Alaska Hubbard Glacier on the Celebrity Solstice
6/13/2026 to 6/21/2026

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Page 1 – Embarkation, Ship
Page 2 – Ship (Continued),
Page 3 – Cabin, Entertainment, Activies, Ports of Call: Icy Strait Point, AK; Juneau, AK
Page 4 – Ports of Call: Ketchikan, AK; Inside Passage; Disembarkation, Vancouver, BC

Cabin

We were in Sky Suite 2125 on the starboard side of deck 12 mid-ship. It is a comfortably sized room with 300 sq. ft. of interior space and a 79 sq. ft. balcony.

There was plenty of storage space with a double closet and many drawers. Under the TV there were more drawers and a well-stocked refrigerator.

The biggest negative, which I was quite surprised wasn’t addressed in the refurbishment, is that there are no electric plugs on the wall where the bed is located. This means that you can’t charge any electronics or use your phone as a clock on the nightstands. A major issue is that those using cpap machines must get the cabin attendant to run an extension cord from the other side of the room so the machine can powered. They do tape the cord down, but it is still a trip hazard. Below are the only electric and USB plugs in the room, located next to the desk. If you look real close, you can see a USB-A and USB-C plug around the European electric input. I have a multi-plug European adapter that I bring on cruises which has USB and other US electric outlets on it. It covered up these USB outlets.

The bathroom had adequate counter space but only had a shower/tub. I expect a decent size free standing shower in a suite. It is a big negative for booking this class suite to me. With the low ceiling, the rain shower head was just about an inch over my head. With Jim and Bob being taller than me, they had to duck to use it. We had an issue one evening where we only had hot water coming out of the bathroom sink. Then I had no hot water coming out of the shower. The next day I contacted guest services and it was fixed. Our buddy, Bob, didn't have hot water in his shower after the 9:00 PM shows for four nights. They did eventually fix it and gave him a nice future cruise credit.

The balcony was very nice and large. We used it more than I thought we would in the cooler weather. With us being on deck 12, we were under the deck 14 Oceanview Café overhang. In the summer, this would be good protection from the sun, but on this cruise, it prevented us from seeing the tops of mountains when we were near them.

With us being under the buffet, I did worry about noise from above, but it was never an issue. Jim and Kathleen on the other hand were in cabin 2126 on the port side. They were disturbed by a lot of noise late at night. Jim went up one night and found out that there were a lot of people in the buffet for late night pizza and other food. But they were restricted to the port side. That is a big negative of the port side Sky suites on deck 12.

We had a wonderful cabin attendant named Agung from Indonesia. Like others we have had, he was very hard working and a pleasure to deal with. He was always happy and working hard.

Being in a suite, we also had a butler, Hilario from the Philippine’s. He was a real character. We thoroughly enjoyed dealing with him. He was most helpful and always cheered us up when we saw him.

When Jim booked this cruise, he told them it was a reunion/anniversary cruise of friends. Corporate communicated that it was Jim and Kathleen’s anniversary. One evening, Hilario had Jim’s room decorated for an anniversary as a surprise while at dinner. Jim called us all to come to his room not telling us why. When we came in we had a good laugh.

Entertainment

We thoroughly enjoyed almost all the entertainment. After cruising on smaller ships for the last several years, we really appreciated the quality and high-level productions. The guest performers can be good on any size ship, but the production shows with all the dancers and other performers do make a difference. We were very pleased to have a Cruise Director we had on a previous Celebrity cruise in 2020, Rich Cleeson. He doesn’t waste a lot of time at the beginning or end of the shows, which is important to me. He also does a good job of getting the info to the guests in an efficient and enjoyable manner. He is a very nice fellow and seems to care about the guests and is always willing to strike up a conversation with anyone that approaches him.

For the welcome aboard show, the Captain, Christos Trifyllis (or Captain Chris), put on a very entertaining talk while introducing the management team.

Guest Performers –

AJ Jamal – This comedian was described as a “Human volcano of energy and with a clean style.” We saw him 9 years ago on our last Alaska cruise on the Solstice. He was incredibly funny and everyone loved him. I don’t know what happened this time, but he was a flop. He had almost no prepared material and was mostly impromptu with the audience in the front row. We were embarrassed for him. All during the cruise when the wonderful entertainment was discussed, there was always the comment “except for the comedian.”

Alexa Jayne – This British pop singer was just outstanding. The audience couldn’t get enough of her. She had great songs and performed them so well. She is some entertainer.

Jeremy Tan – He is a very talented illusionist. The things he did onstage seemed totally impossible to do. He was very cool in his presentation and was most impressive. He did seem to drag some of the illusions out too long, but it was still enjoyable.

Hayden Smith – Now this is an entertaining performer. He is a multi-instrumentalist and singer. He played great music and told interesting stories. He then brought out his wife for a song they did together. It was Alexa Jayne who we had seen three nights earlier. We could have seen a lot more of those two. On the last night of the cruise, they both did a show in the grand foyer at 8:00 PM. Unfortunately, since we were at Murano that night, we missed most of that show.

