Just Back from Diamond

[PINEY10]

We just got back from the Diamond that sailed on 4/4. It's a beautiful ship--very nicely done and seemed a slight step above the grand class (we sailed the Star last year) and the Coral. It was during spring break so there were a lot of kids--came with our own teens who had a blast.

 

Overall it was a nice cruise. SOme mishaps--there was some plumbing problem from the day we got on--there were portions of the back of the ship cordoned off with yellow caution strips, carpets up, marble tiles up, and the first day it was soaked. There also was an unseemly smell (smelled like sewage) that was very potent the first few days in certain parts of the ship (down certain stairways, the Princess theatre, and in various pockets throughout the ship. The smell lessened and pretty much disappeared by the 3rd day but the cordoned off area was never opened up. No explanation from Princess, though. One crew member told me that the weather was so bad the prior week that water washed on the ship--NOT true! Everytime I asked I got a non answer--not their area, or whatever. The smell was pretty bad and I understand it was present in some cabins. The cabin next to us told me as we were awaiting departure that they had the smell on their balcony and in their room throughout the week. I didn't smell anything. We were on Dolphin deck near the front. Another mishap was the late arrival although did not affect our flight home. IT did affect many others, and if you booked independently I understood they did allow people to use the phones to contact the airlines without being charged.

 

Other than that, ship was great, weather was great, minisuite (AC)--room was great. I think it was larger than Star minisuite. We had a completely exposed balcony on Dolphin deck--we didn't care about that. Sun was welcome. We had sunny days until the very end. Embarkation was a breeze--glad I read this column because we got there early (around 10:30), there were no lines in check-in and although we had to wait to board as did all other early arrivals, we were one of the earlier ones to board after the elite/premium group.

 

Food was a notch above other Princess cruises we took. Fresh coffee with room service in the morning, and lunches and dinners were good. We did traditional which I am glad we did. Heard a lot of complaints from those with PC Dining. For those who did not read this column and did not make reservations, it was very difficult. You do get the PC menus from the restaurants at Traditional--just once during the week. IF you liked the menu for a restaurant and wanted it again at the PC restaurant, you would need to make a reservation which during the middle of the cruise may be difficult. We didn't see any need for going to them more than once but it really depends on an individual's particular eating interests. We went to Sabatini's which we thought was great--an awful lot of food, but great waiting staff. On the waiters, we had the best waiters we have ever had. Our evening waiter (Jesus from Mazatlan at Table 30--although they probably change tables each trip) was a riot and attended to every need even anticipating things before we did. We were given food that they knew we liked even on nights it was not offered--anchovies and escargots. The staff was outstanding! Roberto (either the assistant head waiter or something like that) was also fantastic. Maitre D also was very good. We were not happy with our table--we are always put near the kitchen so I asked for a different table. He did it for us, although when I first went down to the dining room to change, the initial person I met would not tell me where our table was (as if he didn't know!) but when I pushed it one of the staff took me to the table to see that it was in fact next to the kitchen. But for that first person all of the other dining staff were all very attentive and worked out any problems if there were any. Having read this board, I decided to make a reservation in the Pacific Moon for our last night, but was so happy with our table that I wanted to cancel the other reservation. When you make other reservations from traditional, they cancel your table in traditional. They worked it out and got us our table back. Sometimes in the past I thought they were not very responsive--they were very accomodating on this one and seemed to take the extra step on almost anything we asked for. You also could order fresh fruit to be brought to your room daily.

 

