Live Blog! – B2B2B Seward to Japan – Millennium 2018– Join us for our next adventure

Welcome all Cruise Critic’s to join us as we enjoy our firstB2B2B. I enjoy live blogging, to bothhelp out other on CC answering questions as well as a location that our familycan follow along on our travels.

 

I will be posting daily (bandwidth depending). I will be publishing pointers and tips alongthe way in the hope that others will find them helpful.

 

About Us –

 

We live in Sunnyvale, CA which is right in the middle ofSilicon Valley, about an hour south of San Francisco and have been together for29 years.

 

We retired a couple years ago and have really enjoyed beingable to have extended vacations that would have been impossible whileworking. I try to answer allquestions asked and will do my best to find the answer if I don’t know. We are really active and enjoy walking about 12-15miles a day even when on a cruise.

 

I’ll try to post the dailies as there are oftenrequested. You won’t find any reportson the shows in my blogs as we very rarely attend. I maybe posting some reports on the lectures series depending on who is onboard. From what I have heard MickeyLive was originally scheduled for the TransPacific but he is changing hisdirection and will be concentrating his energies to starting a tour company.

 

Itineraries – We booked about 2 years ago and werelucky to get the same Celebrity Suite for all 3 cruises. I’ve included the price and perks we receivedfor reference.

 

We all knowthat prices go up and down. I’veincluded a graph of pricing for a CS from the time the cruise was firstannounced up to current. I downloadedthis from the “Fishy” site which I use to monitor pricing. As you can see prices took a good dive afterfinal payment date.

 

Cruise 1 - Seward to Vancouver with Cruise Tour 1A - CS $10,113 – Go Big + $800 OBC from agent

 

Day 1 Tuesday - Anchorage (Cruise Tour)

 

 

 

 

Day 2 Wednesday - Anchorage / Talkeetna / Denali (Cruise Tour)

 

Day 3 Thursday - Denali / Talkeetna (Cruise tour)

 

Day 4 Friday - Talkeetna / Anchorage / Seward Cruise Departure

 

Day 5 Saturday –Hubbard Glacier

 

Day 6 Sunday – Juneau, Alaska

 

Day 7 Monday – Skagway, Alaska

 

Day 8 Tuesday – Icy Strait Point, Alaska

 

Day 9 Wednesday – Ketchikan, Alaska

 

Day 10 Thursday – Inside Passage (Cruising)

 

Day 11 Friday – Vancouver, BC

 

 

Cruise 2 – Vancouver to Yokohama $9,021 – $800 OBC from agent

 

 

 

 

Day 1 Friday – Vancouver

 

Day 2 Saturday – At Sea

 

Day 3 Sunday – Sitka

 

Day 4 Monday – At Sea

 

Day 5 Tuesday – At Sea

 

Day 6 Wednesday – At Sea

 

Day 7 Thursday – At Sea

 

Day 8 Friday - International Date Line

 

Day 9 Saturday – At Sea

 

Day 10 Sunday – At Sea

 

Day 11 Monday – At Sea

 

Day 12 Tuesday – At Sea

 

Day 13 Wednesday – Otaru, Japan

 

Day 14 Thursday – Hakodate, Japan

 

Day 15 Friday – At Ssea

 

Day 16 Saturday – Mt Fuji (Shimizu), Japan

 

Day 17 Sunday – Yokohama (Tokyo), Japan

 

Cruise 3 – Japanese Explorer - $8,356– Go Big

 

 

 

 

Day 1 Sunday- Yokohama (Tokyo), Japan

 

Day 2 Monday– Mt Fuji (Shimizu)

 

Day 3Tuesday – Kobe, Japan (Overnight)

 

Day 4 Wednesday– Kobe, Japan

 

Day 5Thursday – Kochi, Japan

 

Day 6 Friday– Hiroshima, Japan

 

Day 7Saturday – At Sea

 

Day 8 Sunday– Busan, South Korea

 

Day 9 Monday– At Sea

 

 

Day 10 Tuesday – Hokadate, Japan

 

Day 11 Wednesday – Amori, Japan

 

Day 12 Thursday – At Sea

 

Day 13 Friday – Yokohama (Tokyo), Japan (Overnight)

 

Day 14 Saturday– Yokohama (Tokyo), Japan

Edited September 2, 2018 by Jim_Iain

Are those the total cabin prices? We sailed on Constellation with you Singapore to Rome about 18 months ago! Have a WONDERFUL trip !

 

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Are those the total cabin prices? We sailed on Constellation with you Singapore to Rome about 18 months ago! Have a WONDERFUL trip !

 

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HI Tommy - The prices given are for two and include port charges and taxes while the prices in the Graph are PP and are only the cruise price.

 

I remember sailing with you on the Singapore to Rome. That was really a nice cruise.

