One of the most ambitious fleet revitalizations initiatives in the history of the cruise industry has just been completed. Celebrity Cruises’ Celebrity Millennium set sail on Saturday from the Port of Miami following an extensive enhanced refurbishment.

Celebrity Millennium is the fourth and final ship to complete the cruise line’s $140-million investment programme, dubbed “Solsticizing”. Ships that have been enhanced now feature a host of venues and experiences guests love most on the newest Celebrity Cruises ships.

“Solsticizing has been such an exciting initiative for us – and more importantly, for our guests, as indicated by their response to each of our refurbished ships,” said Celebrity Cruises’ President & CEO Dan Hanrahan. “Our Millennium Class ships already had a large and loyal following, having repeatedly ranked at the top of many of the world’s most prestigious consumer polls, and their original style, design and ambience served as significant inspiration for the design of the Solstice Class. So now, we’re bringing it full circle, incorporating on the entire Millennium Class what our guests enjoy most on the Solstice Class. It ties our whole fleet together in a very powerful way.”

A Celebrity Cruises exclusive – “Qsine,” the restaurant introduced on Celebrity Eclipse in 2010 and Celebrity Silhouette last year – is also dazzling guests on Celebrity Infinity, Celebrity Summit and Celebrity Millennium as a result of each ship’s make over. The first restaurant at sea to present a menu and wine list on an iPadTM, Qsine serves a blend of classic and contemporary dishes in custom-made table ware, such as spring rolls served in vertical springs, and popcorn shrimp in cinema-style popcorn boxes.

Other new on board features include:
• The Celebrity iLounge, the industry’s first Authorised Apple Reseller
• Celebrity Cruises’ “eXhale” bedding programme, in partnership with Reverie®, a leader in the field of luxury bedding
• A new twist within Celebrity Cruises’ casually elegant bar, Michael’s Club, where its selection of fine whiskies, cognac, bourbons and scotches is now complemented with craft beers, including 50 international selections
• The “cool,” ice-topped Martini Bar and Crush
• The creperie, Bistro on Five
• Café al Bacio and Gelateria
• Cellarmasters wine bar, complete with the “Enomatic” state-of-the-art wine serving system allowing guests to select wines by the glass, at the touch of a button
• New balconies added to the ship’s spacious Celebrity Suites
• Additional oceanview and inside staterooms
• An expanded collection of original, contemporary art

Celebrity’s Millennium is currently on a Panama Canal voyage but will provide seven-night Northbound and Southbound Alaska sailings between Vancouver and Seward (Alaska) starting May 27th.

(Portions of this article taken from incentivetravel.co.uk)

Our sources have confirmed the first sighting of our John Hall’s Alaska motorcoach leaving its winter den and emerging to start the summer tour season. Our coaches hibernate all winter, living off of the laughter and memories stored up from previous tour seasons.

Eager to make the trip up the Alaska Highway,  it looks like Coach 127 has pulled up to the curb of the John Hall’s Alaska corporate offices in search of a driver.

We bet she finds one!

(Coach 127 is actually getting ready to make a 23 day trip up the Alaska Highway on our 23 Day Canadian Rockies and Alaska Tour- Just the first of many tours this summer! ). 

(Scoot and Ken are pictured with John Hall Jr.)

Scoot and Ken from Sun City, Texas are the recipients of a FREE 2-person 14-Day Denali Explorer tour package! They will enjoy 7 action packed days experiencing the wildlife, mountains and glaciers of interior Alaska before joining Royal Caribbean for a 7 day cruise aboard the Radiance of the Seas.

CONGRATS GUYS!

HOW CAN YOU WIN?

We know what your thinking...“That could never happen to me”. Not so! All Scoot and Ken had to do was attend an Alaska Travel Show! We love making people happy and let’s face it, what’s better than letting us pick up the check? Travel shows begin in October so be sure to check out our travel show page for the most current travel show schedule as October approaches. “Well, October is a long way off…” There you go again, being negative. Just sign up for an EMAIL REMINDER and we’ll let you know when we come to a city near you. Winning your dream vacation was never this easy!

Our February 25th Alumni event in The Villages, Florida was a great event with wonderful turnout. Thank you to all who came and gave advice to 2012 summer guests as well as told their Alaska adventure stories.

