Short Review --Mariner Aug 18th - Sept 2nd (Vancouver to Seward)

Cabin 1007 -- Excellent

Ship -- Beautiful

Crew -- Fantastic (everywhere)

Ports -- Very Good to Excellent (except for the tendering necessary because of larger ships in the same port with the Mariner (twice)

Excursions -- Superb (both Choice and Free excursions) except for the Kayaking adventure in Wrangell. Kayaked to nowhere and then returned......

Restaurants -- Fabulous (DW is a foodie and she raved about Chartruese, best ever lobster) Compass Rose was so good!!! Never had any baked Alaska ;););)

Pre-trip Vancouver (4 days) -- unfortunately the smoke from the forest fires in northern British Columbia changed a lot of our plans. We could not take a day flight excursion to Victoria (Butchart Gardens) due to restricted visibility. Similar arrangements to Whistler were cancelled due to the smoke. Did a lot within Vancouver, especially Stanley Park.

After trip to Denali -- if I did it again I would do Denali first. The last 2 days were not up to Regent standards for hotel accommodations or food availability. I will caveat that by saying we were forewarned. We had 3 days of blue skies in Denali which I understand is very unusual. Therefore all was well leaving Alaska.

Flights -- made own arrangements

Thank you for taking the time to review your cruise. We can really identify with the smoke as we live only 50 miles from the port - it was very uncomfortable for many people.

Good to hear that you enjoyed the crew (they are always wonderful), food and excursions. Not sure if Regent ever does Baked Alaska but if they did, it would be yummy.

If you don't mind, please elaborate on why the last two days were not up to Regent standards and what they told you in advance about this issue. Thanks so much!

All of Denali's hotels / restaurants are only open 4 months of the year. Hard to have a 4 or 5 star experience with seasonal staff. Everyone at the lodge did an admirable job with the limited resources that they have. No complaints from us. I would just to the trip in reverse so that I had the Regent / Vancouver experience at the end of the trip.

Where did you stay in Denali? Not that there are a lot of options. We have found the level of service and accommodation in Alaska hotels to be less than what we are used to while paying a premium price, and unfortunately have just come to accept it. I think they know they have a sort of captive market.

Of course one should realize that the cost (of anything) in Alaska are just higher. Most everything has to be shipped, so it's just going to be costly.

Grande Denali Lodge -- which is up on the side of a mountain overlooking the entrance to Denali National Park. Fantastic view!!! As i said previously the staff did as much as they could with what they have.

At the beginning of the Denali portion of the land trip we stayed one night at Mt. Alyeska Resort. That is a true 4 -5 star property. Beautiful tram ride to the top of Mt. Alyeska for a wonderful dinner that surprisingly was not that expensive <$100 for the 2 of us. The view from Seven Glaciers Restaurant was spectacular with 6 stars!!!

We have stayed at Alyeska a couple of times. The first, I was really disappointed, and this is probably 20 years ago. The food was not good, service was lazy to be generous, and they just seemed to be living off the fact that they were in a great location, unlike the fabulous lodges in Canada and Lake Louise which are totally wonderful. Second trip was a lot better. Food had definitely improved as had service, but they had changed hands.

We stayed at the Alyeska some years ago and loved it. Girdwood is a nice little "hamlet" too. Found the Seven Glaciers a bit "underwhelming" both for views and food but we live in the Alps and at that time had views of probably 20 glaciers from our chalet! It was OK.

Alaska is one of the cruises we have done that we would like to do again, so reading this brief report was helpful! Thank you!!