This ship was just refinished and it appeared brand new with lovely decor and finishing. Our balcony room was just big enough and service there was terrific. Only complaint was a toilet seat that slammed. And we heard neighbors slam too. Food on ship was somewhat disappointing as Celebrity reputation was much better. Specialty restaurants were excellent but main dining room and buffet were hit and miss. Some of the portions were tiny and food typically arrived like warm Drinks were good but inconsistent. Don’t order old fashioned as they couldn’t get it right. Bloody Mary was great Our stops were marred by poor weather with two most exciting spots the worst. Our helicopter ride to Glacier was cancelled and inside passage was foggy. We also did a pre cruise land cruise with celebrity to Denali to see wildlife. Strange as Celebrity doesn’t really run that part of tour. Information was lacking Read Less

I chose this cruise because it fit our schedule. It was a 'last minute' decision to replace a postponed Japan trip. Neither my husband nor I have been to Alaska and this was also our very first cruise. My husband and I don't have kids and are looking for a quiet environment with the best food. Celebrity was the cruise line that I found (based on research) to best fit these categories that also had a price that we were willing to pay for. I opted for the AquaClass due to the feedback I've seen here at Cruise Critic and some other research I've done. Neither me nor my husband like going to a spa, but I was looking forward to Blu - its the only reason why I picked AquaClass. The SuiteClass was a bit too pricey so AquaClass was the best we could afford. I also booked kind of late - about 30 days before the ship date. TRANSPORTATION: We flew to Anchorage on Thursday afternoon and booked a bus to Seward Friday morning. There are other options such as taking the train (no more seats available when I looked 30 days prior to sail date, so if you want to take the train, book early). The ticket price I saw was $238 for the gold service for 1 person. The other option was to rent a car from Hertz (apparently its the only car rental place in Seward and they wanted ~$400 for a compact car for that 2.5 hours that it would take to drive from Anchorage to Seward). I read somewhere there's Uber and Lyft available but I did not explore that option. The bus ticket (with ACT) was $126 per person for a direct transfer and they still had seats available. The bus also had a touring option which would extend the trip to 4 hours, but I just wanted to get to the ship and start the cruising experience so I chose direct transfer from the Anchorage airport to the port in Seward. They also have the option to pick you up at your hotel but the pick up time was too early and so I opted to just go to the airport (11AM). We just took the hotel shuttle from the hotel back to the airport that Friday morning. We stayed at the Courtyard Marriott. EMBARKATION DAY: The bus got to the port around 1:45PM. We did the expedited check-in and it was smoother than I thought. No lines whatsoever. The entry point lands at Deck 3, and we were welcomed with a glass of sparkling wine. Note this was our first cruise so we didn't know what's going on. We were not sure if there's a passengers gathering or whether we could go straight to our cabin, but then again we didn't know where to get our room keys. Since we were surrounded with cruise employees, we just asked and everyone was just so willing to help and answer questions. We were pointed to the nearest elevator and were told that our room keys will be at our door. OCEANVIEW CAFE: We went exploring and found the OceanView Cafe. Based on research I already knew this was the buffet with no additional charge - but my husband was floored when I told him everything he sees in there was free. The food at the cafe was okay. The only thing I did not like about the first day experience was almost everyone was really trying SO hard to sell the drink package. I was getting flustered in having to say no to so many people. But this selling was only on the first day, as I dont recall anyone asking again for the remainder of the cruise. Note: We did not purchase any drink package as we are not big on drinking. We thought about getting the non-alcoholic package but then again I was really only drinking 2 watermelon tropics a day, and 2 coffees in the morning between the two of us from Blu. We also brought two 1 litre of Aquafina with us onboard which lasted us a couple of days. After that we were happy with tap water from the cafe so we couldn't justify even the non-alcoholic package. Blu Restaurant: This was the reason why we ended up in AquaClass. For an entire month I have been looking forward to eating as much good food as I could. So when dinner time came, we headed up to Blu. The food definitely tasted so much better than the cafe. Also - nobody tried to sell us the drinking package at Blu. We ate here almost every morning and every night. Some dinner menu items changed daily (lobster, halibut, veil, ribeye steak) while some items are static (herb roasted chicken, new york strip, salmon). Breakfast menu is the same all week but our favorites were eggs benedict and berry-pecan pancakes. Note: Lunch is not served at Blu nor at Luminae (exclusive to suiteclass). We did not bother going to the Metropolitan (which is the main dining room) because the line starts building up 30 minutes prior to opening, when we could just walk-in at Blu and be seated right away (or at the cafe and find a seat somewhere). I also read somewhere here that the food at the cafe is just like the food served at the main dining, so I did not feel like we were missing anything. Qsine: We only had 1 lunch at the Qsine when they were having a King Crab feast. We paid the $45 for each of us and we got two king crab legs. I thought it was all you could eat king crabs so I was a bit disappointed that we only got 2 legs. It was good, but I havent decided whether it was worth the $45. We did not try Tuscan Grille (fully booked on embarkation day and did not bother for the rest of the week). We also did not get to try Sushi on Five - maybe next time. EXCURSIONS: We booked 3 excursions with Celebrity (as I did not want to stress about getting left behind). We went hiking in Juneau (4.45 hours hike) and got a good view of Mendenhall Glacier. We were fortunate enough that it did not rain too much (just small sprinkling, then again we were in a Rainforest). This was categorized as a strenuous activity and they did not lie. So please know that you're getting yourselves into before booking. We booked the White Pass trail (train ride) when we got to Skagway. This excursion requires passport as we crossed the Canadian border. Our favorite is the zip rider when we got to Icy Strait Point. It looked intimidating as its the worlds largest zipline but it's not scary at all! (Note that I'm the biggest chicken out there and I hate heights and roller coasters). The only reason why I got brave enough to do this ride is because of the videos I saw on youtube. The way they did this ride (with at seat that they buckle you in) really takes the scariness away. I felt really secure and I didn't feel the 60 MPH descent from the top of the mountain. Really, I would go back to Icy Strait Point, or do the whole cruise again just to do this zip rider again. We did not book anything in Ketchikan as I didnt find anything interesting. We heard the Lumberjack show was good. Activities on the ship: My husband enjoyed the gym and the basketball court on decks 11 and 12. We both went to a couple of wine tasting at the Cellar Master and enjoyed both. My husband discovered a his new favorite whiskey and I had the best Old Fashioned I've ever had. DEBARKATION: We opted for the Self-assist and carried our luggage down the gangway ourselves. This also went smoother than I had thought, so kudos to the people who planned the logistics. Service: I cannot say enough good things at the service we got at both Blu and the room service from Gusti and his team. They were all very accommodating and very friendly. The only other thing I did not like is the way they had setup the exit and entry at the ports (after the embarkation day). Seems the porters (?) had no problems keeping the lines long by waiting on unprepared passengers to look for their Seapass cards and keep the rest of us waiting in line despite having our SeaPass cards on hand. Our first port was Juneau and there was this family who couldn't wait to get out of the ship and actually CUT IN LINE only to find that they didn't know they needed their Seapass cards to get out and so everybody waited for them to finally find it in their jacket pockets and purses. The entire family was clueless! You would think the porters would have told them to step aside so the rest of us could scan our cards and leave the ship - but no! Everyone ended up waiting! It was even more irritating when we were getting back from our almost 5 hour hike and it was cold and started to rain and we were being held up right outside of the ship because a couple of the passengers could not find their Seapass cards that they have tucked away somewhere in their thick layered jackets. I would think the porters have done this multiple times before and they would know its more efficient to just let the people who are READY and had the cards on hand to board/deboard the ship while the unprepared passengers are set aside until they get their act together. This is the only thing that could be improved, and the only reason why I am leaving 4 stars out of 5 on this review. Read Less

