Alaska with Celebrity

[olemissreb]

Advice please my cruise critic friends. :)

 

Which ship? I would like information about any experiences you have had in Alaska. We are currently looking at Summer 2014 which has the Millennium, Century and Solstice as cruise ship options. Any thoughts as to which ships would be better for the experience or is it all swings and roundabouts? (We have two children who will be 12 and 9)

 

Which Glaciers/ports? Highlights for us will be the scenery and potential wildlife Rob is a photographer. The Century and Millennium both go to the Hubbard Glacier and the Solstice goes to the Sawyer Glacier. The Millennium leaves from Seward Alaska, is it worth the extra flight to leave from there?

 

Any experience of Alaska cruisetours please? It may be completely beyond budget however there are options of cruisetours with Alaska. Would you say that the cruisetour "made your trip", what were the highlights? Would you let the cruise tour options determine which cruise you select or the other way round?

 

Any experience of Alaska in the Summer? We are restricted to school holidays. How does July / August compare to other times of the year? Is the climate similar all year round or will we be in shorts and t-shirts?

 

Thank you!

 

We just got back from our Alaska cruise on the Millie. It was WONDERFUL! We added on our own DIY cruisetour a week prior to sailing. We were gone from June 20th to July 7th.

 

The one way was really nice in that it did allow us to do our own thing for an extra week. We rented a car and drove up to Denali for 3 days and then drove over to Glacier View, AK for 2 days. We took the Alaska Railroad from Anchorage to Seward (SPECTACULAR ride). We also had a night in Seward before boarding the ship.

 

I will give you the advice I was given 2 years ago when I started planning our trip - get some Alaska tour books (Frommers, Fodors) and read through them. Decide what your priorities are: scenery? wildlife? adventure? - you can have it all! Then look at port times for the itineraries you are considering (longer is better). I was also told that the roundtrip Seattle (Solstice) are the least scenic. Rountrip Vancouver (Century) would be more scenic and most scenic would be the one way (Millie). Also - DO NOT SKIMP on excursions! I prefer independent vendors, but this is one cruise that excursions truly enhance your experience. Do you have to do an expensive excursion in every port? No, but budget so that you can truly splurge on a flight seeing tour somewhere. Excursions are expensive. You might save a minimal amount or even pay a little more if you book independently, but the experience of the small group will far outweigh the experience of the 100s on a ships excursion. For example, we booked a whale watch excursion with Glacier Wind Charters in Icy Strait. At the first "stop", there were several ship excursion vessels with I'm not sure how many people on them compared to the 5 of us on our boat (not counting the owner/captain). When the whales weren't "cooperating", we were able to go a couple more miles out (actually into the start of Glacier Bay) and see a baby whale "playing". Several times we got to see him/her breach, slap his/her tail or fin. We were the only ones out there and it was a sight I'll never forget.

 

Enjoy planning! Make sure you check out the Toursaver book (available for 2014 in November 2013) and the Northern Lights book (available same time frame as Toursaver). They will save you a lot of money - enough to pay for the books plus!

[atlantic cruiser]

A big consideration in MHO is that celebrity does not go to the jewel of glaciers and that is glacier bay. You might want to take a look at Princess and Holland America after you research Glacier bay. It is spectacular. Cheers.

[kathynorth]

Advice please my cruise critic friends. :)

 

Which ship? I would like information about any experiences you have had in Alaska. We are currently looking at Summer 2014 which has the Millennium, Century and Solstice as cruise ship options. Any thoughts as to which ships would be better for the experience or is it all swings and roundabouts? (We have two children who will be 12 and 9)

 

Which Glaciers/ports? Highlights for us will be the scenery and potential wildlife Rob is a photographer. The Century and Millennium both go to the Hubbard Glacier and the Solstice goes to the Sawyer Glacier. The Millennium leaves from Seward Alaska, is it worth the extra flight to leave from there?

