Belle5129

Interesting about the raw wood railings because we saw this on our recent sailing on the Solstice. Several of the balconies below us had that when we boarded. However, at our first port, walking back to the ship, we saw workers on the balconies. Sure enough, they had re-varnished the railings (or whatever one does to the railing to make it look nice again😊).

This probably is not very helpful, but the one nice thing about this itinerary is with all the ports, you can at least get cell service once you get off the ship. It felt like the first thing we all did the moment we stepped on land was to check our phones🙂 (well, maybe we admired our surroundings first...and then checked our devices) I don't have a good solution about what to do while on the sea days though. We bought the basic wifi package and by day 2, I wanted cancel and try to get a refund, it was so bad. But the boys convinced me that it was better than nothing. Hope you enjoy your cruise!!

We really love the Millennium too - that was our first Alaska cruise with the fantastic aft balconies! I always admire those who can go to the gym mid-day, if I don't do it first thing, I lose my motivation - naps, lunch, more naps, mid-afternoon cookies from Al Bacio, they all seem to get in the way!

It's funny how many of us got our start on the Century. My husband and I still talk about the "Gourmet Bites" they used to have around the ship in the evening🙂. And our sons don't believe our stories about the grand buffets at midnight!

I am now sorry we missed her. We talked about going, so we should have stuck with our original plan! Glad you enjoyed it! I am happy that your daughter enjoyed the kids area. My boys have aged out of their programs, but they used to love to go. I give the program a lot of credit because I would never have guessed there were that many kiddos on board. They did a good job of keeping them busy. We did feel bad for those who were on their first sailing to Dawes and did not get to see it. This was our fourth visit and it was the only time we have NOT seen it. Guess you have an excuse to plan another Alaska cruise (use up that phone credit)!! That is totally crazy what happened to you with the phones, I am sure it was annoying and the credit does not make up for the bother, but it is nice that they tried to do something, I guess. Good luck with any future travels, cruise or land🙂

We have fond memories of the Century! Regarding what we do in ports, it is sort of a mixed bag. Regardless of where we travel, we really love to just wander around, so that is what we do in a lot of ports. This is a classic example of how we operate - on our first visit to Juneau, we stumbled across a shuttle bus going to Costco, and we thought, let's go check out the Alaska Costco! We had lots of fun on that shopping trip, it was all crew and us, and they welcomed us aboard. Another time, we rented a car and drove out to Mendenhall Glacier (and stopped at Costco of course🙂). Then we did the canoe trip to the glacier which was crazy but we are glad we did it. This last time, we wandered around and checked out this great food truck downtown, Deckhand Dave's. Fish and chips were sooo good. We have done whale watching in Victoria, and this last time, we just walked around. Which is exactly what we did in Ketchikan. Might sound a bit boring, but it is really what we enjoy! We would love to do the national parks you mentioned, and actually had booked a northbound Millennium with plans to then go to Denali, but then cancelled it due to COVID. As a side note, we did an overnight at Mt. Rainier this time around (checked off another national park) and it was worth it, we really loved the hiking there! For the art, the boys ended up bidding/winning a print with some wolves. And then they bid on an "option" to pick 3 art works from a group of 5. For those, they selected all landscapes. My husband was a little dubious about it all, but they were very interested in the art - and as I told him, there are alot of worse things they can spend their money!

