Going on an Alaska cruise! Any advice?

In My Humble Opinion
41

We were on the Millenium just last month (southbound, after a couple of days in Fairbanks and Denali). We had no engine trouble, thankfully.

Here are a few suggestions:

First, except for Icy Strait Point (which is effectively a private island for the Celebrity line), you can (mostly) avoid using the cruise line to book your excursions. This will save some money, sometimes a lot of money. The only reason to book through Celebrity is if the excursion is a long one near the end of the day–the ship will wait for late passengers if they’re on a ship-purchased excursion, but not for excursions you book privately.

So here are the things we liked at each stop:

Ketchikan
[ul]
[li]Dolly’s House - she was a sole-proprietor prostitute for something like 50 years, and gave all her money to dog rescue organizations. The docents at the house were really fun to chat with.[/li][li]There’s a nice, indie bookstore in town with lots of local books and gifts. Don’t remember the name, but there’s only one.[/li][li]The Robert Troll t-shirt shop has amusing Alaska-themed shirts. There’s another artist’s shop next door with nice stuff as well, operated by the artist.[/li][li]You can get on local bus tours from the dock for about $40, which get you out of town a bit to see some of the pretty landscape in the area[/li][/ul]

Juneau
[ul]
[li]We did not do a helicopter tour of Mendenhall Glacier, because it was just not in the budget, but it’s supposed to be spectacular.[/li][li]For about $120 (at the dock, not from the ship), you can get a whale watching tour that will include transportation to and from Mendenhall after the whale watching. This is much less expensive than booking through Celebrity. Even if you’re not doing whale watching or the helicopter, you can get round trip bus tickets to the glacier for about $16. [*]The buses run all day, every 30 minutes. Take the trail down to Nugget Falls (about a mile, fire road quality).[/li][li]Don’t eat lunch on the ship. Go to the Pel’meni (Russian dumpling) place in the little mall near the dock (can’t remember the name, but any local will know what you’re talking about). For about $7, you get a pound of little potato or beef dumplings with toppings. No other food is available there, but you will be full, and it’s the cheapest restaurant food we had in Alaska. There’s a good ice cream place in the same mall–the ice cream isn’t local, but the cones are stamped with Native designs and are delicious.[/li][li]There’s a city museum with a lot of cool stuff, not too far from the middle of town.[/li][/ul]

Skagway
[ul]
[li]The whole center of town is a National Park. Go to the park visitor center and sign up for a ranger tour. Free.[/li][li]There’s a brothel tour at the Red Onion that’s short, but interesting[/li][li]See the Soapy Smith melodrama in the theater downtown. It’s been running continuously for something like 70 or 80 years. It’s hokey, but the performers are actually very skilled, and they pick one audience member for some great fun. About $20/person.[/li][li]Skagway Brewing has decent food, and the local draft root beer is great (served with no ice in chilled mugs, yum).[/li][li]There’s a nice (but somewhat strenuous) hike up to the lake above town. Ask the Park Rangers for a map.[/li][/ul]

Icy Strait Point - We didn’t do much here but get off the boat into the manufactured town. It’s charming, and there’s is a yummy hot doughnut stand, but nothing special. We chickened out on the big attraction here, which is the World’s Longest Zip Line :trade_mark:. It’s expensive, but sure looked fun. Also, the whale watching excursions here are supposed to be very good.

On the ship, go to the shows in the evening. The performers are actually quite good, even if the shows are not particularly original. We also had a lot of fun with pub trivia and karaoke. Don’t know if you’ll have the same crew we did, but if Dexter is outside the buffet every morning doing his special songs (and that’s all I’ll say about that; NO SPOILERS), say hello from the blind man and his family who were on the southbound cruise July 12-19.

Oh, one thing we were very surprised about was that drinks were not ridiculously expensive (meaning they were more like restaurant prices than Disney/resort prices). If you’re into beer, Michael’s Pub actually has quite a good selection. I probably only had 3 drinks on the whole cruise, but I didn’t feel ripped off by the prices. Unless you drink a lot, I don’t think the prepaid drink plans were worth it.

We took pictures with a Canon Powershot and our iPhones, and had really good results. Everything is so ridiculously beautiful, it’s hard to screw up the pictures. :slight_smile:

Have fun! PM me if you have any other questions.

42

So, the trip was really amazing. I completely forgot to post about it here after 200 facebook photos, talking with friends, family etc.

I flew into Seattle the night before and spent an evening by myself. Had a great dinner at Steelhead Diner in Pike Place Market. (Crab and shrimp tater tots and catfish tacos) I highly recommend a visit if you’re in Seattle.

