Alaska CruiseTour Review 5/28 - 6/10; Diamond Princess; From planning to trip pics

Alaska 2013

I've read so many excellent reviews of various cruises on Cruise Critic, and am amazed at their level of detail. And all of that detail certainly helped me as I was planning my vacation – and somehow got me through all the anticipation leading up to our cruise! I think I read Bimmer09’s Diamond Princess review 100 times! I'm quite certain that if I hadn’t started writing my thoughts down when I did, I’d never have remembered it all.

Since this is mine and my husband’s first time on a cruise, and our first time going to Alaska, I thought it would be helpful for other newbies to come along for the entire ride instead of just for the vacation. After all, planning is half the fun! So, 56 days prior tour vacation, I started to document the journey. The first few posts are written in late March as I looked back on the planning I had already done, and then the journal shifts to the present tense because I was writing as I went. It’s sort of a diary format - I hope this doesn’t confuse the reader too much.

Please note, these are just my opinions and thoughts as I went on this new journey – and your experiences might be very different, and other far more seasoned cruisers might have different views and opinions. This is just what the entire experience was like for me…

3/30/2013...Looking back, Making the Decision


Bucket list trip....my choice....Alaska! When I mentioned it to DH he lit up. I decided to jump before he gave it a second thought. A single google search, "Alaska Vacation," and maybe two links down was a link to the Princess site. I always said if I did Alaska I wanted to do a cruise...but that wouldn't get me to Denali unless cruise ships were far more advanced than I had realized! Regardless, it was worth a look. And suddenly I was looking at land and cruise tours!

It didn't take long for me to find a CruiseTour that was right in line with the dates I wanted. I started looking at cabins...a suite? Lets look at those perks....ummmm, Yes please! DH is the world's worst traveler so any perks that make life easier is worth the extra money. And let’s not kid ourselves...I'm all about a little extravagance. It's my bucket list trip, right? So, without doing ANY research on cruises, cruise lines, Alaska, ports, places to visit, weather, clothes, budget, etc, I select a suite (based on its name, Juneau, which seemed appropriate) and hit the reserve button. They didn't need any money to reserve, at least for a few days, so I could think it through and talk to DH.

At this point, all I really knew is the departure date for the tour was May 28 from Anchorage, the land tour will take us to Talkeetna/MtMckinley and Denali National park, and the cruise begins June 1 from Whittier and ends June 8 in Vancouver with stops in Skagway, Juneau, and Ketchikan. Oh, and the cruise ship's name is Diamond.

The next day, DH and I chatted about the vacation and we agreed we were going to do it. I think this is when I decided that a little research was in order. I had just a few weeks before I needed to make the first deposit to Princess and I had to admit, I knew next to nothing about what I had signed us up for!

3/31/2013...Looking back, Information Overload!!

I consider myself well-traveled. Perhaps my travel portfolio is not as extensive as some, but certainly it's well rounded. I have traveled to (not just driven through) 38 of the 50 states (including a 4 week trip to Hawaii worthy of a lifetime miniseries and more times to Nevada than I care to recall but surely enough to have single-handedly paid for Wynn) and my international trips include Israel, Philippines, Netherlands, Slovakia, Austria, Germany and Canada (from Toronto to Inuvik). I am not new to travel planning and tend to take on the role of Julie McCoy when traveling with others - how hard could planning an Alaskan CruiseTour be? I mean, Princess is the HOME of Julie McCoy (which I didn’t learn until much later…in case you are wondering )! A vacation is a vacation is a vacation...Right? I opened up my Springpad app on my iPad (if you don't have Springpad, I highly recommend it) and settled in to begin planning...

The first thing I thought I needed to accomplish was confirming I had made the right decision in selecting Princess. It didn't take long to realize I could spend weeks researching the cruise lines. From cabins, to suite perks to size of ship to itineraries...I have to admit I was drowning in information overload and had just barely begun. There are thousands of reviews out there, and so many u-tube videos that I barely scratched the surface. I looked at all the notes I had captured in Springpad on the differences in ship sizes, the pros and cons to various cruise lines, the comparisons of prices to doing a CruiseTour versus a do it yourself tour, the lists of suite perks...I had amassed so much data in such a short period of time and it was making my decision all the more complex! I could feel the foggy haze of “analysis paralysis” settling in - not a good sensation with just a few days to go before my deposit was due to Princess! I needed a decision...and so I made one. I deleted all the information I had collected and decided to just go with Princess and the reservation I had and begin my research from that point. I mean, the ships's name is Diamond and the name of our suite is Juneau, how bad could it be? I sent in my deposit.

3/31/2013...Looking back, Motion Sickness


With the initial decision of sticking with Princess and the CruiseTour behind me, I spent some time just reading about the cruise line, the Diamond Princess and the cabin. I was pleasantly surprised to find my aft suite highly rated on several websites. I was also pleased to see Princess received several awards for their Alaska cruises. I was feeling pretty good about my decision and couldn't stop talking about the upcoming vacation - still just over 100 days away - with anyone who would listen. We were going to Alaska!

