Video: This Distillery Uses Alaska Glacier Water
And local fireweed and spruce tips for truly local spirits and craft cocktails. BestTrip.TV was in port in Skagway, Alaska on our Regent Seven Seas cruise and naturally, we checked out the famous local saloon recommended by Regent's shore expert. We are always on the hunt for 'local', and there on the bar menu: cocktails made using local, small-batch gin and vodka. Intrigued, we asked the bartender, who drew us a map on a napkin (those are always the best maps)...
Video: A Day in the Life of a Butler on a Regent Luxury Cruise
There's everyday luxury on Regent Seven Seas Cruises: where your airfare, transfers, on board wine and spirits, tips, specialty dining and even shore excursions and wifi are all included in a relaxed country club atmosphere on beautiful mid-sized ships. Then there's another level of all-inclusive luxury on Regent: the butler suites. BestTrip.TV got a behind-the-scenes experience of Regent's most spectacular suite, the 'most luxurious address at sea', and a glimpse into the life of the butlers who make the suite life on...
Travel like a Rock Star: W Hotels' Sound Suites
You know it's something you've always wanted to say: "I'm with the band". You and your friends may have never realized your high school dream to be famous recording artists. But it's not just actual rock stars, indie bands and electronic music creators who can have the ultimate 'destination recording experience'. W Hotels' Sound Suites allow anyone to go on vacation, and lay down some tracks as well as work on your tan. Four W Hotels around the world: Bali, Barcelona, Seattle...
Video: Alaska Wildlife Encounters You Can't Miss
Do you ever see social media posts of magnificent wildlife photos from someone's trip to Alaska and think: This just can't be real?But it is. BestTrip.TV cruised from Vancouver to Seward (near Anchorage) on the Regent Seven Seas Mariner, hoping Nature would be kind and we'd encounter at least a couple of the animals and birds Alaska is famous for:WhalesSalmonCrabBald eaglesPuffinsBrown (grizzly) bearsSitka deerSea ottersSea lionsLike you, we were skeptical of shore excursion guides who jokingly promised guests 3 out of...
Video Recipe: Baked Alaska by Regent Seven Seas Cruises
Before there was molecular gastronomy, there was Baked Alaska to awe and delight a table of diners. A miracle dessert of warm, caramelized meringue on the outside, still magically full of layers of frozen ice cream on the inside. A feat of culinary ingenuity in the days of unreliable refrigeration. The story goes that Baked Alaska was created in New York's famous Delmonico's restaurant in 1867 in celebration of the American acquisition of Alaska from Russia. Regardless of its origin, creating Baked...
Top Souvenirs from Alaska
Alaska's breathtaking scenery and wildlife encounters will be memories that stay with you a lifetime. But there are one-of-a-kind tangible memories you can take home as well as your photos and close-encounter stories.Lynn Elmhirst, Producer/ Host of BestTrip.TV and cruise expert, shares her favorite Alaskan souvenirs from her ports of call in Sitka, Skagway, Ketchikan, and Juneau on cruise to Alaska.Alaskan Kelp PicklesFood is such a fun souvenir when it's made from one-of-a-kind local ingredients. I found many flavors of...
Video: Take the Scenic Train from Alaska to Canada's Yukon
It's only 20 miles from Skagway, Alaska's deepwater port on the coast, to the border of Canada's Yukon. But what a 20 miles they are! The White Pass & Yukon Route railway ride is one of the most dramatic scenic experiences in the Alaska Panhandle. No wonder it's an all-time favorite experience for cruise travelers arriving in the preserved, Wild (North)West town of Skagway. The tracks go right onto the dock, so we stepped off the Regent Seven Seas Mariner...
Video: 7 Things you didn't know about Alaska's Hubbard Glacier
The Hubbard Glacier has quite a pedigree.And being named after Gardiner Hubbard, the man who founded or co-founded the National Geographic Society, Bell Telephone and the journal 'Science', puts a lot of pressure on a glacier. Luckily, the Hubbard Glacier is used to pressure, and guaranteed to impress, even awe. This 'river of ice' is a natural wonder of pressurized snow in that magnificent iceberg blue. A trip to the incredible wall of ice that forms the face of the...
Crystal Strikes a Chord with a New Rhine Class of River Cruise Ships
Instead of river cruises, they're calling them river yachts. Crystal has translated its uber-luxury sea experience to the rivers of Europe with a new, 'Rhine' class of river yachts, evoking the great music icons of the region.
Video: This Historic Hospital is now a Design Hotel
If you're looking for a room with a view in Marseille... this is it.The Hotel Dieu might be the the best piece of real estate in Marseille. Part way up the hill next to the historic harbor, occupying the best vantage point overlooking the iconic view of the old port and the church on the opposite hill, Marseille's Hopital Dieu dates back to the 1700's. As a hospital, it served the oldest neighborhood in all of France, where sailors, immigrants...