We chose the Celebrity Millennium Northbound Alaska cruise from Vancouver as our honeymoon trip, having just been married on May 14. It was absolutely perfect in every way and we can't imagine any trip to anywhere in the globe that would've been more adventurous, interesting, eye-opening or fun!Ship/CabinPreviously we've sailed on Celebrity Constellation and Solstice. We sailed on the Solstice in January 2011 and it was beautiful, but we actually liked the Millennium better. Smaller size makes everything accessible and we thought the ship was decorated very well. This ship itself never felt crowded (except in the cafe and neither of us have ever been on a ship that didn't feel crowded up there!) We've had balcony cabins before but actually prefer inside cabins because they're cheaper and we find the totally dark room to be really relaxing. Our cabin was great and cabin steward was very accommodating. FoodFood was out of this world. In fact, we think the food was better on the Millennium than it was on the Solstice. The main dining room was outstanding and our waiter, Carlton Reid, was absolutely phenomenal. We first tried specialty dining onboard the Solstice (Silk Harvest) and we're so impressed we knew we wanted to try it on Millennium. The Olympic did not disappoint - we went on the third evening (Ketchikan port day) and loved it so much we booked to go back on the last evening of the cruise. Some would probably say "Why would you pay for food when the main dining room is free?!" but to those skeptics we would only say: it's worth it. The food was absolutely divine - like a 5-star restaurant - and the service, the dining room itself- everything was the epitome of perfection. In fact, typing this is making us wistful and nostalgic! EntertainmentWhile normally we do go to the main shows, we were having so much fun on this cruise that we didn't find the time to see any of them! We can comment, though, on a couple of the musicians providing entertainment throughout the ship- guitarist Justin Wade was fantastic, really talented and did a great job providing entertainment in the Cova Cafe. A Cappella group On Point were AMAZING (and we are huge a cappella fans so we know good a cappella when we see it!) - their energy, enthusiasm, and passion for music was infectious! We tried to see them as many times as possible. Staff/Celebrity LifeWe were excited to see Ian Cresswell as the Cruise Director because we sailed on the Solstice when he was Cruise Director there - and he provided a terrific line-up of Celebrity Life activities and events on the Millennium as well. We enjoyed the champagne tasting/sabering-at-sea demonstration, bourbon tasting, some of the trivia games, and we even participated in the Newlywed/Not-so-Newlywed game (much to our mutual embarrassment as we kept getting recognized throughout the rest of the cruise!)SpaWe had a honeymoon registry as part of our wedding and someone gave us a couple's massage so we were delighted to try out the spa services onboard Celebrity this cruise. We are both avid runners and have had lots of different types of massage (Swedish, Deep Tissue, Hot Stone, Sports Massage, Active Release Technique, etc) - and to be honest we didn't have very high expectations for the massage staff onboard (no fault of their own - we just figured they wouldn't be as good as some of the masseuses we've been fortunate to have). Boy, were we wrong!!!! We had two ladies, one from the UK and one from Scotland (I remember the UK lady's name was Linzy) and we told them we wanted a hard, deep tissue massage - they were fantastic! What a great, relaxing way to start the trip.The Naturalist, Milos RadakovichFor us, the naturalist onboard, Milos, absolutely MADE this cruise. We cannot say enough good things about him. He was seemingly always in the Cosmos lounge helping folks spot whales, and the three lectures he gave throughout the cruise were each absolutely fascinating. He's a great presenter and makes his lectures FUN (and funny!) as well as jam-packing them with facts about Alaskan geology, wildlife, climate, and astronomy. Beyond all this, he is practically a walking encyclopedia of general science knowledge. For us, choosing an Alaskan cruise was all about the wildlife and nature we'd hoped to see along the way, so getting to meet someone as knowledgeable and passionate as Milos was like winning the lottery. Again, we cannot say enough good things about him and if there is anyway to choose your cruise based on whether or not he will be onboard, we would advise you to do so!NorovirusJust wanted to quickly mention that our ship did catch the norovirus (apparently, though thankfully it didn't affect us very much). While the crew did have to serve all food to us, instead of letting us go through the buffet, and while we definitely saw more cleaning throughout the ship than we're used