I think it is right around here in my planning that I realized there was a flaw in my plan. I was so excited about Alaska and the cruise that I had blocked out a major issue. Motion Sickness. I have extreme motion sickness. As in - sitting in a swing, rocking in a chair, riding in an escalator, riding in an escalation, carry throw up bags with me EVERYWHERE - severe motion sickness. Still...I take Xanax when I fly and that seems to keep the motion sickness demons at bay. And when I travel internationally, I manage to keep said Motion Sickness Demons at bay while riding in taxis with Bonine.

I began researching cruises and motion sickness and Alaska. Many a thread in Cruise Critic has been posted on the topic and I've read them all. I was desperate for some unanimous vote that said Alaska was immune to motion sickness because of its longitude/latitude...or maybe that Alaska was known as a magnetic vortex and it cured all motion sickness...or that Princess ships had some magical stabilizer that prevented passengers from ever feeling any motion...I was desperate! But no such luck. For every person that said Alaska was smooth sailing, there was another who said it was rough. For every person who said Bonine was great, there was another who said it didn't work. I read about "queasy beads" and quickly shrugged them off. I have never been a fan of sea bands and have never had success with them.

As of today, with 55 days in front of me, I have convinced myself that the little pink miracle pill of Bonine is going to get me through the planes, trains, motor coaches and ships of an Alaska CruiseTour. But yes, I have about 40 throw up bags set aside and ready to go just in case. Oh, and my queasy beads arrived today, too. A girl can't be too prepared...

3/31/2013...Looking back, Taking care of the basics

After being completely overwhelmed by all the information on cruises and Alaska, I decided to knock off a few things that were well within my comfort zone. I pulled up an old vacation list of To Do's and transferred it to my Springpad Alaska notebook...Labeled it "To Do Before We go" and I was off and running.

Before I could do anything, we needed to determine the full length of our trip. We have friends in Anchorage and we knew we wanted to spend time with them, and DH really wanted to spend time in Vancouver on the back end of the trip. We needed to bake in some days without overextending our petsitter as well. We agreed on arriving in Anchorage on 5/26 and leaving Vancouver on June 10. With the schedule finalized, I quickly took care of petsitters, flights and other must do items that go with every trip.

3/31/2013...Looking back, Newbie Research

Feeling like I had accomplished the hardest items (I had chosen a CruiseTour, booked my flights and had critter care under control), I was back to researching the many unknowns of taking a cruise and Alaska.

At this point, I was about one week in to my vacation planning and the wonderful world of Alaska cruising. I had stumbled around Cruise Critic but felt like I had discovered some strange sub-culture! What the heck is UBD or UST? And what's a PP? And what is an RC and why should I sign up for it? What's a muster? I could go on and on and on. The term "newbie" truly applied to me.

I’m not going to lie…Cruise Critic was a little intimidating for me. I noticed when people asked simple questions, someone would tell them it was a question that is always asked and if they had just searched the site they could find the answer. I didn’t even know there WAS a search! And then I noticed that if a newbie searched the site and found the answer and said thanks, someone would come on and slap their hand and say the information was wrong and if they had only looked at the date of the thread they would have realized it was outdated and should have re-asked the question. I decided I wasn't going to dip my toe into the posting waters of CC until I could talk like a sailor, errr....like a cruiser :) The ratio of nice folks on CC is certainly much higher than those that aren't - but educating myself first seemed like the prudent approach.

So I went back to the safety and security of the Princess website - and can I just say it is a GREAT resource for a newbie! I think I read that website and everything it had to offer beginning to end. I entered as much information in the Cruise Personalizer as I could. I read through the FAQs and the various articles on cruising. The whole cruise concept began to click...I understood what was included in the cost of my CruiseTour, and what was extra. I understood the difference between Anytime and Traditional Dining. I realized I needed to pick excursions at the various ports. And I was getting excited! I even called and talked to a customer service rep at Princess and asked what were probably really silly questions – and she hung out with me for 20 minutes and answered every question I asked and then some.

3/31/2013...Excursions part one

Poor DH - I was talking his ear off every day about this vacation. There was so much to do, and learn and make decisions about! I printed out a 64 page personalized excursion list and marked the excursions that sounded interesting to me and asked him to do the same thing. We narrowed our list to things we both wanted to do, and then made some choices. I went out to Princess to book the excursions. I had learned I could reserve, but not pay for, anything until we were underway....we were still 103 days away.

• Talkeetna: a jet boat trip - it was already sold out! Dang.

• Denali: A natural history tour was included in our package so done deal here.

• Skagway: helicopter glacier tour and hike

• Juneau: helicopter glacier tour and dog sledding

• Ketchikan: sea kayaking

My vacation planning as far as the Princess site was concerned, was complete. I had chosen excursions, I had my hotels taken care of and flights were done. I could have stopped here and just watched the countdown timer on my iPhone tick away the days to departure. But where is the fun in that? It was time to go back to Cruise Critic.

3/31/2013...More research

It was January 20, 2013 and I joined Cruise Critic. My first post was to my roll call - it seemed like the obvious place to start. Not a lot of activity on the board outside of a few hellos. Perhaps when we get closer it will heat up a bit...

