We enjoyed seeing the changes in the ship and for the most part they look good. The ship looks brighter and cleaner. What we missed was the library, the first place I went to get a book to read and no library. There are a few books I finally found by the Rendevous, but very few and the topics of the books were not chosen to excited cruises. I imagine more for decoration, but I borrowed one anyway and then returned it and picked up a second in port. I also love going to deck 12 forward where it is usually quiet. But, it is now the private sanctuary of Suite cruisers. Don't they already have balconies? Boohoo! The cabin is looking good. The storage was more than enough for us and we loved the soft close cupboards and drawers!. The new tv's and system look really good. DH was able to watch the tennis finals, Go Bianca Andreescu!!!!! Nice and clear when we got the signal. The new boarding system where we could take our own photos ahead of time was really seamless and we were on board in record time, picked up our keys from our room and left our bags. We had expected to be seated at a table for ten, but ended up at a table for two right at the stern window. Well that was really lovely and we decided to stay with it as i hated to give up the window. For the most part the meals were excellent, sometimes a little too much for me, but generally tasty. As always there is too much salt but I drank lots... of water. Despite being able to get our Captain's club drinks at most bars we visited the cosmos each afternoon as a nice way to end the busy day and then off to diner. Read Less

We sailed on the millennium 4 years ago from Vancouver to Seward on an 8 day cruise and returned back by air. We found it to be in need of refurbishment at that time and were disappointed. We have always enjoyed the Solstice ships and therefore remained with them instead and have enjoyed MANY wonderful cruises to many fabulous destinations. Since they refurbished the Millennium this spring we thought we would give it a try. We live 30 mins away from the cruise terminal and enjoy the Northwest. This was our 5th cruise to Alaska on Celebrity. We have sailed with Celebrity for 15 years now and always book the CS celebrity suite. All CS suites were booked when we found this cruise while on the Eclipse this May on an Alaska cruise, the Royal Suite was available so we booked it. Check in was a breeze with the new system! We arrived at 10:30 am and were escorted to the Retreat lounge at 11:15! We always take our bags with us and never check them, and were told we could place them in our suite! We walked thru the doors and saw the LOVELY new restored ROYAL suite! We were delighted! The suite guest which is now called the Retreat lounge was Michaels club before this restoration which had dark wood and warm Colours and we enjoyed it 4 years ago the bar area was very inviting. Now it’s very bright and airy and it is very pretty to look at, however most seats are not so comfortable and the bar is tucked away out of sight and very stark and has no character. On the top deck they have added the out door Retreat, and it is extraordinary! The suite guest dining room Luminae has not increased in size after this restoration however they have added sky suites, adding many more guests to this venue. Therefore it has become a little too small and if you wish to attend the 7:00 pm show you must come early as it gets very busy. We found that after 7:00 pm is was less hectic and you could enjoy a lovely leisurely dinner. The food is always outstanding! The service is top notch! Every evening is a joy to have dinner in this lovely dining room. It is the service from the wonderful staff in all departments that keeps us coming back to Celebrity Cruises. They are always friendly, helpful, gracious, and polite. We enjoy the GYM and were very happy with the restoration, they removed the carpet and now have a nice floor! Cafe al Bacio is a lovely spot! The Martini Bar is extra ordinary as always the servers make it special with their talent shows! Both are larger venues on the Solstice class ships. We enjoyed the beautiful towns by walking around on our own as we have seen them all many times before. We have taken many excursions in the past, and made this a relaxing holiday to enjoy on our own. Alaska is beautiful, very clean and very friendly. We are booked again for next spring on the Eclipse. As much as we enjoyed the wonderful Royal suite and all that comes it we do enjoy the Solstice class ships much more. For specialty dining the Murano is our all time favourite and they do not have it on this Millennium ship. Read Less

We chose this as we had never done a B.I. cruise. The weather was pretty good overall as we only used an umbrella once. The ship was good but the crew was great! We ate in Blu and wee very surprised at the quality of the food and the outstanding service. We have eaten in other Blu restaurants that were not nearly as good. The cabins are dreadfully small but they are functional. The overall entertainment was average. When the DJ gets more people to show than the live acts there is a problem. One nice touch was a sign in every elevator showing the disembarkation deck at every port. I have been waiting for this change for 20 years. Finally! However, some of the ports had ridiculous 2 and 3 deck slopes to get off. This was a definite weak spot for this cruise especially for handicap folks. A real challenge. Read Less

