Celebrity Solstice Alaska ??

[carlsbadguy]

Have a cruise booked on the Solstice for August and making final arrangements and have some questions for anyone who just completed a cruise or is on any of the upcoming cruises.

 

For the Port of Seattle Free, Luggage Valet program is there a cut off time for flights on Southwest? I was planning on using the Luggage Valet with a flight at 4:45 PM, but someone on the Alaska board on RCCL posted for Southwest and said flights had to be before 4:00 PM. I emailed Port Valet and they did not know of that stipulation.

 

Anyone have the menu for the embarkation lunch for Concierge passengers?

 

In Juneau is the dock far from town and if anyone has gone to Mendenhall Glacier on their own are cabs readily available?

 

Are the pools heated?

 

Planning one night for a special dinner at one of the specialty restaurants. Were any discounts offered on board? Was there a certain night you considered the menu options to not be as good?

 

Any other good or bad points on the cruise would be welcomed.

 

Thanks

[Northern Aurora]

I have never used the Port of Seattle luggage valet service, but do know that it is discussed on their website (http://www.portseattle.org). If you have e-mail the port and they don't know of any cut off time for Southwest flights I would hope their information is correct.

 

The embarkation Concierge Class luncheon menu has been recently discussed, so if you use the Cruise Critic search function it should pop up readily. If not someone will post. It is limited and is much smaller than the MDR menu, but most folks can find something of interest. We have attended as B2B passengers, and it is nice to bypass the bustle of the Ocean View.

 

In the past the Solstice has at times (not always) tendered when at Juneau. But whether you dock or tender you will be delivered essentially into downtown. Juneau is not like Sitka where the dock is several miles north of the community. There are a number of blue kiosks (with white trim) set up along the dock area with vendors offering last minutes tours (i.e. whale watching, city tours and so forth). There are also companies offering round-trip bus service to Mendenhall from these kiosks.

 

And there will likely be discounts offered for specialty dining. They may be offered during the boarding process just as you step onto the ship, or look for a table outside the Ocean View.

[ORV]

I’m currently on solstice, looking at port valet form. SW air only works for flights between 11am & 4pm. Boarding passes must be picked up at airport.

 

Keep in mind you only have two or three days to turn the form in. You get it with your first day documents.

 

At Juneau there we’re four spots to park. We were in the one the farthest from downtown. If was a $5 shuttle ride, good all day. Or a twenty minute walk in the pouring rain. Holland had the best docking spots.

[JCruise85]

Yeah for the Glacier tour, there's buses that are really inexpensive that run almost all day out there. Get there early if you can, it gets really crowded!

[varoo]

......At Juneau there we’re four spots to park. We were in the one the farthest from downtown. If was a $5 shuttle ride, good all day. Or a twenty minute walk in the pouring rain.

In Juneau, Solstice has either been assigned the worst berth, or needed to tender.

 

Millennium and Infinity get the best spots, close to everything, right by the tram station and the library (for free wi-fi).

Juneau is a good location to rent a car because it is easy to drive around and see everything on your own very efficiently without needing to backtrack or waste time waiting for a bus.

There is free parking at Mendenhall Glacier, so if you have several people in your party, a rental car pays for itself vs. needing to buy bus or tour tickets.

Edited June 5, 2018 by varoo

[lovecruzin]

We always enjoy the beautiful scenery from a window table at Tuscan Grill when sailing out of Skagway. They usually fill up quickly for that night so discounts are hard to come by.

[Anita Latte]

In Juneau is the dock far from town and if anyone has gone to Mendenhall Glacier on their own are cabs readily available?

 

Looks like Solstice docks at AJD.

 

http://claalaska.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Juneau-–-JNU-2018.pdf

 

http://cruiseportwiki.com/Juneau

[marathondolphin]

I’m currently on solstice, looking at port valet form. SW air only works for flights between 11am & 4pm. Boarding passes must be picked up at airport.

 

Keep in mind you only have two or three days to turn the form in. You get it with your first day documents.

 

At Juneau there we’re four spots to park. We were in the one the farthest from downtown. If was a $5 shuttle ride, good all day. Or a twenty minute walk in the pouring rain. Holland had the best docking spots.

 

 

Do you know if you can use the luggage valet with an American Airlines flight that leaves at 12:30pm?

[varoo]

Looks like Solstice docks at AJD.

Despite the good news that no Solstice passengers need to tender in Juneau this year, the bad news is that the Solstice still gets the worst berth, about a mile away from the center of town.

This is disappointing as we were hoping the Solstice would be able to dock in closer after the new, larger docks were opened last year.

 

When the Solstice used to tender in Juneau on alternate weeks, at least the passengers were dropped off at the tender dock in a prime, close-in location.

