An Alaskan cruisetour with Aleyska?

[lovetotraveltx]

If any of you have done a celebrity cruisetour that includes a night at the Aleyska resort, did you have time to eat dinner at the restaurant on top of the mountain that you get to with the tram?

 

Thank you!

[pspercy]

If any of you have done a celebrity cruisetour that includes a night at the Aleyska resort, did you have time to eat dinner at the restaurant on top of the mountain that you get to with the tram?

 

Thank you!

 

One couple did on our trip. You're there for the night - we arrived about 4 or 5pm - so lots of time. It's a nice place indeed.

[lovetotraveltx]

Thank you!

[Ando]

I stayed at Alyeska Prince Hotel and dined at the Seven Glaciers restaurant almost 20 years - and it is still one of my most enjoyable and memorable meals. We had a 7-course degustation menu with accompanying wines, which was as amazing as the view. We left the restaurant around 1am in late May and it was still daylight.

I hope you enjoy it as much as we did if you get the chance.

Cheers

Ando

[bonedoc7]

If any of you have done a celebrity cruisetour that includes a night at the Aleyska resort, did you have time to eat dinner at the restaurant on top of the mountain that you get to with the tram?

 

Thank you!

 

I have seen all your questions regarding Alaska. We are doing a land tour with celebrity starting Sunday, this season it's called 5B. We start in anchorage, then Talkeetna, Denali for two days and then the Alyeska resort last evening before arriving in Seward to do a southbound cruise on the millennium. We have made reservations at the seven glaciers restaurant and I am really looking forward to the dinner. I am not one to write reviews, but I promise to come back and answer any questions you may have.

 

 

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[lovetotraveltx]

I have seen all your questions regarding Alaska. We are doing a land tour with celebrity starting Sunday, this season it's called 5B. We start in anchorage, then Talkeetna, Denali for two days and then the Alyeska resort last evening before arriving in Seward to do a southbound cruise on the millennium. We have made reservations at the seven glaciers restaurant and I am really looking forward to the dinner. I am not one to write reviews, but I promise to come back and answer any questions you may have.

 

 

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Yes, we are doing the 5B also. That would be wonderful of you! There is not much information given about the land tour at all, ie, all the hotels, hot to upgrade to TWT what excursions you can book on the cruisetour portion, etc., etc. Please gather whatever you can for me and I will be glad to pay if you need to snail mail anything.

 

Have an awesome trip!

 

Thank you :)

[disneycast]

Yes, we are doing the 5B also. That would be wonderful of you! There is not much information given about the land tour at all, ie, all the hotels, hot to upgrade to TWT what excursions you can book on the cruisetour portion, etc., etc. Please gather whatever you can for me and I will be glad to pay if you need to snail mail anything.

 

Have an awesome trip!

 

Thank you :)

 

Oh please add me to your info list! I am looking at 5B for May 2015. I am trying my best to research this bucket list cruise but it is a bit of a challenge!

 

Marie

[EliseL]

I'm doing 5B as well and was wondering about day 1 of the tour. Our TA just sent us the flight details and we flying in on that first day, getting to Anchorage around 1. Does anyone know if that first day is just an arrival day with nothing going on?

 

 

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[rhlaw]

We did that tour 2 years ago. A wonderful cruise tour and cruise. We loved it.

The first day in Anchorage you just meet your tour leader in the afternoon and get some information, the day is yours, we were out in Anchorage in the morning, came back for our meeting and went out again. The hotel held our luggage, because our room was not ready. We flew in the day before and stayed at a holiday inn and then took a taxis in the morning to our hotel in Anchorage, which was the Marriott, don't know if it is the same now.

We stayed at the Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge the next night, they will take you to Talkeetna, small town. If it is a good day you hopefully will see Mt. McKinley. In Denali,we did a Celebrity Hike that was the first night, which was very interesting. The people who work there are so interesting. In Denali, we stayed at the Grande Denali Lodge, up on the mountain, That is were Princess and Holland America has their lodges too. Nice little town, places to eat. They have a shuttle to take you down into the town, or you can walk down the hill. On one day, you will spend ,on a nice school bus, with a snack box snack,going into Denali National Park, which is AMAZING! You can order a box lunch to go, for that. Then the next night you will go to Alyeska, we did a glacial hike there, there are other excursions, too. We never made it up to the restaurant on the mountain, but had the best pizza at the bar area. Just be warned it is expensive there, but worth every penny. Talk to the people who work at these places, they are so interesting.

