First time Alaska / First time Celebrity

[baronessk]

I am a Princess cruiser and I just won a free $2,500 cruise on Celebrity at a charity function yesterday. My travel bff and I live near Port Everglades, and we are thinking Alaska in August or September. I need your help! the cruises listed are:

Alaska Northern or Southern on Millennium

Alaska Tracy Arm Fjord on Solstice (which originates and returns to Seattle)

Alaska Hubbard Glacier on Infinity

Which do you recommend? We are traveling to Spain in April to celebrate our 60 and 65th b-days, so August would be the earliest we could cruise to Alaska.

Also thinking a Verandah cabin so we have our own balcony, but then I have read it really is not necessary for Alaska, which seems to make sense if we do just a Northern or Southern route as you may want to be seeing things on the other side of the ship. Since we are going to have airfare this time, along with luggage constraints and a hotel the night before, maybe an ocean view at less cost will be fine.

I was planning on doing this with my Mother on Princess in 2018, so this will be an exploratory cruise for me and help to take her when she is 87.

Thank-you! All suggestions will be appreciated and valued. I will be picking everyone's brain on my Princess Christmas cruise starting Saturday, as I ALWAYS meet Alaska cruisers and I'm sure some will have gone with Celebrity.

[xlxo]

Quick thoughts...

• Think EARLY August. It will cost more... but you get statistically more dry days. September is discounted for storm chasers.
  
• For your Princess planning.... Look for a ship that includes Glacier Bay. Best experience for a first time Alaskan visitor who rarely gets to see a glacier.
  
  

Edited December 12, 2016 by xlxo

[baronessk]

Thank you. We are limited by our work schedules and I am just off the phone with the Celebrity rep. She said the Alaskans who do their cruise discussions, say that for wildlife (migration) either May or Sept. At this point we are leaning towards the 7 nights Solstice Tracy Arm r/t from Seattle on Aug. 25th, as it woks with our schedules. Now just need to check into airfare and hotel.

[TeaBag]

Thank you. We are limited by our work schedules and I am just off the phone with the Celebrity rep. She said the Alaskans who do their cruise discussions, say that for wildlife (migration) either May or Sept. At this point we are leaning towards the 7 nights Solstice Tracy Arm r/t from Seattle on Aug. 25th, as it woks with our schedules. Now just need to check into airfare and hotel.

You probably know quite a bit more now having talked to a Celebrity rep. Solstice is an S class ship, newer, bigger, more restaurants than the M class (Infinity and Millennium).

 

Solstice sails west of Vancouver Island in open sea which can be rough and is not anywhere near as scenic as the Inside Passage between Vancouver Island and the mainland. You might want to consider this if you are prone to seasickness. Seattle is a lovely city and airfare will likely be less flying into another US city rather than Vancouver.

 

Many think the itinerary that Millennium and Infinity sail is wonderful, as the scenery in the inside passage is exceptional. Vancouver is a lovely city too. Of course, I'm partial!:D I'm sure you'll have a great time no matter what you do.

[QShip]

If you are considering either of the Millennium cruises in August be aware that the Northbound cruise goes into Skagway when there are 4 cruise ships in port. 12,000+ passengers.

[Mr. Click]

We did the Millennium last July and loved it. The weather was hit and miss, the ports were all crowded but that is Alaska. While we prefer the S class ships we chose the one way itinerary to see more of Alaska and the Inside Passage. Celebrity does not have a licsence for Glacier Bay so they go to the Hubbard Glacier. It was spectacular. We were able to sail within a half mile of the glacier and had some tremendous views right from our veranda.

[PostcardJar]

We sailed on the Millennium two summers ago (northbound) and LOVED it. The Inside passage is beautiful...get the verandah as you'll want to take in the view every minute possible...but either side of the ship will afford amazing views. I also think you'll like Celebrity--wonderful line with great service and fantastic amenities. (But that is probably true of Princess, as well.)

[kathynorth]

We've been to Hubbard Glacier, to Glacier Bay, and Tracy Arm. Hubbard via the northbound Millennium was our favorite. That glacier is huge and very active with calving. The northbound trip gets the Millenium to Hubbard before any other ship, so the ship gets up close and stays for quite a long time. The Sawyer Glacier up Tracy Arm is also very active, but its smaller than Hubbard and the ship can't get as close to the glacier. If you're able to take a side excursion on a smaller boat to get up close with the glacier then that is definitely worthwhile.

[jelayne]

We did the last cruise of the season in September 2014 on the Solstice. Weather was great, only one other ship in each port and all the souviner shops had great sales as the season was over.

 

Seriously, Alaska is beautiful, inside route (not what we did) or outside ( we did) no rough seas. Since you will be going twice pick itineraries that give you different ports & enjoy the amazing scenery.

[CruisinNewb]

Our first cruise was on Celebrity Infinity R/T from Seattle. Hubbard was an amazing place. Our itinerary was different (Seattle, Juneau, Ketchikan, Sitka and Victoria). We had heard Seattle departures were rougher due to sailing in the pacific but we got lucky and it was smooth as glass both directions. We departed mid August and great weather, unseasonably warm and fairly dry.

Edited December 13, 2016 by CruisinNewb

[4774Papa]

We are big Celebrity cruisers but did Alaska on the NCL Sun, which was a one way, Vancouver to Seward.

 

I recommend:

 

1) Take a one way cruise and make sure you spend some time in Alaska before or after the cruise, like going to Denali.

2) Glacier Bay and Hubbard Glacier were amazing, especially Glacier Bay.

3) Our cruise was from 5-12 September and we spent three days post cruise going to Anchorage and Denali. We found that Denali starts shutting down for the season in early to mid-September. Some hotels had already been closed when we reached Denali. Our hotel closed down the day we checked out (14 Sept). The Tundra Wilderness Tour was to shut down on 16 September.

4) Vancouver is a great city, I suggest spending a few days there.

[NoName]

We did our first Alaskan cruise in Sept of this year and I can tell you I will ALWAYS recommend a balcony for Alaska. Here are a couple of reasons:

 

1) We were sailing the inside passage one day and taking a nap in our room. The captain made an announcement that 2 Orca whales would be swimming past on the port side. We quickly scrambled to the balcony, just as they swam past. It was wonderful. Without the balcony, we would never had seen them as there simply wasn't time to get to another open deck.

 

2) We went in Sept and it got really cold on the water. We would stay up top until we just needed to warm up. We then returned to our cabin and brought our deck chairs inside and sat at the huge glass balcony windows. When we saw something very special, we would quickly step outside and then retreat to our balcony.

 

3)Even though it was cold and not ideal weather for sitting outside, we found we did it quite often while sailing in the inside passage. The balcony blocked most of the wind and we could tolerate being out there longer than being up on deck.

 

Splurge on the balcony, you won't regret it!

 

Kim