I have never written a a trip report before so please bear with me. I am also working on the pictures and hope to have them finished soon

Embarkation ( Day 1)
We flew to Denver last night and our flight from to Vancouver this morning was very easy. Arrived Vancouver around 10;30 ( we used Regent Air) After customs, we were met by Regents reps at baggage carousel, who took charge of our luggage. We were directed to a motorcoach, which took us to the Pan Pacific hospitality room. We arrived at the hospitality room for refreshments and decided to head down to the pier. As we were preparing to leave, they announced that we could begin boarding the Mariner.( about 12:15 ) I only took a few minutes to get our boarding cards and we received our glass of champagne and were directed to La Veranda for lunch. We sat at a great outdoor table and enjoyed the buffet. After lunch, we moved to the pool area,to relax and wait for stateroom to be ready. ( I am a smoker, so I had to have my nicotine fix also) Our statesrooms were ready about 2:30.
We were in a standard stateroom (884). We were very satisfied with the size of the stateroom and balcony. I was quite pleased with the closet space and bathroom ( I am a bather so the bathtub, although small, makes a huge difference for me.) Joe (my DH) said he was quite comfortable for a 7 day cruise, but would want one of the larger suites, for a longer cruise ( which much as we would like, probably isn't in the near future, as it is hard to Joe to leave his business for even 10 days.) Sailaway was promptly at 5pm.
After meeting our Stewardess, Petra from Dresden, we started unpacking, as our bags arrived one by one. Within a hour and 1/2, we had received 3 bags but not the last. (No big deal, it was Joe's grament bag, not mine! grin) I am a little anal, on worrying about luggage, as on our first cruise on RCCL, The ship porters left all of our luggage at the airport.(even after I confirmed with them to make that they had it!!) We didn't receive it til we reached Aruba. Anyway Joe kept telling that this last bag would arrive. Well, it didn't, so I kept looking and finally found it after 2hrs later, about in front of the door, about 6 rooms away ( bag clearly marked 884) Alls well that ends well.
This is turning into an interesting day, as we decided to dine in Compass Rose, at about 7:30. There were two couples ahead of us in line. The first couple wanted to dine with others and the 2nd wanted to dine by themselves. When we were asked, I said we would like to dine with others (without consulting Joe). We wer lead lead to a table, where the 1st couple were also being seated and there was a couple already seated. Well, we were barely seated, when the gentleman( using the term loosely) of the couple we had followed, announced to the table, that he had asked to be seated with others, so he could what all these Republicans were about. The other couple were , of course , Republicans, (Joe and I are a mixed couple) , they were born-again Christians to boot. Things quickly deteriorated, as the couple sparred off. Demo, new-ager man and Repub-born-again woman started to get into very contraversal subjects (Joe kept squeezing my knee, to remind me to NOT take part, in this lively repartee) When Repub man called Demo man " a wierdo" shortly after appetizers, I decided to go to the lounge for a cigarette ( hard to smoke after biting my lip for so long, grin) Repub man joined me after asking Joe where I was. He informed me that he was ready to punch Demo Man . Returned to rescur poor Joe. Finished meal and skipped dessert, and left others to enjoy? their meal. needless , to say, we dined by ourselves for the rest of the cruise, at Joe's request ( Isn't my DH romantic?! LOL) Both big taboos, Politics and Religion within 2 seconds of seating, a bit too much for us. We retired to our stateroom to relax and enjoy the calm of the ocean from our balcony. ( with a cocktail, of course) The beauty and the serenity, put all small petty things of the world in perspective ( and the cocktails helped too.) I am sure my next days writings will not be near so long!

Day 2- Inside Passage
Slept wonderfully! Great beds. We like to sleep between two sheets, so our stewardess, Petra is making it up that way for us today. What a sweetheart.
Upon awakening, it was a little overcast, but by early afternoon , it was Sunny and Beautiful. High 70's very little wind. Breakfast in La Veranda, Attended Terry Breens enrichment lecture. Lunch at Pool Grill ( as it is now gorgeous outside ) Dinner in Compass Rose ( by ourselves) After a delightful meal, and the bottomless glass of wine, a walk on the observation deck, we retired to our stateroom to enjoy the scenery, take pictures, and watch a movie. As you can tell, we are fairly low-key right now. We put out our request for breakfast as we have a fairly early Fishing trip in the A.M.