I am very late giving this ship/cruise a review. I’m planning another cruise and remember now how important these reviews are when deciding what ship/cruise to take. This was my first Celebrity cruise. I’ve been on all the others except for HAL. We expected Celebrity to be a bit more upscale than Princess, NCL, and RC. It was about the same, but that was okay. The crowd was a little older which I didn’t mind, but at dinner I didn’t feel like I had much in common with the passengers that we dined with. There were very few children probably because schools were back in session. The few kids I saw seemed bored. We had dinner one night at Qsine and it was one of the best meals I’ve had on a cruise ship. If you’re okay with spending the extra $$, I highly recommend Qsine. Be sure to make reservations at the main dining room, especially the first few nights. Otherwise, you’ll wait for a table unless you go really early or late (~9 pm). My only objection to the Millennium was that the Oceanview Café didn’t open real early or stay open very late. We are on Central Standard Time, which meant I was wandering around the ship at 5:00 am. I don’t think the café opened until 7-7:30 am, and it closes during in-between meal times, so don’t expect to get a snack ~3 pm or a glass of tea. That was a little frustrating. The aft bar was the only bar open late unless you want to go to the Cosmos Lounge or the interior club-like bars. We got the beverage package which was worth much more to me than Wi-Fi or any other add-on. The theater was crowded as it is with every ship. I really dislike that because I typically like the shows, but there never seems to be a place to sit unless I go 30-45 min. early, and my companion will never do that. Our preferred dining schedule always seems to interfere with the shows. I came in after the Beatles cover band started and I almost thought the Beatles had become alive again. It was a great show for those who liked the band. This was my first time to Alaska and it really is the most beautiful place I’ve ever been. A review of Alaska could go on forever so I’ll just say that you should be the most adventurous as you possibly can. All cruise lines try to convince the passengers that they must purchase excursions through them in order to guarantee you'll be back on the ship in time. That is absolutely not true and Alaska was no different. You can book the same excursions directly with the tour operators for less, and barring a huge catastrophe they'll get you back to the ship on time. The people depend heavily on tourism so they are not going to risk getting a poor review from some cruise passenger who missed the ship while on their excursion. We had a wonderful time every minute we were ashore. Read Less

I sailed with celebrity earlier and remembered a cruise ( in Caribbean) as innovative and top notch especially very good service and food. This time I was in some ways disappointed. However the balcony cabin(6035) was fine and with good service. The cafe Bacio was nice and with good service and nice food/cakes. The intertainment in the theatre was so so. The service in MDR and in the buffet restaurant was scarce. There are not nearly as many waiters as necessary. It is not OK that you must wait and signal to a busy waiter in MDR that you want your glass of water filled up. It is not OK that you must look after a waiter for many minutes to order something to drink in the buffet restaurant. The quality and preparation of the food in MDR could be a lot better. The hot food was normally not hot. 2 dishes, (Drumfish that was as dry a desert , and Baked Alaska that was a mockery against how this cake normally is served) I had to send out. If celebrity wants to maintain an image of luxury it is time to upgrade the restaurants in respect to service and food. Read Less

My husband and I previously cruised to Bermuda and Alaska, and had such a horrible experience the second time (on Norwegian) that we didn't do it again for 15 years. I'm glad we have it another shot, because the Celebrity Millennium was wonderful, especially post-revolution. We stayed in the Sky Suite and the service was impeccable. Ramir, our butler, Elvie, our stateroom attendant, and everyone at Luminae and the Retreat Lounges were always there with a smile. My child loved the Camp and begged to go there every chance he got. The nightly entertainment was okay, save for the one Russian acrobatic team which was really spectacular. The service at Luminae was amazing, and the good was very good but nothing memorable stuck out. We had our sommelier choose wines for us every night and he did a marvelous job. The Retreat Sundeck didn't get much use, since the weather was rather cool, but we did get great views of Hubbard Glacier without having to jockey for space. I would've like to see how the Sundeck and Lounge got used in the other cruises, because they were both fairly empty all the times we were there. I wasn't a big fan of desserts/sweets served in the MDR or Luminae, but surprised myself at Cafe Bacio because their stuff was great. This cruise is highly recommended. Read Less