Between then and today (March 31 - Happy Easter), I have probably read hundreds of threads on CC, and have posted a measly 25 times - all without getting my hand slapped :) I've learned a lot:

• I'm glad I chose Princess, the Diamond, and C752 (our aft suite aptly named Juneau)...largely due to Bimmer09 and his fantastic review with pictures and videos! Thank you Norris!

• I changed the Denali Natural History tour to the Wilderness tour....because everyone says it’s a must do.

• I kept going back to Princess to check on the jetboat trip in Talkeetna - and it did become available.....just like folks at CC said it would!

• Excursions are a personal preference and people have a lot of very strong opinions. I learned to read everything through a lens of my own interests. Our port excursions have changed almost weekly depending on what I'm reading, what I've learned and what DH and I want to do. As of right now, they are:

• Skagway: helicopter tour and glacier hike

• Juneau: sea kayaking

• Ketchikan: TBD

• I know I want to do the Ultimate Ship Tour, I'm not interested in the Chef's table and I am not interested in the Ultimate Balcony Dinner.

• Formal nights are an ever present debate on the Princess forum; I'm still not sure if we are going to attend a formal night or just order in suite.

• If I packed everything people suggest for cruises and for Alaska in particular, I would need 10 suitcases and 3 days to unpack...I’m taking what makes sense for us. My big takeaways in all the reading I did:

• binder clips to keep the drapes closed to block out the light

• a small power strip that includes some USB ports (thanks Pam in CA!)

• layers of clothing versus heavy top coat

• envelopes for tipping, along with lots of $1 and $5 bills

• Anytime Dining is my preference...and I switched back and forth multiple times.

I have 55 days to go before we leave for Alaska. I am constantly second-guessing my choices and decisions. I look on CC almost daily to see if there is something new to learn or some new opinion I hadn't considered. I'm posting a little more, and asking questions specific to my situation. I've learned lots of little things but nothing that would make or break my vacation at this point. I’m feeling pretty set.

4/7/2013...48 days to go

I keep reading and researching, and I think I'm fairly saturated on information. I actually can't wait for the Alaska cruise season to start so I can read the reviews! Outside of that, I feel like there is a lot of repeat information on CC. Of course, I still check it every day hoping to glean something that I can apply to my vacation.

4/25/2013...32 days to go

Ok...I'm at a month and I'm so dang excited. Today I moved all my appropriate documents over to my iPad and made sure I had hard copies, too. I continue to read CruiseCritic and am excited to see the beginning of cruise season in Alaska has started with the arrival of the Crystal to Kodiak. I also bought a recommended book with a map that I can put up in our suite. DH seems excited but hasn't done much in the way of research. I keep encouraging him to read the book on Alaska...he will miss out on so much if he doesn't get smart on all of it soon.

I also decided to go see the doctor to get the motion sickness patch. I’ve never used it but I’m getting nervous about being sick this entire trip. My doc gave me Transderm Scop and it is packed and ready to go right next to my Queasy Beads, bonine and throw up bags :)

5/7/2013...18 days to go

We have put out the suitcases and are starting to set things aside that we want to take. I suspect we will cut back once we realize how much we want to take. I bought a camera - a Nikon P520. Highly recommended from a photographer friend of ours. I've been reading the manual and learning how to use it. I also bought a new backpack - Marmot Compressor. It was a much needed purchase not just for this trip but for normal use. Lands End was having some great sales so I bought a rain slicker for $15.00 - and the weather here has been so rainy and cold I've used it more than half a dozen times!

We also made the decision to skip formal nights. In the book we got, the author says to be cautious about spending too much time in the dining rooms because it’s easy to miss some really cool wild life. Not sure if I’ll regret this or not but I know DH is happy with the decision.

5/19/2013...7 days to go

At this time next week we will be at the airport! So excited!!! We are packing this weekend and getting organized - trying very hard to reduce our luggage. We each are carrying a small backpack and have 3 total pieces of luggage we will check. One rolling carry on size which will go to the ship; one rolling carry on size and one medium size will travel with us on the land tour. For the record, I am usually a very light packer: when I traveled recently internationally for two weeks I took one carry on. For this trip, I am just not worrying about it and packing what I think I'll want. Here is the list of what we are taking:

• DH: 1 dress pants, 3 jeans; 1 cargo pants; 2 dress shirts, 2 sweater, 2 sweatshirts; 9 casual shirts/t-shirts, 8 underwear; 4 pair shoes; 8 pair socks; 2 belts; scarf/hat/gloves; rain jacket; fleece; hoody; iPod/Charger; iPad/Charger; headset; sunglasses; toiletries; cell phone/charger; cigars; baseball cap; meds/vitamins; toiletries; passport; binoculars; knee brace

• Lisa: 1 dress pants, 4 jeans; 3 dress shirts; 8 pair socks; 1 shawl; 8 casual shirts/t-shirts; 6 bras; 10 underwear; 1 swimsuit; 3 pair shoes, 2 belts; 2 shorts, 1 sweater; scarf/hat/gloves; rain jacket; rain slicker; fleece; jewelry; sunglasses/contacts; toiletries/makeup; iPad/charger; cell phone/charger; baseball cap; meds/vitamins; passport; headset; binoculars; blowdryer