Cruise ship was supposed to be newly remodeled, but they went cheap on using double pane glass for the balcony doors, so you can hear EVERY LITTLE THING! We have been on several other cruises with other lines, and Celebrity advertises as “luxury” and “superior” but that couldn’t be further from the truth. In the past one of the best parts of a cruise is how friendly and fun the staff is, but don’t expect that on a Celebrity cruise. The spa overcharged us and was the most rude of all, also not honoring our appointment time (which I had made months in advance), they saw us an hour late, which messed with our other plans for the day. The food was a huge letdown in quality and taste, it should also not take 3 hours to get through a meal. Tried to get issues resolved on the cruise ship and with their post cruise department, but they do not care. Spent $10k on a post deployment vacation for my fiancé so we could rest, relax and see beautiful Alaska together, what a letdown. Celebrity offered $500/each towards our next cruise, NOT GOING TO HAPPEN! Read Less

Overall perspective: We had a phenomenal time. I would do it again in a heartbeat. Our critiques are real, but ultimately we really enjoyed ourselves. Ship Condition: If you look hard, you can tell the Millie is not a new ship. There are some layouts that clearly would not be picked if you were building a new ship (Qsine blocking a stairway, sushi on 5 in the middle of a wine bar). In other places there is a lot of paint trying to cover corrosion. I would not, however, describe her as worn or tired. She is in good shape and I think the revolution likely helped substantially. We liked the “old look,” but we like the “new look” too. The new colors are much brighter and it did not feel like ikea to me. Stateroom perspectives: We stayed in CS 8106. Overall, we were very pleased with the room. It looks nice in person and met our needs for the cruise. There were, however, “Kelly Hoppen” functionality issues in both our room, my parents room, and the retreat areas. On the balcony, there were only two seats, a table, and a couple of monolithic footrests. There was easily room for a third chair, but that request was too much for my stateroom attendant (who was otherwise very good). Having the aft balcony of the pair was nice and we spent substantial time out there. No USB outlets were available in our room that I could find. The only bedside plugs were stolen by bedside lamps. Limited plug availability in the rest of the room. As previously stated on the boards, the couch faces the TV instead of the great windows. I “accidentally” rotated it 90 degrees the first morning while everyone was asleep. Based on the carpet color and cleanliness underneath, I would guess I was the first one to do this in 8106 on Millie since revolution. This blocked one of the many underused cabinets, but was otherwise great. Staff didn’t say a word about it but very quickly vacuumed. My parents stayed in SS 8117. They had the now infamous chair that doesn’t slide under the desk. There were some orange highlights they did not enjoy, but it was not offensive to myself or my wife. The blue highlights in our CS were nicer. The couch on their balcony was nice, but there is a pole that is not ideal. We needed that stateroom to support our configuration, but I would not pick it if I had more flexibility. My kids were in 8119. There were more plugs and USB outlets in their room than in my room and my parents room combined. The stateroom attendant for 8117 and 8119 was Jay. He was great. At some point my 9 year old was about to get lost on the ship and Jay rescued him. I will try to find some pictures, but there have been previous photos on the boards of both 8117 and 8106. In general, Kelly Hoppen furniture is poorly thought out from a practicality perspective. Thankfully there are hundreds of throw pillows available and they work quite nicely at making oddly shaped chairs more comfortable. Dining: Most nights we ate at Luminae and loved it. Rolando was our server and he was phenomenal. Menu was varied and we were able to find something enjoyable with each experience. Even when we had the full party of 6, we did not have to wait for a table. At the strong suggestion of the maitre’d Bochi, we did try to aim before or after the big rush of 6:30 or 7. We definitely noticed improved service when it was less busy, but we weren’t terribly dissatisfied at any point. Wine by the glass with the premium drink plan is just awkward. If you want to get better than the equivalent of $10 a bottle stuff (retail price), it gets frustrating. The “sommelier” was nice but seemed to struggle with getting me things in the $12 to 20 dollar a glass range. One night I ended up getting a bottle because I was annoyed by his selections. He also seemed a little too revenue-driven. For example, the Caymus others have gotten for $55 a bottle when on the drink plan, he offered to me for $90. We also ate at sushi on 5. I have no strongly positive or negative perspectives on the experience. I would probably do it again if the cruise was long enough, but I found myself questioning the value. We worked our butler, Nelson, to the bone with room service breakfast. They weren’t perfect-a couple of times a side dish got forgotten. The one time it was “important,” Nelson noticed on his own and got it fixed. To their credit, I made it hard. Every order form had special requests. My wife likes a latte- handwritten in every day. A bowl of berries for the kids handwritten in every day... Bagel with smoked salmon and cream cheese handwritten in one day... to their credit, they did it right with capers and red onions. Room service breakfast is never going to be as good as fresh in the restaurant, but when you have a wife and kids that sleep like mine, it really made our vacation much less stressful and I am thankful for it. The OVC/buffet food was quite good for a buffet. It was not fancy like Luminae, but there were plenty of options and the international options were nice. I was pleasantly surprised with the food. Conversely, the service was inconsistent. For bar service, they should just set up convenient bar stations and let us go get our own drinks. Trying to do it with inadequate staff is a recipe for frustration. More than once, I just went to the closest bar to get my own drink. Similarly, at one point my daughter spilled pasta all over the place. No one noticed or helped even after we notified them. Thankfully there was no sauce on it... Lastly, the ice cream station got overwhelmed and the scooper desperately needed backup. Conversely, the food stations were kept fully stocked and the staff that was available were almost entirely competent and kind. None of the the issues caused me to have a bad vacation! Suite life: We used both the retreat lounge and sun deck fairly extensively. We liked the personalized service. Mary, the lead bartender in the retreat lounge, was of particular note. She was smart, attentive, and good at mixing drinks and interacting with my kids. The sun deck is nice, but not world class yet. It seemed a little underutilized with the notable exception of the Hubbard glacier day. The staff there was nice, but it was a lot slower to get drinks or food. At times we would visit and there didn’t seem to be anyone there who did bar service, just someone who cleaned things up. A short drink menu of things they can turn around quickly with their local limited bar would help them and their customers. At one point my wife ordered a cosmo and that just about blew their minds. While a gin and tonic might come out fast, other drinks could easily take 10 minutes. Whirlpool temperature should be 5-10 degrees warmer too. On the Hubbard glacier day, it would have been a no brainer to have mimosas and bloody Mary’s circulating, but alas it was not to be. They did circulate warm pea soup and beef consommé or broth or something. Shore side concierge was very kind, but useless to me. I asked for the mini bar to be cleaned out and no kiwi, walnuts, or pecans to enter the room because of my daughters allergies. That was a fail on both counts (kiwi on fruit plate for room service). My children, being young, were able to partake in all the suite things gratis. Ports: Embarkation was awkward. Vancouver makes you do a lot of walking. Some of it seemed quite unnecessary. We had all pre-taken pictures, but the person insisted on retaking several of them. Security was very annoyed by my retake which was apparently quite bad. I found that humorous. I saw the “special delivery,” drop off for RS and PS, but there was no escorting aboard and the lines were equally short for everyone. Not that we really needed one. Instead I escorted my family to the retreat and to Luminae soon after. I got to visit the naughty room! The staff onboard was quite amused that it was called the naughty room. For some reason I had decided to lug along my kids white noise machine (marpac). It is literally a fan in a box, but that was baffling to the security guys. I tried them to get an electrician involved, but it wasn’t going anywhere and I had important drinking to do. We have apps on our devices that can be used in these situations! All of the main ports were suffering from the cruise ship profit-making apparatus. Ketchikan, Juneau, and Skagway all were overwhelmed with diamond stores and other tripe like that. Not sure why people buy diamonds on vacation from chain stores. Thankfully, Mother Nature was not far away. We found it very easy to get out and enjoy through many short hikes and excursions. In Ketchikan we took the Bering sea crab tour. Officially it was “on our own,” although the official celebrity tour cost more... they sat right next to us. If you booked through Celebrity, you got a sticker too! After lunch at Annabelle’s (an old brothel), we hiked the rain bird trail. Taxi up to the college parking lot and walk back to the ship. The last mile or so is on city streets, but downhill. You can have cab pick you up if desired. Internet describes it as “easy,” but be aware that rating is by people who hike a lot. With younger kids I would say it was intermediate. Icy Strait Point is unique. It is commercialized by the tribe, but only by local businesses. It is hokey, but in a nice way. We took a private tour through Hoonah Whale Tours that was phenomenal. An orca actually swam under our boat (boat was off & orca turned and swam towards us). It turned out the boat captain’s mom owned a shop in ISP. I would definitely take a private tour over those big boat tours if you can. That area in Alaska definitely seems to be better than Juneau or Skagway for whale watching. The nature trail on the property is very, very short and pretty short on nature too. Be aware they are building additional new docks. It appears ISP will be over-run next year. In Juneau we did the ship’s gold panning tour. It was cute, the guide was nice, and our 9 year old was happy. Amazingly, you actually can get flakes of gold out of the stream even today. We also did the Mt Roberts tram and hiked around on our own. Then we took a lyft to the hatchery, which is also good for kids and people who like salmon. Plan ahead- it is much less interesting when the fish aren’t running. Skagway we did the train ride and lunch at the brewery. The weather was rainier there for us, likely impacting my impression of the place. I had already done the helicopter tour thing, but if you haven’t, Seward is a good place to do it. Hubbard glacier was jaw-dropping. If you can cruise with an afternoon time slot (I think the southbound tours), your odds for better weather are improved, but we did fine. I certainly didn’t cruise away thinking “gosh I wish we had gone to glacier bay.” Seward disembarkation was easy from the boat perspective. The small bus transfer up to anchorage was a little awkward, but that was mainly my fellow cruisers’ fault. I will neither condemn nor praise the vendor. Afterwards, the guys went fishing for several days in Elfin Cove at Elfin Cove Resorts. It was a ton of fun, but their guides don’t have very much experience right now. I will refrain from doing a full review on cruisecritic. Travel: We had one of those cautionary tales about booking margin into your calendar. We had about 22 hours of margin to sail away in our planned schedule. Our first flight (Pittsburgh to Toronto) on Air Canada was cancelled due to a mechanical issue with the plane (a CRJ-200, well known in aviation circles for reliability issues). After much waiting on hold and standing in line, they were going to be unable to re-book us on any practical schedule that would assure us we would make the cruise. In a reminder of the value of flexibility, we saw how many flights happened between Toronto and Vancouver and rented a car on our own and drove to Toronto. Air Canada was then able to rebook us on a later flight the same day. We ended up about 8-10 hours late into Vancouver. Air Canada refunded the price of the Pittsburgh to Toronto leg after I submitted a request, but nothing beyond that. Read Less

