Millenium Review -- 6/19/2009 thru 6/26/2009 -- Alaska Southbound

[pseudochicken]

Here are just a few pics from Juneau:

 

Helicopters landing on the Glacier to pick us up.

 

Rhapsody of the Seas leaving Juneau on 6/21/09 around 8:30 PM. Mille left about 30 minutes later.

[pseudochicken]

The Rhapsody of the Seas and the Celebrity Millennium moored at Skagway, 6/22/09

[lulu1957]

Ok, so we have an aft cabin on the Vista level, I believe. Are those balconies a good place to watch the glacier from?

 

How was your weather, and one more.....how were people dressed in the dining room at night? Can the teens get away with jeans?

[denali2000]

Did you use the US direct facility for transferring from the Ship directly to the security, bypassing customs and immigration?

 

Your write up was fantastic. Good communication skills!

[Lois R]

Hi:) glad you had a good time, sorry for the glitches, happy

your surprise ending up being such a good thing, and you 2 are

the cutest looking couple:D

Thanks for posting the pictures too!:)

[pseudochicken]

Ok, so we have an aft cabin on the Vista level, I believe. Are those balconies a good place to watch the glacier from?

 

How was your weather, and one more.....how were people dressed in the dining room at night? Can the teens get away with jeans?

 

Those balconies would great to watch the glacier from.

 

The weather was actually rather rainy, even for Alaska. It was cloudy almost every day and it hardly ever got above 60. I was expecting this weather, but it is kinda hard to experience that colder weather since we checked the weather weeks before and it was sunny and in the upper 70s.

 

Jeans would be alright for teenagers so long as they had a nice shirt on. No nike t-shirts or anything like that. Most people, including teens and kids, wore rather nice attire even on casual dinner nights. (Khakis, collared shirts, nice shoes).

 

Did you use the US direct facility for transferring from the Ship directly to the security, bypassing customs and immigration?

 

Your write up was fantastic. Good communication skills!

 

I did not know there was a US direct facility. We had to go through customs which took 30 minutes. Going through security took probably 45 minutes.

 

Hi:) glad you had a good time, sorry for the glitches, happy

your surprise ending up being such a good thing, and you 2 are

the cutest looking couple:D

Thanks for posting the pictures too!:)

 

Ha ha ha! Thanks, but SHE actually the only cute one. I'm ugly... :p I may post a pictures of the entire group in the near future.

[pseudochicken]

Here are some more pictures to chew on ;)

 

Just before take off from the Helicopter

 

 

 

Just before the Kayak tour at Icy Straight Point, Hoonah on the 23rd of June. The heights are bit distorted... The guys + my girlfriend are all around the same height. My mom is shorter than the rest of us, but she is not that short...

 

 

 

 

My girlfriend and me, kayaking. A nice photo-op to advertise Celebirty Cruise Lines ;)

 

[pseudochicken]

Pulling into Ketchikan on the 24th of June. The Island Princess is already moored.

 

 

 

 

Arriving at Ketchikan, easing past the Zandaam which already moored at Ketchikan.

 

 

 

 

The Island Princess at Ketchikan.

 

 

 

 

My better half at Ketchikan :D

 

(much better half, actually)

 

 

 

The Alaskan Lumberjack Show substituted for the non-functioning Alaskan Queen Steam Paddle Wheel Boat at Ketchikan

 

[pseudochicken]

OK, as we were watching the whales we tried to get a picture. Unfortunately, we didn't pull out the camera towards the end. It is also hard to time the camera with the whale breaching, but in this zoomed in photo you can see the splash and a fin of the whale. This is for all the disbelievers out there:

 

[mamaw42]

Thank you for the great pictures. Can't wait to go in June of 2010.

[pseudochicken]

Yes, of course! No problem for the pictures. I have loads more, but unless upon request of something specific, I probably will not post many more.

 

I am missing this cruise a great deal... It was such a great time.

 

I will definitely cruise to Alaska again in the future. But next time I will probably consider a round trip from Seattle. I feel as though the bonuses from sailing a complete northbound or southbound cruise is not worth the troubles of flying out of Vancouver. (UNLESS you were to book a few nights afterward in Vancouver or do a land tour to Denali National Park afterward).

 

I MISS so badly not having a cruise to look forward to. :(

[tech-lab]

Do you know what day they scheduled the CC party?

