Trip Report - 7-23 sailing on Millennium to Alaska

[LuvCruising88]

I've never posted a review before, but I've so enjoyed researching CC boards for my trip that I wanted to share our experience in case someone can find something useful in it.  I am still sporting sea legs even two days after being home, and I sure wish it was truly the sway of the ocean causing it.  It went by far too quickly, but what a great trip.  Apologies in advance for the long post.  Feel free to ask any questions and will try to answer...

 

Quick background - we were a group of 4 couples ranging in age from 50 to 60 (but probably acting a couple decades younger) from NJ who had planned this cruise back in 2019 and had to do a lift and shift from 2020.  We were good and ready to go, but being the first cruise out on Celebrity to AK, we held our breath until that ship finally pulled out of Seattle.  We took an extra day and flew into Seattle on Thursday where we spent the night at the Sheraton Grand Seattle.  The hotel was nice and convenient enough to everything.  With the 3 hour time difference we were able to visit a very crowded Pike Place Market, the Chihuly Gardens and the amazingly terrifying Space Needle (I'm scared of heights, but when in Rome...  The beer and wine bar at the top helped.)  We took a ride on the monorail, saw the Amazon Spheres and caught some guys blowing glass at a workshop next to their store, Glassybaby, which was neat.  Had dinner at a nice Italian place, Cinque Terre Restaurant that we found walking back to the hotel.  We had packed in a full day considering we got up at 2 am EST, and by this time we were exhausted, so we got to bed at a decent hour with visions of Pier 66 dancing in our heads.  Woke early and enjoyed a delicious (but pricey) breakfast buffet at the hotel before heading out to visit Pike again.  Conveniently, check out was noon, so our ride picked us up at the hotel at 12:15 for our 12:30 assigned check in.  It was a pretty long line for check-in but it moved steadily.  Some of the Celebrity personnel checking passengers in seemed a little more adept at working the scanners than others, but all were friendly and quick to point out where to go and what to do.  Our room keys were all attached to our cabin doors, so we collected them, dropped our carry ons and went to our muster stations to finish the drill.  That whole experience was a great change to the passenger-packed, waste of time muster drills of old where no one seemed to pay attention anyway and it took forever for everyone to quiet down enough to get the necessary emergency info.  Once our sticker was affixed, we were off to the pool bar to meet up with our group.  It was a gorgeous day but a little windy, so the blankets they had all around on deck were really helpful.  Bartender was super personable and remembered us throughout the cruise.

 

Headed back to cabins to get ready for our late dinner seating.  I should mention that upon our arrival, there were two Celebrity masks and bottles of hand sanitizer in our room along with a bottle of wine and assorted chocolates with letters from the Captain and crew and Governor of Alaska, which was a nice perk.  Dinner was a bit of a letdown - the food was fine (most of us had prime rib) but the service was incredibly slow.  It took a half an hour from the time we were seated for them to come back with bread and to take our drink orders.  We attributed it to them being rusty, though we knew the ship had been operating in St Maartin.  In any case, it was a very long dinner and we were hoping it would improve the next night.

 

Saturday was a sea day, so we got up and had planned to do main dining room for breakfast, but I was just with my husband and the table for two we were seated at was practically on top of the two seated at the window.  Waiter could barely fit through to serve, and hubby said, "I can't eat like this" so apologies to the maitre d, and off to the buffet we went.  I was crabby about missing out on my eggs benedict, but to my surprise and pleasure, they had them available made to order at the buffet.  I thought the buffet was pretty great.  They covered all bases,  though the selections did remain much the same for the week.  You could get made to order eggs or omelettes, waffles, pancakes, cereal, fruits, meats, yogurts...  Then there were some other ethnic options so you could try something different if you wanted.  For sure, you will never go hungry on a cruise.