It was one of the most amazing and wonderful cruises we had. Have a great trip The train was also great, you can have drinks at your seat and go to eat breakfast and lunch.

Hope this gives you a little of an idea of the tour.

[bonedoc7]

Just came back from the 5B tour. It was incredible!! We arrived in anchorage at 2:30. Met up with a celebrity rep at the airport. They took care of our luggage and we then took the shuttle to the hotel, the downtown Marriott. We only had to wait for about 20 minutes for the shuttle to leave the airport, which was not bad. Once at the hotel, there was another rep to hand out room keys and to sign us up for the information session. Our luggage arrived to our rooms and everything was taken care of. By 5:30, we were on our own and going out for dinner. We had previously made reservations for glacier brew house. I highly recommend reservations if this is on your list. Usually for the week, bags out 1.5 hour before departure time. It ranged from 6 am bags out to 10 am. We spent many hours on the bus, but they always made sure that we would stop ever 2 hours or so to walk around and stretch. Train from anchorage to Talkeetna was amazing. We had a few issues along the way, brakes broke down on the train (before we got on) and we were delayed about an hour. Our tour bus broke down on our way to Denali, but there were three other tour buses in the group, so we split up and joined the other buses. I have to say, despite any issues, it was all handled efficiently and without any real stress.

 

I highly recommend dinner at the aleyska resort (7 glaciers). You could probably already make reservations, I made ours 6 months ahead of time. It can get expensive, you are looking at about $125 pp with drinks.

 

Once I unpack, just got home last night, I will go through the paperwork I had and can give detail accounts of the land tour portion! It really was an incredible trip and well worth the early wake ups!

 

 

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[EliseL]

Thanks so much for your info

 

 

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[DisneyLoverDave]

Lots of good info from the group on this post. We have a Cruisetour booked for late August/early September 2014 and have just booked my Seven Glaciers dinner for the night we will be in town. I am not a big "poster", this is my first, but I was compelled to let this group know how much their comments persuaded me to take action and make the reservation. Looking forward to a great dinner and great views!

[EMS8]

bonedoc7

 

We will be doing this exact same cruise tour next July and then sailing on Millie. Looking forward to the details of your cruise tour.

[diesel1973]

Other good places to eat at in Girdwood(where the Alyeska Resort is at) is The Bake Shop for bfst. or lunch and the Double Muskie for dinner which is a GREAT Cajun rest. Reason I know is because I have been coming up to Alaska for over 15 yrs.(sometimes twice a year). In fact I have been up here for over 6 weeks now and am flying home tonite.:(:(:(

[lovetotraveltx]

Thank you. Glad you enjoyed it. Looking forward to more details such as optional tours, upgrading the Denali tour, meals, etc! :)

 

 

 

Just came back from the 5B tour. It was incredible!! We arrived in anchorage at 2:30. Met up with a celebrity rep at the airport. They took care of our luggage and we then took the shuttle to the hotel, the downtown Marriott. We only had to wait for about 20 minutes for the shuttle to leave the airport, which was not bad. Once at the hotel, there was another rep to hand out room keys and to sign us up for the information session. Our luggage arrived to our rooms and everything was taken care of. By 5:30, we were on our own and going out for dinner. We had previously made reservations for glacier brew house. I highly recommend reservations if this is on your list. Usually for the week, bags out 1.5 hour before departure time. It ranged from 6 am bags out to 10 am. We spent many hours on the bus, but they always made sure that we would stop ever 2 hours or so to walk around and stretch. Train from anchorage to Talkeetna was amazing. We had a few issues along the way, brakes broke down on the train (before we got on) and we were delayed about an hour. Our tour bus broke down on our way to Denali, but there were three other tour buses in the group, so we split up and joined the other buses. I have to say, despite any issues, it was all handled efficiently and without any real stress.

 

I highly recommend dinner at the aleyska resort (7 glaciers). You could probably already make reservations, I made ours 6 months ahead of time. It can get expensive, you are looking at about $125 pp with drinks.

 

Once I unpack, just got home last night, I will go through the paperwork I had and can give detail accounts of the land tour portion! It really was an incredible trip and well worth the early wake ups!