Everything in our room was fine and room attendant also was very accommodating. Entertainment was fabulous--we had two singers from the Coral last July who were great but the numbers were excellent. Some of the entertainers we had since once or twice in the past year on the Star (Sarge) or Coral (Sarge,Jim McDonald and Dan Horn) which was one of our gripes in our comments although the cruise director advised they were stationed in LA. I just think they need to do more options--have more entertainers, but when we saw them the first time we thought they were good. THey had a hypnotist who was great and a juggler comedian who also was good. To be honest, we took the eco-cruise tour through the ship in PUerto Vallarta to the Marietas (snorkel/kayak/beach)and the tour operator on that one was the best of all the entertainers we saw on the ship. My teens enjoyed the teen activities (they were 15) although it took them a few days to get motivated to do it. Club Fusion was awesome--great accoustics and facilities. The one thing with the Princess theatre which is nice is that it looks very spartan versus the other entertainment venues. They do have trays that come out of the seats, like in school or front row in an airplane. Lounges (for example, Wheelhouse Bar and Explorers) also were comfortable and appealing. Martini Bar and cigar bar also looked nice and many people were there. Mustic on ship was good also. Library was comfortable with some computers for internet. The Internet cafe was great, and if you don't make tea at 3:30 they had some nice cookies available there, and I did see someone come by with tea. They also served upscale coffees, tea, drinks, etc. (latte, etc.) at your charge. Relatively good service although there were times that service was not as good. You could use the internet while in port (which I have not found on other ships), but sometimes the service was slow.

 

There were many activities going on throughout the ship with movies, trivia, bingo, ceramics, computer classes,pool entertainment, bands, etc., that there was also something to do. The pools were great, especially the ones in the back (the Lotus Spa adults only was nice) as were the ones on the very back. Pools midship were nice, although as on other cruises, people tagged their seats and some I noticed never even came to use them. I didn't do any spa services but people seemed very happy with them. The fitness center also was great with good classes being offered (wish there were more aerobics type of classes on a daily basis), but machines were good and always busy (sign up ahead on most). Stores are the same--a lot of stuff, nothing I would buy.

 

I thought it was a beautiful ship--but it is a big ship so there are LOTS of people. I prefer a ship like the Coral, but this one had some nice accoutrements. Rooms were nicer than the Coral including the colors used. You don't really see all of the people, but they are there! Artwork thoughout the ship also was nice.

 

I hope the kinks are worked out but the one thing that all cruise lines don't do is be very responsive when there are problems (such as the plumbing or sewage problem). As to the delay, although they said it was due to a late departure, one thing I noticed on this ship was that they tried to find people when they did not return from a port and in both Mazatlan and Cabo San Lucas, we saw people coming in well past the departure time--I usually thought that if you do not return on time, you lose and are left behind. It seemed kind of inconsiderate if these people did come back late for whatever reason. But it seemed to me that the ship actually waited for late arriving individuals, but I don't know if that is why we left late (actually from both Mazatlan and Cabo)--this is just my thought--I have nothing to base it on.

 

Disembarkation was also okay, although because of the delay in arriving, and what appeared to be a slow announcement for which colors to leave, I did request an earlier color code for departure, which they eventually relented on. It was going very slow and I thought it was taking forever for us to be called. If you do not use Princess transfers/flights, you depart the ship based on your floor (top first) and we were on Dolphin. It was taking close to 20 to 40 minutes for each color code.

 

If you're sailing on the Diamond, it's a great ship!

[steveweese]

Thanks for the review, We are booked on her a year from now.

[bostongal]

Thanks for the review!

 

Meg

 

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do then by the ones you did. So, throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.

Mark Twain (1835 - 1910)

[christyd]

Piney -

 

Someone from the cruise before you posted "Diamond Flood". They had a flood on the last day of the Diamond Cruise at the end of March.

[donap]

Thanks for the post, sounds like an awesome ship. We were on the Island in December, so it will be nice to compare.

 

We leave on the 4/17 cruise, hopefully more of the kinks will be ironed out.

 

Was the 1st formal night on Sunday or Monday?

 

Thanks

[CruiseFever]

Thanks for the detailed account of your experience!

 

Happy Cruising

 

Chris

 

www.LifeIsCruising.com

 

Next up:

Caribbean Princess 06/26/04

Star Princess 10/24/04

Carnival Victory 12/19/04

Carnival Miracle 03/13/05

 

[PINEY10]

Donap, the first formal night is Sunday, second is on Thursday.

[PINEY10]

One thing I did forget to note was that the delay was due to what they said was a late departure from Cabo as well as a mechanical problem. Although it was never stated by the captain or staff, one of the entertainers noted that the problem was due to an engine failure. THis was confirmed by one of the passengers we met who said he heard the problem the night before in the dining room and had thought there was an engine problem. As a result, we could not go beyond a certain speed. Hope they fixed it before the next cruise that left yesterday.

