Live on the Inifinty to Alaska May 29 - Jun 05

[Phxazzcruisers]

We are also on this very same cruise and are in the Penthouse. I will echo many of the previous comments. We have thoroughly enjoyed Luminae, we always do. We are on board with two very good friends and they dine with us in Luminae. The service charge for non suite guests dropped to $30.00 pp, which is a great deal. Our waiter is Felix and he is GREAT.

The glacier was incredible, this is our 4th time to Alaska, and the Captain did a great job of positioning us closer than we have ever been before. As Photosg said, we were the closest allowed by law and stayed longer than originally scheduled.

We had a great dinner with the Captain one night in Tuscan Grill. With Luminae being one of our favorite restaurants, we usually do not dine in the other specialty restaurants, but did thoroughly enjoy Tuscan Grill and will be taking our friends there tonight after a great day in Juneau.

The weather started out great, but as expected, it is getting rainier and colder each day. We did have a great hour at the glacier when the sun came out, but today Juneau is cloudy, rainy and cold. Not an issue, it is what we expected for Alaska in early June. Our last cruises here were always in August when the weather is much warmer.

Again, we are having a fabulous cruise aboard the beautiful Celebrity Infinity. If anyone has any questions, I will do my best to answer. The internet has been relatively good, and being on an unlimited package makes it very easy to use.

Have a great day all from Alaska

[photosg]

A very long and tiring day.

 

Our plans for the day were quite modest, we rented a car to get us to the shrine of St Therese and then we headed up to the Medenhall Glacier.

 

The Juneau Car Hire is located right next to dock A, which would have been great for passengers on the Norwegian Sun. Unfortunately Infinity was docked at dock D. Our one consolation was seeing two deer crossing the road as we made our uphill trek to pick up the car.

 

The drive to St Therese was relatively straightforward, with breathtaking Alaskan scenery all along the 23 miles. After the excitement of the past two days it was refreshing to just walk quietly and enjoy the serene beauty of the place. I could have stayed there much longer. It really is a perfect place for a retreat.

 

It started to rain on our drive back to the Medenhall Glacier, but it didn't last long and it was partly sunny when we got to the car park. A busy day today with three cruise ships in port. (Zaandam was at dock E) we got the last empty parking space.

 

My mother and friends stayed in the visitors centre while I took the 2 mile (round trip) trail to nugget falls. Just as I got to the falls it began to rain very lightly. Thankfully it was very brief. It's too early for salmon so no one was expecting any bears either. The ranger told us there were porcupines in the trees (Did you know porcupines climb trees? Until today I didn't.) I didn't see any porcupines either only a few different types of birds. The ranger did tell us the names of the birds but my memory for such things is about 3 and a half minutes. There were also lots of flowers that looked as if I should know their names.

 

It was almost 2pm by the time we got back into town and this was the longest time between meals since the cruise began. We headed for the nearest restaurant to the carpark which was lemon tree cafe that serves Asian food. After 4 days of Luminae we were ready for congee and soup noodles. (They did say we could have congee for breakfast in Luminae whenever it was available at ocean view.)

 

Then two went shopping while two went to drop off the car. We didn't have to walk back because by then they were running shuttle buses from dock A back into the city centre.

 

Back onboard I called Roger for some tea and grapes. He appeared with a covered dinner plate. When he took off the cover I burst out laughing because there was about a kilo of red and green grapes.

 

A quick nap brought us to dinner time. I snuck a peak at the Trellis menu before we ordered at Luminae and the duck rillets and vegetable korma sounded good to us. Turned out the chicken liver custard from the Luminae menu was way better than the duck rillets. On the other hand Luminae's Thai Green curry was much less authentic than the Vegetable Korma.

 

Chithra took great delight in telling us we could have cherries jubilee tonight (from the Trellis menu too) which we did. But the ricotta cheesecake offered in Luminae was light and delectable too.

 

Finally we had a guest entertainer tonight in the shape of Marcus Terell and the Serenades. I've never heard of him before but he's been on America's got talent and YouTube. He's a bit of a comedian too.

