Alaska trip/cruise review - Millennium June 26 southbound

We cruised on the Celebrity Millennium on June 26 southbound from Seward to Vancouver. We are a couple with no children traveling with us.

We decided to turn our week long Alaska cruise into a two week vacation with a little time pre cruise in Alaska and some days after in Vancouver and in Seattle. It was less expensive for us to fly from Texas to Seattle round trip and do a one way flight from Seattle to Anchorage to start the vacation.

All of my attraction, hotel, restaurant, and transportation reviews are in Trip Advisor, so I will not repeat them all here. If I mention any specific name below, it is reviewed in TA. We did not book any tours through Celebrity, but chose to do them all with independent vendors. This will be an overview on the trip, cruise, and general recommendations.

Day 1: Fly to Seattle and then on to Anchorage. We flew Alaska Air to Seattle and then Delta to Anchorage. When we booked, we had a two hour gap, but Alaska Air changed our flight time (we learned that they do this often so check back on your flights frequently) and left us with a bit under one hour. We were assured by both Alaska Air and Delta that our bags would be transferred. We arrived mid-afternoon in Anchorage, but our luggage did not.

We stayed at the Ramada Hotel and they had a shuttle to and from the airport. They picked us up and were nice enough to take us back to get our luggage later when Delta indicated they would not deliver until the next day. We would be gone on the train to Seward at that point, so the staff at Ramada was wonderful to help us out.

The Ramada is right off the train tracks, so you will hear the whistle all night long (bring earplugs). The curtains do not block all the light, and the sun doesn’t really set in June, so pull the covers over your head or bring those sleep shades for your eyes. They do have wireless. They do not include breakfast but have a restaurant there.

The hotel was close to the downtown area shopping, tourism center, and several restaurants. We ate at the Snow Goose which was a couple blocks away. We got there early for dinner, so had a table quickly. Service was great and we had good food too. We highly recommend this place for a meal. Then we walked around for a bit and stopped in a couple gift shops but did not buy anything yet.

Day 2: The hotel shuttle took us to the train station so we could board the Alaska Railroad to Seward. It is not far from the hotel. Check in time is 5:45, but since we were on Texas time, it was 9:45, so not as bad as it sounds! We purchased the Gold Dome service so we had breakfast included and seats on the upper level and right up front. What a way to travel! We arrived in Seward around 11 a.m.

We walked to the Holiday Inn Express since it was so close (and should have taken our luggage). We were told that check in is strictly at 4 p.m. due to late checkouts. We walked across the street and had lunch in the one restaurant that I can’t recall the name. It was good though. There is a school bus shuttle that runs through the town on a regular route and we caught that to the Sea Life Museum. It was sunny and quite warm that day, so the air conditioned museum felt great. We spent about an hour there. They do offer a AAA discount of $1 per person. We took the bus back to the hotel.

By then it was time to check in to the hotel. They are in an ideal location for walking to what you need in town. While my review will indicate the issues we had there, we would recommend it for staying in Seward. Once we unpacked and settled in, we decided to check out restaurants for dinner. We decided on Chinooks since it was practically next door to the hotel. We had a great dinner there. After dinner we walked to the gas station/convenience store across the street and bought a bottle of wine so we could relax in our room. Between that and the True Value just down the street, if you forget anything or need last minute items, you should be covered. I think I saw a Safeway or grocery close by too.

Day 3: Seward - We got up and had the hotel breakfast which was one of the best stocked buffets we have ever seen. Then we walked over to the Kenai Fjord Tour office for our whale watching trip which was the full day National Park Tour. We highly recommend this as well as we saw more wildlife on this trip than any other we took and we had lots of time at the glacier. We had both lunch and dinner on this trip which made for an easy day.

All of my attraction, hotel, restaurant, and transportation reviews are in Trip Advisor, so I will not repeat them all here. If I mention any specific name below, it is reviewed in TA. We did not book any tours through Celebrity, but chose to do them all with independent vendors.

Day 4: Seward / Cruise starts - Breakfast at the hotel and a relaxing morning while looking out the window at our cruise ship - the Celebrity Millennium. The hotel allows a late checkout of either noon or 1 p.m. so that was nice not to have to leave earlier. Cruise documents said to board in the afternoon, but we learned long ago that they will allow boarding earlier. We chose to go around noon so we ordered a cab since we had several pieces of luggage and it was raining. It would have been a long walk. We were Aqua Class so we had a priority boarding line and that was quick and easy. Then we were on board. Rooms were released about 1:30 for those on board already. According to the daily we got when we boarded, things opened at 11, so that likely was the earliest boarding time. Note – the Café stops the lunch buffet at 3 p.m. if you want to eat lunch on board.

