Celebrity Summit Alaskan Cruise - Sea Day

Saturday, May 24, 2025

Today was the only “sea day” during our 7-day cruise to Alaska. It was the perfect day to relax & enjoy the ship as the Celebrity Summit journeyed toward southeast Alaska. Aden was bummed when he learned this was our only sea day. His favorite part about cruising is actually being on the ship — going to the kids club, eating at the buffet, swimming in the pool, and all the buzz of excitement that it encompasses.

Andi and I knew the gym would be busy this morning, so we woke up early to try & beat the crowds. Plus, our bodies are three hours ahead of “Alaska time,” so we naturally woke up around 5:30am anyway. It was 6:30am by the time we finally made it there, and the gym was already crowded. The gym space on the Celebrity Summit isn’t particularly large anyway. Nevertheless, I was able to find a spot by the floor-length mirror to lift free weights and Andi used the weight machines. When we finished working out an hour later, the gym was absolutely swarming with people. I’m glad we went when we did!

Afterward, we met Jim and Janie in the Oceanview Cafe (buffet) for breakfast. The buffet was busy with people, too. Given the size of the ship, the buffet offerings on the Celebrity Summit ship are quite expansive. There were multiple stations serving made-to-order eggs, cold cuts & cheeses, fruit, American-style breakfast, Asian foods, and bakery items.

Jim and Janie were already eating when Andi and I met up with them. Andi helped himself to some breakfast foods, and I decided to wait to eat with Tory and Aden later.

There were dozens of events happening on the ship today, including several nature presentations. Jim, Janie, Andi, and I decided to attend the Beyond the Podium talk this morning about the Inside Passage. We returned to our staterooms and agreed to meet up again in a few minutes to attend the presentation. Aden was awake by now, so he agreed to join us.

The Inside Passage extends from Puget Sound, Washington, through the coast of British Columbia, Canada, and up into southeast Alaska. The calm, protected waters are shielded from the vast ocean by hundreds of islands, making it a preferred route for marine travel.

Our ship left Vancouver, BC yesterday evening and began making its way through the Inside Passage between mainland Canada and Vancouver Island. Andi was particularly interested in this part of our ship’s journey since we’d recently traveled around Vancouver Island in our RV. We spent a lot of time in Strathcona Provincial Park last fall, but never made it to this remote part of the island. I loved that we were able to experience the raw, natural beauty of the forests, lakes, and rivers last in October, and now we were able to see the same landscape from the water — a totally different perspective!

The Beyond the Podium presentation took place in the ship’s Sky Lounge on Deck 11 with huge floor-to-ceiling picture windows providing a view of the outdoors as the presenter spoke. For the next 45 minutes, Naturalist Nat shared her knowledge and experiences about the Inside Passage. This area is home to the Indigenous Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian peoples. She gave us whale watching tips and hot spots for spotting wildlife during this cruise, and said we might be lucky enough to witness bubble-net feeding, a whale behavior rarely seen elsewhere.

The cruise ship served a selection of fresh pastries, coffee, and tea in the Sky Lounge while we listened to the presentation. I messaged Tory half-way through letting her know where to find us on the ship, and she responded, “Yes, this is great information.” I gathered that listening to a presentation about the Inside Passage wasn’t top of her to-do list this morning. Ha ha!

Our group decided to have lunch at Cosmopolitan, the main dining restaurant on Deck 4. There was only one seating for lunch from 12:00pm-1:30pm. Our group of six was seated immediately after we arrived in the bright, open-air dining room.

By now, the Celebrity Summit had passed the north side of Vancouver Island and entered into larger, open water. The motion of the waves rocked the ship back and forth, and many passengers were struggling to keep their balance as they walked. Suddenly, Janie felt very nauseous. She ordered food at the restaurant, but wasn’t able to eat any of it. Aden traded her spots at the table so she wasn’t facing the windows, but it didn’t seem to help much. The rest of us — Andi, Jim, Tory, Aden, and I — all felt fine.

Janie insisted we finish our meals at the Cosmopolitan restaurant. After we ate, we returned to our cabins to rest for a while. Janie remembered she brought Sea bands along, and said they helped relieve her seasickness almost immediately. She also took a motion sickness pill that seemed to help her stomach, but made her feel drowsy.

Aden decided to go to Camp at Sea for the afternoon, so he parted ways with us after lunch. Andi and I decided to get some steps in on the Celebrity Summit walking track. For the first time, we brought along rubber ducks to hide on the cruise ship (it’s a thing people do!), so we convinced Tory to join us on the walk and hide a few ducks along the way.

The walking track on this ship is outside on Deck 11 which wasn’t very enjoyable to use. It was cold and extremely windy outside. The three of us tried walking outside on Decks 3 & 4, but those walkways didn’t wrap all the way around the ship. The three of us ended up walking through hallways inside the ship instead, hiding rubber ducks behind art sculptures, behind doors,a nd on top of picture frames as we went.

We ran into Janie enjoying live music at Cellar Masters. We invited her to join us on our walk; she was feeling much better wearing the Sea Bands on her wrists.

Jim went to the Sky Lounge to watch Celebrity Bingo and Trivia games. There’s such a variety of activities on the ship; it’s fun to sit and people-watch even without participating.

Our group returned to our staterooms for an hour of rest time before dinner. Andi took a quick 30-minute snooze while I started blogging about our trip.

For this evening’s plans, we decided to use our reservation at the Cosmopolitan restaurant on Deck 5, and then see the headliner performance at 7:00pm. We sat aft of the ship again next to the gigantic window peering out the back of the ship. In just 24 hours, the scenery had changed from the cityscape of Vancouver, BC to the cloudy, majestic scene of Queen Charlotte Sound.

At dinner, we enjoyed a selection of appetizers, entrees, and desserts. Menu items included baked french onion soup, chilled shrimp cocktail, duck, grilled sirloin steak, pork loin, broiled salmon, and more. We opted to skip dessert at the main dining restaurant tonight, so we could get good seats at the 7:00pm show.

Tonight in the main theatre, the Celebrity Summit production team put on a performance called LIFE. There is incredible talent on board this ship, and they put on a fantastic show for us tonight. There was singing, dancing, drama, and aerial acrobatics. It was a captivating 45-minute performance, followed by a presentation and welcome from the ship’s captain and head officers.

What a full, fun “sea day” on the Celebrity Summit! We enjoyed every minute of the ship, and are looking forward to docking tomorrow in Ketchikan, Alaska.