We are frequent travelers but only our third cruise. We we found the ship to be clean, modern and with a friendly staff. We had an Aqua 2 class room on deck 11. Our steward Angelo was exceptional and friendly. The team of people that keeps the entire ship running and clean should be applauded, great job! We booked through CostCo which we really like. The app is promising that they have one but not great the wifi was ok. Food: Food at the Oceanview Cafe for breakfast and lunch offered a lot of options, and healthy options . The food and staff at the restaurant Blu were fantastic. Nia the hostess, Rei the waiter, Micky the jr waiter and the maitre d and the woman sommelier were also excellent and friendly and greeted us by name. Cafe Baciao for a cappuccino was good. We had the premium drink plan and we are not big drinkers but it was part of our package and included specialty coffee drinks. The bars were good with lots of high end liquor choices but unfortunately only a handful wine choices for white , red and usually one to 3 sparkling to choose from by the glass. One in each wine category was always the Celebrity branded wine. Otherwise even with the Premium package you need to buy the whole bottle of wine which would be wasted on us. If you like wine but wouldn't need a whole package you might want to check - i think they let you bring two bottles on board, you can drink in your stateroom or pay a corkage fee in a dining area. Activities were good - we saw the Motown, Broadway and another one we saw most of. All were good productions and entertaining. We were lucky with exceptionally sunny and warm weather which allowed us to use both pools. They also had a naturalist from Nat Geo on board Chelsea which was an added bonus who spoke about what you would or might see the next day which was really informative. We used the spa once and the gym which was a good size, well equipped and clean. Excursions. We booked two with Celebrity and one on our own. We booked on our own an extended heli trip with both dog sled and extra landing for "hike" with Coastal helicopters. We also did a whale watch in Hoonah (ISP) . We saw a family of Orca's, Humpbacks and Sea Lions) pretty cool. We also did a Canoe Wildlife Safari which included a hike. Good trip but not much of a hike , not much a Canoe paddle and not much of a lunch ( turkey sandwich ) but the Glacier and staff made up for that. For transportation back we did the train. When I asked the conductor he said it was a cruise ship train only. The train is more expensive than Alaska Rail . It is like another tour so that was great. We put our bags out the night before they take them from there. They drop you off at either the airport around noon and if you have a flight after (approx.) 3 pm then you move on via bus to the Eagen Convention Center. It looked like many cruise ships had large rooms reserved at the Center with staff to oversea you getting your luggage back. Our bags were tagged and waiting there. From here you will also be able to reserve your seat on a bus back to the airport with your luggage for your flight. I think you can leave your bags there until 6 pm. A real plus for us, since our flight was not until 8 pm we were able to leave our bags, explored Anchorage a little had lunch and then got the 5 pm bus back to the airport. Read Less

