Shadow bound 7/21/16

Arrived into Vancouver late last evening. Staying on the club floor of the Pan Pacific. Lovely accommodations. The convenience it affords one in relation to boarding a ship is priceless.

Vancouver is a lovely city for embarkation as there are so many options for things to do.

Having been here on a few occasions, we returned to our favorites. Coming from the east coast, we had a leisurely morning. Opted to check out "Fly Over Canada" which now occupies the space of the old IMAX theater at Canada Place. It was exhilarating and really captures the natural beauty of Canada itself. We were in the first group at opening and fortunately got two of the end seats, making the experience even better. When we departed, the queue was lengthy. There was a Princess ship and also a Holland America docked for embarkation.

Decided to go over to Granville Island Public Market. The kiosks inside are amazing and offers wonderful cuisine options. It was an easy choice for lunch. The grocery shopping options are so attractive, it makes me wish I could live here just to do my marketing.

The weather was so lovely it screamed for outdoor activity. I opted for a 10k run on the sea shore and Stanley Park. By mid afternoon, the jet lag and time change caught up with me and required a siesta.

Dinner, we were back at our favorite local haunt, "Cardero's", a seafood restaurant, a little over a mile walk from the hotel. We have eaten here every time we visit Vancouver and the food is consistently great. Service is exemplary. Always a packed house and it earns it.

Looking forward to Shadow's arrival tomorrow morning. 7 days up to Seward and then we are staying in the Kenai to do some fishing for 8 days. From there we will drive up to Anchorage for a few nights before joining the Silversea extended land trip up to Denali. We did this trip 2 years ago and were so pleased, it was a no brainer to sign up once again. After the 4 night excursion, we join the train to Seward from Girdwood and once again have the privilege to join Shadow back to Vancouver.

This will be our 3rd trip to Alaska. Crazy considering we've been traveling by sea for 25 years, visited over 100 countries, only to discover we were missing out on a gem. There is a lot of commercialism in Alaska and a vast amount of ships, especially now with the current climate of world events. It was always the reason we avoided coming here. Once we did, the natural beauty snagged us in. There is just something so special about Alaska. We've been to Antarctica, and also the Arctic Circle and given a choice, we would return to Alaska over and over.

Plan to do a little posting during our time. If anyone considering this itinerary or SS in general has questions, ask away.

We sail on the Shadow in October from Hong Kong so I would love more I for and the ship. I am trying to convince my husband to do an Alaska cruise but he is reluctant. I will follow your posts closely.

Enjoy your trip.

We did the expedition to Alaska on the discoverer.

If you can get to Unga island it's worth it.

A mystical place.

Fair Winds & Following Alaska seas Christie. Look forward to reading your posts.

Hug Jimmy for me! Enjoy the trip!

Absolutely love your attitude and sense of adventure, KaraokeQueen. Can only dream of visiting all of the places you've been.

Alaska was the first cruise of our lives and being that it was on the Silvesea, the experience was so exceptional that we haven't cruised with any other lines since. There is something to be said for satisfaction.

Have a wonderful voyage!

I am trying to convince my husband to do an Alaska cruise but he is reluctant.

If you are able to go someday, I highly recommend a visit to Wrangell to experience the Anan Bear and Wildlife Observatory. Truly an incredible memory I will never forget between watching mother bears teach their young how to fish, let alone the largest concentration of bald eagles you'll ever see in the wild.

Thanks for all the kind words. Woke up at 5:30, hoping to be awake to watch Shadow arrive. Waited and waited and waited and finally checked the itinerary for our August segment to find the ship wouldn't arrive until 9:00 a.m. Well, we did not go back to bed. Decided to have another run. It is a beautiful sunny day here in Vancouver.

DT: I'll enjoy giving Jimmy that hug for you ;)

Let the adventure begin :)

Karaoke Queen: Sounds like you have a spectacular adventure lined up. We are boarding the Shadow for the fourth time on September 15 in Vancouver for the repositioning cruise ending in Tokyo. I have seen some comments about the Shadow needing to be refurbished. Would appreciate any comments you may have after boarding on the condition of the ship. Be interested if the comments are just from naysayers.

Certainly will. Notice you are from Naples. I live in Pelican Bay. Glad to be away from the afternoon thunderstorms!