HI Tommy - The prices given are for two and include port charges and taxes while the prices in the Graph are PP and are only the cruise price.

 

I remember sailing with you on the Singapore to Rome. That was really a nice cruise.

I can see that for the first two but the graph prices pp for the third are very close to your total price. Was your total price for the third actually about $16,000?

 

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I can see that for the first two but the graph prices pp for the third are very close to your total price. Was your total price for the third actually about $16,000?

 

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Thanks for pointing out my error. The Japan Exploration Cruise #3 cost was $13,747 or $6,873 pp. I had an agent that was able to give me a special group fare.

Yea!!!! I have been waiting for this. Hope you guys have a fabulous time. We are doing the Eclipse 11/10/18 13 NIGHT ITALY AND THE ADRIATIC CRUISE, 11/23/18 the TA to Buenos Aires, we will be on the ship 29 nights. I have read everything you wrote on BA, its been helpful we will be there 3 nights.

Norma

Yea!!!! I have been waiting for this. Hope you guys have a fabulous time. We are doing the Eclipse 11/10/18 13 NIGHT ITALY AND THE ADRIATIC CRUISE, 11/23/18 the TA to Buenos Aires, we will be on the ship 29 nights. I have read everything you wrote on BA, its been helpful we will be there 3 nights.

Norma

 

Welcome aboard Norma. I think the TA to Buenos Aires will be a really fun cruise. We really loved Buenos Aires and hope to go back again. One thing that really surprised us was how hot it was in Buenos Aires. Hopefully it will be more moderate for you.

 

This cruise is a little difficult to pack for as the weather at Denali will be close to freezing while Japan is currently running in the 90's.

Following along. I will be on the Japan Explorer in April!

Following along. I will be on the Japan Explorer in April!

 

Welcome along Nancy. I'll try to post lots of information on the Japan Explorer cruise. For Japan we've mostly booked private guides for our excursions.

 

Japan is a little bit more difficult to book reasonable excursions using Cars or Small Busses. The norm is you hire a guide and then if you want a car or small bus you have to arrange that separately with the guide.

 

We have opted for tours using trains and taxi's as needed. I'm sure we will learn a lot about the differences in culture.

Thank you!

We will be joining you in Vancouver. We have been doing the crossing to Japan for a number of years. Any word if Graeme will be on for the crossing? Heard Steve won't be joining us this year. How about Captain Nikolas?

 

I just signed up for the connections party. Haven't been to one in a long time. It will be interesting to see who is new this year. Virtually the same crew every year.

 

Hoping to make your acquaintance.

 

Suzi

 

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We will be joining you in Vancouver. We have been doing the crossing to Japan for a number of years. Any word if Graeme will be on for the crossing? Heard Steve won't be joining us this year. How about Captain Nikolas?

 

I just signed up for the connections party. Haven't been to one in a long time. It will be interesting to see who is new this year. Virtually the same crew every year.

 

Hoping to make your acquaintance.

 

Suzi

 

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Hi Suzi -

I've not heard if Graeme will remain for the crossing. I've heard that Captain Nikolas will be on the crossing.

 

 

We will also be boarding in Vancouver on September 14th for the trans-Pacific crossing and will be staying aboard for the September 30th cruise. Reading this thread reminds me that it has been a long time since I've looked at the roll call for either cruise, so will be spending some time catching up.

 

Gerry

We will also be boarding in Vancouver on September 14th for the trans-Pacific crossing and will be staying aboard for the September 30th cruise. Reading this thread reminds me that it has been a long time since I've looked at the roll call for either cruise, so will be spending some time catching up.

 

 

Gerry

 

Gerry -

 

I think there are going to be a lot of B2B on the TP and Japan Exploration cruise. I'm starting to get really excited about the cruise now that it is only a day away from departure.

 

Not really sure what to expect for weather in Japan. I've been checking all week and the temperatures have been in the 90's. With a typhoon Jebi scheduled to make landfall on Tuesday it looks to be cooling off. I'm hoping the weather will be more moderate by the time we get to Japan.

Looking forward to your review. Looks like an exciting trip!

Looking forward to your review. Looks like an exciting trip!

Please post photos of your CS and advise of condition of cabin.

 

Many thanks.

Hi Suzi -

I've not heard if Graeme will remain for the crossing. I've heard that Captain Nikolas will be on the crossing.

 

 

John who is currently on Constellation as MCC will be joining Millenium in Vancouver as the MCC.

We met a childhood friend of Captain Nikolas on another cruise who said he was going home soon. I hope you are right. Are you on the ship right now?

 

 

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Please post photos of your CS and advise of condition of cabin.

 

Many thanks.

 

 

 

We met a childhood friend of Captain Nikolas on another cruise who said he was going home soon. I hope you are right. Are you on the ship right now?