We ate in the Bistro on 5 so we could try that and we were one of only two tables eating at that time. The food choices were good and we tried several of their items since we could order what we wanted there. Service was a bit slow even though they were not busy. By the time we were done, our room was ready.

CABIN: We were on deck 9 in Aqua cabin 9133 and it was a convenient location. We were close to a center staircase/elevator. What I don’t understand is why the Aqua cabins are UNDER the Café and pool deck. They should be on Deck 8 with only cabins above them. It was noisy from the chairs moving in the restaurant and mainly from people (children) running overhead. That is about my only complaint for the cabin other than too little usable storage in the bathroom and they need more hooks to hang up wet clothes.

Compared to our Aqua cabin on the Silhouette, this one had more storage for clothes and in the room area. There were more drawers in the closet area and several other cabinets as well. The cabin did not have the large cupboard over the bed like the Silhouette did. The bathroom had less storage area as we did not want to put things under the sink area. They need the wall cabinet like the Silhoutte has instead of the half circle rack in this bathroom and a bar to keep things on the small counter. The shower did smell as some have noted and some days were better than others. The shower is tiny and the doors do not stay closed well so they leak. Again, the Silhouette bathroom was a much nicer configuration.

We did not see the Aqua cabins on Deck 11, but they are in the back and the area seemed more removed from the main ship than our cabin location.

We dropped off our carry on luggage and set off to explore the ship. Since it was raining and the ship did not leave until late, it was not the usual send off like you get with Caribbean cruises. Luggage was outside the door before the muster drill, but I can’t recall exactly when. The muster drill was at 7:30 and then we had dinner after that in Qsine at 8 p.m.

Qsine offered a special of 50% off the first night (coupon in the cabin), so we took that option. Unfortunately we were not starving and there were only two of us, so we could not do Qsine justice. We tried several dishes and liked the presentation and the food, but the portions were huge. Their dessert menu is quite unique and I won’t spoil the fun! It was neat to do once, but it would be better with a group of people to share food.

We went to the show at 10:30 since we could not make the early one and while parts of it were entertaining, we were not impressed with Kellen Erskine’s comedy. The cruise director Steve was great, but he left the ship when we did for his vacation until the fall.

SHIP: We were impressed with the Millennium, but quite aware that she is smaller and has less amenities than the Silhouette. There are far less shops on board, the casino is smaller and quite tight on space, and there are only three specialty restaurants if you include Bistro on 5. It was easy to get around the ship and we saw no problems or worn out areas. There are lots of seating areas and plenty of on ship entertainment / musicians. The crew worked to keep it clean and in every port they were working on something – painting, washing windows, etc. Everyone on staff was friendly and helpful. We would sail this ship again.

Day 5: Sea day / Hubbard Glacier. Breakfast was in Blu today. The food was good and there were plenty of options. Service was quite slow for every meal we had there. One of our daily treats was a visit to Café Al Bacio for coffee. They make the best drinks and have a showcase of dessert/goodies that are fun to try as well. The food in the case is included for everyone. The drinks require a drink package or go on your SeaCard account.

Our Cruise Critic gathering was scheduled for that morning in Qsine, but only about six people showed up. They set up drinks and snacks for us, had the ship’s officers there, and hardly anyone showed up. It sounds like some staterooms did not get notices, but it was discouraging that over 25 people signed up and six showed up.

We loved the thalassotherapy pool (in the Solarium) and the Persian Garden here so spent time there most of the morning. Compared to the Silhouette, this area was a huge improvement for relaxation. They did have a family swim (to allow children) from 4-7 daily. It would be nice if the whole Solarium area was just for adults and not just the water. The Persian Garden area has several steam rooms with various degrees of heat/steam plus the waterfall showers. It is adults only and quite relaxing.

We had lunch at the buffet. What a confusing mess of a place. After this Silhouette, this was a huge disappointment. Stations were open/closed at random times. We had to walk all around the entire place to see what was being offered. At lunch it was hard to find tables as many families were hanging out there. The staff did try to move some along who clearly were not eating.

Since we had a balcony cabin and the weather was cool and drizzly, we observed the Hubbard Glacier from our balcony. The overhang gave us good protection, but the support beams did block our view to the right and left. The captain was good about rotating the ship so all sides had a chance for a view. They did open the helipad at the front of the ship, but we chose not to go out there. We could turn on the TV and hear the announcements about what we were seeing, while going into the warm cabin and then out onto the colder deck and then back in to warm up. I think if we had not seen Aialik Glacier up close and for so long on our Seward Kenai Fjord tour, then we would have been more inclined to go above to see Hubbard Glacier.

