Millenium May 5 to Alaska mini-review

[cali-croozer]

My husband and I were on May 5, 14 night round trip SF Millenium Ultimate Alaska cruise. It was our 6th cruise, 1st time on Celebrity.

 

Room: inside 2111; our steward, Nelson, and assistant, Michael, were excellent; our room was kept immaculate and if Nelson was in the hallway when we returned to our room, he'd rush over and open the door for us

 

Dining: early dining (forgot the table #!), 5th floor, near the window. Best wait staff ever (Orlando and Rudson). Wine steward and bar steward were always available but never pushy. Assistant maitre'd always present and friendly. One note: we were confirmed for early dining (on our cruise documents) but once on the ship, received notice that we were assigned late dining. We went to the maitre'd as soon as possible (were 4th on the list requesting a change) and were able to switch back to early dining on the 2nd night. Many people were in this situation and were not able to be accomodated. Tip: board early, see the maitre'd ASAP if there is a problem

 

Aqua Spa cafe: very good; not crowded

 

Cova Cafe: excellent pastries and coffee

 

Elegant Tea: offered twice, went once; very nicely done; delicious finger sandwiches and sweets

 

Cinema: nice feature on a cold weather cruise; movies shown several times daily; we saw In Pursuit of Happyness, Rocky Balboa and The Bourne Supremecy

 

Therapy Pool: pool very relaxing; another nice feature for a cold weather cruise; however, hot tubs were not hot

 

Tipping: took advantage of the automatic tipping on our sea pass and gave a little extra in cash to a couple of people

 

Spa: expensive, like on all cruises, but they offer specials each day. My husband took advantage of the massage/exfoliation special and said it was worth it. Plus, no hard sell.:)

 

Fitness Center: we took advantage of the free classes in the morning; especially the stretch and relax, fitball and circuit training (too bad they didn't offer another set of free classes in the afternoon for those days we wanted to sleep in). We also used the treadmill and other equipment. Nice setup; friendly instructors.

 

Shows: productions shows ok; comedians very good; ventriloquist good but a little too long

 

Drinks of the day: $5 but strong;)

 

Ports/excusions:

 

Astoria: our coldest port! We took the trolly to the end of the line and then back to the Safeway; bought a coffee and walked back to the ship, stopping at the Maritime Museum and window shopping downtown along the way.

 

Seattle: took the bus to the Klondike Goldrush National Park Center, then bus back to Pike Market. Walked through the market and bought a coffee at the original Starbucks, then took the monorail to the Space Needle. On the walk back to the ship, hopped on another bus to Ivar's fish bar to try the fish and chips, and then walked back to the ship.

 

Ketchikan: self walking tour to creek street, funicular, totem heritage center, eagle center and fish hatchery. Then, shopping for made in Alaska ulu knife and grabbers (for salad/pasta).

 

Juneau: took a shuttle to Mendenhall Glacier; spent a few hours there (walked to the waterfall, walked on a trail back to the bus stop...saw a bear in a tree, trumpeter swan, porcupine, mountain goats); back to the ship for lunch and migraine meds (boo!:( ) and then took the Mt. Robert's tram. Minimal shopping, walking around time cuz I was sick (only time I missed dinner.........) At least I felt good the first half of the day.

 

Skagway: windiest port! We rented a car through Avis and drove out to Emerald Lake (kept seeing the Chilkoot tour gang:) along the way). Stopped at Caribou Crossing to check out the dogs and Carcross on the way back (nothing much there; shopped at the general store......my husband bought a piece of diamond willow there and has starting carving out his walking stick.....back in Skagway, he found a shop that had pieces of antlers so bought one of those for the handle). Shopped a little bit in town before returning to the ship.

 

Sitka: rainiest port! and worst tenders ever! We took the Sea Otter and Wildlife Quest. We saw lots of otters, a seal and beautiful scenery. We were on the morning tour so the weather and visibility were still ok although at one point they turned the boat around since it was too choppy and we went in another direction. On board, I found the elusive "made in Alaska" chocolate bars I had been searching for in the other ports. I nearly wiped them out because I bought 15 bars to give away. As we were coming into port, the rain started and the tender lines were long. We decided to at least attempt to visit the cathedral and walk around town but it turned out to be a quick tour and back to the long long tender line.

 

Vancouver: Spent the day with our tablemates from Australia. Bought all day transportation passes for $9 and took the sea bus and bus to Capilano Bridge and Grouse Mountain. Capilano was awesome; we spent a few hours there and then visited Grouse Mountain. Grouse was great too but they were in transition from winter to summer so there weren't a lot of things happening. I knew this in advance and we're still happy we went. We got back to the sea bus terminal around 5:30pm and were hoping to do some shopping on the other side, but when we got back everything except for the restaurants were closed so we just went back to the ship.

 

Victoria: we just walked to the downtown, toured the parliament building, did some shopping and then walked along the waterfront back to the ship, stopping at an artsy bar along the way.

 

Debarkation: the usual, never fun. We had to line up at certain time and go through "customs" in the theatre (basically show your passport and sea pass); then wait until our number was called. We've been through this before on other cruise lines so we knew what to expect. We both had books to pass the time.

[Beaniemom59]

Was Orlando from Honduras? We had a waiter on the Galaxy in 2005 whose name was Orland from Honduras and he was awesome. We are hoping it is the same one as we are sailing on the Millenium in September and hoping he will still be there.

[texkan]

cali-croozer~ Thanks for the review, glad you liked the Millie.

[cali-croozer]

Was Orlando from Honduras? We had a waiter on the Galaxy in 2005 whose name was Orland from Honduras and he was awesome. We are hoping it is the same one as we are sailing on the Millenium in September and hoping he will still be there.

 

Yes he was! However, if I'm not mistaken, he's up for his break in a couple of months. We've never had a bad waiter, but Orlando was better than anyone we've ever had. He addressed us by name, made sure I had my iced tea and my husband had his glass of milk (yes......he likes milk with his meals:) ) as well as cinnamon for our coffee (this was the assistant's job and he was great too, but you could see Orlando "behind the scenes" orchestrating everything.......). He also brought out the desserts so we could see them before ordering and would bring extras to the table to share if he thought we were missing out on something special. I asked for fresh berries almost every night for dessert and one of our tablemates would get a fresh fruit plate....not on the menu but no problem for Orlando. He also would give us information about the next day, whether at sea or port; if at port the next day, he would tell us a little about the place and even use props (cutlery) to map out where, for example, Pike Market was or where a visitor information center could be found. And, this is someone who had never been to these ports before! Couldn't say enough about him. Awesome!

[Beaniemom59]

He made our first cruise ever, along with his assistant at that time, Huzaini. We did not know what to expect and they helped us tremendously and made it the most enjoyable cruise ever. they were very professional and a lot of fun. They could almost anticipate what we would want and would not hesitate to suggest something else if they thought we might not like it. I agree, he was awesome!