Review - a month in Alaska with a B2B on Celebrity Millennium

[BrusselsGirl07]

We walked back to the B&B and played some more Farkle, talked and relaxed. We decided to try and go to the Moose’s Tooth Pub and Pizzeria for dinner. First we went to see the Ship Creek Salmon Hatchery. There were so many fishermen fishing it was a wonder any Salmon made it back up to spawn!

 

 

 

When we arrived at Moose’s Tooth there were about 100 people waiting outside for a table. We went inside and it was really busy with every table filled. We sat at the bar and the boys ordered a beer and Nancy and I ordered takeaway pizza. The pizza came very quickly, and we took it back to the B&B to eat.

 

 

 

We enjoyed the beautiful views from the B&B dining room windows while we ate our dinner.

 

[BrusselsGirl07]

We stayed up to watch the beautiful sunset from the balcony - the sun disappeared at 11.45pm!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[BrusselsGirl07]

Mon 21 July - Today we were headed to Whittier! We dropped off our rental car and waited to be picked up by Sharman from Salmon Berry Tours. I had organised a private for the four of us tour along Turnagain Arm. Sharman was right on time and was really nice. The bus was very roomy and comfortable, especially with only 4 passengers! Sharman narrated as we went along and our first stop was at Beluga Point with beautiful views of Turnagain Arm. We did not see any Beluga, and Sharman said they had not been seen so far this year.

 

Our next stop was Bird Point Lookout, such a beautiful photo stop, with built-up walkways and views of the water and mountains.

 

 

 

 

Walkways at Bird Point

 

 

The only Beluga we saw!

 

 

[BrusselsGirl07]

Alyeska was our next stop, to take the 7 minute tram ride up to the top of Mt Alyeska. While we waited for the tram, we walked around the gardens of the Alyeska hotel. There were so many beautiful gardens filled with colourful flowers and bronze sculptures of bears and deer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[BrusselsGirl07]

The day was beautiful and sunny, so when we arrived at the top of the tramway we hiked further up the mountain and enjoyed the most beautiful views of the mountains and Turnagain Arm.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[BrusselsGirl07]

I had no idea they fired at the mountains to bring down excess snow before it can build up to become a huge avalanche!

 

 

 

You can walk up Mt Alyeska using the paths.

 

 

After our hike and our tram ride back down the mountain, we drove into Girdwood and had lunch at the Bake Shop. Lunch was included in our tour and we had a hearty bowl of soup, a huge sourdough bun and a huge slice of iced cinnamon roll.

 

 

 

It amused me that dessert was served with a knife and fork sticking out of it!

Edited September 3, 2014 by BrusselsGirl07

[catr13]

Loving your review Yvette - photos are fabulous! We have just booked for the same trip in reverse - Northbound on Millennium in May with a few days in Anchorage/Seward area at the end.

How did you find Hawaiian airlines? Better than Jetstar? We are tossing up between Jetstar and Hawaiian and trying to figure things out with frequent flyers, but want to fly via Honolulu and maybe stop there for a few days on the way back. Also not sure how to continue on with a codeshare flight (we will be flying Honolulu to Vancouver) but you've made me think I'd better look into it more carefully!

 

I have flown both with Jetstar and Hawaiian airlines to Hawaii. There is not a massive difference between the two. For me I usually go by whatever is the cheapest option. The problem is with jetstar you have to pay for the extras. By the time you add on meals and baggage sometimes you can often find the prices to be quite similiar! You cant beat Hawaiian's luggage allowance of 2 x 32 kg bags!!

 

Jetstar might start to fly their dreamliner to Hawaii in the not too distance future. I have heard they are a very nice experience. Will find out in a cpl of weeks time when I fly to Japan on one!

[BrusselsGirl07]

Continuing with our tour, we stopped at the the Alaska WildLife Conservation Centre. This is a really cool outdoor centre with animals in very large outdoor enclosures. We saw adult Moose and some adorable orphaned baby Moose, Black Bears and Grizzlies, Caribou, Musk Oxe, Foxes, two Lynx which had been orphaned in a forest fire and taken to the centre as kittens, A Bald Eagle that had sadly been shot and lost a wing, and lots of other animals. There is a really nice walkway under construction through some swampy grasslands which has beautiful views of Turnagain Arm and more beautiful snow capped mountains. You can drive or walk around the enclosures, and so we walked as it was such a pretty day. We looked around the giftshop before leaving.

 

 

A forest of 'drowned' trees from at the zoo, caused when sea water flooded the land after the 1964 earthquake

 

 

 

Someone shot this eagle and he lost his wing.

