Observations of Diamond Princess 2/26 - 3/05 (Long)

[Fuzzyape]

Below are my observations on the cruise my wife and I took on the 26th of

February. We got off the boat just a few days ago, so I'm hoping the

experiences are still fresh in my mind.

 

To give you an idea of my cruising experience, this was only my second

cruise.

 

I have to say it was an odd adventure. I would be curious to hear of

others who shared the same experience. If some were aboard, and have news of the events I would enjoy hearing them. Here is a day by day type of item, so if you don't feel like reading it all, you may want to skip to the

particular headings.

 

 

Embarkation -- We stayed at a hotel on Rodando Beach, don't like to leave

MN the same day so we book a pre-day stay through Princess. This was a

nice hotel, and the beach was pretty deserted, because of the season, so we

got to relax before getting on the ship. It didn't take us long to embark.

The bus picked us up from the hotel at about noon, and we were on the boat

by about 1:30. We had taken care of most (if not all) of our stuff prior

to the cruise on Princess' web site, so getting on the boat was a breeze.

 

We met our cabin steward who was a nice guy. He did a good job all week.

When we had a problem he did his best to fix it. He turned down the bed

and even placed the daily patter at the foot of the bed. I did hear of

problems with some of the other stewards (friends of ours had a dreadful

time with theirs).

 

We went for lunch, and on the way I purchased the drink all the pop you

want for 22 bucks. For me this is a steal! I love diet coke, and easily

exceeded the 22 I need to get my money back.

 

 

Dining -- We were on the traditional seating. We chose the second seating.

However, we noticed our friends were assigned to a different table. We

went and spoke with the Maitre 'd and he reassigned us to a different table

all together. We also met a cool couple that we ended up doing many things

with them throughout the cruise! No complaints about the food. Our head

waiter, and waiter were fabulous. They tried to make our dining experience

fun, and they did. Jose and Nelson were top notch.

 

 

First day at sea -- This is where I discovered my first problem. I wanted

to do several different things, but often they were going on at the same

time. Played bingo, my wife did some spa stuff and loved it! We attended

part of the art auction, because we wanted to play the afternoon round of

bingo. I would have liked if they mixed the times up for these on board

activities, because I hate to make choices ;). Neither my wife or I are

much for lounging pool side, but I did have to chuckle at the number of

people reserving seats. Apparently the school systems need to stress basic

reading skills more, or there are a lot of people that need a refresher

course.

 

 

Second day at sea -- This was the beginning of the odd occurances. On our

way to PV (I can't spell puerto vallerta to save my soul) we stopped in

Cabo to drop off 3 passengers who were sick. We were on our way after a short stop. During the plywood horse racing, my wife purchased a horse for the loveboat derby. We had a blast with that horse all week. More Bingo,

buffets, and bars were the order of the day. Later that night, during

Dinner, a call went out for blood donors who had brought their blood donor

card. I never heard what the reason was, but thought it was an odd

occurance.

 

 

PV -- We did the jungle tour ( some of our dinner companions did the jungle

thing where you zip around on zip lines and had a blast, I'm more timid so

we just walked through the jungle). It was nice, not much for animal life,

but that may be a good thing. We had lunch during the excursion a simple

fixing of chicken or beef fajitas (I think there was one other choice but

don't recall). We aren't much for shopping either so we returned to the

boat. Call me odd, but I think the highlight of the stop was looking out our balcony window and seeing a walmart and a sam's club about half a mile from the dock.

 

Mazatlan -- In Mazatlan we did the walking tour of old mazatlan. Not bad, got to see lot's of neat sites, and wasn't surrounded by the hustle and bustle of downtown Mazatlan. The only down side was the number of locals trying to sell kites, sombraros, baseball hats, and hammock chairs and other knick knacks.

 

Cabo San Lucas -- This is a short stop (leaving at 2 in the afternoon from the port). We did the kayak and snorkling adventure. The bay was choppy, and because of this we didn't snorkel (I didn't see many people snorkling) there wasn't much to see, because the waves were churning up the water which churned up the sand. Being on the beach and watching the waves crash in from the ocean though was very cool. You certainly appreciate the force of water watching some of those waves. After departing Cabo, a second odd occurance happened. Another call for blood donors went out over the ship's intercom. Apparently, though this situation was pretty bad, as we were to find out on the very next day.

 

Third day at sea -- This was filled with fun, more Bingo, the loveboat derby with our plywood horse (he didn't win, but it was close, and fun sitting in the owner's area with the other owners). During the Bingo game in the afternoon the Captain came on and informed everyone that a Coast Guard helicopter would be airlifting the ill person from the boat, who was in a bad state. We were informed that all the outdoor decks had been closed, and anyone with a balcony on the port side of the ship needed to ensure that their balcony doors were closed and locked. Nothing more was said, except to mention that the helicopter had come by and picked up the passenger successfully. In each of the odd occurances I was glad that Princess didn't go into details and kept everything very generic, but I'm still curious as to what happened.

 

Over the week, two of the big pools had been closed for sanitizing (something to do with the illnesses?)

 

Disembarkation -- It went pretty well for us. I don't know the exact time we got off the boat, but we didn't have any major problems. We had the transportation from Princess and the bus left for the airport in plenty of time for us to make our 2:30pm flight (we had about an hour and a half to use up after getting through airport security). What amazed me, and again if anyone experienced or heard about it I would love to hear from you, it seemed as though they were still disembarking late into the morning. I wondered if there was a hold up and if so what it was.

