Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Onboard Diamond Princess

Once we had repacked our suitcases for our cruise we called the hotel Bellhop to come fetch it. The hotel would deliver it to the ship which is a great perk when staying in the Pan. Now we could just mosey down to Princess check-in to get our boarding cards ( like a credit card which acts as a room key and one' s means of payment on the ship- for drinks, photos, shopping and the like.)

Now it's time to pass through security which is less stringent than an airport. Then-as we have Priority Boarding as Suite Passengers we board the ship. Maybe a 30 minute process all told.

Carol puts her feet up on our balcony

On Princess Cruises (unlike many others) your room is ready for you upon boarding. Your luggage will follow later and be left outside your door. On some cruise lines you have to walk around the ship
or take your carry-on bags to the buffet which can only complicate your lie for an hour or two. Then they announce your room is ready.

Once on board you are free to roam the ship and eat whatever you can find. We had a quiet lunch in one of the main dining rooms (MDR) which is only open for 90 minutes on embarkation day. We hadn't eaten in 4 hours and didn't want to set a new cruise record for abstinence.

The ship will sail at 4 and as it was only noon we had plenty of time to do our embarkation chores; hanging up our clothes, making Specialty restaurant appointments ($25 a head to dine), booking a relaxing adults-only space for the week for $115 each (The Sanctuary and aptly named). I booked myself on an Ultimate Ship Tour (UST) for $150 to be taken on our last sea day as we sailed towards College Fjord in Alaska and I booked us a private dinner on our balcony-UBD-Ultimate Balcony Dinner. Once all that had been accomplished I enjoyed a beer from our free mini bar set-up (a Suite perk) and joined Carol in the shade of our balcony.

Here are some shots of the cabin



Seen from the bedroom



The bathroom will appear in a video soon.  It was two separate rooms-one with a big multi-jet shower and a jacuzzi tub and the other a toilet and sink room so two people could do different bathroom-things at once. Two doors- one to the living room and one to the bedroom.

I didn't video it on the Diamond so am using some footage I shot on our previous Princess cruise on the Crown Princess. Same design and decor. (video)





Once we had settled in and Carol was busy reading her Princess Patter which is a daily listing of ship events to keep us entertained, I took a walk up to the pool deck to get my first beer of the cruise under my belt. Juan from Mexico was the first bar waiter to come to my table and he would remain a constant source of cold crisp Beck's beer during my week onboard.


Next up...sailaway from Vancouver

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