Live silver shadow alaska june 6, 2013

Thought I would start this report for tomorrow’s sailing of the beautiful Silversea Silver Shadow from Seward to Vancouver. This is an adventure for me, as it is the first time I have ever sailed solo. My husband, John, usually is by my side and we have cruised Alaska three times, but business conflicts didn’t allow him to come on this trip. We did just finish a Crystal Symphony cruise together over Memorial Day, but I’m by myself on this one. Silversea had a great single supplement on this sailing, so it was attractive. I have to admit to a bit of trepidation over cruising alone, especially dining, but know Silversea is very welcoming and I’m looking forward to this relaxing and scenic trip.

Our itinerary is Seward, Hubbard Glacier, Sitka, Cruising Tracyarm/Sawyer Glacier, Juneau, Skagway, Ketchikan, Inside Passage and finally, Vancouver. We’ve sailed the Shadow before and were regular Silversea passengers, and I’m eager to see some of the familiar crew again.

I flew from Dulles to Anchorage, via Seattle on United business. Got a rental car and did some sightseeing on the Kenai Peninsula which is breathtaking. Stayed at the Alyeska Resort, a lovely hotel about an hour south of Anchorage. The spring flowers are blooming and the weather is spectacular today. Will drive into Seward early tomorrow morning and visit the Sealife Center and town, then return the rental car and board the ship in early afternoon.

The majority of passengers, I believe, are taking the complimentary train trip from Anchorage to Seward that Silversea has arranged. They will arrive at 5:30 pm for a 6 pm sailing if on schedule.

Hope anyone else onboard will feel free to comment on this sailing. So happy to be back on Silversea.

Kathy

Looking forward to your posts, Kathy. We have been to Alaska many times and have stayed at alyeska a couple of times. It has had it's ups and downs, but on an upswing on our most recent trip. Really love the drive from anchorage to Seward.

Kathy have a great time.

Anne Marie and I sailed Alaska on the Silver Shadow in 2009 and enjoyed it. We have sailed Alaska since then on the Symphony and the Serenity.

Enjoy the beauty of Alaska and I look forward to reading your posts.

Keith

Hi Kathy (John too, know well he is following your Shadow Alaska voyage closely) thanks for the Alaska voyage appetizer, look forward to reading more posts. Have a terrific cruise.

Have a great trip, keep us posted!

Bon voyage. Have a wonderful cruise. Even though we travel as a couple, we have found Silversea (crew and passengers) to be very friendly to solo travelers.There is typically a solo travelers dinner table in the evening so you can ask to be seated with the group. You can attend the solo traveler get-together (cocktails, sometimes they continue on to dinner) or just ask the maitre'd in the dining room to seat you at that table if you are so inclined!

Enjoy!

The drive down to Seward was wonderful, with snow capped peaks, water and beautiful views everywhere. I walked around the shops in Seward and the Museum, returned the car and was driven to the terminal.

Boarding was the easiest ever! I was the only passenger there, walked through security and onto the ship to the front desk. I was checked in and invited to have lunch in the dining room. I was only the fifth passenger to board by 1:30.

There were only 2 occupied tables, and Head Waiter Emerson welcomed me warmly and said he would watch over me for the cruise. I had a brief lunch served well by Renald, and it was time to go to my cabin.

I had asked for a Terrace Suite if one was available, and to my delight, it was. It is actually one of the accessible cabins on deck 5, and is very large and well set up. Having the Terrace will be perfect for stepping out to get photos and watching the gorgeous views. I feel very fortunate. There was a bottle of Dom Perignon from AMEX, along with S/b credit from them. There also was an invitation from Hostesses Pricilla and Alison to a solo cocktail party tomorrow. So far, Silversea has been extremely welcoming and I feel right at home.

Dinner tonight will be galley dinner, buffet style. Restaurant reservations will be available tomorrow due to the late arrival of most of the passengers. I'm off now to explore more of the ship.

Thank you all for your good wishes.

Here is the Shadow in port in Seward.

Friday June 7 at sea, cruising Hubbard Glacier

Yesterday, I was lucky to have a chance meeting with Krakatoa of CC and he is continuing his back to back cruises here in Alaska. We had afternoon tea and discussed his extensive cruise experience and compared notes. We will start a trivia team for the remainder of the cruise.

Did the mandatory life boat drill, then got dressed for dinner. Went up to the panorama for the sailaway and met up with Krakatoa. Kurt, the Cruise Director, invited us to dinner and we enjoyed the galley spread meal along with speaker Georgeanne Irvine and her friend. Georgeanne is with the San Diego Zoo and will speak today on The Katrina Dolphins. A really fun and informative dinner and we appreciate Kirk's hospitality.

