Let’s be upfront. Alaska is an amazing cruise destination. Our pre-cruise organisation by Celebrity spoiled what should have been a holiday of a lifetime.

Pre-Cruise Organisation

We booked a Cruisetour 10 months before sailing via a travel agent. Sold the complete package, always included, pre-cruise hotel and transfers. At the time of booking the travel agent was unable to confirm Pre-cruise hotel or transfers. As our holiday approached we still hadn’t had these details so we chased celebrity who told to chase the travel agent. We chased regularly and received a variety of excuses for why these arrangements were outstanding but that all would be good. This pantomime ran on and on until 4 days before sailing when our travel agent told us there was a dispute with Celebrity but that an airport hotel had been booked by the local Celebrity Area Manager via Expedia. This never appeared on our celebrity itinerary, we just had an email from the travel agent with an Expedia booking reference. We never received any confirmation of transfers to the cruise terminal and in the end had to make our own arrangements, despite the inclusion of transfers to the cruise terminal explicitly stated in our cruise ticket booklet. This debacle occurred on the day that Canada’s card payment system shut down and limited cash saw us having to use public transport and walk the last mile across the city to the cruise port with our suitcases. Fair to say it was a very stressful start to our vacation. Read more