July 2, Silver Shadow, Seward to Vancouver

We are booked on this cruise and I have started a Meet & Mingle - anyone else going? That being said, there might possibly be a large group on board. All of the fabulous excursions are wait listed, and Le Champagne is not available on any night. That has been what we have experienced with large groups previously! Anyone know more?????

Leslie and I are on the same cruise. We are traveling with friends who will have their two teenagers with them. We know another couple from Maryland that will be on the ship as well. As far as a large group, I am not aware of any. However, the points you make are valid. This is our first Alaska cruise but not our first cruise. It is our first time on the Silver Shadow. We sailed on the Silver Wind in May last year. We are looking forward to a good time.

We are on the Silver Shadow, July 23rd, Seward to Vancouver, hope you all will be reviewing this cruise. Look forward to reading your comments. Bon Voyage

I am just getting around to writing. We arrived this past Sunday evening, June 28th. Our flight from Atlanta to Anchorage was smooth. The SilverSea arranged transportation was waiting at the baggage area. Once we identified our luggage, they tagged it for the hotel and loaded it for us on the bus. We were then transferred to our hotel which was about 15-20 minute drive. Upon our arrival, SilverSea already had us checked in. We were given our keys and information then escorted to our room by the bellman. I must say that the bell service at the hotel was excellent!!

We arrived in the evening after the welcome meeting. Thus we went straight to our room. Information about breakfast the next morning as well as the time for luggage pickup and time for departing was all provided to us upon arrival.

The next morning, we had wonderful Buffett Breakfast in a private room in the hotel. Other fellow SilverSea passengers on our tour were at breakfast as well. We began to meet other fellow passengers.

Before breakfast, we packed the bags we had opened, placed the tags with our name and tour number on our bags. While we were at breakfast, our bags were retrieved from our room and placed on the bus to go to Denali.

Next, after boarding the bus, we were taken to the Alaska Railroad train depot and boarded the Wilderness Express for our trip to Denali.

Our excursion on the Wilderness Express was first class. We were on the upper deck of a double decker rail car. The rail car had domed windows. The seating was very comfortable. The view was amazing. The service was excellent. Drinks were served at our seats. Commentary about the trip was provided along the way by the Alaskan Rail Way Guide on board our car.

We were able to go down to the dining car and order lunch. The car was very nice. The food was excellent! I will try to post the menu in another post. I had the reindeer chili and the turkey panini sandwich. In addition, we both had the chocolate brownie with vanilla ice cream. In addition, a nice glass of wine was had as well. The lunch was included in our ticket. The only extra was the wine.

I thoroughly enjoyed the scenic ride and commentary.

Upon arrival, the bus which had taken us to the train depot also carried our luggage to Denali to the lodge. Then the same bus met us at the train depot in Denali to pick us up to transport us to the lodge.

The lodge was as stated by others adequate. However, the staff could not have been any more friendlier and wanting to provide good service. They are young adults that come to work and live in the area for the season. The meal we ate in the restaurant was very good. It was a rack of lamb special.

There was a welcome reception with wine and cheese as well as an excellent speaker who discussed his arrival in Alaska with squatting on his land as well as his climb of The Mountain.

The next day we had an excellent buffet breakfast at the lodge. The view from the dining room was spectacular.

After breakfast, we were picked up by the Denali Park Preserve bus with our guide. We had Sarah who was excellent. She drove the bus as well as guided the tour. She has been guiding for 20 years. Sarah knows her stuff.

We had an excellent day for the reason that we had two blonde bear sittings were the bears crossed the road just behind our bus. In addition, we observed two caribou that walked out on to the road by our bus. In addition, we saw several moose and Dall Sheep. We did not see the mountain as it was covered in clouds as usual for this time of year. Over all an excellent and very enjoyable day!

Today, we had our very nice buffet breakfast. Noted is that the breakfasts are included with the tour. Again, during breakfast, our luggage was picked up from our rooms and placed on the bus for us.

On our trip down from Denali, we stopped at the home of Martin Buser, Iditarod Champion. It was great hearing his story and playing with the dogs. Especially the cute puppies.

I am closing as we are almost to Girdwood where we will stay tonight. I will post more when possible.

Additional note, we just stopped at the Turnagain Arm and observed a surfer riding the bore tide. Incredible timing!!

Thanks TravelDoc01 for your great descriptions and entertaining play-by-play! Enjoy the rest of your cruise!

Here is a picture of the lunch menu on the Wilderness Express the day that we traveled.

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Lovely start. We have been to Alaska many times, but have not been to Denali. It is on my "to-do" list.

Here are a few pictures of the wonderful scenery from the Wilderness Express trip from Anchorage to Denali --

A picture of the Wilderness Express at the Denali Train Station --

Here are pictures of the humorous signs from the road up to the Grande Denali Lodge --

A view from the Grande Denali Lodge --

https://vimeo.com/132436991

A few pictures from Denali National Park -- The pictures do not do justice to the beauty of the park ---

Thanks TD1, lovely posts and sounds like a really first class adventure.

Jeff

Did this same trip last May. Thanks for bringing forward our wonderful memories. SS is the only way to go to really cruise and experience Alaska.