 

At 9 am I attended a 'Beyond the Podium' seminar by Brent Nixon on "Alaxsxaq" in the theater.  I really enjoyed it - he is very engaging and so interesting.  I actually went back again at 1:15 pm for the one on Humpback Whales of AK where he gave tips on how to spot them.  Participated in the extreme Baggo challenge which was fun - kind of like cornhole but from multiple levels in the Atrium.  Generally we hung out at the pool bar, had the lunch buffet and then got a text from our friends that they were at the Martini bar - one of my favorite places!  Met them over there and enjoyed a flight.  The bartenders there had mad cocktail skills and were so friendly, especially 'Goose' and "G'Day" as we called them.  They must love their job - it just comes through as authentic.  One other highlight was meeting people at the Martini Bar, especially those that I had read posts on CC by and being able to identify them by just hearing their stories and backgrounds.  (BeachglassLady, I hope you enjoyed your first solo cruise!)  Left the Martini Bar to collect ourselves for dinner where the service was bad again, though I don't think it was the servers fault.  I just don't think they quite had it together yet.  Shrimp Scampi was my selection, and it was ok.   Somehow we were not yet ready for bed, so a few of us headed to the silent disco which was a lot of fun.  

 

Next day was our first port, Ketchikan.  One really cool thing was our first bald eagle sighting from our balcony.  My cousin had told me to look in the trees for the 'golf balls' and sure enough, when I pulled out my binoculars, there he was!  He was just sitting on a branch outside of a yellow house that we could see as we pulled into port.  So cool - we are big into wildlife.  Anyway, we had gained another hour, so we were well up and ready to depart at 7:30 am.  Half of our group went on the adventure kart excursion and the other half were just going into port to walk around.  Of course, nothing was open yet, but we had mapped out our course pre-cruise and walked down Spruce Mill around to Creek Street towards the Salmon Ladder.  We saw plenty of salmon jumping in the ocean, but none in the creek.  Later we did see a spotted seal (sea lion?) playing in the creek though, which thrilled me to no end.  We also saw two more eagles up close as they were just sitting in a branch not very high up a tree.  We walked back into town and caught the Lumberjack Show at 9:30 as walk-ins.  It was a blast!  Those guys are incredible.  After that we had some drinks and conversation at Ketchikan Crab & Grill before heading out to shop and support the local businesses.  Had a late lunch of chowder and appys at Annabelle's, which was really delicious.  Then went to see the happy bears at the Artic Bar before heading back to the ship.  A great day in Ketchikan for sure!

 

Tried to change our dinner reservations to the earlier seating and were unable to.  The maitre d promised it would be better, and after that it did seem to get better day by day.  Servers were more personable, orders were taken more quickly (though we usually grabbed drinks at the bar before we came in) and we enjoyed our meals for the rest of the week.  I must say the maitre d did seem genuinely concerned that we enjoy our experience, which we appreciated.

 

Monday we woke early as we were cruising up Endicott Arm towards Dawes Glacier, and we had booked the excursion where we boarded a smaller boat to get in closer to the glacier.  It was an excursion I highly recommend, and don't forget to bring binoculars because there are often bear sightings on the banks.  It was beyond words beautiful.  Icebergs, waterfalls, the occasional seal/sea otter/sea lion, eagles, bears...  and the glacier!  I don't think the Millennium was able to get close, so I'm really glad we did this one.  I will say it was a long trip, as we met around 7:15 am and got back to the ship in Juneau at 1:30 pm.  There must have been some port arrival timing discrepancy, because we sat for a good half hour waiting to be able to board Millie again.  We also had booked an evening whale watch and Mendenhall Glacier excursion at 4:30, so we really had to run through Juneau to see everything we had planned.  (That didn't happen.)  We hit the Red Dog Saloon for some delicious halibut and did the obligatory Duck Fart shots before hitting a few shops.  Had to practically run back to the ship which was docked far away via shuttle.  (Bummer.)  Mendenhall was a little bit of a disappointment as we had only 55 minutes or so to view the glacier, which would have been enough time had I not wanted to hike to Nugget Falls.  We took the chance that we could hike the 2 mile round trip within that time limit and practically had to sprint, but it was worth it to see the falls from the beach there.  Unfortunately, it didn't offer the best views of the glacier, so we did kind of miss that as it would have added some more time to hike that extra leg to the picture point.  But after seeing Dawes, this one paled a little in comparison.  Still amazing, but different.  Then off to the whale watching portion of the excursion.  We saw alot of whales, and actually saw one breach.  Stunning - speechless, except for the oh my God exclamation!   They served snacks on the boat, which was nice since we were going to miss dinner.  The weather was incredible, and we really had a great time.  Got back to the boat and met up with the others to enjoy some live music and the martini bar again.  Had to hit the late night buffet for some pizza to soak up those martinis!

