This was my first cruise in July '05 and it was one of the most pleasant experiences I have had. My mom's dream vacation was to always go to Alaska, so my brother & I joined my parents and off we went. My dad really want to see Anchorage so we flew there nonstop from Atlanta just so we could spend a few extra days before embarkation. It's worth it to get there a few days just to explore. Anchorage is a really neat city with a lot of history, I enjoyed it. We decided to take the train down to Seward, and besides the cruise, this was another amazing experience. In order to get to Seward you could either ride a bus (BORING!), or take the train. The train takes you through lush scenery, you go through the mountains, down by the ocean. It was seriously breath taking. When you're in the mountains you just see valley's of green for miles. And you can see a ton of wildlife on the way. The ride down there is about 2 hours, and they do serve lunch on board the train.
We got to our ship and check in was a breeze, no lengthy lines or anything. My parents were staying in a balcony room, while my brother & I shared an inside state room. We were 15(him) & 19(me) at the time, we're 17 & 21 now. So it was a place for us to just sleep and shower. We mainly hung out in our parents room to watch the scenery. Your never without scenery on an Alaskan cruise, and this is one cruise you DEFINITELY want a balcony, or atleast a window for. I honestly don't remember the port of calls in order, but I know we went to Juneau, Ketchikan, and Skagway. Our final port of call was Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Which is where we debarked.
Celebrity Summit was a very elegant ship, the food was excellent. The coolest part was on the last night when the wait staff came out with Baked Alaska flaming on their heads, it was so funny, and appropriate! The shopping on board this ship was very nice too. I walked away with some very beautiful pieces of jewelry. My brother was definitely all over the teen scene on the ship, he made friends quickly and we never knew where he was. There was nobody really my age on board, so I hung out with my parents, and did things with them. The casino was nice, not smoke filled or too rowdy like other cruise ship casinos. Also the shows were great. There was a magic show, and a few cabaret like shows as well..very nice.