Celebrity Land tour/Millennium Review

Wrote this review and then realized it was super long. It's broken up into land tour and cruise so feel free to skip around.

We (myself, my husband, and my parents ) just returned from 2 weeks in Alaska on a land/sea adventure with Celebrity. I found Cruise Critic and sites like TripAdvisor to be most helpful when planning our Alaska Adventure. Although I read a ton and took lots of notes, there were still a few things I wasn’t sure about going into the trip. I am writing this review to help answer some questions that I had going into my recent land tour/cruise to try and help others who might have similar questions. Some parts of the review might seem negative, but don’t take them as negative. They were experiences and observations and for the most part did not impact our vacation. We had a wonderful time. I will touch on each day briefly, and if you have specific questions please ask and I will try to answer them.

LAND PORTION

We flew out of Boston’s Logan Airport early on Friday August 15. We used Pre-Flight in Chelsea MA for parking and it was a breeze. We were directed to a parking space right away and we no sooner had the bags out of the car and a shuttle was there to whisk us away. In minutes we were at the airport to check in at Alaska Air. The reception staff was pleasant and allowed us time to shuffle items in the luggage to avoid the overage fee of $75! A few notes about Alaska Air: the seats are pretty small and don’t seem to be as padded as most airline seats. I know there are cuts across the board, this is just an observation. Also if you sit in front of the exit row the seats will not recline. We had a brief layover in Seattle then on to Fairbanks. Overall the flights were smooth and the staff was pleasant.

Arriving in Fairbanks we proceeded to the Avis counter to get our car rental I had reserved months in advance. Not much to note here. The process was quick and within minutes we were on our way to the hotel.

We stayed the first 2 nights at Best Western Pioneer Park. The hotel appears like it has had some resent renovations in some but not all areas. We had rooms on the 2nd floor facing the back. The rooms were spacious except the bathrooms were very small. The floor near the window in our room was wet from the A/C and it smelled a little musty and of course I stepped in it. Yuck. We kept the window open but couldn’t at night because the traffic from the road was rather loud. Also, I set the smoke alarm off not once but twice by leaving the bathroom door open when showering. Not once did anyone come to the sound of the alarm. There is a fan in the bathroom but apparently it is weak. The hotel was good for what we needed and the price. Breakfast and free wifi are a plus. There is a pathway to Pioneer Park through the woods, but it isn’t marked.

While in Fairbanks before the land tour started we were able to go to:

- Running Reindeer Ranch to walk with the reindeer. This was a great experience and the owners Jane and Doug are very nice people with lots of knowledge.

-Visit Mary Shields and her dogs at Tails of the Trail. An awesome experience listening to Mary’s stories and learning about the Iditarod.

-Pioneer Park and mostly walked around looking at the old buildings and the museum.

-Pan for gold with Gold Daughters across from the Pipeline. This was fun and a lot harder than it looks.

-Visits the Santa Claus House in North Pole. Santa wasn’t there that day, but we sat in his chair regardless. It’s a large gift shop basically.

-Drove to Chena Hot Springs and all I can say is Yuck. We did not enjoy the springs at all. It was crowded and the staff was rude. The ice house is what it is. The springs were slimy and the bathrooms were gross. And they charged $5 for a towel. Now I’m far from cheap, but $5 to borrow a towel is a little ridiculous in my opinion. Oh and if you forget your bathing suit have no fear they have a bin of them you can borrow from (gross).We got there about 4pm and the greenhouse and geo thermal tours had ended for the day. The drive there was nice though. We saw a beaver crossing the road.

Sunday night we started the land tour with the group. We met our host at Sophie Station and she had lots of information for us. She was enthusiastic and went over the plan for the week. The group was about 30 people and our first event was to start Monday. Sophie Station is a nice hotel with large rooms. They are like apartments . They have a full kitchen, and living room and a spacious bathroom. They are not updated, but clean and comfortable. Free wifi and coin-op laundry. We stayed here for 2 nights.

Monday we went on the Riverboat Discovery tour. It was a fun tour with demonstrations of Alaska lifestyle like dog camps, sea planes, and mock villages. In the afternoon we broke away from the group and took the Sophie Station free shuttle to the Antique Car Museum. I don’t know anything about cars, but the collection was impeccable and impressive. I highly recommend a stop here.