I choose this cruise line in part because it touted a great children's program. I thought I had investigated the details but when I got there the cost or the Kids at Sea was $6 extra an hour which was not at all advertised in the Celebrity materials. The person at the sign in desk said, among other things, "We have computer games, Minecraft and Fortnight." Of course my 10 year old was all excited and wanted to spend his cruise time there. $6 an hour for the kids to play computer games????? We take them on a cruise to get them away from the electronics! The Alaska cruise had NO heated pool outside and it was COLD. No one was in the outside pools and the indoor pool was open to children only from 4-7PM. I think for the price you pay for a cruise the ship should be able to afford to heat one pool especially if there are children on board. The only kids activity my child took part in was "Dodge Ball for ages 10-14"---When we got there the activity director invited the adults that were playing basketball to join in the fun. There was no mention of anything like "below the waist." Adults and teenagers were aiming at each other's heads while the children were just in the way. My child was hit hard in the chest with an adult elbow that was trying to avoid a head hit. Fortunately at that point he wanted to leave. I will likely choose a different line next time. Read Less

This ship is not too big not too small. Easy to navigate with plenty of elevators. The Crew is friendly and attentive. Food in all restaurants was great. Lobster night had full size tails all you can eat. Prime rib on two nights and it was very good. The buffet breakfast and lunch were large and plenty of good choices. Several Indian and Asian dishes as there were many guest from those countries on board. Pool side grill had dogs and burgers with really good french fries. We had the drink package which included many top shelf brands and plenty of beer choices and wine. Our balcony 7027 was clean and had plenty of storage. A night light in the bathroom is great. Hot water at all times. A large TV on the wall is great. But not a large amount of channels. Entertainment was great with the exception of one comedy act which was so so. A lot of energy and talent in all the shows. Cruise director Manuel was terrific. The bartenders at the Martini bar put on a great show of mixing drinks. The ship is very modern and light and airy decor. The trip to Hubbards Glacier was the highlight as the ship gets very close and then slowly turns 360 so everyone gets a great view. This is our 7th cruise and first with Celebrity. It was as good as advertised. We self debarked which went smoothly. The guest services people were terrific and helpful. The celebrity app works great. Only booked the White Pass train ride through Celebrity which was nice but pricey. Other trips were booked with other vendors. All the ports offer trips and tours for less. Read Less

First, the bad. The Celebrity Suite was remodeled and generally a very good job. Except, unlike the regular rooms where the renovation put in a glass-doored shower, the much more expensive Celebrity Suite is left with a difficult to climb into bathtub with a plastic shower curtain -- which we asked be replaced due to smell and which they promptly did. Most important, and referred to in another review, this room (9096) is NOISY! The public space (pool, pool cafe, walkway into pool) is not only noisy all day, including chairs scrapping across the floor, which resonates right into the expensive suite, the NOISE continued all night, somehow. Among all the hotels and cruise ships we've been on, this is by far the noisiest room we've ever experienced. After many complaints, they did close the walkway above us from 10 pm to 6 am, which helped some nights and for some reasons did not help the other nights. FYI, because it is the top floor for units, there is also a large overhang on the outdoor balcony which blocked part of the review. Second, the rest was pretty good. We found the staff, including our butler, to be great -- friendly, competent, nice. We were a large family group so ate mainly in the main dining room for dinner and it was fine. We'd been on this ship before (pre-renovation) and thought the food a bit better this time around. The Martini Bar is well named, and the wines available on the Premium Beverage Package were completely fine, though once or twice we did order a bottle off the wine list. Third, the intiniary overall was good -- most Alaska cruises follow the same route/stops. One excursion was hardly worth it, but others were very enjoyable. Hubbard Glacier was amazing. At Icy Point (Hoonah) we strongly recommend lunch at the Crab House (Crab Shack?) -- the freshest biggest best King Crab we've ever had (and I used to live in Alaska) -- not cheap, for sure, but awesome. Dungeness crab was good too. Read Less

Inside Passage has been on our bucket list for years and we came across this cruise at a local travel agent and couldn't resist it. The ship has recently been re-fitted and it really shows. Gone are the days of plastic shower curtains in a tiny corner shower, our inside cabin actually had a full size shower with a glass shower door which sealed perfectly. The toiletries come in big pump bottles so you don't have to mess around with taking toiletries with you or dealing with those difficult to handle little bottles. The cabin itself was beautiful and again much better than I had anticipated. There are lots of storage places conveniently located around the cabin and plenty of room under the bed to tuck away the luggage. Each day our cabin attendant cleaned in the morning and again in the evening, ensuring that everything was in perfect order and left a daily plan for activities each day and chocolates in the evening when he did the turn down. Towels were always replaced for the evening if they had been used during the day. The dining was better than expected and of course the first few days we went a bit mad trying everything but settled down once we realized that we could hit the buffet at any sort of odd hour and there was always something good to eat or snack on as the menu changed between breakfast/lunch/tea/dinner and late night snacks. The entertainment was of good quality and varied content with many 'Beyond the Podium' presentations which were really interesting and well presented. All of the staff are amazingly happy and you can tell that they enjoy working aboard this ship and that they are happy Celebrity employees in general. They even happily helped us with our strange requests during a scavenger hunt even though they didn't know what was going on. Embarkation and disembarkation were handled very well and we were greeted with a glass of champagne during our initial embarkation, that made us feel very special. We had lots of time to explore the ship while waiting for the rest of the passengers and the restaurants and buffet were open for us. We enjoyed ourselves so much that we booked a cruise for next year - we were never pressured with sales talk and in fact had to go and hunt down the sales people in order to book the next cruise - Celebrity is definitely our go to cruise line. Read Less

I have been sailing for over 25 years and regularly with Celebrity. We went to Alaska with Celebrity as I always had a good time and excellent value. This time, there were a few differences related to some 'changes'. There are now some exclusive areas on the ship. For example, unless you have a suite, you cannot access the front of the sun deck (the reintroduction of classes on a ship was quite a shocker). In addition, the refit has ruined the back of the sun deck with a giant screen playing cartoons all day and a steel structure blocking the view to the sea. The cabins were very nicely redone and room service was impeccable. The main dining room refit is quite 'different' but we got rapidly used to it. Service was outstanding in the main dining room, and the food went from outstanding to very average and it seemed a challenge to cook anything but shoe lather. The portions went from fine to microscopic. Tuscan grill was quite a disappointment, and I cannot understand why this is replacing Ocean Liner. The shows were very nice, and guest service was as good as it gets. Despite a few items over which we were disappointed, we still had a good time. Read Less

Bucket list to see Alaska and it’s beauty. The land portion was most enjoyable. We took the Wilderness Express from Fairbanks to Denali to Anchorage. The train allowed you to see aAlaska not many people get to see. We were lucky to see Denali from the north and south side of the mountain. It was very warm and two of the hotels did not have A/C just fans. The ship was very clean and the staff could not do enough for you. Blu restaurant for Aqua Class passengers was excellent in the service and food. The staff could not do enough for you to make you feel special. The staff took the time to talk to you about your day and family. The excursions we took were great. The Pilots Choice helicopter tour was expensive but worth it. We landed on the Taku Glacier (only 6 on tour + pilot) and the Juneau Ice Field (Tricouni Peak). Beautiful Alaska. In Skagway we took the White Pass Railway tour and train. Amazing views - highly recommended. The public areas were very nice and the entertainment was good. The different activities allowed you to do different things each day. The internet on the ship was slow - I did not use it. I waited until the ports to connect. Would highly recommend to visit the 49th state to see Alaska and learn about the people who live(d) there. Read Less

