soprano
April 21st, 2004, 11:02 AM
Our extended family (12 adults, 7 kids-ages 1-9) recently returned from the Diamond Princess 4/10/04 sailing to the Mexican Riviera. I will mainly discuss our experiences, especially regarding traveling with children. We are a family of 5, with three young daughters, ages 9, 6 and 1. Overall, we had a great time and have very few complaints. We were told that there were over 700 kids onboard. The kids that we came in contact with were all very well behaved.
We were quite disappointed that our embarkation was delayed due to engine problems causing the Diamond to be unable to reach normal speeds returning from Cabo. We were notified the day before, but no other information was available (one Princess rep we talked to said that the ship would be arriving on time, but embarkation for our voyage would be delayed). No one could agree on what time boarding would actually take place, so we decided to arrive at the terminal at 11:30am and just wait it out (what else did we have to do?). One of our favorite things about cruising is getting on the ship early, and being able to explore without all the crowds...and having a good part of that first day on the ship. We also felt that something should have been said to at least acknowledge the fact that people were inconvenienced by the late embarkation. We were given a letter telling us of delay as we entered the terminal, but nothing else was ever said. The staff we asked onboard said that they were not allowed to talk about it.
A note for when you arrive at the pier: several different Princess reps were handing out boarding numbers as you walked into the terminal. They would only give them to you if your whole party was together. What you need to note is that each of the reps has a different stack of numbers. When we entered, we received numbers in the 500's, but a few steps away was a women handing out numbers in the 200's. It turned out that we didn’t even need the numbers because they let families with strollers board early, but I thought this might be of some interest to others.
After waiting in a very crowded terminal for several hours, we finally boarded just before 4pm. We were in connecting cabins on the Aloha deck, A626 and A628. What a perfect set-up for a family! Two very basic balcony cabins, but it was great to have two bathrooms, and totally separate areas for the adults and the kids. The connecting doors were able to open completely, so did not obstruct the flow of traffic in either stateroom. When we last sailed Princess, we had only two kids and we were in a mini-suite. The connecting rooms were less expensive, and in our opinion, much better in this situation. There were less noise issues having the kids separate, and we didn’t care if they watched TV late, or were up talking, etc, but we still were able to hear what was going on in their room. They also felt very grown-up having their own room. We were immediately below the Horizon Court, and across from an entrance to the aft stairs/elevators, but had absolutely no problem with outside noise of any type. Very nice!
Our extended family had a total of 8 additional cabins, so we were able to see many other cabin types. One big difference we noticed between the Diamond and the Star is that the mini-suites are bigger on the Diamond. Both the sitting areas and the balconies were noticeably larger. The mini-suites also had 2 padded loungers on each balcony (though not the full lounges that you lie on...these were basically tall-backed chairs that reclined, but no foot rests). One of the members of our party had cabin C753, an aft BB balcony cabin. It was a great location, but the balcony did not appear to be any larger than the other standard balcony cabins on the Caribe deck. The inside cabins were the same as what we had seen on the Star.
I read here that the people on the first couple of Diamond voyages had trouble receiving incoming email. I’m happy to report that one member of our party did receive an email without any problem, addressed to diamondprincess@princesscruises.com with her name and cabin number in the subject line.
The Kids Program received mixed reviews from the 5 older kids in our extended family. They were not in a position to let kids change from one age group to another, due to the large number of children onboard. The two kids who were at the older end of their groups did not have a good experience (one almost 6 year old thought the 3 year olds in the younger group were just too young, and our almost 10 year old was wishing she could be in the pre-teen group instead of hanging out with 6 year olds), and these kids chose not to attend many of the kids program events. The other 3 kids really seemed to like the programs, and spent at least 2-3 hours there each day. I have the Pelican (6-9y.o.) Patters if anyone wants specific information.
