diamond princess

[Rhonbru]

we are travelling on this ship from Yokohama.....does anyone have any tips for this ship....it appears that they don't have anytime dining which we usually prefer....looking for a hotel in yokohama the night before the cruise

[joybook]

They certainly had anytime dining when we were on her a couple of years ago. I would be totally surprised if they have not still got it. Good ship - one of our favourites, If you want some peace and quiet during the day, go up to Skywalkers.

[Kiwi Kruzer]

I thought that sounded strange too as we enjoyed Anytime when we were on her. however just checked  and they have a rider at the bottom of the Dining options..

 

Fresh and Flexible, Dine Any Time
Just like a restaurant at home, Anytime Dining enables guests the freedom to dine when and with whom they wish, at any time between 5:30 PM and 10 PM. Reservations are available through an onboard dining hotline, but not required, and diners may choose to eat only with their own group, or be seated with other guests. The choice is yours.

Not available on Diamond Princess® while in Japan.

https://www.princess.com/ships-and-experience/ships/di-diamond-princess/

 

Interesting  .  Wonder how they work it?

[Brisbane41]

Yes its a monumental stuff up on behalf of Princess when in Japan. They do not know how to operate any-time dining when they have passengers who speak different languages on board so they throw the policy in the "too hard basket" and force everyone onto traditional dining instead. 

 

The system they have most often does not work because what happens is that multiple passengers decide they do not like forced traditional dining and as a result you get tables in the main dining rooms with multiple empty seats, tables for 8 with 2 guests and odd mixes of passengers that just do not get on at all. If people elected for traditional dining then it would work as they have an intention of turning up. What happens on the Diamond Princess is that they don't turn up and go to the buffet instead and this leaves dining having a rather uncomfortable experience.

 

To reinforce how incompetent and how inept the staff are on this ship are when it comes to this is the fact that when the ship is spending the night late in port like a 9pm or 11pm departure then they will abolish the fixed dining times and have any-time dining. So on these port night passengers turn up when they are ready and are given a mixed table that is filled up with passengers, does not have gaps and works really well.

 

Why they cannot do this every other night is beyond me.

 

One reason they throw around is that the Japanese prefer a structure and will not use anytime dining. This is total BS. While some Japanese may like this structure, they do have the amount of dining rooms on that ship to cater to these amount of people while leaving the other dining rooms open for passengers who wish to have any-time dining like they do for when the ship is in port. There are also Japanese people who would prefer any-time dining as sometimes the forced dining time clashes with routines and tours if the ship has been in port.

 

Just keep telling Princess your displeasure and maybe one day they will change the policy.

[MicCanberra]

I imagine I would pick late seating if there was no AD being offered.

[GUT2407]

2 hours ago, MicCanberra said:

I imagine I would pick late seating if there was no AD being offered.

We always did. Still happy to if ATD is full or not on offer.

[Big Kev]

4 hours ago, Brisbane41 said:

Yes its a monumental stuff up on behalf of Princess when in Japan. They do not know how to operate any-time dining when they have passengers who speak different languages on board so they throw the policy in the "too hard basket" and force everyone onto traditional dining instead. 

 

The system they have most often does not work because what happens is that multiple passengers decide they do not like forced traditional dining and as a result you get tables in the main dining rooms with multiple empty seats, tables for 8 with 2 guests and odd mixes of passengers that just do not get on at all. If people elected for traditional dining then it would work as they have an intention of turning up. What happens on the Diamond Princess is that they don't turn up and go to the buffet instead and this leaves dining having a rather uncomfortable experience.

 

To reinforce how incompetent and how inept the staff are on this ship are when it comes to this is the fact that when the ship is spending the night late in port like a 9pm or 11pm departure then they will abolish the fixed dining times and have any-time dining. So on these port night passengers turn up when they are ready and are given a mixed table that is filled up with passengers, does not have gaps and works really well.

 

Why they cannot do this every other night is beyond me.

 

One reason they throw around is that the Japanese prefer a structure and will not use anytime dining. This is total BS. While some Japanese may like this structure, they do have the amount of dining rooms on that ship to cater to these amount of people while leaving the other dining rooms open for passengers who wish to have any-time dining like they do for when the ship is in port. There are also Japanese people who would prefer any-time dining as sometimes the forced dining time clashes with routines and tours if the ship has been in port.

 

Just keep telling Princess your displeasure and maybe one day they will change the policy.

 

We have only cruised on a Princess Trans Atlantic before..  Maybe, like you, we should choose a different cruise line if anywhere else..

Sue and Phil

[MicCanberra]

Sounds like a dog's breakfast.

[Thorpe]

I have only done 2 cruises on her and neither was around Japan. But I really liked the Japanese Baths in preference to the Thermal Suite . 
That’s if you like those sort of areas. 
You may not find the dining as bad as stated so enjoy the ship with an open mind. 

[losfp]

We're booked into the Diamond sailing Singapore to Tokyo in Jan and the cruise definitely has Anytime dining - we were momentarily booked into anytime as we were shifted onto a traditional dining waitlist after changing our booking to take advantage of a sale....

 

Maybe that's because our cruise is only cruising TO japan and not FROM japan.