Day 3—Icy Strait Point

by | Jun 18, 2026 | Uncategorized

Way back in August 2007, we last visited Icy Strait Point. Back then, it was a tiny tourist attraction featuring two things: the longest (at the time) zip line in the world and an old cannery that had been turned into a museum. Here we are, just under 20 years later, and we are back again. When we were here the first time, this was a tender port (for the non-cruisers, that means to get to the port, you get into a lifeboat and they take you to a small dock in the harbor where you get off, see everything, and then get back on). Not anymore.

We visited here with our Martini Mates that year on Celebrity’s Infinity. We came ashore and walked around for about an hour. We took the shuttle bus into the village of Hoonah (where, really, there was nothing to see), then it was back on the tender and back to the ship.

WOW! How things have changed in 19 years. Now there are two piers big enough to handle a cruise ship, so we didn’t have to tender. The two piers are fairly far apart (about a 30-minute hike on a nice trail), so they built a gondola that takes you from the pier where we docked over to the original area, which has now been built up. In 2007, there was a snack bar. Now there are at least four restaurants, a couple of snack bars, and coffee places as well. The Cannery museum is now less of a museum and more of a mini shopping mall. The zip line is still there, but sadly, it was too windy for it to be in service. And no, we were not going to ride it ourselves. Too long and too high, thank you. Plus, we are way too old.

When Solstice arrived, there was a Princess cruise ship on the pier we were to dock on, and because Celebrity has a deal with the locals and helped build the two ocean piers, they got first choice, so the Princess ship had to pull off the pier and tender the rest of her guests back to the ship. The other pier was occupied by Celebrity Summit, a ship we know well after sailing her from Newark to Québec and back in 2018.

Solstice had docked at the pier where you needed to either hike or take the gondola to see the Cannery area. So Mike, Cathy and I jumped into one of the cars and headed over. The gentleman running the gondola was very good at his job. He had three lines, and the gondola hardly ever stopped. You just got on as it slowly came through the on-and-off section. Really simple and easy to do. The ride took about 15 minutes, and we were dropped off at the gateway to the Cannery area.

It was a very short walk down to the Cannery museum and shops, along a really nice boardwalk with stairs that periodically led to the beach. There was also a great statue of an orca whale (see my pics below). We walked down, saw the shops, talked to some folks, were mistaken for someone on a whale watching tour, Mike and Cathy got a beer, and I set off to walk the trail back to the ship. Got lots of photos on the way and had a great time. There are bear warnings all over the place, but the path was well traveled and, as Bob says, “Don’t worry about bears unless you are the slowest person you can see nearby.” I stopped to buy some postcards on the way (yes, I still send paper postcards), and then it was back aboard and off to drinks and dinner.

Sadly, after an awesome sandwich we had for lunch that passed the Steve Test (see yesterday’s post if you don’t know what the Steve Test is) in Luminae, dinner was a total failure. Bob ordered a steak, and it was a huge, thick chunk of beef with absolutely no flavor whatsoever. I know, because he gave me a piece, and I tried it. It was like eating a chewy piece of nothing. No sauce, no grill marks, no nothing. Just a big hunk of beef barely seared on four sides. My cannelloni wasn’t much better. Two pasta tubes, stuffed with too much meat, too little cheese and too little sauce. This time the meal wasn’t fine. It was bad.

Lunch today was an adventure, but I will tell you about that tomorrow. And about our visit to the Hubbard Glacier.

Don't forget: if you click the first shot, you can scroll through using your arrow keys or by swiping. When you do that, you can also see the captions for the photos. These are the first shots of the trip where I was able to show off my photography expertise, so please check them out on a computer or tablet, not your phone.

 

"The more things change, the more they stay the same" —Jean Baptiste Alphonse Karr

Solstice Day 2—A Sad Sea Day & Your First Food Report

by | Jun 17, 2026 | Uncategorized

For years, I have been telling people that you are much better off taking an Alaskan cruise from Vancouver rather than Seattle. One of the main reasons is the Canadian Inside Passage. This is our 13th Alaska cruise and our eighth (I think) from Vancouver, and it is the first time we have not taken the Canadian Inside Passage.