Your introductory post struck a happy nerve. We too have traveled all around the world, for about 35 years. We have been to the most exotic places on earth, and yet....Alaska, in good weather (fingers crossed for you) on The Shadow, was one of our most favorite experiences. Our third Alaskan cruise started in San Francisco, a thrill in itself, so we had a marvelous additional 3 days.

I couldn't recommend visiting Alaska more....wouldn't want to live there, but sure do love to sail there!

My husbands reluctance is because he has been to Alaska many times. His father was president of one of the pipeline companies that build many miles of the Alaska pipeline, so we are exploring things that neither of us has seen until we run out of ideas.

If you have the time please try the helicopter trip up to the glacier above town. Three glaciers come together and it is one of the most beautiful sites I have ever seen. Enjoy!

Greetings from a placid inside passage. It's a refreshing 55 degrees with overcast skies. Beautiful cloud clinging to the mountains. Should be a perfect opportunity to see whales today.

Embarkation was a breeze. The Pan Pacific bellman took our bags directly to the ship check in and they were delivered to our room. Around 11:30 we walked down to the check in, processed through customs and on board in a matter of 5 minutes.

Always such a wonderful feeling to be on board and see so many familiar faces. Enjoyed a delicious lunch out on the veranda at La Terrazza. The ship is full with a total of 37 children. They do have an activity director on board for their amusement. All seem to be "polished" and haven't provided any annoyance :D With so many ports of call, I think this will continue to be the story. It's actually refreshing to see so many young adults on board. I've been told there are a few multi-generational families traveling together. God Bless them. Making memories and that is what travel should be about.

As to the condition of the physical ship. It is in beautiful shape. I have yet to come across anything that I would characterize as unsightly.

We are fortunate to have two lecturers on board. One being Niki Sepsas , who we have traveled with before and find him to be a terrific person and great speaker. He has the most interesting stories. The other speaker is new to us, a Prof. Steven Okulewicz. His back round will cover a variety of topics relating to Geology.

JonJoe and Susana are in the Bar and are two of my absolute favorites. Captain Luigi Rutigliano is at the helm and we have sailed with him several times. Jimmy Kovel is the Cruise Director, also another favorite of ours. Like I said before, there are several wait/bar/front desk staff who are familiar to us. It really makes the on board experience special.

Dinner in the main dining room was a packed house. The service was exemplary. The dress is a little out of whack but, it is Alaska. I realize that this issue is a big deal to some but, personally, I worry about myself only and remain in good spirits. Looking forward to formal "optional" tonight and the Captain's Welcome party.

Off to listen to another personal favorite, Philip Rosenthal, "MY" personal shopper. He is such a fascinating guy and has been a real asset to me and my spouse on several cruises.

Isn't it wonderful when a cruise line offers options to suit everyone ;)

Thanks Karaoke Queen. Sounds like a good time will be had by all. Hope we can hook up in Naples at some point.

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Thanks for the reports. Love Alaska!

Christie, wanted to wish you both a wonderful voyage.

Thanks for taking the time to post.

Enjoy!

Keith

Enjoying your posts very much Christie. And I agree about Niki - we sailed with him in S.America earlier this year and he's one of the best, most interesting speakers and a great guy.

Alaska is the last great frontier -- love it !

Dusababy aka Mary Ann

Loving the review thus far!

Having a devil of a time in the Cruise Critic site today. All other web sites I visit are working fine and the internet for the most part has been good on board.

The first full sea day had an array of activities. My Husband and I attended several lectures. Stopped into the Bar where they were having a beer tasting over the lunch hour. It was a pub style lunch with the quartet entertaining. We chose the dining room for lunch. It was quiet and relaxing.

The evening was Formal optional. We only saw 2 tuxedos and about 10% of the women actually wore cocktail dresses. My Husband observed the bartender informing one man that a jacket was required and he basically blew her off.

The Captain's cocktail party was well attended. There are 19 different nationalities on board. It's a very civilized crowd, even the kids :) We had the pleasure of dining alone with the Cruise Director. While he went on to attend to his duties, we called it an early night, taking advantage of the extra hour as the clocks fell back an hour. It was odd in the dining room. Usually after the Captain's party, it is jammed packed and a line up to get in. Not the case. Don't know where all the people were.

