Diamond Princess photo/video review Alaska

[Sumar76]

Norris, once again Thank You for writing about your adventure.

I know many have enjoyed it so far, and many more will in times to come.

Sue

[Sumar76]

Bimmer09.. Having trouble finding your review you mentioned from this past Sept for the UST.I checked all the cc reviews and couldn't find it.

Where can it be found?

Thanks, Sue

[Bimmer09]

Bimmer09.. Having trouble finding your review you mentioned from this past Sept for the UST.I checked all the cc reviews and couldn't find it.

Where can it be found?

Thanks, Sue

 

It wasn't in the member's review section-it was on this very board. It's 9000+ words long but divided up into sections/topics.

Click on my screen name and look for "threads started by Bimmer09". There aren't many and one will be from last Sept. regarding the Diamond Princess North to Alaska.

 

Norris

[Bimmer09]

Looks like I started the thread Sept 13th and finished it by the 18th.

It is on page 11 of Bimmer09 Total Posts (find all posts)

 

Hope this helps!

 

Norris

[MilliesMom]

Is this the thread you are looking for?

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1705700

 

Diamond Princess North to Alaska August 18 2012

[Bimmer09]

Mary-thanks for doing the research and posting such a helpful link!

 

Both the September review and this current one were written from memory, which is the hard way, but forced me to think back and recollect and put myself back on the Diamond. Some names and details were therefore not pin-point accurate-e.g. apologies to Edwin who was my sidekick barwaiter in Skywalkers all those nights...I called him Alan.

 

(The current review is made easier by the photos and videos (memory joggers) and is the way I will do reviews from here on in (Royal in Jan 14 and Ocean in Sept 14...after that, who knows?)

 

I am sure there is a lawsuit with my name on it somewhere for similar egregious (messing up Edwin's name) memory lapses!

 

Norris, now in Michigan for the day, with time on my hands and some more posts ahead.

[Bimmer09]

Search Diamond Princess College Fjord on youtube or use this URL....

 

 

Norris

[MilliesMom]

Mary-thanks for doing the research and posting such a helpful link!

 

Both the September review and this current one were written from memory, which is the hard way, but forced me to think back and recollect and put myself back on the Diamond. Some names and details were therefore not pin-point accurate-e.g. apologies to Edwin who was my sidekick barwaiter in Skywalkers all those nights...I called him Alan.

 

(The current review is made easier by the photos and videos (memory joggers) and is the way I will do reviews from here on in (Royal in Jan 14 and Ocean in Sept 14...after that, who knows?)

 

I am sure there is a lawsuit with my name on it somewhere for similar egregious (messing up Edwin's name) memory lapses!

 

Norris, now in Michigan for the day, with time on my hands and some more posts ahead.

 

You are welcome. I wanted to read the other review too and had look it up after you gave more details (page it was on etc). So I thought the link might be helpful to others too. This review with all the wonderful photos is amazing. Thank you for taking the time to do this for us.

 

Search Diamond Princess College Fjord on youtube or use this URL....

 

 

Norris

 

 

Enjoyed the video. I wasn't sure where College Fjord was so started doing a bit of research online. Here's some great trivia I discovered about it:

 

College Fjord is a fjord located in the northern sector of Prince William Sound in the U.S. state of Alaska. The fjord contains five tidewater glaciers (glaciers that terminate in water), five large valley glaciers, and dozens of smaller glaciers, most named after renowned East Coast colleges (women's colleges for the NW side, and men's colleges for the SE side). College Fjord was discovered in 1899 during the Harriman Expedition, at which time the glaciers were named. The expedition included a Harvard and an Amherst professor, and they named many of the glaciers after elite colleges. According to Bruce Molina, author of Alaska's Glaciers, "They took great delight in ignoring Princeton."[1]

In 1964 College Fjord was the epicenter of the Good Friday Earthquake, the most powerful earthquake in U.S. history. It is a popular destination for cruise ships. From one place, it is possible to see eight of College Fjords Glaciers at once.

 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/College_Fjord

[Bimmer09]

Happy to say that the Glacier Bay video is now on stream on youtube.

Word search under Diamond Princess Glacier Bay II or by following this URL

 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cwgBW1IT-8

 

Phew!

 

Norris

[L-in-CLT]

Most enjoyable thread I've read on CC since we made the decision to take our first cruise! And also, for me, the most informative given how close it is to the trip we'll be taking - including the Pan Pacific. If only you had done the land portion and could give me a play by play video and picture review of Denali and Talkeetna...

I'll certainly be watching for future posts, Norris - this has been a delight!

L

[Bimmer09]

It seems that in the URL the letter betweenBW1....and the T is not a capital I,

but a lowercase L (l)

 

so here is a good URL

 

 

The word search is good as given...Diamond Princess Glacier Bay II (not 2)

 

Norris

[Bimmer09]

Most enjoyable thread I've read on CC since we made the decision to take our first cruise! And also, for me, the most informative given how close it is to the trip we'll be taking - including the Pan Pacific. If only you had done the land portion and could give me a play by play video and picture review of Denali and Talkeetna...

