"Live" From Celebrity Millennium Alaska B2B 10&18 May 2018

Welcome Aboard!

This will be our first cruise to Alaska and our first time cruising with Celebrity so let's get the show on the road!

A little background first. We are retired, Medicare-eligible folks from upstate New York. We have been cruising since 2005. We have cruised extensively with Royal Caribbean and Princess and a few times with Carnival as well. We have booked several cruises with Celebrity before but have cancelled them all for a variety of reasons. Now it's finally going to happen and we can't wait.

We booked this cruises 16 months ago and initially chose ocean view staterooms with the GO Better package. Long story short, after a series of price drops we are now cruising in Concierge Class with the Go Best package for about $300 more per person, per cruise. All of the price drops were after final payment. I check prices almost daily so when prices go down I contact our TA immediately and she takes good care of us.

Since we have cancelled so many Celebrity cruises and Alaska cruises, DW insisted that we book our air right away to lock us in. I called Air Canada right away and booked our round trips from Syracuse to Vancouver. Finally we were committed! No turning back now.

When hotels became available, we booked a park and cruise package locally at Comfort Suites (1 overnight and 19 days parking) and, since we always travel a day early, we opted for the cruise package ( 1 overnight, breakfast, late checkout and bag transfer to the ship) at the Pan Pacific Hotel in Vancouver.

We did our research and packed what we thought were musts for any Alaska cruise. These included waterproof hiking boots, 3 in 1 waterproof coats, waterproof gloves, hats, decent binoculars, insect repellent and lightweight wicking long underwear. The key to dressing for Alaska is wearing layered clothes and adjusting as conditions change.

Lastly, we contracted a house/cat sitter and headed out the door around noon today.

Here's a shot of our bags:

DSCF5517 by Harry Straight, on Flickr

Our hotel:

DSCF5519 by Harry Straight, on Flickr

DSCF5520 by Harry Straight, on Flickr

Not sure how many pics per post so I'll put the room shots in another one.

Here are a few shots of our room. The hotel is Comfort Suites so the room is more like a mini suite with a small sitting area. It is spotlessly clean and has everything we need; WIFI, refrigerator, microwave, iron and ironing board, coffee maker, hair dryer and of course 36" flat screen tv with lots of channels.

DSCF5521 by Harry Straight, on Flickr

DSCF5522 by Harry Straight, on Flickr

DSCF5523 by Harry Straight

DSCF5527 by Harry Straight, on Flickr

DSCF5526 by Harry Straight, on Flickr

That's it for today. We're going to have some pizza, a little wine and try to get that clock to move a little quicker. Our flight is at 10:40 tomorrow and we get into Vancouver shortly after 5pm. I'll probably post some more tomorrow evening. See you then.

Harry

Here is the itinerary. The B2B is an 8 night northbound and a 7 night southbound combined. We visit everywhere twice except Seward (turnaround) and Sitka. This will work great because if we miss something or hear from others about an interesting spot, we can do it on the second leg. We have two excursions planned: one at Icy Strait Point on the first leg (Hoonah) and one at Skagway on the second leg. Excursion notations are not accurate.

DSCF5528 by Harry Straight, on Flickr

DSCF5529 by Harry Straight, on Flickr

Harry

Hello from Scotland. Looking forward to following your report as we are looking at doing either this B2B or Eclipse’s next year. The Millennium itinerary looks excellent and hopefully your captain might take the ship into the Grenville Channel on your Inside Passage day. You state you have a Concierge cabin so maybe you might be able to post a picture of your balcony. As we have travelled mainly on the S class it would be good to see how big or small the balconies on Millennium are.

.Sandav

Hello from Scotland. Looking forward to following your report as we are looking at doing either this B2B or Eclipse’s next year. The Millennium itinerary looks excellent and hopefully your captain might take the ship into the Grenville Channel on your Inside Passage day. You state you have a Concierge cabin so maybe you might be able to post a picture of your balcony. As we have travelled mainly on the S class it would be good to see how big or small the balconies on Millennium are.