My wife and I like the Alaska itineraries, and had previously cruised on NCL, Princess, and RCCL. We wanted to experience Celebrity Cruises, expecting things to be 'a notch above'. Sadly, this did not prove to be the case. First, let me state that the crew and staff were truly excellent - no problems in this area. Well, there was the time in the Cosmos Lounge when I ordered a Bloody Mary, and was served tomato juice with a splash of vodka. I took it back and the bartender added the spices, but then failed to add the olives (which were standard on the many other Bloody Marys I had). The bartender did not speak, not saying he was sorry . . . nothing. It seemed odd that the bartenders would be so bad in what must be the premium lounge on the ship. The ship had recently undergone a 'revolution' - since I had not seen it in its previous incarnation, I cannot really comment on this, except to say that the ship looked clean and well maintained, in general good shape. We found the decor to be somewhat underwhelming - bland colors, very few art objects, blank walls. The ship's library was reduced to a few niches in a wall outside of a lounge - just sad. The Grand Foyer was anything but. Compared to the Promenade of a RCCL ship, this compared very poorly. There was no sense of luxury, of grandeur. Our cabin was an oceanview stateroom - never again will I cruise without a balcony. Still, it was large, neat, and well-appointed. Our cabin steward (Emmanuel) was excellent. On this cruise, I learned to NEVER book a room anywhere near a lounge. We were on deck 6, and the Cosmos Lounge was on deck 10 - but the constant, irritatingly loud 'thumpa-thumpa' of what allegedly passed for music made it's way down to our room. It was impossible to fall asleep until the wee hours of the morning when the lounge closed. In general, I found the music in the lounges to be excessively loud - making it difficult to hold a conversation at times. Where we really felt let down was in the dining, both in the Ocean View Cafe (buffet) and the Metropolitan Dining Room. The food in the buffet was uniformly unexciting, with many of the hot items being served only warm. The quality of the food was acceptable, but not much more than that. The deserts were mostly awful. There were very few chocolate items; there were various flavors (colors?) of the two-layered cake-y things that seem popular on cruise ships - I tried one and found myself wondering if they are calibrated to another culture's taste buds. The top layer was quivery and gelatinous, where it should have been rich and creamy. The bottom layer was a dry, tasteless cake. Another issue with the buffet was that the food was spread out in different pods, making it difficult to find everything. Also, the buffet could feel VERY crowded - several occasions we circled multiple times, looking for an open table, only to give up in frustration. The quality of the food in the MDR was better (as should be expected), but except for a couple of outstanding entrees (Seafood Orzo, Scallops Crudo), the rest were just 'good'. I had one NY steak that was tough and gristly. The seafood dishes, notably fish, had surprisingly tiny portions - smaller even than the recommended meat serving size that is a 'pack of cards'. On the other hand, our excellent waiter Zachary brought me three lobsters . . . My bottom line here is that I believe the overall food quality of most cruise lines has dropped, with their focus on their 'specialty' restaurants. Sorry, after shelling out $$$$ for the cruise, I don't feel compelled to pay extra for the pleasure of getting the quality of food that should be available in the main dining room. The on-board entertainment was between good and very-good. The instrumentalists and the vocalists all did fine jobs. The production 'Elysium', while having acceptable musical performances, was confusing and not well considered. The December 63 group was excellent. Service was generally excellent - the staff went out of their way to be pleasant and helpful. This was perhaps the only area where we felt Celebrity was 'a notch above'. We did find that there were too few of the roving bar waiters; I had to go wait at the bar to order drinks after waiting for a server to come. Having been to Alaska previously, we did few shore excursions. Our captain did manage to take the ship to within a few hundred feet of the Hubbard Glacier - truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Except for the miserable weather in Ketchikan, all of the other days were beautiful - clear skies, sunshine, temperatures in the 60s and 70s. I wore shorts most days. The cruise lines generally have embarkation and debarkation down to a science, and Celebrity was no exception. This all went very smoothly. Overall, the cruise was good, but I might go back to RCCL for our next cruise. I just didn't get the sense of luxury I was expecting. I was hoping to experience better food in a more refined atmosphere, and that just didn't happen. I was also hoping (perhaps unrealistically) to be surrounded with passengers whose tastes and behaviors were more refined. Many seemed as if they would be more at home on a Carnival 'party ship'. One final thought - the Celebrity app needs MUCH more work. It often had incorrect information, causing us to miss some events we had planned on attending. Use with caution. Read Less

Our trip was a land and sea combination culminating in 7 night cruise down the Inside Passage. It was our first time sailing with Celebrity. The Celebrity Millennium had just been newly renovated. Decor was very modern with plenty of storage space. Aqua class afforded us access to the Blue restaurant, excellent food and even better wait staff. Oceanview dining room was convenient and offered many many choices. Entertainment was excellent! We liked being on a smaller ship. It sure made taking elevators a short wait! My only minor complaint was that you had to walk through the casino to get to the main theater. I understand the rationale but it created a sizable bottleneck that was difficult for both show goers and those who were using the casino. On boarding and disembarking procedures were very smooth. Would definitely choose Celebrity again if they were available for whatever destination we were searching for. Read Less

