My Experience with the Diamond Princess

[DiamondFour]

Hi I am new to all of this and would like to maintain a level of online privacy so I wont tell you too much about myself and interests. I am a regular cruise passenger and like others I am quite upset at the current situation and am worrying if the cruise industry will survive in general.

 

First I would like to thank Princess how they handled the Diamond Princess situation. As you have all seen when the ship was in Japan we had the dreaded virus on board. The Japanese government and Princess cruises worked really well to keep over 3,000 passengers and crew on my ship safe and healthy. I found the quarantine was safe and could think of no better place to be. Now there is a little saying about having "the fairies do their droppings on you" I suppose you could say that happened to me. Prior to going on my recent Diamond Princess cruise I was sent an email about a upgrade to a penthouse suite on C deck. The cost to me would be $800. I was originally booked in a premium balcony and Princess explained in the email that they wanted it. Naturally I jumped at the chance. In effect that penthouse suite became my saving grace with double balcony, spa bath, shower cubicle, separate toilet and bathroom, bedroom and large sitting area. The lounge room came in handy during quarantine with plenty of room for exercise like star jumps, sit ups, push ups as well as activities with my elastic band I had fortunately packed on the advise of my physio to treat a recurring shoulder sporting injury. The other fortunate thing was that I had also updated my laptop prior to sailing and replaced the hard drive with a solid state drive giving it a new lease of life and phenomenal speeds and the ability to store multiple movies and videos which became a source of entertainment. For me the quarantine passed effortlessly.

 

Just to clarify a few myths and untruths circulating the net. The ship was not a virus incubator. The tests were taken on days in bulk and the results came back as they were processed. As such all those positive results you saw on the news were not an instant result but could have been from a day to 3 days before as the Japanese health officials tested and retested to make sure. It is also my opinion that very few caught the virus on the ship during quarantine. An investigation by Japanese authorities did determine that a crew member who was preparing food did have the virus and could have passed it on. Fortunately for me I did not eat much of the food provided to me that was exposed. Once I became aware that the virus was on the ship I was cautious about food delivery and preparation. So what I did I utelised my stock of alcohol, soft drinks and souvenir packaged snacks kept in my suite. Any food delivered to the cabin that was sealed I would eat. For example if a full apple came to the suite I would wash it, peel it and dispose of the skin and eat what was inside of it. Further to that I asked for hard boiled eggs which gave me the benefit of peeling them and giving me a good source of protein during the quarantine. I think little things like that were useful.

 

I cannot comment on those in the inside cabins and those who caught it as unfortunate as it is. I personally would never book an inside cabin as it is a given fact that quarantine is always an option with the dreaded norovirus.

 

I do not hold any malice or hatred to Princess or the Japanese. My anger and frustration and disappointment is directed solely at another communist dictatorship that sought to hide, conceal, deceive the world about the existence of this virus. Due to the riots in Hong Kong and early reports of this in the news I had decided not to get off the ship in Hong Kong which proved to be a wise move.

 

This is all I can think of at the moment. Like many others I am worried about the impact this will have on the cruising industry.

 

When I returned to Australia I actually thought I would escape mandatory quarantine. I declined to accept the Australian governments offer of a flight home and instead stayed in Japan for anther three weeks and used my refunded cruise fare to travel and explore Japan. Qantas was generous enough to change my return flight date to a later date so it was no loss to me and I actually managed to get upgraded to a business class flight home due to the lack of numbers. Once home I was allowed to go directly home opposed to that mining camp near Darwin which was my sole motivation for remaining in Japan.

 

In case you are wondering about my screen name and profile picture there is a backstory to it. The screen picture is of Japanese J-pop group Momoiro Clover Z performing at Tojin-sai 2014 in Yokohama. They were performing there on my first visit and cruise to Japan in 2014 and I became intrigued by them and purchased their concert Blu-Ray in Japan prior to my cruise. As such it became a source of musical entertainment to my exercise routine in my suite during the quarantine by playing the musical concert over and over again. Originally there were 5 members of the group but now there are four and they have the nickname the Diamond four.

