Notes from Millennium Alaska b2b 9/24 to 10/8

[cruise kitty]

Hi all, sitting in airport waiting for flight, so thought I’d offer a few brief comments about our cruise.   I’ll do a longer, more detailed review later, but basically it was brilliant!   Had such a good time on the first cruise, we decided to make it a back to back 🙂.  We were suite first leg, &. Aqua on 2nd….had about 675 passengers on the 1st leg, &  almost 850 on 2nd…… we spent a lot of time in Canada on first leg due to storms (thank you, Canada, for letting us in).  Ship looking great, crew was lovely & we were so happy to be back on board.     

[bigbenboys]

We were on 10/1 to 10/8. It was a great cruise. It took us 10 mins to get off the cruise and 20 mins to get home.

[TeeRick]

On 10/8/2021 at 2:55 PM, cruise kitty said:

Hi all, sitting in airport waiting for flight, so thought I’d offer a few brief comments about our cruise.   I’ll do a longer, more detailed review later, but basically it was brilliant!   Had such a good time on the first cruise, we decided to make it a back to back 🙂.  We were suite first leg, &. Aqua on 2nd….had about 675 passengers on the 1st leg, &  almost 850 on 2nd…… we spent a lot of time in Canada on first leg due to storms (thank you, Canada, for letting us in).  Ship looking great, crew was lovely & we were so happy to be back on board.     

Glad you are back!  Sorry I missed you.  How was the weather?  Any COVID announcements on board either week?  Were the ports/shops mostly still open?

[Ferry_Watcher]

37 minutes ago, TeeRick said:

Glad you are back!  Sorry I missed you.  How was the weather?  Any COVID announcements on board either week?  Were the ports/shops mostly still open?

I was also on the cruise and during the Q&A of Captain's lecture on Navigation an audience member asked about Covid infection on board.  Captain Ioannis said that there were just 4 Covid positive passengers all season (during a total of eleven Millennium Alaskan Cruises).   

 

As for the weather, with the exception of some rough seas during the first Chic Night, the weather was perfect.  Some rain showers in Ketchikan (to be expected),  great weather in Juneau, and spectacular weather in Icy Strait Point.

 

To avoid the tail end a storm at the beginning of the cruise, Captain Ionannis requested permission from the Canadians to sail through the Inside Passage, so we had the added bonus of calm seas and amazing scenery.  We were lucky enough to see a pod of Orcas sailing thru the Inside Passage.  Just incredible!

[cruise kitty]

3 hours ago, TeeRick said:

Glad you are back!  Sorry I missed you.  How was the weather?  Any COVID announcements on board either week?  Were the ports/shops mostly still open?

Hi Rick,  a little rough weather first couple of days on first cruise, there was a big storm in Pacific, which we mostly avoided by getting permission from Canada to sail through the inside passage, which was amazing!  We also had to leave Icy Strait Point very early first week to avoid storms, had lots of light rain first week.   

 

Second week was amazing, calm seas, glorious sunshine, tons of wildlife, it was just wonderful.

 Covid wise, as far was I know, we had no cases..  masks were not required onboard, but some people wore them.  I will say this is the most 'normal' that I felt in a long time.  

 

shops, restaurants were open, with exception of Tracy's Crab Shack

 

Hoonah was completely closed to visitors, but Icy Strait Point had plenty of excursions you could get on after you left ship, & some nice short little walking tracks to eagles nests & wildlife viewing, whales in the harbor 🙂

 

Hope we get to meet up on a future cruise!

[Northern Aurora]

We were on the September 17th and 24th cruises.  I hope "cruise kitty" doesn't mind if I offer a few random comments of my own.

 

We were in the same suite for both legs.  We have been in suites on all of the M-class ships, and Luminae looked "normal" to us.  We had been told that the suites were essentially totally booked, and the Luminae was as busy as one would expect in normal times.

 

We had not been on the Millennium since the fall of 2018 when we did a trans-Pacific to Japan followed by a cruise around Japan.  These were those two cruises which were impacted not by one but by two typhoons.  While the Luminae decor is unchanged, the changes in many parts of the ship are dramatic and the ship looks great.  The suite we were in was one we booked on the Millennium in 2017, and the changes were lovely.  When you see the current look of the Millennium it is hard to believe that she is the oldest Celebrity ship in operation.  Looks great.

 

At 1:45 PM on September 18th Captain Ioannis addressed the ship.  Someone reported covid-like symptoms and did indeed test positive.  They were isolated.  The next day, as we left Ketchikan, he again addressed the ship and informed us that the positive passenger and their traveling party were flying home at Celebrity's expense.  In reading accounts from passengers on ships with positive covid cases it is clear that Celebrity is being pro-active informing the other passengers.  Definitely prevents rumors from running rampant.  It also seemed to me that more passengers on that first leg began wearing masks while onboard after that announcement.

 

When we were in ISP on the first leg all of the restaurants were closed.  Another passenger reported that she asked one of the shop employees, and was told it was due to the covid situation.  They were open on what was our second leg (September 24th sailing).  We didn't walk to the ISP compound entrance, but closing Hoonah to visitors doesn't surprise me.  As covid cases rise a number of villages enter total lock down to folks not part of the community to deal with the pandemic.