Trip Report Celebrity Millennium Northbound

[teachatthebeach]

We are a family of three from Tampa, Florida. Traveling were myself, my husband, and my 10 year old daughter. We started our adventure in Seattle, sailed on the Celebrity Millennium, and finished with 2 days on our own in Alaska.

 

SEATTLE

We stayed at the Best Western Loyal Inn and booked the hotel using points. The decor is a bit dull and drab, but overall the hotel was just fine. The room was clean and quiet, the staff was very friendly, and the hotel was a short walk from Seattle Center. Breakfast was included and offered lots of choices--eggs, sausage, bacon, oatmeal, yogurt, cereal, bagels, etc.

 

We arrived at 9:30 in the evening. The hotel works with a car service. I just called the hotel and gave them my flight information, and they had the car waiting. We paid the driver when we arrived at the hotel. It was $50 and seemed reasonable. Warning: the driver only accepted cash, so I was glad I was prepared for that.

 

The next morning we set out for the Space Needle which was only a 10 minute walk from the hotel. We got there around 10:00 and there was no line.

 

 

 

After the Space Needle, we went to Chihuly Garden and Glass. We just loved this exhibit. There were so many interesting pieces to see and it was neat to see how well the pieces worked outside.

 

 

 

After Chihuly, we ate lunch at the Lucky Diner. The food was very good and the portions were huge. The three of us were able to share 2 entrees and had more than enough.

 

After lunch, we went to the EMP Museum. I didn't think I was going to like it, but we had a great time. It's a museum dedicated to popular culture. They had the Wicked Witch of the West's hat, Arnold's jacket from The Terminator, an exhibit on the art of Chuck Jones (Bugs Bunny), and the costumes from Star Wars. We even made our own music video!

 

Later in the afternoon, we took the monorail to the City Center. We walked around a bit, did some shopping, and then took the monorail back to the Space Needle.

 

For dinner, we went to the Tilikum Place Cafe. The food was very good. We were with my husband's cousin who lives in Seattle. He took us on a tour of Seattle. First, we went to see a view of Mt. Rainer. Then we went to West Seattle and Alki Beach. It was so beautiful there. It was a cool evening and families were on the beach with bonfires. The view of the city skyline from there is also amazing.

 

And that ended our first day in Seattle!

[mek]

We were on Millennium 6 years ago and did a southbound cruise. I think the huge window at the back of the dining room is fabulous in Alaska.

[teachatthebeach]

Day 2 in Seattle

 

My body was still running on Tampa time, so I was awake at 4:30 in the morning. I let the family sleep, but we still got an early start and were at the Seattle Aquarium when it opened at 9:30. They have a nice collection of animals including a giant octopus, seals, otters, and puffins.

 

After the Aquarium, we headed up to Pike Market where we were meeting family for lunch. We opted to take the stairs and trust me there are a lot of stairs! If I do that again, I'm taking the elevator.;) Pike Market is an amazing place. I wish I lived there so I could buy some of those wonderful foods and cook with them! We watched fish be thrown, sampled mouth-watering peaches, and looked at the beautiful flowers. We met family for lunch at Matt's at the Market and had a great view of the Market. Everyone except me had the halibut sandwich. I don't eat seafood (I'm vacationing in the wrong part of the country, aren't I?), so I had the tacos. We all loved our food. After lunch we made our trip to the gum wall and strolled around the Market some more.

 

 

We made it an early night. We went to Zeek's Pizza for dinner which was very close to our hotel.

 

Vancouver

We took the early morning Amtrak Cascades train to Vancouver. I looked at the bus and renting a car, but the train seemed the most stress free way to travel to Vancouver. I enjoyed the train. The scenery is lovely. The conductor pointed out some interesting sights including a spot with lots of eagles.

 

We arrived in Vancouver at 11:45 and took a quick Taxi ride to our hotel. We stayed at the Best Western Plus hotel in downtown Vancouver on Drake Street. The rooms were very nice and modern. They have bikes to use for free, gave us a free one-way ticket for a ferry to Granville Island, and a free shuttle to the port. We booked this hotel with points also.

