Home from Alaska !

We have just returned from Alaska on Friday evening…on the Celebrity Solstice-Aqua Class.

Initial boarding went smoothly. Our rooms were not ready yet so we went over to the buffet for some lunch. We ate at the buffet three times. After the third we never went back. We didn’t care for it much-keep in mind, I have allergies so I didn’t find there was a lot I could eat.

We had a room with a balcony- was very nice. We enjoyed the balcony a few times, especially during the inside passage and on Tracy Arm Fjords. Room was always cleans, our room attendant was great, always had apples in our room and free bottles of water. Our room was 1507, I saw a review or two about some complaints that our room was under the fitness center and they found it noisy. Yes, we did hear some noise, however we were up there making noise at 6 a.m too, so I guess we didn’t let the noise bother us.

Blu- Loved it. I have allergies and they were very accommodating. They would bring me the menu for the next night and I would pick what I wanted and they would make it for me. I also loved the smaller portions and a bit of a healthier twist than the buffet food. We mainly had dinner and breakfast here.

Lunch- We also ate most of our lunches in the solarium, there’s a healthy restaurant bar there, where you could get couscous, salad, fruit, smoothies and fresh juice. It was delicious.

Silk Harvest- We ate here on our second night. It was amazing! They just kept on bringing us food. The sushi was great, the spring rolls, the pad thai, everything !!! Highly recommended.

We didn’t use the pools, but we did use the outdoor hot tubs almost every day. It was nice, most people were indoors so it was a lot quieter.

The fitness center was great. We generally went early morning 6 a.m. which was a busy time. But still was able to get a machine. We attend one seminar on Detox which was very interesting.

Ketchikan- we did the Bering Sea Excursions. Absolutely incredible ! We love the show the Deadliest catch and it was more than I expected. The guys were very entertaining, we got to hold crab, almost no questions were asked because they were so good at their job giving us all the information. We saw loads of Bald Eagles, they were feeding them fish and the amazing pictures we got out of it was incredible. I highly recommend this excursion. After this, we walked Creek Street, had lunch at the Halibut Hole-GREAT fish and chips ! My husband said it was the best he’s ever had.

In Skagway we rented a car through AVIS. We rented an SUV $171 taxes included plus $40 for gas. Personally I thought it was a good price considering the train was $500 for two people and spoke to some people who said it was boring. I would definitely rent a car and do it all over again. We went off the highway a few times with Murray's Guide going down some dirt roads to see old mine towns, which you wouldn't see by bus or train. Murray’s guide for $5 was worth every penny. We left Skagway at 8:30, drove all the way to Whitehorse, spent 1.5 hours there and got back in Skagway at 4. Had lots of time to visit Skagway thereafter. We did not see any bears or mountain goats.

Juneau- tendering was hectic. Everyone lined up to get a tendering ticket but then you had tons of people cutting the line or getting tickets for 15 other people. We decided to go get a ticket a few hours later. We got off the ship at 4pm. Walked around and then we did a whale excursion at 6 p.m. Apparently saw 3 humpbacks whales from VERY far away and on the opposite side of the boat, so I didn’t actually see them, but others did. It was raining and just seemed like a miserable excursion. But that’s mother nature for ya!

Victoria- We weren’t going to get off the boat, but then we went to see Brent Nixon’s presentation on Orca’s and Seals, he’s extremely fascinating. We left his show and went straight to the Shore Excursion counter and booked an excursion ! It was amazing. Saw many Orca’s. We got very lucky, there were a few baby orca’s breaching for us. It was an evening excursion, the sun setting watching the whales going about. Was beautiful !! The only downside to Victoria, was we were about 40 minutes late disembarking ( and we were at the beginning of the lineup) because we were waiting for 1 person to go see CBSA due to a Canadian Visa. That was a little frustrating. But all in the all the night worked out great.

Disembarkment on our last day was very fast. We were group 3 to get off the boat due to an early flight out.

The Cirque du soleil type show was absolutely incredible. That particular day the seas were rough and you could feel the boat swinging back and forth a little. I am amazed that they were able to perform the way they did with the ship moving like that.

Wifi was very expensive. $100 for the week for us, and we didn’t seem to use that much. But the minute to fast !!!

If you have any questions let me know :)

Welcome home. Thanks for the nice review, I appreciate it.

So sorry to hear about the tendering problem -- I know a lot of people have been reporting on this issue.

If you don't mind me asking, who were the vendors for your two whale watching (Juneau & Victoria) excursions?

