Diamond Princess Review

4.0 / 5.0
922 reviews

First Time Alaska

Review for Alaska Cruise on Diamond Princess
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cruisemonster
First Time Cruiser • Age 60s

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Sail Date: Jul 2009

We had such a bad experience on our last cruise in November on the Carnival Freedom we were going to take a break from cruising for a while. I then received an e-mail from Vacations to go that there were Alaskan cruises available for $299. At that price we couldn't pass it up. The only question that I had was would we have coveralls waiting in our cabin so that we would have to work to get out meals?? Just kidding. We arrived in Anchorage at around 2:00P.M and loaded a bus for the port in Whittier. Our bus driver was a local college student that had grown up in the area. He was real entertaining and provided some interesting commentary along the ride to the port. To get to the port you have to go through the tunnel. This is the longest tunnel in North America (2.5 mile long) and one way. It was built during WWII to access the base that was there in the 40's & 50's. We reached our ship at around 5:00P.M. And to say the least we were exhausted. 17 hours of travel from the east coast. The check in process was real easy. A two minute wait and we were cheeked in. The staff had their act together. We boarded and found the ship to be very nice and exceptionally clean. The staff very friendly and the passenger were some of the friendliest we have met in along time. For $299 we were upgraded to a JJ cabin inside deck 11. The cabin was one cabin aft of the elevator next to the guest laundry. I thought that this would be a problem because of the noise but just the opposite was true. No noise at all and convent because it was easy to wash our clothes and close to the elevators and stairs which is a plus. We ate at the buffet the first night and did some exploring. Over all I thought the ship was very up scale. The lounges and dinning rooms were reminiscent of older ships that we were on in the past. Only on level in the dinning rooms made them feel a little more intimate. I especially liked Skywalker lounge in that aft end of the ship. Nice views to sip Alaskan ale. I thought the food was above average, nothing like the cruise food of the past but good and I would have to rate the filet I had the last night in the steak house to be as good as any I have ever had. Princess does a good job with there food offering a wide varity of items each night and repeats like shrimp cocktail, tenderloin and salmon every night. The thing I like the best was that there was always a place to get something to eat. Even when you sleep through dinner and wake up a 10:00. Our first day at sea was at College Fiord Glacier. It was amazing as with Glacier Bay the second day. The ship's promenade deck was completely open in the front of the ship and covered so that you can stay out of the rain. A nice feature for Alaskan cruising. We spent almost eight hours each day on deck. The views were incredible. The only mistake we made was that we didn't pack warm enough jackets so we purchased a couple of hooded princess logo's in the gift shop for about $50 each. This was a great price until we found similar jackets in the ports for $20. So if you are cruising north and stop in the ports first buy your new jackets there. The ports were amazing, the views, excursions, wildlife and shopping were all great. Although for a time I thought that I was in the Caribbean with all of the jewelry shops that were there. We did the biking tour in Skagway, Whale watching, salmon bake & Mendenhal Glacier in Juneau and a 4X4 adventure in Ketchikan. All excursions were very fun and the salmon was the best that I have ever had at the salmon bake. Getting off the ship was very easy. We carried off our five pieces of luggage at 7:45A.M. Went to the transportation stand in the Vancouver terminal and used a credit card to pay for two $13 transfers to the airport. At the airport in Vancouver you go through U.S. customs. This was very convenient seeing we didn't have to go through the process in the U.S. and possibly miss a connection. Overall the cruise was great and exceeded our expectations. I know that the price was a big driver for expectations but I would have enjoyed this at three times the price. I know that many people like to spend the extra money for the balcony and suites(us included at times) but in this situation I would recommend an inside for the price. How often are you in your room and these ships outdoor areas are made for Alaska? I would definitely cruise Princess again. We are frequent cruisers and this was number nineteen.

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