Celebrity’s 2010 Alaska Offerings to Focus on 7 Spectacular Nights

The number seven holds a certain “lucky” mystique, and Celebrity Cruises’ 2010 Alaska season places the number seven at its very core. From May through September of next year, seven-night itineraries will be offered across three Celebrity ships in Alaska. Paired with a fully escorted land tour, these cruises offer travelers an even greater opportunity to explore one of America’s most majestic landscapes. Celebrity opened its 2010 Alaska cruise and cruisetour bookings for sale today. Guests who purchase a 2010 Celebrity Alaska cruise within a booking window of March 17 and June 17, 2009, are eligible for an onboard credit of $100 per stateroom.

Throughout the 2010 Alaska season, Celebrity Infinity, Celebrity Mercury and Celebrity Millennium will offer a total of 58 Alaska sailings from six home ports: San Francisco, San Diego, Los Angeles, California; Seattle, Washington; Seward, Alaska; and Vancouver, British Columbia.

After sailing one 11-night “Ultimate Alaska” cruise from San Francisco to Vancouver, departing on May 10, 2010 and offering a port line-up that includes Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, Icy Strait Point and Sitka, Alaska, Celebrity Infinity will offer 18 consecutive seven-night “Alaska Tracy Arm Fjord” cruises departing on Fridays and sailing roundtrip from Seattle, Washington. New to Celebrity’s offerings in Alaska, these seven-night voyages are named for the 32-mile-long passage the ship will make through the narrow Tracy Arm Fjord, known for its over-8,000-feet-high walls and breathtaking scenery. At the end of the fjord is Sawyer Glacier, the face of which is a magnificent 200 feet high. Celebrity Infinity’s seven-night itinerary also will include visits to Ketchikan, Juneau, and Skagway, Alaska and Victoria, British Columbia as well as a cruise through the Alaska Inside Passage. Celebrity Infinity’s seven-night Alaska season begins on May 21 and concludes after the cruise departing on September 17.

While cruising on Celebrity Infinity, guests can opt to purchase in-port shore excursions to enhance their Alaska experience. For example, in Skagway, the White Pass Railway and Historic City Highlights excursion gives guests the opportunity to ride the world-famous narrow-gauge White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad to the summit, travel by motorcoach down the Klondike Highway, tour the historic town of Skagway and view a lively presentation on the region’s history.

Celebrity Mercury also will sail seven-night roundtrip cruises in Alaska in 2010, but to kick off her season, she will offer the only Alaska cruise offered by any cruise line roundtrip out of Los Angeles: a 12-night “Ultimate Alaska” sailing departing on May 5, 2010. The voyage will feature visits to Juneau, Skagway, and Ketchikan, Alaska, a cruise through Tracy Arm Fjord to Sawyer Glacier, and a visit to Victoria, British Columbia. Celebrity Mercury will follow this voyage with another “Ultimate Alaska” cruise, a 13-night voyage departing on May 17 from Los Angeles, sailing to Vancouver.

The core of Celebrity Mercury’s 2010 Alaska season begins on May 30, when she offers the first of 16 seven-night roundtrip “Alaska Hubbard Glacier” sailings that will depart on Sundays from Vancouver. These will include calls at Icy Strait Point, Juneau, and Ketchikan. The highlight of these voyages will be a day spent cruising by Hubbard Glacier, the only advancing glacier in Alaska and the largest glacier in North America, with a face six miles wide and 300 feet high. Celebrity Mercury’s last seven-night Hubbard Glacier cruise will sail on September 12, and will be followed by a 12-night “Ultimate Alaska” voyage from Vancouver to San Francisco, departing on September 19.

While cruising on Celebrity Mercury, guests may wish to delve deeper into Alaska’s local flavor by choosing from a wide variety of available shore excursions. In Icy Strait Point, “Wild Alaska Culinary Extravaganza” teaches guests how to prepare and cook local seafood, including salmon, halibut, and Dungeness crab; the experience concludes with a feast. In Juneau, “Whale Quest, Mendenhall Glacier and Orca Point Lodge” combines three classic Juneau highlights: whale watching, one of the region’s most spectacular glaciers, and a meal of fresh Alaska salmon at Orca Point Lodge. Guests can view video footage of most of Celebrity’s Alaska shore excursions at www.celebritycruises.com.

