Semi-live from Millennium July 30th Alaska

[Jim_Iain]

On 8/1/2021 at 5:20 PM, Locobill49 said:

My app doesn’t show “Get more details on ships we support”?

 

 

The app is rather non-intuitive.    

 

Click the center Icon That looks like the Page of a Calendar

Go all the way to the bottom and click Change Ship Dates and you should see all your reservations

Go All the way to the bottom and choose "Get more details on the ships we support" It just beneath Link a Missing Reservation

 

Edited August 3, 2021 by Jim_Iain

[TeeRick]

On 7/31/2021 at 1:32 PM, phoenix_dream said:

Thanks for your report.  We are on the Sept 3 sailing - can't wait.  Just need to figure out this new rule about testing for everyone, especially since we are flying in a couple days early and staying downtown without a car.  I know this is not a question for the OP necessarily, but I am wondering (as I'm sure we all are) what type of capacity they will sail with come September.  Its not that far away so I'm guessing (and hoping) not 100% yet.  I see some categories already unavailable on our sailing, but not sure how many are actual bookings versus blocked out by Celebrity.  

 

If you do find out anything about increasing capacity many of us would be so grateful to hear it!

We sail later in September.  We have flights booked for a few days earlier to Seattle.  It is a dilemma.  We will need to test in Seattle somewhere.  I would hate to fly across country and then get a Covid positive test once there.  Then what?  Same for flying home.  We are vaccinated but we can still test positive.  

[megfla]

Thanks for taking us along...it makes me "home sick" for our time onboard in June.

 

Just a note, the all female band Magnifica was outstanding (if you haven't caught them yet)!

[HappyCamp]

Just curious, how bad are mosquitos on the excursions?

[patty1955]

4 minutes ago, HappyCamp said:

Just curious, how bad are mosquitos on the excursions?

Mosquitos love me but I only had a problem in Skagway. 

[lostchild]

22 minutes ago, patty1955 said:

Mosquitos love me but I only had a problem in Skagway. 

Everyone should carry one of these on travel:

https://www.amazon.com/bite-Electronic-Cleared-Dermatologist-Swelling/dp/B07Y3X5JDZ/

 

I am not travelling yet, but got this last year for home use.  It works so well that everyone in my family got one of their own.   I read that it could save your life too from bee stings if you are allergic to it.

 

The other night we went out for dinner and I got 11 mosquito bites on my legs.  I would not be sleeping that night if not for this thing.

[TraderSam]

Thank you for continuing to post your thoughts and photos. 🥰

We didn’t see much of Ketchikan as my husband tweaked his back that day so are really  looking forward to visiting Creek Street and the totem poles when we are next able to travel from Scotland.  Who knows when that will be....

[patty1955]

3 hours ago, lostchild said:

Everyone should carry one of these on travel:

https://www.amazon.com/bite-Electronic-Cleared-Dermatologist-Swelling/dp/B07Y3X5JDZ/

 

I am not travelling yet, but got this last year for home use.  It works so well that everyone in my family got one of their own.   I read that it could save your life too from bee stings if you are allergic to it.

 

The other night we went out for dinner and I got 11 mosquito bites on my legs.  I would not be sleeping that night if not for this thing.

I've never seen such a thing. Thank you!

[Fly and Sail]

Skagway was a shadow of it's former self. Very few people around, most shops (~60%) closed, souvenirs highly discounted.

 

Took the White Pass Rail trip again just because (did it twice already) and felt sorry for the folks who did it the first time. Two hours trip, shortened because the bridge up to White Pass is being renovated. Out of these two hours we were standing still for 40 minutes to turn the engine. Thankfully I used funny money (aka OBC) otherwise I'd have asked for a refund of these $109.

 

Since the Xcelerate was completely down yesterday and I had urgent work to do I dragged my computer into town and spent an hour on the bench in front of the public library which is the ONLY spot in town with an open wifi network.

Edited August 5, 2021 by Fly and Sail

[HappyCamp]

14 hours ago, Fly and Sail said:

Since the Xcelerate was completely down yesterday and I had urgent work to do I dragged my computer into town and spent an hour on the bench in front of the public library which is the ONLY spot in town with an open wifi network.