 

Any experience of Alaska cruisetours please? It may be completely beyond budget however there are options of cruisetours with Alaska. Would you say that the cruisetour "made your trip", what were the highlights? Would you let the cruise tour options determine which cruise you select or the other way round?

 

Any experience of Alaska in the Summer? We are restricted to school holidays. How does July / August compare to other times of the year? Is the climate similar all year round or will we be in shorts and t-shirts?

 

Thank you!

 

Here's my opinion for what it's worth, after two cruises to Alaska:

 

We've been on a Celebrity cruisetour (Millie) and also a HA roundtrip (Zandam) out of Seattle. Both were during the summer months and we saw plenty of children on both ships. We were lucky and the weather was great on both trips. There was a bit of light rain, but mostly warm with sun every day. The only times we needed warm coats + hats + gloves were on the glacier days. There were only 2 families with children on our landtour. With the exception of the Denali day, we booked all of our excursions privately for both trips via recommendations from the CC Alaska board.

 

Both were wonderful trips. However, we thought the inside passage heading out of Vancouver was much prettier than traversing oceanside to/from Seattle. We loved the land portion of our cruisetour and believe it was a good fit for us first time in Alaska. Now that we've done it we realize we could have easily planned a DIY landtour with a map and GPS. There are lots of suggestions on how to do this on the Alaska board.

 

Yes the open jaw flights were expensive, but there really isn't any way to cruise+land visit Alaska unless you do a cruise, land trip, then cruise back. I daydream of doing this someday. :D

 

We saw Hubbard on Millie and Glacier Bay on Zandam. Both were great, but we thought the size and power of Hubbard calving was awe inspiring. On one of our port days in Juneau we took a day trip to the Sawyer glacier. This too was wonderful. However, we did this on a small boat that made it's way very close to the face of the glacier. I can't imagine that the Solstice will be able to get close enough to the face to provide a quality experience. Maybe someone on the Solstice will report back with details.

 

When considering a ship I'd be most focused on itinerary and length of port stay. There are lots of exciting excursions, but some take quite awhile to get to. Also, many of the top rated excursions are expensive in Alaska, especially ship tours. You can book just about any tour privately to save a few dollars or have a more personalized experience.

 

Alaska is about the once in a lifetime experiences. There were early mornings and late dinners. Although they were there, I don't recall too many children running around the ship with the activities groups. I recall thinking the children must all be tuckered out after a long day in port. I wish we had taken this trip with our children when they were young. Have fun with yours!

[elena7seas]

Hi Jo and Rob:

 

I just returned from Alaska yesterday on the Century. I was travelling with my 6-year old granddaughter, my daughter and son-in-law, and his parents. My daughter and grand-daughter had cruised before on the Solstice in the Mediterranean. The others had never cruised before. We all had a great trip.

 

We booked three weeks before the cruise, at Xciting Deals prices. We all booked inside cabins because of the great price per person. Oceanview cabins were, for us at this time, prohibitively expensive. They were more than a thousand dollars per person more than the inside cabins and the prices never came down before we left. I had been watching earlier, and the lowest I ever saw the oceanview cabins (windows only) was $1200 per person. As this was a a last-minute additional cruise, we were only going to go if we could go at a very affordable price.

 

While I would really have liked balconies for everyone, I had been to Alaska before and knew that we were really only in our cabins to sleep, as we were out-and-about on the ship all the time. For us, the numbers worked out best to have three inside cabins, and we were all very comfortable there. The bathrooms are a good size, although not quite as large as on S-class ships. Lots of storage though...14 drawers, a set of shelves and two good-sized closet compartments. One thing for certain, you sleep really well in an inside cabin! :) If your family is still able to fit four in one cabin, or you can make the numbers work for two cabins, then I think having at least one balcony is definitely the way to go.

 

Keep in mind that for much of the cruise, the sun is up for about 20 hours a day.

 

Which ship?

