Do NOT TAKE A Celebrity Land Tour or Alaska Cruise on the Millennium

The OP, Pilot Fish, provides a good example of a post with a sensationalized title that makes a strong negative statement and then provides no back up details in his/her post. Some call it venting or bashing. I call it a post without any value to the CC community.

Agree. Sounds like Fake News. Until "Pilot Fish" comes back with more detail, I really don't know what's he talking about.

Sailing from Whittier sounds fairly important... We've just completed a HAL cruise tour yesterday. I was pleasantly surprised by the ship and Danali accommodations, and wouldn't hesitate to do a triple Denali pre-cruise again.

The rest of the hotels were unimpressive, Super 8 quality at times. I would choose Celebrity for a 12 or 13 day land tour.

I've cruised Millennium twice over the course of 10 years (pre- and post-solsticization) and I had a great experience both times. The service and crew were impeccable and pride in the vessel was obvious. My cabins (veranda cabins each time) were in good to better-than-good condition. Even the buffet was clean, well-stocked, and appetizing (if you like buffets... I think they fill a necessary and convenient role when one is in a hurry or is seeking flexibility.) I do not hesitate to recommend the Millie whenever the topic of cruising comes up.

My wife Kat and I sailed our 51st cruise,(1st on Millennium) 5/10/18-5/18/18, and found the ship to be in surprisingly good shape for its age. The crew worked their tails off, everybody was friendly, and service was excellent. Absolutely no complaints from us.

We did not do any pre/post cruise land tours so cannot speak of them, but we did enjoy every port call tour (6) that we booked through Celebrity.

We would do it all again in a heartbeat!

Celebrity itself doesn’t operate its land tours in Alaska. It hires Premier Alaska Tours, a local tour bus company, to host its tours. This began a few years ago. The hotels used are not Celebrity owned. Princess and Holland America operate together in Alaska. Princess uses their own lodges in Alaska; they’re clean, fun, and similar to the ship based Princess product. Princess has been doing Alaska since the beginning and runs a smooth ship, no pun intended. [emoji38]

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Celebrity itself doesn’t operate its land tours in Alaska. It hires Premier Alaska Tours, a local tour bus company, to host its tours. This began a few years ago. The hotels used are not Celebrity owned. Princess and Holland America operate together in Alaska. Princess uses their own lodges in Alaska; they’re clean, fun, and similar to the ship based Princess product. Princess has been doing Alaska since the beginning and runs a smooth ship, no pun intended. [emoji38]

 

 

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I'm sure as with HAL, some accommodations may be better than others.

Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge

Copper River Princess Wilderness Lodge

I'm sure as with HAL, some accommodations may be better than others.

 

 

 

Denali Princess Wilderness Lodge

 

 

 

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Copper River Princess Wilderness Lodge

 

 

 

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Lol Those pictures do show quite the dichotomy. We’ve stayed at the Copper River Lodge and loved it, but it was quite a few years ago.

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We just came off the June 8 sailing on the Millie and we absolutely loved it. Didn’t do a cruise tour though. We’re very independent travelers. Actually still in Alaska. Rented a car and we just go. Had friends who were on Princess a couple of weeks prior to our departure on Celebrity, and they weren’t enthralled. Passenger demographic wasn’t right for them. I think the person who wrote “do your homework” said it best. Do your homework!! Ask a lot of questions and research.

Hoping the OP returns with the names of the hotels. Working on a post cruise independent tour for a friends and would like to know what the issue was to avoid issues.

Hoping the OP returns with the names of the hotels. Working on a post cruise independent tour for a friends and would like to know what the issue was to avoid issues.

It won't. Just seeking attention.

Hoping the OP returns with the names of the hotels. Working on a post cruise independent tour for a friends and would like to know what the issue was to avoid issues.

Very doubtful OP will return. OP hasn't returned to the forum since starting this thread. Post history shows much venting and little discussion.

We were also on Millennium's June 1st Alaska cruise and did the land tour with Dylan and Ron. We had an awesome time. Both Dylan and Ron were great. Everything Eas2225 said is correct. As for the Millennium, the whole experience was fantastic. We already booked our next cruise on the Silhouette. I have a feeling the OP is complainer about everything. Notice they haven't come back.

The milli is a great ship. We just did the Transpacific from Japan. The cruise rates for most cabins lower than other ships in the fleet.

I have never done a land tour in Alaska with a cruise line. Once, I rented a car in Seward which was cheaper because it is not pp and more flexible because you stop where you want to stop and for how long. Picked my Hotels on line.

The other time, we booked everything through the Alaska railroad and it was excellent. Probably the best moment was when I saw the pens full of people waiting to board the train and we simply just climbed on our car like VIPs :)

Check out the Alaska Railroad site before booking any land tour.

