love2cruiseseattle

First cruise to Alaska after many Caribbean and Europe treks. In checking wonderful CC port pix and trip reports, I am noting that Solstice always seems to be the last boat in with lengthy dock walking required. Is transpo for travelers needing some assistance readily available like it always is for Caribbean ports? DH cannot walk far without resting and some assistance will clearly be necessary with long docks. He has no trouble with town walking and shipboard but from ship to town will be an issue. Thank you.

Ketchikan - from the dock to the street level there is a long up hill ramp, once at the top the main shopping area is around 3-4 blocks

Juneau - once off of the ship there is a shuttle bus that is either $5 or $10 RT, drops you off about 3 blocks for the shopping area

Skagway - has carts that can take you to the end of the dock

We are looking at two cruises; similar length, price and ports. Just wondering which month is best?

Or, since I realize "best" is subjective, what are the pros and cons of each of those months?

Also there is a similar sailing in late May, a little more expensive. Would that e a better option?

 

Thanks!

 

 

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We sailed this year in late May and the weather we had was outstanding!!! Not sure what it has been other years, but we lucked out!

There are at least two in Ketchikan. We are not into fur, but went in just to look at the prices. They had a chinchilla fur vest dyed hot pink for $19,995. The salesman were very nice and not pushing at all, but they knew we were not buying. The shop in not far from the cruise ship, just ask when you get there. They said they are in that location only during cruise season and then they head back to Utah.

They took you back to the Solstice, right? Just want to make sure that happens with me on July 7 Soltstice vs. being left off at dock and running back to AJ dock to get a 2:15 excursion. Thanks.

Yes they pick you up right off the ship and drop you off the same way.

Allows you time to go back to your cabin before getting off the ship.

How often on the small boat excursion straight from the ship is the boat late getting back into Juneau, I've seen a lot of people post on here that say it says the small boat excursion is 7am to 1:15pm but that the small boat was 30-45 minute late getting back to Juneau. Just wondering if that is a seasonal thing or a regular thing that it's late back?

We were on the Solstice in late May and we got back to the ship just as it was docking in Juneau, we had to wait a few minutes before the catamaran could get us unloaded back on the ship.

We are arriving on a Wednesday at noon for a Friday cruise to Alaska. DH wants to take Day trip to Mount Ranier on Thursday as we will have an entire day. I have seen adds for 10 hour tour and they pick you up at your Seattle hotel. Thoughts anyone? If plane lands at noon and we are staying Seattle Marriott Waterfront, I think we can see some city highlights that day. Staying 1 day post cruise and going to a Mariners game that night.

 

 

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You should have time after you get to the Marriott to see some sites such as the Pike Place Market, Seattle Waterfront, Seattle Center, etc. The hotel you are at is in a nice location and there is a stairway/elevator outside of it that will take you up to the Market.

I think Mt. Rainier is a great idea, it is so much more beautiful up close and great if someone else is doing the driving. Depending on the time of summer you are going there may still be snow near Paradise or maybe wildflowers in bloom, in any case it is a great place to visit.

We cruised the end of May and had great weather and even on the days the weather was not so nice there were people in the outside hot tubs and even the pools. Of course the inside pool was also there to use. My advice bring at least one swimsuit.

Our hotel (Silver Cloud on Broadway) scheduled us with a private service to take 7 of us to Pier 91 for $70. Maybe not the best way but my friend did the same thing last year and it worked out well.

 

My question is what is the easiest and fastest way to get from the pier to the airport with elderly parents? They are 80 and 85. My friend told me that they took a shuttle service last time and they almost missed their flight because they had to wait on other people. She recommended taking a cab, but since there are seven of us it is not very convenient. Any thoughts?

 

 

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I would suggest a taxi and get off the ship early, if you can carry your luggage off there won't be too many crowds.

We have 1 1/2 days to do some things in Seattle before our cruise on June 18. We get in about noon on Friday, so have Saturday as well.

 

Can we walk from our hotel to the waterfront or Pike Market? What about getting to the Space Needle?

Is the CityPass worth getting? Or are there other places that are worth seeing and enjoying?

 

What about some casual places to eat?

 

Thanks for your help.

If you don't mind walking you can head up 1st Avenue (gradual climb, but not too bad) and stop by the Pike Place Market. \ The giant hills will be the ones going east/west and you will be walking north.

From there you can head over to Westlake Center and jump on the Monorail and head to the Seattle Center or grab a local bus (I am sure your hotel can help you out). We have a great bus system here in Seattle, called King County Metro.

Hope this helps some.

Taku had different varieties available. I think some of the smoked product still needed refrigeration (I think it was being sold from the cases up by the cash registers) while some of the vacuum sealed bags were shelf stable. The jars and cans were all shelf stable until opened. [Added in edit: it may be the cold smoke versus hot smoke varieties - cold smoked looks like lox, whereas hot smoked looks like flakey cooked fish]

 

Taku had samples available of various products for people to try, and might be a good opportunity to taste before you purchase. I personally brought back cans because it was cheap, light, and less fragile than the jars. I tasted the canned smoked product and liked it. Everyone's tastes will be different and has been mentioned it depends on how you'll use it too.

Thank You!!!:)

My advice is get there early, we had a friend drop us off at Celebrity on the 26th and as another person said, it was a zoo!!

We got there around 10:30 after waiting in traffic to get to the pier. Taxis were zooming by because they were going to pick up those getting off the ship. Once out of our car a guy grabbed our luggage and we went into the terminal and were on the ship by 11:35.

I did look out later at the RCCL line and it was crazy long.