 

Will Celebrity provide any form of compensation for the Internet being down?

[Jim_Iain]

16 minutes ago, HappyCamp said:

 

Will Celebrity provide any form of compensation for the Internet being down?

I have never had them compensate for the internet being down.   

[Fly and Sail]

1 hour ago, HappyCamp said:

 

Will Celebrity provide any form of compensation for the Internet being down?

I received a generous refund ($50) for that day because I argued that I'm not on the free package and had purchased a multi device bundle. Internet was effectively out for 20h and that should be reflected. I did push for the refund though. I'm not someone who goes berserk over a few hours of spotty internet in the middle of the ocean but a full day deserves a refund or advance discount if they know it's unavailable.

[phoenix_dream]

On 8/4/2021 at 7:42 AM, TeeRick said:

We sail later in September.  We have flights booked for a few days earlier to Seattle.  It is a dilemma.  We will need to test in Seattle somewhere.  I would hate to fly across country and then get a Covid positive test once there.  Then what?  Same for flying home.  We are vaccinated but we can still test positive.  

I feel your pain.  We are flying in Wed for a Friday sailing.  Hoping to be able to get a test late in the day Tuesday in case they go by the 72 hour (versus 3 day) rule for tests.  This is so stressful.  I know things are changing rapidly but before they put out an edict like that and make it effective so suddenly they should make some kind of arrangement to provide testing at the port for those who need it - even if they need to charge a small fee (not a rip-you-off fee).  

[cruisemom42]

On 8/3/2021 at 1:45 AM, iamaqt2 said:

Here are some pics of the menus and dailies I snapped.  And I laughed when I got back from dinner tonight at the cost of the laundry bag.

 

Thanks for the menus and daily activities.  I think I'll pass on the laundry though.... 😱

[KeepCalmBearOn]

On 7/30/2021 at 3:12 PM, iamaqt2 said:

I know there wasn't much feedback from the first Millie Alaska cruise, so thought I'd post for the hungry cruisers.. 😉😉

 

Thanks for all the pics and info.

 

The last time I was on Millennium was 2006 on a South American cruise.  I am considering an October cruise just to get back to cruising again. What have been your favorite things about the ship? If the thalassotherapy pool is closed now, I figure it might be two months from now, and that might be a deal breaker for me. Still love to hear your thoughts though.

[TeeRick]

12 hours ago, phoenix_dream said:

I feel your pain.  We are flying in Wed for a Friday sailing.  Hoping to be able to get a test late in the day Tuesday in case they go by the 72 hour (versus 3 day) rule for tests.  This is so stressful.  I know things are changing rapidly but before they put out an edict like that and make it effective so suddenly they should make some kind of arrangement to provide testing at the port for those who need it - even if they need to charge a small fee (not a rip-you-off fee).  

Yes they need to provide a rapid antigen test at the port - even for a fee.  I have seen that the only quick turn around tests are out in the Seattle suburbs.  So if staying in Seattle prior to the cruise, you would need to find a way back to the airport or get to the suburbs.  I originally signed up for our Alaska cruise as an easy way to only cruise US ports and not deal with testing as fully vaccinated.  This is a complete over reaction to the very limited vaccine transmission data and the Delta variant.  So far even without pre-cruise testing there have been very very few cases of COVID+ people on board cruise ships sailing now.

[patty1955]

There are rapid Covid test at Walgreens in Seattle. The one at Walgreens, 2400 S Jackson St, Seattle, WA 98144 is only a few minutes away.

[lovecruzin]

On 8/4/2021 at 5:42 AM, TeeRick said:

We sail later in September.  We have flights booked for a few days earlier to Seattle.  It is a dilemma.  We will need to test in Seattle somewhere.  I would hate to fly across country and then get a Covid positive test once there.  Then what?  Same for flying home.  We are vaccinated but we can still test positive.  

If you are concerned, do a pre-test at home before flying to SEA, just to give you some peace of mind. We did this before having to test for a Hawaii trip, that way we were fairly certain we would test negative before our actual 72 hour test.

