5/29/15 Solstice to Alaska

[illiniwahoo]

Our trip to Alaska was amazing! The ship was lovely, the excursions fantastic, and the weather dry.

 

We flew into Seattle the day before the cruise, landing about 7pm at SeaTac. We took the light rail to westlake center (last stop). It took about 40 minutes (I can't remember exactly, but it was less than an hour) and cost approx $2pp. It was a long walk through the parking garage to the light rail station, but it was well marked and level ground, so not too difficult. We walked the 4 blocks to the Hotel Andra. I would recommend this hotel to anyone. It was reasonably priced for downtown Seattle ($160 weekday), near some great restaurants, and walking distance to Pike Place Market. We had a late dinner at "Serious Pie," which was around the corner from the hotel. I was traveling with my husband and parents. The four of us ate three pizzas. They were wood-fired pizzas with some standard and some unusual toppings. I love the rosemary and potato, but my husband's favorite was the one with spicy sausage. After an exhausting day, we crashed after dinner.

 

The following morning, we went to Pike Place Market for a roaming breakfast. We had an apple pastry from piroshky piroshky, crumpets from the crumpet shop, and coffee from someplace other than the original Starbucks (there was a line down the block..really people? It's just Starbucks). I wanted Mac and cheese for breakfast, but Beecher's wasn't open yet :) We wandered over to the park in front of the market to check out the totem pole and hoping to see our cruise ship, but a building was in the way of seeing Pier 91. You can see the sailboat harbor right next to the ship, so we had and idea where we were heading. Honestly, the park was filled with homeless people and smelled like weed and urine. We didn't stay long. We were back to the hotel around 11, and headed to the ship via Uber by 11:30. I had two free uber rides from my credit card, so I don't know how much it was other than less than $30 (because that's how much my credit was and I wasn't charged extra). We were at the dock around noon.

 

It was our first time in concierge class (typically we are in inside cabins, but with the three promotions with the 123go sale, it made sense to go concierge class). It was pretty great to skip some lines. I think it saved us over 20 minutes. One of the benefits advertised was a 'pre-departure lounge'. With all the luggage, my parents took a separate taxi. We had planned to meet them at the lounge, but they were already letting people on the ship, and we couldn't find the lounge. So on the ship we went! We met up with them about 20 minutes later at the sunset bar. It was easy since cell phones still worked normally, but we didn't have much trouble meeting up anytime. We enjoyed drinks on the lawn, had lunch in the buffet, checked out the cabins, and met back in the sunset bar for sailaway.

 

Sailaway was beautiful, and before you know it it was time for our 7:30 select dinner reservations. Dinners were lovely as always. We thought about the specialty restaurants, but the dining room was so nice, we never bothered. I can't remember exactly what we did every night, but it was likely come combination of CellarMasters, the Molecular bar, the Martini bar, sometimes a show.

 

I'll do all my discussion of the ship in this post, and then each port next. We love celebrity. We love the S-class ships. We love the food. We love the service. We love the drink menus and wine list. I love the glass blowing show (notice the switch from we to I...my husband doesn't get it :) ). We loved the presentations by Brent Nixon and Miss Amanda (and that's usually not our thing on cruise ships - we are typically pool people in bathing suits all day in the Caribbean). Between watching the scenery on the balcony, the activities, the bars, the lawn, reading, napping, hot tubs, champagne, the buffet, the free ice cream, the hot glass show, the wine and cheese party on the lawn.....I could go on..... we were never bored.

 

I think cruising is the perfect way to travel with people. We always met at cellar masters with my parents for wine before dinner at 7pm, but did our own things during the day. Sometimes we met up, by chance or planning, but there was no pressure to be together every waking moment. I'd cruise with my parents again in a heartbeat. I think my husband would too;).

 

Next, pictures if I ever figure out how to post them and the ports and our amazing excursions!! Feel free to ask questions! The ship was great, but the excursions are really the highlight of Alaska. My husband and I agreed that if we had to give something up to make the budget work, we would definitely book an inside cabin and spend the money on excursions. The towns are cute, but the beauty of Alaska isn't in a souvenir shop.

[illiniwahoo]

[illiniwahoo]

The images are in photobucket. Does anyone know how to make them smaller?