[possum52]

Thank you for telling us your experience on the Diamond Princess. She was the first Princess ship we sailed on and she is a favourite of ours. I am glad you didn't become ill and were able to come back home safely. One question if I may, did you consider that you may contract the virus in Japan while travelling around the country?

 

Leigh

[Chiliburn]

28 minutes ago, DiamondFour said:

Hi I am new to all of this and would like to maintain a level of online privacy so I wont tell you too much about myself and interests. I am a regular cruise passenger and like others I am quite upset at the current situation and am worrying if the cruise industry will survive in general.

 

First I would like to thank Princess how they handled the Diamond Princess situation. As you have all seen when the ship was in Japan we had the dreaded virus on board. The Japanese government and Princess cruises worked really well to keep over 3,000 passengers and crew on my ship safe and healthy. I found the quarantine was safe and could think of no better place to be. Now there is a little saying about having "the fairies do their droppings on you" I suppose you could say that happened to me. Prior to going on my recent Diamond Princess cruise I was sent an email about a upgrade to a penthouse suite on C deck. The cost to me would be $800. I was originally booked in a premium balcony and Princess explained in the email that they wanted it. Naturally I jumped at the chance. In effect that penthouse suite became my saving grace with double balcony, spa bath, shower cubicle, separate toilet and bathroom, bedroom and large sitting area. The lounge room came in handy during quarantine with plenty of room for exercise like star jumps, sit ups, push ups as well as activities with my elastic band I had fortunately packed on the advise of my physio to treat a recurring shoulder sporting injury. The other fortunate thing was that I had also updated my laptop prior to sailing and replaced the hard drive with a solid state drive giving it a new lease of life and phenomenal speeds and the ability to store multiple movies and videos which became a source of entertainment. For me the quarantine passed effortlessly.

 

Just to clarify a few myths and untruths circulating the net. The ship was not a virus incubator. The tests were taken on days in bulk and the results came back as they were processed. As such all those positive results you saw on the news were not an instant result but could have been from a day to 3 days before as the Japanese health officials tested and retested to make sure. It is also my opinion that very few caught the virus on the ship during quarantine. An investigation by Japanese authorities did determine that a crew member who was preparing food did have the virus and could have passed it on. Fortunately for me I did not eat much of the food provided to me that was exposed. Once I became aware that the virus was on the ship I was cautious about food delivery and preparation. So what I did I utelised my stock of alcohol, soft drinks and souvenir packaged snacks kept in my suite. Any food delivered to the cabin that was sealed I would eat. For example if a full apple came to the suite I would wash it, peel it and dispose of the skin and eat what was inside of it. Further to that I asked for hard boiled eggs which gave me the benefit of peeling them and giving me a good source of protein during the quarantine. I think little things like that were useful.

 

I cannot comment on those in the inside cabins and those who caught it as unfortunate as it is. I personally would never book an inside cabin as it is a given fact that quarantine is always an option with the dreaded norovirus.

 

I do not hold any malice or hatred to Princess or the Japanese. My anger and frustration and disappointment is directed solely at another communist dictatorship that sought to hide, conceal, deceive the world about the existence of this virus. Due to the riots in Hong Kong and early reports of this in the news I had decided not to get off the ship in Hong Kong which proved to be a wise move.

 

This is all I can think of at the moment. Like many others I am worried about the impact this will have on the cruising industry.

 

When I returned to Australia I actually thought I would escape mandatory quarantine. I declined to accept the Australian governments offer of a flight home and instead stayed in Japan for anther three weeks and used my refunded cruise fare to travel and explore Japan. Qantas was generous enough to change my return flight date to a later date so it was no loss to me and I actually managed to get upgraded to a business class flight home due to the lack of numbers. Once home I was allowed to go directly home opposed to that mining camp near Darwin which was my sole motivation for remaining in Japan.

 

In case you are wondering about my screen name and profile picture there is a backstory to it. The screen picture is of Japanese J-pop group Momoiro Clover Z performing at Tojin-sai 2014 in Yokohama. They were performing there on my first visit and cruise to Japan in 2014 and I became intrigued by them and purchased their concert Blu-Ray in Japan prior to my cruise. As such it became a source of musical entertainment to my exercise routine in my suite during the quarantine by playing the musical concert over and over again. Originally there were 5 members of the group but now there are four and they have the nickname the Diamond four.