 

 

[BrusselsGirl07]

 

 

 

 

 

http://i1050.photobucket.com/albums/s420/yvettebelinda/TurnAgain%20Arm/IMG_2810_zpsd3031472.jpg

[BrusselsGirl07]

Sharman stopped to show us a beautiful glacier fed lake, which was the most spectacular colour of green, especially with the lovely sunny day.

 

 

 

 

[BrusselsGirl07]

Our next stop was at Portage Lake to board the MV Ptarmigan and sail to see Portage Glacier. This was our second Alaska Glacier, and it was very pretty and so different from Exit Glacier. A US Forest Services Officer was onboard and narrated during the trip and told us all about the Glacier. Even though it was a warm day, at the face of the Glacier it was very cold! We listened to the creaks and groans of the glacier, but while there was lots of ice in the water, we did not see any calving. The ice formations were fascinating and the colour of the Glacier was so pretty.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[BrusselsGirl07]

 

 

 

 

 

[BrusselsGirl07]

Our day was coming to an end, and our next adventure was driving through the tunnel to Whittier! We were spending two nights in Whittier and I had become a little apprehensive, as both Linda at the B&B in Anchorage, and Sharman, had commented that they did not know any tourists who had spent 2 nights in Whittier before! The Anton Anderson Memorial Tunnel - the longest (2.5 miles) highway tunnel in North America, and the first designed for -40 Fahrenheit temperatures and 150 mph winds - links Whittier by road and rail to the outside world.

 

 

[BrusselsGirl07]

Once through the tunnel, which has emergency rooms at regular intervals, Sharman dropped us at The Inn at Whittier, our home for the next two nights. http://innatwhittier.com I had booked a Townhouse Suite which had beautiful views of the harbour from the living areas and the mountains from the upstairs bathroom. A kingsize bed and bathroom were upstairs and a full bathroom and fold out sofa bed were downstairs.

 

The hotel was very pretty perched our in the harbour. They had a great bar and a nice restaurant. We went for a walk around the very small town to see where we were meeting up for our boat trip the next day. There was a fudge shop which offered free tastings https://www.facebook.com/WhittierFudge . I bought some Midnight Sun - Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Drizzled with Caramel - and it was so delicious. It was made on the premises, and I would suggest you buy some if you are there!! We had drinks and dinner at the hotel, which was nice.

 

 

 

 

Lazy Otter Charters and Cafe

 

 

[Cassicruiser]

I have flown both with Jetstar and Hawaiian airlines to Hawaii. There is not a massive difference between the two. For me I usually go by whatever is the cheapest option. The problem is with jetstar you have to pay for the extras. By the time you add on meals and baggage sometimes you can often find the prices to be quite similiar! You cant beat Hawaiian's luggage allowance of 2 x 32 kg bags!!

 

Jetstar might start to fly their dreamliner to Hawaii in the not too distance future. I have heard they are a very nice experience. Will find out in a cpl of weeks time when I fly to Japan on one!

 

Ooh the dreamliner sounds good! Maybe it will be in operation by next May! Hawaiian allows 2 suitcases but then there is the issue of internal flights which probably wouldn't. Although that much luggage could become a real pain in the neck to manage!

 

Yvette, sorry for interrupting your review - looking forward to the next installment!!

Edited September 4, 2014 by Cassicruiser

[catr13]

Ooh the dreamliner sounds good! Maybe it will be in operation by next May! Hawaiian allows 2 suitcases but then there is the issue of internal flights which probably wouldn't. Although that much luggage could become a real pain in the neck to manage!

 

Yvette, sorry for interrupting your review - looking forward to the next installment!!

 

Internal flights allow two but you pay for each suitcase so it starts to add up. Yes lots of luggage can be a pain but what we do is we each have a large and medium suitcase. The medium goes inside the large on the way over and we break open the second on the last part of our trip when we have boughts so much that it will no longer fit in the one suitcase. So its only the last part of the trip where it gets a little tricky.

 

Yvette, loving your review so far!!

[AryMay]

Thank you so much for the time and effort you are spending to write a review that includes so many photos. I did one earlier this summer and KNOW what it takes! I think it is so neat that you were able to share this trip with your friends!

 

I am jealous of your beautiful weather driving down Turnagain Arm. We had planned to see Portage Glacier and ride the Alyeska Tram, but our weather was so crummy that we skipped both. We did stop at the Wildlife Center, but we ended up so muddy walking around in the rain.

