I Am A Celebrity!: Cruising Alaska's Inside Passage - Where it all Started

Princess Cruise Lines Logo
Copyright Andy Richards 2013 - All Rights Reserved

I STARTED this blog in late 2022, thinking I had dedicated a lot of time to the topic of cruising on my primary photography blog: LightCentricPhotography Blog. I wanted to try to devote more space there to more serious photography endeavors. But lets face it, a huge percentage of my "fodder" for writing either blog comes from our travels. And a large percentage of that is centered around cruising. Both blogs will continue to have photographs of my travels, and the photography blog will often contginue to read like a travelog. Particularly when there is a hiatus from cruising though, I find it harder to keep new material brewing here. I was thinking about this at the same time I have been doing a major overhaul of the way I archive my photographic images. I am almost finished with 2010 in my archives. We started cruising in 2010. Why not go back at this point and start from the beginning?

"I'll go, but I get to pick the cruise"

I HAVE mentioned a few times in both blogs that my initial attitude about cruising was tepid at best. I just didn't think the "bang for my travel buck" was there. Like many things we have never done before, I only had other people's anecdotal information about it. And most people we heard about it from had really only been on warm weather (Caribbean) cruises; often to escape the sometimes brutal weather we experienced in Michigan during the long winter months. Although I was as keen as anyone to escape to someplace warm and thaw out for a bit, I felt that I could do that perfectly well on a beach in Florida somewhere. At the same time my own minds-eye view of a cruise ship was a floating hotel with pools and a huge buffet. Again, that beach in Florida. 😎

MY WIFE, on the other hand, had other thoughts, partly buoyed by her brother, who had been on a couple (warm weather) cruises. He was single at the time and he and my wife ultimately "arm-wrestled" me to into agreeing to a cruise. But I had a condition. "I'll go, but I get to pick the cruise." I think they were just happy that I had finally capitulated. Its funny. We have been on more than one cruise where I was prepared not to like it for one reason or another. I have always been wrong. In this case, though, they told me to have at it, and it didn't take me long to choose Alaska. I am an avid photographer, and it looked like the inside passage was going to give me some great photo-ops.

Diamond Princess - Alaska Inside Passage
Copyright Andy Richards 2010 - All Rights Reserved

IN 2010, there were really only a handful of big, well-known to the masses, cruise lines: Carnival, Royal Caribbean (RCL), Princess, Holland America (HAL) and Norwegian Cruise Lines (NCL). In fairness there were many more but I had either never heard of them, or knew they were out of our reach (the "luxury" cruise lines). A little internet research revealed rather quickly that Princess and HAL (not surprisingly, both subsidiaries of the same parent corporation: Carnival Holdings) basically had Alaska "locked up." Its not that other cruise lines didn't go there. They just didn't have the presence or the port facilities of the other two (especially Princess - who has several land-based lodges throughout the continental part of Alaska, as well is its own dedicated rail line which ran from their primary port in Whittier up to their lodge just at the entrance to Denali National Park. They also have some kind of contractual agreement for exclusivity in Glacier Bay National Park. But as you can see from a couple of the photos here, NCL also had a pretty serious presence in the region.

Princess' Whittier Cruise Terminal
Copyright Andy Richards 2010 - All Rights Reserved

GIVEN THE above, and including what appeared to us to be the best itineraries, I was leaning toward Princess. By that time I had narrowed the choice between HAL and Princess, and when I put those out, both of the other two agreed with me that Princess looked like it was more our "speed." Not known as a "party" cruise line (RCL and Carnival probably had that niche well-filled by that time), at the same time they were not as (again my perception at the time) stiff and formal as lines like Viking (who, it turns out may be one of the most informal - at least when it comes to dress code). Even HAL seemed a bit more "old school" and formal than Princess from what I could read (and would confirm nearly 15 years later when I finally cruised on a HAL ship). Not a lot more - but just enough. And Princess seemed like that Goldilockslike "just right" to us.