 

Last stop Skagway! We booked the train for a 2 hour tour up the mountain, and enjoyed the views all the way.  They asked at the top to switch sides of the train, because really the views are only on the left side, but we had sat across from each other so at least we were switching with people we knew.  It was a nice trip.  Afterwards we were in search of a drink - specifically the Reindeer Fart shots from the Red Onion Saloon, but the place was very busy as it was the first establishment in Skagway.  The hostess was supposedly getting us a table, but we kept seeing people come in and take their places at the empty seats that they didn't even have a chance to clear yet, so we headed up to the Happy Endings Saloon, which was awesome.  There was only one other couple in there when we arrived, and it was a shame because it was a great bar.  They had a sign out front that said, "Welcome Celebrity Millennium!"  How nice was that?!  We got to talking to the bartender who suggested the local beers and vodka and we had a really fun time there!  Pool, cornhole games, and ring toss game added to the atmosphere.  We got hungry and coincidentally, his wife worked next door at the Station Bar and Grill, so we ordered some takeout pizza and wings (which were yummy!) and had them at one of the bar tables.  We found out that the locals had hosted a little welcome ceremony that morning celebrating the return of the cruise ships, so we made it our mission to support as many of the stores that we could while in town!  You'd be surprised at how much fun stuff the local Ace Hardware store on Main Street had!  After shopping, my hubby and I stopped for crab legs on the way back to the ship - so good!  Another super weather day too!  Alas the last day of ports, but fortunately, two more sea days to enjoy.

 

I won't bore you with all the details of our at sea days, as we spent much of it at the Martini Bar and Sunset Bar.  We did go up to the Sky Lounge for 80's music trivia that my friends tied for first place in, and stayed for the general trivia that followed.  Both were fun.  We also played cornhole out by the pool to take a break from drinking so much, lol.   We only made it to one show in the theater other than the Beyond the Podium sessions and that was a comedy skit between the Captain (so personable and guest accessible!) and the Cruise Director Alejandro.  It was pretty funny - they did a good job.

 

Really enjoyed the coffee at Cafe Al Bacio too.  The lady working there was super friendly and remembered names and orders.  Very tasty coffee.  

 

Loved the midshop elevators on the port side - they were all glass and had great views outside while riding up and down.

 

Other than the initial dinner service timing delays, I only had two complaints.  The first was that we had booked The Petite Chef dining experience based on the menu displayed in the app for night 5, lobster and filet mignon.  We booked it two weeks out and then found out that they had switched the menu to some steak frites and pasta dish, which had been the menu for earlier in the week.  We were able to get a refund, but were disappointed that we missed out on the experience.  The other bummer to me was there were no pictures taken at boarding and at the ports, and I had pre-purchased the all inclusive package.  I feel like that was a total waste of money, because the few pictures that we took were just put on different backgrounds and printed.  I used to love to start each of my photo sections with the "Welcome To..." photos complete with the date and port name.  Maybe it is different on Celebrity as I have never sailed them before, and perhaps they don't usually do this, or it was a covid cut.  I don't know but I really missed it.  (At least I knew ahead of time that Celebrity does not do the towel animals unless requested.  I did ask for them and my great cabin steward nicely provided.  Sometimes it's the little things, and I'm a simple girl.)  

 

Speaking of which, one big plus was the little treats that Celebrity provided in the cabins each night with the dailies.  Sometimes it was a couple mini donuts, other times a cookie or two... that was really nice of them.  One day they left two Alaska ball caps!  And I will say that the staff was amazing.  Everyone with a smile and a greeting.  "How are you" and "welcome back" at every encounter.  Really excellent crew members all around.

