Just Back Diamond New Zealand/Australia

[avalon1025]

Just some quick thought, we just arrived home:

 

Overall cruise was great, New Zealand is a lovely place with wonderful people (same for Australia).

 

The Good: Some good crew, met some nice people, cabin size was fine (we were in a Vista Suite). Great itinerary with a nice balance of ports and sea days (though we missed Milford Sound due to a strong storm). Dinning room food was better than expected

 

The OK: Food in the Horzon court got tired fast and the serving stations are too close for comfort. This is one area were the ship shows how many passengers she is carrying. The Decor: Princess ships look like nice airport hotels. Nothing specatular, confortable, but no wow.

 

The bad: Our Suite smelled like rotten garbage the entire cruise, the ship was full so no moving. We were in D739 and there is a series of exhausts outside this deck that makes the verandah practically unusable. The bathroom also smelled like urine (we had to keep all door closed or the smell would come into the cabin). The Passenger Service manager was very nice, said its a design flaw and conpensated us with some shipboard credit. If we did not cruise so much and this was a trip of a lifetime in a suite, we would have been crushed.

 

Overall we had a great time, met some nice people, but we have learned that Princess' larger ships are just not for us. We prefer the smaller Sun class and the ships of HAL, Silversea and Crystal...

[Colo Cruiser]

Only some good crew??? :eek:

 

We sailed the Diamond recently and found the crew to be very accomodating in every aspect. :)

[jake165]

Hi, Watched the Diamond come alongside of the Overseas Passenger Terminal last Sunday. You didn't waste any time getting back to North America. That 14 hour trip from Syd to Lax is a real treat. Cheers Jake

[avalon1025]

I had to get back to work, and I had already been to Sydney. The crew overall was fine, very tired and overworked. I found our waiter to be very green (the waiter at the table next to ours seemed great). Just cold, no one knew your name, preferences anything (traditional dining). Our cabin steward was very nice as were some of our regular drink waiters. Overall a good cruise, but we really don't see Princess in our future too much.

[avalon1025]

also, we found Sabatini's mediocre compared to the alternative rest. on Celebrity HAL and Crystal. There were many large groups in the rest. which might be why service was painfully slow and food cold. Even the deserts were uninspired compared to the main restaurant. Our Lobster was better in the main dining room.

 

Sterling Steakhouse was a better alternative option, we had a wonderful dinner there. With a 116K ton ship, this restaurant should have its own area and not the Horizon court with table cloths.

[LunchCompanion]

thanks for the info on large princess ship in south pacific and so am rethinking my reservations on future large princess sailings. I liked the Regal Princess in 2003 but didnt like the changes in 2004.

Well, it is off to watch for developments on what port for the QM2 on June 9th

[judynorth]

Sterling Steakhouse was a better alternative option, we had a wonderful dinner there. With a 116K ton ship, this restaurant should have its own area and not the Horizon court with table cloths.

 

We were on the Diamond in 2004 and the Sterling was across from the Vivaldi dining room on the Plaza deck and it was free. Have they changed the dining room configuration?

 

I agree that the Diamond is too large. I enjoyed our cruise on the Coral much better. The crew seemed to be much friendlier and more experienced, particularly the wait staff. Of course, it was a new ship when we sailed and had just been in service for about 2 months.

[avalon1025]

The steakhouse was a section of the Horizon court. Maybe because the waiters were trying to make up for the fact that thier alternative rest. was essentially part of the lido rest that they worked extra hard and were really proud of their food. It was superior, on our cruise, to Sabatini's. I can not figure out why, that on a ship the size of the Diamond, they can not give the extra tarrif steakhouse a more fitting home....on the Sun class I can see that they are utilizing the space that they have but on the new ships I would have thought they would have included it in its original design.