 

 

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I also hope that Captain Nikolas is aboard also. We leave tomorrow to begin the LandTour and will be boarding the ship on Friday.

 

 

Thanks for coming along. Feel free to ask anything and if I don't know the answer I'll certainly try to find the answer.

Flight Arrangements

 

SanFrancisco to Anchorage - For our outbound flight I booked directly with Delta. I was able to book a non-stop in First Class for $220 per person (non-refundable). About 2 months ago Delta cancelled their non-stop and re-booked us on a flight through Seattle with a 5 hour layover. This wasn’t acceptable so called Delta directly. They told me that if your flight is changed by more than 2 hours you have an option to re-book on a different flight at no charge or take a complete refund. I selected a different flight combination through Seattle with only a 1 hour layover. The new flights would have been my first choice when I originally bookedbut when I booked it was substantially higher at $550 pp. I was more than pleased when they gave it to me for the original price we had paid.

 

We will be flying to Anchorage on September 4th(Tuesday). Since we are taking the 1B Land Tour we will be met by Celebrity at the airport and shuttled to Anchorage Marriott Hotel for the first evening.

 

The flight times have been changed again and we now only have a 40 minute connection in SEA. I was checking today's flight and it is delayed by 25 minutes. Hopefully we don't have trouble tomorrow.

 

For our return flight from Tokyo NRT I was able to book Business Class tickets using United Mileage Saver Award (80,000 miles pp) on ANA non-stop from NRT to San Jose (only 10 minutes from our house).

 

Busy doing last minute shopping and packing. I’m making a list and checking it twice as I always forget something.

 

 

 

 

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We will be joining you in Vancouver. We have been doing the crossing to Japan for a number of years. Any word if Graeme will be on for the crossing? Heard Steve won't be joining us this year. How about Captain Nikolas?

 

I just signed up for the connections party. Haven't been to one in a long time. It will be interesting to see who is new this year. Virtually the same crew every year.

 

Hoping to make your acquaintance.

 

Suzi

 

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Suzi

 

What was the weather like on past cruises? Japan is looking much warmer than I was originally expecting.

 

 

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Suzi

 

What was the weather like on past cruises? Japan is looking much warmer than I was originally expecting.

 

 

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We have gone on this Transpacific every fall for 6 years, 4 with Captain Nikolas! The weather in the North Pacific has always been really cold, windy, with occasionally some rain and snow. The ship has been going to either Petropovlosk or Dutch Harbor. I have been to Sitka before, but never this late in the season.

 

Weather in Japan has mostly been cool in the morning and in the 70's during the day. But last year, it was quite cold, and it never got warmer than 60 degrees. So it can vary.

 

We live in Thailand and Fort Lauderdale, where it's quite tropical, so I get cold easily.

 

 

 

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We have gone on this Transpacific every fall for 6 years, 4 with Captain Nikolas! The weather in the North Pacific has always been really cold, windy, with occasionally some rain and snow. The ship has been going to either Petropovlosk or Dutch Harbor. I have been to Sitka before, but never this late in the season.

 

Weather in Japan has mostly been cool in the morning and in the 70's during the day. But last year, it was quite cold, and it never got warmer than 60 degrees. So it can vary.

 

We live in Thailand and Fort Lauderdale, where it's quite tropical, so I get cold easily.

 

 

 

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Looking at photos, it appears mostly I am wearing warm weather clothes. But here in Sapporo, it was cold!

 

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We have gone on this Transpacific every fall for 6 years, 4 with Captain Nikolas! The weather in the North Pacific has always been really cold, windy, with occasionally some rain and snow. The ship has been going to either Petropovlosk or Dutch Harbor. I have been to Sitka before, but never this late in the season.

 

Weather in Japan has mostly been cool in the morning and in the 70's during the day. But last year, it was quite cold, and it never got warmer than 60 degrees. So it can vary.

 

We live in Thailand and Fort Lauderdale, where it's quite tropical, so I get cold easily.

 

 

 

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Thanks for the information. I packed in the layered look and got my winter coat and gloves out just in case.

 

Great picture ---I would rather it be on the cold side rather than hot. Living in the SF Bay area we are spoiled with moderate weather year round.

Thanks for the information. I packed in the layered look and got my winter coat and gloves out just in case.

 

Great picture ---I would rather it be on the cold side rather than hot. Living in the SF Bay area we are spoiled with moderate weather year round.

Tokyo in Sept is very nice, very moderate weather. Aug is hot. Oct is cooling down considerably. Where you will need your jacket is out on deck. Captain Nikolas is great about avoiding storms. There was a big one last year. Not sure about Sitka in mid September. My guess it will be cool.

 

Typhoons do hit Japan and the Philippines every year, through late fall. But I wouldn't worry.

 

 

 

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