 

We had a quick lunch in the hotel restaurant and then set off for Granville Island. I wish we had waited and eaten at Granville Island. The food there looked and smelled amazing! Soon it started to rain, so we headed back to the hotel. I did some laundry which was time consuming because only 1 dryer worked. I actually had to go back and finish drying some clothes the next morning.

 

Dinner was a bit of an adventure. After much debate and being overly tired and hungry, we ended up at Moose's Down Under for dinner. It's a dive Australian bar that had a chicken parm special. The chicken parm was pretty good and the staff was really friendly. Not exactly how I wanted to spend my one night in Vancouver, but we survived!

[Newbcruiser1]

Thanks for the excellent review so far! Sailing on the millennium in 3 weeks and canny wait to read more!

[brekat1]

Just booked the Northbound Millennium cruise for Next May so excited to read a trip report for that ship :)

[Keith1010]

Enjoying your review.

 

Keith

[teachatthebeach]

Embarkation

 

We scheduled the 11:30 shuttle from the hotel to the pier. It's a short ride and the shuttle was ready a bit early. The Millennium was the only ship in port that day, so things were rather quiet at the pier. It took 50 minutes from the time the shuttle dropped us off until we were on the ship. Customs took the most time. There was a bit of a line. You have to scan your passports. I couldn't figure out how to do it. Then the technology whiz of the family, my 10year old DD, stepped in and had us through there in a jiff. We were CC class, so there was a slighter shorter line to check in. We had a problem with our credit card numbers not matching and that took a few minutes to correct.

 

We went to the buffet for lunch. It was full, but not overly crowded. Just as we were finishing lunch, the announcement was made that the cabins were ready. We dropped our things off in our room and explored the ship. The muster drill was at 4:00 and seemed to take forever--almost 40 minutes. Our muster station was the photo gallery, so there was no place to sit. After the muster drill, we up top for sail away. It's really something sailing under the bridge!

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Here are my thoughts on the Millennium:

 

Cabin 8084

When planning the trip, I found the itinerary I wanted. Both RC and Celebrity offered a north bound sailing with a stop in ISP. We went to a TA and the price for a balcony with RC and CC balcony with Celebrity was nearly identical. So we decided to try something new and went with Celebrity. Yes, the cabin was slightly larger, but I don't think I would pay extra for CC amenities. The shower and robes were nice. However, I never saw a "pillow menu" and the same 3 green apples in the room on the first day were there the last day. And our cabin did have the problem with an odd odor in the bathroom. It wasn't a sewage smell as others have described, but more of a real musty/stagnant water smell. I said something to the cabin steward. The first attempt to fix didn't work. The second attempt didn't completely eliminate the odor, but it was greatly reduced. It certainly didn't ruin the trip!

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Service

Our cabin steward Maria was great. On day one, she quickly got my husband an extension cord and a distilled water for his C-pap machine. Another day I asked her about laundry because we didn't have the bag in our room. She brought me a bag and told me my first 20 items would be free. I never saw a "stuff the bag" special that other posters mention, so this was a big help. On other areas of the ship, I can't say the service was overly friendly, but it was efficient.

 

Food

All of us enjoyed the food and thought it was really good. We always found something we liked at the buffet. You do need to walk the whole buffet. One morning I found yummy sticky buns, but they were only at the other end of the buffet. Another day, I saw the fixings for sandwiches, but only later realized I could have had it pressed. Look behind the buffet to make sure you aren't missing something! Also, in the mornings if one egg station is busy, try another. I never had to wait that long. The food in the MDR was excellent. My husband and daughter enjoyed all of the seafood dishes. I enjoyed the beef dishes, especially the tenderloin and the beef wellington. I thought the pasta dishes were bland and avoided those. The service in the MDR was spotty. We had Select Dining and on the first two nights we had to wait almost an hour. Everyone seemed completely disorganized. It did improve and we usually waited about 15 minutes. The wait staff was very friendly and attentive.

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Entertainment

We went to two shows. Both the comedian and the disco stage show were OK. IMHO, if you would rather go to sleep early or be out whale watching, you aren't missing anything. We did use the indoor heated pool one day. From 4-7 they open it up to families. Otherwise, it's adults only.

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Condition of the Ship

Other posters have said the Millennium is showing her age, but I thought the ship was in great shape. Sure, there's a spot of rust here and there, but I think she's a beautiful ship.