• Misc: binder clips; Alaska cruise book and map; magnets; trip documentation; small power strip; bug spray; cash (singles/fives); camera/case/charger/2 batteries/2 SD cards; granola bars; luggage ties;

I'm sure there will be stuff we don't use and I'll post that in this review as well. When I think of the varying temperatures, the need to layer, wanting to dress up a little bit for evenings (though not formal!) and also having access to free laundry on the ship since we are in the suite (but not wanting to do any laundry on the land portion of the trip), it seems what we are taking isn't that much. We are taking all of our normal toiletries...shampoo, conditioner, body soap, lotion, mouthwash, etc. I would rather have these items with me than find I don't like what the hotels/cruise ship offers. I'm also trying to leave room in our luggage for extras we bring back with us.

5/22/2013...2 days to go!

We are officially packed with the exception of last minute items that go into the suitcase the morning we depart. The house is clean, the dogs are bathed and I am wrapping up all the little things at work so I can step away for 3 weeks without worrying too much or needing to check in too frequently. My next post will be the start of the trip! Wooo HOOOOO!!!

5/26/2013....Trip Day 1; flight to Anchorage

Up at 4:45am eastern is a heck of a way to start a relaxing vacation. The suitcases were downstairs already so the morning was just taking care of the critters, saying bye to the critters and petsitter and waiting for the car to pick us up. As always, the service was prompt and we arrived at the airport at 6am. 2 hour flight to Houston. 6 hour layover and a 7 hour flight to Anchorage. If we make it through this 20 hour travel day without DH complaining, I'll consider it a success - and will thank all my business travel for giving me the perks I have to make it smooth: first class tickets, airline club lounges and Bose headsets will hopefully make today painless.

We are in Houston. I've decided to begin wearing my motion sickness patches. The flight in was rocky and even though I took Bonine before we left for the airport, I was struggling with reading on the plane. Tomorrow we will be off and running with friends in Anchorage and they are driving – other people driving equals death by motion sickness for me - so starting the patch now and just wearing one throughout the trip seemed prudent. I sure do hope they work...

Flight from Houston to Anchorage was l-o-n-g! Felt like we were headed to Europe. First class made the trip easy and comfortable. And Bose headsets make all that airplane noise disappear – if you travel a lot I highly recommend them!

We landed on time and headed to baggage claim 4 to collect our luggage. The Princess and Holland stand was well placed and well-marked. I was second in line to check in with the representative...and she didn't have our name on the list. She asked to see our paperwork so I stepped to the side to allow another person to check in...and that person wasn't on the list. A few check-ins later and the representative was having to write people's names down and assure them there wouldn't be any issues. I went to collect our luggage from the carousel with DH and realized in the confusion the representative hadn't given me luggage tags. I wandered back over and there was a long line of folks none of whom were on the transfer list. She was sending us all to an area to wait for a motor-coach after all luggage arrived from 2 flights...and that's when I decided a cab would be much better. I took my name off of her hand written list, rounded up DH and our luggage and headed to the hotel.

$20 cab ride (with tip) and we were at Captain Cook without any waiting or lines - including at the Princess check in desk at the hotel! The people at the Princess check in were very nice. They gave us our packet, which included our itinerary for just the next portion of the trip along with the various luggage tags just for this portion of the trip. We were asleep by 9:30 (1:30am Charlotte time!). My recommendation - cancel the transfer at the airport and do it yourself. You have more control over your luggage, you remove added wait times at the airport and hotel, and can get to your hotel room without hassle. Plus – if you are watching pennies, the Princess transfer rate is a bit more than $20 per person and if you cancel it, they put the transfer fee towards your On Board Credit. The cab ride is only $20 for multiple people so we ended up ahead AND eliminate hassles...and I am all about eliminating hassles!

Also, I finally get the luggage tag thing! There are tags that clearly note the luggage is going to McKinley Princess Lodge and clearly note if the luggage is going to the cruise. I assume when we get to our next location, I’ll get a new set of luggage tags. Also, the itinerary we received is so very clear…times and bus numbers we need to be looking for. Ok – I think we can handle this. Very organized!

...Hopefully ya'll are hanging in. Now comes the fun part; uploading the pictures....

((crossing my fingers that these URL pic links work...)

5/27/2013....Trip Day 2; Anchorage

The Captain Cook is a decent hotel...old but very clean and service so far has been friendly. The bathroom is small and poorly lit but the towels are decent. The blow dryer is smaller than my travel size blow dryer but it worked just fine. The bed is fairly hard but that's our preference and we both slept extremely well. I was up at 4am but that's a solid night's sleep for me. DH was awake by 6am, and again, a good night's sleep for him as well. I grabbed coffee from the Cubbyhole and brought it back up to the room - they serve Starbucks so we are both charged and ready to go. We are meeting up with friends who moved to Anchorage a few years ago - So very excited to see them!

It was a sunny day in Anchorage – a few clouds but still beautiful. We were up early and wandered to Resolution Park which overlooks Cook Inlet. The stairs to the various observation levels were still padlocked for the season but we were able to get our first very distant view of Mount Mckinley - 131 miles away!

