Alaska

Millennium was beautiful, especially after going through a refurbishment the week before with new carpets, upholstery and bedding. We chose cabin 7000 which was facing the bow and its layout was perfect with much more room than standard outside cabins.

After a full day at sea we began to visit the ports in our cruise of Ketchikan, Juneau and Skagway and the final destination of Seward. The first three ports are quite similar in size and the shops are heavily influenced by the passing cruise trade, with. jewellery and gift shops dominating the streets.

We pre-booked 4 excursions for the cruise:- 2 boat trips, a helicopter flight to land on a glacier and a train ride up the mountains in Skagway. Every trip was well organised and the highlight was the helicopter flight over the snow fields to land on Taku Glacier near Juneau.

The main reason for going to Alaska was to enjoy the scenery and wildlife and it would be criminal not to take the excursions. We chose to take the tours organised by Celebrity but you could if you wished book them through the tour operators. Booking through Celebrity gave you the assurance that if you were delayed coming back the ship would wait for you!

On our trips we saw Bears, Bald Eagles, Humpback Whales, Sea Otters, Mousse and Seals. I recommend taking a good camera with at least x10 zoom and also a video camera with lots of spare batteries and film.

During our cruise we had gloriously warm and sunny weather with most days reaching the high 70’s. In fact, we had to buy extra T-shirts (so much for taking lots of layered clothing and fleeces).

The week on Millennium didn't seem long enough to enjoy the full range of her facilities. The food, service and entertainment onboard Millennium was excellent and I would definitely sail with Celebrity again.

Arriving in Seward saw the beginning of our 4 day land tour of Alaska booked again with Celebrity. This included overnight hotel stops in Girdwood, Denali National Park and Fairbanks and coach and rail transfers throughout. The good weather stayed with us again and we pre-booked excursions to see the Husky Homestead and a white-water rafting ride both in Denali…great fun!!!

The highlight of this segment was the glass-domed train journey from Denali to Fairbanks which took about 4 hours. The scenery was breathtaking and the service onboard was brilliant.

This trip was a journey of a lifetime and one which I would recommend to everyone.