.Sandav

Will be glad to post some balcony pics for you. Look for them on the 11th.

Harry

see you on board! We are doing the back to back as well. We'll be in Vancouver at 10:15 am tomorrow.3:30 wake up call tomorrow morning.

see you on board! We are doing the back to back as well. We'll be in Vancouver at 10:15 am tomorrow.3:30 wake up call tomorrow morning.

We fly this morning at 10:40 and get in around 5. Hope to find a spot nearby to grab a bite. Then begins the struggle to actually fall asleep tonight after 16 months of anticipation. LET'S GET READY TO CRUISE!

Harry

We will be boarding the Milliennium on May 18 after our land tour. We will be following your story very closely. Please tell us everything you experience and thank you for doing this post.

Following along too. We will be on the Aug 3 Aug 10 sailings. Bon Voyage!

Following along. Have a great cruise!

We'll be onboard with you, too, on the b2b. We also had booked on OV but upgraded to an Aqua class for about $200 CDN total for both cruises. We just have the go better package, but figured we couldn't go wrong for $50 each for 15 days of cruising. We live near Victoria and are just going to catch the ferry over to the mainland today and do a park and cruise. Can't wait!!!!

Hi

Will be following, we board on the 18th for a B2B. The Mickey Live presentations are awesome. He is very knowledgeable and

passionate speaker. He was the speaker on our November Hawaii to Australia cruise, he and his family has been all over the world. I follow him on FB and says he will board on the 12th.

Hello Harry,

We are Ben and Chantal from southern Quebec. We have an early flight in a few hours that gets us into Vancouver at 10 am. From there, we will be heading to Canada Place via the sky train. We are also doing the B2B and will be onboard until the 25th.

We have been on many cruises but this is first to Alaska.

So we have just finished packing and we look forward to seeing all of you onboard tomorrow.

Have a good night!

We headed to the airport and got all checked in and sat down to wait for our plane. I mentioned to Joyce how nice it would be to both have a window seat but she didn't get the hint. She thinks it's 2x2 seating. She knows it's a small plane; she just doesn't realize HOW small. I heard it taxi up because those prop jobs are loud but Joyce was powdering her nose and missed it. Anyway we started to board and Joyce said "Why are we walking down stairs?" "Where's the skyway?" Then we walked out the door and she caught sight of it. "That's it? she said. Here's a pic of Joyce with our puddle jumper.

DSCF5531 by Harry Straight, on Flickr

See the guy by the plane> He offered to take a pic for us. Here it is.

DSCF5533 by Harry Straight, on Flickr

One more of Joyce in her seat.

DSCF5534 by Harry Straight, on Flickr

It turns out that the guy who took the picture, showed us where to put our carry-ons, welcomed us aboard and gave us the pre-flight briefing was the CO-PILOT. Talk about multi-tasking! Anyway, all went well and Joyce said that even though she was a bit nervous at first it was kind of fun but she was glad it was over. I reminded her we had to do it again on the way back and boy, did I get a look.

The flight from Toronto to Vancouver was a pleasure with free movies and inexpensive eats and drinks. As we descended into Vancouver, we caught our first glimpse of the snow-covered mountains. We'll be seeing a lot more of them soon.

We headed down to baggage claim and grabbed a luggage cart (FREE), scooped our bags and headed to the taxi queue. There is a map showing the city by zones with posted prices for each so no worries about meters and such. It was $35 CDN to our hotel, the Pan Pacific at the cruise pier at Canada Place, and that seemed quite reasonable. It was just after 6pm and inbound traffic was not bad. I had seen pictures of the hotel but It looked even better in person. Here's a few pics.