 

Thanks for your comments and questions.

I've only passed through the solarium once or twice. It's mostly adults only but in the daily programme it was a couple of hours are designated for families with supervised children. I can't say how quiet it is at those times. In general there aren't too many shildren on this sailing, but I imagine that will change once school is out.

I'll leave my comments about the stateroom until the final sea day. But first it will be Ketchikan tomorrow.

Edited June 3, 2016 by photosg

[OCA REP]

Our waiter is Felix and he is GREAT.

 

Yes! Another vote for Felix and his entire team. We were on the Pacific Coastal Cruise recently and Felix made a tremendous spot even that much better. The Luminae hostess, her name is slipping my mind right now, was also just as charming and accommodating as she could be.

 

If you happen to remember to, please tell them both hello from Jonathan and Todd. They were true assets to Celebrity!

 

Thanks and continue to enjoy your sailing!

[Phxazzcruisers]

Yes! Another vote for Felix and his entire team. We were on the Pacific Coastal Cruise recently and Felix made a tremendous spot even that much better. The Luminae hostess, her name is slipping my mind right now, was also just as charming and accommodating as she could be.

 

If you happen to remember to, please tell them both hello from Jonathan and Todd. They were true assets to Celebrity!

 

Thanks and continue to enjoy your sailing!

 

We will definitely say hi for you both !!!

[thyme2go]

You're the expert on this so how long did it take to walk from dock D to the red dog saloon area? I know in the past there was docking that was a mile south of downtown and hope that won't be the case for us trying to connect with an independent tour shortly after docking!? Were there any cabs available for those in a hurry after disembarking? Any help is appreciated as I could not find a map of the docks and their identifiers......

[Phxazzcruisers]

The Red Dog was very close to where we docked. It only took about 10 minutes, and that was walking slow. A cab is really not necessary. There was one ship docked a little closer, we were docked behind her, right in town across of the Tramway and there was one ship that came in later further away. If you are docked at the far dock, it would take an additional 15 minutes.

[photosg]

The seas were quite rough as we sailed into Ketchikan and there has been an "incident" with the dock platform. The cruise director has come on the PA a few times to make reassuring noises but there is no indication when we might be able to disembark. Photo on my instagram. #Oops #Ketchikan

[thyme2go]

The Red Dog was very close to where we docked. It only took about 10 minutes, and that was walking slow. A cab is really not necessary. There was one ship docked a little closer, we were docked behind her, right in town across of the Tramway and there was one ship that came in later further away. If you are docked at the far dock, it would take an additional 15 minutes.

 

Thank you for this current info--much appreciated!!

 

Sounds like gale force winds in Ketchikan and horizontal rain perhaps? Hope the dock situation is able to be stabilized soon.

[DanaDanes]

I cannot believe y'all broke Ketchikan.

 

 

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[photosg]

As stated in the thread with the unfortunate typo, we damaged the dock so we are moving to the next one along. We are two hours and counting late so all ship booked shorex have been cancelled and refunded. My independent tour was also cancelled and refunded because of bad weather. The guy on the phone actually apologised to me, but I said you can't control the weather! I will definitely book with them again if I come through Ketchikan again.

 

Also in that thread are some photos taken from outside the ship that show we are not completely unscathed. US coast guard came onboard to investigate and have now allowed us to move along.

 

In the meantime Roger came to cheer us up with some humour and tea.

[The BarCarres]

Lovely to read this. We get on Infinity on Sunday. Keep your fair weather clothes close, Sunday is sunny and hot in Vancouver 🌞 Hope we have half your luck with the whales at Icy Straight 😊

[photosg]

Yes, sometimes the weather does change your plans.

 

Although the day started out relatively bright and sunny, with beautiful views during breakfast, by the time lunchtime rolled around, after a couple of lectures in the theatre by Mickey and Dirk about Ketchikan and its natural wonders, I was beginning to question my wisdom in booking a Kayaking adventure.

 

Well, as it turned out we were in for a different kind of adventure.

