Northbound Celebrity Cruisetour luggage ?

[IowaCruisers]

Hi,

We're sailing on Celebrity Millennium's Northbound Cruisetour (#21-7 days northbound, 6 days inland). What happens to our luggage when we disembark in Seward? Do we need to sort out what we want for our 6 days inland?

 

I've read how southbound cruisetours ship some of your luggage to the boat, but what happens on a northbound tour? Here's our itinerary:

 

Aug 24: Depart Vancouver

Aug 25: Inland passage sailing

Aug 26: Ketchikan

Aug 27: Icy Strait Point

Aug 28: Juneau

Aug 29: Skagway

Aug 30: Hubbard Glacier (cruising)

Aug 31: Seward (overnight)

Sep 1: Anchorage Marriott (overnight)

Sep 2: Talkeetna (overnight at Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge)

Sep 3: Denali (overnight at McKinley Village Lodge)

Sep 4: Denali (overnight at McKinley Village Lodge)

Sep 5: Fairbanks (overnight at Pike's Waterfront Lodge)

Sep 6: Fly home

 

Thanks for all information - this has been quite a learning experience!

[STEVE-O]

Hi,

We're sailing on Celebrity Millennium's Northbound Cruisetour (#21-7 days northbound, 6 days inland). What happens to our luggage when we disembark in Seward? Do we need to sort out what we want for our 6 days inland?

 

I've read how southbound cruisetours ship some of your luggage to the boat, but what happens on a northbound tour? Here's our itinerary:

 

Aug 24: Depart Vancouver

Aug 25: Inland passage sailing

Aug 26: Ketchikan

Aug 27: Icy Strait Point

Aug 28: Juneau

Aug 29: Skagway

Aug 30: Hubbard Glacier (cruising)

Aug 31: Seward (overnight)

Sep 1: Anchorage Marriott (overnight)

Sep 2: Talkeetna (overnight at Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge)

Sep 3: Denali (overnight at McKinley Village Lodge)

Sep 4: Denali (overnight at McKinley Village Lodge)

Sep 5: Fairbanks (overnight at Pike's Waterfront Lodge)

Sep 6: Fly home

 

Thanks for all information - this has been quite a learning experience!

 

We did the NB Alaska cruisetour with Celebrity in 2011.... On the first night post-cruise....we had ALL our bags delivered to the hotel. We were given 2 color tags....1 for stuff we'd need for the land portion...1 for bags that we didn't need to access until the last night.

 

All the bags go back on the bus the next morning but you'll only have the bags tagged for the land portion delivered to your rooms at each stop.

 

The plan worked GREAT!!!!!.....

 

FWIW.....>The cruise tour was our best vacation EVER!!!!.....It was our first time in the "interior" of Alaska. The guides, accomodations, and stops were fantastic!.....

 

Bon Voyage!!

[kr9457]

Glad to hear it was your best vacation. What were some of your must do recommendations for tours.

[IowaCruisers]

Thanks, Steve-O for the great info.

 

Were there limits on the baggage you bring with you? Like one bag per person? We're taking the train for two days between Anchorage and Denali, so maybe that will make a difference.

 

Since Celebrity doesn't have self-laundry, we think we want to do laundry at Seward, so we won't have to pack so many clothes.

 

Glad you had a great trip. First time to Alaska - we're really looking forward to it.

[STEVE-O]

Thanks, Steve-O for the great info.

 

Were there limits on the baggage you bring with you? Like one bag per person? We're taking the train for two days between Anchorage and Denali, so maybe that will make a difference.

 

Since Celebrity doesn't have self-laundry, we think we want to do laundry at Seward, so we won't have to pack so many clothes.

 

Glad you had a great trip. First time to Alaska - we're really looking forward to it.

 

 

There are no limitations on the number of pieces of luggage....neither the ones you want every night nor the ones you check through to the final night...>The bags travel by bus while you're on the train....Sounds funny but it's true......The bus runs empty between the train stops.

 

If you're at a certain return cruiser status with Celebrity ( or RCCL) you will get a coupon (1 per person) for a free bag of laundry while on board. We washed 2 days before getting off the cruise portion of the trip and it was sufficient.

