Host C's Diamond Princess CC Cruise - June 4-11

[Host Caroline]

It's 6:30 Friday night and well, it rained at sea last night and this a.m. so we are now cruising off Vancouver Island with towns in site but, alas, the ship will again be late to Victoria due to "weather conditions we could not make up" (sound familiar May cruisers) and all but I think two tours are cancelled. Since we anticipated this last night from past weeks our 8 made dinner ressies for 8:00 tonight so we will look at "the Point" from Promenade Deck when we do manage to dock, see if we can win trivia again and then hit Princess Idol -- where I must say we were dazzled on night 1 by a frenetic version of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody and weird Al Yankovic's "Star Wars" version of Don McLean's "American Pie". But we can't complain.. we have had fabulous weather.. no rain in Seattle for 3 days, sailed in brilliant sunshine, temps in the 70's and sunny in Juneau (albeit late), Skagway and Tracy Arm and cloudy but no rain in Ketchikan!! I think the group really does believe in my Irish weather luck as now after six Alaska sailings have had only 3 days total of rain:)

 

Sooo we will hope for the same in 2007 when several in the group -- reconvene for an Alaska cruisetour!

 

Diamond is a lovely ship, really, and the food I must say we all agreed was excellent! Stirling's Steakhouse venue in back side of Horizon Court isn't the greatest and two who dined there said there were NO onion rings:eek: and that the food was "nothing special"... Purser told us at lunch today there was no plan to change that either in terms of venue etc.

 

Re the specialty dining, he also told us that they had only two weeks' notice onboard that the speciality restaurants were "disappearing" and that they had to put up crates of "theme" China etc. to convert the Southwest, Pac. Moon etc. to the regular menu, no theme around stuff.

 

Omar the cruise director is a really nice guy and his two partners in crime,Neal and Paula very friendly and energetic. The onboard Past Pax rep Annelei is always accessible and I can't say enough about how much she and the purser's staff helped me arrange things for the group and esp. in Juneau when I had to scramble to rearrange some 40 people who were booked for our group tour in Juneau thru Larry at Orca.. some had two tours, others had one and everyone got what they wanted! They did however cancel tours in Juneau (a few) and unfortunately visitor's bureau folks can't come right up to gangway on S. Franklin and some folks who were canceled didn't know they could head up to Visitor Bureau and arrange a tour there.. Unlike some posts to the contrary there was good availability with locals in all three of our ports -- albeit not "exactly" at the time you may have wanted it -- but good availability. Still recommend you book ahead though... much much better route. Had a great visit with Carol in Larry's office Monday eve and they are thrilled abuot the new boat arriving in a month .. with 6 wheelchair accessible spaces!!!

 

Entertainment etc. wise there's a comedian named Elliott onboard who has a shock of snow white hair (Andy Warhol lookalike?) who is deadpan, has impeccable timing and is even more hilarous in Liars' Club (don't miss on Thursday afternoon) than in his two early weeks shows.. I didn't go to any production shows but Elliot is one guy you need to pencil in your evening schedule. Juggler/comedian was NOT for me however. The onboard naturalist Michael got massive kudos from the group for his presentations in the Princess Theatre (I didn't see any of these) and his narration on transits on Gastineau Channel and esp in Tracy Arm were among the best..

 

AND, did you see the webcam????? We had fantastic views of Sawyer Glaciers on a sunny "t-shirt" day and most of us are actually sporting suntanned faces as we return from Alaska.

 

Internet access is painfully slow all the time and nonexistent near Juneau... so be patient and don't plan anything soon after you get here.. it may take you a while to just get your email to load and you can step out and hunt for pics in the photo gallery while a message loads

Oh, and the coffee shop (latte etc.) is IN the internet cafe but you cannot see from the hallway on deck 7.

 

We went to Captains lunch today and this is by number of cruising days with Princess... somewhere back there was some discussion of how this works and it's the 40 people onboard with the highest number of total days cruising with Princess.. There were 6 tables - captain, cruise director, purser admin guy, hotel director and one other that I did not meet. A fabulous meal -- great conversation, casual dress -- so those of you with lots of Princess cruises under your belt have something to look forward to:) There were only 500 past pax on board so on a more popular itin when there are sometimes 1,000 or so I think the approx. 100 days or so I have (I think that's what I have if I count correctly prior to this cruise) wouldn't have qualified for a "ticket"....

 

We've cruised on several other lines the past couple of years for various reasons and this cruise just reminded me why I love Princess so much although will continue to stray occasionally for variety...

 

Gotta run..gonna try and find a raspberry mojito.

 

Will be home soon so fire away if you have any questions!! :)

[ripleysmom]

I have a question about the Yukon Quest that you mentioned in an earlier post. Is the Yukon Quest expedition offered by the cruise line? If so is it the "Experience the Yukon" excursion?

[Coral]

Caroline - can you tell me what time Libby Riddles was aboard for her presentation in Juneau?

[seattlekckckc]

I love Anneli! She was my buddy (she remembered me from a cruise in October, we got along real well then), we sat together at the Captains lunch. She is sweetheat, and I am glad she was able to help you!

 

I am sorry you suffered the same fate in Victoria, I am thinking this will be again the status quo this cruising season.

 

Hope you had a safe journey home!(By the time you read this)

 

Casey

[FlorenceItaly]

Hello Caroline - Just wanted to say hi :). It sounds like you've had a fabulous trip...missed you while you were gone, and can't wait to hear all about it upon your return.

 

Marie