Sailing Now On Diamond Princess - Any Questions

[LAN]

We're sailing now on the Diamond Princess - Inside Passage. Weather is WONDERFUL - tomorrow (Monday) we will be in Juneau. Any questions, I will be happy to answer. Will check e-mail again on Monday evening and respond.

 

Linda

[prarie cruiser]

How was embarkation? Let us know about your tours after you take them, please.

[Sandy R]

Hi Lan... thanks for post. We're on the Diamond in August. I'd like to know, too, if embarkation was easy. When you say "Inside Passage", doesn't the Diamond sail outside the passage, in the open sea? Is the ocean calm? Hope the weather stays beautiful for your whole cruise!

 

Sandy

[cydspal]

Hey Linda!! We are on the Diamond on 5/29! I am trying to understand some of the past posters stating that you don't have to wait in line if you check your bags, true? Does this mean give your bags to the curb porters and skip the long line?

 

Also, did you make PC reservations when you got on? Based on the show times, what would be a good time to make those reservations? Have a blast!!

[woodspines]

I too am wondering about PC reservations. Please find out how critical it is to make reservations for the whole week on the first day, or can you do it day by day. Also, would it be possible to do traditional on the last night instead of PC.

Thanks

[woodspines]

Any and all details will be greatly appreciated. Do they have any kind of sailaway activities, or something special one night equivelant to island night? Is there anything to make an Alaskan cruise unique compared to a Caribbean? I have never cruised Alaska before and wonder how it compares.

Thanks again!!

[Outhouse]

I am booked on the same cruise 09/04/04. I would love a short diary of each day!

[LAN]

Hello to everyone - Monday morning here as we are on Alaskan time (4 hours behind Eastern). Unfortunately, check-in was a disaster due to a problem the ship had with Immigration delaying those getting off and the longshoremen not picking up the luggage when you are dropped off. We arrived at the pier around 11:30 a.m. (normal time for us to get on board beginning at noon - or so we thought). Princess was still disembarking people at 1:00 p.m. We waited in line until around 1:15 - along with about 1500 other people and Princess finally began embarking people at around 1:30 p.m. We had to push/pull around all our own luggage until we got to the check in area, when the luggage was finally taken by the longshoremen to put onto the ship. We then had to stand in another line to check-in. We were fortunate that we are Princess Plantium members, so our line wasn't quite as long as those who were doing the regular check-in. We were on board at around 2:15 or so. First time our luggage made it to our rooms before we did! There were no curbside porters. Apparently, its a problem with the Seattle longshoremen. Hopefully, they get this fixed shortly.

 

We did make our PC reservations when we got on board. There is a button on your cabin phone for Concierge and you just push it and tell them what restaurant you want to eat at, what night, and when. They were exceeding accomodating and helpful. We decided to make our reservations for the entire week - just because we knew where we wanted to eat and when, but you can make them day-to-day with no problem - you may just need to be a bit flexible with the time you want to eat at if you do them daily. We made ours for 6:30 each night and have found that this works well for us to get to the shows, which begin at around 8:15 pm each night. There are other shows at 10:15 or so, so that if you want to eat later, you can catch an earlier show. Food is great in the various restaurants - we can let anyone know about any specifics if you want.

 

Woodspines - if you have PC dining, you must stay with PC dining the entire time - you can't bounce from one to the other, but it really isn't a problem as each of the individual PC dining rooms allows you to choose from their specialty menu PLUS that night's traditional menu so you have the best of both worlds.

 

Weather is beautiful and seas are calm - almost glasslike. Yes, you do go out into the open sea (Pacific) for a while on Sunday before you arrive at the inside passage. No worries - it's just lovely, but quite cool. Temperature is around 53 degrees, but the breeze from the ship sailing can be a bit chilly.

 

Well, we're going to be docking in Juneau at around 11:00 a.m. Taking Captain Larry's whale watching today and will report back.

 

Let me know if anyone needs any other info.

 

Goodbye from SUNNY Alaska!

[MRF777]

Lan I cant wait to hear more, especially about Captain Larry'...have fun!

 

Scandinavian Sun

Emerald Seas

Island Princess

Seaward

Norway

Westward

Sensation

Facsination

Majesty of the Seas

Dawn Princess

Inspiration

Norwegian Dream

Norwegian Sun

Grandeur of the Seas (June 2002)

Carnival Paradise (Sept 2002)

Grand Princess (June 2003)

Disney Magic (Sept 2003)

Diamond Princess (June 2004)

 

Diamond Princess Here We Come!

