Live from the Diamond, July 10-27, 17-day B2B around Japan and Korea

[cr8tiv1]

1 hour ago, Ken the cruiser said:

We have arrived in Dallas

 

 

and have now boarded our flight to Tokyo. Yay!!

 

Hoping you were upgraded Dallas to Haneda.  Your grand adventure is off to a great start.  Enjoy.

[chubbypiggy]

8 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

We have arrived in Dallas

 

 

and have now boarded our flight to Tokyo. Yay!!

Have an enjoyable cruise!! 

[Ken the cruiser]

We have arrived at our hotel in Tokyo! Our flight was a little over 12 hours and we were in Premium Economy. But I have to say on Japan Airlines, Premium Economy was more like business class when compared to the normal AA Premium Economy seats you get on a domestic flight! It’s hard to describe, but if your international flight is ever with JAL, you definitely won’t be disappointed if you book Premium Economy, especially with all the extra leg room and the wider seats you get! 😁

 

We landed at Haneda Airport at 2:15 pm, picked up our bags, cleared Customs, found the Princess rep, and were on the transfer bus by 3:15 pm. Using the Visit Japan Web registration process to create the Immigration and Customs Declaration QR codes, and taking photos of them to subsequently show the Customs rep, really made getting through the checkpoint a breeze, to include them electronically taking fingerprints of our 2 index fingers like they do when checking into Disney World.
 

The bus ride to the hotel took about 45 minutes All in all the trip went very smoothly which is always a big plus!

 

 

 
Once we get settled we’re planning to eat dinner at the hotel and then call it a night. Did I mention Tokyo is 14 hours ahead of Alabama time. Something tells me jet lag is going to take a good 3-4 days to get past! 😂

[chubbypiggy]

@Ken the cruiser  Nice to know about JAL premium economy; definitely will consider trying it next time.  I never tried AA domestic Premium Economy, but did try it on their international flight.  Last year we flew AA Premium Economy from Athens to LAX, and the seat was comfortable and food was good, so I booked it again for our upcoming Sept. flight non-stop from LAX to Haneda.  From reading reviews, EVA Air was rated the best for Premium Economy, so I booked for our upcoming Nov. trip to Taiwan, lets see if the reviews are correct.😆

 

Which area is your hotel in?  On our last Japan pre-cruise (in 2019), we stayed near Yokohama's Chinatown area;  very convenient and within 10 minutes walking distance to the port.  This time, we decided to try out the Minato Mirai area.  

 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

2 hours ago, chubbypiggy said:

Which area is your hotel in?  On our last Japan pre-cruise (in 2019), we stayed near Yokohama's Chinatown area;  very convenient and within 10 minutes walking distance to the port.  This time, we decided to try out the Minato Mirai area.  

If you look in the upper left hand corner of this map you’ll see where the Keio Plaza Hotel is in Tokyo, which is about an hour away from the port.

 

 
Unfortunately, now that we’re in Tokyo, all the online maps are in Japanese. So you may have to search on “Keio Plaza Hotel Tokyo Google map” online to see what’s in the area (in English) near our hotel. 😂

[chubbypiggy]

12 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

If you look in the upper left hand corner of this map you’ll see where the Keio Plaza Hotel is in Tokyo, which is about an hour away from the port.

 

 
Unfortunately, now that we’re in Tokyo, all the online maps are in Japanese. So you may have to search on “Keio Plaza Hotel Tokyo Google map” online to see what’s in the area (in English) near our hotel. 😂

Thank you.  We decided we will stay in Yokohama for the 1 night pre-cruise and the 5 nights between our 1st and 2nd cruise.

[villauk]

55 minutes ago, chubbypiggy said:

Thank you.  We decided we will stay in Yokohama for the 1 night pre-cruise and the 5 nights between our 1st and 2nd cruise.

 
I would appreciate a review of your hotel after your stay if possible. TIA.

[Ken the cruiser]

True to form after such a large time change, we found ourselves getting up around 3 am this morning! But there were some perks with that. First, here’s what it looks like out our window at around 3 am.

 

 

Around 4 am we decided to go search for a view of the sunrise from the hotel rooftop or at least an unobstructed view through a hallway window higher up. No luck, but we were able to explore the hotel’s public areas and found two possible places to have a buffet breakfast. The more fancy one was $35 with the other at a little more reasonable at around $12-15 per person. BTW the projected temps for this coming week is not going to be a “dry heat” as we were hoping. The humidity outside the hotel this morning at 4 am was about the same as it was in Alabama where the dew point was in the low 70s, which makes the weather quite humid!

 

Then it was back to the room. Here’s the same view at sunrise at 4:30 am. Our window is facing East, but unfortunately there was a big building in the way, as it appeared it might have been a nice one.

 

 
Also, here’s what we received when we checked into the hotel last night regarding the services Princess has arranged for us. 
 

 

 
And FWIW, here’s an internet speed test of the free service we received while in the hotel.

 

 

Edited July 9, 2023 by Ken the cruiser

[Ken the cruiser]

After our quite tasty “a la carte” breakfast at 6:30 am in the buffet, we went for a walk around the area in search of what there was to see as well as just to get out of the room for awhile as we don’t board the transfer to the ship until 11 am.

 
Here are some of the photos taken on our 45 minute walk in the shady areas on a very humid morning. 😁

 

 

 

 

 
We noticed under the various underpasses in the area, there were usually quite a few homeless living spaces with quite elaborate structures.