We are in Juneau today with decent cell service.

Our trip from Denali to Alyeska Resort was by bus. We stopped at Martin Buser's to visit the sled dogs and hear the stories of the Iditarod. Simply amazing.

Just as we were arriving near Alyeska, we stopped along the Turnagain Arm. We were just in time to witness the bore tide coming through. We watched a surfer ride the wave for a very long distance.

The check in at the Alyeska Resort was once again very smooth. SilverSea had us already checked in. We were handed our keys to our rooms as we exited the motor coach. The Alyeska Resort is a ski area during the winter. It is in a beautiful location.

For the evening, we had made reservations ahead of time for the Seven Glaciers Restaurant which is at the top of the gondola ride. If you want to go there then make reservations ahead of time as they only had a few late (9:30 PM) spots available.

The Seven Glaciers Restaurant was very nice. The food, service and wine selection was excellent. I would recommend jacket for gentlemen. A tie is optional. The view from the restaurant is amazing as one can see the glaciers as well view Turnagain Arm as well.

The next morning we had free time to do whatever we wanted. There were excursions available. We chose to walk around the beautiful property and relax.

Our pickup for the motor coach was at 1:45 PM. Our luggage was picked up from our room at 10:00AM. The luggage was going ahead of us on a truck to the Silver Shadow.

We arrived to our train pickup location around 2:00 PM. We were waiting on the train to arrive from Anchorage with the other SilverSea guest. It arrived about 2:40 PM as it was delayed slightly leaving Anchorage. There were five passenger cars of which four of them were full when the trained arrived. We were assigned to seating in the fifth car.

The ride Seward was nothing short of spectacular. The views were very beautiful. A treat in itself. We were checked in on the train and handed out ship cards at that time after filling out the health survey.

Upon arrival, boarding the boat we were directed to the front desk to have our picture taken and to provide a credit card. Champagne was served during this process. When we arrived to our room, our luggage was already present. Note that we arrived to the port around 5:30 PM

The life boat drill occurred shortly after around 6:00 PM.

I must report that the Silver Shadow is in excellent condition. The original art work hung through out the ship is incredible. There is art work from Picasso , Dali, Alexander Renoir as well as many others.

I have to close for now as we are off for a whale watching excursion. I will post more later. Also, I will post pictures as time and Internet connection allows.

Thanks TD1, lovely posts and sounds like a really first class adventure. Jeff

YES!!! Super appreciate your wonderful visuals and this sharing from Alaska. We have not yet been there, BUT, have it on our future "to-do" lists. Had friends there last year and they totally loved the experience. Keep posting and sharing.

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

From our Jan. 25-Feb. 20, 2015, Amazon River-Caribbean combo sailing over 26 days that started in Barbados, here is the link below to that live/blog. Lots of great visuals from this amazing Brazil river and these various Caribbean Islands (Dutch ABC's, St. Barts, Dominica, Grenada, etc.) that we experienced. Check it out at:

http://www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2157696

Now at 24,892 views for these postings.

Thanks Leslie Chapmam for your wonderful comments on your pre-cruise and check in! Enjoy the rest of your trip!

On our day of embarkation , July 2nd, we ate dinner the The Restaurant. The choice of food was excellent. The service was excellent as well. In addition, the decor of the dining room is very nice.

The voyage coming out of Seward encountered a few waves. The boat was rocking enough for us to put on our scopolamine patches. We made it through the night and the next day was much smoother.

Day 2 was a sea day with a visit to the Hubbard Glacier. The weather could not have been better. We were able to get to within a half mile of the glacier. The Hubbard glacier is very impressive. It is six miles across its face. We were able to witness several small calving of the glacier.

We arrived in Sitka the next day. We had breakfast in our room. It was excellent. Our shore excursion was Sea Otters, Raptors and Bears. It was a wonderful excursion.

http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/07/05/113f894d38c376228dbe908b640454b4.jpg[/img

On day 4 we had dinner in Le Champagne. The service and the menu was exceptional. There are only seven tables in this restaurant. It is worth the visit.

On day 4, July 5th, we are in Juneau. Our excursion today was whale watching. Today we are docked where as in Sitka, we were tendered to shore.

Great photos. What camera and lens do you use please?

Thanks! I am using a Canon 60D with a 70-200 lens. Having said this, a friend of mine traveling with us is using a Canon SX 520 hs with 42x optical zoom. There is a new model out, Canon SX 530 hs, which has 50x optical zoom. The pictures that my friend are able to take put mine to shame. Nikon has a zoom camera as well as Fujifilm. They are all 16 megapixels. I hope that this helpful.

Today is July 6. We docked in Skagway. The sail in this morning was beautiful. The weather is cooperating today as we have a sunny day with warmer temperatures.

Our excursion today was Heli Hike and White Pass Train ride. The helicopter flight to the trail head for us was spectacular. We flew over mountains and glaciers.

Laughton Glacier

I will post more pictures later. We are headed out a French Wine Tasting in Le Champagne.

Great pics. Congratulations on your day at Hubbard glacier. We have been there three times, and your pics show a day vastly better than any of ours.