June 16-17: Anchorage & Seward
Thursday June 16: Travel Day
We left for the airport around 7:30 am from our home in Sunrise, and were pleasantly surprised to find Fort Lauderdale International largely empty. We were through security and waiting at the gate by 9:00 am with a scheduled departure for Atlanta at 10:45 am. The flight took off on time and we arrived in Atlanta around 12:30. Our direct flight from Atlanta to Anchorage was scheduled to begin boarding at 2:30, and we were most fortunate - for those of you who have traveled through Atlanta, knowing how getting from one terminal to another on time can be an issue - to discover that our landing gate was only a short walk to our departure gate. So we went upstairs to a lunch restaurant and split a sandwich (no free meals on Delta, only "food for purchase"). The scheduled flying time of nearly 7 hours is just shy of the length of our European trips recently, but we both discovered that the flight SEEMED shorter and we agreed that it may have been because the Euro flights were overnight. The final hour of the flight as we flew along the Alaskan coastline approaching Anchorage were filled with spectacular scenery of snow-covered mountains, glaciers, and lakes. It was amazing to see these sites and it reminded us of why we would come to Alaska EVERY year if we didn't have so many places we want to visit! (And yes, we have already begun zeroing in on our next Alaska cruise in the summer of 2019!)
First glimpse of Alaskan coastline
Even the drive from the airport was amazing!
As you can see from the photos, it was breathtaking and we haven't even begun the trip. It was very interesting as we approached the airport to hear that the temperature in Anchorage was 78 today. While it was nearly 10 pm to us, it was only 6 pm locally. It may well have been near 80 degrees, but the coolness in the breeze and the lack of humidity made the temperatures such a relief from the summer Florida heat. When we arrived at the hotel there was a Celebrity representative waiting for us with all our paperwork, our keys, and a printout of what we needed to do to have our luggage transferred tomorrow and how we would get to the train for our journey from Anchorage to Seward where the Celebrity Millennium is waiting for us. We walked a couple blocks to an Irish pub for a quick bite (salad for Kim, bowl of stew for me) and then back to the room where we were out soon enough.
Any of you who have not made a long-distance journey, let me share our best advice......always come a day or so early. One, it gives you a cushion in case there are travel issues (this happened to us on the way to Hawaii). Two, it extends your adventure and you get to see more. But three, we have found that by having a day or so prior to the actual trip allows your body to acclimate and thus you can enjoy the trip you have been looking for. We were so fortunate that the way Alaska works IF you are sailing southbound, and not round-trip as we've done on two of the other three trips, is that the journey to the ship from here offers a train trip for nearly five hours through the Alaskan wilderness in a glass-domed train! Can't wait for tomorrow!
After falling asleep at about 8 pm local time, it came as no surprise that we were first awake at 2:30 am! Many years ago when our oldest son was working for the Washington State University football team in Pullman, Washington we discovered that we immediately are on "local time" in the evening, but strangely our body stays on Florida time for the mornings. But today we were so happy to fall back to sleep until 6:30 am (which is 10:30 am in Florida). We needed the "adaptation time" apparently. We walked to a local coffee shop and had a cup of coffee and a scone before Kim hit the workout room (shocking I know - not!). We boarded the bus for the "long journey" to the airport where we'd meet the train - a ten minute ride! Off the bus and then part of the package offered by Celebrity Cruises when you take the train like we are was we checked into the ship here at the hotel so that upon arrival in Seward we walked onboard through security like we'd been on an excursion, and immediately to our room!
I have to tell you, in 2009 we rode a train, like this one from Denali National Park to Fairbanks to get to the airport and we were disappointed in that most of the scenery was of fields and trees - very little mountains, lakes, etc. And we expected that this ride would be similar, but it's better than driving on the highway, right? I even mentioned to Kim before we left the hotel that I was hoping to maybe get half a dozen good shots of scenery. Within minutes of the departure it was obvious that this would be one of the highlights of the trip! Halfway through the trip my camera on my phone hit 175 photos and I was told I couldn't take any more photos, I had to quickly delete through pictures so I could continue to film! Literally for nearly four and a half hours we were surrounded by 360 degrees of breath-taking, picture-post card scenery that is hard to describe. I apologize that I can't post all the photos, but below is a sampling of the spectacular vistas we saw today. We met a great couple from Calgary and talked to them the entire trip, which included a lunch and narration throughout the trip. Just an amazing day. We reached the ship around 5:45 and the train literally was parked right beside the ship and terminal. We walked on and went to our stateroom to find our luggage already in the room. By now it was 6:15 and we went straight to the dining room where we had a great meal with two other couples. The one wall at the end of the dining room is a panoramic, two-story glass window which looks out over the Alaskan mountains. It just keeps getting better! We quickly unpacked after dinner and hurried to the theatre for the first night's entertainment - the highlight of which was the natrualist who gave an overview of all the wildlife we'd be seeing and where. VERY entertaining - and one of the reasons we returned to the Celebrity Cruises this trip because of a similar narrator in 2013. Enjoy the photos......
Friday June 17: Anchorage to Seward / Boarding the Millennium!
After falling asleep at about 8 pm local time, it came as no surprise that we were first awake at 2:30 am! Many years ago when our oldest son was working for the Washington State University football team in Pullman, Washington we discovered that we immediately are on "local time" in the evening, but strangely our body stays on Florida time for the mornings. But today we were so happy to fall back to sleep until 6:30 am (which is 10:30 am in Florida). We needed the "adaptation time" apparently. We walked to a local coffee shop and had a cup of coffee and a scone before Kim hit the workout room (shocking I know - not!). We boarded the bus for the "long journey" to the airport where we'd meet the train - a ten minute ride! Off the bus and then part of the package offered by Celebrity Cruises when you take the train like we are was we checked into the ship here at the hotel so that upon arrival in Seward we walked onboard through security like we'd been on an excursion, and immediately to our room!
I have to tell you, in 2009 we rode a train, like this one from Denali National Park to Fairbanks to get to the airport and we were disappointed in that most of the scenery was of fields and trees - very little mountains, lakes, etc. And we expected that this ride would be similar, but it's better than driving on the highway, right? I even mentioned to Kim before we left the hotel that I was hoping to maybe get half a dozen good shots of scenery. Within minutes of the departure it was obvious that this would be one of the highlights of the trip! Halfway through the trip my camera on my phone hit 175 photos and I was told I couldn't take any more photos, I had to quickly delete through pictures so I could continue to film! Literally for nearly four and a half hours we were surrounded by 360 degrees of breath-taking, picture-post card scenery that is hard to describe. I apologize that I can't post all the photos, but below is a sampling of the spectacular vistas we saw today. We met a great couple from Calgary and talked to them the entire trip, which included a lunch and narration throughout the trip. Just an amazing day. We reached the ship around 5:45 and the train literally was parked right beside the ship and terminal. We walked on and went to our stateroom to find our luggage already in the room. By now it was 6:15 and we went straight to the dining room where we had a great meal with two other couples. The one wall at the end of the dining room is a panoramic, two-story glass window which looks out over the Alaskan mountains. It just keeps getting better! We quickly unpacked after dinner and hurried to the theatre for the first night's entertainment - the highlight of which was the natrualist who gave an overview of all the wildlife we'd be seeing and where. VERY entertaining - and one of the reasons we returned to the Celebrity Cruises this trip because of a similar narrator in 2013. Enjoy the photos......
Day 1 Highlights
I lightened the color to highlight Mt. Denali - only 30% of visitors to Alaska see the mountain!
Mountain called "Snow White & The Seven Falls"
THE MOST SPECTACULAR SHOT OF THE DAY
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