Also regarding the flood, I also heard from a passenger on our ship that he saw a sewage barge next to the ship I gather to take off the sewage and that it looked like it may have been reversed. What the real story is we will never know--the crew and staff are not very specific or responsive regarding any adverse problems or issues that arise.

[Jolimont]

I can't get much worse than sewage problems. I sure hope I don't have to put up with sewage smells... Do you remember which decks and section were cordoned off? I'm wondering if I should walk bare foot in my cabin or not.

 

Diamond Princess HERE WE COME! Alaska has never been so cool! 5/22/04

May 31, 2003 Carnival Triumph to Western Caribbean.

 

[PINEY10]

The cordoned off areas were on the 7th floor in the back of the ship near the dining areas. As the week progressed, carpets were relaid and I am assuming it is no longer off limits for this week's cruise. The smell, however, was in different parts of the ship, so I am not sure if the flood was related to sewage or not, particularly since the crew was not specific or responsive to any questions. In the week we were on the ship, a lot of progress was made in the wet areas (as well as the smell), so I would not worry. We still had a great cruise and I am sure you will, too.

[cruzinw/kids]

Hi

 

We were on the Diamond the week before you and I too noticed a nasty smell from the Princess Theatre. We sat in the back on the right hand side so I don't think it had anythng to do with the flood. I heard that it was a pipe that broke and we were without any elevators for most of the day. We also left Cabo 2 hours late as people were returning late including my husband and daughter. I was so scared as they had gone fishing thru a private tour, not Princess, and I was sure that they would get left behind but I was told not to worry as 400+ people still had not returned. Other than those mishaps the boat is truly beautiful and we had a great trip.

 

SS Norway, 1998

Norweigan Sky, Alaska, 2000

Norweigan Sun 2002

Diamond Princess 2004

[sneekpeek]

We were on that cruise too with the flood. It looked like it was all cleaned up and almost dry when we disembarked. It seems to me that they must have had a new problem the following week. Even with the flood we had the greatest time. It was our first Princess cruise and I was very impressed.

 

Piney - didn't you love the brittish accents. My favorite was Neil!

[PINEY10]

I was pretty partial to the Italian accents as well. The crew and staff for the most part were extremely nice and helpful.

[zizzyx]

Joan, I see you made it home. We made our flight with ten minutes to spare. I feel they could have been a little more forthcoming with info on our predicament. I agree with the review PINEY10 gave. I have to add one thing. All service was great but I had bought a soda card and when I ordered cokes, MANY times the waiters did not return with one. This happened around the pools plus in the clubs. I think they don't make much off(tips) the cards and go off to look for other drink orders. It was easier to just go get it yourself. That being my only negative (if you can call it one) this was a great cruise. My kids are now IMing all the friends they made on this trip. It was unforgettable!

[PINEY10]

Debbie,I wondered whether you got priority disembarkation because of your flight. Glad you made it! I was getting a little nervous at 1 PM whether we would get off in time--so I went to passenger services and asked for an earlier color code, which they provided. We made it in plenty of time to the airport--thank goodness we were only going to Long Beach. Must easier airport to maneuver and get through. Got home late, and still having trouble dealing with the change, but over all--it was a fabulous cruise and all of us enjoyed it! Kids had a blast--now we're trying to plan for next year. Enjoyed meeting you and your family. Good luck on the next cruise!

[Indydol]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by PINEY10:

We just got back from the Diamond that sailed on 4/4. It's a beautiful ship--very nicely done and seemed a slight step above the grand class (we sailed the Star last year) and the Coral. It was during spring break so there were a lot of kids--came with our own teens who had a blast.

 

Overall it was a nice cruise. SOme mishaps--there was some plumbing problem from the day we got on--there were portions of the back of the ship cordoned off with yellow caution strips, carpets up, marble tiles up, and the first day it was soaked. There also was an unseemly smell (smelled like sewage) that was very potent the first few days in certain parts of the ship (down certain stairways, the Princess theatre, and in various pockets throughout the ship. The smell lessened and pretty much disappeared by the 3rd day but the cordoned off area was never opened up. No explanation from Princess, though. One crew member told me that the weather was so bad the prior week that water washed on the ship--NOT true! Everytime I asked I got a non answer--not their area, or whatever. The smell was pretty bad and I understand it was present in some cabins. The cabin next to us told me as we were awaiting departure that they had the smell on their balcony and in their room throughout the week. I didn't smell anything. We were on Dolphin deck near the front. Another mishap was the late arrival although did not affect our flight home. IT did affect many others, and if you booked independently I understood they did allow people to use the phones to contact the airlines without being charged.

