Almost Live -Japan Grand Adventure 9/18 - 10/15 -

[helenb]

Interesting... the majority of passengers are Australian, even though the cruise is based in Asia? I would have expected more Australians on the Australian-based cruises.

 

Thanks for the information!

[Pia1913]

Interesting... the majority of passengers are Australian, even though the cruise is based in Asia? I would have expected more Australians on the Australian-based cruises.

 

Thanks for the information!

 

They were surprised too. Interestingly, it's the Aussies and Americans who are eating the Japanese food and the Japanese are gobbling the American food. :D

[waltd]

They were surprised too. Interestingly, it's the Aussies and Americans who are eating the Japanese food and the Japanese are gobbling the American food. :D

 

I guess When in Rome, Do as the Romans Do. :)

[icat2000]

Interesting... the majority of passengers are Australian, even though the cruise is based in Asia? I would have expected more Australians on the Australian-based cruises.

 

Thanks for the information!

 

Australians are well known for travelling. I'm not surprised at the high ratio of Australians on the Japanese cruises.

[lovevacadays]

I'm looking forward to your live from. I don't think I've read one that has done your cruise.

 

 

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[KarateMan]

Its only natural there will be a lot of Australians on this cruise. It is Asia and it is only a short flight from our country. On the 31st August sailing there were around 800 Australians which outnumbered the Americans on board.

 

As far as food goes it was all traditional Princess style food. I only tried Japanese food on the Japanese mainland and it was very delicious.

 

As far as Princess menus go they have Romanised the Japanese words for certain food.

 

Example: Chicken breast is still on the menu. What Princess have done is re-written it and written on the menu something like Tori Niku Chiken. Which in Japanese Toriniku means chicken. Tori 鶏= bird and 肉　niku = meat. 鶏肉

 

They have done the same for pork. In English they have described pork as Buta Niku Pork which again is the Japanese word for pork Buta 豚= pig and 肉Niku = meat.　豚肉

 

None of the menus in the main dining have changed. It is just the description that has been Romanised to make it easier for the waiters to understand what the Japanese want.

[anthonyy7]

Thanks for doing this. We will be cruising on the Diamond Princess next June so will be interested in anything you have to say. If possible, would like to know if there is any problem using non-chip debit cards in ATMs in the airport to get Yen. Read somewhere - don't remember where - that this could be a problem.

 

Actually the issues are with maestro (MasterCard) cards WITH chips.

 

Debit cards w/o chips will be fine in Japan, was recently there and had no issues at any ATM.

 

http://www.mastercard.co.jp/personal/atm-notification.html#en

[coo359a2]

Actually the issues are with maestro (MasterCard) cards WITH chips.

 

Debit cards w/o chips will be fine in Japan, was recently there and had no issues at any ATM.

 

http://www.mastercard.co.jp/personal/atm-notification.html#en

 

Thanks. We have a VISA Debit card from our Credit Union that we have been able to use after we land at the foreign airports. So far have had no problems and hoping the same goes for Kansai. We will be starting our cruises in Kobe.

[Pia1913]

I'm looking forward to your live from. I don't think I've read one that has done your cruise.

 

 

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Internet (as reported by my friends) continues to be very sporadic. They have gone as much as 3 days in a row without a signal. I do recall being in Japanese waters a few years ago and having the same problem.

[jayne62]

Hi, just quickly checking in. The internet service is very slow and quiet expensive. We tried to use the free service at marital airport and kept dropping out.

 

The service on the ship is expensive and very slow. Charged by the minute. Took me all day and 13 mins just to be able to connect and email family we were here.

 

So I will probably just update each morning early.

 

 

The diamond princess is impressive! Much bigger than I imagined, lovely decor and lots to do.

 

Weather here is hotter than I expected. Sail away was lovely with the lights of Tokyo at night.

 

 

I will post some pics next time I can get online. Off to breakfast now.

[cdngrl]

woohoo you made it!

I look forward to hearing about it whenever you are able.

[PathfinderEss]

Also looking forward to your reports. Thanks for doing them.:)

[Tworobs]

Glad you arrived safely and are enjoying yourself...looking forward to your entries when you can:)

[KarateMan]

If I can point out with internet all I can say is that when I have been on Princess it has always been fast for me. At least enough to upload a few high resolution photos and do what I need to do.

 

I don't purchase internet I get it free as elite status so I have never really cared about the speed at all.

Edited September 22, 2014 by KarateMan

[Lintywhite]

One thing we have noticed regarding the speed of the internet on board various Princess ships is that it can vary depending on where you are trying to access it. Some areas seem to get a stronger signal than others and that can make a lot of difference if you are trying to upload photos etc. We have often found it slower in our cabins [but not always] whereas we can get a better signal in some of the lounges and bars.

 

Best signal is usually always in the Internet room using the ships own PCs if you want to try that but you may not be able to upload your photos from those. Just make sure you have your hand sanitizer with you as keyboards can be a breeding place for germs. Some of the internet rooms have hand sanitizer provided but we always carry our own.

[moonglum]

I have read about the new toilets thanks to Lanwood's reviews and have also contacted Princess direct about food and menus as my daughter has a seafood allergy and we were a bit concerned about the changes to the menu for the Japanese market. But it's always good to hear about fellow Aussies experiences. Thank you.

