Celebrity Millennium July 12, 2013 Southbound Alaska review

I hope I can help others as I was greatly helped on this site.

Itinerary:

July 10th- Flew to Anchorage. Stayed at Ramada Inn.

July 11th-Rented car and drove to Girdwood for glacier dog sledding with Alpine Air. Then drove 20 min. further to Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center and did a behind-the-scenes tour. Returned to Anchorage. Ate at Humpy’s.

July 12th-Took Alaska Goldstar train to Seward. Ate lunch at Chinooks. Took Shuttle down to Alaska SeaLife Center and did the octopus encounter. Boarded ship.

July 13th-Glacier day

July 14th-Juneau. Went zip lining with Alaska Rainforest Sanctuary.

July 15th-Skagway. Took ferry to Haines for photo/nature tour with Rainbow Glacier Adventures.

July 16th-Icy Strait Point. Went whale watching with F.I.S.H.E.S tour company

July 17th- Ketchikan. Bear watching at Anan Creek with Island Wings Air Service.

July 18th-sea day

July 19th-Vancouver. Fly home.

Weather started out at 67 degrees and increased daily up to 87 degrees in Ketchikan. Sunny every day. This was highly unusual.

Here’s what I packed:

4 jeans

2 capris

3 long sleeve shirts

4 short sleeve shirts

2 slacks for smart casual dinner

3 sweater sets for smart casual dinner

2 cocktails dress for formal night

1 light sweater for on ship

Polartec jacket

Rain jacket

Gloves/hat

Low hiking boots

Running shoes

Dressy flats

Canvas boat shoes

Bathing suit

I used everything I brought with the changing temperatures except the gloves and hat but would certainly pack them just in case. I found that for the most part everyone dressed according to the dress code for dinners. On formal night I saw almost every man in at least coat and tie in the dining room. I did not see much of blue jeans in the dining room on smart causal nights but there are always exceptions.

All of our excursions were amazing and I highly recommend them all. The MUST do is seeing the bears at Anan Creek. We saw black and brown bears and more than we could count plus hundreds of eagles.

Thoughts on the ship:

We have sailed Royal Caribbean and Disney. This was our first time on Celebrity. Many reviewers complain about the age of the ship. That did not seem to be an issue for us. It looked very nice. The food was outstanding and would tempt us to take Celebrity again. The downside was that the dinner service was horrible. We did the Select Dining and I would never do that again. Celebrity really let us down on the details. It was as if every event was the first time they had ever done it. The first night our reservation turned out to be at the time of the muster drill. This should never have been allowed. So after the drill they had to seat everyone at our time plus the later dinner times all at once. It was utter chaos. Every night dinner lasted almost 2 hours. The waiters never checked back after serving the food to see if we needed anything else. Drink orders were not taken until well into the main course. We complained night after night and still the service did not improve. We originally had an ocean view room but called and upgraded for free to a balcony the week before leaving. We lucked out and got one of the “Sweet Sixteen” balconies with double space. We were very glad we had the balcony on glacier day otherwise we didn’t use it very much but it was nice to step out every morning and see the port and feel the temperature. We went to the evening shows and weren’t expecting much. We were very impressed by the vocal and dancing abilities of the staff. The naturalist on board gave very interesting and informative talks most days. Disembarkment was a disaster and once again seemed like it was their first time. They were over an hour behind schedule so don’t plan a flight too early in the morning.

I have all the daily programs.

Please ask any questions and I will respond as soon as I can.

We were on the Southbound sailing 2 weeks before you and I couldn't agree more with your take on the service in the MDR for Select Dining. It was horrible and 180 degrees from what DH and I experienced on our first Celebrity cruise 8 years ago - although we did have traditional seating then.

The only thing that really caught us at disembarkment was the lack of signs for those passengers that simply wanted to check their bags until later in the afternoon. We did a hop on/hop off tour in Vancouver and simply wanted to store our bags until we were ready to head to the train station to catch the train to Seattle - NIGHTMARE trying to figure out which lane we were supposed to be in. Other than that our disembarkment was easy.

Sounds like you had weather similar to ours. Our only exception being Skagway where it was overcast most of the day with scattered rain. ISP was also overcast, but thankfully no rain. Living in Atlanta, we were hoping temps would be more seasonal for AK (60s & 70s) and instead got Atlanta temps for much of our trip (while Atlanta got the rain!).

Sounds like you had as wonderful a trip as we did though! I wish I could go back again like now!

Thanks for posting your review... good and bad

Could you elaborate on the tour in Haines please ? Sounds interesting.

Thanks for the review. I am looking at the Celebrity for Aug. 29, 2014 North bound. We will be staying in Alaska for 9 nights then returning to Vancouver on HAL. We have never been on Celebrity so could you explain what Select Dining is. Would that be the same as your time dining like Carnival has? Can you select traditional dining where you have the same seat and table every night? How did you like Haines. My Southbound cruise with HAL will be going there. Thanks again for the review. It really helps. Just what I was looking for.

