TravelDoc01

Tiki_Man, That is Great! Happy for you! Four weeks for us (SD1).

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Wow! Sorry for your travel issues from the weather. Hopefully you will make it out. If you get delayed, a fall back is to take Tradewinds aviation from Antigua to St. Barth and catch the SeaDream in St. Barth. It is a 37 minute flight. We have flown with Tradewinds in the past from San Juan to St. Barth. At least, once you get through this debacle you will be in warm weather on a fantastic yacht and cruise! We have to wait until March 31st before we will be back on the SeaDream again! Wishing you the best!

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Ours was a small group of 8 people with a different company. One checked suitcase per person on all inside China airlines. An extra suitcase would have been permitted, but we would have had to pay extra for it on each of our 8 inner China flights. (4 week trip) If you are in a large group, you may or may not get away with what pinotlover describes.

 

 

 

The price for laundry on the Yangtze ship was reasonable and the washing service was excellent.

Thank you for the information. Appreciate the comment about the laundry on board the ship.

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People are limited to one checked bag per person according to the brochures. However, my wife and I had three between us, so one extra. What seemed to happen was our group, with the Airlines, was limited by poundage more than total numbers. So, for example, if people are limited to 50 lbs each and you have 30 people, we got 1500 pounds of luggage through. Kevin, our CD, would work the deal since some people had less heavy luggage. As people bought stuff along the way, that margin almost diminished to the point we barely got the extra suitcase on our last flight. In retrospect, I shouldn't have brought the extra suitcase. Keep it to one apiece.

Thanks for the information.

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Can someone speak to any luggage limitations on the Uniworld tour in China and the Yangtze ? Air China? Thanks!

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Many thanks!

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Does anyone have the link to the travel special film that Hum and Blondie starred in? I want to share with a friend who is looking at SeaDream for next year. It would be their first on SeaDream!

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Thanks for the excellent report! Love SeaDream! I will be on the SDII again in a couple of weeks (4/1). Very much looking forward to the trip!

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We used Guideguru in St. Petersburg on our cruise last summer. We used them for both days. We were very pleased with the service and the tour. Our guide was excellent!

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We had good day at sea yesterday. The weather was sunny and the seas smooth. It was a relaxing day on board. Leslie and I took it easy in the morning. We enjoyed eating breakfast while just watching the sea. We had lunch with friends inThe Restaurant. It was a lovely lunch with a table by the windows. We have had excellent service all across the Silver Shadow all week. The staff in every location were always cordial and attentive. Note that I picked up from a previous post about befriending the sommelier early in the cruise. I made a point to do so. However, this group probably would have provided the service anyway. However, I enjoyed getting to know them early on. They were more than willing to meet our request both at lunch and dinner for a wine more to our taste that was included in the package without hesitation. In addition, I have come to appreciate a ruby port with dessert. I became a fan after a trip to Oporto Portugal and the Duoro River Valley last year where we toured a port winery. It was there that my very limited knowledge of port wines was expanded. I learned about the white port which is partaken as an aperitif. Then ruby port of which my understanding is that there is a vintage ( reserve) as well as a late bottled vintage. Of course there is tawny port. There are additional types of port. However, I have digressed enough as well as exhausted my limited knowledge. I am sure that there are much more knowledgable and experienced port aficionados on these boards.

Anyway, I requested a ruby port from the sommelier. Without hesitation, she left and returned with a bottle of a ruby port. it was included in the package. It was a very good port that I enjoyed with friends as well during the cruise.

The afternoon of the last sea day was spent mostly in the Panorama Lounge visiting with a friend that was cruising in our group. His family was off doing other activities as well. We enjoyed coffee, the wonderful view as well as the music of the wonderful quartet that was in the lounge this week. They played in the afternoon on this sea day as well.

We attended the farewell show which was before dinner on the last day. It included singing from the wonderful Voices of the SilverSea. They have been performing after dinner all week. The three ladies and three gentlemen are very talented. The shows were very enjoyable. Following the performance, the Captain came on stage and brought up as he introduced the various crew and staff. . It was a great opportunity for us to show our appreciation with a standing ovation for the dedicated service they have provided all week.

We dined in The Restaurant and enjoyed another wonderful dinner.

Afterwards, we retired to our room to work on getting our luggage ready to be put out by 11:00 PM.

Today, we had breakfast and then said our good byes to our wonderful butler Noli as well as our excellent attendant Marites. Once our color was called, we disembarked the ship very smoothly. Our luggage was readily together in the terminal and an attendant was right there to assist with our luggage. As we are doing the post cruise portion on the Rocky Mountaineer Train to Banff, the SilverSea staff were right there to gather us and direct the way. The trip through customs was smooth. A van was waiting. Our luggage was loaded and we were off for our tour of Vancouver followed by arriving at our hotel for the evening.

I will close for now. I will continue as access to Internet allows.

We continue to have the good fortune of excellent weather. Our visit to Ketchikan on July 7th was very enjoyable. The town is very charming. We are only in port for the afternoon so we made the most of our visit. We walked up to Creek Street to see if the salmon were present yet. I am reporting that the salmon are running late this year. Thus we did not see any. We did enjoy our walk around town. I was then off to my excursion which was a float plane ride through the Misty Fjords. It was a very enjoyable flight over such a beautiful area. We landed briefly T Rudyard Bay and was able to step out of the plane onto the pontoon for a view and a few pictures.

Thank you!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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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.

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

A view from the Grande Denali Lodge --

https://vimeo.com/132436991

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

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

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

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

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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!!