We had dinner in Blu. We were not impressed with Blu on this ship compared to the Silhouette. Their service was very slow, but all their servers were nice, helpful and eager to please. It is not the waiters who are the problem. Maybe it is a slow kitchen or someone directing behind the scenes, but dinner should not take an hour and a half. We like to eat right when they open (5:45) and then go to the early show, but we could not make it most nights. By the time we left each evening it was a full house in Blu.

Due to the slow dinner, we had to go to the Captain’s Gala Show at 9 p.m. We explored the casino while we waited by cashing out some of our OBC. They have a small casino but a good variety of slots. We found that the casino bar made the best drinks which we enjoyed with our included Classic Beverage Package. The show was entertaining, but the dancers were way better than the singers. Some songs were good, but on some their voices were not the right choices for that song.

Day 6: Time for Juneau. We had breakfast in Blu again. We docked within walking distance of the Mt. Roberts Tramway which was our first stop. It was a fairly clear morning, so we enjoyed the view and took many photos on the way up, while at the top, and on the way down. After that we walked to the Red Dog Saloon for a snack and drink. Then we headed over to the Wings Airway office for our Taku Lodge Feast and 5 Glacier Flight. Amazing! Both the flight and the meal were fantastic. Since air travel is one of the primary methods of travel in Alaska and the best way to see how vast the land is, we highly recommend flying at least once and felt very safe on this plane.

On our way walking back to the ship, we stopped into the Alaska Shirt Company where we found very reasonable prices on Alaska themed shirts, hats and souvenirs.

Since our tour included dinner for us, we were not too hungry on our return to the ship. We visited the casino again and went to the Café for dessert later on. We skipped the show tonight which was the duo on the satin ropes/acrobatic which we’ve seen many times before. We have an early day in Skagway.

Day 7: Skagway Day. We were cleared to disembark at 7 a.m. and had a tour scheduled to meet at 7:30. We were told that Blu would open early, but to them that meant 7 a.m. Ummm. Problem here. We found this out the night before in the newsletter that comes on the bed so we were prepared. We were stuck eating in the Café which we tried to avoid with our Aqua purchase. They do make omelets there and have the usual breakfast foods. Luckily that early it was not crowded so we were in and out quickly.

It was pouring that day! There is a fair walk to where the tours meet, but no covered area there to wait. We had our raincoats and gear, but got quite wet. Soon we were on our bus for the Chilkoot Charters Yukon Bus/Rail tour, and they took us to the train depot. This was a great full day tour which gave us another perspective on Alaska with touring by train and then by bus.

We had them drop us off in town so we could explore some of the stores. By then we were tired, so we caught a shuttle back to the port. I think that was a couple dollars each, but worth it when you are tired and it was a bit of a walk.

We had dinner in Blu, skipped the show as we did not want to listen to the production singers, spent some time in the casino, and then early to bed as we have another early day tomorrow.

Day 8: Icy Strait Point – really Hoonah is the town there if you are researching and the sun is back out today. This is clearly a cruise line built up area with a nice dock area, shops and restaurants. Unfortunately you need to tender in, but it was easy as they did not require tickets and kept them running back and forth. We had to meet our tour at 7:45, so that left us with eating in the Café again. We actually saw a whale spouting while we were eating breakfast. Apparently there are some humpbacks that like it right in that harbor area.

We chose to do the Hoonah Travel Adventures whale watching today which was a three hour tour. There were about 14 of us on the boat, so there was plenty of room both inside and out for viewing. Captain Paul did a great job taking us where the whales were likely to be. We had a great time on this tour and highly recommend going with a smaller tour group like this one.

We had the opportunity to explore Hoonah (not much there) or the dock area at Icy Strait, but we chose to tender back to the ship for lunch. We faced the Café again and found a few things to eat. Then we spent the afternoon in the Persian Gardens and thalassotherapy pool. What a relaxing place. Dinner at Blu.

We made it a few minutes late to the 7 p.m. show for Savannah Jack. This was the best show of the cruise. They had the house rocking and people singing along with them. We thoroughly enjoyed this show. We went to the casino after for a while.