We had traditional first seating, and it was a wonderful experience from start to finish! Our main server was Elaina from Romania, who we just loved. She definitely spoiled us rotten, and catered to the kids as if they were her own (even holding one of the two babies to give us a chance to eat!). During the course of the week, we were given smaller versions of the menus from the various PC restaurants, in addition to the regular menu. There was also no problem asking for anything that was on ANY of the menus, although it sometimes took a little longer to get a dish from one of the upstairs restaurants (Pacific Moon & Santa Fe). On the night that we were given the Santa Fe menu, we arrived at the table to find bowls of guacamole and chips. The kids dinner at the Horizon Court was Wednesday night (Mazatlan), but didn’t start until 7pm, so they still had to start dinner with us, before one of the adults in our group took them upstairs.
We had discovered on previous cruises that you do not go to the buffet at popular times, so living by this rule, we had no problems with the Horizon Court. I liked the variety and freshness of the buffet, and as we didn’t expect gourmet food at a buffet, we were not disappointed. They do have a free ice cream bar every afternoon from 3:30-4:30pm. We liked everything we tried from the Lido grill, but did not care much for the pizza. It was really quite flavorless...they need to use more spices in the sauce.
We were very happy with the entertainment onboard. Both of the production shows were terrific...although we are a showtune loving family! I especially enjoyed “Curtain Up”, and thought the staging was very clever. The alternate entertainment venues were also great. I think most of the comedians and the hypnotist have now left the ship, but we enjoyed them all. There was never a lack of things to do. We liked all of the game shows, which is something we hadn’t seen in such volume on Princess before. The Princess Idol contest was a nice idea, but it replaced the general karaoke that our family enjoys. One of the nights when there was generic karaoke, they did let my 9 year old sing (she wasn’t allowed to sing in the Princess Idol), which she enjoyed. The Club Fusion idea is a good one, but I didn’t care for the decor of that lounge - much less classy than the rest of the ship. It also tended to become very crowded, mostly because there was not all that much seating.
Disembarkation was fine, not an issue at all (except that the week ended much too soon!). We had to drive back to Northern California, and were on the road by 9:30am.
Overall, we had a fantastic week, and would certainly recommend the Diamond Princess to anyone looking for an activity filled week with lots of potential for meeting new people.
We were quite disappointed that our embarkation was delayed due to engine problems causing the Diamond to be unable to reach normal speeds returning from Cabo. We were notified the day before, but no other information was available (one Princess rep we talked to said that the ship would be arriving on time, but embarkation for our voyage would be delayed). No one could agree on what time boarding would actually take place, so we decided to arrive at the terminal at 11:30am and just wait it out (what else did we have to do?). One of our favorite things about cruising is getting on the ship early, and being able to explore without all the crowds...and having a good part of that first day on the ship. We also felt that something should have been said to at least acknowledge the fact that people were inconvenienced by the late embarkation. We were given a letter telling us of delay as we entered the terminal, but nothing else was ever said. The staff we asked onboard said that they were not allowed to talk about it.
A note for when you arrive at the pier: several different Princess reps were handing out boarding numbers as you walked into the terminal. They would only give them to you if your whole party was together. What you need to note is that each of the reps has a different stack of numbers. When we entered, we received numbers in the 500's, but a few steps away was a women handing out numbers in the 200's. It turned out that we didn’t even need the numbers because they let families with strollers board early, but I thought this might be of some interest to others.
After waiting in a very crowded terminal for several hours, we finally boarded just before 4pm. We were in connecting cabins on the Aloha deck, A626 and A628. What a perfect set-up for a family! Two very basic balcony cabins, but it was great to have two bathrooms, and totally separate areas for the adults and the kids. The connecting doors were able to open completely, so did not obstruct the flow of traffic in either stateroom. When we last sailed Princess, we had only two kids and we were in a mini-suite. The connecting rooms were less expensive, and in our opinion, much better in this situation. There were less noise issues having the kids separate, and we didn’t care if they watched TV late, or were up talking, etc, but we still were able to hear what was going on in their room. They also felt very grown-up having their own room. We were immediately below the Horizon Court, and across from an entrance to the aft stairs/elevators, but had absolutely no problem with outside noise of any type. Very nice!