We did the cruise and the land tour following the cruise. We loved the cruise...everything was top notch. We had a couple of small issues with our room, but the room steward, Sejaz quickly resolved them for us. Room was comfortable and well laid out. The food outstanding and the entertainment was great. We had a fabulous time! For excursions, we highly recommend the helicopter/2 hour glacier trek in Juneau and the whale watch excursion in Icy Strait Point. Hubbard Glacier was breathtaking. We did sign up for the Persian Garden as an additional add on since we were not staying in an Aqua class room. Unfortunately that was a little disappointing without the individual loungers in the relaxation room which is what we have had on other ships... it’s now a communal sofa/waiting area. My husband wasn’t happy with the steam room, which wasn’t hot enough for him and the hot tubs were not hot enough for him as well. In hind sight, we shouldn’t have spent the money on the Persian Garden, we didn’t use it nearly enough to justify the extra cost. The land tour was good, but wasn’t as good as the cruise... Our tour group was plagued with the flu running its way through the group and by the third day it got me and my husband. That put a bit of a damper on the tour, but even with that we had a great time. Denali and Talkeetna were the highlights of the land portion of the tour. It was the trip of a lifetime for us! Read Less

We took the northernglacier cruise,cabin 2034 with window,, with stops in Icy Point, Juneau,Skagway,and Ketchikan and a 8A cruise tour that included 1 night in Anchorage and in Talkeetna and 2 nights in Denali NP. The cruise tour cost more than double the cruise cost. A veranda is fairly useless as the weather typically is rainy and too cold-very low 60s. Food service was excellent but anytime dining did nt work well. We were advanced reserved for 7pm but onboard we were told on many days that was not available. Thanks to a manager from a past cruise most of the 7 pm slot at table 323 were restored. Sirlloin steak anytime optin levares muchto be desired and if you liked dessert cheesecake it was only available inthe main dining and not at Bacio. We booked 2 excursions, Icy Point whaling where we were guaranteed whales and saw humpbck and orcas, and Skagway where we again(15 years before) rode the rr. Very little in Icy Point other than shops at the terminal, townitself is 2 blocks long withnothing really to visit. In Juneau we booked M&M tours glacier express, $42 pp, RT to Mendenhall Glacier VC and walked to the glacier viewpoint, also saw bears feeding in the fenced off area by the bus drop-off. Other ports are 3-4 blocks long by 2 blocks deep with typical old time saloon and t-shirts and tanzanite galore-much more commercialized than 15 years ago. For past cruisers (11) on board entertainment can be repetitive as with the violinist and the beatles tribute group. The comedians this time around were quite good and the acrobats were excellent. Substantive programs continuet o be lacking- a scientist speaker was very dull and by the 2nd leccture played to almost an empty house/ Weather was unusually clear unlike the rainyforecst shown prior to our cruise and cruise tour. Cruisetour: Talkeetna is a quaint 3 block main street with a nice Forest Service film and exhibit anda short lake trail by the Forest Service. Hotel shuttle has limited hours so you are captive to the expensive hotel restaurants unless you want to rely on the single taxi. The beds at Talkeetna were soft and left much to be desire. Denali Park Village had motel units that were complained about by mos tof the 40 with us-we were fortunately in a cabin by the river, hoever the maid service was abysmal and the cabin was not fully cleaned for 2 days. Hotel shuttle can take you to NP Vis Center. If youdo nothing else,take the included 7-8 hour modified schoolbus Tundra Wilderness Tour witha narrated driver and viewing camera for distant animals which is not available onthe park bus which goes the length of the 92 mile road. The 12- hr Kantishna excursion which goes the fullroad was not worth it per our driver. We saw bears and caribou on an amazingly clear day (think jrain) andspecks of all sheep on the top of the mountains. Denali is not your typical NP andis really gared totheactive backcountry hiker. Wetook the moderate Mckline trailconnecting to theTripleLakesTrail to Rily campground, about 3 m RT and passing over a small suspension bridge. Fairbanks was our return flight destination. Sophie's Station Suites is a 2* hotel with 1970s decor and soft beds, and a shuttle that will bring u downtown-also take the city Red Line from the dowtnownTransit Center, free for seniors, from downtown to hotel,a free 20 minute ride. A Safeway and Fred Meyer grocery stores are a 5 minute walk-- a nice fried chicken dinner with sweet potatoe fries from Safeway. The included excrusion to the Univ Alaska Museum of the North and the hokey Disccovery3 steamboat trip were interesting. Fairbanks downtown is 4 bloks long by 2 blocks wide-vidsitthesmallcommunity museumintheco-op builiding and the NP Morris Thomshon Cultural center,and eat a few blocks up from the park at Noodles Thai and Salty.s across the streetwhich had great omellettes util 2pm and nice sandwiches. Both are far less touristed and are better than the other restaurants. Read Less