 

 

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[bonedoc7]

Well, unfortunately, I am going to have to do the land tour portion by memory. I know I kept the itinerary that they gave us at the beginning, I just can't seem to find it at the moment. I will probably find it when I am packing for my next trip.

 

Anchorage (Sunday),

 

We arrived at 2 pm. You make your way towards the baggage claim and you will find a celebrity rep who will direct you where you bags will be coming out. Once you identify your bags, there is a luggage cart that everything goes on. You really don't have to worry about your bags for the rest of the tour. We arrived at the Marriott Downtown Anchorage by 3:10 pm. There is another celebrity rep checking you in and handing out room keys. We also signed up for information sessions with our guide. There were four guides and four buses for the group, I am assuming that we were all doing the 5B tour, since we all went to the same locations and hotels at the same time. The information sessions were for 3, 4, 5 and 6. We signed up for the 4 pm session. Our tour guide was James. We went to our rooms. We had three rooms for our group, ours, the kids and the grandparents. We were always given rooms side by side. Once in our rooms, it really only took about 15 minutes to get our luggage. It was a little confusing at first, since right off the bus, they had no idea which Ferguson was in which room. We helped the Bell boy organize and then went down to our session. At the session James introduced himself and gave us the itinerary for the week (which I know I will find it in October on our way to Berlin!) and the available excursions for the week. He also gave us luggage tags, so they can identify each different set of Fergusons. We were given two different types of tags, one that will follow you throughout the tour, will be delivered to your room each stop. The other one is for anything you want to store for the cruise only. We packed all our formal wear in one suitcase which we didn't see again until the last night. James was very nice. We filled out our excursion forms right there. We knew which ones we wanted and apparently they can sell out. We decided on the glacier flight in Talkeenta (expensive, especially for a family of 5, but well worth it!) White water rafting in Denali (there is also a float excursion that you do the same rapids (category 2,3 & one 4) but someone is rowing for you. The dinner theatre, also in Denali (really a lot of fun, bbq style dinner that was good enough) and then we upgraded to the Tundra 8 hour tour, also in Denali. The good thing about the tour, James organized our excursions so that they didn't overlap. With the days being so long, we were able to white water raft at 9 pm.

 

Once the session was over, we went back to the rooms, changed and then headed out to explore Anchorage. We had dinner reservations at Glacier Brewhouse, which was a good thing, since it is a busy place. I would say, it was not what I expected. I was expecting a small (ish) pub style rustic restaurant. It ended up being a very large country/modern restaurant. The beer was excellent, our food was good. We then went back to the hotel to bed.

 

If I remember correctly, our bags needed to be outside the door by 6:00 am and we were departing at 7:30. Luggage was picked up promptly at 6:00.

 

Talkeetna (Monday)

 

We met at the lobby for our group. All four groups were waiting to depart to go to the train. Like I mentioned before, there were four buses. Approx 35 people per bus (with a capacity of 55, so lots of room). We did leave at 7:30 and departed for the train station. Unfortunately, just before we got to the train station, it turned out that the train needed to be fixed. We waited on the bus just outside the area of the train until the brakes were fixed. We were about an hour delayed, so not a real issue. The train was incredible. We were all seated in the top part, and then they would come by, row by row and invite us down for breakfast (added cost). We really didn't have to worry about saving seats or lining up to get seats at breakfast (it was delicious!), we just needed to wait our turn. I would say, that since we were late, I think we went a little faster on the train, so it was sometimes hard to see things, but everything about the ride was amazing.

 

When we arrived at Talkeetna, the bus was waiting for us. We went to the little town of Talkeetna to explore and have lunch. Great little place. We had a few hours in town and then drove to the hotel. Our rooms were ready for 5 pm. We stayed at the Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge. It was a very nice resort like hotel. That evening we did the Flight seeing - amazing! We did have dinner at the hotel once we arrived back from our excursion, and it was a very pleasant experience. The next morning, we had a little more time. I think bags out by 9, and departure by 11:00.

