum of the North. We are having a serious labor shortage in Alaska, including folks with commercial driver's licenses, and so last year I don't think that that trolley operated. At least I didn't see it. I don't recognize any hotel in the Denali area called the Denali Motor Lodge. Also did a quick search on Expedia and don't find any such named facility. I wonder if @Sports Dr stayed at the Denali Park Village, which is located on a river several miles south of the DNP entrance. Also couldn't find a hotel in Talkeetna called the Arctic Lodge, but wonder if @Sports Dr means the Talkeetna Alaska Lodge. I also suspect that what @Sports Dr refers as the Anchorage Marriott is the Anchorage Marriott Downtown, which is close to the Captain Cook, and not the one on University Lake. There are several Marriott Bonvoy (or whatever they call it now) branded properties in the greater Anchorage area.

Just a quick comment from someone who lives in Fairbanks. While I can't state with 100% certainty what the RCCL tour in Fairbanks will include I suspect it will be the Riverboat Discovery (which someone has called the Chena River boat tour on this thread) combined with Gold Dredge #8 (which will stop at the pipeline viewing station); the same local family owns both the Discovery and GD #8. Easy options for a day on your own include the Museum of the North (located on the University of Alaska campus), the Running Reindeer Ranch, and the Fountainhead Antique Auto Museum. I will be curious as to where RCCL will book regarding hotel rooms. If you can determine the hotel let us know. Even though we live in Alaska we have done a number of Alaska itineraries as these easy cruises give us the opportunity to visit another part of our very large state. Dress on Alaska cruises tends to be very casual no matter what cruise line.

While I am typing this I must say that our cruising philosophy agrees with @cruisestitch (Hi K.). We also like to feel like we are living on the ship. Without checking our cruise history which my husband keeps I think the longest consecutive number of days we were on a ship was 50 or 51 days; the entire trip included a short land trip before boarding followed by several days on land after disembarking. While we will do B2B cruises we generally do longer with B2B2B and now more frequently B2B2B2B series. Our next cruise will be a B2B2B2B series. We are able to entertain ourselves quite well. I am a quilter and I do find that it is best to finish a quilting project before leaving home for an extended period of time. Otherwise I find myself thinking about that almost completed project.

While I never assume that everyone I will encounter in Europe speaks English a great number of Europeans do. English has become the common language in the hospitality industry and in the business world, which has allowed Americans to become lazy in learning a second language. You will have no problems booking one-way flights into Rome and then one-way flights out of Barcelona. Barcelona is one of my favorite cities so I would suggest trying to spend several days there. And so much to see and do in Rome too.

With Celebrity only the north or south bound one way routes end or start in Seward. X also does M RTs out of Vancouver and Seattle.

The breakfast described by @DaKahuna is not the breakfast we have in our American home. Wonder how typical it is across the US. But when we attend the "coffeehouse style" Elite and above breakfast we share one of the ultimate platters. Love them.

We were on Eclipse (the "barnacle" cruise) in April as the ship just returned to service. Were in a Suite, and also didn't have evening bites in Michael's Club but nuts. I wonder why some guests were expecting a separate Retreat sun deck as the ship has not been revolutionized. We spent two weeks on the Solstice in June and then another two weeks in September. Again, in Suites. But on the Solstice there was a menu of evening bites in Michael's Club with a snack server. And don't expect a Retreat sun deck on the Solstice as it also has not been revolutionized.

Just a few random thoughts from someone who actually lives in Alaska --- Alaska itineraries on every cruise line will have a number of families during the summer during the school break. Even lines like Celebrity will have more kids than normal. And there will be a number of multi-generational families. Dress will also be casual. Our OP states they want an updated or newer cruise ship. Celebrity plans to deploy the Edge out of Seattle in 2024. Alaska itineraries may be perfect for those infinity balconies. And Celebrity will have a true naturalist on board, not a shopping lecturer. The issue of flying is mentioned by out OP in post #1 and #12. In my opinion, the best itineraries are the north or south bound Vancouver to either Seward or Whittier. RTs out of Vancouver I rank second followed by the RTs out of Seattle. High temperatures will range from the mid-50s on a cold day to the mid-70s F. May tends to be the driest month in SE Alaska with rains starting in August. But our weather patterns here are very variable. As already mentioned clothing layers are important with the outer layer being water proof (not water resistant). Remember -- there is a reason SE Alaska is called "rain country." Our OP also mentions land tours. The cruise line organized land tours always look rather herded to me, but they are popular. But a land tour lasting three or four days won't cover much territory. The most common ports are Ketchikan, Juneau and Skagway. Some ships also call at Icy Strait Point (Hoonah), and since the dock has been enlarged at Sitka that port is also having more port calls. All of these communities have visitor bureaus, so just use goggle to find their respective websites.

Fleet-wide the evening shows in the theater are 7 and 9. Years ago occasionally the second show would be at 9:30 on what was then termed formal nights (the precursor to "evening chic"), but I haven't experienced that later time for the second show (and only on the formal nights) for a number of years. It was rather annoying as the second show would be at the standard time of 9 PM on the "regular" nights and 9:30 PM only on the formal nights.

Look for a tall narrow sign on the sidewalk with the words “Suites/Zeniths.”

Yes — Lobster night still occurs. If you have signed up for a 11:30 boarding time you will board at 11:30. Current embarkation process is that your seapass cards are left in the mail slot outside the stateroom door. They are no longer handed to you by cruise terminal staff. Now once you board you go directly to your stateroom to deliver your carry-on bags and put valuables in your safe. If the cabin attendants are still preparing your stateroom there will be a magnetic sign on the door with words to the effect that perfection is in progress but you are free to drop off the carryons.

Luminae will be open for those in Suites. For those booked in Concierge Staterooms a section of the MDR will be open for an embarkation lunch.

While it has been years since we booked a guarantee stateroom my memory is that I just checked the planner on the X website and there was the stateroom number.

I am curious -- if you are e-mailing the request are you receiving the auto response e-mail acknowledging that the request has been received? Have you considered calling the Captain's Club?

In addition to all other restaurant menus the Retreat Lounge will have copies of the MDR menu. If there is an item on the MDR you wish to order it will not be an issue to order that item in Luminae. And while I have few issues with the actual food in the MDR, it is very noisy and rather crowded. We stay in Luminae. Much calmer and more quiet.

We have encountered heavy rain in Skagway, and while there is a possibility it could be foggy when you are there, I would probably be more concerned about heavy rain. And also understand that Skagway can be very windy which can also impact air operations. I really suspect that Temsco is likely the vendor for the ship tour. Have you considered e-mailing them and asking about how often fog impacts their operations?

I've been to Skagway more than a dozen times both on cruise stops and driving our own vehicles there. I am not aware of any problems with a 7:30 to 9:so am tour. For example, I haven't experienced much fog in Skagway. And I would not be surprised if Temsco is the vendor for the excursion booked through the cruise line.

Years ago the process at times was slow and periodically we had to re-submit. But even before the pandemic the process has been very speedy for us. Sometimes surprisingly speedy, even having the shareholder OBC applied on a weekend and within 24 hours.

We scan the application form and the brokerage statement as a PDF file and submit by e-mail. Absolutely no problems. For an upcoming set of B2B2B2B cruises we received confirmation extremely quickly.