Select Dining would be the same as Your Time Dining on Carnival where you choose what time you want to dine. Celebrity also has traditional seating.

Thanks olemissreb for the reply. I like traditional dining. Haven't had much luck with your time dining with Carnival and that is the only line I have sailed on except Commodore many years ago. I don't think we will be doing formal night since we have such a long stay we just don't want to pack the suit for the DH. We will go to the buffet on those nights. Is slacks and a nice shirt or blouse sufficient for the dining room on the other nights? We haven't booked these cruises yet. We have just narrowed it down to the Celebrity and HAL. It's time I try other lines. Thanks again.

Haines was very refreshing compared to all the touristy ports. I was very glad to get away from Skagway and see how people really live. We did a tour through Rainbow Glacier Tours. They have several options like hiking, kayaking, and eagle watching. The company is owned by a professional photographer and offered a Photo/ Nature tour. We chose that in the hopes of gaining some expertise. Our guide was not the owner but another expert photographer in the area, Tom Ganner. He was a great teacher and we learned a lot. I would recommend having a DSLR camera. We had a super zoom digital camera but not a DSLR. Some of the things he talked about was out of the range of our camera. It was a small group including my husband, myself and another couple. None of us had any great knowledge of photography but I'm sure Tom could gear the tour towards whatever level you are at. We drove around to many spots for eagle pictures and other scenic shots. He showed us how to compose a beautiful picture. It was a lovely way to enjoy Haines and learn something.

Smarks-

I wore either cropped pants or ankle length pants along with a blouse or sweater set and ballet flats every night in the dining room. I felt very comfortable and fit in with everyone else. My husband wore khakis and either a polo shirt or casual button down shirt. I did see a few jeans but mostly everyone was dressed a little nicer than jeans.

Thanks crazycruiserdc for all the great information. Haines sounds great. HAL spend the whole day there from 6:30 am till 9:00 pm. I liked Skagway too. We went off the beaten path and hiked up a mountain. Saw old cemetery, old train cars. Pretty neat. Thanks for the tips on dining. This trip is going to be over 6 weeks long with 2 weeks being a road trip from Ga. to Vancouver and back and don't want to carry anything we don't have to. So a suit for DH is out. I'm assuming they have a buffet in the evenings for folks that don't want to get gussied up. I like to get dressed us some but not on this trip. Do you know how often the ferry ran from Skagway to Haines? The trip you took sounds really interesting. Thanks again.

Thanks for your review, sounds like you had a fantastic cruise! After reading lots of bad reviews recently re select dining, I just changed our Alaska cruises next year to late traditional dining. I think I will be happy with that decision.

We are also booked with Island Wings to go to Anan Creek, and also with Rainbow Glacier Adventures, but to do their bear and nature scenic tour, not the photography tour. After reading your positive comments, I can't wait to go!

What did you think of the Octopus encounter? We are thinking of booking this as well as the Puffin encounter.

Smarks,

Here is the link to the ferry schedule, http://www.hainesskagwayfastferry.com/schedule.html.

Yes, there is a buffet available every night. Not the best buffet I have seen but it will do in a pinch for formal night. You can also consider Qsine. The dress code is always smart casual there. We ate at Olympic on one formal night and even though the dress code is smart casual everyone dressed formal. It also wasn't worth the money because the food in the main dining room is just as good as Olympic but you do get much better service there.

BrusselsGirl07,

Good choice going with the traditional dining. I think you will be treated better with the same staff every night.

You are going to be blown away by the bears at Anan Creek. It was the most amazing experience. I can't believe more people don't do it. Lucky you!

I highly recommend the octopus encounter at the SeaLife Center. It was so much fun getting to feel the octopus wrap his arm around your hand. I couldn't believe how strong they were. I saw some people doing the puffin encounter and wish we had also done that. Do them both!

Thank you again for the dining info and the link to the ferry. You are really helping me with my planning. I have found that the food in the dining room is sufficient for us. I eat at the buffet when I can't make it to the dining room. Do they have breakfast and lunch in the dining room? I like being served instead of standing in lines at a buffet and find the food to be better.

BrusselsGirl07,

 

Good choice going with the traditional dining. I think you will be treated better with the same staff every night.

 

You are going to be blown away by the bears at Anan Creek. It was the most amazing experience. I can't believe more people don't do it. Lucky you!

 

I highly recommend the octopus encounter at the SeaLife Center. It was so much fun getting to feel the octopus wrap his arm around your hand. I couldn't believe how strong they were. I saw some people doing the puffin encounter and wish we had also done that. Do them both!