 

Fun Factory

My daughter loved the Fun Factory and went there almost every night. The counselors are fun and do their best to get everyone involved. The staff said there were almost 250 kids on our sailing, so there was always someone for her to hang out with there.

 

In the next installment...ports of call!

[teachatthebeach]

If someone could give me some advice on how to post pictures, I would really appreciate it! It seems I can post when using my laptop, but not my pc. Ugh!:confused:

[teachatthebeach]

Here are the pictures I tried to post in my review! Wish they would be larger!

 

Sail Away

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Pool Area

 

 

 

The Food

 

 

[teachatthebeach]

Our first port was Ketchikan. We went salmon fishing with Captain Ryan McRobert from Best Weigh Guide Service. His phone number is 907-305-0358. Sadly, we only caught 1 king salmon, but it was too small and we had to throw it back. We did have a nice day on the water. Ryan met us right at the Millennium and we had a very short walk to his boat. We were underway within minutes. When we got to some fishing spots, he quickly set up the rods and reels and we trolled (not sure if that is correct fishing terminology). You only grab the rod when there was a bite.

 

Our port time was short, so we couldn't go out very far. If we had more time, we could have gone further out and tried for Halibut. From what we heard on shore, the fish really weren't biting that day. We enjoyed the beautiful scenery, especially all the bald eagles.

 

Ryan dropped us off at the dock on Creek Street. We did some shopping there and walked back toward town and the ship. If you have time and need some souvenirs, check on Tongass Trading. Anything you could ever want with Alaska on it, they have it!

 

We had beautiful weather. We started off wearing jackets, but we soon shed them. And no mosquitoes!

 

 

 

[teachatthebeach]

Our next stop was Hoonah/ Icy Strait Point. This is a tender port. If you were in line to tender by 10:00, you didn't need a number. Tendering started a good bit before 10:00 and we got to the tender area at 9:50. We waited less than 5 minutes and we were on our way.

 

We went on a whale watching trip with Misty Bay Lodge. They picked us up just outside of the port area and drove us into town. We rode to town in the bear watching van. I noticed a loaded shot gun right next to our driver!

 

I booked the this excursion almost a full year before our trip and booked when they just had one boat. It's my understanding that they now have two and the second holds more people than their original boat. We were on the 6 person boat. I'm sure how many people the other boat holds. So if you book with them, make sure you know which you are on!

 

The original 6 person boat was in the shop, so we were on another smaller boat. It was just fine--enclosed cabin, bathroom, etc. And there were only 5 people on our boat. And we didn't have Captain Dan. We had Lewis. He was always in contact with Dan via the radio. And Lewis was a great guide! He shared lots of knowledge about the area, the whales, and the other sea life. We had a great trip!

 

The weather was beautiful and warm. A long sleeve shirt and a light jacket was all I needed. The locals were in t-shirts. It wasn't long until we spotted our first 2 whales. They were two humpbacks. According to Lewis, they were "logging". Which means they were just hanging out and floating on top of the water...no diving, breaching, etc. It was so cool to hear them come up for air! We went to another stop, where we saw another humpback who did a little dive and we got to see a tail flip. Sadly, that was about it for whale sightings. We did see sea otters, sea lions, and lots of porpoises.

 

After the tour we went to Misty Bay Lodge and had lunch. DH and DD loved the halibut fish and chips. We also had pizza for me the landlubber. The pizza was also very good. I think Misty Bay is one of the few if only places in town to eat. Two officers from the police department were eating there and a few locals. It was fun to sit and listen to the chatter!

 

After lunch we took a walk through town. Hoonah is what I imagined a real Alaskan town to be. The family from the show Alaskan Bush people keep their boat here. When they talk about going to town, Hoonah is where they go. Misty Bay Lodge even has a pizza named after them. We walked back to the port area and did some shopping. Then we got back on the ship.

 

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[Newbcruiser1]

Do you by any chance have any pictures of the 6-person boat?

 

I'm a little bit disappointed... We booked with Misty Bay because of their brand new larger boat, but after reading about the experiences of several others on their larger boat (which holds 18), I found out that the "brand new" boat was not yet ready and they were therefore using a loaner boat which wasn't so comfortable inside. So I changed my reservation to their 6-person boat, as it looks very nice in the pictures and has the upstairs "crows nest" area for photo ops... Now it sounds like that boat is out of commission as well - I wonder for how long? Our excursion with them is on August 3rd.

