Day 2 Diamond Princess Alaska Cruise – At Sea

Alaska Cruise . 2012 . Sep 16

Updated on 4th Nov 2012 - Added the Alaska Cruise Companion Book photos!

The Diamond Princess spends the entire day at sea today as it sails towards our first port of call – Ketchikan. It's a nice and much needed break from the hustle and bustle of the previous day, and a strategic time to check out the entire ship before we get busy with the ports of calls over the next few days.

Tip: Passengers who would like to make full use of the facilities on board should do so during the 'at sea' days as port calling days tends to be hectic if you want to disembark for land excursions or to explore the port. Scenic cruising days also tends to be busy as there is so much to see during the day. 

Checking out the Killer Whales!

The PrincessPatter (your daily guide to life at sea), is delivered to your cabin every evening so that you can plan the activities for the next day. According to the navigation guide, the ship will cruise through the waters of the British Columbia and early risers could keep a lookout for killer whales (also known as Orcas) around the northern reaches of Vancouver Island.

Check out the cruise path on your stateroom TV to see where you are sailing through!

With the prospect of killer whales sightings from our cruise ship, we dragged ourselves out of the bed just before sunrise at 7am to wait it out, and were greeted with the first hint of typical Alaskan weather – super misty with low visibility.    

Humidity levels were highest at sea at 100% and you could feel the water vapour on your face as the ship cruise along.  It almost felt like sailing in a dream-like condition.  It is the kind of weather I love – cloudy with no direct sunlight, high humidity levels which means your skin will be very moisturised, and low temperatures so that there's no sweat even with the high humidity levels!  In fact, one of our tour guides said that this is the reason why native Alaskans have such good skin!

We staked out at our balcony with our binoculars (see how important it is!) and got some food from the buffet line at Horizon Court to tide us through the early morning hunger while we look out for killer whales.

Tip: You can actually request for free room service for breakfast to be sent to your cabin. Just leave your request card on your door knob handle before you go for your dinner the previous evening.

It didn't take long for us to see that even if there were whales around, we won't be able to see them with the low visibility, unless they venture really near our ship. So mission was aborted and we went for a good breakfast at the International Dining Room.

Breakfast at the International Dining Room

As we ventured out of our cabin for breakfast, we saw this ultra-sweet decoration on our neighbour's cabin.

So, if you are celebrating a birthday or anniversary while traveling on board, do make sure to inform Princess Cruises, because this is what you will get!!

As a result of waiting out for the killer whales, we were not very early for breakfast and so the limited 2-seaters have all been taken up.  We had no choice but to share a large table with a few other groups, and as we do not like making small talk with a group of virtual strangers, we made sure that breakfast was a hasty affair.

Tip:  Dining rooms usually do not accept reservations for breakfast and lunch, so if you want to have a 2-seater, it's better to arrive early and get those limited-edition seats first. 

Very sumptuous and appetizing breakfast of Egg Benedict, Mother's Favourite Compote, and a rash of bacon.

Do check out the Full Breakfast menu here! :)

Shopping on Board the Diamond Princess

If you are into watches, costume jewellery, fragrances/perfumes, souvenirs and T-shirts, check out the sale area and the shops at the lobby at Deck 5, 6, and 7 midship.  We have the benefit of being the last Princess Cruise to Alaska for the season, and so you can imagine the kind of sale offered to us in a bid to clear stock.

There is something called 'Inch of Gold' and 'Inch of Silver' which we incidentally saw at our last cruise with Royal Carribbean.  Looks like this is popular amongst cruisers, but unfortunately, it does not appeal to us.  Which means good news for my wallet.

Our very first purchase onboard – The Alaska Cruise Companion, A Naturalist Guide to Alaska's Inside Passage.  It is available at $18.99 at the Calypso Cove, Deck 6, Midship.

Tip:  We found the cruise companion book extremely useful as a guide to the kinds of wildlife we could find at various stages of the ship’s journey.  After the cruise, it doubles up as a nice souvenir to keep and is an excellent resource for our next Alaska Cruise. The PrincessPatter makes frequent page references to the resources in this book which gives you much more details and pictures of the area you are cruising, some facts about the wildlife you will spot and a brief historical background on the ports of call. It is close to 300 pages and printed on full colour art paper. 

Besides the usual touristy souvenirs, Calypso Cove also sells useful amenities such as sea sickness medication, novels, and even binoculars! Yes, you can still get your binoculars on board should you regret not bringing one with you or did not buy one during the embarkation cruise terminal at Vancouver.  We find the prices quite reasonable in comparison to the binoculars we brought with us.  But of course, if you are particular about brands, then you may face a constraint here.

Alaska Shopping Spotlight Show

Held at the Princess Theatre, this talk-show promises to tell you everything you need to know about shopping at the Ports of Call – Ketchikan, Juneau and Skagway.  Helmed by the Princess shopping Consultants (basically, they are staff of the cruiseline), we found it more like a hard sell for diamonds.   They are just trying very hard to get you to spend your money at the jewellery shops at the Ports of Call, and earn a big fat commission from it.  So unless you are very much into diamonds, you can ignore this show and spend your time on other more engaging activities.  Guys, be warned, keep your diamond-loving wives away from the show!

The only good thing that came out of this was that we got some discount booklets for shopping at the Ports of Call and I got a nice one hour nap (again) on the very comfortable seat of the Princess Theatre!

Lunch at the International Dining Room

As with breakfast, the International Dining Room does not accept reservations for lunch.   But this time, we were early, and we had a table to ourselves.  It is actually a 4-sitter, so we had a good amount of space for the 2 of us.

The breads from the bakery never fails to impress, while the soup (Chicken Broth with Matzo balls and fine vegetables) leaves me wondering what it really is...

We realize that the pastas comes in small plates as well, so we ordered both of them on the menu (Spinach Fettuccine and Mushroom and Carbonara-Style Rigatoni) to sample on top of the main dishes.

Our order of London Mixed Grill (with beef medallion, veal kidney, lamb chop) and Sauteed Red Snapper.  The meal was not bad, but I ended up abandoning the veal kidney and lamb chop as there was simply too much food on the table.

The lunch ended on a sweet note with our must order dessert selections of Seasonal Fresh Fruits and Tutti-Frutti ice-cream.

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