Our 7-day Alaskan cruise started off great. After a brief tour of the ship, we decided to have lunch at the Oceanview Cafe. We then went to the Spa instead of the Sail Away on the top deck. Not that many guests were there! Our first day at sea was pure bliss. Nothing but quiet relaxation time. Even our cabin was quiet which was noteworthy due to our cabin not that far from the mid-elevators. Pre booked excursions through celebrity included a VIP Endicott Arm & Glacier tour, a Whale Watching & Salmon Bake tour, and the White Pass Scenic Railway Tour. We also went on other excursions not booked through Celebrity (highly recommend): Misty Fjords National Monument Tour in Ketchikan through Island Wings (an absolute must!), the Lumberjack Show, and a horse drawn carriage tour through Tally-Ho in Victoria at night (booked the 9 - 10:15pm ride with plenty of time to get back to the ship). Gained 5 pounds with all the food I ate on and off the ship (go get you some Halibut at Red Fish Blue Fish in Victoria. Worth the wait!). Spent couple more days at the Thermal Spa, caught a few shows, took tons of pics and video. We traveled as a couple and had the time of our lives, especially with the addition of 4 nights in Seattle! This was by far the best cruise (1st with Celebrity) and the best vacation we have taken together. Wife wants to fly back to Victoria to spend a few days. So beautiful and arguably the most beautiful city in all of Canada! And the biggest surprise of all was that it did not rain at all in our entire trip, including the 4 nights we spent in Seattle. Truly blessed!
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Overall great experience. I was able to grab the earliest time slot (10:30 - 11:00) when I did my check-in. We arrived at 10am after checking out from The Edgewater Hotel. They took our checked bags right away and we were able to board the ship right around 11am.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
5 out of 5
Oceanview Café
5 out of 5
Last full day on ship we were delighted to see a full seafood spread! Crab legs, calamari, clams, etc
Room Service
5 out of 5
Towards the end of our cruise, nothing like sleeping in and ordering room service. For $9.95, you can order whatever you like for breakfast.
Eden Restaurant
5 out of 5
Loved the entire Eden experience!
Café Al Bacio
5 out of 5
I visited here daily grabbing caramel lattes, teas, and other drinks. Also, the free bites!! This was one of my go-to places onboard.
Onboard Activities
5 out of 5
We aren’t “spa” people but we purchased the weekly thermal spa pass. I can see people loving this as it was very nice. Got to experience the different rooms such as the Turkish room. My wife loved her acupuncture treatment while I enjoyed my facial. Also booked massages. A bit pricey but very good services. Didn’t participate in much else but still give it 5-star for the variety. We saw activities such as archery, axe throwing, trivia, and many others. Enough for everyone. Our main activity was RELAXATION, especially on our Infinite Verandah balcony!
Entertainment
5 out of 5
We heard live music throughout the ship and caught shows at The Theater. Definitely try to see at least 2-3 of them.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Everyone who worked on the ship treated us like royalty. Almost all acted very happy to serve us from the waiters to Loreen, our Stateroom Steward, and Captain Matt and other officers! 10/10
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
Staff were always seen cleaning the entire ship. The public restrooms were always clean. It seemed they had a person inside each one to wipe down the areas you just touched.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
Prior to our cruise, I read many negative comments about the Infinite Verandah. I have to say, our room was way better than expected. Loved the Infinite Verandah. We opened up the window a few times. Was a bit cold at times when sailing but would much rather have this room type for an Alaskan cruise over a Caribbean cruise. Didn’t even notice the king size bed being 2 twins. Bed was super comfortable for the two of us. The neat surprise was that they tidied up your room TWICE a day! Didn’t expect that. Steward always super nice to us when we made some requests such as extra towels. Plenty of room to store our clothes and was able to place magnetic hooks all throughout the room. Plus room under the bed to store our empty luggage.
Ship tip
Book dinner reservations even for MDR ones. We had Anytime Dining but made reservations for all 4 restaurants, and arriving 15 minutes early was not a problem as other guests were waiting for a table. They sat us almost immediately.
We are so grateful that we were able to see this part of our cruise. So unfortunate for others on a previous cruise who were not able to do this due to a medical emergency or for weather reasons. We were blessed to have near perfect weather. I booked the VIP Endicott Arm & Glacier tour thinking it would be very cold. VIP was mainly due to being able to stay in a heated and much larger ship. However, I would’ve been just as happy at booking the regular excursion for nearly half the price. The weather was so beautiful! At this point, we were so thrilled with our first two of Ketchikan and Inside Passage. On to Juneau!
Spent 3 nights before our cruise plus an extra night after our cruise. Loved Seattle. So much to do here. Purchase a CityPASS to see multiple attractions and save money. We saw the Chihuly Garden and Glass, Argosy Cruises Harbor tour, Space Needle, and MoPop. We could’ve also gone to the Seattle Aquarium but chose not to go. Used mostly Uber. The one experience on MetroLink was great. After we pre-checked into the Country Inn at SeaTac (after debarkation), we took an Uber back to MoPop. Then we toured Pike Place, which was phenomenal, then purchased 2 tickets for the MetroLink for $3 each to the airport. From there, we called Country Inn to come pick us up in their free 24 hour shuttle service. Saved lots of money with that!
The beauty of The Last Frontier is right here. Took so many Amazing photos during our excursions. Taking two excursions on the same day prevented us from touring Juneau; however, we will just have to come back another time for that.
Went to the Lumberjack show and a seaplane tour. Show is more for families but it was still good for us. It was something to do before our Seaplane tour and that did not disappoint. Awesome views high above the Misty Fjords. My wife was lucky enough to ride shotgun to and from. Took off and landed on water. We stopped for 30 minutes at a remote tiny island. So picturesque! Spent time visiting various gift shops. Ketchikan is a fun port to visit. Lines were long at the seafood restaurants so we settled on pizza at Fat Stan’s which was surprisingly good.
We loved Victoria despite spending only a few hours. Gorgeous at night! We booked a horse drawn carriage tour not through Celebrity. Blankets were provided and were utilized. Very knowledgeable horse rider who gave us info about the city. We ate at Red Fish Blue Fish and toured Fisherman’s Wharf.
Disembarkation was as smooth as it can get. We were assigned Group 11 for an 8:05am departure. Had time for a last meal. When we disembarked it got rather chaotic but I blame Port of Seattle for that. There were cab drivers who were rude and Port of Seattle employees yelling and screaming. I was ready to catch us an Uber!
Beautiful! We had the same stellar experience on Edge June 21-28. We also consider the infinite veranda our best & most useful “balcony” experience across 8 different cruises. Thank you for sharing your cruise with us.
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