If you have never sailed the Canadian Inside Passage, it is one of the most beautiful places we have ever sailed. Think of a river cruise on a very big river. Sloping mountains of evergreens come right down to the water’s edge. Eagles fly overhead, and you can sometimes see bears and deer drinking at the shore below the trees. Because this area is protected by islands on the outside and the Canadian mainland on the inside, the temperatures are warmer, and the sun is often out. At the top of this page is a map showing the area I am talking about.

Well, we were very sad to wake up to almost an open ocean. You could see land, but it was quite far to our east. This was not the Alaska cruise I had hoped for. My buddy Bob (who is a strong believer in the Canadian Inside Passage) thought it might have something to do with the size of the ship, but we sailed this way on Infinity a number of times, and that ship isn’t that much smaller than this one.

Otherwise, it was a pretty uneventful sea day yesterday. We had breakfast. Bob, Judy, and I went to trivia at 10:30, and then we met everyone for lunch. After lunch, I worked on a few photos, then did four miles on the jogging/running/walking track on deck 14. A major rant from me about walking on the walking track. This is a two-fold complaint. One small complaint I can deal with, but I will mention it so that maybe someone reading this can stop doing it.

Stop walking three people across a path built for three people. You are blocking everyone from going in any direction, whether they are walking for exercise or just getting from one end of deck 14 to the other. It is just plain rude. If you see someone coming your way and there is no place for them to go, walk single file for a minute or two until they pass. And while we are on the subject, maybe the real thing I need to say is this: BE SELF-AWARE! I can’t tell you how many people have just walked in front of me. Most of them were either talking to the person they were walking with, looking at the scenery, or looking at their phones. WAKE UP! You are not the only person on the ship or in the world.

My other quibble about the walking track is with Celebrity. And this happens on all the Solstice-class ships. Why is it that people walking, jogging, or running to stay healthy have to pass through one of the only smoking areas on the ship? WTF? Move the smoking area or shut it down. Every time I came around the track to that spot (about 35 times), I choked on the fumes from more than 20 smokers. There is a large smoking area in Sunset Park (one whole side of the aft of the area). That should be enough. Let’s close down the smoking area that coincides with the track. OK, rant over…back to yesterday.

After my walk, it was back to the stateroom to change for dinner (it was chic night). Kathleen says she saw some formal dresses, but I didn’t see any men in tuxedos and very few in ties. All of us had jackets on, so we were looking sharp. There was a pre-dinner reception with the captain and senior officers in The Retreat Lounge, which was very nice. Drinks and nibbles. The captain is a very nice guy who has been with Celebrity since before it became Celebrity.

I thought this might be a good time to talk about the food. So far, we have eaten in three venues on board. We had lunch at the Sunset Bar Cafe on deck 15 during embarkation. The salads and sandwiches were great. I do wish they had a bar there as well, because if you want something to drink besides water, you have to walk to the back of the Sunset area to the Sunset Bar and get your drink either before or after you get food. Now, it isn’t that far, but what was a pain was having to stand in two lines. One for food, one for drinks, and they are far apart.

We had dinner at Trattoria Rossa, and it was wonderful. If you go, have the lasagna or the lamb. That’s what we had. Dessert was also amazing with the made-at-the-table cannoli and tiramisu. It does pass the Steve Test with flying colors.

The rest of our meals (so far, 2 breakfasts, 1 lunch, and 1 dinner) have been at the suites’ restaurant, Luminae. The food has been just fine. Nothing amazing to write home to mom about, but fine. So far, Luminae does NOT pass the Steve Test. For those of you who are new readers, this is what the Steve Test is all about:

The Steve Test

After our disastrous Celebrity Millennium cruise in May 2022 (the food was horrible), my brother Steve came up with a way to rate food and restaurants while traveling, which I have found to be more effective and easier to understand than any other method I have encountered. From then on, I have called this the “Steve Test”.

Here's the test: If you eat at a food venue during your travels, either on a ship (main dining room, buffet, grille, or a specialty restaurant) or on land (hotel, restaurant, street food, etc.), and that restaurant was near you once you returned home, would you go there again? Would you become a regular? Would you go there for special occasions?