 

Other than that, ship was great, weather was great, minisuite (AC)--room was great. I think it was larger than Star minisuite. We had a completely exposed balcony on Dolphin deck--we didn't care about that. Sun was welcome. We had sunny days until the very end. Embarkation was a breeze--glad I read this column because we got there early (around 10:30), there were no lines in check-in and although we had to wait to board as did all other early arrivals, we were one of the earlier ones to board after the elite/premium group.

 

Food was a notch above other Princess cruises we took. Fresh coffee with room service in the morning, and lunches and dinners were good. We did traditional which I am glad we did. Heard a lot of complaints from those with PC Dining. For those who did not read this column and did not make reservations, it was very difficult. You do get the PC menus from the restaurants at Traditional--just once during the week. IF you liked the menu for a restaurant and wanted it again at the PC restaurant, you would need to make a reservation which during the middle of the cruise may be difficult. We didn't see any need for going to them more than once but it really depends on an individual's particular eating interests. We went to Sabatini's which we thought was great--an awful lot of food, but great waiting staff. On the waiters, we had the best waiters we have ever had. Our evening waiter (Jesus from Mazatlan at Table 30--although they probably change tables each trip) was a riot and attended to every need even anticipating things before we did. We were given food that they knew we liked even on nights it was not offered--anchovies and escargots. The staff was outstanding! Roberto (either the assistant head waiter or something like that) was also fantastic. Maitre D also was very good. We were not happy with our table--we are always put near the kitchen so I asked for a different table. He did it for us, although when I first went down to the dining room to change, the initial person I met would not tell me where our table was (as if he didn't know!) but when I pushed it one of the staff took me to the table to see that it was in fact next to the kitchen. But for that first person all of the other dining staff were all very attentive and worked out any problems if there were any. Having read this board, I decided to make a reservation in the Pacific Moon for our last night, but was so happy with our table that I wanted to cancel the other reservation. When you make other reservations from traditional, they cancel your table in traditional. They worked it out and got us our table back. Sometimes in the past I thought they were not very responsive--they were very accomodating on this one and seemed to take the extra step on almost anything we asked for. You also could order fresh fruit to be brought to your room daily.

 

Everything in our room was fine and room attendant also was very accommodating. Entertainment was fabulous--we had two singers from the Coral last July who were great but the numbers were excellent. Some of the entertainers we had since once or twice in the past year on the Star (Sarge) or Coral (Sarge,Jim McDonald and Dan Horn) which was one of our gripes in our comments although the cruise director advised they were stationed in LA. I just think they need to do more options--have more entertainers, but when we saw them the first time we thought they were good. THey had a hypnotist who was great and a juggler comedian who also was good. To be honest, we took the eco-cruise tour through the ship in PUerto Vallarta to the Marietas (snorkel/kayak/beach)and the tour operator on that one was the best of all the entertainers we saw on the ship. My teens enjoyed the teen activities (they were 15) although it took them a few days to get motivated to do it. Club Fusion was awesome--great accoustics and facilities. The one thing with the Princess theatre which is nice is that it looks very spartan versus the other entertainment venues. They do have trays that come out of the seats, like in school or front row in an airplane. Lounges (for example, Wheelhouse Bar and Explorers) also were comfortable and appealing. Martini Bar and cigar bar also looked nice and many people were there. Mustic on ship was good also. Library was comfortable with some computers for internet. The Internet cafe was great, and if you don't make tea at 3:30 they had some nice cookies available there, and I did see someone come by with tea. They also served upscale coffees, tea, drinks, etc. (latte, etc.) at your charge. Relatively good service although there were times that service was not as good. You could use the internet while in port (which I have not found on other ships), but sometimes the service was slow.