Thank you for taking the time to write this review.

Keith

Welcome home. Thanks for the nice review, I appreciate it.

 

So sorry to hear about the tendering problem -- I know a lot of people have been reporting on this issue.

 

If you don't mind me asking, who were the vendors for your two whale watching (Juneau & Victoria) excursions?

juneau- Evening Whale Quest JU30- Booked on the Celebrity website

Victoria- Whale Watching Tour VI07- Also booked on the celebrity.

The victoria one was amazing. However if anyone is very easily sea sick they may want to rethink it. It's a very high speed boat and it was a very rough ride. I grew up on the water so I had no issues, I actually thought it was very fun when we were a few feet up the air, however some other people didn't seem to feel so well- no one was sick on this tour, but apparently often enough people are. If you like adventure it's a good excursion and if you can surpass the sea sickness, the whales were incredible.

Welcome Home

Thak you for taking the time to write your review.

Glad you had a wonderful Alaskan cruise.

juneau- Evening Whale Quest JU30- Booked on the Celebrity website

Victoria- Whale Watching Tour VI07- Also booked on the celebrity.

 

The victoria one was amazing. However if anyone is very easily sea sick they may want to rethink it. It's a very high speed boat and it was a very rough ride. I grew up on the water so I had no issues, I actually thought it was very fun when we were a few feet up the air, however some other people didn't seem to feel so well- no one was sick on this tour, but apparently often enough people are. If you like adventure it's a good excursion and if you can surpass the sea sickness, the whales were incredible.

Thanks for the reply. We are on the same Victoria whale watching excursion booked thorough Royal Caribbean (same excursion number) --- looking forward to it --- thanks for the heads up on the rough ride.

We tendered on my first cruise in Juneau on the Radiance. The weather was miserable and the tendering was pure chaos. I completely understand. I think we also did whale watching that day.

We were on the Westerdam and saw that the Solstice had to tender in Juneau which I thought would be very disappointing for all the Celebrity folks. I think that would be something to consider when picking a cruise but you would have to do some research and the schedule for docking positions doesn't come out far enough for some folks. Your ship looked amazing though! It was featured on the Seattle station this past weekend and I envied lots of features you enjoyed.

It seems Alaska gives preference to the cruiselines with most seniority and I wonder if that might be the problem with you all having to tender rather than dock.

We were on the Westerdam and saw that the Solstice had to tender in Juneau which I thought would be very disappointing for all the Celebrity folks. I think that would be something to consider when picking a cruise but you would have to do some research and the schedule for docking positions doesn't come out far enough for some folks. Your ship looked amazing though! It was featured on the Seattle station this past weekend and I envied lots of features you enjoyed.

 

It seems Alaska gives preference to the cruiselines with most seniority and I wonder if that might be the problem with you all having to tender rather than dock.

When I initially booked the cruise we were docked. It changed to tender a few months before we were set to sail :(

Did you see Orca on the Victoria whale watching tour?

Warning - Time warp advisory!

re: "When I initially booked the cruise we were docked. It changed to tender a few months before we were set to sail"

My online confirmation with Solstice for 6/6 shows all ports docked. Would that be correct or is this just another online glitch with Celebrity?

We have scheduled a helicopter/sled dog tour through X for 3:15 so I hope that 2 hrs is long enough if tendering. 3000 people exiting sounds like a mess to me.

Warning - Time warp advisory!

You also noticed a shift in the time/space continuum.

We have tendered in Alaska from HAL and Celebrity ships several times each at different ports. Every time, folks with early excursions were taken ashore first, then all the others followed. Since the excursion folks got off in groups first, there was no problem with the excursions getting underway. There were no difficulties getting ashore or back aboard later.

Nice review, Thanks. Sounds like a very successful Alaskan cruise

Where did you buy your Murray's Guide that you used in Skagway?

Where did you buy your Murray's Guide that you used in Skagway?

This is an older thread, but still a relevant question!

Murray's Guide is available to download for $5 as a pdf file. As far as I know, no printed version is available to sale. Here is the link for the download:

Murray's Guide to Alaska

There is also a shorter version available to download for free on this website.

We also rented a car in Skagway and spent the day driving up to Emerald Lake and back using Murray's Guide. I loved being able to stop wherever we wanted and for as long as we wished. Here is a link to the Skagway portion of my trip report from this past June with lots of photos. (The Skagway portion starts at post #134.)

Alaska cruise photo report link.

Thanks, AryMay!