Alaska 2024 - Day 0 Embarkation

8 August 2024

Our cruise on Silversea Muse started in Anchorage Alaska, where we went to the Egan Conference and Convention Center. We gave them our luggage and they assigned us to one of the departure busses. We arrived quite early in the morning and were on the first bus from Anchorage to Seward which departed at 10:15 in the morning.

Baggage check was easy and the process well organized. Silversea took care of loading our bags on their truck, and we wouldn't see them again until we got to our cabin on the ship.

We had heard it's often rainy in Alaska, and that's how our trip started. It was overcast with low hanging clouds and pretty heavy rain in Anchorage.

Nonetheless, the scenery on the bus ride down to Seward was breathtaking. We could see mountains, lakes, rivers, and lots of pine trees in all stages of growth enticing us from under the clouds.

Our driver entertained and enlightened us with facts, anecdotes, and some stories during the 3 1/2 hour bus ride down the Seward Highway. The driver had a powerful personality and made sure we all knew she was in charge, lest anyone think of getting rowdy.

The highway was well maintained, but like where we live, near Toronto, Ontario, Canada, there are two seasons. Winter and construction. There were a few delays for construction, totalling about 20 minutes.

We learned that, if you're on a highway in Alaska, you should keep track of what mile marker is closest to you. If anything happens, you can't call 911 and just say you're somewhere between Anchorage and Seward and hope to get help anytime soon. Once you leave a city, it could be a long, lonesome drive before you encounter anymore humans, much less a tiny village or city.

Upon arrival in Seward, we were directed into a processing area in a large, clean warehouse on the pier. We showed our boarding passes and passports, were photographed for the ships electronic records, and given our boarding cards.

Whenever we accessed our room, wanted to charge anything to our onboard accounts, or left or returned to the ship, we had to show our boarding cards. To get back on the ship, we had to present a photo ID plus our boarding card.

When you go to restaurants, the spa, or stores, you'll be asked for your cabin number. When a crew member enters your cabin number, your photo and information pops up for the employee on a tablet they use to provide services. They seemed pretty diligent about checking identity to make sure things were charged to the proper passengers.

We arrived in the early afternoon and our rooms weren't ready yet. We were able to head straight to La Terrazza, a buffet restaurant, on deck 7, aft. The restaurant was pretty crowded, because everyone was heading there to eat and wait for their cabins to be opened for occupancy.

The food was good. They had a huge, fresh salad bar, which is very important to us. The main part of our meal is a big salad, with the entree being more of a side dish. We ate our late lunch and headed for our cabins as soon as word was passed that cabins were ready.

Our bags hadn't arrived yet, but we went to check out our new digs for the next 14 days and to drop off our carry-on bags.

The room was very nice! Spacious for a cabin on a ship, very neat and clean, with a chilled bottle of champagne waiting for us! There's a balcony with two chairs and a small table for watching the amazing scenery roll by. Next, a cozy living room with its own TV behind a mirror above the well lit vanity/desk, which can be separated from the bed/sleeping area with a curtain if desired, and the bed with its own TV, also mounted behind a mirror.

There's a well appointed walk-in closet with plenty of hangar space and plenty of drawers and shelves to store all your clothing and accessories.

The bathroom was also spacious with plenty of shelf space around and above the sink and in the shower. I wonder about the choice of a bath tub instead of opting for a larger shower and I'm curious how often they're used. We didn't use our tub at all. Bvlgari shower supplies were there should you need them.

Our butler, Ahmed, made an excellent impression from the start. Our bags were kind of late getting to the room, but we had a reservation at one of the reservation only restaurants, La Dame, for that evening. The reservation was for 8:00 PM and our bags arrived around 3:30. My suits, of course, were wrinkled from travel. We asked Ahmed if he could possibly have them pressed by 7:30 or so, and he had them done in plenty of time for us to get ready for dinner! Way to go Ahmed!

We set sail for Hubbard Glacier in the evening. Seas were calm and the voyage was smooth. Next up, Hubbard Glacier!