I really think we will do them both! You can't book for next year until after 1 October. Hopefully the times will be the same as this year and we can do the Puffins at 11am and the Octopus at 1pm and the rest of the centre before and in between. Then time to head for the ship! Yvette

Thank you again for the dining info and the link to the ferry. You are really helping me with my planning. I have found that the food in the dining room is sufficient for us. I eat at the buffet when I can't make it to the dining room. Do they have breakfast and lunch in the dining room? I like being served instead of standing in lines at a buffet and find the food to be better.

From memory breakfast and lunch are only served in the dining room on sea days.

Early Breakfast was served in the dining room every day but the times varied. Usually it ended anywhere from 8:30am to 9:30am. Lunch was only served in the dining room on sea days.

Did the ship offer Valet Luggage service? We also have a departure in Vancouver for evening and wanted to take the Hop on Hop Off bus. Did you book this through the ship? I thought they take care of your luggage. How was Vancouver? Did you have lunch there?

Thanks olemissreb for the reply. I like traditional dining. Haven't had much luck with your time dining with Carnival and that is the only line I have sailed on except Commodore many years ago. I don't think we will be doing formal night since we have such a long stay we just don't want to pack the suit for the DH. We will go to the buffet on those nights. Is slacks and a nice shirt or blouse sufficient for the dining room on the other nights? We haven't booked these cruises yet. We have just narrowed it down to the Celebrity and HAL. It's time I try other lines. Thanks again.

Slacks and a nice dress shirt or blouse are fine. Add a tie to the dress shirt and maybe a sparkly blouse and you would be fine for formal night too. On our cruise, we had everything in the MDR on formal night - short shorts (on young teens) with a sparkly top to jeans with a button down shirt, tie and sport coat. They may be a little more lax in Alaska because so many people extend their vacations there and try to minimize the amount of luggage.

Thank you SOOO much for this info. 6 of us are on the Millennium sailing Aug 9., with the pre-cruise tour so packing needs to be precise... your info has been extremely helpful in slimming down the bags. ALso we need to be first off the ship with 8am shuttle to airport. We were told we should keep our luggage and take it off with us to expedite the process... did you happen to see if there confusion with this process?

Thank you SOOO much for this info. 6 of us are on the Millennium sailing Aug 9., with the pre-cruise tour so packing needs to be precise... your info has been extremely helpful in slimming down the bags. ALso we need to be first off the ship with 8am shuttle to airport. We were told we should keep our luggage and take it off with us to expedite the process... did you happen to see if there confusion with this process?

Sorry - we were some of the last ones off the ship at about 8:30 so I can't help you with the luggage question. When we did get into Canada Place, there was a lot of confusion about which line to get in for excursions, shuttles, checking luggage. We stood in one line we thought was to check luggage only to find out that was the line to check luggage for those going on a cruise excursion. Finally found the right line, got bags checked and got out of there to do our hop on/hop off bus tour. 4 hours later - peace reigned supreme at Canada Place!

Thanks for the info on Rainbow Tours ... sounds like the focus is too heavy on photography for my liking. So thanks for the description.

And I agree ... Haines is a lovely community.

BTW, please add your review to the thread that subtchr started for all the 2013 reviews. It's called '2013 Cruise Reviews' or something similar, probably on pg 2 or 3.

Mapleleaves,

Check out Rainbow Glacier Adventures other tours, http://joeordonez.com/tours/. They have lots of other good tours that aren't photo related. Very small company that really gives you a good tour.

Swafluffy11,

You would be smart to carry your luggage off. The hold up was for people picking up there luggage in the port. I think they allowed people with their luggage off at 7:30am. We weren't allowed off until around 10am so I didn't see how it went in the port.

Nana57,

Not sure about the valet luggage service. All I know is you can carry off your luggage or leave it outside your stateroom and pick it up in the terminal. You have to take your luggage through customs. Once in the terminal there is a service to either store your bags for you to come back and get them or they can send them on to the airport. I know that the ship also offers transportation directly to the airport for around $35 per person. Not sure what the hop-on-hop off bus is. There are excursions you can take. We had a 2pm flight and had to be checked in by noon since it is an international flight. By the time we finally got off the ship at 10am we really didn't have time to enjoy Vancouver so we took the metro straight to the airport. There were some very long lines at the airport due to many cruise ships coming in at the same time. We just ate in the airport. Wish we had scheduled a later flight and seen some of Vancouver.

Hi crazycruiserdc! We're doing the northbound version of your cruise in 3 weeks and wonder if you can give specific comments about your whale watching tour with FISHES. We are also going out with them while in Icy Strait Point and would love to hear more about your day. Also, can you comment more on what was wrong with Select Dining? We are set up for that option but have heard numerous negative remarks about Select Dining on the Millennium which makes us nervous since supper is one of the most anticipated parts of our cruise. Thanks so much!