 

Denali (Tuesday and Wednesday)

 

We left the hotel promptly at 11, on our way to Denali. About 5 minutes into our journey, our bus broke down, well at least an engine light went on. They called back all the other buses and we met at a gas station. They divided our bus between the other three. We joined Paul's bus. Paul was also a very nice guy. Funny, they each had the same little side jokes, told slightly different. The trip to Denali was a little more stressful for us. Since we no longer had James with us, or any way to contact him, we weren't sure about the timing for our excursions. We had three booked for the two days, but didn't quite know what time. We had planned on stopping in the little town of Denali (near the princess lodge). We really only had 1.5 hours here, and found everything a bit rushed. James ended up not going to the town, but went straight to the lodge, so we felt a little displaced. Once we got to the lodge, Denali Park Village, we managed to find James and got our excursion times. At first glance, I was not impressed with the hotel. The main lobby was nice enough, but the rooms were scattered throughout the property. When we entered our room, it was dark and muggy. We opened the windows and put on the fan. The kids room lock was broken, and they were not able to enter their room. We all changed in our room (we only had 20 minutes before the white water rafting excursion picked us up) and we called to have the kids room fixed. My inlaws had no interest in the excursion, although they would have loved the float one and we would have been together. They stayed behind to make sure the door was fixed and to have dinner. We arrived back at the resort by 10:45 and quickly went to get dinner at the restaurant. We managed to arrive at 10:55 and were given attitude (kitchen closed at 11) The bar area served appetizers and pizza until midnight, so we were expecting to sit there. The hostess (which I think was the manager) gave us the attitude, but still sat us in the main dining area (which all flows into the bar area). The servers were amazing. Everyone else at the hotel was great.

 

Next morning, our tundra tour was for 8 am. It is a small bus that holds 55 people. There were 54 of us on the tour. You really do spend the full time on the same bus. The seats were crowded and uncomfortable. Thankfully, we do stop every couple of hours for a stretch and bathroom break. The ride in, was amazing - we saw caribou, mountain goats (apparently, they were on the other side of our bus) and lots of bears! It really was amazing. The only animal we did not get to see was moose. Our ride back down, was a little more restless and tiring. We all took turns falling asleep. We arrived back at the resort at 4 and explored a little. It really grew on me. We were in the newer section where there was a grocery store (sold coffee and home made donuts, plus other necessities) a bar, a little chapel and some souvenir shops. Once we forgot about calling it a resort, but thought of it as a camp ground, I ended up loving the place. We had some wings, beer and potato skins at the bar next to our room (not in the main building) and it was great. We left for the dinner theatre. It was family style bbq, loud, rowdy and fun. The food was good enough and we were entertained.

 

Alyeska (Thursday)

 

Thursday was the longest day for travel. I think we Denali by 9 and arrived in Anchorage for lunch time. We only really had 2.5 hours in Anchorage. We decided to use some of the time to get to a liquor store to buy wine for the cruise. Unfortunately, my mother in law took a nasty fall on our way to buy wine. Thankfully just scrapes and bruises, no broken bones. We brought her to a rest room and cleaned her up then went to buy our wine. We had lunch at a pizza place called Fat Ptarmigan. Great place to have a quick lunch, amazing pizza. We told our server we only had an hour and she got the job done. Highly recommend it.

 

We met the bus and drove the rest of the way to Alyeska. The resort was wonderful. They give you Tram tickets, and even if you don't have reservations for the restaurant, its worth the ride up. There is a hiking trail that you can climb all the way, which would have been great if we had known about it. Dinner was amazing. I would say, be prepared to spend about $75-$100 each. Our wine choice is a little more pricey, so we spent $125 each.

 

There is a wine store in the resort, so I wouldn't go out of my way in Anchorage to find a liquor store, wait until you are in Alyeska.

 

Seward (Friday)

 

We received all our luggage, including our formal wear. At this point, we were told to put our cruise tags on. Bags out by 7 (?) and we didn't see the bags again until our stateroom on the cruise. We had breakfast at the starbucks and then left for Seward. It was a short drive, about 2 hours. We went to the Sea life centre. Walked through it quickly, we really only had two hours in Seward and I think we were all anxious to get on the ship. We arrived at the cruise ship around 2:15. The check in process was amazingly quick and staterooms were ready by the time we boarded. Unfortunately, we didn't receive our luggage until after sail away (just our room, others received it before dinner), so I would recommend wearing something that you feel comfortable wearing to dinner just in case.