 

[zebra]

Cydspal, it seems that the people getting on 5/15 had a different experience to us who got on on 5/8. As we got out of the taxi we walked about 30 foot and handed our bags to the longshoremen who took them whereever right away. This enabled us to go inside the terminal and wait in line with our hand baggage only.

 

Also, our weather was totally amazing - the sea was like glass and we never had a cloud in the sky for the entire cruise. In fact most people, including ourselves, wore T-shirts in Juneau. Glorious weather for Alaska!!!!! We have been there before and the weather can be very iffy.

 

Is anyone booked on Dolphin deck??? We had a mini-suite on Dolphin - it was wonderful - the best accommodation we have ever had. The balcony is uncovered, but as I said we have amazing weather - so we lay out there and soaked up the sun.

 

Woodspines....you can't really compare Alaska to the Caribbean. On a Caribbean cruise there is nothing to see whilst at sea other than the beautiful ocean - so they have sailways and deck parties. On the Alaska cruise there is so much to see on either side of the ship... beautiful scenery and we saw lots and lots of whales, we also saw seals and sea lions. It is a very scenic cruise and if you experience great weather like we did... nothing can compare.

 

Until Millenium 9/6/2004 to Europe!

 

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[zebra]

Woodespines...I too would tell you to make reservations as soon as you get on board. We also made all our reservations for 6:30pm at the diferent restaurants and had no problem. The restaurants are great and I'm sure everyone has different favorites. We loved Vivaldi and Sterling - but Santa Fe and Pacific Moon were also great. Of course you also get the meain dining room menu to choose from as well. I will say this...I will never again choose Traditional dining on Princess. I think what made this so great was the fact that we booked with the Concierge as soon as we got onboard - other people who were booking at the spur of the moment were being told that they could only get a booking in about 1 - 2 hours time!!! So pre-book!!!

 

Until Millenium 9/6/2004 to Europe!

 

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[littleboy]

the one thing that I did feel that was not the same is that noone was useing the outside pools it was too cold but a lot of the ships have inside pools now I know that the Diamond does. We are on the norwegian Star June 20.

[cydspal]

Is anyone swimming in the covered pool on the Diamond in Alaska?

[woodspines]

Lan and Zebra, Thanks for all your helpful information. I can't wait to see Alaska for the first time. You have painted an intriging picture!!

[geoherb]

When we were on the Star Princess last July, it was warm enough to swim in the outdoor pools. We just made sure we had our robes and towels right beside the pool for when we got out of the water.

[augie]

LAN,

 

Do you know yet which ones are designated as the formal nights?

 

Hope you're having fun - don't scare all of the wildlife away!

 

Carnival Holiday 10/94

Carnival Sensation 10/95

Carnival Destiny 1/97

Carnival Fascination 1/98

Carnival Tropicale 9/98

Carnival Destiny 10/00

Carnival Triumph 10/01

Disney Wonder 12/01

Carnival Destiny11/02

Princess Diamond Princess 6/04

Carnival Miracle 11/04

 

augiegator@att.net

[zebra]

cydspal... yes the pool is heated and was used by quite a few people - also all the jacuzzi's of course. Just make sure you ask your cabin steward for terry robes which you can wear to and from the pool. We had quite a few younger people on our cruise and they tend to use the swimming facilities a little more.

 

Augie....Formal nights are the 2nd night of the cruise and the night that you are in Ketchikan.

 

Until Millenium 9/6/2004 to Europe!

 

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[nain]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by LAN:

Hello to everyone - Monday morning here as we are on Alaskan time (4 hours behind Eastern). Unfortunately, check-in was a disaster due to a problem the ship had with Immigration delaying those getting off and the longshoremen not picking up the luggage when you are dropped off. We arrived at the pier around 11:30 a.m. (normal time for us to get on board beginning at noon - or so we thought). Princess was still disembarking people at 1:00 p.m. We waited in line until around 1:15 - along with about 1500 other people and Princess finally began embarking people at around 1:30 p.m. We had to push/pull around all our own luggage until we got to the check in area, when the luggage was finally taken by the longshoremen to put onto the ship. We then had to stand in another line to check-in. We were fortunate that we are Princess Plantium members, so our line wasn't quite as long as those who were doing the regular check-in. We were on board at around 2:15 or so. First time our luggage made it to our rooms before we did! There were no curbside porters. Apparently, its a problem with the Seattle longshoremen. Hopefully, they get this fixed shortly.