DSCF5571 by Harry Straight, on Flickr

DSCF5573 by Harry Straight, on Flickr

DSCF5569 by Harry Straight, on Flickr

Here's some of the inside/lobby:

DSCF5566 by Harry Straight, on Flickr

DSCF5565 by Harry Straight, on Flickr

DSCF5564 by Harry Straight, on Flickr

We left our bags with the valet, checked in, and the clerk told us to ring up the bellman in the morning when we were ready to send our bags to the ship and they would come and get them. That service, late checkout and free breakfast were included in the cruise package rate.

Harry

We went to our room and our bags showed up about 2 minutes later. Here's a few pics of our room:

DSCF5541 by Harry Straight, on Flickr

DSCF5542 by Harry Straight, on Flickr

DSCF5549 by Harry Straight, on Flickr

And the view from our room:

DSCF5560 by Harry Straight, on Flickr

DSCF5558 by Harry Straight, on Flickr

DSCF5559 by Harry Straight, on Flickr

We freshened up a bit then headed out for a light bite at the food court across the street. After a short walk around the harbor area, we headed back to our room, got into our jammies and called it a night. Tomorrow we get our first glimpse of our ship!

Harry

Good Morning!

After 16 months of breathless anticipation, it's finally here: EMBARKATION DAY!!!. When we checked in to the hotel, we were a bit disappointed that they put us on this side of the building as we had read that the ship would be on the other side of the pier but lo and behold, here's what I saw when I opened the curtain:

DSCF5585 by Harry Straight, on Flickr

Wow, we can almost reach out and touch it. It's not often you can look DOWN on a cruise ship. Wish they would hurry up and let those folks off the ship because gangway, here we come! Actually it not even 8 yet and we are on our way to breakfast. Got to get used to that 3 meals a day regimen;p.

The next time I post it will be from the ship. Hooray!

Harry

Agreed, that puddle jumper would've made me give my hubby a raised eyebrow as well lol!! Where did you fly on it from? Did you fly AC or Westjet from Toronto?

Looking forward to your cruise review as well as all the pics...great start so far! We've done the Solstice to Alaska, thought it was a one and done thing but were so impressed with the scenery that we know we have to go back and doing a b2b makes a lot of sense, just wish they'd change up the ports from week to week so you're not having to hit the same ones.

Will be following and enjoying along with you!

Cathy

Agreed, that puddle jumper would've made me give my hubby a raised eyebrow as well lol!! Where did you fly on it from? Did you fly AC or Westjet from Toronto?

 

 

Looking forward to your cruise review as well as all the pics...great start so far! We've done the Solstice to Alaska, thought it was a one and done thing but were so impressed with the scenery that we know we have to go back and doing a b2b makes a lot of sense, just wish they'd change up the ports from week to week so you're not having to hit the same ones.

 

Will be following and enjoying along with you!

Cathy

We flew from Syracuse to Toronto right along the south shore of Lake Ontario and had a nice view of Niagara Falls as well. From there it was Air Canada to Vancouver. It would be nice to see some other ports but we will get a chance on the second leg to do stuff we discovered on the first leg so it's all good.

Harry

Hi,

Very keen to read Your report. We will be on next cruise after Yours, dep Vancouver. Waiting for good review .

following

Had a great breakfast in the hotel this morning. Eggs Benedict done perfectly, fried tomato, a side of bacon, multi-grain toast, OJ, fried potatoes and a piping hot carafe of excellent coffee made for a great start to our day.

Once we finished, we went to our room and called the bell captain to take our bags to the ship. That alone was worth the price of admission. No schlepping them here and there, no shuttle ride to the port, no waiting for latecomers; it was such a pleasure to know that when it was time to check in, all we had to do was take the elevator down to check-in. Piece of cake!

Since we were early we decided to stroll around Canada Place which is the pier where the hotel and cruise port are located. Here's a few pics.

Front entrance to the hotel.

DSCF5592 by Harry Straight, on Flickr

Somebody parked their Ferrari out front to make me drool.

