Just off the Diamond Princess in Japan- AMA!!

I was on the Diamond in July 2017 and yes there are electric kettles in the staterooms. Along with teas. Great addition! I wish they had this on all the ships. I used it every day!

=harryt8;53781438]My wife and I are on Diamond leaving Yokohama on Sunday 20 August for an 18 day trip around Japan including Russia and South Korea.

Can you tell me if a kettle/electric jug is available in the staterooms?

This was available on Sapphire a couple of years ago on Asian cruises.

Thank you.

John & Dale Tait

Bendigo VIC

Australia

Can you tell me if a kettle/electric jug is available in the staterooms?

You will probably have to get teabags from Horizon Court, ones in cabin may not be to your taste. Only tiny handleless cups (giant egg cups). Steward may be able to get mugs, we were OK always take our own!

My wife and I are on Diamond leaving Yokohama on Sunday 20 August for an 18 day trip around Japan including Russia and South Korea.

Can you tell me if a kettle/electric jug is available in the staterooms?

This was available on Sapphire a couple of years ago on Asian cruises.

Thank you.

 

John & Dale Tait

Bendigo VIC

Australia

Yes, kettle was in the stateroom. Bring a mug as it was Japanese style cups.

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Thank you for all this info, we are on a spring flowers cruise next april and have been able to find out very little about it. I am sure I will think of lots of questions!:D

Will get a review put up once we are home. Spending a few days in Tokyo. Doubt I'll see Mount Fuji on this tour after all [emoji23]

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for the Ishigaki tender, which location does the tender dock?

Is it near the local ferry terminal where you can buy various kinds of local tours to Taketomi, like this one

http://ishigaki-dream.co.jp/

Great, we board her on Oct 1 and will be on for about 40 days. Lots of questions (we don't gamble and do drink, but not more than a drink or two a day), starting with 1. the general condition of the ship. Your impressions please. 2. Dining, fixed seating only, so which dining room were the US and Aussie people in, and how was the menu and service, which I know is highly subjective. 3. Who was the Captain, CD and Executive Chef? 4. Entertainment, mostly in Japanese probably? or offered in several languages? 4. Port calls and immigration getting on and off the ship for tours, et al, especially if you had a stop in Busan, South Korea, smooth, time consuming, etc.? 5. Did you ever have to surrender your passport for a port call? 6. How were the Princess excursions - quality, guides, any highly recommended or any to really skip because they just were not worth it? 7. Age of passengers? 8. General comments and things to know, including did they actually enforce the boarding times?

Thanks so much for offering to provide info, it has been in short supply and any tidbit will be greatly appreciated.

If you are talking Oct of 2018, we will also be on that cruise. Taking the 8 day prior and staying on for the 5. We would love to see answers to all your questions. Are you on the thread? I have a gmail address if you want to exchange thoughts of CC. Joan send

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If you are talking Oct of 2018, we will also be on that cruise. Taking the 8 day prior and staying on for the 5. We would love to see answers to all your questions. Are you on the thread? I have a gmail address if you want to exchange thoughts of CC. Joan send

 

 

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The post you are linking was posted in July 2017, that poster was on the Diamond when we sailed this past October.

Aloha 1, you mentioned you took a cab from the port to downtown, or was it the reverse, (too many other posts), how much did that cost? Do you recall? How long was the ride, and would it be possible to walk back to the ship, should we be unable to snatch a cab?

Aloha 1, I was referring to your time in Busan in my previous post. Sorry.

Aloha 1, I was referring to your time in Busan in my previous post. Sorry.

I can answer this question. In Busan Princess offered a Shuttle bus, the cost was quite low and just outside the ship at the pier you signed up and they charged your ship board account. I just found my on board charges and the cost in US Dollars was just $5.00 per person. I believe the shuttle ran about every 30 minutes into the shopping area of downtown Busan and back to the ship.

Thank you for offering your experiences. In the staterooms, were the new type of flat screen/entertainment on demand TV's fitted, or were these still the old set time programming systems? Did you see a way to plug an auxiliary/HDMI source into the TV, and select it? Thanks and Kind Regards, Craig :)

We spent 20 nights on the Diamond last summer (B2B), and things were very much as described here. Thanks for the memories!

differences:

We had 2 large groups of older teens on board. Our passengers were a mix of English, Japanese, and a Spanish speaking group touring together....so 3 large groups total. More teens and kids than a typical Princess cruise as we were during a Japanese school vacation.

