Diamond June 12th-19th Trip Report

[shellyc]

I posted this to the AOl boards when I got back. Couldn't log on to cc boards at that time.

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We just got back from California last night. We flew to Santa Ana on Sunday, AM. We got off the Diamond Princess on Saturday June 19th and stayed overnight in Seattle at the Westin. Enjoyed Seattle and of course Disneyland...stayed at the Paradise Pier Hotel in Concierge....ok , on to the mini cruise report.

Friday, June 11th.

Flew from the East coast and didn't get into Seattle until 6PM. Took Greyline shuttle and it took 1 1/2 hrs to get from airport to hotel. This particular shuttle stopped at 10 hotels. Next time we will take a cab. We lost a lot of time, had tickets to the Mariners/Expos game and didn't get to the ball park until the 5th inning. Stayed till the end of the game. Mariners won in the bottom of the 9th. Booked the Marriott Waterfront hotel thru Princess which included transfers from airport to hotel and hotel to pier.

Saturday, June 12th

We had to have our luggage out by 11AM, but didn't leave for the ship until 12:30PM. We never saw our luggage again until unboard the ship. We boarded a greyline bus and were transferred to the pier. Check in line was very long. We were upgraded to a full suite about 5 days before sailing. Our travel agent was travelling with us, she got the suite and gave it to us. I love her. She was paying the same rate as us for a Mini-suite AD and she didn't have to give up her upgrade. The cabin was huge and on deck 10, midship, full double balcony, bathroom with shower and jacuzzi tub. We ate with our group of 8 the first two nights so TA made the reservations. I made reservations for rest of the week for just the two of us by calling concierge right from the cabin. We ate at the four personal choice restaurants 6 nights and the buffet one night. During the day we went to the Spa and signed up for the fitness program. The yoga, pilates, fitness and spin classes were $10 each and they offered 9 classes total. If you signed up on Saturday for all classes you paid $30 total. We wound up attending 7 of the 9 classes. We befriended fitness instructer Geoff of New Zealand and we enjoyed all the classes. The first night we were rocking during our first yoga class. It was a site to see 20 yoga positions all fall over at the same time. Ate at Sante Fe with our group of 8. Missed the show, too tired. Show was Billy Garan.

Sunday, June 13th (Day At Sea)

Yoga 9AM, Spin 10AM, room for breakfast, total body conditioning 5PM...

Dinner at Sterling with 2 others from our group. Weather was wonderful, no rain...

Show tonight was Piano Man the musical. Very good. When we ate at 6PM/7PM, we went to the buffet at 10PM/11PM and ate again. Food choices were very good. I even had pizza a few nights. Often took cookies and coffee back to the cabin to relax and enjoy.

Monday, June 14th (Juneau)

Breakfast was at the Horizon buffet. We didn't arrive into Juneau until late morning.

Into to Pilates 9:00AM

We went on an excursion to the Gold Mine. Very interesting, and I got to pan for gold.

Dinner was at the Pacific Moon, just the two of us. When you have a table for two, you sit very close to your dining neighbors, so you could chat and eat at the same time. Food was good.

After dinner DH rested while I went to a lecture. Libby Riddles talked about dog sledding. Very interesting, and I went to a meet & greet and got my picture taken with her. Missed the show again tonight. Went to bed early...I guess the fresh air is getting to me. Usually I have insomnia.... The bed in the cabin was very comfortable. I asked for an egg crate the first day, and it was provided.

Tuesday, June 15th (Skagway)

Our best day yet. We slept in, and then went to the buffet for breakfast. We walked into town and did a little shopping. Came back for lunch, then suited up for our dog sled, glacier landing excursion. We booked with Princess and were glad we did. We had the last booking of the day 2:45PM, and that was the only one that went up. The earlier ones were cancelled due to high winds. We met the tour company (Temsco) at he dock, were taken to the heliport right next to the dock. We were given a safety lecture, given orange safety vests, and glacier boots. We had never been in a helicopter before. We got to sit in the front seat next to the driver. It was wonderful. Very scenic, and he drops us off at the isolated dog sled camp at the top of the glacier. No building, just tents for all the dogs and the drivers at this mush camp.

DH and I were assigned our own team of 12 dogs, with a driver and two sleds. The driver and DH went on the first sled, and I stood as the brakeman on the second sled. You had to listen to the commands to brake, or you would slide right into the lead sled. It was amazing. The dogs are beautiful and the views were out of this world.