Their response could (and should) be a blueprint for how to handle a disaster for any cruise line

ONE OF the suppositions we made was that we would likely do another cruise (maybe a couple) unless somebody absolutely hated it, got seasick, or the like. Knowing that, we chose a line that we thought we could sail multiple times and gain status. At that time, Princess seemed like a fit. It was. We liked it. We still like it (though the title of the blog might give rise to a conclusion that it is not our top choice these days - and that would not be wrong). We indeed cruised on Princess 2 more times before every even thinking about another cruise line. The third one (w'll get there) was - through no fault of Princess - a disaster in the making, which actually turned out very well for us. And Princess could not have handled it any better than they did. Their response could (and should) be a blueprint for how to handle a disaster for any cruise line (or travel company for that matter). More details to follow in an upcoming blog.

Our Stateroom aboard The Diamond Princess
Copyright Andy Richards 2010 - All Rights Reserved

YOU WOULD have thought that would lock us in as lifetime patrons of Princess. The customer is fickle. We ultimately found our way to Celebrity and they have certainly risen to the top of our list (but they are not exclusive, as we have sailed on all three of what I would consider their top competitors since - and would do so again given the right circumstances). But for the time being, we certainly would come to consider ourselves a part of the Princess "flock."

PRINCESS' SHIPS are beautiful, well-maintained, and well appointed. We have always sailed in one of their traditional balcony staterooms and found them very comfortable. The public areas of the ship are also well-appoints and classy looking.

Grand Atrium - Diamond Princess
Copyright Andy Richards 2010 - All Rights Reserved

IN 2015, NCL first introduced the so-called "flexible dining" concept with its "Freestyle Dining." This was 2010. Princess was a pretty traditional line. Our ship was the Diamond Princess, one of Princess' "Grand Class" ships. Diamond Princess was launched in 2004. With a capacity of just over 2,500 passengers, it is kind of in what has become our "wheelhouse" for ship size. The Diamond Princess had a single, two story main dining room (MDR). These traditional style MDRs are huge and have kind of a ballroom feel to them. Cruisers at that time were assigned one of two "set" dining times (somewhere between 6:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. is common). We had the later time.

I was pleasantly surprised at the dining arrangements

FIRST, I have to say, I was very pleasantly surprised at the dining arrangements (you would think I would have noticed from my watching of The Love Boat that there was this somewhat formal dining room - but maybe I could have been forgiven since the series had been by then discontinued almost 25 years prior). I really liked having our own permanently-assigned table. It wasn't exclusively ours. It was an 8-top and there were 4 of us and two couples who were in-laws and were from Wales. They were somewhat "seasoned" cruisers - though we learned - suprisingly not very adventurous. The were otherwise delightful (except for their complete misunderstanding of the concept of "football").😈 We found the food to be excellent, with numerous choices, which varied during the week. Generally (MDRs still basically do this), there was an appetizer course, a main course, and desert. With some recent exceptions (tending to be "high-end," high demand items like lobster tails and prime steaks), dining patrons are free to order multiples (it is not uncommon for me to ask for more than one of the appetizers, if there are more than one item that looks good to me).

Grand Foyer - Diamond Princess
Copyright Andy Richards 2010 - All Rights Reserved

OUR 4TH for this trip was my then teen-aged son. Like most boys, he had (has?) a voracious appetite and it wasn't long before our waiter had tipped him off to the "as much and as many" as you want policy that was prevalent back then. His usual order after that included two different main dishes and often more than one appetizer. That was a nice surprise to me, though 25 years hence that policy has been limited somewhat (as noted above, in particular lobster tails and prime steaks are now generally limited to on per person and additions are subject to a substantial upcharge - but back in 2010, on lobster night you could order multiple tails if you wished without additonal charge). Times have changed.