After reading some reviews bellow, I felt I should write... We are veteran cruisers, and this was our second cruise to Alaska. We loved the newly renovated and redecorated Millenium. It was a most pleasant surprise to see the bright, light and airy colors everywhere - light blues, light greens, light gray... Our balcony stateroom on deck 8 was very comfortable, the bathroom modern , spacious and beautifully done with a big glass door walk in shower! No more stepping into an old tired tub and touching a yucky plastic curtain...) Smart, innovative touches were everywhere, especially in the buffet dining room where we ate breakfast and lunch . There too these bright color scheme creates a happy, bright atmosphere. They set up several round designated stations , for example for building your own salads..much more efficient than long lines.... The smartest thing is the long narrow high counter type tables along the windows. We loved sitting facing the ocean, instead of watching people eat. We spotted a group of orcas at lunch one day ! Fun. The food in the buffet dining room was so varied and plentiful! So many delicious choices, all tastes are accommodated there. Frankly, we found the food there more tasty and attractive than in the dining room... Yes, they try to get you to order paid drinks at every occasion there, but if you lay down the little plastic drink advertisement, they will leave you alone, assuming someone already asked you...And yes, on sea days it can get crowded up there. We had an assigned table for 2 in the main dining room and we just walked to our table, no fuss...no waiting. The service in the main dining room was correct and polite... The food was fine, tasty, nothing exceptional. If you watch your weight the miniature appetizers will delight you... We loved the performance by two American Ballet Theater dancers one evening. They danced part of the grand pas de deux from Swan Lake and another more modern piece. That was the extent of our interest in the entertainment, which is the same stuff on all cruise ships. On the other hand, they had a lovely knowledgeable naturalist on board and her daily lectures and presentations were excellent - intelligent and interesting. They were very well attended too. Wonderful, I learned a lot from her. I also attended the first IPhone and IPad tricks class by the Apple store person on board (yes, there is an Apple store ) and it was great. Unfortunately, the rest of his classes had a fee. They had a violinist and a cellist on board and I got excited for a moment , thinking that there is a bit of classical music in some corner of the ship... Nooo, they had a boom box that they accompanied... Too bad... The embarkation and disembarkation were super efficient and streamlined. We carried our luggage off the ship on our own. The crew on this ship seemed happy and content . That is a good sign , as on some recent cruises on another cruise line they were positively depressed. These people work very hard, very long hours, and one hopes that they are decently treated and paid. To me it is important. Read Less

We love Alaska and were excited to return on a different route through the inside passage. We also wanted to do a cruise tour to explore Denali beforehand. The information before the cruise tour was not very detailed and Celebrity had little information to provide. This, of course, caused some problems during the lodging that could've been fixed before arrival. For example, on one of the stays in Talkeetna my husband and i were put in a room with separate beds (full beds) We were never asked what kind of beds we wanted; and even though we called before the cruise several times, Celebrity was unable to give us any details about the accommodations or really on any part of the cruise tour. In the future I would certainly not book any cruise tour through Celebrity. That being said, our tour director was excellent. Also the days spent on the precruise tour destinations were quite short. We arrived at Talketna after any shuttles were available to take us in to town. We spent less than 12 hours at this destination. The embarkation/debarkation was very streamlined compared to cruises in the past. The room with balcony was quite nice and updated and roomy as far as these cabins can be. We did notice some wear and tear/ rust on the outside in the balcony even though the ship had just recently been renovated. The restaurants we dined in were the Ocean View cafe and the main dining room. Overall the service is always top notch. The food however, was hit or miss. The ocean view cafe is pretty hectic in the mornings and while at sea. While at sea it was impossible to find seating though out the cafe or in any of the adjoining areas. The food would sometimes get cold as you looked for a table.The entertainment in the theatre was pretty average to kitschy; however, the ensembles throughout the ship were very entertaining. Read Less