Went to bed early and the seas started churning. The Shadow was rocking and rolling all night, and continues as I write this morning. Crew says its some of the highest they've seen on this itinerary. Dining room was pretty empty for breakfast. Should resolve as we enter Hubbard Glacier cruising at 3.

Another lecture will be Dr Paul Weser speaking on Sitka the Russian Imperial of Alaska before we reach the glacier.

Tonight is the Captain's Welcome Party with formal optional, a dress code we haven't experienced yet. Apparently last cruise no one dressed in tux and very very few dressy dresses. We will see tonight. Last night people were more casual than we had previously seen on SS, but it is Alaska and a relaxed (but not indifferent) dress code seems practical.

Show tonight is Fabbalicious, based on the music of Abba.

Will close for now and try to get this posted.

Kathy

Friday June 7 at sea, cruising Hubbard Glacier

 

Yesterday, I was lucky to have a chance meeting with Krakatoa of CC and he is continuing his back to back cruises here in Alaska. We had afternoon tea and discussed his extensive cruise experience and compared notes. We will start a trivia team for the remainder of the cruise.

Did the mandatory life boat drill, then got dressed for dinner. Went up to the panorama for the sailaway and met up with Krakatoa. Kurt, the Cruise Director, invited us to dinner and we enjoyed the galley spread meal along with speaker Georgeanne Irvine and her friend. Georgeanne is with the San Diego Zoo and will speak today on The Katrina Dolphins. A really fun and informative dinner and we appreciate Kirk's hospitality.

Went to bed early and the seas started churning. The Shadow was rocking and rolling all night, and continues as I write this morning. Crew says its some of the highest they've seen on this itinerary. Dining room was pretty empty for breakfast. Should resolve as we enter Hubbard Glacier cruising at 3.

Another lecture will be Dr Paul Weser speaking on Sitka the Russian Imperial of Alaska before we reach the glacier.

Tonight is the Captain's Welcome Party with formal optional, a dress code we haven't experienced yet. Apparently last cruise no one dressed in tux and very very few dressy dresses. We will see tonight. Last night people were more casual than we had previously seen on SS, but it is Alaska and a relaxed (but not indifferent) dress code seems practical.

Show tonight is Fabbalicious, based on the music of Abba.

Will close for now and try to get this posted.

Kathy

Thanks for sharing. Sounds like a fun afternoon and evening. Kirk is terrific at hosting solo travellers and making sure everyone is enjoying things. We think he is a fantastic, experienced and professional CD and a great addition to Silversea. You will have fun at his trivia. I hope the seas calm down/slow down for you! Looking forward to future reports....

Thanks Kathy for another delightful Alaska on the Shadow post.

Spectacular day at Hubbard Glacier yesterday. captain got us within 2 miles, 5 miles closer than the ships just a day before got in. COLD but gorgeous.

had dinner with Hotel director Helmut and HR Officer Ginny. Just a delightful time. Sitka today.

Here are some photos of the Captain and Pilot and Hubbard Glacier from the beautiful Shadow.

More images

Shadow Alaska

Seals at Hubbard Glacier

Approaching Hubbard Glacier

Amazing...thanks for sharing.

Part of me has wanted to do an Alaska cruise and the other part is mixed due to the fact i've been there a few times for business (Juneau and Fairbanks)...but your photos are pushing me in the direction of taking the plunge!

Kathy, wonderful, stunning pix--thanx for posting.

Thanks Wes. I am enjoying this cruise immensely and the Shadow crew are taking incredible care of me. My butler, Ari, is wonderful and kind. I would encourage any solo travelers to get onboard.

Herman the Cat, Kirk says hello. Do take this cruise, it is much more than the cities it visits.

Our team won trivia yesterday with 26 of 26 despite Kirk's tough questions. Off to try again today as we sail out of Sitka for Juneau. Having dinner with neighbors next to my cabin tonight in La Terrazza.

Thanks for the updates - it is making me miss the Shadow even more :(

'harbormaster' I suspect you are using the Cruise Critic App to post: correct? Does anyone know who we have to talk to in order to get the App to upload larger images? I was disappointed when I got back to see the images I had uploaded were so small :(

I am really enjoying your trip and remembering how gorgeous Alaska is. Thanx

LaVieBoheme: Pls see Terry from Ohio's easy to follow directions on posting larger pix vs thumbnails below. We also use (no cost) Photobucket to post our SS cruise piz, but first copy the IMG code into a word document (to save minutes) then post our pix.

