Celebrity Cruise Line out of Seattle to Alaska
 

Has anyone been to Alaska with Celebrity Cruises - Infinity. We are looking into a July 2009 vacation.

Been to Alaska but not on Celebrity so far. We will be on the Celebtity Mercury (older and smaller shp) in August, and it will be after your trip. Celebrity offers good value and decent service. The Infinity is a Millennium class ship and is relatively new and is a great ship. If you have ever been on Celebrity's ships but on on their newer Millennium class ships, then you are in for a treat.

Inside passage is inside passage, the scenic and port experinece are very similar regardless of which ship you are on. The ship is a floating hotel and your "transportation". I put more value on where they stop rather than the ship (most time) when selecting a cruise. Unless the ships are going to the same places (Inside passage/Western Carribbean etc) then the ship became a bigger part of the experience and the decision process.

I pick Celebrity for Alaska this time becasue of destination: Sitka and Vancouver (biggest reason), timing (can't get away for 3 weeks), and personal comfort level (demographics of fellow passengers).

Carnival and HAL stop at Sita and Vancouver as well. But my travel style fits the profile for Princess and Celebrity better than HAL and Carnival's demographics and feels more comfortable. Princess offers Sitka on a limited basis so Celebrity becomes the natural choice.

If you have not been on an Alaskan cruise before, the inside passage is a good starting point. My personal opinion is that inside passage is inside passage, it is nice, but Alaska is a lot more than that. I have always recommend a North bound cruise and finish off in the real Alaska and fly back from Anchorage or Fairbanks. Yes, it is more expensive (airfare and all) but it is a better expereince. Glacier Bay / College Fjord are "must see" in my book (I know people wlll disagree)

If you have not made your reservation yet, consider a North bound voyage for the "full Alaskan experience".

Eschew - that you for your wonderful feedback. I feel confident on the ship and registry we are thinking about. Yes I am sure the North bound voyage for the full Alaska experiece would be awesome but we did take into considerationm flying into one port and finishing at another and taking buses etc.
too much....Taking the ship out of Seattle will work for us better.

Have a great trip in August.

rnanos64, You are most welcome. Post a review here after your cruise. Actually the bus ride is part of the adventure. It is scenic and the bus are comfy. The cruise lines typically will offer them even you don't book the air with them.
Take a tour inland after the cruise and fly back later. That's even better than just curising.
Princess finish the cruise at Whittier. You have the option of taking their scenic train to Anchorage (or their bus). They rent a hall at the Convention Center where you can relax there or go walk around town. They will transport you from the convention centre to the airport. They also have a service that will take your luggage to the airport from the ship direct and you travel on the train/bus with your carry on or nothing at all. We left our carry on at the Convention Center luggage storage, walk around town for a few hours, head to the airport, luggage were there already waiitng for us.
Our TA get us a great deal on the flight, less than $200 each for Anchorage to Seattle (one way) It's extra money but worth it. Consider it for the next trip.
One more thing, dress layers and bring rain coat just in case. Better safe than sorry.

Eschew - thank you for that information. I really did not know how that whole thing worked. We will take into consideration for another time.

Have a nice trip .... as an aside. They lost a piece of my luggage between Whitter and the Anchorage airport. Took a week to get it back and they Fedex it. So ... it's not all 100%.