We were on the same ship same Alaska cruise 8 years ago.The millennium has been revitalized and the improvements are very nice.The boarding of the ship was fabulous since we had preregistered on line they scan our phones and off to board the ship.We were sailing with friends of ours and it was their first cruise.We wanted to surprise our friends so we ate ate Qsine(which this was the next to last cruise for qsine as they were changing out that specialty restaurant and putting a different one in.Food was very good and the service was excellent they also took into account my gluten allergy which I appreciated.The next night we attempted to eat in the dining room and the service was soo bad drinks not being refilled dirty plates not cleared in a timely fashion we spent over 2.5 hours in the dining room and was not pleased.The food is not very good at all reminds me of Golden Corral restaurant or a cheap buffet.With my gluten allergy I was used to the Assistant madre d taking my order for the next night.Well it ended up that the assistant waiter who didn’t have a good grasp of the English language taking my order.My gluten allergy is a serious medical condition and on the Summit they took it very seriously but not on this ship to my dismay.The next few nights we ate at either a specialty restaurant or off the ship.I brought my concerns up to the maitre d on the next to last night on the ship and told him we will not being eating in the dining room again.The buffet was terrible also with one day my wife saw bugs crawling over the cheese...yuck.Our room steward did a wonderful job and we had problems with the air conditioning which took 2 days and 2calls to maintenance to get fixed.We specifically choose this date because my wife wanted to see the dancers from the American Ballet theater.We enjoyed the performance and the comedian on the first night.Service has gone done hill where I had to chase someone down for a drink and the workers did not seem to be happy at all.We saw 2 workers we had on our wonderful trip on the summit and they were ready to go back to that ship.We had several problems getting bartenders attention because they were busy talking to the pretty young ladies.Alaska is one our favorite trips to do but I need to think twice before getting on a Celebrity ship. Read Less

Just finished Vancouver to Seward trip on Millennium. Can't say enough about the Revolution refresh. Gone are the browns & oranges, replaced with neutrals & lighter colors. Plenty of USB & power outlets, lots of new storage. We actually had unused drawers & shelves. Great naturalist on this trip, very passionate and knowledgeable. Frequently helped us spot wildlife from Cosmos lounge. The new Oceanview was much improved. The way they have spread the food stations makes it seem more spacious and less congested. New color scheme & furniture is very nice, as are the multiple hand-washing stations. We were on the 11th floor Aqua, sunset stateroom. It's the best for Alaska, 180 degree viewing all the time. Not sure why, but we all felt the ship was more spacious, rarely a crowd. For me, at 6'5", the shower was tight, but the new bathrooms are very nice. Bonus - perfect weather, very unusual! Read Less

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

Our ship came by recommendation from our travel planner. The first day on the cruise we experienced a problem in the main dinning (Metropolitan) with seating our family. This was an issue throughout the cruise and while it was taken to upper management nothing changed. The food in the main dining was pre-prepared, cold, and bland(but we are used to more spice). There was a general air that the staff wasn't there for your enjoyment but to merely do a job. The food in the Ocean view restaurant was sub-standard and generally tasteless and this became worse towards the end of the cruise. Room service was very good but that only runs from 6-11 and not on the last morning. The last morning everyone is sent to eat at the ocean view which is a terrible idea due to inadequate seating and food stations(Bad for a last day impression). There was very little entertainment or activities on the ship even though a program ran 24/7 on the tele with the ships entertainment coordinator touting all that could be done. There is so much promotion of upgrading, visiting this restaurant or that (reference to uncovered specialty dining that's extra), tours, excursions, and general buying on ship. We felt like we were on a floating commercial. At one point we were playing UNO in the ocean view (because really there wasn't much else to do and we got asked to leave to open the table...if there weren't so many exclusive eateries than that shouldn't be a problem, and also there weren't many people in at the 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