Food, as above, was a nice mixture; plenty of Japanese items, but also plenty of typical American. The funny thing was salad at breakfast (lettuce, etc) which is a Japanese thing.

Around the ship entertainment was sometimes bilingual, sometimes one show in English and a different time in Japanese. Announcements, muster drill, etc. were bilingual. Dining staff was bilingual. (at least)

Cultural activities were great. There were beginning Japanese classes, Japanese folk dancing, dressing up in traditional clothing, a tea ceremony, etc. We spent a week in Tokyo after the cruise and stumbled on a dance festival where they were doing a much more complex version of the dance we'd been taught--fun!

Interaction between passengers--most Japanese people have studied English, but their studies are heavily geared to reading and writing. As they are anxious about making a mistake, they are sometimes hesitant to speak English. My funniest interaction (and totally precious) was as I was exiting an elevator at the same time as a Japanese lady. She said "Excuse me" in English at the same time I said it in Japanese....and we had a laugh together. It may sound dumb, but our limited attempt at polite language formed a connection such that we always said hello to each other for the remainder of the cruise.

The guides on Princess excursions were generally excellent and spoke very good English. As above, you signed up for excursions in either Japanese or English. We laughed at being told that a particular garden was well known as it contained "very many pocket monsters." (Pokemon Go)

We had to go thru Japanese immigration each time the ship went to a non-Japanese port. It was a pain, but very well organized.

The only thing we really didn't enjoy was the trip to Busan, South Korea on each leg. On the first leg, we did an excursion to a temple...that was good and we got to see a bit of the city. The second leg, we took the free bus supplied by the city to downtown and explored on our own. We drove thru some really nasty areas. Overall, I wish we could have skipped this stop, but I suspect it was government mandated that we do a non-Japanese port. Also, Korean immigration was a LONG, hot walk to the building. It matters if a member of your group has mobility issues.

At several of the Japanese ports, school groups (if I were in the US, I'd say it was a high school band) would set up and play us out as we departed. We also encountered people at the ports who wanted to speak to us in English, asking about the ship, etc. These were always young people, although there were sometimes parents with them. My daughter, who has studied Japanese language and culture on a University level, said that this was quite unusual. One young lady was delighted when we gave her a map of the ship. Interestingly, I did not feel at all threatened by these encounters. There were often vendors near the port area, some with samples, selling their products. Once as we came back to the port area we were given yellow ribbons with the explanation that yellow was the color of sunshine so in this way they were wishing us a happy day.

Did you go to the Izumi Spa (onsen)?

We did a SE Asia cruise on the Diamond and it was hardly used.

I just wondered if it was used more when there was a large percentage of Japanese passengers.

we plan to try and do most tours ourselves, hopefully this will be easy enough. The hells in beppu look great, and really looking forward to Hiroshima, that was the main reason for picking this cruise. Any local food in particular, or just generally all Japanese food? We are looking forward to beef in Kobe for lunch after the cruise!

Hi Bluebell

So how was your experience doing the tours by yourself? I am taking the 2 week cruise Kobe/Kobe on May 13 2018.

Thanks for posting. We are on the grand Japanese trip next July. I just was wondering what they offered cultural wise onboard ship. Did they talk about the ports and did they have origami or other things Japanese to immerse yourself in their culture.

We did 20 nights on the Diamond, then spent a week in Tokyo. There were many Japanese cultural activities on board--oragami, tea ceremony, dress up and take photos in traditional clothing, traditional dance classes, language classes, storytelling (one leg bilingual, the second was only in Japanese), etc. Announcements were bilingual. I don't recall any port talks, but I may have just missed them.

We did a Japanese cruise on DP in 2016. Absolutely loved it. She carries 3000+ passengers but there was no hint of overcrowding in the pool areas so unlike European cruise ships no dropping towels on recliners to claim them all day. Cabin and wait staff are mainly Phillipino with the odd Thai waiters plus European wine waiters. The Captain was British. We took the opportunity to use the free shuttles in the ports visited and wandered round taking in the scenes. I note the comments on Busan. We both enjoyed our visit there particularly the Korea War Cemetery. Beautifully kept and very moving. Allen.

Thank you so much for starting this thread cowgrrl, you are totally correct there has been so little that gets posted about the Diamond and the Japanese cruises. We are flying to Tokyo Oct 5th and will board the Diamond on the 9th. I started taking notes of things that I must do once on board the ship and thanks to you I have started the most important ones so we can get signed up for everything right away. This is our first cruise around Japan although it will be my second time to Japan but my first was as a teenager in 1970 so cannot really compare. You have given some great information. Right this minute I cannot think of any questions but I am sure I will.

