Shadow Hong Kong to Tokyo to Seward

Beginning a thread for these cruises. I hope that others aboard the Shadow will also post here. We have been in Hong Kong for two days, after our sixteen hour flight from Chicago, the longest nonstop we've ever done. Thank goodness for flat bed seats. We board the Shadow around noon today. I am attaching a photo of the Shadow in Hong Kong harbor at 0715 today, taken from our window in the wonderful Hotel Icon, as the Shadow passed on its way to the Ocean Terminal Tsim Sha Tsui. Looking forward to a great trip!

Looks like the smog hasn't gotten any better over the years in HK. Sooo much burning of wood and coal in mainland China. Hope you and Debbie had a great time roaming the area and that my guide helped. Have a wonderful cruise; will enjoy following your posts. Happy Easter!

Anxiously awaiting your reports. Have a great trip! Wes is taking legit sunsets and sunsets.

We will be on the Shadow in June, so looking forward to hearing about your experience and your perspective of the ship.

We are on at the end of July. Anxiously awaiting your reports.

Beautiful shot Wellseasoned! Echoing the sentiments of others, I look forward to following your crossing into Alaskan waters. Have a wonderful time!

Thank you for starting this thread. I am anxious to read about your experiences on the Shadow.

Bill

Hi Dieter & Debbie, Fair Winds & Following Seas hope y'all have a terrific sailing. Look forward to reading your posts. Have fun with Chef David's Le Ecole des Chefs classes & demos.

Today, Monday 4-21 we are at sea, the first of two sea days sailing to Shanghai. Boarded the Shadow about noon on Saturday. The Ocean Terminal in Hong Kong is very strange, requiring a walk through a large, multilevel, rather posh shopping mall to reach the location from which you board the ship. After an overnight in port and a nice tour of Lantau Island Sunday, we sailed at 1800 on Sunday. There are about 50 passengers aboard from the last cruise, and the ship is essentially full. About 125 of us will remain aboard for the next cruise, Tokyo to Seward. Around 250 of the passengers are Venetian (repeat) cruisers. As usual, there are some familiar crew members and some familiar fellow passengers. Very friendly group so far. Crew service has been excellent.

The officers include Capt. Destefano, HD Stratos Mylonas, CD Moss Hills. Exec Chef is Edgar Van Der Aar. And we were greeted as old friends shortly after boarding by Head Sommelier Karolina, Restaurant Manager Valentina, and Head Bartender Norbert. And the Cruise Consultant is another old friend, Carl. We feel right at home.

Yesterday the muster was held shortly before sailing. Not at all pleasant. Unlike the other ships, the Shadow does not assemble passengers in a lounge for muster. We were ushered straight outside to the midship port or starboard deck 5 outdoors, packed into mass crowd, standing there for 30 minutes or more. Told to don life jackets with no demo. Then the standard talk by the CD was played over the speakers, which were barely audible on the starboard side. And the in-transit passengers must repeat this for each segment on the Shadow. Groan.

The CC Meet and Mingle was held this morning in the Panorama. There were six of us plus Cruise Consultant Carl. It was a short but pleasant meeting. Carl said that only one person attended on the last voyage.

I haven't examined things in detail yet, but it does look as if the Shadow could stand some updating of electronics, and repairs of things like aging veranda door latches, cabinet doors, wood dings and dents, things that need more than the short superficial dry docks. Some bathroom updates such as the rain showers added to the Cloud would also be nice.

First formal tonight. Must go prepare.

Thanks for including your muster comments. Good to see that they keep one Italian officer aboard to provide the illusion.

Have a wonderful cruise. Please say hello to Carl for us.

Me too!

And us!

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

Yesterday the muster was held shortly before sailing. Not at all pleasant. Unlike the other ships, the Shadow does not assemble passengers in a lounge for muster. We were ushered straight outside to the midship port or starboard deck 5 outdoors, packed into mass crowd, standing there for 30 minutes or more. Told to don life jackets with no demo. Then the standard talk by the CD was played over the speakers, which were barely audible on the starboard side. And the in-transit passengers must repeat this for each segment on the Shadow. Groan.

 

Really sorry to hear this, especially the bit about the in-transits having to repeat. Will love being on the Shadow later this year, but not that.

Have a great voyage and look forward to reading your reports.

Greetings from the lovely Shadow in Shanghai! This city is spectacular! Huge skyscrapers, all in the past 20 years, China's biggest city! We are docked in the heart of it all, great views (though the Crystal Symphony is just in front of us) But the smog is obvious. Masks worn by some in the city. Today the weather was great!