Tuesday was the train to Denali and the Denali Park tour. Up at 6 to put your luggage out for collection and on the train by 8 for a 4 hour ride. The train is beautiful. Spacious leather seats all facing forward. Complete glass dome. Barista/bar tender to serve coffee and beverages a la carte. Breakfast is on the first floor so we had to be seated in groups since it only held half the group at the time. It was worth the wait. I don’t eat breakfast but I did that day. Most meals were $14. The ride was awesome and peaceful. I saw 1 moose. Arriving in Denali we had an hour to grab a bite to eat or go to the visitor center before getting on the school bus for the park tour. One thing to note about the park tour is that is isn’t just the land tour group on the bus. It had other people from area hotels and my husband and I were the last ones to board so there weren’t any more seats for 2. I was pretty pouty when I realized we’d be sitting apart for the next 8 hours. After the first sight of wildlife I sort of got over it, but still I think the bus should have been reserved for just our group. This is a long day with the 4 hour train ride then the 8 hour bus tour, but we saw a fair share of wildlife to include several caribou, 4 bears, 2 moose, a few dall sheep, and a porcupine. The hotel this night was Denali Park Village. It was very basic motel-like but the beds were comfortable. It is away from the “town” but we took the shuttle to Prospector Pizza for $5 per person round trip. Good pizza, cold beer, good people watching.

Wednesday we took the bus to Anchorage stopping in Talkeetna on the way. We didn’t have much time in Talkeetna just long enough to walk to main street once (no time for stopping at shops) and grab lunch. We ate at Denali Brewing Co and service was ridiculously slow. It took no word of a lie 35 minutes to get drinks served. We basically inhaled our food because we had to get back on the bus. On to Anchorage we stayed the night at the Marriot Downtown. It was a large clean hotel much to be expected of the chain. They have a pool, but no free wifi. We took a walk down to the salmon run then strolled around downtown. We headed to Humpy’s for dinner. It was crowded, loud, and smelled fishy. 3 out of the 4 of us in my party don’t eat fish so we had to move on. We ended up at Orso and it was delicious. One of the best meals I had in Alaska by far. When we booked the crusietour I was not aware we were stopping in Talkeetna and actually anticipated arriving in Anchorage around 3pm, so I booked a private ATV tour out of Girdwood with hotel pickup. Learning that we wouldn’t arrive until 6pm I had to cancel it. We were disappointed and thankfully the company was understanding at such short notice and did not charge us the fare.

Thursday morning we went with the group to the Alaska Native Heritage Museum. It was an educational stop with some demonstrations and villages set up. They have local artists selling wares and my mom and I enjoyed talking with them. Lunch on our own we got sandwiches from Midnight Sun Café. They were very good. And we took in the Aurora show which was a 30 minute film to music. Leaving Anchorage around 2pm the ride to Seward was at good 3 hours but the scenery was amazing. The hotel for the night was the Seward Windsong. The rooms were rustic but clean and we enjoyed the woodsy feel of them. We took the shuttle to town and went to the SeaLife center then back to the hotel for dinner. The restaurant on site is just ok, nothing special. I had a burger and a belly ache.

Friday we took a cruise to Resurrection Bay. We saw a ton of puffins, seals, and eagles. They served cinnamon buns on board and provided commentary. It was about a 3 hour tour. Back in the harbor we had an hour or so to shop and get lunch. At that point we just wanted to get to the Millennium and knew there was a big ol’ buffet waiting for us so we had an ice cream cone and strolled around. Finally at 1pm we took the bus to the pier and boarded the Millie. Check in was a breeze, not line, and we walked right on.

A few notes about the land tour: It is a lot of early mornings and time spent on the bus going from one place to another. I didn’t know this going in but the land tour isn’t run by Celebrity. It is a company called Premier Alaska Tours. They do a great job and the staff we encountered was very professional. The host and driver were awesome and always excited about the adventures. On this particular tour none of the meals were included and to be honest we were tired of eating out (and paying for food) by the end of the week. Having the first few days in Fairbanks with our own car there was a lot of freedom and I think we (especially my husband and I) missed that once we joined the tour. Overall we had a great group and the tour was a lot of fun. We never had to worry about our luggage as it was collected every morning and returned to us each night. We had 2 suitcases, one with stuff we knew we didn’t need until the ship so we didn’t see it all week. Overall, if we were to do it again we would rent a car and drive it ourselves to make stops as we wish. We loved Fairbanks and could have spent a few more days there exploring. We would skip Anchorage because we don’t care for cities (even thought Orso was awesome).

