Diamond Princess Review- Auckland to Sydney

This was a two week cruise leaving from Auckland and ending in Sydney. My friend who I travel with and I are in our mid 30s. This was my first cruise as Elite.

Embarkation was a little slow, due to a computer malfunction. The staff was great at keeping us appraised and we were on the ship around 12/12:30.

Cabin was B724, an aft inside. Our steward, Geovanni, was excellent, and probably one of the best I've had. I note that our shower went from warm to scalding very quickly. Not sure if anyone else had this issue?

As some may know, we ended up having to miss both Dunedin, and the Fjordland Scenic cruising due to winds/weather. Captain Goodway was wonderful at keeping us informed of the situation, and Princess gave us a (IMO) generous percentage of our cruise fare towards a future cruise credit for the inconvenience. We were planning our next cruise anyway, so this was an added bonus.

I was disappointed with the entertainment on this cruise. We were supposed to have JJ Ulrich, but there must have been a last minute change, and Bernie was the cruise director instead. She was barely there around the ship, however her other staff was great. The things that bothered us: 1) the timing of the entertainment- some nights there would be nothing of interest, other times they would have a game show (i.e. liars club) at 9:30 and a production show at 9:45. For those of us who ate a bit later and couldnt make the 8PM standing room only show, it was a problem. This happened on many occasions. Also found it odd that despite very few kids on board, most of the AM MUTS were animated (minions, the good dinosaur, inside out). Wish they showed more concerts and trivia during the day, we saw the same discovery at sea videos (with NO information on the places we were seeing) ad nauseum.

The food/dining service was generally great, we gravitated towards the Santa Fe dining room with Joven as the head waiter at night. Definitely missed the international cafe. Sabatini's was wonderful and always seemed packed. I feel this was due to the Steakhouse being a sectioned off portion of the buffet at night (vs a separate restaurant). I missed the international cafe a lot on this trip.

I also have to mention the overhaul of the ship towards the market it sailed in- i never saw another soul in the Coach store, Kai sushi was virtually empty, and the Japanese baths also seemed to be underutilized.

The itinerary was great (minus the missed ports). Here is what we did in each port:

Tauranga: we did a 7 hour tour of Rotorua with Archer tours, that included Te Puia and a kiwi factory, as well as a stop on the beach. Wonderful day, would recommend

Wellington: Did our own thing, took the cable car, walked down to the botanic gardens and around the city

Picton: took a wine tour with Marlborough Wine Tours. We made it to a lot of wineries, and a chocolate factory.

Akaroa: charming seaside town. We explored on our own as well as a two hour tour with Pohatu Penguins - got to see sheep and some little blue penguins. Highly recommend.

Hobart: Tour with Eye See Tours to Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary (got to feed kangaroos!) and a nature walk in Mt Field

Melbourne: Was their labor day, did our own thing

Feel free to ask any questions you may have (and thanks for reading the whole, long review!)

Thank you for your review.

Keith

Thanks for your report.

Thanks for the review.

Thank you for your review. It sounds like a great itinerary.

On this website I couldn't find a tour for cruise ship passengers. Which one did you use? Thank you for telling us about the tours that you did

This was a two week cruise leaving from Auckland and ending in Sydney. My friend who I travel with and I are in our mid 30s. This was my first cruise as Elite.

 

Embarkation was a little slow, due to a computer malfunction. The staff was great at keeping us appraised and we were on the ship around 12/12:30.

 

Cabin was B724, an aft inside. Our steward, Geovanni, was excellent, and probably one of the best I've had. I note that our shower went from warm to scalding very quickly. Not sure if anyone else had this issue?

 

As some may know, we ended up having to miss both Dunedin, and the Fjordland Scenic cruising due to winds/weather. Captain Goodway was wonderful at keeping us informed of the situation, and Princess gave us a (IMO) generous percentage of our cruise fare towards a future cruise credit for the inconvenience. We were planning our next cruise anyway, so this was an added bonus.

 

I was disappointed with the entertainment on this cruise. We were supposed to have JJ Ulrich, but there must have been a last minute change, and Bernie was the cruise director instead. She was barely there around the ship, however her other staff was great. The things that bothered us: 1) the timing of the entertainment- some nights there would be nothing of interest, other times they would have a game show (i.e. liars club) at 9:30 and a production show at 9:45. For those of us who ate a bit later and couldnt make the 8PM standing room only show, it was a problem. This happened on many occasions. Also found it odd that despite very few kids on board, most of the AM MUTS were animated (minions, the good dinosaur, inside out). Wish they showed more concerts and trivia during the day, we saw the same discovery at sea videos (with NO information on the places we were seeing) ad nauseum.

 

The food/dining service was generally great, we gravitated towards the Santa Fe dining room with Joven as the head waiter at night. Definitely missed the international cafe. Sabatini's was wonderful and always seemed packed. I feel this was due to the Steakhouse being a sectioned off portion of the buffet at night (vs a separate restaurant). I missed the international cafe a lot on this trip.

 

I also have to mention the overhaul of the ship towards the market it sailed in- i never saw another soul in the Coach store, Kai sushi was virtually empty, and the Japanese baths also seemed to be underutilized.

 

The itinerary was great (minus the missed ports). Here is what we did in each port:

 

Tauranga: we did a 7 hour tour of Rotorua with Archer tours, that included Te Puia and a kiwi factory, as well as a stop on the beach. Wonderful day, would recommend

 

Wellington: Did our own thing, took the cable car, walked down to the botanic gardens and around the city

 

Picton: took a wine tour with Marlborough Wine Tours. We made it to a lot of wineries, and a chocolate factory.

 

Akaroa: charming seaside town. We explored on our own as well as a two hour tour with Pohatu Penguins - got to see sheep and some little blue penguins. Highly recommend.

 

Hobart: Tour with Eye See Tours to Bonorong Wildlife Sanctuary (got to feed kangaroos!) and a nature walk in Mt Field

 

Melbourne: Was their labor day, did our own thing

 

Feel free to ask any questions you may have (and thanks for reading the whole, long review!)

We will be on the Diamond this summer. I am curious as to your opinion of the condition of the ship.

On this website I couldn't find a tour for cruise ship passengers. Which one did you use? Thank you for telling us about the tours that you did

We were forced to do the two hour scenic tour. It was a wonderful time, and our tour fees went directly towards helping with their conservation efforts.

We will be on the Diamond this summer. I am curious as to your opinion of the condition of the ship.

Ship was in great condition considering she celebrated her 12 anniversary while we were onboard.

Thanks for the review. We made it into Fiordland on our cruise years ago, but missed Christchurch because we were stuck in Dunedin overnight by terrible winds. Glad they gave you credit for the missed ports.:)

Excellent review, thanks!