 

What I do plan to do is a "Live From the Diamond Princess" Thread here on CC, I have been doing these for many years although have stopped in recent years but I think that Princess cruisers may be interested in my daily diary type post that will have lots of pictures from excursions to the on board activities.

 

Thanks again for starting this thread. :)

Hi, just checking, are u sure that ur cruise doesn't start on the 8th, think we are on the same cruise - Oct 8, 2018 a Fall Foliage Cruise

Hi, just checking, are u sure that ur cruise doesn't start on the 8th, think we are on the same cruise - Oct 8, 2018 a Fall Foliage Cruise

Pls ignore the above post, would edit if I knew how, now realize u took the cruise in Oct 2017

Pls ignore the above post, would edit if I knew how, now realize u took the cruise in Oct 2017

Yes, and had an amazing wonderful cruise on the Diamond, we are returning to the Diamond in October 2019 for Northern Japan. :D

Hi, just checking, are u sure that ur cruise doesn't start on the 8th, think we are on the same cruise - Oct 8, 2018 a Fall Foliage Cruise

We did the Diamond Princess from Japan to Sydney last November. We loved it. If you are looking for day tours before your cruise we used Yosuke from Discover Japan Tours, he was really good

Yes, and had an amazing wonderful cruise on the Diamond, we are returning to the Diamond in October 2019 for Northern Japan. :D

Just curious since u took a cruise around the same time in October. Our cruise is billed as the Fall Foliage Cruise. Do u remember seeing great colors during ur 2017 cruise? (We are spending a week in Tokyo/Kyoto pre cruise; main reason for trip/cruise is to see Japan, not Fall Foliage, so if we miss the colors, still OK, but if we get lucky and see the fall colors, an added bonus.)

Just curious since u took a cruise around the same time in October. Our cruise is billed as the Fall Foliage Cruise. Do u remember seeing great colors during ur 2017 cruise? (We are spending a week in Tokyo/Kyoto pre cruise; main reason for trip/cruise is to see Japan, not Fall Foliage, so if we miss the colors, still OK, but if we get lucky and see the fall colors, an added bonus.)

Last year we went early to mid October, it was not billed as a Fall Foliage but thought maybe toward the tail end of the cruise when we went to Akita we would see some of the fall colors and unfortunately it was still fairly green with the leaves just barely starting to turn.

Our next cruise while it is basically the same dates we are heading much further North and hitting Russia and it is billed as a Fall Foliage so I suspect we will see some color. But with you going down to Kyoto I would not count on the fall colors.

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We found the Japanese to be some of the most polite people we have ever met and Japan to be very clean. If you are stopping in Hakodate I can provide a link to a goodwill assn. that has guides at very reasonable prices.

I would love the link. Can you email it To me? joannsend at gmail

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Just curious since u took a cruise around the same time in October. Our cruise is billed as the Fall Foliage Cruise. Do u remember seeing great colors during ur 2017 cruise? (We are spending a week in Tokyo/Kyoto pre cruise; main reason for trip/cruise is to see Japan, not Fall Foliage, so if we miss the colors, still OK, but if we get lucky and see the fall colors, an added bonus.)

Unfortunately that is probably too early for autumn leaves.

For autumn colors in October you would need to go up north to Hokkaido.

The Tohoku area gets its autumn leaves around early November.

In Tokyo and Kyoto the leaves usually turn around mid-November to early December.

Hello! Just returned from 13 days on the Diamond Princess cruising Japan. I don't see the exact cruise I did but its very similar to this one:

 

http://www.princess.com/find/cruiseDetails.do?voyageCode=M818A

 

Since there's not a lot about these cruises on here, I wanted to open myself up for questions. A few things to know:

 

-I don't gamble or drink so I can't really speak to those.

-This cruise is 90%+ Japanese cruisers. On our trip IIRC there were over 2100 Japanese & the ship holds about 2600 passengers. I don't have a complete passenger breakdown but I do remember about 160 Americans and between 250-300 Australians.

-We only took Princess excursions.

 

So, ask me anything!!

For some reason, I could not access your posted link.

Following your AMA replies

We will be on early October cruise.

Did they have a wide variety of authentic Japanese cuisine served daily on board? In the MDR and buffet?

Show any Japanese samurai movies?

Thanks.

King