We met up with our friends at the Snowy Cafe which is a short walk from the hotel. Very yummy food and a great place to catch up with our friends. They spent the day showing us around Anchorage. First, a stop at the trailhead to Flat Top. Check out those switchbacks!

We didn't do the hike but we did take in some amazing views - and again, Mount Mckinley and Mount Foraker were visible in the far distance. Then we were off to the Alaska Native Heritage Center. What a great introduction to the various cultures within Alaska - very interesting! We could have spent a lot more time here. We stopped at some marshes to watch the arctic turns fly which was just awesome. Finally, we drove to the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center - near Turnagain Arm. What an amazing place - a refuge for orphaned or injured Alaska native species. We saw everything from musk ox to brown bear to lynx. It was a great to start this vacation – especially when a bald eagle swooped in to steal some food from the feeding grizzlies. Awesome!!

It was going on 7pm and the toddler was worn out – so we said our goodbyes to our friends and then headed to Glacier Brew House for dinner. Great beer and good food - we couldn't believe it was jam packed at 9pm but of course, looking outside it was like 7pm...so bright and sunny! We were back in the hotel room by 1030pm, exhausted and ready for bed.

Oh – and I didn’t need any bags!! First time in literally years where I wasn’t sick in a car when someone else was driving. This is a promising sign…

5/28/2013...Trip Day 3, McKinley Princess Lodge part one

Luggage was to be packed and labeled by 6am. Because Captain Cook isn't a Princess facility, the bags are to remain inside the room and the bell hops pick them up starting at 6am. We were up at 5:30am to make sure everything was packed and ready to go. This is when our bags get separated - one bag headed to the storage to meet up with us on the ship and the other 2 to be delivered to our room at the Lodge.

We had breakfast at the hotel - which was ok. DH had fruit and steel cut oatmeal; I had an omelette with hash browns. The omelette was great, the hash browns not so good so I left them on the plate. We also grabbed espresso from the coffee shop - which was very good. Service continues to be pleasant.

The tour buses began to show up precisely on time. We loaded the bus and set out for the lodge at 8:45am sharp. I'm impressed at how efficient all of it.

The driver was very chatty and wanted to talk to us the entire 2+ hours...I have to say that there were times I just wish he would have been quiet so we could enjoy the scenery. We did stop halfway to the lodge for a break - many people got ice cream from the local store which looked fantastic but it was only 10am and way too early for me for ice cream. Most everyone got off the bus to use the bathroom so there were long lines. I waited until everyone was off the bus and then used the restroom on the bus. It was very clean and no line! The weather is fantastic (70 degrees!) and as we got closer to the lodge, Denali came in to view. It is breathtaking to be able to see the mountain just 40 miles away. We are just more and more excited to get to our destination.

5/28/2013...Trip Day 3, McKinley Princess Lodge part two

When we arrive at the lodge, a Princess representative meets us at the bus to give us our packets – another well-organized itinerary with new luggage tags. The bus pulls up in front of the main lodge that houses the gift shop, coffee shop, 2 restaurants and a deck that has a great view of the Alaska Range with Denali front and center. Without realizing it, DH and I both began calling the mountain it’s official Alaska name of Denali. Standing here, seeing the mountain against a solid blue sky – a very rare event for an Alaska visitor – was awe inspiring.

After giving the camera a good workout, we decided to head to the room. We have been warned that not all rooms are clean yet but to feel comfortable dropping our hand carried bags off in them. We are in building 5 which is a short walk from the lodge. Fortunately, our room is ready to go. I have to say that I’m not overly impressed with the room. It is certainly very clean so no complaints there. But the view is of nothing and the bathroom is very small. I guess I thought that selecting a suite for the cruise would somehow give us a more premium room during the land tour – or at least a room with a view. Show’s how wrong I can be! And the room is warm – no air conditioning. I had forgotten that little gem of information; I thought it would still be rather cool in Alaska the last week of May. Heck – they had 2 feet of snow just last week! If this isn’t proof of Alaska’s speedy entrance into summer, I don’t know what is! DH is so focused on the beautiful weather and blue skies that the room is just an afterthought. I take his lead, shake off my disappointment and opt to not voice my thoughts.

We decide to have lunch at the Grizzly Bar so we head back to the lodge…stopping for more pictures. Did I mention the views of Denali are awesome? We finally made it to the Grizzly Bar. I had wings and DH had a salmon BLT - all the food was very good. Service was great.

5/28/2013...Trip Day 3, McKinley Princess Lodge part three

We spent the rest of the day wandering around the lodge area. Denali was out in full force and everyone, including the staff, were amazed. We hiked down the main road to a bridge over a creek where we saw some folks gathered and pointing. A big black bear and two very young cubs! How awesome to see that and on our first day out! And thanks to our new camera, we got some awesome up close pictures.

As we wandered around the main lodge, we met the General Manager of the lodge - Tracy (and her dog). Tracy chatted with us for 10 minutes or so. She was a lovely woman who obviously enjoyed her job. She told us about a moose and her two calves that were hanging out on the back loop of the lodge. And of course, she gave us the traditional Alaskan warning that Moose are much more dangerous than bears so to keep our distance. We headed out and had a fantastic walk – the lodge grounds are beautiful – but we didn’t see any moose.