 

Thanks for reading.  Hope you enjoy your next adventure!

[ClaudiaB]

I loved your review and happy you had a great time!    We sailed to Alaska twice on Infinity quite a number of years ago and I'm happy to hear Brent Nixon is back.   He was amazing and really made our cruise.  We really paid attention to him:   if he told us to get out of the inside and skip a meal because there would be whales in a certain area at a certain timeframe, we did it!   I think we ate less and drank less on that cruise than any other - we were busy looking at nature nearly the whole time we were on the ship.  Well I probably drank my weight in hot chocolate - it was sooooo cold the year we went.  So beautiful.  

 

 

[TMLAalum]

Mega, mega thanks for your detailed, honest review. We sail the Millennium on 9/10 and are counting down the days. Happy to hear about the small boat excursion at Dawes. We have that booked too. How many are on that boat? 
 

So much fun that you traveled with friends. Just DH and me for this one (sailing with 4 couples in January) so hope we make new friends aboard!

[jg51]

2 hours ago, LuvCruising88 said:

I've never posted a review before, but I've so enjoyed researching CC boards for my trip that I wanted to share our experience in case someone can find something useful in it.  ...

.

Thanks so much, "LuvCruising88," for generously sacrificing your free time to share your experiences and opinions.

 

It's nice that you had so many enjoyable moments to remember.

.

[LuvCruising88]

TMLAalum, I believe there were maybe 80 -100 people on the boat.   I am really not good at estimation, but when we went to check in there were 8 sets of numbers for boarding order, and I'm guessing there were probably 10 -12 per group.  While at the glacier,  there were a lot of people out on the top deck, but everyone was really courteous about giving everyone a chance to get a good shot.  I'm sure you will make friends - I found the people on board to be very nice.  I wish you safe travels and a wonderful trip.  Maybe you'll even get to experience the northern lights!!

[panmalv]

Thank you so much for the great review—it’s so nice to read your insights and ideas!  We’re getting excited for our cruise!

 

How close together are the tables in the main dining room?  Have they separated the tables at all?  Normally (pre-Covid) they are extremely close together and—like your husband—I don’t know if we’d be comfortable being that close to others while eating a long-ish dinner.  
 

Thanks!

[OUBaylor1]

LuvCruising88, thanks for sharing your thoughts and experiences from your recent Alaskan cruise!  For the boat excursion at Dawes, was this a Celebrity excursion?

[cruisemom42]

Thanks for your detailed review. We'll be onboard in three weeks.

 

Did they tell you how many passengers were onboard for this cruise?

[cruise kitty]

@LuvCruising88 thank you so much for your trip report!   We'll be onboard Sept 24th, thrilled to hear that Brett Nixon is onboard 🙂

[WestCoastFlyer]

Great trip report. Given that the trip didn't stop in a foreign port was the casino open?

[portofrome]

Thanks for your review.

[LuvCruising88]

The casino was open.  I have my souvenir voucher for my $.45 'winnings', lol!  (Yes, that is 45 cents)

[LuvCruising88]

Oops- missed a few questions. 

 

Panmalv- we had a table of 8 and we were distanced appropriately.   I didn't notice the smaller groups, but I think you would be OK if you mention concerns over spacing to the maitre d.  I was surprised that the one time we went to mdr for breakfast,  they asked if we wanted to share a table. We declined.

 

OUBaylor- yes, it was a Celebrity excursion, and it was sold out before the sailing, so if interested,  book ahead.  It was around $200 per person.   Pricey, but I felt well worth it.

 

Cruisemom42 - our sailing had 1300 passengers, but I heard the ship was only sailing with 1000 this week

[Caribbean Chris]

Loved your review!

 

I didn’t realize that Glassybaby is a Seattle company, so will definitely stop in to see glass blowing if we return to the city. I have five beautiful glassy babies I treasure and use often, gifts from a wonderful niece..
 

Great info about the Dawes glacier boat - I will book that if we do another Alaska cruise.