[ORV]

Do you know if you can use the luggage valet with an American Airlines flight that leaves at 12:30pm?

 

That should work.

[carlsbadguy]

If anyone has taken the Butchart Gardens Tour in Victoria how much time you get to spend at the gardens?

[JCruise85]

If anyone has taken the Butchart Gardens Tour in Victoria how much time you get to spend at the gardens?

Are you doing just the Gardens or the Gardens and castle?

We did the tour with both and got a couple hours at the gardens which was more than enough time to explore it all.

[phoenix_dream]

Keep in mind that taxi rates in Juneau are sky high. If you really want to see the glacier (it's worth it) and don't want to do a Celebrity tour, renting a car is probably the best way. Next best is the shuttle buses or the local bus, although that drops you off about a mile from the entrance. I agree also that the glacier gets very crowded - go early.

 

I disagree that 2 hours is enough to see Butchart Gardens. But we are garden fanatics. It just whet our appetite to the extent that we had to go back on a coastal cruise where we had many hours to tour it on our own. If you are not fanatics like us, then the 2 hours or so should be enough.

[juantu]

You can rent a taxi ahead of time from Evergreen for 35 dollars one way to the Glacier for the vehicle, not per person. They have a vehicle that can hold 10 people. If you have a national park pass, you do not have to pay the 5 dollar fee for the glacier. You pass is good for you and up to 3 other people.

We have decided to rent a vehicle from Avis. The good news is that the Avis DT location is close to where Solstice has been docking recently. You can go to google earth and see where the ships are docking too.

My trip is during the summer and I found that it is good to read previous posts for information.

[ORV]

We disembark tomorrow and there is still a question of whether the luggage valet will actually operate or not.

[ksws64]

We were on the May 25-Jun1 sailing of the Solstice this year. We did the Mendenhall Glacier tour.

 

When you leave the ship in Juneau, there is a line to take a bus ($5 per person to ride all day) to the area where you are picked up for excursions. It's a large parking area (Mt Roberts Tramway) with many booths to sign up for excursions and many folks holding up signs for already booked excursions. You find your sign/line and wait here for your shuttle to pick you up.

 

I'd guess the ride to the glacier may have taken 20 minutes or so. We were told the glacier park only allows the visitors from the shuttle to stay one hour, then the shuttles must pick them up and leave (giving 10 min grace at most). This did make it difficult to fully enjoy the visit since it's a good 3/4 to 1 mile hike to get up close to the glacier and waterfall. You can see the glacier very well from the parking lot though if you didn't want to do the hike.

 

On the drive to the glacier, off to the right side of the road is a small area where bald eagles congregate. It was incredible to see so many of them grouped together in the wild.

 

Once we were back on the shuttle for our return trip, we were offered drop off points: town/shopping area, parking lot where we were picked up, or the port where our ship was docked. So you do have options coming back as far as where you want to stop. The area where we docked didn't look to give a good way to walk to/from town.

 

The trip to Mendenhall Glacier is well worth it. It's absolutely beautiful! Our shuttle also drove around town a bit and to an overlook for us to take photos of the docking area where the ships were. Our driver/guide was very informative about the town as he lived there all his life. We enjoyed it! We booked this excursion through our travel agent. They used Last Chance Tours for this excursion who did a great job!

[carlsbadguy]

Has anyone from the Solstice taken a taxi to Mendenhall Glacier and if so did you still have to take the shuttle to town or did they pick you up closer to the dock?

[ORV]

We disembark tomorrow and there is still a question of whether the luggage valet will actually operate or not.

 

In the end it all worked out. I didn’t use it as we’re staying today in seAttle, but 4 couples in our group did use it. When they’re home I’ll report the outcome.

[dkjretired]

We did the Catmaran trip off the ship at the Glacier, went back to the ship and in the afternoon did Mendenhaul. After the trip in the morning it was anticlimactic

[carlsbadguy]

I was wondering what time you got back to the ship from the Glacier Excursion? How did you get to/from Mendenhall Glacier? Was it worth it to go the Mendenhall Glacier or would you have preferred to just walk around town?

 

I was also wondering if anyone has taken either the Chinese Lantern Tour of Butchart Gardens or regular Butchart Gardens Tour and how much time was spent at the gardens on either tour?

[BubbaBoat]

I was wondering what time you got back to the ship from the Glacier Excursion? How did you get to/from Mendenhall Glacier? Was it worth it to go the Mendenhall Glacier or would you have preferred to just walk around town?

 

I was also wondering if anyone has taken either the Chinese Lantern Tour of Butchart Gardens or regular Butchart Gardens Tour and how much time was spent at the gardens on either tour?

 

We are on the Solstice over the 4th of July Holiday..as far as the Gardens go, we don't arrive until the evening in Vancouver and gardens will be closed.