This was our 7th cruise and we thoroughly enjoyed it. The cruise ship wasn't that good, but the ports we hit was like winning the jackpot. We probably won't return to Alaska again, but would consider cruising with Celebrity again.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
From Seward, we took our hotel's shuttle to the cruise port. We checked in smoothly and got into our rooms almost immediately after we boarded.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
3 out of 5
I wasn't expecting much and it made that expectation. The food there was anything special. The food served onboard was just normal food you could get anywhere. Specialty restaurants we expensive and the crab fest thing was way too expensive.
Cafe al Bacio and Gelateria
3 out of 5
Prices for the Gelateria were a bit weird. Every day of the cruise, the Ice Cream Bar in the buffet would have a new flavor. I'll reference all those flavors as the flavor catalog. The Gelateria had the entire flavor catalog. But, you had to pay 2$ for it. Is it some clever business strategy, or did they do something wrong?
Metropolitan Restaurant
4 out of 5
The food was average and so were the waiters. The second floor made the whole rooms seem a whole lot bigger.
Rendezvous Lounge
4 out of 5
We mostly hung out on sea days at off-peak hours to play card games. (We lost a card there with a Juneau back. If anyone could find it, that would be quite funny) It had a nice atmosphere.
Oceanview Café
3 out of 5
The selection of food was more American than we were used to. The food was okay. The fish n' chips tasted awful. We are used to the food on MSC and were sad to see that the pizza was a whole lot worse than MSC's. The omelet used some kind of paste as the egg and the spaghetti sauce was very watery.
Onboard Activities
3 out of 5
There wasn't much to do as it was a very small ship. The pools were okay as they were mostly crowded. Nothing really stood out and I wasn't really impressed.
Solarium
4 out of 5
The pool was warm, but crowded because of the family hours.
Basketball Court
3 out of 5
The Basketball Court showed a lot of wear and tear. Since this is right behind the tail of the cruise, we could hear the engine or boiler chugging. Some of the Basketballs were deflated and there was no one to pump them up.
Pool
3 out of 5
Very crowded at times and the outdoor pools were way to cold to swim in.
Jogging Track
3 out of 5
The paint seems to be scratching off. I guess it is long enough.
Guest Relations And Excursions
5 out of 5
They booked all of our excursions smoothly and with no problem. They also were able to refund our excursions quickly with no hassle.
Entertainment
2 out of 5
We've been on mostly MSC Cruises. Compared to MSC, their acts were much more laid back and not as "dangerous" as the ones we've seen on MSC. We only saw around 2 shows as all of them went to about 10 PM.
Grand Foyer
4 out of 5
We've been on some of the Fantasia-class MSC ships and two of the Grand-Class Princess ships. The Grand Foyer is no comparison to those. I'd say it is not that grand as the name would suggest. But, it served its purpose and I could compare it to the MSC Opera's atrium and say they were similar.
Library
3 out of 5
A cruise-like selection of books. It was kept quiet and the two floors was a nice touch.
Celebrity Theater
4 out of 5
The shows were okay, but the seats were comfortable. I felt that you could see from any seat and the volume was just alright.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Our room steward was absolutely amazing. She cleaned the room very well. It stood out to me because the previous reviews mainly highlighted how dirty the rooms were. She would line up the stuffed animals and create a really good presentation of the room. Our Main Dining room staff was excellent. Since I'm really into cruises, we were able to get into a deep conversation with our waiter about the crew's quarters, their shifts, etc. The guy's name was Mantra and served our table, table 537. All the staff were very impressive and I have to give props to the auction guy. That guy was yelling out prices while including jokes in what seemed like half a second.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
A highlight of the reviews say that the ship isn't very well maintained. I have to disagree because the whole ship was kept really well and I did not spot a single dirty spot ANYWHERE on the ship throughout the whole voyage.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
We had an Oceanview with two pullout beds. The window was much bigger than expected, but the room was much smaller than we anticipated. Luckily, we've stayed on the oceanview in MSC and it was not much different. We made the great choice of separating the beds which the made the room feel a whole lot bigger. The cabin was very well maintained and it was very cozy. No loud banging noises, no engine noises, and it was very smooth.
We did the Mount Roberts Tramway excursion and the Mendenhall Glacier canoeing. Let me just give you a heads up if you are with kids. Do NOT do the Mendenhall Glacier canoeing with kids. You'll get put in a boat with other kids. Our boat went really slow, so slow that the other boat got much closer to the glacier. Our boat just chugged along and we saw basically.... nothing. The tramway gave me a nice view of the port. When up, we did a hike along the hill. It was very steep but worth the climb. At the top, it gave a great view of our ship and of the Coral Princess leaving.
The only excursion we really saw that was "good" in this port was one with the train. There was nothing to do in the town. We took a bus up to the Yukon Suspension bridge and the train back down to Skagway. Our bus driver did a great job of delivering the information and creating quality jokes (for real). He brought us a little further because of the extra time we had. The Yukon suspension bridge was interesting. The train back down was cool, but too relaxed for us.
This place was my favorite. We did an ATV and Zip excursion. The tour was very small and the tour guide did a great job. The ATV tour was really memorable because we got the perfect pictures of the ocean and learned a lot about the Tlingit people. The Zip was really exciting and we had a great time.
The town really had nothing to do. We found creek streek boring and the town too hot to walk through. When we were making our way off the ship from lunch, we finally booked a Misty Fjords sightseeing tour that we got for around 70$ the cruise line excursion price. The floatplane was a fun ride, but we really didn't see any mist... The sun was high up in the sky, but it was a great experience.
This is where we disembarked, the saddest day fo the cruise. We loved the town. Being away from big cities for two weeks now, this city was a relief. I went ship spotting every day and even captured the Westerdam's Muster Drill!
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