Alaska on Millennium

[jr8934]

Next summer, our northbound cruise will have us at the Anchorage airport fairly early. Does Celebrity maintain some sort of day room at the airport where you can wait for a late flight? Our flight isn't until 9:30 PM.

[Northern Aurora]

Since we live in Alaska I follow and post on the Alaska CC forum, including reading a number of the post cruise reviews.  I am not aware of any day room sponsored by Celebrity at the Anchorage airport.  Are you flying on Alaska Airlines?  If so they have a lounge/club room at the Anchorage airport.   If you have a purchased (not milage) first class ticket access is included, and day passes can be purchased.  

 

What sort of transfer are you taking from Seward to Anchorage?  Several of the private companies do a type of tour (such as stopping at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center).  Also consider a one way car rental.  The one-way fee will be stunning, but you can easily spend the day stopping at various sites along the highway (ie, going into Girdwood).

[jr8934]

We are on United. Celebrity is charging us $78.95 pp for a shuttle bus to the airport. My husband would rather not rent a car. They want over a $100 for the train. Thank you for your quick reply!

[Northern Aurora]

jr8934:  The Celebrity shuttle price seems rather high.  Ask for shuttle recommendations on the Alaska Cruise Critic board, or use the search function if it is operational.  In the past Celebrity has also offered a half day cruise out of Seward (they have used Major Marine) followed by a motor coach transfer, which at least would "kill" several hours.  

[musik07]

We had a similar situation the summer. Most of the celebrity excursions we were interested in were for people with flights after midnight. We took the Alaska Cruise Transportation bus that stopped at the Alaska Wildlife Center. The bus ride was good, the wildlife center was good but our guide was AWFUL. She was all about telling self-promoting stories and jokes. I actually looked up some of the information she was telling us and it was incorrect. Once we got to the airport we attempted to check our bags around 11:45 (8:30 flight) and were told no. They had a place at the airport where you can leave your bags for the day. We left two suitcases and two carry on's.  I carried my backpack which held all of the meds and technology for my mom and I (we didn't want to leave it in the airport basically just sitting out behind a rope). We then took the public bus to downtown, and walked around and had a great early dinner. The bus was VERY easy and we felt completely safe. We actually took public transportation in Vancouver as well and remarked that both places had such easy to navigate public transportation and locals were helpful when they saw us looking at maps. We took a bus back around 5:30 and had plenty of time to check in, get through security and even grab a snack before flying.  It was great to walk around, see some sights and eat before flying home. One thing we both noticed is that the scales at united seems to add 5 pounds to our luggage (we weighed them before leaving the ship) and we had to do some quick rearranging and throwing away of half used bottles of shampoo and sunscreen. Leave yourself room for souvenirs! 

[musik07]

I also forgot to add if you take a Celebrity sponsored excursion there is a hospitality room downtown where you  can leave you bags. Since we had booked a transfer independently we didn't qualify. The savings in taking and independent tour completely offset the cost to store bags at the airport. 

I wish we could have stayed a night in Anchorage and really explored and gone to see different things, however teachers started back at my school about 40 hours after we arrived at my parents local airport. I was so beat I ended up spending the night at my parents and having to rush around on Sunday to get everything done. 

[Northern Aurora]

12 minutes ago, musik07 said:

I also forgot to add if you take a Celebrity sponsored excursion there is a hospitality room downtown where you  can leave you bags. .....

 

 

Is that hospitality room downtown still at the Eagan Convention Center?  

[musik07]

Just now, Northern Aurora said:

 

 

Is that hospitality room downtown still at the Eagan Convention Center?  

Yes! We were hoping to be able to use it as we were celebrity cruisers but it was only for those with Celebrity excursions. We checked onboard

 

[jr8934]

Thank you! It gives us something to think about.