 

Ann

Godley TX

[pseudochicken]

Do you know what day they scheduled the CC party?

 

Ann

Godley TX

 

The first full day at 10:30 AM. We ended up not going. I kinda wish we had, but oh well.

[beach spring]

Hi, have enjoyed your little "drama" and glad it turned out so well. We will be in one of those "sweet sixteen" staterooms this Fall, but in the Caribbean. Do you have any pictures which show how it looks now that the refurbishment has been done? Thanks.

[pseudochicken]

Hi, have enjoyed your little "drama" and glad it turned out so well. We will be in one of those "sweet sixteen" staterooms this Fall, but in the Caribbean. Do you have any pictures which show how it looks now that the refurbishment has been done? Thanks.

 

If you scroll up and look at the picture of the "Mimosa breakfast" you'll see the balcony. I do not have a picture of a standard balcony for you to compare it to but it's twice the size of a standard balcony.

 

That balcony we were in was the furthest forward, so it was well protected from the Alaskan wind. Not sure if that's really needed on a Caribbean cruise. The one drawback is that there's a standard balcony hanging right over you.

[grk1957]

I was on the seven day May 29, 2009 cruise from Vancouver, than a bus to Anchorage Airport from Seward. I rented a car from Dollar and drove to Talkeetna, one night at the Northern Guest House, two nights at the Denali Park Hotel in Healy, and another night in Talkeetna. In retrospect, I would take a longer cruise that returns to the same port, and do additional excursions from the ports we visited. Best of all, not one rainy day!

 

The Millennium has a great crew of friendly people, and the interior of the ship was kept in good condition. Yes the carpet is new; the ship was in dry dock for months after one engine failed on route to Australia.

 

The problems- Embarkation was disorganized, raw under cooked chicken and cold food were served in the Ocean Grill Buffet, the cruise line failed to credit $100 early booking bonus, disorganized Yukon train excursion, and the entertainment was poor. The shows where below average, and music in the bars was great, if I were seventy years old. My stateroom was clean, with one exception. The wooden toilet seat was stained, and had cracked paint chipping off. My steward Neven, had it replaced with a new plastic one. I have never experienced so many problems on one cruise ship. And I have taken fifteen cruises on Carnival, RCL and Norwegian.

 

Hubbard Glacier: We were informed by the maître that the ship would arrive at the Hubbard Glacier at 6 AM, and we would only stay for 45 minutes. Be on the deck at that time or miss it! The itinerary said we would be there from 7-11AM! And they sold hot chocolate and coffee in souvenir mugs on the bow. If you wanted something hot to drink, you needed to walk to the stern of the ship and get it yourself! The eight people at my dinning table thought it was cheap of them. But they always seem to be selling something.

 

White Pass/Yukon Train: At 10 AM I was told to wait at the dock or walk to the train station in town, at 4 PM I was told to go to the end of the pier and the train would arrive on the track next to the pier. Ten minutes later we were told a coach/bus would take us to the train. The White Pass/Yukon $118.00 train was hot, 95 degrees or higher, and you can not take pictures from inside the train. Light reflected back from the glass, and pictures had to be taken from the platform which is difficult when several other people are trying to do the same thing! There is a bus that you can take for $40. It takes the road on the other side of the pass.

[jcdbcr]

We were on the same cruise! Have you gone into Purell withdrawal yet? :)

[jcdbcr]

Loved your story. We had some of the same glitches. And in spite of all the Purell we all ended up sick. My son had to see the ship's Dr. who decided he had an outer ear infection which he said was caused by the pool, that was nice to hear. He then prescribed Debrox ear wax remover which was/is useless with an ear infection, and Advil 800mg and an antibiotic which after we went to Urgent care back home discovered was useless also. The language barrier made it difficult. The visit to the Dr. cost us $169 which was charged to our SeaPass. DH and I got horrible colds and mine turned into an awful ear problem when we were landing in Portland. Ouch! We got to spend time at Urgent care when we got home. And we are still sick.

 

We flew Alaska Airlines and were happy. The plane did not appear to have the air conditioner on during the flight from Phoenix to Anchorage but other than that we have no complaints.

