This was our first trip to Alaska; it was on my bucket list for a long time and took a little convincing to persuade my wife to buy into it. It was our 14th cruise and our third on Celebrity; we chose the Solstice.

We flew into Seattle the day before and stayed one night at the “Inn at the Market”; the hotel is only one block from the waterfront and is conveniently located to some great restaurants and of course, the famous (and amazing) Pike Place Market. The hotel also has a very nice roof-top terrace and is a great place to enjoy the fresh air and sunset over the mountains. Staff is great – friendly and helpful; the room is a bit pricey but very quiet and comfortable. Taxi fare from the airport to downtown is about $50, depending on traffic and from there to the pier the fare is about $20.

Embarkation: While some have claimed that the port scene is “chaos”, our check-in was very efficient; pier arrival to boarding was under 20 minutes. We stayed in a Sky Suite (#2155, aft); maybe the process is a little faster depending on the cabin booked or the Celebrity passenger status. But regardless, the whole process seemed well organized and nicely executed. Read more