Diamond Princess

Has anyone sailed on the Diamond Princess? We were thinking of sailing from Sydney to NZ next year, but I have just been looking at the brochure and reading the small print and onboard dollars are $US. This would make the trip expensive I think. It also says that some of the restraraunts you have to pay. Do you get any meals with the fare?

We are on Diamond NZ to AUS 20 January and can understand your concern (there's 4 of us) but I think you will be satisfied with the small extra cost for the different (to Australian) cruising experience. As far as onboard dollars being US$, I think you will find everything converts to reasonable $A. For example, a few of the things that I've been able to find out so far are :

- specialty coffees US$1.70 = $A2.30

- soda card (this is all you can drink soft drinks for Aussies!) $US30 = $A40 = $A3.20 per day for a 12 night cruise.

- $US10 per day tips for dining and cabin staff (per person) = $A13 per day

Our exchange rate is certainly better recently too, at 76c US = $A1.00

It looks like bookings are very tight at the moment with nearly all rooms sold on the first 4 cruises and most suites/balconies on the last 4.

There are 2 restaraunts that you can choose to dine at for an additional $US20 per person (Sabatini's) and Sterling Steakhouse. Otherwise there are 3 other dining choices included in your fares:

- traditional first and second seating in the International Dining Room

- Anytime Dining at 3 other dining rooms

- Horizon Court 24 hour buffet

We can't wait!:cool:

Hi, we were on the Sapphire (her sister ship) in January and did the reverse NZ to Sydney. Even converting to US dollars the cruise is good value. The only restaurants you pay for are the speciality ones - the Sabatinis(Italian with about 25 courses) and the Stirling Steak House. The normal restaurants are free and the food there is excellent. We really enjoyed the food in the traditional dining room. When you convert over the cost is about the same as here - $20US for a bottle of wine converts to around $23 which is the same as here and if you buy alcoholic drinks - Vodka and Orange are around $3.50US which is excellent value. Make sure you get the soda card though - we just bought one between my husband and I, so it worked out very cheap. The only problem we had was the laundry rooms take quarters. I ended up asking one of the American people on board for 2 1$ notes so that I could do washing. Gayle