Alaska 9A land tour

[peggy1]

We did this tour and had very little explanation in advance and we had the Sea Life Center on the printer itinerary from the cruise line as our first stop.  When we got to our group we were informed that the tour (apparently) alternates with this Taste of Alaska tour and we were now doing this one??  They had us on the roster for hotels and everything so we did the Alaska Heritage Center.  It was then explained that we were going to a fishing processing tour.  This was two minutes and right around the corner of the ship.  We stood on a parking lot (never entered a building) and a man gave an explanation of a rusted fishing boat and showed a rope with hooks to catch salmon in a drizzling rain.  This was a surprise and not a welcome one.  We then went to Anchorage and had an hour for self lunch and then went towards Talkeetna and had the stop at the Alaskan Heritage Center and homemade ice cream minus the seal oil.  This was a pretty good stop.  Next was another stop for ice cream at a small stand.  We literally stopped every hour for a stretch and bathroom break even though there were bathrooms on the bus. There was a stop for a beer tour which some people walked into and got right back on the bus.  We opted to skip it also and go to the Hotel.  We got to Talkeetna  Lodge around 7pm and it is very nice and had a nice dinner at the Bistro.  The next day around 10:30 we headed for the train and it was a nice ride and dining room was very nice and food was good and the prices were reasonable.  Once off the train we went on the Denali tour bus where we saw ONE animal a fox!  We got there about 4:30 and the Denali Wilderness tour is only to mile 30, and a waste I think and it's not at all like the Tundra Tour which we've done before and was pretty good.  It was rainy off and on and the stops inside were not very interesting and when it started to rain more the driver asked if we wanted to go  to our hotel we said yes.  The driver was going so fast at that point that when I spotted a moose he was going so fast it was a blur and I didn't  even have time to call it out.  I asked him to slow down.  We were then brought to our Denali Hotel which was okay but not as nice as the Princess Denali hotel that we'd stayed in the past. The next day we went back on the bus ride to Anchorage and we stopped at the Birch syrup shop and did a little outside and outside little tour and tasted different syrups.  We stopped at the viewing point and cafe to see if we could see Denali and it was a gorgeous viewing day and so we did see it.  Gorgeous.  We got to Anchorage and stayed at the Marriott which was very nice.   We loved that our bags were picked up at a set time in the morning and then when we got to the hotels our keys were ready and our bags were brought and put in our rooms which was a good thing because everyone was exhausted by the time we got to the hotels.  I would much rather have spent times at the designated areas, Talkeetna and Denali rather than these time filler stops.  We transferred to the airport where we rented a car and drove down to Aleyska Resort which is lovely and the next day took the Kenai Fiords boat trip and it was beyond awesome.  We had a perfect day and saw more humpback whales and pods of orcas, sea lions, otters, puffins and the most beautiful Hobart? Glacier.  It was spectacular and got so much closer than Glacier Bay which is also spectacular.  Our cruise on the Millennium was good and we were just surprised by the lack of information we recieved about the particulars of this trip so I wanted to give people a heads up.  The other alternate 9A apparently is geared more to families I was told so you may want to check exactly which of the 9A's you are booked on.  Whenever we would call to ask for specifics on the land tour it was always stated that the rep for land tour would go over it.  When I spoke to someone at Guest Relations she kind of rolled her eyes at disgust with them and said they are just contracted but a separate entity from Celebrity?  That was news.  Anyway, we wouldn't do this tour but you may enjoy it but I would try to make sure of the specifics if you can.  I would only do the Land part again if we were doing it on our own.  Alaska is spectacular and if given enough time in Denali you will enjoy that too.

[Tom-n-Cheryl]

Thanks for this information - very helpful!

 

Yesterday I booked a sailing on the Millennium for next year and selected the "10nt Authentic Tastes of Alaska&Denali CT #9A ", not really having a good handle on what was involved!

 

What did you think about the updates to the ship?

 

Thanks,

 

Tom