We boarded Sunday and the process took about 3 hours. Line after line after line. Once onboard it got a lot better. :slight_smile: The trip was my mom, grandma, 3 siblings and sister in law. We had the scheduled dinner and a table to ourselves. Our amazing waiters took excellent care of us. After the first few days, they had learned what we liked to drink and had it ready for us as we sat down.

First port of call (Tuesday) was Ketchikan and the only day we had rain. We had scheduled to do zip lines but cancelled because the weather was really rough. We did a bit of exploring and shopping.

Wednesday we went through the Tracy Arm Fjord in the morning. I have to say it is one of the most glorious sights I’ve ever seen. Taking amazing photos was easy, point your camera at any scenery, snap a shot, get something freaking amazing. Have a balcony or get a good spot on deck for this place.

Thursday was Juneau. For the state capital, I was shocked at how small it is. We did the whale watching trip in the evening and it was great. We saw seals, at least 1 whale and a ton of other sea life.

Thursday, Skagway. More shopping and the train ride.

Agreed about the onboard drink prices, they were similar to or cheaper than what I’m used to paying at bars in LA. The only small snag was that I ordered 1 glass of wine with dinner and was charged for 6. It didn’t take a lot to fix, but definitely check your on board account several times and at least on the day before disembarking. There is plenty to do on board as well. Mom and I had a spa morning on the Friday at sea day.

I could go on and on, but overall I have to say it was an amazing trip. They treat you like gold, staff that had seen me twice called me by name the rest of the week, the room steward kept up the rooms better than I do my own at home and everyone in general was wonderful to deal with. I really can’t wait to do another cruise.

43

Did anyone mention rain yet? We went by ferry and had a car, but still had several days of downtime while the rain poured. Make plans as if it will be sunny and nice, but have a backup for if it’s not.

Actually, it’s an odd thing you won’t get to see directly, but the towns transform when cruise ships are in port, particularly Skagway. It was sort of cool seeing both sides, but a little bit hard too. So much shut down as the ships sailed away.

Oh, and try the spuce-tip ale. Very tasty!

44

I’ll echo what others have said:

Rain gear.

Cold weather gear (gloves, hat or fleece headbands, scarves, thermal underwear). I went in June. Weather was mostly mild but often rainy. But we nearly froze when we cruised up into Glacier Bay. OMG, it was C-O-L-D. Like standing for a three hours inside a walk-in freezer. My mother and I ended up wearing several layers of clothes AND wrapping deck blankets around our shoulders. I have a photo of us from that day. Makes me shiver everytime I look at it.

Binoculars.

Camera, with extra batteries.

I also recommend bringing elastic waistband clothes for later in the trip. I’m not kidding. You will eat like you’ve never eaten before and will be glad to have clothes that give you a little more room. :cool:

Have a good time!

45

Day two of engine trouble. Stuck in Ketchikan for a second night, and there appears to be no confidence that we will be fixed tomorrow.

We did leave Ketchikan yesterday on schedule, but only got two hours north before they decided to return.

46

Don’t worry…I’m sure they’ve fixed them perfectly!

Oops. Hope they’re making it up to you somehow. I’ve got to think that being stuck in Ketchikan is better than being at work. But I’d feel like I’m missing out on the other ports.

47

Just got back from Disaster of the Millennium Part Deux yesterday. The short version, with Celebrity’s marks for:

Compensation promised: B-
They will give us this partial cruise free (we had a bit over 4 days on the ship), plus credit for a future cruise in the same amount.

  • points for offering a free (of same value) future cruise, as they aren’t truly obligated.
  • points for not refunding anything other than cruise fare; we booked air travel through the cruise line, and for us that is about 1/3 the cost of the trip, but that is effectively a lost expenditure.
  • points for taking 6-8 weeks to apply the credit.

Execution: D+
They had just gone through this same exercise the week before, so you’d think they would be on top of this, but it was pretty bad.

  • points: not keeping us completely in the dark. They made PA announcements a few times a day; the problem is, no one in command knew much.
  • points: everything else. We got a letter on Tuesday that said we’d be flown to Anchorage; three hours later another letter that we’d be flown to Seattle. At no point did anyone actually contact us in-person or by phone. They made a big point of saying 30 Celebrity specialists were en route to the ship to handle customer service, but we never saw them nor told where to find them.