CRUISE PORTION

Now to the week aboard the Millennium. I should mention this would make my 9th cruise and 3rd aboard Celebrity. My first impression of Millie is that she is small. We have been on the Summit and she didn’t seem as small. There is nothing grand about Mille. Although not grand, from what I could tell she was in decent shape. I didn’t really notice the frayed carpets or the rust like previous reviews noted. I wasn’t seeking out issues either. The things I did notice were observations but in no was ruined my vacation as previously stated. We had 2 aqua cabins on deck 9. My and my husbands cabin bathroom had an awful smell that stayed the whole week. Hard to describe the smell and I don’t want to be gross but it smelled like cat urine. All week. My parents were next door and theirs didn’t smell. Another couple we ran into had a weird smelling bathroom too and they got moved after a few complaints. I didn’t want to move, I was settled in already. The hallways on the other hand definitely smelled of sewage. Mostly when were in port. It was faint at times but definitely there. The cabin stewards were very nice and always said hell when they were in the hall. We got chocolate covered Oreos one night and a few towel animals (which I love). Canapés have to be ordered the day before (we never did), you have to request ice, and the waters provided in Aqua class taste like plastic.

The first night we ate at Qsine and it was awesome. It was so fun to order on the ipad we basically ordered one of everything. The waiter was so funny he knew we would never be able to eat it all so he started us with a few items then kept checking to see if and what we wanted next. We highly recommend Qsine.

Being in Aqua Class the assigned dining room was Blu. We ate here once. The staff was great, but we did not care for the menu and instead went to Select Dining every night at various times from 7 to 8:30. Only one night we had to wait about 15 minutes for a table. The staff was great, they never harassed us about not ordering wine, knew we were soda and iced tea people and that my husband is a good eater. I did notice though that the menu was missing some previous selections such as filet mignon, spring rolls, goat cheese soufflé. We certainly never went hungry, but I did notice a few changes.

A few more notes about the food on board: the buffet had a nice variety and some “hidden” items like sandwiches and pancakes in the back. Room service is ordered through the tv now, which is nice but doesn’t allow for specifications like no cheese on the club or mayo on the side. I never looked to see if it can still be ordered on the phone. I never got to try Bistro on 5 which is disappointing. Next time.

As for the port, here are some highlights:

Hubbard Glacier- totally amazing. We had a great day and got within the legal limits which if I remember correctly was ½ a nautical mile. We were on the helipad and my camera battery died. I had a great spot at the railing and wasn’t giving it up. I don’t have great pictures, but I have great memories.

Juneau- not the best experience. This was the only day it rained and was cold. We rented a car from Juneau Car Company and it was long walk to the office. One mile with some uphill right after breakfast is not fun. It’s a little shed of an office not clearly marked. We were given a 2000 Subaru Legacy with 140k+ miles on it. It guzzled gas and in the less than 50 miles we went it used ½ a tank. It was a beater but it was cheap. This day was my birthday and my husband and I took a helicopter to the glacier for a dog sled ride. The chopper ride out was about 15 minutes and the sled ride was about 20 minutes with a stop to meet the dogs halfway. Like I said it was raining and cold, the guide seemed burned out and the interaction with the dogs was limited. Although a cool experience I don’t think it was work the cost. This was a private booking not through the ship. The rest of the day we took the rental car to Mendenhall Glacier, but didn’t walk the loop because of the rain. We went to the hatchery and enjoyed watching the seals get a free meal at the salmon ladder. Then we went to Alaska Brewing Company for their free tour and tasting. It’s true, the tour and samples are free and we were enjoying it until my mother accidently left her wallet in the bathroom and as soon as she walked out another lady (I use that term loosely) walked in and locked the door. When she left my mom went to get her wallet and wouldn’t you know her money was gone! Almost $100 bucks stolen. Her cc cards were still there but no cash. We told a staff member what happened but there wasn’t much we could so. It was my mom’s word against the lady. It was a real shame and set the mood for the next few days because my mom was upset and felt violated. I can’t blame her. Such a shame that someone would take advantage of someone else like that. After that no one was in the mood to explore Juneau further so we dropped my parents back at the ship and went to return the gas guzzler.