 

Personally, my first choice would have been the Millennium northbound, with some extra time at the end in the Kenai Fjords and Denali, etc. For us the price would have worked out about the same, as the Millennium cruise was available for an excellent price per person on Xciting Deals, and we could have flown from Anchorage to Vancouver for $305 per person on Air Canada. The rest of the group decided that they would like to do the 7-day return trip on the Century and avoid the bus/airport complications on this trip, so that's what we did. (I had also considered going northbound 7 days on the Millennium and transferring over to Whittier by bus and then returning back down on the Diamond Princess for 7 days, to see Skagway and Glacier Bay, but that was too much time cruising for the rest of the group).

 

The Century is going in for a major retrofit in January 2014, so it will be in lovely shape next year. The ship was naturally showing some minor wear and tear, but it didn't distract us from the joy of the cruise in any way. The Century feels more like a more traditionally-styled cruise ship rather than a modern cruising "hotel", but we liked the feeling on the Century very much. The ship doesn't feel "small" but does feel "convenient".

 

The staff and service on the Century was spectacular everywhere. I can especially commend Marlene from Panama, the Concierge Club hostess, and Luisa, the Select Dining Hostess for their kindness and graciousness. My grand-daughter received especially attentive service everywhere on the ship. It's just a really exceptional crew. The Master, Captain George is also a lovely man (and very handsome ;)).

 

The food was very good, particularly in the dining room. The quality of food provided for the children's menu was excellent...more like real food versions of child favourites, and not like fast food versions. There is only one specialty restaurant, Murano, and children under 12 years are not allowed to dine there. I did miss the Bistro on Five that we enjoy for a change of pace. We went to Murano twice, and on the last evening, it was very busy and dessert was running late, so we had to retrieve my grand-daughter from the Fun Factory at 10 pm. One of the grandparents offered to get Katie and take her to the cabin, but we were told by the lovely staff to bring her into Murano with us. They did ask us if she would cry ;), but she is a very well-mannered 6-year old who knows how to behave in a restaurant, and we were able to assure them that she would be quiet as a mouse. We did have to explain that it was "Slumber Party" night at the Fun Factory and she would be arriving in fuzzy pyjamas :p. The staff made her a special dessert plate of her own, and she loved watching the production of the Strawberry Crepe Ballon, which is so yummy.

 

The food in the Islands Café buffet was also very good, but there wasn't as much choice as you would remember from the Solstice class ships. There is a lot more selection at the buffet at dinner time than there used to be. My DH and I usually sail AquaClass, so it has been some time since I have spent much time in the buffet. The Gala Buffet was on the last day (sailing the Inside Passage). The quality, variety and presentation was excellent, but it was hard for the staff to keep up with resetting the tables. I didn't see anyone complaining though, which was typical of this cruise...very few complaints overheard anywhere...everyone seemed to be very happy.

 

The coffee in the Cova Caffé was very good, although I do find that you have to find your best fit with the barista. I found that a single shot caffé latté was great if I was having the coffee in a cup, but that I had to ask for a double shot if I was doing take-away, or else the coffee was too weak for me. I made excellent use of the premium non-alcoholic beverage package. I was disappointed to find that the Cova Caffé only offered pastries and sweets, but no tiny sandwiches and savouries during midday. I don't know when they stopped that, but I really missed it.

 

I did find that desserts were better everywhere on Century than I usually find them to be on Celebrity.

 

The one week spot in the food and beverage service was the ship's regular coffee. It was pretty bad almost everywhere you didn't have to pay for it. Although it looked as if it should be strong enough, it had no coffee flavour to speak of. And once, when it didn't even look very strong, I couldn't actually tell if it was coffee or tea. I did have the Premium Non-Alcoholic package, but the reason I was drinking regular coffee at all was that the premium coffee was frequently not available anywhere nearby, and ordering it, as in Murano, would have required the staff to go quite a distance from where they were, i.e. to another deck. The staff was always very willing to go get the coffee, but I was not willing to ask them to do it. I hope that during the retrofit that the Century gets more espresso machines :).

