Our Christmas Holiday cruise on the Diamond was by far the best out of our now seven cruises. It was the first time we have gone on vacation during the holidays and Princess did an excellent job of creating a very special and festive cruise. Traveling were myself, my husband and our 13 year old son and 8 year old daughter. Embarkation: We arrived at the port about 1:30 p.m. and although there was a line it moved quickly and we were on the ship and in our stateroom within an hour. The amazing thing was how quickly our luggage was delivered. We had just returned to our room after a quick trip to the buffet and our luggage was already arriving. By the time we went up for sail away I had already pretty much unpacked and put up our little Christmas tree and all of our decorations. Room and Ship: We had an ocean view room on the Plaza deck right at midship and we really loved it. It was very convenient to the dining areas, Princess Theatre, Casino and most of the lounges and activities onboard. Our stateroom was very nice and there was plenty of storage space. Our steward, Robert, was friendly and efficient and even made us our first towel animal on a Princess Cruise. The ship itself is beautiful and the Christmas decorations made it feel so festive. There were Christmas trees and garland everywhere and as we drew closer to Christmas they kept adding decorations in the atrium until it truly was a Christmas wonderland, complete with gingerbread village and Santa's sleigh and reindeer flying overhead. Entertainment/Activities: I cannot say enough about the variety of entertainment and activities on our cruise. David Cole was an excellent Cruise Director and his entire staff was really fun and friendly. They all went out of their way everyday to make sure we had a great time. We really enjoyed the trivia, spelling bees and some of the themed evenings like 70's night and Mardi Gras. There were crafts a couple times a day as well as lectures and other special activities. My daughter and I really enjoyed taking the hula classes and performing in the hula show at the end of the cruise. They also offered frequent ukulele classes. There were some very talented singers/musicians onboard. We enjoyed listening to the music of Elua by the outdoor pool, at Club Fusion we had lots of fun dancing to the pop songs by Passion and in the Explorers Lounge you could find classic rock performed by Rock the Boat. The production shows were good. Some we had seen on our previous cruise so we didn't attend all of them, but the ones we did see were professional and entertaining. I loved our sea days and can't imagine anyone ever feeling bored. We had a hard time fitting in everything we wanted to do. Special Holiday Activities: Being onboard during the holidays just added so much to the whole experience. As I said earlier the ship was beautifully decorated, they had "snow" falling in the atrium on several evenings and there were many special Christmas/New Year activities. Here are just a few: • Christmas crafts (pins, wreaths, bookmarks, etc.) • Gingerbread House building competition judged by the Captain and Chef • "Gift of the Magi" Special Holiday Production Show just for this cruise • Caroling in the Atrium • Virtual Fireplace on our Stateroom TV with constant Christmas music • Christmas movies • Christmas eve and Christmas morning religious services • Holiday Fun Fair for kids (cookie decorating, games, face painting) and most importantly a visit from Santa Claus with a nice present for each child. • New Year's Eve festivities all over the ship with hats, streamers, horns, champagne and balloon drop in the atrium. There was a special feeling onboard, kind of like a big family celebration. I loved sitting in the atrium with my daughter singing Christmas carols with fellow passengers, officers and crew on Christmas Eve while the "snow" fell from above. At the risk of sounding completely sappy, it felt almost magical. Food: Overall the food was very good to excellent. We had Anytime Dining and ate in the Savoy Dining room every evening but one when we went to our luau. We were fortunate to find two excellent servers on our very first night and so we went back to them each night for the rest of our cruise. Thanks to Yves and Christopher we enjoyed the convenience of anytime dining with the absolute wonderful, personal service you tend to receive only in traditional dining. They knew our drink preferences and always brought us extra of everything until we had to beg for mercy because we couldn't eat one more bite. They were wonderful with our kids and entertained them with magic tricks and jokes. I am so grateful that we had the good fortune to end up in their station that first night. For breakfast and lunch we ate mainly in the buffet or at the Grill/Pizza area on deck by the pool. We really liked the Pizza and the made to order omelets. We also enjoyed the warm cookies and the ice cream sundae bar at the buffet in the afternoons. Kids Program: The Kids Program for my daughter was very good. They had a nice variety of activities and crafts everyday. She made several friends her age and had a great time. She especially enjoyed being in the youth talent show. My son didn't really participate much in the organized teen club activities. He attended a few events, but found the average age of the teens at these activities to be older so he felt a bit uncomfortable. He had more fun just hanging out at the pool and meeting kids his own age there. Ports: Since the ports in Hawaii are fairly easy to navigate we didn't take any ship sponsored shore excursions and instead opted to do things on our own. Kona: Through research on the CC Hawaii Board I found Kona Seasports, a private charter boat in Kona