 

We did make our PC reservations when we got on board. There is a button on your cabin phone for Concierge and you just push it and tell them what restaurant you want to eat at, what night, and when. They were exceeding accomodating and helpful. We decided to make our reservations for the entire week - just because we knew where we wanted to eat and when, but you can make them day-to-day with no problem - you may just need to be a bit flexible with the time you want to eat at if you do them daily. We made ours for 6:30 each night and have found that this works well for us to get to the shows, which begin at around 8:15 pm each night. There are other shows at 10:15 or so, so that if you want to eat later, you can catch an earlier show. Food is great in the various restaurants - we can let anyone know about any specifics if you want.

 

Woodspines - if you have PC dining, you must stay with PC dining the entire time - you can't bounce from one to the other, but it really isn't a problem as each of the individual PC dining rooms allows you to choose from their specialty menu PLUS that night's traditional menu so you have the best of both worlds.

 

Weather is beautiful and seas are calm - almost glasslike. Yes, you do go out into the open sea (Pacific) for a while on Sunday before you arrive at the inside passage. No worries - it's just lovely, but quite cool. Temperature is around 53 degrees, but the breeze from the ship sailing can be a bit chilly.

 

Well, we're going to be docking in Juneau at around 11:00 a.m. Taking Captain Larry's whale watching today and will report back.

 

Let me know if anyone needs any other info.

 

Goodbye from SUNNY Alaska!<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

[nain]

I am new to this site, am learning how to use it, and apologize for any crazy postings I have done!

I was wondering about the stern cabins on Caribe level. We are booked on Sapphire in July and they say the ship has same floor plan as Diamond. Is the balcony open or covered? We are booked in C107.

Thanks for any info you can find out!

[cydspal]

Hey Lan! Can you update us on the Alaska Patters?

[Mindy1]

nain,

We were booked in B104 on the Diamond in June. We changed to a aft C750 after our TA talked to a Princess rep. that had been on the Diamond. He said that the forward balconys are solid steel not plexiglass due to the structure of the front of the ship. Also there could be times that they could lock the balcony doors due to wind. We wanted to be able to see out the balcony without always standing.

[sboh]

LAN-just wondering-how did your whale watching go on Monday? What did you see? How close were you? Any seasickness?

[zebra]

I'm sure LAN is still going to respond about the whales - just wanted to let you know that last week Monday we went whale watching in Juneau and saw 5 humpback whales (at 3 different sightings) and 3 sea lions, it was spectacular.

 

Until Millenium 9/6/2004 to Europe!

 

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[zebra]

sboh, just wanted to mention that it wasn't easy to email from the ship - the Internet Cafe is wonderful but half the time the monitors had signs on them "Due to our location, there is no Internet service". I guess we are pretty remote up there and also surrounded by very high mountains!

 

Until Millenium 9/6/2004 to Europe!

 

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[LAN]

Hello to you all!

Sorry for not getting back to everyone, but the internet access has been down here on the Diamond since Monday. Some problem with the connections to the satelites. Weather has just been outstanding - it was so warm and sunny yesterday in Ketchikan that we considered putting on shorts. We did the Captain Larry whale watching in Juneau and it was terrific. We actually saw two whales breaching - what a sight. Well worth the money and so much better than the big boats that the cruise tours use. I would highly suggest it. Weather in Juneau was cloudy with occasional sun - around 55 degrees. In Skagway we did Princess' Yukon expedition and railway tour. It was great - lasted 8 hours, and I don't know where the time went. Well worth the time. Weather there was sunny and warm - around 65 degrees. Yesterday in Ketchikan we did the Princess go kart adventure. It was sold out (so glad I booked in online through Princess' website). What a blast - it was a new tour and was terrific. Not for those with bad backs, as we were really pretty off road on old logging roads. We have had a terrific week. Will post more once we're home along with info from the Patters if that's what you're looking for, as I have kept them all.

 

Home on Saturday, unless I can hide under my bed in my cabin!