10 Night Cruise sailing from Anchorage to Vancouver aboard Silver Shadow.

Launched in 2000, Silver Shadow introduced guests to the next generation of the Silversea fleet - slightly larger in size, yet just as intimate in feel. In addition the the added space, guests aboard the Shadow are greeted with Silversea's six-star personalised service and attention to detail. The Shadow is as elegant as a grand hotel, as gracious as a long-time friends' home. Each all ocean-view suite provides a sumptuous retreat. Each public space is intimate yet inviting. It's a warm feeling of home upon the seas of the earth.

Aboard Silver Shadow you will find a most accommodating place to view our world. Whether it's delicious onboard diversions, world-class cuisine, memorable dining venues or staying connected from anywhere, Silversea's impeccable standards apply to every detail of your voyage.

Highlights of this cruise:

Valdez
Valdez, Alaska's 'Little Switzerland', is surrounded by the 5,000-foot-high (1,525-metre-high) Chugach Mountains and numerous glaciers. This scenic port community is situated on the shore of Prince William Sound, less than 25 miles (40 kilometres) east of the Columbia Glacier. It is the southern terminus of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline.

As the most northerly ice-free port in the Western Hemisphere, Valdez experienced a boom in 1897-98 when gold seekers arrived looking for what was being advertised in the lower 48 states as the 'All-American Route' to Alaska's interior and the Klondike gold fields. The town was nearly destroyed by the Earthquake of 1964, and subsequently rebuilt about four miles (6.5 kilometres) from its original location. During the 1970s, construction of the Trans-Alaska oil pipeline terminal and other cargo transportation facilities brought rapid growth to Valdez.

Today, Valdez's economy is comprised of a mix of oil, tourism, commercial fishing, seafood processing, and shipping. It offers visitors such outdoor activities as fishing, hiking, white-water rafting, kayaking, and glacier trekking, and is also quickly becoming a popular winter sports destination.

Skagway
Compact, breezy Skagway beckons from a northern finger of the Inside Passage. This seaport sits on a deep-water fjord, the Taiya Inlet, at the head of Lynn Canal, which stretches 90 miles from Juneau between banks that seem untouched by human hands. When Klondike stampeder and budding author Jack London came here in 1897, he traveled in a Tlingit freight canoe. Oddly enough, London didn't describe this trip in any of the dozens of stories based on his northern experiences; perhaps it was simply too peaceful. Skagway began as a lone cabin nestled on the delta fan of the Skagway River. The delta spills from a canyon, embraced on three sides by steep wooded slopes. Until 1970, Skagway did not have a road connection to the outside world. It could be reached only by railroad, ferry, or small aircraft. Today a well-maintained road leads to Carcross and Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, where it connects with the Alaska-Canada or Al-Can Highway. Tourism is now the town's main industry, and visitors often come wanting to learn some regional history. Some day visitors explore a bit of the wilderness on foot while others simply walk Broadway, picturing the town in its gold rush heyday.

Sitka
Sitka was the home to the Kiksadi Clan of the Tlingit people for centuries prior to the 18th-century arrival of the Russians, who, under the direction of territorial governor Alexander Baranof, coveted the Sitka site for its beauty, mild climate, and economic potential. In 1799, Baranof established an outpost that he called Redoubt St. Michael, 6 mi north of the present town, and moved a large number of his Russian and Aleut sea otter and seal hunters there from Kodiak Island. The Tlingits attacked Baranof's people and burned his buildings in 1802, but Baranof returned in 1804 with formidable strength, including shipboard cannons. He attacked the Tlingits at their fort near Indian River (site of the present-day, 105-acre Sitka National Historical Park) and drove them to Chichagof Island, 70 mi northwest of Sitka. The Tlingits and Russians made peace in 1821, and eventually the capital of Russian America was shifted from Kodiak to Sitka. Today Sitka is known for its beautiful setting and some of Southeast Alaska's most famous landmarks: the onion-dome St. Michael's cathedral; the Alaska Raptor Center, where you can come up close to ailing and recovering birds of prey; and Sitka National Historical Park, where you can see some of the oldest and most skillfully carved totem poles in the state.

Vancouver
Vancouver's youthfulness, even by North American standards, remains visible even as the cityscape has evolved. Eras are stacked east to west along the waterfront, from cobblestone late-Victorian Gastown to the shiny postmodern glass cathedrals of commerce. The first Canadian Pacific Railway passenger train rolled into Vancouver in May 1887, after decades of relative quiet in this remote logging town. The railway, along with Canadian Pacific's fleet of clipper ships, gave Vancouver a full week's edge over the California ports in shipping tea and silk to New York at the end of the 19th century. Lumber, fish, and coal from British Columbia's hinterland also flowed through the port to world markets. Today Vancouver is home to more than 2 million people, and a makeover is in the works as it prepares to host the 2010 Winter Olympics.