 

Which Glaciers/ports?

 

There is lots of scenery and lots of wildlife on the Century itinerary, that's for sure. We saw orcas, humpbacks, moose, bears and so many bald eagles -- both low-flying ones and low-perched ones as well.

 

Apparently Captain George got us as close to the Hubbard Glacier as it is possible for any cruise ship to come. We even saw some pretty major calving, so tell Rob to have his camera at the ready. I will post some pictures to my website tomorrow and will provide a link here on this thread. I think the Hubbard Glacier is spectacular, and is an excellent choice.

 

I liked all of the ports very much...Icy Strait Point, Juneau, Ketchikan were all interesting to us. It doesn't really matter that you get in to Icy Strait Point and Ketchikan in the afternoon. On both Alaska trips that I have made, I found that the grey skies tend to burn off later in the day, by about noon to 1:00 pm, and because of the northern latitudes, it is light out until 10:00 or 11:00 pm. So, the afternoons until about 8:00 pm were the best times for us in all ports.

 

Over 95% of all the businesses in Icy Strait Point are owned by the First Nations People, and the development has been done very nicely. It is a lovely 20-minute walk from where you tender in, to the small town of Hoonah. Everything in Icy Strait Point feels very authentic. Some nice shopping as well, with many hand-made goods and artifacts, all very nicely displayed.

 

Juneau has been updated quite a bit since I was there in August 2010, and it is a cute city. There are lots of interesting things to do in the city, and in the area. If you are a sewer or quilter, there is a very nice needle arts store called Changing Tides on Franklin Street where you can get fabrics and panels that you would find difficult to locate elsewhere (www.alaskastitching.com). There are also some very nice Russian-made decorations, jewellery and matryoshka dolls available at the House of Russia. Locally-owned and operated stores are indicated by signs in the storefront windows, if you would like to support local families.

 

Ketchikan is very interesting, and the Duck Boat Tour, at $42 per adult and $25 per child was a good value. A narrated tour takes you through the town, and then goes directly in to the water and takes you along the waterfront. The tour takes about 90 minutes, and provided us with a lot of interesting and entertaining information about life in Ketchikan, as well as lots of photo opportunities.

 

Experience for Children on the Century:

 

There were 176 children registered with the Fun Factory, up to the ages of 18 years. There were 37 kids in the Cadets (ages 6-9), the group that included my grand-daughter. She had a wonderful time, and although she is usually very keen to get out and explore, it was hard to get her out of the Fun Factory. The opening hours of the Fun Factory were 9 am to noon, 2:00 pm to 5:00 pm and 7:00 pm to 10:00 pm. There was also the option to sign up for the lunch-time period, the dinner-time period and from 10:00 pm to 1:00 am, for $6.00 per hour per child. Children were taken to the buffet for meals as appropriate during those extra times. There was a Youth Talent Show on the last day of the cruise. It was held in the Crystal Room instead of on the theatre stage, as it had been on the Solstice. It wasn't quite as flashy a production, but the kids had a great time all the same, and the parents got a closer view of the entertainers.

 

The youth counselors were all terrific and you could tell they genuinely liked children. When we signed my granddaughter up, one of the counselors, Elena from Macedonia, recognized her from the Solstice two years ago and even remembered her name. Pretty amazing. The onboard naturalist, Milos R. (a marine biologist and astronomer) who was very informative and entertaining, also came into the Fun Factory to talk to the kids about the Alaskan wild life that they might have the opportunity to see on this cruise. One evening, the children were brought from the Fun Factory to the theatre to see the magician and comedian, Jay Mattioli, which my granddaughter really enjoyed. There was lots of physical play, arts and crafts and creative play as well. It is a great programme.

 

Any experience of Alaska in the Summer?