Production Shows –

Smoke & Ivories – This was a celebration of the 1950’s with a live piano on stage as the centerpiece. This is a new show for Celebrity and is only being performed on the Solstice. It was most entertaining.

Broken Strings – This was another show with just great dancing and singing. The show was described as an evening of “hand clapping and foot stomping live music.” It certainly did that.

Rockumentary – This show proclaimed to be a “fast paced concert delivering non-stop energy.” It certainly was. In addition to amazing dancing, the acrobats and aerialists did an outstanding job.

Activities

They do have a lot of activities going on all over the ship. There was always something to do if it interested you. I was disappointed that one enrichment speaker only had presentations at 11:30 AM or 12:15 PM during this cruise. I would have enjoyed attending them, but lunch time is not a good time to schedule these talks.

Dance Classes - Dance classes in the Grand Foyer were very popular.

Helipad Scenic Cruising - Before getting to Icy Strait Point we were told we could go to the helipad at the front of the ship for scenic cruising. It was cloudy and cold, but it was still fun to do.

Cooking Classes - One day we went to a ceviche making class in Sushi on Five. I originally just signed Cathy up for it. When she went to the meeting place, they told her that I was also signed up, so she texted me to come on down. It wasn't really much of cooking class, but it was fun to mix everything together and enjoy the fruits of our labor. We did have to cut up the small sea bass.

Ports of Call

Our main reason for taking this cruise was to be with friends. So, the lack of port time wasn’t a big issue. We only had one full port day and afternoons in the two other ports.

Inside Passage

The cruise itinerary said that we would be sailing through the inside passage on our first day of the cruise. We didn’t. When we looked outside, we were out in the ocean and could barely see any land. This was very disappointing, since this is normally a major plus of starting an Alaska cruise out of Vancouver. We enjoyed the inside passage on our 2009 cruise and knew what we and the first time Alaska cruisers were missing. As a result, there are no inside passage photos. The main attraction for the day was the outstanding dinner we had at Trattoria Rosa that evening.

Icy Strait Point, AK (1:30 PM to 9:00 PM)

A benefit of cruising early in the Alaska season is that there is snow on the mountains. It makes it so much prettier to me. We weren’t arriving at Icy Strait Point until after lunch, but we were enjoying the scenery in the morning since we were cruising closer to land.

It appeared that we were docking in the middle of nowhere. There were two other ships already at the dock. The white one was a Princess ship and the blue another Celebrity ship. Our dock position in front of them was the best spot, being the shortest walk to the gondola/tram area.

After docking, we could see the very long walkway. We could also see the beach with the Celebrity ship much further away than it looked when we first arrived.

As we walked into the main tourist area there were signs to different attractions. The most popular is the longest zipline in the world. Due to stronger than normal winds, the zipline was closed for the day. I'm sure it was a big disappointment to those that had booked that excursion. They also have a gondola to the top of the mountain for those that don’t want to do the zipline. In addition to the large gift shop, there was another gondola/tram that took everyone to another area that was closer to the main town on the island, Hoonah. It was a free trip and very well organized to move people quickly. We were impressed.

Icy Strait Point is primarily owned by 1350 Alaskan Natives with aboriginal ties to Hoonah. Many of them are of the Tinglit people. All profits directly support the community of Hoonah, Alaska’s largest Native Tinglit village. When we exited the gondola, we took a very nice boardwalk along the river. We first stopped at a large Orca statue for a photo.

We continued the walk looking out to the water and enjoying the pretty flowers.

At the end of the path is a large building that used to be a salmon canning plant, the Hoonah Packing Facility from the 1930’s. It is now a museum and massive gift shop.

We stopped at the nearby Crab House restaurant to try an Alaskan Amber beer. We sat outside enjoying the scenry along the water.

Bob and Judy caught up to us as we were leaving the restaurant to go back to the ship. We took time for a group selfie.

On the way back to the dock, I was finally able to get a photo of the Eagle we saw when we arrived. It was the only eagle we would see sitting still the whole trip.

Hubbard Glacier, AK (9:30 AM to 2:30 PM)

We were excited to see Hubbard Glacier again. In August 2007, we were able to get very close to the glacier and experience a lot of calving. We hoped to have a similar experience in the early season. When we woke up, we saw that it was a dreary day with a light drizzle. Not the best weather for visiting a glacier, or much of anything for that matter. We hoped that it would improve. After breakfast, we kept watching outside to see if we were getting near the glacier. Around 9:45 AM, we could see the Valerie Glacier in the distance. It joins up with the western side of the Hubbard Glacier that was also partially visible to the right of it.

We were concerned that there was a lot of ice in the water. This could prevent us from being able to get close to the Hubbard Glacier.

As we got closer to the Valerie Glacier, we could get better photos. The large amount of rock and dirt in the middle of it does take away from its beauty. From where the boat had stopped, we could no longer see any part of the Hubbard Glacier due to the island in the way.

Large ships normally go through the pass between the Valerie Glacier and small island we were looking at. With all the ice, we knew we wouldn’t get through the pass, but we could see sea lions on the island’s rocks.