I'll certainly be watching for future posts, Norris - this has been a delight!

L

 

You'll get to both of those long before me as it will be years before I have more than 7 days available at one sitting for a land tour plus cruise. When I retire...

 

Meantime I will have the Royal in January and the Ocean 18 months from now

which will give me Venice, Tunisia and Rome to write about and photograph etc. I can never see me doing a "live from" as it would eat up a lot of time and my patience.

 

We did have free Internet on the Diamond, even though they cancelled that suite perk in July 2012. On the Ruby this January we bought 100 minutes so that Carol could download newspapers. On the Royal we will be Platinum and get some free minutes. I use the computer a lot on land but never think of it (or e mail) when on a cruise. I escape completely.

 

Thanks for the compliments in your post!

 

Norris

[blazerjan]

Norris... Have enjoyed your review (s).. thanks for taking the time to put them together.

Just out of curiosity, and you don't have to answer if you don't want to, but you mention being in Michigan. And I know you live in Chicago so I was just wondering where in Michigan? We live in southwest, lower Michigan so I was just curious. Thanks

 

Jan

[Bimmer09]

Norris... Have enjoyed your review (s).. thanks for taking the time to put them together.

Just out of curiosity, and you don't have to answer if you don't want to, but you mention being in Michigan. And I know you live in Chicago so I was just wondering where in Michigan? We live in southwest, lower Michigan so I was just curious. Thanks

 

Jan

 

Jan-in Sawyer, on a big sand-dune overlooking Lake Michigan. Before that (10 years ago) it was Union Pier.

 

Just saw the first Robin in the garden, followed by one of the Chipmunks who share our space here.

 

Norris

[Sumar76]

Is this the thread you are looking for?

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1705700

 

Diamond Princess North to Alaska August 18 2012

 

Thank you millies mom, that was it!

 

Thanks for the write up Norris! Hoping to surprise my husband and sign him up!

[Bimmer09]

We left Harvard Glacier at 8pm which was the time we sat down to dinner in the Savoy for the last time. After another fine meal we said our goodbyes to Siwa and Sadudee our waiters.

 

We went to the Karaoke contest finals in Club Fusion, followed by the Crew Show.

 

I stayed for just two performers, both of whom sang well. The show was hosted by Dan the Assistant CD as Billy Highgate the Cruise Director was getting made-up for an act that was hilarious according to Carol but alas, I was back in the room packing as we sailed back to Whittier. I was finished by midnight and put my suitcase into the hallway. I went out onto the balcony to get some air only to find that we were alongside the dock in Whittier and throwing lines to three dock workers. Smooth parking!

 

So we slept while the ship sat still. I was up again at 6 a.m

 

 

 



 



 



 

After breakfast in the main MDR we went to our disembarkation station which was the Santa Fe restaurant and left the ship at 9.30. A motorcoach was waiting to drive us to Anchorage 65 miles away.

 



 

One last look....

 

[Bimmer09]

Next up- mountain scenery, then Anchorage.

 

Norris

[CruisinLow]

Next up- mountain scenery, then Anchorage.

 

Norris

 

Oh good. It is not over yet. Thanks Norris

[bellebud]

thank you so much for your review and pictures/videos. We're taking our first Alaskan cruise in July (on the diamond) and have an aft suite booked. Your review has given me such a good idea of what to expect.

 

And I like the pics of the empty rooms. Really lets the beauty and detail show.

 

thanks again!!!:)

[Bimmer09]

thank you so much for your review and pictures/videos. We're taking our first Alaskan cruise in July (on the diamond) and have an aft suite booked. Your review has given me such a good idea of what to expect.

 

And I like the pics of the empty rooms. Really lets the beauty and detail show.

 

thanks again!!!:)

 

July? Alaska? Diamond Princess?....that's The Triple Whammy, The Trifecta....you are so going to love this experience. Starting in Vancouver or Whittier?

 

Disembarking in Whittier is very easy as you are the only ship there and Princess is efficient (and friendly/helpful) and soon we were on a big comfy coach which took us for a short tour of the "town"...not a place you want to stay in for a week. When you arrive on the ship though your eyes are not on the small town but on the mountains sweeping down into the sea (Fjord)

and on this Saturday morning with the sun beating down and a nice high 70's low 80's temperature it was a good place to be. You have to get off the ship at some point and deal with the fact that (a) the cruise is over and (b) it was money well spent and © yes it's time to think about the NEXT cruise! Yippee!

 

On the coach I would have loved quiet to just sit and reflect on what I had just experienced but there was a young jabbering but well-meaning college student at the wheel who wanted to fill us in on the history of the area, making sure that the lore of each rock and tree was audibly documented.

 

 

 

We usually prefer to stay a day after we get mercilessly booted off the ship, our screams of horror echoing off the Fjord walls, but on this occasion the only suitable direct flight was on the Saturday night at 8pm, which would get us into Chicago at 5 a.m Sunday morning. A 7 hour flight plus time changes.