 

 

Our next stop was at Portage Lake to board the MV Ptarmigan and sail to see Portage Glacier. This was our second Alaska Glacier, and it was very pretty and so different from Exit Glacier. A US Forest Services Officer was onboard and narrated during the trip and told us all about the Glacier. Even though it was a warm day, at the face of the Glacier it was very cold! We listened to the creaks and groans of the glacier, but while there was lots of ice in the water, we did not see any calving. The ice formations were fascinating and the colour of the Glacier was so pretty.

 

You mentioned Exit Glacier...did you visit it on this trip? I went back through your posts and didn't see that you had made it to Seward...but I was afraid I might have missed something!

 

Thanks again...I am anxiously awaiting more!

[BrusselsGirl07]

AryMay, thanks for the kind words. You are right, I made a mistake. This was our first glacier, we go to Seward and Exit glacier next! Silly me!

[BrusselsGirl07]

Sorry, the photos should be appearing and back to normal soon! Hoping to sort out my photo bucket account quickly! Yvette

[BrusselsGirl07]

OK, photos sorted, if you can't see them, just close CC down and log back in and you should be all set! Just downloading some photos and I will add another part! Hope anyone reading is enjoying! Yvette :)

[BrusselsGirl07]

Tuesday 22 July 2014 - We woke up to bright sunshine and a stunningly beautiful morning!! Today we had a private all day tour out on Prince William Sound with Lazy Otter Tours http://www.lazyotter.com/prince-william-sound-custom-tour.html

 

Sadly, Rod and Nancy had a terrible night on the fold out sofa bed, and we felt very guilty for taking the real bed. Rod spoke to the Manager who arranged for them to sleep in another room at no extra charge for the next night. If you book the Townhouse Suite and there are 4 adults in your group, ensure you ask if the sofa bed has been replaced. It should not be advertised as a bed, as it is so uncomfortable!

 

Rod had gone out for an early walk, and Bill and I had the same idea and met up with him by the Begich Towers, an apartment building where nearly all of Whittier’s residents live. The school is right next door.

 

The small town of Whittier is dominated by two very large buildings. Begich Towers is one and the other is the unused, abandoned Buckner Building. It would cost too much to demolish the Buckner Building, so it sits and slowly decays. Both of these buildings were at one time the largest buildings in Alaska.

 

Behind the Begich Towers is a Glacier fed river, fed by the Whittier Glacier high on the Mountains behind the town, and this is where we met up with Rod (at the river, not high on the mountains!). We walked the short distance back to the port through the Whittier Walkway tunnel which had the most wonderful display of fireweed at the entrance and went to the Lazy Otter Cafe for coffee and breakfast. http://www.lazyotter.com/lazy-otter-cafe-whittier.html

 

 

Sunrise from our bedroom window

 

 

Walking through the pedestrian tunnel between Begich Towers and the port area

 

 

 

Begich Towers, Fireweed and a little glimpse of the waterfall behind

 

 

[BrusselsGirl07]

 

Begich Towers and some of the school buildings

 

The Fireweed was so pretty!!

 

The owner of the Lazy Otter Cafe got this stained glass otter from Homer (I think that is where she said). I looked everywhere on my travels for one and could not find one to buy.

[BrusselsGirl07]

In the cafe, we introduced ourselves and were met by Captain Dale. Our lunch was loaded up and off we went for a day on the water! We stopped very close to a waterfall with cliff walls covered by hundreds of nesting Kittiwakes. Can I just say again how magnificent the day was! It was warm, the sunshine was sparkling on the water, and the scenery was incredibly beautiful! We saw lots of Bald Eagles in the trees.

 

 

Whittier in the distance - you can see the glacier above the town!

 

 

 

 

 

[BrusselsGirl07]

We passed a rocky island covered in Steller Sea Lions, and stopped to watch them climb on the rocks and frolic in the water, and listen to them barking.

 

We passed a bigger rocky island covered in breeding Puffins! This was our first sighting of wild Puffins, and they were everywhere! Bobbing in the water, flying around in the air and flapping their adorable stubby wings while standing on the rocks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[BrusselsGirl07]

Captain Dale then took us to a little island and we were able to climb down a ladder at the bow of the boat onto the rocky beach. We had 20 minutes to explore the island before getting back on board. We saw a couple of whale blows and a whale tail as it dived, and we had Dall Porpoise swimming next to the boat.

 

We stopped to have a yummy lunch in Esther Passage. Bill took the wheel of the boat while Captain Dale got out lunch ready. We had lettuce, tomato and cheese, various sliced deli meats, bread rolls, smoked salmon spread, apples, chips, cookies and trail mix. We had views of Sea Otters swimming and mountains and glaciers while we ate.