Review of 6/5 Diamond Princess

We just returned from our Alaska trip on the Diamond Princess. My review as follows:

1. Service: The room steward was very good. Most of the wait staff was good. We only had a few encounters with a staff memeber who was not courteous. Jesus in the Sterling restaurant was great!!!

2. Ship: This was our tenth cruise and the ship would rank near the top as far as beauty goes.

3. Spa: I had a facial and it was great!!! The unfortunate part was they tried to sell me $500.00 worth of product. That put a damper on the whole thing. I do not want to relax and then have someone insist I need to spend $500.00.

4. Food: I would say that there were great meals, good meals, and ok meals. Depends on what you like. We made our reservations as soon as we were on ship for all week. They gave us a table by the window every night. The person to whom I spoke with said that he wanted to make reservations for only two nights but I insisted I did not want to call back later and find the times we needed gone. After much insisting he agreed to take the reservations for all week.

5. embarkation/disembarkation: Both went well. We were in line early to get on the ship (10:30 a.m.)therefore we got on board by 12:30 p.m. and we opted to take our luggage off so we were off the ship by 7:45 am.

6. Dissapointments: We were not able to go in to Tracy Arm due to ice chunks in water and Victoria due to winds. We sat next to an employee of the Oosterdam on our flight home. That ship was with us vertually all the way and they were able to do both. We were actually on deck coming into Victoria and the winds were not 30 knots like they stated. There were vessels in the water all around us of various sizes and they had no problems. The employee said she heard that Diamond did sustain some damage and cannot get into the boat slip in Victoria.

Do not expect to get into Tracy Arm to the glacier all the way and do not expect to get into Victoria....sorry! We understood why they could not get into certain areas but we were unhappy that they were not honest about why. There were many unhappy people verbally stating so to the crew.


That is my personal review. This comes totally from my perspective and may vary from others. I tried to be very objective based on the nine other cruises I have been on.


Carnival Victory 8/03

Costa Atlantica 4/04

Diamond Princess 6/04

RCCL Granduer of the Seas 3/03

Emerald Seas 7/87

Carnival Celebration 6/88

Regency Sun 6/90

Carnival Carnivale 3/91

Carnival Esctasy 4/97

United States Cruise Lines Patriot 9/01

cls56,
Would you happen to recall the price for a massage?
Thanks

Glad you are back, she is a beauty, we miss her alot. I agree that they are being EXTRA shy about Victoria and are not being totally factual but she does present more "sail" than smaller ships and hitting that dock twice would NOT be a laughing matter.

[B] Life is at it's best when your address floats [/B]
Two MORE open Bookings.
[B]<FONT color=red>Alaska</FONT>[/B]
Diamond Princess 05/04 ~~ Mercury 06/02
Rhapsody o.t. Seas 05/98 ~~ Legend o.t. Seas 09/95
[B]<FONT color=red>Mexican Riviera</FONT>[/B]
Diamond Princess 12/04
Diamond Princess 11/04 ~~ Diamond Princess 04/04
Sea Princess 01/02 ~~ Vision o.t. Seas 04/02[B]<FONT color=red>
West Coast-Baja Mexico</FONT>[/B]
Ecstacy 09/01
[B]<FONT color=red>Eastern Carribean</FONT>[/B]
Century 12/97
[B]<FONT color=red>Western Carribean</FONT>[/B]
Century 9/96

The oxygen facial was $99.00. At the last art auction they auctioned it off at $35.00 for use on that day only which was the last day of the cruise.

I agree they are being cautious and I do not blame them however they really need to tell people up front because everyone was expecting to go and were very disappointed.


Carnival Victory 8/03

Costa Atlantica 4/04

Diamond Princess 6/04

RCCL Granduer of the Seas 3/03

Emerald Seas 7/87

Carnival Celebration 6/88

Regency Sun 6/90

Carnival Carnivale 3/91

Carnival Esctasy 4/97

United States Cruise Lines Patriot 9/01

High winds are not the norm, so it is a bad luck run more or less.

[B] Life is at it's best when your address floats [/B]
Two MORE open Bookings.
[B]<FONT color=red>Alaska</FONT>[/B]
Diamond Princess 05/04 ~~ Mercury 06/02
Rhapsody o.t. Seas 05/98 ~~ Legend o.t. Seas 09/95
[B]<FONT color=red>Mexican Riviera</FONT>[/B]
Diamond Princess 12/04
Diamond Princess 11/04 ~~ Diamond Princess 04/04
Sea Princess 01/02 ~~ Vision o.t. Seas 04/02[B]<FONT color=red>
West Coast-Baja Mexico</FONT>[/B]
Ecstacy 09/01
[B]<FONT color=red>Eastern Carribean</FONT>[/B]
Century 12/97
[B]<FONT color=red>Western Carribean</FONT>[/B]
Century 9/96

I have been up Tracy Arm, last year on tiny Pacific Princess. At 30000 GRT, she’s about a quarter of the size of Diamond Princess. They were sailing Star Princess up the Arm at that time and I wondered how they did it. We went in late July and were unable to go all the way up to the glacier due to ice.

As for Victoria, I imagine a smaller ship would be easier to navigate and winds – 30 knots or not – could greatly affect the maneuverability of a large ship. While the winds on deck may not have been 30 knots, they might have been where they are measured on the ship. I can understand being disappointed, but hopefully passengers understand its for their own safety as well as the ship.

-------------------------
Sun Princess, 03/2004; Pacific Princess, 07/2003; Star Princess, 05/2003; Grand Princess, 10/2002; Grand Princess, 10/2002; Sun Princess, 05/2001; Sun Princess, 04/2001; Sun Princess, 09/2000; Sun Princess, 09/2000; Regal Princess, 10/1999; Sun Princess, 08/1998; Holiday, 05/1998; Westerdam, 09/1997; Regal Princess, 11/1996; Royal Odyssey, 09/1995; Starward, 11/1993

bdjam-We were on Star last early July and got very close the Sawyer glacier. We agreed the cost of the cruise was worth the day in Tracy Arm. So sorry for any others who have had to miss this.

Jesus was one of your waiters?!? That is awesome. I bet he LOVES Alaska.

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Golden Princess Southern Caribbean-7/11/04
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Big Red Boat-1993
Celebrity Zenith-1993

I was also on the diamond during this week and the winds in Victoria were not stong at all. After the captian made the announcement about 30 knot winds I looked at the tv and it never made it over 20 knots. Very disapointed about this so if you are going in the future dont expect to go to victoria. The rest of the trip was great and Alaska was awesome.