Guests sailing on Celebrity Mercury will have the opportunity to extend and enhance their Alaska-season vacation by combining their cruise with a fully escorted land tour; this combination is known as a cruisetour. Celebrity will offer four different land tour packages in Canada in 2010. Offerings include a six-night pre-cruise package originating in Calgary and traveling to Vancouver by way of Banff, Kamloops and Jasper. The post-cruise land tour is five nights in length, starting in Vancouver and ending in Calgary. Both tour packages feature a trip to Banff and a visit to the top of Sulphur Mountain on the Banff Gondola, as well as travel to Kamloops via the Rocky Mountaineer® traincar with RedLeaf Service®, and time for independent sightseeing, shopping and dining in Vancouver. A highlight of the pre-tour package is travel by luxury motorcoach to Jasper and a snowcoach ride over the Columbia Icefield. Guests who wish to extend their cruise for three additional nights can take advantage of a pre- or post-cruise Whistler tour out of Vancouver. The package includes a trip on the Whistler Mountaineer® traincar featuring CoastClassic Service®, which affords guests the opportunity to gaze upon unforgettable seascape and mountainview scenes, two nights in Whistler, a night in Vancouver and time there for independent sightseeing, shopping and dining. All cruisetours include hotel accommodations, in-tour transportation and baggage transfers, and some meals.

Celebrity Millennium will start and end her 2010 Alaska season with longer cruises; these include a 14-night “Ultimate Alaska” voyage on April 30 and a 10-night wine cruise from Vancouver to San Diego, California, departing on September 17. The wine cruise will stop in Nanaimo and Victoria, British Columbia and Seattle, Washington before sailing to San Francisco, California for an overnight stay and concluding with calls at Monterey and Catalina Island. Highlights of the wine cruise will include onboard wine-themed activities, tastings and dinners, including the Riedel comparative wine workshop offered on most of Celebrity’s sailings. The wine cruise will offer guests the opportunity to book shore excursions centered around food and wine. For example, in San Francisco, the 10-hour “Napa Valley Wine Enthusiast” excursion takes guests to highly-rated wineries such as Sterling Vineyards (accessible only by a special tram car that takes guests up the mountain to the winery), Opus One, Robert Mondavi and Jarvis, with a stop at the Wine Spectator Greystone Restaurant for a gourmet lunch featuring fresh local ingredients. During this tour, guests will have the opportunity to enjoy activities such as wine tastings, tours and talks by winemakers.

Nine northbound and nine southbound sailings, seven nights in length and sailing on Fridays between Seward and Vancouver, will comprise Celebrity Millennium’s core season in 2010. These sailings are marked by a lack of pure “at sea” days, instead featuring one day cruising through the Inside Passage and one day cruising by the Hubbard Glacier. Ports of call will include Ketchikan, Icy Strait Point and Skagway.

A total of 21 land-based packages are available in conjunction with Celebrity Millennium’s 2010 northbound and southbound Alaska sailings. The fully escorted land tour portions range in length from three to seven nights of additional adventure beyond the cruise itself. Highlights of the various packages, offered out of Fairbanks, Anchorage and Seward, include the following:

· 19 of the 21 packages include a guided tour of Denali National Park, known for its stunning taiga forests, miles of rolling tundra and wildlife sightings

· 19 of the 21 packages include travel on our glass-domed traincars, Celebrity’s own Wilderness Express®, featuring vistas of cascading waterfalls and glaciers

· A range of engaging, educational activities that vary by itinerary, including a cruise on the Riverboat Discovery Sternwheeler, a visit to the Alaska Sealife Centermountainview ride on the Alyeska Tramway

· Overnight stays at properties such as the comfortably rustic Talkeetna Alaskan Lodge or the Hotel Alyeska, ideally set among seven hanging glaciers in the Girdwood Valley

All Alaska cruisetours are fully escorted and include hotel accommodations, in-tour transportation and baggage transfers.

Celebrity’s early booking offer, open to residents of the United States and Canada, applies to all Alaska cruises taking place in 2010. This offer applies to FIT bookings and group space (only group bookings named and deposited between March 17 and June 17, 2009, are eligible). Other terms and conditions may apply.

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