 

As anyone will tell you, packing for Alaska is all about the layering. I was there in August in 2010 and it was overcast with some rain every day. We only had sun in Icy Straight Point for the afternoon on that trip.

 

This time we had pretty decent weather by noon most days. It was sunny and hot in Vancouver on the day we departed, so everyone got a chance to get in the pool. It was pretty mild for the rest of the trip, with rain showers from time to time. My grand-daughter wore cotton capris or leggings and t-shirts when we were in port, and always had a multi-purpose jacket along, which was off more than it was on.

 

The onboard dress was pretty casual, more than most cruises I have been on (but NOT more casual than the NCL cruise I was on in May of this year ;)). Most people dressed up on the two formal nights, but there were more people on this cruise who didn't make any attempt at all to dress up for the dining room on formal nights than I have seen on any other Celebrity cruise, including my last cruise to Alaska in 2010.

 

It was a very congenial group of passengers on this cruise, including a very friendly contingent of Kiwanis members. I had heard that there were 500 Kiwanians on board, but I don't know if that was correct or not.

 

Onboard Entertainment and Activities

 

I know we don't take Alaskan cruises for the onboard entertainment, but I would have to say that would be the one weak link on this cruise. The dancers were fine, but the singers were not compelling. Stage sets were minimal, and frankly, as much as I hate to say it, I have seen much better costumes in high school productions.

 

On the first night, I am used to seeing highlights of the entertainment to come on, and that's what I thought I had heard announced, but when I arrived with my grand-daughter to see the show (she takes dancing lessons and was looking forward to seeing the stage productions) it was comedian Louis Johnson. I have seen him before and enjoyed him, but he is not really appropriate for children, so we left after I had waited long enough to realize that I had been mistaken, and there weren't going to be any other performers. The most enjoyable act all week, IMHO, was the team of aerialists, and I only saw them perform for 10 minutes one night, although they might possibly have been on at another time. Timing did not permit us to get to the shows on the nights that we were in Murano.

 

There were also several issues of overlap in the scheduling of different types of entertainment that would normal be scheduled at non-competing times, e.g. karaoke and the main theatre shows. Not a big thing, clearly, but a little disappointing.

 

There were lots of options offered for Captain's Club events. It is my understanding that there were only 28 Elites on board. The dress code was enforced at the Captain's Cocktail Reception (no longer a luncheon, although held at 12:30 pm). My daughter and grand-daughter were sent back to change out of their "flip flops"...they knew about the dress code, but had forgotten about their footwear.

 

Sorry to go on at length... Jo, I just intended to answer your questions and not do a complete review! If you have any other specific questions, I would be more than happy to try and answer them.

 

This was a great cruise, and I would do it again in a heartbeat. If I was coming all the way from the UK, and I could afford the time, I would take the Millennium northbound, and then explore some more of Alaska afterwards. If you are happy to do the research, I think you could do a great job setting up an exciting and cost-effective post-cruise tour on your own. There sure is a lot of information available on Cruise Critic and Tripadvisor!

 

Happy Planning!

[CarolinaJoy]

Did you notice many children aboard? Want to take the grandsons next summer (ages 10 and 8) and not sure whether to book celebrity or RCI.

 

We did see lots of kids on the cruise. There seemed to be plenty for them to do and enjoy. I wouldn't worry about taking them on Celebrity at all.

 

It looked like there was a good kids' program. One night we saw a leader with a group of kids (ages maybe 5-9?) all dressed up like pirates chanting, "We want treasure." They were headed for the casino so I'm not sure what went down there ;)

 

Several nights we noticed items on the event program targeted at children. A special movie night, a karaoke night, a free arcade etc. They were also allowed in the indoor pool area which I understand is adults only on cruises where the outdoor pools are an option.

 

We also saw kids in the dining room. It looked like the wait staff really paid a lot of attention to make them feel special. We also saw them at Qsine.

 

There were lots of families, definitely.