 

We are just off the Diamond and the only issue with the menu is that the left hand side, which used to be all time favourites, has now been changed to a Japanese selection. the right hand side of the menu is westernised food. There should be no issues as you should find something suitable to eat.

 

Enjoy your cruise.

[moonglum]

I am looking forward to seeing your comments regarding the cruise experience! I would love to know:

 

- rough passenger ratios (native English-speakers to native Asian language speakers)

- what kinds of entertainment are offered (musicals, comedians, magicians, hypnotists, musicians, signers. etc.)

- whether or not trivia and game shows are offered, and in what language(s)

- availability of English shore excursions

 

Thank you!

 

The cruise we were on sailing 9th Sept had about 900-1000 Japanese guest and the rest were made up off Australians, New Zealanders, Europeans and Americans.

 

Entertainment was good with a wide range of shows the majority being in English. There was a magic show by a Japanese magician, New Zealand Comedian, variety of musicals in the theatre and the usual pianist in Crooners, duo in Wheelhouse and New Deal else where. My comments on New Deal are anything but complimentary.

 

Trivia is offered twice a day in English and is a broad based spectrum of questions which are equal to all nationalities.

 

Shore excursions are in English and are available. consider the walking tour in Korsakov and the morning market and cable car in Hakodate as good value.

[helenb]

Thank you, Moonglum!

 

One question: you said that the 'Always Available' side of the menu was gone... does that mean no fettuccine Alfredo or Love Boat Dream?

[moonglum]

Thank you, Moonglum!

 

One question: you said that the 'Always Available' side of the menu was gone... does that mean no fettuccine Alfredo or Love Boat Dream?

 

Could not find the fettuccine Alfredo but if the Love Boat Dream is octopus then it is there.

 

Someone with possibly greater knowledge replied to one of my threads as seen below although I would contend that the steak shown on the left side of the menu is not how we know it.

 

That is not exactly correct. They are still exactly the same choices Princess has on all their ships. I have just come off the Diamond after doing the Kyushu & Onsens Cruise on the 31st August.

 

What Princess has done is simply re-name the dishes to the native Japanese language to give the waiters a better chance of understanding them.

 

Chicken Breast is always on the menu. In Japanese Chicken is 鶏肉　Toriniku. On the Princess menu they have put something like Tori Niku Chicken Breast.

In Japanese Tori 鶏= Bird and　肉 Niku = Meat, then they compound the word and say it as Toriniku they know it to mean chicken meat.

 

There have been absolutely no changes whatsoever to the "always available" menu. It is still exactly the same. The names are just more decorated by adding Romanisation of the Japanese words.

 

Same with Pork Buta Niku is what Princess calls it and in Japanese pork is Butaniku which translates to pig meat.

 

Sakana means fish.

 

If you had eaten in Japanese native restaurants you would know that what is offered on Princess is certainly not native or traditional Japanese food.

[TVR Lady]

We have just come back from our Tokyo Japan trip, still jet lagged but what a wonderful time we had, the Diamond Princess ship was the best we have been on, perfect in every way.

 

 

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[jayne62]

hello, and first my apologies for not being able to update this thread as I had hoped. The internet onboard is just dreadful and I have spent my allowance keeping the family updated as I'm sure you'll understand, so have not really been able to post elsewhere. If you are coming onboard from Australia I would recommend you organise something else for internet before you get here, we tried to buy a prepaid SIM card in Japan but have not been able to.

 

I see that a lot of questions have already been answered by others, thanks :)

 

with the food allergies they have been very good. When you first come onboard they ask you to fill out a form about your allergies. They contacted the restaurants included for each shore excursion I was on and they have all been very helpful and particular in getting my good correct. One even phoned the tour guide while I was on the bus to check and ingredient.

 

We have not used the dining room, we don't like the set meal time, you only have 15 minutes to arrive and then they shut the door. After being chipped about being late the first night we eat at the horizon court buffet. The food has been lovely and you can just ask about ingredients in food and they will get someone to check on it.

 

Trivia is in English. They have Japanese & English classes each day. We have only been to the Japanese magician show and it was good. a lot of the entertainment in singing, dancing or some musical shows. Mostly we've been too tired to go after touring each day!

 

There are a lot of shore excursions in English and we have found the tour guides very good. I would recommend the Matsue castle and boatride - I've put more details up on what we've done each day on my blog.

 

It's been a really good cruise, great itinerary and we have really enjoyed it. At the moment we're delayed due to the typhoon so the last part of our cruise will probably be affected, but it's all good.

 

The mix of passengers for the first 9 days, was 900 brits, then a general mix of japanese, aussies, americans, canadians.

 

Then most of the Brits left and 700 Japanese boarded and Australians were the next biggest group at 400. Over the last few days many passengers have left the ship to try and get to Tokyo so the mix of passengers will probably change again at the next embarkation.

 

Announcements are made in English and Japanese, all the crew speak English.

 

You can exchange currency onboard the ship - we got roubles for russia this way. We did exchange for Yen at sydney airport before we left and it was much easier then when we arrived at the airport as we already had yen and the line to echange money was very long.

 

I'm not sure if I'll get to update this or not before we disembark but hopefully that has answered a few questions. Now I'll cross my fingers and see if I can get it posted before I lose the connection! :)