 

I had a funny incident in the buffet, I asked for hash browns and the guy refused to give them to me! He thought I cut the line and gruffly told me to go to the back of the line. The people around me found this amusing, they all saw me standing there the whole time. Our waiter in the main dining room was Jirosak. We had second seating. He was really good with our two boys. Our oldest son turned 13 on the ship and they made it very special for him. The food was good, there wasn't much of it, especially the appetizers but all in all it was good. The boys got to try things they had never had before and they enjoyed it. We had decided not to go to the formal nights and we did skip the first one but Jirosak just insisted that we come to the second because it was going to be special with lobster and baked Alaska. He told us that as long a nobody wore jeans it would be fine. The boys and DH had been wearing nice pants and button up shirts the other nights and he said that would be fine. With hindsight I should have just packed ties. I was worried but it was fine. We saw a few men with suit jackets, ties and jeans! Or ball caps. On the last two nights the other family that was supposed to share our table finally came to dinner, we were sorry they hadn't come earlier, we had alot in common with them and enjoyed meeting them.

 

I agree that Icy Strait Point is nothing but a tourist trap. But like you we did the kayaking, we went at 12:30. I was nervous but it really is alot of fun and I seriously doubt you could tip over unless you really worked at it. If it could be done my 10 year old would have done it. They really wanted to do the Zipline but I believe it was like $169 per person, no thanks. When in Juneau we did the whale watching, Mendenhall Glacier and Orca Point Lodge. It sounds like you saw more whales on the ship than we saw that day but it was cool nevertheless. The glacier is indescribable, so beautiful. The lodge was where we went for a salmon bake lunch and it was outstanding! Not only was the food good but they have serving it down to a science and it went quickly. We went on the White Pass Railroad/Yukon Adventure in Skagway. We stopped at the Caribou Crossing Trading Post for lunch, again they have the service down pat, this time it was a BBQ chicken lunch. The train ride is fun and the guides tell some great stories. We also did the Lumberjack Show in Ketchican, I believe we went to the 1:15 show. It was fun and very entertaining. We did not go to any of the shows and our only exposure to the other venues was while waiting to go into dinner. We did go into the Casino twice and DH and I had a good time there donating money. :) DH likes to play Blackjack, but at $25 a hand he passed on that activity.

 

I agree that the elevators and other areas that appeared to be washed down with milk was not pleasant but I guess necessary. I did have a complaint about how the carpet shed, we had orange fuzzies in our bed and on our socks. I also did not like begging for pepper and I like Tabasco with my eggs, I managed to get it once. DS complained that the ice cream area was only open at lunch, it would have been nice at other times too.

 

Our luck in getting to cruise the Hubbard Glacier like we did was awesome. Rain or not it was worth it. We did figure out after being asked about a million times about the hot chocolate that it would give us one more of the "soda cups" necessary to get Coke, Sprite or Diet Coke (your only choices) and since we had already spent $69 on two of the soda packages and felt ripped off by that we bought hot chocolate with Baileys for $9.99 and had another cup. But we still would have been better off with doing the $5 a day card, we did not drink anywhere near $69 worth of soda.

 

For our very first cruise we feel it went really well and we had a wonderful time. It did go so fast. I miss seeing the "ticker" I had on my computer counting down the days until the cruise. The first time I logged on after we got home it said "expired" so sad. Speaking of internet I used the internet on the ship with my laptop and I actually worked pretty well. But I wouldn't be planning on surfing or spending much time on there it is .56 a minute and adds up quickly. If you take your laptop you have to go to the Internet Cafe and get it set up by the very helpful guys there. I was only able to use mine in the area where the Paninni Bar was. Alaska was more fun than I could have imagined and I believe the best place we could have gone for our first cruise. Especially with our boys.

[pseudochicken]

It sounds like you had a good time, but experienced some of the pitfalls we did. I feel like many of the problems can be attributed to sanitation constraints and precautions, which is too bad.

[pseudochicken]

Loved your story. We had some of the same glitches. And in spite of all the Purell we all ended up sick. My son had to see the ship's Dr. who decided he had an outer ear infection which he said was caused by the pool, that was nice to hear. He then prescribed Debrox ear wax remover which was/is useless with an ear infection, and Advil 800mg and an antibiotic which after we went to Urgent care back home discovered was useless also. The language barrier made it difficult. The visit to the Dr. cost us $169 which was charged to our SeaPass. DH and I got horrible colds and mine turned into an awful ear problem when we were landing in Portland. Ouch! We got to spend time at Urgent care when we got home. And we are still sick.