Northerncheapo, here are Terry from Ohio's very good pix posting instructions..hope they help:

I use Photobucket and have been pleased with how it works, uploads, etc. Here are my notes on how to do larger pictures. Below are a couple of examples for I have posted from my earlier pictures.

For posting photos to these boards, your FIRST STEP is pick an outside web source that will store or “host” your pictures to be posted. Cruise Critic does not have the space to do larger pictures on their site. You can check such places as photobucket.com, imageshack.com, photoshow.com, flickr.com, picasa.google.com etc. I’ve used photobucket.com and have been pleased with how they upload, etc. SECOND, you need to make an export of your picture in a size such as around 1000 pixel wide by about 700 to your desktop of your computer. That’s the approximate size that I use for this purpose. If you make your file too big for posting, then it slows the process and takes long to upload, etc. THIRD, you use this outside web host to which you upload these different pictures sitting on your desktop. FOURTH, after uploading each picture, you will make a copy of that imbedded address in your file for future posting purposes. It will have have the square parentheses or bracket symbols before and after the capital letter IMG at the start and end of this location on your photo storage site.

Then as you want to post each different picture, you would, FIFTH STEP, copy and paste that imbedded address file for each picture as a part of your message on the CC Boards. In my files, I also have brief written description of each picture and have them grouped by the different city or country locations. With this imbedded file address, the reader on these boards doesn’t have to check on anything or paste to their web browser. It just pops up showing the picture. Does this help? Let us know how it works out and/or any added questions. It will hopefully pop up as these couple of pictures do below. You can preview your post to see if it's working OK before doing the actual post to these CC boards.

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

Thanks for your live review of your voyage! My best friends, Scott and Michael are cruising with you! Unfortunately they aren't CC members so I was going to have to wait until they returned to hear about their voyage and to see pics. NOT anymore! I can follow along with them now! Thanks again harbormaster and have a GREAT voyage!

LaVieBoheme: Pls see Terry from Ohio's easy to follow directions on posting larger pix vs thumbnails below. We also use (no cost) Photobucket to post our SS cruise piz, but first copy the IMG code into a word document (to save minutes) then post our pix.

 

 

 

Northerncheapo, here are Terry from Ohio's very good pix posting instructions..hope they help:

 

I use Photobucket and have been pleased with how it works, uploads, etc. Here are my notes on how to do larger pictures. Below are a couple of examples for I have posted from my earlier pictures.

 

For posting photos to these boards, your FIRST STEP is pick an outside web source that will store or “host” your pictures to be posted. Cruise Critic does not have the space to do larger pictures on their site. You can check such places as photobucket.com, imageshack.com, photoshow.com, flickr.com, picasa.google.com etc. I’ve used photobucket.com and have been pleased with how they upload, etc. SECOND, you need to make an export of your picture in a size such as around 1000 pixel wide by about 700 to your desktop of your computer. That’s the approximate size that I use for this purpose. If you make your file too big for posting, then it slows the process and takes long to upload, etc. THIRD, you use this outside web host to which you upload these different pictures sitting on your desktop. FOURTH, after uploading each picture, you will make a copy of that imbedded address in your file for future posting purposes. It will have have the square parentheses or bracket symbols before and after the capital letter IMG at the start and end of this location on your photo storage site.

 

Then as you want to post each different picture, you would, FIFTH STEP, copy and paste that imbedded address file for each picture as a part of your message on the CC Boards. In my files, I also have brief written description of each picture and have them grouped by the different city or country locations. With this imbedded file address, the reader on these boards doesn’t have to check on anything or paste to their web browser. It just pops up showing the picture. Does this help? Let us know how it works out and/or any added questions. It will hopefully pop up as these couple of pictures do below. You can preview your post to see if it's working OK before doing the actual post to these CC boards.

 

THANKS! Enjoy! Terry in Ohio

Colonel (and Terry): Yes: I am aware of these instructions and I use them: though the last time I tried embedding an image from Flickr.com (my preferred site) it did not work (maybe too big?)

But I was speaking specifically about the CC App that I have on my iPhone - on an iPhone these instructions are not possible and the image that is uploaded by the App is really tiny (especially when viewed on a 27" monitor).

I just checked online and I saw a 4TB drive for $59.99 (http://www.newegg.com) - that is a *lot* of photos of cruise ships in beautiful locations :)

A quick online check shows that CC is owned by http://www.tripadvisor.com and their App does allow me to upload large images that are hosted their site. I am also sure that TripAdvisor has 'unlimited' cloud storage (probably on Amazon.com S3) so it seems that uploading and hosting larger images should be possible. CC should talk to their corporate masters: I am certain TripAdvisor would like to have a unified, common, storage solution across all of their 'portals' as it would be cheaper to maintain.