We stayed in the same position for a while and then began moving slowly away. I enjoyed seeing the pieces of blue ice that have calved off the glacier.

With there still being a light drizzle, I moved around deck 5 for photos, since it is covered. I ran into Jim, who was also taking photos. I got a kick out of the small umbrella he had attached to his camera. A rather clever idea.

We eventually came to the other side of the island, where we had a view of the main part of the Hubbard Glacier. The water on that side of the island is too shallow for large cruise ships. But it was fine for the smaller boats that were used for excursions to the glacier that left the ship earlier in the day.

The Hubbard is a glacier that is still advancing, which creates all the ice in the water when it calves. When a big piece calves, it makes a very loud cracking sound and splash. While we were there, we didn’t hear any calving. Probably because of the colder weather in June. We probably should have booked the excursion to get closer to the glacier. I incorrectly assumed the ship would get as close to it as we did in 2007.

As the excursion boats returned, we took our last photos of the Hubbard Glacier. We left the glacier area around noon rather than the published 2:30 PM time. Without being able to get closer, we didn’t need the extra time.

Juneau, AK (7:30 AM to 7:00 PM)

As we came into port, we appreciated that we were having a beautiful sunny day. It made everything prettier.

We were looking forward to a full day in port in Juneau. This was the only port where we booked an excursion. With it starting at 1:45 PM, we had the whole morning to look around town. We had a steep ramp to climb up to get to street level due to low tide.

Once there, we saw booths lining the boardwalk selling different excursions.

They also had several totem poles to take photos of.

Close by was a large restaurant that served something that I truly love, king crab legs.

I checked out their menu and decided that the frozen king crab legs at Costco were a much better deal, especially since it wasn’t king crab season and the restaurant’s legs would be frozen too. A much as I would have enjoyed having lunch there, I couldn’t justify $90 for one leg. Below is the crab section of their menu.

To the side of the restaurant was a photo op, we couldn’t pass up. A fellow cruiser offered to take our photo with the attractive lady.

As we were walking around, I had to take a photo of the steep staircase between two buildings.

While browsing the many shops along the street, we got a kick out of the window display in one of them.

We also stopped by the oldest man-made tourist attraction in Juneau, the Red Dog Saloon. It was founded during Juneau’s mining era in the late 1800’s. It hosted an episode of the Ed Sullivan show shortly after Alaska became a state in 1959.

It was too early for lunch or a drink, so I just went in to take a few photos.

The excursion we were taking was with Harv & Marv’s whale watching tour (https://www.harvandmarvs-juneau-whale-watching.com). Our three couples had been on the same tour in 2007. But back then, the original owners Jay and Pete were personally operating the two boats. They would take turns which one would be called Harv or Marv. It was a catchier name than Jay & Pete’s whale watching tours. One thing that they did that we will never forget was that after leaving the dock, the boat would stop in front of a house on an island. It was Jay’s house. His wife paddled out to the boat in a kayak to deliver freshly baked warm cookies to us. Now that was an experience that we knew wouldn’t happen again, since the company had been sold to another group several years ago. The new owners still had a great reputation and a lot more boats. We booked the whole boat for the 6 of us.

We were picked up on the boardwalk above the dock by a friendly fellow. We stopped off at the other two ships to pick up some more folks that were going on different boats. It was about a 20-minute drive to the marina where we met our Captain, Jase. He was a very nice guy, and we thoroughly enjoyed our time with him.

The boat was just a couple weeks old and was very powerful with two 250 horsepower engines. It moved through the water quickly when he wanted it too. It was also comfortable and relatively quiet.

As we went further away, we could see the Mendenhall Glacier in the distance.

While searching for whale spray we came to one of the boats the cruise lines use for their whale watching excursions. I couldn’t believe how crowded it was on all the decks. I was so glad we were on a smaller boat by ourselves.

We saw some whales come up too far away for me to get good photos. I have a 100-400mm lens that is a full frame equivalent of a 640mm lens, but it still wasn’t enough. I finally did get some decent shots of one whale.

Not much later, another one came up. This was closer and at the right angle.

We did see other whales, but nothing I could get good tail photos of, either due position on the boat or just not being able to focus on them quickly enough. This was the best of the out of position shots. But we still had a great time searching for them and seeing quite a few. The main thing was that we were repeating a fun experience we had 19 years earlier with best friends.

In the distance we could see another glacier.

Jase took us over to a channel marker buoy that was covered with sea lions. Most of them were chilling, but one hollered out to us to say hi.

On the way back we saw a couple more whales, but not photographable. Jase stopped the boat so we could get a group photo with Mendenhall Glacier in the background.

After returning, I was able to take a photo of the marina where Harv & Marv’s boats are kept. It is much larger now than when we first saw it in 2009.

It had been a most enjoyable day. We were so grateful that we had another beautiful sunny day to be in town and on the water.

Alaska Hubbard Glacier on the Celebrity Solstice 6/13/2026 to 6/21/2026