From Gold to Platinum-B2B Diamond June 20 - July 4, 2009

[karatemom2]

We just began the second leg of our B2B Diamond Alaska cruises and since we are now proud Platinum members I thought I would use up our hard earned free internet minutes by starting a thread here. We have had an amazing time with the most gorgeous weather, scenery and activities. We have met very nice CC friends and the whole family is having lots of fun. I will post a review of our trip and activities as we go along, but if anyone has any questions while I'm still onboard feel free to ask. It's just another sunny, warm day in Alaska!! :)

[paul929207]

Welcome to Platinum. Glad you are havng a great cruise.

[jenjens1023]

Mary, please email me, I left something on the ship and I'd like your help retreiving it. jenjens1023@yahoo.com

[snowy99]

Have a great second week. We did the back to back and been home just over a week missing Alaska already.

 

Who is the new cruise director as Dan Gibbons was leaving the ship

[karatemom2]

We are in Glacier Bay today and it is another nice day. It's not nearly as warm and sunny as our day here last week, but still very comfortable, no rain or mist. We are just having a very relaxing day since there is not much going on around the ship while we are in the National Park. I'm hoping we spot some whales again later. Last week we saw a large pod of humpback whales as we were leaving the park and going through Icy Straight Point.

 

So far the service onboard has been excellent. The crew and staff are really great. The one disappointment for my DH has been that the craps table in the casino doesn't open until 9 p.m. and even at that it has been pretty slow. It finally picked up a bit last night, but it is the first time in all of our cruises with Princess that he has found it to be closed during the day. There is plenty to keep us busy though!

[karatemom2]

Mary, please email me, I left something on the ship and I'd like your help retreiving it. jenjens1023@yahoo.com

 

Hi Jen, I'm happy to help, let me know what I can do. I sent you an email.

[karatemom2]

Have a great second week. We did the back to back and been home just over a week missing Alaska already.

 

Who is the new cruise director as Dan Gibbons was leaving the ship

 

The new cruise director is JJ Ullrich. We have found that all of the CD staff is really great! Lot's of fun.

[diverearl]

We just began the second leg of our B2B Diamond Alaska cruises and since we are now proud Platinum members I thought I would use up our hard earned free internet minutes by starting a thread here. We have had an amazing time with the most gorgeous weather, scenery and activities. We have met very nice CC friends and the whole family is having lots of fun. I will post a review of our trip and activities as we go along, but if anyone has any questions while I'm still onboard feel free to ask. It's just another sunny, warm day in Alaska!! :)

 

We will be boarding the Diamond as you get off in Vancouver and this will be our first cruise as Platinum as well. The free internet will be nice checking email and playing (no work this trip) what is it 150 minutes I think? Have you used any of the other perks yet?

[karatemom2]

We will be boarding the Diamond as you get off in Vancouver and this will be our first cruise as Platinum as well. The free internet will be nice checking email and playing (no work this trip) what is it 150 minutes I think? Have you used any of the other perks yet?

 

I have only used the free internet, but it's a nice perk. On a 7 day it is a $75 credit which is good for 150 minutes. I hope you have the same great weather we have enjoyed. Have a great cruise!!

[diverearl]

I have only used the free internet, but it's a nice perk. On a 7 day it is a $75 credit which is good for 150 minutes. I hope you have the same great weather we have enjoyed. Have a great cruise!!

 

Your killing us with that cool weather, its 79* outside right now (thanks to a couple of hours of showers - badly needed) and it is like a cold front. My AC ran so long today I thought the thermostat was stuck :eek: .

 

Have a great cruise and keep us posted. Thanks, earl.

[Putterdude]

I have only used the free internet, but it's a nice perk. On a 7 day it is a $75 credit which is good for 150 minutes. I hope you have the same great weather we have enjoyed. Have a great cruise!!

 

Mary, you sailed by and didn't wave....and no I am not going to get up at 4 am to see you sail by southbound.:D

[JWJs]

Hi Mary. We are looking at a Cruisetour for Alaska right now. Have also considered a B2B. Sounds like you and your family are having a fabulous time as always. Congrats on reaching Platinum. It's soooooo nice to have internet minutes plus platinum check-in/boarding. :)

Hey Putterdude.:)

[Putterdude]

Hey Putterdude.:)

 

And "hey" back to you.!:D

[Huckster1]

We have had JJ as a Cruise Director twice. He is great. If you order the newest Princess DVD he is on that also.