We have always wanted to see something of Alaska, so we thought, what better way than a cruise? Our choice of cruise line was based upon itinerary, ship reviews and cost. We wanted a 7-day cruise that went up to Anchorage, that visited the Hubbard Glacier and that appeared to be good value for the money. We are budget conscious travelers! Let me say at the outset that the Celebrity Millennium has just been refurbished and was in great condition. As regards the ship, the crew and the food, I can't think of any criticism of any nature at all. It was a pleasure to be aboard! As an aside, we didn't go to the specially restaurants, being quite content to use the standard food services. Unlike a previous cruise with a different cruise line, the food choices were excellent and seating was plentiful. As regards the cruise itself, the highlight, without doubt, was the Hubbard Glacier. What an impressive sight. In clear second place was our trip to the Mendenhall Glacier near Juneau. However, its recession over the last 100 years has been dramatic, so best see it while you can! While other ports of call were of interest to us, most especially Skagway and Ketchikan, they didn't hold the same interest for us as the first two. At Skagway, we enjoyed a bus tour up the Yukon which we had booked online with a private company. At Ketchikan we attended the Lumberjack show which was well done. In total, though, while these places were of historic and scenic interest, the glaciers were more of a focus for us. Unfortunately, we had mostly grey days during the cruise with a smattering of rain (typical Alaskan weather some told us). However, these are factors that one can't control. We found the evening entertainment in the theatre to be very good. We attended four shows, all of which were very well done. Two Russian gymnasts were the highlight for us. We didn't attend any enrichment activities so can't comment on them. I like to keep up a regular fitness program and found the gymn to be well appointed. While not to the level that one typically finds in a shore-based gymn, it was certainly quite adequate. There were also plenty of opportunities to go running during the port calls. While embarkation and disembarkation went very smoothly, it is helpful to be aware of three things. Firstly, when booking our cruise (we do all our travel arrangements ourselves), we could find nothing on the Celebrity website when it came to the issue of embarkation in Seward. Our questions were simple: How does one get from Anchorage to Seward, and, is this transfer included in the cruise price? A Google search answered the first question, but the second remained uncertain for some months. Celebrity certainly didn't reply to an email that I sent asking about this issue. In the end, we presumed that nothing was provided and so ended up booking on the Alaskan Cruise Transfers bus. This proved to be just fine. Others seemed to have something arranged with Celebrity, but how and where they did that, we never found out. . Secondly, at the end of the cruise we had a 1:55 pm flight out of Vancouver. The ship had arrived in Vancouver by 7:00 am. As it turns out we could have made a 12:00 noon flight. It is quicker (and less expensive) to take a train to the Airport (Canada Line from Waterfront Station) than take the bus laid on by the shipping line. However, an important word of warning here. If three of four ships arrive the same morning than you can have as many as 40 buses offloading people at the airport. United Airlines, for one, can't handle these numbers and so the check in lines become very, very long. In this case, expect long delays. Fortunately, the Millennium was the only large cruise vessel to arrive in Vancouver on 21 June - resulting in about 10 bus loads of people. Had there been other liners arrive an airport staff member warned me of the chaos this causes. My third issue relates to the excessive cost of any extra packages you might purchase from the cruise line. For example, $US 300 for their internet package. Outrageous! Our solution was to buy an AT&T SIM card with 40 Mb of data that we used for internet access whenever we had cell phone coverage. Having iPhones we had the SIM card on one and then used that as our local Hotspot for our other devices. While we didn't have outstanding coverage, it worked. I was constantly impressed with the many creative ways that Celebrity had dreamed up to try to entice their passengers to buy high-priced extras of one type or another. Just be aware. All in all, though, a very good trip, done in comfort and with the pleasure of seeing some beautiful scenery. Ah, yes, one other thought. We visited both Denali plus Kenai and the Kenai Peninsula prior to the cruise. While the Denali is beautiful I would highly recommend a visit to Kenai, if time is available. Read Less

We just got back from the Vancouver to Seward Cruise and were disappointed in the cruise and the land portion of the tour. The food was just okay--portions were small for seafood selections and shrimp dishes were rubbery. The cakes were dry and tasteless. We were constantly harassed by hawkers selling specialty dining. One day they were offering a Crab Dinner for 55% off but had increased the initial price before the discount so it wasn't a deal at all. WiFi sucked--had a hard time getting app to sync with WiFi and then every time we closed the app, the WiFi would knock us off. When trying to communicate with our group, messages weren't delivered in real time and were often missed. Concierge Class rooms were tiny and there's no plug for a hair dryer in the bathroom. Excursion times were changed without a notification about the change. This caused an overlap of two of our excursions which had to be changed at the last minute. Had I not looked at my calendar for that day on the app, I would not have known about the time change and would have missed an excursion without the chance to cancel and get reimbursed. FYI--excursions are more expensive if you don't book them ahead of time. Land Tour: BE AWARE that you will sit on a bus for nearly 8 hours going to Denali. Bathroom was disgusting on the bus without running water--only hand sanitizer was available. No meals are included in the land portion. Excursions are available once you get to Denali, but when you get there at 5 pm, there's not much time to do anything. We just didn't feel like we got our money's worth out of this cruise. Celebrity touts themselves as the Premier Cruise Line so we expected a lot and came away disappointed. Read Less

We sailed a 'back to back' from Vancouver on 7th June to Seward returning by the 21st June. We thoroughly enjoyed the sights, trips and scenery even though we had a few days of rain. So.. why not a rating of 5 ? - no relevant guest speaker on the Northern Cruise, instead we had lectures on the Mayan Peninsula and cave diving. Celia Garland, the naturalist, gave excellent talks on Alaskan wildlife on the Southern cruise - several issues regarding the Ocean View cafe...hot food often cool or cold, tables not cleared, guests in bathrobes and children in wet swim suits allowed in, many guests not sanitizing or washing hands on entry, the washbasins were often dirty and nearby washroom had toilets out of use for days - Main dining restaurant shambolic on first couple of nights on both cruises and the Evening Chic dress code was completely ignored with guests wearing baseball caps and ripped jeans - only suite guests have access to forward open deck and sun deck, a new policy which is restrictive to the overwhelming majority of guests - restrictions on entry to the Cosmos lounge e.g. kid's club uses the lounge for activities, sometimes until 10 p.m., private functions in the day time - poolside staff allowed guests to drink from glasses in the whirlpools There needs to be a tighter grip on the running of certain aspects of the Millennium. Would we sail with Celebrity again ? Probably...but on another ship ! Read Less

We just got back from the Southbound Seward to Vancouver Alaskan cruise on Celebrity Millennium. We loved every minute of it, from the time we embarked until we disembarked. The ship was lovely after the Revolution refurbishment, with everything clean and new. The main thing that made such a wonderful cruise onboard was the staff. We felt like we were "waited on hand and foot" as they say. Always had multiple staff members asking if we needed anything. Always a smile on their faces and a "good morning", "good evening" or "welcome back" after being gone for an excursion. The staff in all areas of the ship are fantastic! We enjoyed the Tuscan Grille especially and also Qsine. We had dinner two nights at Tuscan Grille and lunch one day at Qsine. All the specialty meals were delicious and like a 5 star restaurant. The food in the Oceanview Café we thought was good and there was a lot of variety. The MDR was our least favorite for dinner because the food was okay, but not great. The staff in the MDR were great however. We were told that we got the closest the ship had ever gotten to the Hubbard Glacier. I am not sure if that is true or not, but we did get really close and it was absolutely an amazing site to see. We loved all of the ports of call. We did excursions in each port. One through Celebrity - gold panning and salmon bake in Juneau which we really enjoyed. We did the White Pass Summit up to the Yukon through Chilkoot Charters in Skagway and it was amazing. Heidi our tour guide was fantastic. We did a whale watching tour in Icy Strait Point with Glacier Wind Charters and Teresa and Shawn were both fantastic to work with. We saw whales, sea otters, sea lions, puffins, bears and eagles and it was amazing to see all of this wildlife in one day in their natural habitat! In Ketchikan we did the 4 in 1 tour through Viator and went to Totem Bight Park for a really nice overview of the totem poles. We initially flew into Anchorage and took the Alaska Railroad Gold Star dome train from Anchorage to Seward. There are no words to describe the beauty that we saw and all of the wildlife - bear, moose, eagles and even trumpeter swans. We have traveled a lot and this is probably one of the best vacations we have ever had. The shear beauty of Alaska and how unspoiled it is, is just indescribable. It truly is a once in a lifetime trip unless you might be fortunate enough to get to go back. Read Less