DSCF5593 by Harry Straight, on Flickr

DSCF5595 by Harry Straight, on Flickr

We walked around the pier and bumped into our ship.

DSCF5601 by Harry Straight, on Flickr

DSCF5600 by Harry Straight, on Flickr

Joyce was raring to go but it was still a bit early.

DSCF5598 by Harry Straight, on Flickr

We went back inside, read the paper, checked our email and by that time it was around 10:45 so we decided to mosey on down to check-in. It went smooth and before we knew it, we were walking up the gangway and onto the ship.

We grabbed a couple glasses of champagne and headed for the dining room to check on our table. We had requested a table for two and we got the best seats in the house; a table for two on the second floor of the dining room next to the balcony that overlooks the whole room. It was a bit early for the special Concierge Lunch, one of the perks of Concierge-Class cabins so we took a walk around the ship to check out the venues.

The ship is in great shape and we liked the décor. The ship is due for a dry dock later this year but it didn't look like it needed it to us. An announcement was made that cabins would be ready at 1pm so we went to the dining room for our lunch.

Joyce had the salmon steak and I had the chicken. Forgot to take pictures but I'll try to remember as we know lots of folks are wondering about the quality of the food. There's been some discussion on these boards to the effect that things have gone downhill but we found both our meals to be excellent. We had a few glasses of an excellent Bordeaux with our meal. Yeah, we know, how could we order Bordeaux with fish and chicken? Well, you drink what you like and we'll drink what we like and we like Bordeaux with just about anything. Of course we could say the same for Cabernet, Malbec, Shiraz or what have you. We like our reds and we'll drink 'em with darn near everything!

Finally, the announcement came that our rooms were ready so we skipped dessert and headed up.

We have cabin #7183 for the first leg and #7200 for the second. Since we upgraded late in the game we weren't able to get the same cabin for both legs but no biggie. A little inconvenience at turnaround but it was worth it to get such nice accommodations. Here some pics of the cabin.

DSCF5634 by Harry Straight, on Flickr

DSCF5628 by Harry Straight, on Flickr

The shower is HUGE!

DSCF5621 by Harry Straight, on Flickr

DSCF5616 by Harry Straight, on Flickr

DSCF5617 by Harry Straight, on Flickr

DSCF5618 by Harry Straight, on Flickr

Everything in the cabin is in perfect shape and I mean perfect. The carpet is spotless, no dings or scratches on the walls, the sofa is leather and very comfy and there is a ton of storage room everywhere.

We met our steward and gave him our usual list: beds apart (we always ask for this when we book but in all our cruises it's only happened once!), extra hangars, extra towels lots of ice and remove the soda and water from the fridge. We never use it and it just takes up room. Our bags were waiting outside the room when we got there so we unpacked and headed back out for some more exploring.

We stopped by the Ocean View bar for sail away. We met a few of our roll call members and had a G&T. Hey, it's included in our package. That's our excuse and we're sticking with it. Went to the muster drill. Ours was indoors in one of the lounges but the venue was too small. Folks were packed in like sardines and there weren't near enough seats.

We did some more exploring, had another G&T (IT'S INCLUDED IN OUR PACKAGE...NO CHOICE). Back in the room now to post and get changed for dinner. So long for now.

Harry

Will be glad to post some balcony pics for you. Look for them on the 11th.

 

Harry

Thank you for the balcony photo, very much appreciated.

Have a lovely cruise, really looking forward to your report and photos.

Sandra

Loving this review so far! No need to make excuses for your wine choice...I'm a white wine drinker and choose that whether it's fish or beef on the menu! Lately favouring Savs after our most recent trip to NZ but really any white that's not sweet is wonderful! Question for you, do you not get a footstool on the balcony being in CC? If I was to pay extra over a regular veranda that'd be the first thing I'd be looking forward to!

Enjoy your first day and keep up the great work!

Cathy