 

The other issue I had, though this wasn't with Princess, it was with the immigration officials. I had filled out my declaration form for my wife and I. When we went through the line, the custom's official wrote the word one on the declaration form. After we picked up our luggage and was getting ready to leave the terminal, we handed our declaration form to a person by the door who was collecting them. They wanted to know where the form was for my wife. I explained that only 1 form was needed for a household, they were instant that one was needed per person. Their big hangup was that the word one was written at the top, not the word two, indicating 2 people on the form. The person did let us leave, but I learned my lesson...if I see them write one when I'm two, I'll be sure to ask.

 

Entertainment -- We saw a few shows, the comedian was great (he did a bit on people who bring kids on their cruises, that I thought was hilarious). We also saw one of the productions. I've seen some critics of the performances on board, my feeling is that the entertainment is just bonus. I was entertained and that's all that mattered to me. I thought they did a good job. While I could be wrong I don't think everyone on board can be a fabulous singer or dancer. The ship makes do with the staff it has, and they were fine by me.

 

Overall I enjoyed my trip. We had good service, the food did what it was supposed to do (fill me up and fuel me up for the next excursion). Our room was clean, the bed got turned down, we got little mints on the pillow, and got fruit in our room each afternoon. We didn't have any trouble with room service when we ordered morning coffee (though I did hear stories to the contrary). I know I will be sailing Princess in the future.

 

Hope you found the information useful. And if I'm off a day on my odd occurances, it's because I lose all track of time when I'm on the ship :)

[LARGIN]

thanks for the review...

[chefajax]

Hello,

Missed you at the CC meet, but with the crowds, it was not easy to see others from the board. The cruise was fun and the odd things that happened add to the whole thing. I, too, am curious about the patient that needed blood and why didn't they get him (or her) off the ship in Cabo? Also, why did they require donor cards from those who could have helped? Could they not contact the Red Cross? My wife is O neg, but did not have her card with her.

AS to the first Cabo stop, it was nice to see the whales off our balcony and again on the second time. Wish the weather was better in Maz, but it was still nice to be horseback riding with Randi's Happy Horses and shrimp at Victor's. PV was nice as we enjoyed the shopping and sites. Bought silver at the store we went to the last time we were there.

You were lucky to get off when you did as Customs had trouble getting us off. Could having 3 ships there stretch their people? They took longer then ANY time going thru Tijuana border crossing. Did they forget that we are just returning? I was on Dolphin Deck and we got off the ship around 11:50am, got thru Customs lines around 12:30. All this from the start time of 8:30, so 4 hours wasted!! I feel for those who were on Plaza Deck :(, they probably got off the ship around 12:30. Saw people waiting to get on, they looked tired and bored. So close, yet so far away.

Another adventure down, looking towards the next one. Take Care....Dennis

[CRUISER94044]

Hi, I also missed folks at the CC get together. Again, I think the crowds were large. We had a great time on the cruise as well. I was up in the solarium when the helicopter came in. It was quite a site. It hovered just a long side the ship for a while, then came in parallel until it was right over us. We did not see the patient airlifted, but we did see the coast guard individual being pulled back on to the helicopter.

 

One of the cruise staff was at the windows with us. She told us she had never seen an airlift in her three years on staff. She said the patient was very ill, and they weren't able to stabilize him. She said he was an elderly gentlemen, and they really couldn't figure out what was wrong. They were planning on putting into port in San Diego on our last sea day... but he took a turn for the worse, and that is when the captain decided to call the coast guard.

 

 

She also told us that the patient they requested a blood donor for earlier in the week was already off the ship. This was a different patient. Whew, the medical center must have been busy.

 

Hope you guys all had fun!

[Princess Chatterer]

They never actually took blood donations on the first blood call. They did on the second. Customs was easy except for the german couple who got in front of us in the U.S. citizen only line. They took forever trying to talk with the very slow elderly Customs man. Not all of the customs booths were open at the time. The key to getting off first is to have a Brown One pass. How you get that is having a Princess transfer and an early flight schedule.

 

Randi holding court at Mazatlan and whales at Cabo were the highlights of our trip. P.V., to us was just a dirty old nowhere place.

 

BTW: We were not happy with the comedian making fun of children. And when did Princess start showing R rated movies? There were two R rated movies shown on this cruise along with the gay in your face movie De-Lovely. You can probably tell by now that my wife and I come from the buckle of the Bible belt and generally avoid the non-family friendly Princess entertainment.

[ca2ga2000]

Hey guys - thanks for all the current info on the Diamond. Can any of you tell me who the Captain is on the Diamond right now, and if you know, if he will still be at the helm for the April 9th sailing?

 

Thanks!

[Fuzzyape]

I'm terrible with names. I couldn't tell you. He didn't mention he was leaving during the captain's cocktail hour. I would guess he'll be on board, unless he's taking a vacation. Some help I am eh?

 

 

Have fun

[Princess Chatterer]

Captain Yoemans

 

Hey guys - thanks for all the current info on the Diamond. Can any of you tell me who the Captain is on the Diamond right now, and if you know, if he will still be at the helm for the April 9th sailing?

 

Thanks!

[Schplinky]

...along with the gay in your face movie De-Lovely. You can probably tell by now that my wife and I come from the buckle of the Bible belt and generally avoid the non-family friendly Princess entertainment.

 

There is a definite difference between family-friendly and intolerant-friendly. Televisions have off switches so the in-your-face reference is not relevant unless you don't supervise your children.