Apologies for the the late post – the Internet round here is very, very dodgy.

Despite the help we got from Angelina on the front desk, I don’t think we will be returning to the Hilton Anchorage any time soon. Rather tatty and tired, very noisy aircon, exorbitant prices, etc., etc.

Matters were not helped by a chaotic start to the day. As aforementioned, I’d had a message from the providers of the transfer from the hotel to the cruise terminal at Seward that somebody would turn up at around 10.45 to take us the 120 mile journey. I had not been impressed by their administration when I phoned them yesterday, and my worst fears were realised when 10.45 came and went with no sign of a driver.

So – once again back on the phone to their office. Nobody had a clue about what was going on. Somebody seemed to think we were at the Marriott Hotel! I was fuming at this stage, but finally contact was established. The front desk hadn’t told the flunkies at the door that a driver was expected for us, so when he turned up, they didn’t know what he was talking about. He very nearly left, which would have been a disaster.

Our driver was a very affable Anchorage resident called Lane. (?) He ushered us into a very nice large saloon and off we went. He was also a tour guide, so turned out to be an absolute mine of information about the area we were going through. It was a lovely comfortable drive and I felt the tension slowly dissipate. Weather cloudy and around 14 degrees, but dry.

Around 3 hours later, we arrived at Seward cruise terminal for the start off our cruise on the Viking Orion. We had been warned on pain of death to have passports, Covid vaccination records, proof of negative tests and arriveCAN code (the last being an app which had to be completed within 72 hours of starting the cruise) ready. I had taken a great deal of care to get the arriveCAN stuff done because it was a real pain in the backside to complete it.

All that was actually required on check-in was our passports. All that work we did was totally unnecessary. Grrrrr!

Finally got through all this and boarded the ship. Got to our room (5074) only to find that our luggage had not been delivered. No matter – our cabin steward, Nelson, gave us a comprehensive tour of our suite, which is beautifully designed and very clever, Viking style. The bags turned up not long after and we were finally able to unpack fully and relax. Bliss.

We whiled away the time until heading for dinner in the Chef’s Table, a restaurant delivering a 6-course taster menu with (of course) associated wine pairings, which I’d booked months in advance. Delicious.

As this was the first of two nights at Seward and the ship was still filling up, there was no entertainment to experience, so back to our bijou cabin and got our heads down.

Going to have to do something about the dreadful Internet connection, though. Unfortunately, the SIM in our phones won’t register on any of the local mobile networks, so we cannot make nor receive calls, nor can I use data for an Internet connection. Beyond frustrating.

We need to get this sorted tomorrow if at all possible. Tune in later to see how we got on.