When you return carry your luggage off if possible, we were off the ship by 7:30 and catching a taxi was a breeze.

Good Luck!!

We cruised in late May and found a fleece or sweatshirt was fine to have in case you got cold.

If you plan on being outside on the ship you will need layers, I had on a fleece and a rain coat, our ship also had blankets to wrap up in.

We only had one day where we had a little rain and we had rain jackets with hood so we did not get too wet.

We did see someone had recommended rain pants which we brought, but did not use.

We did an excursion on a boat and that was chilly being outside, but once inside it was warm.

We have a 11:30 am flight out of Seattle. I am guessing that we will need to be off the ship by about 8 am. Are there many cabs lined up outside of the Pier at that time?

I suggest walking off the ship with your luggage. We did and we're off the ship waiting for a cab by 7:30 without any problems. The earlier you can get off the less traffic and congestion.

We had someone drop off at the cruise and it was a nightmare, so glad we arrived extra early.

We just did our first cruise on Celebrity on the Solstice and were so disappointed with the food. The Oceanview food was never hot even if it had just been put out and the scrambled eggs were runny.

The dining room wasn't great either. I felt like they should spend more time improving the food rather then trying to get everyone to buy the specialty packages.

Not sure if I will be using Celebrity again.

The vacuum sealed salmon does not need refrigeration. We bought some too. We'll order more later in the season when the price goes down. If you order from them online, there is no shipping charge.

Interesting, because the sales guy said it needed to be and it was at the Taku store.

I wanted to give my experience regarding Victoria and Butchart Gardens. We were on the Celebrity Solstice which docked around 4:30 pm on Thursday, June 1st, but we were not let off until 5:30. I had asked the question regarding Butchart Garden and had not planned on going, but changed our minds once on the ship and I am glad we did!! The bus picked us up at the end of the pier at 6pm and we were the first bus off. It takes about 30 minutes to get there and we arrived around 6:45 pm. The nice thing that we figured out when we got there was the gardens closed to the general public at 7:00 pm and the only ones in the garden were the cruise ship passengers which was maybe 10 buses?? We had about 1 hour and 45 minutes to cruise through the gardens and taken amazing pictures. This was our first time and were able to see all of the different gardens and did not feel crowded.

My suggestion is if you are thinking about doing this tour, note that true you don't have a full day to stroll through the different gardens, but I felt like we had time to see everything and have something to look forward to going and seeing again in the future.

Thanks for everyone who gave me information:)

We bought some at Taku Salmon in Juneau which is near the cruise ships and it was so good. It was vacuum sealed. We only bought a small piece so it was able to go in our cabin refrigerator, but if we go again I think I will bring a small ice chest to keep it cold and bring more home.

Anyone have insight on the second question? Do the taxis get in faster by not having to wait in a queue?

When we went in late May in a personal vehicle we were able to get dropped off around 10:30, but it was a nightmare. I would suggest a cab since they have a designated lane. I would also suggest getting there early, leave the hotel around 9:15-9:30 am. We were let on the Celebrity Solstice at 11:30 and were able to roam the ship without the crowds and lunch was available at about 12:00, cabins opened at 1:30.

Solstice arrives Tracy Arm @ 6am and cruises through, leaves Tracy Arm by 10am, and arrives in Juneau @1:30pm. The TAF glacier exploration starts at 8am and ends 1pm. I already have an excursion arranged at Juneau for 2:30pm. The question is - will I have time to do the glacier exploration and still make it to my Juneau excursion? Does the Glacier exploration bring pax back to Solstice or straight to Juneau?. I'm so confused 😖

You will be taken back to the ship, we arrived right when the ship docked and the boat gets right next to the ship and you get on the ship directly from the boat. Hope this makes sense.

love2cruiseseattle - thank you so much :* !

Sure let me know if you have any other questions. We also did the train in Skagway and the gardens in Victoria.

Don't want to hijack the thread but did you feel like you got appreciably closer to glacier on smaller boat?

Our previous cruise on Mercury, ship stopped about 4-5 miles away from glacier (Hubbard) - it was quite disappointing.

We've booked excursion from Solstice in Tracy Arm hoping to get a little up close and personal this time :) .

I believe I heard we were about a mile from the Dawes Glacier. Since we have never been to Alaska before we had nothing to compare it to, but we thought it was simply amazing and we saw and heard the glacier crashing down. The attached picture was taken with my Iphone and it might have been zoomed a little and I cropped it so it is only the mid section of the glacier..

We thought it was well worth the money and heard the same from many others on the excursion. Keep in mind we went in late May and had beautiful weather, it was sunny that day.

Hope this helps.

When did you book this Excursion to insure it isn't 'sold out'? I've been reading on CC that this trip is one of the first to sell out - even before folks board?! Thanx.

I just returned and took that excursion last week. We did not go into the Tracy Arm due to too much ice, but we went into the Endicott Arm and saw the Dawes Glacier which was amazing. I booked our excursion about two weeks before our sail date. I would suggest calling Celebrity and they can tell you how close it is to selling out. If it is a tour you are interested in I would go ahead and book it now, it is well worth the money.

We carried our luggage off of the ship and were off the ship and past customs in about 10 minutes. The taxi line was short and we only had about a 5 minute wait.

We have Verizon and our internet in port isn't too bad. Today we are in Juneau and no issues.

Where did they drop you off at after the excursion? How was the embarkation and debarkation on the catamaran?

We met in the dining room and we down to level 2 where the catamaran pulled up next to the ship and we got on. After the tour we were taken back to the ship and we boarded the same way, before it was time to get off the ship in Juneau.