(See two earlier posts)

 

Well, we were eventually let off around 5:30pm. Even though my friends had decided to stay onboard and make the most of dinner and the evening, I wanted to take photos of the damage, which could only be seen from off the ship. So I braved the queues which snaked all around deck 3 and up the stairs onto deck 4. I *think* there are actually two places where the ship hit the dock. The midship area seems to have a scrape, but that was obscured by the pier in the new docking position. The original dock was lower and we were supposed to exit from deck 1. There was however another gash forward and it was after the pier ended so you could see it, even though it was below the level of the pier. (See my Instagram for photos.)

 

There were still hundreds of people trying to get off the ship when I tried to get on again after taking the photos. I think I was the first one back onboard.

 

A very quick change and we wanted to get dinner in before the earlier showtime of 8:30pm. (Earlier in the sense of not the 10:30pm show. Because of the port hours the shows were moved from 7 and 9pm.)

 

By now we are experts at asking for the trellis menu if we find Luminae's uninspiring, but Chitra herself suggested we get an order of duck a l'orange (from trellis) to share in the middle to go with our lobster (from Luminae.)

Dessert was the reverse, we all ordered poached pears from Trellis (which were a pale shadow of the Luminae version that we had earlier in the week,) with one baked Alaska from Luminae to share among us.

 

Unsurprisingly, the 8:30pm show was very poorly attended. It was titled Boogie Wonderland and it actually had a fig-leaf of a story line linking together 70s era disco hits. Oddly enough they out Saturday Night Fever though they featured the iconic white suit with a black shirt and the one hand pointed up. But they managed to fit in a Village People medley and Donna Summer and pretty much the rest of the usual suspects. Yes definitely my demographic and it was pretty enjoyable. Pity that the more than half empty house sapped a lot of the energy.

 

Clocks go forward tonight, back to Vancouver time. I've decided that 7 days is too short for a cruise.

 

Hmm... It's now 11:39 and all-aboard was at 10:30pm. We are still firmly docked at Ketchikan. Watch this space....

Edited June 4, 2016 by photosg

[photosg]

It's 12:27am and we're finally on our way. Good night!

[MicCanberra]

It's 12:27am and we're finally on our way. Good night!

 

Good to hear it is seaworthy.:D

[Alcairns]

glad to hear no one was hurt and that the cruise and future cruises will continue as scheduled. We were on the last cruise and dined in the Luminae. Whilst the food was quite good we often used the Trellis menu as we found the Luminae choices limited and uninspiring. Our biggest gripe about Luminae was the fawning waiters. We were constantly interrupted The restaurant staff asking how the food was. Not just by our own waiter but by the sommelier, the bread waiter and the maitre'd. I prefer to be left alone when I am eating and I there is a problem I will tell them about it.

 

 

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[BecciBoo]

So silly for Celebrity to have all the recorded videos on the internet blacked out! Thousands have already seen them, none of the Youtube vids are still viewable.:rolleyes:

[cinbeach]

photosg

 

I am looking forward to your review of the S2 cabin - as I am also in that cabin in 2 weeks time.

 

Also did you try Bistro on 5 at all?

 

thanks

[hnet999]

So silly for Celebrity to have all the recorded videos on the internet blacked out! Thousands have already seen them, none of the Youtube vids are still viewable.:rolleyes:

 

You're saying that as a company, RCCL is actively 'blacking out' online videos?

Are you sure? I am not sure they could even do that if they tried unless the own the rights to the video taken.

[photosg]

Photosg

 

Thanks for your review. I will be on the Infinity on June 19th and have the exact room you do. Would you please tell me about the room. We were assigned this room although we do not need an accessible room. Would you say the room and bathroom are larger than other Sky Suites and would someone who does not need an accessible bathroom feel awkward?

 

Also have you tried Bistro on 5 - I have heard mixed reviews lately stating that the food has declined. We were the Eclipse over a year ago and it was fantastic but word is that it is mediocre and they are changing over to Sushi.

 

Thanks for answering all my questions and continue to enjoy your cruise.