That’s pretty simple. I think it's the best way I've ever heard of to rate food on vacation, and I will rate each place I eat while traveling using the “Steve Test”.

I have high hopes that they will improve. My personal feeling is that they are trying too hard to make the food look cool. It takes nice photos, but at the expense of taste, and things that could be great are just OK. My hope is that this will improve as the week goes on. I have included some photos of the food below, with comments to show what I mean.

Breaking news! It’s Tuesday (our day in Icy Strait Point, which I will report on tomorrow), and we had lunch at Luminae. We had a sandwich that not only passed the Steve Test but also made me want to drive across town to get this particular sandwich. More about that tomorrow.

We also want to thank two new friends we have made, Richard and Randy, who told us a secret about Luminae—you can order off the Main Dining Room menu if you just ask to see it. Thanks, guys.

Here are some food pics for you. Enjoy. Don't forget: if you click the first shot, you can scroll through using your arrow keys or by swiping to read the captions and see what you are looking at. And feel free to look at these on your phones. I took them with mine.

"Do you remember when you were younger, and you used to take photos of your food, send them out to be developed, get back prints and then send them to your friends? Neither do we." —Popular internet meme

Solstice Day 1—Embarkation

by | Jun 15, 2026 | Uncategorized

Good day to all of you! It’s a sea day (haven’t had one of those in a while), and we are sailing up the Canadian Inside Passage (which is usually like glass) on a cloudy day. After the 80+ degree temps in Vancouver yesterday, this is welcome weather to me.

First, I have to make a quick correction to my last post. Mike and Cathy's flight was canceled, and United Airlines didn't even tell them. Thank goodness Mike checked. If he hadn't, they would have arrived at the gate and been told, "Sorry, no flight for you." But this meant I didn't have to make the trip from Chilliwack to YVR (Vancouver International Airport—all Canadian airports start with Y) and back again.

But that was only the start of their woes. Their original flight was from FLL to SFO, then SFO to YVR. Their new flight was SUPPOSED to be from FLL to ORD (Chicago), then ORD to YVR. But when they got to ORD, they were told their flight to YVR had been canceled. In case you are keeping track, that is two canceled United flights. So they rebooked them on a flight to Toronto. Which sounds crazy because they had flown west and were heading west, but now they were flying east. Once in Toronto, they would switch to Air Canada and fly west to YVR. A totally miserable flying experience. They did make it to YVR and out to Chilliwack…eventually, but the original plan was for all of us to go to dinner before they went back to their hotel for the night. They had been scheduled to arrive at YVR by 2:00 pm. That would have put us back in Chilliwack around 5:00, just in time for dinner. They actually wound up arriving at their Chilliwack hotel around 11:30. That’s a long day when you get up around 5:00 am in the EDT. It would have killed us.

That gets you up to date on everything before yesterday. And that brings us to one of the smoothest embarkations on a cruise ship we have ever had, from Canada Place (Vancouver’s cruise ship terminal) or maybe from anywhere. The last time we had embarked from Canada Place was two years ago. It had been the absolute worst embarkation experience of our cruising lives, worse than most airports. It had taken us 3+ hours to go from luggage drop-off to being on board. We totally missed lunch, and by the time we had finished all the safety stuff and unpacked, it was time for dinner.

Not this time! Bob had hired a van and driver to take us into Vancouver. He picked us up right at 9:00, and we were on our way. After a totally uneventful ride, we arrived at Canada Place at almost exactly 10:30, drove down into the parking garage, unloaded our luggage, got Kathleen and Judy into their wheelchairs, went through Customs and security, and then checked in. By 11:05, we were standing on the ship. That may be a record.

I do need to add (though I don’t think it made THAT much difference) that we were in a suite, which did get us through even quicker. The wheelchairs helped as well, since you can pretty much go to the head of many of the lines.

