Beth, when I was using a Virtuoso agent (who was REALLY a good TA) the only escort they had on board on a cruise that I didn't really "gel" with was on an 11 day cruise in Europe similar to WAVE, it went from Nice to Dover (VJ7 in BK speak). At our evening "event", I forget where, maybe Lisbon, hosting a RSSC cruise, he was telling people at the cocktail party that Silversea was really the "only" luxury experience! Hit me the wrong way, as I had previously sailed SS and found it exactly the same (with some misgivings about the Shadow) as RSSC! Don't know why I'm telling all this. Our Alaska host must have been fine, remember the excursion as being great. We DID have wonderful weather. It was a strange day, our "meal" was at about 4:30 or so, and we were back on the ship at about dinner time. Time to eat again!