[teachatthebeach]

Do you by any chance have any pictures of the 6-person boat?

 

I'm a little bit disappointed... We booked with Misty Bay because of their brand new larger boat, but after reading about the experiences of several others on their larger boat (which holds 18), I found out that the "brand new" boat was not yet ready and they were therefore using a loaner boat which wasn't so comfortable inside. So I changed my reservation to their 6-person boat, as it looks very nice in the pictures and has the upstairs "crows nest" area for photo ops... Now it sounds like that boat is out of commission as well - I wonder for how long? Our excursion with them is on August 3rd.

 

I don't know how long their boat will be out of commission, but the 6 person boat we were on was very nice! The biggest difference was that there wasn't a covered area should there be rain. Also, there wasn't a crows nest, but we could go out on the front of the boat as well. We never needed to. Lewis could quickky turn the boat for us to get a perfect view from the our spot on the back of the boat. Here are 2 pictures of the boat we were on.

 

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[Birdnutty]

So, the boat you went on with Misty Bay was a loaner? We're scheduled to go with them shortly, and we have a 6-er reserved, as there are 6 of us. (duh!) Did they say how long their boat was expected to be out of service? Not that it really matters - it is what it is, and as long as we go, that's fine.

 

Disappointing for you that you didn't see that many whales. We specifically booked Icy Strait because everyone on CC seemed to agree that the watching was best there. Previously, we had the experience of a lifetime in Juneau on another trip, and saw at least three bubble-netting occurrences. Mind-blowing. But it unfortunately spoiled us for future trips, as nothing is likely to ever compare.

I know each day is different, and I hope we end up with a good one. I'm glad you included the pictures of the boat. When you said there wasn't a covered area, i imagined us standing cold and wet out in the rain in a totally open skiff!

[Newbcruiser1]

Thank you so much for sharing those pictures! It's really too bad that there's no covered outdoor area in case of rain (since our entire week in Alaska is supposed to rain...). The inside looks nice but the outside of the boat looks somewhat "underwhelming". I wonder if I should inquire yet again as to the status of their boat. I feel bad that I keep flip-flopping on my choice of boat (and driving the poor company nuts!) but it seems whatever we keep requesting is out of commission for whatever reason.

 

And I'm sorry you didn't see many whales! :( We chose to do our whale-watching in ISP as we heard it was better than Juneau, so I guess it's all up to the whales themselves when they're out feeding.

[teachatthebeach]

So, the boat you went on with Misty Bay was a loaner? We're scheduled to go with them shortly, and we have a 6-er reserved, as there are 6 of us. (duh!) Did they say how long their boat was expected to be out of service? Not that it really matters - it is what it is, and as long as we go, that's fine.

 

No, they didn't say how long their boat would be out of service.

[teachatthebeach]

Juneau

 

We were lucky and had another day of beautiful weather in Juneau!

 

We went on ERA Flightseeing's Dogsledding Extended Adventure. When I first looked at this excursion, I almost fell over from sticker shock. But dog sledding on a glacier was the #1 priority for this trip, so I made adjustments elsewhere in the budget. And it was worth every penny and was the adventure of a lifetime.

 

We met the ERA representative on the dock beside the Mt. Roberts tram. He drove us to the helicopters. We had a safety briefing, weighed in, turned in our backpacks (can't bring anything with you other than your camera), and got our waterproof snow shoes.

 

Next, we boarded the helicopter. I was a little nervous as I have never been in a helicopter before, but as soon as we were in the air I was so amazed by the views that I forgot about being scared! It was about a 15 minute ride to the glacier.

 

On the glacier, we met our musher Eric. We got to help harness the dogs, put their booties on, and put sunscreen on them. The inside of their ears and tops of their noses can get sunburned. Two sleds are attached to the team. I was on the front sled and Eric was right behind me. My husband was on the second sled and my daughter stood on the sled behind him. Eric is the one driving the sled, but my daughter helped with the braking. We took a long ride around the glacier. Words can't describe the scenery. It's like being in another world.