 

Surprised to hear about all the gifts on arrival and in the evenings - Celebrity even was doing away with pillow chocolates a few years ago and I think reinstated them after all the complaints.  Nice you had all these treats - maybe in honor of the first return to Alaska.

 

I may have missed this, but what kind of stateroom did you book? Were you happy with it? 
 

Thanks again for sharing your fun trip.

 

 

[LuvCruising88]

We ended up in a balcony midship on the 7th deck, starboard.  (We had originally booked deck 8 forward on the Solstice.)  I was fine with our cabin.  I thought the rooms were really nice with lots of storage areas.  There was so much to see all the time, I slept with the curtains open so I could see outside immediately as I woke up.  My sister was in an Oceanview way forward on deck 7, and there was a definite stale smoke odor in that wing.  But the porthole was a good size.  She felt movement a little bit, but for the most part the water was very calm.  If you have starboard side, you will have views of the town while in port.

[patty1955]

[TMLAalum]

@patty1955

great pix, but from where?

 

[patty1955]

2 minutes ago, TMLAalum said:

@patty1955

great pix, but from where?

 

The first is the Endicott Armes excursion she mentioned and the second is the "Happy Ending Saloon" (next door to the Morning Wood Hotel) that she also mentioned. 

[OUBaylor1]

9 hours ago, LuvCruising88 said:

Oops- missed a few questions. 

 

Panmalv- we had a table of 8 and we were distanced appropriately.   I didn't notice the smaller groups, but I think you would be OK if you mention concerns over spacing to the maitre d.  I was surprised that the one time we went to mdr for breakfast,  they asked if we wanted to share a table. We declined.

 

OUBaylor- yes, it was a Celebrity excursion, and it was sold out before the sailing, so if interested,  book ahead.  It was around $200 per person.   Pricey, but I felt well worth it.

 

Cruisemom42 - our sailing had 1300 passengers, but I heard the ship was only sailing with 1000 this week

Thanks for responding to my question.  That particular excursion is not available on our 1 October sailing.  Darn!

[WestLakeGirl]

What is the name of the excursion that takes you by a small boat to get close to the glacier, please

[LuvCruising88]

WestLakeGirl - it was called Endicott Arm Fjord and Glacier Explorer.  The number on my excursion was 2C01, and it cost $219.00 per ticket.  Patty1955 posted a pic of the boat.  I'm going to attempt to post a few pics.  Apologies in advance if it doesn't work - I am not tech savvy...

 

[katrina915]

Thanks for a detailed review!

 

So glad to hear that Brent Nixon is on board.  He is very interesting and knowledgeable. 

 

I booked the small boat excursion at the glacier and really looking forward to it after seeing your pictures. 

 

 

[katrina915]

Too bad you didn't get your pictures.  Must be covid related since they were taking the pictures on my last cruise in 2019.

[lovemygiants]

On 8/1/2021 at 2:42 PM, LuvCruising88 said:

!  I don't think the Millennium was able to get close, so I'm really glad we did this one.  I will say it was a long trip, as we met around 7:15 am and got back to the ship in Juneau at 1:30 pm.  There must have been some port arrival timing discrepancy, because we sat for a good half hour waiting to be able to board Millie again. 

Thank you for your great report. I’m boarding this Friday and have a reservation for this excursion. So excited, it sounds amazing. I have a question on re-boarding the Millennium. Since the excursion boat beat the Millennium to Juneau were you required to wait and re-board Millie at the port or could you have just started your visit to Juneau. Thank you!☺️

[LuvCruising88]

Lovemygiants- (me too!)  I misspoke.  We did not beat the Millennium to Juneau; the Millennium was in place at the dock, but for some reason, we were unable to 'attach' back to the ship to get off the excursion boat and onto Millennium.  I think the dock master was expecting Millie at 1:30 but it arrived at 1 maybe(?)  This is purely my guess, but we did indeed have to reboard Millennium before heading into Juneau.  Getting off in Juneau was not an option.   You will probably not experience this - I think it had to have been a timing miscommunication.  We had to show our seapass to get back onboard and then just walked down the gangway to go into port.  Have a great trip!  (Sorry for the wordy explanation!)