to, we must say that all in all very little changed about the cruise experience. The crew and staff handled it impeccably and we were not impacted or inconvenienced in any way. Just wanted to thank the crew for the wonderful job they did with that otherwise unfortunate situation - and shame on the dunderhead who came onboard sick with the virus in the first place!Ports/ExcursionsWe'll go port-by-port and list what we did, what we liked, what we didn't like, etc. KetchikanComing off the boat in Ketchikan we were at first disappointed at how "touristy" everything seemed. However, once we walked about half a mile in either direction we were free of the tourist traps and quickly fell in love with Ketchikan. In Ketchikan we booked our own floatplane excursion with a company called Alaskan Seaplane Tours. We did this mainly because it was cheaper than the floatplane tours offered by the ship and we checked Trip Advisor and this company had great reviews. They absolutely did not disappoint! Ryan McCue himself (owner of the company) was our pilot and he took us on a glorious 90 minute flight around Misty Fjords. We landed the floatplane (one of the coolest things we've ever experienced, EVER!) and Ryan told us to look up the mountain where, about 100 yards away, were TWO grizzly bears lounging in the snow! An unbelievable sight. Ryan sat on the front and literally paddled the floatplane closer to the shore so we could all see. It was amazing. We can't recommend Alaskan Seaplane Tours highly enough - a great family-owned company that really cares about its customers. Even the two guys who fetched us at the pier - James and Tiger (I think those were their names) - were incredibly friendly and helpful. After the floatplane we explored Ketchikan - walked around and saw the fish hatchery (did not go in), and meandered through all the shops in Creek Street (a must-do!). We finally stopped for a late lunch at the Ketchikan Coffee Company where we had delicious food and even bought some souvenir coffee mugs. Icy Strait PointIcy Strait Point was probably our least favorite port, mainly because it is obviously built and maintained by Royal Caribbean and Celebrity. There isn't much to do there except excursions and we're happy to report we picked a really good one - whale watching! We booked our whale watching excursion for noon and spent the morning walking around Icy Strait Point (not a whole lot to do, but the nature trail was pretty nice). Our whale watching trip was AMAZING - we got on a large boat and went out to a piece of Stephen's Passage. We saw many humpback whales - including a group of about 6 which we were told was very unusual. There is just no comparison to seeing whales in person. Simply amazing. While we were onboard, the captain asked if we were planning to do whale watching in Juneau as well - we said we hadn't planned on it but he advised that we did (more below). The boat served hot chocolate, tea, and coffee - which was very nice as it was COLD outside.After the whale watching, we had snow king crab at the crab restaurant (more like shack, as you walk up to it) in Icy Strait Point. It was delicious! With not much else to do in Icy Strait Point (and we did not feel like walking to Hoonah - heard there wasn't much to do there either), we headed back to the ship. JuneauWe had heard great things about Juneau, and it did not disappoint! Once off the ship we found a company called Orca Enterprises (recommended by our Lonely Planet guidebook) right on the pier, and booked a whale watching excursion for mid-morning. Until then we walked around downtown Juneau and explored.Orca Enterprises was PHENOMENAL!! As good as the whale watching in Icy Strait Point was, the whole experience was taken to the next level with Orca in Juneau. We booked the more expensive boat (I think only $20 more per person) because the person in the sales booth at the pier recommended we go with 'Captain Larry' who ran the more expensive boat. It was AWESOME! Smaller boat than in Icy Strait Point, only about 18 people in total. The snacks were better (not that that really counts) - but the whale watching on that particular day was unbelievable. While the boats cannot legally approach whales any closer than 100 ft, we were incredibly fortunate because a pod of whales actually swam up to our boat! We saw them from maybe 10 feet away...probably four at a time with a baby whale that breached many, many times. It was truly breathtaking. Even the crew (including Cpt Larry) got their cameras out and took pictures! We cannot recommend Orca Enterprises enough.Orca also offered a shuttle to Mendenhall Glacier which we took. We spent about an hour exploring the Glacier which was fascinating. The weather was beautiful the whole day (we were fortunate to enjoy great weather throughout the cruise). Would definitely recommend making a stop at Mendenhall.After