 

We flew Alaska Airlines and were happy. The plane did not appear to have the air conditioner on during the flight from Phoenix to Anchorage but other than that we have no complaints.

 

I had a funny incident in the buffet, I asked for hash browns and the guy refused to give them to me! He thought I cut the line and gruffly told me to go to the back of the line. The people around me found this amusing, they all saw me standing there the whole time. Our waiter in the main dining room was Jirosak. We had second seating. He was really good with our two boys. Our oldest son turned 13 on the ship and they made it very special for him. The food was good, there wasn't much of it, especially the appetizers but all in all it was good. The boys got to try things they had never had before and they enjoyed it. We had decided not to go to the formal nights and we did skip the first one but Jirosak just insisted that we come to the second because it was going to be special with lobster and baked Alaska. He told us that as long a nobody wore jeans it would be fine. The boys and DH had been wearing nice pants and button up shirts the other nights and he said that would be fine. With hindsight I should have just packed ties. I was worried but it was fine. We saw a few men with suit jackets, ties and jeans! Or ball caps. On the last two nights the other family that was supposed to share our table finally came to dinner, we were sorry they hadn't come earlier, we had alot in common with them and enjoyed meeting them.

 

I agree that Icy Strait Point is nothing but a tourist trap. But like you we did the kayaking, we went at 12:30. I was nervous but it really is alot of fun and I seriously doubt you could tip over unless you really worked at it. If it could be done my 10 year old would have done it. They really wanted to do the Zipline but I believe it was like $169 per person, no thanks. When in Juneau we did the whale watching, Mendenhall Glacier and Orca Point Lodge. It sounds like you saw more whales on the ship than we saw that day but it was cool nevertheless. The glacier is indescribable, so beautiful. The lodge was where we went for a salmon bake lunch and it was outstanding! Not only was the food good but they have serving it down to a science and it went quickly. We went on the White Pass Railroad/Yukon Adventure in Skagway. We stopped at the Caribou Crossing Trading Post for lunch, again they have the service down pat, this time it was a BBQ chicken lunch. The train ride is fun and the guides tell some great stories. We also did the Lumberjack Show in Ketchican, I believe we went to the 1:15 show. It was fun and very entertaining. We did not go to any of the shows and our only exposure to the other venues was while waiting to go into dinner. We did go into the Casino twice and DH and I had a good time there donating money. :) DH likes to play Blackjack, but at $25 a hand he passed on that activity.

 

I agree that the elevators and other areas that appeared to be washed down with milk was not pleasant but I guess necessary. I did have a complaint about how the carpet shed, we had orange fuzzies in our bed and on our socks. I also did not like begging for pepper and I like Tabasco with my eggs, I managed to get it once. DS complained that the ice cream area was only open at lunch, it would have been nice at other times too.

 

Our luck in getting to cruise the Hubbard Glacier like we did was awesome. Rain or not it was worth it. We did figure out after being asked about a million times about the hot chocolate that it would give us one more of the "soda cups" necessary to get Coke, Sprite or Diet Coke (your only choices) and since we had already spent $69 on two of the soda packages and felt ripped off by that we bought hot chocolate with Baileys for $9.99 and had another cup. But we still would have been better off with doing the $5 a day card, we did not drink anywhere near $69 worth of soda.

 

For our very first cruise we feel it went really well and we had a wonderful time. It did go so fast. I miss seeing the "ticker" I had on my computer counting down the days until the cruise. The first time I logged on after we got home it said "expired" so sad. Speaking of internet I used the internet on the ship with my laptop and I actually worked pretty well. But I wouldn't be planning on surfing or spending much time on there it is .56 a minute and adds up quickly. If you take your laptop you have to go to the Internet Cafe and get it set up by the very helpful guys there. I was only able to use mine in the area where the Paninni Bar was. Alaska was more fun than I could have imagined and I believe the best place we could have gone for our first cruise. Especially with our boys.

 

 

Nice pictures by the way! I wish I got one of the main foyer. That is very different compared to the high ceiling atriums of most other ships. But I kind of preferred the more intimate foyer on the Millennium.