[illiniwahoo]

The pool deck

 

Molecular bar - Indulgence

 

Are the photos still huge?

[Barwick Cruiser]

The pics are fine!! I like the bigger pics and yours look great! We are on the Solstice Sept 11th so I'm looking forward to this review,including pics!! Keep it coming!

Cathy

[LMW1330]

Pics are perfect. I am enjoying them.

[Pinkbudgie]

We are actually leaving tomorrow to drive up to Seattle for this cruise on Friday! Seeing the pictures is very exciting. :D We are traveling with my parents too. They have cruised before and this is our first one. Hopefully I'll have wifi at our hotels on the way up so I can check in and see more of your trip report before I board!

[Langley Cruisers]

Yes, the wine and cheese party on the lawn was definitely one of the highlights for us!! Just phenomenal.

[illiniwahoo]

I should start out with our travel philosophy - We love it all. We LOVE cruising, but actually have very little tolerance for large 55 pax buses filled with demanding people. When possible, we try to book privately and avoid crowds. At the same time, I really do like tour guides or audio tours so that I can really learn this history and background of what we are seeing. Therefore, we try to book as much as we can in small groups to have the benefit of a guide when needed, or do our own thing when a guide isn't needed. We are in our thirties, so tend to more active tours. However, we traveled with my parents in their 60s, so did a balance on this trip.

Ketchikan - Kayaking and Misty Fjords National Monument

My husband and I kayaked in the morning through Ketchikan Kayak Company. We chose them for their good prices and small group size (no more than 8 people = 4 kayaks). Devon picked us up right at the cruise ship dock and drove us to Knudsen Cove about 20 minutes away. It turns out we booked the same time as a family of 8 people. Rather than grouping us together, Howard, the owner, sent us out with our own private guide! The morning was cloudy, but no rain. The water was calm, and we were able to travel at our own pace. I loved having our own guide. Devon was interesting, but also knew when to be quiet and just let us enjoy the wilderness. We saw starfish, jellyfish, eagles, and small herring jumping out of the water. I loved taking a break in a calm cove, seeing starfish at the waterline, and hearing the eagles calling above our heads. It was beautiful! My husband and I were experienced kayakers, so we went further than the group of eight people. At the end, the owner typically had snacks, but was running low and offered to buy s anything we wanted form the nearby snack bar at the marina. We declined, but I thought that was great service! For logistics for the trip, we were offered waterproof jackets and pants, and a dry bag for things that we wanted to take with us. We left a backpack in the office as well. I had my camera in a waterproof case, but it annoyed me. I was able to take it out of the case, and it was just fine. The delivered the promised 2.5 hours of kayaking, and was even able to get us back to town a little earlier than originally stated since I had planned a seaplane trip only a half hour later. I would recommend Ketchikan Kayak Co. to anyone.

 

 

Look - an eagle!

 

 

Look at all of those starfish - purple and orange - I didn't even realize they were starfish as first because there were so many.

[Jane2357]

Great start to your review! We are doing Alaska on Millie - north bound in May of '16.

[plmtrprsn]

More, please! We are boarding on July 3rd and have concierge class also. Excited to hear about the rest of your trip! Thanks for sharing!

[mteacher6]

I'm really enjoying your trip report. Thank you so much for sharing. We cruise on July 24 on the Soltice.

 

Keep those pics coming:)

[bwaz]

Thanks for this exciting review. We are on the Solstice later this summer.

 

I notice you used Pier 91. When I asked the X travel agent at their toll-free number, she said we left from Pier 66. Does X use alternate ports or was she just wrong?

 

Thanks and looking forward to more.

Sent from my LG-D801 using Forums mobile app

[js4rq]

Loving your cruise review so far! :)

[illiniwahoo]

