7 nights with a Celebrity

There are perks, and there are more perks, with being with a Celebrity. Especially, when you’re with one for seven days and seven nights.

The red carpet unfurls for you. You get to dine in a fancy restaurant every night and have Alaskan King Crab legs for brunch the next day. Room service is unlimited during your time together, and you have an attendant who almost lives to please you — whether what you need is a weighing scale or a pitcher of ice water with lemon wedges. You raise a concern about something, and a tray of chocolate-covered strawberries is sent to your room to appease you.

When you’re travelling with a Celebrity, you wish your journey would never end, or at least extend another day, another mile, another sunset.

My Celebrity was the Millennium, an 11-deck cruise ship with a theater, casinos, several bars and lounges, a spa and a fine-dine restaurant paneled with wood from the Olympic, the luckier sister ship of the RMS Titanic. And the best part about this Celebrity was that it had a captain so deft he was able to take the ship 1.2 miles away from the magnificent Hubbard Glacier in Alaska (two miles is how close you can get on a “lucky” day, so we were more than lucky. We were blessed.)

When you get that close to the bluish Hubbard Glacier, it’s like being a foot away from the Hope Diamond, the largest blue diamond in the world. And because you’re on a Celebrity, the captain makes sure you get VIP seats to one of the most spectacular natural shows on earth.

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My husband Ed and I recently went on a seven-day/seven-night cruise of Alaska, and it was a journey that took us inside nature’s own IMAX theater. Only there was no screen, and the images — like chunks of blue ice falling down a 35-story (350-ft.) glacier into frozen waters — unraveled before your very eyes.

It was fun cruising with a Celebrity, especially since the second largest community of the 800-strong staff on board the Millennium was Filipino (the Pinoys were slightly outnumbered by the Indians). Of Captain Zisis Taramas’ top managers, one is a Filipina, guest relations manager Jacque de Guzman.

Jacque, the highest-ranking Filipino in the ship, began her career at the then Westin Philippine Plaza. She joined a cruise line (not the Celebrity) in 1994, because she loved to travel.

“I may be poor in Geography, but I like discovering new places. Whenever I travel, I will taste local street food, befriend the locals and avoid shopping!” she quips. Her career in cruise ships has brought her around the globe, except to the Middle East.

Jacque began as a telephone operator 10 years ago on Celebrity Cruises, working her way up till she became a manager. Her excellent inter-personal skills, and I must add here, her Pinoy charm, led her to where she is now. She supervises Room Services and the Guest Relations Team.

The first time Jacque travelled to Alaska, she shed a tear at its grandeur. Each time the ship nears the Hubbard Glacier, she tries to get on deck so she can have a front-seat view of it. “I can’t sleep as we approach it, I just have to be part of it,” she gushes. One of the perks of being with a Celebrity!

What differentiates a Celebrity from other cruise ships?

“It’s the people that work here,” Jacque vouches. “We have very high standards and we strive to make sure that guests will leave the ship with a smile. It’s not always Christmas here, but we try to accommodate every single request — from rooms to songs.”

For Jacque, who has a son, the best part of her job, even if it means being away from home for months at a time, is this: “When a guest comes back and tells you, ‘We had fun, thank you’.”

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Captain Taramas, who is Greek, first went to sea in 1985. On the fourth day of the cruise, he invited us to the bridge as the Millennium approached the Hubbard Glacier. On the bridge, which is on the ninth floor of the Millennium, we had a crystal-clear view of the glacier even as we were several miles away from it.  Again, I felt like I was in a theater, and the glacier — which was backed up by rows and rows of snow-covered mountains — seemingly floated on a bed of ice. It was jaw-dropping and I started to tear up, in awe and gratitude.

I had expected an iceberg, maybe like the one I saw in Titanic, not this 76-mile long, seven-mile wide, and 350-ft. tall block of rippled, chunky blue ice. (Below the water line, the glacier is 250 feet, so in total it is a towering 600 feet!)

 â€œI still find the sight of it extraordinary,” Captain Taramas shared. “The landscape changes every day, so each visit is a fresh one.”

Taramas praises the Filipinos in his ship for being very hardworking. He also observes that they are sensitive, and once you hurt their pride, “you lose them.”

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One of the perks of being with a Celebrity is that aside from the shore excursions (we docked at Juneau, Skagway and Ketchikan, but no, I didn’t get to see Sarah Palin), the ship is a destination in itself. We enjoyed a ‘70s show titled “Boogie Wonderland” at the Celebrity Theater, an adaptation of the original ‘70s musical from London’s West End and a Broadway Night featuring hits from long-running musicals.

If you want a more cozy setting, head for the Rendezvous Lounge, which features a Filipino band on most nights. There is also the Martini Bar, a great place to get a buzz — from your favorite cocktail or from the view you will see in all its splendor through the bar’s panoramic windows. You see, the ship usually sails through waters flanked by mountain ranges carpeted by powdery snow. With sunset at 10 p.m. this time of year, the spectacle lasts till late at night.

And dining with a Celebrity is awesome. Just to illustrate, for a typical seven-day cruise, the Millennium stocks up 1,500 lbs. of tenderloin, 1,800 lbs. of whole chicken, 2,700 lbs. of rack of lamb, 700 lbs. of salmon, 3,000 dozen fresh eggs, 2,400 lbs. of butter and 500 gallons of ice cream!

After the seven-night cruise, we disembarked feeling invigorated and pampered by the experience. If the cruise were even just a day longer, we might have gotten used to Celebrity living!

(For more information about Celebrity Cruises, please call Baron Travel Corp. at 817-4926 or e-mail [email protected] or [email protected].)

(You may e-mail me at [email protected].)