Back at the lodge, we sat on the back deck to enjoy the almost 80 degrees, have a beer and just watched the mountain. It is a view that we just can't get enough of. Service on the patio wasn’t stellar but we weren’t in any rush to move on either. The mosquitos made their first appearance as we were sitting here - and let me tell you, they are huge!! Even a good solid breeze wasn't keeping them away. I made a mental note to pull out the bug spray for the next day.

We headed to the other restaurant on site - the 20320 (as in Denali is 20,320ft tall), We thoroughly enjoyed the atmosphere, food and service. We each had a Caesar salad and DH had salmon chowder and I had chicken potato skins. I also had an Alaska Nut Brown beer which was great! DH stuck to his wine - he said the house cab was pretty good.

Knowing we had an early start the next day, we went back to our room to settle in for the night. Our luggage had arrived safe and sound while we were having dinner – later than expected but it didn’t cause us any issues. We had packed our backpacks appropriately to be without our luggage until bedtime. It is still crazy bright outside so convincing your body it needs to sleep was hard. The binder clips I brought were put to good use clamping the curtains closed. The one negative for us was no air conditioning in the room! It was 84 degrees and our room was heat soaked! Fortunately, there was an oscillating fan in the closet so we opened the window and turned on the fan. It cooled down fairly quickly.

Around 930pm, we received a call from the tour desk that our Devil's Canyon Jet Boat excursion had been canceled. The area is under a flood advisory because of all the runoff from the mountains. Remember, a week ago the entire area was covered in snow and now, with the high temps the melt is happening too quickly and rivers can't keep up. We decided to get up early so we could be at the tour desk by 8am when they open.

5/29/2013...Trip Day 4, MPL and Talkeetna part one

I was up before DH and wandered off to get some coffee and wander around a bit. The espresso is very good but more than anything, I enjoyed wandering around the lodge in the quiet. I met back up with DH around 7am and we headed to the lodge and Mountain View restaurant for breakfast. I had blueberry french toast which was wonderful and DH had 2 eggs. And of course, we had great views of Denali as the weather continues to hold for us.

After breakfast, we headed right to the tour counter. There were several options but we decided on a glacier landing tour. Our thought process was that with such fantastic weather this week, the odds were high that next week’s weather would be sketchy. We had a helicopter glacier landing and hike in Skagway planned for next week but decided to hedge our bets and do this glacier landing with a plane just in case. Take off was at 3pm!

With the tour booked, we took a walk and then jumped on the shuttle bus to Talkeetna. We had a great driver who was chatty about his experiences fishing in Alaska. He also gave us good advice on things to eat and see while in Talkeetna. We walked to the Ranger station and watched the movie on climbing Denali. We took a look at some of the artifacts there as well. There were almost 400 people on the mountain today and the current summit success rate was 70%! The Ranger said the average was about 50% but the weather was allowing for great summit bids.

We walked to Denali Brewing Company and had some beers and lunch - great food, great location, awesome beer. Highly recommend it!!

5/29/2013...Trip Day 4, MPL and Talkeetna part two

It was getting close to check in time at K2 Aviation for our flight. A short walk and we were there - very busy little place. Did I mention I was in shorts, a t-shirt and hiking sandals? It was 84 degrees and blue skies! I brought jeans and regular hikers in my backpack for the glacier hike and they told me I wouldn't need it! Most folks are over dressed and feeling warm. DH and I layered properly so we were feeling pretty good. Our pilot met up with us and we were given the safety briefing for the DeHaviland Otter (on skis!) - there were a total of 10 people on the plane including the pilot. They also give you waterproof booties to wear over your shoes so walking on the glacier is easy. As we loaded in to the plane, I was getting more and more anxious and afraid I would get motion sick. I've been wearing the patch since this vacation started without issue but I knew this was really going to be the test.

Our pilot was awesome and to get so close to Mounts Hunter, Foraker and Denali was worth every moment. Landing on the glacier and being out there by ourselves was amazing. We landed just at the right time and our plane was the only one there. It was so quiet… I was very comfortable on the glacier in shorts and a t-shirt! 3 planes were coming in to land just as we were getting ready to take off. There isn't any way to put into words what being on that glacier was like - or what the flight was like. It was worth every penny to go up there. We flew over Denali base camp which was so cool! I think the hardest thing to describe is the size of everything. There were times it felt like we were going to fly into a mountain when in fact the distances were so vast. We were thinking we would cancel our Skagway helicopter glacier landing but having experienced this one, if Skagway doesn't get canceled on us, we will go up again.

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After the flying tour, we walked on to Main Street and got some Home made ice cream - chocolate for me, vanilla for DH. Yum!! and then back to the shuttle to head back to the Lodge. We did dinner at 20320 again - I had the prime rib which was very good; DH had salmon. We were in bed by 9pm because we had an early start the next day. Of course, we had to take pictures of Denali again - the mountain was out every day while at the lodge.

