We are seasoned cruisers in our 50's and have sailed on the Celebrity Infinity once before up to Alaska. We absolutely loved that last trip to Alaska so decided it was time to cruise up there again for our 5th time. We booked early and got an excellent deal on the cruise and picked our inside stateroom hoping to upgrade to a balcony if / when the prices came down. They never did and we were a bit worried about our room choice once we got onboard. Those fears were soon expelled as we ended up loving our location on the ship -- it really didn't matter not having a balcony. This was as late in the year as we have ever booked, so have not experienced any rain in Alaska until this time around. We usually sail in early Sept and didn't go until mid-Sept on this cruise as we wanted to see Icy Strait Point, which wasn't included on the 7 night cruises. Well, the rain really didn't ever keep us from doing what we wanted to do -- it was more of the wind with the rain that made things a bit harder -- but not impossible. We invited some friends of ours that haven't cruised up to Alaska before and really wanted to go and since they also booked early, we were able to get rooms right next to one other. Fun!!

We flew from the SF bay area to Seattle on the morning of the cruise. We arrived at SeaTac and set out to find a ride to the pier after a much needed cup of coffee. There was a representative from Celebrity at the airport offering us transfers for $26 a person. Knowing that was no deal, we made our way to where the taxi area and were greeted by a limo driver that was willing to take all 4 of us as well as all our luggage to the pier for $45. Well, that was the way to go for sure. Such a deal from a very nice driver. We dropped our luggage off with the porter and asked someone where Pikes Market was. It was really an easy walk from Pier 66 -- would have been a bit easier without our carry on luggage but still quite doable. Pikes Market was hopping!! Ah, the smells of the bakeries was incredible. If I would have thought about it, I would have taken some flowers onboard to decorate the cabin a bit. We did stop at the Wine Shop at the Market and got a couple of bottles of champagne onboard. They had a good selection and prices really weren't too bad. We live in wine country and found some prices cheaper than at home for local wines....so, a really good find.

We hiked back to the pier and check in was pretty painless - wait was not bad at all. I think we were allowed to board about 11:30 AM or so after only a 30 minute wait. We headed straight to the purser's desk to see if there were any upgrades -- but the ship was full. So, we headed up to our room to drop our luggage and go grab some lunch (think we were supposed to wait until 1 PM or so but the room steward said it was ready and to go on in). We were at first pleased with our location (we choose two of the 3 larger midship inside cabins that replaced the tower some years back) but upon coming back to our room after lunch, they opened up the fire wall that separates cabin doors from the elevator vestibule. OH NO....our door opened up directly into the vestibule!! We envisioned a very noisy trip to be sure. So, this brings me into my review of the stateroom: Read more