Best Celebrity ship to Alaska?

[Ronsangel]

DH and I are looking at an Alaskan cruise for May or June 2015 and have just stumbled on a great deal from Celebrity. This would be our first Celebrity cruise (previously cruise on RCI, Carnival and Princess) and to be honest, I don't know much about their ships. There are offerings on the Millennium, Solstice and Infinity. Any Celebrity pros have recommendations on the best ship to look at? Also, not certain on the best itinerary for the true "Alaska" experience. Hoping to see as many animals as possible! Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thank you :)

[Bruin Steve]

DH and I are looking at an Alaskan cruise for May or June 2015 and have just stumbled on a great deal from Celebrity. This would be our first Celebrity cruise (previously cruise on RCI, Carnival and Princess) and to be honest, I don't know much about their ships. There are offerings on the Millennium, Solstice and Infinity. Any Celebrity pros have recommendations on the best ship to look at? Also, not certain on the best itinerary for the true "Alaska" experience. Hoping to see as many animals as possible! Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thank you :)

 

Celebrity isn't taking the newer, larger S-Class ships to Alaska, probably since they don't fit through the canal...

The M-Class ships are all, basically, the same...

DON'T base your choice on the ship, rather base it on itinerary...

If you want to see the most, take an itinerary that goes one-way...Seward to Vancouver or vice versa...they don't have to backtrack...or need to squeeze in a short stop in Victoria to deal with US Federal law...So you typically get one more port day and more hours in port...

To see absolutely the most wildlife, add on a land cruisetour to the interior of Alaska...one with the long wildlife tour in Denali National Park...

 

Other than that, Icy Strait Point is a great opportunity to see very large numbers of whales...

 

Have fun...

[still-learning]

Sorry incorrect, Solstice is an S Class ship and has been doing Alaska for quite some time...

 

Celebrity isn't taking the newer, larger S-Class ships to Alaska, probably since they don't fit through the canal...

The M-Class ships are all, basically, the same...

DON'T base your choice on the ship, rather base it on itinerary...

If you want to see the most, take an itinerary that goes one-way...Seward to Vancouver or vice versa...they don't have to backtrack...or need to squeeze in a short stop in Victoria to deal with US Federal law...So you typically get one more port day and more hours in port...

To see absolutely the most wildlife, add on a land cruisetour to the interior of Alaska...one with the long wildlife tour in Denali National Park...

 

Other than that, Icy Strait Point is a great opportunity to see very large numbers of whales...

 

Have fun...

Edited February 1, 2015 by still-learning

[Bruin Steve]

Sorry incorrect, Solstice is an S Class ship and has been doing Alaska for quite some time...

 

Oops...Didn't notice that at quick glance...

Still, the advice is basically the same: CHOOSE THE ITINERARY, NOT THE SHIP...

[gdpups]

I've done both the North and South routes and agree of what's offered they give you the most time in port. If seeing bears is important to you (it was to me) to get the best chance to see them in port go when the salmon is running, usually July or August. Check out the Alaska "port of call" pages and do a little research, lots of information there.

[still-learning]

Oops...Didn't notice that at quick glance...

Still, the advice is basically the same: CHOOSE THE ITINERARY, NOT THE SHIP...

 

Agreed :)

[fleckle]

.......DON'T base your choice on the ship, rather base it on itinerary...

If you want to see the most, take an itinerary that goes one-way...Seward to Vancouver or vice versa...they don't have to backtrack...or need to squeeze in a short stop in Victoria to deal with US Federal law...So you typically get one more port day and more hours in port...

To see absolutely the most wildlife, add on a land cruisetour to the interior of Alaska...one with the long wildlife tour in Denali National Park...

 

Other than that, Icy Strait Point is a great opportunity to see very large numbers of whales...

I agree as well.

The Millennium has the best itinerary of the 3 ships, making the best use of the available time as it only needs to go one way in 7 days.

 

The Infinity has the second best itinerary, if you want a round trip 7 day cruise instead of a one-way.

 

The Solstice, although the newest and most modern ship of the three, has the worst Alaska itinerary of them all.

 

The Solstice wastes 2 days out of 7 just cruising out in the Pacific Ocean, while the other ships instead travel the scenic route through the inside passage on those two days.

Also, the Solstice has either needed to tender at Juneau, or has been assigned to dock at the worst berthing position there of all.

Many passengers don't even bother to get off the ship at its Victoria port stop because it arrives there late in the day, staying for only a short time.

 

Edited February 1, 2015 by fleckle

[karensc]

We researched this for exactly the same reason. We decided to do a week on our own, flying to Anchorage, renting a car and riving to Denali and staying 2 nights in the area. Then driving back to Anchorage, take the train to Seward and rent another car (one-way car rentals are extremely costly). Stay way out on the Kenai Peninsula 2 nights, and one night in Seward before boarding the "Millennium" Southbound. Depending on when you go, you might want to look into the Alaska Toursaver coupon book.We have saved quite a bit using their two for one coupons for our July 2015 trip.

 

We understand that seeing bears is iffy, you may want to splurge on a flightseeing and bear-watching combo to a known bear-frequented salmon river.

 

Good luck!

[Lady Lexus]

Consider Princess. The saying is they "own" Alaska. Not all cruise lines are permitted to enter Glacier Bay. Princess is. The Coral Princess is a fantastic ship for Alaska.

[TeaBag]

Infinity sails return out of Vancouver. Millennium sails northbound out of Vancouver, and southbound, into Vancouver. Solstice sails out of Seattle with one sailing out of Vancouver when she repositions from Australia. Only Infinity and Millennium do the part of the inside passage between Vancouver Island and the mainland. The scenery in this part of the inside passage is spectacular.

