OUR ALASKAN CRUISE: JUNE 2024

Part Three: Setting Sail on Celebrity Summit

It was Friday morning and time to finally begin our Alaskan cruise. We had no idea what Celebrity had up their sleeve, but as far as we were concerned we were going on the cruise.

Our group of ten, luggage in tow slowly made it’s way to the check in point for our ship, Celebrity Summit.

When my wife and I finally got to the head of the line we found out the final surprise that Celebrity had in store for us.

The representative said May I see your boarding passes please. My wife opened the Celebrity app, opened up our trip – our boarding passes had been deleted! Not good. Not at all. We were quickly referred to another representative at a counter off in the distance. Well, that poor woman must have seen the fire in our eyes as we charged toward her ready to do battle. Before we could really say much of anything she simply said Not to worry, whatever it is I’ll take care of it. Could it be? We finally found someone at Celebrity that really wanted to help? We told her our story and she then said No problem, you are correct. I’ll print out your boarding passes right away and you can be on your way. Yes, we won! As we knew we would all long. But what a lot of nonsense along the way. Why oh why did it have to be. I do believe Celebrity needs to do some retraining. All I kept thinking was, if their customer service is really this bad, I can only imagine how horrible service was going to be on the ship. Spoiler alert, service on the ship was fantastic from beginning to end.

This was probably the best sign I saw on the whole trip!

And just like that that, we were onboard.

Okay, confession time. I had never been on a cruise before. And from the beginning I was not to keen on taking one. Previously, all my travel had been in our motorhome. Turn the key, start the engine and you take your whole house with you. Easy as could be. No dragging luggage. No hassles with customer service. Cruising? I had no idea what to expect.

Let me tell you, when I walked on board I was in awe and wonder. When I opened the door to our cabin my first thought was I believe I’m going to like this. As the day went on I kept finding new surprises that delighted me to no end. We went to the buffet for lunch and I couldn’t believe my eyes. There was food in every direction. And the service? I went to fill my glass with ice tea and before I could I heard a voice Please let me get that for you.

You are looking at one happy sailor!

Right on schedule we left the dock at Vancouver,

And headed out to the open sea. I remember standing on our balcony, a silly smile on my face, this was so relaxing. The gentle movement of the ship, the breeze on my face, I could feel all the stress and turmoil of the past days just fading away.

When the sun finally set that night, I knew right there and then, I was going to like the cruising life. Oh yes, I would.