 

It really was an amazing trip. In the end, our view on things. It was a busy week, with lots of travel. Even though we didn't have to worry about our luggage, you were living out of the luggage for the week, so pack with that in mind. I am glad we did the land portion first, I couldn't imagine how tired we would be if it was after the cruise. Recommendations, if anyone with Celebrity is reading, it would have been nice if we were able to make suggestions for our hotel rooms (ie, connecting rooms, king bed etc) Also, in some of the buses, we saw other teens / kids. It would have actually been nice, if we were divided with that in mind. We had a great group, it just would have been nice if the kids would have been able to meet other kids while on the land tour. I guess, I would feel sorry for the one couple that got stuck with a whole bunch of families, but for our situation, the kids would have loved it. You will have a great time! :D

Edited August 8, 2014 by bonedoc7

[cruiserny]

If anyone is looking for another option - I did this cruisetour a couple of years ago and did a dogsled ride on a glacier through Alpine Air. It was much cheaper and more private than the ones in Juneau and Skagway. Alpine Air picks you up at the resort. With the weather in the area, it is also less likely to be cancelled.

[wrk2cruise]

We reserved months in advance and ate at the restaurant at the top of the tram. Frankly I was unimpressed with the meal for the price. After dinner we met some of our travel companions in the lounge having drinks up there. We wished we had just done that.

[lovetotraveltx]

Thank you very much! Very helpful!

 

Were there any excursions offered at Aleyska?

 

Did you feel the food/experience at seven glaciers was worth $125 per person?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, unfortunately, I am going to have to do the land tour portion by memory. I know I kept the itinerary that they gave us at the beginning, I just can't seem to find it at the moment. I will probably find it when I am packing for my next trip.

 

Anchorage (Sunday),

 

We arrived at 2 pm. You make your way towards the baggage claim and you will find a celebrity rep who will direct you where you bags will be coming out. Once you identify your bags, there is a luggage cart that everything goes on. You really don't have to worry about your bags for the rest of the tour. We arrived at the Marriott Downtown Anchorage by 3:10 pm. There is another celebrity rep checking you in and handing out room keys. We also signed up for information sessions with our guide. There were four guides and four buses for the group, I am assuming that we were all doing the 5B tour, since we all went to the same locations and hotels at the same time. The information sessions were for 3, 4, 5 and 6. We signed up for the 4 pm session. Our tour guide was James. We went to our rooms. We had three rooms for our group, ours, the kids and the grandparents. We were always given rooms side by side. Once in our rooms, it really only took about 15 minutes to get our luggage. It was a little confusing at first, since right off the bus, they had no idea which Ferguson was in which room. We helped the Bell boy organize and then went down to our session. At the session James introduced himself and gave us the itinerary for the week (which I know I will find it in October on our way to Berlin!) and the available excursions for the week. He also gave us luggage tags, so they can identify each different set of Fergusons. We were given two different types of tags, one that will follow you throughout the tour, will be delivered to your room each stop. The other one is for anything you want to store for the cruise only. We packed all our formal wear in one suitcase which we didn't see again until the last night. James was very nice. We filled out our excursion forms right there. We knew which ones we wanted and apparently they can sell out. We decided on the glacier flight in Talkeenta (expensive, especially for a family of 5, but well worth it!) White water rafting in Denali (there is also a float excursion that you do the same rapids (category 2,3 & one 4) but someone is rowing for you. The dinner theatre, also in Denali (really a lot of fun, bbq style dinner that was good enough) and then we upgraded to the Tundra 8 hour tour, also in Denali. The good thing about the tour, James organized our excursions so that they didn't overlap. With the days being so long, we were able to white water raft at 9 pm.

 

Once the session was over, we went back to the rooms, changed and then headed out to explore Anchorage. We had dinner reservations at Glacier Brewhouse, which was a good thing, since it is a busy place. I would say, it was not what I expected. I was expecting a small (ish) pub style rustic restaurant. It ended up being a very large country/modern restaurant. The beer was excellent, our food was good. We then went back to the hotel to bed.

 

If I remember correctly, our bags needed to be outside the door by 6:00 am and we were departing at 7:30. Luggage was picked up promptly at 6:00.

 

Talkeetna (Monday)

 

We met at the lobby for our group. All four groups were waiting to depart to go to the train. Like I mentioned before, there were four buses. Approx 35 people per bus (with a capacity of 55, so lots of room). We did leave at 7:30 and departed for the train station. Unfortunately, just before we got to the train station, it turned out that the train needed to be fixed. We waited on the bus just outside the area of the train until the brakes were fixed. We were about an hour delayed, so not a real issue. The train was incredible. We were all seated in the top part, and then they would come by, row by row and invite us down for breakfast (added cost). We really didn't have to worry about saving seats or lining up to get seats at breakfast (it was delicious!), we just needed to wait our turn. I would say, that since we were late, I think we went a little faster on the train, so it was sometimes hard to see things, but everything about the ride was amazing.

