Celebrity Eclipse – Alaska

Linda Buckingham on 08 September 2019
The time had come - our cruise to Alaska! We joined the ship in Vancouver and I have to say, it was very efficiently done. What we didn’t see as a tourist walking around Canada Place the day before was all the scurrying activity that takes place below. We were whisked inside and down into the underground drop off bays in our taxi where we were greeted and directed towards the check in area. As our luggage was already tagged with our cabin numbers our paperwork was briefly checked over and our cases were taken from us before we made our way back upstairs. It wasn’t a speedy process, but it was thorough and the staff kept us moving gently between waiting areas until we’d had our SeaPass issued, our hand luggage scanned and we found ourselves on board.

After a quick freshen up, we decided to go for a bite to eat in the Oceanview Café before making our way down to find our muster station for the safety briefing. We searched out a secret access on deck 7 as we’d been invited to a very special ‘sailaway’ reception on the helipad. We had champagne in hand as we ducked under the Lions Gate Bridge with just a couple of metres to spare. It was a bit of a grey afternoon but more importantly it was a beautiful calm sea, so we retired to the Sky Observation Lounge on deck 14 to watch the sun go down with a sundowner or two.

The first day of a cruise is spent finding your way around and being tempted by all the special offers for the speciality dining, the spa and drinks packages. Sure enough we were able to get a table at Le Petit Chef with a reduced cover charge which was too good to miss. This is an interactive meal prepared by a projected mini chef at your table which is very entertaining. It adds to the event if you choose to eat what the cartoon mini-chef prepared in front of you, but they do have other menu options as well.

What do you do on a sea day when you work in the travel industry? You sign up for a behind the scenes ship tour! We had a fairly early start and spent the morning in a small group visiting the rarely seen areas of the ship. We were there for a briefing in the kitchen by the executive chef, wandered around the food and alcohol stores, the bakery, the theatre, the launderette and some other crew only areas. At each stop a crew member told us how things work and let us ask a multitude of questions. We had an interesting visit to the engineer and the 2nd officer showed us round the bridge. All in all, a great way to spend a morning, but don’t get this confused with the complimentary ship tour which is more of an introduction to cruising and how to find your way around the public areas of the ship.

The next day we were at Icy Strait Point. There’s a huge selection of excursions ranging from heli bike & hike trips, whale watching, ziplining, ATV trips and fishing, but we decided to take a nature hike hoping to see some brown bears. The Spasski River Valley was lush and we did succeed in finding our bear, but she was far in the distance. Most of the time we were fascinated watching the salmon leaping unaware up stream!

Day four is the day we were due to reach the Hubbard Glacier and Captain Leo didn’t disappoint. We had calm waters and great visibility. Hubbard Glacier is the longest tidewater glacier in the world. Dramatically massive at about 7-miles wide, 76-miles long and as tall as a 30-story building above the waterline, it’s the largest river of ice in North America. The sound of thunder can be heard on the ship as the glacier was calving. I can’t imagine how loud it was for the smaller excursion boats that were much closer than us!

Day five is Juneau. The City of Juneau is the capital city of Alaska. It's the second largest city in the United States by area, but you certainly wouldn’t know you were in a capital city! There are only two ways to get there, by air and by sea. From here you can take helicopter trips out over the glacier, some will even take you walkabout. There are catamaran trips, whale watching, sea kayaking and even a trip to the Alaskan sled dogs and musher’s camp. Many of the trips involve salmon in one way or another, either trying to catch them or eat them. We opted for a seaplane trip which gave us glacier views, the possibility of spotting black bears, followed by a wonderful salmon lunch at a picturesque glacier lodge and were desperately disappointed when it was cancelled due to poor visibility. We were then considering the Mount Roberts Tramway, but as we watched it disappear up into the low clouds we decided that we would make this a shopping day. Juneau is full of jewellery stores but also has some great carvings, glasswork, fabrics and art plus the inevitable t-shirts and general tourist souvenirs.

Day six is Ketchikan, known for its many Native American totem poles. As you would expect, there are all sorts of boat trips available here, but also several variations of lumberjack shows. I thought it was a bit odd to see a snorkelling trip on offer alongside the fishing trips, but they did provide the wetsuit with hood, boots and gloves. I normally love snorkelling, but I’m definitely a warm water girl! So we opted for another hike, this time to the Tongass Rainforest, ever hopeful of spotting a bear at closer quarters. Sadly we were disappointed on that front but it was enjoyable anyway and we needed the exercise.

Day seven is a day cruising the Inside Passage. Humpbacks and Orcas are often seen in the area and we did see some distant water spouts, but not close enough for me to claim to have actually seen the whale that made them. I haven’t really mentioned much about the Eclipse but she is a wonderful ship. The Eclipse is also the name of the large west end style theatre and there’s a smaller one where they show feature films and give talks on the ports we were due to visit. We enjoyed the food, the staff everywhere were efficient and friendly and we were never bored. The evening entertainment was varied and the select dining system allowed us to change our meal times to suit our plans. We could have easily chosen to book more speciality restaurants, but didn’t feel the need. I was tempted to try the spa, but in the end, I didn’t get around to it. There’s varied shopping on board if you want to top up your wardrobe or buy something to remember your cruise by and of course the photographers will snap you in your finery for a keepsake photo. Apart from the elusive bears, the trip was everything we hoped it would be!