Millenium September 17, 2021 Alaska cruise

[CTSandy]

Sitting in SeaTac waiting for our flight back to Connecticut.  We used port valet and checked our luggage through, won’t seem them until we land at BDL late tonight.  Strange disembarkation - heard no announcements about what group should leave, we just walked off at 7:45 - we’re outside in a cab at 7:55 and were at SeaTac before 9.  Flight isn’t until noon, but we were concerned about possibilities of bad traffic on a Friday morning.  Long lines at TSA pre check.

 

Cruise was wonderful- very bumpy heading out of Seattle on open ocean; the Captain brought us back on the inside passage to prevent sailing on rough seas.  Captain reported 672 passengers and 840 crew.  Service and meals were very good.  We did an excursion in Juneau and one in Ketchikan.  The winner was the Ketchikan excursion - If I remember correctly it was Eagles, Totems, and Lighthouses.  We were very pleased with it, plenty of room on boat for social distancing.  Captain Jeff is a third generation Alaskan and told us what it’s like for kids growing up in the area.  Although no whales were described as part of the excursion, we were fortunate enough to see a couple.  Eagles in several places, totems were in Blight Park.  It was a very enjoyable couple of hours, even though it was cold and we had some rain.  A snack was served of a few local food products, a salmon spread was quite good and we all got the recipe, plus hot chocolate and coffee.  I was very happy with this choice.

 

We also did gold panning and a salmon bake in Juneau.  Yes, the gold panning is pretty hoaky but we wanted to do a salmon bake and the only other option was a whale watch with Salmon bake and we didn’t want to do another water based excursion.  It was raining pretty hard and the excursion was scheduled for 5:15 - way too dark this time of year for that kind of event. I could see this being fun for a couple of younger children if was brighter.  The salmon bake was fine, but there were only 5 of us there so it felt rather sad.  A couple of years ago we did a salmon bake at Tillicum right out of Seattle.  That was exceptional, food and entertainment, and this didn’t offer any of the traditional dances or storytelling.

 

The naturalist on board, Brent Nixon, was super.  I love the Beyond the Podium events that Celebrity offers, but he exceeded all that I have attended.  An impassioned defender of bears and orcas, but charismatic and funny - he just draws you in! No question, his lectures were the best entertainment on this cruise!  Several of the evening shows were quite good and diverse.  Personally, I’m tired of Elysium, but if you’ve never seen it, it’s entertaining.

 

Wish I had done a back to back, even with the rainy days.  Dawes Glacier was a wonderful experience - my last visit to Alaska was August 2019 and the extensive forest fires in the northwest made for poor viewing.  This time was perfect!  Going to be doing another Alaska cruise next year - just can’t see everything every trip!

 

 

[zgscl]

Brent was the naturalist on my Princess Alaska cruise in 2003. The second I read his name I instantly remembered him and his talks. He was so engaging and interesting. Really made that whole cruise special. Glad to hear he is still out there!