Live from the Shadow to Alaska

Decided to move my reports on this voyage from the general discussion about the inspection score to a new thread.

To review: the ship looks immaculate and freshly refurbished. The food has been very good and the wines, to us, are much better than usual. The service continues to be outstanding. We've enjoyed both the lectures we attended, and the Executive chef's cooking demo was lively: I actually learned some new things!

Day 1 Beautiful sail out from San Francisco. Going thru and under the iconic Golden Gate Bridge is truly exciting. It was cold, rough and windy and everyone was out on deck...no one wanted to miss the experience.

Day 2 was a welcome sea day although the seas were very rough again. We managed to wrap up in blankets and fortified with a lot of wine, we had a wonderful lunch at the Pool Grill. The Captain's welcome was that night. Capt Sangiacomo was in lively spirits as he welcomed what I sense is a mostly newbie crowd. A footnote here; people were almost all very dressed up which added to the festive atmosphere.

Day 3 we were docked in Astoria Oregon. There were 3 SS tours but we just walked around this town scenically settled along the Columbia River. We probably should have gone to The Maritime Museum, but we enjoyed our lazy walk and peeks into antique stores, craft shops and one truly beautiful Asian gallery. Back to the ship by 1:00pm for another (more calm and sunny) Pool Grill lunch.

The entertainment last night was the best we can remember ever having on SS. A Cabaret artist, Billy Stritch, put on a brilliant, very enthusiastically received show. Thrilled that he'll be back on again!

Day 4 is another sea day which means working out for my DH, and starring out to sea for lazy me. Life on The Shadow is very, very good.

Thank you CruisinPashmina! It is a treat to read about passengers who are enjoying their adventure! Hope the rest of the cruise is just as good!

Wow, I hope Billy Stritch is on when I am next year. He is amazing, a terrific song interpreter in addition to accompanist for the like of Liza Minelli.

Enjoy!

Decided to move my reports on this voyage from the general discussion about the inspection score to a new thread.

 

To review: the ship looks immaculate and freshly refurbished. The food has been very good and the wines, to us, are much better than usual. The service continues to be outstanding. We've enjoyed both the lectures we attended, and the Executive chef's cooking demo was lively: I actually learned some new things!

 

Day 1 Beautiful sail out from San Francisco. Going thru and under the iconic Golden Gate Bridge is truly exciting. It was cold, rough and windy and everyone was out on deck...no one wanted to miss the experience.

 

Day 2 was a welcome sea day although the seas were very rough again. We managed to wrap up in blankets and fortified with a lot of wine, we had a wonderful lunch at the Pool Grill. The Captain's welcome was that night. Capt Sangiacomo was in lively spirits as he welcomed what I sense is a mostly newbie crowd. A footnote here; people were almost all very dressed up which added to the festive atmosphere.

 

Day 3 we were docked in Astoria Oregon. There were 3 SS tours but we just walked around this town scenically settled along the Columbia River. We probably should have gone to The Maritime Museum, but we enjoyed our lazy walk and peeks into antique stores, craft shops and one truly beautiful Asian gallery. Back to the ship by 1:00pm for another (more calm and sunny) Pool Grill lunch.

The entertainment last night was the best we can remember ever having on SS. A Cabaret artist, Billy Stritch, put on a brilliant, very enthusiastically received show. Thrilled that he'll be back on again!

 

Day 4 is another sea day which means working out for my DH, and starring out to sea for lazy me. Life on The Shadow is very, very good.

Good to see that you are enjoying yourselves, nil despersandum.

Rp

I too am having a great time, meeting interesting people and all fears of cruising on my own have been put to bed. I am not willing to go too far out on a limb, reviewing as I have nothing to compare given I am a first time cruiser. But other than a few minor niggles so far so good.

Good to hear Pennoir! Enjoy the rest of your cruise!

Hope you all have a wonderful time!

Thanks for posting, enjoy your cruise and hope the weather is kind to you.

Amazing day in Wrangell yesterday. We arrived at the dock just after lunch. The sail in was incredibly beautiful with snow capped mountains lit by clear blue skies and sunshine. The temperature was in the high 60s!

Wrangell is a small fishing village of under 2,000. It appears to have all sorts of important conveniences as in a new library, schools, a little airport, a primitive, but, hey, it's there, golf club, and a stunning privately funded museum. Our tour included only a 30 minute stop there and we would have loved to have had much more time.

The tour itself was terrific fun. We got on a nice, clean school bus with two young women as guide and driver. They were a hoot. Totally informative and at the same time genuinely funny. Both were married and raising children, and both had come up from Oregon to settle in Alaska. They told us that the ratio of men to women was 9 to 1 so the odds were very good, but the goods were odd. Both of them went back to Oregon, married and came back to Wrangell.

We also met a half native man who was a jack of any and all trades. He joined the bus for about 30 minutes and gave us an excellent overview of native history and traditions. He was extremely proud of his indigenous heritage. I felt that we learned a lot and that included how people worked to survive in such isolation...they all seem to take on multiple jobs and work hard.

After we toured the large boatyard and drove around the somewhat dilapidated down town, we were driven to Petroglyph Beach. The petroglyphs are mysterious reminders that people had lived here thousands of years ago..fascinating. An unexpected highlight at this spot was a Labrador retriever who was joyfully crazy about people throwing sticks along the beach and sometimes into the water.

Beautiful sunshine and scenery, interesting information, mysterious rock drawings, playful guides, a spectacular museum, a proud native and a lunatic

stick chasing dog...doesn't get much better that this....especially because our ship and several martinis await us.

CruisinPashmina; enjoy your Shadow Alaska voyage. Thanks for taking the time to share Alaska on board the Shadow with us.

If you see/know Dusababy (CC frequent SS poster) pls pass warm regards along.

