Northern Aurora

Some some random thoughts -- Given the itinerary proposed by @PennStateMom I don't know what they would do if they drove north to Fairbanks. Not much time to drive to the Chena Hot Springs Resort (which has an ice museum/hotel), spend much time at the Museum of the North (which is the museum on the University of Museum campus and should not be confused with the Fairbanks Community Museum which is downtown), visit the Fountainhead Antique Auto Museum, tour Gold Dredge No. 8, take the Riverboat Discovery tour down the Chena to the confluence of the Tanana, enjoy the Running Reindeer Ranch and so forth. When planing driving itineraries it is important to build in some time for potential delays due to road construction. At this point I have no idea of our Department of Transportation has some major projects scheduled on the Parks Highway. In addition to the Anchorage Native Heritage Center also consider the Anchorage Museum. Regarding Denali we have not had any recent reporting in our local newspaper (which has a full time reporter who lives year round in the Healy area) regarding updates on the plan to bridge the single park road at the Pretty Rocks area. Baring a miracle I would plan on the road remaining closed at Mile 42 for next year. If so there will be no 8 hour shuttle buses to Eielson Visitor Center.

To expand slightly -- there are no self serve laundry facilities on any Celebrity ship.

Go to the Cruise Critic Alaska forum for updates. For those who read the CC Alaska forum regularly this is old news. The Skagway rock slide has been discussed in multiple threads on the Alaska forum. We were on the June 17th and June 24th Solstice Alaska sailings. The slide happened about 48 hours after the Solstice left Skagway on the first leg of our B2B. When the Solstice called on the June 24th sailing we docked at the rear position of the RR dock and the ship used tenders to move folks to the small boat harbor. There was no ship in the forward berth. We were in an aft Sky Suite and could hear the rocks begin to slide from the top of the rock face. Companies have been handling the situation in different manners. Some ships have diverted to Haines while others go to Sitka, and yet some others continue to visit Skagway. It seems to be a rather fluid situation. My understanding is that the Sitka Sound Cruise terminal is primarily owned by the McCraw family of Sitka with the RCCL having a minority position. During the global suspension of cruising the dock was expanded, and according to an acquaintance in Fairbanks (who grew up in Sitka, still has family there and was in Sitka for the Christmas holiday) that expansion is somewhat controversial. Sitka has around 9,000 residents and the impacts of a ship like Ovation of the Seas on their infrastructure is a concern.

You should pack a water proof (not water resistant) outer layer. You should expect to have gloves and a head covering. I don't pack a wool scarf but pack a "buff" (this is the name of the company -- google for a photo). I don't pack wool sweaters but will have both a light weight (often referred to a "micro" fleece in the US) and a heavier fleece too; these can be layered for more warmth. And depending on your activity level water proof walking shoes are a must, at least for us.

While I haven't commented I have followed this saga. Hope the OP returns to report on their experience.

The ability to look at various restaurant menus on the app was very handy when my husband was in a covid isolation stateroom. Very easy for him to check the Luminae or MDR menus.

Who knows what will happen next summer but Alaska is experiencing a severe labor shortage. The 2022 policy for the Denali Princess complex and the McKinley Chalets is that they are only booking their cruise tour clients. I don't know the situation with the Denali Bluffs or the Grande Denali. But there are also hotels, small inns and B&Bs in the Healy area which is located about 11 miles north of the Denali National Park entrance.

Wow! We are established TVC patients so I wonder if they would have charged that much for us. In any event, for the type of test we needed for overseas travel they couldn't meet the time requirements.

The folks in Michael's Club were the same faces as the folks dining in Luminae.

OOOOO -- whale watching at Icy Strait Point. I certainly hope you have the experience we had last summer. We had a great amount of non-refundable OBC so booked a whale watching excursion through the Millennium. Ninety (yes -- 90) minutes of bubble feeding and total breaching. Hope all goes well and you test negative. Bon voyage.

We spent the last two weeks in June on the Solstice. We were in a suite. I didn't notice any non-suite passengers in Michael's Club/Retreat Lounge.

The transit pass will be included in your B2B information packet. The pass allows B2B passengers to skip the check-in lines.

grammi -- Thank goodness you saw my post #10! Can't believe I did that -- particularly since we are Tanana Valley Clinic patients. In fact I will have my annual physical there this coming Thursday.

Double check the Tanana Valley Clinic Urgent Care (1-907-458-2682) to confirm that they can't provide Covid-19 test results in the time frame you need. The last time I checked was in June and they couldn't return the results in the time frame I needed. Tanana Valley Clinic is directly across the street from the Westmark with the main clinic occupying the four story building and the Urgent Care in the one story building directly to the south of the main facility. Both my and also my husband's primary care physicians are with the Tanana Valley Clinic, so you think I would have provided a better initial answer. I really am trying to do too many things today!

