Had a rather restless night – usual for me in a strange bed (although it was very comfortable). Still not really adjusted to the time difference.

Breakfasted, then took the Viking shuttle bus into Seward, the main destination being the Sea Life aquarium there.

All quite impressive, but I’ve never really been a fan of zoos, aquaria and the like, although I appreciate the conservation work they do. The most impressive “exhibit” was a massive sealion called Pilot. All he did was swim round and round the same rather small pool.

At least it provided a WiFi connection…..

Speaking of which, I had grown increasingly frustrated with the very poor Internet connection on board the ship. Not altogether surprising, I suppose, but as my phone refused to connect to the local mobile cellular network for some reason, I decided to see if I could find a local SIM package that would at least allow me to make calls and give me a data connection when on land.

I’d used the WiFi at the Sea Life Centre to establish that the only possible source of such a thing was a Safeway supermarket up the road – there were certainly no telecom shops in this small and rather dowdy town. So off we set on this mission – Jean was only coming along because it was at least some exercise.

Nice enough walk to start off with, but we then had to plough our way up Highway 9, an unleasant experience. Found the supermarket, but it turned out to be fruitless – all they did were gift cards with data packages, but no SIMs. Very disappointing. So we turned round and went back to the ship, having walked in excess of five miles in this endeavour.

Not a huge amount to recommend Seward, to be honest. Some decent scenery hereabouts, though.

The ship then set sail for the next port of call – Valdez, the most northerly destination on this trip. We’d attended a presentation in the ship’s very impressive theatre which gave us a flavour of what to expect.

Dinner was partaken of in the ship’s main restaurant, imaginatively called The Restaurant. Ths is open seating, but it is huge, so no problems with finding a table. Food and wine were excellent, although I couldn’t finish my meal. I dread to think what this cruise lifestyle is doing to my waistline…….

Time, then, for bed. I’ll be reporting on the delights of Valdez tomorrow, Internet connection permitting. Paradoxically, the connection is faster out at sea than in dock.

Hopefully won’t be too long a delay.