Once we were onboard, we were invited to leave our carry-on bags in our suite (it’s not really a suite, as you will see in the photos. For something to be a real suite, it has to have more than one room—not counting the bathroom). I have included stateroom photos below in the gallery. This was just a bigger stateroom. Then the six of us met up in the new Sunset Park on deck 15 for lunch (see photo at top). It was a glorious day, and we really wanted to eat outdoors, so that kind of made our choice for us. On past Celebrity cruises, when we boarded, we could pretty much eat at the buffet, and that was it. This worked out so much better. They had a variety of salads and sandwiches, and the nearby Sunset Bar provided the Aperol Spritz (for you cruisers out there, when you get a suite, you get a Premium Beverage Package). And the roast beef sandwich I had was delicious. There’s a picture in the gallery of the selection we had.

At this point, people were just getting on board, so the ship was still kind of empty. Which brings us to the only thing we don’t like about this cruise so far—TMP (TOO MANY PEOPLE). It has been at least two years since we were on a ship this big, and we had forgotten how many people were on board. And we try to forget that cruise two years ago, so it has really been four. When all beds are occupied, Solstice can accommodate more than 3,100 guests. My guess is that we are pretty close to that on this voyage. Another thing we aren’t used to is kids. This is the first full week off from school in many places, and there are a TON of children on board. That’s another thing we just aren’t used to. Most of our recent cruises have been on Viking (either ocean or river), and they have a rule: no humans under 18. So seeing this many kids (an estimated 200-300) is just crazy for us. To be honest, I never understand why anyone brings kids on Celebrity. If you have kids, take them on Royal Caribbean. It’s a nice cruise line owned by the same people, with about 1,000 times more activities for kids. Here, there is a kids' club, but that’s about it. And it certainly can’t handle all the kids on board at one time. It’s much too small for that. It’s supposed to serve every kid, from toddlers to teens. Not sure that is going to happen. So if you haven’t cruised before, take my advice—when you cruise with your kids or grandkids, choose RCL or Disney; ships that cater to kids.

Speaking of first-time cruisers, there are a lot of them on board, including a lot of first-time Celebrity cruisers. We ran into a couple while we were checking in at our muster station. She was happy to be on a cruise, and he just wanted to know where the nearest bar was. Seriously, he was thrilled that he could get 25 drinks a day on his Classic alcohol package. We told him he was on the wrong cruise line. That Carnival didn’t sail until Monday. She told us that her mother had bought the cruise, so they wound up on X. OK, if his MIL was on board, maybe that’s why he was drinking so much ?.

After lunch, I walked around the ship taking photos (see gallery) until about 2:30, when Kathleen called to say our bags had arrived. I went back up to the suite to unpack. Kathleen had read online about someone complaining that there wasn’t enough storage in the Sky Suites. We can’t imagine how many clothes she must have brought with her because we have SOOOOO much storage. Two full dressers and two full closets. I have four drawers that are so big and deep that I am using one just for dirty clothes. Usually, I have to put those in a plastic bag. By the time we had unpacked, it was time to meet the gang for sail-away at 4:00.

We had decided to meet at the same table in Sunset Park where we had sat for lunch, but Sunset Park was now JAMMED with people. No chairs, no place to even lean. Cathy finally snagged us a table and four chairs, and we hung out. Bob and Judy told us they were going to stay on their own veranda. We finally gave up. The crowd kept growing. We headed back to our stateroom, and Bob and Judy joined us on our veranda.

At lunch, a member of the food staff stopped by our table and offered us a 35% discount if we wanted to eat at a specialty restaurant on our first night. We had previously discussed skipping those, but I secretly (OK, it wasn’t a secret—I told everyone) wanted to try the new Italian place because I had seen they made cannoli at the table. We all thought about skipping it, but then Mike said he was paying, so we had dinner there last night. It was delicious. And it’s a beautiful restaurant (pics below). And the cannolis were amazing. The rest of the dinner, the ambiance, and the service were all top-flight. I would eat there again. It passed the Steve test.

We had decided to meet for pre-dinner cocktails in the Retreat Lounge. The first (and last) time we were on this ship, it was called Michael’s Club. It is now a cocktail lounge for Retreat (suite) guests only. We found it to be just what we were looking for. We had a table for six. There was no loud music, so we could have a nice time conversing. For the first 20 minutes, we were the only people in the place, so we received amazing service from our bartender, Christian.