Col Wes, Dusababy is indeed on board and I certainly will pass on your greetings.

Yesterday we were in Sitka which is quite a pretty town on a big bay tucked in by a semi circle of snow capped mountains. Lots of touristy shops, but a few very nice stores which were for locals. I was able to buy excellent hiking boots for our helicopter adventure to the ice fields where we will be dog sledding later today. It turned out that when I went to try on the boots I had thrown in my suitcase, the bottoms had dried out and had completely separated from the tops. Didn't dare take the crazy glue route, so finding an excellent new pair made my Sitka day.

The store is called Russell's and was founded in 1920. It sells all sorts of sports and outdoor gear. Also in Sitka is a store selling local flavored salt. We bought some for fun and because the expensive, elegant salt shakers on the ship are impossible most of the time.

And then, after our "spending spree" we toured the Bishop's Palace. It was fascinating...both in its history and painstaking reconstruction by the U.S. Park service. Wonderful short film, and artifacts, all of which enhanced the experience. Palace is not an accurate description, but for the times and the remote location, it must have been palatial indeed!

Last night was the Venetian party. I was right in an earlier post when I speculated that there were a lot of first time cruisers. Out of 290 there are about 130 Venetians. Bet the Alaska voyages are usually taken by a lot of newbies. Even tho this is our third time here, we are loving the early dates. So far, the May weather has been mostly sunny and beautiful.

Off for a walkabout in bustling Juneau!

Great reporting! I can hear the pleasure in your notes. Hi to Dusababy from me also!

Thanks for the reports, CruisinPashmina. May usually has the best weather in Alaska for some reason. Las time I was there was in May. I had packed all these sweaters and down vests and wound up wearing t shirts the whole time.

And...h

Sorry about that..don't know what happened!

Yesterday we were in Juneau where we walked around in the morning and in the afternoon we went dog sledding. We were flown by helicopter to the glacier. It was about a 20minute flight piloted by a young man who appeared to be about 12...his beard didn't fool us one bit!

When we arrived at the dog camp we were greeted by a man from central casting..rugged, with wild hair and bushy beard, soft spoken and extremely informative, Peter was a wonderful guide for the hour plus we were with him. His team, 11 boys and 1 girl, were thrilled to be hitched up. The dogs left behind howled in what sure seemed like heartbreak.."Choose me, choose me, pleeeese!

We had a truly thrilling ride..these dogs LOVE to run. When Peter gave them the command to go, we were almost jerked out of our two little seats. The dogs' power is amazing. Half way thru our run, we stopped and met the dogs. Some were a bit shy, but I made a friend for life.

What an incredible thrill we had!

Today was Skagway which is a nice but very touristic town. We walked around a bit and had lunch at a local brewery's restaurant. Okay food and great beer. As good as the ship's food has been, it's nice to have a change once or twice a voyage. As wipro said, May can be really nice and almost warm. We stuck to our down vests, but did see a lot of T-shirts. We also saw a lot of young children from the only other ship in port ; the Norweigen Jewel. Almost got run over by all the strollers!

Back to swooning over the scenery and watching a pod of whales heading south.

Pool Grill tonight.

Amazing day and incredible evening yesterday. We took the sightseeing and crab feast excursion out of Ketchikan. Beautiful scenery from the six passenger float plane...you really get the big picture of the scale and VAST size of the Alaskan wilderness from a plane. We had about an hour of flying to and from the lodge. Lunch was indeed a feast..of home smoked salmon, a lovely salad and then endless dungeneness crab, beer and wine and a wonderful cheesecake for dessert. It was an expensive excursion...about $400 each, but it was a great experience. Didn't think we'd ever love any kind of crab more than Blue Crabs, but, now, we're not so sure!

The Captain's farewell was the usual sentimental occasion with the delightful Crew Parade and the waves and whoops, and photos of passengers on differing excursions during this voyage..this ritual never gets old.

At showtime we were BLOWN AWAY by the return of Billy Stritch accompanying the truly great artist, Marilyn Maye. For almost an hour we were treated to a cabaret show which defined what talent really means. Subtle, joyful, exquisite, complex, Ms. Maye and Mr. Stritch are the realist of deals. Silversea hit it out of the park with this evening.....the lounge was packed and the audience so appreciative.

In closing this report, I must confess why I started it. The negativity, the smugness and "piling on", added to the heavy handed suggestions that Silversea passengers should try, consider, book other lines, just plain ticked me off. We all know we are free to sail on many, many other ships and lines..most, if not all of us have done and will probably continue to do so. But, it is my feeling that you don't have to tear a thing down in order to build something else up.

It has been a truly wonderful cruise and we wish we sailing on....

Well said CruisinPashmina! Thanks so much for taking the time to entertain us with your delightful reports. So great to tag along when people are really enjoying themselves!

Many thanx. I understand my friends, Carolyn, Bill and Diana enjoyed that feast as well.

Could not agree more, I have had a terrific cruise.

Billy Stritch and Marilyn Maye are immensely talented and have been fixtures of the New York cabaret scene for many years. Nice to see that Silversea is stepping it up with this caliber of entertainment.

Those two are of the ilk of Bobby Short. I miss that guy.

Those two are of the ilk of Bobby Short. I miss that guy.

How about George Feyer?

Who are the Captain and Hotel Director currently onboard the Shadow please?

Thanks

Duct Tape, your friends, Diana, Caroline and Bill are wonderful..such nice, interesting folks.

Swindy, the Capt is Marco Sangiacomo. The Hotel Director is Paolo, Don Fluke is the CD, and Vanentina is the Restaurant Manager. An excellent team.

Josette03, you are exactly right. SS certainly took a HUGE step up with Maye and Stritch. Let's hope this will continue.

Thanx, glad you got to meet them. Next it will be our turn!