Back from the 7/2 Diamond to Alaska today

[pamwinn]

I thoroughly enjoyed reading your journal. Thanks! :)

[momthecruisedirector]

I know it was a lot to have to read but I love reading eveyone else's reviews.

 

Here are some of our pictures -

 

http://community.webshots.com/user/momthecruisedirector

[trawalru]

Great review. I agree about making the most of your vacation and researching. We had a great time. Alaska is awesome. Disappointing seeing all the Caribbean Jewelry stores in town but outside of town is beautiful. Loved the snow capped mountains and the glaciers we did see. In Juneau we went to the Taku Lodge on float plane. Wow - what a great trip. My husband and daughter really enjoyed it. Hopefully the pictures will turn out good.

 

Sorry to hear about the two passengers who passed away. We saw the Ambulance in Skagway but didn't know the extent of the passengers' illness. In Ketchikan we saw a woman leaving the ship in a wheelchair going to a waiting ambulance. Hopefully she wasn't one of them.

 

Do you know why the Captain changed shortly after starting the cruise? We didn't go to the Captains' cocktail party - were they both there? Seemed odd to leave the ship during a cruise.

 

At least we didn't have to worry about any hurricanes - but some of those seas were quite large.

 

Still love a cruising vacation - already put our deposit for next year now only need to figure out where to go.

[seattlekckckc]

trixie54 -

 

Here are some pictures I took in Butchart Gardens in September of 2004. Click on this link...

 

http://community.webshots.com/user/seattlekckckc

 

And they are in the "Vancouver-Seattle-Victoria-Vancouver" folder. You might have to scroll down a little to see the pics. It was beautiful, even with the rain!!!

 

Casey

[Buzbon]

Pam, Thanks for taking the time to post such a detailed report of your trip. We're going on the Sapphire Princess in August and the itinerary is very similar so I loved hearing about all of your adventures on the Diamond.

Buzbon

[Coral]

Do you know why the Captain changed shortly after starting the cruise? We didn't go to the Captains' cocktail party - were they both there? Seemed odd to leave the ship during a cruise..

 

According to Andy (APH) - the ship was scheduled to change Captains. This is pretty common. They could have switched mid cruise so that the Captain leaving had time to pack his belongings before disembarking.

[disgruntled]

We were also on the 7/2 sailing of the Diamond. We were well aware of the propeller problems and were happy that it only cost us 2 hours although Victoria was by far our favorite port even though we only had an hour once we got off the ship.

Embarkation for us was a breeze. We took a 3 hout tour with Seattle tours on Saturday morning. Picked us and our luggage up at our hotel and dropped us off at the pier at around 1:30. Was onboard in less than 45 minutes.

Overall we found the ship to be very easy to navigate. Found the food to be good but not quite what we would have liked. The lack of an omelete station at the breakfast buffet was very disappointing. Some of the side items were less than satisfactory. Selection was good but often lukewarm. Had dinner in the International Dining Room. Food was slightly better but nothing that really made us say wow, that was really good. Nothing to complain about but no raves either.

Our shore excursions were hit and miss. The train in Skagway was very scenic and pretty, but as has been said on these boards the return trip can get a little boring. We did some kind of rainforest trek in Juneau that was a total ripoff at any price. The Red Light delight Tour in Skagway was entertaining but clearly was created just for cruise ship passengers. We did the land and sea in Ketchikan. Saw some wildlife and enjoyed being on the boat. We could have done without the cannery tour that went with it because it left us no time to see Saxeman Village. Also no time to see the dock area as we had to get right on the ship when we returned. As has been stated elsewhere our trip into Tracy Arm was somewhat abbreviated because of ice. Overall we thought the scenic vaue of Tracy Arm to be a little overhyped.

Victoria was by far our favorite port even if only for an hour. Would love to go back someday.

This was our third cruise. First with Princess, first to Alaska and first to last 7 days. I would not consider us to be cruisers so maybe our opinion is shaded somewhat because of this. We may cruise again, we may not.