[Eatdiveeat]

Hello - I realize you are coming from overseas so this may not apply but we used miles for our tickets and we were pleasantly shocked!

I kept looking at prices for our family of 5 from Tampa to Anchorage and the. Vancouver to Tampa. We will be on the Millie on 7/26 from Seward to Vancouver. Pricing was just under $1000 each and I was in shock. I was checking our frequent flyer point balance for another reason and decided to see what an award mile trip would cost in points. It was only 25,000 miles per - so for our family of 5 we are paying a TOTAL of 125,000 miles and like $300 in taxes, which equates to less than $1,600 at a dollar a mile - yay!

Another tip for saving money - look at vacation rentals versus hotels. We were shocked at the prices but ended up with nice looking homes (kitchen and washer dryer are huge pluses for us) for much less than a couple of hotel rooms.

Be warned - expensive to get from Anchorage to Seward - family of 5 via train or tour bus (that stops for quick soghtseeing - which we really want to do) is over $350. We are renting a mini van from Hertz (only one way car rental option:( for $330 for 24 hours - ouch!!

[varoo]

......Now that we've done it we realize we could have easily planned a DIY landtour with a map and GPS.

Furthermore, ancient passengers (pre-GPS days) can easily plan an entire DIY landtour with map alone, no GPS needed. :D

 

 

Do what we did Jo. Fly to Calgary, hire a car and drive to Vancouver. Such a great trip with some stunning scenery

That is a wonderful suggestion, especially for anyone who has not yet visited the Canadian Rockies.

 

No, I take that back. It is also a wonderful suggestion for people like us who have already been to the Canadian Rockies.

 

Renting a car and driving yourself provides a great alternative for those who would like to take the Rocky Mountaineer but find it too expensive, especially if you have several people going.

 

[Dorset Cruiser]

Furthermore, ancient passengers (pre-GPS days) can easily plan an entire DIY landtour with map alone, no GPS needed. :D

 

 

That is a wonderful suggestion, especially for anyone who has not yet visited the Canadian Rockies.

 

No, I take that back. It is also a wonderful suggestion for people like us who have already been to the Canadian Rockies.

 

Renting a car and driving yourself provides a great alternative for those who would like to take the Rocky Mountaineer but find it too expensive, especially if you have several people going.

 

 

It was indeed a wonderful trip from start to finish. We had a week inbetween the land tour and the Alaska cruise with family on Vancouver Island. Just love British Columbia :). Have to recommend the use of GPS - made finding our way sooo easy. Rocky Mountaineer would be a great trip but when you drive, you can please yourself about the route and how long to stay in each place :)

[POPDISPLAY]

Whichever ship you choose, be prepared for bad weather.

On our 6/28 Solstice sailing, our Tracy Arm Fjord trip provided rain from start to end. Further, our excursion in Juneau was cancelled due to rain and fog.

 

The trip would have been better had nature cooperated.

[punkinlr]

There were lots of options offered for Captain's Club events. It is my understanding that there were only 28 Elites on board. The dress code was enforced at the Captain's Cocktail Reception (no longer a luncheon, although held at 12:30 pm). My daughter and grand-daughter were sent back to change out of their "flip flops"...they knew about the dress code, but had forgotten about their footwear.

 

elena: What was the dress code for the Captain's Cocktail Reception? Resort casual? Surely they would allow "dress sandals"? I want to be properly dressed and not sent back for a do-over.

 

Thanks so much!

[ncgolferette]

We did see lots of kids on the cruise. There seemed to be plenty for them to do and enjoy. I wouldn't worry about taking them on Celebrity at all.

 

It looked like there was a good kids' program. One night we saw a leader with a group of kids (ages maybe 5-9?) all dressed up like pirates chanting, "We want treasure." They were headed for the casino so I'm not sure what went down there ;)

 

Several nights we noticed items on the event program targeted at children. A special movie night, a karaoke night, a free arcade etc. They were also allowed in the indoor pool area which I understand is adults only on cruises where the outdoor pools are an option.

