Anchorage & Embarkation

            Saturday, 21 Sep 2013 – Yes, we have departed for ANOTHER cruise.  This time, we’re sailing on the Diamond Princess from Anchorage, AK, to Singapore, with stops in Japan, Russia, South Korea, China, Vietnam, and Thailand. 

We had a very hard time getting to Anchorage.  At 10 AM Thursday, we left home for our flight to Anchorage via Chicago and Seattle; however, while we were en route to the airport, American Airlines notified us by cell phone that our initial flight to Chicago had been cancelled due to weather.  Since there wasn’t another flight out that could get us to Anchorage on Thursday, the airline booked us on another flight on Friday via Dallas-Fort Worth.  So we returned home and spent another night in Bettendorf.  On Friday, after we checked in for our flight, we were called back to the ticket counter by intercom.  It turned out that this flight was also being cancelled, due to a mechanical problem with the plane.  In this case, it paid off being friendly with the airline clerk.  We had told him all about our 32-day cruise from Anchorage, and when he heard about the problem with this second plane (before the public announcement), he was concerned that we might miss the cruise.  With his help, we managed to get to Anchorage via Chicago and Seattle, using United and Alaskan Airlines, although we didn’t arrive in Anchorage until 1:24 AM on Saturday – with just hours to spare before sailing.  We arrived at the Extended Stay America in downtown Anchorage by taxi about 2:00 AM.  After breakfast, the hotel shuttle took us to the Anchorage City Center, where we checked in about 10:30 for the Princess transfer to Whittier, AK, where the ship was docked.

En Route to Whittier (Thanks Keith!)

Our bus driver took us on the very scenic drive to Whittier by mountains, small glaciers, and ocean, as she narrated some of the local history and personal stories.  Although we had [stupidly] packed our camera in one of our checked bags, another couple, Keith and Liz, from Brisbane, Australia, promised to send us copies of their photos.

Due to our Platinum cruise status, boarding the ship was fast.  Ordinarily, we would have felt a little guilty as we were routed past the long lines of passengers, but we were so tired that we felt only relief.

From Our Cabin's Balcony

We boarded the ship about 2:00 PM, enjoyed a nice lunch, and returned to our cabin for a very short nap before the 4:30 PM lifeboat drill.

At our 6:00 PM dinner, we met our table companions: Louise and Ralph, from Calvary, Canada; and Marlese and Francisco, from Austria.  They had all boarded the ship in Vancouver for a 7-day cruise preceding this one, so were already well acquainted.  After dinner, we stopped at the Wheelhouse Bar for one dance and returned to our cabin, exhausted, and fell asleep about 9:30 PM.