Incredibly Long Diamond 6/12 Review Part 1 of 12

[augie]

Introduction: This review was so lengthy that the software rejected it! So I'm breaking it up into sections. Read one each night before bedtime and you will not suffer from insomnia for almost two weeks! ;)

 

This is my review of the Princess Diamond 6/12/04 sailing out of Seattle to the Alaska inside passage.

 

This was the tenth cruise for my wife Leslie and I, our first to anywhere other than the Caribbean, and our first on Princess.

 

We took this cruise to celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary.

 

I'll give some overall impressions and some nuts and bolts information before I delve into my long-winded blow by blow account of the trip. :)

 

The ship: Gorgeous, spectacular, and in my opinion, quite elegant. I think that there are still some lingering effects from the crash into the pier in Victoria (most notably being a new captain) but I'll speak to that later. I like the way that the stateroom doors are recessed back from the hall creating a small entryway and the little "mailbox" outside your door with your names on it.

 

The itinerary: I loved every stop we made. I wish we could have stayed longer, particularly in Ketchikan and Victoria, but some concessions must be made due to the distance of the sailing.

 

Princess: I hesitate to compare Princess to the other lines I've sailed before (mostly Carnival) because I don't know how many differences in the whole cruise experience are due to the different line and how many are due to the fact that we're sailing to Alaska rather than the Caribbean. But I have put a deposit down for an open booking on Princess so maybe I can make that comparison some time in the future. I do like the Captain's Circle concept where you realize tangible rewards based on your repeat business.

 

Food: I don't have a frame of reference to say whether or not the food quality has declined on Princess or not. In my opinion it was very good, but not great. I would say it's not appreciably better or worse than what we've had on our most recent Carnival cruises.

 

Anytime dining: Upon boarding we made our reservations for the week with no problems. I liked the flexibility we had to eat whenever we wanted, but we kind of missed getting to know our waiters and tablemates. On the busiest of nights we may have had to wait for a few minutes to get to the desk to present our reservations, but never waited very long. One thing I did not realize is that the menu for each of the PC dining rooms never changes. So if you like the menu in say, the Pacific Moon, if you elect to eat there again on another night you will have the same choices. However, you are also presented each night with the same menu that the people in traditional dining have, so you can pick from either menu, or even mix and match from both (the second night we ate in Sterling the traditional menu featured Alaskan King Crab Legs so I ordered those in addition to the sirloin steak from the Sterling menu to create a surf and turf entree).

 

International Dining Room: This is where the traditional dining is held, but we had open seating breakfast here a couple of times, and open seating lunch once. It was very tastefully appointed, and some folks we met that had traditional dining said that the service was very good.

 

Internet access: I know that there have been a lot of questions about how this actually works (I asked quite a few myself!), so here's the scoop - at least for the week that I was on board! There is an internet cafe along the promenade deck near Sabatini's and the Explorer's Lounge where you can use their computers in the traditional way (creating an account and paying for time logged on by the minute). I was able to use my own laptop, with my wireless access card, by purchasing 30 minute prepaid "blocks" for $10.50 each. I never had a problem connecting, and I never experienced slow or dropped connections - but your best bet is probably to log on only in areas where cell phones have service. The first time you log on you try and connect to a web site that you know works, and a page comes up asking if you have previously created an account. You use the numbers on the prepaid access card to establish your account and create your own username and password. After you log on a window pops up, for the duration of your login (you will need to disable your popup blocker, or at least allow popups from that site to see the window) that displays and updates the available time you have left.

 

One of the options is a bit misleading. There is a link that says you can purchase more time on line. What you really need to do if you want more time is to go to the purser's desk and purchase more prepaid cards (which only come in 30 minute increments). Then, when you go to the link to purchase more time you enter the numbers from the card and it adds the time to your account.

 

I liked having the option of using my own computer. It enabled me to compose email messages ahead of time, and even attach pictures (our boys were staying with my mom so we sent some pictures of us on a glacier, in a kayak, etc. to give them a taste of what we were doing) then use the internet time to transmit messages only.

 

OK - now the details of our trip; (End of part 1)

[srphnx]

Augie you are a novelist. On to part 2.

[augie]

Link to part two: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=48287