 

We also saw kids in the dining room. It looked like the wait staff really paid a lot of attention to make them feel special. We also saw them at Qsine.

 

There were lots of families, definitely.

 

Thanks for the info on the children's programs. Family (apart from DH and myself) live in the DC area. Going to get an Alaska Airlines credit card and fly from Reagan - the airfare will be cut in half.

[elena7seas]

There were lots of options offered for Captain's Club events. It is my understanding that there were only 28 Elites on board. The dress code was enforced at the Captain's Cocktail Reception (no longer a luncheon, although held at 12:30 pm). My daughter and grand-daughter were sent back to change out of their "flip flops"...they knew about the dress code, but had forgotten about their footwear.

 

elena: What was the dress code for the Captain's Cocktail Reception? Resort casual? Surely they would allow "dress sandals"? I want to be properly dressed and not sent back for a do-over.

 

Thanks so much!

 

The dress code for the Captain's Cocktail Reception was the standard "Smart Casual and Above". Dress sandals were fine. My daughter was properly dressed except for the "flip flops" and both she and my grand-daughter were asked to go back and change their footwear. She had just forgotten that they were wearing flip flops. I hadn't even noticed.

[Lois R]

When researching Alaksa, you need to know that much of it is a rain

forest. It rains....it is just part of their climate. It may rain buckets but

it may only drizzle......it can vary. It may be clear, it may be cloudy.

You would need to keep your eye out on the weather for a couple of week's before your cruise and track that way.

Dress accordingly and hopefully you will have a wonderful cruise, whatever

the weather happens to be:)

I have been 3 times.....cannot wait to plan my 4th;)

[Cpamomma]

Our Alaska cruise was June 7 - 14 and then we were on our own through June 22. We had unusually warm weather. The only rain we had was for a few minutes in the Yukon (Canada, not Alaska) when we rented a car for the day from Skagway. We had sun everyday on the land portion of the trip. Denali was actually hot. Bring layers and be prepared for any type of weather and you will be fine. Also, be aware that a lot of the inland areas have LOTS of mosquitos. Pack bug repellant and/or bug repellant clothing.

[CarolinaJoy]

Thanks for the info on the children's programs. Family (apart from DH and myself) live in the DC area. Going to get an Alaska Airlines credit card and fly from Reagan - the airfare will be cut in half.

 

I laughed when I read that. I grew up in NC (Durham) and now live in DC!

 

Good move on the cheaper airfare. I'm sure your family will have a wonderful time. I'm ready to go back and I've been home less than 2 weeks.

 

If you plan on sharing a room with the grandsons, I can recommend getting a Family Veranda cabin, if you can. Ours had an enormous balcony and what amounted to 2 bedrooms. There was a wall and pocket door between the bedroom and sitting room. At night, the sofa folded out as my brother's bed. We loved it.

[punkinlr]

The dress code for the Captain's Cocktail Reception was the standard "Smart Casual and Above". Dress sandals were fine. My daughter was properly dressed except for the "flip flops" and both she and my grand-daughter were asked to go back and change their footwear. She had just forgotten that they were wearing flip flops. I hadn't even noticed.

 

Thanks so much elena! In all my cruises - and I've done a few ;-) - I have never had this much trouble deciding what to take! Cold outside - Even colder by the glaciers - Wet - Warm to Hot inside the ship.... Packing layers for daywear, short sleeves/capris for inside day wear, regular "smart casual" - And I refuse to pack more than one bag - the airline is getting enough of my money already without paying more for a second piece of luggage. Goodness!

[CanWeGoYet?]