that does a combination fishing/snorkeling trip and booked that for our family. Since they can accommodate up to 6, we were fortunate enough to find two wonderful CC friends to join us. Although we didn't catch any fish, we snorkeled at Kealakekua Bay which was gorgeous and saw whales and dolphins. The weather was perfect and we had a great time. When we returned to Kona we just strolled around town, bought a few things and enjoyed some outrageously huge and delicious shave ices. Honolulu: As the daughter of a WWII vet it is very important to me that my children understand its significance so Pearl Harbor was our main priority. When the ship docked at 7 a.m. we were ready to disembark and were among the very first people to get off. We grabbed a taxi and we were at Pearl Harbor by about 7:20 a.m., just 10 minutes before its official opening time. The line was already very long, but it moved quickly and we were able to get a 9 a.m. tour ticket, which was perfect as it gave us an hour to spend in the museum prior to going out to the Arizona Memorial. There is no charge for visiting the museum or Memorial, but we opted to purchase the audio tour for $5 per person and it was well worth it. We also met and talked with a Pearl Harbor survivor which was very special. The whole experience was extremely moving. Our next priority was a visit to the USS Missouri where we went on one of the guided tours. What an amazing thing it is to stand on the deck under the huge guns, to see the dent in the ship that still remains where it was struck and damaged by a kamikaze, and to follow the path taken by Nimitz, MacArthur and Halsey as they descended to sign the treaty that ended WWII in the Pacific. The historical magnitude is overwhelming. The guided tour takes you to some areas that aren't open to those coming onboard with just general admission, so I highly recommend it in order to get the most out of the experience. By the time we finished up it was already mid-afternoon and we were tired and hungry so we headed back to the ship to grab a bite to eat and get ready for our evening luau at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel. The setting on Waikiki beach at sunset with Diamond Head looming in the distance was amazing and the hotel itself is beautiful and very historic. Overall we really enjoyed the luau, even though the food was just OK and the entertainment was a bit clichEd at times. It was the only evening luau that worked with our port schedules and it gave us the taste of Aloha we were searching for in an exceptionally lovely setting so I was happy to overlook some of the less than spectacular things. But I'm a glass half full kind of gal! Kauai: Since we were in Kauai on Christmas Day I imagined that many things would be closed so I reserved a convertible and our plan was just to spend some time at the beach and explore the island which is exactly what we did. We started the day by heading to the beach at Poipu and spending some time there. It was a very nice beach, but the weather was pretty windy so we didn't stay too long. We hopped back in the convertible, headed north and made stops at a couple of water falls, scenic areas and the lighthouse. The convertible was great and really enabled us to enjoy the scenery which is breathtaking, except for a brief interlude when the sky literally opened up out of nowhere and drenched us before we could get the top back up. We were soaked but having fun! Hilo: We also rented a car in Hilo so we could explore on our own. We headed first to the black sand beach at Punalu'u which is about an hours drive from Hilo. The drive itself is really scenic and takes you past Volcanoes National Park. We had a great view of Mauna Loa and were amazed to see snow on its peak. The black sand beach is something right off of a postcard, surrounded by swaying palm trees with turtles basking on the beach. It was gorgeous. After spending some time enjoying the beach we backtracked and headed to Volcanoes National Park. Seeing the volcano was a must do for us and we spent a couple of hours there enjoying all the incredible sites like the crater, steam vents, and lava tube. On our way back to Hilo we made a stop at the Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Farm, did the self-guided tour and enjoyed some yummy macadamia ice cream. Maui: This was the port we chose for a relaxing beach day. We took the bus from Lahaina to Kaanapali beach, a bargain at $1 per person each way. It drops you right at Whalers Village and we walked down the beach and rented beach chairs and an umbrella from the Kaanapali Beach Hotel and happily planted ourselves for the day. We swam and snorkeled and just relaxed. The bus back was an adventure as there were so many people headed back to the ship it was literally standing room only, but thankfully it's a short ride and the price was right. Back in Lahaina we did a little shopping and then headed back to the ship. It was a perfect end to our five days in Hawaii! Debarkation: So easy it was almost unbelievable! We were instructed to be at our designated area at 8:25 a.m. which to my husband's delight was the Casino, a place he had grown very fond of during our cruise. We waited only about 15 minutes before our color was called and we were off the ship with our luggage collected and on the curb waiting for our ride precisely at 9 a.m. Summary: This was truly a fantastic family vacation and Christmas holiday. It was so nice to just spend time with my family and not have to deal with the usual holiday demands and stresses. The added bonus was getting to meet so many friendly and interesting people all the while enjoying a joyful but also relaxing holiday on the ship and in a beautiful place like Hawaii.