We did the 4day land tour and 7 night cruise on Millie a couple years back. We really enjoyed the cruise and Millie was fantastic. Outland tour was not so. Denali hotel very poor. In all I would recommend the cruise on Millie at any time. Just don’t set your expectations to high if you choose the land tour.

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The OP, Pilot Fish, provides a good example of a post with a sensationalized title that makes a strong negative statement and then provides no back up details in his/her post. Some call it venting or bashing. I call it a post without any value to the CC community.

Good point. I am skeptical of rants from first time posters.

Just got off HAL Noordam..Cruise land tour. I rate the ship on par with Princess, food not great, but crew was fantastic. Land tour was excellent, driver guides were very knowledgeable. Most hotels were nice.. Mckinley chalet in Denali was very nice with a great steakhouse.. Our cruising will be with X. Blu is one of our favorite restaurants, and doing a suite next time.. perks on X cannot be beat as a suite guest.

Very doubtful OP will return. OP hasn't returned to the forum since starting this thread. Post history shows much venting and little discussion.

Yes, I noticed that, too. Royal Caribbean and Norwegian have been criticized.

The OP tossed a bomb and left.

The milli is a great ship. We just did the Transpacific from Japan. The cruise rates for most cabins lower than other ships in the fleet.

So did we, our favourite cruise line/ship. So much so, we are doing the crossing again next April. [emoji4]

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Jealous too... a month!

 

 

 

Actually, any ship for a month would do me just fine, for the most part... LOL

 

 

 

bon voyage

So you’ll be really jealous of our 6 weeks on the Solstice. I think I might be one of those people who (given the right funding) could live on a cruise ship. Those 6 weeks were fabulous. I could have done it all over again when it was time to get off.

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I was a die hard Celebrity supporter having taken 16 cruises between RCCL and Celebrity

I just took a Celebrity Land Tour # 3B on 5-14-18. Possibly the worst 1 week land tour I have ever taken. The people running the Tour did not handle the problems well and the Tour was a bust. The hotel choices are poor and could not handle the crowds. The Tour was virtually unguided and not worth the money. I raised the issue along with 70 other Tour participants. It fell on deaf ears at Celebrity and we received no compensation. I would have expected a future cruise voucher but nothing was forthcoming . That is partially why I am posting this so no one else get's suckered into this Tour. The ship is set for a $70MM renovation in Jan 2019. It is tired and old. There are better choices for Alaska than Celebrity. Although Alaska is beautiful and some of the ports were great. I would go with Princess out of Whittier before considering Celebrity with this ship and Tour. If you have already purchased the TOUR Cancel It Clearly not worth the money and self book

I have not even gotten on a Celebrity ship and already I am disgusted. A month ago they charged my credit card over $7,000 that was not authorized. I immediately had our travel agent cancel everything we had done that day and here it is, a month later and still do not have all our money back. I had to get my credit card involved now since I refuse to pay money I did not authorize them to take. I want my money back!

You might get better advice here with more details. At the moment, you’ve given us some very subjective information. We were on Millennium for a month last September and found her to be in extremely good shape, with work ongoing to keep her looking good. For example, our shower floor was retiled while we were on the ship. She’s not a new ship, so our expectation were very reasonable, but they were far exceeded. Is it possible that your disappointing land tour jaundiced your whole experience?

Wait, your stateroom bathroom was re-tiled while you were on the ship? meaning...while you were using the bathroom?

I know, not at the exact moment it was being worked on but any time I redid a kitchen, it wasn't safe to step in the tiles for many hours. I'd be interested in how this was done to avoid the issue of not stepping on them.

Wait, your stateroom bathroom was re-tiled while you were on the ship? meaning...while you were using the bathroom?

I know, not at the exact moment it was being worked on but any time I redid a kitchen, it wasn't safe to step in the tiles for many hours. I'd be interested in how this was done to avoid the issue of not stepping on them.

It was pretty easy, actually. Our cabin steward told us that our shower floor and part of the main bathroom floor were scheduled for re-tiling. He asked us if we had any plans for really long days in port coming up, because the tiles would need about 6-8 hours with no one walking on them. The ship had an overnight in Kobe, and we knew we were going to go ashore early, take the Shinkansen to Kyoto and get back quite late. The re-tiling was done when we were out, and our steward left a note telling us what time they had finished, and what time we could step on the floor again. We were back well after that time, so it was no inconvenience at all. The floor looked fantastic afterwards, too!

So you’ll be really jealous of our 6 weeks on the Solstice. I think I might be one of those people who (given the right funding) could live on a cruise ship. Those 6 weeks were fabulous. I could have done it all over again when it was time to get off.

 

 

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Yes, I could live on a or many cruise ships and be quite happy, yet I would have to prepare for divorce simultaneously as well... LOL

Thanks for sharing....

bon voyage