Al

[disgruntled]

Some random thoughts.

We thought the Piano Man show to be excellent. Very good production. Better than anything else we have seen on a cruise. Undercover was good but not as good as Piano Man. We saw a comedian named David Deeble. He is scheduled to be doing several Princess ships for a few more months. We laughed so hard we cried. We had a balcony on Baja deck and even though it gets cold it was worth it for us. Nice to get some fresh air into the room. You could sit 4 average sized adults on it. The uncovered balconies below us were about 50% larger.

Overall we would recommend Princess to others but we also liked Carnival as well.

Al

[emmysmom]

Thanks for sharing your journal and pictures with us. I really enjoyed both of them! :) Makes waiting for our cruise just alittle easier.

[bjkTX]

Great review! We made the same cruise in May 2004 (the crash cruise) and I got to get back on board for a little bit reading your recent review.

 

BUT.....it took me a long time before I got past the items you folks had for dinner at the Sterling the first night. I kept reading it thinking no way they ate that much!

 

It gave me a new goal for my Feb '06 cruise on the Grand :-)

[trixie54]

OMG- thanks for the gorgeous photos! Even roses were still in bloom?! Could see you were wearing jackets - guess that time of year (mid-Sept.) can be warm or cool. But we'll be heading south, so hopefully will get some nice weather.

[alwalaska]

Hi! Thank you for the review. It is great to hear details about others experiences while we wait impatiently for our time to go.

 

In another thread you said you would try to pick up some kid and teen patters. This is the reminder you asked for. Were you able to get them?

 

Thanks.

[seattlekckckc]

Trixie - We had on rain slickers, it was wet that day, but not nessecarily cold. I live in Seattle, which is near identical for weather, adn September is a total cr@pshoot. It could be 80+ degrees, or 40 degrees. Be prepared for anything!!! Maybe someone can help me remember this right, but I think they had bins of umbrellas you could use??? I dont mind getting wet, so I didnt bother with one.

 

Some of the roses were in bloom, the main part of the rose garden was so thick with bushes that you were able to see some, even if others were on their way out. I like how they label them with the names - some of them are named after movie stars! I was a fun search! I love that rose picture with the water - one of my pride and joy pictures! I love my camera!!! I like the close-ups it takes.

 

Have a great trip!

 

Casey

[Host Caroline]

Thanks for posting your great review...

and

all of you are invited to join the Diamond Princess "Post Alaska Withdrawal Support group" in the Floataway Lounge.. it's not sweltering there (I was asked).. it's permanently "Alaska conditioned":) AND open topics..

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=203981

[John L.]

Pam: Great report!! We're leaving in 2 weeks and I have a car reserved with Alamo in Juneau. I called and they do not have a shuttle to the airport and she said the bus is about 45 minutes. I'm not oriented to the airport/town/mendenhall area but I thought Mendenhall is opposite the pier area and closer to the airport. I don't see the advantage of the car if I spend 1 1/2 hours on the bus just to get a car which might be next to Mendenhall anyway. I understand that Rent-a-Wreck dropped it off by the ship but was wondering if you see any advantage to the car since you know the area. A taxi might be same cost and more time saving. There are 4 of us. Thanks...

 

John L.

[momthecruisedirector]

John, I thought it worked for us to get the car because they dropped it off for us. We just had more time to do other things besides Mendenhall because of it. You should do a post in the Alaska section and mark it for Budget Queen's attention as she has been there so much. I agree if you have to take a bus to get the car it would probably be better time spent just to take the bus/tour to the glacier.

 

Alwalaska - I did not get the kids patters. My 16 year old didn't want to go in there and though we did look up there one day I didn't see any patters just laying around. Sorry about that.

 

We just got back from Vegas at 1:00 this morning, talk about two extremes for vacation! It was 115 a couple days but at least we got suntans, to thaw out the chill from Alaska! We actually thought the weather was fine (for us Seattleites) but it sure was nice to go somewhere warm. I hope to have time to get the Alaska scrapbook started tomorrow but today is the Street Fair and I have laundry to wash and groceries to buy. Fighting the post vacation depression!!