Well, that didn't work exactly as planned. We woke up at 5:30 a.m. I wasn't going to let that go to waste so I went up to the gym and ran 5 miles. Would have preferred the great outdoors but the blustery weather that would greet us in Ketchikan made it impossible. Got back to the room just in time to meet the butler for our breakfast delivery. Once we arrived in Ketchikan, there was a Princess ship in port. The rain and wind was fierce at times, turning my ship umbrella inside out. It was quite an engineering feat but, I managed to upright it and relied on my rain jacket instead. Many shore excursions involving sea planes were cancelled. We walked through town to the creek to observe the salmon struggling to head up river, did some shopping and decided to return to the ship for lunch. The timing was perfect because the rain and wind had increased again and we were joined in port by a Disney and also a Norwegian vessel. As a note, Ketchikan gets around 15 feet of rain a year. No complaints by me. The fresh cool air is perfect.

We departed around 1:45. There are a couple of lectures this afternoon. Tonight we dine in La Terrazza. There is a cabaret show tonight. Probably take a pass on that as we have a full day in Juneau tomorrow. Looking forward to lots of shopping and dinner off the ship.

Niki's lecture yesterday on the wildlife of Alaska was a great presentation. He also covered why Alaska has such an interesting border. About to head off to the gym but, wanted to mention a few things.

Weather looks to be a little moist here in Juneau too. Heavy mist. The seas were a bit rocky during the night. Praying for the sun to burn it off so that others can enjoy the float plane experiences and the Mount Roberts tram.

The person I mentioned above who was not happy be advised of the jacket requirements can to the bar last night dressed appropriately. Sometimes all it takes is to be made aware. There was another person sans jacket. In truth I can over look it. What was hard to overlook was the fact that his wife had her shoes off, her feet were in his lap and he was giving them a massage. In the bar? Geez! Guess they did a little hiking yesterday :rolleyes:

The food in La Terrazza was excellent. Decided to spurge on the chicken parmigiana as the entree and was pleasantly surprised to find the chicken was not breaded or fried.

Also learned that there are less the 50 Venetian on board this voyage. I guess it is typical for the Alaska season. Pretty flattering that so many newbies would chose Silversea in a highly competitive market.

So nice to read of your adventures. One day we will make it to Alaska, the cooler climate has never appealed to us, but we have yet to hear one person say anything but wonderful things about Alaska.

You are so lucky to have Philip on board, not only is he a great personnel shopper, he is also fun to dance with!

Continue to enjoy!

Thanks for keeping us up to date KQueen. Please send my regards to Jimmy.

Have a great time. It is still so hot in your/our neck of the woods. At least on your coast you do not have the Algae problems we are having.

I'm so enjoying your posts. We will be doing this cruise next June, travelling from the UK, and I am therefore very interested in the excursions you undertake, and your comments on the ship and the ports. Silversea will be a new experience for us, although we have cruised several times before. I'm looking forward to it!

About to depart Skagway. Our 3 friends were here with us today (2 RCCL/1 Princess). This is not exactly an easy port for anyone with physical limitations. The docks are quite a distance from downtown. The train did pull aside our pier, shortening the walk for those taking the White Pass tour. There are also shuttles in town to get from one end to the other. There is a nice Klondike gold rush museum to tour, along with my shops with artisan merchandise.

Having been to these ports of call on two other occasions, we are not doing any organized shore excursions. I will mention that in all ports, local tourism agencies offer the same excursions that you can purchase through the cruise line. We've done the rail before and gone on nature excursions and really enjoyed them.

The weather today was still quite cold but, fortunately, no rain. The wind was so strong that it was difficult at times to walk. Still waiting for my first whale sighting. There was a breach right next to the ship two nights ago. I wasn't near a window but, saw the excitement of the lucky ones who saw it.

Really surprised at how busy the gym has been. I get up there right at the 6:30 opening and within 15 minutes, every piece of equipment is in use. It's not the young demographics playing a role here.

Enjoyed a nice halibut and king crab lunch at the Skagway Fish Company. Tonight is the Venetian Society party. Tomorrow will be the last port of call, Sitka, which is a tender port. How quickly the time flies on a 7 day cruise. I would highly recommend anyone doing one of these itineraries, look at taking one of the extending land trips into the interior of Alaska. I've done it before and will be doing it again, prior to the start of my August segment.