THE SET dining times of those days are pretty much passe in today's "mainline" cruising world (though they still persist in many of the smaller and luxury lines). But in 2010, Princess offered two different set dining times options - an "early" (around 6:30) and a "late" (around 8:30). Knowing no better, at first, I really liked the set dining time (indeed, it was one of those things I only reluctantly moved away from a couple years hence). It was nice to have "our own" table (shared with 4 others in our case) and consistent waiters who greeted us each night and quickly learned our preferences. We had the late time (at the time thinking that would give us more leeway for our shore excursions). In later years, we have had both the early time and the late times, depending on the cruise and company we were keeping. They had their negatives. The early time meant on port days that you were rushed getting back to the ship, showering and cleaning up - with little time to relax and enjoy a cocktail before dinner. On the other hand, the late time meant (in our case) often not leaving the dining room much before between 10:00 and 11:00. It seems like neither of those times work well with the show times either. The seemed to be either just a bit too early or too late. But I did enjoy the atmosphere. I think we did this routine for our first 4 or 5 cruises. Once the "anytime" or "flex" dining became available we shifted to that. At first I thought I would really miss the set time/table. In spite of its traditional nature, we really don't. We much prefer the ability to set our own time to eat around our other activities. We also have found that we have met others on board and often will make arrangements to dine with them - something that we really couldn't do in the traditional setup.

One of the Numerous Bars aboard The Diamond Princess
Copyright Andy Richards 2010 - All Rights Reserved

WE LIKED the several little bars and pubs around the ship. Most of them were small venues and usually had live music, including some combo bands and even some jazz. We don't see much of that these days anymore. They also had Churchill's Cigar Bar, something that unfortunately no longer exists on most cruise ships. Today's smoking arrangements on Princess ships are relegated to a "humidor room" off the casino. It is sterile, generally freezing cold, and just not a great smoking atmosphere. The only other place is on the back of some of the ships - but they are not particularly cigar-friendly. A disappointment, but not enough so to dissuade me from sailing with them. We did partake of a cigar on one evening in Churchills. It as pretty cool.

THERE WAS one partial negative to our first Princess experience. Princess had reached out to us to tell us that our boarding time was to be put back about 4 hours and not to get to the ship before that. O.k., No problem with that. We checked our baggage at the terminal and then walked around the harbor area, had a couple drinks and a light lunch to kill time. When we finally reached our boarding time, we were within walking distance to the terminal and headed over. It was our first cruise ship boarding experience. At first it seemed much like the boarding process for an airline. A long desk with many attendants processing passengers. We presented our passports and printed out boarding passes. After a brief wait, we were presented with a boarding pass (credit-card sized). So far so good. We were then directed to the boarding area to get in line. We are on the way, I thought. Not so fast. First we were put in a waiting area, where we sat for nearly an hour before finally getting the green light to board. We later discovered that some Canadians had waited nearly 3 hours in a similar room. Never did find out what that was all about. We have never had an experience like that since (though our 2023 boarding of Oceania Nautica was the closest thing to it).

One of the best (IMO) developments in cruise embarkation in the past few years has been the elimination of the muster drill and replacement with a much more friendly and manageable process

BACK THEN, regulations required that every cruise ship hold a "muster drill." The ship was not allowed to leave the port until they had accounted for every passenger and all had reported in for the drill. At the drill, they explained the ships emergency signal system and did a demonstration on how to put on a life-preserver. They also seemed to feel obliged to put on a little "dog and pony" show, making introductions and a few attempts at lame humor. But on this one they started - as an explanation for the late boarding and departure of the ship - with an ominous message. On the downward leg, the ship had experienced a substantial outbreak of the norovirous. Whoa! Not how we wanted to remember our first (and potentially last) cruise. My wife and I exchanged an eye-brow raised look. For the first couple days the only way we could get food in the buffet was to be served by staff. Had we not known better, we probably would have thought this normal. But we knew under normal circumstances it would be self-serve. Other than frequent hand-washing, there really wasn't anything else to be done. Fortunately for us, it remained an incident-free cruise and we soon forgot about it. By the third day we were back to self-serve.

ONE OF the best (IMO) developments in cruise embarkation in the past few years has been the elimination of the muster drill and replacement with a much more friendly and manageable process. Today, you download the ship's app on your phone and watch a video of the drill. Then you walk down and check in at your muster station - more or less at your convenience once you are on board. It has made the process so much better.

ALL IN all, I can say that our first cruise ship experience was very successful and by the end of the week I had done a complete 180. I was already thinking about the next one.

NEXT UP: Cruising the Inside Passage: views from the ship.

I Am A Celebrity!

Sunday, March 9, 2025

Cruising Alaska's Inside Passage - Where it all Started - The Diamond Princess

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