 

Had we stayed a day later we would have had multiple stop flights- you know, Anchorage to Denver, change planes, Denver to Caracas, change planes, Caracas to London....get my drift? Life is too short.

 

As we faced an 8 hour wait before our flight, after arriving in ANK we decided when we booked the cruise and air to rest up at the Captain Cook hotel and spent $300 for a nice room to nap and bathe in before heading to the airport on a Princess coach.

 

We met some inefficient and surly check-in clerk, one of three at the counter who were huddled around one customer while two others (us) stood and twiddled our thumbs. We were told it would be an hour or so before the room was ready so we gave them our cell # to call and went to sit in the sun.

After 90 minutes I went in and spoke to a bellman who was helpful and checked the computer to find that our room was ready-and had been for a half hour or so. I didn't get the phone call from the pissy gal at the front desk but we got our room and that was the important thing. The Captain Cook has some issues and I say that from my previous experience there...turned up for dinner having reserved 6 months before our Coral cruise only to find "we have no record"

We got a table and a prime table at that after I unleashed a well-aimed arrow of sarcasm from my quiver. If you deal with them-get names and write things down. I like the hotel though.

 

 

View from the room

 



 

[Bimmer09]

One thing I like to do in every port ( but seldom accomplish alas) is to have lunch or dinner and now that we didn't have the Diamond's many fine meal options we had to go local and from Yelp reviews and it's proximity (a hop, skip and a jump, literally from the hotel we made our way to a restaurant called Simon and Seafort's. It's got windows looking out on the estuary and serves good bar food.

 

You can get frozen halibut and chips or pay extra to get fresh caught (that morning) halibut and that was for me, being British where great fish and chips can be found without looking too hard.

 

 

I cleaned this plate with my tongue...

 



 

Carol's meal- halibut in a curry sauce...a Thai dish.

 

[Bimmer09]

I like Anchorage. In the great scheme of great cities of the world it doesn't rank, but I like it's rare mix of skyscrapers (oil companies) and simple two story homes, next to each other on adjacent blocks-unique in my experience. And it is overlooked by many misty mountains and views of the sea we had just traveled on. Tugs tow great barges the long distance down to Seattle. everything comes in this way (or by the fleets of UPS jets at the airport)

and goes back out. Empty containers, piled high on the barge, sailing south.

 

And the flowers! Such beauty there, planted mainly by the City Council each year to show off their beautiful small city.

 

 



 



 



 

[Countrygirl44]

Not sure how it would work for a " place to stay on departure day", but I would highly recommend the bed and breakfast House of Jade in Anchorage. They picked us up at the airport, we even had dinner with them that everning in addition to a fantastic breakfast the next morning. After breakfast, they took us to the train depot for the ride to Whittier. Rates were great and our suite was unreal! I would highly suggest if you just want somewhere to rest after a late afternoon arrival flight from the east coast, check out the House of Jade.

[gambee]

your pictures are gorgeous, thanks for sharing your adventure with us.

[Bimmer09]

We had left our big luggage at the Egan center which is the space Princess uses on cruise day, after the coach had brought us from Whittier so there was no need of a taxi to the Egan on our way home.

 

The Ted Williams airport is close to the city and a pleasant place to fly out of.

Many flyers had boxes of salmon to take home as edible souvenirs. The really lucky ones had been on cruise tours which we hope to take one day,when time permits.

 

We had enjoyed an amazing vacation, from beginning to end, with rarely a glitch. We rolled with the punches at the Captain Cook-they were only minor jabs after all and we keep things in perspective.

 

We accepted that it was over and have carried the pleasant memories with us as souvenirs ever since : it was only 7 months ago but seems much longer as we suffer AWP....Alaska Withdrawal Pangs.

 

The plane took off and headed south east for a while, passing over mountains and fjords in the fading light I could see glaciers way below and saw one white ship sailing south which may have been the Diamond which sailed at 8.30.

Whichever one it was I could imagine how happy and excited the people on board were feeling as their adventure had begun. Ours was over but we would cruise again-this much we knew.

 

The plane turned east.

 

We slept during the remainder of the flight, in darkness and arrived home around 6 a.m to be greeted by the two cats who had been looked after while we were gone. At some point that Sunday we sat back to watch 3 hours of HD video to see what I had captured. Some of it I have shared here. We placed all of our new fridge magnets on the fridge (makes sense) where they join the many European magnets from Germany, France, Austria and Switzerland.

 

As mentioned we have canceled our Ruby cruise from Venice to Athens via Istanbul this September as we had unbelievable luck in getting much-sought-after tickets to the Bayreuth Wagner Festival which has been running since 1876. Once that is over our calendar is clear for more cruising. We are booked on the Royal (E Caribb where we have just been on the Ruby) January 2014 and then Ocean Princess Venice to Rome September 2014. Beyond that?

 

Thanks for "sailing" down memory lane with me!

 

Your comments were much appreciated along the way.

 

Norris