Skagway- we rented another car from Avis. The pier is a little walk to the town. I saw a shuttle but we were more than halfway there by that time. We drove the Klondike Highway using Murray’s Guide and ran into thick fog only a few miles into it. We missed seeing what a lot of the markers were showing because of the fog. We stopped at the suspension bridge and by that time the fog cleared. We drove to Carcross desert then onto Emerald Lake which I passed and went about 10 miles ahead until realizing I went too far. There are very few mile markers once in Canada so if you don’t set the odometer (like I didn’t), it’s hard to keep track. We stopped in Caribou Crossing to play with the puppies, and onto to Carcross town area for lunch at Bistro on Bennett. We had some of the weirdest “ham”burgers we ever had, I don’t even know what meat it was or what grade if it was hamburger. The fries were good though. And then we had ice cream at the General Store, but that too was a letdown. I was expecting homemade ice cream, but it was Hershey or something commercial. In all the ride was nice and it took us like 7 hours to drive about 160 miles with stops. We are glad we drove instead of the train based on the fog and the fact that there really isn’t anything to do in Carcross.

Icy Strait- cute little port, not much going on. This was a tender port and the process was quick and painless. There was barely a line and we got right on. Easy walk along the sea boarder to Hoonah if you wanted to walk. We took a private whale watching tour with Glacier Winds. We were picked up at the dock and dropped off at the boat. The owners Theresa and Shawn were very kind, the boat is clean and we saw a few whales and some sea lions. One whale came within 20 feet of the boat and blew his hole. It was really neat. We would recommend this tour for sure.

Ketchikan- 2nd favorite stop other than Fairbanks. My husband and I took a bear viewing sea plane tour with Island Wings. The plane was immaculate and the ride was smooth. Michelle is personable and made us feel at ease. With Tim as our guide we walked to the platform at Margaret Creek. We saw 11 bears including 2 sets of mom and cub. We felt safe with the guide and on the platform. There were a few groups there but we stayed the longest and it was never crowded. In the afternoon back in Ketchikan we went with Dave of Ketchikan Taxi to see the totem poles and have tour of the city. It was nice drive around and listed to his commentary. Both tours are highly recommended.

Inside Passage Cruising- very scenic lots of mountains and trees. Some people on the ship said they saw orcas off the starboard side and I saw a few humpbacks off the port. We spend the day by the solarium pool and packing our suitcases.

Final notes on the Millennium:

-Bingo is fairly pricey at $40 for 3 games. We played once.

-There isn’t much going on at night. We saw 2 comedians and the rest of the shows were music. Other than music and the casino we were pretty bored at night. TV in the room was terrible. Not once did I catch a movie. It was always American Greed or Lockup Raw. I get they don’t want you in the cabin watching TV but we aren’t drinkers and the casino gets old. We resorted to watching a movie on our laptop one night because we were so bored and not tired.

- We didn’t have a hard time getting drinks (we had the classic nonalcoholic packages) because we got up and got them ourselves. We’re not much for being served so we didn’t find this to be trouble. Every staff member we saw said hello and was friendly.

-My only bad experience with a staff member was at the spa. Not that she was rude per say, more like she wasn’t interested in her job. On the last sea day I had a 80 minute basic massage. I went in telling the masseuse that I do not like to be massaged too hard. Basically I want my back rubbed for 80 minutes. I wanted to relax and take a nap. She didn’t say much which is great in my opinion. I don’t want to talk, I want to fall asleep. She left the room so I could get settled and while she was gone it sounded like a circus overhead. I’m talking loud banging. When she came back I asked if we were under a basketball court and she said no it’s the kids club and we can’t do anything about it. Not at all relaxing let me tell you. After about 15 minutes the kids must have ran out of pixie sticks because it stopped until the end of my massage then it picked back up. Great, no more noise time to relax. Nope, no can do. Masseuse is literally bruising me going very rough. I asked her to please go gentler pleading that I am a wimp and I could almost hear her eyes roll it was that awkward. In the end I was bruised and in pain, not relaxed, and had a mandatory 18% tip added to the already $200 bad experience.