Next, we met up with my parents and took our float plane trip with Dave of Family Air to Misty Fjords National Monument. We booked in February, so we got a buy three get the fourth person free special! His niece picked us up right by the cruise ship, and drove us less than 5 minutes to the Family Air terminal. We were assigned seats based on weight, and were quickly off for our 2 hour flight, including landing time at a floating dock in Misty Fjords. We all had window seats and hedsets to speak to the pilot and each other. Dave was a great tour guide. He was happy to answer all of our questions along with his informative narration. It was cloudy in Ketchikan, and just as Dave told us we would, we were out of the clouds in less than 10 minutes. It was quite warm and sunny in the fjords, I was comfortable in just my t-shirt when we got out of the plane. At the conclusion of the trip, his niece dropped us off at Creek street, so we could save some time as we had less than an hour before all aboard. We wandered Creek street for a little bit. As we were so close to leaving, it was pretty empty even with several ships in port. We had time to buy the perfect souvenir - a Christmas ornament with Santa in a Float Plane instead of a sleigh! {we aren't big shoppers or souvenir people, but we do like to get a new Christmas ornament from each trip} There’s not much else to say, I’ll just let you enjoy the beautiful pictures!

 

Our Chariot

 

Inside the plane mid-flight!

 

 

 

 

View from our landing point in Misty Fjords

[illiniwahoo]

If you are reading this, going on the Solstice, and haven’t booked the Tracy Arm add on, JUST DO IT NOW. Right now. We will wait……………….Thanks for coming back. I knew we wanted to do the Tracy Arm excursion, but we were traveling with my parents, and I waited until I went home the first weekend in March to make final plans and discuss it with them. Monday night as soon as I got home, I went to book the tickets – and it was all sold out! I was so bummed. I checked every night to see if anyone had returned their tickets and about 45 days later, I was rewarded with 4 tickets! I was beyond excited. It turned out that had a ~140 person larger ferry boat, and they had added a 20 person smaller boat. We were on the small boat, as a large group was on the larger boat. The small boat was nice in that they didn’t have a full galley, so all snacks (besides beer) were free and plentiful. Being on the 20 person boat also meant that there was never any jockeying for space at the railing, and we got much closer to the glaciers than the larger boat. As the Solstice was turning around, we got off the ship onto the excursion boat. We went through a field of ice to get much closer to South Saywer glacier, where we stayed of about an hour looking at the glacier, watching the iceberg float by, and checking out the harbor seals.

Harbor seals!

[illiniwahoo]

After leaving South Sawyer Glacier, we headed to North Sawyer Glacier. This glacier was much different, with almost no icebergs in the water in front of the glacier. We were able to get very close, but no icebergs meant no seals, so we spent less time at this glacier than the last one. We did see a little calving, and some nice seabirds. Our captain sped on to the rest of Tracy Arm. We stopped by a waterfall and drank some glacier run-off water, found a bear feeding along the coastline, and stopped for another picture perfect waterfall (see below!) The scenery throughout the Arm was so beautiful. Many people thought the wind was chilly and enjoyed the views from the inside, but I stayed outside most of the time (which accounts for my sun/windburn!). Just as we were exiting Tracy Arm, there was a VERY large iceberg (especially considering how far it was from the glacier). Perched on top of the iceberg was a bald eagle. It’s like he was tethered there for perfect pictures! Haha

Overall the narration was pretty good, and the boat driver and naturalist were very accessible for questions. On the way back to Juneau, there was less narration, but plenty of time to enjoy the scenery, ask questions, and search for whales. Sadly, we didn’t find any whales (but the captain did try his best), but did stop briefly at a sea lion colony. I would happily go on this excursion again!

We got back to the cruise ship in Juneau about 2:05 and immediately picked up tender tickets. (the larger boat was back already, and the tour vendor said that the smaller boat travels slightly slower) We were given #36 at approximately 2:10. We were advised that it would take 50 minutes, and that by 3pm two weeks ago they finished all the tender tickets by 3:00. This was not true our week, as we were not on shore until 3:45, and technically got on the tenders with groups 34 and 35 (a few minutes after they called 35 we went down by the lines set up in the atrium. Once the line died down from 34 & 35, the employee at the end of the line asked us our ticket number and let us in line even though we told him #36.) They officially called 36 a few minutes later while we were boarding the tender. Even though we missed out on more than two hours of time in Juneau, I still think this excursion is a must do. If you do make any roll call friends, you may want to ask them if they will pick up tender tickets for you so you can get ashore faster. (I was planning to do that, but slept though the cruise critic meeting)

 

North Sawyer Glacier

 

Tracy Arm

 

Beautiful Waterfall!