Welcome to cruise critic 

[DiamondFour]

9 minutes ago, possum52 said:

Thank you for telling us your experience on the Diamond Princess. She was the first Princess ship we sailed on and she is a favourite of ours. I am glad you didn't become ill and were able to come back home safely. One question if I may, did you consider that you may contract the virus in Japan while travelling around the country?

 

Leigh

By then I was on high alert. The Japanese are very fastidious about hygiene so I considered Japan to be safe. They mostly all wear face masks when things are normal so I never imagined it would be a problem. I took precautions and stayed at higher quality hotels than the average tourist trap and moved away from the major cities. I had already had hand sanatiser with me so that was no issue but I took more precautions off the ship knowing what the risks were. I was more worried about the Qantas flight home to be honest as the 747s were used to repatriate people from wuhan to Christmas Island. At present Australia has double recorded cases than Japan so I felt safer there than here. 

[Kaylacool]

Thank you for sharing your story.  Interesting read and good to hear you were able to keep safe and continue your adventures. 

[LittleFish1976]

10 hours ago, DiamondFour said:

Hi I am new to all of this and would like to maintain a level of online privacy so I wont tell you too much about myself and interests. I am a regular cruise passenger and like others I am quite upset at the current situation and am worrying if the cruise industry will survive in general.

 

First I would like to thank Princess how they handled the Diamond Princess situation. As you have all seen when the ship was in Japan we had the dreaded virus on board. The Japanese government and Princess cruises worked really well to keep over 3,000 passengers and crew on my ship safe and healthy. I found the quarantine was safe and could think of no better place to be. Now there is a little saying about having "the fairies do their droppings on you" I suppose you could say that happened to me. Prior to going on my recent Diamond Princess cruise I was sent an email about a upgrade to a penthouse suite on C deck. The cost to me would be $800. I was originally booked in a premium balcony and Princess explained in the email that they wanted it. Naturally I jumped at the chance. In effect that penthouse suite became my saving grace with double balcony, spa bath, shower cubicle, separate toilet and bathroom, bedroom and large sitting area. The lounge room came in handy during quarantine with plenty of room for exercise like star jumps, sit ups, push ups as well as activities with my elastic band I had fortunately packed on the advise of my physio to treat a recurring shoulder sporting injury. The other fortunate thing was that I had also updated my laptop prior to sailing and replaced the hard drive with a solid state drive giving it a new lease of life and phenomenal speeds and the ability to store multiple movies and videos which became a source of entertainment. For me the quarantine passed effortlessly.

 

Just to clarify a few myths and untruths circulating the net. The ship was not a virus incubator. The tests were taken on days in bulk and the results came back as they were processed. As such all those positive results you saw on the news were not an instant result but could have been from a day to 3 days before as the Japanese health officials tested and retested to make sure. It is also my opinion that very few caught the virus on the ship during quarantine. An investigation by Japanese authorities did determine that a crew member who was preparing food did have the virus and could have passed it on. Fortunately for me I did not eat much of the food provided to me that was exposed. Once I became aware that the virus was on the ship I was cautious about food delivery and preparation. So what I did I utelised my stock of alcohol, soft drinks and souvenir packaged snacks kept in my suite. Any food delivered to the cabin that was sealed I would eat. For example if a full apple came to the suite I would wash it, peel it and dispose of the skin and eat what was inside of it. Further to that I asked for hard boiled eggs which gave me the benefit of peeling them and giving me a good source of protein during the quarantine. I think little things like that were useful.

 

I cannot comment on those in the inside cabins and those who caught it as unfortunate as it is. I personally would never book an inside cabin as it is a given fact that quarantine is always an option with the dreaded norovirus.

 

I do not hold any malice or hatred to Princess or the Japanese. My anger and frustration and disappointment is directed solely at another communist dictatorship that sought to hide, conceal, deceive the world about the existence of this virus. Due to the riots in Hong Kong and early reports of this in the news I had decided not to get off the ship in Hong Kong which proved to be a wise move.

