Celebrity land tour followed by cruise from uk.

[nutty nurse gladys]

Thought that I would post a short review of our recent trip to Alaska from the UK as prior to going I had spent hours and hours reading hints and tips but had not seen very much about the land tour part of our trip.

We are two couples 50's-60's, very seasoned travelers whose favorite is definitely cruising. This was to be a special one as was on all of our 'bucket lists'. Coming all the way from UK we included the land tour first and we are so glad that we did. It was awesome, but the main point that I want to make is about the organization of it all. It was faultless and oh so easy. Everything was made so easy. I had been a little worried about living out of a suitcase (especially as we didn't really know what weather to expect) but I needn't have worried. Suitcases were placed outside the door each morning and the next time we saw them was actually inside our next hotel/lodge. We took the wildneress express train between each stop, another awesome experience, we were then met each time at the station by our tour director Cal and driver Brandy who were both incredibly attentive and helpful. Room keys were handed out in envelopes as we left the bus saving all the hassell of queuing at receptions to check in.

I would recommend this holiday to anyone without hesitation. I am glad that we did the land tour first followed by the cruise - on the Millennium, as the second week was definatly more leisurely than the first but equally enjoyable.

The sights that we saw and the experiences we encountered will remain with us for ever.

The weather was very similar to here in the UK for anyone anticipating a trip. we only had one day of rain and lots of sunshine, although it was cold in the Wilderness and by the glaciers.

Happy to answer any questions if necessary as I know how much planning goes into these trips.

 

[mapleleaves]

Sounds like you had a great trip. Glad it all came together so well for you.

 

It would be great if you could post some details about your land and cruise trip.

Just a couple of paragraphs to let people know about the itinerary ..... towns, hotels, excursions, vendors on the land portion, and the ports and excursions on the cruise. Was the land portion by train?

 

Thx for any additional information you can provide

.

[mellapl]

Thanks for the review. Could you tell me where you stayed on the land tour and what time you arrived at the ship. Were you on cruise tour #8b? Did you dine at any of the land tour lodges?

[CHEZMARYLOU]

Also curious about the specific cruise tour. We leave on Friday for 8b, which will be our 2nd time doing most of this tour. We have all of the information except the name of the tour guide and bus driver.

 

Mary Lou

[Cookiecookie]

Sounds like you had a great time.we have a month to go till our cruise tour. 7 days around the Rockies an then Northbound on the Radiance. Think we are well organised and have booked excursion already direct with local company's, the unknown is the weather and what to pack

[nutty nurse gladys]

yes indeed we did have a wonderful time. To give a bit more detail I'm afraid I dont know the number of the trip ?8b, not sure sorry.

Everything was booked via Celebrity. We flew from London Heathrow to Seattle staying at the marriott there. Managed to stay up until 4.00am our time by sightseeing around Seattle.

day 2 flew to Fairbanks met by celebrity staff and taken to Sophie station hotel for 2 nights. Very comfortable and ate out at the pump house on the first night and in the hotel the second. Hotel was better in our opinion.

tours included Museum of the North, sightseeing on our own and a riverboat discovery trip. All well organised and timed well.

Then off on wilderness express train to denali staying at the Grande Denali Lodge, amazing views. had breakfast on the train which was a lovely experience.

Ate at the Lodge both nights and both good meals.

Included trip out into the national park all day but went oh so quickly and lots of wildlife sightings.

Off on train again this time had lunch on train to Talkeetna. One night in the Talkeetna Alaskan lodge again a lovely lodge and we ate in the lodge as we found the standards to be very high.

Final trip on the train down to Anchorage with dinner on the train this time. Stayed at the Marriott but didnt do much as we didnt arrive until late and were excited at joining the ship the following day.

On boarding day (friday) we had a trip to the heritage centre in the morning before being taken by coach to Seward by our bus and Brandy our lovely driver.

We did not get to board the ship until about 5pm which is much later than we would have done had we been traveling independently.

Boarding was very smooth and our luggage already in our cabins!

 

We sailed at 8pm and Hubbard glacier was our first day, followed by Juneau, Ketchican, Icy straight point and Skagway then the inside passage and into Vancouver.

A day room at Westin hotel followed by a smooth flight back that night.

 

A whistlestop version of some of what we did that hopefully helps.

the weather was great, we had one day of rain and probably took far too many clothes, sticking with the layers advice given by all on CC.

 

Alaska is a much less formal holiday than all others we have done and the dress code definitely more relaxed.

[CHEZMARYLOU]

Thanks, this is the itinerary for tour 8B, which we are on. We leave Friday morning to start our land tour. Wish we were boarding the ship earlier than 5:00. I hope the excursion in Anchorage before heading to Seward was worth it.

 

Who was the tour guide?

 

How was disembarkation in Vancouver, we have a 12:30 PM flight but unless we run into major delays disembarking I think we will be ok.

 

Glad you had a great time. Our 1st trip to Alaska was 3 years ago and we did the cruise prior to the land trip. Looking forward to reversing it this time.

 

Mary Lou

[mapleleaves]

perfect, thanks ! Now can you add a paragraph for your cruise activities at each port?

 

I'll add this to the 2014 Trip Reports.

[nutty nurse gladys]

I'm afraid we didnt do too many excursions from the second cruise week to report on. Having had tours each day on the land tour portion we wanted to just enjoy the ship, wander at leisure around the ports and generally relax a little before the long trip back to the UK.

We did do Juneau salmon bake and Mendenhall glacier tour, which we all enjoyed. My husband even tried the salmon (he never eats fish but thought that he should at least try it given the location etc) and yes he enjoyed it! It was good to wander the trails around the glacier and the vastness very apparent.

All in all as I said before this was the trip of a lifetime and we would all highly recommend it.

[nutty nurse gladys]

Sorry, I forgot to answer these.

 

Who was the tour guide?

his name was Cam and he was very good, however he was finishing the following week, so unlikely to be your tour guide. Brandy was our driver though and she was brilliant.

 

 

How was disembarkation in Vancouver,

we were actually the last group off the ship - about 9:40am and it was extremely smooth. i cant vouch for earlier in the process though sorry.

 

I do hope you have an absolutely fantastic time we certainly did.

[Krazy Kruizers]

You were very wise to do the land tour first and the cruise so that you could rest up before the long flight home.