We departed out of Vancouver. Embarkation was fast and smooth. We were on the ship within 30 minutes of the line opening. Once onboard were we able to explore the ship before our 11:30am concierge lunch in MDR. Overall the ship was clean and we loved the recent renovations that were done in dry dock. The crew were constantly cleaning throughout the entire cruise. We tried 2 of the specialty dining locations. Tuscan Grill was exceptional. Everything we ordered was delicious and the service was fantastic. We did not enjoy Qsine. The food was odd and the servers left me feeling stalked during service. The main dining room food and service was good. Most days we had breakfast in our stateroom which made for a perfect start to the day The cafe onboard was my favorite little spot. The servers there remembered us and our order. We also had a great time at the Martini Bar. I did get a hot stone massage onboard. I loved it and would recommend the service. Some would say the prices are high but it is a cruise so indulge a little. Some other parts of the cruise we enjoyed were the art gallery/art auctions, a few of the shows, bingo, trivia and the live music. The staff for the onboard shops were fantastic. We did have excursions booked each day we went in port. Ketchikan - Wilderness Exploration cruise and crab feast. The crab was delicious. We saw tons of wildlife on the cruise portion. Icy Strait Point - private whale watching tour with “Hoonah Whaling Tours”. Perfect time. I can’t say enough positive things about this little family owned business. Juneau - Dog Mushing camp was one of our favorites. We also did gold panning and salmon bake. These excursions did not disappoint. Skagway - 6.5 hour excursion to Kroschel Wildlife Center in Haines, Alaska. 4 hours of this was travel to and from location. The wildlife center was fantastic and we really enjoyed meeting all the animals and the staff at the center. Zimba our tour bus operator made our day with his personal journey story. After the cruise we did the Denali land tour. Be warned as we were not given clear information until the morning of disembarkation of the full day bus ride from Seward to Denali. Then the following day you are back on a bus for a day with a short train ride. We hope they change this for future tours to have more travel on the train instead of bus. Saving grace was the beautiful scenery. Overall we were not disappointed with our first cruise and would definitely sail with Celebrity again. Read Less

This boat is absolutely gorgeous! And the ports of call were exactly as expected. We even had sunny days EVERY DAY! How wonderful! The new interior is modern and chic, and the staterooms are lovely and the food is so much better than the 2 Caribbean cruises I'd done 20 years prior with Carnival & Norwegian. That said, here's why only 3 stars... 1. Very pushy sales all the time to buy stuff, pay extra for specialty restaurants and excursions 2. Hidden costs - we had the Classic Drink package and in many bars there were either no menus with prices or no menus at all. $4 extra for a small Perrier?!? And $5 per scoop for gelato when ice cream was free to all? No signage about the extra cost, so the staff had to let us know and often too late to change our minds. 3. The APP!! OMG, it worked for the first 3 days on our iPhones and barely at all on Android. Different activities listed in the native apps, and a weird fix to sync them. The texting worked OK for a few of us, but for one of us it almost never worked. Thankfully you could track your spending by looking at your account on the TV (though why there were 2 accounts for a couple, I can't figure out and I'm a software designer). 4. I'm a vegan, and though there was fresh fruit and a salad bar at the buffet, you had to order 24 hours in advance for a vegan meal in the main dining room, and they didn't even cook the wild rice enough (crunchy). I only found out on the last day from a passenger that they had an Indian menu that you could order from in the main dining room that had more veggie and vegan options - WHY DIDN'T our waiter or the manager know this????? They both took a 24 hour order. 5. Our bathroom stunk of sewage which got progressively worse each day. Asked someone if it could be fixed around day 5 and it did help. 6. We had an ocean view, but it's a round window. Last time I had an ocean view 20 years ago it was at least a large rectangular window, not a 3.5' porthole. 7. Fitness center where you can work out is open 24 hours a day, but the locker rooms shut down at 10pm?!? No signage for when the pool and hot tubs are closed, apparently 10pm as well and the staff are NAZIs about it. 8. And lastly, I know cruise ships are doing quite a bit to keep passing germs to a minimum through hand washing, and I've never washed my hands as much as I did on this cruise, so figured at ages 38 and 49 we would be pretty safe from catching anything, but alas we both have nasty colds/sinus infections that'll take at least a week to get over. :( Perhaps Celebrity needs to install better air filtration systems? We didn't even hear anyone with a cold all week long, where did it come from? Oh and thanks to the ratings items below... we were one of the first to get on our cruise but signage was not up fully so we went right when we should've gone left and wasted 20 minutes finding the way onto the boat after we did our paperwork. And every staff member along the way had contradictory information - put your sea cards away, take them out, put your passports away, keep them out. Get your info straight people! We were the youngest on this trip, I can only imagine how confusing it'd be for the majority of the 60+ y/o passengers. Read Less

Choose this cruise for our 40th Wedding Anniversary. The ship was lovely after its recent refurbishment. The Stateroom was nice and comfortable with plenty of storage. After asking for some softer pillows we slept better. The shampoo provided was hopeless and the toilet paper not so soft. The selection of food was good and the Sea View Cafe spacious. I didn't like the way we were constantly asked to purchase specialty dining. The main dining room was good and waiters pleasant. Food portions sometimes a little small but you could always get an additional serve, even the lobster. The most impressive part of the cruise was the entertainment. All the shows were excellent. The captain was very approachable and friendly. He was often around the ship mingling with the passengers. He also got us to ports ahead of schedule and gave us an amazing close up view of the Hubbard Glacier. Read Less

We chose this cruise for the itinerary and price (first time cruisers!). The ship has just been redone in early 2019 and all the furnishings are new, clean, and comfortable. No problems at all with our cabin (other than the weird smoke thing which I mentioned below.) Dining: We mostly ate in the Oceanview Cafe (buffet) for breakfast and lunch and the Metropolitan (main dining room) for dinner. We didn't feel the need to pay extra for the specialty restaurants. Overall the food was very good. Lots of variety at both the buffet and the main dining room. Great service at both. We are foodies and so we found that there were a few dishes we had that were misses (for some reason most of the cakes we tried were extremely dry; also they didn't have a good selection of salad dressings) and a few things that were obviously cost-cutting (an appetizer of "scallops" was a single scallop sliced into four thin discs). But overall most things we ate were delicious and interesting and I loved the variety available. There is truly something to serve every palate on board! Entertainment and activities: We skipped most of the daytime activities as we were in port most days. We did notice that a lot of the ones that appealed most to us (like yoga class) had a fee attached which was disappointing when we already paid so much for the cruise. We went to the show in the theater every night which we really enjoyed. The singers and dancers put on three shows, a 70s themed one, a random "good vs evil" song and dance revue with modern songs, and a Broadway revue. The actual singers and dancers were very talented but the shows that were written for them were sometimes not great. By far the most successful show was the Broadway revue which was just singing and dancing with no lame storyline. There was also a show with Russian acrobats which was incredible and got the only standing ovation of the week. Also two comedians and an a capella group which were all very enjoyable. Overall we loved the night entertainment. We also went to some of the live music on board which was generally very good but sometimes a bit too much "soft jazz" for us. Service: No issues, everything was great! Loved having my room cleaned multiple times a day and getting a chocolate on my pillow every night. Ports and shore excursions: Well, this was the whole point of coming to Alaska and this was definitely the most important part to us. Suffice to say that we had an incredible time in each port, sometimes on our own and sometimes on Celebrity excursions. I'm writing a separate trip report on our days in port which you are welcome to find through my profile or on the Alaska forum. Overall one of the best vacations I've had and I'll definitely be cruising again! We had a great time on the Millennium and would definitely consider it in the future. Read Less