 

This is all I can think of at the moment. Like many others I am worried about the impact this will have on the cruising industry.

 

When I returned to Australia I actually thought I would escape mandatory quarantine. I declined to accept the Australian governments offer of a flight home and instead stayed in Japan for anther three weeks and used my refunded cruise fare to travel and explore Japan. Qantas was generous enough to change my return flight date to a later date so it was no loss to me and I actually managed to get upgraded to a business class flight home due to the lack of numbers. Once home I was allowed to go directly home opposed to that mining camp near Darwin which was my sole motivation for remaining in Japan.

 

In case you are wondering about my screen name and profile picture there is a backstory to it. The screen picture is of Japanese J-pop group Momoiro Clover Z performing at Tojin-sai 2014 in Yokohama. They were performing there on my first visit and cruise to Japan in 2014 and I became intrigued by them and purchased their concert Blu-Ray in Japan prior to my cruise. As such it became a source of musical entertainment to my exercise routine in my suite during the quarantine by playing the musical concert over and over again. Originally there were 5 members of the group but now there are four and they have the nickname the Diamond four.

 

I am curious as to the political content of your post. I notice you refer to 'another communist dictatorship'. It's obvious which government you are referring to. Which is the 'other' communist dictatorship that your comment compares that government to?

 

I'm also curious as to which demographic you fit into given you felt comfortable travelling for three weeks post a two week quarantine on board a ship during what was clearly, by that time, a burgeoning epidemic. You don't have to breach your privacy - just gender and age would be useful. Thanks.

 

 

[sewgood]

Diamond Four, welcome to Cruise Critic, great to hear a personal account of someone who was on the Diamond Princess.

 

You were so lucky to get the upgrade, sounds like $800 well spent in hindsight!

Glad to hear you used the time to exercise and catch up on movies etc.

Was there a not not to be missed sight that you saw while travelling around the country side of Japan?

 

[OzKiwiJJ]

Welcome to Cruise Critic, DiamondFour, and thanks for sharing your Diamond Princess experience. We cruised on Diamond a couple of years ago and really enjoyed that ship, she's one of our favourite Princess ships. We've been to Japan a couple of times and love it there, it's so easy to get around the country by train. I hope you enjoyed your travels there.

[DiamondFour]

2 hours ago, LittleFish1976 said:

 

I am curious as to the political content of your post. I notice you refer to 'another communist dictatorship'. It's obvious which government you are referring to. Which is the 'other' communist dictatorship that your comment compares that government to?

 

I'm also curious as to which demographic you fit into given you felt comfortable travelling for three weeks post a two week quarantine on board a ship during what was clearly, by that time, a burgeoning epidemic. You don't have to breach your privacy - just gender and age would be useful. Thanks.

 

 

I am glad you noticed how I refereed to that particular government. We must tread carefully with them as they have the ability to hack websites with DNS attacks when they are criticised. They have done it in the past and will continue to do it. You could say that I am none impressed with them at the moment. One could assume the privacy breach listed on the Princess website under the health advisory was their government sponsored hack to steal information much like they do in Australia to our parliamentary computer systems and our last census. I was also a victim of their hacking during the Marriott hack where they stole credit card details stored on customer accounts, duplicated them and went on a spending spree. Having a $3,000 bill to a restaurant in Canada (a country I have never visited) was quite a surprise one morning.

 

My demographic think between 35 and 45. I can narrow it down that much. By the time of the crisis I knew I felt safe in Japan. At present their cases are 0.4 per million people. Australia is sitting at 0.8 per million for infections. For me the best way to safely stay in Japan was to move to the remote areas, isolate, walk, exercise and explore by walking and avoid the major tourist traps. I had two weeks on the ship to plan and with a wi-fi card it was easy to get online and plan a new schedule. Think of places like Taiji. I am old school when it comes to movies. As far as James Bond is concerned I will not watch them unless it is the first 16. Take You Only Live Twice for example. There is a wedding scene in it in a rural village with a large waterfall in the background. Blink and you miss it. It is called Nachi Falls. That is the area I went to.

