Is Diamond Princess tooooo big for Asia?

Hi all,

Looking to booking a trip say from Singapore to Bangkok sometime next year for 4 to 5 families. Read in a lot of the postings here about delays in getting off Diamond Princess due to its large size and that tender delays are almost always inevitable. I do want to try a bigger "boat" for these families who hasn't cruise before as a larger boat should be more stable and has more space and activities to move around.

What do the regular cruisers who has tried Asia on Diamond Princess think?

Should I try a smaller boat perhaps?

Any other recommendations?

Thank you so much ahead.

4xcruise.

I have not sailed her yet but we will be boarding 19 Nov for the Beijing - Singapore trip. I will let you know how it goes with the ports that we have to tender in and those that are far from the desired visiting sites such as Bangkok.

In a normal Asia cruise-Bangkok/Singapore to Beijing-you have a very port intensive itinerary.

As the Diamond is so large, you cannot port close to Saigon, Halong Bay, Bangkok and you have to tender in Nha Trang. Figure a 3+ hour ride each way from Halong to Hanoi, a 2+ hour ride each way to Saigon, a 2+ hour ride to Bangkok and a nasty tender line in Nha Trang. THAT is a LOT of wasted time just getting to see something. Traffic is HORRENDOUS in SE Asia.

With a port intensive cruise, you will not be looking for a lot of things to do on the ship during the day. And you will be tired at night, so late night partying is probably not much in the cards.

As for stability, MOST of those waters are pretty calm. There ARE typhoons in the region through about the end of October so any ship can get rocky.

The Azamara cruises are much more "personal" as has been reported. The ship can get into the port in downtown Bangkok and into downtown Saigon. I would assume they could dock at Nha Trang, as they are small enough (but there are a lot of hidden rocks around the port). And of course, the luxury cruise lines with their much smaller ships all dock very close to sightseeing.

Hi all,

 

 

What do the regular cruisers who has tried Asia on Diamond Princess think?

Should I try a smaller boat perhaps?

 

4xcruise.

GREATAM pretty well summarizes it.

We have had experiences on various Princess ships and we liked them but never in Asia.

We did cruise in February on Azamara Quest in SE Asia and liked the ship enough to book another one this March, also in Asia.

The ability of the ship to get close to the heart of the city (Saigon, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Singapore etc) was the big selling point. Being hours away from City Center means less time to explore the city - unless you like long bus rides.

Take the smaller boat!

We cruised on the Diamond this past April/May... 32 day Asia. We like larger ships and always enjoy sailing on the Diamond... various entertainment venues after dinner and if you have Personal Choice dining, there are various dinner restaurants to choose from. Yes, for the most part, you do dock away from the city-centers... but there is a free shuttle to take you into town if you're not on a ship tour. We book private tours and our tour guides met us at the ship... except for Singapore, where we had to meet the guide a the shuttle stop. Nha Trang is a tender stop because there is no dock in Nha Trang. Our Saigon stop was on a Sunday... it took about 1 1/2 hours to reach Saigon city-center.

If you're interested in reading my blog on the Asia cruise: http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog/sandy31/1/tpod.html

We cruised on the Diamond this past April/May... 32 day Asia. We like larger ships and always enjoy sailing on the Diamond... various entertainment venues after dinner and if you have Personal Choice dining, there are various dinner restaurants to choose from. Yes, for the most part, you do dock away from the city-centers... but there is a free shuttle to take you into town if you're not on a ship tour. We book private tours and our tour guides met us at the ship... except for Singapore, where we had to meet the guide a the shuttle stop. Nha Trang is a tender stop because there is no dock in Nha Trang. Our Saigon stop was on a Sunday... it took about 1 1/2 hours to reach Saigon city-center.

 

If you're interested in reading my blog on the Asia cruise: http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog/sandy31/1/tpod.html

1. There IS a dock in Nha Trang. Used to be used by the US Navy during the Vietnam War. Has been bombed many times and the rocks have filled in the depth so the larger ships have to tender. The dock in Nha Trang is used by SuperStar cruises, other Asian cruises, Azamara when the currents are right and also by the Vin Pearl and Anna Madara resorts for their boats to the islands around Nha Trang.

2. WHAT free shuttle??? There is NO free shuttle in Bangkok when you dock in Laem Chabang, NO free shuttle when you dock in Vung Tau, NO free shuttle when you dock in the North (for Halong Bay or Hanoi)

JMHO, but you are FAR better off getting a smaller ship in Asia.