Agree - I love all our cruises, but Alaska cruises seem extra-special🙂

We just returned from our 7-day Alaska cruise, round-trip from Seattle, on the Solstice. I thought I would provide some observations about our trip - things that I myself wondered before we set sail. Hopefully, others may find something of interest in here! I apologize in advance as it is longer than I intended it to be. Just a little but about us. It was myself, my husband, our two sons (18 and 20) and my in-laws. This is our fourth Alaska cruise - same itinerary, once on the Millennium and 3 times on the Solstice. What can I say, we are creatures of habit! We arrived in Seattle the night before departure and stayed at the Inn at the Market. I arranged airport pick up through them, and while pricey, it was nice to get picked up right outside baggage claim, especially with our 7 bags of luggage and our two older parents. The hotel was really nice, loved sitting outside on their deck in the evening. They also upgraded my in-laws to a wonderful suite overlooking the market. Would definitely recommend it. The next day, it was very easy to grab an Uber to the port. So here are my random observations, in no particular order! Cabin - we had two aft balconies (always have to have an aft in Alaska!). When our cabin steward stopped by to introduce himself and asked for any requests, I did ask, when it was convenient, if he could have the balcony divider opened between our two rooms. Our fridge was pretty empty, so we were able to put our sodas and wine in it. The aft balcony of course was wonderful. On past cruises, we could grab heavier blankets up on the pool deck that we could use. This time around, I never saw any blankets. I never asked though because we had fantastic weather and really didn’t need one. I was prepared for there to be a lack of electrical outlets - there were only two (at least that we found - I will feel silly if we missed some!). We had a lot of things to charge, so there was always something plugged in. We made it work, so it was not a real burden. If my boys and us were all in the same room - that might have been an issue! Drinks - we debated back and forth about getting a drink package. We certainly enjoy some beers and cocktails, but after doing the math, I really didn’t think we could break even. We don't drink coffees, teas, juices, etc. I was really tempted when they had the flash sale last month, but instead, we just went with the zero-proof package. My husband can go through lots of sodas in a day - I am pretty sure they lost money on him! Our plan was to get drinks during the Captain's Club Elite Happy Hour, bring our allotted wine bottles on board, and then purchase drinks as needed. More about the happy hour and carry-on wine below. All in all, we were happy with our decision. We did go through alot of diet coke, coke zero (so glad that they stocked this) and canned water. I did bring my own sugar-free hot chocolate packets. I am glad I did because I think I only saw regular packets up in the Oceanview Cafe beverage station. Elite Happy Hour - staying on the theme of alcohol…before the trip, I was wondering if we would have enough time to get our happy hour drinks since it started at 5pm and we had early dinner at 5:45. I envisioned crowds of people standing around the bar, all trying to get their free drinks (like us!) before the dinner bell. We were pleasantly surprised that it was all easy-peasy and very uncrowded. We found a nice area in the Ensemble Lounge which was practically empty every night. And our server, Komamg, was awesome. After the first round, he knew to keep the drinks coming🙂 We never had to wait, and the lounge was never crowded or noisy. We just really had a great time there, chit-chatting with our family. We always ended with a final drink to carry to dinner with us. I have to say, I never felt rushed, like I had to hurry up and drink so that we could get to dinner. Our personal choice was to tip with each round and we were happy to do so given the great service. We were actually bummed out when Komamg told us Ensemble was one of the bars that would be closed during the Victoria stop. Like many happy hour drinks anywhere, I found the Cosmo to be somewhat “weak”, but my husband’s Manhattans seemed pretty strong. I kept thinking maybe we would stop by later in the evening to see if the non-happy hour cosmos were any stronger, but we never got around to it. Carry-on wine - before we left our hotel, we walked down to the Target store a few blocks away, and we each bought 2 of the finest bottles of sparkling wine that 15 bucks could buy us! We each carried 2 bottles in our backpacks as we boarded, no questions, no fuss. Before the trip, I had ordered online some plastic champagne glasses just to make things a bit more festive! We opened a bottle during a few sailaways and one while we watched the Belmont Stakes. We will definitely continue to take advantage of this allowance in the future! Peloton/gym - feel free to skip this section if you could care less! But for those who are interested in keeping their streaks alive…..I knew there would be Pelotons aboard, but wasn’t sure how “busy” they would be. My intention was to go to the Spa booking desk as soon as we boarded and book a time. However, the sparkling wine (see above) seemed more important at the time, and then I totally forgot! The next morning, our first sea day, we went to the gym, and boy was it packed. I did manage to make a reservation later in the week. They started bookings at 7am for the bike, and she told me before that time, it was first come/first serve since the gym is open 24 hours a day. Well, my husband and I were up pretty much every morning by 4am (stupid internal clocks!), so we would usually hit the gym to kill time waiting for 6am breakfast. The Pelotons were totally free at the time, so I happily spun away. Logging in was no problem, and I have to say, the view beat the one I usually have in my basement, looking at the air hockey table and storage boxes! It was a little bit of an adjustment to use the cages instead of clicking in, but it worked. Elite Breakfast - we turned Elite during the pandemic (thanks PUPs!), so we were new to this. I knew it was one of the benefits, but honestly, once we were onboard, I kind of forgot about it until maybe the 3rd or 4th day. Might be because we were up at the crack of dawn (love Alaska when the sun is shining brightly at 4:30 in the morning), so we were usually door-busting breakfast as soon as the OVC opened! But one morning, I was like, we should check it out. I was surprised as it was empty at 8:30am, so it felt like we were a little on display being the only people there. We ended up not staying as I had in my head that it was a casual thing where we could pick up a mimosa, sit down and chat, etc (maybe more like an airport lounge). But it seemed more formal as they wanted to sit us at a table and bring menus. If we drank coffee/tea, I can see where it would be a great place to sit and watch the waves. Food - there has been so much discussion about the food that I felt the need to set low expectations with our traveling party. Prepare for the worst and all that. My husband and I took our first Celebrity cruise 25 years ago on the Century, back when they had the partnership with Michel Roux. At the time, the food was insanely delicious. Over the years, the food has not stacked up to those early trips, but I don't know if the food has changed or if our tastes have changed. But regardless, we found the food to be good. Not bad, not great. Serving sizes were smaller than we remembered, but really, it was still plenty of food. And our wonderful waiter never balked if I asked for both soup AND shrimp cocktail, or if my son asked for two different entries. We always managed to walk away full, so maybe they are onto something! And I still gained weight, so apparently I liked what I had! We discussed back and forth about whether we should do a specialty restaurant, and eventually decided not to spend the extra money. Overall- we had a wonderful time on the cruise. Yes, the ship was a little worn in places (stains on chairs, worn carpet, rust in places), but it never really got in the way of our enjoyment. The staff were really terrific - everyone was so friendly, happy to help out, just say hello. We participated in some activities like the Deal or No deal. We had never played and I have to say, it was quite fun. We liked to go up to the Sky Lounge for Trivia, and my sons actually attended the art auction and made a purchase. I used to always wonder who went to that, well apparently, my sons do! They had a good time and seem really excited for their artwork to arrive. Happy cruising to you all!