 

Infinity and Millennium are both M class ships and older and smaller than Solstice.

 

Whatever decision you come to, I'm sure you will enjoy Alaska.

[az_tchr]

Princess says they "own" Alaska becuase of the train trip they run that are actually awful as you get to see very little. The Millenium gives you a FULL day in Skagway - needed - and a whole afternood crusing off the Hubbard Glacier. It is 6 miles wide and better than glacier Bay as no slarge ship is allowed in very far.

[nekzaadvakil]

My parents (who usually cruise Royal's larger ships) just returned from their Asia Cruise on board the Celebrity Millennium. They had sailed the Solstice in Alaska, Silhouette in Europe (both S class ships) and absolutely loved it. They both said that the Millennium wasn't as good as the S class ships.

 

While I agree that its prudent to choose itinerary over ship, I'd definitely choose the Solstice over the Millennium/Infinty (both M class ships) in Alaska.

 

Infact one of the best reasons to choose Celebrity for Alaska is because they have the largest ship there (even Royal Caribbean doesn't have a Voyager Class or higher ship in Alaska)

[Patrick IL.]

We did a southbound on Millennium. We also did a 4 day pre cruise tour with X. I would highly recommend that experience, spent a night in Fairbanks, 2 nights in Denali and a night in Anchorage. Saw a ton of wildlife. We also took the glass domed train from Anchorage to Seward, amazing!

[kathynorth]

We researched this for exactly the same reason. We decided to do a week on our own, flying to Anchorage, renting a car and riving to Denali and staying 2 nights in the area. Then driving back to Anchorage, take the train to Seward and rent another car (one-way car rentals are extremely costly). Stay way out on the Kenai Peninsula 2 nights, and one night in Seward before boarding the "Millennium" Southbound. Depending on when you go, you might want to look into the Alaska Toursaver coupon book.We have saved quite a bit using their two for one coupons for our July 2015 trip.

 

We understand that seeing bears is iffy, you may want to splurge on a flightseeing and bear-watching combo to a known bear-frequented salmon river.

 

Good luck!

 

We've cruised Alaska a couple of times and this is exactly what we would like to do on a future trip! Millennium at Hubbard was awesome. Also, whale watching at Icy Strait was unbelievable.

[Bruin Steve]

Consider Princess. The saying is they "own" Alaska. Not all cruise lines are permitted to enter Glacier Bay. Princess is. The Coral Princess is a fantastic ship for Alaska.

 

The ones who would LIKE you to think Princess "owns" Alaska is Princess...

Glacier Bay is impressive...the most individual glaciers entering a single inlet...The Department of the Interior gives out a limited number of entry permits to cruise ship each year and Princess gets most of these...

BUT, Celebrity goes, instead, to Hubbard Glacier--the largest single glacier in Alaska--and equally impressive...

So, it's really a wash on that issue...

 

Princess' other big advertising spiels are:

1) They own their own hotels for the cruisetour portion...That they do, but it doesn't necessarily mean the hotels are any better. Celebrity uses some phenomenal first class hotels...they don't own them, but that means that if the quality decreases, they can switch them...I'd actually give Celebrity the edge on that one...

2) They have a special dome-covered rail car. Sheesh...big deal...So does EVERYONE...And, they are all attached to the SAME train!

3) They've been doing Alaska longer than anyone...Yeah...and Ford's been building cars longer than anyone. Means very little...I'd take a Lexus over a Ford...

 

The real bottom line is the cruise line itself...Celebrity is simply better...Ships are less crowded, service is better. And I've done three Princess cruises in the last 14 months...IMHO, they are nowhere near Celebrity--showrooms lack the capacity to handle the number of passengers, Anytime Dining is a mess with long lines and beepers just to get a table...

And, at least when we did Alaska last time, we noticed the Princess itineraries had half days in some ports where we did full days on Celebrity...

Edited February 2, 2015 by Bruin Steve

[Aquahound]

The ones who would LIKE you to think Princess "owns" Alaska is Princess...

 

Thank you!!!!

 

People are always touting Princess and HAL as "doing Alaska better" because supposedly they've been there longer. Yet, not one single person has been able to explain how that makes one bit of difference.

 

I cruised Alaska in 2013 on Millennium and 2014 on HAL Zuiderdam. Frankly, the Celebrity cruise was better...both itinerary and the cruise itself.

Edited February 2, 2015 by Aquahound

[fleckle]

The ones who would LIKE you to think Princess "owns" Alaska is Princess...

Glacier Bay is impressive...the most individual glaciers entering a single inlet...The Department of the Interior gives out a limited number of entry permits to cruise ship each year and Princess gets most of these...

BUT, Celebrity goes, instead, to Hubbard Glacier--the largest single glacier in Alaska--and equally impressive...

So, it's really a wash on that issue...

But additionally, if you really want to see Glacier Bay when you take a Celebrity cruise that goes to Hubbard Glacier, you can add on a flightseeing excursion over Glacier Bay from any of the surrounding ports and have the best of both.

 

You get to see a great deal more of Glacier Bay from the air than what can be seen from a cruise ship.

 

[Redtravel]

I love the Millenium. Been on several times and it was good. I do not like the Infinity. Although It may be the same class as Millenium, it just isn't as good. Solstice is also good. For Alaska, I would probably go with the Millenium. Smaller ship gets in closer. Forget the notion of Princess or HAL own Alaska. I did Alaska on RCL Rhapsody of the Seas and loved it. I would pick the cruise that goes where you want to go. Excursions are essential. My favorite was the seaplane over Misty Fjords and the salmon hatchery in Juneau. Enjoy!