 

There were many activities going on throughout the ship with movies, trivia, bingo, ceramics, computer classes,pool entertainment, bands, etc., that there was also something to do. The pools were great, especially the ones in the back (the Lotus Spa adults only was nice) as were the ones on the very back. Pools midship were nice, although as on other cruises, people tagged their seats and some I noticed never even came to use them. I didn't do any spa services but people seemed very happy with them. The fitness center also was great with good classes being offered (wish there were more aerobics type of classes on a daily basis), but machines were good and always busy (sign up ahead on most). Stores are the same--a lot of stuff, nothing I would buy.

 

I thought it was a beautiful ship--but it is a big ship so there are LOTS of people. I prefer a ship like the Coral, but this one had some nice accoutrements. Rooms were nicer than the Coral including the colors used. You don't really see all of the people, but they are there! Artwork thoughout the ship also was nice.

 

I hope the kinks are worked out but the one thing that all cruise lines don't do is be very responsive when there are problems (such as the plumbing or sewage problem). As to the delay, although they said it was due to a late departure, one thing I noticed on this ship was that they tried to find people when they did not return from a port and in both Mazatlan and Cabo San Lucas, we saw people coming in well past the departure time--I usually thought that if you do not return on time, you lose and are left behind. It seemed kind of inconsiderate if these people did come back late for whatever reason. But it seemed to me that the ship actually waited for late arriving individuals, but I don't know if that is why we left late (actually from both Mazatlan and Cabo)--this is just my thought--I have nothing to base it on.

 

Disembarkation was also okay, although because of the delay in arriving, and what appeared to be a slow announcement for which colors to leave, I did request an earlier color code for departure, which they eventually relented on. It was going very slow and I thought it was taking forever for us to be called. If you do not use Princess transfers/flights, you depart the ship based on your floor (top first) and we were on Dolphin. It was taking close to 20 to 40 minutes for each color code.

 

If you're sailing on the Diamond, it's a great ship!<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

[shannie]

Spoke to you on this boards before the cruise. It was a great cruise, gald you had a good time too.

When we got home our teens got really sick(high fever,sever headache and dizziness). Their doctors arent sure what it is possibly

Viral Syndrome which will go away on its own (7-10 days) Have you heard of any other kids getting sick? Priness says no one has called with any reports of illness and I pray no one will. Because it would ease my mind to know it is a minor illness and nothing caught on board the ship. Please post if your kids hear from anyone else not feeling well.

Thank you

Shannon

 

*Diamond Princess 04/04*

Star Princess 04/03

[zizzyx]

Shannie, My teen has been in touch with all her new friends from the cruise and none of them are sick. So, hopefully it's a virus that will be over soon. Hope they feel better.

[ojaidenny]

No one sick here either.

 

April 3, 2004 Diamond

 

[DrivesLikeMario]

We're just off the Coral, and the one thing my sons missed the most was the video arcade that they've had on other ships. All the Coral had was some video game machines with out-dated video games. A lot of the game systems didn't work too.

 

Can you tell me if the Diamond has a video arcade that you pay money to play like the Grand's Voyage of Discovery?

 

Thanks so much!

 

--------------------------

'04 Navigator of the Seas

'04 Monarch of the Seas

'04 Coral Princess

'03 Monarch of the Seas

'02 Adventure of the Seas

'02 Ecstasy

'01 Radiance of the Seas

'01 Grand Princess

'01 Viking Serenade

'00 Grand Princess

'99 Viking Serenade

'98 Elation

[PINEY10]

My teens thought the video arcade was great. I think it was part of the Off Limits part. I heard them talk about Play Station. Don't know if this helps or not.

[DrivesLikeMario]

Piney10-Thanks, I appreciate it. Sounds like they didn't have a regular video game arcade, but just the PlayStation games you would have at home. My kids like the video games that you'd find at a mini golf center, etc., (the ones that cost money to play). Thanks for the input though!!

 

--------------------------

'04 Navigator of the Seas

'04 Monarch of the Seas

'04 Coral Princess

'03 Monarch of the Seas

'02 Adventure of the Seas

'02 Ecstasy

'01 Radiance of the Seas

'01 Grand Princess

'01 Viking Serenade

'00 Grand Princess

'99 Viking Serenade

'98 Elation