 

Iceberg with eagle on top

 

Eagle close up

 

Sea Lions

[illiniwahoo]

Per our travel philosophy, we booked a private whale watching trip for the four of us. This was terrific as it was only 30 dollars more total than the cruise ship excursion would have been! If we had invited two more people from our role call, it would have been much cheaper than the cruise ship. We used “Lost in Alaska” with Captain Kevin. After our very late tender, we had some difficulty finding a taxi (but it really only took about 10 minutes). We went to Mendenhall glacier for about 30 minutes. It was disappointing not to have time to make it to nugget falls, but it will just be a reason to go back! Captain Kevin had given the taxi driver my cell phone number, and five minutes before the assigned pick-up time, the taxi driver had arrived and called to say that he was waiting for us in the commercial section of the parking lot. Kevin texted while we were in the taxi to make sure that we had no trouble meeting up.

 

Kevin’s boat was exactly as pictured, and comfortable for four people to be inside or out. He had snacks and water, but we didn’t need anything. I was delighted that he even had a deckhand on board for the sole purpose of helping him spot the whales for us! The captains all work together, so Kevin already knew the location of some whales and took us straight there. We watched a mom and baby for a while, and another adult. All we saw was backs and one tail, so we moved onto a more playful whale, who was rolling in the water and sticking up his giant pectoral fins which were over ten feet long! Kevin and the deckhand were great about pointing out whales and describing their location - “Whale up – 2 o’clock” Sometimes we had whales on both sides of the boat and couldn’t decide where to look! Kevin also does a photo cruise a few times a year, and tried to position the boat on the correct side of the whales for the sun direction! I was impressed by his extra effort to get my dad great pictures. Brent Nixon’s presentation on humpbacks really helped us understand more about these creatures and appreciate them. Kevin offered a 2.5 hour or a 4 hour whale watch. When I was researching, I felt like 4 hours would be very long, but after being out for 2.5 hours, I would seriously consider booking 4 hours next time! This time, the 2.5 hour is what fit into the schedule, and I would not hesitate to book the shorter time if that’s what you have time for.

 

We headed back to the dock, not realizing the best was yet to come. Near the shore, Kevin pulled the boat over and told us to take our cameras out. He started making this “hooting” noise – he was calling the eagles! In a few minutes, we had more than 30 eagles circling the boat and dipping down in the water to go fishing! It was totally magical to be surrounded by so many eagles!

 

Kevin took us back to the dock, and had a taxi waiting for us to take us back to the cruise ship. We got back to the ship about 8:30. It was a less than a 5 minute line to get on a tender back to the ship. We quickly changed for dinner and were seated about 9pm. We loved our waiter that night (I wish I had written down his name!). We literally shut down the dining room. Really. We were the last people there. They were cleaning and re-setting the tables, but our waiter kept chatting, and we were enjoying it!

 

It was a VERY long day – but a fantastic day! For those looking for clothing guidance, I wore leggings and pair of thin travel pants in the morning, with a t-shirt, a thin fleece, a thick fleece, and a waterproof shell, and a fleece hat and gloves by the glacier. (My husband was in jeans, one fleece, and a waterproof shell) As soon as we were away from the glacier, I didn’t need the hat or gloves. In the afternoon on the whale watch, I was just wearing one fleece, which I may not have even really needed.

 

More photos tomorrow!

Edited July 9, 2015 by illiniwahoo

[Barwick Cruiser]

So glad this review is continuing but the last set of pics didn't seem to load properly and I can't see them. Did you do something differently or is it just me?

[illiniwahoo]

Thanks for letting me know. They showed up in my preview! I think I know how to fix it and will do it tonight after work.

 

Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

[illiniwahoo]

Seal Lions

[illiniwahoo]

So the pictures are working again. Here's the rest of Tracy Arm

North Sawyer Glacier

 

Tracy Arm

 

Beautiful Waterfall

 

Eagle on Iceberg

 

Eagle Close up

[illiniwahoo]

Mendenhall Glacier

 

Solstice in Juneau

 

Our Whale Watch boat, Lost in Alaska

 

My attempt at a whale photo

[illiniwahoo]

Seeing all these Eagles so close over our heads was a real Alaskan Highlight!

 

I swear this isn't photoshopped

 

Going Fishing

 

 

So many!

[Langley Cruisers]

Seriously glorious photos! What a treat to see these magnificent birds up close. Thank you for sharing.