Celebrity Solstice to Alaska, Aug. 1-8 - Just Returned

[Loubelou]

We took this cruise to celebrate our 25th Anniversary (Me - 46, DH - 54, and our best friends ages 46 & 47). I am the only one who had cruised before and it was as a chaperone for 35 high school choir kids on Carnival Glory in March of 2013. We were in Aqua Class room 1640 and our friends were in 1633. Our room steward was Martiano and he did a great job!

 

High points

- Kayaking in Ketchikan on a rare, beautiful sunny day!

- Small boat excursion in Tracy Arm! We stayed in front of both glaciers for 20-30 minutes each. Completely awesome!

- Tracy's Crab Shack in Juneau - We all agreed this was our best meal of the entire trip!

- Driving in a Green Jeep up to Emerald Lake in the Canadian Yukon

- Service on the ship was fantastic! Everyone we met smiled, took the time to talk with us, & always remembered our names. We never had an issue with ordering a drink.

- Loved Blu and ate there 6 out of 7 nights. There was only one main dish I didn't care for. My favorites were the spare ribs, jicama salad, and lava cake. All this happened to be served on the same night making for a very memorable meal! We had breakfast in Blu 3 times and everything we ordered was great - omlette, tableside muesli, French toast with muddled berries, poached eggs. The waiters serenaded us on our anniversary and brought a special anniversary brownie to the table.

- Brent Nixon's talks were very informative & entertaining. However, my husband thought he was over the top. I'm a teacher, so I thought he was fabulous!

- Solstice the Show was AMAZING! Everyone in my group loved it!

 

Wish I would have known...

- How tired we would truly be after the small boat excursion. We were so tired, we didn't have that much fun in Juneau even after waiting until around 3pm to get off the boat.

- The Goldbelt Hotel is NOT a short walk from the Solstice dock in Juneau. It is for the other docks, but not Solstice. Walking to get our rental car probably contributed to how tired we were. Mendenhall Glacier and the Shrine of St. Therese are both beautiful spots, but we were tired. Did I say how tired we were?

- 3 port days back to back was very taxing on everyone in our group and we were not staying up late and did not book multiple excursions. From now on, I will probably look for itineraries with at least one sea day between 2 of the ports.

 

This cruise exceeded our expectations and we all agreed that we would cruise Celebrity again!

 

 

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[aussiecruzer]

Thanks for a great review. We are also on the Tracy Arm excursion in a couple of weeks. OK , good to know in advance that its tiring. Were you tendered in Juneau? After reboarding the Solstice after the small boat excursion, was it easy to get tender tickets or was 3 pm the earliest tender tickets you could get? We were planning to take the blue or white bus to Medenhall Glacier. Thanks .

[JohninDC]

We did this cruise in June and did not tender for any port.

[Keith1010]

Glad you enjoyed the cruise and congratulations on your 25th wedding anniversary. May there be many to come in the future.

 

Keith

[Loubelou]

Thanks for a great review. We are also on the Tracy Arm excursion in a couple of weeks. OK , good to know in advance that its tiring. Were you tendered in Juneau? After reboarding the Solstice after the small boat excursion, was it easy to get tender tickets or was 3 pm the earliest tender tickets you could get? We were planning to take the blue or white bus to Medenhall Glacier. Thanks .

 

 

Once you leave Tracy Arm, it takes about 2-3 hours to get to Juneau. We only stopped once when the captain saw an eagle in a tree close to the shore. There also happened to be a group of sea lions up on some rocks, but they all swam away the closer the boat got to the shore. We arrived in Juneau at 1:20 and were back on Solstice by 1:30. Solstice was docked in Juneau, so we did not have to worry about tendering. Be warned, the buffet closes at 2pm and our friends didn't come up in time and had very few choices left for lunch. There were people on our small boat excursion that were starting another excursion right away and didn't even have time for lunch. They do have lots of snacks for sale on the small boat, however.

 

 

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[aussiecruzer]

Once you leave Tracy Arm, it takes about 2-3 hours to get to Juneau. We only stopped once when the captain saw an eagle in a tree close to the shore. There also happened to be a group of sea lions up on some rocks, but they all swam away the closer the boat got to the shore. We arrived in Juneau at 1:20 and were back on Solstice by 1:30. Solstice was docked in Juneau, so we did not have to worry about tendering. Be warned, the buffet closes at 2pm and our friends didn't come up in time and had very few choices left for lunch. There were people on our small boat excursion that were starting another excursion right away and didn't even have time for lunch. They do have lots of snacks for sale on the small boat, however.

 

 

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Thanks so much for this information. I think the Solstice alternates weeks tendering in Juneau, and we are tendered. Thanks again, all helps with the planning :) I did not realise the buffet closes at 2. Do you have any idea what time it reopens?

[LisaSp]

- Brent Nixon's talks were very informative & entertaining. However, my husband thought he was over the top. I'm a teacher, so I thought he was fabulous!/quote]

 

Hi there! I was on this sailing as well, and we also had an amazing cruise! We went to several of Brent's talks and he was *so* not what I expected, but I also thought he was fantastic. Everyone here raved about him, but no one really described what he was like...so when he started his first "ALAXSXAQ" talk I was like WOAH!

[Loubelou]

I did not pay attention to the time it reopens, but it's probably around 5pm for dinner.

 

 

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[aussiecruzer]

I did not pay attention to the time it reopens, but it's probably around 5pm for dinner.

 

 

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It's Ok , I found the information - looks like lunch 12-2, afternoon tea 3.30-4.30, dinner 5-10.30 at the buffet. But looks like pizza and pasta is open all day, and mast grill open 11.30-5 pm, so there should be something available when we get back from our Tracy Arm tour. Thanks again.

[ClaudiaB]

We've only done the M class to Alaska and have another booked because it's northbound. Glad to hear there are options on Solstice for smaller boats going into Tracy Arm. There are other interesting itineraries out there but we're kind of leery of stepping outside a line we love so well. Need to see if Azamara does Alaska but I'm not sure it does.

We also had a gorgeous kayaking day in Ketchikan. Ketchikan can be icky weather so it was a happy surprise. A fabulous time, and our guides were so thrilled with the day themselves that we had probably close to two hours longer out on the water. It was so much fun!

I'm taking your advice about renting a vehicle like you did. Sounds like fun.

So Brent is on Solstice now.... I was thrilled with him last time on Infinity, went to every one of his lectures and bought his tapes and the gorgeous cd of music. I listen to it all the time. He's really amazing. Well worth whatever Celebrity pays for him. Well some people think he's over the top but I guess I was his target audience because I caught his love for Alaska and his enthusiasm. And I couldn't agree more about getting out of the lounges, the food areas and out on deck all hours just taking in the awesomeness of Alaska.

Glad you had a wonderful cruise and happy anniversary.

[JJ2sail]

I agree Brent Nixon is awesome! Glad you enjoyed the Solstice and Alaska!

Edited August 13, 2014 by JJ2sail

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the report!