We just wanted to share some pictures from the event:

(Elizabeth Hall and JHA guest) 

(John Hall Sr -wearing white- with JHA guests)

(Anchorage Operations Manager- Catherine – with JHA guest)

The next generation of the Hall family was born to John Jr and Lauren Hall on Friday, February 24th at 2:10pm. Emerson Dean Hall weighed 6 pounds, 15 ounces and looks just like his father, except for some very dark hair which he got from his mom.

Emerson is John Hall Sr’s first grandchild!

We still have limited space on our 2012 departures but if 2013 is the year for you, the wait is over!

2013 Pricing will be out in June of 2012, but in the meantime, feel free to call and reserve your space on any of these departures!

This week as the lower 48 states were reporting record HIGH temps, Alaska was hit with some record LOW temps.

Ironically, as the all-time lowest  temperature for North America was about to be documented in Alaska, the official temperature gauge ran out of batteries! Guess we will never know for sure how low that temperature really went.

Here’s a look at the temperature records set this week in Alaska:

Enjoying the beautiful weather down in Florida?

Good.

Planning on attending the upcoming John Hall’s Alaska Alumni event in The Villages on February 25th, 2012?

GREAT!

If you live in the area and have previously traveled with John Hall’s Alaska, are going in 2012, or are thinking about traveling with John Hall’s Alaska, then you are invited!

Details:

February 25, 2012 @ 7-9pm
Hibiscus Recreation Center
1740 Bailey Trail
The Villages, Florida

Please RSVP with your name and the number attending to:   lauren@kissalaska.com

With the tragic sinking of the cruise ship Costa Concordia near the Tuscan island of Giglio this past week, its understandable that prospective cruisers might have some reservations about spending time at sea.

Its important to look at the facts about cruise ship safety and specifically safety while at sea in Alaska.

On board safety is a top priority-
Safety cross checks begin at the moment that you book your cruise. Passport numbers given at the time of booking are verified ahead of time for each individual.

On your day of sailing, all cruise guests and luggage must go through a security screening. Security screenings continue throughout the cruise whenever guests step off of the ship in Alaska’s beautiful ports of call and wish to re-board the ship.

Cruise ships leaving from the United States are also required to participate in mandatory lifeboat drills before setting sail. This means that all Royal Caribbean and Celebrity passengers will at some point be asked to take their life vest and gather on deck at a designated life boat station. Passengers are then taught how to operate the life vests and detailed emergency procedures are reviewed.

Navigation Safety-
Royal Caribbean Cruise Line’s senior vice president of marine operations, Captain Bill Wright, recently pointed out that travel by cruise ship continues to be extremely safe. At a question and answer session last week he stated that there were just 21 fatalities resulting from incidents at sea out of 117 million passengers carried worldwide between 2005 and 2011. Many of these fatalities were alcohol related and were preventable.  

Captain Bill Wright speaks from experience. He earned his Master Mariner license in Norway in 1991 and received a Master’s degree in Marine Engineering from Vestfold College in Norway in 1992.

We, at John Hall’s Alaska, would like you to know that cruise lines across the globe have a tremendous record of safety. Alaska cruise guests should feel confident that whether they choose Celebrity or Royal Caribbean, their on board captain and supporting staff have years of experience behind them and have sailed the Inside Passage, in most cases, hundreds of times. Just one summer of Alaska cruising will put 50-75 Inside Passage sailings under a captains belt.

If you have any additional concerns about cruising, please feel free to give us a call at 800.325.2270. We will do our best to address your specific concerns. 

John Jr. and Joe;

In the closing days of 2011, we just wanted to express our sincere thanks for setting up the “Trip of a Lifetime” for us this past June.  14 days, 2200 miles around the state of Alaska was a wonderful experience for everyone in the family.  The work you all did in helping us plan, setting up tours & trips, lodging, Barrow, Halibut fishing , rafting down “6 Mile Creek” and landing on Ruth Glacier was a true lifelong memorable experience that we still talk and laugh about today. This trip would have been impossible without your help.  You guys are the Best in the Business.

We attached a couple of pictures of the highlights from the  1000’s we took:

Thanks Again for helping us make this trip possible.

The Tom Moyer Family

Oronoco, MN.