 

Pam

[Layla]

Just got home, the cruise was awesome. My family is pretty dissapointed about Tracy Arm, it really seems like we were jipped. The identical boat went in right before us and made it through, and boats after had gone through (talking on flight home). There was a lot of ice, indeed, but nothing that the other boats couldn't handle. After talknig to youth security, I found out that the Diamond actually had a broken propeller :o - It seems that oculd be why we didn't make it through. He said it has been broken for 6 months but he probably meant weeks. Anybody ever had soemthing like this happen?

 

e39m5

 

If you were on the 7/2 sailing of the Diamond Princess - we were on the Sapphire which was the identical boat that went in to Tracy Arm just before the Diamond. We didn't make it all the way to the Sawyer Glacier either. The ice fields were too thick. There were two local pilots on board and they along with the Captain make the decision whether to proceed or not. We too were disappointed, but the safety of the passengers comes first and if they don't feel it it is safe, they won't go. The ice fields are subject to change continually and it could happen that a ship could get through but not be able to navigate out safely. We didn't feel jipped because the scenery in Tracy Arm was absolutely majestic!

[John L.]

Pam: Thanks for the head's up on Rent-A-Wreck. I cancelled my Alamo res at the airport and got one of the last cars with RAW. They add a $16 charge to bringing the car to the garage that is supposed to be within walking distance of th ship and the total cost is about the same as the Alamo cost. This change will add several quality hours of valuable time to our visit plus saving a few $$ on buses or taxis.

 

John L.

[momthecruisedirector]

John,

 

I think you will be happy with your decision. The garage is very easy to find - it's right on your way to town, you can't miss it. Juneau is only 40 miles long and once we got out of 'town' there was no traffic. RAW will provide a map and it's a simple route to Mendenhall. We didn't bother to go into the Visitors Center, had read so much before and it was so clear and close to the viewpoints we didn't feel it was necessary and we considered our photos to be our souveniers so saved some money.

 

Have a great time!

Pam

[sooner2]

enjoyed reading the lengthy reviews- we returned from the Diamond on July 2nd- wish we'd made it to high tea- never did

 

people in the back of the ship thought they noticed a rough ride that might be due to the propeller problem- we were very lucky as far as rough seas- most of the time the TV ship channel showed 1.5-4 ft swells- on the two open sea days it said 4-7 ft swells and you could tell a little difference but it certainly wasn't enough to be a problem (I wore a patch)- the naturalist said they had 25 ft swells and 50 mph winds a couple of weeks earlier than our sailing- evidently on the night after Ketchikan (on Thurs night)it got pretty rough but we slept through it- overheard people talking about it the next day

 

we were about 30 min late to Juneau and some early tours were cancelled- we got into Victoria right on time- they let us off the ship about 7:20- it was Canada Day so downtown was extremely busy-roads were closed to car traffic, etc- I really recommend the $5 rt shuttle bus- we waited in line maybe 15 min each way but it saves a lot of walking time and you don't have a lot of time there anyway- also there are LOTS of private tour operators holding up signs- one lady was offering a 3-hr tour for $19 if she could get 13 or `4 to sign up and it didn't take her long- lots of limos- they all attracted lots of customers- the pub Princess tour was late getting back- you should have seen those people running to the ship after 11:30!

 

the other thing we enjoyed doing was renting a car from Avis in Skagway and driving to Whitehorse, capitol of Yukon Territory- it follows much the same path as the White Pass train- we drove about 220 miles roundtrip

 

unfortunately our weather was typical Alaska- Juneau was sunny and in the 70's but the next 4 days it was highs in the 50's and light rain/mist- it was very foggy as we were leaving Tracy Arm - you couldn't see the shore on either side- we got fairly close to Sawyer glaciers- there were enough chunks of ice in front of us that I was happy the Captain didn't go further!