 

As for returning to Australia I knew there was a blanket ban on Chinese for two weeks. This was a problem as wuhan had already let millions out. The virus was out of the bag. It was inevitable that people would be flying home to Australia from various countries with that virus with no screening or quarantine yet the Diamond Princess passengers who had been cleared and given certificates were further quarantined in a mining camp.

 

I think Japan will survive this crisis. They understand social distancing. They bow, they do not shake hands, they keep their distance. You could drop a pin on their subway trains and hear it land. I think their rigorous attention to discipline will keep them safe. I also think Australia will get through this now borders are closed. As for our friends in America sadly they will be the worst hit and that really is a shame for all the good they do that great countries must suffer the worst. I feel bad for Italy in particular as the crew we all know and love mostly come from Italy. This is a crisis like we have never seen before. 

[LittleFish1976]

2 minutes ago, DiamondFour said:

I am glad you noticed how I refereed to that particular government. We must tread carefully with them as they have the ability to hack websites with DNS attacks when they are criticised. They have done it in the past and will continue to do it. You could say that I am none impressed with them at the moment. One could assume the privacy breach listed on the Princess website under the health advisory was their government sponsored hack to steal information much like they do in Australia to our parliamentary computer systems and our last census. I was also a victim of their hacking during the Marriott hack where they stole credit card details stored on customer accounts, duplicated them and went on a spending spree. Having a $3,000 bill to a restaurant in Canada (a country I have never visited) was quite a surprise one morning.

 

My demographic think between 35 and 45. I can narrow it down that much. By the time of the crisis I knew I felt safe in Japan. At present their cases are 0.4 per million people. Australia is sitting at 0.8 per million for infections. For me the best way to safely stay in Japan was to move to the remote areas, isolate, walk, exercise and explore by walking and avoid the major tourist traps. I had two weeks on the ship to plan and with a wi-fi card it was easy to get online and plan a new schedule. Think of places like Taiji. I am old school when it comes to movies. As far as James Bond is concerned I will not watch them unless it is the first 16. Take You Only Live Twice for example. There is a wedding scene in it in a rural village with a large waterfall in the background. Blink and you miss it. It is called Nachi Falls. That is the area I went to.

 

As for returning to Australia I knew there was a blanket ban on Chinese for two weeks. This was a problem as wuhan had already let millions out. The virus was out of the bag. It was inevitable that people would be flying home to Australia from various countries with that virus with no screening or quarantine yet the Diamond Princess passengers who had been cleared and given certificates were further quarantined in a mining camp.

 

I think Japan will survive this crisis. They understand social distancing. They bow, they do not shake hands, they keep their distance. You could drop a pin on their subway trains and hear it land. I think their rigorous attention to discipline will keep them safe. I also think Australia will get through this now borders are closed. As for our friends in America sadly they will be the worst hit and that really is a shame for all the good they do that great countries must suffer the worst. I feel bad for Italy in particular as the crew we all know and love mostly come from Italy. This is a crisis like we have never seen before. 

 

Thank you for your response which cleverly avoids my political question! But I've read between the lines to glean more. They listen and involve, also here.

 

I am familiar with rural Japan and the clean habits of the Japanese and not from films, and particularly not from Hollywood. (I'm more Seven Samurai than Bond). Your age group would have allowed you the confidence to go forth and be less anxious about contracting the virus. In my age group, and with health concerns, it would have been out of the question. The airports and travelling through them, as well as being on planes have been, and will continue to be, a huge area of risk. And yes, it is a huge global crisis - I am amazed there are still people who don't realise it. It will be felt for a decade or more. And unfortunately, I won't be able to travel, even to see my family overseas until there is an effective vaccine available which, as we know, will be 12-18 months from now for development and testing and then whatever length of time it takes to get supplies available around the world (when the whole world will want it at once; I would add up to six months for supply).

 

 

[Kiwi_cruiser]

Welcome to Cruise Critic DiamondFour 🙂

Thank you for sharing your experience on the Diamond Princess.