Building on the successful return to cruising the cruise line has experienced so far; Celebrity Cruises announced the 2023 Alaska Season this week. Sailings will start in May and run through September 2023 aboard three different vessels.
The ships will homeport in Seattle in Washington, and Vancouver in Canada, visiting some incredible destinations that include the inside passage on every voyage. With the lifting of the cruise ban in Canada at the start of next month, cruising in the Pacific Northwest is returning to normal.
Celebrity Highlights the Best Alaska Has to Offer
With sailings roundtrip from Vancouver, Canada, the 121,878 gross ton Celebrity Eclipse will sail her 2,850 passengers on 7-night itineraries, including the Hubbard Glacier located in the WrangellโSt. Elias National Park and Preserve in eastern Alaska. Visits to settlements like Juneau, Ketchikan, and Sitka or Icy Strait Point are also included. The ship will be arriving in Vancouver on May 21, when she concludes a 12-day cruise from Hawaii.
The Celebrity Solstice will be sailing from Seattle, Washington. Her itinerary includes seven-night cruises and one nine-night cruise sailing roundtrip from the Pacific Northwest.
The cruise ship will be the only one out of the three Celebrity ships sailing Endicott Arm Fjord, which marks the southern edge of Fords Terror Wilderness area and includes stunning views of Dawes Glacier for the 2,850 guests onboard.
The vessel will also be visiting places such as Victoria, Juneau, Skagway, and Ketchikan. Celebrity Solstice will be arriving in Vancouver on May 3, after a repositioning from Yokohama, Japan.
Last but not least, the recently upgraded 90,963 gross ton Celebrity Millennium, which was part of a $500 million upgrade project, will sail on 7-night open-ended cruises from Vancouver to Seward, Alaska. This allows guests a multitude of options to explore Alaska in more depth.
Celebrity offers a multi-night cruise tour that gets guests closer to Denali, North America’s tallest peak and the centerpiece of Denali National Park and Preserve. The 9-night or 13-night cruise tours will also visit Homer, Anchorage, and Fairbanks, including riding the wilderness express and staying in luxury lodgings.
Alaska Cruises with Celebrity Cruises will open for the general public on October 14.
Sailings From Canada
On February 4, 2021, the Government of Canada announced a one-year ban for cruise ships and Arctic pleasure craft until February 28, 2022. This greatly affected the cruise industry as ships sailing to Canada either started or called in Canada to be compliant with the United States Passenger Vessel Services Act.
The ban was initially in place until February of 2022, but the Canadian government announced on July 15 to lift the ban on November 1, 2021.
Omar Alghabra, the Canadian Minister of Transport, said this: โAs Canadians have done their part to reduce the spread of COVID-19, our government continues to work hard to safely restart our economy and build back better. We will welcome cruise shipsโan important part of our tourism sectorโback in Canadian waters for the 2022 season.โ
It means that for the 2022 and 2023 cruise seasons, there should be no issues for the three Celebrity cruise ships to sail from, or call in, Canadian ports as long as they are compliant with the existing public health measures in place that time.