Despite the fact we live in Alaska we've done a number of Alaska cruises since it gives us the opportunity to visit a different part of our very large state. We even did a pair of Alaska cruises last June. While we don't see it every Alaska cruise but we have observed sniffer dogs at Alaska ports periodically. I have no idea if they are trained to alert to illegal drugs or are also trained to alert to food products.

Either the Steese Immediate Care or the S. University Avenue Safeway location will be about the same distance from the Westmark, with the College Road Safeway not being too much farther. We used the S. University Avenue Safeway in June. We made appointments on line and had our results about fifteen to twenty minutes later. The provided paper copies but also sent the negative test results to us on our i-Phones.

Do you know which hotel you will staying at? HAL has used several different hotels in the past. Friends were on a HAL land tour and were booked at the Sophie Station Hotel. If you are booked at that hotel you are in luck. There is a Safeway (on S. University Avenue, about a five minute walk) which offers a rapid test for about $99. Appointments can be booked online. There is a second Safeway (on College Road) and while I suspect they also offer appointments we have used the S. University location. MedPhysicals also offered tests with results ready in about an hour. They offer several options. We did PCR tests there in April, and, if my memory is correct, the cost was $335 per test. Steese Immediate Care also offers tests with same day results. I don't remember the cost and we haven't used them. The Walgreens in Fairbanks is not an option as the tests are sent to an out of state lab and I was told it takes a minimum of 72 hours for the results. The Tanana Valley Urgent Care is not an option either since the tests are sent to an out of state lab. It has been several months since I called Walgreens and the TVUC so the situation may have changed.

A few days before the end of the first leg B2B passengers will receive a succinct instruction letter regarding the turnaround day process. Just remember that even though you will be in the same stateroom you will receive a new seapass card. And for accounting purposes each leg is treated separately so any unused non-refundable OBC will not carry over to the second leg.

The actual name of the creek referenced by @DaveOKC is Ketchikan Creek but you want to go to Creek Street which is above Ketchikan Creek. Not only some interesting shops but some overlook platforms down to the creek.

We were last on the Eclipse in April and there is still a Cellar Masters.

We enjoy the ambiance of Cellar Masters. And there is some confusion among first time X cruisers regarding the Aqua Spa Cafe. It is not associated with the Aqua Class staterooms and is available to all stateroom categories. It is an easy venue for a quick breakfast or lunch. And just in case you don't know -- there are no indoor smoking areas. A few specific outdoor areas are available for smokers but smoking is a no-no on stateroom balconies. And no smoking in the casino.

I wouldn't even consider one. This sounds like a "stunt" drink somewhat akin to the weird foods offered at state fairs.

Regarding the Endicott Arm and Dawes Glacier tour offered by Celebrity we also did the tour from the Solstice in June. The vendor was Major Marine and the boat had two levels. There was lots of space to spread out through the small boat. The Solstice itself was able to approach the glacier to about a mile from the face, but the small boat was able to approach to about a quarter of a mile from the face. We returned to Juneau detouring into Ford's Terror which is a narrow side fjord of Endicott Arm. We thought the tour was well worth it.

We live about a two hour drive north of the entrance to Denali National Park, and on "normal" years drove down to the park at least once each summer. With the issues regarding Pretty Rocks we won't return until we can enter the park past the problem area. In any event, we have stayed at the Denali Princess a number of times. There is a major lodge building with the check-in counter, gift store, coffee shop and so forth. The main restaurant and bar are located in a separate building. The guest rooms are in two story long rectangular buildings, and none that we have stayed in have had an elevator. While there is no AC there are fans in the rooms. The decor can be described as "northwoods casual" with photos of wildlife and the mountain itself. The complex is designed to be closed during the winter (ie, water pipes are drained and so forth). And the number of separate lodging buildings minimizes the chance of loosing the entire complex in a fire. In the 1990s (or around that time frame) the Denali Princess did experience a fire in the spring and at least one of the lodging buildings was lost. The canyon outside of the entrance to DNP can be quite windy and the company was very lucky that more of the complex was not destroyed. This design of multiple buildings is typical of the hotel complexes in the "glitter gulch" area at the entrance to Denali. And none of the "glitter gulch" hotels have views of Denali itself which seems to surprise some folks. But since you are concerned about the hotel would you consider a DIY tour?

My husband also rows daily as it loosens this problematic back. We have been on the Eclipse several times and there were rowing machines. If my memory is correct there have been rowing machines on every Celebrity ship we have cruised.