 

When we arrived at Talkeetna, the bus was waiting for us. We went to the little town of Talkeetna to explore and have lunch. Great little place. We had a few hours in town and then drove to the hotel. Our rooms were ready for 5 pm. We stayed at the Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge. It was a very nice resort like hotel. That evening we did the Flight seeing - amazing! We did have dinner at the hotel once we arrived back from our excursion, and it was a very pleasant experience. The next morning, we had a little more time. I think bags out by 9, and departure by 11:00.

 

Denali (Tuesday and Wednesday)

 

We left the hotel promptly at 11, on our way to Denali. About 5 minutes into our journey, our bus broke down, well at least an engine light went on. They called back all the other buses and we met at a gas station. They divided our bus between the other three. We joined Paul's bus. Paul was also a very nice guy. Funny, they each had the same little side jokes, told slightly different. The trip to Denali was a little more stressful for us. Since we no longer had James with us, or any way to contact him, we weren't sure about the timing for our excursions. We had three booked for the two days, but didn't quite know what time. We had planned on stopping in the little town of Denali (near the princess lodge). We really only had 1.5 hours here, and found everything a bit rushed. James ended up not going to the town, but went straight to the lodge, so we felt a little displaced. Once we got to the lodge, Denali Park Village, we managed to find James and got our excursion times. At first glance, I was not impressed with the hotel. The main lobby was nice enough, but the rooms were scattered throughout the property. When we entered our room, it was dark and muggy. We opened the windows and put on the fan. The kids room lock was broken, and they were not able to enter their room. We all changed in our room (we only had 20 minutes before the white water rafting excursion picked us up) and we called to have the kids room fixed. My inlaws had no interest in the excursion, although they would have loved the float one and we would have been together. They stayed behind to make sure the door was fixed and to have dinner. We arrived back at the resort by 10:45 and quickly went to get dinner at the restaurant. We managed to arrive at 10:55 and were given attitude (kitchen closed at 11) The bar area served appetizers and pizza until midnight, so we were expecting to sit there. The hostess (which I think was the manager) gave us the attitude, but still sat us in the main dining area (which all flows into the bar area). The servers were amazing. Everyone else at the hotel was great.

 

Next morning, our tundra tour was for 8 am. It is a small bus that holds 55 people. There were 54 of us on the tour. You really do spend the full time on the same bus. The seats were crowded and uncomfortable. Thankfully, we do stop every couple of hours for a stretch and bathroom break. The ride in, was amazing - we saw caribou, mountain goats (apparently, they were on the other side of our bus) and lots of bears! It really was amazing. The only animal we did not get to see was moose. Our ride back down, was a little more restless and tiring. We all took turns falling asleep. We arrived back at the resort at 4 and explored a little. It really grew on me. We were in the newer section where there was a grocery store (sold coffee and home made donuts, plus other necessities) a bar, a little chapel and some souvenir shops. Once we forgot about calling it a resort, but thought of it as a camp ground, I ended up loving the place. We had some wings, beer and potato skins at the bar next to our room (not in the main building) and it was great. We left for the dinner theatre. It was family style bbq, loud, rowdy and fun. The food was good enough and we were entertained.

 

Alyeska (Thursday)

 

Thursday was the longest day for travel. I think we Denali by 9 and arrived in Anchorage for lunch time. We only really had 2.5 hours in Anchorage. We decided to use some of the time to get to a liquor store to buy wine for the cruise. Unfortunately, my mother in law took a nasty fall on our way to buy wine. Thankfully just scrapes and bruises, no broken bones. We brought her to a rest room and cleaned her up then went to buy our wine. We had lunch at a pizza place called Fat Ptarmigan. Great place to have a quick lunch, amazing pizza. We told our server we only had an hour and she got the job done. Highly recommend it.

 

We met the bus and drove the rest of the way to Alyeska. The resort was wonderful. They give you Tram tickets, and even if you don't have reservations for the restaurant, its worth the ride up. There is a hiking trail that you can climb all the way, which would have been great if we had known about it. Dinner was amazing. I would say, be prepared to spend about $75-$100 each. Our wine choice is a little more pricey, so we spent $125 each.