Our extended family had a total of 8 additional cabins, so we were able to see many other cabin types. One big difference we noticed between the Diamond and the Star is that the mini-suites are bigger on the Diamond. Both the sitting areas and the balconies were noticeably larger. The mini-suites also had 2 padded loungers on each balcony (though not the full lounges that you lie on...these were basically tall-backed chairs that reclined, but no foot rests). One of the members of our party had cabin C753, an aft BB balcony cabin. It was a great location, but the balcony did not appear to be any larger than the other standard balcony cabins on the Caribe deck. The inside cabins were the same as what we had seen on the Star.
I read here that the people on the first couple of Diamond voyages had trouble receiving incoming email. I’m happy to report that one member of our party did receive an email without any problem, addressed to diamondprincess@princesscruises.com with her name and cabin number in the subject line.
The Kids Program received mixed reviews from the 5 older kids in our extended family. They were not in a position to let kids change from one age group to another, due to the large number of children onboard. The two kids who were at the older end of their groups did not have a good experience (one almost 6 year old thought the 3 year olds in the younger group were just too young, and our almost 10 year old was wishing she could be in the pre-teen group instead of hanging out with 6 year olds), and these kids chose not to attend many of the kids program events. The other 3 kids really seemed to like the programs, and spent at least 2-3 hours there each day. I have the Pelican (6-9y.o.) Patters if anyone wants specific information.
We had traditional first seating, and it was a wonderful experience from start to finish! Our main server was Elaina from Romania, who we just loved. She definitely spoiled us rotten, and catered to the kids as if they were her own (even holding one of the two babies to give us a chance to eat!). During the course of the week, we were given smaller versions of the menus from the various PC restaurants, in addition to the regular menu. There was also no problem asking for anything that was on ANY of the menus, although it sometimes took a little longer to get a dish from one of the upstairs restaurants (Pacific Moon & Santa Fe). On the night that we were given the Santa Fe menu, we arrived at the table to find bowls of guacamole and chips. The kids dinner at the Horizon Court was Wednesday night (Mazatlan), but didn’t start until 7pm, so they still had to start dinner with us, before one of the adults in our group took them upstairs.
We had discovered on previous cruises that you do not go to the buffet at popular times, so living by this rule, we had no problems with the Horizon Court. I liked the variety and freshness of the buffet, and as we didn’t expect gourmet food at a buffet, we were not disappointed. They do have a free ice cream bar every afternoon from 3:30-4:30pm. We liked everything we tried from the Lido grill, but did not care much for the pizza. It was really quite flavorless...they need to use more spices in the sauce.
We were very happy with the entertainment onboard. Both of the production shows were terrific...although we are a showtune loving family! I especially enjoyed “Curtain Up”, and thought the staging was very clever. The alternate entertainment venues were also great. I think most of the comedians and the hypnotist have now left the ship, but we enjoyed them all. There was never a lack of things to do. We liked all of the game shows, which is something we hadn’t seen in such volume on Princess before. The Princess Idol contest was a nice idea, but it replaced the general karaoke that our family enjoys. One of the nights when there was generic karaoke, they did let my 9 year old sing (she wasn’t allowed to sing in the Princess Idol), which she enjoyed. The Club Fusion idea is a good one, but I didn’t care for the decor of that lounge - much less classy than the rest of the ship. It also tended to become very crowded, mostly because there was not all that much seating.
Disembarkation was fine, not an issue at all (except that the week ended much too soon!). We had to drive back to Northern California, and were on the road by 9:30am.
Overall, we had a fantastic week, and would certainly recommend the Diamond Princess to anyone looking for an activity filled week with lots of potential for meeting new people.