 

We've been to Alaska 3 times now....and it is, by far, our favorite cruise destination........We opted for a cruisetour in 2011 to let someone else worry about the accomodations and transportation. Next time....we might go it solo with a rental car.

[STEVE-O]

Glad to hear it was your best vacation. What were some of your must do recommendations for tours.

 

We booked a couple of land excursions.....dinner theatre's, river boat ride, etc. We're not very advertursome and couldn't manage the cost of the flightseeing tours. Most were only OK...probably not worth the money.

 

The best part was the Tundra Wilderness Tour. Our driver was not the best....drove way to fast to completely search for critters....though we saw a bunch!!!...... I wouldn't consider a trip that offered less than the TWT. If we were to return on our own...we'd do the shuttle further into the park....different scenary and better chance to see more critters.....

 

and.......we'd probably skip Fairbanks and do more time in Aleyska, Whittier, and Seward.

[IowaCruisers]

Thanks, Steve-O for all the great information. I'm sure I'll be posting more questions about Alaska.

[STEVE-O]

Thanks, Steve-O for all the great information. I'm sure I'll be posting more questions about Alaska.

 

You're welcome, of course!.....Lots of folks on CC ( of which I'm a minor part) are very knowledgable and passionate about Alaska. It's , by far, our favorite cruise destination.

[moonbear]

There is no limit on the amount of luggage you bring along. The earlier poster was correct regarding your luggage on the land portion of the cruisetour. You will remain with the same coach, driver, and tour director for entire land portion. They will give you pink "storage" tags for bags that you don't need until you depart for home. The nice thing is that the bell staff delivers the luggage to your room which eliminates the agony of searching through a sea of bags, which all seem to be identical, then collecting and hauling them to your room. And finally, since your luggage will be traveling with you on the coach, in the unlikely chance that you realize you have packed that "must-have" jacket in your bag marked for storage, there is a better-than-not chance that you will be able to retrieve the bag from the coach driver...although it can be quite a challenge locating a specific piece of luggage that is probably on the bottom of the pile in the very back of the bay.

[IowaCruisers]

Hi Moonbear,

 

Thanks for the info. Maybe I should have clarified a bit. We're on the Wilderness Explorer train for two days - between Anchorage and Talkeena, and then the next day between Talkeena and Denali.

 

So, I don't think I'd be able to get to any last minute forgotten items. Since there's no size limit on bags, we'll be able to take whatever we need. It's nice to know we don't have schlep our own bags.

 

Brenda

[STEVE-O]

Hi Moonbear,

 

Thanks for the info. Maybe I should have clarified a bit. We're on the Wilderness Explorer train for two days - between Anchorage and Talkeena, and then the next day between Talkeena and Denali.

 

So, I don't think I'd be able to get to any last minute forgotten items. Since there's no size limit on bags, we'll be able to take whatever we need. It's nice to know we don't have schlep our own bags.

 

Brenda

 

 

The tour bus will be taking you to and from the train stops and the hotels in each city. You'll always have same-day access to 100% of the stuff you've packed. Hope this helps, too.

[IowaCruisers]

The tour bus will be taking you to and from the train stops and the hotels in each city. You'll always have same-day access to 100% of the stuff you've packed. Hope this helps, too.

 

Thanks, Steve-O. That makes sense. I hadn't thought about how to get to the train station.

 

Do you remember approx. how early you got started in the mornings to go between stops? I can't find any information on the daily time frames for the tour portion. That makes it tough to plan excursions, or even to build in the time for laundry.

 

Thanks for any info.

 

Brenda

[STEVE-O]

Thanks, Steve-O. That makes sense. I hadn't thought about how to get to the train station.

 

Do you remember approx. how early you got started in the mornings to go between stops? I can't find any information on the daily time frames for the tour portion. That makes it tough to plan excursions, or even to build in the time for laundry.

 

Thanks for any info.

 

Brenda

I don't recall the exact times and I can't find the itinerary we were handed when we got on the bus in Seward. I don't think any morning started before 8am.....except, maybe, the Denali day when we had an early bus for the Tundra Wilderness Tour.

 

Calling Celebrity will be NO help as they couldn't even tell me the times we'd be in each city. Guess they didn't want us booking private excursions........

 

IF I find the itinerary...I'll get back to you.