Day 3- Ketchikan
Our Excursion- Guided Fishing and Wilderness Dining
We were met at the pier, by tour rep and walked a short distance to their office, where we were fitted with life jackets and rubber boots ( we would normally have also been supplied with rain gear, but again another beautiful day! ) We had brought our own rainsuits for fishing , but a waste of packing space. we walked to the pier and boarded the open air skiffs to begin our trip. There were 5 of us and our guide , Joshua, so was a little crowded ( was only supposed to be 2 to 4 ) With 5 rods in the water, there were a few train wrecks, as would be expected, but Joshua did a fine job of getting everything untangled, and rods back in the water. We caught numerous rockfish, other secies that were thrown back, and one 20 pound halibut.(perfect for eating) I also caught a Starfish !
The rods and the weights were a little heavier than I am used to, and was a little worn out after reeling fish in from 200-250m ft depth. I , much prefer this method of fishing over deepsea downrigger type though Best part of fishing is feeling the bite and setting the hook.
After fishing, we pulled ashore at a secluded camp, to have a shore lunch of our catch. It was a delightful place, with a campfire , and campfire coffee etc. ( There is even a funny little outhouse type bathroom set up for the ladies a short trail walk away, gentlemen you are on your own . It was very welcome after being in the boat for a few hours)
This was one of the best meals I have ever had, not to mention shore lunch ( I later found out that Food and Wine had voted it "Best Camp Food" in 2004.) Joe had not been looking forward to what he termed "boiled fish" , but now can't wait for them to send us their bouillebaise recipe to do a feast for friends with the fish we bought in ports and shipped home. Would highly recommend this excursion.
We returned to the Mariner and relaxed til dinner at Signatures in evening.
Signatures- Enjoyable experience, but we have yet to have a bad meal on ship. ( we are foodies and quite good chefs ourselves so this is quite a feat) We felt that the atmosphere was not that different than main dining( which is lovely!) Surprised that it was not a little more intimate or special. Maria was our server and did a wonderful job. She also waited on us in La Veranda a couple of times.

Day 4- Tracy Arm -Juneau
Woke up to beautiful blue glacial ice floating off side of our balcony. We boarded the catamaran directly off of the Mariner. Headed off for beautiful scenery and exquisite glaciers. Only pictures can describe it. Do bring a warm jacket and definitely a hat to cover ears. This excursion is a must do! There was quite a bit of ice, and we were not able to get as close as the previous weeks cruisers, but we left the ship far behind. We were not able to get in close to South Sawyer, but did get within ¼ mile of Sawyer. Note; They serve pastries and small sandwiches onboard, so you won’t starve if you miss breakfast, but sandwiches run out fast.
We arrived in Juneau close to 1:30 and rushed aboard Mariner to drop off heavy coats and
Grab a quick lunch. Before our 2:45 Floatplane/Taku Lodge excursion. This was kind of a rush and wasn’t quite the way we had planned to do things when we had booked it. We had booked the Tracy Arm for A.M. and the Floatplane for P.M , thinking that the this would put us at Lodge for Dinner ( about 5p.m or later) and we wound up eating about 3:30, so we just ate a small piece of the salmon and some of their wonderful herb biscuits! I bought their cookcook in the gift shop just for that recipe. On the Floatplane, the views of the Glaciers were wonderful, and the Lodge is located right at the Taku Glacier. This is one of the only ascending Glaciers, vs. most of the Glaciers, that are receding. This is quite a quaint little lodge, and we enjoyed an extra dining companion, in the form of a black bear, who couldn’t resist the salmon on the grill. I also was able to get my doggy fix ( really starting to miss Blue and Diamond) , as they had four lab mix dogs in camp. After Dinner, many tried to take a nature hike , but soon returned to camp because of the swarms of enormous mosquitoes. We stayed in camp, with a lot of the others and enjoyed the Glacier view from the porch swing.
Returned to Mariner and enjoyed another wonderful meal in Compass Rose. We had a delightful waiter named Heintje.