Disembarkation was breeze. We waiting in the conference room until called at 9:20. Walked right off to get our luggage. Luggage in tow we walked through the terminal to Pan Pacific, left our luggage with the bell hop and took the HOHO Trolley for the day. Real quick about Vancouver- nice city if you like a city. Lots of money in this city. HOHO is sort of a waste of time because if it’s full you have to wait for the next one. We waited over an hour at the first stop. Granville Public Market was amazing and I wish we had one at home. Pan Pacific is a nice hotel, clean, large rooms, comfy beds. Easy access to sky train to airport for $2.75 beats a taxi.

What else can I say about the trip? Well I have Verizon and I got service everywhere except Denali and out to sea. Camera of choice was a Nikon Cool Pix P600 and it was a bad choice. I am not impressed with the picture quality, the camera is slow to respond, zoomed image is not captured correctly, to name a few issues. Hence why there are no pictures in this review. I had the Northern Lights coupon book but couldn’t use hardly any of the coupons. I think we used 3 saving around $115 in total.

Overall we had an awesome trip and we will definitely go to Alaska again. We will do more of a land tour on our own. The Millennium was nice, but I wouldn’t sail her again. I wouldn’t book Aqua class unless it was significantly cheaper than a regular balcony or concierge class (which it was when I book this one). This review is way longer than I expected, hope it wasn’t too boring, and I hope it helped some readers with questions. If not, ask away.

Great honest review. It helps me so much to plan my trip. One question though. Do you remember the cost of the Whale Watching trip in Hoonah and the Bear watching trip in Ketchikan ? We are a family of 4 and I'm still in sticker shock at the cost of excursions but to come all the way to Alaska and not see the wildlife would be sad too.

Thanks for posting your review, I appreciate it. You went with a couple of our favorite vendors (Island Wings and Glacier Wind) glad to hear you enjoyed your experience.

If you don't mind me asking, what was the cabin number where you encountered the "smell"?

I am happy you found the review helpful. Sorry again it was so long.

The whale watching was $160 per person with a $50 deposit each due at booking and

balance due the day of. The float plane bear viewing was $365 per person with half due at booking and the rest due the day of. They were both amazing and well worth the price.

Our smelly bathroom was 9095. You couldn't leave the door shut for any period of time or the smell was overwhelming.

So sorry about your smelly bathroom --- thanks for the information.

Did the maintenance not try and fix the smelly bathroom ? What was their excuse for it ? They could at least put some air freshener or something to combat it.

Thanks for such an informative report ; lots of helpful details for future travellers. I'll link it to the 2014 List.

uvasag- to be honest we never complained formally about the smell. To us it wasn't worth it as it did not impact our cruise. We weren't spending significant time in there. We were already settled in with our bags unpacked and didn't want to be moved. The bathroom was cleaned everyday and I always do an initial wipe down with chlorox wipes where ever I go, so to complain wasn't worth it to us. Others might find it unbearable so I thought it was worth mentioning. Maybe if it was longer than a 7 day cruise and if we weren't right next door to my parents we would have asked to be moved.

uvasag- to be honest we never complained formally about the smell. To us it wasn't worth it as it did not impact our cruise. We weren't spending significant time in there. We were already settled in with our bags unpacked and didn't want to be moved. The bathroom was cleaned everyday and I always do an initial wipe down with chlorox wipes where ever I go, so to complain wasn't worth it to us. Others might find it unbearable so I thought it was worth mentioning. Maybe if it was longer than a 7 day cruise and if we weren't right next door to my parents we would have asked to be moved.

Aaah ok :)

Thanks for the detailed (and recent) report of your land & sea tour of Alaska. I am still in the planning stages for ours next July, so I am reading everything I can now to help with decisions. I'm planning our land part separate and will mainly use the AK railroad service between Fairbanks and Seward/Whittier (still not sure which cruiseline I will use). I'm thinking it will be best if we do the land portion first, also. I'm sure we will be exhausted cramming so much into the land part we will need to relax on the cruise!

Thanks for the review. I agree, it wasn't too long.

I had looked at the Blu Menu online and wasn't impressed with the menu. I doubt I would eat there again either.

I sailed on the Millennium once and it was my only time on Celebrity. It was brand new back then and I have not been back. I am one that doesn't really need entertaining on a ship but I was bored on the ship. I did find the look of the dining room stunning.

That is awful about the money stolen.