My husband and I cruised Celebrity over 20 years ago and we wanted to cruise Alaska. We chose Celebrity and the Millennium for the one-way itinerary and the long stays in particular Ports. This decision really paid off for our excursions. We live in Seattle and took Amtrak to Vancouver the day before the cruise. Our stay was at The Wedgwood Hotel and it was lovely. We had high tea at The Fairmont on the day of arrival and dinner in Bacchus , The Wedgwood's restaurant, it was amazing. The day of embarkation we chose to have lunch at the hotel and embark around 1:30. I feel that was a good choice as our lunch at The Wedgwood was peaceful and delicious. The Millennium's new decor is lovely and fits both our tastes well. All of the staff we encountered were friendly and efficient outside of customer relations, they did not seem engaged. Our room steward, Natasha, was especially outstanding. The food was a pleasant surprise. I had read negative reviews and was concerned but we found most all of the food in the main dining room quite good. We were assigned a nice table for two at the window. Per the cruise critic suggestions we always asked our server for recommendations and this worked well for all nights except one. I cannot speak to the specialty restaurants as we did not eat there. The wine sommelier was excellent and really provided some amazing wines to accompany our dinners. We do not like buffets so avoided that hectic experience. Walking through the buffet we noticed huge amounts of food being wasted and that is just a shame. Our excursion in Ketchikan was booked on our own for the crab feast at George Inlet. At Juneau we took the excursion to Tracy Arm/ Sawyer Glacier with Adventure Bound. It was a long day but no one should miss this. We saw two glaciers and seals, bears at the shore and calving, we got very close to the glaciers. Icy Strait Point whale watch was booked with Hoonah Whale Tours with only six people to our very small boat. We saw amazing breaching and bubble net feeding. Skagway was the train and we booked this through the ship as the price was the same. We finished our cruise with a Kenai Fjords tour with Major Marine tours followed by the train to Anchorage. We booked our tickets with Major Marine tours on our own and noticed that the cruise bookings were sat in the middle of the boat and we were sat at the window with their assigned seating. I highly recommend this one-way cruise with Millennium. Read Less

We’d been led to believe Celebrity was a premiere cruise line and chose this Alaska trip with a great itinerary to get a feel for the cruise line. The Good Things: lovely balcony cabin with very nice shower room. Comfortable bed. Great room steward. Some very good external entertainment. Good CLA staff. Food in main dining room was very good and also in Oceanview Cafe. Tuscan Grill was excellent. The Not So Good Things: Service I’m the MDR. First night it took a while for our waiter to arrive and he seemed harassed and didn’t introduce himself or talk about the menu. It also took the wine waiter 40 minutes to get to our table. Second night they tried harder and wine service was good but our waiter never smiled and seemed in a huge rush each time. We only went once more to the MDR and when our hot starters were served cold it took over 20 minutes to get replacements. We were also constantly interrupted by assistant waiters asking if everything was ok. Although the food was great in the buffet we felt there were not enough staff clearing tables. We always seemed to be surrounded by tables which needed clearing and cleaning. The Cafe al Bacio was good but kept running out of supplies. We also felt there should have been more signage around the ship and more rubbish bins. Overall we didn’t think the difference between our usual cruise line, RCI, and Celebrity was particularly marked. It would probably only be an interesting itinerary that would make us choose Celebrity again. Read Less

My husband and I chose this trip due to it's itinerary. We had done an inside passage cruise, but we wanted to visit Anchorage and Seward this time. We had sailed on Celebrity before and we were looking forward to experiencing the Millennium. It had recently undergone a "revolution" or refurbishment. The ship's cabins were redone and look fresh and offers lots of storage. A plus is the USB chargers in the cabin and a freshened up bathroom. The downside of the refurbishment is that the library was eliminated to make room for more cabins. If you are looking for a book and a place to read you need to go to a bar area. The dining in the Main Dining area was a disappointment in regard to food. Most dishes were smaller portions and often poorly seasoned. The kitchen seemed to have a problem with cooking pasta and couldn't prepare a proper Beef Wellington. If you wanted a better cut of meat such as a Filet Mignon, you have to go to a pricey specialty restaurant. It has to be noted that although the food was average or worse, the service by our waitstaff team was exemplary with our waiter Rizel. Our Sommelier went above and beyond to find us interesting wines for each meal. The overall experience was average to good with no overcrowding to speak of. The ship offered a number of activities but few that we were interested in. The one thing I was looking forward to were the talks by naturalist about the area and wildlife. Sadly they scheduled many of the talks in either the early morning during the breakfast hour or in the evening during dinner time or when other entertainment was going on. The ports were nice with friendly locals, but now have so many jewelry stores that it takes away from the local flavor of the stops. We opted not to go on excursions due to the price, but enjoyed the stops. Bottom line, this wasn't a bad cruise but simply an average experience. It makes me wonder of Celebrity has changed or if this was only on this ship. Read Less

We chose this cruise because we love sailing to Alaska and are loyal to the Celebrity brand. With our past cruises we have always been very pleased with the food quality and service, but this cruise was a complete disappointment. It seems as if Celebrity has lowered the quality standard in the dining room, perhaps in the hope that people will opt for the fee-based specialty dining. As I feel that I have already paid for my meals built in to the cost of the cruise, I am loathe to have to pay to get a quality meal, especially when in the past Celebrity has done a great job with the food. The fish choices on the menu were limited and poor (tilapia is a toxic trash fish and they offered it twice during a 7 day cruise), the cocktail shrimp were watery and limp, and the trout looked like it had been ironed, it was so thin. The pastry dough on the Beef Wellington was raw and the beef was tough. The pasta dishes were watery, gummy, and inedible, as was the couscous. The dessert cakes were dry, and the selections were uninspired. The only thing consistently good in the dining room was the bread, which was excellent throughout the ship, always fresh and delicious. The buffet food was actually better than in the dining room, with a wide variety of international foods. As I mentioned before, I have always thought the food on Celebrity ships was top-notch (in the dining room) so I feel like I speak from a place of knowledge. Now we come to the beverage service. Several times (in different bars) my traveling companion ordered a Woodford Reserve bourbon, and was served scotch. The second time this happened, she said she did not get bourbon, and the bartender replied that he had given her something "better". Bourbon is not interchangeable with scotch, and why give someone something they did not ask for? Also the inconsistency of the mixed drinks at each bar was apparent when ordering the same drinks regularly. The poor bar service just boils down to lack of staff training on the part of Celebrity. As far as technology is concerned, Celebrity dropped the ball there as well. We were unable to hear the intercom in our room, on our balcony, or on the Millennium TV channel. The only way to hear daily announcements was to open our stateroom door and stand in the hallway. We were also unable to hear the commentary from the captain and guest speaker when we were at Hubbard Glacier while sitting on our balcony. And we were not able to make the kiosks in the photo gallery work, as was the staff, so we were unable to find our photos. The scenery was great, the weather was perfect, the ports were fun, but Celebrity really let us down with the poor quality of our dining experience on board, and the technical glitches. I will really have to think long and hard about taking another Celebrity cruise. Read Less