[TeeRick]

3 hours ago, patty1955 said:

There are rapid Covid test at Walgreens in Seattle. The one at Walgreens, 2400 S Jackson St, Seattle, WA 98144 is only a few minutes away.

patty- Thank you.  Others have reported that there are no rapid turn around tests in downtown Seattle at Walgreens, CVS, etc.  

[iamaqt2]

On 8/4/2021 at 7:20 AM, megfla said:

Thanks for taking us along...it makes me "home sick" for our time onboard in June.

 

Just a note, the all female band Magnifica was outstanding (if you haven't caught them yet)!

Yes, they were really good!

 

On 8/4/2021 at 1:50 PM, HappyCamp said:

Just curious, how bad are mosquitos on the excursions?

Didn't run into any mosquitos in the ports.  Can't speak to forest excursions.

[iamaqt2]

After Juneau, we completely lost all cell service, including Skagway.  I heard from multiple cruisers that the internet was terrible.  In fact most of the time we were lucky to get 4-5 working channels on the in room TV.  Most of the time it just said No Signal Available.

I agree that Skagway was pretty much a ghost town.  I felt so bad for them.  Only a handful of shops were open. We stopped into the Fried Dough shop and bought a bunch of unnecessary items. The most exciting part of walking into town was the little creek park next to the Cruise terminal.  There were many jumping salmon,  and a young local boy fishing.

We were very lucky with our port weather, but sea days were very cold and wet.

I very much enjoyed this cruise.  The entertainment team was A++.  Alejandro the CD was a character.

Almost all of our meals were good to very good.  Some particular standouts were the Beef Shortrib over creamy polenta, and the Beef Wellington.

I already mentioned the pork sandwich, but another dish that deserves a hard pass is the Butternut Squash Farro dish.  It wasn't that it tasted bad, it's just that it should not be served as a Main entree.  It was a huge bowl of mushy squash rolled around super dense Farro and topped with some crispy Duck prosciutto.  It would have been lovely as a small side.  But about 8 bites in I had to wave the white flag on this one.  

I packed the remaining dailies to bring home, and will hopefully get those snapped and posted soon. I forgot to take pictures of the menus, 😞.  

If you have Anytime Dining on an upcoming cruise, ask to be seated in Gama and Candra's section.  You will not regret it.  Also if you're lucky enough to get Rashid as your beverage server, he will take excellent care of you.

 

[MamaFej]

21 minutes ago, iamaqt2 said:

  Alejandro the CD was a character.

 

Alejandro (AKA Ale-handsome) is so fun! I hope he will still be on board next month, so we can sail a third continent with him. 

Edited August 6, 2021 by MamaFej
spelling

[lovecruzin]

It doesn’t sound like there were any Covid cases onboard that you were made aware of?

[iamaqt2]

12 minutes ago, lovecruzin said:

It doesn’t sound like there were any Covid cases onboard that you were made aware of?

I didn't hear any announcements made at all, and no discussion of it.  Many people, myself and DH included, wore masks while moving through common areas of the ship.  Hallways, elevators, the buffet.  We put them away on day 5, as I figured if something was going to crop up, we'd have heard about it by then.

 

[hcat]

On 8/1/2021 at 11:57 AM, iamaqt2 said:

Just pulled in to Ketchikan.  Carnival Miracle is joining us..

Weather on day 2 was a shock after the fantastic weather we've had all month.  Woke up to pea soup fog, and a soaking balcony.  Tried to "pool time" in the Solarium, but it was just freezing cold.  The ship was doing 20 knots, the wind was blowing 28 knots, and it was an icy cold wind tunnel every time the doors opened. 

However, the casino slots were 🔥🔥 and left with some 💸💸 in my pocket.

 

Sea day lunch in the main dining room was a huge let down.  It was very busy, and the menu item I ordered was not what I expected.  No big, went up after to Mast Grill and got a hot dog instead.  Good thing they have food everywhere!

 

Had a 4 pm meet up with some of the CC crew at Sunset Bar again. 

 

Evening chic was a mixed bag... I'd say maybe 25% made an effort to dress up.  Then made our way up to Sky Lounge for Silent Disco.  I love this so much.

 

The captain announced that masks are required in port today. So far so good with no announcements of any positive cases onboard.

 

Looking Good!