Day 9: Ketchikan time and the sun is shining. Since we did not dock until 9, we were able to have breakfast back in Blu. We were told that Ketchikan would be the best shopping port and it lived up to that reputation. We were glad it was at the end of our cruise so we knew what we wanted at this point. I like the small local shops and Trip Advisor is a great place to find those stores. We visited several on Mission Street and saw many things that interested us. Since everything was close together, we just window shopped our first round. I found some earrings at the Rain Barrel, we bought a really cool wall hanging/décor at Caribou Creek, and our favorite place was Alaska Stone Arts where we bought some great jade pieces carved by the folks who work there.

We had lunch at the Alaska Fish Company which is right next to the lumberjack show area. There was a line, which we were told is common. You order at the counter and then they call your name when it is ready. We had a great lunch here and it was not too expensive.

After lunch we were ready to FLY! Our cruise was one of the first after the Ketchikan airplane accident. We told ourselves that if it was clear skies, we would fly here too. We chose Family Air Sightseeing for this trip and they picked us up at the port. It was an amazing three hours over the mountains and lakes and rivers. We had another breathtaking experience seeing the varied terrain of southern Alaska. Again we highly recommend flying here as well.

They drove us back to the port and we walked on board in time to get ready for dinner in Blu. We skipped the show again tonight.

Day 10: Inside Passage / Sea Day. Today was for relaxing and packing. We took advantage of the inside pool and Persian Garden one last time this morning and it was warm enough to lay out by the outside pool for a bit as well. By the afternoon the Inside Passage area got really pretty so we were on and off our balcony. We did see some harbor seals and a couple whale spouts in the distance in this area while others reported seeing more whale activity. We still had some OBC left to use, so we also did some onboard shopping. The number of stores and kinds of items offered were quite limited on this ship compared to the Silhouette. Watch for the changing displays set up outside the stores toward the end of the cruise when they offer the $10 items or they set up on the pool deck with tshirts and other things not available in the small ship store.

Dinner at Blu and then the evening show was the comedian Phil Tag. We loved his show and they opened with the acrobatic duo, so we saw a bit of them anyway. After that we cashed out at the casino, finished packing, and went to bed.

All of my attraction, hotel, restaurant, and transportation reviews are in Trip Advisor, so I will not repeat them all here. If I mention any specific name below, it is reviewed in TA. We did not book any tours through Celebrity, but chose to do them all with independent vendors.

Day 11: Disembarkation / Vancouver. We docked about 7 a.m. and we had set up a tour with a 9:45 meeting time, so we departed about 8:45. Staterooms must be vacated by 8 a.m. This was one of the smoothest disembarkations we’ve ever had. We took our own bags with us (allowed but not publicized unless you schedule early walk off) and made it through customs in 30 minutes or less. They were very efficient there.

The port is at Canada Place and we arranged to meet Landsea Tours there for a four hour city tour and transportation to our hotel for us and our luggage. They were late to meet us and it was a bit confusing at the start of things, but the tour was good. We visited Stanley Park, Granville Island (lunch break), the Vancouver Lookout, Gastown and Chinatown so felt like we saw a lot. They dropped us off at our hotel.

We stayed at the Best Western Sands hotel which was conveniently located on Davie St. near English Bay Beach and the seawall. There were shops and restaurants within walking distance and the staff was quite helpful with maps and helping us figure out how to get places. We had dinner at The Boathouse about a block away and it was good.

Day 12: Vancouver - The next day we had open to revisit anything we saw on the tour we had yesterday and decided on Granville Island. We had breakfast at Tim Hortons which was right across the street from our hotel.

Then we walked along the seawall to the nearest ferry to the island which was the False Creek Ferry stop. They run every 15 minutes and cost $5.50 round trip per person. It was a fun way to get across the water and it drops you right by the market on the island. We had fun exploring the many shops there and seeing the variety of crafts, clothing and household items available. We walked through the market, but it was crowded and largely designed for folks who are buying groceries. We did buy some fantastic cherries for later and they were huge and sweet.

By then we needed something for lunch and the market lines were long with limited places to sit and eat. The brewery line was long. Cats Socialhouse was recommended by our tour driver, so we headed over there and there was plenty of seating on their patio. We had drinks and a good lunch there.

After lunch we stopped by Rogers Chocolates for a treat and some air conditioning. Then we took the ferry back.

We had dinner at the restaurant at the hotel as we had to be up early the next morning. The food was OK and the service was slow.

Day 13: Seattle – We arranged a cab the night before to pick us up as we had to be at the Amtrak station to take the train to Seattle really early. We enjoyed our train ride and it was a fun way to get back to the States. Once in Seattle, we had arranged with Already There for a town car to pick us up and take us to our hotel. They were comparable to a cab and knew we could have them set up ahead of time.

