Roger & Diana's ASIA to ALASKA 2013 TIMELINE PLANNER

The following dates and noted information may be subject to change or update.

Please utilize this as a guideline and check into this blog site for any new developments.

Thanks, Diana

July 2012                      Research & Book Airline Flight Arrangements

August 2012                  Arrange Pre & Post Cruise Land Tour  

August 2012                  16 Day Cruisers may currently register for Princess Shore Excursions

September 2012            Apply or Renew Passport

October 1, 2012             Diana's Study Group and Luncheon Sign-Up Deadline
October 6, 2012             Diana’s Cruise Study Group & Luncheon (Specifics to be arranged, please save date)


November 2012             Register and Input Info OnLine at Princess Cruise, My Princess & Cruise Personalizer
Week of Nov 26,2012     May pre-reserve Princess Spa Treatment Appointments
Week of Nov 26,2012    32 Day Cruiser may register within 120 of departure for Princess Shore Excursions


December 14, 2012       32 Day Cruise Payment Balance due to Alex

January 11, 2013          Passport & Payment due to Alex for Group China Visa application processing
January 16, 2013          Available within 75 days of sailing On-Line Boarding Pass & Luggage Tag Printing
January 28, 2013          16 Day Cruise Payment balance due to Alex
January 31, 2013          Individuals filing for Visa application for China


March 2, 2013              Pre-Cruise Meet & Greet Social (Specifics to be arranged, please save date) 

April 8, 2013                 Final Posting Day for Cruise Blog Articles
April 11, 2013               Roger and Diana depart to Bangkok Thailand
April 12-17, 2013          Roger and Diana at Shangri-La Hotel Bangkok Thailand
April 17, 2013               Embarkation on Diamond Princess


FALL 2013                   Post Cruise Social (To Be Arranged)

Photo provided by Flickr:alamodestuff

OH YEAH...Roger and Diana are on their way...KINDA?

OH YEAH  ---  Yes, Diana and Roger are on their way....Okay, well kinda!!

We have our cruise deposited (with Alex), stateroom assigned (Alex did this for us) and now we have our air transportation and pre-cruise arrangements in Thailand. Why, yes with Alex, of course!

Since many of you have inquiry minds and want to know what we have decided. I thought I’d take a minute or maybe two and share our updates. Roger and I have decided to head to Bangkok with a 5 night pre-cruise option. The hotel we picked was the Shangri-La Hotel located adjacent to the Chao Phraya River in downtown Bangkok. The Shangri-La Hotel is a 5 star luxury hotel that we had the privilege of staying during our 2006 river cruise trip when we disembarked in Shanghai and Hong Kong. In case you didn’t know in Asia, the luxury hotels are indeed a destination experience in itself. So for those who book with Alex, my bet is that you certainly will enjoy the Shangri-La. 

I know we certainly are looking forward to it! Alex can offer more details for you in the following blog article. So be sure you check-out it out! Oh by the way, did you know that the airport is some 30 minutes away from downtown Bangkok AND from downtown Bangkok to the ship is approximately 2 hours away, pending traffic! So yet another  reason to consider Alex’s package as she has already covered this issue for you.

Our air arrangements were also made through Alex, so contact her directly once you know how many days you have decided to stay in Bangkok for your pre-cruise and also your post- cruise, whether it be in Beijing or Anchorage.  As I understand it, Alex is also trying to working on a group coordination if many are choosing the same time frame. So let her know if you are at all interested. If you were to ask me, I’d make it easy on yourself and call Alex and join her group option. Some of you may recall doing this on our 2008 Med Cruise when we flew Swiss Air! What a breeze and a deal, thanks again Alex! 

Since Roger and I are of course retired. We have the luxury of time and are able to choose the 5 day travel option for our pre-cruise. It was our choice to leisurely enjoy our transition to embarkation day. We allocated 1 day for travel another for recovery. After all, many of you are "a lot" younger. And then I figured we basically had two to almost three days to explore Bangkok before we had to board the Diamond Princess. If you have the time and this sounds good to you, contact Alex and she can coordinate the Davis Bangkok option!

Its understandable that ‘not everyone’ is able to partake in the extended pre & post cruise days as Roger and I have. If this is the case for you, I would once again highly recommend that you consider having Alex assist you. She has a pre-cruise option for Bangkok and a post cruise option for Beijing (this will be for those 16 day cruisers). There is so much to enjoy and see in these two destinations that you really don’t want to miss out! Call and contact Alex soon, so she can take care of this for you.   

Well, that’s about it for now! Roger is researching our return accommodations currently from Anchorage to home, so stay tuned as our newsflash saga continues!

Photo provided by amarilyis.wordpress.com