 

After the ride, we brushed the dogs, helped give them a snack, and put them back in their doghouses. Then, Magda took over. She gave us a tour of the camp. Then we had lunch-turkey and ham wraps, fresh veggies, and cookies. Sadly, our time on the glacier was over. We boarded the helicopters and went back to Juneau.

 

Again, I can't say enough about how amazing this trip was. If you are thinking about booking this excursion or one like it, DO IT! You won't regret it.

 

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[teachatthebeach]

After our dog sledding adventure, we took the Mt. Robert's tram. The views from the top are really amazing. We saw Lady Baltimore-the resident bald eagle, walked one of the short trails, watched a totem pole being carved, and did some souvenir shopping.

 

After the tram, we went to Tracy's Crab Shack where DH had the first of 3 King Crab treats!

 

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[teachatthebeach]

Skagway

 

Again, we were blessed with perfect weather. In the afternoon, we were actually hot walking around in town.

 

We did an excursion with Chilkoot Charters. We took a small van up to Fraser and then took the train down to Skagway. I highly recommend Chilkoot Charters. Kevin was our van driver and did an excellent job. He was funny and really knew his history. I learned a lot from him. And our van was small. I think it held about 20 people, but it wasn't full. That made for easy on/off at the photo stops we made along the way.

After the train, we had lunch at the Red Onion. There were 4 ships in port and it was crowded in town. There was a wait for lunch pretty much everywhere. After lunch, I wish we had explored some of the historical sights in town, especially about the gold rush, but we were tired and let ourselves get sucked into the tourist trap shops!

 

 

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[teachatthebeach]

Hubbard Glacier

 

I couldn't believe our luck as we had another day of great weather. It cold and a bit overcast at the glacier, but the view was clear. The captain was able to get us within a quarter mile of the glacier! We had plenty of calving and I loved hearing the thunder of the crashing ice.

 

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[Bostonluvs2cruise]

Thank you so much for sharing your experiences on your northbound cruise. We are doing the same cruise in reverse in early August. Hoping for the same beautiful weather. Your photos are wonderful.

[teachatthebeach]

Disembarkation

 

Disembarkation couldn't have been easier. We went to the dining room at 7:45 for breakfast and then went to the terminal where our luggage was waiting for us. We rented a car from Hertz. They have a representative in the terminal and a van. Our luggage was loaded, took a very short drive to the terminal, checked in, and we were on our way.

 

Today was our one day of bad weather. Luckily, the rain let up at the main stops we wanted to make. And by the afternoon in Anchorage, the sun was out again!

 

Our first stop was the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center. We saw bears, eagles, elk, musk ox, but the highlight for me was the baby moose. So cute!

 

We also stopped at Beluga Point where it was so windy that we just jumped out of the car for a photo op and jumped right back in. Our last stop before Anchorage was Potter's Marsh. There weren't many birds there...guess they didn't like the weather either!

 

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Then we continued on to Wasilla where we spent the night.

[teachatthebeach]

Wasilla

 

We spent the night in Wasilla at the Best Western Lake Lucille. It's a lovely property. And it's also less than a block away from Sarah Palin's house...you can see her house from the dock at the hotel. One warning about this hotel--it doesn't have an elevator. I needed to repack our luggage for the flight home, so we had to haul all 5 bags up the stairs. They have someone to help you, but we just did it ourselves.

 

The next morning we went to the Iditarod Headquarters where we hit the jackpot! It was a meeting day and mushers were there to register for next year's race. My daughter got to have her picture taken with Dallas Seavey, last year's winner.

 

 

 

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Dallas Seavey

[teachatthebeach]

Our next stop was the Palmer Reindeer Farm. We had so much here feeding the reindeer and elk, petting Dolly the bison, and playing with some farm animals.

 

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The last stop of the day was the Alaska Zoo in anchorage. It's a nice little zoo. And they have Dall sheep which was the one animal we hadn't seen yet on our trip.

 

We all had an amazing time on this trip. If I can answer anyone's questions, I'd be happy to! Thanks for reading!

 

Beth in Tampa, FL

Edited July 22, 2015 by teachatthebeach

[atlgants]

Subbing! Thanks for the great review and information! :)