Just back-Diamond Princess Northbound

[TMS9539]

This is really long…. Hope you enjoy it.

 

We sailed the Diamond Princess northbound from Vancouver August 16th – 23rd. There were 11 of us in the group – mostly in our 40’s and 50’s and one or two in their 60’s. We had a great time and were blessed with great weather. It rained a few times here and there but never when it mattered. Our first day at sea we were completely fogged in. We saw absolutely nothing that day. Fortunately the fog lifted and the rest of the week was spectacular.

 

My mom and I had an aft balcony cabin. We thought the beds were really comfortable and slept like babies all week. Someone else had a window cabin and everyone else had inside rooms. Our balcony was great and offered great protection from the wind. We really liked it. That being said, it cost double what an inside room would have cost and I’m not sure it was worth it. We just weren’t on it that much because we were on the go so much of the time, and when we were in glacier bay and college fiord I preferred to be out on deck at the front of the ship. Everyone says a balcony is a must have in Alaska, but I don’t think so. Still, it was nice to have it so I can’t regret it. Our room steward was so rude we just had to laugh about it. The first day when he came by I asked for 8 extra pillows. He ignored me, so I asked again. He sort of grunted. The third time I asked he looked at me and asked how come I needed all those pillows. Okay. That was a first for me. At least he finally brought 7 pillows. I didn’t argue. Then a few days later we went back to the cabin while he was cleaning it. We told him not to worry because we would only be a second. His response was “Good”. End of conversation. He did keep the ice bucket filled and the room clean, although we ended up with no towels once or twice and had to call for them. But it didn’t impinge on my cruise whatsoever. At least not once I got the pillows. He got a little nicer as the week went on, but I don’t think he’ll be promoted to the dining room anytime soon. Service everywhere else was pretty good. Sometimes we waited a long time for a drink and we had to get our coffee ourselves a lot in the horizon court, but no big deal. I think that’s because on an Alaskan cruise it seems like everyone decides to hit the buffet at the exact same time every day. It must be really hard on the staff. All in all we were satisfied with the service. Even our room steward did his job, he was just a little lacking in the personality department. 

 

Formal nights: The women in our group wore everything from glittery evening wear to outfits you would wear to church. All the men wore docker type pants, nice shirts and a tie. No jackets. They let us all into the dining room both nights. I didn’t notice too much what other people wore but I did notice one guy in regular pants and a polo shirt. They let him in the dining room too. I don’t think you could get away with jeans on the formal nights, but they’re totally okay on the other nights.

 

Food: We chose personal choice dining and even with 9 of us going together every night we always managed to get seated right away. One time we split up into two tables next to each other, but we were fine with that. The food in the dining room was very good. The best dishes I had were the chicken kiev and the beef Wellington. The lobster and crab legs were only okay (in my opinion, but I’m from Maryland where the blue crab reigns supreme!). Food in the horizon court was typical buffet food. I would say it wasn’t as good as most of the other cruises I’ve been on – however, some things were better than others and I didn’t eat there that much so it might not have been as mediocre as I thought. The fruit was great and so was the salad bar. I only ate in the horizon court for lunch twice. The rest of the time we were either in port and ate out or went to the dining room. This was the first cruise I ever ate lunch in the dining room and I really enjoyed it. The horizon court was really a madhouse a lot of the time so we stayed away as much as possible. We also ate at Sterling Steak house one night and the food was really good. Especially because 7 or 8 whales came right by our window – Awesome! Service in the dining room ranged from very good to great.