Mendenhall we went back to the pier and ate at the Twisted Fish - it came highly recommended to us and it, also, was fantastic. The salmon sandwich is to die for!With time still left in port, we decided to take the Mt Roberts Tramway up to the top of Mt Roberts. The tram cannot be missed as it is right next to where the ships dock at the pier. This was a bit of a disappointment (and huge waste of $$) - so our advice would be SKIP THE TRAM ALL TOGETHER. It's about a 5 minute ride that will set you back $27 PER PERSON (yikes!) - the views are ok but each way the Tram was so crowded you don't really get a good look. Then the tram drops you off at a glorified gift shop...seriously a disappointment. We spent about 10 minutes in Mt Roberts and then took the tram back down, really disappointed that we spent almost $55 for nothing. Summary of Juneau: do Orca Enterprises and Mendenhall Glacier, eat at Twisted Fish, SKIP the tram.SkagwayWe took the White Pass & Yukon Route Railroad in Skagway because it was basically the only thing to do. BIG disappointment here. It's basically a 3-hour ride that becomes a 4-hour trip quickly when you tack on the fact that at the top and at the bottom you stop for about 30 minutes each while they bring the engine car around to the front. The ride is the same going back as it is coming up. Yes, the views were breathtaking for about the first hour - but four hours was exceedingly long. Also - there are no snacks or drink on the train whatsoever (not even coffee!), and you are not allowed to move between cars. The train did provide some bottles of water but that just didn't suffice. There is not much to do in Skagway but you can surely find something more interesting (not to mention a LOT cheaper) than this train ride. We heard some trains lasted 8 hours and I honestly don't know how folks could stand it. Later in our trip (after the cruise) we took the Alaskan Railroad from Seward to Anchorage - THAT train was AMAZING (great views, dining car, drinks, ability to move around, LOTS of wildlife sightings, great crew, much more cost effective, etc). If you are looking for an "Alaskan train" experience, our advice would be skip the train in Skagway and do the train in Seward. After the train we explored Skagway - it's a little touristy but we did find some great food at the Skagway Brewing Company (very end of the main street through Skagway). One of the Excursions staff recommended this place to us and it was great - great beer, great food! After Skagway Brewing Company we visited The Mountain Shop on 4th where the clerk recommended a hiking trail to us near the pier (I believe it was called the Lower Lake trail) - it was a quick 2 mile trail with steep elevation increase that led to a beautiful lake. We enjoyed the needed exercise after sitting on the train for most of the day! Highly recommend this little trail.SewardIn Seward we explored Exit Glacier, which was fantastic and definitely recommend to everyone. Also, a company called Exit Glacier Guides provided much needed (and cheap) luggage storage for us as we arrived early in the morning but didn't depart on the train until the evening. One sidenote - if you plan on doing any whale watching in Seward, just know that most trips leave before 12noon. We messed up slightly by going to Exit Glacier in the morning, then trying to see whales or kayak in the afternoon. No trips were available so instead we visited the Alaskan SeaLife Center - that was very cool too so we were not disappointed but just know if you want a whale watching or kayaking trip and are only in Seward for one day (as we were), you have to go early in the day.Seward was a beautiful town - we were disappointed we only had a day here. At the Alaskan Sea Life Center we got the "behind the scenes" tour which was great - getting to see where and how animals are rescued was something we'll remember for a very long time. Wish we had more time in Seward - somewhere we would love to come back to!Overall, this was the cruise of a lifetime. We pointed out some of the things that disappointed us in the various ports but those are MINISCULE and were listed more to help other travelers who might be planning an Alaskan cruise rather than as an actual summary of our experience. We continued our trip by taking the Alaskan Railroad to Anchorage, spending the night in Anchorage, and then renting a car and driving to Denali (where we spent two more nights). The whole trip was absolutely amazing. Would recommend Alaska as a honeymoon destination to ANYONE - and especially recommend it as a trip for young people to take (especially if you are a wildlife or nature-lover). There is SO much to do and see in Alaska, you will never be bored! One final note - we really enjoyed meeting Nicola from Australia and Dougie and Maggie from England. If they happen to read this, please email us!