Our lectures have been very good and very well-attended. The destinations lecturer is Lew Deitch.

To those who worry about restaurant reservations: Don't. We only reserved one Champagne and one Terrazza on line, and we needn't have. Those on line reservations on "My Voyage" had been picked up without a hitch. And there were no problems making others onboard. You really don't need to run madly to make reservations the instant you board.

To my friend Col. Wes and others, the pappardelle with duck ragout in Terrazza is not on the menu now, but they say they will prepare it for us as a special request.

On this itinerary we will have communication problems. We were warned early that all satellite communications, including internet, phones, etc. will be banned in Japanese ports and Japanese waters. When there we will be incommunicado. Don't know why, but this is apparently Japan's "thing".

Another new thing of which I was not aware: The onboard booking discount has changed. To get this discount, you now must actually first book a cruise while onboard. You can no longer book a cruise while ashore, then be aboard for an earlier cruise and get the discount for the later cruise you booked while ashore. Now, if you do this, they will give you shipboard credit while on the later cruise to compensate for the previous discount. If this is confusing, contact your agent.

Sounds wonderful. Enjoy Shanghai!

To those who worry about restaurant reservations: Don't. We only reserved one Champagne and one Terrazza on line, and we needn't have. Those on line reservations on "My Voyage" had been picked up without a hitch. And there were no problems making others onboard. You really don't need to run madly to make reservations the instant you board.

Thats encouraging news .. Thanks !

Bob

Lew Deitch was on our South Pacific cruise and added greatly to our enjoyment of the cruise.

Hi Dieter & Debbie, wonderful on board reports thank you for taking the time to keep the SS Cruise Critic audience informed.

EnglishUSA and I had a truly exceptional La Terrraza meal tonight, including your fav:

Darwin, our stellar sommelier paired this with numerous 2006 bottles of:

Look forward to reading more Dieter!

To my friend Col. Wes and others, the pappardelle with duck ragout in Terrazza is not on the menu now, but they say they will prepare it for us as a special request.

My daughter literally just asked whether we thought the Duck Ragout would be available on our cruise this June. I told her it had too broad of a following to be taken off the menu. I guess this is just yet another arrow in her teenage quiver that confirms her father has no clue what he is talking about. :rolleyes:

I can't wait to see her face when I make the special request and they say "Yes"!

Darwin, our stellar sommelier paired this with numerous 2006 bottles of:

 

Today, April 25, we are at sea, en route to Jeju Do, the South Korean resort island. I imagine that the mood there will be somewhat somber because of the ferry boat accident, but that occurred far from the island, so we will be nowhere near it. This is the last sea day before Tokyo. After Jeju we sail to Nagasaki, and from then until we've departed Tokyo at the end of this cruise segment May 3, the satellite communications will be very spotty.

The weather has been good. Only a small amount of rain on the first sea day out of Hong Kong, warm and pleasant in Shanghai. Today it has been sunny to hazy. The seas have been pretty calm, no staggering on the ship. Tonight is the second of three formal nights on this segment, the Venetian reception followed by the "High C's" opera show by the entertainers. We are dining with the HD, Stratos Mylonas. We had not met him before this cruise, but he has been in various positions with SS since 2005, and things seem to be running smoothly.

Dining reservations have been no problem. So far in six nights we have eaten dinner in the restaurant twice, La Terrazza twice, Le Champagne once, and Hot Rocks once. Tonight it is restaurant. Tomorrow we will be in La Terrazza and have arranged to have the pappardelle with duck ragout!

The clocks go forward an hour tonight, and we have an early 7 hour tour on Jeju tomorrow, so can't do much late night carousing.

Here are a few photos from Shanghai.

Sunset en route to Shanghai

View of Shadow and Crystal Symphony docked at Shanghai, from 88th floor of Jin Mao Building.

Daytime view of Pudong skyscrapers, Shanghai.

Night view of Pudong skyscrapers at Shanghai sailaway.

Yu Yuan Gardens

Thanks Dieter--absolutely terrific pix--esp sunset and colorful skyline. We´re u able to snag some White Choc Grappa?

I am enjoying your trip and pix. Looking forward to the Shadow in Sept.

the food photo posted by Wes of the duck looked amazing, i could almost taste it...

enjoy your time aboard the cruise!

thanks for the new info on the booking aboard discount.