Day 5- Skagway

We rented a car from Avis and drove to Emerald Lake. This was a wonderful relaxing drive. Absolutely stunning scenery! We took time for lots of photo stops.
Just imagining the people trying to get into the Yukon for the gold. The terraine is formidable when you think of crossing these mountains.
Only one note on the downside. Caribou Crossing . We decided to stop for a lunch break. Don’t !
When I was investigating excursions, I had looked at an excursion with dogs at this location, and it had a chicken dinner included with it.so I figured that they would have a café or something here .There was….kind of. Café/ Ice Cream parlor. Well, the menu was Soup and Sandwich. Canned chicken vegetable soup (think store brand, not even Campbells) Microwaved so hot that it scalded your tongue and choice of chicken or tuna salad, or ham and cheese. (DH braved chick salad ,not I opted for Ham and Cheese. 2 wafer thin slices of pressed ham on dry bun with shredded cheddar. We each took one sip of soup broth and one bite of these sumptious sandwiches and discovered we weren’t hungry after all! All for the bargain price of $16 usd
While we finishing this veritable feast, a gentleman ordered a double dip cone (choice in Ice cream parlor? Chocolate, vanilla, strawberry. ) As it was handed to him, ice cream toppled out of cone onto floor. The counter person said “ That’s why everyone gets a dish instead of a cone.” And Charged him for a replacement. Now that’s service.

Dinner at Latitudes. - I had read conflicting info on Latitudes ( seems like people love it or don't) I enjoyed the decor, as just a little bit special and different form most of the ship. Appetizers and dessert were superb and other dishes good. I was not a huge fan of the preparation of the lobster course. Sauce overwhelmed the lobster for me. This was the only place during the voyage that I was not totally thrilled with my server.
i asked for red wine rather than white with my meal (pretty standard for me). and when it was not to my taste asked to try the white ( which by the way was very good) The waitress remarked that I should always take what is being poured ( Just a little snidely) This is not true for me and had wonderful red wine, otherwise throughout the cruise. She had a lttle attitude and was a little brusque with her attendents also. All in all a very enjoyable meal. I would not definiytely go again Stopped into the casino for awhile to make our donations. Myself to the slots, and Joe to the Blackjack table. ( Joe was ahead til they changed dealers then his luck changed so we called it a night.

Day 6- Sitka
We slept in a little today and enjoyed breakfast in our cabin as we did not have an excursion planned in port. We took the tender in about noon and were just going to pick up souvenirs for children and grands. As we started up the wharf, a young man with a nice SUV said he would give us a tour for $50 and we would have it to ourselves. Joe asked if he would be willing to go where we wanted and not stick to a canned tour. He agreed. After Joe inquiring about places to buy fresh fish to ship home , he brought us to place to do so. We had also bought some in Skagway, but this was not quite as spendy as that. Shon was our quide and was an Alaskan Indian on his mothers side. He was just back from living in Hawaii, and had started this business a year ago on his own. A very knowledgeable and nice young man. We toured around some of the neighborhoods, went to the Raptor Center and to Totem Park, then we asked to be dropped off downtown. We bought our gifts and returned to take the tender back to the Mariner. Thsi is a lovely town ( probably my favorite.) Shon said it has a low crime rate, except for petty thief, but that there is a bit of a drug problem among the Alaskan Indians.( much like the alcohol and drug problems many of our native American have here
in South Dakota)
Skipped the American Express Cocktail party in favor of our own. Dinner in Compass Rose. I have been selecting the Degustation Menu most of the time. ( hows that for going on vacation and not having to make any decisions for a week!)