We sledded for about 30 minutes up and down the glacier. Best tour ever. Highlight of our trip. We helicoptered down and were taken back to the dock. Some folks got off in town, but we went back to the dock and saw the other tours getting off the train which was stopped right next to the dock.

Went to the Horizons buffet for a snack then took a rest. We ate dinner at Sterling again, great food. Went to bed early again. Do you see a pattern here..?

Wednesday, June 16th (Tracy Arm Glacier-Sea Day)

Ate breakfast in the international dining room. Nice selections, but service ends at 9:30AM. Got suited up in my winter clothes to go on deck to view the ice bergs, (did't see the big one) and the Glacier. The view was spectacular.

Yoga at 5PM, and dinner at the Horizon Court. Very good day. They had King Crab Legs in the Dining rooms, but not at the buffet.

8:15PM Varity Show tih Musical Comedian Duncan Tuck. Good show. Early to bed again.

Thursday, June 17th Ketchikan

Breakfast at the buffet.

Yoga and pilates again today. We docked right in town, and the stores were very close. We shopped and walked around Ketchikan. Nice, quaint town....lots of shops.

We went back on board and ate lunch. DH rested and I went to the Lotus Pool. The sun was sooo hot, lots of people were sun bathing and at the pools. I liked theLotus Pool because it was quiet, and it had a wooden sun deck...and a good hot tub.

We ate at Vivaldi and it was Lobster night. Lobster was very good. We walked around then went back to the cabin. (Having a penthouse suite, we spent lots of time in the cabin and on our deck).

Friday, June 18th Victoria

We had no trouble docking in Victoria. We went to Pilates, at 9AM and Sunset Yoga at 5PM. We originally had reservations for Sterling at 5:30PM, the first seating but we cancelled and the next seating was 8PM. We arrived at 7:15PM and they found a table for us. We went back to the cabin and put our bags out for pick up. We had no excursions planned, so we took the greyline bus into town for $5 pp, and walked around Victoria. The little we saw of the town was beautiful. Not too many shops were open, but there were shops at the dock. After we got back, we went to buffet for a snack, DH rested and I walked around. I sat out on the dock and watched the other ship leave, then at 12PM we pulled away very slowly. It was a beautiful site.

Saturday, June 19th Seattle

We arrived at the dock very early, we slept until 8AM, then went to the buffet. We had a Princess post cruise at the Westin in Seattle, so we couldnt get off the ship until our color was called. We went up on the pool deck and sat on the lounge chairs until almost 10AM. When our color was called, we proceeded to the docks, picked up our luggage, got thru customs, then tried to find our bus to the Westin. We would up getting on the Westin Day Guests bus, but it took us to the same place.

Summary:

We have been on 7 cruises, and this was the best so far. The ship is beautiful. We loved the time spent on board. The dog sled excursion was the highlight of our trip.

Michele & Milton

[augie]

Great report Michele!

 

I agree, it was a super cruise. I just finished up a very long review that I will try and post tonight - but be forewarned - you'll probably NEED insomnia to finish it!

[emmysmom]

Thanks for posting your great review. Sounds like the Diamond is going to be a fantastic ship to be on. We can't wait for our turn! Did you spend any time at all in the casino?

[Lynda90]

Thanks for the great review. I also loved this cruise (not same time as you). So nice to see the positives emphasized. Can't wait until next cruise and I bet you can't either.

 

Lynda

[shellyc]

Thanks for posting your great review. Sounds like the Diamond is going to be a fantastic ship to be on. We can't wait for our turn! Did you spend any time at all in the casino?

 

I spent $20 for the slot tournament, didn't make the finals. I also spent $20 on the nickle slots. Didn't spend any other time in the casino, we spent more time at the gym. They had some great classes @$10.00 per class. If you signed up at the beginning of the cruise in the spa, you got 9 classes for $30....we attended 7 paid classes which we throughly enjoyed.

(Sunset yoga(3), pilates 1,2,3,,spin, and total body conditioning).

[mii]

It is so nice to read a positive review. I will be on the Sapphire in Oct. and since they are sister ships I read everything I can get my hands on regarding both the diamond and sapphire. Glad you had a nice cruise.

 

 

Marilyn