 

Entertainment: All of us REALLY enjoyed the on-board naturalist’s talks. They were really a highlight. I really wanted to see the talk Libby Riddles gave but it was at 4pm on the day we were in Juneau and I was busy in the port. Except for the welcome aboard show on the first night, we didn’t see any of the evening shows. I wanted to. I planned to. I had great intentions. But the days just got away from us. We played passenger jeopardy one night (we were robbed!) and saw the marriage show. One of the people in our group sang in the Princess Pop Idol contest so we saw that. That was it. When I was reading the reviews I could never understand how people could go on a cruise and not go to the shows, because I love the shows on a Caribbean cruise. But Alaska is different. We were in port until late, and even when we weren’t we somehow never made it to dinner until 8pm and we’d be at dinner for two hours or more (we really enjoyed each others company!) and then we’d be exhausted and go to bed. Sorry I can’t help more on that. The movies shown in the theater that I remember were “Prince Caspian”, “Made of Honor” and “Kung Fu Panda”. There were probably more.

 

PORTS –

 

Ketchikan: Five of us went fishing with Captain Ken of Northern Lights Charters. This was my first time fishing. (Well, when I was a kid I might’ve sat at a pond with a stick and string, but I don’t really remember it). It was really exciting. We caught a total of 31 salmon in about 3 hours – 9 of them in the first 15 minutes. It was incredible. Captain Ken was a lot of fun and we really had a blast. I know I’m a hypocrite because I eat meat and fish, but I really didn’t like the part where the fish dies. But I learned two important lessons - “A bloody boat is a happy boat” and “Fish are food, not our friends”. We had the fish shipped home and my mom had 75 pounds of salmon sitting on her doorstep the other day. Figuring out what to do with it before it thawed was another whole adventure. After the fishing we walked up to Creek Street and saw the salmon swimming upstream. That was something to see – there were thousands and thousands of fish trying to make their way. Some of the other people in our group went to the lumberjack show, the sax-something village and saw some totem poles. Everyone had a good day.

 

Juneau: There were two eagles hanging out right outside our balcony and in the trees by the tram stop which we watched on and off all day and evening. Three of us took the helicopter to the glacier and went glacier trekking for two hours. It was AMAZING. Worth every penny. We had beautiful weather and actually got hot on the glacier so that we were shedding clothes. There are no words to describe the beauty. Just do it. After that we went to the Thane Ore House salmon bake. We were going to go to Gold Creek but we didn’t realize that you had to go during a specific mealtime – we wanted to go at 3pm and they wouldn’t take us. Thane Ore cooked up a bunch of food just for us and it was really good but we were the only people there, which was a little weird. It didn’t spoil our appetites though. The food was great. After that we took the tram up Mt Roberts and did the hike to the cross. I would have liked to do more hiking up there but it was too late by then. One in our group took a flightseeing tour and he said it was amazing. Three other people went whale watching with Harv and Marv and I think it was the highlight of the whole trip for them. They saw lots of whales including a lot of breaching. Apparently a mother and baby put on quite a show for them.

 

Skagway: One in our group stayed behind and did the dog mushing on the glacier excursion. She loved it. The rest of us rented cars and took Murray’s guide with us into the Yukon. Then three of us went horseback riding around Emerald Lake. That’s the only thing I really can’t recommend. It was pretty bad. There were at least 17 people taking the ride, and it was way too many. The size of the group was unmanageable and it didn’t feel safe. There were at least three little kids who’d never been on a horse. One lady fell off. I was way in the back and with 15 horses in front of me I could have fallen off a cliff and the guide wouldn’t have known. At one point the horse behind me spooked which set off my horse so just as I was about to snap a picture my horse ran away with me. Somehow I managed to not fall off, not drop my camera and stop the horse. After that I didn’t take any more pictures. Not that they would have turned out anyway because I was enveloped in a cloud of DUST. It was horrible. If I wanted to take a dust bath I could have saved $130 and just rolled in the dirt. I’m not exaggerating this. We had to stop at the grocery store and buy stain remover and go back to the ship and try to salvage our clothes. The ride was supposed to be 2 hours and it only lasted about an hour and 15 minutes. We didn’t complain because we were grateful it was over. And of course once it was over we laughed about it. But I wouldn’t do it again. The drive into the Yukon was beautiful. I’m glad I saw it but I’m not really a drive, stop, get out, look around, get back in the car type of person. Next time I’ll just find a trail and go hiking. I might not see as much but I’ll find the day more satisfying. But that’s just me – it really is worth doing. And if you stop somewhere and stay quiet the silence is pretty amazing.