Nha Trang is a tender stop because there is no dock in Nha Trang. Our Saigon stop was on a Sunday... it took about 1 1/2 hours to reach Saigon city-center.

Hmmm. We stepped directly ashore from our ship at Nha Trang, & I don't think it was at the bus station :rolleyes: :D

And our Saigon stop was a ten minute walk from the city centre.:)

Tiddlers have their pros & cons, the ability to squeeze into rivers and harbours to deliver us close to the places we want to visit is a big plus- especially at overnite ports. :cool:

But each to their own.

BTW our ship, mv Discovery, isn't a luxury ship & prices are similar to mainstream cruiselines.

John Bull

I agree with Greatam. We did the Quest in February and loved being able to get in close to Bangkok and Saigon. The ride up the rivers are fascinating and just a great experience. We did the Diamond in NZ/Australia and she was great for that cruise; but you would miss something and it would be a different experience. But the Diamond would be better on sea days.

I believe I will offer a different perspective regarding the large ship vs. the smaller ship. I am currently on the Diamond Princess in Asia. There is an advantage to having a longer commute into town. We have hired a private guide in each city (same price as a bus tour with Princess) and the longer commute offers us time to see life in the country. Because we have a private guide we can ask questions regarding what we are viewing as we drive along the road. Yesterday as we headed into Saigon we saw much of the daily life and it was fascinating. The guide stopped whenever we wanted to look at something closer. For instance, half way to Saigon we stopped in a Vietnamese shopping mall to purchase coffee. It was their version of a WalMart and it was very interesting.

There has been some rough water but with the larger ship it has been smooth sailing.

With large family groups I do believe it would be helpful to have many choices of activities especially if there is a broad range of age. I have done a cruise with family members where the ages ranged from 3 to 75. Having the large ship and multiple activities kept the entire family happy.

I understand why people like the smaller and more intimate ship but I do think there are advantages to the big ship. In each port there are free shuttles but not necessarily to the big city.

Our day in Ko Samui was cancelled due to the island being under water and another major storm. The Diamond Princess sailed straight to Laem Chabang and we had an overnight in that port. We took the free shuttle to Pattaya and went to the show at Tiffany's. A once in a lifetime experience.

I don't want to hijack this thread so maybe you could send me a private e mail. We get on when you get off in Beijing on the 19th. How is the refurbished Diamond looking and what were the changes made? There has been lots of speculation on these boards but no difinative answers.

Thanks

Ron

rjarrett@shaw.ca

Thank you all for freely posting your opinions.

All inputs are greatly appreciated and helpful to me and also I am sure to many others who are contemplating/hesitating getting aboard Diamond Princess.

Thanks all.

4xcruise.

ps: Ron (a.k.a. Hunter22a) you are not hijacking this thread and I welcome any further adds in future especially after your trip.

I have heard much about the long tender lines at Nha Trang. Don't they have people pick up tickets in advance or have some system other than standing in line? How long does it take to get off? Thanks

We leave in a month for the Ocean Princess sailing first from Shanghai to Singapore and then continuing to ROme. I plan to do a Live Thread during the cruise and will try to include comments on the distance to town and the availability of free/charge for shuttles in the ports. The Ocean Princess is much smaller than the Diamond, so we will be able to dock closer in many ports.

paul929207- I hope your experience is different than ours last year. we did the same itinerary from Shanghai to Singapore. We actually chose the Ocean Princess for the reason of it being smaller=closer to some ports. We were disappointed when we were in Saigon and in Bangkok. The ship could have gone up river to these cities but it didn't. Instead we were about 1.5-2 hours journey out. Kind of takes up a big chunk of your day when u have to travel 3-4 hours by van/bus to see the cities. In our experience there weren't any shuttles either. Now that we know different, we have chosen Oceania for our next Asian cruise as we are fairly certain (by past reviews) they do go as close as they can. I suspect they get charged a pretty penny for this convenience but it is worth it in our opinion.

Enjoy the cruise, we sure did.

Faye

I don't want to hijack this thread so maybe you could send me a private e mail. We get on when you get off in Beijing on the 19th. How is the refurbished Diamond looking and what were the changes made? There has been lots of speculation on these boards but no difinative answers.

 

Thanks

Ron

 

rjarrett@shaw.ca

Ron,

We were on the Diamond in Feb., our first trip on her. They added MUTS and the Sanctuary. New carpeting, maybe, but nothing more. Lots of people were disappointed more was not added, like Vines & International Cafe, but they weren't. Hope that helps.

Kathy

Except about half the days on the ship are at sea.