[karatemom2]

Hi there you two!! It's my old Diamond pals. We miss you guys, but it's great to be back on the Diamond. We actually have run into a couple of our favorite crew members who were onboard during our Christmas sailing.

 

Mary, you sailed by and didn't wave....and no I am not going to get up at 4 am to see you sail by southbound.:D

 

Not getting up at 4 a.m.? I guess that's OK, I won't be up either!! :D

 

Hi Mary. We are looking at a Cruisetour for Alaska right now. Have also considered a B2B. Sounds like you and your family are having a fabulous time as always. Congrats on reaching Platinum. It's soooooo nice to have internet minutes plus platinum check-in/boarding. :)

 

Hey Putterdude.:)

 

We are really loving the B2B. A cruisetour sounds fun too. How about a B2B with a cruisetour!!

[karatemom2]

We had another beautiful, sunny day in Skagway yesterday. Juneau was cool today, but still nice. Since this is our second visit to each port, we are just kind of taking it easy. We did see the "Days of 98" show in Skagway yesterday which was fun. Tomorrow is Ketchikan and we have a car reserved to head off the beaten path a bit. Hoping our good weather stays with us. We are seeing lots of whales and eagles.

[karatemom2]

Well it's the final day of our great B2B cruise and we are enjoying a relaxing day at sea. We had a wonderful day in Ketchikan yesterday, again under sunny, dry skies. We rented a car and drove out of town to Ward Lake where we hiked the Ward Lake loop and then drove to the waterfall and beach near the end of the road. Then we headed back the other direction and went to Herring Creek where we saw lots of eagles, some salmon and best of all, two black bears. It was all I could have asked for a perfect day in Alaska. Tomorrow we head home and I will post a full trip report in a few days.

[karatemom2]

After a long day of travel yesterday we are home and getting settled back in today. I'm going to post a trip report, but I thought I would just make a few observations about our experience on the Diamond Princess:

 

The service was excellent! We had such a wonderful experience with all of the staff and crew. We especially loved our cabin steward. What a gem! The very best in all of our 13 cruises.

 

For the first time on any of our Princess cruises, I was a little disappointed by the food. Don't get me wrong, it was good, just not as good as it has been. The service was great, but we found ourselves actually enjoying some of the choices in the buffet more than the dining room. That was a first for us. I was particularly disappointed in the soups as that is something I have always really looked forward to on our Princess cruises.

 

The kids program was good as always, but my daughter was a bit disappointed that they held the talent show in the teen club. On all of our other Princess cruises they have been in one of the lounges, or even once in the Princess theater. This is something we parents really enjoy and the seating situation in the teen club is very poor for this type of event. Many parents were unable to even make it in to see their kids.

 

The CD staff was really great and very friendly and fun. It always adds to the overall feel of a cruise when you have a happy and outgoing group of entertainment staff and we enjoyed them all.

 

There was definitely some illness onboard, especially among the crew, but it didn't seem to interfere with services. They did cancel the crew talent show during our first week due to the number of sick crew members, but it appeared that every precaution was being taken to protect passengers. My daughter came down with a cold and I took her to see the doctor onboard, not so much for the cold but because she was showing symptoms of a UTI. However, because she had potential flu symptoms, they did check her for flu and the doctor explained that they did have flu onboard so were being abundantly cautious in checking anyone with symptoms. Fortunately she tested negative for the flu. She did have a UTI though and they were so great about getting her an antibiotic right away. She felt better the same day and was able to continue to enjoy her cruise, but as a passenger I appreciated that they were doing everything possible to control the spread of flu and noro.

 

I really appreciated the naturalist onboard. Her commentary and wildlife sightings were excellent. The rangers for Glacier Bay were great as well. And if you get the chance to see the presentation by Libby Riddles, do not miss it. She is an amazing woman. It was also a real treat to get to see one of the original copies of the Declaration of Independence onboard on July 2 in Juneau.

 

Doing laundry was very convenient for us this cruise. We rarely had to wait to get a machine or dryer and I'm glad we didn't overpack. The only thing that was new for us was that the laundry rooms closed at 10 p.m. and we got our laundry locked in one evening. We just fluffed it up in the morning, so it wasn't a problem, just something to keep in mind.

 

It was fun doing the B2B and I appreciated that they changed out some of the activities during the second week, knowing that there were many of us B2B cruisers. Now that it's all over, it seems like it went really fast.

 

Can't wait for our Christmas cruise!!

[karatemom2]

Link to our trip review...

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1017813