5/30/2013...Trip Day 5, Denali Princess Lodge

Our bags were placed outside our lodge room, properly tagged, and then we headed for breakfast at Mountain View - another great morning to see Denali! We are amazed at the luck we have had in our weather. We stepped outside the lodge and there were so many people waiting for buses! We found our bus, D2, and boarded it. I'm surprised by the promptness at which these buses arrive and depart. Princess seems to have this down to a science - it's smooth and easy. This particular departure was the first time we were asked for our name and checked off a list before we were allowed on the bus. There was one quick stop to stretch legs and use restrooms on this trip. It seems that every long trip provides at least one break which is very nice.

When we arrived at the lodge, a Princess representative boarded the bus just like at McKinley and gave us our packages with room keys, baggage tags and itinerary. Luckily, I opened the packet and actually looked at everything - and our luggage tags said Fairbanks on them! We weren't going to Fairbanks! I went to the Princess tour desk and you could tell the representative I chatted with was very concerned. Our printed itinerary was correct and we had the ship tags on our luggage already so we were good to go. We can't help but wonder if other folks had this happen to them, they didn’t notice the different tag and what would happen to their luggage.

We arrived at the Lodge hungry so we quickly found our room. We were in J238 which overlooked pine trees and staff residence...nothing to write home about. I am again a bit disappointed that suite passengers aren't given a slightly better room or at the very least a room with a view during the cruise tour. But as usual, DH isn’t phased so I decide to let it go. The room is very clean, quiet with a better bathroom layout. No air conditioning – but we are shaded by trees so the room isn’t heat soaked.

We headed to Salmon King for lunch. I had the seafood nachos - a house specialty and DH had a salmon wrap. We enjoyed both and service was excellent - we have yet to experience anything but good food and good service. The staff is very friendly everywhere we go.

We hiked around the village and the shops across the street - nothing too excited to see. We aren't shoppers so walking the little village didn't take us very long. We walked along the Nenana River - it was so hot! I was in shorts and a t-shirt again! I was actually getting a sun tan! Thank goodness I brought some shorts for my work outs – I just never thought I’d use them during the day! The locals and staff were all loving the weather too - hard to imagine that just a week before a snowstorm dropped 2 feet of snow on the ground! The river was filled with ice chunks, too. It was so strange to see. I guess that is Alaska!

One more trip to Salmon King for dinner...DH had halibut and I had chicken...both excellent but I think DH would have ordered that same dish for a week - he said it was outstanding. Service was again, impeccable. We wandered around the property but didn't do much. We sat on the deck and had some beers and watched the river - a tough day for sure! :) We knew we wanted to be in bed early - Tundra Wilderness Tour tomorrow at 6am! We set our alarms for 4:30am and called it a night.

5/31/2013...Trip Day 6, Denali Princess Lodge

We woke up early and got ready to go. I kept hoping to myself the trip would be good - I had scheduled this one so early in the morning thinking that animals are usually more active in the morning. If we didn't see some cool stuff DH would probably be grumpy because of the early morning. We had our coffee, yogurt and muffin from the espresso bar in the main lodge and then waited for the bus. There were so many people waiting for buses and then the the Denali buses showed up with people on them! I wasn't happy to find out that the bus stopped at a different hotel first to pick up non-Princess passengers before us. I wanted a good seat in the front of the bus so I could see out front and to the sides - and with just a few seats left we ended up in the very last bench seat on the bus. I was trying to just go with it but man was I disappointed. DH was doing a great job of not saying anything but I could tell he had his doubts that sitting on this bus for 9 hours was going be fun. Little did we know we had nothing to worry about!

We were Tour #1 - the very first bus into the park that morning! Kudos to me for good planning! No buses in front of us scaring off the animals or kicking up dust. And we had a perfect driver – chatty, friendly, experienced and funny. It was perfect. We weren't but 3 minutes into the park, the driver was still giving us the rules of the road, and we saw a moose! And then a few minutes later we saw 2 Moose Cows with calves! And then there was this incredible full rainbow directly in front of the bus. I kid you not! It was magical. Then another baby moose calf...then Caribou right along side of the road....then grizzlies....then moose....then caribou....then dahl sheep....then bears....more sheep....tons of ptarmigan wherever we looked…. a golden eagle....another moose...a momma grizzly suckling her baby (even this blew the driver away!)....It was just fantastic. And did I mention that once again we saw the rare sighting of Denali IN Denali??? We have seen the mountain every day so far on this trip!

Oh – and my concern about sitting in the back of the bus had no impact on what we saw. It seemed like all the good sightings were on our side of the bus - purely the luck of the draw. But everyone shared windows and took pictures for each other - we had a great group of people around us. The trip was amazing - and 8 hours was plenty long enough to be on the road. I was disappointed to not see wolf, fox, wolverine or lynx but consider myself lucky to have seen so many other species.

I was nervous we wouldn't see any bears on this trip and we've seen brown and black bear! We talked to folks that went after us and also later in the afternoon - one bus didn’t see any animals, another didn't see any bear, another saw wolverine but no bear or moose. DH and I both agree the best thing we did was get up early and get on the very first tour bus into the park. The snack that comes with the tour was good - reindeer sausage, sweet bread, tillamook cheese, mustard, potato chips, apple, trail mix. They provided plenty of bottled water as well. And of course, we dressed in layers which was really smart because the bus temperature fluctuated pretty significantly.