 

There is a wine store in the resort, so I wouldn't go out of my way in Anchorage to find a liquor store, wait until you are in Alyeska.

 

Seward (Friday)

 

We received all our luggage, including our formal wear. At this point, we were told to put our cruise tags on. Bags out by 7 (?) and we didn't see the bags again until our stateroom on the cruise. We had breakfast at the starbucks and then left for Seward. It was a short drive, about 2 hours. We went to the Sea life centre. Walked through it quickly, we really only had two hours in Seward and I think we were all anxious to get on the ship. We arrived at the cruise ship around 2:15. The check in process was amazingly quick and staterooms were ready by the time we boarded. Unfortunately, we didn't receive our luggage until after sail away (just our room, others received it before dinner), so I would recommend wearing something that you feel comfortable wearing to dinner just in case.

 

It really was an amazing trip. In the end, our view on things. It was a busy week, with lots of travel. Even though we didn't have to worry about our luggage, you were living out of the luggage for the week, so pack with that in mind. I am glad we did the land portion first, I couldn't imagine how tired we would be if it was after the cruise. Recommendations, if anyone with Celebrity is reading, it would have been nice if we were able to make suggestions for our hotel rooms (ie, connecting rooms, king bed etc) Also, in some of the buses, we saw other teens / kids. It would have actually been nice, if we were divided with that in mind. We had a great group, it just would have been nice if the kids would have been able to meet other kids while on the land tour. I guess, I would feel sorry for the one couple that got stuck with a whole bunch of families, but for our situation, the kids would have loved it. You will have a great time! :D

[lovetotraveltx]

Sorry! One more question! What clothing: shoes, jacket did you need/use for the land tour?

[bonedoc7]

We definitely thought the dinner was worth it. One of the best steaks I have ever had, and I have had many!! I don't remember what excursions for Alyeska were offered, we weren't planning on doing one, so didn't take notice. I can ask my family to see if they remember.

 

In regards to the clothing casual is accepted everywhere. The boys wore jeans to the dinner in aleyska and that was the fanciest place we ate. Layers are definitely needed for the trip, cool in the morning, but by the afternoon warm. We also had some rain, so wind/rain jacket is needed

 

 

 

 

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[lovetotraveltx]

We definitely thought the dinner was worth it. One of the best steaks I have ever had, and I have had many!! I don't remember what excursions for Alyeska were offered, we weren't planning on doing one, so didn't take notice. I can ask my family to see if they remember.

 

In regards to the clothing casual is accepted everywhere. The boys wore jeans to the dinner in aleyska and that was the fanciest place we ate. Layers are definitely needed for the trip, cool in the morning, but by the afternoon warm. We also had some rain, so wind/rain jacket is needed

 

 

 

 

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Did you all have/use waterproof shoes?

 

Thanks!

[bonedoc7]

We wore running shoes and flip flops the entire trip. We really didn't do any real hiking so left our hiking boots at home. We did luck out with the weather and it was pretty dry for the most part. We each brought 2-3 pairs of running shoes so in case it did rain (hard), we had a back up.

 

 

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[rhlaw]

We did this tour two years ago, and it is interesting how they changed some things. We went end of August into September, our buses were not packed, which was nice, we wore light hiker shoes. We did a glacier hike in Aleyeska, the scenery AMAZING. A very casual tour and cruise, no one at our table worn formal at all, but nicely dressed . Denali's ground was bright orange, something I will never forget.

We did see McKinley, which is something I hope you see, AMAZING! We had 70 degree weather in Ketchikan and did the ship snorkel excursion, VERY INTERESTING. We loved Anchorage, wish we had more time there.

An AMAZING trip, I would go back in a heartbeat.

The only thing I wish I saw was the Puffins, have to go in spring for that.

I wish you a wonderful trip. Don't stress it. I do agree with the review for packing for your land tour, that was not so great, but if you pack well, it should be fine.

[EMS8]

Melinda,

Thanks for the information. Looks like you and your family had a great time.

I have a couplle of questions regarding luggage:

 

I presume you removed the essential items from your checked bags and the checked bags are the ones you didn't see until you got to Seward? Also, how large of bags did you carry with you on the train and on the bus?