We sailed on Oceania's Nautica from Beijing to Hong Kong so our experience doesn't cover the exact ports the OP was asking about, but I have some general comments. My husband and I love Oceania ships, and this was our fourth cruise with them. (Eleventh cruise overall.) However, we had some concerns about sailing through the open waters of our itinerary in a smaller ship, especially through the Straits of Taiwan. We tackled our concerns by booking a cabin on a lower deck than typical. Specifically, we booked a cabin on Deck Six, the lowest deck with balcony cabins. Great decision!

We had two really rough experiences during the cruise. (Yes, one of them was leaving Taiwan sailing through the Straits of Taiwan.) We could tell that many, many, many people were not well because all restaurants had lots of empty spaces. However, we came through those very rough seas just fine. We either spent time in our cabin or in the public areas of Decks Five and Four; I think two meals occurred during those rough periods, but we ate in the Main Dining Room on Deck Five and avoided the restaurants on Decks Ten. (I did get a manicure in the spa on Deck Nine during a period of somewhat rough seas and I certainly felt the bigger sway up there. In a perfect world I wouldn't have been up there, but, happily, I came through all right.)

I'll admit that someone who wants big production shows won't be happy on Oceania or Azamara, but my post should reassure folks who have concerns about sailing on a smaller ship because of rough seas.

One bonus that is specific to the port of Shanghai: Nautica is small enough to sail up the river to the old city port. We docked directly across the river from the Shanghai Broadcasting Tower. That sight out our windows at night was worth the lack of production shows.

From what we were told by our captain in March, even smaller ships will not be using the old port in Shanghai much longer because of congestion. We were the second ship to use the new port (we were a day early because of the earthquake in Japan.) The Nautica was in the old port at the same time.

Does anyone know where Diamond Princess docks in Shanghai?

Shanghai at the Waigaoqiqo Port and yes they have shuttles or tours can pick you up at dockside and We waited for the shuttle for our tour because he was lost. No biggie, and it's not that far but you are at the container port. It's not pretty unless you love tugboats, containers and container ships. I was on Diamond in December and it was beautiful and people never said they were disapointed due to the lack of Vines or International, they seemed happy to have a brand new ship. Some people will gripe when hung with a new Gold rope. Shuttle wait times to Nha Trang are minimal. Maybe 45 min in the morning if you schedule a time they are ontime. It's the same thing, people dont schedule, then complain because they have to wait. In Thailand we needed to be off at 0800 andwe were off at 0803.

At one time we had 12 -15 ft seas and you could not feel Diamond Princess even rocking. We weree aft in the theater in the evening and you could feel it shudder once in awhile but no rocking.

We sailed Asia on the Diamond and absolutely loved it. Yes it is big, and docks at many container ports, but there were FREE shuttles. Such as to Shanghai, Hong kong, Singapore and others. We did not wait in line for more than 20 minutes for Nha Trang. I loved the 1.5 hours it took to get to Saigon. Going through the various towns, and countryside was wonderful, Seeing the various, houses, farms, water buffalo, etc. Much better than just being in Saigon, which is city. We sailed in October and hit the tail end of a Typhoon that year 2009 out of Saigon. The waters were the worst I've experienced, all shows were canceled because the ship was rocking. The Captain kept announcing to hold on to the had rails. We were sitting at the piano bar area watching the waves go over that deck. I sure would not have wanted to be on a small ship. I also enjoy the four anytime restaurants on the Diamond. I think you will love the Diamond, she's one of my favorites.

We sailed Asia on the Diamond and absolutely loved it. Yes it is big, and docks at many container ports, but there were FREE shuttles. Such as to Shanghai, Hong kong, Singapore and others. We did not wait in line for more than 20 minutes for Nha Trang. I loved the 1.5 hours it took to get to Saigon. Going through the various towns, and countryside was wonderful, Seeing the various, houses, farms, water buffalo, etc. Much better than just being in Saigon, which is city. We sailed in October and hit the tail end of a Typhoon that year 2009 out of Saigon. The waters were the worst I've experienced, all shows were canceled because the ship was rocking. The Captain kept announcing to hold on to the had rails. We were sitting at the piano bar area watching the waves go over that deck. I sure would not have wanted to be on a small ship. I also enjoy the four anytime restaurants on the Diamond. I think you will love the Diamond, she's one of my favorites.

janina:

Where exactly did your tender dock in Nha Trang in relation to the city.

2 of us are meeting a private tour guide, but the 3rd in our group may well

prefer to just go into Nha Trang city on her own for the day as she has been there before.

Thanks, Martha