 

Glacier Bay – Stunning scenery. On the sea days I would walk three miles on the promenade deck. This day I was walking around the deck looking at the scenery and thinking this is like hiking, only easier, because you get the great view without having to climb a mountain for it. Just as we pulled up to Marjorie glacier there was a huge calving that I was lucky enough to see (and hear). The weather was great (again) and we could see the tops of all the peaks. Excellent day!

 

College Fiord – More stunning scenery. More great weather, though a little colder than in glacier bay. But no rain so who cares. There we were looking at Harvard glacier and the naturalist comes on and says the glacier is a mile and a half across and we’re still almost six miles away from it. I couldn’t wrap my mind around that. Another excellent day!

 

If anyone has specific questions I’ll try to answer them.

[Shawnesville]

Thanks a bunch. It sounds like you had a great time. You sound like you have a positive attitiude and I'll bet you have a fun time every where you go.

 

We're on the Diamond south bound September 6th, your cruise sounded perfect.

[JWJs]

Thanks for the great review of your Alaska cruise on the Diamond!!! :) Your glacier treking adventure sold me...now I know it's a must do. Alaska is on our list...maybe next summer. Thanks again for writing and posting your review.

[dforeigner]

Thank you for taking time to write a review.

[sunsetbeachgal]

HI tms,

 

Thanks for such a great review. You sound like the kind of person who is fun to travel with-roll with the punches!

 

We went to Alaska on the Coral -loved it as well. Decided to do an inside cabin on this cruise, due to the extreme cost differential, and were not sorry we did. So I found your comment to this effect interesting! But for our next cruise to the Carribbean, we are back to a balcony!

 

thanks again!

[gambit57]

Bizarre that your room steward was so rude. I haven't been impressed by their service in over a decade, but they've always been nice and did what I asked. I liked how my steward on the Alaskan cruise cleaned the balcony windows. A lot of salt from the sea accumulates but she kept it clean so the windows didn't obstruct our view.

 

And we had a port balcony. Totally worth it. Mainly cuz of Glacier Bay/College Fjord. I can see how you might not think it as great if you had an aft or starboard balcony. I did go to the front of the ship too, but promptly ran back to my balcony cuz it's way too crowded up there.

[neecee23]

On our recent cruise my sister and I had a not so great steward. He forgot the ice bucket the first day, then when he did bring it he forgot to fill it. Did not refill toiletries or towels a few times. Requests for bathrobes made online we had to ask for, really not big deals, but annoying. The other cabin in our party had a great steward, he took very good care of "my boys" (dad, husband, son). So you never know, you just have to go with the flow.;)

[Colo Cruiser]

Great review, thanks. :)

[Daniel1313]

Not sure if you went to Crooners bar or not... If you did do you have any idea if James and Jigs are still working there???

 

Thanks

 

Dan

[sweetchic]

Great review! How was the weather? 40-50's? 60's to 70's? looking forward to planning how to dress on our cruise next year on Sept 5! Thanks!

[cdngrl]

your review brought back lots of memories. thank you.:)

[TMS9539]

Great review! How was the weather? 40-50's? 60's to 70's? looking forward to planning how to dress on our cruise next year on Sept 5! Thanks!

 

Weather was mostly 50's - 60's. It was probably more in the high 40's in glacier bay and college fiord though. In Skagway it definitely hit 70. The best part was not much rain!

[TMS9539]

Not sure if you went to Crooners bar or not... If you did do you have any idea if James and Jigs are still working there???

 

Thanks

 

Dan

 

We were at Crooner's but I'm sorry I don't remember the name of our server. He was very nice though!

[Bubs]

Thanks for the great review, I'm on the Northbound June 6.