Several letters and PA announcements clearly and emphatically stated they would arrange to get us home as quickly as possible. They chartered jets and put various groups of us on them to various other cities (from Ketchikan). They sent our group to Seattle and said Celebrity “highly trained experts” would meet us there and provide further assistance. We arrived in Seattle, and were informed that no arrangements for further travel had been made for us, and none would be - we were on our own. They’d put us in a hotel for a few nights, but getting home was entirely our responsibility.

I don’t fault Celebrity a bit for the propulsion problem; it happens, and we made the best of 3 days in the rain capital of the world, Ketchikan. But taking two months to apply credits when the bills are already coming due, and dumping us in a city we’d never been to and told to make our own way home, are unacceptable. With the wasted expense of the cross-country airfare that won’t be refunded, I’m afraid this was our last attempt at an Alaskan vacation.

This was not our first Celebrity cruise, but it was the worst, and it had nothing to do with the engine troubles. I’ll rant more on that later.

On top of this, we came home to a Level 3 disaster: the refrigerator stopped working at some point during our absence, and it was…really, really bad. Unimaginable smell.

48
  1. Don’t cruise the bottom three lines any more.
  2. Always buy third-party trip insurance. Don’t rely on cruise line self-insurance or credit policies, which are often crippled to the max AND more expensive than 3rd-party.
49

My brother (who, like me, was born in Juneau) gave his daughter the first two names “Tracy Lynn”, after the Tracy Arm of the Lynn Canal.

50

[QUOTE=Amateur Barbarian]

  1. Don’t cruise the bottom three lines any more.
    [/quote]

Celebrity is widely regarded as a “premium” line (example: http://www.galaxsea.com/ratings.html )
No one considers Celebrity a “bottom line”.

51

It’s a shame they didn’t handle it better, Raza. I suggest you send a letter to their corporate headquarters complaining, and explain what you think needs to be done to make it right. They may step up and do the right thing, still. You wouldn’t be able to correct the time frame, but you might be able to get them to cough up some money for the air fair.
The entire industry should be better that this by now.

52

A lot of things were beyond Celebrity’s control, and I have no bad feelings towards them simply due to a breakdown; in fact, I applaud the Captain’s decision to return to port and stay there rather than limp along to the next destination on one engine, because if that one went as well, we’d be adrift.

The “dumping us in Seattle without further travel arrangements” was inexcusable, though, especially given they previously said, verbally and in writing, that they would make arrangements to get us home. Now, I’m middle-aged and quick-on-my-feet and personally flexible, so it wasn’t a big disaster for us. However, a great many (and I mean an overwhelming number) of the passengers were 60+ (probably some combination of Alaska and Celebrity skews older), and many of them were likely not as able to make quick arrangements by-the-seat-of-the-pants as I was.

53

We just did an Alaskan cruise the last week of July. We were on the Norwegian Pearl. We were pretty lucky with the weather. Clear in Juneau, Clear in Ketchikan, some rain in Skagway.

Most of the problems we encountered were personal. Taking 4 kids 5-13 is not easy. We had a good time but it would have been better if it was just the two of us.

Norwegian sails down Glacier Bay National Park which is spectacular.

We did an excursion which included about an hour at Mendenhall Glacier and then a whale watching trip. I don’t remember the name of the whale watch but it was one that has a money back guarantee. We got our money’s worth and more. After a while tooling around enjoying the scenery we came upon a large pod of humpback whales who were bubble feeding. We were able to follow them for about an hour. Even the naturalist on board was excited.

In Ketchikan we did the Alaskan crab fishing tour. You get on the Aleutian Ballad, one of the boats from Deadliest Catch converted to a tourist boat, and they take you out fishing. They demonstrate different fishing techniques including the big pots. Derrick Ray from DC was one of the tour guides. It was a little touristy but very fun. We saw more wildlife on that trip than anywhere else. Harbor seals, porpoises swimming with the boat, otters and a Humpback. They also pull up to an island and throw some fish in and the bald eagles swoop down and feed. I loved the excursion but it didn’t leave a lot of time to explore the town. Ketchikan was beautiful. The weather was perfect. I would be tempted to move there if it wasn’t for the giant rain gauge in town showing me that we were there on a very rare day.

In Skagway we took an excursion which did panning for gold and then a trip on the train up the White Pass. I wouldn’t have minded skipping the gold panning (fake and touristy) but the kids enjoyed it. The train trip was worth it.

It was our first cruise anywhere. We will definitely do it again. Without children.

54

That page is as biased and screwball as anything I’ve ever seen.

Celebrity may be a tick above Carnival and Princess, and on a par with Disney, with RCCI in the middle, but no higher.