Day7-Yakutat Bay and Hubbard Glacier

Up bright and early to go up on deck to listen to Terry's commentary and enjoy the beautiful scenery. Beautiful morning and the wildlife is favoring us. ( although We have not had much luck on capturing the whales on camera. Just too fast. Another thing I would bring a high powered telephoto lens. ( It was amazing what I could see with my swarvorski binocs) We brought a pretty good all around lens, but....
( We are just learning to use our Rebel XT) Hard to describe in words. That is why we have lots of pictures!
I attended the Matinee "Here, There, and Everywhere" which was very entertaining. Quite a bunch of talented young people. Afterwards, I stopped into the casino, no luck but the woman two seats down won the progressive jackpot. This was the SECOND one she won on this cruise ( about $1700 each) I am not quite so lucky. Back to the dreaded task of finishing packing, which signals our time here is near the end.

Tonight is Captains farewell and KREW KAPERS. I really enjoyed this show and parts of it choked me up a little. The crew is very proud to be in this.( and rightfully so. I enjoyed this more than the regular entertaniners). When we went to dinner, I had not removed the beads that they had put on me, and our server exclaimed " You went to the show! Do you remember me?!" I told him of course I did, and he just beamed! What a wonderful group of people, that work so hard to make our vacation memorable. ONE NOTE HERE: Joe quizzed our room stewardess about the true situation with no extra tipping. ( As a tipper,He wasn't quite comfortable with this ) She informed us, modestly, that most people do tip in addition. We did not tip everyone extra, but did our stewardess and a couple of others (Heintje and our last waiter . sorry forgot his name) I also noticed a couple of other people visiting Compass Rose with envelopes.

Day 8 Disembarkation Whittier and Anchorage

So sad to be leaving the Mariner. We have a long day and 1/2 of travel ahead of us. I try to convince Joe that this is just another day of Adventure, but he's not buying it We were off the ship in about 30 minutes and boarded the train for our trip into Anchorage. Very enjoyable, scenic ride. In Anchorage, we transferred to a bus to take us to the Hilton to the hospitality suite and our dayroom. It is about 10;30am. Dayrooms were not ready til 1pm ( wound up being closer to 3pm) Wondered around the shops for an hour or so, then went to lunch. We were going to eat at place that advertised seafood chowder, but Joe vetoed it because of plastic lawn chair seating. ( Thinking of flights home and wanted something comfortable) WE settled on the Glacier Brewhouse. We got there right before it filled up, but it didn't make much difference. First off they said they were out of the salmon ( at 11:30 ?) I asked if that meant ALL salmon.including sandwiches? Yes I had wanted the salmon BLT but settled for a creole chicken sandwich. We received our ales in about 10 mins and in another 20 minutes were served a nice chowder and very good bread. i When my sandwich arrived in another 20 minutes, it was awful. It was very fishy tasting ( like they had cooked it with fish) After trying unsuccesfully to get our waiters or anyones help, I shared my husbands meal. To add frosting to the cake, the table behind me ordered Salmon BLTs and I asked their waitress if they had them. She said yes just out of main entree salmon. Not impressed with service or food, although I had heard good about it. Joe thought it was kind of funny ( til I ate his food. grin.) and told me "Welcome back to the real world". I guess we had been spoiled by a week of professional people who care.
We returned to the Hilton to wait til our room was ready. After our room ready, we went and relaxed, showered and took a nap. Ordered Pizza to the room and watched a movie, before taking bus to airport at about 8:10 ( our plane left at 11:15 PM ) We arrived in Denver about 6:30 am and luckily were able to get on standby on 10:30 flight home ( amazing because it was a full flight) instead of waiting for a 2pm flight
Wonderful trip but glad to be home. Our next wish is New Zealand and Australia, but that will be a ways away, as I wont' go unless we fly First and that is as much as the cost of the cruise per each. But now I have a year or two to start planning again!!
Overall
We are very pleased with the Regent Mariner and will sail with Regent again. Service, accomodations, food were all exceptional. We also lucked out with no rain on our entire cruise. I would like to return to Alaska for an interior trip sometime, (but can I bring the staff , including chef, with me?) We come from beautiful country in South Dakota, in its own way, but we were wowed on some areas of this trip.