Interesting, I just called the other day to add our Celebrity visa OBC to our account. At the time, the representative told me I could purchase the drink packages and wi-fi, with elite pricing, on the website versus calling. He said it worked for some people, but not everyone, so I may have to call. But I don't have the ability to do so. Will be definitely nice if/when it is fully deployed. When I called to purchase the zero proof package and wi-fi, it took over an hour (alot of putting me on hold, working with the "back office" to apply OBC, etc). However, my husband called earlier today to do the same thing for his reservation, and it took about 10 minutes, including the initial hold time. He has all the luck😀.

hope everything works out for you. Just sharing my experience in case it is helpful to anyone. We were to sail on the Oasis June 17. Tested on June 15 - and were stunned when my son tested positive. He never had any symptoms. So I called 1-866-562-7625. Told the rep that he had tested positive and that we needed to cancel our two cabins. The only question she asked was if the people in the two cabins were all in the same household - which was a yes. She said that I could expect a follow up email from the back office with instructions, but it may be awhile depending on how busy they are. Said we would have our refund within 30 days. I asked, but there was no cancellation number of confirmation. Made me a little nervous. No email ever came, but 10 days later, the full refund hit my credit card. I was so relieved, especially since I kept receiving notifications from the app during the week as if we were on the ship😊.

So happy to follow along. Have enjoyed your other reviews. We were supposed to be on Oasis right now, but my 17 year old tested positive for Covid. We were stunned as he had no symptoms and never did become symptomatic. While we are disappointed, I can at least live vicariously through your adventure😊. Have a great trip!

Our situation is a little different, but I thought I would share our experience in case it helps anyone. We were supposed to sail tomorrow on the Oasis. We did our testing at Walgreens yesterday and were stunned when my son (17) came back positive. He has no symptoms, and we were pretty careful and socially distanced for the last two weeks. Thinking maybe he picked it up in the last days of school. We then tested at home today - still positive. Anyhoo, we had two rooms booked, so I called Royal Caribbean and was surprised when I got through within two minutes. She told me that we would receive an email "soon" from the back office and that they would probably request additional information (I am guessing the positive test report). She couldn't give me a timeframe when they might email, said it depends on how busy they are. I asked about all of our excursions, drink packages, etc and she said those would be automatically cancelled. So now it is a wait and see game - she said we should get a full refund. I am a little nervous because there is no email trail right now, so I just have to trust the process, I guess. It is a little bit of a "kick us when we are down" feeling because we are still getting emails from RC about our upcoming sailing!🙂

We will have the UDP for the first time for our Oasis cruise in June. Agree with you, my biggest worry too is actually getting reservations. We tend to eat early, so I am hoping the earlier times slots don't go as fast. But willing to be flexible with when/where if needed. I feel like I won't be able to relax on board until I get everything booked 🙂

Thanks so much for posting this! I did our check in a few days ago when it opened at midnight and was happy to snag the earliest slot at 11am. I just read this, checked the app, and sure enough, 10:30 was now available 🙂