They took us to our hotel which was the Hampton Inn Seattle Southcenter in Tukwila. It is hard to plan hotels when we have never visited a city and we were using points for this one. We figured if we stayed near the airport and had a hotel with a shuttle, then we would make it around. This was a great hotel and their staff was quite helpful and friendly and the shuttle was easy to use. Once we dropped off our bags in our room, we were ready for our Seattle exploration.

We arranged for Totally Seattle tours to show us the city as an overview. All other tour companies were not running that afternoon or wanted us to be in the city for pickup. We were not sure we could make their times and Kay was flexible and worked with us for what we needed. We had the hotel shuttle take us to Panera for a quick lunch and Kay picked us up there. We had a great tour and saw everything we wanted to see with plenty of photo stops along the way. She dropped us off at the Pike Place Market when we were done.

What we did not realize is that the market closes at 5 p.m. and very little is open after that. It was hot and we were hungry and there were not a lot of options since we did not know the area. We found Lowells in the market and sat in a window table so we could look out over the harbor area. Dinner was good. Then we walked to the Westlake Center light rail center and took that back to Tukwila which was about a 35-40 minute ride. There was a female panhandler who got on at one station and stayed through a couple stops. Watch your belongings and ignore them, if possible. Once in Tukwila, a call to the hotel brought the shuttle and we were ready for bed.

Day 14: Seattle - After breakfast at the hotel, we planned to explore the city on our own. The shuttle took us to the rail station and we were back at the Westlake Center. We then took the Seattle Center Monorail to the Space Needle ($2.25 each for monorail).

I learned from my research that buying Space Needle tickets ahead of time saved money and got us a specific time to avoid standing in line. Since we now knew when we might arrive, I bought them on my phone and had the receipt ready when we got there. That definitely was the way to go as the line for walkups was getting long. We bought the combo ticket with the Chihuly Garden for additional savings.

The Space Needle was another neat perspective on Seattle and we enjoyed walking around the observation deck both inside and out. The sun was shining and Mt. Rainier was visible in the distance. They do have a small snack shop there as well so we grabbed a cold drink. Once we were done there, we walked over to the Chihuly Garden.

The Chihuly Garden is not to be missed if you like art and appreciate his amazing works. We spent quite a bit of time there both inside and out admiring his pieces and the ways they had them arranged. We were pleased that we could take photos both inside and out as well.

After the Chihuly, we grabbed a cab to take us to the ferry terminal. We figured that ferry travel is a fun mode of transportation in Seattle, so why not try it? We bought tickets to Bainbridge Island ($8 round trip each) and had a bit of a wait for the next ferry. We walked over the Ivar’s Fish and Chips To Go location about a block away and picked up food to take with us. We had so much time that we ended up eating all of it before the ferry arrived, but it was really good.

We enjoyed the relaxaing ferry ride and another perspective of the city. We took skyline photos and more of Mt. Rainier. It is about a 35 minute ride each way with lots of seating options and it was fun to watch the vehicles loading as well.

When we got to Bainbridge Island, their ferry station is small and we did not realize it would be a bit of a walk to get to anything. It was sunny and hot, but we headed uphill toward the main street. After a bit of a walk, we found a place to grab a cold drink and snack. Then we walked back to catch the next ferry back to Seattle.

Our next stop was the Starbucks on the 40th floor of the Columbia Center. Warning – it is a completely uphill walk to get there from the ferry– steep uphill. We knew it was close to closing time so we had to hurry. We were so ready for those Frappuccino's when we got there! We relaxed and enjoyed the view for a while.

Since we were close to Pioneer Square, we walked to that station (steep downhill) to catch the light rail back to Tukwila. There was a Mariners game that night, so the train was packed until we passed that station. We had the same aggressive female panhandler on the train again, so watch your belongings and avoid eye contact, if possible. The shuttle picked us up and it was time to pack up to head home.

Day 15: back to Texas – We had breakfast at the hotel and their shuttle took us to the airport.

All in all, this was an amazing trip. We feel like we DID Alaska, Vancouver and Seattle. We feel like we experienced it and explored all the key places. We traveled like the locals and after planes, boats, trains, ferries, monorails, buses, we saw as much as we could in two weeks. We loved it and now that is checked off our bucket list. Everyone should visit Alaska once to see the vast open spaces, the glaciers and the wildlife. It was a beautiful and incredible experience.

Very nice & comprehensive review. Thank you for posting.

Thanx for sharing, tnt

Ira

Thank you for your report. We are taking Amtrak to Seattle, too. What time did you leave your hotel for the station?