By way of introduction, my trip on the Celebrity Infinity is my 8th cruise but my first with Celebrity. Prior lines cruised include Princess, Carnival, Royal Caribbean and a few that are no longer in existence. My last two cruises were both on Carnival so most of my comparisons involve Carnival because it was so recent and to illustrate the differences between an "upscale" line (Celebrity) and a "not so upscale" line (Carnival).
This itinerary was scheduled for Seattle, Inside Passage, Sitka, Hubbard Glacier, Juneau, Ketchikan, Victoria, BC with a return to Seattle. At some point Celebrity ditched the Inside Passage and replaced it with a "sea day." Sadly, many folks figured "sea day" was still to be the Inside Passage as both did not involve a "port stop." We got no trip through the Inside Passage yet the Celebrity brochure books at their cruise desk still showed the Inside Passage as part of the itinerary. Maybe Celebrity didn't want to spring for the required pilot or permits?!? Regardless of the reason, this was greatly disappointing and a number of passengers (us included) said they felt a bit cheated.
TRAVEL TO PORT OF EMBARKATION - Fantastic! We booked our own flight to get into Seattle the night before departure. Upon leaving the hotel on embarkation day we were fortunate to find a town car that could hold all three of us plus our luggage. The driver was awesome (Mr. Yacoub), the fare was cheaper than our cab ride the night before from Pike's Market to our hotel and he offered to take us to the airport upon our return to Seattle.