 

 
Then there was, of course, some wildlife that caught our eye.

 
A big raven in a tree

 

 
A very unique looking Sawyer Beetle my DW saw along the way.

 

 
And, of course, how could I resist not taking a photo of the elusive Tokyo pigeon! 😂

 

 

Edited July 9, 2023 by Ken the cruiser

[Ken the cruiser]

I just checked windy.com and found out why it feels so humid here today in Tokyo. When I converted 30C to Fahrenheit, it was 86! 😱
 

[KLM3164]

@Ken the cruiser Yay a Tokyo pigeon!!!

[Ken the cruiser]

We are onboard the Diamond Princess!! Yay!! 🕺💃🏻

 

We loaded onto the transfer bus at the hotel around 11 am, and had a peaceful drive to the terminal, catching a glimpse of the Diamond along the way.

 

 

We arrived at the terminal around 12:10 pm.
 

 
It was kind of confusing to start with when we entered the terminal, as there was no initial mention of any special check-in line for Reserved Collection cabins. So we were given Group 17 tickets and we went to find a seat.

 

 

Then I went to take some pictures and on the way back I saw a special check-in area in the back of the terminal for Suites, Elites, Platinums, and Reserved Collection cabins!

 

 

 
So off we went to check in and were on the ship and in our cabin by 12:25, in plenty of time to have our first tasty meal in the Reserved Collection Dining Room, which is the Santa Fe, after checking in at our Muster station. 😁

FWIW the Diamond doesn’t appear to have been upgraded to Starlink yet, but the speeds were quite reasonable.

 

 

Edited July 10, 2023 by Ken the cruiser

[cr8tiv1]

Is your hostess Jennifer?  It’s a long shot since she has been onboard for a long time.  If she is, please send her my aloha.  Renee

 

Whois your Assistant Manager?

Edited July 10, 2023 by cr8tiv1

[Ken the cruiser]

Day 1 - July 10 - Embarkation Day

  

 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

37 minutes ago, cr8tiv1 said:

Is your hostess Jennifer?  It’s a long shot since she has been onboard for a long time.  If she is, please send her my aloha.  Renee

 

Whois your Assistant Manager?

Edmun is our maitre d’ and there was no woman hostess or servers that I could see in the Santa Fe RCDR. 

Edited July 10, 2023 by Ken the cruiser

[Ken the cruiser]

If anyone is interested, here’s what a Reserve Collection mini-suite looks like.

  

[Ken the cruiser]

And we’re off! Next stop is Akita, Japan day after tomorrow!

  

 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

After a tasty dinner in the Santa Fe RCDR, we watched the early with a fun-loving juggler and comedian, Tiber Szabo.

 

  

 

We also have two Cruise Directors on this cruise, one that speaks Japanese and one that speaks English.

 

 

They also provided the passenger counts on the top 5 countries on the cruise. Hopefully I’ll find out their names later on.

 
USA - 1,154

Japan - 483

Australia - 253

Canada - 163

UK - 150

 

Afterwards we went to watch a fun music trivia game show called Strikeout! 

 

 
Then when we got back to the cabin at 9:15 pm, I did another speed test as it seemed a little slower, but acceptable.

 

[Ken the cruiser]

Day 2 - Jul 11 - Sea day

 

 

[MJC]

Enjoying your trip report as Japan on the Diamond is on our bucket list. 🙂

 

[Moustique]

We will be on the Diamond from August 14th to the 31st.  How full is the ship right now?  We are holding on betting for an upgrade (guaranteed not assigned yet), as there seem to be a lot of vacant cabins for our departure date.

[Mah Jongg]

Ken,

A few things that has left memories with me from our ship experience was a japanese dress up morning and breaking the barrel of saka when we left port. Also we had a fun painting competition where 2 teams of 3 ladies (1 was me 🙂) took turns painting a canvas. The results were fun mix. Hope you enjoy the ride, of course you will love the ports.

[chubbypiggy]

@Ken the cruiser  Thank you for posting the patters.  As I mentioned before, we will be on the Diamond this Sept. for a 7-day and 9-day cruises, your Patters will give us information on what to expect.

 

I know on the Royal class ships, the buffet area is called "World Fresh Market" (can enter and exit at many points and food/salad in different sections); and the Grand class ships, it is the "Horizon Court" (one entrance and one exit and food all line up).  From reading your Patter, it shows "World Fresh Market and Horizon Court".  So the buffet area is one entrance and one exit or can enter and exit at several points?  Thank you.

 

[chubbypiggy]

@Ken the cruiser

When you have the time, I would appreciate it if you can please get me some pricing information of the Izumi ( Japanese bath on the Sun deck).  I asked questions in the past, and have received answers,  but I would like to have the most updated information and pricing so I have some ideas of  how much gift cards I should bring with me.  There will be 9 of us and at least 5 of us are interested.

 

Would like to know pricing for : One session pass?  Several sessions pass?  All day pass?  Entire cruise pass?

If they do offer "Entire cruise" pass, is it unlimited on how many times you can go each day?  And unlimited time on how long you want to stay each time?

 

Thank you for your time!! 

[Mah Jongg]

Here is a picture from the dress up day. There were several Japanese ladies who helped us dress. They were so much fun. They also gave us some origami earrings and bookmarks, so nice. We really enjoyed our cruise on the Diamond. Thank you for bringing back the great memories.