It's amazing how doing nothing all day can make you exhausted tired. We went to the Lynx pizza bar and had wings, pizza and beer - I'm surprised we didn't fall asleep while eating! We wandered around a bit but ultimately ended up calling it an early night. I think we were in bed by 8! Of course, we were to get up early the next day - we were headed to the cruise ship via train!

6/1/2013...Trip Day 7, Diamond Princess part one

Up early - luggage needed to be outside by 6:30am! We had breakfast at King Salmon and then headed up to the lodge. I wanted an Espresso before we departed for the train station. We got to the lodge 30 minutes before departure but the line at Espresso Bar was so long I decided to skip it...and I'm glad I did! We weren't waiting but 5 minutes before the buses started to pull up! And there were so many people! We managed to get on a bus and when it was filled we were off to the train station.

Boarding was easy...and the train was beautiful. We happened to be in a Goldstar car that was on loan to Princess. The dome was gorgeous and the view was incredible.

The 9 hour ride from Denali to Whittier was easy. Service was nice, food wasn't stellar but it wasn't bad either - what I would expect on a train. The bathrooms were clean too. We saw moose, bear and caribou along the route. The train stops about 3 hours out of Whittier in Wasilla to pick up Princess representatives. These people very efficiently collect your boarding passes, scan your passport and collect the health information sheet we filled out while on the train (just a simple 2 or 3 question survey to check if anyone might have flu symptoms). This basically checks you in so that all you have to do is go through security when you get off the train. Once you arrive in Whittier, and the train pulls into the station, a princess representative provides the train servers with the train passengers on-ship credit cards. Once you have your credit card in hand, you can exit the train and head through security.

While disembarking the train was well organized, there were a flood of people looking to get on board the ship. That being said, the line moved fairly quickly and I heard no complaints from DH during the process. There were plenty of Princess Representatives shepherding people through and making sure we were where we needed to be. Once through security, we stood in another line to have our photo taken for the on board account - and skipped the sail away picture. It was 6:30pm as we walked into the Atrium of Diamond Princess.

6/1/2013...Trip Day 7, Diamond Princess part two

Before heading to our suite, we wanted to do 2 things. First, we wanted to get our names on the list for the Ultimate Ship Tour. That was easy breezy - we were the first 2 names on the list. I didn’t really want to do the UST, but I knew it would be a hit for DH and he didn’t want to go alone. Second, we wanted to make a reservation at Sabatini's since the extra fee is waived for suite passengers on the first night. The woman at the desk where we signed up for UST gave us a phone and dialed Sabatini’s for us – and it rang and rang. She was surprised and dialed, and dialed and dialed. It was almost funny. She finally asked someone and discovered that the line to make reservations at Sabatini's closes at 5pm and doesn't re-open until after the muster drill. We decided to just show up after muster and see what we could get. And so we were off to our room. We went up the elevators, looked to port side and stepped into the hallway…and we had a long, long walk!

Many folks had commented on the long walk to aft rooms so I was prepared. But DH had done no prep for this trip so everything was a surprise. The hallway made us both laugh and we started the trek to the back of the ship.

And Wow is our room - C752 Juneau - Fabulous! We walked in and I knew it was going to be perfect.

We immediately checked out the wet bar

I was just starting to explain to DH about swapping items out and our room steward, May, appeared. She gave us the low-down on the room, and the various amenities we receive for being in a suite. She told us about swapping out items in our mini-bar which she took care of for us. She explained how to request DVDs, how to page her, and several other things. She also reminded us about the muster drill which was about to take place. She made sure we knew our luggage had arrived and was in the bedroom. We enjoyed a quick conversation about the Philippines as I have traveled there frequently. And then, she was gone as quietly as she had appeared.

6/1/2013...Trip Day 7, Diamond Princess part three

A few more steps into the room and we discovered our canapés and fruit basket.

The balcony is perfect, the room is awesome. The fresh flowers smell spectacular. It was all exactly what I had hoped it would be.

6/1/2013...Trip Day 7, Diamond Princess part four

We spent the next 30 minutes getting organized - we had laundry from the tour we set out for our complimentary laundry service, and the rest of our items we hung up in the closet. We paused for just a few minutes to enjoy the balcony

I was dreading the muster drill and how DH would handle it. Lines, masses of people and waiting around are not his forte. Another pleasant surprise - it was less than 10 minutes, efficient and organized. We were out of there and back in our room in a matter of minutes!

We put our life jackets away and headed right to Sabatini's. We got in without issue and had an absolutely fantastic dinner. It started with a bottle of 2010 Silverado Cabernet - one of DH's favorites and ended with creme brûlée and mousse. Everything in between was fantastic and we would absolutely recommend Sabatini's to anyone who asked. And of course, the staff was friendly, cheerful and on top of everything. By the time we left Sabatini's, we were beyond exhausted and we were off to our room to shower and crash for the night. The shower, by the way, was fantastic! I am glad, that I brought my own soaps and shampoos though....not a huge fan of the eucalyptus fragrance. A quick look out the balcony before bed…