Our Alaska cruise was June 7 - 14 and then we were on our own through June 22. We had unusually warm weather. The only rain we had was for a few minutes in the Yukon (Canada, not Alaska) when we rented a car for the day from Skagway. We had sun everyday on the land portion of the trip. Denali was actually hot. Bring layers and be prepared for any type of weather and you will be fine. Also, be aware that a lot of the inland areas have LOTS of mosquitos. Pack bug repellant and/or bug repellant clothing.

 

I got the hot weather too on my alaska cruise out of seattle june 11 to 18. The temperature was into the 80s in juneau & skagway. The mosquitoes ate us alive in the yukon! This cruise was Tracy Arm, not glacier bay, but we did get all the way to the end & saw the glacier. I was more impressed with Glacier Bay, but my brother loved Tracy Arm. He is a climber and for him, seeing the cruise ship navigate through that narrow channel with the high rock walls on either side was a dream come true.

 

The guy who drove the bus out to mendenhall glacier told us that even though the weather was unseasonably warm, weather was predictably better now than late in the season. From mid august on the rains come, and he said he didn't even want to be there working it was so bad.

 

To anyone planning a cruise tour & wanting advice I would suggest posting on the Alaska forum. Some like Budget Queen are a wealth of information. I have read her advising some that they needed to allow more time for their travels on the cruise tour than they had planned on, because the travel time itself can be so much there would not be time to see the worthwhile.

[elena7seas]

Thanks so much elena! In all my cruises - and I've done a few ;-) - I have never had this much trouble deciding what to take! Cold outside - Even colder by the glaciers - Wet - Warm to Hot inside the ship.... Packing layers for daywear, short sleeves/capris for inside day wear, regular "smart casual" - And I refuse to pack more than one bag - the airline is getting enough of my money already without paying more for a second piece of luggage. Goodness!

 

I just focussed on bringing layers, and a couple of scarves. I find that if I add a neck scarf to an outfit I am twice as warm as I would be without it.

 

I brought one 25" bag and a tote bag, and had more clothes than I needed. I brought a poncho instead of a bulky jacket which took up much less room. Weather changed a lot over the course of one day in Juneau, and when I didn't need the poncho, I just rolled it up and put it in my tote bag. The tote bag came in really handy to bring home all my extra purchases. I found that I did quite a bit of shopping on this trip, and I hadn't planned to do any. There were some very nice things for sale in Icy Strait Point and Juneau. I didn't get over to the shopping area in Ketchikan, but there looked like some nice shops there as well.

[Gig103]

I took the Millennium route last summer, and did my own driving tour from Anchorage to Denali. It was such a memorable trip, even though bad weather in Juneau ruined both our helicopter tour of the glacier and whale watching.

 

Here are some Denali pictures as a tease of why you should pick the one-way itinerary!

 

This bear is about 20 feet from our bus on a ledge, taken with < 100mm focal length

 

 

And from Ketchikan (where most ships go)

 

 

(More here)

[Lois R]

I took the Millennium route last summer, and did my own driving tour from Anchorage to Denali. It was such a memorable trip, even though bad weather in Juneau ruined both our helicopter tour of the glacier and whale watching.

 

Here are some Denali pictures as a tease of why you should pick the one-way itinerary!

 

This bear is about 20 feet from our bus on a ledge, taken with < 100mm focal length

 

 

And from Ketchikan (where most ships go)

 

 

(More here)

 

Hi Mike, wow, absolutely beautiful pictures!:)

[Gig103]

Hi Mike, wow, absolutely beautiful pictures!:)

 

Thank you! :D

[DiamondSuiteCruiser]

I took the Millennium route last summer, and did my own driving tour from Anchorage to Denali. It was such a memorable trip, even though bad weather in Juneau ruined both our helicopter tour of the glacier and whale watching.

 

Here are some Denali pictures as a tease of why you should pick the one-way itinerary!

 

This bear is about 20 feet from our bus on a ledge, taken with < 100mm focal length

 

 

And from Ketchikan (where most ships go)

 

 

(More here)

 

Beautiful pictures Gig, thanks for sharing.