Speaking of service, that is the one thing Celebrity has ALWAYS done well. The people who work on Celebrity ships are truly amazing. From the woman polishing stair rails who greeted me with a huge smile to the bartenders, waiters, counter staff, and everyone else, they provide some of the best service at sea.

Dinner was excellent. I had a decent octopus appetizer. I had lasagna Bolognese as my entrée. Kathleen had lamb, and of course, we got the cannoli for dessert. All of those were superb. The octopus could have been better. Our server said it was steamed for two hours (to make it more tender) and then thrown on the grill. But the problem with that is that the steaming made the outside kind of mushy.

After dinner, Kathleen went off to bed, and I joined the rest of our crew to see the first night’s main entertainment in the theater, a comedian named AJ Jamal. If you ever get a chance to see him, DON’T! While introducing him, the cruise director told us he had been on HBO. He must have meant he was playing Scrabble and dropped the letters h, b, and o and sat on them, because this guy was horrible. He had no actual set; he just kept trying to make a fool of audience members or find something funny to say about them. When he wasn’t doing that, he made all the usual cruise jokes about booze, food, embarkation, etc. Not a single original and funny line in his 45-minute set. Sad.

That about covers our day. A gallery of photos awaits you below. Don't forget: if you click the first shot, it will fill your screen, and you can scroll through using your arrow keys or by swiping.

"Money doesn't buy happiness... but it buys a cruise ticket, and that's pretty much the same thing."   —Captain Stubing on Love Boat

Another Friday. Another ship visit.

by | Jul 20, 2019 | Uncategorized

Resized_20190719_111832Yesterday I (along with my friends above) did my last ship visitation of the summer. Kathleen was supposed to come along with me but after a week of having the grandkids here, I think she was just plain worn out (or we hope not…catching something). Besides the fact that the ship I was touring was one we know VERY well—Celebrity Solstice. We had just finished our recent Ireland/Iceland cruise on Celebrity’s Reflection which is pretty close to a carbon copy of Solstice. My guess is that we have probably spent 3 weeks total on Solstice since we sailed on one of her first voyages back in early 2009 and at least twice since then.

I would have skipped this visit myself (those grandkids wore me out too) but I had both travel agent friends I was driving and more importantly, I had clients that were coming for the visit as well. Celebrity allows us to invite people who might want to try their ships in the future along with us, which is a great idea and something I wish all the cruise lines would do.

We were at the pier and waiting to board by 9:15 (not sure why so early, but we were there). We have a brand new BDM (Business Development Manager) for Celebrity in Washington, who is just starting, so two sales managers (including the person who is in charge of all sales and marketing for the entire western USA) were doing the tour. They split us into two groups and our group was lucky enough to wind up with Elena, one of the Future Cruise salespeople on board. She was great and very receptive to having me show the group some of my favorite parts of the ship as well. I apologized later for “taking over her tour.” and she said it was great to get the viewpoint of a guest and see what was important to someone who had sailed as a passenger.

Since so many of my readers have already been on Solstice or one of her sister ships I am not going to say much more and just add some pics but I do want to add one thing. There was/is a little drama for Solstice as after we left the ship at 3:00, she sailed at 4:00, got halfway up the Puget Sound and lost all power. Got it back within the hour but had to turn around and come back to Seattle to be inspected by the Coast Guard. She was still here last night when we went to bed around 9:00 pm and I just checked on the Marine Traffic Global Ship Finder and she is just now clearing the Straits of Juan de Fuca which puts her about 10 hours behind. That means she left Seattle about 4:00 am.

One thing I forgot to mention, this was the best food of the entire summer for lunch. Got one of my favorite Celebrity dishes for lunch—Moroccan braised short ribs with couscous and apple pie. Just delish. And we got an excellent Malbec to go along with it.

More about this in a future post—the ways the media covers the cruise industry. Something that really ticks me off.

Our experiences of the Solstice depends entirely upon where we are when it occurs. Neither Solstice encompasses everyone. Neither can. The Solstices stand forever opposed, literally at the two poles of our Earth and experiences. —Gary Zukav