 

We are in the accessible room on deck 9 right next to the elevators. The room and bathroom are definitely larger than the regular sky suites (our friends have one on deck 6 so I've been comparing.) But you lose out on furniture in the bathroom there is no storage under the sink and of course no bathtub. The shower is Long but narrow and comes with a seat. There is a low sill at the edge that doesn't really keep the shower water in. No worries our helpful assistant attendant made a little dam out of rolled up towels and our bathroom floor stayed dry. Oh the regular rooms have a window (with electric blinds) into the bedroom so you can watch TV while in the bath.

 

In the main area you lose one armchair and the coffee table is smaller and oval rather than round. The writing desk seems smaller but the TV console is bigger. You also lose the "walk-in" feature of the wardrobe (note the inverted commas!) more significantly you go from four panels to three on the wardrobe. The safe and drawers remain, you just lose one third of hanging space and a shoe rack. On the other hand your entrance hall is wider by the depth of the wardrobe, which is perfect to line up all your shoes. Not sure why but we're missing a Bose iPod sound dock too. But since it's an old model which will not dock devices with a lightning connector so I didn't bother to ask about it.

 

Finally on the balcony, which is slightly wider you lose one footstool. You still get two reclining chairs.

 

We didn't get a chance to try bistro on 5, in any case never having tried it before I would not be able to say if it's any better or worse than before.

 

:)

[hnet999]

Our biggest gripe about Luminae was the fawning waiters. We were constantly interrupted The restaurant staff asking how the food was. Not just by our own waiter but by the sommelier, the bread waiter and the maitre'd. I prefer to be left alone when I am eating and I there is a problem I will tell them about it. p

 

Probably one of the rare times that a cruiser is upset about Too Much service!

 

I generally enjoy the interaction with cruise staff, but I understand that sometimes it can be much. Because they only want to please, I just will say "Thank you, I will let you know if I need anything" and they generally get the hint.

[cinbeach]

Thanks so much for the detailed review of the room. If I could I think I will try to change it to a regular Sky Suite if possible.

[Von & John]

You're saying that as a company, RCCL is actively 'blacking out' online videos?

Are you sure? I am not sure they could even do that if they tried unless the own the rights to the video taken.

 

Having read this statement on other threads - I started clicking on links as I found them. In the past 10 minutes - I have seen the video up via 4 different sites. Some were direct links to You Tube - multiple persons have now uploaded the video on different You Tube sites & also through a couple of news sites. In addition - you can link to the video via ADN (Alaska Daily News).

 

It's possible some of the links people are attempting to use have become corrupted & are no longer working.

[DanaDanes]

I'm in 9121 in a couple of weeks. Sounds like I've got your room!

 

 

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[BecciBoo]

You're saying that as a company, RCCL is actively 'blacking out' online videos?

Are you sure? I am not sure they could even do that if they tried unless the own the rights to the video taken.

 

Yes, I certainly do believe they could have asked YouTube to take them down because of copyrights to videos of their ships or something like that. What other reason would YouTube have to black out independent videos to many different posters.

 

And yes, you can find it elsewhere with no problem, why only YouTube? And by the way, if you register with Youtube to publish your vids, they have some rights to them. I know, I have a channel. Course thats just my conclusion....

 

Sorry to highjack the thread Photosq!

Edited June 4, 2016 by BecciBoo

[benjoon]

Probably one of the rare times that a cruiser is upset about Too Much service!

 

I generally enjoy the interaction with cruise staff, but I understand that sometimes it can be much. Because they only want to please, I just will say "Thank you, I will let you know if I need anything" and they generally get the hint.

 

We had a great laugh one morning on our cruise on the Infinity in December. There are 3 of us and there were 5 wonderful staff around us at the same time. One with water, another with bread, another with lime or lemon for our water, another with coffee and finally Chitra taking our breakfast order. Even the staff stopped and realised what was happening. We loved all the staff

 

I can't wait to get onto the Constellation in January. I hope our experience is as wonderful as the Infinity was.

Edited June 4, 2016 by benjoon